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TEMPERANCE 
RECOLLECTIONS 

LABOES,  DEFEATS,  TEIUMPHS, 
AN  AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 


/ 
BT  JOHN  MARSH,  D.  D., 

SECBETARY    OF    THE    FIRST    THREE    NATIONAL    TEMPERANCE    CONTENTIONS, 

AND   THIRTY   YEARS   CORRESPONDING   SECRETARY   AND   EDITOR    OP 

THE   AMERICAN   TEMPERANCE   UNION. 


QTJOEVM    PARS   FUI. 

We  speak  that  we  do  kno-w,  and  testify  that  we  have  seen.— John. 


NEW  YORK: 

CHAELES  SCKIBNEK  &  CO.,  054  BPwOADWAY. 
1866/ 


Entered,  according  to  the  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  18G6,  by 

JOHN    MARSn,    D.D., 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the  Southern 

District  of  New  York. 


^^^=^%x, 


JOHN   F.  TEOW  &   CO., 

.IKirTEKS,  STEnEOTYPERS.  ^  ELECTROTYTERS, 

60    GREENE    STREET,     N.Y. 

\ 


LUCIUS  MANLIUS  SARGENT, 

AUTHOR  OF  THE  TEMPERANCE  TALES. 

Dear  Sir  : — If  the  wonderful  powers  given  us,  sometimes,  in  a  meas- 
ure, fail,  as  we  draw  to  the  close  of  our  earthly  career,  it  is  happy  for 
us  that  affection  does  not ;  but  that  the  attachment  of  early  days — days  of 
joy  and  hope  in  spirited  and  fruitful  labor,  rather  strengthens  and  makes 
our  setting  sun  beautiful  and  blessed.  Permit  me,  in  response  to  the  long 
kindness  and  support  you  have  afforded  me  in  days  and  years  of  anxiety 
and  toil,  to  lay  upon  your  table  a  few  reminiscences  of  labors  and  events 
in  which  you  have  been  a  prince  and  a  Nestor ;  keeping  us  up  and  press- 
ing us  forward  by  your  admirable  Temperance  Tales ;  borrowing  nothing 
from  fiction,  but  presenting  to  the  mind  and  heart  the  many  sad  scenes 
flowing  from  that  most  delusive  cup,  to  which  our  countrymen,  both  rich 
and  poor,  have  bowed  the  knee. 

May  your  last  days,  my  dear  Sir,  which,  in  the  mysterious  providence 
of  our  heavenly  Father,  have  been  days  of  sadness,  through  bereavements 
by  war  and  disease,  yet  be  days  of  gladness  and  comfort,  in  the  assurance 
of  good  done  by  your  long  labors  in  the  temperance  cause ;  and  in  the  pros- 
pect, which  you  may  rightfully  indulge,  of  the  reward  of  those  who  have 
turned  many  to  righteousness — shming  as  the  stars  forever  and  ever. 
Most  affectionately  yours, 

JOHN  MAESH. 
Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  April  2,  1866. 


PEEFAOE 


IVLemoey  is  a  wonderful  power  of  the  mind.  By  it 
are  brought  the  events  of  seventy  years,  fresh  within 
the  passing  hour.  By  it  we  make  a  record  of  events 
and  facts,  whose  verity  few  will  be  disj^osed  to  ques- 
tion. But  all  that  it  holds,  unless  recorded,  is  gone 
in  a  moment  when  death  touches  the  silver  cord.  As 
in  the  extinguishment  of  a  lamp,  all  is  darkness.  No 
man  can  remember  for  his  brother. 

Retired  from  thirty  years  of  editorial  and  office  la- 
bor, the  writer  has  been  pressed  by  friends  to  commit 
to  the  stereotype  plate  what  is  uj^on  the  brain,  of 
the  rise,  progress,  and  agencies  of  the  temperance  cause; 
testifying  especially  to, that  of  which,  in  the  good  prov- 
idence of  God,  he  has  been  an  eye  and  ear  witness, 
and  also  an  humble  agent.  The  style  of  autobiography 
he  has  adopted  as  the  most  easy  and  natural,  but  the 
rather,  as  in  most  cases,  official ;  though  with  some  it 
may  savor  of  vanity,  while  he  may  have  been  the  least 
of  all  instrumentalities.      To   criticism   from  those  wlio 


6  PREFACE. 

were  early  actors,  he  will  not  be  much  exposed ;  as  they 
have  nearly  all  passed  away.  Few  may  be  interested 
in  so  long  a  story.  But  all  may  see  in  it  something  of 
the  vast  work  that  has  been  done  to  overthrow  those 
drinking  usages  which  have  filled  the  world  with  sad- 
ness; and  to  suppress  that  traffic,  which  an  eminent  in- 
dividual, Chancellor  Walworth,  has  denominated  "  a  traf- 
fic in  the  souls  and  bodies  of  men."  Had  he  given  a 
full  account  of  all  Avhich  has  been  done,  and  all  which 
has  been  written  on  the  subject,  the  world  would  not 
contain  the  books.  The  incidents  mentioned  in  the 
pages  of  contents,  are,  with  him,  the  most  memorable, 
as  well  as  the  leading  incidents;  especially  in  our  own 
country.  The  work  is  rather  a  record,  than  a  history 
to  be  read  through.  Some  will  turn  to  the  early  stages 
of  the  cause ;  some  to  the  wonderful  Washingtonian 
movement;  some  to  the  Irish  reform;  some  to  the 
Maine  law  operation.  Of  the  fitness  of  the  writer  to 
make  the  record,  others  must  judge.  His  desire  has 
been  to  j^resent  to  those  who  come  after  him  a  con- 
nected series  of  the  great  and  small  events  of  days 
gone  by;  to  excite  their  gratitude  for  what  God  hath 
wrought;  and  to  strengthen  them  in  all  their  future 
labors.  "What  has  been  done  once,  can  be  done  again, 
and  inconceivably  more.  The  battle  is  "God's  battle," 
and  must  and  will  be  continued  by  those  who  desire 
the  coming  and  kingdom  of  Him  who  will  redeem  the 
world  from  iniquity,  and  wipe  away  all  tears  from  all 
eyes. 

