1855-07-23, Patriot And Terra-Nova Herald

              ftotncrt,!
" Here shall the Press the Peoples' Bights maintain
" Una wed by Influence and unbribad by Gain,
f
" Here Patriot Truth her glorious precepts draw,
_. " Pledged to Religion, liberty and Law.''
^jjllEstablished in 1833.] St. John, Newfoundland, Monday, July 23* 1835-        [No. 2$.
We haCvc seldom met with abetter written article
than the following on Prohibitory Laws for tho
suppression of the use of Intoxicating Liquors.
We would strongly commend its attentive perusal
to those who aro desirious that the Main Liquor
Law should he introduced here:—|Ed. Patriot.]
Death of a Great Movement.
The Old Temperance Movement is dead. It is a
matter of surprise that the fact has not been chronicled before : but it died so gradually, so gently,
" with scarce a show of dying,"
ihat the incident passed without notice. It was like
thc fading out of a stir. Our attention is called to its
death at the present time by the appearance of a Now
Movement, which has stolen the name of its predecessor, and goes braying over, tho country like the ass
in the lion's skin.
If any one doubts that the Temperance Movement
is dead, we would remind him that tha days when
men gave up drinking intoxicating drinks, on principle, aro numhered among tho past; that the heroic
band of Woshingtonians are scattered to the four
winds ; that most of the Apostles of Total Abstineneo
are defunct: tha: the moral agitation against intemperance, whic i at one tiino shook the land like au
earthquake, and purified ihe whole atmosphere, has
subsided into a perfect calm ; that the devoted company of women who were attached to the movement
hy its mor.il and religious beauty, has dispersed;
that the Samaritan Institutions for the relief and
reclamation of tho drunkard have been given up ; and
o human and healthful interest in the victims
that n
of intemperance is now mauifested in any part of the
country. Thc Movement that has usurped tbe name
of the Temperance Cause, and wears its mantle,
which sits upon it
" Like a giant's robe upon a dwarfish thief,"
is thc bitterest satire upon Temperance which could
havo been invented. The men eogaged in it may be
sincere, but so were the"*witchburners of Massachusetts and tho blue lawyers of Connecticut. Sincerity
is an excellent thing, we admit, even in a Thu»; but
it doesn't reconcile us to the Thug, even though he
exercise his favourite manoeuvre, and wields what the
Eev. Mr.Cuyler calls the •' sharp tho g of prohibition,'"
"■'— name ol Temperance. We must bear in miud
— that much which passes in the world for
is, in fact, nothing but stupidity. And if
one t!iin^ stupider than another in this world,
it is to suppose that men can be Thug^ed into virtue.
What are reformers thinking about when they seek
to prevent men from drinking liquor from Thuggistn ?
Why not cork up their mouths and have done with it.'
The experiment of boring virtue into men with red-hot
irons, and extracting vice with red-hot pincers, had
its murderous day iu the dark ages. To try a similar
experiment in the nineteenth coutury is downright
madness. It never has succeeded, and it never will.
There is a glorious obstinacy in h nnian nature which I
won't staud it. A race of men bullied into " the
show and seeming of virtuo" by law, would be more
intolerable than a race of devils. Tlianlc Heaven, the
kind of morality out of which such a race could be
made, has gone out of fashion—especially in America.
You can no more legislate our people out of vice than
you can legislate them out of their skins. Compuf&ory
morality is more repugnant to them than voluutary
wickedness. And yet, they are the most virtuous
people on the face of the earth ; ai.d simply because
Ihey are thc most iree. Most of the scamps who fill
our prisons are imported; while our native scoundrels
were made such, in many instances, by beiug what
Burns calls " unco good," and what the Bible calls
" righteous overmuch" in their infancy. Tho old
sayingaboui "deacons'sons and parsons' daughters,"
may be an exaggeration, but it didn't pass into a proverb without good reason.
