r> 
 
 HE TEMPERANCE ISSUE IN NORWICH, 
 
 DELIVERED IN BREED HALL, JANUARY 14th. 1878. 
 
 REV. L T. 
 
 Pastor of Broadway Church. 
 
 The Rev. L. T. Chamberlain Dear Sir : The undersigned, citizens of Norwich, believing that 
 your masterly appeal in behalf of tenr-erance in Breed Hall on the 14th inst., contains facts and 
 statistics of the greatest interest to all the inhabitants of this city and town, specially affecting our 
 moral, sociaf and political condition, would most respectfully request a copy of the same for publi- 
 cation, that it may be put in the hands of every person in the community. 
 
 F. Nichols, John Mitchell. L. Blackstone, Win. M. Williams, Chas C. Haskell, Henry Bill. Charles 
 
 King, E. N. Gibbs, A. W. Prentice. L. W. Carroll, J. H. Cranston, Robert Brown. 
 Norwich Conn.. Jan. 17, 1878. 
 
 To F. Nichols. John Mitchell. L Blackstone, Wm. M, Williams and others : 
 
 Gentlemen ; Your request for the publication of the address delivered in Hreed Hall is re- 
 ceived. I will prepare it for the printer at the earliest possible moment consistent with other duties. 
 With highest regard, yours sincerely, 
 
 L. T. CHAMBERLAIN. 
 Norwich, Jan. 18. 1878. 
 
 AND G-ENTI-K.VIKN, FKLJ,OW 
 
 CITIZENS : I thank you for the greeting 
 which you give me. I am not insensible to 
 the personal kindness winch is implied 
 in your thronging welcome. It, is a joy 
 to me and I confess it to cherish the 
 hope that every face into which I look 
 to-night, is the face of a friend. 
 
 I know, however, that your comir.sj; | 
 hither has reference to the cause rather 
 than to me. Indeed, I have invited you 
 to listen respecting a matter whose im- 
 portance dwarfs all personal considera- 
 tions, and which may rightfully claim 
 for itself the foremost place 1 deliber- 
 ately request you to forget the speaker, 
 and to think only of the things he speaks. 
 This shall be your platform as well as j 
 mine. If you agree with the words ut . 
 tered let the assent be manifested. If ! 
 you disagree with them, or even condemn 
 them, let there be no hesitancy in making* 
 known your verdict. I appeal to none of | 
 the timid courtesies to-night. I tell you 
 frankly that, so far as I am concerned, I 
 shall utter my convictions, whether you i 
 hear or whether you forbear. Though 1 
 had known that I must meet here those 
 who would he angry at my words. I should 
 
 have cherished the same purpose to de- 
 clare my utmost mind. 1 am for what 1 
 believe to be the truth, and hisses even 
 are not the things which I have been 
 taught to fear. This is the hour for free 
 dom of expression, and I accord it to you. 
 even as I claim it for myself ! 
 
 Fellow-citizens, how shall we measure 
 the importance of the case before us? At 
 what mark shall we set the magnitude of 
 the Temperance cause V Letting pass, for 
 the moment, all reference to methods of 
 procedure, what stands as the computable 
 urgency of the issue which convenes us 
 to-night ? For one. I own to the jtiog- 
 ment that the cause takes rank 'amrng 
 the foremost that ever appealed to your 
 interest. I know something of the vari- 
 ety and seriousness of municipal affairs. 
 1 understand something of questions of 
 finance and police. 1 sun aware that safe- 
 guards against lire and pestilence are not 
 to be reckoned as trivial. I can see that 
 law and order, in their general signifi- 
 cance, are things which are almost syn- 
 onymous witli property and life. I can 
 imagine that were any of these great in- 
 terests to be brought into direct issue ; 
 were anv of them fundamentally and
 
 openly to be decided, you would hold 
 most things else in abeyance until the de- 
 cision had been made. You would say 
 that it were folly itself which should 
 .counsel anything save a public awakening 
 >' and a public unanimity of action ! 
 
 But, my friends, this matter of Temper- 
 ance or Intemperance is more than ques- 
 tions of mere finance. In the comparison, 
 it evidently were not much whether your 
 taxes were nine mills or nine cents. It 
 were not relatively much, whether you 
 had police, or slept, every man as his own 
 sentinel and defence. It were compara- 
 tively unimportant whether the flames 
 found a fire department trained to sub- 
 due them, or whether they raged against 
 the unorganized efforts of the citizens at 
 large. In the contrast, it were not of 
 moment whether there were health laws 
 or health anarchy. Measured by results, 
 it were not so essential that courts should 
 enforce the rights of personal liberty and 
 proprietary pos-ession. or that the city 
 government should uphold the statutes 
 which specify the things of ordinary con 
 cern. I venture that never, except in 
 such a crisis as came on us and the na- 
 tion in 18*51, has this generation of citi- 
 zens discussed so great an issue as that 
 which concerns itself with intoxicating 
 drink. The things of so-called politics 
 are trifling compared with it, and Ihe 
 matters of trade and traffic are not to be 
 mentioned in its presence. The affair is 
 so momentous that it were becoming for 
 the citizens to assemble. It were fitting 
 that counsel should be taken, and the 
 common safety considered. I know not 
 h,ow any one whose mind thinks or 
 whose heart beats, can be unconcerned 
 and inactive. 
 
 Look at it, good friends ! Take 
 your fair Norwich for the last fifty years. 
 Write only the history which can be coi- 
 roborated by the testimony of men still 
 living. Set down nothing to guesswork. 
 Draw the outline according to exact sta- 
 tistics. Lay the picture's colors with his- 
 toric precision. And then tell me if you 
 know aught else in our midst that is half 
 sourgent'or half so terrible. Why, the 
 march of Intemperance in this community 
 has been tracked in blood. The results of 
 its working, could they be painted on ihe 
 canvas, would make the whole head sick 
 and the whole heart faint. Sometimes 
 the demon of drink has laid his hand on 
 the rarest, an.l men have fallen as fell 
 Lucifer, son of the morning ! Sometimes 
 the victim has been one unobserved by 
 the multitude, and the tragedy has been 
 enacted in that silence over which only 
 God bends in pity. Sometimes woman 
 
