the best route possible, all circumstances considered, is that by the New Jersey Central to Easton, thence to Allentown, thence, by the only link yet to be constructed, to Port Clinton, thence by the Dauphin and Susquehannah Road to Harrisburgh, and thence by the Central Road to Pittsburgh and the Ohio Valley. This road is completed all but 30 miles, and will be 160 miles nearer to Cincinnati, Louisville, and St. Louis, than by the New York and Erie Road.

In conclusion, it may be in place to state that much of the future prosperity, usefulness, and influence of Pittsburgh will depend on the wisdom, liberal views, and enlightened policy of Pennsylvania legislation; and whatever could with truth have once been said of that policy, and notwithstanding the hasty and ill-advised complaints which have been lately made of it, yet it is clearly and abundantly manifest that the decided tendency of the people of Pennsylvania and their representatives now is to the utmost liberality and largeness of view in favor of the development of the resources of the State, and a consideration of the interests of the whole rather than those of a class or section-of allowing each city and locality to depend on its own. energy, foresight, and natural or acquired advantages for its share of business, trade, and travel, and in opposition to burdensome restrictions and unreasonable shackles on Commerce.

The present Legislature is near the close of a most arduous session, and has established many measures of great public benefit and importance. The late sale of the main line of the public works-which, it is allowable to hope, is but the "beginning of the end "-will at once sweep off a large portion of the public debt and its concomitant taxation; and before another year, the decided probabilities are that a general railroad law, as liberal in its provisions as that of New York and other States-a more favorable mining and manufacturing law--an enlargement of banking capital and a sound currency, so as to meet the exigencies of a growing mechanical and manufacturing population, similar in its arrangement to the banking laws of New York and Wisconsin, and a repeal of the oppressive and odious usury law which, as it stands, is an unwarrantable interference between men having and men wanting money and a premium on law-breaking, will all be passed. All of which measures will be of much benefit to Pittsburgh, and will enable her to hold out more numerous and attractive inducements to non-residents and capitalists of other States.

Art. IV. THE MAINE LAW A FIXED FACT.

ITS RESULTS-A NEW ELEMENT IN THE INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL INTERESTS OF OUR COUNTRY.

TO FREEMAN HUNT, Editor of the Merchants' Magazine :-

66

SIR:-"The propriety of accommodation to the circumstances of the times, and of turning the circumstances of the time to a profitable account," is a motto which has always constituted the rule of action of unprincipled, trading politicians, and of selfish, unscrupulous tradesmen. The Chinese have no special claim to the credit of acting upon that principle; it has been the pole star of rogues everywhere. Translated into plain Saxon, it reads thus: Every man for himself, and the devil take the hindmost;" and in this shape it is recognized and acted on by rogues, of high and low degree alike-by the merchant, whose only object is the profits of trade, and by the "politician, who cares not a fig for navigation, Commerce, protection, free trade, sailors' rights," or any other right or interest, public or private, except so far as attention to them may promote his own personal ambition.

Men who act upon such a plan are necessarily incapable of entertaining any enlarged views in relation to the honor and prosperity of their country, or of the welfare and happiness of their countrymen; their motives, objects, and desires begin and end in self. They regard other men only as instruments to be employed in some way, any way, or to be sacrificed, if need be, to promote their own views, without regard to honor or the right.

Such men always look with dislike upon every attempt to benefit mankind by changing "the circumstances of the times;" and those who refuse to turn the appetites and passions of bad men, or the misfortunes of others -"the circumstances of the time "-to profitable account, are regarded and treated as fanatics. The professed gambler, as he plunders his victim; the base runner, who sells false passenger tickets to the newly arrived emigrant; the scoundrel who invades the sanctity of a neighbor's domestic circle; the robber upon the highway; the pirate upon the seas; the keeper of a grogshop, as he panders to the depraved appetite of his fellow-men; and the no less unscrupulous politician, who "regards neither navigation, Commerce, protection, nor rights," in his lust for place and power,--act precisely upon this rule of "turning the circumstances of the time to a profitable account;" but no true man can ever adopt such a principle or act upon it.

The promoters and friends of temperance and of the Maine Law are not surprised or discouraged because many influential men regard their views and projects as unwise and unphilosophical. No man is fit to carry out any measure of reform, unless he is prepared to encounter many formidable objections, and to resist or endure any opposition which he may meet. Almost every stage of progress in the history of society and of civilization has been won and maintained in spite of the clamor of men who oppose any change "in the circumstances of the time," because they wish "to turn them to a profitable account."

