"1 9:;§YJ‘*'$«gv, r u M .»\ <:_"“w'3* ?"I‘,‘_(hu\ ‘ _ xy ; I 5 H. U ;» 5"!‘ M ,1! W WM’ " “‘ . 5 W W-~'W\-’ Nu. m ‘rm fwd ‘M M: V “ .. «MA fA” J%ADDRES& '_iTE‘I4IVERE%'l‘) AT THE BENEFICENT CONQREGATIONAL MEETINGJFIOUSE, éWEmY’@gE8@83 BEING THE I«'°I11s'ui* *FEMPERANOE CELEBRATION .1314‘ AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE, IN PROVVIDENQE. % BY L. M. SARGENTO A PROVIDENCE _ B,CRANBTON&COp A 1838. A V Paovrnzmrcn, July 7, 1838. L. M. SARGENT, Esq. DEAR. Sm-—-The undersigned have the pleasure of communicating to you a copy of the Resolutions of the Committee of the Friends of Tempe. rance for the celebration of the Anniversary of our National Independence, on the 4th instant, expressing their thanks for your very excellent, appropri. ate, and interesting Address delivered on that occasion, and requesting a copy of‘ the same for publication. With an earnest desire that you will comply with this request, ‘We remain, Yours, very respectfully, JOSIAH WHITAKER, s. s. WARDWELL, THOMAS DAVIS, Camvnittee for requelsting 6!. copy of the Address. p—ujn-nfiluflulunul ~ BOSTON, July 10, 1838. GENTLEMEN, I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of’ the 7th, communicating a vote, passed at a meeting of the friends of Temperance, in the city of Providence, on Friday, July 6, 1838. If‘ in their opinion, gentlemen, and in your own, the cause of Tempe. rance may derive the smallest additional support from a publication of the Adclress, delivered by me on the 4th instant, I most cheerfully acquiesce. The manuscript shall be transmitted, in such manner as you may direct, at any time after the 15th current, atl'ording- me the leisure moments of these few days, for revision. ~ I‘ remain, gentlemen, very truly and respectfully, Your friend and servant, r L. M. S.ARG‘rIi3N '1‘. Josrm Wmrarcea, S. S. WARDWELL, THOMAS DAVIS, Ef3qL‘tl1'68. ADDRESS. T0-DAY another link: is added to the chain, which cone nects the present and the past-—-—another milestone is erected in the path of time. The last of that band of patriots, who signed the declaration of our national inde- pendence, is gathered to his fathers. The friend of Wash- ington, the friend of liberty, he who, by planting his foot once more upon the soil of his adopted country, could gather around him the living remnant of his compatriots in arms, and brighten the recollection of the clead~—-the beloved, the lamented Lafayette, is no more upon the earth. His ashes belong to his native land---his irnper-— ishableglory to the World. A few years shall pass away, and not one living, witness shall remain, to tell, with honest pride, of the part he bore, during those rnemoraw ble days, which are said to have tried the souls of men. That white-haired old man, Who, to-day, will gather ‘his grandchildren about his knee, and, for the hundreth time, repeat the tireless tale of Lexington or Concord, Yorktown or Saratoga, shall ere long descend into the grave. What numbers have already lain down to slum- ber in their robes of glory l I-Iovv feeble the remnant, which yet walks upon the earth ! When the last of these hoary heads shall have departed, and nothing but tra- dition shall remain, may the story be transmitted, from age to age,to a people, brave, generous, and just, firmly attached to the constitution and the laws, and living in the love of country and the fear of God. A ii The present is a day of unfading recollections; Thinlc; hot, that I would check the patriot’s joy, when I ask one honest tear from twelve millions of freemen, for two mil- lions of slaves ! So much for Africa ; and how much for ourselves! I inquire, my respected fellow-countrymen, are there no slaves but the degraded African, in this happy land P What means this mighty moral revolution of the World, in which the wise and the good, of all classes and of every profession, are so earnestly engaged Pi What is this novel declaration of independence, already subscribed by millions of the citizens of these United States? We are gathered here, upon the invitation of those, whose high and holy design is the emancipation of man-~—not from those chains and fetters, with which a tyrant binds down his involuntary slaves, but from chains and fetters of man’s own imposing upon himself 3’ beneath Whose oppressive weight he writhes, and groans, and grovels in the very dustof the earth, a self-made slave, bowing before the nnrelenting tyranny of his own un- natural appetites and passions. In full contemplation of such miserable vassalage as this, Well and truly may i we say to the most favored nation of‘ the earth, in the language of St. Paul, “ would to God, ye were not only A almost but altogether such as we are, saving these bonds?’ t ~ g Events of more than ordinary inrtterest become entitled, by the common consent of mankind, to marks of distinc- tion in the kalendar. The wheel of time turns not the tithe of a hair upon its axis, without bringing to light the anniversary of some interesting event, to a nation or to an individual, of sorrow or ofjoy. These recurrences of"! corresponding periods demand a token of commemoration, in some form or other, from those, who are immediately interested in their annual return. How various,, and even opposite, in their‘ character, the modes adopted by diflerent nations of the earth, for the celebration of their jubilees of liberty ! Tlie jubilee of the I~le'brew's, tvl*1ichlco11ti’n”ue‘d down “to the period of the Babylonish captivity, and which was celebrated at the expiration of every fiftieth year, was marked by the emancipation of slaves; all slaves became freernen. The jubilee of the Romans, which was of annual oca currence, commencing about the middle of Decepinber, was also marked by the temporary emancipation of slaves. All slaves, during the continuance of the Saturnalia, were placed upon a footing of perfect equality with their masters. ‘ ’ The jubilee ofour own country, which is commemora-i ted upon, the return of this glorious anniversary, has been very commonly celebrated in a different manner. Slaves have not become freemen, but freemen have be-- come slaves. By a species of political refinement, they have stupified. their senses, and bartered their birthrights for the dr11nls:arcl’s letters of shame. How many patriots upon this grand national jubilee, sacred to freedom, have entered, body and spirit, into the most degraiclingg ‘voluntary bondage! Plow many have lulled their big hearts to slumber, overflowing with unutterable devotion to their beloved country,vvho, alas l have arisen, on the marrow, with a painful conviction, that it was 11otl1ing;‘ but the rum! Tliank God, the fashion of these things passeth