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under ordinary circumstances would have prevented the progress of crime, so that although the people had multiplied, offences and committals would have decreased. Both the character of our holy religion and the effect that it has produced, in thousands of instances, upon the morals of mankind, allow us to anticipate such a result. But what has actually been the case in our own country up to the present time? The faithful ministers of the gospel have increased, Bibles have been multiplied and sent into almost every house, religious tracts universally distributed, home missionaries have been employed, Sunday, National, and Lancasterian schools instituted beyond any former precedent, and yet, with all these benevolent energies at work, crime has awfully abounded. From this fact the enemies of knowledge have asserted that our schools have been a curse rather than a blessing. It seems to have escaped the notice of these objectors, that every human being who employs the use of his faculties, and has arrived at maturity, is a person of education. The savage has been educated to be a savage, the Turk to be a Turk, and the clown to be a clown. question therefore is, not whether the people shall be educated, (that every one must be), but whether they shall be educated aright. Now, for some years past, the people have been taught the great truths of the Gospel on a much larger scale, and in a much more rational and engaging form than at any previous period, and yet crimes have terrifically abounded; to attribute the multiplication of offences to education in the truths of religion, or to reading and writing, is as unphilosophical as it is absurd; nor is it a jot more rational to suppose that if people were educated in clownishness and vandalism, they would make better members of society. The increase of population also cannot properly be said to have been the cause of increasing iniquity, for we have statistics to show that there is less crime in the densely crowded, than in the thinly peopled parts of the country. The multiplicity of Bibles, of religious and scientific books, and of faithful preachers of the word, cannot have originated or cherished vice. We must therefore look after some other cause, and to discover a cause in every respect adequate to these results, no lengthened scrutiny is necessary. On the authority of superintendents of police, of sheriffs, of coroners, of jailers, and chaplains to Houses of Correction, we are assured that "nine-tenths" of the crime that has come under their notice originated directly or indirectly in the use of intoxicating drinks. Mr. Wontner asserted, "that ninety-nine cases out of a hundred were owing to intemperance." Several military gentleman of high respectability and extensive obser

| vation, declared, to the committee of the House of Commons, that every crime committed in the army was occasioned by drunkenness. If we will also open our eyes to what must have occurred under our own individual notice, we must all confess that the far greater number of crimes can be traced to habits of drinking. We have another striking testimony confirmatory of this reasoning, in the fact that crime has increased in proportion as beer and spirit licences have been multiplied. In 1818, the number of beer and spirit licences was 86,459, but in 1833 they amounted to 139,007, giving an increase of 52,548. The consumption of spirits and beer had also advanced at an equal ratio. In 1801 the number of gallons of distilled spirits was 3,547,388, but in 1831 the consumption amounted to 8,941,072, so that in the latter year 5,393,684 gallons more than in 1801 had been swallowed of these deleterious liquors. A reference to the malt-duty will present a similar result. It was also shown by more than one witness before the committee, that whenever an increase of duty, or any other circumstance, caused a decrease in the consumption of intoxicating drinks, that crimes immediately decreased; and that the contrary was the case whenever the people obtained facilities for procuring them.

Facts also will not allow us to conclude that crime is chiefly connected with the drinking of ardent spirits. In Gloucestershire probably there is as little ardent spirits drunk as in any part of the country, while, on the contrary, beer-shops have been multiplied to an enormous degree; and in the year 1835 crime increased nineteen per cent. The Parliamentary returns for 1836 state, that, in twenty-three agricultural counties having the largest agricultural population, crime has increased in twenty, and in some to the amount of thirty-two per cent. These are beer-drinking counties, and the beer-shops and crime have very naturally increased together. We know also that in Preston in Lancashire, drunkenness chiefly arose from beer drinking, and that while this was the practice, criminals were constantly being committed from that town, but no sooner had total abstinence decreased the consumption of beer, than crime began to decrease also. And why should not this be the case? The intoxicating principle in beer, in wine, and in spirits, is the same, and therefore differs only in degree or quantity, and we know that the beer-sellers vie with each other in endeavouring to manufacture the liquor that shall be most efficacious in destroying the reason and inflaming the appetites of their customers. The hop may be stupifying, but still it is only to enter an alehouse, and observe the language and manners of the company, to

perceive that a man may be as perfectly equipped for theft and murder in a beershop as in a gin-palace. Country thieves generally prime themselves in a jerry-shop. At Woodchester in Gloucestershire, in 1836, a dispute arose in a public-house between two beer drinkers who were partially intoxicated, and one of them drew his knife and stabbed the other to death on the spot. In the city of Gloucester also, about the same time, a similar murder was committed by a beer drinker. Hence we perceive that intoxication, whether by beer, wine, or spirit, drowns the reason, sears the conscience, and hardens the heart, and therefore qualifies the victim that it poisons for the committal of every crime.