 has been plucked from the throne of her 
 womanliness; and sometimes tender 
 childhood has been slain, as when Herod 
 made mourning in Bethlehem. By scores 
 and by hundreds, the worse than deaths 
 have taken place, and the record is still 
 repeating its terrors. Go with me to- 
 night, and I can show you where the in- 
 toxicating cup makes hell on earth. I 
 can show you where it still is true to its 
 nature, and bites like a serpent and stings 
 like an adder. By day and by night, as 
 it were alongside your home and mine, 
 the old-time scene is repeated : the man 
 or woman gradually losing the best of 
 the former possessions ; the wonted gen- 
 tleness passing into harshness ; the ac- 
 customed delicacy of feeling and demean- 
 or giving place to grossness ; conscience 
 deadened ; reason unpaired ; the dcsiivs 
 degraded ; friends grieved and alienated ; 
 business neglected ; poverty necessitated; 
 the family made wretched ; self resprcl 
 surrendered ; marriage vows dishonored ; 
 parental affect ion destroyed ; decency 
 outraged; crime committed ; .'hame and 
 despair brought on ; disease of every 
 kind incurred ; idiocy made to alternate 
 with madness; until, at last, a death <!' 
 stupor or frenzy closes the ghastly -cvnc ! 
 Am I dipping my brush in fancy's colors? 
 Am I declaiming the rant of a visionary ? 
 No ! I have not lived among von v TV 
 many months, but I have nv.d ii re long 
 enough to know this wiieivot' I nave 
 spoken ! If you doubt the facts. I will 
 prove them to yon by in sij; it of your 
 eyes and the hearing of your ears ! Some 
 of you, sitting in your shel.ereit homes, 
 may not have seen the reality ' Po-siMy 
 you would choose to avoid lit- >igni. 
 But, for all that, the closed eye does not 
 put out the sun ! The passing iy on ihe 
 other side does not change the fact that 
 the wounded traveler is moaning and dy- 
 ing there in his pain ! The t hi jigs ol In- 
 temperance, in all their liideo i-ne-s, are 
 tremendously real, and you must consider 
 that they are on every side of you ! 
 
 And now that I am speaking of the 
 evil itself, let me call } - our attention lo 
 the truth that this which takes place here 
 is taking place throughout ihe land. One 
 reason why you are to a^ake as a Sam- 
 son startled at tidings of the enemy. i> 
 that Intemperance here is a part of In- 
 temperance everywhere. Unopposed, its 
 reign here will be an encouragement 10 its 
 dominion there. Tne evil example of 
 this city set on its hills, will repeat itself 
 in the townships round aboui. \\hile, 
 contrariwise, the re>oluic, successful 
 grappling with the evil here, will be to 
 many a struggling band anno>t as a token
 
 UCSB LIBRARY 
 
 in the heavens. Like the watch-fires in 
 the earlier days of freedom, the signal 
 will be flamed from height to height, and 
 the STATE will be moved toward her re- 
 demption. Remember, then, that in this 
 land which has kept its proud Centennial, 
 this land which we love, there are, at the 
 lowest estimate, seventy-five thousand 
 deaths annually by the direct cause of In- 
 temperance ! The funeral processions 
 are a solid year in passing a given point. 
 Five hundred thousand confirmed drunk- 
 ards! A column of one hundred and fifty 
 miles, marching in close ranks, two 
 abreast ! Five millions of men and wom- 
 en who daily go to the saloons for intoxi- 
 cating drinks as a beverage ! Though 
 they march twenty miles a day, it will 
 take them a month to pass our door! 
 One hundred and forty thousand licensed 
 liquor-saloons in the United States ! 
 Though you allow but the minimum of 
 space for each saloon, they would fill 
 both sides of a street two hundred and 
 fifty miles long ! One hundred thousand 
 drinking criminals convicted of crime 
 by the testimony of legally examined 
 witnesses ! From eighty to ninety per 
 cent, of all statutory crime connected 
 with Intemperance ! In Connecticut, 
 reckoning every state, county, and mu- 
 nicipal prison, more than ninety per cent. 
 >)f the inmates addicted to strong drink ! 
 Surely he of the pale horse rides and 
 blood flows to the very bridle. It is 
 strong drink which peoples our houses of 
 correction and jails ; and after all that, 
 leaves society infested with lawlessness 
 and crime. On the criminal side it is like 
 a contagion ! 
 
 And what shall we say of the economic 
 waste '! Enough, here in Norwich alone, 
 to make us feel that on thafslde too, the 
 Temperance cause is the cause of the 
 common welfare! I could point you, if I 
 chose, to fortunes wasted for the reason 
 that the inheritors were drunkards ! Es- 
 tates lost, because the owners were the 
 victims of intemperance ! But let that 
 pass. Take the laboring men the men 
 and women who get their living by the 
 sweat of the brow Take the families of 
 those who rely on their daily wages. And 
 what is the waste to them 1 You can't 
 estimate it. It is beyond specific calcu- 
 lation. None but the gathered victims 
 themselves, or the owners of the places 
 where the destroyer is sold, can give us 
 even the approximate figures. In the 
 last ten years it has been enough to give 
 a comfortable house and garden plot to 
 every toiling family in the city. It is 
 more than has been spent on your church- 
 es and schools combined. The current 
 
 loss would to-day pay all your city taxes., 
 and support all your deserving poor. For, 
 my friends, when you come to the eco 
 nomic waste, you must reckon all ales 
 and beer, as well as the stronger drinks ! 
 You will hear it said that ale and beer 
 are nutritious, and that the hard working 
 man who spends his ten and twenty cents 
 a day for such drinks is not wasting it ! 
 That such beverages are in sonic insian 
 ces a healthful stimulant and tonic, is 
 true. They might, in themselves, be ap- 
 propriate as mild forms of medicine. 
 But as for nutriment, the talk is non- 
 sense ! " We can prove," says Baron 
 Liebig, prince of chemists, "we can 
 prove vith mathematical certainty, that 
 as much flour as can lie on the point of a 
 table knife, is more nutritious than eight 
 quarts of the best Bavarian beer : "that a 
 person who is able to consume that 
 amount of beer daily, obtains from it in a 
 whole year, in the most favorable ease, 
 exactly the amount of nutritious constit- 
 uents, which is obtained in a five pound 
 loaf, or in three pounds of meat." In 
 other words, and still speaking with 
 mathematical precision, if you drink 
 fourteen hogsheads of ale, you can get. 
 the amount of two large loaves of bread ! 
 Every dollar spent for even ale or beer is, 
 accordingly, ninety-nine hundredths 
 waste 
 
 And in this relation of material loss. 
 Norwich does not stand alone. Seveniy- 
 five million gallons of alcoholic liquors 
 annually consumed in I he 1'iiited Slates! 
 Add wine and beer, and one hundred 
 mill-ion gallons, at a cost to the consumer 
 of six hundred million dollars! And this 
 is one-seventh of all our manufactures 
 for the year, and more than one fourth 
 of all farm productions, betterments and 
 stock ! Enough to buy two and a half 
 barrels of flour for every man, woman 
 and child in this broad land ! As shown 
 by the sworn returns of internal revenue, 
 it is less than the truth to say that since 
 1860, we have destroyed in drink more 
 than twelve billion dollars! More than 
 five times the amount of the national 
 debt, and two-and-a-half times the whole 
 cost of the War of the Rebellion to all 
 sections of the country ! In every twen- 
 ty years, we as a nation, drink ourselves 
 out of the value of our whole country, 
 real estate and personal property includ- 
 ed ! It is then against such a national 
 waste, that we set ourselves when we lift 
 the standard of Temperance in the citv of 
 Norwich. We are a part of the great 
 whole. Redeem this city from such 
 ectncmic ravage, and you have don ( > 
 something toward n denning <vuy ( .j lv
 
 and village in the land ! Manifestly it is 
 fitting that in all the relationships of this 
 cause, we should remember that we are 
 part of a community whose boundaries 
 are only fixed by the boundaries of our 
 Republic and the world ! 
 
