The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1883-07-06


Rev. II. w. Harvey, at the N. Z. church
in this village, on Sunday evening last.
desire to be neither ultra in my beliefs
nor over-sangsine in my hopes of tempe
rance, but i have positive convictions and
large expectations, CLEANED from the study
of current events, and the drift Of public
sentiment. We no longer have to deal with
generalites, but with clear, naked, unmis-
taxable facts. We have passed beyond
proving the mere abstract right or wrong OF
this matter. 1t is not proof, but application
that is now needed. We pass from logic,
reasoning, long and startling arrays of figures
10 the application of these to practical results.
We have done with long-range fighting,
and have come face to face in hand TO
hand encounter. We have ceased skirmish-
inc, and have come 10 virtual battle. That
kind of warfare means victory for one side
or the other, quickly.
Two armies may stand a mile or more
apart and fire at each other all day, or all
summer, and neither of them suffer serious
damage. But let them abandon their long
range guns and seize their pistols and sabers
and advance within ten feet or less of each
other and blaze into each others very faces,
or hew each other with swords, and one side
or the other will yield quickly. There is
a vast difference between long range and
hand-to-hand fighting, as any old soldier
who has seen service will tell you.
The temperance war for the last half CEN
tury has been in large measure, skirmishing
long range firing, more of reconnaissance
than a battle. II has been testing the
strength of the enemy and also his weakness,
and finding out what is his spirit, numbers
and plan of battle. 1t has also been determ-
lining its own force and marshalling II into
array.
AL of this has been absolutely necessary,
it has been preparatory to the real great bat
tie that is now 10 be fought. All honor to
the grand pioneers and fighters who have
preceded us.
We are now TO lay aside our long range
guns OF mere discussion and figures, and
seize our pistols and swords Of law and pub
lie opinion, and advance into the very face
of the enemy. he will not stand that mode
of encounter long. Law hurled by the
mighty force OF righteous public senti-
ment at close range, will send this enemy to
n speedy right about.
Hitherto it has been peninsular campaigns;
Yorktown, and Chfckahominy swamps. Now
IL is Petersburg and Richmond, and it means
sometime by the favor and aid OF the just
God Of battles, Appomattox Court House
Not in my day nor in yours, nor in our
children's day, but sometime in the not far
distant perspective of history-it means
just that.
Ny friends we are before this intrench-
ment to stay. The growing sentiment OF
this nation declares that emphatically
Fifty years preparation is behind US. the
weapons of civil and moral law are in our
hands: We have found the weak place in our
enemy's defense, and We have never found
it until now. II is only question of our
own moral bravery and manhood, or our
cowardice, whether we pour III there and
take this enemy or not
1t has been said, and is said to-day-this
very night five hundred people in this town
are saying, ooh, wave: wave; mere rip
pie on the otherwise placid waters 1t is a
wave, and tidal wave. 1t is more than q
ripple gotten up by a mere local breeze il is
q wave, gathered and propelled by the heav-
enly influences of right ard truth, and JUS
tice, as the sun and moon draw on the
waters of the ocean. 1t is a wave that reach.
es farther than this town of Paw Paw, farther
than Hartford or Van Buren, county, or the
state of Michigan. 1t is wave that ID
sweeping over Ohio, Illinois, Missouri
Kansas. Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota. In fact
it is rising in every state In this union in
some form. II is q wave that is even sweep
ing Great Britain, that long and bitterly
cursed nation from this traffic.
The form which the temperance wave is
taking to-day, is to be respected, not laughed
at, we have reached right ground at last
and here as humanity, battling for the
right. We have come to stay if takes till the
millennium, and thousand generations lay
their bones before the intrenchment.
This matter has forced itself into politics
not because political men wanted il there
bat because they could not help themselves
1t has become so strong and vital that it is
already taking foremost place as a national
issue. No convention dare make a platform
without putting in q temperance plank, or fill
ing the space with ambiguous nothings to de-
ceive and satisfy. Public opinion compels
this recognition. Society demands that in
some way this matter shall be worked into
law 1t is compelling political parties to
declare for law or no law, for order or chaos
Men Of political sagacity see this and re-
spord to it, either with antiquities or with
clear, definite statement.
Let Us not imagine that we are alone in
this demand for law in temperance. tits the
demand of the best intelligence and the con
science of this entire nation. We are no
alone here in this little town-a mere rinnIa
on the otherwise stagnant ocean of Ameri-
can sentiment. The whole ocean is beaved
by it. Shame on us if we have not felt il
and responded TO it.
This matter OF law takes different forms
in different localities. II is a necessity and
is esteemed to be such by the wisest and
best men.
In Iowa it takes the form of prohibition.
in illinois, high license. Prohibition il the
ideal-the ultimate aim. Both these forms
OF the law mean tighter grip on the neck of
this monster, and ultimately they mean the
complete throttling of him. We will not
quarrel about these diverse forms of the law.
we glory III any law that is strong and vital
enough to tighten its grip. If illinois law
Is powerful enough TO weaken its enemy so
IL can get him down where il can at last
throttle him, we say God speed, to the hich
license law of Illinois. 1t is infinitely better
than the virtually 40 law that has permitted
four thousand saloons in its chief CITY.
I Iowa has its enemy already on the
ground then grappie his throat with the iron
hand OF prohibition. IL is all in the battle
and 1t all means eventual temperance victory.
10 Is now question of means, the best and
most practical method. When one means
cannot be enforced, as good and true men