PROHIBITED SALE OF SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS.

6. For prohibiting the sale by retail of spirituous, fermented, or other manufactured liquors, in any inn, or other house of public entertainment; and for prohibiting the sale thereof in shops and places other than houses of public entertainment; provided the bye-law, before the final passing thereof, has been duly approved by the electors of the municipality, in the manner provided by this Act.

247.-No license to be over $100, without consent of electors, &c.

248.

249.-And so on (other sections, including 22 Vic., chap. 6-Sunday Liquor Act).

Mr. T. H. BARKER, Secretary of the Alliance, then read the paper entitled “ Glance at the World's Convention of 1846 and Subsequent Progress.'

In the absence of Mr. EDWARD C. DELAVAN, of Albany, the Rev. W. CAINE read Mr. Delavan's paper on The American Temperance Movement."

66

Mr. GEORGE TATHAM, of Leeds, read a paper from the pen of Dr. JOHN MARSH, secretary of the American Temperance Union, "On the Abolition of the Spirit Ration in the American Navy."

Mr. JOHN G. THORNTON, of Bristol, read his paper on "Joseph Eaton and the Temperance Movement in the West of England."

At the close of this paper, the PRESIDENT said: The careful and truthful tribute paid to our deceased friend will, I am sure, find a response in every heart. I think we can now spend in profit a moment or two in silent meditation. After an interval of silence

Mr. SAMUEL POPE expressed the hope that the general meeting would allow the twenty minutes of discussion fixed for that time to be abandoned in favour of the interesting papers which several gentlemen from the continent of Europe were ready to read. The suggestion was agreed to.

The Hon. Judge MARSHALL read his paper on "The Liquor-traffic in Nova Scotia." Mr. TATHAM read a paper contributed by Dr. WIESELGREN, Archdeacon of Gothenburg, on "Temperance in Sweden."

The PRESIDENT: A distinguished foreigner, Pastor Böttcher, from Kirchrode, Hanover, has kindly written a paper on "The Progress and State of the Temperance Cause in Germany, in Respect to the other Countries of the Continent;" but as the learned divine does not feel sufficient confidence to address us in the English language, he has handed us the paper, which will be duly printed; and through the kindness of the Baron de Lynden, who will act as his interpreter, Pastor Böttcher will address the meeting for a short time.

Pastor BÖTTCHER and Baron de LYNDEN, having stepped forward, were received with enthusiastic cheering. The pastor, in an earnest appeal, addressed the audience in German, and at intervals the Baron translated the address. It is impossible to describe the enthusiam with which the closing sentences of the German pastor and his noble Dutch interpreter were received. The meeting caught up the spirit of the German, and followed each sentence, almost every word, with a rapturous sympathy which rendered translation superfluous.

Baron de LYNDEN: My kind friends-I do not say ladies and gentlemen, for in my country we say my friends and brethren. (Great cheering.) I think the word "brethren" is happy on the present occasion. (Cheers.) I introduce my friend as one of the oldest supporters of our Temperance code. So early as the year 1835 he was at the head of the movement in his own country. He wrote a book in furtherance of the cause, called "Homes of Grief," which has now reached thirty-seven editions. It has been translated into French and Italian; in fact, into nearly all the living Languages of the continent. My friend tells you that the Temperance cause in Germany suffered much from the Revolution of 1848, but since that time it has gained power. He has been telling you of a conversation which he had with a mason, who came to him and told him that he would pay him three shillings if he could get passed a law against the sale of strong drink, for he knew that it was the facility of getting it in the trade-shops which made the use of strong drink very general. (Cheers.) He was anxious to carry back to Germany some of the impressions of the good results attending the Temperance cause which he saw here, that he might tell of it in his own land. Friends, I need not translate his last words: if he failed to make himself intelligible, at least he taught us (by his action) that his heart beats in common with us, in favour of what is good and what is right.

The PRESIDENT: I thought, in listening to our good friend from Holland, that the

language of the heart was known to us all. (Cheers.) It is now nearly three o'clock, at which hour the other sections will assemble in this room. We must, however reluctantly, come to the decision that the other papers cannot be read. I find that our friend, Mr. W. W. Smith, from Upper Canada, has contributed a paper upon Temperance in that country, and that papers have also been written on the movement in the Isle of Man, Scotland, and the North of Ireland respectively. These may be accepted as read, but the short interval we have now left will only allow us to consider a resolution with which it is intended to conclude the business of the section.

