On this page

• Text (2)

  Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

  • 

    SUNDAY EXCURSIONS AND SUNDAY LICENCES.

  • 

    Untitled Article

• Transcript

  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    Untitled Article

    " sick man" then , than she now is . She had no army , no commander , no spirit of obedience , not one ally . Threatened in his capital by the fanatic Mussulmans and the Christians , Mahmoud scarcely dared to send his undisciplined armies into the field . Yet , with all these disadvantages , Russia was occupied in two campaigns in reaching Adrianople . The

    splendid niarcli of Diebltsch was within an ace of proving his destruction , and it was only his utter weakness that prevented hirn from advancing on Constantinople . In Asia the same spectacle was presented to the world ; and the Russians beat the Turks mainly because the Russian Government was strong , the Russian army well-organised and well-commanded , while the Turkish

    Government was weak , and the Turkish troops , although as brave as lions , were a mere horde . Thus it was that Paskiewitch made a famous march from Tiflis to Trebizond , and conquered a strong' frontier for the Russian tei * ritory in Armenia and Georgia . Has it not been so in l 853-5 i , and for the same reasons ? And if the Turks have been less unsuccessful , is it not because their army has b een less undisciplined , and their Government less impotent on the frontiers of the empire ? There was no Seliamyl at the

    head of the united Circassian tribes in 1828-29 ; there were " no European officers with the Turkish commanders in Asia ( Omar Pasha is an xlustrian ) , showing , when , deprived of , or declining , European science , as much incapacity then as now . Hussia was the wellbound fasces ; Turkey the scattered rods . " When in 1848-49 Europe was in the throes of anarchy , Austria in great peril , and England modified "by the peace party , Russia , diligently carrying out her policy , * made the most of the situation , and gained power and consideration by intervening in Hungary and occupying the Principalities . Again , in 1850 , Austria and Prussia quarrelled over

    the gallant little Hesse-Cassel , and Russia threw her weight into the contest on t'ho side of Austria . Towards 1853 the Porte showed signs of'internal improvement and extended trade , Religious toleration was making rapid progress ; the judicial system had undergone important reforms ; a sort of representative Government ras springing up ; and , above all , the army and navy had acquired an efficiency , especially in the artillery arm , ominous for Russian interests . Calculating that Europe would not interfere , the Emperor Nicholas sent his soldiers across the Pruth , and entered on anew war to seize tho property of the sick man before his death . It was the

    old game ; but -there \ vns a miscalculation . And what do wo soo ? Tho results arc quite in accordance with history . In Asia , where regular and energetic government does not exist , and where there is neither an army nor a general , Hussion discipline carries the day ; but it meets with difficulties in proportion to tho organisation of its opponents . In Europe , Russia fails altogether , cvon against tho Turks , in partial rencontros ; and is compelled to submit to bo assailed in her own strongholds . Tho result is striking . For something like n century and a half this Northern Power has boon ' encroni'liing

    upon Europe , During that period her incursions have boen made upon those least able to defend themselves , -whether ngainst her intrigues or her arms . Poland , Finland , Turkey , Crim Tartary , tho Cossacks , tho Circassians , tho Persians , have all felt tho weight of her power at critical momenta of clomoatic confusion . During that period who has availed horaolf to tho utmost of tho wellicnown forbearance and notorious ombamiHS-slnenta ot European Governments to puwli her interests on all sides , sticking neither at force nor fraud . It was natural ' that iUuropo should nrrest this constantly aggressive

    power : it -was natural , although not exactly in the form foreseen , by the great Corsican , that Europe should engage in the contest of Cossack against Republican institutions . The lesson which history , as we read it , teaches to . Europe is that nothing but strong and regular Governments ca n successfully oppose Bussia ; and it behoves the " Western Powers , therefore , to consider , for their own sakes , how far they can act , not only to

    make Russia know her place , but to set up strong frontier powers—Poland , Hungary , Turkey , Circassia , Scandinavia—to confine her within due bounds when she shall have been driven thither . Unless this be done , France and England will have wasted their strength in vain ; aaid the frontiers of the "West will be still disturbed by the unscrupulous conduct of a state which has ever the least to lose and the most to gain in a general war .

    Sunday Excursions And Sunday Licences.

    Chester , the free library , museums , and parks ; in Dublin , the Zoological-gardens , at a penny admission ; in Yorkshire , the opening of the grounds at Chats-worth , have been found to operate aa powerful counter-attractions ; and publicans generally have remarked that since the use of excursion-trains , much , of their custom has been drained off . Temperance , therefore , may be occasioned by other causes besides strictness of licensing .

