IMAGE EVALUATION 
 TEST TARGET (MT-3) 
 
 // 
 
 /, 
 
 ^ 
 
 A^* 
 
 ••*'>,'^ ^ 
 
 
 «: 
 
 
 y- 
 
 1.0 
 
 1.1 
 
 1.25 
 
 1^ as, 
 
 2.5 
 
 SSI 
 
 2.2 
 
 1.4 
 
 2.0 
 
 1.6 
 
 V] 
 
 /I 
 
 /: 
 
 
 w i^-** 
 
 o 
 
 / 
 
 Photographic 
 
 Sciences 
 
 Corporation 
 
 33 WEST MAIN STREET 
 
 WEBSTER, N.V. MS80 
 
 (716) 873-4S03 
 
Ld> 
 
 CIHM/ICMH 
 
 Microfiche 
 
 Series. 
 
 CIHM/ICMH 
 Collection de 
 microfiches. 
 
 Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions / Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques 
 
 ^ 
 
 <i^. 
 
 ^ 
 
 <^ 
 
Technical and Bibliographic Notes/Notes techniques at bibiiographiques 
 
 The Institute has attempted to obtain the best 
 original copy available for filming. Features of this 
 copy which may be bibliographically unique, 
 which may alter any of the images in the 
 reproduction, or which may significantly change 
 the usual method of filming, are checked below. 
 
 D 
 
 Coloured covers/ 
 Couverture de couleur 
 
 I I Covers damaged/ 
 
 Couverture endommagte 
 
 Covers restored and/or laminated/ 
 Couverture restaur^ et/ou pelliculAe 
 
 Cover title missing/ 
 
 Le tife de couverture manque 
 
 Coloured mups/ 
 
 Cartes giographiques en couleur 
 
 Coloured ink (i.e. other than blue or black)/ 
 Encre de couleur (i.e. autre que bleue ou noire) 
 
 Coloured plates and/or illustrations/ 
 Planches et/ou illustrations en couleur 
 
 Bound with other material/ 
 Reli4 avec d'autres documents 
 
 D 
 
 n 
 
 n 
 
 Tight binding may cause shadows or distortion 
 along interior margin/ 
 
 La re iiure serr^e peut causer de i'ombre ou de la 
 distorsion le long de la marge intirieure 
 
 Blank leaves added during restoration may 
 appear within the text. Whenever possible, these 
 have been omitted from filming/ 
 II se peut que certaines pages blanches ajouties 
 lors d'une restsuration apparaissent dans le texte. 
 mais, lorsque cela itait possible, ces pages rt'ont 
 pas 6t6 fiimies. 
 
 Additional comments:/ 
 Commentaires supplimentaires- 
 
 L'Institut a microfilm* le meilleur exemplaire 
 qu'il lui a iti possible de se procurer. Les details 
 de cet exemplaire qui sont peut-itre uniques du 
 point de vue bibliographique, qui peuvent modifier 
 une image reproduite. ou qui peuvent axiger une 
 modification dans la methods normaie de filmaga 
 sont indiquAs ci-dessous. 
 
 I I Coloured pages/ 
 
 Pages de couleur 
 
 Pages damaged/ 
 Pages endommagies 
 
 Pages restored and/oi 
 
 Pages restauries et/ou pelliculies 
 
 Pages discoloured, stained or foxei 
 Pages dicolor^es, t.ichet4es ou piquies 
 
 Pages detached/ 
 Pages d^tachies 
 
 Showthroughy 
 Transparence 
 
 Quality of prir 
 
 Quality in^gale de {'impression 
 
 Includes supplementary materii 
 Comprend du materiel supplimentaire 
 
 Only edition available/ 
 Seule Mition disponible 
 
 I I Pages damaged/ 
 
 I I Pages restored and/or laminated/ 
 
 r~j] Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/ 
 
 ryi Pages detached/ 
 
 r~7\ Showthrough/ 
 
 |~n Quality of print varies/ 
 
 r~n Includes supplementary material/ 
 
 I I Only edition available/ 
 
 n 
 
 Pages wholly or partially obscured by errata 
 slips, tissues, etc., have been refiimed to 
 ensure the best possible image/ 
 Les pages totalement ou partiellement 
 obscurcies par un feuillet d'errata, une pelure, 
 etc.. ont iti filmies A nouveau de facon d 
 obtenir la meilleure image possible. 
 