Beooklyn,  N.  Y.,  April,  1866. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I. 

Birth — Education — Ministry , Y 

CHAPTER  n. 

Taking  a  three  months'  Temperance  Agency — Labors  in  Baltimore  and 
Washington — Gathering  of  First  Congressional  Temperance  Meeting 
— ^Acquaintance  with  Judge  Cranch,  Dr.  Sewall,  and  others — Appoint- 
ed Permanent  Agent  of  American  Temperance  Society — Dismission 
from  Pastoral  Charge — Attendance  on  First  National  Temperance 
Convention  at  Philadelphia — Made  Secretary — Labors  in  Connecticut 
— Removal  to  Philadelphia — Three  years'  labor  in  connection  with 
Pennsylvania  State  Society 26 

CHAPTER  III. 

Second  National  Convention  at  Saratoga  Springs,  1836 — Appointed  first 
Secretary — Adoption  of  Total  Abstinence  frqjp  all  Intoxicating  Drinks 
— Organization  of  American  Temperance  Union — Appointed  Corrc- 
spondmg  Secretary  and  Editor — First  Issue  of  the  Journal — Second 
Visit  to  Washmgton— Reorganization  of  the  Congressional  Temper- 
ance Society — Great  Progress — Issues  of  the  Press 44 

CHAPTER  IV. 

First  Anniversary  of  the  American  Temperance  Union — Speech  of  Alvan 
Stewart— Object  and  Influence  of  the  Journal— Opening  of  Marlboro' 


U  CONTENTS. 

Temperance  Ilotcl,  Boston — Buckingham  Festival,  Philadelphia — Visit 
with  Mr.  Buckingham  at  Washington — Congressional  Temperance 
Meeting — Address  to  the  French  Court — Second  Anniversary  at  Phila- 
delphia— Prohibition  taken  in  lland — Rev.  T.  P.  Hunt's  Exposure  of 
Frauds  in  the  Liquor  Traffic — Circular  to  Marine  Insurance  Offices — 
Circular  to  Emigrants — Removal  to  New  York — Third  Anniversary  at 
Boston — Good  Progress 60 

CHAPTER  V. 

Fourth  of  July  in  Boston — Fifteen  Gallon  Law  of  Massachusetts — Youth's 
Temperance  Advocate  established — Mr.  Delavan's  Correspondence  in 
Europe — Loudon  Procession — Dr.  Baird's  Letter  from  Russia — India 
— Sandwich  Islands — Bacchus  and  Anti-Bacchus — Character  of  Scrip- 
ture Wines 59 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Wonderful  Events  in  Ireland — Letter  from  Richard  Allen — Father  Mathew 
and  his  Operations — Six  Millions  take  the  Pledge — Dr.  Brownlee's 
Conjecture — Reformed  Drunkards  in  Baltimore — Great  Work  in  New 
York — Attendance  upon  it — Third  National  Convention,  1841 — Har- 
vest Gathered — John  H.  W.  Hawkins'  Character  and  Labors — ^Hannah 
Hawkins — Christian  Keener '73 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Change  in  our  Committee — Dr.  Sewall's  Plates  of  the  Stomach — Excite- 
ment of  Thomas  F.  Marshall — Signs  the  Pledge — Speech  of  G.  N. 
Briggs — Visit  Washington — Great  Meeting — Procure  Messrs.  M.  and 
B.  for  our  Anniversary — Great  Meetings  in  New  York — Soiree  at  Cen- 
tre Market — Sixth  Anniversary — Mr.  Marshall's  Speeches — Duel — T. 
B.  Segur  on  Sabbath-schools — Croton  Water — Seamen — Sons  of  Tem- 
perance— Issues  of  the  Press 87 


CHAPTER  YIH. 

Letters  to  Friends  Abroad — Pierpont's  Song  of  the  Reformed — Incidents 
in  the  Work — City  Traffic — Firemen — Merchants'  Society — Pennsyl- 


CONTENTS.  Ill 

vania  State  Society — Toast  and  Water  Dinner — Barnes'  Sermon — For- 
eign Correspondence — Seventh  Anniversary,  A,  T.  U. — Change  of 
Presidency — Hon.  G.  Cathn's  Speech — Hutchinson  Family  Intro- 
duced to  New  York — Inquirer — Controversy  with  Dr.  Hun  on  Stomach 
Plates — High  Appreciation  of  Plates. 102 


CHAPTER  IX. 

Fifteenth  Anniversary  New  York  State  Society — New  Jersey — Visit 
Washington — Reorganization  Congi-essional  Society — Eighth  Anniver- 
sary A.  T.  U. — Progress  among  Seamen,  and  in  Navy — Great  indig- 
nation against  the  Traffic — Uselessness  of  Moral  Suasion — Opinion  of 
L.  M.  Sargent — John  B.  Gough  introduced  to  New  York — Great  Popu- 
larity— Travel  with  him  through  the  State — Great  Washingtonian  Meet- 
ing at  Boston — Excursion  with  Mr.  Gough,  south — Letter  of  Dr. 
Beecher 116 