In

Of the 22,451 criminals committed in 1834, by far the greater number consisted of thieves. In giving this enumeration, it must be remembered that we include only those who were actually committed, and when it is considered that perhaps one-half of those who are guilty of theft or dishonesty escape apprehension, it will be seen that the number just stated will give us but a very imperfect idea of the actual amount of offenders. And yet these, whether detected or not, have been chiefly induced, through the use of strong drinks, to disgrace themselves and injure their neighbours. some instances the youthful purloiner has been educated in dishonesty by his drunken father, mother, or other associate. In others, want and starvation, induced by drinking, have prompted him to steal. Habits of extravagance, in which beer, wine, and spirit-drinking form a principle ingredient, have brought many a man to ruin, and led him to commit those crimes which have doomed him to a prison. How often too, in the beer-shop, have plans of theft and dishonesty been concocted and matured, and how many a strippling, while under the influence of liquor, has been beguiled to cast in his lot with desperadoes. Many also find it absolutely necessary to drink largely before they can muster courage to take their neighbour's property, or threaten his life. Take away from them the intoxicating cup, and if you do not make them honest, at any rate you bereave them of the demon, without whose aid many are incapacitated to bring themselves and others

to ruin.

Hence the incalculable blessing of total abstinence. He who never drinks intoxicating drinks can never become a drunkard, while, on the contrary, he who uses them has nearly all the chances against him. In proportion to the quantity of spirit in what he drinks thirst is created, the nerves are excited, the brain is affected, moral feeling is benumbed, and reason thrown off its guard. He is thirsty, but reason does not guide to the best liquor to satisfy his appetite, and he drinks the very

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beverage which, instead of allaying, increases the sensation. He is disposed for action, but his reason is impaired, and therefore, cannot prudently guide his volitions. views, at least until he is dead drunk, every object under the greatest excitement, and consequently cannot exercise that calmness of judgment which is so essential to human proceedings. The power that animates him is unnatural, it is neither from his body, nor from his mind, but from a senseless exciting spirit which he has introduced to his frame, and which rules his nerves and diminishes his judgment. Just in proportion as alcohol stimulates him, his intellect is weakened. He barters away his natural animal spirits and his reason, and receives in exchange the vile inspirations of strong drink. Hamlet upbraids his mother with having been accessory to the death of a handsome, noble, and generous husband, and of throwing herself into the arms of an ugly and ruthless murderer. The tippler is guilty of similar wickedness and folly, he dethrones his own reason, and introduces in its stead a tyrant and an assassin. David, the man after God's own heart, is deposed, and the impious Absalom is advanced to the empire. Now when a man has thus voluntarily sacrificed the whole, or a part of that discretion, which was given him to regulate his conduct, he is in danger of making a thousand mistakes, and of being the dupe of every designing knave, and hence the pot-house and the taverns are as regularly the gymnasia of vice and dishonesty, as the academy or the college are the schools of useful learning. There are few thieves who are condemned, and few persons who have watched their career but must acknowledge this fact, and consequently admit, that if you can annihilate the taste for strong drinks, you will cut the sinews and pierce the very heart of dishonesty.

On looking at theft, it behoves us not merely to consider the amount of property which is abstracted and generally wasted; this can bear no proportion to the value of that moral principle and character, which must be sacrificed, before any one can be guilty of stealing, or of unjustly taking or withholding his neighbour's goods. The dishonest person commits the greatest depredation upon himself; his respectability is in many instances destroyed for life; even if he repent, he is viewed with suspicion. Hypocrisy is not deemed impossible to him who has been guilty of robbery, and therefore, the sincerity of his penitence is questioned by many; so conscious are those who have become dishonest, of the difficulty of retrieving their characters, that few make an effort to do so. once passed the boundary of integrity, they often become reckless, and hurry to commit