 This item is filmed at the reduction ratio checked below/ 
 Ce document eat filme au taux de reduction indiqui ci-dessous. 
 10X 14X 18X 22X 
 
 26X 
 
 30X 
 
 12X 
 
 16X 
 
 20X 
 
 24X 
 
 28X 
 
 32X 
 
Th« copy filmad her* has b««n raproducad thanka 
 to tha ganarosity of: 
 
 L^islature du Quebec 
 Quebec 
 
 L'axamplaira filmA fut reproduit grAca h la 
 g^nirositi da: 
 
 Legislature du Quibec 
 Quebec 
 
 Tha imagas appearing hara ara tha baat quality 
 posaibia consldaring tha condition and lagibility 
 of tha original copy and in keeping with the 
 filming contract specificationa. 
 
 Original coplea in printed paper covers are filmed 
 beginning with the front cover and ending on 
 the laat page with a printed or llluatratad imprea- 
 sion, or tha back cover when appropriate. All 
 other original coplea are filmed beginning on the 
 first page with a printed or illustrated imprea- 
 sion, and ending on the last page with a printed 
 or llluatratad impraaaion. 
 
 Tha laat recorded frame on each microfiche 
 shall contain the symbol —•■(meaning "CON- 
 TINUEO"), or the symbol V (meaning "END"), 
 whichever appliee. 
 
 Maps, plates, charts, etc.. may be filmed at 
 different reduction ratioa. Thoa* too largo to be 
 entirely included in one expoaure are filmed 
 beginning in the upper i^ft hand comer, left to 
 right and top to bottom, as many fr& s aa 
 required. The following diagrama illustrate the 
 method: 
 
 Lee Imegea suivantee ont tt6 raproduites avec le 
 plua grand soln. compta tenu da la condition at 
 da la nettet* de I'exemplaira film4, et en 
 conformitA avec tea conditiona du contrat de 
 fiimage. 
 
 l.ee exempiaires originaux dont la couverture en 
 papier eat imprimAe sont filmAs en commeni;ant 
 par le premier plat et en terminant soit par la 
 darnlAre page qui comporte une empreinte 
 d'impreasion ou d'illustration. soit par te second 
 plat, salon le cas. Tous les autrea axempiaires 
 origineux sont fllmte en commengant par la 
 premiere page qui comporte une empreinte 
 d'impreaaion ou d'illuatration et en terminant par 
 la demlAre page qui comporte une telle 
 empreinte. 
 
 Un dee symboies sulvants apparaitra sur la 
 domiAre image de cheque microfiche, selon le 
 caa: le symbols — ^ signifie "A SUIVRE". le 
 symbule V signifie "FIN". 
 
 Lee cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., pauvent itra 
 filmAe A des taux de rMuction diffArents. 
 Lorsque le document est trop grand pour itre 
 reproduit en un seui clichA. 11 est filmA A partir 
 de I'angle supArieur gauche, de gauche h droite, 
 et de haut en bea. en prenant la nombre 
 d'Imeges nAcessaire. Las diagrammea suivants 
 iliuatrant la mAthode. 
 
 1 2 3 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 
MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS 
 
 
 IN THE 
 
 HOUSE OF COMMONS OF THE IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT, 
 
 IN THE SESSION OF 1834, 
 
 RELATIVK TO AN 
 
 INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT, CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES 
 
 OP THE 
 
 PREVAILING VICE OF INTOXICATION, 
 
 WITH EXTRACTS 
 
 FROM THE REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OP THE SAID HOUSE 
 
 ON THE SUBJECT. 
 
 ALSO, 
 
 AN INCIDENT ON THE MAINE LAW- 
 
 Toronto : 
 
 PRINTED BY THOMAS H. BENTLEY, 
 
 AT THE OFFICE OF THE CHRISTIAN GUARDIAN. 
 
 No. », Wellington BcitoiNas, Kino Street. 
 
 1853. 
 
i 
 
MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS. 
 
