THE IPSWICH ELECTION.
[To THZ EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."]
SIR,—I would ask whether, in your notice of the Liberal victory at Ipswich, you have not omitted to mention a cause which surely had something to do with that result, namely, the tem- perance vote ? Mr. West, I see, declared himself a local optionist, and in full sympathy with the growing temperance sentiment of the country, whilst Sir T. Charley displayed marked hostility to legislative interference with the liquor
traffic. I venture to think the temperance vote carried the day at Ipswich, and I fully expect to see the same factor operating with like effect at coming elections, wherever temperance issues are involved.
It is beyond question that Mr. Samuel Smith's strong tem- perance views assisted in bringing about the surprise of the late contest here. Mr. Forwood is probably in advance of his party in this matter, but Conservatism and beer have so long been allied in this city that he had to suffer accordingly. Within the last two or three years, thanks mainly to the efforts of total- abstinence workers, thousands of electors throughout the country have become strongly imbued with temperance principles, and the sense of the whole community has been quickened in a remarkable degree in regard to this question.
As a Liberal, I rejoice that the Liberal party is to-day the party of Temperance reform, as I believe that this is becoming more and more a crucial question at election times, and that the triumph of Liberal candidates holding decided temperance views, and otherwise suitable, may be looked for with increased confidence. The attention now being directed to the condition of our poor and outcast population is to bring the temperance question, and the need for legislative action in connection with the liquor trade, still more to the front; and time, too, if there be even approximate truth in the contention of such men as Mr Spurgeon and Mr. Samuel Morley, that nine-tenths of the poverty and misery of our large cities is due to the effects of drink. I am only surprised that the growing power of the tem- perance vote as a factor at election times is not more generally realised. That it will, ere long, be so, I have no doubt whatever. —I am, Sir, &c.,
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