The English acted upon this principle, when they engaged in the opium trade to China on an immense scale; and again in compelling the poor Hindoos, in large districts of Hindostan, to cultivate the poppy and to pro

duce opium at a stipulated price, which is sold at an immense profit to the benighted inhabitants of the Celestial Empire. And again, when the Chinese government sought to avert the terrible evils brought upon its subjects by the opium trade by the prohibition of that trade, and by the exclusion of that poisonous drug from the country, the English continued, in defiance of all law and right, openly to resist the will of the authorities, and to sell opium by the cargo," turning circumstances to a profitable account."

And again, when Commissioner Lin, by a vigorous and manly exercise of a rightful power, seized large quantities of the contraband article in Chinese harbors, under well-known Chinese laws, and destroyed it-acting in accordance with the law of nations and with the universal practice of all civilized countries-the English "took advantage of circumstances," the weakness of the Chinese, and, after destroying great numbers of them, who were unable with their ivory fans and paper lanterns, to defend themselves against Waterloo bayonets, compelled these poor creatures to pay opium destroyed, for the expenses of the war, and to admit opium henceforth, all for the advantage of those who acted upon the principle of " turning the circumstances to a profitable account."

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I have been led to these remarks by an article in the April number of the Merchants' Magazine, entitled "Experimental Legislation on the Opium Trade in China, and on the Liquor Trade of the United States," in which occur many errors of fact, as to the effect of that legislation on the liquor trade in Maine. Similar statements have been made in the political newspapers of the day by anonymous writers, which have been often refuted by responsible persons, and when repeated in such places are no longer worthy of notice. But any erroneous statements which appear in this leading and influential Magazine are calculated to make an impression upon the public mind for evil, unless they shall be speedily corrected.

The people of Maine formerly suffered more, perhaps, from the ravages of intemperance than have those of any other State. This result might naturally arise from their peculiar employments-the people of the interior being generally engaged in the lumber trade; those of the seaboard, in the fisheries and in navigation.

It might have been for this reason that the attention of philanthropic men in Maine was strongly attracted to intemperance as a cause, and that they labored with great assiduity and perseverance in enlightening the people as to the pernicious effects of the habit of liquor drinking. These efforts were attended with great success; yet intemperance continued, especially among the young; and the leading friends of the temperance movement began to consider the possibility of obtaining legal protection from the liquor traffic-the suppression, by law, of drinking-houses and tippling-shops, which at that time in Maine, as elsewhere, were protected by statute, licensed for "the public good."

They could not doubt the right of society to protect itself from this evil, as well as from any other. It is the chief function of government to provide for the happiness of the people; and especially in a government by the people-a republican government-is it their right and duty to protect themselves and their children-their interests generally, from any and every cause of injury. And, in fact, no trade or business was permitted, except the rum trade, which was believed to be inconsistent with the public good.

Gambling-houses, houses of ill-fame, horse-racing, lotteries, the sale of improper books and pictures, were absolutely prohibited, because they were believed to be demoralizing in their tendency. But drinking-houses and tippling-shops demoralized the people more in one year, than all the others collectively would do in many years. Where, then, is the doubt as to the right of society to put the liquor traffic into the category of prohibited trades?

The question of right then was settled; it was no longer debatable: the only question in relation to it was one of expediency. Is such an enactment possible; will the people sustain it? This was a great practical question, and its solution was indispensable before the measure should be attempted. In order to do this, the men whose hearts were set upon the accomplishment of the great work of protection from the liquor traffic, undertook the herculean task of educating the public opinion of Maine in relation to the terrible evils necessarily and inevitably resulting to the people, in all the relations and interests of life, from that traffic.

To effect this, they held meetings all over the State, in churches and halls; in open fields and groves; and especially in every country schoolhouse, by the way side and on the hill side through Maine. In the school districts, "those biding-places of power," these meetings were carried home to every man's door; and thus the masses of the people of Maine were in a short time persuaded that the liquor traffic was an unmitigated curse in the community; that no good resulted from it under any circumstances to any one, while the evils flowing from it were innumerable and intolerable, and they resolved to exterminate it. They did not believe in the wisdom or the morality of the doctrine of turning the base appetites of their neighbors and friends for strong drinks "to a profitable account," and thereby become themselves instrumental in fastening the gigantic evils of intemperance upon their countrymen forever.

