"But the State," says Judge Pitman, "while the memory of license was
fresh, was not to fall again under its sway. The struggle for local
prohibition was at once renewed, and in a few years license had ceased
throughout the Commonwealth. The statement may surprise many; but I have
the authority of the city clerk of Boston for saying, that 'no licenses
for the sale of intoxicating liquors were granted in Boston between 1841
and 1852.' * * * And so the chapter of license was apparently closed. It
had not only had its 'day,' but its centuries in court; and the
well-nigh unanimous verdict was: '_disgrace_--_failure_'"

So strong was this conviction in the minds of the people of
Massachusetts, that Governor Bullock, in 1861, while acting as chairman
of the Judiciary Committee of the House, gave it expression in these
notable words: "It may be taken as the solemnly declared, judgment of
the people of the Commonwealth, that the principle of licensing the
traffic in intoxicating drinks as a beverage, _and thus giving legal
sanction to that which is regarded in itself as an evil, is no longer
admissible in morals or in legislation_"


THE LIQUOR POWER IN THE ASCENDANT AGAIN.

But in 1868, adverse influences prevailed, and after all her sad and
disgraceful experience, Massachusetts abandoned her prohibition of the
traffic and went back to license again; but the evil consequences began
to show themselves so quickly that the law was repealed in less than a
year.

Governor Claflin, in his message to the legislature in January, 1869,
thus speaks of the effect of the new license law: "The increase of