HV [pp To encourage an extensive circulation this pamphlet is sold at the low price of 12£ cents single, or $10 per hundred. AN EXAMINATION mm i&tra OF THE <£ommottto*altf) of J&assacfmsttts, BOSTON: SOLD BY CROCKER & BREWSTExl,— LINCOLN & EDMANDS,— PERKINS & MARVIN,— JAMES LORING,-5tUSSELL, ODIORNE & CO.,— AND ALLEN & TICKNOR, &c. &c. Gass H N ^ Q * fa "LICENSED HOUSES." AN EXAMINATION THE LICENSE LAW (ftommontoealt?) of Massachusetts. First published in the Boston Courier, Dec. 1833. BY M. L. V. BOSTON: PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY J. FORD, 27, CONGRESS STREET. 1833. J •W\.c. Then follows a provision for reading the laws against drunk- enness, &c. by the town clerk, in every town, at the anniversary meeting in March. It is perfectly easy for us of the present day to find a sufficient reason, for an exhortation, similar to that, con- tained in the following passage from this act of 1712 : " The se- lectmen and other principal well-disposed persons in each town, de- sirous of a reformation, are hereby exhorted and directed to coun- tenance, accompany, assist, and join with the justices, sheriffs, tithingmen, constables, and other officers, in their endeavors to dis- 3 18 cover and suppress all unlicensed houses, and vice, immorality and profaneness, and for reclaiming the over great number of licensed houses, many of which are chiefly used for revelling and tippling, and become nurseries of intemperance and debauchery , indulged by the masters or keepers of the same for the sake of gain. Be it enacted," &c. If the good citizens of 1712 experienced the evils of intemperance, in a degree to call for such forcible expressions of their sentiments, in their legislative capacity, when the old-fash- ioned taverner and the retailer were the only lawful engineers in this blessed work — will their descendants in 1832 sit patiently and uncomplainingly, year after year, under the present condition of things? It may be imagined that unlicensed establishments, for the sale of ardent spirits, furnished the principal cause of com- plaint in 1712, as they are particularly alluded to in the statute to which we have referred. In answer to any such suggestion, it may be sufficient to refer to a note, appended to an address, deliv- ered before the Massachusetts Society for the Suppression of In- temperance, May, 1830, by the present Attorney General of the Commonwealth, in which he says, " It is a safe calculation to as- sume, that there are more than three hundred persons in the city, habitually selling liquors without a license." If this be correct, — and no person had superior means of acquiring correct informa- tion on this subject than the gentleman to whom we refer, in his situation, as County Attorney, — our ancestors had no greater cause than ourselves for complaining, of the illegal as well as the legal diffusion of ardent spirit. In 1830, therefore, there were six hundred and ninety dram-sellers, great and small, in the city of Boston, established by law, and three hundred who had spared the Mayor and Aldermen that close application of their scrutinizing powers, which they commonly bestow on the qualifications of those gentlemen, who apply for diplomas to sell rum ; making in all, an aggregate of NINE HUNDRED AND NINETY. 19 NUMBER V. The statute next in chronological order, which it is necessary to consider, is the act of the Commonwealth, passed February 28, 1787, entitled " an act for the due regulation of licensed houses.'" This principal statute, with its several additional or supplemental acts, was the law of the State, for about five and forty years, or un- til March, 1832, when, as we have stated, the present statute was enacted. As we propose to examine the provisions of these stat- utes of 1787 and 1832, comparatively, we shall say nothing more of the leading statute of 1787 at present ; but proceed to make a few observations upon the most obnoxious of its additional acts entitled, " an act, in addition to an act, entitled an act for the due regulation of licensed houses" passed December 14, 1816. This enactment, as we have already stated, was intended to operate in the city of Boston alone ; and the provision, granting a dispensa- tion to dram-sellers from all obligation to provide lodgings for trav- ellers, and provender for horses and cattle, had very much the ef- fect of a successful motion to strike out the enacting clause of a statute : as far as it went, it neutralized the force of the important check, contained in that very obligation. Before the passage of this abominable law, it was absolutely impossible for a chevalier d'industrie, of the very worst order, to become the legal distribu- tor of ardent spirits. A vile creature of this description, who had no pecuniary means, could obtain no credit, sufficient to enable him to establish himself, as a tavern-keeper, under the law of 1787, of the lowest order ; but how many are there so hard-hearted, among the wholesale dealers, as to deny a plausible beggar a jug of rum, for an experiment ! The question of character is settled ; he has obtained his license ; the Mayor and