the "futile attempt of making people sober by act of Parliament," though this we know is constantly done in our prisons and workhouses. It will be a great day for England when we cease to encourage intemperance by unsound legislation, and, at any rate, it affords some encouragement to hope for future reform in this respect to know that the present licensing system is universally condemned. The law is constantly employed in punishing the victims of its own seductions, and we all know with what unsatisfactory results. There is not an important town in England where there are not legalised agencies at work, doing more harm in a single week than all the appliances for good can counteract in a whole year. With this great fact staring them in the face, how can the ministers of religion much longer withhold their support from our great movement? It is vain to suppose that the preaching of the Gospel, or the progress of education, can ever effectually cope with the evil-an evil, be it remembered, which is of a physical as well as a moral character. It is forgotten that the national conscience is directly involved in the iniquities of the Liquor-Traffic; how, then, can we expect the blessings of God to attend our efforts to extend the Redeemer's kingdom, so long as we encourage by our silent sanction, at least, one of the most powerful agents of mischief that was ever inflicted upon any country? And as regards the influence of education in this matter, the very habits and customs of intemperance are far more powerful educational forces than the lessons of the school; and we know from actual inquiry that the crime of a district rises or falls, not in proportion to the number of schools, but to the number of public-houses within its borders. Now, we are not men of one idea; we do not prescribe Temperance as the panacea for all our social ills; we admit the vast importance of education for the young, the great value of innocent amusements for all classes; the important economic bearings of parochial clubs, friendly societies, as distinguished from fuddling societies. We wish all success to post-office and other savings' banks; but, however excellent all these may be, we still maintain that they do not form an adequate remedy for the evils of intemperance; in proof of this we need only state that the money annually spent in drink by the working classes exceeds in amount more than forty years' accumulated savings in our savings' banks; and the money thus lost is the least part of the evil-it is the fearful misery, temporal and eternal, that is produced, and the good that is prevented, which is most to be deplored. What an amazing influence and vigour would be imparted to all our parochial machinery by the universal prevalence of Temperance principles, and the absence of those ruinous public-house temptations which beset our working men at every turn, and which neutralise all our efforts to improve the social condition of the people. Take, for instance, education, which is regarded as the great social lever of the day. How many have already learnt, to their great regret and discouragement, that it is easier to get schools than scholars? The fact is, we must reform the home school first. In order to get hold of the children we must endeavour to elevate the domestic life, and reform the moral habits of the parents; and other agents than the schoolmaster are required for this. The lessons and training of the school, however excellent, are no match for the educational influences

of home. We pauperise the people by means of the Liquor-Traffic, and then we give them a parochial pension as a reward for their improvidence ; and, wherever improvidence abounds, we find the absence of self-respect, untidy homes, ragged children, neglect of school, boys and girls of tender years turned into machines for the manufacture of wealth, to make up for the earnings of the parents that are squandered in drink. It cannot now be alleged that ignorance rises either from the want of schools or the want of means. Drink exhausts the means, and takes away all desire for selfhelp and self-improvement, by the low, sensual, grovelling habits which it

creates.

The Temperance movement is essentially an educational movement; it is of paramount importance to the success of the school, for it reaches those unhealthy home influences which deprive the school of its legitimate fruit. "A little more method, and a little more self-denial," as Mr. Beggs well remarks, "would enable our working classes, as a whole, to give to their children an education so thorough, as that it would throw all the walks of competition in common life open to them."

Mr. Clay found, on actual examination, that 131 hard-working labourers and skilled artisans employed by one master, whose aggregate wages amounted to £154. 16s. a week, £34. 15s. of this sum, or 22.4 per cent. of the whole was spent in liquor. Now, allowing this expenditure to go on for nine months in the year, no less than £1,355 would be spent in drink; and, as there were twelve Abstainers amongst them, this would amount to £11. 7s. 9d. each. Out of this list Mr. Clay informs us that not more than twelve attended a place of worship. Whether these were the twelve Abstainers or not he does not state.

