Daily American telegraph., 1852-01-23

mofe nun from us helllSh walk; ana no temper
dnss man is now weak enough to offer it. The
stern mandate Of law--and that in the voice of
TOTAL pRoHBITIoS-is alone competent to reach
his obdurate heart. No middle course can avail
anything. SO deadly and internal is the traffic
SO artful and crafty does it make all who engage
in it--that they laugh to scorn all attempts to
limit, restrict, or regulate them. Nothing short
Of . law of'total prohibition can stop them
And why may it not be applied? The public
Judgment is everywhere favorable to it. The
voice OF wailing and wo from every portion Of our
land proclaims its necessity.
The time was when the habit of drinking in
toxicating liquor was common-I may say, uni
yersal. 1t was considered inhospitable not to
offer it on all occasions to visters, and to keep it
for the use Of the family. The drunkard was
then, most commonly, manufactured under the
paternal roof. But NOW the thing is changed,
especially among the middle or productive classes
OF society. The farmer, the mechanic, and in
deed all the laboring classes, which constitute
the strength and support of every community,
have driven the accursed thing from the family.
1t is no more seen on the side-board or dinner
table. So far as these classes are concerned, the
grog-shop is now the sole mandatory of drunk
ards. And they must be shut up!
In proof of the futility of all attempts to re-
strict and circumscribe the liquor traffic. we have
only to look at what has taken place in our own
city Of Washington in the last few months
In the month Of August last, our City Councils
passed an act authorizing the Mayor to issue
'licenses to sell all kinds of spirituous liquors,
wines, cordials, malt liquors and cider, in guam
titles less than pint" to persons Of good char
acter and legal responsibility, upon the recon-
mendation of a majority of the white housekeep-
ers residing on the same side of the same square,
and on the side of the square fronting opposite
IL. r. AL
proposed to be opened, &c By the same act
of acts inconsistent therewith-leaving this as
the only act on the statute book of the city au-
thorizng license for the retail of liquors.
Now, this law was passed on the special re-
commendation of the Mayor, was approved by
the Mayor, and was to be executed and carried
into effect by that same Mayor and his chosen
officers
All licenses for the sale of liquors expired by
law on the lst of November, 1851, and the people
naturally concluded that after that day the city
would be rid ofa these pesilential establishments,
except such as they themselves, in their several
squares, should recommend rs necessary to the ac-
commodation of the public; and for this privilege
the people greatly rejoiced, and greatly praised
the Nayor and the Councils.
But the lst ofNovember came, and, to our amaze
ment it was intimated that under the advice of the
Corporation Attorney, the Mayor had determined
to issue licenses under the old law for "taverns."
which carried as an incident, conferred by long
usage the right to sell liquor by the glass,
though sanctioned by no law; and licenses TOR
grog-shops under the new law---thus, by subtle
construction, defeating all the hopes founded on
the passage of that law.
On the receipt of this intelligence, deemed il
my duty as the head of the Order of the Sons Of
Temperance in this District, to resist, by every
means in my power, this determination of the
Mayor; and to this end l conferred with al
eminent and experienced member of the Order
rs to what was proper TO be done. We concluded
to address the Mayor respectful letter request
ing him TO advise Of the construction he had
put upon the new law, and the course he had
decided to pursue in regard to granting licenses
for the retail of liquor; and we did so. Our pur-
pose was to resist the rumored action of the
Mayor Mt the threshold-to test his construction
of the acts authorizing him to grant licenses by
a judicial decision, if possible; for we believed
then, as we do now that his construction was
wrong, and that he was perpetunting curse upon
the city, after praying for authority to put an
end to it-and that, too, after full authority
had been given him for that purpose. In
this proceeding we had no intention to treat
the Mayor with rudeness or discourtesy. We
believed, in view of what he had recommended to
the Councils, that if he had been brought to the
determination which rumor said he had, he
had been driven to it ogdinst his wiu and better
Judgment; that he would frankly and promptly
inform what the facts were, and cordially unite
with US in every legal and proper effort to enable
him to carry out his benevolent and philanthropic
recommendations to the Councils. We therefore
prayed him to give us an early answer.
At this stage of the proceedings, | visited the
several Divisions in the city of Washington and
narrated to them what | had heard-what had
done-and my determination to pursue the sub
ject as above stated. add, with much pride and
pleasure, that all the Divisions responded by re
solutions approving what had been done-urging
me to carry out my purpose of resisting the ni-
qutous determination of the Mayor, and pledging
themselves to support me with all necessary
means, rs well as by their social and moral infu-
encc.
But to proceed. say we requested an early
answer to letter; but, receivingnone we logged
his memory through the public prints Some ten
or twelve days after this we received polite nvi
taton to call at his office. We did 80. He received
us ciylly, and at once proceeded to us that
he had in all sincerity recommended to the Coun-
ellis to limit and restrict the number and classes
of licenses for the retail of liquor, and did so
because he was satisfied from information given
him by his officers and by his own personal
OBSERVATION, that Wtenperdncc was the cause,
almost exclusively, of all the disturbances, pau
perism, and crime, of our city; that his real
wish and purpose was to cut off all licenses for
grog-shops, properly so called, and then to regu-
late the taverns to limit and restrict them in
the traffic. lie said he doubted the authority
of the Councils under the charter to prohibit the
traffic in liquor, but there was no doubt they had
full and explicit authority to regulate it, &c. He
said the Councils had failed to pass the law he
recommended, but had passed one which it was
hoped and believed at the time would do some
good that he had conferred fully with the
members of the Councils as to their views of its
true meaning and extent, and had executed it as
they understood it, and as it was construed by