    The trade no doubt are in arms at tbe idea of abolishing distinctions between publichouses and beer-shops , as the Select Committee- on Public-houses proposed . Alderman Wire , solicitor to the Licensed Victuallers ' Association , declares , that in the metropolitan districts alone 6 , 000 , 0002 . of property will be destroyed . "I use the word '

    destroyed advisedly , " he declares ; a statement perhaps as well founded as that of the coach proprietors , who declared that railways would destroy the habit of travelling in the British people , abolish the race of horses from the island , and sweep away innkeepers . With every fresh extension of British institutions it always has been so * When any trade has grown up under restriction there always has been an assertion that to abolish the

    restraint -would be to destroy the want for . which the supply is limited . There are those who say that if the wine trade were thrown open , no more wine would he drunk in this country ; because / they argue , the price would fall , and it would not be worth while to import it ; present drinkers would be disgusted , new drinkers would not be formed , and the demand would cease : Q . E . D . The fact is , however , that experiences of past relaxations have been in favour of continuing

    the process , The Beer Act , authorising the sale of beer , without the necessity of taking out a public-house licence , was successful . The last Sale of Beer Bill , intended to pass for the better observance of the Sabbath , vrhile it has given a new sanction to gome publicans who did wish to close their publicbouses , has done much to destroy one of the chief counteractions to Sunday drinking , especially in the neighbourhood of large towns , by placing difficulties in the vray of the excursionist . No doubt magisterial decisions have in many cases softened the effect

    SUNDAY EXCURSIONS AFD SUNDAY LICENCES . Alil brief statements must be taken subject to much qualification . " There is , " asserts the Morning Advertiser , " little drunkenness in our public-houses ; in the majority of those houses it is a rare thing to see a drunken man . " We are willing to confess that the public-house is not the place to look for the most signal instances of intemperance ; perhaps we might look to more private places . Nevertheless , if publichouses are sober , the proprietors are not always the cause of sobriety in others ; and from , whatever cause , England certainly is not a country celebrated for the rarity of drunkenness . On the contrary ; the traveller who comes from some other lands is amazed at so frequently encountering men in various stages of intoxication . In Tuscany , for example , where wine can be bought in every street , and sometimes very good wine too , a drunken man is a real rarity . In this eountry he is not an unfamiliar object , but then we restrain the sale of intoxicating drinks by licences and other impediments . We infer , therefore , ' and our inference is supported by other facts besides those cited , that the licence is not the cause of sobriety , and that free-trade in stimulants is not the direct

    incentive to intoxication . Open the trade , let any one obtain a licence who can pay for it , argues our contemporary , the Advertiser , and drunkenness will be extended broadcast . He refers to Scotland for proof ; where , " especially in large towns such as Glasgow , there are some streets in which every third or fourth shop or cellar is appropriated to the sale of intoxicating drinks . " "Free-trade in whisky is rapidly transforming tho lower classes m Glasgow , Edinburgh , and other largo towns north of

    the Tweed , into a community of drunkards . " Unfortunately for this argument , Mr . Duncan M'Laren , the Lord Provost of Glasgow , has recently bestowed upon the world an enonnous mass of statistics , to show that drunkenness is declining in ( Scotland . Many who have noted tho vice ascribed it to other causes besides free-trade , especially to tho absenco of harmless stimulants for tho people . Deprived of a holiday on tho seventh day of amusement—of almost everything that enables life to bo tasted once a week with a

    relish and a Kest—tho Scotchman Hies to tho whisky bottle . Evidenco to tho sumo ollbct has been furnished in this country . One of tho reasons why publicans and ' Jurgo numbers of tho working-classes are not adverse to closing public-houBOH on Sunday id , that tho greatest numbers of tho people are becoming accustomed to spending { Sunday otherwise than in tho bar parlour . Tho Select ; Committee oti Public-houBca notico thia i ' Met . hi

    Mnnof the act , and it has been properly discovered that the excursionist to Hampton Court , for example , is a " traveller , " and may be furnished with refreshment . But people do not feel the saino confidence in a magisterial decision that they do in an act of Parliament ; and tho attendance of travellers at that particular place , Hampton Court , has undergone a marked decline . Indirectly the last Sale of Beer Act has so far repealed Mr . Hume ' s reform , by preventing the people from going to Hampton Court , except under tho pain of making the journey without refreshment . The alternative of course would

    bo , for tho traveller to carry tho refreshment in his pocket and eat it on a door stop ; but English families do not relish that mode oi refection . JNTow , without discussing for tho present tho larger question of throwing open licences entirely , though we incline to agree with tho Select Committee , let \ is deal witli tin ' s unforeseen elVoct of tho last Ueor Act . Of course there was no intention to stop Sunday

    visiting of Hampton Court ; or if such au intention had boon avowed it would have been frustrated . Tho act of Parliament render * tho opening of nublie-liousoa on that day precarious ; 1 lio freedom to ilo so depends upon tho chances oi' inngiufcorml decision . Without re-opening tho wliolo question ot Hunday irnlllcinff or licensing , then , lot this cliUicuily l ) o met directly in the tooth . 11 tlio m-fc ' iimita anybody , let it nt all events bo amended by a now act , uuthoriaing tho issuo

    Untitled Article

    September 23 , 1854 . ] THE LEADER . 899

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 23, 1854, page 899, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2057/page/11/