It must be reiterated, then, that at the beginnings of our history, the Aryan peoples indulged in spirituous liquors, perhaps to excess, but the evil consequences and baneful results demonstrated to the thoughtful the necessity of repressing this growing habit, and brought about a revulsion of feeling, so that the later Vedas prohibited the use of spirits for the gratification of the senses, saying, “ wine is unfit to be drunk, unfit to be given, unfit to be accepted ”. A step in the right direction was thus taken, and though the use of spirits could not entirely be done away with, they were employed solely at religious ceremonies. This is the first example in history where the right of drinking alcoholic liquors was disputed and denied.

It must be confessed that where the terrorism of Manu failed, the love of Buddha succeeded, for the weapons of this crusade were the very essence of Buddhism—a spirit of toleration with the erring ; of sympathy with the weak ; a spirit of humanity, of love for all.

THe advent of the East India Company provided a fresh stimulus for intemperance. The habits of its employees in the eighteenth century were so condemnable, their lives so riotous, that it is difficult to gauge the extent of the demoralising effect they had on the lives of the people.

It is apparent that, under all systems, measures are devised rather to ensure the proper taxation of spirits than to restrict the consumptions of liquors or lower their strength.

The Government of India is particularly happy and rich in its choice of words, phraseology, and pecksniffian platitudes: on paper, the resolutions breath the highest resolve and purest motives; in practice they are not worth the price of a dried blade of common grass. Nowhere is this better seen than in its excise policy, and nowhere so clearly as in its policy of the location of shops.