WILFRED LAWSON, Esq., M.P., said: Ladies and Gentlemen,-It was only about two minutes ago that I was told I should be asked to propose the resolution handed to me. You cannot, therefore, expect a speech from me, as I have barely had time to collect my thoughts on the subject. I beg to read the resolution which I have the honour to propose:

"That the facts and testimonies of ancient and modern history, and all experience in every age and in every part of the world, teach the same great lessons-that the habitual or frequent use of any kind of intoxicating drinks tends to produce habits of intemperance, and to foster vices, crimes, and disorder, subversive of social virtue, individual integrity, and national prosperity; and that Total Abstinence is, therefore, the only true and secure basis of a permanent Temperance Reformation."

This is what I call a very comprehensive indictment against the liquor-Traffic. I fancy that every one here agrees with the sentiments contained in this resolution, and that any who may have felt doubts this morning of its truth have had their doubts removed by the able papers read here to-day. I wish to have this resolution carried unanimously, especially as I have seen it stated that the favourers of the Prohibition movement are lukewarm in their approval of Temperance. This meeting is composed of Prohibition men; you all know that I am myself in favour of Prohibition; and by this resolution we shall show that we approve of the Temperance movement. (Cheers.)

ROBERT BRISCO, Esq., of Cumberland: It is with great pleasure I find myself joined with my friend who has just sat down in the condemnation of the infamous liquor-Traffic. I feel, after the remarks made, not anxious to trespass upon your time with respect to many points. You will allow me, however, as one of the justices of the peace for my county, to plead the justices' cause. (Cheers.) We are placed in a most responsible position. We are required to carry out the law; but look at the position in which we are placed. When I take my seat on the bench of justices, with my views on the Temperance question, I find documents giving license to the sale of intoxicating liquors frequently placed before us-license papers to give validity to the sale of intoxicating liquors. It is to you, the people of England, that we must look to give us deliverance from this mischief. (A Voice: "And we will deliver you.") I never sign one of those licenses without feeling that I sign a death warrant. It is with this view I have come from the North of England to support, by my presence, this great effort. (Cheers.) I am proud to have met to-day so many happy faces, especially this morning, when, owing to the crowds which thronged to the breakfast table, the arrangements were for a time disturbed. I expected to have seen an expression of disappointment on the part of some of those who were kept waiting; but when I went down among the third relay to get some breakfast, I found nothing but smiles greeting me from those who had been kept back an hour. There was no expression of that disappointment which is usual with those gentlemen who never sit down to dinner without sherry before them, and cannot endure the slightest delay. (Cheers.) I can tell you that when I heard Judge Marshall speak of the liquor-Traffic in Nova Scotia, I thought he was labouring under a misconception, and that he was speaking of the laws of this land. How do we proceed? We bind over the drunken man not to keep the peace, but to keep sober! The bare idea of compelling a person to keep sober by binding another man to pay a certain sum of money if his neighbour commits the crime is absurd. (Cheers.) This cannot prevent it. And yet you ask me to sit upon the bench and assist in carrying out such a law! But you seek to restrain drunkenness, and to do so you put the drunkard in the stocks. I tell you the liquor-Traffic long since mastered the stocks, and not the stocks the liquor-Traffic. But we on the bench are required throughout the whole of the year to counteract the mischief we do on the single day on which we issue licenses. I sometimes hear the bench of justices condemned for not doing its duty. We do our duty, so far as public opinion supports us. But how does the present system work? In my own neighbourhood, the bench determined by a unanimous resolution not to give the license to the owner of one house. But the man resolved to set the bench at naught, and applied

Now Sir Robert Brisco, Bart.

to the quarter-sessions. The license was thrown back on us, and we were obliged to undo our act in that mining district. The quarter-sessions, which consisted of men from different parts of the county, listened to that man's petition, and upset the resolution which we, who were acquainted with the circumstances of the case, had come to. These very members of the quarter-sessions, who in their own districts had refused applications for licenses, unanimously granted that license. (Shame, shame.) Mr. LAWSON, M.P.: Not unanimously; there was a minority of three.

Mr. BRISCO: I am glad to hear that, and hope my learned friend was one of the minority. I feel great pleasure in seconding the resolution.

The PRESIDENT: I believe there is a fair appreciation of the efforts of our magistrates throughout the land, so far as we have been able to learn them. They seem, in most cases, to have done their best in the capacity of guardians of our national morality. I shall ask the Rev. Mr. Mackenzie, who has a paper ready on the Isle of Man, to support this resolution.

The Rev. W. MACKENZIE said he felt it an honour to stand up in its support.

EDWARD BACKHOUSE, Esq., of Sunderland, in supporting it, said I feel for those who are required, in their position as justices of the peace, to grant licenses. I know several magistrates who, on the licensing days, decline to attend, or to sign licenses; they leave the task to others. I know several gentlemen also who have declined to accept the commission of the peace when asked to undertake that duty, because they would not give their approval to the licensing system. It is a shame to deprive the country of the services of such men. Nothing can remedy this mischief but a Permissive Bill, which will give every constituency the power of determining the settlement of this question. (Hear.)

