Polynesian., 1852-09-11


dIstillation were permitted, strong drink
made cheap and plenty, and the restrictions
on Its sale removed. No missionary inhu-
ence could then arrest the flood of intempe-
rance which would flow over the islands,
sweeping offthe population as by pestilence.
If legal distilatfon were allowed here 1t would
be as impossible to prevent illegal distilation
as it has been in Scotland and Ireland years
ago. There it was not question of tempe
rance, but one of taxation, and so it would
be here if distilling we're allowed. Did the
law now in Scotland or Ireland wholly sup
press distilleries, it would be next to impossi-
BILE to put one in operation, for there would
be every where friends of temperance who
would expose it, 1t is so here now There
are no secret distilleres because all distill-
ing is taboo, but let the business become le-
gal, and the natives would make little dis
tinction between those which paid the excise
and those which did not. Distilling being
! legaized the distiIler would no longer be re-
garded as a common enemy There are no
dlstiIleries in Maine Nor could we expect
the immoral influences of intemperance to be
less here than in the United States and in
Europe, where it is believed to be fully estab-
lished that three-fourths of the crimes commit
ted are directly or indirectly caused by in
toxicating drinks; aud much more than three
fourths Of the pauperism is attributable to the
same cause. Have the native population here
any more self control over their appettes
than Englishmen, -Scotchmen or Americans?
To the aboriginal races on the American
continent strong drink has been most destruc-
tive as all admit.
Since the commencement of the present
century, all the northern nations Of Europe
were growing more Incorporate in the use of
drinks, until the temperance reform arrested
their course. In 1884 when the Stockholm
Temperance Society was formed, at which
the Grown Prince presided, it was stated
that Sweden, with population OF three mil
lions, had I7O, 900 distilleries, many of them
small ones, bu: altog making over 45,-
OOO, 900 gallons. This, if they consumed it
all, would be Is gallons per annum to each
man, woman, and child. 1t beats the Scotch
entirely, and even the foreign population of
the Sandwich Islands / cannot believe such
an amount ofiiquor was consumed in Sweden
by drinking ii all. 1t must have been lost
by accident or put to other uses, or exported.
The popular argument in favor OF drink
ing intoxicating liquors is that they are good
used in moderation, but like all other good
things, liable TO be abused, and that it is the
abuse and not the use which is wrong. But
this is just as true of opium, ether, chloro-
form, nitrous oxyde or ava, as it is of alcohol.
These all excite the nervous system, and ex-
hilarate or stupefy They may be useful,
carefully administered by physician, in re-
moving disease, or in relieving violent pain,
but the daily use Of any of them would be
highly injurious 1t is as much an abuse of
alcohol to drink it habitually, as it is of opium
to smoke it after dinner, or to inhale chloro-
form every night to induce sleep, or to take
nitrous oxyde at an evening party to enliven
the company, or to apply galvanlc battery
to the legs of dancers at IA ball. In this mat
ter appeal TO the reason, the experience,
and the conscience Of sober and considerate
men and women touch not scriptural
grounds farther than to say that should be
very reluctant to believe the, Christian rel-
gion. rightly expounded, iavors drunkenness
more than Mahometanlsm, or Buddhism or
other Pagan systems, though | aPprehend II
cannot be denied that the christian nations of
Europe and America contain more drum
kards than all the world beside. trust this
will not long be so, but am very confident
it tciH be- so long the use of alcoholic liquors
by moderate drinkers, " is tolerated, or not
deemed disgraceful. Nothing short of total
abstinence can stay the destroying curse
The celebrated Dr. Samuel johnson, one of
the greatest intellects of his age, said that
he found abstinence easy; but he could not
drink little; if he drank at all, he drank too
much His case is that of millions of weaker
minds. Some consider any quantity which
can be carried without staggering or stam-
mering, and without temporary delirium, as
not TOO much But there is grand difficulty
in stopping at this point. Few if any know
when they reach it. The most careful self
control is required Just at the moment when
cool calculation and caution are thrown to
the winds under the excitement Of the liquor,
more especially OH any festive occasion when
constantly urged to take more.
Michael Cassie, after bloody night brawl
in the streets of Venice exclaimed: "Oh
that men would put an enemy into their mouths
to steal away their brains" This ejacula-
ton is as opposite now, as when Shakespeare
wrote it, and the theft far more extensive
and alarming.
There is no safety except in keeping the
enemy out. Once admitted, he soon gains
complete possession, and a terrible tyrant
he is. Kept out altogether, he is powerless.
1t is sufficient objection against moderate
drinking that all drunkenness proceeds from
it. If there we're no moderate drinkers there
would soon be no drunkards; but am per-
suaded that moderate drinking is of itself
such a fruitful source of disease, that, con-
sidering the greater number of its votares, it
shortens human life more even in the aggre-
gate than positive and acknowledged drunk
enness, of which the cases are comparatively
few, though sufficiently formidable in mum I
bers.
In confirmation of this there is abundant