Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1854-01-11
From the Richmond Examiner, by Request.
Itimerant Advocates OF the Maine
EIGuOr Law.


The cold-water campaign has commenc-
ed for the winter. Hydraulic laws and
hydrostatic measures are now the vogue
The Legislature is to be regaled by dis
cussion of that very chilly subject, the
Maine Liquor Law. "THAT OR NOTHING"
the Chiefs Of the Divisions now claim from
the hands of the collected wisdom Of the
State. Pledges have, they say. been OF no
avail;-lodges have sprouted up and rotted
down like mushrooms, and moral suasion
has made no headway against mint-sllnss.
The mild and gentle water ponds, who a
few years ago swore that they did not wish
to thrust their doctrines down any body's
throat, now thirst 10 mingle the pure wa
ters of their mission with the grog Of legis-
latlon and the sacramental wine OF the
church. They now claim, with the fanati-
cal intolerance of the days of ofreligious per-
secution, to restrain the appetite of men by
penal laws. Their argument is that which
induced Catholics to roast Protestants, as if
they were pigs, few hundred years ago.
1T is better" vowed celebrated inquisi-
tor of SPAN, "that you should be burned.
than that the progress ofyour heresy should
condemn to eternal punishment many thou.
sand human beings, ,"-and the Christian
was burnt. "It is better" says some med
ding tinerant lecturer, "that the rights OF
property and persons should be violated
than that men should die drunkards," +" and
he calls for the enactment of the Name Lii
quor Law. 1t is now a we'll ascertalned
fact, that the attention of the members of
the legislature is to be diverted, during this
short and important session, from matters
of the first importance to the State, to the
consideration Of the subject of temperance.
The decree has gone forth, and from the
number of Hydraulic machines and Maine
Law Engines that have been brought to
bear upon the Legislature, we might be led
to suppose that the Capitol was on fire, or
that the worthy members Of the Senate and
House Of Delegates were the victims OF
spontaneous combustion. But none of the
members of our acquaintance, design even
a rhetorical display of fine words this wln-
ter; nor do their countenances or persons
exhibit half Of the inAamability that gives
to several Of the imported Hydraulic Rams
the appearance of excellent drummond
lights. Not that we would insinuate that
these estimable croakers are habitual con-
sumers of alcoholic denominations, or that
their flesh lusteth after carnal cobblers and
satanic sherry bitters but it is remarkable
fact, that many of our New England lectu-
rers, although reformed drunkards, have not
yet hauled down The rosy colors of Baccbus'
although the enemy may have been dis
lodged.
If there is any vocation for which we en-
tertain the most thorough contempt, it is for
that oil The hired lecturers of other States,
who are let loose in large numbers to man.
ufacture for the people of Virginia anec-
dotes. and rambling d,scourses at so much
per lecture. From the polluting touch of
such men nothing is sacred. They deal
not alone with the effects of lntempcrance
in increasing crime, but they expose to the
gaze of the crowd the secrets of families,
and by recalling the recollections offorgot-
ten excesses, awaken to life old and dor
mant prejudices. Their rude and unfeel-
ing allusions plunge whole families into
grief. The wife, the son, the daughter, or
the parent of some good, but unfortunate
man, frequently hears the dead abused, and
his excesses exaggerated, to give point to
the lecture OF some hireling foreign ltine-
rant. The people of Virginia quietly per-
nit these imported lecturers, representa-
tives often of the lowest and worst class OF
New England, to meddlc with those most
sacred of private matters-their private
habits. No gentleman can do-what good
and honest men have done for four thou
sand s-drink his glass of wine, but
that he may expect to hear the harmless
act denounced as a crime, by some itinerant
lecturer from the North. whose only recon-
mendation is that he has learned in the gut
ters and houses of correction Of his native
State, the evils of that Abandoned and most
brutal dissipation, OF which Southern men
are rarely the victims. We have heard
nine-tenths of the gentlemen Of a county
insuted and outraged, by men who were
newly reformed drunkaTds, fresh from the
tipping shops of down East.
The people of Virginia need not the SER
vices ofthc hireling lectul ers Of other States.
The mother of orators needs not the loaf
ers oEcold and dull New England to teach
them their duty. We trust that the cause
of temperance, where it depends upon NOR.