MEMORIAL.

To the Honorable Legislature

GENTLEMEN,

of the State of Massachusetts:

THE undersigned, inhabitants of the County of Norfolk, have noticed with great satisfaction, that an order has been submitted to the House of Representatives, by one of its members, Mr. Charles Wade, of the city of Boston, in relation to the founding of an Asylum for the temporary abode of that large class of misguided persons who so frequently render themselves obnoxious to the laws by the vice of intempe

rance.

It would be the desire of your petitioners to present the true condition of the unfortunate class referred to, with much greater particularity than is usual in the customary form of a petition. The subject calls for a Memorial. It is believed that the present method provided by law for the guardianship and punishment of victims of intemperance, imperatively calls for

investigation. It is believed that the largest portion of this class, who are, according to our present laws, now locked up in jails and houses of correction, and lost to their families, to society, and to themselves, may be restored to usefulness and respectability, by the establishment of a State Asylum expressly devoted to their cure; an Asylum to which every man, irrespective of position in society, who has fallen a victim to the cup, may be conducted, as to a place of safety; an Asylum, in which shall pervade the influences which brace up and purify the mind, rather than degrade it; an Asylum which shall restore a fallen brother to complete health, and impart to him ability when he leaves its walls, to move forward with courage and with hope,-and, undismayed by the odium which, as the occupant of a House of Correction, and the companion of felons, he is conscious will ever cling to him.

In order, gentlemen, to bring the subject into closer view, your petitioners invite your attention to a few facts.

Early in the year 1841, a society, now known as the Parent Washington Total Abstinence Society, was formed in the city of Boston. From the period of its formation to the present time it has sustained a commodious hall for holding public meetings. But the society had a higher object in view. Large numbers of persons, in various stages of intoxication and destitution, who have been found in the streets and elsewhere, have been led to Washingtonian Hall, where they have been kindly received, and their necessary wants supplied. The amount of service which has been rendered within the last four years, by this society, cannot be readily apprehended. A multitude of men who, by intemperance, had been shut out from the friendly regard of the world, found in the hall of the Washingtonians, for the time being, a comfortable asylum; and these men departed thence to resume their position as useful citizens. About 750 of such persons have found a temporary home at Washingtonian Hall, during the year just closed, nearly all of whom, it is believed, are now temperate and industrious members of society. The expenses of this establishment have fallen principally upon the members of the Parent

Society, many of whom are poor men, and have little to spare from their earnings, but who contribute their utmost to sustain an humble asylum, within whose walls are put into operation the Samaritan principles which caused their own reform. Much of their valuable time, too, do these men give to this noble work, without the slightest pecuniary reward; and their devoted secretary, all of whose time is given to this great reform, has received but an insignificant sum for his untiring and invaluable services. The managers of this establishment have, under God, saved the lives of many of their fellow-men. They have restored to their families a very large number of grateful human beings, who, but for their philanthropic efforts, would now, without doubt, be wanderers and vagabonds on the earth, or occupants of the House of Correction.

Among these rescued men have been some who have enjoyed the privileges of a liberal education, and of a cultivated and wealthy home. Individual, but rare instances, might be named, where the honorable conduct of the wealthy friends of such outcasts has been promptly displayed, by holding out the ready hand of sympathy and protection; but, as a general thing, the poor drunkard, in the depth of his misery and seasons of penitence, has, in the touching language of scripture, been forced to say, "My brethren are far from me, and mine acquaintances are verily estranged from me; my kinsfolk have failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten me !"

In the summer of 1841, JOHN AUGUSTUS, a man in humble life, now well known to the friends of temperance in Boston, and who deserves to be throughout the State, visited the Police Court in Boston, and, being very much interested in the case of a poor man, who, for the vice of drunkenness, had been sentenced to the House of Correction stepped forward and offered to become bail for him. His proposal was accepted. He paid, out of his own pocket, the fees of court, amounting to a few dollars, and took the condemned man with him out of the court room. He persuaded him to sign the pledge, furnished him with food and lodgings, and at last secured employment for him, and from henceforth the rescued drunkard became an industrious and sober citizen.

Mr. Augustus, inspired by the success of his first attempt, and impelled by the yearnings of his noble heart, continued his visits to the Police Court, and from August, in the year 1841, to February of the present year, has rescued from the jaws of the House of Correction and from the fellowship of convicted felons, one hundred and seventy-six men and fifty-six women, -in all, two hundred and thirty-two human beings,—a large portion of whom, but for the vice of intemperance, would have enjoyed an unquestionable right to the general regard of society. Fortunately for this benevolent attempt to stand between the drunkard and the customary course of law, Mr. Augustus has preserved a careful record of every case in which he has interested himself, and he is thus enabled to furnish an intelligent account of a large portion of the persons who, by his means, have been saved from confinement in South Boston. Full three fourths of the number, or about one hundred and seventy-five, are now temperate and orderly citizens, and are gaining a respectable livelihood. About one half of the whole number were residents of Boston, and the other half were temporary visitors to the city from the country and from neighboring States. The proportion of foreigners was much larger of the men than the women. The amount of costs paid by Mr. Augustus, for the release of these persons, is $976 61. This amount has nearly all been paid back to him by the persons thus rescued. Of course, this amount of costs has been saved to the towns liable for it. It will be readily seen, however, that a much larger sum has been saved, by so many intemperate persons having become useful citizens, instead of being shut up in prison at the public charge. To those towns in the country which occasionally receive large bills for the support of drunkards in the House of Correction in South Boston, this point is not unworthy of notice. These considerations are glanced at, because, indeed, they should not be overlooked; but they are of little moment in comparison with the tears which have been dried up, the hearts which have been healed, and the families which have been made happy, by the restoration of so large a number of the great human brotherhood, to temperance, usefulness and respectability. By the minute and

unquestionable records kept by Mr. Augustus, rising eight tenths of all the persons sent to the House of Correction are sent there for drunkenness, or offences occasioned by drunkenness. Through his Samaritan efforts, the number of commitments for this dreadful vice has been largely reduced,-and. besides the diminished expense, consequent upon such reduction, the community has been incalculably blessed by the change.

The following statement will show the actual reduction in the commitments to the House of Correction, for Drunkenness, since the Washingtonian reform commenced in Boston, but, especially, as resulting from the efforts of Mr. Augustus. In 1841, they were 605; in 1842, they were 541; in 1843, 456; in 1844, 407. On the 1st of January, of the present year, the number of persons remaining in the House of Correction, committed by the Police Court, was only 123; of which number 110 were committed for drunkenness, viz.: 47 males and 63 females, all other offences being but 13. 13. During the first year, Mr. Augustus has saved 120 persons from the House of Correction; 20 of whom have since been sentenced to the House of Correction, the remaining 100 are doing well. It would be easy to show the actual amount, in dollars and cents, saved to the State, by a result like this; but not as easy to exhibit the blessings resulting to the rescued men, or to their families, many of the members of which would, doubtless, otherwise have become outcasts, or have found their way to our almshouses. But your petitioners forbear further developments in relation to the House of Correction, having, it is believed, a momentous bearing upon the subject of this petition. They believe, by going nicely into facts, it would be in their power to demonstrate, conclusively, that the Commonwealth will be largely benefited by an entire change of the present method of commitments to the House of Correction in South Boston.

To

It is impossible to enter, in detail, into the formidable difficulties which a humble mechanic, like Mr. Augustus, has had to encounter, in order to proceed in his beneficent work. say nothing of the formalities and liabilities which belong, alike, to all courts of law, he has, in most cases, provided a tempora