368 THE MORAL STATUS OF ALCOHOL. 



cumstance of companionship, alliance, dress, association, al- 

 cohol is held to be a base spirit, an evil spirit, closely related 

 to the father of lies, if not himself, by all thorough-going 

 teetotallers. 



It is hardly worth while to lodge a protest against drunk- 

 enness to proclaim the utter repulsiveness, the bestiality of 

 it ; but no presentment of this degrading vice, however hide- 

 ous, would be held sufficient, in any court of equity, to com- 

 pass of itself the banishment of alcohol. Excess of whatever 

 kind is reprehensible; and, speaking of alcoholic excess, it 

 may almost be doubted whether the sobriety that can only 

 come of alcohol banished do not belong to a lower category of 

 virtue than is commonly assumed. 



This is a point relative to which some manuscript lies 

 before me, written by one an intimate acquaintance whose 

 extreme violence, in the manner of putting his case, renders 

 the document, taken in its entirety, unfitted for publication. 

 Inasmuch, however, as it contains a certain underlying stra- 

 tum of truth, severely enunciated, I shall not hesitate to quote 

 from the document, parenthetically and reservedly. Expa- 

 tiating upon the thought just adverted to, the doubt expressed 

 whether the sobriety that can only come of alcohol banished 

 be worth half the trouble total-abstaining advocates lavish in 

 the seeking, the author of the rejected MSS. now lying before 

 me uses the following words : 



* Probably,' writes he, *what maybe called the elimina- 

 tory function of Nature in her ways with the human species 

 has never been sufficiently heeded. If many influences were 

 allowed to have full scope, in lieu of being thwarted and dis- 

 turbed, might it not fare all the better with some of us ? If, 

 for example, the Home Secretary would turn a deaf ear to 

 all petitions for commutations of capital punishment, allowing 

 the sheriff to hang remorselessly, I have an idea that the 

 good effects of that policy would be seen in an elimination of 

 the unfortunate class who are unhappily characterised by the 