 In the parliamentary session above mentioned, 
 James Silk Buckingham, Esq., then one of the 
 Members for ShejQSeld, moved in the House for 
 the adoption of the following resolution : — 
 
 " That a select committee be appointed to in- 
 <|uire into the extent, causes and consequences of 
 the prevailing vice of intoxication among the 
 labouring classes of the United Kingdom, in order 
 to ascertain whether any legislative measures can 
 be devised to prevent the fui'ther spread of so 
 great a national evil." 
 
 The motion was oj^posed by Lord Althorpe, 
 on the part of the Government, and by several 
 others ; but on a division, after Mr. Buckingham's 
 reply to the various objections that were urged, 
 it was carried against the Government; the unex- 
 pected majority being received with loud cheers; 
 and the following committee, in which almost 
 every part of Great Britain and Ireland was re- 
 presented, was appointed. [Here the names are 
 given of the 38 membei-s composing the coir.- 
 
mittee, among whom are Mr. Buckingham, as 
 Chairman ; Lord Althorpe, Chancellor of the 
 Exchequer; Sir Robert Peel; Mr. Baring; Mr. 
 Hawes; Alderman Wood ; Serj't Lefoy; Sir An- 
 drew Agnew, and other distinguished gentlemen.] 
 
 The list of witnesses will be foimd to embrace 
 men of various ranks, professions and localities, 
 so that their experience was gathered over an ex- 
 sensive range of countries and occupations ; and 
 on the evidence elicited from them after many 
 days of ]jatient examination, extending from the 
 9th of June to the 28th July, 1834, both inclu- 
 sive, an elaborate Report, from which the following 
 extracts are made, was agreed to by the Commit- 
 tee,which Report in full, was subsequently adopted 
 by the House, and was ordered to be printed 
 among its records. 
 
 Extracts from the Report, &c. 
 
 Consequences to Individual Character. 
 
 *' That the consequences of the vice of intoxi- 
 cation among the humbler classes, and the preva- 
 lence of intemperate habits, and pernicious cus- 
 toms among the middle and higher ranks, are so 
 many and so fearful to contemplate, that it is as 
 

 diflScult as it is painful to enumerate even the 
 outlines of them." 
 
 " That the following ai'e only a few of the 
 evils directly springing from this baneful source : 
 
 "1. Destruction of health ; disfjase in every fonn 
 and shape ; premature decrepitude in the old ; 
 stunted growth and general debility and decay 
 in the young ; loss of life by p aroxysms, apoplex- 
 ies, drownings, burnings, and accidents of various 
 kinds; delirium ti-emens, (one of the most awful 
 afflictions of humanity) ; parallysis, idiotcy, mad- 
 ness and violent deaths, — an proved by numerous 
 medical witnesses, who have made this the sub- 
 ject of their long and careful investigation. 
 
 " 2. Destruction of mental capacity and vigor, 
 and extinction of aptitude for learning, as well as 
 of disposition for practicing any useful ait or in- 
 dustrious occupation. 
 
 " 3. Irritation of all the worst passions of the 
 heart, — hatred, anger, revenge, with a bi*utaliza- 
 tion of disposition that breaks asunder and destroys 
 the most endearing bonds of natui*e and society. 
 
 4. " Extinction of all moral and religious princi- 
 ple, disregard of truth, indifference to education, 
 violation of chastity, insensibility to shame, and 
 indescribable degi'adation ; as proved by Clergy- 
 men, Magistrates, Overseei-s, Teachers, and others 
 examined by your Committee on all these points." 
 
■IP 
 
 6 
 
 Consequences to National Welfare. 
 