We have said that from 75 to 100 millions a year are spent in drink; and Mr. Buckingham says that 50 millions worth of time is wasted in this consumption; and who can calculate the moral and pecuniary loss arising from the consequent deterioration of character, and from the 60,000 premature deaths caused by it every year? Intemperance is the cause of causes; our crime costs us ten millions a year, and two-thirds of it is caused by drink. "A thief," says Mr. Clay, "costs the community £150 while at liberty, and from £20 to £30 when in prison;" and if his reformation cannot be effected, one or other of these charges the community must pay. Eighty thousand persons are either known or suspected to be criminals by trade. The plunder of thieves in Liverpool alone is said to amount to £200,000 a year; nay, in one particular year, the Municipal Council calculated it as high as £700,000. Now, in spite of all the reformatory and preventive measures which have been adopted, crime is again on the increase. Surely the obvious explanation of this lies in the fact that drunkenness its prevailing cause-and the Liquor-Traffic the cause of that, still continue to exercise their ruinous and destructive effects upon the community.

Again, our pauperism costs us £6,000,000 a year-and two-thirds of this is probably the direct or indirect result of intemperance. And here, again, we may remark that the money cost is the least important part of the affair.

The great facility of obtaining Poor-law relief operates, in numberless

instances, as a direct encouragement to improvidence and vice; and when we add to all this the ruinous temptations of our public-houses and beer-shops, need we wonder at the low moral and social condition of the working classes of this country?

A few weeks' hard frost is sufficient to turn thousands of hard-working labourers and artisans into beggars upon the streets, and the very bread given them in charity is converted into drink, a conclusive proof of the cause of their distress, and a very mockery of all our efforts, in the absence of sobriety, to inculcate habits of economy, providence, and forethought. To conclude, in the eloquent words of Dr. Guthrie-"Before God and man, before the Church and the world, I impeach intemperance; I charge it with the murder of innumerable souls. In this country, blessed with freedom and plenty, the Word of God and the liberties of true religion, I charge it as the cause, whatever be the source elsewhere, of almost all the poverty, and almost all the crime, and almost all the misery, and almost all the ignorance, and almost all the irreligion that disgrace and afflict the land. I am not mad, most noble Festus, I speak the words of truth and soberness.' I do in my conscience believe that these intoxicating stimulants have sunk into perdition more men and women than found a grave in that deluge which swept over the highest hill tops, engulphing a world of which but eight were saved. As compared with other vices, it may be said of this, 'Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands."

Brethren and friends, this question is one of immense magnitude and pressing urgency. May the Divine blessing rest upon our efforts to-day, may we have a single eye to His glory in all we do, and may each one be encouraged to gird up the loins of his mind, and determine “There is a great work to be done; the mass must be uplifted; but as the mass is composed of individuals, and I am one of that mass, my thoughts, my words, my acts, shall all assist to form a right public sentiment; at least, I will take care that the monster evil under which my country groans shall receive no countenance, no assistance from me."

Co-Operative and Benefit Societies in Relation to the Temperance Movement. By JOHN NOBLE, JUN., London.

THE beneficial influence of the Temperance Reformation is seen, not

to preserve the sober

from intemperance, but also in the facilities which it affords to our working population to secure their own elevation and advancement. It is no mere isolated influence, working for a single end, however noble, but the centre round which other movements equally beneficial revolve, the pioneer of every effort calculated to elevate and bless mankind. It not merely keeps men sober, but places them upon a stand-point whence they may progress towards prosperity, happiness, and independence.

