The friends of Local Option held on Saturday, May 25th,
in the Albert Hall, a very large and enthusiastic meeting in favour of Sir William Harcourt's Bill. It is said that ten thousand persons were present, the Hall being filled to suffocation, and that ninety thousand more tickets were applied for. The speeches were not remarkable, the best being that of Sir Wilfrid Lawson, who, however, only assured his audience that Sir William Harcourt was stanch on the Bill, and intended to fight it through "to the bitter end,"—an odd description of the result which the Chancellor of the Exchequer hopes to attain. This statement of Sir Wilfrid Lawson's is confirmed from so many sides, that we can only believe it to be true, and that Sir William Harcourt, man of the world as he is, is actually con- vinced that he can persuade a Teutonic race to give up the use of alcohol. Lady Henry Somerset is apparently more doubtful, for though a strong supporter of the Bill, she was careful to point out "that if the people approved drinking, the new law would be a perfect charter for its perpetual continuance." Of course it will be, as the friends of tem- perance will soon discover, but we should not have expected this feature of the measure to be its recommendation in the eyes of teetotalers.
Previous page
