extinguished (at least we fancy it is extinguished) by Lord Palmerston's reading one of its tracts, amid explosions of laughter, to the House of Commons. It is almost a pity that the Peace Society is no more. The grand fact with regard to this order of the Peaceful Dove is that the society was in correspondence with kings and emperors, and proposed to arbitrate for the whole world. What a splendid destiny to give the law to the potentates of the earth-to send deputations to themto pour oil upon the troubled waters -to stand forth masters of the situation. Our friend Joblings, in company with a mighty cloud of spinsters and the most pugnacious set of men in existence, joined the society, and vowed that war should be put down by main force. The Society showed an immense deal of fight (how could it do otherwise when patronised by two such men as Mr Cobden and Sir David Brewster ?) Its tracts were distributed in enormous quantities; they were stitched into all the magazines and reviews; but we never heard of any greater result being produced by it than the introduction of Joblings to Mr Cobden. Cobden said to Joblings, "Warm work here-very hot room; and Joblings said to Cobden, "Very 'ot, sir-very 'ot indeed, sir-not so well wentilated as the 'ouse, I should say, sir;" on the strength of which it is reported in the cheese trade that "Joblings knows Cobden intimate." In a literary way, the great society in which our friend is most interested is that devoted to the revolutionising of the English spelling-book. He cannot for his life see why words should not be spelt "ezactly as they are spoke." It is a great idea which has entered into his brain; and if ever he gets into conversation with a literary man, he is sure to bring up the anomalies of English spelling, making a tremendous point of the seven different ways of pronouncing the syllable "ough" -as in though, through, plough, enough, cough, hiccough, hough to which may be added an eighth, ought. He will tell you that there are thirty-seven ways of spelling Shakespeare's name; and he will

thrust into your hands a copy of the Phonetic Nuz, together with a basketful of tracts, with which every one must be more or less acquainted. The society of Vegetarians have tried to inveigle him into their ranks, but without success hitherto - his sausages and hams are at stake; but he reads the publications of that association with great pleasure, and is glad to partake of their annual dinner. The Society for legalising Marriage with a Deceased (or as it is sometimes pronounced-diseased) Wife's Sister, is another from which he holds aloof in the mean time, though he has a great number of friends among those who are anxious to pass such a measure. So also he is not interested in the Evangelical Alliance, but he was very sorely tempted to join its ranks, when he heard of the reception which the members had from the King of Prussia.

What a chance he missed there!-he might have spoken to a king-he might have dined at the king's table-and he joined the Alliance when he heard of that Prussian adventure. He has a still stronger objection to the Sabbath Alliance, which was started in imitation of the great Anti-Corn-Law League, with the expectation that in a few years it would attain the unparalleled success of that celebrated combination. But he has joined the British Anti-State Church Association, and is, in fact, one of the leading men on the committee. It is even supposed that he has himself indited one of the tracts issued by the association, for he has always a drawer full of them at hand, and distributes them with a knowing wink which seems to indicate that this is the great intellectual effort of his life-this is the real Stilton. He tried hard to do something for the Social Science Association, but it is to be feared that he obtained assistance from some friend. This wonderful association, which has been called into existence through the influence of Lord Brougham - O et præsidium et dulce decus meum-is a

peripatetic assemblage for the encouragement of small talk and the diffusion of useless gabble. Lord Brougham, whose life has been spent in useful labours, and of whom we

desire to speak with unfeigned veneration, has been induced to become the sponsor of the society, and some other men of mark have followed his example in sharing in its deliberations. But the real work of the association is done by a crush of insignificants great men from the parochial point of view, but very small, indeed, in the national eye. The great man of a vestry, the pet of some discussion forum, the village orator, and the county pest, all pay their guineas, join the association, and send to the secretary the papers which they want to read. It is a grand opportunity to get that printed which would never be printed otherwise; it is a chance not to be despised, that of standing up before Lord Brougham, or Lord Shaftesbury, or Lord John Russell, or Sir John Pakington, as the chairman of some department of the association, and bestowing all their tediousness on these lights of the British Senate. It was for this august association of aspiring statesmen that our friend Joblings prepared a report "On the Use and Abuse of Liquid Manure, with especial reference to the aesthetics of Farming and the Rearing of Pigs," which he read to three people-the vice-deputyassistant chairman of the department, the honorary under-secretary, and his kind friend and bottle-holder, Mr Perigord Smith. It was announced the next day that Mr Joblings read an able paper on the happy effects of liquid manure to the Association for the Promotion of Social Science, and that the secretary begged to have an abstract of the paper to be published among the Transactions of the Society. Joblings has thereby taken rank as an embryo-legislator, and his soul soars above the vulgar care of weal and 'am-pies into the empyrean of metropolitan sewers and parliamentary representation.