away. i l A What, I ask you, my fellovv-countrymen, are the ap- propriate means for the celebration of such a festival as this P Shall we pour libations, and put the goblet to our lips in Can it be iiecessary, for achristian and a patriot, to illustrate his love of rational liberty, by such means as these P Be it so then. Let us fill to the brim----but with tliepure and wholesome beverage of God’s appointment. [Let us pleclge one another and the World, that inebriat- ing poison shall never mingle with our draught from the c1*.z-ttlle to the grave. We are fathers-—--We will lean upon our children in the winter of life, when our joints are stiff and our hairs are g;_i.grayi; but never,,for,lsnppo1*t from the 6 dramseller’s door. We are mothers——~we will not ex-at change our gains for the head-ache and the heart—ache, pouring into our stomachs the source of unnaturaland unnecessary heat, while our children are starving for bread or shivering with cold. We are husbands, we are wives----we will never partake of that accursed beverage, which turns home into an hell, whose only outlet is the grave. We are children--—we will not bring misery and shame upon those gray hairs, which we are commanded to honor. We are citizens--—-the public bur- den shall never be increased, by the addition of our names to the catalogue of inebriated paupers. We are immortal creatures, fashioned in the image of our Maker ---i-we will notgrovel on the ground, nor bite the dust ; but we will walk erect with our faces toward heaven. We are christians-————‘we will never, by partaking; of’ the par» alizing draught, incur the tremendous hazardof being summoned, drunk, into the presence of‘ an indignant God. i l r We ‘cannotmore profitably devote the time" allotted to us, upon the present occasion, than by a contemplation of those principles, which have gathered millions of’ our fe1low—countx-ymen together, upon one broad ground of practical philanthropy. They have thrown aside the dis- criminating badges of their sectarian and political opin- ions ; and, by laboring, shoulder toshoulder, in the cause of God and of humanity,ltl1ey”have learned a little of the high and holy mystery of loving one another. That great moral movement of the present age, the temperance reform, in its operation and effects, is not i more directly connected with domestic repose than with national concord. Whoever will carefully examine. the history of those states and empires, which are now no more, will be forcibly impressed with the conviction, that the means of inebriation, by stimulating the baser pas- sions of our nature, have sapped the foundations of those states and empires, and accelerated their ultimate decay. 7 When the Almighty i had resolved to inflict the severest curse uponJerusalem, that curse was an universal, na- tionalidrunkenness. It is a remarkable fact, that the prophet was directed, as a prefigurationof the impending calamity, to inform the inhabitants of that ill-fated city, not that ardent spirit should abound, for the black art of distillation was unknown, but that “every bottle” should , “ be filled with wine.” It is not possible to convey this image so forcibly in any language, as in the graphic phraseology of holy writ. “Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, every bottle shall be filled with wine 5 and they shall say unto thee, do we not certainly know that every bottle shall be filled with wine? Then shalt thou say unto them, thus saith the Lord, I will wfill all the in- habitants of this land, even the kings that sit upon Da- vid’s throne, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with drunkenness, and I will dash them one against another, the fathers and the sons together, saith the Lord : I will not pity, nor spare, nor have mercy, but utterly destroy them.” I If the record of the past he thertrecord, of uurshame, it j may appearto anordinary observer, that the perusal of that record can be productive neither of pleasure nor of profit to anyrhumanbeing. The abstract contemplation I of intemperance, as it existedin our country, some five- and—twenty years ago, can be productive of no more ad- vantage than a visit to some vast charnel--house of hu- man corruption, exclusively devoted to the victims of squallid poverty, and the perpetrators of all imaginable crime. ” In truth, the illustration is the reality itself.-——- Man, however, is surprisingly oblivious of perils past; and the occasional exhibition of the scenes and the cir- cumstances of his jeopardy, while it serves to perpetuate a sense of gratitude to the author of his “preservation, stimulates the cautious principle within him, and obvious- ly tends to prevent a recurrence of similar evil. It may, therefore, be no unprofitable occupation to exhumate this 8 half-buried~Jug'g'ernaut, and, revolting as the taskmay -app_ear,to commence a post; mortern examination. We shall thereby becomeenablecl more perfectly to appreci--» ate the character of that loathsome idol, at whose awful shrine we have worshipped withour lips, so devoutly and solongi. t ’ - it it Time was distributed, by the ancients, into fourgrand divisions, designated by them, as the ages of iron and brass, silver and gold. A few hundredyears, including the period,‘ through which We arepassing, as we devout- ly trust, tea more auspicious era, may hereafterbe dea- nominated,-i with singular proplnlety, the age of mm, and ofruini, V t t V Aiiiifair llandviampleii developments ofuthe operation and effects pofintoxicatingdrinks, uponithe lconduct, character, and happiness of thet;lphuinanfatni1y, memora-» bled age, Wouldhpresueint an eiitraordinary lpanoriarnawi for the contemplation of ratlionalpi man. It would be impossi-— ble fora spectator, withia feeling heartland at» ready per-» ception of theridieulous, to linger long oversuch a va- riegated llpicttum of real life, i made. up, as it ever has been, of fantastic lightsand melancholy shadows, with-» out anexhibition of , the conflicting emotions of his soul, in smiles or tears, as the preposterous or the pathetic prevailpedg At one tmornent, he may behioldtl the iniser, j inebriated beyond all t€1011bt,, at theichaxrgetof .some,hos... Pitable neiiighbbrv1iii$1S1‘riV.