HUMANITY v.
DRINKING
CUSTOMS.

Brutality

and

the drunken

husband.

bruises, one of her eyes dreadfully swollen, and holding four of her front teeth in her hand!" In the words of the police report, "the poor creature had merely asked him for money to procure food for herself and two children, which he was taking out with him to spend at the public-house; and while Selfishness of entreatingly clinging to him to persuade him, he struck her a tremendous blow on the eye, which sent her reeling into her landlady's parlor. There she dropped in a state of insensibility; and while lying in that condition, he kicked her with all his force about the body and face; kicked out four of her front teeth, and was proceeding with further violence, when her screams attracted succour.'

Another police case.

Sometime before this occurrence, a case was reported of a man who, on receiving his wages on the Saturday night, repaired home, and throwing five shillings into his wife's lap, bade her go and redeem his boots, which he had pledged during the week for drink, and also buy something for Sunday's fare. To redeem the boots would require four shillings, and there would then be one left on which to pass the Sunday! Upon his wife's remonstrating with him for Market people his unreasonableness, he commenced a most brutal attack upon her, and when her cries brought assistance, she was discovered in one corner with her body bent almost double, through pain.

In the London papers of the very last week, two cases are given of attempted suicides by women jumping into the Thames, both of whom were driven to it through the cruel treatment of drunken husbands. "One was the wife of a gentleman (?) holding an office of trust in the city, who having dined at the London tavern went home late and commenced

A fact for

Brutality and selfishness.

Other police

cases.

Suicides

through drunken

cruelty.

abusing her." The other case is that of the woman Clarke, who threw her three children over Battersea bridge, by which two were drowned, and was attempting to leap in The Battersea herself when she was seized. Her attempt to drown her bridge tragedy children along with herself, she stated, arose from the fear that they would suffer want, should she commit suicide and leave them behind her. Her brutish husband was drinking at the time of the tragical act. He had for a long time been in the habit of coming home drunk and ill-treating her; and on a late occasion, used such violence as to knock her head through the panel of the door! On the morning of the infanticide, and attempted suicide, he had doubled his fist in * London Paper.

MORALITY D.
DRINKING

CUSTOMS.

her face in going out, at the same time making use of the Drunkards expression: "I'll come home thundering drunk, and I'll be hung for you."

unfit to be at

large.

A wife's eyes

It has been stated of the wife of a reclaimed drunkard, blackened at that "for more than twenty years, she was never two months together without having a black eye."*

least 120 times

A child roasted to

The case of the woman at Cumberland, who, about a year ago, burnt her young child to death by holding it on the fire, death by its because it told its father of her drunken habits, strikingly exhibits the heartlessness produced by drinking.

Mother.

An inhuman mother was brought before the magistrates of Police case, Westminster a few months ago, on a charge of mal-treating her infant child. She had been drinking in some gin-shop, and having a quarrel with another woman, she threw her child out of her arms, and rushed upon the other to fight. One of the women drinking in the house, picked up the child from the floor, when the mother ran towards her, and snatching it from her hold, held it up to her mouth, and A British fe- with her teeth tore a large piece from the fleshy part of the thigh, the blood streaming from it and besmearing her face as she held it between her teeth!

male cannibal.

Not many months before this, an intoxicated woman was Attempt at child murder. observed to make what seemed an effort to throw her child over one of the bridges into the Thames; and when frustrated in this by a policeman, she attempted its destruction by thrusting it under the wheels of a wagon!

TheA-d

The case of those two monsters, Mr. and Mrs. M’D———1, Un case of the A-d-r Un notoriety, though not so sanguinary as the preceding instances, is yet highly illustrative of the heartlessness which drunkenness produces and supports in the breasts of its victims. These wretches, it will be recollected, were governor and governess of the A-d-r Un work-house. Both were notorious drunkards; and from circumstances which came to light, a judicial investigation was instituted by the Poor Law Commissioners, into the manner in which they had behaved in their respective offices; from which it appeared, that Mr. M’D——l was in the habit of defrauding the inmates of portions of their scanty fare. To such an extent did he carry his heartless Heartlessness peculations, it was stated, that the men who worked at house gover-bone-crushing were driven by the pangs of hunger to pick the bones of the pieces of green, putrid, stinking flesh

of a

nor.

* Ipswich Tracts, No. 33.

MORALITY 0.
DRINKING
CUSTOMS.

Medicines kept from the sick.

The peculators' minds steeled by

occasionally found adhering to them, and even to suck the foul rancid marrow from them as a luxury!! Occasionally, they would quarrel like dogs, and rob each other of bones, on which more than usual flesh was found! It was proved also, that ale had been ordered as medicine, for a poor, starved, half-dying woman, and though it was charged for, it was not given to her. Tea was even kept from the sick; and the milk allowed to them was diluted with water. Rapacity like this could not be perpetrated unless the mind had been hardened against all moral impression; and the capability of M'D—l and his wife to carry on their work of plunder and starvation, was clearly strong drink. derived from the bottle. They were frequently so drunk as to quarrel with each other, and even fight; arousing the inmates of the house in the dead of the night by their brawls. On one of these occasions, when the inmates entered the room in which they had been fighting, the governess was found with blood streaming down her face and bosom, from the violence of the governor, who fell on the floor as he was making an attempt to reach down a gun with which to shoot some one in the room. In this state he lay, cursing and swearing, and unable to rise. The governess was nearly as drunken as himself. He was known to have been drunk to such a degree while reading prayers, as to be unable to read them straightforward. "The Lord's prayer and another he read twice over."

