Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-07-28 00:00:00

MR. J. B. GOUGH IN LIVERPOOL.

Mr. J. B. Gough having arrived in Liverpool by the
Niagara, on Sunday, a public breakfast took place at ten
o'clock yesterday morning, in Laurence's Temperance
Hotel, Clayton-squase, for the purpose of enabling his
many friends and admirers in Liverpool to welcome the
distinguished temperance advocate back to this country
After the breakfast, it was resolved to hold a public meet-
ing to express to Mr. Gough the thanks which he deserved
for his advocacy of the temperance cause, and the gratifi-
cation it gave his friends to receive him again iu England
Accordingly it was at once arranged that a meeting should
take place in the Qieen's Hall, Bold-street, and thither
the gentlemen assembled in the Temperance Hotel pro-
ceeded. Owing to the very short notice at which the
meeting was convened, there WAS not as large an audience
as there would have otherwise undoubtedly been, The
chair was taken amid loud applause by Dr. Eden.
The CHAIRMAN briefly opened the proceedings.
Letters of apology were read from several gentlemen,
among whom were the Rev. Hugh Allen, M A., London ;
Rev. William Guest, Leeds ; Rev. Henry Gale, Rev. J.
Ledger, Lancaster; Joseph Sturge, Birmingham ; G. W.
Anstie, Devizes ; James Newkina, M.R.C.S., London ;
Thomas Knox, Edinburgh ; John Andrews, Leeds ; R. D
Duncan, Carlisle ; S. M. Hunter, Huntington ; J. W.
Barker, Wolverhampton ; T. G. Beamish, Coventry; A.
Narmby, Long Sutton ; J. E. Wright, Northampton;
George Hastings, Louth, &c.
Mr. TWEEDIE then presented to Mr. Gough, on the part
of the National Temperance League, the expression of
their welcome, not conveyed in a formal address, but in a
few earnest words, He welcomed Mr. Gough as a man
who had done immense service to the Temperance move-
ment, not only while he was in England, but abroad, and
whose matchless powers of persuasion had been ever most
successful in making, wherever he went, firm and staunch
supporters of the Temperance movement.
Mr. NEIL MA CNEIL offered to Mr. Gough, the welcome of
the Scottish Temperance League. In doing so, he
took occasion to mention the fact that since Mr. Gough's
departure about two years ago f Ten England, there had
been some advance made in the suppression of drinking
habits. Two years ago there were 1,800 public houses in
the city of G'a=gow, lied now there were but 1,600. The
process of reduction was taking place in Edinburgh, where
last term the public houses were reduced upwards of 100.
He also took the opportunity of mentioning that certain
statements put forth in reply to a letter of Mr. Gough's,
gave a shock to the feelings of not a few of Mr. Gough's
devoted friends in Scotland, (Cheers) He assured Mr.
Gough that very little sympathy was felt in Scotland with
the attack made on him Although he was in favour of
legislative interference personally, he did not approve of
it where it was not established upon a heabhv basis.
Mr. G. MATHESON, secretary to the Liverpool Tem-
perance League, presented the following address to Mr.
Gough on behalf of that body.
an uaass

To John B. Gough, Esq., on the occasion of his arrival froa
fro u Aintrica, on a second temperance mission to Grew
Britain.

Honoured and Dear Sir,—Permit u', on behalf of the com-
mittee of the Liv,_,rpool Temperance League, and the Temper-
ance Societies generally, to bid you a hearty welcome to your
native land, with renewed health end strength, to continue,
under Dtvine assistance, your glorious labours in aid of suffer-
ihg humanity. We have watched, with unabated solicitude,
the accounts, which have from time to time appeared, of your
recruited health, and your exertions in the great temperance
reformation, with the friends of that cause in the country of
your adoption.
We havo anxiously looked for your promised re!urn and
assistance, and, therefore, meet you with hearty and enthusias-
tic congratulations on the realisation of our earnest desires to
have you with us again ; for, although there is a growing pub-
lic sentiment in favour of our enterprise, still intemperance
abounds in our midst—sustained by habit, appetite, prejudice,
custom, interest, and laws. The government of our country
still detiva a revenue through the sins of the people, from a
traffic whirla is the acknowledged prolific source of pauperism,
crime, disease, and death ! Christians still use, and counten-
ance the use of that which is the greatest detriment to the moral
and religious progress of the nation. Yet, amid all this, we
are rejoiced to be enabled to say we are progressing ; that
thousands are being saved through the adoption and influence
of our principles ; and our gratification is not confined to the
emtemplation of results already known, it stretches to the
future, as we believe in the ultim sto triumph of our cause, and
foresee the advantages that will accrue to our country by the
spread of the blessings of total abstinence combined with
Christian principles. We, therefore, hail with great pleasure
your pretence with us once more as one of the greatest antagon-
ists of the most crying evil of our time ; and we bid you God
speed on your mission, trusting that the same, and even more
triumphant successes may attend your efforts as on the occasion
of your former visit to this country.