%11ediheart Widenlvexpandins a feeling ‘of unwanted wbenevolence ; his tongue an» able to ntterhisbeneficentl designs for his fellow-creatures . l on thezmorrovitg whet Iayst11isiiihe{td~lupon his pillow,..and hi5iPhi1anth1f°P¥eve-rt9tates;:perien=ce upon the bench, looks clown upon the con». demnecl, who expect their fate in dungeons anclin chains, 14 and aflirins, in the Words of Sir Matthew I-Iale, of all these perpetrators of murders, robberies, burglaries, and every variety of crime, l"our~fifths can trace their miserable end tothe use of intoxicating liquor. The careful calculator of cause and efi'ect, While he surveys the domestic wretchedness, which the picture exhibits, will adopt the language of Chief Justice Mar»- shall, or the late lamented Mr. Wirt, the Attorney-Gene- ral of the United States, and affirm, that nine-tenths of it all spring from intemperance alone. The voyager-———tl1e commercial man, in the miscarriage of his plans, the shipwreck of’ his vessels, the loss of his property, and the sacrifice of his dearest friends, will fre-— quently discover the cause, in the intemperance of his agents, as inthe case of the Rothsay Castle, the Ben Sherrod, and the Home. , The philanthropist-—-the moral man, behold the scene with a mixture of pity and disgust. They see before them the brutal husband, the apostate father, under the stim~— ulus of cider or beer-—-—I refer to cases of actual occur»- rence in our country~—~—cutting down, with a single stroke of his axe, the Wife of his bosom and the child clinging at her breast 3 the son beating out the brains of an aged father 5 the inebriated wife, sustained by her paramour, plunging the dagger to the hilt, in her husband’s heart. The time arrive, by the blessing of Almighty God, when the history of such cruel realities as these, will re»- pose upon the shelves of future generations, with their volumes of legendary tales. Enormous, even at the pre- sent day, is the mass of corruption that remains ; yet the rivers of purifying water have not passed in vain through the Augean stables of a polluted world. The very atmo- sphere appears to have lost a portion of its loathsome ef~ fluvia. In certain favored sections of our country, a drunkard would attract as much of the public attention, at the presentday, as a stranger of distinction. The vis- iter, morning, noon, or night, is no longer pressed, by 15 the universal bond of social intercourse, to take a little rum. Rum, the drunkard’s ratsbane, the very thing that killed him, is now rarely exhibited at his funeral, within six feetof the coflin. The relativesand neighbors of the defunct are no longer expected, as a part of the funeral service, to swallow a little of the poisona,i’?l¥iwl1icl1 notori- ously destroyed their departed friend. Such, however, was the general usage, some five and twenty years ago. Some five and twenty years ago, nothing was accounted so essential to the completion of all contracts, however insignificant in their character, as a little rum. A sorry horse could not change his owner without a little rum. Some five and twenty years ago, neither the sailor nor the soldier could exhibit the spirit of a man, until he was reduced to the condition of a brute ; and the glory of vic~ tory might have been ascribed, with evident propriety, to the distiller. Some five and twenty years ago, bread, with the poor man, was of secondary importance ; meat was a luxury, reserved for the Sabbath grum was the great necessary of life. The very sight of his shivering children reminded him of the propriety of putting a little rum into his own stomach. lUpon a journey, some five and twenty years ago, whenever the brute drank a little water, the man drank awlittle rum. The imperishable soul distinguishes immortal man from the beast that per-A ishes 3 but bone and muscle, blood vessels and nerves are coinmoin to both; both are sensible of pain and fa-— tigue. What an amusing spectacle is here-—---an athletic man pouring half a pint of rum into his stomach, to ena- ble him to sit upright upon the back of a sorry horse, that drinks nothing but water! Five and twenty years ago, the good man could not go to mill without a little rum ; the good wife could not hang on her kettle without a little rum. The physician, five and twenty years ago, prescribed a little rum to his patient ; and he took a little rum himself. it Even the holy man, five and twenty years ago, thought he could preach a little better if he tool: at 16 little rum ; andthe congregation thought they couldihear at little better, if they did the verysame thing. -Five and twenty years ago, upon our holidays, festivals, and thanksgivings, there were not a few, who ate and drank until those who were not ready to sleep were ready to fight. Upon such occasions,- parents scolded their child» ren, husbands wrangled with their wives. r Some of our worthy ancestors gavethe sugar at the’ bottom of their glasses to their little children, before they could speak, and mothers drawledlout their lullabies, under the sopo- rific influence of sugar and gin, and sang themselves to sleep instead of their babies. Five and twenty years ago, the influence of intoxicating drink, in accomplishing the degradation of man, was, by no means, confined to the humbler walks of life. The cobbler was drunk upon his stall~l—-the king was drunk upon his throne--lawyers, physicians, and clergymen, were occasionally found in the ranks of intemperate men; comforting andsustain- ing one another, by the force of reciprocal exaample ; and furnishings. plea of j ustificationto multitudes of common drunkards in a lower grade. Five and twenty years ago, the notorious drunkenness of a judge in»the after part of therday, produced an abolition of the afternoon sessions of’ the court. A short time before the new arrangement, an eminent barrister presented a motion to the judge ;it WaS“1.1l"1fOI‘tl1fla.tBly‘ infthe afternoon the court roomwas crowded gt the judge jhiccupped, but it was utterly unable to reply ; the barristerrepeated the motion ; the judge hiccuppedxagain ; when the learned counsellor, in a te- licitous manner, peculiarly hisrown, turned round to the multitude, and exclaimed,‘ “I am astonished thatany manwill pay a dollar to go to the theatre, when he can come here‘ for nothing.” the year 1812, when the first.smovem»ents"were made, in this holy enterprise, in Massachusetts, a senator of that ‘commotnlwealth, who i wasrlalso a minister of the gospel, excited the merritnent aw-some and kflleldisgustl of others, by advocating the 17 cause of temperance, in a publicassernbly, ‘he being no- toriously a man of grossly intemperate habits, andunder the influence of intoxicating liquor at the time. Of the fact which I am about to relate, I speak of my own per.