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Leader (1850-1860), 18th September 1852, Edition Town of 2, Page 902

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      ON TEMPERANCE IN ( JENUKAL . ( To the JCditor of the Ijtutdrr . ) , Siu , «¦ Ion" lately informed the' readers of Hut ' leader " that fhe ; te ; mpernne-e ; t , en <; liern repivsemt nioelerution as an inclined plane , polislie'el as marble-, : uiel slippery as ice ; , ujM ) ii which , if thi ) fool be ; onw placed , . you inevitably gliele ; down to perdition . " And » 1 ho that % <•>•' Bamo cIuhh of teachers we are gravely rcquimd to be-

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      lieve , or submit to be told , that the catastrophes represented in Cruickshank's Bottle will be realized in every family , " where a glass of wine is conscientiously poured out between husband and wife . " Had " Ion" made himself acquainted with the character of teetotal advocacy , or been more scrupulous not to misrepresent it , he would have been better qualified to write for its reformation , if such reformation it needs . Teetotallers teach no such absurdity . is that if you enter on the inclined plane of moderate drinking , you inevitably glide down to the perdition of excess ; or that the end of every family ' s connexion with the bottle will be

      such as George Cruikshank has represented to be the end of one family . Were such the unvarying end of moderate drinking , teetotalers might save themselves their labour , the evil would quickly cure itself . What they do teach is , that the first glass prepares the way for the second , by lessening the power of self-control . Having the testimony of a great number of medical men , including the most eminent , that health and the highest enjoyment of life is consistent with total abstinence , and corroborated , as they fancy , by their own experience , they regard " moderation" as wantonly incurring danger . If but one man , or one family in a

      hundred , realize the uttermost ruin to which those drinks tend , this , added to all the modified degrees of misery short of perdition , attending on the more moderate use , they deem sufficient to make total abstinence imperative . Many of them , before " Ion" was heard of , have listened to their cost , to what he would designate the teaching of " rational temperance . " They justly look with suspicion upon those who while preaching against excess , would lead them into temptation by the example of " moderation . " Such leaders , thank God , they have abandoned for the teachers of a sounder philosophy .

      " Ion , " of course , has no sympathy with the rudeness with which Mr . Gale was treated by Mr . Beilby at the Birmingham Church Missionary meeting . But still all his sympathy appears to be with the outraged ladies and clergymen to whom Mr . Gale wished to submit this outrageous amendment , as an addition to the motion before the meeting , — " That it be an instruction to the committee , as far as possible , to encourage the employment as missionaries , of those gentlemen who abstain altogether from intoxicating liquors , except under the advice of a medical attendant . " " A body of educated gentlemen might well feel outraged , " quoth " Ion , " " at this gratuitous imputation put upon their powers of self-conduct . " Had Mr . Gale formed a malicious design of exposing before the country , how soon " an audience of ladies" could be transformed into

      a mob , and how unreverend and ungentlcnianly reverend gentlemen could be , and of how little avail was their education and power of self-conduct under the slightest provocation , of the gentlest and most courteous indirect recommendation of abstinence from strong drink , it is not easy to conceive how he could have done it more effectually . " An eminent London writer" deems himself also outraged ( outrage upon outrage ) , because the keeper of a temperance hotel chooses to be true to his pretensions , and makes no better provision for his " stomach ' s sake , and often infirmities , " than did the Commissioners of the Crystal Palace in their refreshment rooms at the world ' s fair : " and these cases are of common occurrence , " sorrowfully adds " Ion . "

      " Ion , " some time since , pointed one of his correctional epistles to those Chartists who , in addition to the six points , contend for the " name and all , " urging the propriety of dropping the name , on account of the false ; ideas that it suggested of levelling , spoliation , Ac . When such writers as " Ion" have made their misrepresentations of teetotalism . suHicimtly current , some future " Ion" will deem it his duty to advise ) the teetotalers to drop the " disagreeable designation" for a similar reason . It is not the name , in either case ; that is the ollence , but the thing signified , and the misrepresentation is but a manifestation <» f that unprineipledness which cannot allow it bated cause to appear in its true colours .

      Unless " ion's" forthcoming correction of antislavery advocacy , show a better ac <| uaintanco with his subject , or more candour , be ; will nerve ; that cause ; as little as lie ; has demo that of Icetotalimn . Yours truly , («| . ; e > K < n : Siintkr , Jun . Derby Aiitr . 21 , 1 H . VJI .

