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SAVORN OFF !
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our legislators before 1834 had been that " good
malt and hops could injure nobody."
From '34 to '45 there was great activity in
the temperance ranks throughout the world ;
and in '53 the 'United Kingdom Alliance for
the Legislative Suppression of the Liquor Traffic
was formed, its first president being Sir W. C.
Trevelyan.
In March '64 a Permissive Pro
hibitory Bill was brought into the House of
Commons, but although repeatedly re-introduced
it never obtained a second reading. Nor is it
likely that such a Bill will ever become law as
long as the sons of Britannia are living outside
a state of slavery. Repressive legislation serves
only to stimulate that which it claims to check ;
and thus it is that these would-be reformers,
whether Prohibitors of the Drink Traffic,
Vigilance and Purity Societies, and Anti-
gambling Societies have succeeded in making the
state of London infinitely worse, as regards
drunkenness, chastity, and betting, than it was
forty years ago.
Poor frail humanity will always do the thing
which it ought not to do in preference to fulfil
ling its obligations. It has been so since the
beginning of the world, and will continue so
until the end.
Forbidden fruit has ever been the
sweetest; and it is characteristic of mankind—
and more especially of womankind—to oppose, as
far as they can, any attempt at restraint. What
has been the effect of closing Cremorne Gardens,
the Argyll Rooms, and other public resorts
where dancing and revelry were carried on until
the small hours, five - and- twenty years ago ?