The Sun.
London, England, 1871-01-10 00:00:00

NATIONAL TEMPERANCE LEAGUE.

Yesterday evening a special public meeting was held in
Exeter Hall for the promotion of the total abstinence
cause. The great hall was well filled. Mr. Diliwyn Sims,
who occupied the chair, opened the proceedings by obsery -
ing that the longer he lived and the more he reflected, the
more he felt convinced that the great principle which they
advocated lay at the basis of any real improvement of
the people. He felt encouraged by the spread of the
cause in the country to come forward and take the
chair on that occasion, and he was gratified by the sight
he saw before him to see that it was spreading also in the
metropolis. The total abstinence cause was one which no
one need be ashamed of, seeing the great evils which the
use of intoxicating liquors had produced. He thought
the sale of intoxicating liquors in railway stations ought
to be given up, and he was inclined to attribute some of
the accidents which had occurred on railways to the
facility with which the men procure drink at the various
stations. He did not believe in the utility of
stimulants even as medicine, and congratulated the
society on the fact that a medical journal had been
established to advocate that view. He had been a
teetotaller himself for thirty years, and though he could
not boast of being a robust man, he felt sure he lost
nothing in health by being a total abstainer. The Rev.
Mr. Stubbs, the Rev. Mr. Yeames, Mr. W. Saunders,
Mr. Smithies, Mr. G. Campbell, and others delivered
powerful and eloquent addresses, in the course
of which it was stated that there were 600,000 drunkards
in the country, that 60,000 persons perished annually
from the effects of drinks, and that 20 sovereigns
laid on every page of the Bible would not represent
the money laid out every year on intoxicating liquors.
Drink was the source of ignorance, poverty, vice, crime,
and of incalculable misery—not only to the drunkards
themselves, but to their wives and children; and, in
such circumstances, was it not the bounden duty of
every Christian man and woman to use every
possible means to abate the evil ?—and the best way of
accomplishing that was to resist in the beginning, and
to prevent the enemy from obtaining any admittance.
A very interesting feature of the evening's proceedings
was the excellent singing of the United Kingdom Band
of Hope choir, 600 strong, consisting chiefly of children.
A temperance song, adapted to the tune of the " Mar-
ise," was greeted with enthusiastic applause. The effect
was very telling, and especially the chorus—

" March on ! March on ! all hearts resolved,
To victory we go."
An encore was result, and the melody was repeated, appa-
rently with as much satisfaction to the singers as the
audience. A long programme of temperance melodies
were sung during the evening under the able conductor-
ship of Mr. Frederic Smith.

During the past year 165 persons joined the Cam-
bridge Junior Conservative Club.

Judgment is appointed to be given in Mr. Voy-
sey's case at the sittings of the Judicial Committee of the
Privy Council, which commence on Monday next.
The Post is authorise i to state that a marriage is
arranged between the Marquis of Ailsa and the Hon.
Evelyn Stuart, third daughter of Lord Blantyre.
The paper manufactory of Mr. George Si tnona,
Castle Gate, Nottingham, was burned down on Saturday
night. The loss, which is covered by insurance, is roughly
estimated at £lO,OOO.

Two of the Fenian prisoners—" Pagan" O'Leary
and Ryan—whose terms of imprisonment were nearly run
out, and who have been unconditionally released, arrived
in Dublin on Saturday.
It is said that a nephew of Mr. Bruce, the Home
Secretary, is one of the numerous candidates for the
secretaryship of the London School Board. Some dissa-
tisfaction is now being expressed at the slow and hesitating
manner in which the Board is buckling down to its
work.

A great portion of the extensive iron warehouse of
Messrs. Bailey and Co., in Liverpool, beneath which
excavations are being made, gave way on Saturday
morning. A gap of about forty feet in width and thirty
feet in height has been left in the building. No one was
hurt.

DEATH OF i\ll. MUNROE, THE S C ULPTO
With deep regret, we have to announce the death of Mr.
Alexander Munro, the sculptor. For a long time this
admirable artist.and most amiable man had been in bad
health—in such bad health, indeed, that his recovery was
generally considered as hopeless. He died at Cannes on
the Ist inst.

NIGHT HOUSES AT LivmtPooL.--The Liverpool
Recorder, in his charge, yesterday, recommended that in
future the magistrates should issue warrants against all
keepers of night houses who were known to harbour pros-
titutes. In in this way he thought such houses would
become suppressed in Liverpool for want of custom.
It is said that his Highness the Nawab Nazim of
Bengal has drawn from the India Office upwards of three
lakbs of rupees during his sojourn in England. "It
would not be difficult," remarks the Indian Daily News,
``to account fOir some cf this epeuditure. It is capital
invested; 'though we are not sup that it Will prove a
capital investment."

4 eirenlar hati been issued by the Medical Depart-
ment of the Privy Council, in which the attention of the
local authorities is directed to Section 28 of the Vaccina-
tion Act of 1867. By this they are empowered to ap-
point special officers to institute inquiries, and take
proceedings necessary to check the further spread of
small-pox in those districts where it has become
epidemic.