The Evening Star. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1872.

Evening Star, Issue 3056, 4 December 1872, Page 2

The Evening Star. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1872.

Every agitation, even if it do not j attain in full the professed object for which it was set in motion, exerts an influence in the direction given to it. In this respect, mental impulses are subject to pretty much like laws with physical ; although, on account of the complexity of motives brought to bear upon human thought, the exact measure of force exerted in given directions cannot be ascertained. When the temperance movement began in Europe some forty years ago, the earnest men who were led to band themselves together for mutual support in an endeavour to check the evil of drunkenness were looked upon as visionaries, and their mission was regarded as Quixotic. But human nature has something of the nobility of the seraph within it, and in all time, amid no matter how rude and unpolished a nation, the very appearance of selfsacrifice for the sake of others is honored and appreciated, even by those who are, personally, incapable of it. Little more than a century ago, respectable tavern-keepers thought it no disgrace to invite customers to drink by what they intended to be a most liberal offer. It used to be painted on their sign-boards, “ Here you may get drunk for twopence, dead drunk for threepence, and have clean straw for nothing.” There may bo those even now-a-days who are so degmded as to think such an advertisement a good Joke; but they would not dare to outrage the morality and right-feeling of the public by holding out such a disgusting bait. Their own feelings of self-interest would point out that instead of pioving, like the Syren’s song, a lure to passers by, it would become a beacon warning them to avoid so disreputable a refreshment house. Mainly through the persistent efforts of men like the large-hearted Father Matthew, and others of his class, have the physical and moral evils of drunkenness been brought prominently into public notice. The movement once begun, its effects soon became manifest. Three-bottle-men are now among the giants of the past: no one now likes to boast of how much wine or spirit his brain is capable of resisting. Legislators, always slow to move, have tried what penalties would do. They have no other resource. Pity but they had the privilege of sending thousands of paid enthusiasts over the length and breadth of a land where any movement, beneficial to mankind is rightly comprehended and projected. Had Great Britain paid ten thousand Ranters to pray the people of Ireland into Protestantism, instead of twenty thousand soldiers to overawe them, they would before this time have been en rapport with the English Government, and half Ireland’s troubles would have been over. Fines, imprisonment, and physical force only rouse to resistance; while moral or religious impulses so cure submission and permanent advance. Temperance advocates, teetotallers, bands of hope, and all such organisations, have drawn attention to the evils of the multiplication of lowclass publichouses. In Great Britain and tlio Colonies, investigations have been made tending to show the necessity for greater strictness in granting licenses than has hitherto been the practice. Licensed victuallers, worthy of being entrusted with the of liquors, have been injured by being brought into competition with men of no principle. Like all honest men, when competing with rogues, they have been placed at a disadvantage, because they were troubled with consciences. The evil has long been felt, and now an attempt is being made to remedy it. It may be somewhat unfortunate that through faith in a loose system, many persons have been induced to build houses, under the idea that there would be no difficulty in obtaining licenses. No doubt the Licensing Bench yesterday felt that the adoption of a better system necessarily led to some apparent hardships, when they were compelled to refuse licenses to men of irreproachable character; but it is plain society needs the alteration : that there have been too many apologies for inns—places avoided by respectable men, and supported only by congregations of character's that seek darkness to mature their plots and indulge in vice. We have no hope that tire breaking up of such dens will cure that evil, but it is at least one step towards it. It tends to raise tire character of licensed houses when the blots arc removed from their midst.