Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1856-02-23
Netu Gucnse Eatu.
REMARKS OF MR.. TAGGART,

REMARKS OF MR.. TAGGART,
| Of Northumberland county on Ah Bromne's
amendment to Senate bill No. T. entitled an
| act 10 repeal an act 10 restrain the sale Of
Intoxicating liquors.
Delivered in Senate, February r. 1856.
If | had needed any proof Of the feeble 7ess
Of the cause to which ! am opposed, l have
certainly had it, and to the fullest extent, in
the utter inability Of Senators on this floor.
and especially Of the venerable and distin-
gushed Senator from Allegheny,) Mr.. Will
/ kus,) to defend it.--lf he, sir, who for fifty
years has been q man Of note in the land :;
Iaised by his Talents to nearly every high post
under the government; q member of the
House of Representatives before you and
we're born; m0mbcr Of Congress- and q
Senator of the United States; a Judge Of
two courts-and one Of them Federaic court ::
( Cabinet Minister, and Minister Plenipo-
/ tentiary if he, Sir, with oil his brain ,ron
honors clustering thickly around HMM the
pride and power Of his unclouled intellect,
and may not add here, in all the sknn:ng
and scalpng ferocity Of his sarcasm-f be
sir. can adduce no argument, and raise no
point, how ragged wretched, helpless uust
be that cause Nay. if he had the mental
stature of God, he could not defend it. The
imperishable Truth comes across his path.
and the giant becomes pigmy in the hollow
OF its hand
Mr.. Speaker. he has told us that drunken.
ness is a limited evil. Great God so it is |!
| limited by the bounds Of the earth. and the
habitations the human race, and limited by
nothing else.--For it has penetrated wheT-
ever men have made their homes to desolate
I n nd thnpn / 10 ictn md
its voice, answering from the deep of ages,
tells me it has swept off whole nations, and
laid waste the proudest cities Of the earth.
1t is limited evil, but there is scarce fire.
side in the land it has not couded-a heart
that it has not saddened-an eye that it has
not filed with tears. ! ask him. with his
four score years of experience, if it is not so
Has he never known the happiness OF a house
hold blighted-the pride of n fathers soul
humbled, or q mothers heart wrung with
agony ?-If be has not, sir, you and ! have
IN instances more than We would care to tell
Has he not seen it enter the domestic circle
the hallowed sanctuary Of homeland scatter
its dearest joys as leaves are scattered by the
winds of winter? winds alas that in this
case, no springtime ever comes to temper
Has he not seen it fall like blight upon
those whom nature had endowed with every
rare gift of body and mind and sink them
degraded and brutalized into drunkards' OF
felons' graves And yet all this is nothing TO
the filthy gold that commerce may wiring
from wretchedness. 1t is a limited evil, but
kind Heaven protects US from such lmita-
tions.
He has asserted sir, that drunkenness con-
duceS to no enormous crimes. Does that
venerable Senator not know that our peni-
tentiaries scarcely contain an habitually sober
man? Does he not know that our police re-
ports are filed with the names of drunkards
Does he not know that 9-l0th of all crimes
and l9-20th of all murders. are committed
through intemperance, and that the gallows
creaks almost daily with the carcasses oI
drunkards? If he do not sir, it is time he
should, and with oil the profound deiereHce
that my irreverant nature is capable Of,
proiier the information.
think it was Diogenes who said, he had
often regretted speech, but never silence
The ancient Cynic sheuld have made excep
tious to this rule. There are times, sir, when
it is not only stupid, but criminal TO be silent
As far as am concerned. this is such q time
If failed to be heard now, l should he false
to the faith of my boyhood, aud traitor 10
my manhood's best and strongest convictions
Ny memory cannot recall time when these
we're not my principles. When was boy
at school, | could see the slimy track of the
serpent all around me, and l will tell yor
what my memory can recall-the forms o
those who fell before il, whom its poisonous
breath struck down. ! remember them too
well. ! sat with them on the same beuch-
swan the same river, aud scaled the samC
high hill-and now there is nothing left o
them, bnt ghaS'ly memory TO hold me to m,
faith !-Ay, sir, it will hold ME there-no
merely for my own selfish safety, but for th,
sake of two little children whom it is natura
should sometimes think about, and wht
shall never become the serpents prey Will,
| have voice to warn them, or strong arm
to protect them.
Whoever will take the trouble TO consul
the record will find that, less than u year ago
voted for the law, which whiskey monger
and their rum-headed parasites have com
'Honly denominated the jug Law" l ak
so, because hoped thereby TO promote th
cause Of temperance, aud the welfare Of m
fellow-citizens-The popular vote torbad
the enactment Of a Prohibitory law, an
striving and hoping to be right, we enacte
this. ! am compelled reluctantly to admit
1t has not quite answered my expectations
not on account of its own defects, but becaus
majority OF the people are opposed TO il
and because in some sections it is totally dis
regarded, aud by common aequiescencs con
signed to an untimely grave. / believe th
majority OF the people to be wrong in hi
instance; but II is useless 10 legislate 10 IN
face OF public opinion. Laws which IN
people bate, no matter how iguorsn;ly the