- sonal knowledge. In the year 1820, I saw a truly great and venerable man, then about eighty years of age, go- ing from dram shop to dram shop in the village where he resided, earnestly requestingthe proprietors to sell no ardent spirit to his son, who was then chief justice of the court of common pleas, and a notorious drunkard. Five and twenty years ago, there was no crime in the deca- logne nor out of it, which was not the obvious and fre— quent result of the use of intoxicating liquor. Why not go on, from the ciiadle to the grave, in the same reckless career of intemperance and crime, of poverty and dis- ease, of drunken delirium and untimely death P Because, my friends and fellow-countrymen, we must not--we ought not--——we dare not. Five and tw enty years ago, the example of the learned, the opulent, the reverend, and the grave, perfectly coin- ciding With the appetite of man in ca ihumbler sphere, was extensively followed-——e-untirl drunkenness, like a deluge, bearing along upon its waters of strife, the broken hearts and broken hopes of fathers and mothers, the shattered relics of domestic repose, the fallen dignity of man, the prostrate victims of all misery, insanity and crime, abso- lutely threatened the annihilation of our civil, political, and religious institutions. I Eminent statesmen, civilians, and divines began to com- municate their fears to one another. I heard the dis- tinguished man, to Whoml have already alluded, the Honorable Samuel Dexter, of Messachusetts, the first president of thefirst temperance society in New England —-—-I heard himireinark, nearly thirty years ago, while con- templating the drunken riots upon Boston common, “The institutions of a conntryicannot be permanently safe, where three things exist, tumultuous assemblies, crafty 3 V 18 ‘tleniagogues, and the means of drunkenness.” in-:2 long men began to combine for the suppression of this many headed monster. So imperfect were the conceptions of the pioneers in this admirable work, that the very first society, organized in the year 1813,——contemplated no- ‘thing like total abstinence, even from ardent spirits, nor did they adopt a pledge. They composed a society of temperate drinkers, pledged to nothing. Such were the days of small things. Statistical information has been so profusely scattered over the remotest hamlets of our land, that it would be a superfluous task to exhibit a detailed account of the spread of this glorious reformation. It has bestritdlden the ocean and the land like a colossus. It has found a resting place in every corner of the habitable World. When the principle of total abstinence from ar- dent spirit alone began to be applied extensively, its in»- sufliciency for crying occasions of a suffering world was readily perceived. The friends of temperance in Great Britain, for exam- ple, disposed, as they were, to recognize and embrace the principle of association and the pledge, exclaimed at once, that we had sent them an imperfect doctrine. What beneficial influence, said they, can a pledge of abstinence from ardent spirit be expected to exert over the beer drunkards of England P We cannot question the Wisdom of this interrogatory, when connected with the fact, re- peatedl-y affirmed in the public journals, that two thirds of all the drunkenness of the realm are produced by fer- rnente’dliquo'rs. We are perfectly aware of the existence and of the splendor of the gin-palaces in London and elsewhere 3 yet the poor man’s ruin, so frequently achieved with us, in the clramw-shop, is there very comrnon- fly accomplished, in "the ale-house. The beer consumed in that country is, in quantity, enormous. We effer a sin- rgle illustration of this fact and of the Wonderful extension of the brewing business, "during the last fifty years. Thrale, the brewer, died in 178]. Dr. Samuel Johnson, one of the executors of his will, sold the brewery for ~19 'l35;,i000tii sterling, nearly $600,000. It paid, at that time, ainyannuial revenue to the crown, £20,000 sterling or about $3 90,000. Markvtlie progress of ,tl,1is individual es- tablishrnent. It is now the largest inf the world. Its buildingscover ten acres of ground, andithe machinery includes two steam engines. The store cellars contain 126 vats, varying in their contents from 41000 to 500 bar-: rels. About 150 horses are employed in carrying beer to different parts of London. The quantity brewed in. 0 1826, was 380,180 barrels ; upon which a duty of 10 shile lings the barrel was paid, revenue to the crown, equal to is 180,090 sterling, or about $5‘ $00,000 duty, in a single year, from a single brewery. As the great and obvious end of this majestic entere prise is the prevention of drunkenness and all that mis- ery which follows in its train, the means adopted should be coextensive with the end proposed. Drunkenness has existed upon the earth, as a personal, domestic, and national curse, ever since the means of drunkenness were first discovered ; and, of course, for ages before the con- trivance of distilled spirit. The gross drunlrenness of Noah, of Lot, of Belshazzar, of theprirnitive Corinthian disciples around the table of their Lord, the drunkenness of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the drunkenness of Greece, the drunkenness of Rome, whose history maybe found, scattered profusely over the pages of ancient wri-l, ters—-—all this drunkenness was produced by fermented liquors, and principally by a species of unenforced wine, which, to the palate of a modern ban vivant, an aecom- plished connoiseur in wines, at the present day, would appear altogether flat, stale, and unprofitable. Yetwe have never heard of any more disgusting results, from the free employment of N ew-England rum, than we find recorded in the holy volume, as having been produced, in the families of the patriarchs, by the use of this pure juice of the grape. Man’s constitutional temperament remains unaltered. He is composed of . the very same materials, of which Noah was composed; his physiolo- gical arrangement,'of' bones, muscles, blood-vessels, brain, and nerves, is precisely the same. We must therefore conclude, that the same means, which produced drunk- enness of old, will produce drunkenness at the present day. . T The most common exhibitions of drunkenness are among the poor, the miserable, the desperate. With such the cheapest inebriant, and the most efliectual in its ope- ration, is in the greatest demand. A vast proportion of all drunkenness has been attributed accordingly, and with perfect justice, to the employment of distilled spirit. Let us, by the aid of the Temperance Society, abolish the use of distilled spirit-—what will be the result? The very same which has been produced in other countries, by the operation of excise. A heavy duty on gin drives the tippler to beer or some cheaper inebriant ; and, while it diminishes the traffic in one of the means of drunkenness, increases the traflic in others. Cupiclity will cater for thevitiated appetites of mankind. If