The Portland daily press., 1864-03-19

wrongs he might have said, which according
TO very high authority have been sanctifed
by hundreds of years of legislation" Just
as though long course of legislation could
sanctify crimel
How long will it take the wise men of this
world to learn that robbing fellow man of
his dearest rights, either by making a chattel
or drunkard of him, Is none the less GRIMM
al because sanctitled by law?
To person of an imagining turn of mind,
it is interesting to observe the movements of
class of exceedingly pious patriots among
us, who are great sticklers for the doctrine
that the powers that be are ordained of Godn
just so long and so far as those powers are on
the side OF Rum and Slavery, and that all op-
position to such government is a crime
But when, in the course of human events, un-
dert guidance of an over-ruling Providence
the powers that be" come out on the side of
Temperance and Freedom, why, then their
patriotic plety undergoes marvellous change.
They suddenly seem to discover that "the
powers that be are ordained" of the devil, and
that rebellion in all its various forms and de-
grees has become virtue; from the systemat-
ic violation of State Liquor Law, up to the
prosecution of gigantic civil war for the
overthrow of National Government.
don't say that every violator of the Maine
Law is secessionst, in the common accepta-
tion Of the term; but do say that they are
both alike contending for the right to perpet-
uate wrong; do say, that they are both alike
rebels against righteous government.
Allow me now to initiate you, if you are
not already initiated, into a curious expert
ment in political chemistry. Take two equal
parts OF rum and slavery, and shake them
well together, and III warrant you a perfect
specimen OF what is called copperhead.-
\ on might turn out black snake, or rattle
snake IN o,lo
way perhaps; but don't see how it is posi-
BILE to manufacture a real simon-pure copper
head without rum and good deal of it, And
whatever may be said of love of power, or
hatred of race, or thirst for revenge, or the
madness of ambition, as among the procuring
causes; it is past all doubt that rum was, and
is, one of the principal ingredients in the
seethlng caldron of this accursed rebellion n
But TO return to Gen. Dow to whom l have
before barely alluded. Look at the treatment
he receives from the hands of men whose
children and chidren's children to the latest
generation will have cause to rise up and call
him blessed! Having left the field of battle
againstruln at home, and periled his life in
defence OF our common heritage, and being
prisoner in the hands of the common enemy,
see the bitterness with which the northern
minions of JEFF Davls's King Alcohol pursue
him even therel Listen to their hardly
smothered curses whenever his name is men
toned! Mark the avidity with which they
catch and magnify every evil report. And
Judging from these specimens of their malig-
nifty, ii the rebels should murder him in pris-
on, who can doubt that such men would clap
their hands for joy? Are there not thousands
in this State whose cowardice alone prevents
them from doing what they would gladly have
the rebels do for them?
As TO Neal Dow's reputation, such men
can never damage it till they begin to praise
him, then it will be blasted beyond redemp-
ton. And as to putting him out of the way.
they may rest assured that if his eloquent
tongue should be stopped by violence, it
would only make eloquent, thousands of
tongues that are now held in silence Ii his
good right arm should be stricken down, IL
would only add nerve and vigor to thousands
OF arms that are now hanging in idleness. In
short, II the bludgeon of rebel violence, insti-
gated by copperhead sympathy, should fall
on that noble head and break it, il would on
ly burst the bulb OF giant snap weed, and
scatter far and wide the seeds OF Temperance
and Freedom, to spring up in plentiful crop
OF disciples just as near as may be like the
master.
But whether the author of the Maine Law
is destined to perish as one of the victims on
the alter OF our American Moloch, or wheth-
er he is permitted to return and fight his bat
ties over again at home, let us who are still
at liberty do all in our power to cripple the
enemy, by reducing his strong holds, and de-
stroying his munitions of war.
And here. with all due Difference, | appeal
to our lawgivers. Let them remember "ihat
the end of all social compacts, is, or ought to
be-" not TO conserve time hallowed abus es,
not to foster the pecuniary interests of the
proprietors and murderers OF John Barley
corn, or any other man at the expense of the
whole community, but "to give every child
born into the world the iairest chance TO
make the most of itself that wholesome laws
can give it," And let all whether in public
or private stations, who have zeal and courage,
remember that they "owe it to the timid and
doubling" TO the lukewarm and the thought
less, OF all classes, but especially to the rising
generation, ito keep the great questions of
the time in unceasing, untiring agitation"
Let all who love their country and their
kind, enrol themselves among the numbers
of that great sanitary commission, whose duty,
whose privilege, and whose glory it will be
under God TO remove, in due time, all"the
moral nuisances that poison the atmosp phere
Of society" And, God being our helper, let
let us go toward, laboring and praying for
the coming of the day when the eyes of the
whole people shall be so enlightened, and
their hearts and ears so nicely tuned TO the
music of reform, that these "birds of dar k
plumage and unmelodious voice. shall be
seen and heard no more, even in Imagination !;
being gloriously transformed, by the power
Of truth, and the divine logic of events, into
Nightingales and Birds of Paradise.