 " Among others, the following evils may be 
 distinctly traced : — 
 
 " 1. The destruction of an immense amount of 
 wholesome and nutritious grain given by a boun- 
 tiful Providence for the food of man, which is 
 now by distillation converted into a poison ; the 
 highest medical authorities examined, in gi'eat 
 numbers before your Committee, being uniform 
 in their testimony that ardent spirits are absolute- 
 ly poisonous to the human constitution ; that in 
 no case whatever are they necessary or even useful 
 to persons in health; that they are always, in 
 every case, and to the smallest extent deleterious, 
 pernicious or destructive, according to the propor- 
 tions in which they may be taken into the system, 
 so that not only is an immense amount of human 
 food destroyed, whilst thousands are inadequately 
 fed; but this food is destroyed in such a manner 
 as to injure greatly the agricultural producei-s 
 themselves ; for whose grain, but for this perverted 
 and mistaken use of it, there would be twice the 
 present demand for the use of the now scantily 
 fed people, who would then have healthy appe- 
 tites to consume, and improved means to pur- 
 chase nutriment for themselves and children, in 
 c/rain, as well as in all the other varied produc- 
 tions of the earth. 
 
 '' 2, The increase of pauperism in its most fear- 
 
ful shape, divested of that sense of shame which 
 would disdain to receive relief, whilst honest in- 
 dustry could secure the humblest independence, 
 and associated with a disregard of consequences 
 and a recklessness of all obligations, domestic or 
 social. 
 
 " 3. The spread of crime in every shape and 
 form, from theft, fraud, and prostitution in the 
 young, to burnings, robberies, and more hardened 
 offences in the old ; by which the gaols and pri- 
 sons, the hulks, and convict transpoils are filled 
 with inmates ; and an enormous mass of human 
 beings, who, under sober habits and moral train- 
 ing, would be sources of wealth and strength to 
 the country are transfonned, chiefly through the 
 remote or immediate influence of intoxicating 
 drinks, into excrescences of corruption and weak- 
 ness ; the population thus made ciiminal being 
 like the grain, subjected to distillation, converted 
 from a wholesome source of strength and prospe- 
 rity into a poisoned issue of weakness and decay. 
 
 "4. The retardation of all improvement, in- 
 ventive or industrial, civil or political, moral or 
 religious; the hindering of education; the weak- 
 ening of good example, and the creation of con- 
 stant and increasing difficulties in the propagation 
 of sound morality and subhme truths of the 
 Gospel, both at home and abroad, according to 
 the testimony of teachers, pastors, and others, 
 examined by your Conmiittee." 
 
8 
 
 ■ 
 
 «m 
 
 Remedies to be Applied. 
 
 " That the remedies to bo applied to the cure 
 of evils so deeply rooted, so long established, so 
 widely spread, and so strongly supported by sel- 
 fish indulgence, ignorance, prejudice, custom and 
 pecuniary interests, are two-fold; fii-st, legislation; 
 and, secondly, moral. 
 
 " That the right to exercise legislative inter- 
 ference for the coiTection of any evil which aftect.s 
 the public weal, cannot be questioned, without 
 dissolving society into its primitive elements, and 
 going back from the combined and co-operative 
 state of civilization, with all its wholesome and 
 lawfully imposed restraints, to the isolated and 
 lawless condition of savage and solitary nature. 
 
 " That the power to apply con'ection by legis- 
 lative means cannot be doubted, without suppos- 
 ing the sober, the intelligent, the just and the 
 inoral portion of the community unable to con- 
 trol the excesses of the ignorant and disorderly, 
 which would be to declare our incapacity to main- 
 tain the first principles of government, by ensur- 
 ing the public safety." 
 
 " That the sound 'policy of applying legislative 
 power to direct, restrain or punish, as the cases 
 may require, the vicious and contaminating pro- 
 pensities of the evil disposed, cannot be disputed, 
 
■ 
 
 without iiivali(Jatii)g the riglit of government to 
 protect the ' • locent from the violence of the 
 guilty; which would in effect declare all govern- 
 ment to be useless, and all lawful authority to be 
 without any intelligible object or end." 
 
 Among various other immediate remedies pro- 
 posed in the Report, the following are recom- 
 mended :— 
 
 1. "The encouragement of Temperance So- 
 cieties in every town and village of the kingdom; 
 the only bond of association being, a voluntary 
 engagement to abstain from the use of ardent 
 spirits, as a customary d)ink, and to discourage by 
 precept and example, all habits of intemperance 
 in others." 
 
 2. « The diffusion of sound information as to 
 the extensive evils produced to individuals and 
 to the state by the use of any beverage that 
 destroys the health, cripples the industiy, and 
 poisons the morals of its victims." 
 
