Litchfield enquirer., 1879-01-23

of it's friends, in the social gathering that took place lately at William E. Dodge's residence in Madison ave. The parlors were filled with 1 gentlemen prominent in benevolent and relig- ious enterprises; the feature of the evening l being an address on ''Intemperance in it's Re lation to Crime" by Chief Justice Noah Da- 1 wis
 ADDRESS OF JUDGE DAVIS.
 LADIES AND GENTLEMEN Fl have had no time to prepare speech, and therefore this 1 afternoon after leaving court on account of i'll l health, 1 sat down and wrote one. The sub- ject is one which, while it is of vast interest, l will think, demand an extraordinary intellect | to say anything new about it. That was a | very pleasant story that went the rounds of the
 papers a few years ago. of a lady principal of
 a female seminary up the Hudson, who, at the approach of Lent, called the pupils togeth- l CT and said 1t was not required of them in their youth and while engaged in studies, to refrain during Lent from meat, but she really desired that out of respect to that period, that they would at least all agree to refrain from some delicacy or luxury, and so she requested each one to send ill on the following morning d note indicating the article of food from which she would abstain. You can judge her sur-
 prise the next morning on opening the notes to find that each one had written the single
 word hash 7" Laughter
 Now it is impossible desire to say prelim- tnarly, to talk on this subject that has been
 assigned to me tonight without simply pro- l ducing the material that these young ladies desired to refrain from, and if it were not for the fact that you are to find in the adjoining room something that will compensate you for coming, some repast entirely superior to that
 which am about to give you, should advise
 each one of you to take your hat and 20 now. | Laughter. AS 1 said, have been forced to
 put on paper what little have to say here to-
 night and though don't like to read a speech,
 must beg your indulgence while read what
 have written.
 am invited to speak tonight of the rela-
 tions of intemperance to crime. The theme is a hackneyed one as old as alcohol, and one | cannot consider it without sort of anger at
 the selfishness of the men of past generations,
 who have said all our good things before we
 were born. Little is left to us but to array their testimonies and confirm them by our
 own experiences.
 No one doubts the existence of sin. Through 1 out Chrlstendom million spires rise to heaven l in proof and condemnationof it. Yet the ugly | fact remains, and will until the devil is finally l chained to make room for the millennium. But this is not argument against the reiteration of Godly preaching and gospel truth. Said Chief | Justice Marshall to lawyer who began his argument in the Garden of Eden. ''lt is safe | to sume that court knows something." On | that authority 1 shall assume that this audience knows by hearsay of the existence of crime and intemperance, and proceed to speak of their co relations It is not quite susceptible of proof that the relation of intemperance to crime is that cdolsncGuS1alS. There are other causes, such as hate, avarice, jealously, lust l and revenge; but these are narrower in their circles of evil, more easily suppressed by indi- | viduals and society, more subject to moral in- 1 fluences and restraints, and are not sanctioned
 by law or dealt out under statutory licenses. THE CHIEF CAUSE OF CRIME.
 1 But among i'll crime intemperance stands l out the "approachable chlef." This fact may be established both affirmatively and negative 1 ly. It is proved by the existence of temper ance, and equally as we'll by it's non-existence, | just as the tides of the ocean may be proved | by the flood and by the ebb. First, let us briefly consider the proof by existence. The proposition is that whenever and wherever in- temperance is most abundant, crime is most abundant. Crime is the mercury of a political and moral thermometer which intemperance and it's opposite affect as | heat and cold This recognized fact has creat- ed an elementary principle in the criminal | common law-that drunkenness is no excuse | for crime. No principle is better, or was earlier settled,
 
 | that, if allowed as an excuse, all crime would prepare and fortify itself by intoxication. | Hence courts, even in capital cases were con- | peled to treat drunkenness as an aggravatiOn | of crime and to hold that drunken intent | wee equally as felOnious as sober one. In | common acceptance, the drunken man is tenn 1 porariy insane. It is fortunate that in coun- try where making drunk was business Hcens- ed by law as a source of government revenue, 1 fho S6n Sfi i,11fr Iol
 tions and the natural inference from that kind of legislation, and gave us principles and rules l by inheritance which fear we should not have | had the virtue to orig ginate Intoxicating 1 drinks enable men to commit crimes, by firing the passions and quenching conscience. Burke | the Irish murderer whose horrible mode of con- mitting his crimes has taken his own name, in l his confessions states that only once did | he feel any restraint of conscience. That was when he was about to kill an infant child. The l babe looked up and smiled i'll his face, but said he. drank glass of brandy and then I i had no remorse. His cascis one of thousands many times in my own experience have young 1 men looked up to me when asked what they | iiad to say why the sentence of the law should not be pronounced, and falteringly said, Il was drunk--1 would not and could not have l done it had not been drunk"
 That habits of intemperance are the chief | of large experience More than two hundred years ago Sir Matthew Hale, then Chief Jus | tice of England to whom as writer and judge we are greatly indebted for our own criminal law, speaking on the subject said: The pla- ces of judicature 1 have long held in this King dom have given me an opportunity to observe the original cause of the enormities that have been committed for the space of nearly twenty 1 years, and by due observation 1 have found ! thofi ha nd tboh l giaries and robberies, the riots and tumults, the adulteries, fornications rapes and other enermities that have happened in that time, were divided into five parts, four of them have been the issue and product of excessive drink l ing-of tavern and ale-hOuses drinking. | Leaping over two hundred years of English history and jurisprudence, call one other en- 1 inent judge of great experience to testify. l Lord Chief Baron Kelley, perhaps the oldest l judge now on the English bench, says in let | ter to the Archdeacon of Canterbury: Two I thirds of the crimes which come before the 1 courts of law of this country are Occasioned 1 chiefly by intemperance."
 Not less explicit is the testimony of those whose official duties have brought them in con- tract with convicted criminals Speaking of intemperance, the chaplain of the Preston House of Correction said ''Nine-tenths of the English crime requiring to be dealt with by Ia" dIlScs lIcin tlc AAgilSu siu, "LiCn tue ldW fiercely discourages." And the late inspector of English prisons says: T am within the truth when 1 state that in four cases out of five, when an offense had been committed, in- toxicating drink has been one of the causes" The reason for this is not found to the English skies. A Committee of the House of Con- mons of the Dominion of Canada, reporting 1875 state that tout of 2s, 289 commitments to the gaols (of the Provinces of Ontario and Quebec during the three previous years, 21 ,236 were committed either for drunk enness or for | crimes perpetrated under the influence of drink.' INTERFERENCE IN THIS COUNTRY.