distilled spiritwere abolished from the earth, men would apply themselves, with incredible activity, to the preparation of vineyards, wherever the soil and climate would permit ; to the plant- ing of orchards, and to the cultivation of hops and malt. Ifwe must necessarily infer from the record of the past, that drunkenness and its deplorable effects are matters inseparable from the social state, it is of high importance that we should carefully consider the effect of 'fl.l)0liSlliIlg' the use of distilled spirit from the World. There is a very surprising difference in the physical effects of cliflerent in- toxicating liquors upon the animal machine. No two in- ebriants produce precisely the same effects ; and, between the effects of distilled spirit and fermented liquor, the dili- iference is strongly marked. In one particular they all agree; alcohol is present in them all. “ Malt liquors,” says Dr. McNish, in his“Anatomy of Drunkenness, “act in tvifoways “uponthe body, partly by the alcohol they éontain,iand partly by the narcotic princliple.V ‘Persons ardldictedltitoilmalt liquors increase “enormously in”bul»k.-—- the juice of‘ the grape. A 21 They become loaded with fat; the chin gets double or triple ; the eye prominent ; and the whole face bloated and stupid. Their circulation is clogged. During sleep the breathing is stertorous. Every thing indicates an excess of blood. In seven cases out of ten, malt liquor drunk- ards die of apoplexy or palsy ; if they escape these, swelled liver or dropsy carries them off. The effects of malt liquors on the body, if not so immediately rapid as those of ardent spirit, are more stupifying, more lasting‘, and less easily removed. Both Wine and malt liquors have a greater tendency to swell the body than ardent spirits. They form blood with greater rapidity. The most dreadful effects upon the whole, are brought on by ardent spirits, but drunkenness from malt liquors is most speedily fatal. The former break down the body by de-' grees; the latter operate by some instantaneous apo- plexy or rapid inflammation.” Such are the opinions of Dr. McNish. The account, furnished by Dr. Hewitt, of the wine drunkenness of France, by no means encourages us to expect the slightest advantage, should we relinquish dis- tilled spirit, as the means of drunkenness, and resort to The abolition of ardentspirit alone, would probably be as ineffectual for the prevention of drunkenness, as the abolition of one particular kind of Weapon for the preven- tion of murder. There is no crime, which has ever been committed, under the influence of ardent spirit, which has not been committed under the stimulus of Wine, cider, or beer. It is obvious, that mankind will fasten upon one intoxicating liquor after; another, until the plain good sense of the people shall have tabooed them all. Is it the part of Wisdom to institute as many reformations as there are inebriating drinks B Is it not the more judicious course, in this holy Warfare, to make Oujrlines co-exten- sive, at once, with the lines of our adversaries P If we should not rate highly that Warrior’s discretion, who went forth with his helmeralone, and, being wounded, Q‘) flu‘.-u' returned for his breast-plate, neglecting the eniployment» of each part of his armor, until actual suffering had taught him the value of a perfect panoply—--—-—~without a moment’s, hesitation or delay, let us put on the whole armor of a, cold water man. The habit of drinking is not likely to confine itself to one species of intoxicating liquor. As that habit con- tinues, the sensibility of the palate becomes less, while the appetite becomes greater. He, who, for years, had con- fined himself to the use of family beer, and who, for the production of the accustomed stimulus, had been obliged to lay a constantly increasing tax upon the elastic powers of his stomach; is delighted to realize a relief from this painful necessity, in the superior activity and power of porter or wine. From these, in process of time, he turns away, for the very same reason as before, to more active inebriants. What, though trouble be about his path and about his bed»-—-—-the false god is at his elbow, not in the form of a stone image, but of a stone jug, and he has no- thing to do, but to fall down and worship with his lips. The practical effects of this glorious reformation are apparent in every hamlet of our land. The seed already scattered upon our hills and vallies, has sprung up a1'1d borne fruintbeyond the highest hopes of the husbandman. Among the very first fruitsof theharvest, we are ]:rer.- tnittecl to gather an inestimableblessing, in the irnprov e-i ment»of our reasoning powers »; we can reason more clear»- ly and morefcalmlyyvvith our neighbor, and we can yield a. more patientattention to the arguments, of our fellow- men. The benefits resulting from the reformation, have fallen hitherto chiefly among the poorer classes of man: kind. Occasionallythe opulent and the fasl1io,nabl,e., by pledging themselves to, abstain from a beveragepwhich they seldom or. never partake, have given the sanction_ of their names,.at least, to this noble enterprise. It is quite desirable, that they should now commence a re.-; forination, on their own account,., by the abandonment of allother inebriating liquors. They call upon the poor 2'3 inan, not only not to be drunk with ardent spirit, but to surrender it entirely. Wine, alrnore costly beverage, is beyond the poor man’s grasp. In calling therefore upon him, for the sacrifice‘ of his cheap and ‘vulgar inebriant, they require of him the resignation of every intoxicating iiquor within his reach, at the present time. May he not, with equal propriety, demand of the rich n1an, not only not to be drunk with wine, but to relinquish it entirely ‘P Will the richrman say, that its employment isnot injuri- ‘ous to him? How untrue such an averment as this! it impairs the ‘exercise ef his reasoning powers. It di- minishes the benevolence of his heart, though, for-atirne, it may stimulate this very principle, and produce a cer- tain amount of morbid, theoretical ‘philanthropy, which commonly evaporates with the fumes. It rouses into unprofitable action all that is contentious in the nature of man. It prepares its votary, in a manner peculiar to itself, for the perpetration of crime. It elevates the creature ; it depresses the Creator. Thus the drinker of fermented liquors, tl1ou'g'l1 he may have turned indig’- nz=1.