CHAPTER  X 

Changes  in  the  Advocacy  of  Temperance — Experience  Meetings  give 
Place  to  Argumentative — Dr.  Sewall's  Death — Excitement  on  the 
Traffic  —  Trials  before  U.  S.  Supreme  Court — Webster — Choate, 
Liquor-dealers'  Counsel — Prohibition  demanded  in  New  England — 
No  License  in  New  York — Ninth  Aimiversary  A.  T.  U.,  1845 — T.  P. 
Hunt  on  Rights  of  Liquor-dealers — Six  Months'  Action  for  no  License 
— Glorious  Results — Tenth  Anniversar}-,  1846 — Rev.  A.  Barnes — Com- 
modore Foote — Cold  Water  Army — Yale  College  Temperance  Society 
Literature • 130 


CHAPTER  XL 

World's  Temperance  Convention — Retrospect — Foreign  Operations — For- 
mation of  London  Society — Spread  of  the  Cause  in  Britain  and  North 
of  Europe — Call  for  a  World's  Convention — Appointment  of  delegates 
— Reception  Meetings  and  Speeches — Covent  Garden  Theatre — Visit 
to  Father  Mathew — Attendance  on  the  Christian  Alliance — Meetings 
at  New  Castle,  York,  Edinburgh,  Glasgow — Return  to  America  in 
Great  Western — Incidents  Abroad — Dr.  Boechcr  on  Sunday-schools — 
Extracts  from  Speeches — Response  in  Broadway  Tabernacle 146 


iV  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XII. 

Decision  of  Supreme  Court  of  tlie  United  States  on  the  License  Question 
— Repeal  of  the  New  York  Law — Dr.  Nott's  Lectures — The  Nott  Con- 
troversy— Famine  in  Ireland — Instructive  Lessons ICO 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

Attention  of  the  Christian  Ministry  and  Churches  turned  to  the  Cause — 
Mr,  "Wesley's  rule  restored — New  York  and  Xew  Jersey  Synod — Con- 
vention of  Ministere  in  Philadelphia — Convention  of  Ministers  in  New 
York — Ministers'  Meeting  in  Boston — Meeting  of  200  Ministers  at 
Manchester,  in  England — Does  Teetotahsm  tend  to  Infidelity  ? — Sun- 
day Liquor  Traffic  in  New  York,  Sermon  on  —  Petition  to  the 
Mayor 1*75 


CHAPTER  XIY. 

Father  Mathew  in  America — Reception  at  New  York — Speech  of  the 
Mayor — Procession  through  Broadway — Administers  the  Pledge  in 
Brooklyn — Meetings  at  the  Cathedral — Invitation  to  Boston — Magnifi- 
cent Welcome — Speech  of  Gov.  Briggs — Operations  in  Massachusetts 
— Illness  at  Worcester — Sets  his  Face  to  the  South — Compliments  at 
Washington — Reception  at  Charleston,  New  Orleans,  St.  Louis — Re- 
turn to  Ireland — Death — Eulogy ISY 


CHAPTER  XV. 

Temperance  Life  Insurance  Company  projected  —  Correspondence — Dr. 
Nott,  E.  C.  Delavan,  S.  Chipman,  Rev.  T.  P.  Hunt,  Dr.  J.  C.  Warren, 
Gen.  Cary,  and  others — Medical  Society  at  Cincinnati — ^Addresses  of 
Dr.  Drake  and  Dr.  Mussey .• 200 


CHAPTER  XYI. 

The  Half-century — Retrospect  and  Prospects — Tribute — Power  of  the 
Enemy — Army  for  Future  Conflict — Truth  and  Love — Ministers — 
Churches — Temperance  Orders — Sons  of  Temperance — Grand  Division 


CONTENTS. 


at   Boston — Recent  Publications — Fifteenth  Anniversary  American 
Temperance  Union 213 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

Death  of  General  Taylor — Vigor  of  old  Temperance  men — ^Permanent 
Temperance  Documents  in  School  Libraries — ColUsion  between  New 
and  Old  Organizations — Letter  of  Gen.  Gary — Temperance  Hotels — 
Efforts  of  Dr.  Jewett  for  a  Eeform — Navy — Abolition  of  Flogging 
— Evil  continuance  of  Spirit-ration — Spirit-ration  Abolished 227 


CHAPTER  XVHI. 

Great  Progress  in  Foreign  Countries,  and  in  British  Provinces — Prohibition 
- — Agitation — ^Wisconsin  Law  supported  by  Dr.  Hewitt — Maine  Law — 
Rise,  Adoption,  and  Enforcement  under  Neal  Dow — Approvals . . .  241 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

Fourth  National  Convention — Great  Rejoicings — Thankful  Resolution — 
Maine  Men  heard — "Workings  of  the  Law — United  and  Decided  Action 
agreed  upon — Speech  of  Dr.  Edwards— Action  in  Massachusetts — 
126,000  Petitioners — Adoption  of  Maine  Law — Adoption  in  Rhode 
Island — In  Connecticut — In  Vermont — Action  in  New  York — 300,- 
000  Petitions  at  Albany — Adoption  of  Maine  Law — Governor  Sey- 
mour's Veto — Maine  Law  Record — Workings 251 


CHAPTER  XX. 

"World's  Temperance  Convention  in  New  York,  September  6,  1853 — Neal 
Dow,  President — Slight  Disturbance — Lady  on  the  Platform — Intro- 
duction of  Foreign  Delegation — "Wendell  Phillips — Great  Tumult — 
House  cleared  by  Pohce — Soiree  abandoned — Peaceable  Progress — 
Children's  Meeting — Speech  of  Dr.  Lees — Address  to  all  Nations — Dr. 
Pierpont's  Speech  and  Poem — Tribute  to  Dr.  Edwards — Meeting  of 
Sons  of  Temperance — Adulteration.s — Frauds  in  the  Liquor  TraflSc — 


VI  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER    XXI. 

