LORD SALISBURY AND TEMPERANCE LEGISLATION.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."]
Sin,—Will you kindly allow me to offer a few criticisms upon that part of your very laudatory article in the Spectator of May 18th on Lord Salisbury which refers to the subject of temperance legislation ? You contrast his attitude favourably with that of other speakers be- cause "they argue for it or against it, but never describe it as one of the things which it is useless to discuss because the time is not yet ripe " ; and you imply that they must know, or at least ought to know, that "drastic legisla- tion against the trade is impossible," because the 'British people" at present "intend to continue drinking alcohol, as they have done for so many ages." You then proceed to praise Lord Salisbury for his courage and honesty in declaring "that no legislation upon the subject can be fruitful till the people have made up their minds, that they have not made up their minds as yet, and that until they have, reformers, how- ever noble their aims, must leave the people at liberty, without attempting coercion, direct or indirect." Now, Sir, in what sense, and how far, is it true to say that the "British public intend to continue drinking alcohol, as they have done for so many ages," and that the people have not yet" made up their minds" in favour of temperance legislation? Certainly a great change has taken place in the habits and opinions of a vast number of the British public, for there are seven million total abstainers, and many more who are strictly temperate. On the other hand, seeing that three-fourths at least of the crime, the disease, the insanity, and the pauperism in this country are directly or indirectly traceable to excess in alcoholic drink, and that this is largely owing to the conditions under which the drink traffic is carried on, there is a very large, and a very strong and earnest, popular demand for some restrictive legislation which shall diminish the tempta- tion to excessive drinking. Is "the time not ripe," have the people "not made up their minds," when for years past hundreds of thousands, aye millions, have been imploring Government after Government for such measures of relief as Sunday closing, a reduction in the number of public-houses, the prohibition of serving drink to children? And when it is said "the people have not made up their minds," what kind of people do you mean? I am quite sure that the vast majority of those who are most exposed to the temptation to drink, who suffer most grievously, either in their own experi- ence, or in their families, or in their surroundings, from the miseries of intemperance, have long made up their minds that temperance legislation is one of the most pressing needs of the day ; that "the trade" as it is called (as if there were no other) is a terrible tyrant, that already it controls the State in many ways,' and that unless it is restrained it will control it more, with disastrous results. Of course, if by "the people who are to make up their minds" is meant all the people, we shall never get any legislation at all, either on temperance or anything else. As a matter of fact, many measures have been carried within recent years for which there was not half as mud: popular demand as there is, and long has been, for temperance legislation. Was there an irresistible demand for compulsory education, or free education, or Parochial Councils ? Had the people "made up their minds" that the abolition of compulsory vaccination was desirable ? To me the repeal of that Act seems one of the feeblest concessions ever made by a strong Government to the noisy clamour of a minority far more fanatical than the most extreme party of temperance reformers. Temperance legislation at the present time is called for, is imperatively demanded; it lags behind public opinion; and the statesmen who will not recognise this fact are surely either lacking in insight or in courage.—I am, Sir, &c.,
The Deanery, Winchester.
W. R. W. STEPHENS.
[We can only wish that the Referendum were part of our polity. The Dean of Winchester would then discover that while the whole population condemns drunkenness, drastic legislation to prevent it would not be supported by 25 per cent. —ED. Spectator.]
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