On behalf of the committee of the L:verpool Temperance
League. JOHN B. BURROWS, President.
GEO. MATHESON, Secretary.
Committee-room, 23, Houghton street,
27. h July, 1857.

Mr. GOUGII then came forward, and was received with
enthusiastic applause. Having expressed his warm thank-
fulness for the reception that had been given to him, he
proceeded to say, that there was a matter which it would
be expected by the friends of the cause here, and in
America, that he should allude to at his first starting.
(Cries of " Hear, hear.") If that matter was not settled,
he would return to the United States in October, to labour
with those who desired his services in another land,
because if he was guilty of what had been charged upon
him, of making a statement in a letter to a friend which
was aeCtrue, he must be equally capable of making an
untrue statement upon a platform, and, therefore, was not
worthy to appear before the public. Until this matter was
positively settled, the public would have a right to say,
" We will not hear the man who has been branded by his
co-labourers as a liar." When he let% Great Britain last,
he was deputed by the Scottish Temperance League, and
by the British League, which held its meetings in Brad-
fori, to ascertain and r, port correctly all facts in reference
to the enforcement of, and the success of the so-called
Maine Liquor Law. He explained to the meeting that he
had al ways been an advocate of prohibi ion, even before the
Maine Law was ever heard of. His motto always had been
" kindness, sympathy, and persuasion for the victim—law
for the tempter." (Cheers.) He was, therefore, some-
what startled on reading in the English papers, while in
America, certain attacks which were made upon him in
reference to a sentence contained in a letter he had written
to one of his friends, and which was taken up not exactly
in the form in which he wrote it. After the present
meeting he declared that he would not again allude to the
subject. The sentence in his letter Was —" The cause in
this country is in a depressed state. The Maine Law is a
dead letter everywhere —more liquor sold than I ever
knew before in Massachusetts, and in other States it is about
as bad.' This sentence was made the subject of several
attacks upon him in the Alliance newspaper, some of
which Mr. Gough read, and which sought, in very strong
terms, to discredit his testimony. In some of these
documents he was stated to have said that the Maine law
was a dead failure, an expression which he declared he
had never made use of, as he knew that the law was not a
failure, and never would be a failure. (Cheers.) Having
remarked upon the unkind, ungenerous, and uncalled-for
way in which he had been dealt with, he proceeded to
vindicate the statement in his letter as a correct
description of the position of affairs when it was
written in May last. He remarked that when he
used the word everywhere," he did not mean the word
to be taken in the directly literal sense, or implying every-
where without the least exception, but as meaning generally
the great majority of instances. He then stated that in
order to obtain correct information, he had written a great
number of letters to the most reliable authorities throughout
the United States, requesting information as to the working
of the prohibitory enactments. From Massachusetts alone
he had received upwards of 200 letters, from men whose
position and authority he was able to verify. Mr. Gough
then produced a great number of letters which he had
received, and from which he read some, selected, he stated,
almost at rand em—all tending to show that for various
reasons the Maine Law had not been enforced in the great
majority of instances. The whole of the letters he declared
were open to the inspection of any gentleman present. It
appeared from these documents, that out of 208 towns in
Massachusetts, 15 had enforced the lac up to the Ist of
April, 1857, for the six or eight months previous.
In EOll6 of those towns the liquor traffic had been
driven out, before the passing of the act, by public
sentiment, which demanded its suppres.ion. From
the reports of the attorney-general for the state of
Massachusetts, it appeared that, daring the year 1856,
there had been 1271 prosecutions for liquor selling in
that state, of which 199 resulted in conviction, 184 were
acquitted, 199 nol pros, 599 still pending, 28 no bill,
29 not arrested, 38 default in the recognizancos. The cost
to the state was 29,368 dollars 9 cents. Of the 199 con-
victions, 120 were appealed to the supreme court, of which
73 were remitted for sentence, 5 judgments reversed, 34
continued under advisement, 2 continued for argument,
5 remitted for new trial, and one nolle proseque, by order
of the court. There were, therefore, only 152 convictions
where the fines were enforced. There were in February,
1857, in the city of Lowell alone, 278 places where liquor
was sold openly, in violation of the Maine Law. That
was in one city alone, while there were but 152 convictions
in the whole State. Having brought forward and read a
variety of statements from public men in America, all
tending to the same conclusion, Mr. Gough contended that,
under these circumstances, he was fully justified in declar-
ing that, at the time he wrote, the Maine Law was vir-
tually a dead letter. He never believed it a failure, but,
on the contrary, declared that even already a reaction for