Where do men get their authority for this barbarous
system of compulsion ? Do they find it in the New
Testament? Wus Christ a Coercionist? Was the
Maine Law modelled after his pretcepts ? Who
were the t.ospel Spies? Did the Twelve Apostles
constitue a Carson Leago ? We ask these questions
because we want to get at the bottom of this matter;
and find out tho philosophy of it. If we arc to go
back to the old dispensation of " an eye for an eye,
and a tooth for a tooth :" if the '• sharp thong of pn4
hibition" is to be substituted for the gentle word ol
Christian persuasion—let us kuow it, that wo may
know what to count upon. If tho wheels of civilization are to be reversed, and we nre to be whirled
beck into Judaism, why the sooner we know it the
better. If Christianity is a mistake ; if coercion is
better than persuasion ; if the M new commandment"
is to be repealed j if inquisitions aro to take the place
of churches; if spies aro io be ordained and set apart
as the colleagues ofour clergymen ; if sinners are to
be scented out and baited by blood-hounds—let it be
openly avowed, and let us bo prenared for it.
We used to think differently, especially before the
death of the Temperance Movement. Tbo great revival which that movement awakened—under the influence of which tboL'sauds,nay,hundreds of thousands
of persons voluntarily and spontaneously gave up the
uso of Intoxicating drinks—was ono ofthe most magnificent illus'rations of moral power which the world
ever saw. Both here and in England it wrought
miracles. But, unfortunately, in this country, tho
poli icians git hold ofthe movement aud crucified it.
As soon as tho friends uf temperance became numerous and formidable, they got dissatisfied with the
merely moral and religious character of their cause,
and were seduced into taking it to tl e polls, where,
ns might have been expected, it per ,hed. In England, where it «* still fives," and wh re, eieny week,
hosts of men swell its ranks, aud became zealous and
consistent teetotallers, the politician's have not yet
g>t hold of it. The moment they toftch it—and they
are already on the scent—the result will be the same
as it has been in this country.   The cause
" —i- will die, and ihete au end."
Coercion—which is all tho politicians behave in—will
fail there, ns it has failed here—
•• Britain* never will be slaves."
The simple fact of the case is, that no attempt to
force men into abstinonce from hurtful stimulants can
possibly succeed till you first abolish human nature.
Hie trial has been made often enough, but has invariably failed. No matter how stringent the law, or
how fearful the penalties, it has utterly failed. Nearly
every country in Europe tried at one timo, by tho
most terrible and even murderous edicts, to suppress
the use of tobacco, but it couldn't be done. The pipe
triumphed over everything. There wasn't force
euough in the Old World to hreak it. In China, the
celestial government has endeav.lured by every kind
of severity and cruelty to abolish thc use of opium.
But more of this infernal drug is consumod there now
than at any previous period.
Rum, tobacco, opium, are all very bad things, no
doubt, and men are great fools for using them ; but
they use ihem, and,Taw or no law, will continue to
use them, till they grow wiser, or find something
they like be.ter. There is the long and the short
of it. ~
Now, if any man says wc are not in favour of temperance, because of this article, he is a , but we'll
not say what wo were going to, for fear wo may be
waylaid by a stray Thug.—[American paper.
total flariiamcMarn Papers.
(Introduced by the Hon. Acting Allorwy  General.)
A Bill tor the Establishment oi- a Board or
Works.—Whereas, it is necessary and expedient that
provision should be made for the superintendence nnd
management of the Public Buildings and all other
Property belonging to this Colony. Be it thereforo
enacted, by. tho Governor, Legislate Council and
Assembly of Newfoundland :—
1.—That tho Surveyor General, Financial Secretary, and live other persons, any three of whom shall
be a quorum, shall be appointed hy the Governor in
Council, and shall hold office during pleasure, and
shall constitute a Board for tho superintendence and
management of the Government House, Colonial
Building, Court House, Penetentiary, Lunatic Asylum, and all other Buildings and Property belonging
to the Colony, and of all the Light Houses, Buoys
nnd Beacons, erected or to be erected, therein, and
of all the Public Streets, Roads and Bridges, made or
to be made within the Colony, and hat such persons
shall be called " The Board of Works."