The means of investment open to the working classes may be summed

up under a few heads-friendly societies, savings' banks, and co-operative and industrial societies. The report of the Registrar of Friendly Societies for the year 1860 contains some exceedingly valuable statistics relative to these societies. It appears from this report that, "on the 16th of May, 1861, the number of friendly societies, whose rules and alterations were in the custody of the registrars, was in England 51,548, in Scotland 897, and in Ireland 1,819." The objects of such societies are exceedingly laudable, and if their tables are calculated upon a right basis, and their meetings are not held at the public-house, they are capable of conferring great benefits upon society. From their frequent connection with places where intoxicating drinks are sold, they are, however, rather sources of temptation than means of advancement, and we are compelled in justice to working men to caution them to avoid all such societies as are held at public-houses. The following striking remarks are issued by the Rochdale Co-operative Society: The great evils of most sick and burial societies must present themselves to all right-thinking minds. The great expense of management and useless waste of funds, besides being chiefly held in public-houses-places neither suitable nor consistent with the objects of sick and burial societies—an appetite for drink and company is often created, bringing on disease and premature death." This emphatic utterance receives ample corroboration from all who have watched the working of these societies, and is further confirmed by the following extract from the Registrar's report:-"The Registrar had lately occasion to inquire into some facts with reference to friendly societies in the county of Hereford, and he ascertained that in that county 136 societies had had their rules certified since 1793. Of that number, 123 were held at public-houses, and 13 at schools or private rooms; of the 123, no less than 42 had been dissolved, but of the 13 only 1." Thus we learn that of those held in public-houses nearly one in every three established was dissolved, of those held in other places one in thirteen. It is gratifying to read in the same paragraph that, "though in several of the old societies the system of compelling members to pay a monthly sum for drink and to the annual feast is still continued, yet in some of them it has been discontinued; and in all friendly societies established since the 18 and 19 Vict., c. 63 (1855), no such rule can be certified or such payment enforced. During the past year the Registrar has received notice of the removal of several societies from public-houses to school-rooms or private rooms hired for the purpose." There can now be no reason, through want of accommodation, for continuing to hold these societies at the public-house, and, considering the many and undoubted evils arising therefrom, it is to be hoped that in an early session of Parliament a law may be passed prohibiting the practice. This would be a useful piece of legislation, to procure the enactment of which Temperance politicians of every shade of opinion may unite.

Savings' banks are another valuable institution, tending to promote the comfort and happiness of the working classes. The Registrar, in his report, gives the following summary of the number and classification of depositors in the several savings' banks in the United Kingdom, and the amount of deposits for the year ending 20th November, 1860:

The increase in the number of accounts during the year ending November 20th, 1860, was 79,001, and in the amount deposited, £2,300,630. The establishment of post-office savings' banks offers additional facilities for the cultivation of saving habits. By these institutions the working man has a bank open daily from ten to four o'clock, and on Saturday till a later hour, with the security of the Government for his investments.

The most extraordinary development of saving and industrious habits is, however, that presented in the history of co-operative societies. The development of this co-operative principle has already, in some districts, accomplished most marvellous results, and bids fair to effect a complete revolution in the habits and condition of our working population. A return published by a conference held at Rochdale, which, however, does not include all these societies, contains a list of 150 societies, with 48,184 members, and a capital of £333,290. The amount of business transacted in 1861 was £1,512,117; of these societies 121 have been started since 1856. The most important instance of success is to be found at Rochdale, in connection with the Equitable Pioneers. This society was started in 1844, by twenty-eight working men, with a capital of £28. In the following year the number of members had increased to seventy-four, and the amount of capital to £181. 12s. 5d. In 1861 the number of members had increased to 3,900, the capital to £42,925. 16s. 2d. The business transacted in that year amounted to £176,206. 14s. 8d., and the profit made to £18,020. Os. 10d. This, however, is not the only co-operative society in Rochdale; others have also been established, and in addition to their provision stores they have now a Cornmill Society, a Manufacturing Society, which owns one of the finest mills in Rochdale, a Land and Building Society, and other useful institutions, the united capital of which amounted in 1861, including money, machinery, and stock, to £125,729.