INTEMPERA.NCE AND SEWISH SABBITARIANISM.
1 Adam Street, Adelphi, 5th June 1854. Sni—I should be much better pleased if Mr. W. Mill could prove his case than I mine, in the matter of the "reeking abominations' of Glasgow. Glad indeed should I be to learn that the great commercial metropolis of the North had been libelled in this matter. The late Mr. O'Connell, in venting his indignation on one occasion in the vernacular, which he some- times used in speaking to unclassic constituents, described a political oppo- nent as "the gindhrinkingest ould rascal breathin' ": so I, arriving at my facts by what I have seen in sundry visits to Glasgow, by reports of com- mercial men on the " unco' guid' there found, and their doings in the " sma' hours" of the day as of the night, by the perusal of the Glasgow directory, which yields but a few bakers to a manifold list of whisky and spirit-dealers and grocers and wine-merchants—in short, a list like Falstaff's memorandum, "but one halfpennyworth of bread to an intolerable deal of- Peat-reek, Ferintosh, and Glenlivat," by the recent feud between Embro' and Glasgie as to whilk o' the twa was the maist " whisky-drinkWgest," and by the palm being awarded to the latter, I judged that my quotation was as indisputable as that coals come from Newcastle. I have, I assure your correspondent, compared notes in many capitals, and think that Glasgow bears away the bell for the coarsest kind of intemperance. London has the peculiarity that people flock from all quarters of the island and of the world to partake of such debaucheries as she still holds out ; but the purlieus of Wapping cannot compare with the purlieus of the Broomielaw. "Rag Fair" and the "Beggars' Sunday morning 'change, on the Seven Dials" are de- parted, and their glories are no more. The Sunday steamers and Sunday trains have largely emptied Sunday spirit-shops in London, as, I trust, Sun- day steamers and Loch Lomond will yet do by Glasgow. That crime largely exists in London, is, alas, but too true ; but when your correspondent assumes that it has vanished from Scotland, we are forced to remember that it was in Glasgow that the wages of murder were paid from giver to receiver in a dark room on the part of a whole club of vindictive artisans, as Thomas Carlyle impressively describes it in his work on Chartism. Immorality is doubtless largely aggravated by, if not born of, intemperance ; but to what does intemperance owe its birth ? Partly to poverty, partly to the want of relaxation—of recreation. Intemperance wears many forms, but it is chiefly found in countries where the climate denies healthy out-door recreation and no compensation is provided in-doors. I do not advocate the intolerance of some Teetotallers with their total absti- nence, but recognize the utility, of alcohol as a stimulating article of food under certain circumstances. In the damps of Holland has arisen the natu- ral appetite for Schiedam ; the damps of Ireland and the almost entirely vegetable food demand the stimulant of potheen ; and on the top of Ben Lo- mond a London lady swallows some mouthfuls of Ferintosh, ere she asks "what they have put in the water." All this is natural ; and I believe that in few cases would the habit of intemperance be contracted but for the de- nial of physical and mental recreation. When intoxicated, the Hollander is stupid and sleeps ; the Irishman becomes hilarious, and talks with an aspi- rate on every word, as though his throat were too small to give vent to the emotions of his heart ; the drunken Scot of the lowest class gurgles the gutturals in his throat, with a kind of gloomy intonation. Mr. W. Mill says that debased intoxication in Glasgow only pertains to those who never enter churches. Does he mean that " whisky-toddy " is not a very common habit of the "wed to do" ?—that there are no remanets of the doings of Counsellor Pleydell and "high jinks" practised in the bye-places by respectable men at the present day—that after leaving church they pass the whole day in the study of Scripture ? I was once in the environs of Glasgow restrained from walking along the meadows to Govan by a friend during church-time, on account of "what the folk would say," till church was over ; when he accompanied me, saying it would be supposed we were returning like the others from church. Many Scotsmen who come South learn to perceive the evil of Jewish Sabbatariamem, and probably thus it has been that the habit of prohibiting all Sunday recreation has been broken down. The fact of the struggle for this wholesome freedom having been needful, is answer enough to Mr. Mill's intimation, "that the avenues from the city are not closed and guarded on Sunday." Is there no closing and guarding but by doors and policemen? Is not the threat of depriving