Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1858-1860, 1859-11-18
hose people gradnally settled down in the


comfortable conviction that the liquor prob
lem was at last solved. that they had devised
system which would end all the evils of
miscellaneous tippling. stop the cheating and
poisoning of the liquor traffic, put period 10
intemperance. and settled the vexed question
forever. So felicitating themselves on the
shrewd morality OF the laws of the old Bay
State, they laid the flattering JUNCTION of sue
cess to their easy souls, and sat costly down,
each to bis own quiet tipple, with none to
modest or make him afraid. 80 p -
Alas for the plans of the. best of men, and
the frailty of bnman virtue! Scarcely had
they got the new system fairly inaugurated,
scarcely was il in the s.fuil tide Of successful
experiment" when the spoiler came. The
Massachusetts, legislative Solons forgot one
thing. Like so many other people who deal
with the liquor question. they didn't allow
for the leakage. They forgot that law for
the investment and disbursement of the pub
lie money, for any other purpose than the
government expenses, is always fair game for
party buzzards and political cormorants.
They forgot that State going into the liquor
business, like one going into the book bust
ness. or any other trade is tolerably sure to
be taken in. They appointed for State liquor
agent a shrewd and successful charlatan, of
winning manner, and plausible appearance,
and universally liked as "a good fellow"
He had made a moderate fortune at selling
Shanghae chickens. and had written His
tory of the Hen Fever" GEO. P. BURNHAM
was his name. and the unsuspeeting people of
Massachusetts appointed him to the Office four
successive timesl 49,
Under the active administration of this
gentleman, the Massachusetts liquor business
went on s,simmingly. He sold supplies of
the 'critter," under its various DISCUSSES.
amounting to about Sl25.000 per annun, and
the people continued to buy the liquors of Mr..
BurnhanI, AMI to pay the tallest prices for
their purity" and to swallow them with
nnwinking faith, until the commencement of
of the present year. Then. for the FIRST time, it
began to be whispered that the Stale liquors
were .'hocuss,d " adulterated. drugged, before
leaving the hands OF the State Commissioned
Here was a state OF thiugsi Fancy an In
surance Office burst up, a preacher turned iu-
tidei, u lawyer pleading against his client,
guide board pointing the wrong road; fancy
any thing anomalous. absurd ahominable,
and you may have a faint idea Of the indig
nation which took possession of Massachusetts
bosoms at the development of this base con-
spiracy against the integrity of their ston,-
achs! AS one of that sober and demuTe fra
ternity remarked, it was enough to make a
Deacon sweari" So was; and what added
to the aggravation, swearing did mt mend the
matter. The liquor bad been bought, and
what was worse. paid for; and what was
worse of ali, drank. And, to put a proper
climax of insult to all this injury. the State
liquor agent snapped bis fingers Cor slapped
his pockets) at the investigating committee.
and defed them 20 punish him
Some curious developments came out dur
ing the investigation. Here is one. Mr..
Burnham supplied the town agents through
out the State with an article of ''pnre Cog
mac brandy" at 81 gallon. put up with
the most seductive labels and q warranted
tod Hi, tE.,I Il L.
featured himself, out of common spirits.
which cost thirty cents per gallon, favored
and co!ored secundeRl drtem During bis
four years incumbency he must have sold
nearly half a million dollars worth of Ii
qnors, and his profits. Judging from the above
little sample, must have been :. upwards OF
considerable" How little did the honest
Dick Swivellers of Massachusetts, when ell
gag iii the genial occupation of passing
the rosy" imagine the chuckling sensations
OF the shrewd Burnham at seeing his amiable
fellow citizens SO neatly taken in! How
little did the grave aud reverend gentlemen.
who ministered the article at the altar, I'M
der the Immediate protection of the law of
the commonwealth, imagine that they were
drinking the health of the swindling Burnham
at the expense of their own!
Great was the popular excitement, as we
have said, on the discovery of these dishonest
pFaCllCtS. Meu saw, 100 late, what unntctS-
sary fools they had been, and how. by their
excess OF caution. they had overreacbed them
selves. To have deliberately organized sys-
TEN whereby they put the people of the Stale
voluntarily into the hands of an unprincipled
sharper, was bad enough but to be deprived
of the means of bringing the fellow to con-
dign punishment was worse. Burnham re-
signed his office, but contumaciously refused
to give an account of his stewardship. What
was to be done? The Legislature stretched
its authority, and voted TO commit him to the
county Jail of Suffolk, for contempt. Curl
ously enough, there is no law for this extra
ordinary Legislative proceeding so the sharp
attorney of Buruham sued out writ of habe1s
corpus, to deliver his client from durance vile. !
But Chief Justice SHAW, greatly TO the de-
light of the men Of Massachusetts,, refused TO
release Mr.. BURNHAM under the writ, and be
remains prisoner.
So stood the case at our last advices. 1t is
a remarkable history of one of the most eyre
grious folies in legislation which it has ever
been our lot to record.