*ntly away from one false god, is an idolator still. iI—Iow magnificent themarch of this glorious rreforrnar— tion ! How continually its path has been briglitened by the smiles of hope and the tears of joy I Wives have re“- egained their husbands. Orphans have found their fa- thers. Iwill invite you to ascend with me that lofty eminence, whither the friends of this noble enterprise have carried the banners of temprerance and peace. I will ask you, from that elevated pinnacle, to cast your admiring gaze, far and wide, over the ocean and the land. Behold more than two thousand temperance barks, cut»- ting their way through the wilderness of waters, and ‘catching the breezes of Heaven in ‘every corner of the world i!» Within their wooden walls they hold the sons, ‘the brothers, the fathers, the husbands of some, perhaps", who are gathered here. Those hearts of oak have ’placed their reliance, under the guardianship of him who ‘rulctli the sea, upon their natural energies alone. I ask 24 you, my friends, to carry your thoughts far away from the scene before you, and, by the powers ofimagination, placecyourselves, foran instant, by the side of those who are dearest to your hearts, upon the rolling ocean. I ap- peal to the brother, the playmate of whose infancy, is now buffetingthe storms of some distant clime; to the widowed mother, whose only son is now turning his thoughts homeward and upon her, as he walks the silent deck, upon his watch by night 3 to that aged father, who looks for the return of some long expected child; to the wife, who sighs from the depths of her heart, as she rocks the bairn in its cradle, and listens to the howling storm ; to the maid betrothed, who sends aloft to the mariner’s God her prayers and her sighs for the sailor boy—-I ask you all, to tell me, if you can, the value of that additional feelingof security, wliicchyouunowenjoy, in the conscious- ness that your dearest friends have abandoned their false ‘gods, and left them behind; that they no longer, in a moment of peril, when their security depends upon their utmost vigilance, fly for oblivion to a stupifying poison ; reeling unconsciously from life to death, and coming drunk, before the throne of an ofl‘en~ded God ! From the eminence, on which you stand, look down upon the moral resurrection of p the world. As -the genius of temperance moves onward from hamlet to hamlet, from clirne to clime, what countless thousands arise from their volun- tary graves ! The tenderly beloved, the longlost child, dead and buried in his trespasses and sins, shakes off the bandages of a,mor,alldeath, andreturns, at last, to the trembling arms of an aged father. Children, whose early experience in human misery has instructed them to fly from the walking corpsesof their apostate parents, among. the first fruits of thissblessed reformation, are permitted to gather a harvest of returning kindness and penitential , A sorrow. g’ Therejoicing wife bathes her shivering babes in aflood of a happy tears, as the delightful music of the are or thB,haI,I1fl1BI' teaches her onceirmore to hope for lbetter, days 3 or thB,,I'6f0I'II1i11§,', h11sband,,after yearcsl of \ \’ .J.'”'l'' W) 3: slothful inattention to his family, returns to his little ones at last, with bread, thatthey may eat and live. Such inestimable benefits as these have proved insuf- ficient to secure this christian enterprise from the sneers and reproaches of mankind. Let us summarily examine: the various objections, which have been opposed to the temperance reform. It has been said to be a sectarian thing ; Paul therefore must submit to be drowned, rather than be rescued from the water by the hands of Apollos ! Among all the denominations of christians, there cannot be found a single sect, which has not afforded its support to the temperance reform ; we must therefore admit the assertion to be sufficiently proved, that the reformation is a sectarian thing. It is said to have been gotten up by the orthodox. After a careful examination, we are satisfied of the truth of this charge ; for christians of all denominations are perfectly orthodox in their efforts to exterminate the curse of intemperance from the earth. . i It has been asserted, that the temperance reform is a political thing. Neither can this accusation be denied. The friends of temperance do not believe, that anti-tem~ perance men can safely be trusted to make laws, to govern a commonwealth, or to administer a tow n’s affairs. There»- fore, without any fear but the fear of God before their eyes,f~theyi will oppose the election of such candidates at the polls. Shall they be restrained from the conscien- tious exercise of their right of suffrage, and vote for men who will uphold that use and traffic, which we believe to be morally wrong, lest they bring down upon the friends of temperance the imputation of political design? Who are they, to whom the idea of making the cause of term- perance a political thing is so very alarming? Are they the friends of peace, of order, of religion, and of. law? Not so. They are either anti-temperance men, in spirit and in grain, or that more embarrassing class of doubters, and drivellers, and halters between two opinions ;. men, who are more fearful of their own shadows, than of the 4 26 intelligible commandments of God, or the simple dictates of humanity and common sense. The rum maker, the rum seller, and the rum drinker, with whom rum has al- ways been the great master key to unlock the hearts of men uponelection days, shake with rage and alarm, at the bare idea of insisting upon temperance, as a qualifi- cation, in any candidate for public oflice. Yet there is no novelty in this. “ The habit of using ardent spirit by men in public office,” said Thomas Jefferson, “ has occa- sioned more injury to the public service, and more trouble to me, than any other circumstance which has occurred, in the internal concerns of the country, during my ad—- ministration; and, were I to commence my administra- tion again, the first question I would ask, with regard to every candidate for public office, should be-——--is he addict- led to the use of ardent spirit 3”’ The temperance reform, we are therefore constrained to admit, is apolitical thing. The friends of temperance have been charged with a design to unite“ the church and the state. We cannot deny the truth of this accusation. Religion, pure and undefiled, can never so extensively prevail in a state, where internperance is a direct and unavoidable conse- quence of unchristian legislation, for the protection of the traffic in ruin. With such a state the church of Christ must ever stand at variance. By the removal of this hideous traflic in broken hopes, broken hearts, and broken constitutions, the friends of temperance are certainly tie»- sirous 'of' uniting the" church and the state in the bonds of peace. i i — It has been gravely and frequently