Palmerston and Lord Russell in 1862, and to arrange with the Porte for the concession to the Hellenic Provinces of all that may be found reasonable. I am firmly convinced that the antagonism of interests between them and the ruling Power, which many assert and assume, does not in truth exist. The condition of Turkey is bad as matters now are: what would it have been if the festering sore of the Greek Revolution had been permitted to pass, by neglect, into a gangrene? I believe that Suzerainty over a large range of country would then have been better for both parties, than independence in a very small one: but that either the one or the other was better than the doctrine that we have no more to do with a quarrel between the Sultan and his subjects than with any other similar quarrel, and than a practice in accordance with that doctrine. Why should we be alarmed at the sound of Suzerainty? It is a phrase of infinite elasticity. Even in the present Turkish Empire, Suzerainty exists in half-a-dozen different forms, as over Tunis, Egypt, Samos, Roumania, and Servia. What it implies is a practical self-management of all those internal affairs on which the condition of daily life depends, such as police and judiciary, with fixed terms of taxation, especially of direct and internal taxation, and with command over the levy of it. Where these points are agreed on, there is little left to quarrel about.

There is, therefore, for any who think in this way, ample ground for belief and action without reference to the position of this or that European power. But, in the minds of many, the actors have, as to the Eastern Question, a larger place than the acts. To them I desire to point out that, if they think it urgently required for England, in the face of Russia, to establish an independent position and influence in the Levant, by some more enduring means than vaunting menace or mere parade, or proclaiming schemes of the most unmitigated selfishness, they have now such an opportunity as never before was offered. Of that people who still fondle in their memories the names of Canning and of Byron, there are in the Levant we may safely say four millions, on whose affections we may take a standing hold, by giving a little friendly care at this juncture to the case of the Hellenic provinces. They want, not Russian institutions, but such a freedom as we enjoy. They want for their cause an advocate who is not likely to turn into an adversary; one whose temptations lie in other quarters; who cannot (as they fondly trust) ask anything from them, or in any possible contingency, through durable opposition of sympathies or interests, inflict anything upon them.*

In the Times of November 18, will be found a report, copied from the Kölnische Zeitung, of a conversation, held by the reporter, with General Ignatieff. The degree of reliance due to it may be a question. But the sentiments towards the Greek provinces ascribed to that diplomatist were of the cold and discouraging character, which I should have anticipated.

The recollections of Lord Byron have been recently revived in England by a well-meant effort. Among them there is one peculiarly noble. It is that of his chivalrous devotion to the Greek cause; a devotion, of which his unsparing munificence was far from being the most conspicuous feature. In the days which preceded the revolutionary war, when Greece lay cold and stark in her tomb, her history and her fate drew forth from him some precious utterances of immortal song:

These lines are from "The Siege of Corinth,"* published in 1816. More beautiful still, if more beautiful be possible, were the lines of 1813 in "The Giaour" from the image of a dead body, which began:

"So fair, so calm, so softly sealed,

The first, last look by death revealed."

And his ever-wakeful Muse stood ready to greet the first effort of resuscitation. In "The Age of Bronze," written in 1823,† he

hailed the revival thus :

""Tis the old aspiration breathed afresh

To kindle souls within degraded flesh,

Such, as repulsed the Persian from the shore

When Greece was-No! she still is Greece once more."

But Lord Byron brought to this great cause, the dawn of emancipation, for the East then all in grave-clothes, not only the enthusiasm of a poet, or the reckless daring of a rover. He treated the subject, which both shaped and absorbed the closing period of his life, with the strongest practical good sense, and with a profound insight, which has not been shamed by the results. It is not unnatural to suppose, that the knowledge of the lofty part he played may have been among the encouragements which brought into action the bold policy of Canning; nor to hope, that the contemplation of it may yet supply a guiding light to some British statesman called to open its capabilities, as well as to encounter its embarrassments,

"in una selva oscura Che la diritta via era smarrita."

W. E. GLADSTONE.

* XV.

† vi.

Dante Inf. i. 2.

TH

HE widespread prevalence, in this country, of the vice of intem-. perance is so constantly attracting public attention, and so much, from time to time, has been written regarding its causes and effects-though unhappily with small visible influence that it may appear, at first sight, almost superfluous, if not presumptuous, to recur to the subject. The fact, however, that so little has resulted from what has already been advanced, not only excuses reiteration, but urges on all well-wishers of their country unceasing efforts to find some remedy for so great an evil. It is impossible indeed that any Christian, any patriot, any man or woman not utterly lost in selfishness or warped by prejudice, should be able to rest content with the existing state of things.

