Just then, something seemed to stick in the old boatswain's throat; but he was speedily relieved, and proceeded in his remarks. "I used to think my father was over strict about spirits; and when it was cold or wet, I did'nt see any harm in giving Jack a little, though he was only fourteen. When he got ashore, where he could serve out his own allowance, I soon saw that he doubled the quantity. I talked to him-he promised to do better; but he did'nt. I talked to him again; but he grew worse; and finally, in spite of all my talking, and his poor mother's prayers, he became a drunkard. One day, I saw a gang of men and boys poking fun at a poor fellow, who was reeling about in the middle of the circle, and swearing terribly. Nobody likes to see his profession dishonoured; so I thought I'd run down and take him in tow. Your honour knows what a sailor's heart is made of; what do you think I felt, when I found it was my own son? I couldn't resist the sense of duty, and I spoke to him sharply. But his answer threw me all aback, like a white squall in the Levant. He heard me through, and doubling his fist in my face, exclaimed, 'You made me a drunkard.' It cut me to the heart, like a chain-shot from an eighteen-pounder; and I felt as if I should have gone by the board."

As he uttered these words, the tears ran down the channels of the old man's cheeks like rain. After wiping his eyes on the sleeves of his jacket, the old sailor proceeded :

"I tried night and day to think of the best plan to keep my other son from following on to destruction, in the wake of his elder brother. I gave him daily lessons of temperance. I held up before him the example of his poor brother; I cautioned him not to take spirits upon an empty stomach; and I kept my eye constantly upon him. Still I daily took my allowance; and the sight of the dram-bottle, the smell of the liquor, and the example of his own father, were abler lawyers on t'other side. I saw the breakers a-head; and I prayed to God to preserve, not only my child, but myself; for I was sometimes alarmed for my own safety. One Sunday, I heard the minister read the account of the overthrow of Goliath. As I returned home, I compared intemperance, in my own mind, to the giant of Gath; and I asked myself why there might not be found some remedy for the evil? For the first time, Total Abstinence occurred to my mind. I called in Tom, my youngest son, and told him I had resolved never to take another drop of intoxicating liquors, blow high or blow low. I called for all there was in the house, and threw it out of the window. Tom promised to take no more. I have never had

reason to doubt that he has kept his promise. He is now first mate of an Indiaman. Now, your honour, I have said all I had to say about my own experience. Maybe I've spun too long a yarn already? but I think it wouldn't puzzle a Chinese juggler to take to pieces all that has been put together on t'other side."

"Spin as long a yarn as you please, Mr. Morgan," said the Chairman, "and I hope it will be spun of as good hemp, and as hard twisted as the last."

"Well, your honour," said the old sailor, "I've got all that I've heard here to-day coiled up in my store-room, and with your honour's leave, I'll just overhaul it. The very first man that spoke, said he had lost two likely boys by the use of ardent spirits. That was saying something to the purpose. Then up got the gentleman that said he kept the tavern, and that folks might keep themselves and their boys at home. Cold comfort, your honour, for a poor man that's lost two children! Now if a man holds out a false light, or hangs one to the tail of an old horse, and such things have been done, as your honour knows, and I lose my ship by mistaking it for the true light, I shouldn't be much comforted by being told that I might have kept my ship in port, or myself at home. Now, if a dram-seller, who happens to outlive a score of poor fellows who have drunk death and destruction at his hands, will still sell the poison that he well knows must kill a considerable number of those that drink it, he is the man that holds out a false light. The question he asks is a queer sort of a question, your honour, to be sure. Why hasn't he as good a right to sell spirits with a license, as the farmer to sell his corn without one? I've been in countries where a man who bought a license, or an indulgence, as they call it, to murder his neighbour, might inquire, in the same manner, why he had not as good a right to commit a murder with a license, as his neighbour to sell his wellgotten merchandise without one?

"Now, your honour, I've heard lawyers say, that a man couldn't be forced to pay his debts if no claim was made within seven years. A man owes the amount just as much after, for all I can see, as he did before, and would be a great knave not to pay it. He may, therefore, as I understand it, be a great knave, according to law. I can't see, therefore, that this drink-selling business is an honourable or a moral business, because it is a lawful business.

"Please your honour, the gentleman whom I take to be a lawyer, because he said something about his clients, seems to be an ingenious and able man. Now, your honour, when I see an ingenious and able man talk, as this gentleman does, I can't help