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      TlIK TIM 110 TIIUOKY OF rKOlMOHTV . ( To the Kdilor of the , Lender . ) IjiiimIou , August . Ill , 1 H , > 2 . Silt , In yesterday ' s ( Monday's ) Times , there was a Koine ; what forcible ; article , holding up to worn a party recently l ' ormeel in the ; Uniteel Stiit . cs , whe » pmclaini thai' man has an inherent right to the soil . The ; Timrx most , unfairly assumes that this principle iuvolvoH the ; holding of all pre > pcrty in common .

      It strikes me that this is purposely done , to b ' or , rather , to keep the question in disrepute / nD ^' For my part , I believe that to carry out the idea nf an individual right to the soil , is an utter impracf bility ; and , if practicable , not desirable . At the same time , I think it could easily be show that the rents derived from the holding of land as * •' vate property , are a source of wealth © swartiS ?" different , and antagonistic to the , holding of priv f property derived either from " the wages of labour V the profits of capital . r I observe with indignation such journals as th Times , whenever property of any sort is mentioned at once thumping all descriptions of property into on common category . e

      Nothing can be more fatal to human advancement And yet we fall into the snare . Right to the soil gives the possessor a power to levy tribute , on both labour and capital , for liberty to carry on production . Whatever that tribute may be , is a deduction from the capitalist and the labourer , sometimes actin ^ more or less severely on the one or the other , as demand and supply fluctuate . This rent or tribute , however , is essentially different and opposed to both the reward of labour or the profits of capital .

      As shown in my former letter , * our ancestors who paid this tribute , attached to the payment stringent conditions ; let us keep the original agreement in view at all events , do not let us fall into the trap of confounding all sorts of wealth as alike in principle , and the day will soon come when we shall be able clearly to separate them . Yours obediently , A Tin-plate Wokkee .

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      THE PROGRESS OF INFANTICIDE . ( To the Editor of the Leader ) Sie , —Your article , headed " Moloch , " on the increase of the crime of infanticide , is astounding ; nor is the shadowing forth of the amount at all overstated . We have at this time the walls of our town placarded with bills offering 501 . reward for the detection of the murderer of a new-born male child found on the 15 th of August . Before the jury we had complete proofs of a young woman in custody having been pregnant , and delivered at or about the time , and many most suspicious circumstances were e vident , implicating her with the crime before us ; but , owing to the cunning and falsehood of the witnesses , all Irish , nothing tangible could be proved . Upon that inquest it was declared by the coroner , and assented to as probable by the surgeon , that there were , as near as could be calculated , about three hundred children put to death yearly in Leeds alone , that were not registered by the law . In other words , three hundred infants are murdered to avoid the consequences of their living ; and these murders , as the coroner said , are never detected . I do not , however , think , with you , it is " cant" to require a " suggested remedy ; " and I for one should be glad te > hear you fearlessly speak out t hat which your cultivated reason and experience would give sis likely to remove this horrible canker in our social condition . It is clear , infanticide does not end e > r begin with the ; object of murder . The state of mind that loads te > anel follows after such a crime against nature , is closely allied with and follows other transactions of life , the fruit of which will ripen in other fields than lire : commonly suspected , and preuhu-o results in practie-o as deplorable as the crime would indicate . ' I 1 - LcctlH , HcpUmiix-v ir > , ] H 52 .

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      What more I have to say , I must defer to another ¦ week . Yours respectfully , W . A . Pai / listeb .

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      902 THE LEADER . [ Saturday , ' ¦ ¦ ¦¦ ¦¦ ' *™ ™ ^** "" * - - — - — ¦——————— —¦ ^ —— . — , .

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      Leeds , September 4 , 1852 . My dear Me . Editoe , —I have too many irons in other fires just now to permit me to give more than a passing attention to the controversy on " Temperance " which at present literally burns in your pages . Indeed , the fire seems to me sufficiently hot already , considering that its subject is Cold Water , unless both " Ion " ( who is Anti-Earnest ) and his " bottle-holder , " the " Earnest" of to-day , are resolved to make Teetotalism evaporate as steam ! A little cool philosophy would , I think , serviceably abate the flame , and enable some of the combatants to look through a clearer atmosphere . Not that I agree with " Ion" in deprecating the Earnest , for I think

      that" One to whose smooth-rubbed soul can chng , Nor form nor feeling , great nor small ; A reasoning , self-sufficing thing , An intellectual all-in-all , " can be but half a philosopher at best . However , I think that toe have " steam" enough already , even for an Express-train , and that the thing needed is not another stoker to stir up the fire , but a wise Engineer to control the " expansive power , " and direct the Engine down the right line . Whether " Ion" is destined to be " the Coming Man" remains to be

      seen . I therefore desire only to offer here a word or two with the view of inducing the controversialists to avoid logomachy . 1 . As to words . When I use Temperance and Moderation , I mean by them a subjective virtue and appropriate practice ; proper use—including , of course , negatively , continence — withholding , or abstaining , from evil . When many Teetotalers use these words , they ( from want of logical acumen ) mean what their opponents call " Temperance / ' &c , but which is simply gratifying appetite ( as by drinking ) , irrespective of the normal or abnormal quality of the appetite .