To those who have already given some attention to the subject, it may appear strange that any proof should be thought necessary of the greatness of the curse of intemperance among us, since the daily journals abound with fearful illustrations of it, and one can hardly enter many of our streets, especially at certain times, without meeting it stalking abroad,-"the pestilence that walketh in darkness, the destruction that wasteth at noonday,"-while those who labour in any way among the poorer classes are often ready to despair before the intensity with which it rages, and the havoc it works.

Notwithstanding, however, such evidences, ample and horrible enough, a member of Parliament has recently had the hardihood

to declare publicly his conviction that more people suffer from over-eating than over-drinking. It is true that the speaker, a large brewer, was one of an interested party; yet it is difficult to conceive how even self-interest could so blind the eyes and distort the judgment of any individual as to enable him, in apparent good faith and sincerity, to make such a statement. It is surprising, too, that it should have been heard by numbers surrounded by the devastations of drunkenness, and not have provoked indignant remonstrance. But one thing is obvious, that in dealing with a subject in which so much personal interest is involved, its influence must be taken into account; for although, of the large number of persons in the country who are more or less benefited by the sale of intoxicating liquors, few, probably, would be found sufficiently reckless to endorse the affirmation just quoted, yet very many would naturally welcome the least plausible escape from the conclusion, that the good of the community demands a smaller consumption of intoxicating drinks, and would be inclined to under-estimate the force of the arguments and facts tending to that conclusion. Where questions of profit and loss come in, the mental vision is liable to many and strange illusions with regard to the subject before it; and it requires an elevation of spirit almost more than human to rise altogether superior to the influence of self-interest. We must beware, therefore, of displaying too great severity towards a feeling which we ourselves, under the same circumstances, might find it impossible to suppress, yet at the same time it must not be allowed to remain unexposed or unresisted when standing in the way of measures for the public good; and the powerful influence which in the present case it will be sure to exert against all efforts to reduce the consumption of alcoholic liquors, renders it incumbent upon the friends of temperance to lose no opportunity, and to neglect no means, of bringing prominently forward the terrible facts connected with the drinkplague, so that the public conscience may not be suffered to sleep, but may have constant warnings given it, and constant appeals made to it, until roused at length to resolve on attempting the removal, or abatement, of the scourge.

In the following essay it has been the aim of the writer to collect together, from the best sources of information, statistics of the present state of things in England with regard to intemperance-first, as to its prevalence; and secondly, as to its direct and indirect effects, more especially in relation to crime, poverty, and lunacy; and then, while considering the several remedies that have been already proposed, to state succinctly his own ideas of what is needed, with a view to the mitigation of this immense evil.

It is hardly necessary, as has been before remarked, to demonstrate from figures the awful prevalence of intemperance, since there

is no large employer of labour who does not recognize how much his own interests, together with those of the country at large, are injuriously affected by it, and no clergyman or visitor among the poor who does not bewail the widespread degradation and misery it causes, while even a casual inspection of the poorer parts of our large towns, with the numberless gin-palaces and drinkingbars they contain, and the wretched scenes that may be daily witnessed there, is enough surely to shock the most thoughtless.

It has been said that among the working classes none are so intemperate in expression as the total abstainers-and perhaps there may be some truth in the charge-but, if it be so, the accused have much to plead in extenuation. These men and women live habitually in the midst of scenes, occasional glimpses of which are sufficient to appal those who are unfamiliar with them. The hideous dissonance of drunken shouts and furious gin-fomented broils is all around them, the shrieks of ill-used wives and beaten children, victims of drunken frenzy or moroseness, are always in their ears. A drunkard's home—not in coloured picture, but in living reality, is constantly before them-a shuddering spectacle of misery and desolation; while his children, hungerpinched and woe-stricken, sit side by side with their own in the school; can we wonder, therefore, if they "lift up their voice with strength?" Can we wonder if, having seen and felt the blessed change effected where the Devil's Chain" of intemperance has been broken, the change from cruelty to kindness in the parent, from misery to comfort in the home.—they should feel strongly, and often speak somewhat harshly and bitterly of those who, in their judgment, are encouraging and supporting a system which produces such unspeakable mischief?

The dreadful prevalence of intemperance is not only suggested by what is seen around us, it is amply proved by recorded facts. In 1875 there were no less than* 203.989 apprehensions in England and Wales for drunkenness, and for being drunk and disorderly; an appalling number, even if it included every drunkard. It is, however, well known that this represents, unfortunately, but a small portion of the total victims of intemperance, in proof of which it is only necessary to watch the emptying of the drinkshops at the closing time, when it will be observed that although but few of those thus turned into the streets are otherwise than more or less the worse for drink, many being even unable to walk alone; yet the police officers, though watching and ready to interfere in case of necessity, only act in the last extremity. The man must be not merely drunk, but drunk and incapable," or drunk and disorderly." to bring him within the official list of apprehensions;

Vis Judicial Statistics for 1573, p. xx. issued from the Home Office, October, 1876); an mense of 25, 40 over 1874,