thinking he knows he has got hold of a rotten cause. Just so, when an old seaman can't make a neat splice, the fault's in the rope, and not in him. He says the traffic is a lawful traffic, and we have no right to interfere with it. I hope, your honour, the gentleman doesn't mean to take the law of us if we refuse to drink ; and I suppose nobody wants to interfere in any other way. Selling intoxicating liquor is not more lawful, I take it, than rope-making; yet we are not obliged to buy a hemp cable, if we like an iron one better. The gentleman says we may drink or not; and if we become drunkards, the fault and its consequences are our own. Now, your honour, suppose I should contrive some new-fangled sort of amusement, so very agreeable that very few would be able to resist the the temptation to try it; and yet, in the long run, it should be the cause of death to one out of every fifty; how long should I be suffered to go on? We are praying not to be led into temptation, and yet we are constantly tempting others to become drunkards, and yet telling them it is their own fault after all. The gentleman says, temperance is a good thing. My notion is, that it would be a bad thing for some lawyers, your honour. He says the law forbids selling ardent spirits to drunkards. It's a strange sort of law that forbids us from giving any more rope to a man that has already hanged himself. Now, your honour, ought not that law to be altered, so as to forbid the dram-sellers from selling it to any persons but drunkards, who will soon die off, and leave none but temperate people behind? The gentleman said we must apply to the legislature. If we get a good law, how long will it last, your honour? I don't know whether there's a weathercock a top of the State house; but I've heard that the wind there goes all round the compass sometimes in four-andtwenty hours. Unless the law is put in force, what is it good for? Why it's like the Dutchman's anchor, that lay on the wharf at Ostend, when he was in a gale off Cape Hatteras. You might as well have a law, your honour, against the rheumatism. If people can be persuaded to leave off drinking, that will be as good as a law written in their members; and then, your honour, the dram-sellers may drink up the balance amongst themselves. Total Abstinence, it seems to me, is the only remedy; and the evils of intemperance will fall before this simple remedy alone, as the giant of Gath fell before a smooth stone from the brook, and a shepherd's sling."

J. M. Burton and Co., Printers and Stereotypers, Ipswich.

THE YOUNG SOLDIER.

THE following details are extracted from the Memoirs of an officer who served in India with great distinction, the late Lieutenant Shipp, of H. M. 87th Foot, having won his commission from the ranks by his conduct in the field. He says, as to one of the soldiers, "I shall not mention the name of lest my narrative should by possibility meet the eye of some dear relative who still lingers on earth, and droops under the recollection of the sad event. Through the whole course of his drills and military exercises, I ever found this young man attentive, obedient, and willing to learn; and he promised to be an ornament to his profession. He glided through the commencement of his career with the smile of joy on his youthful countenance. These were halcyon days, which were not long to last; the poisonous cup of inebriety seduced him from the paths of duty, and he drank deep of its baneful contents. This indulgence in intemperance led him from one error to another; on account of which, from time to time, he incurred serious admonitions; until, at length, for the commission of a more aggravated offence, he fell under the displeasure of his superior officer, and was deservedly punished. Irritated by the infliction of a supposed wrong, inflamed with liquor, and smarting under the disgrace, the unhappy youth, in a fatal moment, yielded to the instigations of revenge; and, in the frenzy of intoxication, made an attempt on the life of the officer (a quarter-master in the same troop), by whom, as he supposed, he had been injured. This dreadful attempt was as wantou and unprovoked as it was unjustifiable. The chastisement which the young man had received, was such as he would himself, in his sober moments, have admitted he had justly deserved. He fired at him; the shot did not take effect as intended, but the crime was that of mutiny; and punishable, by military law, with the heavy penalty of death.

"The culprit was immediately dragged to the guard-room, and then confined in irons. Imagine the feelings of this unhappy wretch, when he awoke from his intoxicated slumbers, and the first objects that met his eyes were the fetters by which he was secured! I was sergeant of the guard at the time, and had the melancholy task of informing the offender of the dreadful crime for which he was fettered and imprisoned. On being made acquainted with the enormity of his attempt, his nature seemed to recoil, his youthful countenance showed a death-like paleness, he closed his eyes, clasped his hands, and exclaimed, "Good God!

what have I done?" He seemed as unconscious of every intention of committing the crime he was charged with, as the child still unborn; but yet he stood unequivocally arraigned for the crime of mutiny, and attempt to murder. The culprit was, a short time afterwards, summoned before a general court-martial, on trial for his life, without having a single iota to offer in his defence, except the plea of drunkenness, which could but have aggravated his offence, and made it, if possible, worse and blacker. He stood before the court-martial a sad monument of what the use of liquor may bring the most docile and humane creature to.

"This melancholy instance will, I trust, show the absolute necessity of guarding, more particularly in a hot climate like that of India (or when in an excited state of mind, or heated state of body), against the use of spirituous liquors. If a passion for drink is once allowed to gain dominion, it is seldom or never eradicated. Cup will follow cup, and crime succeed crime, till the envenomed draught brings its sad votary to some sudden and calamitous end. Could I but impress this fact upon the minds of young soldiers, and save every one from that degrading vice, I should think myself amply rewarded.

He took

"The criminal was, of course, found guilty. He was ordered for public execution-to be shot. On the fatal morning, the chaplain was early with his charge. He washed and dressed himself, and tied a piece of black crape round his arm. some pains in the adjustment of his clothes and hair, and then went to prayer, in which every one of the guard joined him, although in a separate room. I do not think I ever witnessed more real commiseration in my life than was displayed on this occasion. When the first trumpet sounded for the execution parade, the notes seemed to linger on the morning breeze, and a deathlike stillness to predominate over the atmosphere, which chilled the blood of all assembled. Not a voice was heard: all was hush and quiet, save the workings of the fond bosoms of his pitying comrades. These plainly bespoke the horror they felt in the contemplation of the approaching scene. The prisoner affectionately took his leave of all the guard, warning them by his sad fate to beware of that accursed liquor which had sealed his doom. He seemed composed and calm, and said he would meet the offended laws of his country, as the just reward of his crimes. The soldiers turned out with evident reluctance, each head rested upon a sorrowing bosom; but they at last reached the place of the sad catastrophe.

"The regiments, both of which were European, then formed