a man of his living, or refusing him orders, just as mischievous an equivalent ? Mr. Mill doubts whether free transit will induce people to leave these haunts of squalor and seek God's works in the free air. No doubt, there are some bred in filth who will still wallow ; but let the chance of new life be given and many a brand will be saved from the burning. Let the experi- ment be fairly tried, and Glasgow will soon be as London, where' though much vice remains, it is largely on the decrease. The police reports alluded to are no proof of the increase of vice, but of an increase in the means of de- tection. Men have always beaten their wives and ill-used their families, but the oases were not reported. The law which seeks to protect women from ill- usage by those who should cherish them has brought to light the previously hidden monstrosities, and none of them escape the lynx eyes of the reporters. The religion of many Scotsmen appears to be that of the old Covenanters, conscientious, devout, and austere. I can admire it, in the recollection of what it did in the olden time in the resistance to oppression, while seeking the Lord in the wilderness, while casting out unholy mammon, and suffering all for conscience' sake. But I cannot sympathize with it in these days, when it takes the form of an oppression similar to the oppression which it re- sisted of old. Compelled religion is not religion at all ; and whether the compulsion be enacted by Scottish elders or Papal priests, or Islamite der- vishes or Pagan rulers, it is alike mischievous. If some men prefer the tomblike darkened building, shutting out from sight all God's works, and leaving the memory alone to dwell on Scripture texts, let no man interfere with them and their fellow worshipers. But neither let them interfere with those who delight in beauty, and prefer to worship their Creator surrounded by all those objects and scenes which surrounded the youth and manhood of the Saviour.
Religion is or should be one and the same. The expression of it must vary ever with the qualities of the brain and nerves and mental organization. Reli- gion is and must ever be a spontaneous emotion. It cannot be created by teaching. The artistic nature leans to Catholicism naturally ; those with business faculties are natural Protestants; the sensuous prefer beauty to ugliness ; and there are races to whom the whitened wall and tallow candle seem more devout than the architecture of a Ruskin. What we really have to guard against is, that no man or set of men shall dictate to other men after what fashion they shall worship God. The same nature that can suf- fer martyrdom can but too frequently inflict it. Religion must vary in de- gree; and it is not for any of us to exclaim, "I thank the Lord that I am holier than these."
I presume that all Sabbath-observers found their principles upon the Fourth Commandment. There are two modes of reading it—literally, and in the spirit- Casuists will read it literally. If so, we find that only " work " is proscribed "within the gates," and that rest is enjoined. What, then, is rest? Not sitting still—for an energetic child or man is restless in his chair. A tailor rests by standing and walking. Rest means really change of pos- ture, or change of employment, which is to induce repose. Sweet sounds of music are rest to the wearied mind. Had the Creator meant that the Sab- bath was to be hallowed by utter stagnation, the birds would have been mute, the greater and lesser lights of heaven would have been filmed into obscurity; the tides would have been arrested, the streams checked in their courses, plants would have ceased to grow, and a deep sleep would have fallen on all animals at the twelfth stroke of the clock ushering in the weekly Sunday. But it is not so : the sun shines as brightly, the birds sing as cheerily, the plants areas fresh and verdant on the Sunday as on other days ; and man's day of rest really means man's day of enjoyment of all those sensations healthy to himself and to his fellows.
Read in the spirit, the commandment really means, that on every seventh day the taskmaster shall cease to oppress his over-wearied toilers by work that is felt to be drudgery. The holy day is in truth the holiday in which man is to rejoice and be glad till his heart within him carols like "the sweet bird's throat"—till, feeling all his own wants and wishes gratified, he grows to a state of sympathy with all his fellows, and involuntarily exclaims, "God bless all the world''
I am, Sir, yours faithfully, W. BRIDGES ADAMS. [From the time that has elapsed since this letter was written, our cor- respondents on both sides will understand that the further continuance of the controversy would be inconvenient.—ED.]
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