      2 . As to definitions . " Earnest" egregiously blunders in supposing that our practical abstinence is derived from any verbal definition of a poison whatever . A clever logomae : hist may , as we have seen done in the Leader , call different things by a generic name ( as things necessary to health—atmospheric air , water , heat , pleasure ; and things which loioer health , as bad air , hot water , fire , fear—all excitants ) ; but that will not induce practical men to confound things which differ in their specific effects . Men who are bent upon

      confusing thought by words , insteael of clearing it , may puzzle themselves for ever ; but whether " Earnest" calls arsenic and opium fj bread , " or bread , and water , and air " poison , " wis shall still ge ) on in our practice , because we find , in fact , that one set of things are bad , anel the other set good . Facts , not phrases , are the foundatiem e > f the Teetotal phile ) sophy . As regards the phrases , however , if it we're worth while te > bandy words with " Earnest , " which it is irnt , we think we have by far the be'st of it .

      3 . Ax 1 o facts . It is ne > t true ; that " Earnest" can " govern his stomach . " Alcohol , like opium , tvill have its physical effect em that organ , however " Earnest " may tnoral . li / e > ppose ; the ; longing for more , which all narce > tie : s tend physically te > generate ; . What " Earnest " anel "Jem" have ; te > elo is to show that this is not a law of narcotic stimulants , for this lie's at the basis of the eliscussiem . Till this is elenie ; 1 have ; nothing further to say . We are ; not surre > und <; d with poisons . The breath e > f life is notWw . bmith of death . The ; wate ; r of life is ne > more aqua mortis than aqua fort is is a wlunVsome beverage . What things are ; composed , ov , and what things are ; composed into , are altogether eliffeivnt matters in chemistry anel physiology .

      Te ; e ; te ) t , ale ; rs , as such , do not see ; k to make I eetotahsm laiv—l don't think that any Teetotalers elo . The ; " Mainu-IjAw" is yemnger than Te > cte > talisin by twenty years , and is not Tcot , e > t , alisni . Bishops anel lords in the ; last ceintury atte'inpteel to put down gin-palae'e ; s ; were they Te ; ete > talers ? In this euMitury , good nie-n attempt te > j > ul . ele > wn prize ; -rings , he'llw , anel stews ; are ; they intolerant therefore Y The ; wisdom of sue-h a cenirse ; and the ; time ; for faking it are (| uestiems for de ; hate ; but surely a . country has it right to legislate , in , such , onttf-U ' . rs } We ought nol- <<> tolerate publie ; e'vils . Yours truly , K . If . I / i : i : s .

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      ANHWISKS TO COItltKHPONDKNTH . " A regular KuI . Hcrilx'v" will tlml lii « request- aUond . ' . l U > , i ho will call at our ollico for a note , oonUinini , ' the . piirticuMiB 'Iwuhw ,,- th , Hf » liMtic ,.. l question * of " A Rul ^ jH ^ J *^ Hiirmlaolory precision would elemiuuel more . Imio u »»> al ) l < i to I ) ch ( , ow . Erratum . -In our Country Edition of last , w «« k , •» the article ; em " Socialism and its latest Traduerer , p . ' j H ( - -oml column , for " that property , & *' -., \« ' «• <* « MliirnMI I > y nil , " read " is in fret , covsumod by nil . '

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      How to Trkata Uatixicmnakk . — ()•»• K "'« l () . us lu > was eme-e cmuping out with an e > lel JlKlulI j ' . ' was niidelay , and be ; was lying em the gre . unil w ^ the ; old e-bief was m-. liniii tf with his l > n « k against » ^ when suelelemly to his horror he ; saw n large ; , ruttie ; ^ wriggle ; itself ' ele ; libe ; ra . te ; ly across the ; e > lel o | n « r M ^ boely . The ; snake ; wuimxl to enje > y the wiirnitn ^ iviimiiiiniHor some time on the Inelian ' s stoinncl' . chief hin , M , ; lf was watching it nil the tune ; , but ^ not inervo an inch , knowing if l «> < ll ( l h ° ' .. a would strike ; him . At length , without i '"™^ muse-le ; , be- n . aele ; a peculiar binsing no . se ; , and ' j after lilting up his lu-iul anel listening , K" « ltH 1 J Sui . i . ivan ' h liamltles in America . ______ ——— - "

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      * Hoe Loador , No . liMv

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 18, 1852, page 902, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1952/page/18/