Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1871-08-09
II + Z NJ 5:
ALEXANDRIA GAZETTE

For the COuntryJ
Published Regularly on TUESDA rs, THORS-
DAYS and SATURDAYS, at .Sir Doiiars per
annunn.
\ SINGULAR SPEECH Colonel J. W. For
ucy, in his interesting "reminiscences OF the
greatmen with whom his official duties at Wash
inqtoa brought him in contact, brings to light
singular speech delivered in the L. 5. Senate,
hv the late Senator McDougall. The occa-
sion that called out this classic tribute to Bac-
chus. was a resolution introduced by Senator
Wilson to prohibit the sale of Intoxicating
lionors in the Capitol Here is the speech:
Mr. President--lt was once SAID that there
are as many minds as men, and there Is no END
to wrangling had occasio n some years since
to discourse with reverend Doctor OF DIVINITY
from the State which has the honor to be the
birth place, | think, OF the President OF thls
body, While I was dlscourSlng with HIM, lot
Of vile rapscallions invited me to join them at
the bar. declined out of respect for the rev
erend gentleman in whose presence then was;
AS soon as the occasion had passed, remarked
to the reverend Doctor do not understand
that decline to 90 and join those young men
at the bar because / have any objections to that
thing, for it is my habit to drink always in the
front, and not behind the door. y lie looked
ut me with certain degree of interrogation
then asked him, Doctor, what was the first
miracle worked by our great Master - Tie
hesitated, and I said to him, WAS it not at
Cana iu Galilec, where he converted water IN,
10 wine at a marriage teast?' He asscntcd.
asked him then, After the ark had toated on
the tempestuous seas for forty days and nights
aud rs it decended upon the dry land, what
was the first thing done by father Noah 2 lie
did not know that exactly. ."ell, SAID |,
did he not plant vine|' Yes, he remem-
bercd it then
asked him, "Do you remember any great
poct that ever illustrated the higher fields of
humanity that did not dignity the use of wine,
from old Honor down." He did not. | asked,
do you know any great philosopher that did
not use it for the cxaltatlon OF his lnteillgcnce
DO you think, Doctor, that man who lived
upon pork and beet and corn bread, could get
up into the superior regions-lnto the ethereaE
No. he must
Take nectar on high Olympus
And mighty mead in alfalfa.
said to him again: Doctor you are
scholarly man, of coursc-a doctor OF divinity,
graduate Of Yale do you remember Plato
Symposium Yes, he remembered that l
referred him to the occasion when Agatho,
having won the prize Of Tragedy at the Olymp-
ic gam Is at Corinth, on coming back to Athens
was teted by the nobility and aristocracy Of that
city, for it was a proud triumph to Athens to
win the prize of Tragedy. They got together,
at the house of Phoedrus, and they said, Now
we have been every night for these last six
nights drunk; let US be sober tonight, and we
will start theme, which they passed around
the table as the sun goes round, or as they
drank their wine, or as men tell story. They
II. kl>n Al
love in the vulgar sense, but in its high sense
love of all that is beautiful After they had
zone through, and after Socrates had pronounc-
ed his Judgment about the true: and beautiful.
in came Alcibiades with drunken body OF
Athenau boys, with garlands around their
heads to crown Agatho and crown old Socrates,
and they said to those assembled This will
not do; we have been drinking and you have
not, ;" and after Alcbiades had made his talk in
pursuance of the argument, In which he under
took to dignity Socrates, as [ remember it,
they required (atter the patty had agreed
to drink, it being quite late in the evening, and
they had finished their business in the way OF
discussion) that Socrates should drink two meas
ures for every other mans one because he was
better able to stand it. And SO, one after
in the Athenian style, all except an old physi-
him the hardest-headed fellow except Socrates.
lie and Socrates stuck at it until the gray of
morning, and then Socrates took his bath and
went down to the grove and talked academic
knowledge.
After citing this incident said to this di
vine "Do you remember that Lord Bacon
said that man should get drunk at least once
a month, and that Montagne, the French phi
losopher, endorsed the propositions
These cxaltants that bring US up above the
common measure of the brutc--wine and oil
elevate US, enable us to seize great facts, inspi
rations which, once possessed, are ours foreveY
and those who never go beyond the mere beast
ly means OF animal support never live in the
high planes of life, and cannot achieve them.
believe in women wine, whiSkcy and war.
1t is sad commentary, and Il solemn les
son, and warning, too, that the man who de-
liyercd this speech, died, few years afterwards,
in the most wretched condition, in an inn in
one of the interior towns in New York, avictim
to his excesscs lie had originally, genius and
talents, but all were lost, under the influence OF
his passion for strong drink, and other vices.
Let all take warning from his fate.