Campaicrn  in  Now  York  fi)r  the  Maine  Law — Publications  issued — New 
York  State  Society — "  riohibitionist "  established — Frequent  Meetings 
— Methodist  Fire — Congregational  Convention — Address  of  Senators — 
Anniversary  A.  T.  U.  of  State  Temperance  Society — Convention  at  Au- 
burn— Nomination  for  Governor — Election  of  Governor  Clark — Con- 
gratulatory Meeting— ^Meeting  of  Opposition — Adoption  of  the  Lav 
in  New  York — Hesitancy  of  Mayor  Wood  to  its  Execution — Success  in 
the  State — Opposition — Pronounced  Unconstitutional  by  the  Court  of 
Appeals — Results  and  Opinions 275 

CHAPTER  XXII. 

Reception  of  the  decision  of  the  Court  of  Appeals — Death  of  B.  F. 
Harwood — Twenty-first  Anniversary  of  A.  T.  U.  — Governor  Briggs 
elected  President — Meeting  one  of  Darkness — State  Society — Letters 
to  Daniel  Lord,  Jr. — Fall  Elections — Prohibitory  Law  giving  way  to 
Anti-Slavery — State  Society  at  Albany — N.  Y.  City  Alliance — Peter 
Sinclair— Gough  Festival 291 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 

North  American  Temperance  Convention  at  Chicago — Made  President — 
Action  of  the  Convention — Noble  body  of  men — Cause  at  the  West — 
Home  Missionary  Work — Maine  Law  in  Illinois,  Michigan,  Indiana, 
Iowa  and  Nebraska — Cause  in  California  and  Oregon — Order  of  Good 
Templars — Inebriate  Asylums — Bingham  ton — Boston — Letter  of  John 
Tappan — Temperance  Battle  not  man's,  but  God's — PubUcations. .  304 

CHAPTER    XXiy. 

Ministerial  Fidehty — Boldness  of  Puritans — Difficulties  in  Reproof — Dr. 
Justin  Edwards  on  Sabbath  Temperance  Preaching — Hewitt,  Fisk, 
Clarke,  Edwards — Origin  of  Washiugtonians — Elder  Knapp — Twenty- 
third  Anniversary  A.  T.  U. — Speech  of  Governor  Briggs — Death  of 
Anson  G.  Phelps — Encouraging  Report — Mr.  Delavan  in  England — 
Letter  from — English  Clergy  Address — Massachusetts  Alliance — 
N.  Y.  State  League — Western  Pennsylvania  Convention 317 


CONTENTS.  VU 

CHAPTER  XXY. 

-Hon.  W.  A.  Buckingham 
elected  to  fill  his  place — Death  of  Mr.  Frelinghuysen — Chief  Justice 
Williams — President  Lincoln's  Temperance — War — Dangers  to  the 
Cause — Visit  Washington — Army  Tracts — How  Supplied  and  Appre- 
ciated— Twenty-fifth  Anniversary  A.  T.  U. — Governor  Buckingham's 
Speech — Speech  of  Senator  Pomroy — Deaths  of  Dr.  Beecher,  Dr. 
Baird,  Admiral  Foote — ^Navy — Army — Progress  of  Temperance — War 
Ending — Assassination  of  President  Lincoln 330 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

Fifth  National  Convention — Governor  Buckingham,  President — Prepared 
Dissertations — Xew  National  Organization  Proposed — Termination  of 
American  Temperance  Union — Results  of  Labors — Helps  and  Hin- 
drances— Future  Prospects  and  Expectations 345 


APPENDIX. 

Temperance  Principles  in  World's  Convention — Speech  at  Covent  Garden 
Theatre — Testimonials  to  Dr.  Marsh — Changes  in  the  Country — Presi- 
dent Lincoln  to  Sons  of  Temperance — Letter  from  General  Neal  Dow 
— Tracts  for  the  Army — Late  Publications — Decision  of  U.  S.  Supreme 
Court,  1847— Do.  1866— Departed  Laborers. 


TEMPERANCE  RECOLLECTIONS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Birth — Educatiou — Ministry. 


I  WAS  born  in  Wethersfielcl,  Ct.,  April  2,  1 788.  My 
father,  the  Rev.  John  Marsh,  D.  D.,  was  long  pastor  of  the 
Congregational  Church  in  that  place.  His  ancestors  came 
from  England  at  an  early  date  and  first  settled  at  Hing- 
ham,  Mass.,  whence  they  soon  removed  to  his  birth-place, 
Haverhill,  on  the  banks  of  the  Merrimac.  Through  succes- 
sive generations,  the  Marshes  were  remarkable  for  stability 
and  longevity.  Twelve  children  all  survived  his  mother, 
who  counted  92  years.  The  eldest  daughter  was  married 
to  Rev.  Benjamin  Tappan,  of  Manchester,  and  from  them 
descended  Benjamin  Tappan,  Esq.,  of  Northampton,  the 
father  of  John,  of  Boston,  and  Arthur  and  Lewis,  of  New 
York;  also  Professor  Tappan,  of  Harvard  University,  father 
of  Rev.  Dr.  Tappan,  of  Augusta,  Me. ;  bringing  me  into 
close  relationship  and  friendship  with  these  active  and  in- 
fluential men.  From  a  brother  of  my  father,  descended 
Samuel  Marsh,  Esq.,  of  New  York,  and  Nathaniel  Marsh, 
the  devoted  and  laborious  President  of  the  N.  Y.  &  Erie 
Railroad.  After  filling  the  office  of  tutor  for  nine  years  at 
Harvard  University,  where  he  graduated  in  1761,  my  father 
was  called  to  the  pastoral  charge  of  the  church  at  Wethers- 
field  and  was  there  ordained  Jan.  4, 1774.  He  was  soon  con- 
nected by  marriage  with  Ann,  daughter  of  Capt.  Ebenezer 
Grant,  of  East  Windsor.  W^cthersfield  was  at  that  time  one 


