Polynesian., 1852-09-04

and formed new State society, which they
called the Maine Temperance Union. The
old society was left to do what good it could
but it soon lost all vitality, while the new one
went forward with great vigor, and commen-
ced the publication of a monthly paper which
; in little more than year had a circulation
OF I5,OOO copies. In other States the same
question was raised, and with much the same
results. To the facts and arguments then ad
duced, an overwhelming array has since beer
) added, confirming the pernicious influence
of the use of wine, such as is imported into
England and the United States.
i DR.. Henderson in 1924, remarked in rela.
ton to port wine, with the people of this
country England notorious partiality ex.
lists in favor of a wine, Of which the harshness
bitterness, acidity and other repulsive quail
ties are only disguised by large admxture
of ardent spirits" No doubt it is the "large
admixture" which made port wine in such de-
mand, although the Methuen treaty may
have increased the consumption Of Portu-
guese wine in England.
/ Dr. M'Culloch also alludes to the vitiating
effects of the infusion of brandy into wines
intended for the British market; and declares
that the practice of mixing spirits with the
wines of Spain, Portugal and Sicily is uni
versal when they are intended for the Eng
lish market. The same is no doubt true of
the American and all distant markets But
this is not the end of the manufacture. One
pipe OF wine is swelled into two or three by
additions of rectified whiskey and various
other substances, the most harmless of which
is water This compound contains about 26
per cent. of alcohol, or half of the strength of
brandy, and as no one drinks brandy without
mixing it with at least equal parts Of water,
one drink is just about as intoxicating as the
other, the brandy being the least noxious of
the two, unless it has been made up in SIM
liar way, of logwood, whiskey, and poisonous
drugs
Before this compounding of liquors was
much known, or at least carried to the present
extent, and nearly two centuries ago, before
ardent IsR rits were much used, the great
British pet. John Milton, said what more
| foul sin among us than drunkenness, and who
can be ignorant that if the importation of
wine and use of all strong drinks were forbid,
it would both clean rid the possibility of COM
hitting tina, odious vice, and men might af-
terwards live happily and beautifully without
the use ofthose intoxicating liquors" Ano-
ther Englishman of the present day, less
known to fame, but the writer of an excellent
book on this subject, Rev. VIM. r. Baker.
says: of wine it has been Justly observed
that IN high lie 1t occupies the place and
does the work of ardent spirits in low life; it
is nothing more than genteel medium of in
toxlcatlon. Throughout all our smaller towns
and Villages beer and cider are the drunkard' s
drinks. 1t is by these and not by ardent
lsprits, our laborers and mechanics are excl
ted to the commission of crime; by these
they are impoverished and degraded, and
rendered the scourges of their families and
the pests of the neighborhood inwhich they
reside. On what principle then, can 1t be
expected that any extensive change for the
better will take place in the drinking customs
Of the great mass OF society, while left in COM
paratively undisturbed possession of the same
liquors which through successive ages have
been the chief causes Of the evils we deplore
Total abstinence alone cuts off all the sources
of intemperance. 1t is therefore the only
efficient remedy"
1t may be remarked that the Americans
never drank malt liquors in such quantities as
the British and Germans. Drunkenness did
not reach an alarming extent IN the United
States until the people of the interior began
to convert their surplus grain into whiskey
| This was so cheap as TO be within the reach
of the poorest, for the merest loafer who
could not raise t"c cents to buy glass of
whiskey, would nang about taverns, grog-
geries, and distilleries and cut wood or do
title jobs of work for the coveted liquor,
leaving his miserable family at home without
bread. 1t should never be forgotten by those
who make the laws, and set examples, that
although men who have acquired strong
thirst for intoxicating drink, will do almost
anything TO obtain it, those whose taste has
not become vitiated are influenced very much
by circumstances, fashion, usage, opportu-
nifty, and the example of those whom they
respect. They drink urged TO do so, or if
they are in drinking company; not otherwise.
But in this way thousands take the first steps
in the path of drunkenness. The farmers in
the middle and western States of the Ameri-
can Union, who sold their rye and corn to the
dstllers, generally took whskey in part pay,
and gave it literally to their laboring men.
Hence the consumption OF 1t became SO ex-
cessive and almost universal. So in England
and Scotland and Ireland; the populace
drank gia and whiskey when they could get
it cheap, and when high duties and restric-
tions the price and raised made it difficult of
attainment, they fell back on ale and cider.
The amount of consumption of any desirable
article OF food or drink depends upon the
facility of obtaining it, and this is more true
of drink than food because the former is not
necessary to subsistence. If these islands
are an exception to the rule, they present a
very curious anomaly. The Glasgow Tempe
rance Record of 1881, has the following
"In Glasgow. Scotland, according to DIR.
Cleland's Tables, there has been very
great increase in the mortality since ls22.
the year in which the duty on distilled spirit
.od..aad In lSll tho nuuher of deaths II