The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1852-03-25
The Organ OF the Holy Alliance and the MI
nority Report the Maine Liquor Law.

The Organ OF the Holy Alliance and the MI
nority Report on the Maine Liquor Law.
The fanatics who are in favor of the Maine Liquor
law are very rapidly losing their senses, and ex-
hibiting species of intoxicaton equalling if not
exceeding, that produced by King Alcohol himself.
The leading organ Of this ism perfectly crazy
In some remarks, purporting to be a comment upon
the minority report in the Assembly upon the sub
ject Of the proposed law, it INDUCES in strain that
beats by long odds the vernacuar Of the Five
Points, and is almost equal to the vernacular Of
Congress during regular set to-" Here are few
Of the phrases used in this very temperate organ Of
temperance -" Ofthe lowest and vilest character
''vestbules Of brothels and gaming houses" most
internal depravity'-"d rugged and xtra-poisonous
| liquor most shameless and degraded harots
and barefaced swndlers'--" debauched and plum
dered'-" horrible baseness'-s' rum corrupted and
destroyed'-'r ruin of his fellow creaturcs'-'' rum
has many shrines erected for its heather worship
liquor slavery conquest"-'' more mindful
of their own luss than of Gods glory ten thou
sand Bibles" rascality SO barefaced"-"a hog
is property's ditto of gunpowder'" Roses flock
of smutty sheep cutting off the tail just behind
| the ears
| Such are specimens of the delectable, sweet
| scented flowers that bloom in the columns CT the
chief organ of the Holy Alliance, which is now lead
| ing the country into new species Of fanaticism.
They philosophical, temperate, teetotal epthets,
oclirsing the classic, chastc language of the most
! eloquent ternagants Of the Five Points and even
the polished periods of the orators OF the Industrial
Congress-they are only surpassed by the unap-
proachable elegance of the brilliant displays in the
halls of Congress All these epithets, which we
have culled from among many more of the same
choice description, applied to the members Of
the Assembly, the minority report of the committee,
| the committee themselves, to their constituents,
and to all who deal in the liquor business. The
| Tribune found it more easy to lampoon the gen
tlemen who drew up and presented the minority re-
port, than to it, reasoning, which bravely
takes the bull by the horns. The majority
report is completely demolished by it, and hence
| the towering rage, and the beautiful and SUBJ
lime Billingsgate of our amiable contemporary. Let
us take glance at of the facts and figures
and arguments which have produced such an over
flow Of the bile Of the whitelvered organ of cold
water.
In the first place, the minority report shows that
the very title Of the bill reported by the majority is
deceptive. 1t is an act entitled act to prevent
raupersm and crime. by the suppression of drinking
and tipping houses" This title assumes that spi-
rituous liquor is the sole parent of pauperism and
crime. which is contrary to reason and experience.
A regard for the morals, prosperity and wealth Of
the state is the pretext that has been employed in
| every age to cover the designs of tyranny and
! fanaticism. Sumptuary laws enacted in re-
mote times and countries-Rome, England, France
and Sweden-and all without effect. They were
enacted in the early settlement of Massachusetts,
and Connecticut, and in the State Of New York.
These laws were either formally repealed or became
practically n dead letter Chancellor Kent in his
Commentaries, condemns all such laws in the follow
ing terms" Civil government is not entitled, in
ordinary and general rule, to regulate the
use of property in the hands of the by
sumptuary laws. or any other visionary schemes Of
frugality and equality. No such fatal union
necessarily exists between prosperity and tyranny,
I or between wealth and national corruption,
in the harmonious arrangements of Providence.
Liberty depends essentially upon the structure Of
the government, the administration of justice, and
the intelligence Of the people and it has very little
with the equality Of property and frugality
Of living, or the varieties Of soil and climate"
The present bill strikes az the root Of republican
equality, and afrms that legal restraint should be
imposed upon the Industrial classes alone, while the
wealthy may import from Europe the choicest wines
and liquors, and drink them to their hearts content
The attempt to represent crime resulting from
intoxicating drinks is refuted by reference to sa-
cred history, which shows that before liquor was
fcrmentcd or distilled, Adam and Eve fell, Cain
committed murder, and the report might have added
that the world was overwhelmed with the deluge |
for its vioos and crimes before intoxicating drinks
were discovered Vide Mr.. SchafIers speech at the
Industrial Congress. The most atrocious crimes, in
all ages have been committed by men who seldom |
or never indalged in the vice Of drunkenness.
Monroe Edwards and MITCHELL among the
forgers, Professor Webster and Colt among the
muIderers, and Otis Allen, One-Eycd Thomp-
son, and Niles, among the countcrfeters and
eudacous criminals, were abstcmious men The
statistics Of crime in the city Of New York referred
to in The majority report, not entitled to conf
dcnce. TO attribute restitution and vagrancy in
large city wholly TO Intoxicating liquors, bctrays
either great ignorance or great dishonesty. In
France and Hungary, where wine constitutes the
ordinary beverage Of the people, drunkenness is less
common than in England or America. The diiiu-
son of education, AMI moral suason, the great
and only succcssful means Of combating iEtem-
pcrance. In confirmation or this truth, VIC have the
fact, that while in 1910 the quantity Of whiskey
distilled in this State amounted TO III ,973,el5 gal
Ions il appears by the census 70 have been reduced
to9,23l 200 gallons in the year lSJGbeinga diai-
mutton 81 2,742 iI5 gallons in ten years though the
population has increased over % per cent in the same
period. But the violence and coercion attcmptedby
the fanatics arc very likely to produce areacton.
lie minority report appeas 20 lie D.Je ..c,f