 Well, then, what do you say about the 
 reasonableness of a public gathering to 
 consider what can be done for Temper- 
 ance ? What do you say about the dan 
 ger of getting too excited with reference 
 to it ? Too excited '? Yes, if one loses 
 his head, and under the pressure goes 
 insane ! But otherwise his excitement is 
 justified. His danger is only such as 
 might be that of one who should set him- 
 self to the rescue of the dying, or the 
 sending of deliverance to the famishing 
 and the enslaved ! Would to God that 
 more men and women were " beside them- 
 selves " in this great issue ! Would that 
 all men and women might resolve that 
 they would give neither sleep to their 
 eyes nor slumber to their eyelids, until 
 they had done their utmost to check the 
 appalling evil which is in our midst and 
 in the land ! 
 
 There was once a crusade of women 
 against the saloons and rum-shops. Their 
 souls were so enkindled that they could 
 not rest. They prayed to the God above 
 them, and then clad, like Joan of Arc, in 
 the armor of their pure intent, they went 
 to their fellow-men who were dealing out 
 the deadly thing, and begged of them to 
 desist. Pleaded with them in the name 
 of God and humanity to find and employ 
 some other means of livelihood and 
 wealth ! I believe that that crusade was 
 inspired of the Lord. It had in it more 
 of the anointing which is of the Holy 
 Ghost and of fire than has belonged to any 
 other philanthropic movement of our 
 times. It accomplished a glorious result. 
 Yet, in one sense, how pitiful the sight! 
 Woman, and otten-times she who was 
 clothed in the garments of beauty and 
 gentleness and culture, kneeling on the 
 side-walk and in the dens of wickedness, 
 entreating for those who were dear to her, 
 her husband and little ones, or the hus 
 bands and little ones of her sisters at 
 her side ! Oh, what must the angels have 
 thought of us fathers and brothers! Did 
 they think that the tenderness and strength 
 of Christian manhood had clean gone 
 from the world ? Did they think that 
 chivalry was dead, like Lycidas, and that 
 moral courage found none of the sons of 
 earth with whom it might dwell ? Why 
 did not men take the place of mediation, 
 and stand between the living and the dead, 
 between the destroyer and his victim ? 
 Why will not a hundred of our noblest 
 
 citizens, before this week has passed our 
 ministers, our lawyers, our physicians, 
 our editors, our manufacturing princes, 
 our bank presidents and cashiers, our mer- 
 chants, our so-called laboring men, why 
 will they not go in a body, and confer in 
 tremendous earnest, with the liquor- sel- 
 lers of this city ? Why will they not go. 
 and in the name of society and the com- 
 mon weal, in the name of earth and 
 heaven, ask them to cease the accursed 
 trade ? They certainly would do that, or 
 something which should be its equivalent, 
 if they were rightly aroused! If their own 
 skirts were clear, their own hands clean, 
 and their hearts right, they would organ- 
 ize a new crusade, and themselves stand 
 in the front ! Do you think that any oppo- 
 sition could long resist such an attack ? 
 I tell you, Norwich can be redeemed, 
 whenever the noble men and women of 
 Norwich shall decree it, and employ the 
 means ! But it will never be done unless 
 we move! So long as we sit, either in 
 listlessness or despair, the evil will defy 
 us, and remain. We must resort to a 
 moral suasion which shall at once be calm 
 with the calmness of reason, and vehement 
 with the vehemence of love ! 
 
 And when I speak thus of moral suasion, 
 of reason and of love, I speak of what 
 must forever be the supreme method and 
 inspiration of the Temperance cause. 
 For voluntary Total Abstinence is the 
 ideal at which we aim. It is " touch not, 
 taste not, handle not." It is each person 
 saying, " I will have nought to do with it. 
 Save for purely mechanical and medicinal 
 ends, I will no more have dealings in it, 
 than in the plague. I will abjure it, for 
 my own sake, and for the sake of souls 
 about me." To that choice we wish to 
 bring every intemperate person, and every 
 seller of intoxicating drink. On the van- 
 tage-ground of that resolve, we wish to 
 maintain every soul on whom the evil lias 
 not yet come. You see at once, then, that 
 there can be no means adequate, without 
 moral suasion inspired by reason and love. 
 There is nothing else which is nearly 
 enough omniscient and omnipotent. 
 There is nothing else whose combined 
 gentleness and power are sufficient to the 
 end. Total abstinence can't be secured 
 by prohibition alone. It can't be secured 
 by denunciations of occasional and mod- 
 erate drinkers : by opprobrium visited on 
 those who partake of wine and beer. It 
 can only be done by pleading the tendency 
 ot even such moderate use, and by point- 
 ing out the effort of such ej-ample. I know 
 that there is a middle course which is pos- 
 sible to some. I see a few walking in it. 
 But I count it, on the whole, a dangerous
 
 thing which they are doing. There are 
 moderate drinkers, and yet somewhere 
 a'ong the line which diverges from total 
 abstinence, lie death and hell. If to any 
 one who thinks of the power of habit, and 
 the influence of example, it seems best to 
 walk along that diverging line, defending 
 himself by the plea that he can maintain 
 his foothold while others are continually 
 tailing, his heart is made differently from 
 mine. I abjure whatever is connected 
 with Intemperance. The suggestion, the 
 association, the possibility, is enough to 
 turn me against it ! 
 
 Therefore " with malice toward none, 
 with charity toward all." let us inscribe 
 MORAL SUASION on the banner of our cause! 
 That as the first and final watchword, and 
 then PROHIBITION next and alongside ! 
 For, as I formerly said on this platform, 
 the rightfulness, both constitutional and 
 moral, of a prohibitory Temperance law, 
 is beyond successful question. No one 
 denies that society, government, may 
 regulate the traffic in intoxicating drinks, 
 may impose conditions and restrictions. 
 But in the eye of civil-rights, of juris- 
 prudence, the power to regulate is the 
 power to prohibit. In other phrase, the 
 body-politic has a constitutional and 
 moral right to pass whatever laws are 
 deemed to be for the highest common- 
 good. Is bound, indeed, to pass such 
 laws. May say, for instance, if that is 
 judged to be for the highest welfare, that 
 that you and I shall eat no more meat and 
 drink no more cold water ; shall ride no 
 more in carriages, nor wear aught save 
 home-spun and sackcloth ; that we shall 
 build houses of no more than specified 
 dimensions, and go from those houses at 
 only specified hours. The only question 
 is " What does the actual, large, funda- 
 mental public-welfare demand ?" Set- 
 tle that at the tribunal of reason and love, 
 and then write on the statute-book the 
 word which is in keeping. Believe it, 
 constitution and moral law both are your 
 support in so doing. As for myself, I 
 wish not only that liquor-selling for other 
 than mechanical and medicinal purposes, 
 were prohibited in Norwich, and in every 
 town and city of Connecticut, but I wish 
 that the very manufacture and importa- 
 tion of ardent spirits, save for the uses 
 mentioned, were prohibited from sea to 
 sea and from the lakes to the gulf. I 
 wish that by an enactment as solemn and 
 sovereign as that by which they declared 
 their political independence, the people, 
 the citizens of the Republic, would pre- 
 vent the existence of intoxicating liquors, 
 except for the arts of mechanics and med 
 icine. 
 
