JOURNAL OF THE IRISH LABOUR HISTORY SOCIETY

.. ...... ~.~ -~ .'- '.ESSAYS. 71from rural. to urban life. They offered educational and recreational facilities, and a social substitute forthe old rural relationships. The educational provision was particularly important in the days before theestablishment of a national system, especially in the north east. 26 With the mills and factories of the linenand cotton industries keeping many young people and even children in employment during week days,Sunday was often the only day in which any kind of educational purs,uit was possible. The Sundayschools, particularly in the early days, reached out to the very poorest elements in society. For listeningto the scripture passages and the 'theology of poverty' preached by the teachers, the scholars receivedin return, warmth, shelter, education, sometimes material aid in the form of shoes or clothes,intermittent outings and entertainments, and - not least - a faith which helped them to cope with thevicissitudes of life.27 The fact that many·schools. werd,nitiated by those working and living in thecommunity, further suggests that they were less 'a fomi of social manipulation than is commonlysUpposed.28 This matches the conclusions of English social historians who suggest that Sunday schoolsflourished because 'working class parents wanted the education they provided, and generally endorsedthe values that they taught' .29 The benefits of literacy, cheapness and entertainment outweighed theobvious disadvantages of religious paternalism. W.R. Ward is therefore right to conclude that they werethe only religious institutions in the nineteenth century which the great mass of Protestant workingpeople had any intention of using. 30In the evangelical crusade for moral reformation, temperance was a recurring theme. Drunkennesswas regarded as the prime cause of sexual immorality, gambling, broken homes, poverty and socialstrife, and was so prevalent thaUt was regarded as 'the national curse of Ireland' .31 As with so manyUlster movements, the impetus for temperance societies originated in America, was taken up by localclergy of various denominations, and with the support of influential laymen spread rapidly throughoutthe province. 32 By 1833, only four years after the first plans were published, there were 15,000 membersof temperance societies in Ulster.33 The emphasis of these societies was on moderation rather than totalabstention. 34 The teetotal movement which began in 1834 was regarded as extremist, and middle classfears of its radicalism appeared justified when Father Mathew's popular Roman Catholic crusadeagainst 'all intoxicating liquors' became linked in the public mind with O'Connell's Repeal movement.35While the records of churches and missions suggest a unified stance on the part of the religiousversus the irreligious on the question of alcoholic consumption, there were several distinguishableapproaches. The middle classes, while publicly supporting the values of sobriety, were not always keento align themselves with the cause of temperance. The Rev. Dr. John Edgar, an orator of some abilityand instigator of the movement in Ulster, found himself abused and ridiculed at his first campaignmeetings.36 The editor of the liberal Belfast Guardian refused to print a public letter announcing theformation of the new society, and the members of Edgar's church declined the use of their meetinghouse. 37 This indicated how the consumption of alcohol was considered acceptable by 'respectable'citizens. It should also be remembered that Ireland was the first European country to attempt such aventure, and that the element of novelty was itself a disincentive for conservative citizens.Nor did all those who supported the temperance movement do so from pure! y religious motives. Thebasic underlying impulse, the idea of 'improvement', was central to evangelical ideology, but therewere others who saw in the benefits arising from a more sober, industrious and thinking peasantry, thebasis of political as well as personal advancement and independence. Not only landlords andevangelicals, but employers, radicals, and reformers in general supported the 'improving' movement,each viewing the advantages of a sober working class in a different light. The interests of employersin promoting the sobriety of their workforce is self-evident, and in Belfast mill-owners, manufacturersand merchants promoted the cause. 38 Catholic nationalists were also convinced that the self-respect andself-esteem arising from sobriety could advance not only moral, but political aspirations. 39 Self-denialwas thus seen as the foundation of more than mere religious reform. The course of the temperance·campaign shows how popular movements, particularly those with a religious basis, were drawn intowider Irish political concerns, with spokesmen of every colour and creed intent on utilising their