 3. " The institution of every subordinate auxili- 
 ary means of promoting the reformation of all 
 such usages, courtesies, habits and customs of the 
 people, as lead to intempo-ate habits." 
 
 4. « A national system of education, which 
 should ensure the means of instruction to all ranks 
 and classes of the people, and which, in addition 
 to the various branches of requisite and appro- 
 priate knowledge, should embrace, as an essential 
 
10 
 
 part of the instruction given by it to every child 
 in the kingdora, accurate information as to the 
 poisonous and invariably deleterious nature of 
 ardent spirits as an article of diet, in any form or 
 shape; and the inculcation of a sense of shame 
 at the crime of voluntarily destroying or thought- 
 lessly obsciu-ing that faculty of reasoning and 
 that consciousness of responsibility which chiefly 
 distinguish man from the brute, 3iid which his 
 Almighty Maker, when he created him in his own 
 image, implanted in the human race, to cultivate, 
 to improve, and to refine; and not to corrupt, to 
 brutalize, and to destroy." 
 
 The following are the ultimate remedies re- 
 commended m the Report: — 
 
 1. "The absolute prohibition of the importa- 
 tion from any foreign countr)^, or from our own 
 colonies, of distilled spirits in any shape. 
 
 2. " The equally absolute prohibition of all dis- 
 tillation of ardent spirits from grain, tlie most 
 important part of the food of man in our own 
 country. 
 
 3. " The restriction of distillation from other 
 materials, to the purposes of the arts, manufactui-es 
 and medicine, and the confining the wholesale 
 and retail dealing in such articles to chemists, 
 druggists, and dispensaries alone." 
 
 The Report contains the following concludincf 
 suggestions ; — 
 
 " Your Committee deeply impressed vith the 
 
11 
 
 long catalogue of evils which they have endea- 
 voured thus briefly and faintly to describe, and 
 feeling the strongest and most earnest desire to 
 lessen their number and amount, humbly venture 
 to suggest to the House the importance of drawing 
 the attention of Her Majesty's Government to the 
 immediate introduction of such improvements as 
 your Committee have recommended in the navy 
 and army, and in the ships employed in the 
 merchant service; to the ca,usingsuch other ame- 
 liorations to be made in this respect as cau be 
 effected by their authority, wherever that may 
 extei.d; and to the public declaration of their 
 determination to introduce early in the ensuing 
 Session some general and comprehensive law for 
 the progressive diminution and ultimate suppres- 
 sion of all the existing facilities and means of 
 intemperance as the root and parent of almost 
 every other vice, 
 
 "They venture still further to recommend the 
 most extensive circulation during the recess 
 under the direct sanction of the Legislature, of 
 an abstract of the evidence obtained by this in- 
 quiry in a cheap and portable volume, as was 
 done with the Poor Law Report, to which it 
 would form the best auxiliary; the national cost 
 of intoxication, and its consequences, being ten- 
 fold gTeater in amount than that of the poor 
 rates and pauperism itself, being indeed chiefly 
 caused by habits of intemperance." 
 
12 
 
 To the Honorable the Legislative Council 
 and Assembly of Canada^ in Parliament 
 assembled. 
 
 It will be seen that several of the foregoing 
 clauses of the said approved and adopted Report 
 afford the most express and the highest authority 
 in proof that the Legislature, both Imperial and 
 Colonial, possess the right and the power, accord- 
 ing to the principles of the English Constitution, 
 to pass such enactments for the ultimate and 
 entire prohibition of the manufacture and sale of 
 intoxicating liquors, as ordinary beverages, as may 
 under existing circumstances seem requisite or 
 expedient. As it is most deplorably manifest) 
 that all the great evils attending the sale and the 
 use of those liquoi*s as a beverage, are still most 
 extensively and deeply afflicting die various 
 communities of this Province, the special and 
 serious attention of the members of the Provincial 
 Parliament, and of all reflecting and well-disposed 
 persons among us, is most earnestly and respect- 
 fully requested to the subject at large, and their 
 influence and co-operation are especially desired 
 in support of the applications which are being 
 made to the said Parliament, in the present Ses- 
 sion, for the passing of some enactments for the 
 immediate or early prohibition of the traflic in 
 those liquors as articles of ordinary beverage. 
 
