Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1855-12-27
The Temnerance Question.

The October number of The Westminist-
sr Review contaius an article said TO be
oil singular ability, starting with the pro-
position that dru9tenneSs cannot be cured by
tegtsldfton. It IL Written and pdbiished in
vlsw Ut very persistent efforts in England
to obtain the enactment of Maine law by
Parliament. 1t Eayerses the whole field of
discussion of tho, questions of prohibition
aud regulation of the liquor traffic. An
Extract or two will serve 80 show the
strength of the article: .... .
"The world weuld be a very different
world if great evils were SO easily cured,
and IT ten lines in a 81 ,tute-book could
crush vice and make virtue triumph ant -
Experience tells u different tale. 1t tells
US that e law is in itself powerless, and
that it is only strong when it is the out
ward and formal expression Of what nen
really wish. Even ii Il law, such az the
Maine liquor Law were obeyed, which it
might b. for u time among an orderly aud
law-IOving peoSs, there would be no escap-
ing, IN oue slil be Or other, thr penulty of
50 gro.s an infringement Of the true prin-
cptes of State goyernment. 1t would be
an evil worse than That OF drunkenness il
a nation learnt TO lean on the rotten zeal
OF external enactmen;s, and thus saPped the
very foundations Of right and destroyed the
springs OF all moral action"
Again, in regard TO personal rghts-the
denia. to men OF their freedom of choice
who live under .he rale of laws which re-
cognlsp the great TACT Of personal liberty
the writer reAsrks: s. .
"To deny the use Of Intoxicating liquors
altogether, TO withhold by law the means
of induiging because Indulgence is often
carried to vicious excess, is, in fact, an
attempt, in very signal instance and on
a very wide scale, to increase the sphere
of Stale government and to dehden the
sense of individual res sponslDiity. II would
be impossible to furnish more conspicuous
example of that code Of viewing man aud
morals which makes wrong aud right the
subject of State policy ana not o. individual
conviction.
"A subtls poison taints the moral utmos-
phere in which such law is upheld. The
mind of msn becomes narrow and crippled
when he is no longer his own master; mis-
actions are mcaniugicss when stripped OF
the beauty OF choice; his sympathy for
others grows dead when he has no longer
to assist them ia 'eficountering moral 'Iials
and to gain and give the strength os mutual
counsel. Prohibition advocates are fond oi
prophesying that as men cease to drink
they will go to church
"What will they find when they get
there! Is the faith of the chu' ches oi
christendom 50 warm, their words so full
of meaning, II cir appeal to The conscience
SO direct that they can afford to be guided
by law which, as far as one law can,
deadens responsibility and obiterates the
distinction between good and evIl The
text with be the keenest satire ON the SER
mon. The text will say, Use your Tree
dom as those who stand or fail to their
Master;' the preacher will say, My Chris.
tain brethren, abstrin altogether, for there
is penalty of five dollars for the first of.
fence and ten for she second.'" ' pr
l We advise whoever is skeptical as 10 the
fallacy of the doctrine OF the Maine law
10 obtain this article and read it.