The Portland daily press., 1867-05-17
Presentation 70 Gen. Dow in England.
From the Alliance Ne1cs, April 271

public meeting of considerable interest
was held in the Town Hall at Burslem, on tho
evening OF April 10th, for the purpose of maxi
ing preseD Dtation speech to General the Hon.
Neal DOW, in recognition of his philanthropic
services, especially in connection with the
movement for the suppression of the traffic in
intoxicating drinks. The presentation was
displayed on the platform, and consisted OF a
dinner, tea, coffee, and desert services. The
three former were manufactured by Messrs El-
liot and Son, OF Dalehale and were in fine earth
enware with gold decorations. Each piece was
further enriched by an engraved portrait of
Gen. Dow, and the tea and coffee pots and soup
tureen bore the following inscription which
shows that Mrs. Dow participated IN the good
feelings which had dictated the preseDtation-
In high appreciation of the noble sacrifice
Mrs. Dow has made that her husband, the Hon.
General Dow, may aid the cause of humanity
in Great Britain and Ireland, this service was
presented by temperance friends of the Stat
forshire PotteTies. April 10th, 1867" The des-
sert service was the celebrated shell and dol
phin pattern of Messrs. Wedgwood ,of Etruria,
and was in splashed majolica.
Notwithstanding the exceedingly unpleas-
ant weather, and charge of admission of Is.
and fed there was large and respectable at
tendance.
General Dow, ON rising to acknowledge the
present and the address. was loudly cheered.
He said he was exceedingly touched by the
generous terms in which he had been spok en-
OF, but he must disclaim entirely the honors
which had been paid to him, for any man
might do what he had done if he were animat-
ed by an earnest desire TO serve his country
and TO promote the happiness OF his fellow men.
He heartily thanked his friends for their kind
ness. and especially Tor the terms in which
they ha,a1 spoken of his country. He could as
sure the meeting. that bis eoIntrylnen thor
There was common feelin. -oonhes ofthe
Tue Atiahtic that the two great b. ,sls snd
Ahglo-Saxon family should be frie,,. .
oictnreh, anu IL was not only for their own IN
y. INA. tnis should be so, but for the world
at iarge: thear, hear.) He was sure that no
cause OF disagreement would ever spring nm on
MS side OF the water, for he felt himself war
ranted in saying that he thorouohly nnder
stood TIE sentiment of his country on that
m5au; ,ih IA~Ppiause.l ~ he reJoiced, with those
former visit to the Potteries his country had
been delivered from the sin, and curse and
shame OF slavery. 1t was subject upon
which they had formerly been repeatedly re-
preached by Englishmen, who had. however.
never shown them how to abolish the evil but
when Americans came over to England they
not only found many of the people under a
more degrading bondage-the bondage of the
poItie-(near hear)-6ut they told them
now to deliver themselves from this bondage.
He was happy to know that their views
were gradually being accepted, and he could
assure the merting that much as he was n leas-
ed with the beautiful present before him, he
iis'u uoiiNeu ihuCu more pleasure and sltlStac-
ton from listening to those remarks of Sir
Lovelace Stamer which bore upon .the GREAT
SUBJECT that they all had at heart He trusted
that many more occupying influential or
rather ne might say potential positions in
society would do their best to form and en-
tighten public opinion until the truth had f.
nally triumphed. (Applause) For himself, he
felt confident OF a speedy triumph for the prin-
ciples which he advocated. AT present the
people of this country had not taken all the
m OF haxr Oh sx.ce Al.
selves as to the success of prohibition in the
United States, and they were sometimes mis-
led by articles in sthe newspapers He had
seen lately paragraph in one OF the local pa
pers to the effect that the Maine Liquor Law
was failure in Massachusetts, and that the
agitation which was now poing ON in Boston
in favor OF licensing law was likely to be
successful. General Dow narrated a variety
of circumstances to show that neither
of these statements was true He said
the Maine Law had only recently been en-
forced in Boston, but already 1000 liquor-shops
had been closed and throughout a large dis
trict of Massachusetts shops of
that description had been closed
The law had been enforced in that State, and
there was no more probability of its being re-
pealed than there was of the repeal of the Brit
ish Constitution (Applause and laughter. J.
Gen. Dow then argued against licensing laws
as means OF preventing drunkenness, and
with respect to the effects of that crime in this
country said many OF its people lived in more
wretched novels than were to be found in any
other country in the world, for the wigwams of
North American Indians were not to be COM
pared to them for abject misery and wretched-
ness; while at the same time a degree of ignor-
ance prevailed amongst the victims of this vice
which would hardly be found in any other civil
lized country, (Hear, hear.) The effect of the
prohibitory law in the State of Maine was that
within four months the gaols of three great
counties were entirely emptied, and the gaol Of
the county OF York would also have been emp
tied but the gaolkeeper kept his hens there,
tLaughter) The gaol for his own county OF
mbecland-the most populous county IN tne
State-had been overcrowded for years, ana
was not quite emptied in four months, tor at
the end of that time it contained hve prison.
ers three of whom were iquor-sellers who
had violated the law. loud laughterl The
Maine Liquor Law had been ALREADY ADOPTED
by twelve or thirteen States, having an area
five times as large of Great Britain; nos did 1t
interfere with the legitimate rights OF any man.
No man had a right to do anything which ia
terelred with the public good, and that princi-
nis had been recognized in this country by the
aaho,ition of gambling houses and lottery
ofiSces. and be contended that the drink traffic
was thousand times more injurious to socie-
ty than either (Appla1Se.)
Adducing other arguments IN favor OF prohi-
bition, General Dow concluded, amidst LOUD
applause, by expressing his confidence IN the
triumph of the principles to the advocacy Oh
which he had devoted his life.