3  TEMPERANCE    HE  COLLECTIONS. 

of  tlie  most  important  towns  of  tlie  State,  and  was  distin- 
guished for  its  intelligent  and  patriotic  population.  At  the 
first  tidings  of  blood-shedding  at  Lexington,  in  1775,  a  com- 
pany of  one  hundred  volunteers  Hocked  to  the  field  of  strife. 
The  news  was  received  on  the  morning  of  the  Sabbath  as 
the  people  were  assembling  for  divine  service.  On  consul- 
tation it  was  agreed  that  the  afternoon  service  should  be 
dispensed  with,  and  that  the  men  volunteering  should  as- 
semble at  5  p.  M.  on  the  green,  and  march  for  Boston.  Then 
there  was  hurry  and  bustle,  and  partings  and  tears."  At  the 
appointed  hour  the  company  were  on  the  ground,  under 
command  of  Capt.  John  Chester,  and  marched  to  the  river 
side,  Avhere  the  young  pastor  commended  them  to  God. 
They  soon  crossed,  and  the  night  closed  upon  them  on  their 
way  to  battle.  The  next  day,  however,  on  hearing  that  all 
was  over,  they  returned.  But  they  soon  found  it  was  other- 
wise, and  they  hurried  on  and  were  at  the  battle  of  Bunker 
Hill,  fighting  valiantly  for  their  country.  Noble  men.  If 
they  resisted  one  tyranny,  which  was  not  to  be  borne,  they 
vrere  unwittingly  leaving  their  children  to  another  which 
would  destroy  its  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands. 

In  this  town,  so  attractive  and  filled  with  enterprising 
and  influential  fiimilies,  General  Washington  and  Count 
Rochambeau  met  with  their  suites,  in  1780,  to  make  their 
military  arrangements.  The  General's  headquarters  were 
at  the  house  of  Joseph  Webb,  Esq.,  still  standing.  During 
his  stay,  my  father  acted  as  his  chaplain,  preached  before 
him  on  the  Sabbath,  from  the  text  "Blessed  are  the  poor 
in  spirit"  (the  sermon  is  still  among  his  manuscripts, 
marked  "preached  before  Gen.  Washington"),  and  sat 
daily  on  his  right  at  the  table.  Many  interesting  anec- 
dotes have  I  heard  him  relate  of  that  momentous  period. 

Great  was  the  hospitality  of  the  New  England  minis- 
try. No  travelling  clergyman  was  ever  sufiered  to  see 
the  inside  of  a  public  house  in  Wethersfield.     Well  do  I 


BOYHOOD — SCHOOL  OF  DR.  BACKUS.  9 

remember  the  difficulty  of  accommodating  all  the  minis- 
ters' horses  the  night  before  the  General  Election  at  Hart- 
ford. The*drinks  dispensed  and  highly  prized  were  good 
bottled  cider,  my  mother's  currant  wine,  and  spring  beer. 
The  drawing  of  corks  afforded  great  merriment,  as  he 
who  performed  the  ceremony  was  in  danger  of  a  smart 
shower  on  his  new  black  coat.  At  freemen's  meetings, 
at  associational,  ordination,  and  other  clerical  gatherings, 
a  rich  display  of  decanters  with  stronger  liquors  (usually 
furnished  by  some  generous  parishioners)  covered  the  side- 
board and  were  resorted  to  by  all  without  any  sense  of 
wrong  doing;  though  not  in  all  cases  without  results 
which  were  the  subject  of  much  private  conversation. 
In  my  boyhood,  Flip,  a  drink  made  of  small  beer,  a 
glass  of  spirits  with  sugar  and  nutmeg,  made  warm  by 
a  red  hot  poker,  was  a  usual  drink  on  the  Sabbath,  in 
the  winter  months,  on  returning  from  church.  Well  do 
I  remember  crying  in  meeting  'from  the  cold  (there  were 
then  no  stoves),  and  holding  on  to  my  chair  after  drinking 
the  Flip  till  my  head  became  steady.  The  town  was  set- 
tled, as  were  most  of  the  towns  in  Connecticut,  with  hard 
drinkers.  Some  large  families,  fathers  and  sons,  had  near- 
ly all  filled  drunkard's  graves ;  and  one  huge  man  with  a 
modern  unshaven  face,  a  notorious  cider  drunkard,  who 
often  appeared  in  our  back  kitchen  to  beg  a  mug  of  cider, 
was  my  great  terror.  In  the  summer,  my  business  was 
the  supplying  of  the  hay-field  with  the  bottle  of  New 
England  rum,  from  which  the  mowers  and  others  took 
copious  draughts  ;  showing  soon  how  perfectly  it  unfitted 
them  for  continuance  in  labor.  The  lessons  then  taught 
never  faded  from  memory. 

At  the  age  of  ten,  I  was  sent  to  the  school  of  the  Rev. 

