The Sun.
London, England, 1868-01-03 00:00:00

NATIONAL TEMPERANCE LEAGUE.

This association held its New Year's festival last
evening, in Exeter Hall. The programme consisted
of the usual nature, of tea, music, and eloquence.
The tea was disposed of in the hours between five
and seven ; and at the same time the musical en-
tertainment was going forward in the large hall by
the help of Mr. J. G. Boardman, on the organ, and
a choir of eighty voices, which were led by Mr. W.
Harland.

At seven o'clock the tea drinkers, as well as some
who dispensed with that portion of the ceremony,
mustered in the hall, which was more than half
full. Capt. W. King Hall, C. 8., who vas to have
presided, was kept away by his dutirs at Sheerness
Dockyard, of which he is the captain superintendent,
and in his absence the meeting was presided over
by Mr. J. Taylor. A hymn, probably composed
for the occasion, was first swig, to the tune of the
Hundredth Psalm ; after which the speech-making
began, and continued for more than two hours, the
gentlemen who undertook this part of the pro-
gramme being the Rev. J. Fleming, Mr. W.
Saunders, Mr. M. Young, and the Rev. Newman
Hall. The addresses, which were wisely kept within
certain specified limits—ran over the whole range of
ordinary teetotal arguments, and presented no fresh
features of importance or interest. Details of in-
dividual cases, occupied the attention of the speakers,
and the usual wide-spreading inferences were
drawn from these isolated cases. One speaker
argued that the daily consumption of alcoholic
liquor in the: United Kingdom is equal to £2,000,000,
and that if., only for one day, this source of ex-
pense wes.e applied to charitable purposes the
charities would be largely benefited, and nobody
would be any the worse. Another speaker main-
tained that; after the experience of 30 years they
were jus cited in saying that alcoholic liquors were
wholly unnecessary, and might be done away with.
Mr. M. Young made a statement describing, in
rather a v ague sort of manner, what the society has
been &A ng during the past year. Conferences
with clergy have been numerous, active deputations
have visited some of the large towns in the king-
dom, awl the suburbs of London have not been
neglect et l. At the present moment there are 548
total ab,sf :aining Congregationalist clergymen, nearly
700 belo: aging to the Church of England, 270 Wes-
leyan, 21 ;0 Baptist, 426 Primitive Methodists, 360
Welsh Calvinistic Methodists, and 320 Free Church
of Scoqtand clergymen ; altogether the number of
abstain Ling clergymen is reckoned at 4,000. The
ships in the Thames, the Congregatiunal
colleg es, the sailors in the docks have been visited ;
in onti instance it is reported that a whole ship's
crew 'were induced to sign the pledge. Sermons
have , been preached in various parts. The society
sue :ceded in obtaining permission to hold a special
ser vice in Westminster Abbey. The conversazionc
w filch they ventured to hold in Willis's Rooms was
b .ighly successful, and the Crystal Palace fete gave
vneral satisfaction.

The Bn. NWhilliAlsl Ilaul who was warmly re-

ceived upon his return from America, then delivered
a speech, in the course of which he touched upon
some of his Transatlantic experiences. In reference
to the statement he made in America (and which
had excited some enthusiasm at home), that he had
seen more drunkenness in one night in England
than in three months in America—and that state-
ment had been compared with one made by an Ame-
rican bishop exactly to the contrary effect—well,
all he could say was this, that he had been in New
York, and had seen some of its woist parts in the
evening tine; he had been a thousand miles in the
West, to Boston, Philadelphia, Richmond, Brook-
lyn, Newhaven, and elsewhere, and he was prepared
to repeat the statement that had been so much con-
demned, and to maintain that he had seen less
drunkenness in America in three months than he
might see any night in walking home along the
New-cut and over Westminster-bridge, and through
the streets near Charing-cross. And what was
more, he saw one night, in America, more drunken-
ness than he had seen all the rest of the time that
he spent there. But the place was Halifax, in our
own colony. Upon landing at that place he saw
some British soldiers; his heart warmed to them and
he addressed them, and in a way to show his plea-
sure at seeing the old colours again; but the first
thing they said was, " It is a cold night, sir ; give
us something to drink." He was disgusted (cheers)
—for it was the first time he had ever been so ad-
dressed in America, and he told the men he was
ashamed of them, and that it was disgraceful to
hear that a man could not speak to them without
being asked for drink. (Cheers.) The same men
afterwards came on board his ship, and had berths
near his cabin ; and they talked and laughed and
made so much noise (even wanting to smoke),
that he was kept awake for more than an hour, and
could not help feeling more ashamed of his country-
men than ever. (Cheers.) He did not mean to
say that there was not a good deal of drunkenness
in America, but he -was prepared to stand by his
original statement so far as his own observation had
gone. He had left America more impressed than
ever with the necessity of social reform in the habits
of the masses in England. Political reform was all
very well ; but neither political power, nor educa-
tion, nor material prosperity, could confer real
respectability upon a man who was the slave of
drink. In the thing called " society" in England
total abstinence was discouraged and little prac-
tised, but it was not so in America. In the private
families to which he had introductions wine was
rarely seen. It was quite the exception when it
was introduced. In many houses of eminent mer-
chants and distinguished clergymen wine was never
seen, and no apology was considered to be neces-
sary for its absence, for nobody seemed to look
for it. Good water was put upon the table, and
after dinner the ladies and gentlemen retired
together to tea and coffee ; and it did not appear
to be at all the custom iu society for wine or beer
to be upon the table. It seemed to be the rule for
clergymen to be abstainers. (Cheers.) It was quite
the exception for him to meet one who took wine.
No doubt a good deal of drinking on the sly might
take place in some parts, but he only spoke of what
came under his own knowledge. As he had told
them, he went once to some of the worst places in
New York, under the protection of a couple of
policemen and two missionaries, and his impression
was that the worst parts of New York were by no
means so bad as the worst parts of London. By
the present law drinking licenses in New York wero
never granted to dancing saloons. He went to a
dozen of the latter places, and they were all near:y
empty ; and he was told that in consequence of the
wise law for separating drinking from dancing
saloons, 2,000 of those places bad been closed for
want of custom. All the public-houses are closed
on Sundays and on election days, to the infinite
advantage of public justice, order, and decency.
The day of an election in America presented a very
agreeable contrast to its appearance in England.
(Cheers.) The speaker gave some other instances
of the spread of the principles of teetotalism in
America, and concluded by expressing his hope that
the present feelings of dissatisfaction and dislike
between America and England would be speedily
removed, and the two nations be once more united
n bonds of brotherly affection. (Cheers.)
The singing of the Doxology ended the pro-
ceedings.

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