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THE ERRORS OP THE TEMPERANCE ADVOCACY* I...
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* See Leader. No. lUg
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lM./YTT ON Till. l'AHSIONS Uakon Pi.ATT ...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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The Co-Operative Movement " That .System...
zealous Church reformer , was a conservative politician , and violently opposed to the principles and designs of some of his disciples—especially to those of the Anabaptist leaders in the social war which broke out in Suabia and Westphalia , six years after the first publication of More ' _a Utop ia . The Anabaptists , however , were divided into two distinct sects , the reformers , and the communists ; and their demands and avowed designs were very similar to those of the insurgent English Commons in the reign of Richard II .
Like all former insurrections , this peasant war in Germany was finally suppressed ; but the massacre of the Anabaptists served only to propagate their principles , which were immediately adop ted in the Moravian communities , founded by Hutter and Sherding , in 1527 , and widelydisseminated , at a later period , by the English levellers and millenarians , or fifth monarchy
men . In the eighteenth century we again find similar social p _henomena , leading to the same results . The misery and discontent of the French nation , caused by the rapacity and corruption of the clergy and nobility ; oppression and violence followed by insurrection and repression : the established rights of property opposed to the principles of justice and humanity ; and the producers of all wealth defrauded or their social political rights by its possessors . If the religious and social reformers of the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries gave a deadly blow to the papal and the feudal system , the revolution accomplished by the _Nationalist lieformers of the eighteenth century proved equall y fatal to the _' principles of Divine right and ecclesiastical authority . The natural Sights of Man were then declared supreme , and above all law ; and Liberty and civil Equality the inalienable inheritance of the human race . I remain yours faithfully , William Coningham Kemp Town , August 19 th .
Ar01505
The Errors Op The Temperance Advocacy* I...
THE ERRORS OP THE TEMPERANCE ADVOCACY * Indignant reader , it may be worth passing notice , that neither in the former letter was there , nor in this will there occur , one word against the principle of even entire Abstinence from sign-post liquids . Let tho race of Barleycorn ho ostracised , if you will . Not a plea shall be heard for the smallest glass of the weakest wine . Pure water deserves all the praise you bestow upon it , and more . Perhaps it were well if a moderate stream of that virtuous indignation poured out upon the head of the Spirit Merchant were suffered to ripple
<> n the crania of the Tea Dealer and Coffee Roaster , who , in their philanthropic and sober way , spread as much nervous and dyspeptic ruin around them as does the Frankenstein of tho Juniper root . The present f empcranco advocacy is open to the objection of being but a partial reformation . Probably quite as many men die of tho Tea-pot as of the " Bottle "—but because the maimer of their death is quieter and less conspicuous , we hear of no Anti-Souchong Associations .. A sound principle , and n wise sanitary reformation , would enter a protest against tho whole class of stimulants .
If the reader were transported into tho cold , rude , imd cheerless interiors of tho majority of the provincial Temperance Hotels , he would find himself in a cloud ol narcotic smoke , reminding you of Pandemonium , where pallid men aro puffing nt pipes like chimneypots , and drinking coffee that looks and tastes very much like warm water in which the said pipes were washed , and he might be of opinion that there are aa / '"'" - Gt Tcmlwnmcc "H well _«¦» ° t * Intemperance . What is called tho Temperance Reformation does not _£ <> tar enough . When it has denounced one bad habit , »¦ ought t () take a little more trouble to give its converts a _Ixitter .
In thus treating a topic of conscience , perhaps ono is 'ouiidtoNp <>» k personiilly , tlioughit be otherwise _uuuocohs : ' _» , y . Onco for all , then , the easo may bo put thus : ishlung theoretically tho wholo class of artificial stimulants , that is no reason why I should impose on ever ybody dso my tastes or dietetic vagaries . At my ofM U 1 1 ° WOuld m lT y _> if a trador 1 would sell , any ° liese things to thoso who conscientiously preferred .. ' 'li !"' _^ ' _Proper times , and in proper places , I wonld eiv to make my wish for their disuse prevail ; and w lere I eould not convince , 1 should still repose upon n y own chosen habits , and leave other people free to , v e us seems well to them . Conventional _dietists will
The Errors Op The Temperance Advocacy* I...
