of disease and death) which are to be obtained within, whilst it conceals the scenes of debauchery which it would not be prudent to expose to the light of day, renders drinking as secret as possible. And at night the showy glass-barrels and the brilliant chandeliers, with their bright jets of gas lighting up the neighbourhood, are fit emblems of the devouring flame which, sooner or later, seizes and consumes the silly, fluttering moths that circulate about them, often vainly endeavouring to resist their attractive influences. But why dwell upon the subject? Hundreds of books and pamphlets and thousands of newspaper articles have been published with the view to expose and counteract the evils of those “palaces,” in which are held the saturnalia of modern England. All the eloquence of the first orators of the age has been levelled at these abominations, and yet our magistrates, who are charged with the responsibility of limiting their number to meet “the wants of their neighbourhood,” allow so many of them to exist that, in one street in a large northern town, a missionary says that he “counted seven public-houses out of eleven consecutive tenements, to say nothing of two or three on the opposite side of the street!” Over and over again they have been denounced as the fruitful sources of every evil—of drunkenness, of wretched poverty and destitution, of the worst forms of insanity, of prostitution, robbery, rape, infanticide, manslaughter, and deliberate murder.[310] And yet, what is the position which their proprietors occupy in the state? They are promoted to the highest offices in our municipalities, and honours are heaped upon them which should be reserved only for those who render eminent services to the community. They are courted as political supporters; and even those who are reluctant to avail themselves of their aid uphold their influence because they dread their enmity. Their trade interests are protected with greater solicitude than those of any branch of respectable industry, because they are the source of great revenue to the national exchequer. The attempt made by one party in the state to restrict their dangerous traffic within such reasonable bounds as to prevent breaches of the law and ensure order and decency in our public streets at night, has secured for them the approving smile of the opposite political party, who now reign with their aid, and who will find it difficult to sever the odious alliance when the national conscience is once more awakened to its duties and responsibilities on the great question of drunkenness. And as to their social influence, why it is impossible nowadays to sit at the table of a friend or relative without committing one’s self by a passing remark upon the drink traffic, and thus giving unpardonable offence to a publican, or a publican’s brother, or his sister, or some one of his intimate friends who may happen to be present!