No. 216.] 441 



would be enforced without difficulty. Of this we have an illustra« 

 lion in the operation of quarantine laws The great plague of 

 London, caused by the arrival in port of an infected cargo of hides, 

 and various other cases, have impressed on the minds of men the 

 horror of a plague, and the great danger of its being so introduced 

 into a city or nation. Hence, every one sees and feels the necessity 

 of a ship being inspected; yet that inspection is not hailed with 

 pleasure, but submitted to as a necessary fevil. Such, at least, I 

 have found to be the case; and I was one of about 160 persons who 

 terminated a tedious and almost suffocating voyage at this port, 

 while the cholera was raging both here and in Europe. The same 

 acquiescence in domestic inspection could be secured, I presume, only 

 in the same way — that is, by the judgment being convinced that the 

 measure is just and necessary. But how is the judgment of men to 

 be so convinced, and especially in a season of general health? Not by 

 the enactment of a new law giving new powers, but by moral means. 

 If we had an awful pestilence, and all the physicians united in de- 

 claring its cause to have been the filthiness of the dwellings of the 

 poor, it would no doubt produce an impression — though perhaps 

 even then conviction would not be produced unless dicta were sus- 

 tained by demonstration. 



Yours, very truly, 



ISAAC ORCHARD, 

 Sec. of C. T. Society, and Missionary of Ibth Ward. 



There is one other aspect in which the relations of the State or 

 community, to its citizens are to be viewed, which cannot be omitted 

 here without doing both parties injustice, especially as in this con- 

 nexion the relation is very intimate, as well as important. I refer 

 to the dependence of the community upon the labors of its members, 

 for its prosperity, support and advancement. The influence exerted 

 by a single individual upon the character and capacity of a govern- 

 ment, is well marked and freely acknowledged, when men of com- 

 manding intellect step out from the common ranks. No one for ex- 

 ample, can measure the degree of influence exerted upon the charac- 

 ter of this country, or of mankind, by Washington, Franklin, or 

 Fulton, or upon the prosperity of this State, by the genius of Dewitt 

 Clinton. And so on downwards through the various gradations, and 

 the ever varying abilities, physical and mental, of the masses of in- 

 dividuals, to the most insignificant, it is impossible .not to see that 

 each one possesses more or less influence upon the condition of the 

 community, and by his peculiar labors, adds to it, or saves for it. 



