The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1870-10-15
REMARKABLE CONVERSION

Mr.. Greedy, in his address be-
fore the Missouri State Temper
ance Convention, October 6, said
he did not believe in prohibitory
laws. but the people should be
taught that alcohol, like opium, is
poison, and should be summed
The speaker having been for many
years one of the ablest advocates |
of the Maine law, this retraction,
made with frankness no. unusual
in Mr.. Greeley when fully convinc-
ed of an error, is highly signifi |
cant. It will doubtless astonish
that large class of Tribune takers,
who have regarded the editors
prohibi;ory principles as among
the firmest and most exalted in his
schedule of reforms. But as they
have followed him so far without
faltering, we presume that many of
them will be led to revise their
own views upon the liquor ques-
ton, and confess that they too
have been mistaken; and that pro
hibition being totally impracticable
should now be abandoned. It is
customary Cor Mr.. Greeley to mi
tiate movements within the Re-
publican ranks, whether forward or
backward. He was foremost in
the war upon the South, and also
lead off in the peace negotiations.
No man surpassed him in his ha-
tired of Jefferson Davis, and yet
he went his bail at Richmond. His
bold demand for universal amnes-
ty alor G with universal suffrage,
was perhaps the browning example
of what his less practical cout1ers
call taking the back track But
in recanting the iallacy Of prohibi
ton, Mr.. Greeley was not t e pi-
oneer. Numbers of distinguished
Republicans have preceded him
there, though none among them
were SO influential as he. His dis
tinct abandonment Of this old hob
by will be powerful recruiting
agent Of the national temperance
army. He now plants himself on
the solid ground of moral suasion,
where all the victories ever gained
for temperance have been won.
We undertake to say that had NOR
al suasion been Piled with half the
energy and half the funds wasted
on Quixotic Maine laws, the vie
of intemperance 10 day in this
country would be far less rampant
than it is. Men would have yield
ed by thousands to the mild but
convincing influences of lectures,
newspaper appeals and tracts; de
monstrating scientifically the in
furious effects of alcoholic drinks,
where one has been forced to give
up the bottle by the futile attempts
to cut off his supplies of grog,
backed by no matter how many
State constables So far from
having checked drunkenness, we
are of the opinion that the Maine
law has in n any parts of the coun
try indirectly stimula ed it, by
arousing that spirit of resistance
which human nature in all ages has
opposed to statutes aiming to reg
ulate meat, drink and clothes 1t
is with great pleasure that the true
friends of temperance now see MIR.
| Greeley on the right path ate; his
long and devious wanderings; and
they will heartily join with bin i'll
a renaissance of the moral suasion
movement Not much lon. err, if
we may trust the signs of the times.
is temperance to be mixed up with
politics. The failure of every
party to incorporate it as an effec-
tive principal in their platforms is
notorious in all States where i; has
been tried; and though for little
while longer, in Difference to the
tag ends of prohihitory organiza
ton. the Republican Conventions
in some of the States may pass
meaningless temperance resolu
,ions, the time will probably soon
come when temperance will be left
where it should always have been
with the moral sense of the PEG
pie outside Of party lines When
this is done we may expect revi-
val of the temperance reform, which
will be productive of the happiest
fruits to the people of the United
States.--T New York journal of
Commerce.