not hate one who so acts—they may not avoid him ; they may even come to think that one who is so confident and so tolerant has some reason for the course he takes , and in time his patient example may create the conviction that his argument has failed to produce . A gentleman in Glasgow , remarkable for shrewdness and tolerance in most respects , lately told a company of persons , utterly above suspicion for personal
integrity , that he did not believe in the honesty of any man who took a glass of wine . When Temperance is so advocated—and the instance is not uncommon—it becomes simply a rudeness . The conjunction of Wine and Fraud resembles the Anti-Jacobin intolerance of old Waverley , who admonishes his son to keep no company with " rakes , gamblers , and Whigs _,- " and Temperance platforms fall into a twin ejaculation , " Beware of thieves , prostitutes , and moderate drinkers . "
It might be said that the strict and inexorable rule of abstinence on the part of others , overlooked the probable intention of life . There are various states of physical and dyspeptic indisposition to which alcoholic stimulants afford unquestionable relief . It can be proved , possibly , that in the long run the said stimulants are injurious ; hut if a man happen not to care for the " long run , " there is an end of the prohibition to him . The propriety of total abstinence may greatly depend on a man ' s intention of life . But untutored zeal will not stay to consider any human condition . Let it therefore be assumed that the least
portion of wine is an evil , still the least portion must be a lesser evil than the greatest portion . Therefore the moderate man must do less harm to himself and to others than the immoderate . Possibly , therefore , it may not be the soundest policy to denounce the moderate drinker , in terms so unmitigated as is now the custom . As all human things are liable to abuse , even the best—the virtue of moderation—which seeks to use and strives not to abuse , is a noble one . Moderation is the soul of progress . In every state of life and action the sentiment should be honoured . To teach a man that he cannot rely upon himself—that he will
fall if he tastes—that he cannot balance himself—that he is unable to avoid extremes—is to snap the iron link of self-reliance—is to make a man a coward by threatening that he will become a slave . The man who believes ale to be nn injury , and still takes it : —the Asylum or a moral Hospital is the proper place for him . He ought to be sentenced to Teetotalism , and all who abstain that he may be encouraged to abstain , deserve honour . But there is another and a wider order of good that might be attempted . An effort should be made to teach the salutary sentiment , moderation . Hundreds would learn that lesson for one who
adopts abstinence . If half the applause bestowed on Teetotalism had been bestowed on Moderation—had wo heard more of self-reliance and less of " pledging " —we should have far more temperance and more moral strength than now in the world . Excess would be a dishonour even in a " Public House . " The example of the rationally temperate would be nearly universal . Hundreds of publicans would encourage it . They would be the friends of such an advocacy , and that cause which has made itself tho Tap-room jest and the publicans' antagonist , might command tho respect of the public , the influence of multitudes who now stand aloof altogether , and the countenance of half tho innkeepers in tho kingdom , who aro no more tho friends of di _ivnkenness than the Teetotallers themselves .
Every advocacy has two halves—first , to show what is wrong and ought to be superseded ; next , to show what is right and ought to bo substituted . A man may bo told that alcohol is an evil , long before he will abandon it , unless you show what else can more wholesomely be taken . Dr . Wilson , Dr . Forbes , Dr . Edward Johnson , Dr . Cully , by demonstrating the chemical and pathological effects of water , have created a new field of temperance advocacy , superseding the pledge , by making possible an appeal to a double sense , and effecting conviction in a more enduring way .
So many shrink from tho " pledge" as a badge of moral weakness , that insisting upon its being taken creates a barrier in thc way of accessions . The pledge is ever an artificial , protection to resolution , and if a man once falls from it ho is commonly ruined . * A false shame destroys all future confidence in himself , and he makes no attempt again to tread the golden path of moderation . Indeed , if ho does so , be knows he shall be denounced by the Pharisees of tho Vow . It is a
serious mistake to overlook how much men are sustained by tho friendly opinion of their fellows . That monarch who said " Treating his subjects as _liensts would make them so , " might teach Heehabitos that to treat the Moderate drinkers as drunkards is often to make them drunkards . When you constantly accuse an innocent man of evil , he soon feels that he might as well commit tho evil an bo continually charged with it . He could sink no lower in his neighbours '
The Errors Op The Temperance Advocacy* I...
opinion were he guilty . He may as well be criminal as be treated as a criminal ; and he who , in harshness , has been long made to bear the responsibility of guilt , comes to think he may as well taste its destroying pleasures , and enjoy its licences , since he is so pertinaciously made to bear its punishment . Teetotalism has to boast of many whom it has saved from intoxication . We hear nothing of how many it has antagonised into that vice . Yet the catalogue of its errors might balance that of its glories .