Aldermen have stamped him, with their sign manual, as a man of sober life and conversation, and firmly attached to the constitution and laws ; in the spirit of all former laws upon this subject, they could not license him if he were not. This very individual may be a vagrant, slough- ed off, like peccant matter, from the city of New York ; himself a drunkard ; a resident in this city but a few days ; and trusted, as a 20 tenant of a small shop, on the recommendation, implied in the fact, that the Mayor and Aldermen of the city of Boston have granted him a license ! Such is no imaginary case, but one with- in the knowledge of the writer. The evidence is at the service of the Mayor and Aldermen. But they were deceived by the grave and respectable nances of those who recommended the candi- date ! * The act of 1816, was not only an act for the due regulation of licensed houses, but of all the licensed huts, hovels, and holes, in the town of Boston ; for it was the Charter of all their worthy proprietors ; and so far as it pretended to regulate their useful la- bors, they regarded it no more than they regarded the whistling of the wind. All persons, licensed to keep and sell gunpowder, are obliged to put up a notice of the fact, in front of their stores ; and they do so, as we believe, without an exception. All persons who were licensed to sell drams, were required to signify their occupation, in a similar manner. Yet, notwithstanding the whole number of dram-sellers, under the name of common victuallers, amounted to five hundred and ninety-four in 1830, no person could have discovered more than a very small proportion of that number, if he had sought them out under the "painted" desig- nations required by law. The third section of this act requires that every licensed person shall " cause a sign to be fixed upon a conspicuous place on the front of his or her house, shop, or other place of business, with his or her name painted, and with the busi- ness of Innholder, Retailer, Common Victualler, or Confectioner, for which he or she shall have been licensed, thereon expressed." And it was explicitly provided, that the license should not protect, until this was done. Was it done by any but a very few ? It was not. Were any prosecutions commenced ? We should be pleased to find a solitary record. Yet this provision was, at least, as important as the provision for numbers on hackney coaches, if the magistrates ever intended to prosecute. But they did not in- tend to prosecute, and therefore the provision was practically in- significant. Yet it is not easy to conceive of a more useful pro- vision, annexed to a more injurious law. If the omission to des- ignate his business passed unnoticed, so might the omission to designate himself. It would, of course, become almost impossi- ble to know, without a search of the records and proof of identi- 21 ty, who was licensed and who was not ; and the private citizen, upon whom the subaltern officers of the city, standing, or rather sleeping, in the place of the old-fashioned tythingmen, are apt to lean for information, deterred by the increased difficulties and perplexities of prosecution, would be inclined to pass on, and leave the evil, in the shibboleth of certain empirics in political economy, to rectify itself. But the dram-distilling, dram-selling and dram- drinking party , who had worked their way through the legislature of a State, had little to fear from the opposition of the officers of a town ; and any obstruction, thrown in their way by any one of those officers, would have laid the foundation of a vigorous and probably a successful opposition to his re-election. So it has been, and so it will be, until our worthy fellow-citizens shall collect their powers, and shake off that drowsy indifference to a subject of the very first importance, — and solemnly resolve, by an effort, costing nothing more than perseverance and unanimity, to wipe away the disgrace, and arrest the progress of that moral devastation, which has existed so long in our metropolis. The subject of this discussion may be very uninteresting to a certain description of readers. To females it must be particular- ly so; yet there are no members of the community, whose atten- tion we more earnestly and respectfully solicit. By the zealous co-operation of their influence with ours, we may be able to re- move the stain ; and our birth-place, the chief city of New-Eng- land, may be delivered from the operation of those causes, which are, at present, productive of such fatal effects. Bad laws are not likely to give place to better ; and good laws are not likely to be executed, in opposition to public sentiment. We appeal to the mothers, wives, and sisters, in this metropolis : we ask them to em- ploy their influence with their sons, husbands and brothers, to use their utmost exertions for the free interchange .of public opinion, and for the elevation of the standard of moral sense. Whenever it shall become popular to amend our bad laws and execute the good ones, it will be done, and not before. 