 And yet, when I publicly avow my 
 choice of prohibition, I do not for a mo- 
 ment forget what I have said concerning 
 moral suasion It is enough to secure my 
 advocacy and vote, if it can be shown that 
 prohibition is even helpful. I know it 
 cannot take the place of personal, sympa- 
 thetic, unremitting effort. That ought 
 not to be proposed. But if, on I he whole, 
 it will aid the good cause of Temperance 
 by so much as a hair's breadth or a feath- 
 er's wight. I am for it now, here, always, 
 everywhere. If instead of having every 
 third door on our frequented streets heck 
 oning our fellow citizens to ruin ; enticing 
 them with the attractions of sight and 
 sound ; we can make the evil difficult of 
 access, so that he who seeks it shall he 
 obliged to go over and around and 
 through the restraints of law, it is suffi- 
 cient to warrant the statute. And that, 
 and far more, fellow-citizens.can be done! 
 The universal verdict is that prohibitory 
 laws sustained by the will of a faithful 
 majority, are vastly helpful. They tend 
 greatly to diminish drunkenness and pau- 
 perism and crime. The records of statis- 
 ticians and the common observation con- 
 firm that statement. '1, therefore, am for 
 prohibitory laws. I say to you to-night, 
 let us leave no stone unturned, no legiti- 
 mate influence unemployed, until in this 
 city the sale of ardent spirits as a beverage 
 has been put under the ban of law. 
 If we can't carry itat the next election, 1 
 believe we can, then at the election 
 after! We won't rest until it is accom- 
 plished 1 
 
 And here let me say that what especially 
 needs to be settled in this city of Norwich, 
 is that whatever law is passed, the law is 
 to be enforced! That when the people, af- 
 ter discussion, and at the ballot-box, de- 
 cide, the decision is to be enforced to the 
 letter. Fellow citizens, is not that the the- 
 ory of every government, which is "of the 
 people, by the people, and for the people"'/ 
 Do citizens consider and confer, and leave 
 their homes and business on days of elec- 
 tion, simply to play with words? Is it to be 
 thought that he is officious and unreason- 
 able, who sets himself to the execution of 
 what has been enacted ? Is he, forsooth, 
 the disturber of the public peace, and one 
 to be looked upon askance '? Must he walk 
 among us, as one threatened and hated '.' 
 Thank God, there is at least one man in 
 Norwich who, whatever may be said of the 
 felicity of all his methods, honors law and 
 the community that passed the law, by 
 acting on the supposition that statutes are 
 to be executed.* One man who laughs at 
 threats, and fears God rather than God's 
 enemies ! What shall be done unto him? 
 
 *Rev. Hugh Montgomery.
 
 In the name of the people, for they are 
 king, let this he done ! Let a civic crown 
 'be placed on his head ; let robes of honor 
 he cast about his shoulders ; and let him 
 he home through the midst of the city, 
 with the proclamation, " Thus shall it be 
 done to I lie man whom the king delight- 
 eth to honor." Nor should I be sorry, 
 though I myself were commissioned to be 
 the king's herald therein. 
 
 1 confess that I am amazed as well 
 as troubled, when 1 see the state of public 
 opinion here with regard to the carrying 
 out of what has been chosen by the people. 
 I have heard it said, it seems incredible, 
 but it is true, I have heard it said, that 
 to he active in enforcing even the pres- 
 ent license-law, was to subject the man of 
 business to a loss of patronage! And the air 
 has borne certain whispered words dep 
 recated indeed by the rum-sellers about 
 having one's buildings burned, if he didn't 
 mind his own affairs ! Ah, well, my fel- 
 low citizens, you had best settle that issue 
 once for all. For the sake of yourselves 
 and your children, you had best meet that 
 question now. And settle it, I pray you, 
 by the proof of trial. Meet it by the test 
 of facts. Execute the present license-law, 
 from Norwich Town to Gretneville. Exe- 
 cute it conspicuously, openly! Some- 
 times the air can be cleared by nothing 
 less than a thunder-storm. Here there- 
 fore let the lightnings of public opinion 
 flash, and the thunders of fearless action 
 roll. Then, perchance, the atmosphere 
 will be healthful, and we shall understand 
 that law means law, and that this is a 
 law-executing people. 
 
 I am in earnest about this, and I am 
 ready to be consistent. I can understand 
 the defensibleness of the action of even the 
 present board of Selectmen, in granting 
 additional licenses. I am not surprised 
 that to the three or four score already is- 
 sued, they are making increase. 1 am 
 not by any means certain that I would not 
 do the same, provided I remained on the 
 board. For the will of the majority of 
 the voters of this city, as legally expressed, 
 was in favor of license. They meant 
 that unless there was some peculiar per- 
 sonal reason to the contrary, all those who 
 chose to engage in the liquor-traffic should 
 do so, upon the payment of the stipula- 
 ted fee. Is it altogether clear that an ad- 
 ministrative officer, even though he be 
 clothed with the possible power, is requir- 
 ed so to act as to defeat the fundamental 
 will of the people V If the majority say li- 
 cense, they have a legal right to the reali- 
 zation of their choice ! 1 tell you, my 
 Temperance friends, if we want to win in 
 the statutory conflict, we must win at 
 
 the open polls ! Certainly, if any are to- 
 be licensed to sell ardent spirits as a bev- 
 erage, all who care for it, and comply 
 with the full specification, should share 
 in the permission. I don't believe in li- 
 censing the wealthy and so-called respect- 
 able rumseller, and withholding a license 
 from the man or woman who keeps a bar 
 in some filthy cellar. It is all alike. 
 The true theory of license is, in general, to 
 give licenses to all who will buy them 
 That is democratic. And, on the basis of 
 a license-law, that only is fair. 
 
 I repeat, therefore, that I do not com- 
 plain of the fact that under our present 
 statute, licenses are granted. What I ask 
 now is that when the licenses are granted, 
 their clear provisions be observed. I ask 
 that the plain stipulations he complied 
 with. And that is the public question 
 which, in the providence of God, we first 
 of all must settle. We have small right 
 to think that we deserve anything better 
 than the present statute, until we have 
 settled it ! 
 
