The Morning herald., 1876-09-21

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THE TEMPERANCE MOvEMENT.
The call for convention Of the practical
temperance men, gives what at first SEEM
ed likely to result in afruitless agitation,
some importance. It has been known
ever since the name of Mr.. Bird was pro-
posed for Congressional honors at the
hands Of the Republican party, that there
would be an internal trouble in party
ranks, and it has now manifested itself in
call for Temperance Convention, to be
held on the 18th of September at the
Masonic Temple for the purpose Of
nominating a candidate for Congress,
revising the nominations for the Legisla-
ture and adding thereto or taking there
from. Asit will be a mixture Of ministers,
politicians, and Temperance advocates it
ought to result in the production Of can
didate that will possess the estimable
qualities of piety, astuteness and temper
ance such a combination Of excellent
qualities as no man ever possessed under
the flag.
In the face of such an opposition as this,
and that, too, in his own party's ranks, Mr..
Bird cannot hope for any reasonable degree
ofpatronage from the Temperance people.
The combination will be too great; even a
Schuyler Colfax, with all his goodness and
piety, could not cope with it. 1t will be
more thoroughly consonant with the speech
of Mr.. Josephs, at the Dover Convention,
calling upon the Lord to smile down upon
political bodies, than anything we have
yet seen enacted in the ranks ofthe Repub.
lican party of this State. 1t would seem
difficult for anyone to stand as vigorous
examination as this convention will exact
Of them before they will become qualified
as proper candidate before the conven-
ton.
1t is too bad that the smiles of Mr.. Gal
lagher at Dover should 60 fer naught, that
the gentle, good-natured remarks of Mr..
Pickles should go unheeded, that the
bloodthirsty resolutions sheuld fall as
water upon ducks back, and Mr.. Smith,
ers' eloquent reading prove Intellectual,
because Mr.. Bird takes drink once in a
while. Mr.. Loaand's remarks, tickling
Mr. Bird under the arm as the fin est repre-
sentative of personal honor and worth, are
unheeded, and he is in quiet way told
that it is not so, by the Temperance party
promising to bring man into the field,
whs looks not upon the wine when it is
red. DR.. Jump, Judge Fisher and Gen'l
Torbert must have loaned their presence
all for nothing, as their candidate is to be
dashed to pieces by those who propose
holding Temperance Convention in this
city on the 28th of this month.
But taking the movement as one of
influence, the Temperance Convention
will undoubtedly meet with a greater
encouragement than is judged in its en-
bryo state. Though started in New Castle
county, there is an earnestness for such a
felt in the lower counties greater
than here. Since the Temperance Refor-
nation Of 1880 in Kent and Sussex coun-
ties, there has been the strongest hostility
toward trafc in liquor; it has been
regarded as an evil; serpent in the house.
hold in these counties. And that feeling
has not died out with the majority of the
people in those counties yet. The children
are brought up in adherence Of strong
drink. A prominent Republican states
that he visited New Castle county when a
child, at the time of Mr.. Bayard's fight
against the liquor law, and had it impressed
upon his mind that the able lawyer was
fighting in the cause Of the devil. In the
lower counties the people are more strictly
temperance advocates than they are in New
Castle, and it is thought that in these
counties the movement will take consider
able effect.
But it seems rather like slight upon
the peace and "harmony" Of the party and
its candidate for the Temperance Conven-
ton to bring out another. The field is
open, and the more candidate that are
brought out, the msrrier it will be, but
the Republican cry of "harmony," it
seems, has lost its poetry and uniting indu-
ences.
The Republican" in an editorial yes-