2.—The Surveyor General of this Island shall be
Chairman of the said Board and shall have thc supervision of tho Crown Lands and all tho Public Roads,
Streets, and Bridges of the Colony; subject nevertheless to tho provisions of this Act, and to the
directions and control ofthe Board.
3—The Financial Secretary of tbe Colony shall
have the supervision of all the P lblic Buildings,
Light Houses, and tho property belon/ing thereto in
this Colony ; subject nevertheless to t .e provisions of
this Act, and thu direction and con ,ol of tho said
Board. $
4 —The Governor in Council shall appoint a Secretary at a Salary not exceeding pounds a year,
who shall hold office during the pleasure of tho Crown.
A —The Board shall have and exercise all the power and au Lor ity now vested in all Commissioners or
other persons appointed and acting under the following Acta of the Legislature of this colony ; Bave and
except so far as the same may be altered by this Act,
namely : —
Such parts of an Act passed in tho Fourth year of
tho Reign of his late Majesty King Wi liam the
Fourth, intituled,!" an Act to Regulate the making
and Repairing ot Reads and Iligh-wiiya in this Island"
as are in force; such parts of an Act passed in the
Fifth year of tbe Reign of Hia late Majesty King
William the Fourth, inlitulod, " an Act to amend an
Act passed in the second Session of the Parliament
of this Colony, intituled, an Act to regulate the
making and repairing of roads and Highways in ihis
Island" as are in force ; also the seventeenth section
of an Act passed in tho sixth year of the Reign of
Her Majesty, entituled, " an Act for granting to her
Majesty a sum of Mony for ma ring. coii«tructtng,and
repairing Roads, Streets, auu Jtfn i0»s, iu this cohmy,
and for regulating tho expendimro ofthe same."—'
An Act passed in the Fourteenth year of the Reign of
Herj MiyCsty, intituled. " on Act for granting to
Her Majesty a sum of Money for constructing and
repairing Roads, Stnjots and Bridges, within this
Coldny, and for other purposes."
An Act passed in tho sixteenth year ofthe Reign of
Uer M.yosty, intituled, •• an Act fur granting to Her
Majesty a sum of money for the constructing una repairing of Riads, Streets and Bridg-*.
Such parts ot un Act passed in tho Fifth year of the
Reign of his late M.jesty, King William the Fourth,
intituled, " on Act for the Establishment of a Light
House on Harbour Grace Island" ns ate In force. An
Act passed in the First year of the Reign of Her Majesty, intituled, " an Act to authorize the raising 1%
loan a further sum of Money for the completion ot the
Light-house on Harbour Grace Island, and to m&: e
further regulations respecting the same."
Such parts of an act passed iu the Fourth year of t' e
Reign of Her Majesty, intituled, " an Act to ma) e
provision for the Establishment of a Light House ■ o
or near to Cape Bonavista," as are in force.
Also an Act passed in the Seventeenth year of the
Reign of Uer Majesty, intituled, " an.Act for thc
maintenance of a Light House on Cape Pine "
An Act passed in the fifteenth year of tho Reign of
Her Majesty, intituled, " an Act to amend and consolidate the Acts now in force respecting Light-houses
in tbis Colony."
And also an Act passed in the Fifteenth year of the
Reign of Her Majesty, in titled, '• an Act to ameud
the Carbonear Street Act."
Such par's of an Act passed ia the Third year of tho
Reign of His late Majesty, King William the Fourth,
intituled, "an Act to Regulate the Streets of the
Town of Harbour Grace" as are in force.
Also such parts of an Act passed in the Fourth year
ofthe Reign of His late Majesty, King William' the
Fourth, intituled, " an Act to amend an Act of t»
General Assembly, intituled, " an Act to regulate
tho Streets of the Town of Harbour Grace" as are n
force.
