*

with public danger while unregulated, by rendering so many consumers incapable of controlling their actions, and by contributing, almost more than anything besides, to swell the ranks of pauperism and crime. Assuming, then, that the State not only has the right, but is bound, to interfere in this matter, let us inquire first what it is which, conducing most to the encouragement of intemperance, requires chiefly to be dealt with, and then consider in what way State action can be taken here, with the best chance of success. If we are willing to accept the universal testimony of observant men, it will be found that they are nearly all of one opinion-viz., that the number of drunkards in any locality is determined by the number of drinking-places; that in going through a list of towns and villages, the amount of intemperance is shown, with few exceptions, to be in proportion to the beer-shops and public-houses. True it has been urged that the multiplication of public-houses is regulated by the previous demand for strong liquor, and is an effect rather than a cause; but this view is entirely refuted by the fact that wherever drinking-places have been diminished, a decrease of intemperance has followed.† Such has also been the experience of various foreign countries, among which Sweden may be quoted as affording a striking illustration. This country, in which formerly the drink trade was unrestricted, was a most intemperate one, notwithstanding that it was at the same time one of the best educated;‡ since, however, certain restrictions have been placed upon the sale of intoxicating liquors, it has remarkably improved in sobriety, and the town of Gothenburg, once pre-eminent for alcoholic excess, in which the convictions for drunkenness had reached one in ten of the population, has been so improved by vigorous efforts on the part of its leading citizens to reduce the number of drinking-houses, that, although only partially successful in their object, the number of convictions have been diminished from one in ten to one in twenty-six, within a comparatively short time. § Again, the town of St. Johnsburg, in Vermont, U.S., population 5,000, has been thus described in a letter (by Mr. Hepworth Dixon) in several English newspapers :

"A town which has all the aspects of a garden; a town in which many of the workmen are owners of real estate, but in which the moral order is even more conspicuous than the material prosperity. No policeman walks the streets; on ordinary days there is nothing for a policeman to do. All voices, I am bound to say, reply to me that these unusual but desirable conditions spring from a strict enforcement of the law prohibiting the sale of any species of intoxicating drink."

See table of relative proportion of population to facilities for drinking (Report of Convocation of York), p. 342.

† York Convocation, p. 315.

Laing's Tour, p. 27.

§ Vide License Reform: the Gothenburg System. By Alexander Balfour, Esq.

Then to come to our own country. The town of Bessbrook, near Newry, belongs to a wealthy Quaker, Mr. John Grubb Richardson. He employs there 4,000 persons, and will not allow a single public-house on his property. The results are wonderful; no police are needed; crime, riot, and pauperism are almost or quite unknown; places of worship are well attended, and rates are saved. Sir Titus Salt, at Saltaire, and the late Lord Palmerston, at Romsey, have also suppressed drink-houses with happy results.

It is thus incontestably proved that undue facilities for obtaining strong drink, involving those numberless inducements which competition compels dealers to offer in the shape of amusements, &c., in order that they may secure customers, are the greatest cause of national intemperance; that where there are no drinking-places there is scarcely any intemperance at all, that where there are few there is very little,* and that where these facilities have been reduced a corresponding decrease in intemperance has taken place; in addition to which it is in evidence that where a public-house has been introduced into a hitherto sober community, in which none had before existed, drunkenness has followed. Hence it is to the diminution of drinking facilities that we must look for any improvement.

There are, indeed, too many secondary causes indirectly conducing to intemperance; such as the want of innocent recreation, the wretched homes of the poor, the bad water supply, and certain foolish customs of society; but the reason why many of these very evils are allowed to remain, is too often the habit of intemperance and the recklessness of character it promotes.

It has been sufficiently demonstrated that the vice of alcoholic excess does prevail to a most alarming extent amongst all, but especially amongst the artisan and poorer classes, and that from

The report of the Convocation of York on intemperance contains, on page 344, an instructive table, showing the relative amount of drunkenness in a number of localities, in proportion to the number of drinking licenses. For example :

980

11,000

10,000 14,000

...

13

...

34

...

...

...

1

75

1

340

101

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

amongst all classes.

(33 per cent. of the men, 20 per cent. of the females.

very great among all classes.

80 per cent. amongst working classes.

