The Ashburton Guardian. Magna Est Veritas et Prevalebit. SATURDAY, AUGUST 18, 1883. The Blue Ribbon Army.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 1025, 18 August 1883, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna Est Veritas et Prevalebit. SATURDAY, AUGUST 18, 1883. The Blue Ribbon Army.

That the leaders of the Blue Ribbon Army movement are thoroughly in earnest in the crusade that is being carried on at the present time throughout the colony cannot be denied. People would scarcely put themselves to so much personal inconvenience were they not actuated by a belief that they have a mission to regenerate the world, and what approval is due to enthusiastic earnestness may be freely accorded to them, Their methods of working may be eccentric, and it may not be easy to see what is gained by arguing the liquor question on a religious platform, but this is not in itself a condemnation. If men and women fancy they will be helped to a right conclusion on the subject of intemperance by listening to the so-called sacred songs of the American Sankey alternated with violent speeches from rabid reformers, by all means let them have their will. We are told that these Blue Ribbon and Salvation Armies reach a class which the more orthodox religionists cannot touch, and the success that has attended their meetings seems to show that this assertion is not altogether without foundation. The only question in our mind is whether conversions made by a mere appeal to the senses can be lasting, and time alone can tell it this is so or not, Ashburton has not yet been favored with a visit from a detachment of the Salvation Army, but on the last two evenings the Blue Ribbonists have been at work in the Town Hall, and have managed to draw together crowded hoases. That the addresses which have been delivered so far have not shown much originality is to be accounted for by the fact that there is at this time of day nothing new to be said on the subject. Nobody questions for an instant that the vice of drunkenness is one of the greatest curses to a community; this is an axiom and requires, no proof —but the objection to these energetic reformers is that they do not wage war against the abuse so much as the use of alcohol, That old familiar figure, the typical drunkard, is painted in glowing colors, and the people are asked to believe that there is no medium between the total abstainer and the besotted brute who never knows what it is to be sober. Was any good cause ever served by gross exaggeration ot this kind ? One gentleman, we observe, and he had the prefix “ reverend ” attached to his name, said he would be glad to see every hotelkeeper in the Bankruptcy Court, evidently imagining that it would only be the bankrupts themselves who would suffer from this state of things. Truly a charitable remark to come from a clergyman 1 The wish is not a matter of much importance, as it is not likely to be fulfilled, but its being made is evidence of the length to which fanaticism will carry a man. The truth is that this difficult question is not to be decided by statistics, or by the repetition of Bible texts, or by the singing of American songs. He who believes that a moderate amount of drinking is good for his constitution will not alter his opinion because he is told that the proportion of drunkards to sober men in the country is greater than it should be. The Blue Ribbon

Army may or may not be doing a really good work, and we should be last to throw cold water on any scheme likely to abate a detestable and degenerating vice, but it would be perhaps better if their addresses were couched in more temperate language. The arrogance of a special virtue that is exhibited by these reformers is irritating to those who are quite alive to the evils of intoxication, but who fail to see why they should be debarred from enjoying what they consider necessary simply because there are large numbers of people who have not sufficient selfcontrol to prevent them making brutes of themselves.