He who has passed much time at the dogmatic and acrimonious meetings held weekly for thc dissemination of Temperance , will have noted with sorrow the ill-suppressed rivalries of trade interests and sectarian views which mar their influence , and he will note how , more than all , the pride of the platform o ' crtops all social plans for the promotion of the principle itself . Intemperance has distinct , traceable causes . Thc habit of excess does not come by chance , by caprice , or by wickedness . It is not to be cured by precept , or mitigated by denunciation , more readily than any other
human vice . The field of reformation is immense which the intrinsic temperance question opens up . It Avould be the most magnificent of discussions , if honestly and comprehensively entered upon . In every artery of society you probe one of the sources of this vast vice . If ever tile question of effects should be pursued to causes , the public will indeed have reason to look back with pride and satisfaction to the first agitation of so great a topic . We might pursue the subject , hut more has already been said than , many will forgive , whose advantage has been chiefly intended .
It is sad to see the low estimate in which the party ostensibly holding temperance views stand in most towns . They are regarded but as a nucleus of intolerant persons , " pledging" themselves , and denouncing nine-tenths of the community , and calling that reformation . So near is this description to the truth , that these very articles will call forth many harsh and imputative rejoinders , notwithstanding that these papers have been written in the friendliest spirit . Wc who are not with these people in every respect , are set down as being against them in all . The press constantly refuses to meddle with the question , on account of the
offence all'criticism is known to give the disciples . But we have confidence that able , intelligent , and tolerant friends of temperance are rising up iu many quarters , prepared to bring about a better state of things . The old discussions have been merely recriminative displays between Tea-pot , Coffee-pot , and Brandy-bottle , of which it may be said that if the looker-on attended solely to the mutual imputations , he would declare the belligerents intemperate all round , —the issue being like that of our good friend Elihu Burritl ' s lectures in Manchester , or that neig hbourhood , where he was laid up several days through his excitement in speaking on —Peace !
I now pass from this subject . Assurances on many hands , furnished since the first article appeared , testily that this is a topic on which a few plain words required to be spoken . Though they Avill he misunderstood by some , there is reason to believe that they will be useful to more . Thoroughly appreciating the earnestness , the humanity , the untiring devotion wifh which the Temperance advocates of England labour in their vocation , it only remains to beg pardon for thinking that there is much important ground which they do not occupy—that there are some habits of reasoning which uid thai they ought unequivocally to discountenance , and that their own zeal would work more good if . somewhat tempered with moderation . Ion .
* See Leader. No. Lug
* See Leader . No . lUg
Lm./Ytt On Till. L'Ahsions Uakon Pi.Att ...
lM . / YTT ON Till . l'AHSIONS Uakon Pi . ATT accuses tbe Liberals of " arousing the passions of the multitude ; " without the slightest proof of any such fact . Ho mistakes tho multitude , for another thing : he . should have said that fhey " aroused I lie passions of the judge ; " a great calamity , ll . is quite clear that !>'' must have been in a passion , or he would not have jumbled all things together . Ono Liberal did indeed do his best lo assuage the passions of certain people af Clutt . on , and to
rescue the Tories ; und while that was proceeding , another was attacked , knocked down , and hacked hy Ihe Tories . Who aroused tho passions of tho multitude on that side ? If is remarked that IMr . Karon Platt used even stronger language than that reported ; flint he said "it nutflcrcd not , fo him whether file prisoners were < ' _onscrval ivc . t or Destructives ; " betraying tho hitter animus in I ho hitler epithet . Or was if that he used tho two epithets as synonymous , accepting the title of Destructive for his own pint y V
It might serve well enoug h for a parly whose judge would put restrain Is on that popular discussion of vital questions which is the constitutional privilege of tho people ; _whocarricson to the bench the rancour of faction , and from the judgment Heat conHiurimat . es the enmities ot tho Tory rioters hy sentencing political opponents with _undiHguiuod relish .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 28, 1852, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_28081852/page/15/
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