St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1881-12-02

ultlOn OF tne pOlltlcS OF tnOse ulmes.
The tone of the political press tells the
same story. Nothing can now be be-
lieved," said Jefferson, (which is seen
in a newspaper" 1t is impossible for
us to conceive how Washington was
abused by the newspapers, as well as
in public and private speech.
Drunkenness was one of the distin
gushing vices of those times. In Eng
land in 1854, 100000 gallons of dis
titled spirits were consumed; In 1850
the amount had increased to IL 600, 900.
Fielding said that "gin was the prin
cipal sustenance of 100000 people in
London Under this stimulus
crime and violence increased till, as
Bishop Benson wrote, there was no
safety for life or property in city or
country.
In 1870 the manufacture of rum be-
gan in New England. 1t but increased
that consumption of spirituous liquors
which was already the same curse here
as across the ocean. 1t was furnished
freely in the revolutionary army.
Thence after the war drinking habits
spread and fastened more deeply upon
the people. TO get drunk did not in
jure mans reputation or influence.
AS late rs 1920 distilled spirits in some
form were generally used at meals.
The rich drank French brandy, the
poor New England rum. At the South
it was more commonly whiskey. For
Sunday, in winter, hot f1ip.was the ia
vOrite drink in New England, and DR..
Marsh remembers, whenia boy, crying
with the cold in the meeting house,
and then holding on to his chair till his
head became steady, after being warm
ed up with flip. Most of the towns in
Connecticut were settled with hard
drinkers. Large families, fathers and
sons, nearly all filled drunkard's
If the chastity of those periods were
described with like faithfulness, the
picture would be certainly no lighter.
In England, each king lived publicly
with mistresses, the chrOniclers tell us,
after which we need not inquire for the
virtue of their courts. The petted and
honOred Chesterfield did not blush to
encourage his young son in shameless
wickedness. "Delicate young women
of the best blood and manners talked
with a cOarseness which editors of the
nineteenth century can represent only
with asterisks.n
This corruption did not fail to spread
to these shores. The grossest licen-
tiOusness prevailed in large sections of
the country and the same sin in slight
ly milder forms in even the better COM
munities, in rural towns in Massachu-
setts and Connecticut, continuing
sometimes for years without civil in
reference. Infidelity to marriage
VOWS was widely prevalent in the older
portions of the land.
The higher literature of those days
was too impure to be tolerated in any
virtuous age. To this the novels OF
Smollett and Fielding, passages in the
writings of DeFoe and Sterne, and the
poetry of Pope, Byron and-MoOre bear
abundant witness.
In this picture of lax morality l have
not yet given the church place, but it
belongs there. Among the English
clergy, in good standing so far as ap-
pears, were those who "having spent
the morning in scampering after
hounds, dedicated the evening to the
bottle, and reeled from inebriety to the
pulpit" In great many instances
they were negligent and immoral, often
grossly so. The same must be con-
fessed for at least portions of our own
country. The clergy of Virginia were
morally low. Their brethren in Mary
land also were remarkable for theil
laxity of morals and scandalous be-
haviOr. In New England members OF
churches, the highest church officials
deacOns and ministers, drank immod-
erately, without seriously compromis-
ing their positions"
With such state of things among
its leaders, ought we to expect much
sainthOOd in the rank and file of the
church 7 We are hardly surprised
then at reading in the Manual of the
church in AndOver Massachusetts, a,
an item of its history, that "the chic
causes of discipline for a hundred anC
twenty five years were fornication anC
drunkenness"
l come to slavery. During the frs
seven years of this century Englisl
ships conveyed annually over the At
lantic 10000 Africans, one half o
whom perished at sea or soon aftel
landing. Twenty-six acts of the Brit
ish Parliament expressed approval o
the traffic, and it required twenty year
, of agitation to suppress it, and twenty
six more to procure emancipation.
, The magnitude of the evil, in thi
, country, the deep hold it had upon tn,
J nation, its tenacity of life, all the chap
ters of its long, dark history, are to-
, familiar to need repeating here.
Although to kill in a duel has been
capital crime in both England ant
/ America for nearly century, yet duel
/ ing was a frequent practice until latel!