 Fellow-citizens, either I was a mistaken 
 observer of the last Temperance contest in 
 this city, or one great cause of the defeat, 
 was the failure To give valid assurance 
 that a prohibitory law would be executed, 
 if voted. The no-license law it is true 
 was weighted with the oppressive fea- 
 ture of allowing no authorized sale of 
 ardent spirits, not even for mechanical or 
 medicinal purposes. A feature which I 
 venture wasn-yer put there by the friends 
 of Tempeiance ! I have no question that 
 the alternative was made thus severe and 
 unreasonable, to the precise end of practi- 
 cally defeating no-license. At any rate, 
 it is a feature which ought to be repealed. 
 And before the close of this meeting, 1 
 trust a resolution may be offered, request- 
 ing the legislature and our representatives 
 therein, to amend the no-license-law so as 
 to allow of the sale of ardoit spirits, by 
 proper persons, for strictly mechanical and 
 medicinal purposes. 
 
 I can understand that that single unrea- 
 sonableness of the no-license law cost it 
 many votes. But still it would have won 
 the day, had it not been widely believed 
 that its friends would not efficiently sup- 
 port it, when passed. 
 
 There was something said, indeed, by the 
 advocates of prohibition about the city au- 
 thorities being bound to execute a prohib- 
 itory law, but it was rather intimated that 
 the citizen, in general, though he voted no- 
 license, was not to feel obligated to take 
 special trouble or incur special risk. I 
 believe that that word, or the absence ot a 
 different word, cost us our defeat. If 
 the fifty, or even the five. courageous, wise.
 
 trusted men could have been found, who 
 would say, "We will see that a prohibitory- 
 law is executed, if enacted, " the law 
 would have been put on the statute-book 
 last October. I believe as strongly as any 
 one in holding our officials to the duty of a 
 taithfnl effort to carry out whatever the 
 people decree. That is their business. 
 That is why we have mayor, common 
 council, prosecuting attorney, and police. 
 And if mayor, common council, prosecut- 
 ing attorney, police, one or all, are not 
 willing to accept the duty, andenterzeal 
 ously on its performance, then say to them 
 that you only await their resignation in 
 order to put others in their place. Tell 
 them that they are but your servants, and 
 that your commands for them are on the 
 statute-book. Aye, tell them to execute, as 
 far as in them lies, every law that is passed, 
 or they themselves shall be indicted and 
 condemned ! At the same time, charge 
 yourselves also with the common welfare. 
 Keenforce the effort of the city officials by 
 your own eternal vigilance. Remember, 
 it is only the people who have eyes enough 
 to trace out crime, and the people who 
 have hands enough to strangle it. I have 
 listened to words in this community which 
 seemed to imply that if a citizen voted a 
 gainst a certain enactment, he had no re- 
 sponsibility for its execution. It has been 
 said of this license-law, jjf It is no law of 
 mine." Fellow citizens, every law is your 
 law and in a sense too serious to be evaded. 
 That license-law is where it is, by the will 
 of the people. You are a permanent part 
 of the body-politic. You can't divest your 
 selves of your citizenship. But it inheres 
 in the very idea of citizenship, that you 
 help to execute the will of the majority, 
 unless you believe that the will of the ma- 
 jority calls you to absolute wrong. So 
 far as the administration of statutes is in 
 general concerned, they may be consid- 
 ered as passed by unanimous vote. Add 
 to that, moreover, that the issue of Tem- 
 perance is one of those issues which so 
 concern the most serious interests of the 
 community, that you cannot, on any 
 ground, be justified in lukewarmness. 
 Does the passing of thid statute or that, 
 I ask, affect 3'our bounden duty in regard 
 to the essential well-being of your neigh- 
 bor V In the face of that consideration, 
 are you at liberty to enlist and resign 
 whenever you please V No ! Well, ans- 
 wer me this : Would it not be better for 
 this community, better for the bodies and 
 souls of men, that the restrictions of even 
 the license-law slu.iild be enforced, than 
 that the rum-liiiffic should be without let 
 or hindrance '! Then let us hear no more 
 about disowning responsibility. Every 
 
 man is responsible for securing the good 
 which is the highest possible under the 
 circumstances. Change the circumstan- 
 ces, if they be not favorable, and you 
 have the power. But always and every- 
 where toil for the highest good ' 
 
 Above all things, teach the lesson that 
 law, and, in general, crcrt/ law, is to be 
 executed, here in Norwich, and through- 
 out, the Republic ! 
 
 We have a license-law on the subject of 
 intoxicating liquor, ale, beer and Rhine- 
 wine. When the wise Solon was asked 
 if he. had given the Athenians the best 
 possible laws, he answered, " Yes, of 
 such as they would receive. '' Our license- 
 law shows the mark of our present prog- 
 ress. We shall go higher by and by ! 
 But we have, at present, a license-law. 
 That you knew before. Yet how many 
 of you know what the license-law is V 1 . 
 own that when I first examined it, 1 was 
 astonished at the general manifoldness 
 and stringency of its provisions. And 
 the more was I astonished to read that 
 any violation of the provisions of the law 
 should, besides the specific penalty, work 
 the revocation of the license itself at tin- 
 hands of the County Commissioners. 
 Bear that in mind when, a little later, 1 
 come to the restrictive sections. See un- 
 der what tremendous and antecedent lia- 
 bility the rum-seller stands ! Bear in 
 mind, too. that -every application for li- 
 cense must be in writing, signed by the 
 applicant in person, and a copy be left in 
 the office of the Town Clerk, subject to 
 public inspection for two weeks previous 
 to the granting thereof. Have you in- 
 spected any such applications to see if 
 they were made by persons who are spec- 
 ially untrustworthy ? 
 
 And just at this point, let me show you 
 what provision is made for bringing the 
 whole traffic under the restrictions of the 
 license-law. Provision for putting it 
 where we can make it amenable to some 
 sort of restraint. Putting it when- we 
 can, at least, say to the vender, " If you 
 persist in the traffic, there is a prescribed 
 way. See that you walk in it. Mind 
 that you put your feet on that "marl of 
 hell." for if you do not, then, in the name 
 of law, we will see that you are punished. " 
 I quote: "Any person, without a li- 
 cense therefor, who shall sell, or exchange, 
 or offer or expose for sale or exchange, or 
 own or keep with intent to sell or ex- 
 change any intoxicating liquor ; and any 
 person licensed to sell ale, lager beer and 
 Rhine-wine only, who shall keep, sell, or 
 give away in the saloon, store, or room 
 where he is so licensed, any other intoxi- 
 cating liquor ; shall be fined not less than
 
