On the 8th of the following month the League invited all the teachers, who were present at the annual meetings of the National Union of Elementary Teachers which were held at Brighton, to a breakfast at the Royal Pavilion Banqueting Rooms. About 250 teachers accepted the invitation. The meeting which immediately followed the breakfast was addressed by Mr. Marriage Wallis, the Chairman of the Brighton School Board, who occupied the chair on the occasion; by the President of the National Union of Elementary Teachers, by Mr. R. Rae, and others. Although no resolution, bearing upon the action to be taken by the teachers individually or collectively with regard to the Drink question, was passed at the meeting, it seemed evident that much was effected at the meeting towards enlisting the sympathy and co-operation of the teachers.

In connection with the Temperance Jubilee Festival which was held at Bradford during the week ending June 19, a teachers' meeting was held in the lecture hall of the Mechanics' Institute at which a paper was read by Dr. Valpy French on "Teachers and Temperance," and another on "Temperance Teaching in Elementary Schools," by the writer of the present notice. The way in which the leading points touched upon in the papers were discussed by many of the teachers present proved that they were au courant with the subject, and fully recognised the necessity of inculcating on the young children under their charge the Total Abstinence principle. Mr. Jabez Inwards represented the Band of Hope Union at the meeting, and proved a very powerful ally to the delegates of the League.

This resume of the work of the year is in itself a proof that the members of the National Temperance League are fully alive to their duty, and endeavour strenuously and continuously to do it. A little more than a century ago Jean Jacques Rousseau raised his eloquent voice in behalf of the methodical teaching of the children of France, and his appeal to the teachers, and especially to the mothers of children, fired the enthusiasm of all the philanthropists of Europe, and ultimately served to effect a radical change in the method of training and instructing children. "No mother, no child," was the cry which started a responsive echo in every virtuous family in civilised Europe, and which awoke the

frivolous women of a proud and wicked city to a sense of their responsibilities, and a realisation of their grievous disregard of the dictates of duty. The cry of the National Temperance League, the Band of Hope Union, and the other Temperance Societies of this country, is, at the present day, "No teacher, no abstainer." Let me hope that it will prove the means of effecting even more good than did that which was raised by the author of "Emile," the father of the modern system of teaching. The follies and frivolities which he so manfully strove to suppress sink into insignificance when they are compared with the giant evil which the friends of the Temperance cause strive to drive out of the country, and which must be driven out, if the country is to be saved from utter and hopeless ruin.

TEMPERANCE IN THE ARMY AND NAVY.

BY CAPTAIN H. D. GRANT, R.N., C.B., London.

THAT the Temperance movement has now obtained a good foothold in both the Army and Navy, and that it is increasing, is a subject of much thankfulness to Him who has so manifestly bestowed His blessing on the various efforts which have been put forth with this object.

The testimony which flows in from many independent sources of the steady manner in which the Temperance cause is winning its way with our soldiers and sailors, places us in a position to demonstrate clearly that the work now going on in the Services is substantial, and, happily, does not rest on what might, in some quarters, be looked on as the interested statements of enthusiastic reformers.

At the present critical period of the world's history, when all the European nations are maintaining huge armaments, each preparing for a deadly struggle, the moral and physical efficiency of our defenders becomes a question of national importance, and it is therefore with much satisfaction we note the improvement

which has taken place in this respect during the last few years, and we propose in this paper to review the agencies which have brought about such a desirable result, and will, we trust, yet be instrumental in accomplishing further good.

The progress inade is still more satisfactory when we consider the difficulties which temperance work has to contend against in military services. It has not only to overcome the fallacious arguments as to the necessity of alcoholic beverages for the maintenance of health and physical strength, which are still strongly urged, notwithstanding the discoveries of medical science both in the laboratory and in personal experience; but it has had to meet a considerable amount of sentimental feeling. The generous heartedness of the British sailors, and the warm camp hospitality of the British soldier have become proverbial, and to refuse to pass the can or the glass, seemed to cut at the root of every generous feeling, which was resented at first far and wide. The favourite songs in the repertoire of the blue and red jackets were those whose words were more or less bacchanalian, and tended to foster the feeling that strong drink was the one great desideratum of life.