Azel  Backus,  in  Bethlem,  Litchfield  County.    About  thirty 

lads  were  there,  gathered  by  the  fame  of  that  noble  man 

from  the  South  as  well  as  the  North ;  many  were  sons  of 

1* 


10  TEMPERANCE    RECOLLECTIONS. 

rich  men,  accnstomod  to  every  indulgence.  On  tlie  Itli  of 
July,  1800,  great  ]>rep;\rations  were  made  in  a  ^rove  for  a 
patriotic  celebration  of  indej)endence.  A  generous  supply 
of  wines  Avas  provided  and  many  a  patriotic  speech  made 
from  youthful  tongues  loosened  by  the  generous  draughts. 
At  nightfoll,  the  prostrate  and  pitiable  condition  of  more 
than  half  the  school  aroused  the  wrath  of  our  instructor 
and  guide,  and  on  summoning  us  to  morning  prayers,  with 
a  brow  dark  and  terrible  as  a  cloud  moving  onward  with 
roaring  thunder  and  forked  lightning,  he  enacted  his  Maine 
law,  forever  expelling  the  winecup  from  his  school  and  all 
its  festivities.  Here,  in  my  first  witness  of  social  drunk- 
enness, I,  being  quite  the  junior,  escaped.  Not  so  fortu- 
nate w^as  I  in  the  second.  I  entered  Yale  in  September, 
1800,  at  twelve,  having  mastered  the  four  Evangelists,  six 
books  of  Virgil,  and  four  Orations  of  Cicero ;  prepared, 
alas !  in  the  estimation  of  that  day,  to  grapple  with  all 
the  hard  problems  of  mathematics,  and  become  in  four 
years  profound  in  philosophy  and  complete  in  all  elegant 
literature.  A  political  revolution  had  occurred  in  the 
country.  Thomas  Jefferson,  the  democratic  candidate, 
had  attained  to  the  Presidency ;  and  party  politics  raged 
with  a  violence  since  unknown.  Every  boy  was  a  patriot, 
ready  to  fly  to  arms.  The  College,  w^ith  few  exceptions, 
were  strongly  enlisted,  under  President  Dwight,  in  behalf 
of  Washington,  Adams,  and,  wdiat  were  considered  con- 
stitutional and  fundamental  principles ;  and  it  was  resolved, 
when  the  fourth  of  July  should  return,  to  have  a  cele- 
bration of  independence  worthy  of  the  day  and  w^orthy  of 
Yale.  At  the  dinner  in  the  College  Hall,  a  baiTcl  of  wine 
Avas  elevated  on  a  table  and  none  w^ere  expected  to  leave 
the  Hall  until,  amid  shouts,  and  songs,  and  harangues  of 
all  descriptions,  the  barrel  was  emptied.  The  result  was 
lo  Bacciie,  the  triumphs  of  Bacchus.  But  for  that,  I . 
should  have  escaped  a  common  maxim  in  days  gone  by, 


YALE  INDEPENDENCE — DE.  EUSH  AND  POETEE.     11 

that  there  was  no  man  to  be  found  who  had  not  been 
drunk  at  least  once  in  his  life.  The  sensation  has  not 
been  forgotten.  As  I  went  out  of  the  Hall  I  saw  the 
buildings  moving  round  and  discharged  the  contents  of 
my  rebellious  stomach.  The  next  year  was  a  year  of  un- 
usual seriousness  in  College.  More  than  a  hundred  of  the 
students  became  hopefully  pious,  and,  for  the  remainder 
of  our  course,  intemperance  was  but  little  known.  Presi- 
dent D  wight  preached  to  us  his  admirable  sermon,  a  part 
of  his  course,  on  the  nature,  causes,  and  evils  of  drunken- 
ness and  the  means  of  avoiding  it.  In  this  he  solemnly 
warned  us  against  the  beginnings  of  evil,  and  proclaimed 
the  duty  of  entire  abstinence  from  spirituous  liquors  by 
all  who  found  in  themselves  any  peculiar  relish  for  them. 
But  an  universal  abandonment  to  save  the  country,  was 
not  then  contemplated. 

To  the  alarming  evils  of  intemperance  the  public  mind 
was  at  that  period  being  awakened.  Dr.  Rush,  of  Phila- 
delphia, had  created  a  great  sensation  by  his  tract  on  ar- 
dent spirits,  published  in  1804 ;  and  Rev.  Ebenezer  Porter, 
of  Washington,  Ct.,  had  roused  the  ministry  and  the 
churches  by  a  sermon,  in  1806,  on  the  death  of  a  man  in 
the  snow  with  a  bottle  of  spirits  at  his  side.  In  a  note, 
he  comjiuted  that  the  spirits  then  consumed  in  the  United 
States  would  load  100,000  wagons,  which,  in  complete 
order,  would  extend  more  than  1,000  miles;  and,  in  cost, 
would  annually  exceed  600  tons  of  dollars.  Such  footholds 
had  the  alcoholic  demon  in  the  nation.  Some  gentlemen  in 
Litchfield  had  entered  into  an  agreement  not  to  furnish 
laborers  with  spirits ;  but  no  temperance  society  was 
known  until  1808,  when  one  was  formed  at  Moreau,  in 
the  State  of  New  York.  47  persons  signed  the  constitu- 
tion and  no  one  was  allowed  to  drink  ardent  spirits  under 
a  penalty  of  25  cents.  In  1813,  however,  a  society  of 
considerable  consequence  was  formed  in  Massachusetts, 