If there be any approach to accuracy in the foregoing account of the organisation out of which the tract literature of the country proceeds, it will readily be understood that the printed results must be very nearly equivalent to what is expressed in the fine Persian phrase-bosh. Although the literary result is of this character, it by no means follows

that the actual and final result in public appreciation is of this contemptible kind. We should greatly mistake, if we imagine that literary nonsense is of none effect. There are thousands of persons who cannot distinguish good from bad in either style or argument, but can thoroughly understand strong assertions and persistent advice. Besides which, let it be observed that the associa tions bring an immense amount of personal influence to assist the influence of print and paper. As an example of what may be done in this way, let us instance the efforts of the British League of Juvenile Abstainers, which "desires to do all in humble dependence on the blessing of God, and with singleness of purpose to glorify Him in whatever is done." This league, in addition to little books and tracts adapted to the infant mind, goes to work somewhat in this way. It held, in Edinburgh alone, during the year 1850, the following meetings:-31 children's abstinence meetings every week, from 5.30 to 6.30 in the evening - that is, 1612 in the course of the year; 11 young men's abstinence meetings every week from 8 till 9.45 in the evening; 6 young women's abstinence meetings every week at the same hour; 2 young men's mutual improvement classes every week; and again at the same hour, 3 young men's Sabbath morning meetings for prayer and studying the Bible; 1 young women's Sabbath evening class for a similar purpose; 2 children's Sabbath evening schools; 1 prayer-meeting on the third Wednesday of each month. Here is evidence of not a little activity-about 3000 meetings held in one year in one town by a single association. These are the sort of efforts that bear fruit, and especially when backed by the reckless assertions and tremendous dogmatism of the tract-writers. In one pamphlet, written by the notorious James Silk Buckingham, in the interest of the Alliance for the imposition of a Maine Liquor Law, we are told, that "among the many remarkable changes of a reformatory character which, from century to century, have awakened mankind to the presence of some great existing Evil, and aroused their

dormant energies to a combined effort for its suppression," there is nothing since the first preaching of the Gospel to be compared with the Teetotal mission, which, whether we regard the extent of the evil it had to grapple with, the rapidity of its progress, the number of its advocates, the permanency of their convictions, or the good which it has effected, can only be compared with the spread of Christianity and the founding of the Church. This is the model style for tracts. It is always made out in the tracts that the precise movement which they are set on foot to advance, is the movement of the age, the grand question of all time, the only subject worth attending to. It is a point, for example, with the advocates of total abstinence to prove that drunkenness is the root of all evil. The Apostle said that money is the root of all evil; the teetotallers say that gin is the real enemy. In one of their tracts they even venture to demonstrate that drunkenness is the great source of that social evil which is the besetting sin of our large towns. Do away with drunkenness and you do away with prostitution. "The only remedy that will avail is the overthrow of the liquor traffic of this country. Take away the cause, and the effect will soon disappear." The advocates of temperance do not find it convenient to take a broad survey of mankind, when they would find that the two devils do not generally coexist in the same country with equal power; that the drunken nations are generally distinguished for the domestic virtues, and those which, like the French, have a reputation for social license, are distinguished for their sobriety. Sobriety and intrigue-drunkenness and morality these are the combinations which we most frequently find in history. Only it is a necessity of the teetotal apostles that they should father upon the bottle every crime and every failing of humanity. If a man quarrels with his wife-it must be the bottle; if he forges dockwarrants-it must be the black bottle; if he lays open the forehead of a wealthy merchant-it must be the bottle; and the advocates of temperance put all their tears into the

precious bottle, which, like that of the conjuror, proves to be the inexhaustible source of anything you please. They have a knack of weeping, and, as if by a kind of drunken sympathy, they are mighty in maudlin. ́ Here is one of their tearful tales, copied from an American newspaper, the scene occurring in that Goshen of the true Israel-the State of Maine. A boy is taken to the court to give evidence against a rum-seller. "Have you ever bought rum of this man?" says the attorney for the prosecution.