 fifty dollars, nor more than five hundred 
 dollars, or imprisoned not more than six 
 months, or both. " And, as if that were 
 not enough, listen to this section of the 
 clear statute. " Every person who shall 
 keep a place in which it is reputed that 
 intoxicating liquors are kept for sale, 
 without having a license therefor, shall 
 be fined not less than twenty dol'ars nor 
 more than fifty dollars, or imprisoned 
 not more than sixty days, or both." 
 And, as if even that were still insuffi- 
 cient, the statute declares that all intoxi- 
 cating liquor intended by the owner cr 
 keeper to be sold in violation of law, 
 shall, with the vessels in which it is con- 
 tained, be a nuisance; and upon proof, 
 it shall be utterly destroyed. Do you say 
 that the enforcement of those provisions 
 would inure to the gain of the licensed 
 dealers ? Grant it, yet it is the statute, 
 and should be enforced ! It is, moreover, 
 better so, than, to have free rum ! It is, 
 then, for you to see to it forthwith that all 
 unlicensed sale of liquor is stopped in this 
 city! Why, the official annotation of the 
 statute says that it is not necessary to 
 prove that liquors were kept for sale 
 without license. The honest, current 
 opinion of the neighborhood is enough to 
 convict. The law says virtually that if 
 a man not having a license, does* not con- 
 duct his affairs so as to escape even hon- 
 est suspicion, he shall be fined, or im- 
 prisoned, or both. Does not that, on that 
 head, put sufficient power into your 
 hands ? 
 
 And here I linger for another moment, 
 to point you to certain legislation con- 
 cerning adulterated liquors. I quote. 
 " Every person who shall manufacture, 
 sell or keep for sale, any intoxicating 
 liquor, or any made or compounded in 
 imitation thereof, which is adulterated 
 with any deleterious or poisonous ingre- 
 dients, shall be fined not more than five 
 hundred dollars, or imprisoned not more 
 than one year, or both." The statute 
 proceeds : "When any prosecution shall 
 be pending for the manufacturing, selling 
 or keeping any intoxicating liquor with 
 intent to sell the same, and a sample of 
 such liquor shall be presented in coutt, it 
 may order such sample to be conveyed to 
 a State Chemist for analysis, and may ad- 
 journ the trial of such prosecution a rea- 
 sonable time for such purpose. " ' ' Copies 
 of records of any analysis of liquors made 
 by a State Chemist, certified by him, 
 shall be legal evidence of the facts stated 
 in such records." Am I not right in 
 judging that the enforcement of that leg- 
 islation would virtually destroy the liquor- 
 traffic of Norwich ? Do you suppose that 
 
 there is a liquor-dealer in this city who 
 can stand the test ? And yet how many 
 prosecutions have we had for adulterated 
 liquors ? What use have you made of 
 the power which the statute places in 
 your keeping ? 
 
 And now we come to the restrictive 
 regulations. Listen to this. I still quote 
 from the statute. " When any person 
 shall complain to any of the Selectmen of 
 any town, that his or her father, mother, 
 husband, wife or child, is addicted to the 
 use of intoxicating liquor, and request 
 said Selectmen, in writing, to notify the 
 licensed dealers in said town not to sell, 
 exchange, or give any intoxicating liquor 
 to such father, mother, husband, wife or 
 child, such Selectmen shall forthwith no- 
 tify, in writing, every licensed dealer in 
 said town that such request has been 
 made, and the sale of intoxicating liquor, 
 ale, lager beer and Rhine- wine to such 
 father, mother, husband, wife or child is 
 forbidden by law." Do you not observe 
 how the statute arms the hand of every 
 suffering woman and child even, with the 
 means of self-defense ? Mark you, there 
 is no technical and substantiated proof 
 required as the preliminary. There is no 
 oath exacted. The affiant makes the alle- 
 gation in writing that the person standing 
 in specified relation is addicted to the 
 use of intoxicating drink ; not to excess 
 necessarily, but addicted ; and forthwith 
 the Selectmen must notify, in writing, 
 every licensed dealer in the city that the 
 sale, exchange or gift of liquor to that 
 person so addicted and named is forbid- 
 den bylaw. It is possible, then, that the 
 vigilance of the people, and the encour- 
 agement of the suffering ones to avail 
 themselves of their statutory privilege, 
 shall bring it to pass that by the solemn, 
 specific act of the Selectmen, each licens- 
 ed dealer in this city shall be warned not 
 to sell, exchange or give intoxicating 
 liquor, ale, beer or Rhine-wine, to any 
 drinking man or woman in Norwich ! 
 There is prohibition for you, if you care to 
 take the trouble ! The full carrying out 
 of that one provision would close every 
 licensed liquor-saloon in the municipality. 
 Why don't you see to it that, so far as 
 possible, it is carried out ? 
 
 Listen again. "Any licensed person 
 who shall sell intoxicating liquor to any 
 minor or intoxicated person, or to any hus- 
 band after notice from his wife not to sell 
 to him, or to any wife after notice from 
 her husband not to sell to her, or to any ha- 
 bitual drunkard, knowing him to be such; 
 and uny person who shall procure or fur- 
 nish any intoxicating liquor to another, af- 
 ter notice from the Selectmen as provided
 
 by law, shall be fined not less than twenty 
 dollars, nor more than fifty dollars, or im- 
 prisoned not more than sixty days, or 
 both." By this section the suffering wife 
 or husband may go directly to the licensed 
 seller, and file the valid warning. Will 
 the husband or wife dare to do it V Yes, 
 I think so, provided there is a public 
 opinion which actively sanctions and com- 
 mends it. But, even apart from that, the 
 sale to minors and intoxicated persons 
 and habitual drunkards, is positively pro- 
 hibited under pain of fine and imprison- 
 ment Are you doing all you can to make 
 this section operative ? 
 
 Yet once more. ' ' Every person licensed 
 to sell intoxicating liquors, who shall be- 
 tween twelve o'clock at night, and four 
 o'clock of the following morning, keep 
 open any place, apartment, store, or room, 
 where such liquors are sold, or exchanged, 
 or kept or exposed for sale or exchange, 
 shall be fined not more than fifteen dollars 
 nor less than seven dollars." What arj 
 you doing about that ? 
 
 " And every person who between the 
 hours of twelve o'clock Saturday night, 
 and twelve o'clock Sunday night next fol- 
 lowing, should keep open any room, place 
 orinclosure, or any building,or any struct 
 ure of any kind or description, in which 
 it is reputed that intoxicating liquors are 
 exposed for sale, shall be fined forty dol- 
 lars, or imprisoned thirty days, or both." 
 
 Again, " Whoever shall sell intoxicating 
 liquor to any person who thereby becomes 
 intoxicated, and while so intoxicated shall, 
 in consequence thereof, injure the person 
 or property of another, shall pay just 
 damages to the person injured, to be re- 
 covered in an action on this statute; and 
 if the person selling such intoxicating li- 
 quors is licensed, the recovery ofjjudgiLent 
 for such damages shall be conclusive 
 evidence of a breach of the bond." 
 
