COUNTER REPLY TO "GENERAL GORDON."

Waikato Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 2587, 9 February 1889, Page 3

COUNTER REPLY TO "GENERAL GORDON."

TO THE KIUTOU. Sir. —Vour correspondent, General Gordon, in his reply to my letter of the sth inst., prefaces his remarks by a statement that 1 am writing as if L was the mouthpiece of the publicans, and in the next breath denying that such is the case. Let mo honestly assure G.G. that the denial is the correct one for him to m ike, as I am not, nor evi-r intended to be the mouthpiece of any publican in Cambridge. Evidently your correspondent ia not a person to beat about the bush, or doal in needless circumlocution. His tiral letter burst upon us suddenly, like a charge of dynamite with the explosive (piestions. '• What arc we to do to stop the d 'king mania which lias broken out in (Jambridge ?" Had General Gordon consulted the dictates of reason and common sense before rushing into print he would at once have came to the conclusion that it not the use, but the abuse which does the injury. If the Society to which your would-be witty correspondent belongs would only turn it attention to the regulation or the quality of the liquor they would do souiegood, and likewise earn the gratitude of both publicans, and dipsomaniacs. But to their eternal disgrace they systematically attack and villify the publicans and charge them with the death i»f every person who was known to have a predilection for a glass of heel - tn preference to Adam's ale. Such I assert is the charge indirectly laid at the door of the publicans of Cambridge by General Gordon. He now repudiates the assertion of having attacked the publicans, and for the verification of the truth of his denial actually refers me to the very persons whoso feelings he has so wantonly outraged, knowing quite well that they are equally in the datk as regards his identity as I am. A more unblushing piece of effrontery it would be difficult t.> match, and I cannot help thinking that if such statements as these are the outcome of teetotallism, blathersliiters lunacy is a disease not contined to the Asylums alone, but is of general growth among the particular portion of temperance advocates to which your correspondent has the felicity to belong. il.y friend General Gordon tries to be facetious at tuy expense, but fails most signally. His melancholy and dismal groanings 011 the sad state of the drunkards in general and Cambridge in particular, is euouirh to set all the. water pumps in motion through sympathy for his grievance. His ad rice for me to cure myself of an itch for scriblitig is about on a par with his demand as to why [chipped into the present controversy. May I not with equal facility and perhaps greater grammatical accuracy than G.G. has shown, ask him to cure himself of the .■ eaca'thes luqueudi to which he seems to be addicted? And may 1 not with the jame facility and coi nelncss of expression ask G.G. why he 111 dees such an indiscriminate and violent attack upon all who love a glass of ah- ? .M y remarks alielit the Gospel Temper,mee Army seem to have, brought out the sarcastic and inflammable nature of our worthy general. I should however, like to ask 011 what grounds does he base his wholesale and systematic con (lemuation of the liquor trallic ? Not on scriptural grounds certainly, for there is not a single text in the whole Bible prohibiting the use of wine. Why then do the tetotallers appropriate to themselves sach a ungnificent ami highsoundiug title as Lhe Gospel Temperance Army when scripture itself is opposed thereto ? If we accept the Bible as our guide, those whom G.G. has so glibly stigmatized as dipsomaniacs of different degrees combined in the following order. Perpetnals, occasional, periodical, and moderates, have a precedent to go by from the Scriptures. 1 do not assert that dninkeiif.ss is in any desree sanctioned in Scripture. But Ido and will maintain the fact that the Bible does riot prohibit the use of wine in moderation, and, furthermore, challenge the right of General Gordon or anyone else to make an indiscriminate attack upon those, who prefer the social glass of beer to that of any temperance beverage. 1. likewise challenge General Gordon to show me any text in Scripture forbidding the use of wine in moderation. Until lie can do so he is at perfect liberty to use the mystic initials of i.O.G.T. after his name, but in place of standing for Independent Order of Good Templars they stand for, when coupled with your correspondent, as [ Ought to Ge.t Thrashed, which he no doubt will be, if lus identity becomes known to those persons whose, feelings have been wounded by his ill-timed ami unflattering remarks on their little failings. — 1 am, etc., Sl'jl'.UlHJf OPiIMUM. Cambridge. 7th February.