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songht t.Lis opportunity of giving a fuller answer to my OritiC8
than wonid be possible in a letter to a nowspaper.
Z do not protend to sap that tho threo events in question,
t.he passing of the Permissiro Bill, ita adoption by localities,
and its BUCCeSsfUl operation, are wholly and absolutely independent
events; no doubt, in n mnjority of cases, those
who vote for the Bill do so on the belief that it will bo carried
out, and then be successful ; but SO wido am the discrepancies,
especially in legislation, between what man proposes and what
he can effect, that I bc1icv.o tllere is substantial indopondence.
Tho terms of the Permissive Bill nppcnr to me to confem
this indepcndcnce, and even to t,ako ndvtmtngo of it,. If tho
Bill cannot be passed before the pcoplo arc educated to accept
it, mhnt is the w e of making it permissive, and interposing tho
vote of local ratcpnycrs? Thero are obvious objections to the
partial npplicnt.ion of such an Act, and ono parish whioh
maintains its public-houses will, to n great extent, defeat the
benefits of prohibition in tho llcighbouring pnrishcs. Why
not then mako tho Bill n Compulsory I’rohibit,ory Bill as it
was in tho early days of tho Alliance ? Because, as the
Alliance very well knows, thoro mould not bo the slightest
chnnco of passing such a Bill. Thero is a dclightful uncertainty
as to what would or would not happen after tho
passing of tho Permissive Bill, aud many cont,ributo to t,he
funds of the Alliance with tho vaguc iden tha,t they are promoting
temperance, who do not really bring home to their
minds what would be involved in tho immediate suppression of
the public-houses in their own borough or district.
11.
I will speak presently of the probability that the Permissive
Bill, as at present, drafted, ever mill pass the Hotme
the Permissive Bill, Temperance Legislation, and the Alliance ;” Preston,
1862 ; nnd “True Temperance Teaching, showing the Errors of the
Alliance and the Permissive Bill.” London, Manchester, and Preston,
1873. (Heywood.)
I am glad to find that my opinions about the Alliance, although
indepndcutly formed, are in accordance with those of one of the oldest
and perhaps the most reRpected Temperance Reformer in the kingdom.