The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1853-01-31
LOCAL MATTERS.

~, a. We stated IN shtuIotys PePoi, "e1 eS IS
speaker, and alluded maaly, in the course oil his
address, TO the duty of members OF evangelical
churches taking clear, uneauivocal and uncom-
promising stand upon the subject OF toai aosti-
neuce. If the members of the different churches
came out and took decided stand, then tempe
rance men could come up with some propriety 70
the Legislature, and ask them to go after tnose
men wko were out of the reach of moral suasion-
and By stretching out the strong arm OF the law 10
suppress the traffic in Intoxicating drinks. He
would earnestly ask the temperance men present,
when they went home, to stir up the churches upon
this subject. They should talk about it earnestly,
continuously and tell the churches that they ought
not to fellowship the rum-seller-thsi they should
turn that class of members out. They should begin
with this ard never stop until al of the chistian
churches were purified Of So n members They
could tLen go after the people Of the world after
they had purified the churches, behind the example
OF whose members the driu king portion of the
community sheltered themselves.
He would pay, al proper respect to preachers,
but he must be permitted to choose between these
who countenanced the use Of Intoxicating liquors
and tn se who did not No excuse was offered In
the cry Of custom" The people, by giving sane
tloE to what was termed custom, could be made
to give their sanction TO almost any thing He had
seen and felt his person, the effects OF Gus
TOM Persons were often induced to give their
consent TO certain of conduct the influence
of which, when viewed in proper light would
absolutely astound the observer. The speaker here
Illustrated his positions b. referring to the custom
OF liquor sellers Notwithstanding they were daily
r-ztiIl hainp allowed continue their
work OF death by law. Custom in this matter
should not influence the action of the Leg stature.
They should inleIfere. They made laws regula
ting specific amount OF interest upon sums OF
| money loaned.
Thus men, greatly in want of money, were not
exposed to unjust and exorbitant demands for in
terest. Why not prevent the liquor sellers from
| running men not only pecuniarly but physically 2
In this law the legislature not only regulated but
prohibited exacticns for using. Why not prohibit
tie liquor.seller from making unjsst and ruiaous
| demands upon the means and health OF men y
| Again, the Legislature had forbidden the vending
of lottery tickets, carrying out the moral sent-
ments of the people in that particular. Their sale
! had been forbidden under heavy penalties, and
| those who sold and purchased them did SO at the
risk Of violating an express law. The law in this
case stepped in and said that should not make
| such purchases, because Of the temptation which
we knew by observation it had over their minds.
| Was there any greater reason why the law should
not sep in and prevent the use of ardent spirits
| So too, there was law prohibiting the carrying of
| concealed weapons. Here the law prevented the
TEN 3tation of wearing unlawful weapons, because
in the heat Of blood gross personal injury might be
| inflicted and murders committed Why not by
law, prevent ths temptation to ardent spirits
Our legislators were thus enactng laws prohibito.
ry in their character, founded upon the same prin-
| ciple upon which temperance men demanded the
passage OF law prohibiting the sale of ardent spir
its.
| The speaker then alluded to the leaders of the
| liquor traffic, whom he classed as the wholesale
| dealers. They We're the chief offenders Yet they
consider themselves spotless because they did not
sell at retail two cent drinks g, or do business witk
drunkards-but sold by the barrel to the retailer
| He regarded them the source from whence the
wants of the retail trade were supplied. Asa
American would be considered in the light of an
| enemy to his countrywide sold the munitions of
war to aforeign foe-so were the wholesale dealers
equally responsible for this infamous traffic, who
| sold liquor to the retailers by the barrel.
| The speaker then proceeded to trace the career
of young men who first learned to drink In the So
cial, comfortable family circle and the hotel bar.
room, down to the depths of their degradation in
the low GROCERY; the result often occurring of
| habitation in the penitentiary place upon
the scaffold The sense of self respect in the DO.
| som OF the young beginner in the seductive prac-
tee of drinking forbid that they should first fire.
quent the low cheap oggereis-they were brought
to that position By degrees. He could frequent the
bar of the hotels and drink in the social cir
Gle, because it gentee and fashionable, and he
could do it without risking anything of his respect
or gentility. The result then was, that if there
were no such drinking establishments, there would
be no drunksrds.
Again, these fashionable drinking houses were
the primary schools for the requirement of the
taste for strong drink. 1t was the rule of these
fashionable establishments not to sell liquor to
drunkards, but il was more degrading aud infa.
meus to sell to sober men, thereby inducing the
requirement of the taste for liquor, than to sell to
the poor and degraded inebriate. VAST not better
to SELL If sell at all, to the conf rmed drunkard than
to induce the formation o I the habit among Young
men, which brought to them a drunkerd's fate 2
The results of the traffic were next particularized
by the speaker. Degradation and an infamous and
early death were some of the inevitable results
Revolutions il nations had taken place for far !ess
cause than the pure minded moral citizens of com.
muntes had for rising up in their might and Dut.
ting down by force this accursed trait for less
cause than the people of Richmond had for turning
out into the public streets every drop of liquor in
every establishment in the city, an act upon which
God would smile, and which would csuss the
hearts of the drunksrd's wife and children IN 20.
joice.
We are obliged is defer full report of the 70.
naming speeches delivered at this meeting.
DETENTIoN OF THE CARs.-The mail trs;n FROM,
the North did not arrive until late hsur ss,urdav
evening The detention was chiefly csuses us
learn, BY the bursting OF pipe COZ nec,ed with
the boiler OF the steamer Powhatan The ice in the
Potomac, also, materially lessenei the speed Of the
boat
IcE-The cold weather of las, week esye Our Ell
uzens an opportunity to secure a supply of ice
which, although not 50 plentiful as could be desired