The Portland daily press., 1864-03-19
COMMUNICATIONS.
Speech of N. l.. Humphrey.

lOitOhAhe ICuldIhS MGTt lUduD
at the recent Temperance Convention, held
in Gorham. They had been made in substance
at previous temperance meeting, where the
attendance was much smaller. They are
alike honorable to the moral heroes to whom
they refer, especially to him who will soon re-
turn to his own dear home from a long i'm
prisonment, and to the speaker, and will well
repay an attentive perusal:-
Ladies and GeRtlemen:-I am so little ac-
customed to public speaking that when | do
attempt it | sometimes have TO take written
text to keep me on the track. Ny remarks,
while they will have special reference to tenn
perance men, will be humble tribute of re-
spect to the toil-worn veterans in the cause of
humanity, whom the world despises, and of
whom it is not worthy.
The text reads as follows
us is easy to understand the bitterness
which is often shown towards reformers--
They are apt to interfere with vested rights
and time-hallowed interests. They often wear
an unforbidding aspect Their office corre-
spends to that of Natures Sanitary Comms-
sion for the removal OF material nuisances.
1t is not the butterfly but the beetle which
she employs for this duty. 1t is not the bird
of paradise and the nightingale, but the fowl
which is entrusted the sacred duty of elimina-
ting the substances that infect the air. And
the face OF obvious analogy teaches US not to
expect all the qualities which please the gem
eral taste in those whose instincts lead them
TO attack the moral nuisances which poison
the atmosphere of society. But whether they
please us in all their aspects or not is not the
question. Like them or not, they must and
will perform their Office and we cannot stop
They faav ha nm nvyie vic
extravagant, impracticable; but they are alive
at any rate, an d it is their business TO remove
abuses as soon as they are dead, aud often
TO help them to die. To quarrel with them
because they are beetles and not butterflies is
natural, but far from profitable. They grow
noae the worse for being trodden upon, like
those tough weeds that love to nestle between
the stones OF courtyard pavements. Ii you
strike at one of their heads with the bludgeon
of violence, it flies open like the seed capsule
of snap-weed, and fills the whole region with
seminal thoughts which will spring up in a
crop just like the original martyr"
We might-if disposed to be critical-take
exceptions to some of these statements as alto
gether too sweeping in their application. For
instance, the comparison OF the great body of
reformers without distinction TO ''birds of
dark plumage and unmelodious voice." Ii
the author was unknown, we might suppose
he had never heard old DIR. Beecher, one OF
the pioneers in the same cause; or that noble
son of his noble house, who is equally at home
in every department of reform; or even our
own Neal Dow, to say nothing oi host of
other men too numerous TO mention. III theirs
are ''unmelodious voices" where shall we find
melody? But whatever We might be willing
TO admit on that score, in some cases it is
very evident that there are men to whom the
voice Of an angel, denouncing sin, would be
but the bowling OF a demon. And we may
well suppose that when 'the morning stars
sang together and all the sons OF God shouted
for joy" the Inhabitants of certain locality
down below heard nothing but jargon And
to use an authors own words-"the force of
obvious analogy teaches us" that in all SINH
lar cases the fault is not in the voice, but in
the ear, and not only in the ear, but in the
heart.
But we cannot stop to be critical. Looking
only at the surface OF things, we are willing
TO give our author credit for good intentions.
Looking at the subject from his conservative
standpoint, he evidently acted, to the best of
his ability, in accordance with the old maxim
of giving the devil his due, and as he has done
to others, so let us do to him.
Doubtless all true reformers are posse ssed
of devils, in the eyes of modern representa-
tives OF the ancient Scribes and Pharisees.
The old charge against the Divine Master has
OSSh ANPN"bS0 aSoiict his HuuDiC tOHOMtIS
for more than eighteen hundred years. .'He
casteth out devils through Beelzebub, the
prince Of the deyilsl !" Perhaps that is the
only way in which the conservative can inter-
pret the radical, And "if they have called
the master of the house Beezebub, how.much
more" shall they apply the epithet TO them
of his household If they have called Him
"a gluttonous man and wine bibber, a boon
companion of "publicans and sinners y how
rnuph shall the call hon, ts,,
lent, abusive, extrayagant, inlpracticable! y
"The disciple is not above his master nor the
servant above his lord Let him ACCEPT the
fact with all patience and humility.
The time is coming, however, when these
despised reformers will get their due from
men, but not till the reforms they advocate
obtain decided triumph; till then they must
be content to grub among beetles rather than
to glitter among butterflies; till then, how.
ever eloquent their speech, or however pleas.
ing their address, they must be content to re.
.Inain in the estimation of the world 'birds oi
dark plumage and unmelodious voice." stand
as targets for the practice of those peaceful
souls who never fire shot at the wfong-doer
but are eyerlastingly blazing away at the
ayenger Of wrong. How many there are
among us to-day, who are so busy discharging
blunderbusses at the abolitionists that they
can find no time to fire even a pop-gun at d
rebel! In accordance with this spirit. If q
gang of Williams are robbing society of its
choices. treasures, they must be treated with
the largest measure of charity, but If Other
men filled,with righteous Indignation, pursue
the robbers TO bring them to justice, they are
forthwith denounced by some who ought tc
know and do BETTER as dsturbers of the
peace! miserable fanatics !utopian dreamers
who would turn the world upside down for al
abstractionl And even the robbers themselves
encouraged by this mawkish sympathy, will
turn round on the reformer, and with all thu
innocence and impudence of that of old, ex
claim, "art thou he that troubleth Israel !?
Ministers of justice are always a trouble Il
evil doers. "No rogue eer feft the halte
draw" without seeing birds of remarkabl,
dark plumage and unmelodious voice. in
he chief magistrate and executioner.
But, says one author, these Performers ar,