Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-09-18 00:00:00

BZINO TUE SUBSTANCE OF A 8: REES OF ADDRESSES DELIVERED IN

CONNECTION WITH BT. MART'S TOTAL ABSTINENCE SOCIETY,

KIR/MLLE.

DEDICATED TO THE
REV. C. E. TIT PERTON,
IT •
LIVERPOOL WORKING MAN.

" Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that puttest thy
bottle to him and 'makes,. him drunken."—liabak. it. 15.

[Continued from 1611 September.]

CHAPTER 111.

EVILS OF THE DRINKING CUStOMS.

Vast and momentous influences for good, as well as for evil, a•e at
work within the dim to of this country no intelligent or observant
mind can pensibly &say. Magnificent results of scientific power
are obvious on the right hand and on the lel. The means of transit,
whether by sea or by lan ', were never since the world begun so cheap,
Iso expediticus, or so free from danger. Millions on millions have
been exp nded in marine stea a navigation, and hundreds of millions
more have been expended on the great and almost interminable
iron Lighwa sof the kingdom. English comm rce expands her majestic
wings, and bids nations, empires, and countries arise and enjoy with
unfettered intercourse the equitable exchange of the fruits of their
1 Industry and still. Myriads on myriads swarm from Britain's shores
to fund new cities and enlarge the circle cf human existence over the
habitable g'obe. Tee English nation seems destined to subdue in
peace the sareace of the earth—the Anglo-Saxon race to rase the
destinies cf the world—the English language is be the medium of
conamueicetii n of thought amantst civilised nations—the English
Bible to be the book of books amongst universal man—and English
truths to be world-wide truths, Momentous powers are undonb edly
at work, in moulding the thoughts, the passions, and the habits of
the people. The nineteenth century stands out in bold relief, distin-
guished from every preceding age. Whence, then, the moral degra-
dation of the masses of Eng ishmen and Englishwoman—the 10).0:10
criminals within Britain's massive prisons—the 1,000,000 British
subjects regularly fed by cold legal charity—the 0,000 immortal
beings continually immured in the dark and dismal cells of the asy-
lum, the sad and dreary abode of the insane. Whence the 54,00 J
annually shouldered to premature grates. Can it be that all this
strring of the profoun eat depth of the human intellect to which I
have adverted has been mere y a gigantic effort to give to the horse
the understanding of the rider.
It is true many, very many ministers, as well as Christian laymen,
are engaged iu imparting sound religious instruction with nnprece-
dente cl diligence and fidelity ; many philanthrop'c noblemen and
gentlemen employ themseive3 with indefatigable zeal in inculcating
moral princirlas, and are endeavouring to ameliorate the condition of
man ; and patriots 11-e engaged in modifying and adapting the laws of
the land to the pro:not on of the internal p ate, happiness, comfort,
and prosperity of the country ; but what matters all this, wiles, from
the very summit of civil and ecclesiasticil authority, to the porters on
our deck quays and the sextons of our churches, there is the indoc-
trination of the most hateful and detestable forms of drunkenness;
and its developments are unfortunately as conspicuous among men of
birth, rank, and education, as among the foulest and worst of the
population (and who need be astonished at that, while there is an
establishment for the sale of intoxicating drink for every 160 of the
inhabitants of Liverpool, whereas there is only a place of worship far
eve y 2,373 of the people). It is unquestionably the drinkingcustonas
of England that have reduced our see al condition to its present
lamentable, appalling, and humiliating condition, and to those ens-
totes I props e to direct at motion. In doing so, I am compelled
however reluctantly, to confess that the history of man's existence in
this cquntry, as a general rule, begins, continues, and ends with in-
toxicating drink—intoxicating liver being . ssociatel with h s firs',
last, and almost every intermediate state of his life; we h-ar the
gingl ng io, glasses, aed we era as the smack of lips from the birth of
the child to his death, at whatever age ; when the man is in embryo,
all attendant are regaled with the odour of Cognac, Jamaica, or Old,
Tom ; and when ushered into being, the new-born babe is greeted
with a friendly welcome into life, amid the pestiferous dews and
poisonous vapours of dichotic driaks ; and thus the use of intosi-
eatine liquor is identified with the very first singe of lire, and the
custom of drinking strong drink is made coeval with the dawn of

man's history.
All children being alike liable to the common i Is of the fleah, the
lit le cherub in swaddling clothes perhaps takes cold in the belly, and
susjrs the gripe; the infallble speeitic —brandy, diluted with water
is administered as a soothin,; dose; or th tt papular ap2lianee, gin, as
a warm bath to the stomach. Should it fail on the first application,
the pain is set down as a very stubb.orn one, therefore an extra dose
is all . hat is r • coked to effect a cure, the screams of the little darling
being hushed with the second dose. Nutwthstand:ng the intoxicat-
ing draught the cause of pain is still there, though the effects are not
felt. Solomon speaks of one that was stricken bat not s'ck, beaten
bat felt it not; the fact is the little darling was d. unk—thus the in-
fant Is made drunk in the first month of its age.
The next month it may be the little one has to be christened, and
the season of this sacred and solcma ordinance (in rural districts
espz.c.ally,) is in too many instance., I lame _it to say, made the occa •
sloe cf much dissipation..

