Raper and to the utterance of a prediction that the said bill would be rejected by a majority of three to one. That such a ratiocination was more than realised was proved by eight to one, as expressed by simple digits, or by the more exact proportion of 292 to 35, which had to be regarded as a pretty conclusive test of opinion pervading the Commons House of Parliament on Mr. Lawson’s proposed measure. But, while we make no secret of our sympathies being in favour of total abstinence as practised by certain persons under certain conditions, we are as free to rejoice at the death blow which has been struck at the permissive Bill, both on behalf of the Temperance cause itself, and as against a pernicious principle involved by the proposed measure. Call it a trite saying if you will, but it is nevertheless a true one, that a man will not be made sober by Act of Parliament you shut up the alehouse (quoting from a previous article), and you imagine that you have compelled him to be a sober man. Be not deceive, He is not, perhaps, drunk with liquor, but he is drunk with rage. He rails against the Government; his workmates imbibe the spirit; the publican, brewer, wine merchant, hop-grower and maltster join the assembly; men of quiet habits but of keen perceptions feel that a great blow to liberty has been struck; public meetings are held, and a conflict ensues!" But, happily, we have escaped such a dire result by the rejection of Mr. Lawson's Bill, and are now free to follow the only legitimate course that of reasonable and calm persuation in converting people to habits of temperance and sobriety. The pros et cons of England's drinking facilities in general, and her licensing system in particular, have been so thoroughly debated, both in and out of the House as to render the subject somewhat trite; but the bare coincidence of the opponents of prohibitory legislation in the present day employing precisely similar arguments to those promulgated by our selves ten years ago, is, presumedly, a sufficient justification on our part of another venture over the well trodden ground. In an age like the present when, in his forward march, old Time steals on with rapid strides, and crowds within the scope of a few years a life-long course of events, as compared with earlier periods, it is surely a matter of self complacency that, instead of having to recant or even to modify our uttered opinions at the end of ten years, we find them confirmed by so significant majority of legislators as indicated above, and equally so in the endorsement of probably eight-tenths of the journalistic fraternity. We lay some stress upon this, not only in consequence of the benefits which have accrued to the public from a cheap and unfettered press, but to show also that as we were once opposed to prohibitory measures in connection with the public Press, so we were, and still are, opposed to prohibitory legislation in regard to public houses. But to our extracts: - "There is no one, we suppose possessed of the ordinary faculty of reflection and the usual means of information but must view with a thrill of -
