Page:Eminent English liberals in and out of Parliament.djvu/85

 of the earth—our "sovereigns and statesmen"—they who set armies in motion? And do not all manner of priests, whether Protestant or Romanist, fervently thank God when the bloody work has been effectually accomplished? David going out with sling and stone against Goliath of Gath did not require to possess one-twentieth part of the sublime faith of him who undertakes to rout a combined array of publicans and Jingoes.

A wide survey of history seems to show that the essential habits of individuals and of nations are ineradicable. The asceticism of the Commonwealth was followed by the unbridled license of the Restoration; the austere virtues of the Roman Republic by the unlimited vices of jthe Empire. Human nature is so imperfect that there is an undoubted danger in being "righteous overmuch." What, then, is the true motto of the temperance reformer? It is to be found in the words of Goethe, "Without haste and without rest." The drinking habits of the people must be eradicated gradually, one branch of the upas tree being lopped off here, and another there, till at last the time may come when it will be safe to strike at the trunk itself.

I do not for a moment mean to affirm that Sir Wilfrid Lawson is so ignorant of human nature as to be likely to dash his head incontinently against it; but he has many intemperately temperate followers who habitually do so, to the great detriment of the cause which they and all well-intentioned citizens have at heart. Enthusiastic temperance reformers are so apt to underestimate the warping influence of social customs and of early acquired habits, even on the healthiest consciences. I, for example, through force of association, am not an