Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1862-02-02

missions IN the southwest, anu 20 MISSIONARIES
in spiritual attendance on the poor soldiers a
the hospitals An of which was highly proper
and satisfactory and seemed to meet the ap.
prevail of the wel-dressed congregation.
Whersupon your correspondent fell to musing
Gustead of listening to the earnest discourse
which followed the collection. What If the
money could be RENTED as ssual TO the foreign
missions What if a cabin full of fresh volun-
teers in the noble cause of preaching the gospel
to the ends of the earth could be sent out to
Cathay as before the war? Let Us suppose that
missionaries from America are safely landed in
that portion OF the Chinese Empire where two
or three were murdered the other day, and that
they enter upon their labors st once with zeal
and confdence-would not a weI-insructed
astute Chinese philosopher or priest have greatly
the bes- of the argument in a religious contro-
versy with them 2 what ~ we can imagine
he would say, " do You expect that zoe, the Ce-
~lestials, viii make haste to embrace a faith,
which, after eighteen centuries of trial, has done
so little for what you are pleased TO call en!ight-
eugj nations of the earth? You reproach us
with barbarism and with popular tumults. We
loo to your country and we see twenty millions
Of Christians engaged il cutting each others
threats. You up5raid US for the d]elirious
excitemeuts of the opium debauch. We look
again to America, and we see a land drenched
with whisky, two grea armies largely made up
of drunken soldiers led on by reeling generals.
No. if such be the effects of Christianity, permit
us TO retain the religion Of our fathers. Wepra-
fer Confucius."
Now, it would be perfectly easy to show the
falacy of this argument to southern readers;
indeed, they VIII readily see that therein lies no
valid objection to Christianity or to foreign mis-
sious, but it would very difficult to resist 1t be-
fore an audience Of pigtails.
As for the American civil war we of the South
are in no manner responsible for the degrading
spectacle which this continent now presents to
christendom aud hea;beHesse on Lincoln and
his followers Of the North, and on them alone,
that fearful responsibility rests with ali its appal-
linz weight
But, as for the drunkenness-let US see.
There is a d~istlleTy in this city, the propre-
tors Of which are making a clear profit variously
estimated a, from TOO to four thousand dollars a
day There's a per diem for you! They manu-
fsciure whisky Would you know what this
whisky isl 1t is a c~hainIightaiug, biue-ruiu,
lquid fire, death in the cup, aqua t9faHoe, a
more vulgar but not less certain poison thsn
the wine Of the Borgias. It has been so wei
known in Virginia for years that practicing
physicians, in the country, when called to at
tend sick Negroes on the plantations, inquire
first of all whether they have been in the habit
of using it in harvest; if they have, the ordi-
nary medicines will be wholly ineficacious.
Wen, this internal drench, which was sold be-
fore the war at % cents a gallon, and the like
Of which may be obtained to-day in Hogopols
Il mean Ciucinnat-at Is cents, is eagerly
bought up a. 81 60 a gallon. The sales Of the
establishment are only limited by the capacity
Of manufacture, the demand being infinitely
greater than the supply. And where does it
go2 Eray drop Of It to the army! Nor is this
wholesale laboratory the only one in operation
hero. Smaller distiilsries have already been
in the neighborhood Of the city, and
are spnnging up every day, in consequence of
3 demand which is every day increasing. There
is nothing men viii not do for money. The
GUTi saora fumes overrides all considerations Of
duty and patriotism.
These facts give US pause.
The amount Of public injury, Of demoraliza-
ton, Of crime, which is caused by this immense
production of whisky can not be computed.
Yhe seeds of ruin are thus sown broadcast over
the land, and the fatal crop viii only too surely
be gathered in crowded hospitals, in bloody
fights, in fatal military misfortunes, in the
debasement of the finest body of soldiery
the world has ever seen collected. Can nothing
be done to remedy this frghtfuI evil? Are we
powerIess Shall the Confederate States of
be left at the mercy Of a few unscru-
whisky-dealers, whom we have more to
than the ships of Burnside or the bayonets
Of Mcclellan?
I am no advocate Of a Maine liquor law, and
have never believed in legislating men into So
I can even suppose that a ration of
liquors may be rational, that it IS ne
,essary to the comfort and good health Of troops
n the feld-though this is at least questionable
the liquors should be pure aud the quantity
liked by strict military regulation. If the vile
compound to which l nave referred, is to be car
led into every camp, and the men allowed to
rink what they can procure, it needs no gift of
to declare that we shall be beaten, that
,ur efforts for independent nationality will be
lnavailing.
What IS the remedy Not certainly in " gem
raj orders" Good generals like Bra1ton Bragg
nd Joseph e Johnston, recognizing the apal.
ing mischief wrought by the bad liquor in
amp, have issuedstrict disciplinary orders on the
ubiect, but these have no effect whatever upon
he distiIleries. The sale is undiminished. The
laugh at the moral deductions Of the
omnanding officers, and deride the official sig f.,
allure of the q a. a. G." Clearly there is but ]
ne way-the fountain Of bitter waters must be {
salsd Or purified at its source. Not 10 put TOO :
a point upon it, the disHlleries must be 7
ont. 6
We establish a censorship Of the press, j
re legislate concerning the adulerstious Of
re protect ourselves against the mPurty '
drugs and medicines, we have laws prohibit I
e the wearing Of concealed weapons-shal c
re not defend our defenders from the poison Of :
le distilleries ? r
1 leave the matter with you, Messrs. Editors, t
nd with your readers, having %sermonized a
'mewhat prosely, perhaps, and beg that you +
iii agitate the question of an excise, as a mat Il
r absolutely Of life and death to the Southern v
onfederacy. Il
The transfer Of Gen. Beauregard to the com =
and in Kentucky, of which I gave you a hint Q
days ago, is "a fixed fact" One of his a
ds-Capt John T. Lay of the Powhatan "A
roop-Ras in town yesterday and went up to
eutcryile this morning, bearing the order from 7
10 War Department. Gen. Beauragard's new =.
'adguarters win be at Columbus, and his trans .,
r viii therefore interfere il no manner with the tn
Of Gen. A. Sidney Johnston in the 10
of the State. Though Beauregard is AZ