The success of these labors was complete. From every quarter of the State came up the cry of the people for "protection to themselves and to their children from the liquor traffic;" and with their petitions for a stringent and summary law, they were careful to send to the legislature those men only who would properly represent their wishes upon this subject, and the Maine Law was the result.

At the time of the enactment of the Maine Law, the liquor traffic was carried on extensively all over the State. By wholesale and retail, in cities, towns, and villages; by hogshead, barrel, bottle, and the glass, were intoxicating liquors sold freely to all comers. These liquors were manufactured in great quantities in Maine, and were imported from other States, by the vessel-load, and steamboat-load, into all our seaport towns, and into all the towns and villages lying upon our great rivers, from which points they were distributed in innumerable diverging streams into every hamlet in the State.

Immediately upon the enactment of the law, the wholesale trade in liquors ceased, and has never been revived. The large stocks in the hands of the dealers were sent off to those other States, the governments of which allowed them to be sold to their people. The strange spectacle was seen in all our cities and larger towns, of the flight of great quantities of liquors, from the operation of the Maine Law. The retail trade was immediately abandoned by every dealer in the State, who had any character to lose, or who desired the good opinion of his fellow-citizens. So far as the trade con

tinued at all, it was carried on with great secrecy and caution, and was confined entirely to the hands of the lowest and vilest part of the people, chiefly to this class of foreign population. The change in the habits of great numbers of our people was instantaneous and wonderful; they were reformed of their intemperate habits, because temptation was put out of the way.

In the city of Portland, where the law was enforced with considerable rigor, the change was very great. It was apparent to the most casual observer, and was the theme of continual remark among all classes of our people. Our streets were as quiet by night as those of a country village, and our police and watchmen remarked, that their duties were nearly at an end. The effects of the suppression of the grogshops were immediately seen in diminished vagrancy, pauperism and crime, and increased comforts among the poorer part of the people.

The Mayor of Portland, at the end of the municipal year 1851-2, after the law had been in operation only nine months, in his report to the City Council, which was ordered to be printed and circulated through the city, gave an abstract from the returns of the departments connected with poverty and crime, as follows:-

There were committed to the Alms House from June 1, 1850, to March 20, 1851, (before the law) 252; from June 1, 1851, to March 20, 1852, (after the law) 146—

difference in nine months, 106. Number in Alms House March 20, 1851, 112; number in Alms House March 20, 1852, 90-difference, 22. Number of families assisted out of the Alms House from June 1, 1850, to March 20, 1851, 135; from June 1, 1851, to March 20, 1852, 90-difference in nine months, (just one third,) 45. Seventy-five of the ninety in the Alms House March 20, 1852, came there through intemperance; four of the ninety were not brought there through that cause; the history of the remaining eleven is not known.

Committed to the House of Correction for intemperance from June 1, 1850, to March 20, 1851, 46; for larceny, &c., &c., 12—in all 58; from June 1, 1851, to March 20, 1852, for intemperance, 10; for larceny, &c., &c., 3—in all 13; a difference in nine months of more than three-fourths! Committed in April, 1851, 9; in May, 10-19. The "Maine Law" was enacted June 2, 1851, and from the 1st of that month to March 20, 1852, ten months, the number committed was only 10, although great activity was displayed by the police in arresting all offenders.

At the term of the District Court in Portland, March, 1852, but one indictment was found for larceny, and that was the result of a malicious prosecution; while at the March Term of 1851, seventeen indictments were found. These results have been obtained, notwithstanding an increased vigilance in arresting persons found under the influence of strong drinks.

It had been the practice of the police and watch, before the enactment of the Maine Law, to arrest no persons for intemperance who were quiet and able to make their way home; and generally the peaceful inebriate was helped home by the watchman. But after the enactment of the Maine Law this practice was changed, and all intoxicated persons were arrested wherever they were found, that through disclosures from them the secret grog-shops might be discovered. If in 1851-2, the practice of the preceding years had been continued, the commitments to the wateh-house would not have been one-third so great as they were; while the adoption of the latter policy by the city administration of 1850-51, would have more than doubled the commitments during that year. The returns from the watch house were as follow, being taken from the same report of the Mayor, to wit: