A very curious instance of the prevailing grand-motherly spirit in
our political philanthropy occurred on Wednesday. Mr. Bruce's Bill, prohibits publicans from selling spirits to be drunk ou the pre- mises to children under sixteen. The provision is a reasonable one, and will have a good effect in diminishing juvenile prostitution ; but Mr. Plimsoll immediately tried to extend it to beer or wine, and when this absurd suggestion was rejected, quite a knot of Members reintroduced it for all children under fourteen. Fortunately Mr. Bruce stood firm, but just imagine the mental calibre of men who want to make it a penal offence to give a crow-boy a draught of beer, or to allow a child walking with his father to take a sip out -of his glass of ale! Did it ever occur to Mr. Candlish, who miss so strong about children " carousing," that to frame laws which children would break every day is the surest method of breeding contempt for law,—a much more formidable evil than even drunkenness? Or will Mr. Dixon, who boasts that he gives his children no beer, just offer a reason for thinking that the way to keep boys temperate is to teach them that liquor is the first luxury of the "grown-ups "?
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