12  TEMPERANCE    RECOLLECTIONS. 

through  thu  mutual  iiitlucncc  of  a  CongrcgatioDal  and 
Presbyterian  Alliance,  and  nndcr  the  counsels  of  the  Hon. 
Samuel  Dexter,  a  distinguished  lawyer,  who  had  said  that 
he  would  pay  all  the  taxes  of  Boston  and  of  the  State  of 
Massachusetts  if  he  might  have  the  profit  on  the  traffic  in 
spirituous  liquors.  This  society  was  called  The  Massa- 
chusetts Society  for  the  SurrREssiox  of  Inte^nlper- 
ANCE.  But  it  did  little  but  observe  an  anniversary  and 
have  a  sermon  preached,  after  which  preacher  and  hearers 
would  repair  to  tables  richly  laden  with  wine,  and  was 
therefore  without  efficacy  in  rooting  out  the  evil.  In 
Connecticut  the  ministers  of  Litchfield  South  Association 
were  moved  by  Mr.  Porter's  sermon,  to  appoint  a  commit- 
tee to  inquire  and  report  what  remedy  could  be  found  for 
the  greatly  increasing  evil  of  the  day.  After  considering 
it  for  some  time,  they  reported  in  1811  that  they  could 
find  no  remedy.  Rev.  Lyman  Beecher,  then  just  settled 
in  Litchfield,  moved  that  the  committee  be  discharged  and 
a  new  committee  be  appointed.  It  was  agreed  to  and  he 
was  appointed  chairman.  Almost  immediately  they  re- 
ported that  a  remedy  could  be  found  in  the  agreement  of 
all  good  Christian  people  to  use  no  longer  spirituous 
liquors ;  but  so  ludicrous  was  the  idea,  on  the  one  hand, 
and  so  impracticable,  on  the  other,  that  it  does  not  seem 
to  have  been  harbored  or  commended.  The  light  shone 
in  darkness,  but  the  darkness  comprehended  it  not.  But 
it  was  a  great  thought  and  a  noble  testimony.  Soon  after 
the  Consociation  of  Fairfield  Co.  resolved  to  reform  their 
own  body.  They  excluded  all  spirituous  liquors  from  their 
meetings,  and,  in  1812,  published  an  able  appeal  to  the 
public  against  the  drinking  usages  of  the  day.  This  was 
the  joint  work  of  Rev.  Roswell  R.  Swan,  of  Norwalk,  and 
Rev.  Heman  Humphrey,  of  Fairfield,  afterwards  President 
of  Amherst  College.  These  and  other  efforts  were  not 
without  their  influence ;  and,  but  for  the  war  with  England 


TEilPTATIONS    IX   PEE  ACHING.  13 

which  commenced  m  1812,  might  have  produced  even  these 
great  results. 

Having  commenced  preaching  at  twenty-one  I  met  the 
kind  hospitalities  of  the  families  of  ministers,  elders,  and 
deacons  wherever  I  went,  and  had  pressed  upon  me  after 
service,  though  not  in  the  least  exhausted,  tl^e  recruiting 
drink.  From  Oct.,  1814,  to  April,  1815,  I  supplied  the 
Wall  Street  Presbyterian  pulpit  in  New  York,  vacated  by 
the  removal  of  Dr.  Samuel  Miller  to  Princeton  Seminary, 
and  here  I  mingled  with  some  of  the  first  families  in  the 
city.  Robert  Lenox,  Esq.,  Judge  Brockholdst  Livingston, 
Mr.  Edgar,  Dr.  John  Rogers,  and  others,  had  me  at  their 
tables,  where  were  the  choicest  wines,  and  where,  not  to 
drink  with  the  lady  of  the  house  was  to  the  young  minis- 
ter an  impossibility.  Frequent  invitations  from  one  and 
another  to  a  glass  were  given,  and  no  wonder  that  some 
of  the  sacred  order  were  privately  and  even  publicly 
spoken  of  as  already  ruined  men.  The  rumors  made  me 
resolve  to  drink  as  little  as  possible  consistent  with  polite- 
ness. The  same  temptations  and  snares  were  before  me 
in  other  cities  and  towns  and  in  the  most  pious  families. 
How  different  now  !     How  mighty  the  change  ! 

In  December,  1818,  I  took  the  pastoral  charge  of  the 
Congregational  Church,  in  Haddam,  Ct.  Here  I  had  la- 
bored for  six  months  in  a  powerful  revival  of  religion  amid 
a  staunch,  well  informed,  but  plain  people,  whose  labors 
were  in  shipyards,  coasting,  fishing,  quarrying,  and  farm- 
ing ;  labors  in  which,  at  that  time,  ardent  spirit  was  a 
daily  ration  at  eleven  and  four,  as  regularly  as  food  was 
provided  at  other  hours.  In  my  arduous  labors,  preach- 
ing almost  daily  and  conversing  from  house  to  house,  I 
had  pressed  upon  me  the  best  of  drinks  which  the  people 
could  aftord ;  but  I  invariably  declined  excepting  where, 
in  some  humble  family,  it  would  have  caused  grief,  as  not 
sufficiently  good  in  my  estimation.     My  greatest  foe  was 


14  TEMPERANCE    EECOLLECTIOXS. 

the  hard  cider,  soon  producing,  by  its  oxalic  acid,  liead- 
ache.  But  it  was  the  only  drink  then  upon  the  dinner- 
table,  and  used  freely  at  all  times.  A  pitcher  of  water,  as 
a  part  of  table  furniture,  was  unknown.  'No  one,  not  the 
most  delicate  females,  used  it.  All  drank  cider.  At  my 
ordination  an  amusing  circumstance  occurred,  which  be- 
came an  instrument  of  great  sharpness  among  the  minis- 
try. Returning  from  the  services  to  the  public  house,  on 
a  very  cold  day  in  December,  the  council,  composed  of 
some  thirty  ministers  and  delegates,  were  ushered  into  a 
large  tavern  chamber,  where  was  a  bright  fire  on  the  one 
side,  and,  on  the  other,  a  table  filled  with  all  the  materials 
for  warming  the  stomach  and  preparing  for  the  repast 
which  would  soon  be  in  readiness.  Among  the  ministers 
present  was  one  who  had  thrown  off  the  dominion  of 
King  Alcohol.  This  was  the  Rev.  Calvin  Chapin,  of  the 
parish  of  Rocky  Hill,  in  the  town  of  Wethersfield  ;  a  man 
in  whose  heart  was  the  law  of  kindness,  but  whose  tongue 
was,  when  needed,  beyond  all  others,  a  sharp  sword.  As 
the  Rev.  Mr.  K.,  of  Killiugworth,  a  lovely  brother,  but 
not  able  to  cope  with  him,  was  with  twenty  others  mix- 
ing his  tumbler  of  good  things — Mr.  C,  singling  him  out 
for  an  attack,  said  :  "  Brother  K.,  what  are  you  going  to 
do  with  that  stuff?"  "  Stuff,"  said  Mr.  K,  *'It  is  not 
stuff;  it  is  good  brandy."  "  Well !  what  are  you  going  to 
do  with  it  ?  "  "  Do  Avith  it  ?  Avhy  what  do  you  suppose  ? 
Drink  it,  to  be  sure."  "  Well,"  asked  Mr.  C,  "  what  are 
you  going  to  do  then  ?  "  "  Do  !  why  walk  about,  I  suppose." 
"But  suppose,"  said  Mr.  C,  "you  cannot.  There  has  been 
many  a  man  who,  after  drinking  that,  could  not  walk  at 
all ;  and  I  doubt  whether,  if  you  drink  it,  you  can  walk  a 
crack.  I  will  challenge  you  to  do  it."  Mr.  K.,  still  stir- 
ring his  liquor,  not  able  amid  this  storm  to  drink,  and  now 
the  object  of  all  present,  said :  "  Well !  I  believe  I  shall 
try  it,"     "  You  had  better  not,"  said  Mr.  C,  "  you  had 