Mr. JOHN DAVIE, of Dunfermline, also supported the resolution. For the past thirtytwo years he had been associated with the Temperance movement in Scotland, and had not advanced far in this effort until he saw the necessity of a Prohibitive Bill.

The PRESIDENT then put the resolution. Every hand in the large hall was held up in support of it. The President declared it to be carried unanimously.

F

SECTION II.

EDUCATIONAL AND RELIGIOUS.

The Duty of Ministers as to the Temperance Movement. By the HON. and REV. LELAND NOEL, Exton, Rutland.

THE of the Pin regard to the Temperance movement. Let

HE subject of the paper I have to read before you is the duty of

me say that this movement seems to me but little different as to its object from the Permissive Bill movement; for while the one has to do with the public, and the other with individuals, and the object of the one is to keep the drink from the people, and that of the other to keep the people from the drink, they are still carrying on the same work-viz., freeing our land from drunkenness.

The Permissive Bill movement would stop it by suppressing the trade in strong drinks, and the Total Abstinent movement by stopping the drinking itself, and all demand for the article so drunk.

Thus, as there is no opposition properly between the two efforts, what is there to prevent the friends of each from working harmoniously together? To divide us is Satan's object, because he knows this would hinder our work. Let us pray that the grace of God may defeat this purpose, and so keep us one in mind and heart, that we may gain the end sought, and the fruit of our efforts may be the destruction of the evil against which they are directed.

Let me now state, as it appears to me, the course a minister should take in reference to the use of strong drink.

It

St. Paul says of believers, professing faith in Christ, "None of us liveth to himself." Religion, if true, destroys selfishness in us. teaches us to care for others, and live to do good. "Charity seeketh not her own." The Christian, then, will be seen considering the interests of those around him, and living to promote them, as if they were his own. He will be ready, whenever they require it of him, to make a sacrifice of his own things. He is thus, as he has been called, the "highest style of man ;" and so, in like manner, because of his calling, privileges, responsibilities, the Christian minister should seek to be the

highest style of Christian. He is a watchman appointed to guard the interests of others, and to deny himself in seeking to promote them. "Son of man, I have made thee a watchman to the house of Israel." (Ezek. iii., 17.) And St. Paul, speaking of ministers, says: "They watch for our souls, as those that must give account." (Heb. i., 3.)

So their name, as given them in Scripture, is shepherds; and what is the shepherd's work?—to lead the sheep and take care of them. He is to think of those committed to him, and see that no harm happen to them, and that none of them wander and lose themselves through his neglect. He will expose himself to evil, and for their sake forget and deny himself, as David did when he kept his father's sheep, and Jacob when shepherd to Laban; "And the drought," he says, "consumed him by day, and the frost by night, and his sleep went from his eyes." (Gen. xxxi., 40.) And so should it be with the Christian minister in regard to his flock. He must be willing, that he may serve and benefit them, to forget his own things. He is to consider their wants, their dangers. Now, there is one great danger to them at this time calling for his consideration, and that is the drinking customs of the land. These are the chief sources of England's troubles. Whence does drunkenness come?—that evil of evils, comprehending almost all our other national evils-pauperism, licentiousness, crime, disease, murder, madness, the drunkard's untimely death. It is this principally which builds our gaols, poorhouses, infirmaries, madhouses; and those who have to do with such establishments, how well do they know that drunkenness helps more than anything else to fill them when built! Then what havoc does it make of our homes! turning so many thousands of them, which were once all affection and peace, into scenes of strife, alienation, want, sorrow, despair.

Then how awful its effects as to religion, and everything done to promote our country's spiritual good. Drunkenness steels the heart, stupifies the conscience, keeps us from God's Word, from prayer, from all means of grace. It hinders the profiting by them, supposing they are at

tended to.

It stops conversion; it will not let the Gospel have its proper effect. It is in the way of all improvement. As drunkenness furthers every evil work, so it counteracts the efforts of Scripture readers, missionaries, Sunday school teachers, ministers, to turn others to righteousness.

Whence, then, does this deadly evil come? Chiefly, and more than chiefly, from the use of strong drink. Oh! if we could have done with our drinking customs, where would drunkenness be?

But we all drink. We connect everything we do almost, publicly and socially, with taking intoxicating drinks. How sad the fact that we cannot associate for the purposes of buying and selling, or mourning or rejoicing, or showing our loyalty or hospitality, or commemorating any event which interests us, but the drinking strong drink must form necessarily a part of the work. And this applies to all-to the good and exemplary minister, just as to others; and hence the practice is respectable. No one thinks he is doing wrong in drinking, and what is the consequence? All have not principle to check them as they drink. The Christian