asserted, that the friends and advocates of the reformation intend to take away the liberties of the people. Such is undoubtedly the fact ; the liberties of the people are in in‘1rninent»dan~ ger of being taken away----the liberty of getting drunk ; the liberty ofwhipping and persecuting their wives ; the liberty of murdering‘ their children ; the li“berty.of plung- ing thtemselvesi and their families in to poverty and shame; theiliberty of fperpetratingoevery crime in the rdecalogue and out of it ; the liberty of wallowing in themire ; the 27 liberty of occupying, by turns, treadmills and penitentia» ries, county jails, state prisons and lunatic asylums § and the precious liberty, at last, of lying down in the drunk« lard’s grave or hanging upon wires in the anatomist’s hall. Such are those inestimable liberties of the people, which are in danger, of being taken away. A There are other objections to the temperance reform, equally unsound, but which are entitled to be examined in a graver temper, simply because they have proceeded from men in high oflicial stations. “ How comes it,” say the friends of alcohol, “ that this darling of our hearts, which we have esteemeda good creature of God, should not have been discovered to be the grievous curse, A which you affirm it to be, by the wise and good of former ages 9 Why were not combinations formed, and volumes written for its abolition, before the present era of the world?” This inquiry is manifestly predicated upon an absurd presumption, that the powers of human intelli- gence and the moral perceptions of mankind were as per- fect in the beginning of the world, as they are at the present day, guided «by the lamp of science; chastened and sustained by the religious principle ; and surrounded by the accumul,atedlwistlom,of many generations. " With equal propriety, we may inquire, why were there no railways in Egypt P ,Why were not locomotive engines manufactured by Tubal Cain P With equal wisdom we may refuse to credit the fact, that the blood circulates in our bodies, because that fact was hidden from man- kind fbr nearly fourteen hundred years of the Christian a era. The ‘most extraordinary declaration, which has come to our knowledge, in opposition to the temperance re~ form, has proceeded from the lips of a bishop ofour own country, whose peculiar sentiments no other bishop has venturedlto endorse. He has affirmed, that “ the success of the temperance society will be the triumph of infidel- ity.” This highly sublimated doctrine is, at first, alto- gether unintelligible. Our understanding of the matter is this; more than eighteen hundred years ago the gospel ‘28 was delivered to mankind for the reformation of the” world 3 nevertheless drunkenness has continued upon the earth to the present day. Now, if temperance societies should be suffered to accomplish that, which the gospel has not been able to accomplish, the infidel will exclaim, the power of man is greater than the power of the gos- pel. Nothing is more easy than a dissection of this mis- erable sophistry. The holy volume contains nothing ad- verse to the formation of societies, for the accomplish- mentof those ends and aims, which the gospel is intend- ed to promote. It is the very influence of that blessed gospel, which has brought mankind to associate in this labor of philanthropy ; and the success of the temperanlcer society will be the triumph of the gospel, which has taught us to go forward, with one spirit, for the fulfil~ ment of its high,-and holycommands. A A q Therecan be little diffeirence of opinion, among those friendsof the ref'ormation,whlo have gravely considered this interesting subject, in regard to the means, which it is our duty to employ, for its accomplishment. Of course, We are authorised to employ no other than moral means- It is fortunate for the cause, that we have not exhausted our entire stock of moral means, though we have em- ployed moral suasion, for many years, and frequently in vain. Laws for the prevention of pauperism and crime, are moral means. Wherever moral suasion is likely to prevail, kind appealsto the feelings and the reason of mankind, are the only legitimate means to be employed. But there are numerous examples of the utteryinsuiiiciem of moral suasion. It would be as practicable to stop the career of the Mississippi, with a bulrush, as to turn cer- tain dealers in death and destruction, by the hogshead and the gill, from their odious traflic, through the gentle agency of‘ moral suasion. AI will illustrate myopinion by, one or two familiar examples. An industrious blacksmith called, on me to inquire if nothing could be done to put an end to the evils of ‘fintemperance. I replied, that much had been done, in the diffusion of light lancllovc, thro;ugl‘1 the pr.ess,,and by public lectures anddiscussions. , “ No» 29" thing has been clone,” replied this poor man, “ for me and‘ mine. My wife will not sign a pledge, nor read a tract,’ nor listen toa lecture ; but, in defiance of all my exer- tions, she will get drunk. She has pawned mytools, and” even her children’sclothes,tf'or rum]. It is not often,”con- tinned he, “ that I indulge myself with fresh n1eat, for I am a poor man with a large family ; but a few days since, I sent home a joint, by my eldest boy, for dinner. Not long before the dinner hour, the lad came running to the shop to inform me, that his mother had sold the meat, and boughta jug of rum. I felt disheartened; and, leav- ing my work unfinished, threw off my apron, and Went h=ome.:.. I glanced in at my door; and, having ascertained that my Wife had obtained her liquor at the usual place, I went directly to the shop. It was kept by a church member. In the presence of several customers, I told him, that he had been engaged for twelve months past, in turning my home into an hell, and had Well nigh per- fected the work. I begged him to grant me one favor, assuring him that it should be the last I would ever ask ‘ oi" him-——-to step over to my humble dwelling, and look upon my Wife, drunk upon the floor, and listen, for a short time only, to the-I‘ cries of my stariving children. This rumselling professor of religion put hishand upon " my shoulder, and turned me outof his shop door.” How entirely preposterous, my friends, to talk of moral suasioni in cases likethese ! Once more. In the month of March, of the present year, I called upon a deacon in the city of Boston, from whom I had purchased grain for several I years. Iinquired, if he continued to sell ardent spirit. I-Ie repliedthat he did sell a little. I told him, that I, should no longer be his customer for grain, unless he abandoned his traffic in spirit. As