The Union and eastern journal. [volume] (Biddeford [Me.]) 1854-1858, 1856-02-01
Distinguished Drunkards.

"Shut up the Iop groggeries, " ay many
prevent the sale Of bad rum-pe~rye the
poor and ignorant from intemPennee, and
we are with you, but the educated classes
need no law, regard for their own-character
is sufficient protection TO them" Strange
delusion Inexplicable blindness TO the
facts Of history and the occurrences OF every
day! Without referring tobooks, memory,
unassisted, supplies US with catalogue oil
well-known names, the bare mention oil
which refutes the plea we have quoted.
Alexander the Great, one of the brightest
spirits of antiquity, one Of the greatest gen
erals of the world, whose tutor was Arts
totle, who slept with the poems of Homer
under his pillow, conquered the world, and
died in drunken debauch in the thirty
third year Of his age.
The fall of the Roman Empire was pre-
cipitated by the drunkeness Of ITS Emper-
ors rs human nature was eternally dishon-
ored by the enormities committed by them
in drunken fury.
OF the ten sovereigns who have reigned in
Russia since the accession of Peter the Great,
all but four were beasuy drunkar,ls. vi
the Empress Elizabeth. il Is written, "Shc
was completely brutifed by strong liquors ;
from day to day she was almost always in a
state Of bacchie ecstacy she could not bear
TO be dressed. In the morning her woman
loosely attached to her some robes, which a
few cuts of the scissors disengaged in the
evening" And the passage gives an idea
Of the general condition OF the Russian
curt for more than seventy years.
The present king of Prussia, whom Nei'
buhr instructed and praised, thanking God
ON his knees Cor giving Prussia so..wiso and
notic PRINCES n notorious drunkard
the contempt Of his subjects, and the scot
Of Europe.
The hto King of the Sandwich Islands
upon whom corps Of Missionaries exhaust
ell their eloquence and skill, was drunken
caricature OF the kingly Office 20 the last.
The city Of Washington, where the eht
Of the nation Is supposed to eongregate, is
the most drunken town in the Union.-
Champagne is one of the great powers o.
the country, II thing relied upon TO cOrrup
the very men who are sent 10 Washington
under the impression that they are oul
wisest and our best.
The Tea room Of this city, established foi
the convenience, not of the city's yagabonds
but for the city's :" fathers and head men
was for many disgnceiul year, scene o
drunkenness.
Ii was when maddened by drink that DIR
Gaham committed murder.
Hartley Coleridge, man Astounding il
amiable qualities, who inherited much o
his fathers genius, with all his fathers in
trinity Of purpose, could never master hi
propensity for drink. He was scholar,
gentleman, poet, and-a drunkard.
Edgar Poe--but why speak of him? Tn,
story Of his miserable end is more familiar
TO the people even than the melancholy NJ
frain OF the Raven"
Charles Lamb, the gentle Charles, IN,
kind, the gentle, the beloved, could sacrifice
30 much for his sister, hut could not hell
being carried home and put TO bed in insen
sible drunkenness.
Douglas Jcrrold is u devotce of gin. 70,
many years, il is said, he has been impair
ing his fine powers by habitual excess IL
drink.
Byron, Burns, Steele, Hone, and hos
OF other names, eminent or illustrious, might
b. added to the list Of distinguished drunk
ards. Burns, we are confident, had moi
died in the prime of life, defeated, heart
broken man, his destiny all unaccOmplished
If he had not been addicted TO cornwall
drinking. And who knows for how much
of ByrOn's reckless verse the world should
thank the gin bottle?
In our colleges, is not the secret demi John
one of the perpetual anxieties of the prcsi-
dent, professor, and parent? 1T our fash
ionablc parties, is champagnc-One of the
vilest of drinks-mOdentely consumed DO
not our banquets generally degenerate into
occasions Of the most disgusting excess p
Are the sons Of leading citizens the most
temperate of our youth? Is il poor women
who buy brandy drops by the pound?
Talk no more of shutting up the low
GROCERIES. All GROCERIES are low, and all
grog perniciOus, whether slipped by a gen.
tleman, sucked by ladies, or swilled by the
"drcgs of the people. Life Illustrated.