22 NUMBER VI. The reasons for non-compliance with the requirements of the law of 1816, to set forth upon the front of the shop or store the business of innholder, retailer, common victualler, or confectioner, for which the occupant was licensed, were excellent of their kind. During the late war, the hopes of capturing a fine American prize were frequently blasted by the unexpected production of a British license ; so, when Paddy Mullony or Patrick O'Donnohue were caught at last, and dragged out of their dram-kennels in Broad- street, and brought before the Court, for selling drams on the Sab- bath, which a Common Victualler cannot lawfully do ; the com- plaints could not be sustained, because these two gentlemen of sober lives and conversations had been sailing, all the while, under licenses as Innholders, who have a right to sell drams on the Sab- bath. The above names are as fanciful as that of Dermot Mac- Morrogh ; but cases of this identical character have repeatedly oc- curred. No retrospective evidence could well be procured to prove that the parties, complained of, were not li suitably provided " with lodgings and provender, required of every Innholder, under penalty of losing his license; for nobody had thought of applying for lodgings for himself, or accommodations for his horses or cat- tle, at a palpable grog-shop, not much bigger than a hen-coop. Neither had the dram-seller committed himself, by putting up any particular designation of his business. The omission, to be sure, was a breach of the law ; but the Mayor and Aldermen did not feel themselves justified, by popular opinion, in doing their duty in the premises : and the informer, disappointed and disgusted, thought proper to turn away from the disagreeable pursuit. Yet, in these cases, the licenses had been granted, obviously without any sufficient investigation of the character or condition of the party licensed. But there were other reasons for declining to comply with this requirement of the law. There is less difference between a sailor and a marine, than between a Common Victualler and a Grocer : nevertheless, of the five hundred and ninety-four licenses to com- mon victuallers, granted in this city in 1830, a very large propor- 23 tion was taken out, by the grocers and confectioners. The com- mon victualler, as the very name, and, until 1816, as the univer- sal usage imported, was in the habit of providing meals. Some of our grocery stores and confectioners' shops are very fancifully arranged, and present an appearance of taste and elegance ; and the grateful aroma, proceeding from their various commodities, is strangely contrasted with the rank and offensive steams, arising from the subterraneous dens of the common victuallers. In front of every one of these establishments, without any distinction what- ever, the law of 1816 required the business of the occupant to be set forth, "in a conspicuous place." A common victualler's li- cense was more convenient than a retailer's, as it gave power to sell drams, to be drunken up on the premises, which a retailer's li- cense did not. But the elevation of Common Victualler, in a con- spicuous place, over a grocer's or confectioner's tasteful establish- ment, was not so agreeable. As the law was their own law, they determined, that the construction should also be their own. Yet, for a breach of the third section, they were placed entirely out of the protection of law. " No license shall protect any person in the exercise of his or her said employment, until he or she shall have complied with this provision." But this provision was very rarely complied with. Of course, the parties licensed were in the same situation as were those who sold liquors without a license. Did the selectmen, or the Mayor and Aldermen prosecute these offenders, who sold liquors without licenses, for such legally was the situation of these offenders 1 They did not. The perfection of the license depend- ed on the performance of this condition : this condition was not per- formed ; but no prosecutions followed. The party, interested in the profitable employment of selling rum and other liquors, under the statute of 1816, was entirely awake to its interest. No efforts were spared to facilitate the passage of this law ; and a powerful combi- nation, from the wholesale dealer down to the dirtiest drunkard in the city, were drawn together by the commune virnulum of in- terest, for the purpose of giving it a vigorous support, and a sound and sensible construction, " as they understood it." On the other hand, the grave, the moral, the religious, the intelligent, the edu- cated, the refined, the overwhelming mass of landholders and opu- lent citizens, the considerate fathers, husbands and brothers of this metropolis, to all whom it was of infinite importance to raise an 24 effectual barrier against the inroads of a desolating vice, — these, who were abundantly able, by well-concerted measures, to arrest, its progress, remained, with a few exceptions, stupidly inactive, and apparently under the influence of a moral catalepsy. But they had not then experienced, they simply anticipated the effects of this intolerable law; which, as we have stated, is