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bill; but now mark, the price charged was not that which had been agreed upon after the glass in question had been administered, but that which had been previously refused, and this sum would have been demanded and enforced, had it not been that the swindler was reminded of the "stirrup glass," and shown the rough memorandum which was made at the time, and which, from the awkwardness of the scrawl, bore witness to his face of the strength of the liquor he had dispensed, and the robbery which he intended that it should enable him to perpetrate. Now this is not a solitary case. How often have designing travellers invited tradesmen to the inn, to take an evening glass, and then have obtained orders for articles of an inferior quality, at an unjust price, and which were not really wanted by these deluded men! Often are little tradesmen in great distress to make up the money for these foolish and injudicious purchases, and in consequence of not being able to dispose of a stock, which ought never to have entered their shops, have been brought to ruin. An examination into the various methods of refined swindling, practised in pot-houses and taverns, by the aid of strong drinks, would bring to light a system of knavery and dishonesty, not less heinous in the sight of God, injurious to human society, and dishonourable to the characters of the guilty agents themselves, than the open plunder of the highwayman or the burglar. Indeed of the two thieves, let me have to do with him who boldly practises his dishonesty, rather than with the miscreant, who has not courage to become a highwayman, and who, instead of presenting a pistol to my heart, and publicly demanding my life or my money, presents, under the guise of friendship, the intoxicating cup to my lips, that he may first rob me of my reason and prudence, and then of my money. Here again we cannot but remark on the value of character that is thus sacrificed. The money gained or lost by this shuffling is little, compared with the dishonesty that is cherished, and the integrity that is lost. Some have said, that an "honest man is the noblest work of God," and if so, what language can sufficiently execrate that infamous poison, which qualifies and prompts thousands to dishonesty, and enables as many thousands more to accomplish, unseen, their nefarious and dishonourable purposes? We must again repeat, that if the use of intoxicating liquors were abolished, the incentives, the sinews, the weapons of dishonesty would be destroyed, and with this incontrovertible fact before us, we ask all who profess to imitate that Saviour who laid down his life for our redemption, whether the rescuing of thousands of our fellow citizens and brethren from degradation and misery, would

not be cheaply purchased, if procured by our individually dashing from our lips a cup of poison, and resolving never to taste again?

3. Prostitution awfully prevails in consequence of drinking. It may be said that this crime has abounded in nations not proverbial for drunkenness. Granted, but still it must be admitted, that the force of example and education on this subject has rendered countries destitute of the light of the gospel distinguished for chastity. And if such has been the result of mere pagan education, surely we have reason to expect quite as beneficial an effect from christian tuition. But what, alas! is the fact? Why, that at a period when christian schools, and christian efforts of the most promising character are at work, thousands of our deluded countrywomen are seduced from the paths of virtue, and in their turns become the seducers of others. From the evidence on this subject taken before the Committee of the House of Commons on drunkenness, there is reason to believe, that within a few years, the crime has much increased, and all the witnesses were agreed, that a very large proportion must be attributed to beer houses and gin-shops, and the general increased consumption of intoxicating drinks. We need not here stay to prove what to every one must be evident, that these stimulating liquors inflame the passions, and produce an utter recklessness of character. And this, be it observed, is not so much the case with him who is dead drunk, as with those who are partially excited, or thrown off their guard. Aristotle long ago argued, and argued justly, that he who is but partly inflamed with wine, is more injurious to society, than he who is thoroughly drunk. "The sober man," he observes, "reasons correctly; the man who is thoroughly intoxicated does not reason at all; but he who is partially excited by liquor, endeavours to reason, but reasons badly, and therefore falls into mischief." Thousands of unhappy individuals enter the ginshop or alehouse, and, after having drunk a portion, sometimes a very small quantity of the intoxicating poison, come out again, not as they went in, but with passions inflamed, their reason impaired, their consciences seared, and their moral feeling destroyed; and consequently, are just ready to be themselves seduced, or to become the seducers of others. Hundreds of unhappy females can date their ruin to the cause just mentioned, and myriads of youths have, from the same influence, fallen into sin, have become a mass of living putrescence, and have been borne to the grave before they have scarcely arrived at maturity. The scene that the bare mention of these facts presents is one that makes our blood chill in our veins. One's heart sickens at the thought of so many promising youths, slain by sen