The prejudices of commanding officers had also to be overcome, and while they were keenly alive to the advantages resulting from temperance, they were apprehensive of danger in the formation of societies which they thought might clash with discipline; unconsciously, too, in many cases, officers gave some countenance to the prevalent idea, that a good man in a Service point of view was the one who could take his grog well, and by holding forth the bait of a glass as a reward for any service they impeded very much the first efforts made for temperance. En passant, ore cannot help observing how singular it is that the authorities should have looked coldly on such efforts as the temperance advocates have put forth when their experience must have shown them that the greatest foe to discipline has in all cases been strong drink, and that the use of intoxicants increases very materially the cost of the military services of our country if we count the number of deaths and invaliding cases.

Notwithstanding these difficulties, both Services have been highly favoured by devoted men and women giving their whole

lives to the work of rescuing men from the degrading habits of drunkenness and delivering the nation from the reproach that the irregular conduct of her soldiers and sailors would bring upon her. Foremost among the workers we may notice Mrs. Daniels, at Aldershot; Miss Robinson, at Portsmouth; and Miss Weston, at Plymouth. All these have exercised a personal influence the extent of which it is impossible to gauge, and it is only when the records of the Organised Societies are carefully studied that we can arrive at some estimate of what has been done by them. The principal societies working in the army and navy are the National Temperance League, the Soldiers' Total Abstinence Association, Church of England Temperance Society, and Good Templars. To the National Temperance League belongs the honour of being the pioneer of temperance work in the Services; the broad intelligent spirit and Christian principle of the League won for them a ready acceptance; they stretched out a helping hand to Miss Robinson and Miss Weston, and by their agents, Mr. Sims and Mr. Charles Smith, were instrumental in winning many to the cause of Total Abstinence. It is true that the Good Templar organisation numbered many adherents, but the lodge gatherings, the rules, &c., are such that it is impossible for commanding officers, in the interest of discipline, to recognise it. We do not in these remarks desire in the least to undervalue Good Templarism, which all must admit is a mighty engine for good, but we hold that Good Templars have not yet been able to bring their rules into accord with the requirements of discipline. The Church of England Temperance Society, though of recent origin, is making progress and exercising a beneficial influence. The Soldiers' Total Abstinence Association, formed in Agra in 1862, and reorganised in 1872, has been working with a zeal and judgment worthy of all praise. The Rev. J. Gelson Gregson, the secretary, by his untiring energy has accomplished much good, and raised the Association to its present state of efficiency. We must now endeavour to trace the result of these agencies in the aggregate, for it is impossible to assert that the work accomplished has been that of one person or one Society; each have contributed to build up the fabric, and it is with satisfaction we notice the goodly proportions it is assuming.

The numbers with which these agencies have had to deal

Of the number of seamen given above 5,300 are boys, 2,900 being on service in the fleet; 2,400 in the training ships.

THE ARMY.

The total strength voted for 1879-80 of all arms for home service was 135,625 men, and for India 62,653.

In the Navy there are now 178 branches of the National Temperance League, and upwards of 7,000 registered abstainers, but probably this is an under estimate, for a very large proportion of the boys leave the training ships as pledged abstainers, and, we have every reason to believe, keep their pledges in a satisfactory manner. In the Army at home it is estimated that there are at least 20,000 abstainers, but it is very difficult to form even an approximate estimate, as a good deal of unsteadiness still exists in adherence to the pledge. From India, however, we have some very reliable statistics. We there find that the number of members of the Soldiers' Total Abstinence Association is 9,002, an increase of nearly 800 on last year's return, but the most satisfactory feature to notice is the number of honours distributed, 4,207-a substantial evidence that the members kept faithful to their pledges.

In addition to these numbers it is well known that in both Services a great many men abstain without becoming members of a society, and there can be little doubt that every abstainer exercises an indirect influence on those around him: he becomes a standing protest against drinking customs, and is a constant proof in his own person of the value of total abstinence, not only in his immunity from disease, but in his power to discharge every duty with more cheerfulness and ability than the dram drinker. While there is such deep cause for thankfulness in the spread