Again, on page 309, the Chief Constable reports:-"The parish of T

had formerly

two public-houses and two beer-houses. At that time drunkenness and crime were rife in the parish. The magistrates stopped three of the licenses, and the consequence has been that we never hear of anything requiring police interference."

this source flows most of the crime, pauperism, and misery that exist; and now, having shown that the amount of intemperance is regulated by the number of places licensed for the sale of strong drink, we are constrained to the conclusion that the chief remedy to be sought is the diminution of these places. This conclusion has been forced on almost every one who has carefully considered the question. But the difficulty arises-how to apply the remedy? Some would allow each parish to prohibit altogether the sale of intoxicating liquors within its boundaries; these may be termed the prohibitionists; while others would alter the existing arrangements for licensing, or place the whole drink traffic under the respective municipalities, with some such system as prevails in Gothenburg. With regard to the first of these reformers, it is to be feared that, as yet at least, their proposals have done much more harm than good to the cause they have at heart: as for example in the Permissive Bill which is brought forward, year by year, by Sir Wilfrid Lawson; not only because it is in itself open to many grave and insuperable objections, such as that it would plunge every community into periodical contests of a bitter nature, and would have no effect in the most drunken districts where it is most needed; but still more because the continual advocacy of so unattainable a measure stands in the way of more attainable reforms, and, still further, because it has come to be recognized as the inevitable yearly debate on the subject whose futility and failure are foreknown, and therefore it excites neither the enthusiasm of reformers nor the fear of opponents. Were, however, its conditions more satisfactory, yet any legislation, in the shape of entire prohibition, except under most special and rare circumstances, has one fatal fault, namely, that it goes far beyond the general feeling of the country, while in every self-governed State the first essential to all successful reforms is that they shall have the support of public opinion. Any legislation, or any attempt at legislation, without such support, must fail; and such will often produce a reaction of feeling which hinders not only legislative progress, but also the very formation of that opinion which is so desirable. A reform is often seriously delayed by crude attempts to accomplish something for which the public mind is not sufficiently educated or matured. It is therefore most earnestly to be hoped that all friends of temperance will recognize this truth, and be content to concentrate their efforts on such reforms as present a reasonable prospect of attainment. In speaking thus, however, it is only to legislative action that the writer refers. There is no need for any abatement of exertion, but every necessity and every inducement to redoubled efforts to enlighten public opinion on subjects connected with intemperance, since every individual won to the temperance cause is valuable; every "Band of Hope" formed is a gain; and

though it is painful to wait while the monstrous evil is yearly devouring its host of victims, the friends of temperance need not despair, for their cause is holy, their battle is the Lord's; and every great and noble victory has been won through patience and through pain. It has taken centuries to win freedom to worship God, centuries to obtain freedom from political despotism; and it would be weak and foolish to complain if it demands patient waiting and longcontinued labour to free our community from the thralling tyranny of intemperance. If, however, the battle is to be won at all, it must be by degrees, and by bringing public opinion to approve each step attempted, and so, from each success, progressing gradually onward.

In the remainder of this article the writer proposes to suggest the steps that appear to him most essential and most practicable, and to which he would urge that every effort of reformers should, at the present time, be directed; premising that every vested interest should be carefully considered, and that those who have been induced to invest their property in the drink trade should be protected from injury by the law, since it is under the law they have acted.

As a first step it is evidently necessary to prevent the creation of any further interests in this trade. Universal testimony shows that drinking-houses are, almost everywhere, far in excess of any possible need; and that to this excess, with the competition for trade which results from it, leading to the introduction of all sorts of attractions to draw customers, a vast amount of the existing intemperance must be attributed. Common sense therefore suggests, and public opinion would support, a Bill to prevent any further licenses being granted, until in each locality the number of houses shall have fallen to reasonable proportions as regards the population, and when such limit shall have been reached the magistrates might be empowered to grant another license, subject however to an appeal to the Home Secretary on behalf of the inhabitants; and no difference should be made between the beer-shop and the publichouse, for all evidence conclusively proves that they are equally fraught with danger. As this would affect no vested interest, and is so evidently just, the only opposition likely to arise would be from some few of the manufacturers of intoxicating drinks.

This step having been secured, and the creation of any further interests being prevented, for which public opinion is probably quite ripe, the next effort made would be toward obtaining a distinction in legislation between hotels proper (including those houses the chief use of which is the accommodation of travellers, and dining-rooms), and mere drinking places (including in this category all those houses where the chief or sole object is the sale of intoxicating liquors to be drunk on the premises); for while, as at present, the two are confounded, it is difficult to frame legis

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