substantially re- enacted, in the present statute. They imagined, that intemper- ance would not have so wide a spread ! They flattered them- selves, that the moral sense would counteract the influence of evil ! They ensured the election of their representatives by giving them their very best wishes, and staying at home ; while their opponents, to a man, repaired to the polls and gave their suffrages to the " right sort of men." A man, who expects to live by the trade of selling rum, will act with vigor in support of such public officers, as he knows will protect him in his Christian employment. His motives are intelligible — his object is definite ; a failure at the polls may be productive of his ruin. Dram-sellers, by the force of interest, become gregarious ; " similis simili gaudet ;" the im- porter and distiller stick to the taverner, the retailer, and the com- mon victualler ; they stick to their customers, and their customers stick to their bottles ; they go to the polls as one man, and are all actuated by the same spirit. The good citizens act, in the great moral cause, with less concert, less zeal, less industry. The con- sequences of immorality are not so susceptible of prospective de- monstration. The very good, expected to result from opposition to any measure, is but a vague and uncertain object of contempla- tion, after all. We cannot grasp it, as the dram-seller grasps the coppers from the trembling hand of a bloated customer, and put it in a till ! It is not a matter of mathematical certainty. The sober citizen confides, with a leisurely confidence, that God will do that, wfiich seemeth him best ; and he himself decides to do that which seemeth likely to give him the least present incon- venience, — as the waggoner confided in Jupiter, and put not his shoulder to the wheel. Such was the relative condition of parties, in the town of Boston, when the act of 1816 became a law. We have not yet done harping upon this backsliding daughter of the legislature. The passage of this statute marks an important era- in the history of legislation on this interesting subject. The reg- ulation of licensed houses necessarily involves the welfare of so- 25 ciety in an eminent degree. All the principal acts explicitly pro- ceed upon the single basis of the "public good." This old-fash- ioned phraseology, which had been handed down, from statute to statute, for centuries, gives place, in the act of 1816, to a more accommodating expression, the "public convenience." This un- happy statute of 1816 may be emphatically styled the Rum Law of the Metropolis ; the Palladium of the Drunkard's Rights. NUMBER VII When a very wicked, or a very mischievous thing has been ac- complished, by a few zealous, selfish, and indefatigable managers, in open day, and in despite of all the congregated power and wis- dom of a Commonwealth, how did they do it ? becomes an inter- esting question of speculative curiosity, though we may have no special interest in the agents or the act. We have already affirm- ed that the act of 1816 was the mercenary act of a party, rooted in nothing but selfishness, and having not the slightest relation to " the public good;" and that these very words, which had been the basis of all former legislation on this subject, had been re- moved to make way for " the public convenience." Although the sole object of the statute is the creation of this new and valuable minister of the public convenience ; the common victualler turns out, in the great majority of cases, when stripped of the phylac- tery, which the law directed him to wear, to be nothing more than a stationary pedlar of rum and other means of inebriation. The legislature could have blown the breath of life into the body of this new creature of positive law, in one short section, or two at the farthest. After exonerating him from the burthen of providing lodgings for man, and hay and provender for horses and cattle, nothing more was necessary than to enact, that, in addition to the restriction as to the Lord's day and ten o'clock, P. M., on other days, he should be subject to the existing laws, for the regulation 4 26 of licensed houses. But here is an act of five sections of consid- erable length, and filling more than three pages of the statute book. In the first section, there is a provision against him, who is guilty of presumptuous sin, " who presumes to be a confectioner " without a license ; and another against any common victualler or confec- tioner, who shall keep open shop and entertain on the Lord's day, or after ten, P. M., on any other day. The common course of legislation would be, first to create, and then to provide for the created being ; but here the rule is reversed ; for the common victual- ler is begotten in the second section, and provided for in the first, be- fore it is born. But wherefore all this parade of piety — this spe- cial regard for the Lord's day ? Why produce a new law expressly against confectioners? If they sold liquors, contrary to the then existing law, they were punishable, like all other persons, who sold without a license ; and the law of 1816 was so much