New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1855-06-22
the Vine but the proportionis 20 great 70 seem

the Vine but the proportionis 10 great - 10 seem
incredible In q country Ike ours.
Louis Philippe once replied to Temperance
advocate, who had explained to him the Total Alb
etinance movement in America, that the success
of like movement IN France would ruin the
KinQdom-that both ito Industry and its Commerce
were based upon the consumption Of Wine. sub
NIT, on the other hand that my impartial and
keenly observing American friend was right-that
the Vine is the chief scourge Of this fair land,
perpetustng its Poverty and deepening its Vice.
if the drafting away by Conscription Of half the
youthful energy and spirit Of France into the
Army. there 10 waste seven years in nonproductive
uselesfness be q general evil and loss-as who can
doubt ti-then the drafting away Of another and
larger army from the production of Food and other
substantial goods to employ them in producing that
which maddens many and strengthens none must
infict still greater and wider injury. France
needs, in at least seven-eighths of her homes,
pier and better Furniture, more substantial and
nourislibg Food; she might have these (other
things remaining as at presently were it not for the
devotion of 60 large share of her industrial ca
pacity to the production and distribution of Wine.
Poor and illpaid as her lsborers are, they might
be fax better fed and sheltered did they not expend
80 large share of their earnings for "that which
els not bread"-which stimulates but does not
nouIisb. If every vine were uprooted tomorrow
aid every cask emptied into the ocean, know that
this country would thenceforth increase in wealth
and comfort with rapidity hitherto unknown.
As to the Temperance of wine producing Ma
tons, and of this one in particular, great deal
has been boastpgly said which is not half consist
ent with the facts. 1t is true that the people of
the warmer portions of the temperate zone are
less addicted to iDtOxication than are those of
seyerer climates; that there is less drunkenness
in Sicily than in Scotland-in Lyons or Rome than
| in Moscow or Edinburgh. 1t is likewise true that
! the milder and more natural stimuants, like wine
or beer, do not intoxicate or madden so readily
nor so commonly as do the fiery products Of dis
tillation. But that Wine nM intOxicate-does in
toxicate-tbat there are confirmed drunkards in
Paris and throughout Francois also notorious
and Unotniable. You can hardly open French
newspaper that does not contain sOme account Of
robbery perpetrated upon some person stupefed
by over-drinkiDg-a police case growing out of a
quarrel over the wine cup-Or a culprit, when
asked to say why the sentence Of the law should
not be pronounced on him, replying " L was drunk
"wben this happened, and know nothing OF the
"matter." That j0urneymen are quite commonly
less fitted for and less inclined to work on Monday
than on other days of the week, is as notorious
here as il ever in any rum-drinkiDg city. That
the French character, male and female, would
stand higher in the general estimation If Wine
were unknown here, is very plain to all who look
through uncolored glasses. And that the love OF
Wine often ripens here into fierce thirst for more
fiery potatons is certain as that cider drinkers
ever Become rum.drinkers in Newt ngland In
two or three thrOnged Partisan localities fashy
prOq-kbops have recently been opened, under the
general designation of American Buffet" where
mint-iuleps sherry. cObblers, and such like delec-
table compounds, are dispensed at franc per
tumbler; and i am assured that thousands OF
Frencbmen, no longer satisfied with the milder
stim ulants to which they have been accustomed
f,op oh;11bo.1 here rippunU into bablta
which their wine drinking friends cannot regard
without alarm need hardly add that the dstil-
lation of brandy is an ancient and important pur-
suit in France, and that the beetcrOp of last year
was extensively diverted from sugar-making to
the production of spirits.
With all Difference therefore for those we'll
meaning Temperance men who think an abund-
ance Of good wine in our own country the
proper antidote to the prevalence of intern
persnce there j am compelled to dissent most
decidedly from their proposition. do not ad-
nit that int0xication is the only nor the chief
evil to be guarded against; believe that all alco-
hole stimulants are pernicous and injurious II i'm
bibed, except as any poison may be-by the dis
eased under the prescription of skillful and thor
Ouebly temperate physician Were it certain that
no man sh ,uld evermOre become intoxicated,
81 ould still regard it as gIievOus mistake to
diink--a ruinOus error to perpetuate the prOduc-
ti,n and use of alcoholic beverages. These do not
inure merely by intoxicating, nor those only whom
they intoxicate-they undermine the health and
shorten the days OF thousands who never were
drunk in their lives
Champions of Temperance in America, and
especially in NewYork! be entreated to listen to
no compromise, to be satisfied with no success
short OF the complete Introduction of the traffic in
intoxicating Drinks. Better struggle twenty
wears longer than be lulled into inactivity by de-
iusve and baseless triumph. Under the most
rigid introduction there will always be drinking
enough just as other vices flourish in spite of the
laws which resist them-just as crimes are CON-
mitted in spite Of the penalties which are de-
nounced against them-but we must triumph at
last if we do not ruin our cause by compromise.
We can be beaten only by a cry that, while we
deny the poor man bis grog we allow the rich man
his wine and this we must preclude at all events.
Our most arduous labor is achieved, for the Major
ity is now with us; the Law has declared for us;
and we have now to meet only the dying furries of
the Liquor Traffic and the sophistcal bubbles Of
it's weli-teed attorneys. These will of course do
all that money can buy or ingenuity suggest; but
there is an end to the longest rope, and theirs will
all be paid out within the next two or three years
at furthest. Revolutions 60 not backward, and
where Gambling aud Lotteries now are, there
under the immovabe and potent ban Of the Law
the Liquor Traffic is and shall remain. Grudge
not, them the efforts needed to render our triumph
perfect and immutable. HG.