 Again. " If any person found intoxi- 
 cated, or arrested for intoxication, shall 
 fully disclose to the prosecuting officer, 
 at his request, from whom and when, 
 where and how, he procured the liquor 
 which produced his intoxication, and 
 shall, in the opinion of such officer, 
 testify fully and freely on the trial of the 
 person accused of selling him such liquor, 
 such disclosure or the evidence given by 
 biro on such trial, shall not be used against 
 him on any prosecution for suchintoxica 
 tion." 
 
 And finally. "The County Commission- 
 ers of each county shall appoint one or 
 more persons residing therein, to be pros- 
 ecuting agents, who shall diligently in- 
 (/nire into, and prosecute all violations of 
 the law relating to the sale of intoxicating 
 
 liquors, and shall have and exercise in any 
 town or city in said county the powers of 
 grand jurors of said town, or prosecuting 
 officers of said city, in prosecutions for 
 such violations. And they shall render 
 monthly reports of their doings to said 
 Commissioners, who shall remove them 
 for cause and appoint others in their 
 stead." Have you taken any pains to as- 
 certain whether our prosecuting agent is 
 thoroughly in earnest, and to commend 
 whatever fidelity he displays V 
 
 Fellow-citizens, you have most urgent 
 need. to rouse yourselves for the execution 
 of the license-law. Why, in the manifes- 
 toes of the liquor-dealers of this city, you 
 have been counseled to that very course ! 
 In one document which you will not 
 wholly have forgotten, they said : " The 
 question for the electors of the town to 
 determine, is whether they will exercise 
 their better judgment in a faithful and 
 rigorous enforcement of the present 
 license-law." "Faithful and rigorous" 
 those are the words ! They spoke of 
 "impartial enforcement." They declared 
 that they desired to " obey the law implic- 
 itly." And in still another document not 
 less memorable they said: "Enforce the 
 law rigorously. Compel all to observe its 
 entire provisions." They said that to you 
 and me ! We will heed the advice. It is 
 justifiable to learn from an enemy ! Fas 
 est ab hoste doceri! 
 
 But what about the sincerity of the 
 rum-sellers themselves? Their published 
 language meant, if it meant anything, that 
 the liquor-dealers themselves stood 
 pledged thenceforth to the maintenance 
 of the license-law in all its length and 
 breadth. It signified, if it signified aught 
 that was sincere, that they would there- 
 after take front rank among those who 
 were determined to make the statute a liv- 
 ing, practical thing. It implied, so far as 
 language could imply, that in cooperation 
 with others, or, if need be, alone, they 
 would see to it that no person sold liquor 
 without a license ; that no untrustworthy 
 person should receive a license; that 
 proved violation of the law should be car- 
 ried to the result of a forfeiture of the 
 license itself ; that no liquor should be 
 sold to any one respecting whom due 
 protest had been made ; that no such sale 
 or gift should be made to any minor or 
 intoxicated person or habitual drunkard ; 
 that no place for the dispensing of liquor 
 should be open between the hours of 
 twelve o'clock and five o'clock of the 
 night, nor between midnight of Saturday 
 and midnight of the Sunday next follow- 
 ing ; that if any person sold liquor and it 
 caused damage through intoxication, the
 
 10 
 
 seller should be made to reimburse the 
 loss ; that all persons arrested for intoxi- 
 cation should be encouraged in making a 
 full and free statement " from whom and 
 when, where and how" they procured 
 the liquor; and that the public prosecu- 
 ting officer should be commended in mak- 
 ing diligent inquiry into, and in vigorous- 
 ly prosecuting, all violations of the law. 
 In short, that they themselves would sus- 
 tain the law, and that they would cordially 
 approve all effort put forth to that end ! 
 Was that the truth? Was that the fact ? 
 History says that when the tyrant Robes- 
 pierre was pleading for his life before the 
 National Assembly, and invoking that 
 mercy which he had refused to others, 
 he paused for an instant in his plea ; a 
 voice in the gallery cried, " See, he can't 
 speak ! The blood of Danton chokes 
 him !" And, at that word recalling the past, 
 the Assembly decreed his death. I wonder 
 that the deeds of their doing, and the 
 intentions which at the very moment 
 they were cherishing, did not choke the 
 utterance of the rum-sellers of Norwich, 
 when they said that they were for the 
 observance of the law ! We are told that 
 in the days of Rome's supremacy, there 
 was set in the forum, the statue of the 
 god of each subject province ; and that 
 when any province was meditating trea 
 son, the statue for that province rang 
 the bell which was in its right hand. 
 Fellow-citizens, I go to-night into the 
 forum of our municipal history and, lo, 
 the clangor of treason's signals simply fills 
 the air ! Nor do I judge alone by what 
 I have seen. I do not render the verdict 
 simply on the strength of the present evi- 
 dence which comes to me. I point to 
 the record. Never, so far as I can learn, 
 an open prosecution of either licensed or 
 unlicensed rum-seller, which was institu- 
 ted by one himself engaged in that traf 
 nc ! Never a public meeting called or a 
 manifesto put forth, save at the crisis of 
 election ! Never so much as a whisper of 
 such things, when the immediate crisis 
 was past! So far as can be learned, not a 
 hand raised to punish any infraction of 
 the law ! Not the faintest plaudit for the 
 one who seeks to secure its practical en- 
 forcement ! What, then, shall we think 
 of the sincerity of the rum sellers' procla- 
 mations when they invoke the execution 
 of the license provisions ? Are we not 
 right in thinking that, even despite their 
 vehement protests, we hear the bells in 
 our forum striking the signal of purposed 
 and perpetual treason ? I tell you, good 
 friends, you cannot look to the liquor- 
 dealers for the maintenance of the statute. 
 You can look only to the constituted 
 
 authorities and to yourselves. In reliance 
 on divine aid, for the sake of law, for the 
 sake of the material well-being of the 
 greatest number, and for the sake of im- 
 mortal souls, you are to see to it that the 
 four score licensed places for the sale of 
 intoxicating drink, and the half as many 
 unlicensed, are made to conform to the 
 statute ; the one class at their peril to live 
 up to their pledges ; the other class to . 
 disappear from the limits of this town ! 
 If you rightly value your municipal inter- 
 ests, and the interests of humanity you 
 will do it ! 
 
