The bases of the temperance reform: an exposition and appeal./ With replies to numerous objections. By Rev. Dawson Burns.

Driiik-Scllin6o (ansd Local Evidences.
minimize or set aside. No artificial equalization of wealth
is possible; but, with the absence of the drinking system, we should not despair of beholding a more general
distribution of the national resources, involving a more
equal diffusion of that social happiness which attends the
state removed alike from poverty and riches.
4. T]he iznfztunce of the lizuor traffic iifon the securily of
lzfe and ~rofierty, and the averages of local taxation, is
of fressing importance. Shallow objectors often talk and
write as though all the consequences of intemperance
rested with the intemperate; and it is said, with an air of
authority, as if all argument must close, "If they don't
want to be injured by the public-house, let them stay outside!" But apart from the question of humanity, it is
of no small importance to every person in society that
houses which deal in drinks that muddle and inflame
should not exist for men to go into, whether they are moved
to do so by habit, appetite, or fancied good. One intoxicated or drink-excited man may imperil the lives of many;
and, could all accidents on land and water be traced to
their source, society would be surprised at the number of
casualties and fatalities that have arisen fronm "a drop too
much." A drunken pilot had nearly cast away the ship
on which Colonel Wellesley (afterwards the Duke of
Wellington) was proce6eding to India; and drunken drivers
have exposed eminent statesmen of our own times to
serious risk of limb or life. Drinking at home casts
herds of "arabs" upon the streets and the loss of property thus incurred, amounting to millions yearly, falls
upon society, as do all the external results of all the
crime and vice, including the corruption of the children
of the sober, traceable to this fountain of evil. Local
rates, also, to the extent of many millions, are paid, not
by the publicans, but by the people; and where in very
degraded districts these imposts press severely upon the
industrious poor, who are just above the pauper-line
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