the amount I had paid him annually was very considerable, he naturally ex- pressed his regret at losing so good a customer. “ I only sell a little,” said he. “ It is ofno consequeiice, deacon,” I replied, “ wliether you sell littlemor much. It is a scan- dal to the cause of religion, that you are engaged in this lrightful traflic. "You have confessed to me, that your 30 own clergyman has disapproved of your conduct ;and I hoped, that, when Simon Johnson died, you would have given up this odious business.” “Why, sir,” said the deacon, “I do not know that it was ever proved that Johnson had his liqour at my store.” “No, deacon, it never was proved judicially. Johnson, returning to ROX+ bury from Boston, with a heavily loaded team, bought a bottle of gin at your shop, made free use of the liquor, and became drunk. Within a few rodslof my own door, in attempting to jump upon the tongue of his tvagon, he fell over, and was crushed beneath the wheels. I The next day he died in the poor-house. About an hour be- fore his decease, he was asked, where he obtained- his liquor, and he replied, that he obtained it at your store, deacon. We have no other proof of this fact, than his dying declaration. Itrust you will forsake this heart- sickening employment. I will call, in a few days, for your decision, and I assure you, that I had rather have ten common rumsellers than one deacon engaged in this traf- fic.” After three days, Icalled upon this rumseller again. ‘He came forth to meet me with an uncommon cheerful- ness of manner. i‘° Well, deacon,” said I, “ have you de- cided upon your course P” “I have made up my mind, sir,” he replied, “to give that up.” “I am rejoiced to hear it,” said I. “ Oh, sir,” he exclaimed, suddenly in- terrupting me--~“ not the traffic, but nay office in the church.” * There is a large body of men in the community, who are ever ready to admit that temperance is a very good thing, so long as they are permitted to grow richlby sell- ing the means of drunkenness. So long as moral suasion is the only remedy proposed, they are contented to pre- serve the consideration of the friends of temperance, by a civil carriage, and the good will of their own customers, by selling them as much liquor as they are willing to pur- chase. N o sooner is it proposed to legislate for the per- manent establisment of this very good thing, than we are deafened by their clamors against the proposal ; and from all quarters we hear the cry of church and state, and the 31 liberties of the people. The monks and scribes of France in the sixteenth century, could not deny that the bible was a very good thing ; but, when they could no longer obtain six hundred crowns for a manuscript copy, because Faust demanded but thirty, they very naturally com- bined against the diffusion of this very goodthing. The cry, at that time, was not church and state, but Faust and the Devil. , The attitude adopted by the dramseller, upon such oc~ casions, resembles the conduct of a man, armed with a small sword, who advances to take the life of an old-fash- ioned New England farmer, who has no other weapon than his flail. ” After many ineffectual efforts to turn his adversary from his purpose, by moral suasion, he raises the flail in his defence. Although the first or second blow may not be effectual, the swordsman perceives, that he himself must infallibly be vanquished at last. He then stands upon his guard, and exclaims, “your life, my friend, I admit, is a very good thing, and I am. entirely satisfied that you have a right to defend it by moral suasion, but you have no right to attempt its preservation in this ex-l traordinary manner. I oall. upon you, by all the laws of honor, to defend yourself like a gentleman. You have no right to oppose my attempts to murder you, and your wife, and your children, by raising against me such an inhuman and barbarous instrument as a flail.” It has been attempted by those who are opposed to the prevention of intemperance, by penal enactment, to reduce such legislation to the footing of a sumptuary law; and to alarm the people with the idea of legislative in- terference in relation to their food and raiment. A Sump- tuary laws, which have existed under every form of government, refer exclusively to the cost of living-—-—to expenditure; and, in the opinion ofMontesquieu, are par- ticularly appropriate to democracies. Intoxicating liquor, it is true, is an article of drink, and its abolition from the community would manifestlytend toeconomy, to thrift. Sofarthere is a resemblancefietween a law forthe abolition of the means of drunkenness and a sumptu’"ary 32 law. As the employment of‘ intoxicat.ing liquor is promo- tive, of crimes of every, description, :1 law, prohibitory of the means of drunkenness, is not, designedly, a sumptu- ary law, but an act of high moral legislation, for the pre- vention of all that infinite variety of’ crime, so universally producedlunder the stimulus of intoxicating liquor. I have made no ordinary trial of your patience. Re- member, I beseech you, my friends and fellow?-laborers in this holy cause, remember the condition of your ulti- mate sucoess—--“ if ye faint not.” Put your hands to the work. Invoke the assistance of heaven in your prayers; but forget not to put your shoulders to the wheel. As certainly as falsehood and truth must ever be twain, sooner or later, the God of justice and of mercy will give you the victory. The inebriating draught shall no Ion-~ ger be found upon the earth, for its products shall no longer be converted into poison for man. Summer and winter, seed time and harvest shall pass away, and no child of Adam shall descend any more into the drunk- ard’s grave. The child shall no longer be guided to de- struction, by the example of its intemperate father. The wife shall no longer wait, and watch, and Weep, for the return of a drunken husband, at the midnight hour, stirring the embers of a scanty tire, and rocking the cradle, which contains the bone of , his bone, and the flesh of his flesh. Children shall no longer fly in terror from their inebriated parents. The baser passions in man’s nature, no longer excitedby the stimulus of inter» icating liquor, he shall come under the governrnentol’ reason; man shall regainthe dominion over himself; religion shallresuxne her station in the soul. These flood gates of ruin shall be closed forever. . The bitter Waters of strife, which, for ages, have deluged and deso- lated the earth, shall be driedup at their fountain heads. The sun shall shine with a brighter splendor ; and the broad midway .moon,.as she sails athwart the sky, shall diffuvse her milder light over a temperate World.