in their fa- vor, and enlarged their limits so far beyond their utmost hopes, that, in 1830, of all the confectioners in the city, four only took out the confectioner's license, and the remainder figured as com- mon victuallers. The motive for all this seeming regard for pub- lic morals is very apparent. The provision, touching confectioners, was too entirely frivolous to obtain a place even in the latitudina- rian statute of March, 1832 ; and the other provision, respecting the Lord's day, was obviously placed in the first section of the statute, for such worthy members as read no further, and who, tak- ing this section and the title into view, might well enough suppose the act before them to be a grave and salutary law " for the regu- lation of licensed houses" and not a craftily devised statute for the multiplication of licensed holes and hovels. So, in relation to the concluding sections, a legislator, who would satisfy his scruples, by a slight inspection of the beginning and the end ; and while the act was passing through its several readings, give his attention and his time, which are the property of the Commonwealth, to the newspaper ; such a law-maker, and the example is very far from being uncommon, would be confirmed in his favorable im- pressions ; for here is the substance of the old laws, in regard to the powers and duties of the tything-men, at full length, re-enacted in respect to the common victualler ; all which, instead of occu- pying a page, might have been contained in a simple enactment, as we have stated, making him liable to all the unexcepted re- 27 straints of the law of 1787. There is nothing more amusing than the provision, in this and other laws upon this subject, indicating the disposition of fines and penalties, to be recovered for violations of the rum laws. They remind us of those abundant preparations, commonly made by juvenile sportsmen for the game they expect to capture. How much money has the county of Suffolk received into its coffers from such a source ? Bonds were taken of com- mon victuallers, taverners, &c. with a pecuniary penalty. How many have been taken 1 How many of these obligations have been forfeited 1 How many prosecutions have been instituted ? These are questions, which a citizen has a right to ask, and to which the guardians of the peace of a city should not only be able and willing, but forward, to reply. We put these questions to the public officers of the city of Boston. But, lest the good people should be obliged to wait, as long as the worshippers of Baal, for their answer, we will partially respond to them ourselves. To May, 1830, about five thousand of these bonds had been taken ; and there was no evidence on record of a single penalty enforced ! We have been singularly blessed in this particular. And all this is attributable to the careful scrutiny of our vigilant police ! Five thousand persons licensed to sell rum — five thousand bonds, and no case of prosecution for breach of condition ! The word of any dram-seller, in the city, is every whit as good as his bond. There is no other profession, in which the same averment can be made of a similar number. But these were picked men, of sober lives and conversations ! The evidence of the fact above stated is taken from the address of the Attorney General, then the county attor- ney, before the Temperance Society, May 27, 1830. His words are these : — " All persons are bound, in a pecuniary penalty, to the Commonwealth. Taverners and victuallers, among other things, to suffer no disorders nor unlawful games, and retail- ers not to break the laws. About Jive thousand of these bonds have been taken by the city authorities, but there is no single instance on record in which their penalty has ever been enforced." There is a commune vinculum among the crimes, not less than among the sciences ; and one draws after it the rest. By degrees, almost im- perceptible, we become tolerant of one crime after another, as they grow up among us, through the shameful neglect of the city officers to do the work for which they are paid, and put them ef- 28 fectually down. But the day of election — the day of account J Who will go forward in the path of his duty with a steady step and a moral courage, utterly regardless of all such mean and per- sonal considerations ? The government of a city will do wisely to think a great deal less of their own prospects at another election, and a great deal more of their solemn responsibilities to God and NUMBER VIII. In connexion with the subject before us, it is surely the part of wisdom to compare the situation of other cities with our own, and to ask the question, whether, under the pressure of any similar evil, they have concluded to hug their fetters of shame, or break them, by a bold and vigorous efTort ; to suffer the cancer to ex- tend its corroding influence into every part of the Municipal body, or, by a petty sacrifice of individual interest, to extirpate, not on- ly the superficial branches, which carry corruption to the extrem- ities, but the very core itself. We have shown, that the Board of Health of the city of