hibition to England
is as certain as the coming eclipse of the sun. But this is always so.
It is in human nature that people are impressed by the cause they work
in. I once knew a minister of the Scotch Church who took a voyage round
the world: he said that the thing that impressed him most was the growth
of presbyterianism in Japan. No doubt it did. When the Orillia lacrosse
team took their trip to Australia, they said on their return that
lacrosse was spreading all over the world. In the same way there is said
to be a spread all over the world of Christian Science, proportional
representation, militarism, peace sentiment, barbarism, altruism,
psychoanalysis and death from wood alcohol. They are what are called
world movements.

My own judgment in regard to prohibition in the British Isles is this:
In Scotland, prohibition is not coming: if anything, it is going. In
Ireland, prohibition will only be introduced when they have run out of
other forms of trouble. But in England I think that prohibition could
easily come unless the English people realise where they are drifting
and turn back. They are in the early stage of the movement already.

Turning first to Scotland, there is no fear, I say, that prohibition
will be adopted there: and this from the simple reason that the
Scotch do not drink. I have elsewhere alluded to the extraordinary
misapprehension that exists in regard to the Scotch people and their
sense of humour. I find a similar popular error in regard to the use of
whiskey by the Scotch. Because they manufacture the best whiskey in the
world, the Scotch, in popular fancy, are often thought to be addicted to
the drinking of it. This is purely a delusion. During the whole of two
or three pleasant weeks spent in lecturing in Scotland, I never on any
occasion saw whiskey made use of as a beverage. I have seen people take
it, of course, as a medicine, or as a precaution, or as a wise offset
against a rather treacherous climate; but as a beverage, never.

The manner and circumstance of their offering whiskey to a stranger
amply illustrates their point of view towards it. Thus at my first
lecture in Glasgow where I was to appear before a large and fashionable
audience, the chairman said to me in the committee room that he was
afraid that there might be a draft on the platform. Here was a serious
matter. For a lecturer who has to earn his living by his occupation, a
draft on the platform is not a thing to be disreg