An Act passed in the Ninth nnd Tenth years of tl 5
Reign of Her Majesty, intituled, " an Act for tl a
laying out ot Streets and cross streets or Fire breal «
in the Town of Harbour Grace."
Also aa Act passed in the Seventh year ofthe Reig i
of her Majesty, intituled, " an Act to amend a i
Act passed in the Sixth year of tho Reign of nis late
Mujesty, intituled, nn Act to authorise the erection
of a Colonial House in tho Town ofS'.John's,aud tho
raising by loan of a sum of money for that purpose."
So much of an Act passed in the Ninth year of tho
Reign of Her Majesty, intituled, '• an Act tb authorise
the raising by loan a further sura of money for the
erection of a Colonial Building in St. John's, and for
other purposes, as is in force.
Also an Act passed in the sixth year of the Reign of
His late Majesty, King William the Fourth, intituled,
" an Act for the Relief of Sick aud Disabled Seamen,
Fishermen, and other Persons."
An Act passed in the Fifteenth year of the Reign of
Her Majesty, intituled, " an Act to repeal tho Ac&
respecting the establishment of a Lunatic Asylum at
St. John's, and to uiako other provisions in lie
thereof.' *
An Act passed in the Fourteenth year of tho Rcif 1
of her Majesty, intituled " An Act for the establis -
ment and regulation of a Penitentiary in S. John's. '
An Act passed in the Fifteenth year of tho Reign if
her Majesty, intituled " An Act to consolidate ard
amend the Saint John's Re-building Act."
6—The Board shall also have and exerciso all thc
powers and authority now vested in all Commissioners or other persons appointed and acting under and
by virtue of all other laws, rules, or orders, or under
any Commission now in force in this Island, in any
w.<y relating to the control or supervision of sued
commissioners or persons over all the Publio Highways, strut: s, roads, and bridges of and in this
colony, and over'the Light-houses, Colonial iiuildiir;,
Market-house, Uopital, Lunatic Asylnm, Peniteiv .-
ary, Government-house, and all public proper y
belonging^) any of tho said respective Establishments
—whether the same be real or personal, moveable or
immoveable.
7—Tbat on this Act coming into operation, all
such powers and authority now vested by law or
otherwise in such commissioners or other persons
so empowered as aforesaid to control, superintend, or
manage the said public Roads, streets, high-ways,
bridges, or the said respective public Buildings and
the appurtenances {hereto belonging ; and all suo'i
other publio property of the Colony, shall cease and
determine ; and sooh Cuamissioncrs or other persons so empowered as aforesaid shall cease to have
or exeruise any Power or authority whatever iu or
over the said publio works, buildings, or other property of the Colony.
8—Tho Board shall have full powi»r and authority,
from time to time, and at all times, to muko and establish bye-laws, rules, and regulations lor tie better
management of nil heir affairs; subject, nevertheless,
to the approval ofthe Go.emor in Council.-
0—Tiie  Governor iu i uuutil sh all appoint ali i lie
Officere.Keepers of Public Buildings and Light Houaos,
tho Road Inspectors and Surveyors, and any other
necessary Officers and Servants to carry out the
provisi ns of this Act; who shall respectively bold
office during pleasure : Provided always, that uny
member of the Assembly of this Colony,who, at tbo
time of his Election, held an office of emolument under any Board of Road Commissioners or otherwise
under tho Crown in this Colony, and who shall bo
appointed by the Board to any office undor this Act,
sh .11 nut vacate his seat in tho Assembly by reason
of tho acceptance of such office.
10—The Board sbull and may allow to all persons
bo employed, such salaries or other compensation mt
they shall deem reasonable : to lie paid by warrant ou
thc Receiver General ou uf the General Revenue of
this Colony : hut all such allowances shall be subject
to the approval ofthe Governor in Council, and may
lie altered at their discretion, and shall be subject to
the annual revision and control ol the Legislature.