 Do you ask me more specifically 
 how it can be done ? I answer, and I 
 weigh my words. By fostering an enlight- 
 ened public opinion which shall require 
 it. By arousing a public conscience 
 which shall demand it. By securing or 
 creating a daily press which shall advo- 
 cate it. By yourselves becoming the 
 avowed, unwearied apostles ot it. By 
 strongly encouraging all those who go for- 
 ward in the work. And by forming an 
 organization which shall include all the 
 anti-rum citizens of this city ; an organi- 
 zation which shall provide" funds, shall 
 engage able counsel, shall employ special 
 police if need be, and shall know no fear 
 and show no favor ! How shall it be 
 done '? Do as you did in the time of our 
 War of the Rebellion ! Associate your- 
 selves for it. Count no needed sacrifice 
 too great to be made ! Decree, in the 
 name of the people that it must and shall 
 be accomplished ! When Napoleon 
 would cross the Alps with his army, his 
 generals said it could not be done. He 
 sent his engineers to examine. They re- 
 ported '" Sire, it is very difficult." He 
 quietly asked, " Is it possille?" "Sire, 
 it is possible." And then unhesitatingly 
 from the thin, determined lips came the 
 word 'Forward!" When Alexander 
 would have a railway from St. Peters- 
 burgh to Moscow, the surveyors planned 
 a line which turned to this hand for one 
 reason of convenience and to that hand 
 for another. The Emperor examined 
 the plan, took a ruler, drew a straight 
 line from St. Petersburg!! to Moscow, and 
 said, "Build me that." Ah, my friends, 
 you have the power. Fifty determined 
 men. men of standing and of means, 
 could settle this question, if only they 
 would ! The might is not in numbers, 
 necessarily ! Followed, as it is said, by 
 two millions of men, Xerxes the descend- 
 ant of Cyrus invaded Greece. Thirty 
 thousand soldiers under the command of 
 Alexander the son of Philip, who 
 was entrusted by the Greeks with their 
 glory and revenge, were sufficient to sub-
 
 11 
 
 due Persia. How can il be done ? Do it ! 
 And now I turn once more to the thought 
 that this contest against the ravages of 
 Intemperance in Norwich, this contest 
 by both moral suasion and law, is not for 
 this city alone ! It is for the county, and 
 the state, and tlie land. Fellow-citizens, 
 God has been giving us a terrible lesson, 
 in illustration of the truth that we are our 
 brother's keeper.and that the brotherhood 
 is not bounded by even the corporate lim- 
 its. In a neighboring town, but a few 
 weeks ago, was a family consisting of hus- 
 band, wife and children. When sober, 
 the husband was quiet and kind. When 
 intoxicated, he was like a tiend. It was 
 therefore needful that liquor should be 
 kept, if possible, beyond his reach. 
 There was no liquor-shop in the town of 
 his abode. None licensed in the adjoin- 
 ing towns. But there were in Norwich, 
 and he knew it. He knew that if he could 
 reach this city, he could find intoxicating 
 drink on every hand. He ihcrefore made 
 his way past Ledyard, through Preston, 
 and entered our streets. He purchased 
 two quarts. He drank He returned 
 home. EL' abused his family. lie cursed 
 the children of his loins He sought the 
 life of her whom iie had sworn to love and 
 cherish. He raged in his demoniacal fury 
 until in self-defence he was slain The 
 end of it, was his blood bespattering the 
 floors and walls of his own house; his 
 wife a wretched widow; his poor children 
 fatherless; his slayer heart-broken; and his 
 own soul apparently lost forever ! The 
 end did I say y No, not thus the end ! 
 For the man lives and walks the streets 
 of Norwich who provided him with the 
 fatal draught. There are those here to- 
 night, I suppose, who can write the name 
 of that man on these wall.-, for all to sec;. 
 I don't ask that it be done He himself 
 knows ! God knows ! I will only s;iy 
 this; that, as for myself, I would rather 
 be, save as repentance and the divine for- 
 giveness may yet be applied to the heart, ! 
 I would rather be the poor drunkard who I 
 sleeps to-night on the wintry hills of North 
 Stonington, than to b;; the man who, for 
 money, sold him the drink. Together 
 those 'men will stand at the judgment- 
 seat of Christ! Which, think you, is the 
 guiltier? Ah, even that is not the end! I 
 feel the fine drops of a bloody mist which 
 spatters itself on my f ce lean see an 
 ensanguined hue on your brow ! Even 
 the hand of my dainty lady is just a little 
 stained with the crimson which Lady 
 .Macbeth found it so dilticult to wash 
 away! For it may be, that had 1 done 
 my whole duty; had you done yours; had 
 the most sheltered ones done theirs ; it 
 
 may be, I say, that that horrible tragedy 
 had not been enacted. It is, accordingly, 
 for you and me to repent and make 
 atonement. 
 
 The truth is that we are members one 
 of another. The solidarity of the race is 
 not a mere dream. It is something which 
 we must realize, or we shall be taught it 
 to our cost. Do you remember the story 
 of the daughter of England's premier ? 
 For her birthday, her noble father had or- 
 dered a magnificent riding-dress. It was 
 delivered on her birthday morning. She 
 rode with her gallant sire through 
 Hyde Park ! Splendid girl ! Star of the ar- 
 istocracy ! Yet in a few days she sickened 
 of malignant disease and died ! And then 
 it was found that the dress had been made 
 in an attic in that neglected far East of 
 London, of which Sir Robert took but lit- 
 tle note, by a seamstress who had used it 
 to cover her poor husband as he lay in 
 the alternating chills of his terrible fever ! 
 Neglect your duty to your fellow-men, and 
 it will come back to plague your own 
 house ! 
 
 By every consideration, therefore, a- 
 wakeand be in earnest. Enforce the pres- 
 ent license provisions. Settle it thai law 
 is law ! For ti.cn it will come to pass 
 that when, next October, you write no- 
 license on your statute-book, it will mean 
 practical, actual prohibition. Above all, 
 give yourselves to that personal, lifelong 
 effort which shall aim at the />< rxituxiim 
 of all the intemperate. That personal ef 
 fort which includes in its love both the 
 rum-seller and his victims, and which 
 builds the safeguards of those who now are 
 pure. 
 
 Fellow-citizens, thus I haVe spoken. 
 
 Said Lord Bacon, in concluding one of his 
 speeches in the House of Commons : " I 
 have told you my opinion. I know it had 
 been more sale and politic to have been 
 silent, but, it is more honest and loving 
 to speak. When a man speaketh, he may 
 be wounded by others. But as he hold's 
 his peace from good things, he woundeth 
 himself." And may God speed the day 
 of your great success! It will surely come! 
 I may say to every Temperance worker, 
 as Wordsworth writes of Toussaint L'Ou- 
 verture: 
 
 " Thou hast great allies, 
 
 Love, and the unconquerable mind of man." 
 
 God himself is for \ on, and therefore they 
 who are with you are more than all they 
 who are against you. I can see, indeed, 
 that the cause is advancing. Here a reflu- 
 ent ripple, and there a backward eddy! 
 But the- great tide is steadily onward! In 
 the coming of morning to the the Arctic 
 lands, the kindling dawn sometimes dis-
 
 appears for hours together; yet it returns 
 and every return is with mightier and 
 sweeter power. I anticipate no future 
 defeats Yet, even if they occur, we may 
 be assured that beyond the darkness, the 
 dawn is advancing. Even now the 
 "jocund day 
 Stands tip-toe on the misty mountain-tops." 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 Believe it, it shall kiss the hills and illu- 
 mine the valleys. It shall lie like a shaft 
 of light across the land. If we are faith- 
 ful that day shall be our great reward! 
 To all the people it shall be like the touch 
 of the millennium, the unveiling of the 
 New Heavens and the New Earth!