The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1851-09-13
lOf Inc IccH |lhiS.
The Grand Mass Meeting

NAshSS
OF OCTORARO DIVISION, OF S. OF T.
Mn. EDIToR:--Lcst none of your regular cor
respondents should be On hand to give you an
account Of the Temperance Harvest Home, ms
the speakers termed the "grcat demonstration
ofthe Order which came off on Saturday, the
9th inst, in Mr.. Coale'S woods, 9th district near
llarriSvillc. Will make the attempt myself, I'd
give You a faint iiea ofthe meeting and its pro-
cecdings. The day being very plca>ant-pcr-
haps degree too warm-two Or three thousand
persons assembled to witness the "grand and i'm
posing display" which which was confidently
expected--to use the language of the blls-to
be the greatest that had ever been seen in Cecil.
| ] was not on the ground at very early hour,
and the brotherhood had all finished their
''marching in procession when arrived and
after some music from the Sun band-or rather
what is left Of t-and prayer from the Rev.
Mr.. Coolnbs, OF Lancaster county, Pa, the meet
ing was addressed in II lengthy speech By that
gentleman. He is considered one of the first
champions OF tho day in the temperance cause.
Mr. G. took new and strong grounds on the
temperance qucstion--at least his positions were
! new to me.
After committing at some length on the grea,
moral influence q. the Temperance cause. and
assuming that noIal sausion had done it,. work
as far as it was capable of overcoming the evils
of rum drinking and the rum traffic, (aSsuuing.
| say, for II Is an assumption and an unjust one
too, that moral sauson is incapable Of elicting
more than il does for the cause at the present
day0 he marched boldly up to the license law
aud proclaimed it unconstitutional. unconsli-
tulonal lift were wrong TO sell as beverage.
spriuous llGuorS-and equally unconstitutional
if ii were right 10 drink and sell rum First,
bprnugp mn Law ,nuli b., Al /,
licenses a nr0ac; and on the other hand if it
were just and moral TO sell ardent spirits as the
tavcrns do, no law could be constitutional which
prohibited a certain class of citizens from engag-
ing i'll jus, trade, while ii granted the exclusive
privilege TO others to carry on such a Traffic.
The speaker hal, evidently, the license law Of
Pennsylvania, in his minds eye, during this part
OF his argument, which requires Il rum seller to
procure certificate from a certain number of
honorable men, tcs,iiying that he, the said rum
seller, is a man of "Standing," before he can re-
cevc tavern license. | believe the law in
this State is different, and any man can obtain n
permit to sell grog who is able to pay for it.
Mr.. C's arguments on the unconsitulonaity of
the license law were very lengthy and elaborate.
He proved that the traffic is immoral by quoting
the following text. "Wo! unto him that put
teth the bottle to his neighbours MOUTH de-
clarlng the tavern keeper to be the man who did
It. He bclahorcd the grog men most unmcrci-
fully, and also took the ground that the liquor
trade was nuisance, and injury TO society, to
prove the unconstituliOnality of the law which
protected II. The Rev'd gentleman argued the
question at great length, challenging any legal
gentleman to deny his positions.
The speech Of Mr.. Coombs consumed the
forenoon, and when he concluded there was an
I N pr,D1 n1tn,,pJ Tar H., thn
and then commenced such an Investigations of
"dinner baskets" ETC., as delights hungry
crowd, succeeded by a general promenade.
(Which pl"ascs the bellies and beaur-'tis said, }
and terrible onslaught upon ice cream. There
were several stalls containing refreshments;
some having confectionery. others more subStan-
tai yands. such as cold ham, bread and butter,
cakes, pies. &c.;-and al Others again, there
was such cracking Of corks rs | never before
dld hear. The latter class Of stands, under
stood, kept ''fcmpcr0nce drinks." | wonder
what degree OF Fermentation is required to make
corck crack. Those whose ,hirstw too burn
ing 10 be quenched by a temperance drink, read
lily found n hack, to carry them TO Ktauss' lav-
ern,-a sboH mile from the meeting where they
could "wet their whistls'' with something that
would carry bead.
Several speakers delivered brief but eloquent
addresses in the afternoon, among them, Mr.
Thomas, Editor Of the Monumental Fountain.
Not word, however, was said in praise Of the
Order TIL near the closing scene, when the pre-
scn'aton of a handsome banner, from the ladies
to the OciorGru Dirisoa, ofneccSsly drew out a
few remarks from Mr.. Wilmer in praise of the
Order. So those who attended TO hear the strue
principles ofthe Order explained" were dsap-
pointed, as that part of the performance prom
ISpI in tho hills ti1n,t az
three years ago the champions of the sSrcic of
honor," couldn't find tropes and metaphors in
the language, to sound the praise OF sour beau
tifnl Order" but now -a-days they pass it by in
silence, leaving its beauties untold. The fact is,
the men of note in the Temperance cause arc
getting heartily ashamed or the Order and lis
foolishncSS, and again are beginning to merge
from the secret hall, and ascend the open plat
form OF the early temperance societies. All the
speakers took occasion to flatier the ladies not
little, Mr.. Coombs leading off in the morning by
expressing the wish that they had an opportunity
to rote on the license law, taking his cue from a
leader which appeared in the .Phadclp hia ledger
short time since, in favor of placing the license
law in the hands of the softer sex. Had the Or
der men thought ofthis great importance of the
ladies', as fellow soldiers in the temperance army
sooner they perhaps wouldn't have been cx-
clndcd from The 'tcirclc ofhonor!"
The ceremonies of the day were concluded at
late hour, by centleman--whosc name |
could not Thanksgiving some very pretty tenn
pcrancc songs. HAMLET.
RFEITs.-Counterfeit So notes
on the Thames Bank, at Norwich, Con-
necticut, which are exceedingly we'll
executed, and calculated to deceive are