"Yes, sir." "As many as ten or a dozen times?"-"Yes, sir." "How much did you give for it?"—"Fifty cents." "Do you mean to say that you bought rum of this man as many as ten or a dozen times?" asks the counsel for the defence.-"Yes, sir." The question is repeated, the lawyer looking the boy sternly in the face, and the answer is, "Yes, sir." "On what day did you buy it?" The day is told. "Did you ever buy rum of this man on a Sunday?"-"Yes, sir." "For whom did you buy it."—"For my father," says the boy. Does the reader weep? Is he feeling for his pocket-handkerchief? If not, he is a hardened wretch; for the comment of the editor on this judicial scene is"The jury were in tears, and did not leave their seats in order to make up the verdict. We can only pray : Oh, Lord, let the skirts of our garments be clear of the rum-traffic in the great day of reckoning." This, we believe, is what in literary criticism is called spasmodic, and in theatrical criticism, melodramatic. It. is the expression of a strong sentiment without a sufficient cause it is feeling without a base of reality. If people go off into the melting mood, and waste away in tears when they learn that a little boy bought rum for his father on a Sunday, what is to become of them before the greater calamities of life? If they die away at sight of the beginnings of wrong-what shall they do when they see the end? When melodrama fails the tract-writers, they then turn to another theatrical trick, and get up pantomime. There is no limit to the ingenuity of these tract-writers; they are nearly as inventive as the poet of Moses. Here is the specimen of an introduction to

a pantomime, which we strongly recommend to Mr E. T. Smith.

"MORE VOLUNTEERS WANTED For the Belhaven and Westbarns Total Abstinence and Maine Law Loyal Artillery.

"TO

assist in carrying on the SIEGE, and Destroying the CITY and FORTRESS of SE-DRUNKOPOL, situated on the Shores of the BLACK SEA of INTEM

PERANCE, in which Sixty Thousand of Her Majesty's Subjects die every year through the cruel treatment inflicted on them by the CZAR of all the Alcoholians.

"The FORTRESS of SE-DRUNKOPOL has hitherto been considered impregnable. It is at present commanded by the following Generals: The Grand Duke BRANDY-OFF, Prince RUM-INOFF, Generals WHISKY-OFF, PORTER-OFF, and BEER-OFF.

"It is proposed to BOMBARD FORT SAINT MODERATION with Shells and Red Hot Shot. FORT DRUNKARDMAKER is to be Stormed and Carried at the point of the Maine-Law Bayonet. The Storming party will be led by General PATRIOTISM and General PROGRESS.

"N.B.-Volunteers of both Sexes are The invited to join the Regiment. heroism of Joan of Arc, the Maid of Saragossa, is as much wanted as that of a Naysmith at Silistria, or a Campbell at Balaklava.

Come from your cottage homes, plundered and cheerless,

Tell makers of drunkards who deal in thy blood,

That thy arm it is strong, and thy heart it is fearless,

And worthy the land of the mountain and flood.'

"Rush to the Rescue !-Down with the Tyranny of Intemperance.

Volunteers will be enrolled in the above Gallant Corps at the Committee Rooms, Belhaven, every Wednesday evening between the hours of 7 and 8 o'clock."

It would seem that this sort of thing proves effective, and strikes the fancies of good steady-going people, for it is a very favourite weapon in the hands of the tract-writers. Here is another example of the style.

"SPLENDID VESSEL.

IMPORTANT TO INTENDING EMIGRANTS.

cause.

"She will sail as soon as ready, from the quay of Delirium Tremens and Harbour of Drunkenness; passing the Point of Penal Servitude and Rock of Offence, through the Straits of Prison Discipline; crossing the Gulf of Pauperism and Crime; doubling Cape Wrath; and leaving the mountain of Evil Council in the distance; thence she will proceed on her voyage to the island of Self-defence, which is situate in the Northern Ocean of Common Sense, where she will take on board an immense number of Allies that are to be awaiting her arrival. They will be fully equipped, having their feet shod with the truth of their cause, and furnished with the helmet of faith and love, the breastplate of hope, the shield of charity, and the sword of perseverance, and girt about with might; and it is expected that with such a fine army on board she will be enabled to steer her course safely and surely to the desired haven of

'NO LIQUOR TRAFFIC!' which is situate in that beautiful and extensive continent

GOOD-WILL-TO-MEN.