the better was beginning ti take place. People were
beginning to find that they had erred by relying
wholly upon law, and relaxing their eaergies in the
great movement of moral suasion. They were now
again rousing in the old direction, and in this fact he saw
great hope. He paid an eloquent and warm tribute of
admiration and regard to Mr. Neal Dow, between whom
and himself he declared the slightest ill feeling had never
prevailed. Finally, he declared that he would never again
refer to the question, unless, indeed, his reputation should
be assailed. Es reputation was dear, not only to him,
but to others, as without it he could not fulfil the work he
had to do, and that reputation he should therefore defend.
Mr. Gough concluded amid loud cheers, after having
addressed the meeting for over two hours.
Mr. CARVER offered a welcome to Mr. Gough on behalf of
the Liverpool South Total Abstinence Association.
The rev. Mr. TAYLOR proposed the following resolu-
tion : —" That this meeting cordially thank Mr. Gough for
the explicit and conclusive evidence collected by him in
vindication of the statements inc den tally made in a private
letter recently sent by him to England, and instead of
feeling discouraged at the facts respecting America sub-
mitted by Mr. Gough, are persuaded that their publication
cannot rail to be productive of great good, inasmuch as
they are calculated to demonstrate the importance of the
abstinence principle as the best cure for intemperance, and
as the only safe basis for healthy legislation."
The Rev. Mr. BURROWS seconded the resolution.
Judge MARSHALL, of Nova Scotia, opposed the resolution
on the ground that it spoke of " the depressed condition of
the temperance and prohibition movements." He denied
that any such depression existed, or did exist, in May
last, and he disputed the correctness of the conclusions
drawn by Mr. Gough and the gentlemen whose letters he
had read. From his own experience ha maintained that
the Maine Law had been successful. -

A somewhat animated discussion took place upon this
question. Finally, the Rev. Mr Steinthal suggested that
the words referred to should be left out, and that the reso-
lution should read without the preamble— We cardially
th-nk Mr. Gough for the explicit and conclusive evidence
collected by him " &c. This alteration met the assent of
the meetiug, and of Mr. Gough; and the resolution was
accordingly put in that form.

Judge MAREHTALL again opposed the resolution, on the
ground that the evidence collected by Mr. Gough was not
" conclu.iive."

A second discussion took place on the point, which was
austaited without much regularity for some time. The
resolution was finally put to the vote in its amended
form, and carried almost unanimously, only Judge Mar-
shall, and one other gentleman, voting against it.
Mr. LIVINGSTOI, of Glasgow, proposed a vote of thanks
to the chairman, which was carried by acclamation.
This closed the proceeding 4, which occupied about four
hours.

DISASTROUS CONFLAGRATION.

TWO SHIPS BURNED ON THE STOCKS.

One of the most disastrous conflawations which has
occurred for many a year back broke out on Wednesday
morning, at the shipbuilding yards, New Shore, Perth.
The fire first mada its appearance in the loft of the saw-
mill belonging to Messrs. Thomas Graham and Co.
The cause is not yet known, as parts of the machinery had
been under repair for the last few days, and of course no
flues were lig'lted daring that time. The fire broke out
with great violence, and had advanced to such an extent
before it was observed that the manager or foreman of the
mill, Mr. Whitelaw, and his family, who lived there, on
being awakened from their bads, had immediately to fly
for their lives, without being able to save a single article
of furniture or clothing. The fire spread with such rapidity
that, in the course of a very few minutes, the whole build-
ing was in a blaze. By the time the engine arrived the
fire had made rapid progress among the wood piled up on
the north side of the saw mill; in fact, the mill and the
piled wood were enveloped in flames, and sent up a
volume of flame fearful to look at. Farther to the north
was a wooden shed, in which a number of the carpenters
employed in the adjacent sheds had their chests of tools,
and beyond were three vessels upon the stocks—the
nearest one being in the yard of Messrs. Fenton and
Smeaton. As yet only a very few of the carpenters, and
other individuals from the town had arrived upon the spot,
but by dint of great exertion they succeeded in saving the
entire tools. There was not a breath of wind at first, but,
just as the engine began to play, a light breeze sprung up
from the south-west, and blew the flames direct upon the
ship in Fenton and Smeaton's yard. Almost in a moment
this vessel, which had been exposed all along to the intense
heat, took fire like tinder. In a short time the fire had
penetrated the vessel. Another engine having now arrived,
every effort was made to prevent the flames communicating
to the second vessel, which was very close to the other.
The third ship, however, was somewhat farther away.
Attempts were made to throw over the burning vessel upon
its left side, but these failed, and ultimately it fell over
upon the side of its neighbour, which having previously
ignited, instantly burst into flames. The two vessels, the
saw mill, and the space between filled with logs, spars,
sleepers, &e., were now in one devouring, undivided blaze.
Little hope was entertained of the flames being stayed in
their progress until they had swept the whole yards to the
Shore houses. Fortunately, however, the wind again
fell, and the engines being played wilt effect, it soon
appeared that the third vessel would be saved. Had
there been a high wind from the south there can be very
little doubt that the conflagration would have baffled
every effort, and rushed on until it had exhausted itself at
the end of the sheds. In fact, the vessels lying at the
harbour could not have been safe, from the clouds of burn-
ing embers which would have been blown upon them in
showers. The efforts of the firemen to save the third
vessel were at length successful, but the second one was
almost entirely consumed. We have only to add, that all
danger from the fire was past by six o'clock, and the third
vessel was saved. The whole damage is supposed to amount
to about £6,000 and none of the parties are insured.
Nothing is yet ascertained as to the origin of the fire.—
Perth Courier,