The Alleghanian. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1859-1865, 1861-12-05
rInEPETE -AN gAs.
Eatea,perancc Of the Times.
From the Harrisburg Telegraph.

From the Harrisburg Telegraph.
Some months since, it was announced
that Gen. Mcclellan had issued an order
terbidding the sale of Intoxicating liquor
10 the officers and men under his COM
mand. while the Provost Marshal OF Wash
ington city was directed to close every
,nmshop in the federal metropolis, In or
der to preserve the soldier from dissipation
and the service from disgrace. That order
has had the effect Of producing magical
change in the decorum and discipline or
the army Of the Potomac. Order reigns
where riot was supreme, while the sanl-
tarv condition of Gen. MClellans com
mand proves how influential temperance
becomes, when rigidly practiced, IN the
promotion of health. The inclination OF
military men, we are sorry to write, as a
class, is to intemperance. Ihls IS no6
necessary result OF the ASSOCIATION or the
service, but it seems to follow close IL the
career of the young recruit and the rising
officer. that his habits should become de-
bauched by the too free use or IntoXlca-
ting liquors We have the evidence Of
this in our own midst. 1t tstares Us in the
face in the streets and the saloons of the
state capital, and the man Is blind III his
observation as we'll as cold in his synpa-
thies who has not seen and Geplored the
growing and frightful evil OF intcmperance
as it is being developed IN the ranks and
the commands of the volunteer force Of
PENNSYLVANIA. 1t is not the common sol
dier who exhibits this vice most palpably,
or who is bol6est in his lIbations. 1t Is
not the volunteer standing bravely in the
ranks, forsaking home and comforts, who
thus Yields to intoxication and browns his
senses in the fiery liquids OF damnation.
The evil testers in a higher grade OF the
service-it is working its destruction
among those who are in command-it is
showing itself among those who, of all
others, should be cool, calm and clear in
their judgments, as the men who control
the actions Of thousands, and who hold III
their hands the lives OF the soldiers who
have devoted themselves to the defense Of
their country in the hour Of its peril
The common soldier has not volunteered
TO be inundated by the mauGlin brain OF
any officer, made such by his intoXicatioG
and if this dissipation is to continue in
effect and increase among the officers OF
the army as it shows itself day and night
in this city, there can be no mistaking its
results in our future. Those results, too,
will not be. confined to the service-they
will not be restricted to disaster in battle
and incompetency in council, but the seeds
will be sown and terminate IN every circle
of society, until our communities are
stepped in a moral degradation below any
disgrace which could be heaped upon US
by the oppression of our enemies.
Something must be done to prevent this
dissipation among the soldiers Of all grades
in the service. 1t is no longer a secret
indulgence, but an open, bold and common
practice. Our saloons show this every
hour in the day, when the officers Of the
regiments and companies in camp should
be with their men, drilling and pertecting
themselves for the duty which they have
sworn to discharge, and without which
discipline they are united to handle mus
kets or WELD swords 1t shows itself at
night, in broils in the street among those
who shun the light Of day-it exhibits It's
effects in thousand ways too apparent
much longer to escape the notice and in
terference of the civil power, if the moral
reputation and the credit and glory Of the
state of Pennsylvania are to be maintained
by those who have sought aud have had
reposed in their hands the military power
of the commonwealth These are truths
which we must not disguise. We must
not hesitate to point to this great and
growing evil Of intemperance among those
who hold position in the military service
of the state. IF we did refuse we would
be recreant to our duty and false to the
regard in which we hold every man who
has nobly espoused the cause of his coun-
try by bearing arms in its defence. As
the case now stands, there are hundreds
of men in the army who are more in dan
ger from the power of rum than they are
from the bullets OF rebels. Who will say
that this is not disgrace?