The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1858-02-23
THE MAINE LAW IN ENGLAND


Great Britain, and its cure -
Captain Marryat once wrote that white lies were
the gentlemen-ushers to black ones-whch is a
great truth In the same way it may safely be as
serted that Drunkenness is Gold Stick Black Rod
in Waiting to the whole family of vices. w hat
could Mephistophees himself desire more than that
the unfortunate persons whose ruin he was bent
should be robbed Of moral consciousness, Invested
OF all self-rcstrant converted into mere ANIMALS,
and so be left to the play of their bestIa instincts?
If this be so among the upper classes-and by this
term we are simply speaking OF the persons who are
not dependent upon their daily labor for their daily
bread-the position is true IN sui greater measure
of the millions of mankind who must work that
they may live. What householder will keep
drunken servant? What foreman of works will
tolerate a drunken laborer? What officer of either
service will overlook the default of the druken sol
der or the drunken seaman? No matter what their
good nature their humanity, they cannot do
if they would Important interests intrusted
to their charge, which they must at all hazards
protect. The natural consequence is that the
drunkard is dismissed from his employment; he is
thrown upon the streets without wages, and, with
out that character which is the credit of the poor
he is left sarve; but this is far from being the
worst part of the business. In nine cases of ten
he has little establishment in the three-pair back
of Rosemary crescent buildings, in
which his wife and his three or four children NAV
be found huddled together with other vestige of
property than the half-dozen clouts which reek-
ing upon the dirty clothes lines which is stretched
from corner to corner of the dirty room. Even the
WTelCupu SOU DIS he gldreS around MIN WITH lack
lusre eye upon the bOny children, and on the scod
ing-or, worse, upon the silent-wife, and the dead
linnet, and the rusty CRATE, feels that something
must be done. In case he can no longer procure
the ''go' of gin which makes him feel though all
his family were perfectly comfortable he issues
forth, and in gloomy manner incurs the guilt of
open crime. Surprising, on the other hand, that he
still get credit enough at the neighboring gin
palace to get drunk once more or that some of his
companions, for old times sake, will help him to
final drunken ft-he will either rush madly, in
the former case he had drfted modify, into crime
or, probably enough, he will return to what he
calls his home, and well nigh murder in his frenzy
the wretched creatures who dependent upon
him for support, and whose mere presence he feels
as an unbearable reproach. With the rich, or with
those who are comparatively so, the is differ
ent. They have time to come to; they are sur
rounded by influences and are oyershadowed by
recoecJions which check them at their first en-
trance on this fatal career. Even if they persevere
in it, and their future prospects be consequently
clouded and their reputation among their own
friends to certain extent damaged at least their
folly and weakness have not left them exposed to
the overwhelming temptations of want in its most
naked and direst form. The number of persons,
however, in this category constitutes an infinitely
small percentage the millions of the general
population. With reference to 2O,O00,000 of the
10000 900 more or less of human beings who pass
through the various stages of existence in these
islands, entertain no kind of doubt that Drunk
enness is the great rock ahead of them in their
passage through life. 1t is Drunkenness which fills
the gaols But for Drunkenness the gaows would
be robbed of half its annual burden 1t is Drunk
enness which keeps the magistrates at Quarter Ses-
sions and the Police officers and the Judges of As
size in full employment We remember well that
of the Judges publicly stated the results of cal
culations which he had made in the of his
experience as to the causes which, in his opinion,
mainly led to the commission of crimes. The con-
clusion at which he had arrived was that Drunken
ness answerable for some so or so per cent of
all crimes committed in England-we mean of those
open violations of the law which entail the pres
ence of the offenders in the docks of our criminal
courts
Now, this being view of the case, the clergy
men and gentlemen who are engaged in the Tenn
perance Movement of which we about to speak
may feel secure that do not underyalue the
gravity of the business in which they are engaged
We agree in every particular with the representa-
tions which they made on Wednesday last to Sir
George Grey, upon the fearful prevalence of the
vice OF Drunkenness, and upon the terrible conse-
quences Of this vice. The Secretary to the Assoca-
ton quoted to the Home Secretary an extract from
the report of Mr.. Villier's Committee in which we
entirely concur This it is" Whatever individual
propensity to crime there may be, it is, with few
exceptions, brought into activity by the vice of
intemperance children driven forth to feed
appetite for drink that bears no control and
knows natural affection; and even criminals
cease from crime when they to be drunken -
We believe it. The mayor of Stafford testified from
upwards OF 80 years experience to the connection
subsisting between drinking facilities" and the
production of crime. Substitute the single word
drunkenness for the two words we have placed
between inverted commas, and we agree with the
speaker. Mr.. j. Tucker spoke in the same way of
the state of things in Bedfordshire The Rev, W.