Religious mockery.

The case of
Captain
Johnstoue

The case of the murderer Johnstone, captain of the ship Tory, is another instance of that brutality and recklessness of human life, which characterize the drunkard's mind. This of the Tory. man, finding a spirit of dissatisfaction prevailing among his crew on the homeward voyage from China, naturally became anxious for his own safety, as well as that of his valuable cargo, and during the earlier part of the voyage manifested a degree of prudence; but having hailed a vessel and brought off a quantity of spirits, he thenceforth acted more like a madman, and took the very steps calculated to drive his replaced by men to mutiny. He had those whom he most dreaded brought before him, when he openly charged them with plotting against his life, a charge altogether unfounded; and without waiting for proof of their guilt, cut and slashed at them with his sword, and ordered his creatures to fire pistols, Insatiable charged with powder only, in their faces. Afterwards he

Prudence

imprudence through drinking.

brutality.

HUMANITY .!

DRINKING

CUSTOMS. had them put in irons; and again, in this defenceless state, cut and mangled them in every part of the body.

ness.

Inhuman gratification.

It was stated by a witness during the trial, that one of his Blood-thirsti- victims was hacked from head to foot, as though his body had been a chopping-block! It was hardly possible, he said, to put the finger on any part of the body without touching a wound! To carry out his bloody purpose upon this unfortunate being, the captain had him tied up in his cabin, (when from loss of blood he was no longer able to stand) by a chain which passed round his neck, and in that position he amused himself by cutting at him! In this manner he dispatched two of his crew, besides wounding and maiming several others; while his chief mate leapt overboard and was drowned, that he might avoid his brutality. During all The spring of these bloody proceedings, Johnstone was under the excitement of alcohol. Such an impression did this atrocious conduct produce upon the crew, and so sensible were they of the real cause of it, that after their arrival at London, four of them being visited by a temperance advocate, all readily renounced intoxicating liquors, and became members of the temperance society; saying they "felt confident that Captain Johnstone would never have acted in so barbarous a manner, if he had not been given to drink." At the present time, we understand that there is another captain suffering imprisonment for life for a similar but more aggravated crime even than this, he having murdered every hand on board except the cabin boy. This too was through strong drink.

these atrocities.

A crew murdered by a drunken Captain.

of liquor in battle.

Intoxicating liquor is found very convenient in inspiring men, in the hour of battle, with that barbarous courage which enables them to imbrue their hands in the life-blood of their fellows; and previously to a naval engagement, it is usual to Distribution distribute a quantity of spirits among the crew of each ship. During the war between the gilded vagabonds of England. and those of America, on the crew of a ship belonging to the latter country being boarded by the English, some were found lying about the deck, drunk and insensible; others staggering at their guns, or reeling about, perfectly incapable of action; while buckets filled with rum were seen in various parts of the deck. The whole of the surviving crew were in a drunken and disorderly state, altogether unmanageable; and many in this condition were cut to pieces, and sent into eternity!

National Temp. Chronicle and Recorder, No. 3, p. 64, March, 1846.

CHAPTER IV.

RELIGION versus THE DRINKING CUSTOMS.

INTEMPERANCE CONSIDERED AS SEARING THE CONSCIENCE, HINDERING THE SPREAD OF RELIGION, AND CAUSING BACKSLIDING.

"We verily believe that the sin of drunkenness is destroying more souls than all the ministers in Britain are instrumental in saving."-WESLEYAN METHODIST Magazine.

CONTENTS.

SECTION i. The Drinking CUSTOMS CONSIDERED AS A DIRECT PREVENTIVE OF PIETY.-The Children of the Drunkard hindered from attending the Sabbath School-cases of; The state of Religion in some of the Nooks of London; The absence of Bibles in Drunken Families; English heathenism; Pawning of Bibles for drink.

SECTION ii. THE DRINKING CUSTOMS AS A HINDERANCE TO THE SPREAD OF RELIGION.The resistance they offer to its general diffusion; Sunday Drinking greater than that of other days, shown from Police Returns, etc.; Disgusting Scenes witnessed on going to Church; The Drunkard proof against the efforts of the Christian Minister; Remarkable Testimony of a Clergyman thereto; Drunkenness an obstacle to Missionary Enterprise; The Religion of Christ reviled by Mahomedans through the Drunkenness of its Professors; The mode of punishment for Drunkenness in Constantinople made a reflection upon the Cross; Effects of Drunkenness on Missionary Efforts in

the South Sea Islands.

SECTION iii. THE DRINKING CUSTOMS A PRIMARY CAUSE OF RELIGIOUS DECLENSION.-The great number of Religious Professors annually ejected from Congregations through Drinking; Testimonies of eminent Divines as to Drunkenness being the cause of nearly all ejectments; Horrible Depravity taking the place of Piety through Drunkenness; Numerous Cases of Backsliding through Drinking; The object of Sunday School instruction frustrated through the Drinking Customs; Startling Testimonies thereto; The melancholy fall of Ministers of the Gospel through the habitual use of Intoxicating Liquor-Cases of-Testimonies of numerous Divines; The duty of Religious Professors in relation to this subject.

SECTION I.

THE DRINKING CUSTOMS A DIRECT PREVENTIVE OF PIETY.

DRINKING
CUSTOMS.

WE have already detailed various distressing evils flowing RELIGION V. from our alcoholic drinking usages, and have yet the painful task to detail more; but all these are "trifles light as air" when compared with the great evil to be considered at present. That "the drunkard shall not inherit the kingdom of