I certify that the e extracts are correct, 
 and Editoi-s generally v\ aid confer a favour on the 
 cause of humanity by giving them an insertion. 
 
 Rowland Burr. 
 
 Maine Liquor Law Agent. 
 
 Toronto, January, 1853. 
 
 
 
14 
 
 AN INCIDENT. 
 
 In these days of the "Maine Law," there are 
 many and lamenting voices croaking out their 
 Jeremiads over the invasion of human rifrJits 
 which they charge upon that most just and bene- 
 ficent legislation. 
 
 " May not men choose their beverage ? Mav 
 they not decide for themselves, the questions, 
 *What shall we eat, and what shall we drink? 
 What tyranny to interdict the free exercise of 
 these natural rights !" 
 
 Perhaps it has not occurred to these advocates 
 of the larg^^st liberty that many of those for whom 
 they offer such disinterested pleading pray no 
 prayer with so much fervor and sincerity as this: 
 " Save us from such friends !" 
 
 Some months since, when the adoption of the 
 "Maine law " was about to be submitted to the 
 suffrage of the people in a neighboring state, I 
 had occasion to be driven a short distance, in a 
 hired carriage, from a railroad depot in that state 
 to a village a few miles off the tracks Upon 
 taking my seat in the carriage, I found that ! 
 had for a driver a man whom I had known, when 
 I was a boy, as one of the young men prominent 
 in the circles of young people as the " prince of 
 good fellows." His appearance was very much 
 
15 
 
 changed from what 1 remembered it in those 
 times to'whioh my thoughts instantly carried me 
 back. The change was not one for the better. 
 There were manifold and manifest indications in 
 his face> and person, and speech, that excesses at 
 the bowl had wrought sad havoc upon him. " 
 
 Said he, " I s'pose you don't remember me, 
 though I know you." 
 
 " O, yes, I do," I replied, " though you have al- 
 tered a good deal since I have seen you." 
 
 He seemed to feel what was implied in the 
 change of which I spoke, and was silent for a 
 moment; then, without any very remote transition, 
 began again, 
 
 " 1 am working hard for the election." 
 
 « Well, how is it going ?" 
 
 "O," said he, " I am a Whig ; I always was a 
 Whig : and I always mean to be ; I go that 
 ticket." 
 
 «« What," I inquired, « Liquor bill and all ?" 
 
 " Yes, sir ! if I never was a Whig before, I 
 would be now, to put that bill through." 
 
 Had I mistaken the character and cause of 
 the change I had noticed in him ? I looked at 
 him again to correct or confirm my judgmeni. 
 He seemed to understand the significance of the 
 glance, and went • k ; 
 
 " Yes, I go for that bill. They laugh at me 
 at the tavern there for that. They all know I 
 
16 
 
 love a glass of rum, and take it loo. But I tell 
 them, I am the very man to vote for that law. 
 If ever a poor fellow knew what such a law 
 would be worth to him, I am that man, I do 
 love rum, and I do drink it, and I will have it as 
 long as I can get it ; I can't help drinking it 
 when I see it, and I can't keep away from where 
 
 It IS. ' 
 
 The tears startled out of his eyes. 
 " Well," he resumed, " it will be a happy day 
 for my wife, if ever that bill becomes a law." 
 "I remember her, I think." 
 
 "Well, she's been a good wife to me, and 
 sheHl be glad when therein no more rum to be 
 had:' 
 
 That's one of the men whose rights are out- 
 raged by the "Maine law," whose sufferings 
 under the tyranny of such despotic legislation are 
 so pathetically written about, and harangued 
 about in rum editorials and political gatherings, 
 whose liberty is so cruelly taken away by the 
 state, and whose prerogative of self-goverment in 
 the matter of strong drink is so urgently argued. 
 
 Poor, patient, sorrowfr.l wife, the hour of her 
 gladness has not yet chimed. The help of the 
 law has been denied her imperilled husband. 
 Shall we here turn back the wave of light and 
 blessing which has rolled its bright-crested surge 
 through the homes of our ancient commonwealth?