11—That thc Fourth, Fifth, und Eighth Section of
this Act passed in the Fif li year ot the Reign of
His late Majesty King William tho Fourth, intituled,
*' An Act to amend an Act passed in the Second
Session ofthe Parliament of this Colony, intituled,
" Ao Act to regulate tho making and repairing of
Roads and highways in this Island," providing for
the appointment of Boards ot Road Coinmiasiotiers
and Road Surveyors—and the Fourth section of an
Act passed in the Fourteenth year of the Reign of her
Majesty,/ intituled, "An Act for granting lo^ her
MajestVn sum of money for constructing and repiiring
Roads,(Streets and Bridges, within this Colony, and
for other purposes," providing foi the appointment • f
Boards of Road Commissioners, and that part of ilm
Fifth Section of the last mentioned Act, providing for
the appointment of Road Inspectors—and also tho
ninth section of an Act passed in the Sixteenth year
of the Reign of her Majesty, intituled, " An Act for
granting to her Majesty a.-um of money for constructing and repairing of Roads, Streets^ and Bridges,"
providing for the appointment of Road Inspectors and
Surveyors, be and tho same are hereby respectively
repealed, save and except all Acts nnd proceedings
done and performed under thc authority thereof:
Provided that nothing herein contained shall have the
effect of reviving any Aot or Acts repealed in whole
or in part by any of the Said repealed sections.
12—The Governor in Council shall appoint Boards
of Road Commissioners, to consist of Fiv* persons on
each Board, for tlie several Outport Electoral^Districts, and sub-divisions thereof ip this Island, nnd
Chairman of the same respectively, and shall also
supply such vacancies as may occur in any such Boards
by death, absence, or refusal to act, or by reason of
any other cause, and that three members of each «>f
'such Boards, including the Chairman thereof, shall bo
a quorum for tho despatch ol* business.
13—The Board of Road Commissioners, so to bo
appointed, sha 11 have and exercise, in their respective Districts und the sub-division thereof, all tint
powers and authority now vested by the said several
Acts, or by any other law in any Outport Board of
Road Commissioners appointed thcreund-ir, subject
nevertheless to the control, directions aud orders of
the said " Board of Works," and to such Rules and
Regulations as ths said Board shall prescribe for their
guidance.
14—The Board shall make a general statement ol
their affairs to the Governor, quarterly, and a particular report yearly, to bo laid before the Legislature ut
the opening of the then next Session.
(Introduced by thejlon. Receiver General.)
A Bill to repeal and amend certain parts or
an Act ok the Legislature ofthis colokV, passed
in tub Fifteenth Ykar of this Reign of Hki:
Majesty, intituled, " An Act to amend and
consolidate the Acts now in force respecting
Light Houses in this colony."—Whereas it is
expedient to Repeal the Second Section of the «iid
Act aud to make other provisions in lieu thereof:
Ho it thereforo Enacted, by tho Governoi, Legislative Council, and Assembly of Newfoundland.
I.—That thc secoud section ofthe Act passed hr
the Legislature of this Colony in the Fifteenth yea r
of thelleign of Hor Majesty, intituled. " An Ac.
to amend and consolidate thc Acts now in Porta*
respecting Light Houses in this Colony" be, nnd tha
same is hereby repealed : Provided ulwuys, that
nothing herein contained shall in any way uffobl,
amend, or make void any Act, Matter, or Tiling,
done or porionned under and by virtuo of tho mi 1
Second Section of the .-nil Act.
II.—That under and by virtue of the ronuiin:ng
Sections ofthe said Aut, and according to Uiu provisions therein contained, there be raised, luvicu,
collated, and paid to Her Majesty, Her Hoi... un
Successors, for thc support of Light Houses already
erooted, or to be erected, upon any of lhe ttuM* n
this Island, or upon »ny of the Islands or Rrtdcs
adjacent thereto, a Duty or Rate ot' oue Stulli.. a 4. ..