Washington have resolved, that the sale of ardent spirit was a NUISANCE, and that, they prohibited the sale of it, in that city, for ninety days. This step was taken upon the opinion of their power, expressed by Mr. Wirt ; and, no doubt, in connection with the prevailing apprehension of cholera. The fear of death had become more oppressive, during the prevalence of that disease. After the ninety days were past, we presume the dram-sellers, more terrible, in our opinion, than all the dogs of war, that Carolina will let loose upon the Union, were suffered to spread the cause of poverty and crime, as they did before. The drunkards made up, undoubtedly, for the time they had lost ; and the cholera, when it comes again, will find them ripe for the har- vest. Was the sale of ardent spirit a NUISANCE in Washing- ton, only because the cholera was there? Assuredly not. But the 29 Board of Health restricted the operation of their interdict to nine- ty days, to meet the views of " a party :" there is a dram-selling "party " in every city. But we have encouragement to hope, that the time may come, when such a "party " in the United States will be so diminished in character and power, as to ren- der admission into the fraternity no very elevated object of human ambition ; and when the presence of the cholera shall not be at all required, to establish the universal opinion, from the mouth of the Oregon to the outlets of the Kennebec, that the sale of ardent spirits is a NUISANCE, a nuisance, without any correlative ad- vantage to any human being ; for, if the emoluments of the traf- fic are collected, as we have stated, from broken hearts and brok- en constitutions ; if they are gathered, at the cost and charge of inflicting disease, degradation, poverty, and death ; those emolu- ments are the wages of sin. In this hope we are strengthened, by a knowledge of the fact, that about fifteen hundred thousand individuals, in this country alone, have already enrolled their names upon the record, as members of the " self-styled temperance party" on the basis of abstinence. Cholera had the effect to rouse the fears of the citizens of Washington ; it elicited the ex- pression of the opinion, contained in the resolve of the Board of Health, but the opinion itself existed before, supported on other well-known and sufficient grounds. Mr. Wirt, the legal adviser of the Board, had already exhibited his views upon this subject on another occasion. " I have been," says he, " for more than for- ty years, a close observer of life and manners, in various parts of the United States, and know not the evil, that will bear a mo- ment's comparison with intemperance. It is no exaggeration to say, as has been often said, that this single cause has produced more vice, crime, poverty, and wretchedness, in every form, do- mestic and social, than all the other ills, that scourge us, combin- ed. In truth, it is scarcely possible to meet with misery, in any shape, in this country, which will not be found, on examination, to have proceeded directly or indirectly from the excessive use of ardent spirits." Such is an extract from Mr. Wirt's communica- tion to the Baltimore City Temperance Society. We have exhibited some of the fruits of the law of 1816, in former years, in the City of Boston, to which city alone the statute applies. The Kalendar of the House of Correction, from De- 30 comber 16, 1831, to December 15, 1832, presents the following schedule of commitments. 1831. Common Drunkards. Whole No. From Dec. 16, 8 ...... 12 1832. January, 16 32 February, 13 21 March, 19 \ 33 April, ..."... 23 ...... 43 May, ...... 24 35 June, . 34 52 July, 59 78 August, 98 .... . 129 September, .... 55 70 October, ..... 51 69 November, .... 45 59 To Dec. 15, 8 20 453 653 The master of the House of .Correction, Mr. Badlam, by whom this statement is supplied, appends to it a few remarks, which ap- pear to us to be judicious. " A great number" says he, " have been committed as vagabonds, who might with equal propriety be called drunkards, and, probably iv ere drunk, when arrested, but be- ing strangers, could not with propriety be called common drunk- ards, because their previous character was unknown. My own opinion is, that there have not been ten persons committed to the House of Correction, the past year, ivlio are not in the habit of drinking ardent spirit to excess. It appears, that intemperance is almost the sole cause of all the commitments. Those, who are com- mitted as pilferers, are almost all of them drunkards : they prob- ably would not pilfer, if they could not procure rum, with the arti- cles they have stolen." Such are the observations of the master of the House of Correction. It is matter of curious speculation to contemplate the kalendar, and observe, that drunkenness is in its zenith, when the dog-star rages. The city of steady habits should rather lead than follow in the career of reformation. But the opportunity is lost. We have al- 31 ready exhibited the course pursued by the Board of Health, in the city of Washington. We have now the satisfaction to speak of the efforts, making in the state of