On this page
-
Text (4)
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
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.
-
-
Transcript
-
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.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
alous Church , reformer , was a conservative politician , and violently opposed to the principles d designs of some of his disciples—especially f those of the Anabaptist leaders in the social -ar which broke out in Suabia and 'Westphalia , six years after the first publication of More ' s Utopia- The Anabaptists , however , were divided into two distinct sects , the reformers , and the commun ists ; 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 adopted in the Moravian communities , founded by Hutter and Sherding , in 1527 , and widely disseminated , at a later period , by the English levellers and millenarians , or fifth monarchy
men . . » -.., In the eighteenth century we again find similar social phenomena , 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 of their social hts its
political rig by 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 Heformers of the eighteenth century proved equally fatal to the ' principles of Divine right and ecclesiastical authority . The natural Rights 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 .
Untitled Article
THE ERRORS OF THE TEMPERANCE ADVOCACY . * Indignant reader , it may be worth passing notice , tha t 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 the race of Barleycorn be ostracised , if you will . Not a plea shall ho 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
on 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 the Juniper root . The present Temperance advoeacy 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 manner of their death is quieter and less conspicuous , wo hear of no Anti-Souchong Associations . A Hound principle , and a wise sanitary reformation , would enter a protest against the whole class of stimulants .
I f the reader wero transported into tho cold , rude , »|»< 1 cheerless interiors of tho majority of tho provinciul Temperance Hotels , he would find himself in a cloud of narcotic smoke , reminding you of Pandemonium , where pallid men are puffing at pipes like chimneypots , and drinking coffee that looks and tastes very "inch like warm water in which the said pipes wero washed , and ho might be of opinion that there are victims of Temperance as well as of Intemperance . ?* lint is culled tho Temperance Reformation does not tf <> far enough , When it has denounced one bad habit , u < oug ht to take a littlo more trouble to give its converts a better .
In thus treating a topic of conscience , perhaps one is ) 0 undto 8 pi ! ak personally , though it be otherwise unnecoHNa !' . v . Once for all , then , the caso may be put thus : 'Miking theoretically tho whole class of artificial Hti"nilants , that is no reason why I should impose on ?¦ ver ybod y cIho my tastes or dietetic vagaries . At my ow tolrto I would Hupply , if a trader 1 would sell , any ° these t . liin ^ H to thorn ) who conscientiously preferred ' ' '"" . At proper times , and in proper placet * , I would wek to make my wish for their disuse prevail ; and w' > ere I could not convince , I should still rojMwo upon " » y own chosen habits , and loavo other ]> ooplo free to "ve as Heems well to them . Conventional dietistn will
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 ; but 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 xmtutored 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 an injury , and still takes it : —the Asylum or a moral Hospital is the proper place for him . He ought to be sentenced to Tcetotalism , 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 bo 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 app lause bestowed on Teetotalism had been bestowed on Moderation—bad we 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 causo which has made itself tho Tap-room jest and the publicans' antagonist , might command the respect of tho public , the influence of multitudes who now stand aloof altogether , and the countenanco of half the innkeepers in the kingdom , who are no more the friends of drunkenness than the Teetotallers themselves .
Every advocacy has two halves—first , to show what i « wrong and ought to be superseded ; next , to show what is right and ought to bo substituted . A man may bo told that alcohol if ) an evil , long before he will abandon it , unless you hIiow what else can more wholesomely betaken . Dr . Wilson , Dr . Forbes , Dr . Edward Johnson , Dr . Gully , by demonstrating the chemical and pathological effects of water , have created a new field of temperance advocacy , superseding the pledge , by making possible an apj > eal to » 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 tho way of accessions . The pledge in ever ait artificial protection to resolution , and if a man once falln from it he is commonly ruined . A false shaine destroys all future confidence in himself , and ho makes no attempt ngain to tread tho golden path of moderation . Indeed , if ho does so , he knows he nhall bo denounced by the Pharisees of tho Vow . It is a
serious mistake to overlook how much men are sustained by the friendly opinion of their fellows . That monarch who said — - " Treating Iuh subjects as leasts would make them so , " might teach Rechobites that to treat tho 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 iuj well commit tho evil aH bo continually charged with it . He could sink no lower in his neighbours '
opinion were he guilty . He may as well be criminal as be treated as a criminal ; a nd he who , in harshness , has been long made to bear t he 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 the 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 ' ertops all social plans for the promotion of the principle itself . Intemperance has distinct , traceable causes . The 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 would 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 the 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 , but 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 beeu written in the friendliest spirit . We 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 in many quarters , prepared to bring about a better state of things . The old discussions have been merely recriminative displays between Tea-pot , Coltec-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 , —tho issue being like that of our good friend Elihu Burritt ' s lectures in Manchester , or that neighbourhood , where he \ v ; is laid up several days through hLs excitement in Kpeaking on —Peace !
I now pass from this subject . Assurances on many hands , furnished since the first article appeared , testify that this is n topic on which a few plain words required to be spoken . Though they will be misunderstood by some , there is reason to believe that they will be useful to more . Thoroughly appreciating the earnestness , the humanity , the untiring devotion with which tho Teini > cranco advocates of England labour in their vocation , it only remains to beg pardon for thinking flint there is much important ground which they do not occupy—that there are some h ' . ibits of reasoning which they ought unequivocally to discountenance , and that their own zeal would work more good if somewhat tempered with moderation . . Ion .
Untitled Article
* boo Leader , No . 126
Untitled Article
PI . ATT ON T 1 IH PASSIONS . . Baron Pi . att accuses tho Liberals of " arousing tho passions of M » o multitude ; " without the slightest , proof of any such fact , lln mistakes the multitude for another tiling : ho should havo said that they " aroused tho passions of tho Jin I (/ o ; " a great calamity . It is quite clear that he must , have been in a passion , or he would not have jumbled all things together . One Liberal < U < 1 indeed do his best to assuiuio the passions of certain people at Cluttori , anil to
rescue- tho Tories ; and while that was proceeding , another was attacked , knocked down , and hacked by the Tories . Who aroused tho passions of the multitude on t ) t « t side V It is remarked that Mr . Haron JMatf . used even stronger language than that reported ; that lie nai < l " it mattered not to him whether tho prisoners were Conservatives or . Destructives ; " betraying tho bitter animus in tho latter epithet . Or was it that lie used tho two epithets as synonymous , accepting the title of Destructive for his own party P
It might servo well enough for a parly whose judgo would put restraints on that popular discussion of vital questions which is tho constitutional privilege of tho people ; who carrion on to tho bonch the rancour of faction , and from tho judgment , ueat consummates tho enmities of tho Tory rioters by sentencing political opponents with undisguised relish .
Untitled Article
August 28 , 1852 . ] THE LEADER . 827
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 28, 1852, page 827, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1949/page/15/
-