The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1875-11-09

cred and holy this side the throne of the
Eternal
1t will be recollected by all before me,
that but short time since a homicide
was committed on a public highway in
this city, on Ninth street, above Race,
during drunken affray by an ex.police.
mana confederate deliberately pulling
back the coat Of the murdered one, and
that ex guardian of right and public NOR
ais deliberately emptying the contents of
the deadly pistol into the hapless mans
bosom; and it will also be remembered
that judge sitting on the judicial bench
charged the jury that inasmuch as th,
culprit in the dock was partially intoxi.
Gated they could not convict for murder
in the first degree, as an intoxicated per-
son could not be strictly responsible for
deeds committed while in such condition
as he could not fully know, or be aware
of what he was doing. What special
pleading! What logic What com.
menting on the jurisprudence of Grim
inal court Had | been a juror sitting
on that case, should have considered
such an utterance--even from an ermin
ed judge-as an insult to my common
sense, if possessed any, as we'll as TO the
other eleven. When that ex.poiceman
with the stain Of murder on his hand and
heart, shall appear at that higher and un
erring tribunal to which we are all has
tening, the plea Of intoxication | appre
hend will scarcely avail and he will
be readjudged for that foul deed he SO
wantonly committed. But if light can
be obtained through the agency of what
we denominate instinct and if there be
truth in what VIC term the divine oracles,
or if Omnipotence sits on the circle Of
the heavens, with the parchment of nature
unrolled, directing the flying orbs, os
they whirl their circuits, and sparkle
throughout the great immensity above
US, then assuredly, when new heavens
and new earth shall appear instead Of
the deadly "derriDger," then will be the
sword Of mercy in its scabbard and in.
stead of Bacchalanian songs, and the low
ribaldry OF the bar room, will be heard
the song Of redemption, and the pure ut
teranccs Of praise and Inscriptions Of
thanksgiving to Him that sitteth on the
throne, for tho groat dnlivnronre
Sir the centennial year, the one hun.
dredth year since the mandate of liberty
went forth from yonder hall, is nearly
upon US, and hundreds of thousands will
soon be congregating here, from this and
foreign lands, and must they be confront
cd at nearly every corner with the gilded
saloon or the low dram shop, and the air
foulcd by the breath Of the tipler, or the
eye Of virtue shocked by by the swagger-
ing inebriat9 ? We all say these things
ought not so to be. Alas that there is
not virtue sufficient in this great Key
Stone state, or in this great and patriotic
city Of Philadelphia, to make the attempt
at suppression. Where liberty was born,
virtue should sit enthroned: where her
swaddling clothes were cast off, the star
Of temperance should shine respendent
where the Mecca of freedom is entrenched,
there all that is of good report should be
anchored and where peans of liberty
daily orison arise in thanksgiving to the
Most High, for cessation and redemr-
ton from intcmperance. drunkenness ami
debauchery and if the dawn of millep-
NAL morning shall ever gild the hill tops
Of the moral universe, or the sun Of
righteousness shall ever arise with heal.
ing in his wings, and full orbed, illumin
ing the moral earth with its effulgence
and the brightness of its coming; then
will this enemy of mankind flee, and re
tire to the darkened abode from whence
it came, and the "bottomless pit" shall
chant its requiem while heaven will re.
echo the stirring anthem, "glory to God
in the highest" and the glad announce.
ment, that was waited over the plains Q t
Bethlehem, Peace on earth, good will
toward men; and the welcome refrain,
"The dead are alive, the lost arc found"