New- York. More than one thousand societies are in operation in that State, for the sup- pression of intemperance. The Grand Jury, in the city of New York, are now exerting their official influence to prevent the sale of ardent spirit, and for the abolition of the license sys- tem. They have expressed their views and opinions in the following terms : "It is intemperance, that toe regard as the great fountain, that feeds crime, and extends all other influences in fitting men for deeds of violence. We have traced nearly ev- ery assaidt and battery to the influence of ardent spirits. The same individuals, when sober, were quiet and peaceable, but when under the influence of strong drink, they were guilty of the gross- est crimes. In one case, of the hind alluded to, ending with the loss of life, all that were concerned in the affray, ivcre intoxicated. In another instance, a wife, having six children, which she sup- ports with the labor of her own hands, complained of her husband's beating and abusing her, to such a degree, (when he was intoxicat- ed,) that her life was endangered. When sober, he was kind, and did something towards the support of his family ; but unfortunate- ly this was seldom the case. Another case, traceable to the same source, was an aged and respectable lady, run down, in one of our public streets, by a vehicle, driven at a furious rate ; and the con- duct of the indvidual, who was the cause of all the injury, imme- diately after the accident, shows how completely this vice extin- guishes every moral feeling. It is also the opinion of the Grand Jury, that the vice of gambling is greatly aggravated by the free and gratuitous use of ardent spirits in some of those establishments t which are kept for the purpose of alluring our youth, depriving them at once of their money, reason and reputation ; the former not unfrequently acquired by improper means. The Grand Jury have come to the deliberate opinion, after mature deliberation, that if this source of crime and misery were at an end, three quarters of the crime, and pauperism of the city would be prevented, to- gether with an incalculable amount of misery , lohich does not come under the cognizance of the law. The Grand Jury are aware y that this desirable result of banishing ardent spirits from the com- munity, as a common drink, which is the only effectual remedy » 32 for the evil complained of, is not to be effected, but through the tri* umph of an enlightened public opinion, and when once the civil magistrates have that on their side, they can make the law reach any evil, however inveterate : and it is our solemn impression, that the time has now arrived, ivhen our public authorities should no longer sanction the evil complained of, by granting licenses for the purpose of vending ardent spirits ; thereby legalizing a traf- fic at the e?cpense of our moral, intellectual and physical power. Should the system of granting licenses be abolished, it is believed it would greatly hasten the period, when the traffic in the article would be abandoned by every citizen who has a character to sus- tain, and none but the worthless and abandoned would be found engaged in this business ; and they (when unsupported by a more respectable class of citizens) would be compelled, by the moral power of the law, to desist, whenever the community wills it. When this desirable result shall be accomplished, and ardent spir- its be driven by common consent from amongst us, the saving to the city will be very great, in the valuable time of jurors and wit- nesses, in attending courts, provided for the wants of the poor, to- gether with a vast amount of a more private nature." We re- commend this high moral precedent to the Grand Jurors through- out the commonwealth, and especially of the county of Suffolk. We proceed to an examination of the statute of March, 1832, and if there are any members of the legislature, who never read the statute, and we most charitably trust there are, we entreat them to peruse it with us, section by section, as we exhibit it before them. NUMBER IX In the first section of the law of March, 1832, entitled " An act for the due regulation of licensed houses," it is enacted " that no person shall presume to be an innholder or seller of wine, brandy, 33 rum, or any other spirituous liquors, to be used or consumed, in or about his or her premises, except such per son be first duly licensed, according to laiv, as is hereinafter provided, on pain of forfeiting the sum of one hundred dollars ; and if any person shall, at any time, sell any spirituous liquors, or any mixed liquors, part of zuhich is spirituous, to be used or drunk in or about his or her prem- ises, without license therefor, duly had, or obtained according to law, he or she shall forfeit and pay , for each offence, a sum not exceeding twenty dollars, nor less than ten dollars." There is nothing better, in the whole statute, than the very first section ; and it was discreet, in the getter up of this extraordinary act, to put the matter of the first section in a conspicuous place, as a fa- vorable sample of the whole. The penalties, in this