The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-06-22

a brighter day than man has ever vet Witnessed
q day when the rain and the sunshine and the
dew OF millennium grace is to descend upon the
world; when the light of the sun of righteous
ness that now only touches the hill-topsiand the
moun,antops OF earth, shall pour bis beauty
and grandeur and brightness upon the hearts of
The late William H. Seward (proloneed
laughter and applause) said there was an "irre-
pIesslble conhictp in this country. There is
and has been an irrepressible conflict. We have
Just passed through one in this country. think
II was Oliver Crom well who remarked that there
were such things In the history of the human
race as "Prortlential births, ~ and when any
great event Occurred some nation would be in
travail, and In proportion to the agony and
blood would be the greatness and the glory of
the human race and the event born" believe
that this nation has just passed through one of
those "Providential births" that the irrepressl.
BILE conflict that has been going on since the
Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock and the
slave.ship landed at jamestown, has Just culmi-
mated In this land of ours.
There Is an iTrepresslble conflict between
virtue and vice, between light and darkness
and between ignorance and intellieence; and /
believe that it is our mission, now that the old
Temple of Liberty has been preserved, to gar
nish It's walls with pictures of moral beauty
and I'll its inches with statues of regeuerating
humanity. We have made more progress ia
everything that concerns mans best interests as
an nhabtant OF this earth in the last fifty years.
than was made IN the whole six thousand years
that preceded.
Our fathers were born barbarians. They
didn't know much about anything. tLaughter.)
There has been a conflict going on bet ween free
and educated labor, and slave and ignorant
labor. We are upon the threshold of the
greatest struggle the world ever witnessed.
(Applause.) We are now occupying q position
among the nations of the earth (thank God and
our boys in Blue l"), and have an equal footing
with all the nations of the earth, and have ar.
rived at the summit of human excellence and
greatness and glory.
We have preserved the stars upon our banner,
and we will cover and crowd the whole blue
with stars so that, like the great sun, it shall
bear the light of civil and religious liberty into
the dark places of the earth and the places filled
with the habitations of horrid cruelty.
The subject this evening is one of those moral
conflicts ior which we may look, that while
the wilderness and the sultry places are being
made to blossom as the rose, while our physi-
cal world is putting on its garments of beauty,
and while, by educated labor and improvement
and enterprise, we are to build our tabernacles
beside the Western Ocean, and our school
houses and our churches are being built upon
every hilltop and in every valley; while our
manuiac,o ,ories arc built upon every stream, and
| the busy hum OF industry is heard all over our
! land, the question comes home TO us-Shall
! lamentation and woe be hushed, and thanks.
! giving and the yoce OF the multitude break
! forth in all our dwellings Shall this land be
! redeemed from the blighting, whitening BLAST
! ing, damning influences OF cursed drink?
! The resolutions that have been presented here
! tonight meet my most hearty approval, and so
| they ought OF any intelligent man, woman, and
child IN the country. Every ones conscience
and intellect ought to approve of this matter.
Don't you belleve that the educational and the
| pCcuniary interests, the peace, and, in fact,
every interest dear to the people OF Pniladel-
| phia. would be promoted by the closing up of
every grog.shop in this city? You may be a
good Democrat or Republican, Presbyterian,
Baptist, or Methodist but ii you acknowledge
the business of the traffic of liquor on Sunday,
you are dishonest.
You are false to yourselves, to your families,
and traitors to your God, unless you are willing
IN foE n bOlA nd hal ha hron hon. ny,
altogether. (Applause) Would not the public
! peace be promoted? IL you close all the grog.
shops of this city on Sunday, your policemen
Iiaue hter and appiauseJ, and the people will be
better protected then than they are now with
all the police you have, and you may bring the
New York police here too. (Applause.) Don't
you think that the peace of this city would be
better without policemen If grog-shops were
closed on Sunday than now with your police
(Cries of YES yes.") Certainly it would be.
1t would be an insult to the most ignorant
and stupid person in this house TO attempt a
contrademonstration. Why not close them
Because they do not want to be closed. (Laugh.
ter.) You have closed the dry goods stores,
(cries Of "thats SOY and other places of business
of your city on Sunday; they do not hold meet
ings to determine that the law is oppressive.
What apology have they for keeping open on
that day? One of the reasons is that
they are licensed to make drunkards in the
city OF Phliade phias' and are are paid for the
support the Government. Where do you get the
money from to support the Government, Mr..
liquor seller? You get part of 1t from the
dry goods men. One or dozen of your custom
ers on Monday would buy dress for hiI wife, il
you didn't take his money from him. (Applause. J
The grocer who sells his -four aud sugars, the
provision dealer loses money, and you (rum-
seller) get it. You take the little all from the
wife and child OF the mechanic, what they need,
many of them oh, so bad Out upon all
apologies for the liquor sellers. They are the
men who are not paying anything for their
living, but live at your expense. Every man
produces nothing in return that is valuable, is
pauper. (Applause.) What does the liquor
seller produce? Or what does he give you in
return for the money he takes from you on Sun
day? Does he earn 1t by the sweat of the brow
Hard labor from dawn till dusk No! He takes
that which comes from the toiling OF some
sturdy mechanic, and should have given sup
port TO loving wife and pIattling ones, TO sus
tain himself in idleness; flches all that has been
earned by the workman during the week TO sup
port himself in ease the coming six days. They
say you cannot make men moral by law nor by
legislation. Nobody proposes TO do that. Nc
use whatever OF legislating on moral questions
You have the whole Decalogue upon the
statue books of Pennsylvania. "Thou Shalt moi
steal, nor kill, nor swear falsely, nor break the
holy Sabbath Day.n You cannot here leglslate
ON such questions, because God has thundereC
from Sinai that no man shall take another'
blood, and shall not steal But suppose they
do steal 1t becomes, then, sacred question
affecting the wellbeing OF society, and as sucl
you will legislate upon IL by right of persona
interest and municipal and national welfare
Not because II is moral question simply, bu
because the public peace and safety require 1t
gThe safety of the people is the Supreme Law,
is the language of an old and memorable axiom
, There are more men in this city who atten'