man to drink at my bar when I see he has got enough." How very kind! How very conscientious!!

Pamper his depraved appetite, fill up his glass until his eye is glazed, his brain reels -until his tongue begins to stammer, his limbs to fail, and Reason to totter on her throne - until his shame is visible to all eyes, and then refuse him! Pour it out to him, and allow him to fill himself with your vile mixtures, until the kindly affections of his nature are crushed — until every base and malignant passion is roused into energetic and perhaps fatal action until he is fitted for any deed of darkness — and then, after goading him to madness by refusing the additional draught which would but stupefy him, and render him comparatively harmless — send him home to his suffering wife and children, who will tremble at his approach! And all this, perhaps, according to law!! This is the compassion of a rum-seller!! of the respectable, the licensed rum-seller, who tells you, with infinite self-complacency, that he "does not allow any man to drink at his bar when he sees that he has got enough." But how is he to discover when he has got enough? "O, by his appearance." Ah! and what must be those appearances? What are the particular indications that he has got enough? What, but the evidence of present intoxication ? It amounts precisely to this, that the licensed promoter of "the public good" is not to sell to a man to his injury, after it is distinctly seen that he is already drunk, or, in the vernacular of the rum craft, after he has got enough. Why not license a gambling-house, and make it a special condition of the license, that the licensed person shall not in his establishment allow a man to be cheated of his money after it distinctly appears that his pockets are empty? Why not license a man to sell the plague, on condition that he shall communicate it to no one after the fatal plague spot is visible on the surface of his body? Why not prohibit .he selling of rope to a man after he has hanged himself?

INJUSTICE TO REFORMERS.

THOSE Who, from the counting-room, the professional study, or the busy workshop, watch the progress of the temperance reformation without mingling themselves in the glorious strife, have but a faint idea of the obstacles to be overcome, the vexations to be endured, and the personal sacrifices to be made by those actually and constantly engaged in this great enterprise. They look on this long and severe struggle as did thousands of the citizens of Boston, from the roofs of their houses, upon the battle of Bunker Hill. Dense clouds of smoke obscure the field; but as these are occasionally rolled away by the passing wind, our observers catch a hasty glance of the combatants, and do not fail to applaud the valor of those, who, covered with wounds, and sweat, and dust, and blood, are fighting for them their battles. With what interest they watch the various evolutions, the fierce onset, the hasty retreat! and with what intense excitement they hear the roar of musketry and the clash of steel. They share not, however, the toil or danger, though they do partake largely of the blessings, the liberty, and the security to life and to inalienable rights, purchased at the price of blood. Thus it is, in every great struggle with the oppressors and enemies of our A few endure the hardships and encounter the dangers of actual warfare, while all share in the blessings secured. Of the "divinity," that thus, for wise purposes, "shapes our ends," we will not complain; of the cupidity and heartlessness of men, which permits or enacts such injustice, we will never cease to complain. The temperance reformation has already secured to our state innumerable blessings. Every branch of business useful to society is at this moment prosecuted with greater facility and security, in consequence of the changes of habits and customs introduced by it. Intelligence is increased as men's heads become clear of the fumes of alcohol; the standard of put.ic morality is elevated by the increase of

race.

sobriety accidents are less frequent crime is diminished, the jail and the poorhouse have unoccupied rooms - and life and property are rendered secure -just in proportion to the advance of this glorious enterprise; and yet thousands who share largely in the blessed results, treat with cold indifference and gross neglect the cause which produces them, and its hardworking and self-sacrificing friends. Others, still more blind or wicked, like the ungrateful and stupid ass, grow wanton by indulgence, kick at their friends, and bite the hand that feeds them.

THE CONSTITUTIONALITY OF THE LICENSE LAW.