section, are reasonable penalties. The first corresponding penalty, in the law of 1787, was twenty pounds, and the second not more than six pounds, nor less than forty shillings. We have already exhibited the opinion of the present Attorney General of the Common- wealth — that in 1830, and, of course, under the operation of the law of 1787 — it was fair to infer, that there were three hundred persons habitually selling spirituous liquor without a license in the city. There are no new preventive terrors in the present law, and, we have no doubt, the number is as great, and probably greater, than in 1830. The first section has the negative merit of not perverting the law, as it existed before, to unworthy purposes : thus far, it has not taken off the salutary restrictions of former le- gislation; and such is its highest praise : of course, it adds noth- ing to the force of the corresponding section, in the law of 1787. The second section enacts, " That no person shall presume to be a retailer, or seller of wine, brandy, rum, gin, whiskey, or other distilled spirits, in a less quantity than ten gallons, and that de- livered and carried away all at one time, except that person be first duly licensed according to law, as is herein provided, — on pain of forfeiting the sum of twenty dollars for each offence; and no person, licensed to be a retailer, as aforesaid, shall presume to sell any of the above liquors, either mixed or unmixed, to be drunk in his or her house or shop, or in any of the parts or dependencies of the same, under pain of forfeiting therefor the sum of twenty dollars." Here we have, substantially, the provision of 1787, but with a most material variation. By the law of 1832, no smaller 5 34 quantity can be sold than ten gallons, without a license. By the law of 1787, no smaller quantity could be sold than twenty-eight gallons, without a license. Here is an important alteration. The motive for this extraordinary change is itself an irresistible inference from its palpable effects. The statute, in this particular, appears to have been accommodated to the size of the ten gallon keg. There were un- doubtedly many, who were altogether unwilling to be seen visiting the tippling shop, and who did not feel rich enough to purchase twenty-eight gallons of New England rum at one time ; and to whom ten gallons would not come amiss, at the wholesale price, and received from the wholesale dealer, in part payment for work. One thing is manifest, that, before March, 1832, all persons, sell- ing distilled liquors in less quantities than twenty-eight gallons, without a license, were punishable by fine ; but, under the present law, no person is punishable for selling any quantity not less than ten gallons, without a license. Instead of " An act for the due regulation of Licensed Houses" this act appears, in contemplation of the section before us, to be An act for the more speedy and uni- versal diffusion of rum throughout the Commonwealth. Here again we have the "public convenience " substituted for the "public good" We inquire of all reasonable men, why should the facilities for the dispersion of ardent spirit be multiplied ? The effect of this law is obviously to convert every wholesale dealer into a retailer, for every customer, who calls for any quantity, from ten to eight and twenty gallons ; and it takes away the necessity of a license in every such case. In other words, it enables the wholesale dealer to vend a quantity, which would not more than supply the requirements of an Irish wake. In 1680, the smallest quantity, which the law permitted to be sold without a license, was a quarter casJf ; in 1787, it was twenty-eight gallons ; and, in 1832, it is ten gallons. The second section of the act of 1787, required the party li- censed to take the following oath : — "J, A. B., do swear, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Commonwealth of Massa- chusetts, and that I will, to the utmost of my power, defend the constitution and government thereof, against traitorous conspir- acies, and all hostile and violent attempts whatsoever." The act of 1832 requires no oath of allegiance. A custom-house oath has been proverbially said to ascend no higher than the cross-trees; 35 how high a dram-seller's oath will go can never be tried undef the statute of 1832 ; and all preceding laws upon this subject are repealed, by the last section of this act. It was required, by the act of 1787, that every person licensed should recognize with two sureties, and the condition of the recognizance is set forth, in form, in the tenth section of that act. It has always been the practice, until March, 1832, to take these recognizances. About five thousand, as we have stated, have been taken by the City Government, to 1830, and no record exists, says the Attorney General, of any penalty enforced. Yet the act of 1832, not only makes no provision for recognizance, directly or by implication, but we are not able to find therein the slightest allusion to the subject. As the entire act of 1787, and its additional acts, and all former laws on the same subject are repealed ; this act