Robinson had gloomy tale to tell of the results of
intemperance in Yeovil. The Chaplain of North
ampton Gaol-a most respectable authorty-repre-
sented that Drunkenness and crime were progress
ing para paSsu in the town of Northampton Other
speakers represented Scotland others Wales in the
way; but the testimony of all these gentlemen
converged to the same pont-namely, the intimate
connection between drunkenness and crime So far
we are with them entirely but it is when they
come to talk of the causes which chiefly engender
foster and maintain this fatal vice that we are
obliged to differ from their conclusions We do not
believe that confirmed drunkards will be reformed.
that younger persons will be prevented from CON
tracing the fatal habit of drunkenness by the sim
pie process of locking the cupboard in which the
gin bottle is kept. These gentlemen did not 90 so
far to ask for the establishment of Maine LIQUOR
Law in these kingdoms; had they done So Sir
George Grey, or indeed any man other than fool
a fanatic, would have bowed them out of his
presence with civil contempt. The regulation as
we are informed by trustworthy witnesses who have
visited the States, is evaded in the most udicrous
manner even In those districts in which it has been
established as the law of the little community
In p0puOus country, such as this where even
the unavoidable presence ofthe excseman is scarcely
tolerated. although felt to be necessary by the good
sense of the community, what would be said of
that constant interference of the police which would
be the first condition of giving effect to such law?
From end of the country to the other we should
have nothing put tumults and disturbances, and in
the end the obnoxious regulation would be rescnd-
ed as matter of course. The next course would
be to place the houses in which stimulating liquors
sold, under more stringent regulations than at
present. Let them be more limited in number LET
them be opened later and closed earlier than at
sent but under conceivable regulations abundant
opportunities would exist for procuring supplies of
gin and other stimulating drinks in any quantity that
the most nveterate drunkard the most determined
would-be-drunkard could desire A system of small
shops would be established in garres and cellars in
which penny drinks would always be forthcoming,
in defiance of the police. CHRISTOPHER Sly IN
place of getting drunk by tipping at gin-palace,
would simply fill his gin bottle and get drunk bv
more expeditions process in his own filthy sty.-
Men and women, and children too, would get drunk
out of defiance well as because they liked it. and
last state would be worse than first. SO far
we have only considered restrictive regulations as
applicable to the case of drunkards, or of those
who are in fair way of becoming So We must
forget not, however, that they not the only
persons whose interests are concerned.
The great majority of the inhabitants of these
islands are not drunkards if they were, England
would soon fall low indeed in the scale of nations.
In the next place. the majority not water-drink-
ers they be made so by legislative restric-
tons, if this were advisable, which we DENY
Now, when it is proposed to introduce any fresh
regulations, which would put the decent majority
of the nation to great Inconvenience YOU must
make out very clear case indeed in favor of your
chances of reforming the drunken minority at
their expense. This case has certainly not been
made out to satisfaction in the present instance
1t is our belief that any of mere legislative
repression applied to intemperance will be defeated
by the minority of resolute drunkards while the
sober majority will have to pay the penalty of the
mistake. The definite proposition of the deputa-
ton to Sir George Grey was, that the power of
licensing spirit shops should be transferred from
the magistrates to the rate payers, Others being
inhabitants of the vicinage. If this new authority
erred the side of severity, its action would be
obnoxious to the reproaches already suggested; if
not, it would be feeble and inefficient, and it might
fairly be said, 'why not leave things they are?'
We do not, therefore consider drunkenness to be a
stain which cannot be removed from our national
character; but the publication must be made by