THE right of the states to pass laws restraining or prohibiting, within their limits, the sale of imported liquors, having been denied by interested parties, the question came before the Supreme Court of the United States at Washington, during the winter of 1845. Distinguished counsel argued the question. at great length before the court. The judges being divided in opinion on the subject, the case was continued to the next term of the court, to be holden at Washington, in the month of Janury, 1846. A question of such vital importance to the cause of temperance called forth a sharp discussion, through the columns of our public journals. The following are selected from a number of articles, on that subject, by the author of this volume. The names of parties are suppressed, as they would not add to the interest with which the reader may peruse these sketches, and their insertion might needlessly irritate the feelings of some, whose coöperation in that great work of reform the writer most earnestly desires.

MR. EDITOR:

A DREAM.

DANVERS, February 18, 1848.

Sitting in my study, a few evenings since, ruminating on the probable influence of the late discussion in the United States

Court, I fell into a dose. I dreamed that I was in a bar-room, surrounded by a motley company of beings, whose external appearance betokened the most abject poverty and wretchedness, but who, nevertheless, seemed in high glee. A group that occupied the space directly in front of the bar, seemed to be listening with the deepest interest, while the bar-keeper read from a paper he held in his hand. The appearance of one of the group was so striking, that I will attempt to describe him. For his dress, he had on what had once been a coat, though much too large for a person of his size. Both cuffs and the skirts had been torn off, and the body of the garment, fastened around him with a fragment of rope instead of buttons, contained a sufficient number of holes to admit of all necessary ventilation. His boots were entitled to respect from their age. One leg of his pants, which appeared to have been sorely scanty in longitude, had been slit from the bottom to a distance above the knee, and was kept as nearly as possible in place by an old cotton handkerchief wound about it on the leg it but partially covered. He leaned his left arm on the bar, thrusting out the leg of the opposite side to its extreme length. In his right hand he held an old hat, which, from long and hard usage, had become so flexible, that it might easily have been doubled together and put in the pocket. His countenance was bloated, and his huge nose so covered with pimples and projections, that, if severed from the head, and stuck in a flower-pot, it might have passed for a plant of the genus cactus. His hair, which was long and uncombed, was ornamented, here and there, with fragments of straw, or heads of clover, which he had probably obtained in some hay-loft; and his eyes, inflamed and suffused with moisture, were intently fixed on the bar-keeper, who, as I have said, was reading for the instruction of the company. As the reading progressed, I heard the following words: "The right to import, implies the right to sell-to the unrestricted use of all the channels of commerce, even the most minute, to the consumer." The hero of the big nose instantly raised himself to an erect posture, and gazing for an instant upon the sur

rounding group, with a countenance expressive of intense delight, dashed his old hat to the floor, and, leaping into the air, uttered, at the top of his voice, the exclamation, "Good!" The joy seemed contagious, and of that peculiar character, which ordinary language is impotent to express, and which can only be conveyed in song. A song was called for by him of the big nose, who seemed to be the oracle of the place. "A song! a song! was echoed by a dozen voices, and the bar-keeper, who seemed to be entirely devoted to the gratification of the company, prepared to answer the call. A ring was at once formed, when, taking his place in the centre, he disburdened his mouth of an enormous quid of tobacco, and, assuming a sort of dare-devil expression of countenance, he sung as follows, while "Sir Oracle," with two toddy-sticks, drummed an accompaniment on the head of a gin-cask, which occupied a corner of the apartment. The performance was frequently interrupted by loud bursts of applause.

"Ye tipplers and topers, rejoice!

And ye who have hats, swing them high;
Shout! join every tremulous voice;

The hour of our triumph is nigh;

"For what is imported, they say,

We may without hinderance sell,
Though it slaughter its hundreds a day,
And hurl its consumers to hell.

"Come, ye who can stand, join the ring,
And flutter your rags in the dance;
Shout, all! and exultingly sing,

Long life to our treaty with France! *

From laws we have nothing to dread;
They are unconstitutional, all;
The court has declared it, 'tis said;

Then, hurrah for liberty! bawl.

* It was argued in the Supreme Court by Mr. C- —, that our license law can have no binding force while our treaty with France remains, by which we have stipulated to receive their brandy, when imported in quantities not less than fifteen gallons.