I venture to all m, having witnessed s'inlar subsequent licence at
the same place, that when my name was recorded in the books of the
Church militant, afte the solemn ceremo)y, there was an adjourn-
ment of the party to the most co 'Vicious publ c house, accompanied
by the minister who performed the disti )guished ceremony of pro-
posiag the new made Christian with a double glass of gin ; need we
wonder at the son of such a m:nister being found in tie canal, having
fallen into the water in a sta'e of helpless intoxication on the very
day his late father's pro2erry wan sold to liquidate his debts. Neither
the untime'y death of the son nor the dissipated character of the
inhabitants of the place need astonish us with such an example. I
am happy, however, to say that a better state of things exist at that
place now. Yes, I rejoice that there are 503 or more ministers who,
like the Rev. W. H. Wright, of Christ Church, the Rev. Mr. Bardsley,
and a host of others in this town who are advocating with their pens
and in every posslble way the great cause of total abstin.nee, Ne—
vertheless, in too many rural districts the practice stilt exists. The
next adjournment is to the parent's honse, there to feast on the things
provided. Plumb and rico pudding embued with brandy sullic!ent of
themselves almost to intoxicate. Apple pie, too, in the cooking of
which ale is considered an indispensaele ingredient. All this may
appear, and is regarded by many as a genuine mark of hospitality, and
an indication of good old times, to me, howt;ver,it appears a sad and
. . . .

fatal mistake. How the rest of the day, Sunday; as It is, is pet may be
conjectured. One resalt is generally the re-assembling of the
party next day to have a sort of wind te.', or as they used to say, to
have a hair off the old dog ; cr if the subject of this carousing be a
bey, "to drink" that he may make a be:ter man than his fa her, or if
a girl, that sh 3 may make a better woman then her mother.
In the course of Ulla the son has to b 3 ap2rentic ed, n3w styled the
little man, and on that °cession he wicneeses glass after glass
brought in. The future master of the little man urging him ev,,r and

anon to partale of the deadly poson, while tha company are bscom-
ing intoxicated with the rearion des.roying draught; the little man
now and again thinks of his maroles the last time he counted them, it
may be starts iato his r.c : he then laughs at the idea, says
to himself I am now .a young man and must have done with those
things, I will give thorn to my liAla brother Bob. With those new

assoziatiens too a-errantly commences a life of disiapation,
Time rolls on, and the next occasion we meet our hero, he is
staggering home at midnight from the Clah-house, on he staggers
and swaggers that he is the best warkmtn in town, none being able to
ct,po with hi,n in tho field of polamies, an adept at sing ng, cards,

- --n•
smoking, &c, &e., and thus I might g) on show.ng that tho

.•
history of man h cmaposed of a subs of repatitions of circumst razes

rimil rto what I have narrael; and as the natural course of events
brought him into the world, so the natural course takes him out of
the world, and dying with a legal claim Os his club, is interred at Its

expense, and the same cavern prezisely that attended his entrance
attend his exit out of the word, and the same deadly poison is drunk
at his death that was drunk at his birth, and to his health, and thus
the use of intoxicating drinks, b gins, continua, and ends wi.h a
mans life.

Who need therefore be surprised that drunkenness should deface
civilized and chris isnizad society, or what phusibility I ask is there

in the do:lrina that drunkenness sprung up from man's fillcn
nature—there would indeed be occasion for astonishment
if wa were free from the black crime of drunkennesss
with the customs that exist for enforcing the use of intoxicating
drinks. We mlOt as raaiouably conclude that a man may carry
fire in his bow n as I his clothes n)t be co 'awned, or to have a dean

and comfortable c)untry wish each filthy inhabitsnts as oscapy the

neighbourhools of Ilookenall Alloy, Chesnall-at eet, Marybon-,
Wright-street, and other pans of Liverpool, CU to expect a country
to be free from the black crime of drunkenness. While every turn

in life is se'zel as as oczasian far Introdscing intoxicating drinks;

and every circumstance is made subservient to drinking ca,toms,
and the only panacea for the evi's resulting from the elementary imi-
tiation into habits of-Intemperance, by examples, such as those to

which I have directed attention, is the adoption of tatil abstinence

princip!ea by the rising generation.

(To be continued)

Exclusive'y for CLOTIIIN'3 BOYS from Six to Twenty Years.

LEWIS & COLIPANY, itanelAgh-street.

" I can't bear children." said Miss Pam, disdainfully;
Hrs. Partington !coked at her over her spectacles mildly
before she repli id, "Perhaps if you cculd you would like
thin better."

GREAT CRICKET MATCH—We understand, say's the
Kelso Mail, that it has been arranged for the celebrated
United All England Eleven to play 22 gentlemen and
placers of Kelso and district. The match is to some off
at Kelso ou the 28th, 29th, and 30:h current.