The Coming Man Will Brink Wine, etc. 



179 



A fine and useful talent is that of 

 being able to discover and unravel the 

 truth which most men attempt to con- 

 ceal. This being uo doubt your own 

 sentiment, let us try to instruct our- 

 selves ; and while doing so-, let us 

 endeavor not to scandalize the weak 

 minded and the ignorant, a most diffi- 

 cult task, even in a free countr}', when 

 one wishes to speak the truth. 



The worth of a government and of 

 its institutions exist in the protection 

 given, in restricting or maintaining 

 within due bounds, in encouraging 

 and fostering all jjossible industries, 

 trades and professions capable of 

 adding to the revenues of the coun- 

 try, or to the wealth and comfort of 

 the inhabitants — nor can a goveni- 

 menf be good if the laws that it enacts 

 are not in keeping with the rational 

 liberties of mankind, and of an 

 enlightened reason. That reason 

 teaches us that certain excesses and 

 evils, when not clashing with a gen- 

 eral public opinion, or in dii'eet oppo- 

 sition with public interests, or peace, 

 should be to a certain extent winked 

 at, especiall}' when well aware of the 

 great truth — that public opinion 

 changes in due proportion to the 

 light spread. 



Temperance, as understood now-a- 

 days is, as wo all know, a most adniir- 

 able invention, and quite christian in 

 its results, as it gives at times posi- 

 tion and standing to a certain politico- 

 religious party, wdiile it can and does 

 greatly add to the number of hypo- 

 crites in the nation. Some day when 

 I have more leisure I shall advocate a 

 marble statue to its inventor; the 

 "might have been " and the redeemed 

 drunkards should be earnestly thank- 



ful, and I trust will then subscribe 

 liberally. 



The first time that this question of 

 Temperance M'as forcibly brought to 

 my notice, was over twenty years 

 ago while going from Germantown to 

 Philadelphia. Having missed the cars 

 I had concluded to foot mj- way back^ 

 but the power of a July sun, coupled 

 with the dust of the road, soon made 

 me feel thirsty. I stopped at a way- 

 side Inn, and called for a glass of 

 wine : "Had no wine by the glass !" — 

 I asked for a little brandy and water : 

 could not give me any, it being 

 against the law to sell a less quantity 

 than a gallon ! — Freshly- landed in this 

 free country' I was somewhat taken 

 by surprise; it was something new" to 

 me, amongst my travels, to be refused 

 enough to quench my thirst, and be 

 offered suflScient to kill a dozen times ! 

 My dull mind was set a working, and 

 kept long in contemplation before the 

 thought ; how extraordinary, myste- 

 rious. and queer was a free country. 



Shortly afterwards having gone up, 

 or down East, I forget which, 1 was 

 conducted b}' a friend to one of these 

 halls where is supposed to assemble 

 all the wisdom and intellect of a 

 nation — a great mistake, I assure j^ou 

 — and whilst there I witnessed a rich 

 scene. The house, as I was after- 

 wards informed, was in a fit of ill- 

 humour, the honorable members being 

 under the efl:ects of a laborious diges- 

 tion, caused by eating too freel}* of 

 cod-fish balls for breakfast. One of 

 the honorables, a shij^ping merchant, 

 whose name I forget — largely engaged 

 in the coffee and tea trade — rose from 

 his seat to address the house. He 

 was wealthy and skillful, and known 



