INTRODUCTORY. At the present annual session of the General Court of Massachusetts, commencing in January, 1867, petitions were presented by Alpheus Hardy and others, praying for enactment of a judicious license law for the regulation and control of the sale of spirituous and fermented liquors in the Commonwealth. The number of these Petitioners during the session already (April, 1867,) comprises thirty thousand legal voters, and is increasing daily. A petition was also presented by the principal inn-keepers in the city of Boston, praying for such changes in existing laws concerning the sale of wines and liquors as shall allow them to supply the wants of the guests of their houses, yet under such excise and regulation and subject to such supervision as shall be deemed needful for the public good. A further petition was presented by the officers and trustees of the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy, representing that under the present statutes it is impossible legally to conduct that business and perform its duties to the medical profession and the sick, and praying for such amendment of the law as that apothecaries may be enabled to conduct their business in a legal manner. Various petitions, numerously signed, were also presented to the General Court, remonstrating against any amendment of the existing prohibitory statutes. All these petitions were referred to a Joint Special Committee of the two branches of the legislature, composed of Messrs. MORSE, of Norfolk, ALEXANDER, of Hampden, FAY, of Suffolk, Dow, of Middlesex, SWAN, of Bristol, On the part of the Senate; and Messrs. JEWELL, of Boston, ALDRICH, of Worcester, SHERMAN, of Lowell, WRIGHT, of Lawrence, AVERY, of Braintree, FLINN, of Chatham, MCCLELLAN, of Grafton, BARTLETT, of Roxbury, MADDEN, of Boston, On the part of the House of Representatives. The Petitioners were represented before the Committee by Hon. John A. Andrew and Hon. Linus Child, às counsel; and the Remonstrants were in like manner represented before the Committee by Hon. Asahel Huntington, Rev. A. A. Miner, D. D., and William B. Spooner, Esq., as counsel. The hearings were continued for four days in each week, (besides two evening sessions,) beginning February 19th, and ending April 3d, at first in the Senate Chamber, and afterwards in the Representatives' Hall, in the State House, at Boston. The opening argument for the Petitioners was made by Hon. LINUS CHILD, and the following witnesses were called, sworn and examined in their behalf: John Q. Adams, Esq., of Quincy, (Trial Justice for Norfolk County.) Rev. Nehemiah Adams, D. D., of Boston. Prof. Louis Agassiz, of Cambridge, (Prof. of Zoology and Geology in the Scientific School of Harvard College.) Rev. William R. Alger, of Boston. Joseph Andrews, Esq., of Boston. Rev. Leonard Bacon, D. D., of New Haven, Conn., (Professor of Didactic Theology in Yale College.) Rev. Charles F. Barnard, of Boston. Dr. George F. Bigelow, of Boston, (Secretary of the Howard Benevolent Association, and Physician at the Washingtonian Home.) Prof. Henry J. Bigelow, M. D., of Boston, (Professor of Surgery in the Medical School of Harvard College.) Hon. Henry W. Bishop, of Lenox, (Ex-Judge of the Court of Common Pleas.) Rev. George W. Blagden, D. D., of Boston, (Senior Pastor of the Old South Church.) Hon. J. C. Blaisdell, of Fall River. Rev. John A. Bolles, D. D., of Boston, (Rector of the Church of the Advent.) Prof. Francis Bowen, of Cambridge, (Alford Professor of Natural Theology, Moral Philosophy and Civil Polity in Harvard College.) Rev. Robert Brady, of Boston, (Pastor of St. Mary's Church.) Augustus O. Brewster, Esq., of Boston, (Ex-Assistant District-Attorney for Suffolk County.) A. M. Brownell, Esq., of New Bedford, (Municipal Marshal of that city.) Hon. E. P. Buffington, of Fall River, (Ex-Mayor of that city.) Brigadier-General Isaac S. Burrell, of Roxbury, (Ex-Municipal Marshal of that city.) Rev. B. F. Clark, of Chelmsford. Prof. Edward H. Clarke, M. D., of Boston, (Professor of Materia Medica in the Medical School of Harvard College.) Hon. John H. Clifford, of New Bedford, (Ex-Governor and Ex-Attorney-General of the Commonwealth.) John C. Cluer, Esq., of Boston. Hon. Charles G. Davis, of Plymouth. E. Hasket Derby, Esq., of Boston. Rev. Manassas Doherty, of Cambridge. Hon. J. H. Duncan, of Haverhill. Right Rev. Manton Eastburn, D. D., of Boston, (Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the Diocese of Massachusetts.) Frank Edson, Esq., of Hadley, (Chairman of the Selectmen and Liquor Agent of that town.) Rev. Theodore Edson, D. D., of Lowell. Rev. George E. Ellis, D. D., of Charlestown. Rev. Rufus Ellis, of Boston. M. J. Fassin, Esq., of New York. Hon. Francis B. Fay, of Lancaster, (Ex-Mayor of Chelsea, and Trustee of the State Reform School for Girls at Lancaster.) Hon. Henry F. French, of Cambridge, (Ex-Assistant-District-Attorney for Suffolk County.) Addison Gage, Esq., of West Cambridge. Thomas Gaffield, Esq., of Boston. Hon. E. B. Gillette, of Westfield, (District-Attorney for the Western District.) Albert G. Goodwin, Esq., (Secretary of the Boston Provident Association.) Hon. Alpheus Hardy, of Boston. Benjamin W. Harris, Esq., of Milton, (Ex-District-Attorney for the South-Eastern District.) Rev. Michael Hartney, of Salem. Rev. George F. Haskins, of Boston, (Head of the House of the Angel Guardian.) Rev. James A. Healey, of Boston. Rev. Frederick H. Hedge, D. D., of Brookline, (Prof. of Ecclesiastical History in the Divinity School of Harvard College.) Henry Hill, Esq., of Braintree. Hon. George S. Hillard, of Boston, (United States District-Attorney for the District of Massachusetts.) Prof. Oliver Wendell Holmes, M. D., of Boston, (Parkman Professor of Anatomy and Physiology in the Medical School of Harvard College.) Prof. E. N. Horsford, of Cambridge, (Ex-Rumford Professor of the Application of Science to the Art of Life in the Scientific School of Harvard College.) Capt. David Hoyt, of Deerfield. |