Captain Pilot...

Mr GREATHEART. Mr SKILFUL.

"N.B. One Shilling, and upwards, is required to secure a berth, which may be had on board, or at the Office, in Manchester, or at any of the Auxiliaries throughout the United Kingdom.

"Early application is advisable as the berths are being rapidly filled up."

In so far as these efforts are honest and disinterested, it is our desire to speak of them with respect, even while differing entirely from the object which the promoters have in view. But it is impossible not to see that, under the name of philanthropic endeavour, there is an

enormous

amount of self-seeking and mere anxiety to gain a living. Mr Buckingham may have been a most disinterested apostle, but his pamphlet on the History of the Temperance Reformation, from which we have quoted an extract, is made the vehicle for announcing all the works, amounting to more than a hundred volumes, for which the author is responsible, and the vast number of subjects on which he is

prepared to lecture to a discerning and paying public. So, a series of illustrated handbills printed on straw paper, and composed on such subjects as the Sabbath, the Bible, Temperance, Kindness to Animals, Smoking, Lying, and Swearing, was published by a London house in the usual way. The "Christian" newspapers and association periodicals puff it in this style, which gives an inkling of the kind of persecution which many worthy people delight to inflict on their neighbours, as well as an idea of the unmitigated puff:

"Wonders never cease.' An assorted Package of illustrated hand-bills, printed on paper made from straw, for sixpence. The friends of peace, temperance, and the sanctity of the Lord's day, when travelling or visiting the country or sea-side, may preach many a pithy sermon without opening their lips, by putting these bills in the hands of those who seem to need the pointed instruction which they contain. They are dressed, too, for the most part, in the pleasing costume of the anecdote; and the pictures, whether representing the donkey, the tinker, or the gentleman, are to the life.'

The grandest thing, however, which has been done in the way of turning a cause into a trade was effected by one whom Lord Stanley quoted as an authority the other day in the Reform Bill debate Mr G. J. Holyoake, the apostle of Secularism. He calls it the raising of a trade into a profession; but however the deed may be described, its character is stamped upon it unmistakably. What Secularism really is it does not much concern our readers to know. It is one of the many forms, and really the most vulgar form, of the infidelity of the day. Unfortunately, Secularism was not a paying concern; it had its meetings, its lectures, its tracts, its periodical, its reprints, its subscriptions, its controlling spirit but, sad to tell, the cash was slow of coming, nobody was any the better for it, and people were asking, What is the use of all this talk? A bright idea flashed across the soul of Mr George Jacob Holyoake, who was himself the soul of Secularism. It won't do, said Mr Holyoake. Secularism is doing nothing. It must do something. What can it be made to do? Ah, reader! thou of ardent soul and sensitive nature

thou whose heart is a well of love, and whose eyes are fountains of tears— thou of the philanthropic purse, and with the fine appetite for charity-dinners at the London Tavern - thou canst well understand what schemes of glorious usefulness passed in vision before the mind of that pale prophet of a new religion. Should Secularism be made to feed the starving or to clothe the hungry--to teach those who die for lack of knowledge, or to refine those who live like the brutes for want of love? No; there is a grander object still: it should be made to establish Mr Holyoake in business. We are not jesting; we are not stating mere inferences; we are talking in the most matter-offact style. "What has Secularism done?" says Mr Holyoake; and his reply is, that it must establish a news and book agency conducted by himself. It will not do to be eternally talking. "Lecturing has been styled stump oratory by one who has a keen eye to distinguish between fleeting and permanent agencies," and evidently its effect is but small. Something must be done; "it is with these practical views," says Mr Holyoake, "that we seek to make opinion a power; and the first means we take is the institution of a more systematic diffusion of books, newspapers, and periodicals, than before. Bookselling and news-agency have hitherto been a trade; we think it might be elevated to a profession and a catholic propagandism. He who intelligently, and with a moral purpose, diffuses knowledge, is only second to him who creates it. The news-agent is only second to the lecturer in public usefulness. It is to little purpose that the author thinks, or the journalist writes, or the lecturer speaks, unless the bookseller and news-agent act in concert. They are co-workers in the creation of public opinion." It is with this sublime object that the news and book-agency was to be started-Catholic propagandism. What Catholic propagandism means will be gathered from the following exposition: "The difficulty experienced more or less in so many towns, especially in small towns, in procuring works, periodicals, and news