OKDINATION   ANECDOTE.  15 

better  come  and  throw  it  in  the  fire  or  out  of  the  window. 
If  you  want  to  get  warm,  take  a  coal  of  fire  into  your 
mouth,  but  don't  take  that  and  have  it  said,  as  it  may  be, 
that  Rev.  Mr.  K.  went  to  ordination  and  could  not  get 
home."  At  length,  one  of  the  Fathers,  provoked  beyond 
measure  by  this  universal  stop  put  to  the  drinking  cus- 
tom, said,  with  a  loud  voice,  "  Mr.  C,  do  you  let  Brother 
K.  alone  and  let  him  have  his  drink ;  you  are  a  real  pest, 
a  genuine  blackguard,"  and  here  ended  the  matter.  But 
that  was  the  last  ordination  in  that  district  of  country  at 
which  liquor  was  provided.  The  Rev.  Mr.  K.  afterwards 
became  one  of  the  most  zealous  and  determined  advocates 
of  temperance,  and,  for  his  opposition  to  the  rum  interest, 
was  driven  from  his  parish. 

My  pastoral  labors,  amid  a  large  church  and  a  hundred 
and  fifty  newly  converted  individuals,  all  looking  to  me 
as  the  means  of  their  spiritual  life,  were  very  pleasant. 
But  if  my  parish  was  an  Eden,  there  Avas  a  serpent  there ; 
and  as  the  sons  of  God  came  together,  Satan  also  came 
among  them.  Haddam,  the  birth-place  of  David  Brainerd, 
was  yet  a  rum-cursed  community ;  and  if  the  Spirit  of 
God  had  borne  multitudes  captives  in  Messiah's  train,  the 
spirit  of  the  pit  had  a  hold  of  them  to  confound  and  dis- 
grace, if  not  draw  some  back  to  .perdition.  All  the  labor- 
ing men,  as  I  have  remarked,  drank  ardent  spirit  in  their 
'work  ;  nor  was  it  then,  more  than  it  had  for  a  hundred 
years,  been  viewed  as  inconsistent  with  Christian  ex- 
perience or  Christian  character.  No  enquiry  was  made, 
as  they  submitted  their  hearts  to  Christ,  "  Do  you  yield  up 
this  indulgence  ?  "  nor,  as  they  came  into  the  church,  "  Do 
you  pledge  yourselves  neither  to  use,  buy  nor  sell  ?  "  Two 
respectable  members  of  the  Church,  one  of  them  a  Deacon, 
had,  for  a  considerable  time,  planted  themselves  on  the 
doctrine  of  total  abstinence,  and  they  would  not  give 
strong  drink  to  those  they  employed,  but  it  was  viewed 


16  TEMPERANCE   EECOLLECTIONS. 

as  a  singular  freak,  and  they  had  but  little  influence.  A 
large  distillery  in  the  place  was  considered  a  great  blessing, 
and  stores  kept  by  church  members  freely  dealt  out  the  poi- 
son without  reproach  or  any  sense  of  wrong-doing.  But 
in  time  past  many  church  members  had  brought  reproach 
upon  the  cause  of  their  Master  by  intemperance ;  seven 
eighths  of  all  cases  of  discij^line  were  for  this  sin.  Some 
were  in  the  church  who  were  still  a  vexation,  and  it  was 
soon  manifest  that  some  of  the  late  hopeful  subjects  of 
divine  grace,  were  not  to  be  exempted  from  the  effects  of 
the  drunkard's  drink  if  they  continued  to  use  it.  That 
grace  was  sufficient  for  them,  but  could  a  man  take  fire 
in  his  bosom  and  not  be  burned  ?  could  he  walk  on  hot 
coals  and  his  feet  not  be  burned  ?  The  young  shepherd 
was  jealous  for  the  lambs  of  his  flock.  Some  rumors  of 
irregularities  from  the  too  free  use  of  spirit  in  drinking 
places  reaching  his  ears,  he  prepared  and  delivered  a  ser- 
mon of  admonition  and  warning — shewing  the  amount  of 
liquor  drank  in  the  place,  (fifty-two  hogsheads  of  iS^ew 
England  rum  had  in  that  year  been  sold,)  its  cost,  and 
consequent  waste  to  the  people,  the  evils  of  intemperance, 
the  dangers  of  moderate  drinking,  especially  to  young 
Christians,  its  hindrance  to  growth  in  grace,  and  its  occa- 
sion of  much  improper  conversation  and  conduct.  Some 
of  the  fathers  were  angry  ;  suffering  women  said,  "It  is  all 
true;"  but  the  whole  was  the  subject  of  merriment  among 
the  young  men,  and  more  was  drank  the  next  day  in  the 
ship-yards  and  quarries  than  before;  but  an  impression 
was  made  on  many  of  the  subjects  of  the  recent  revival, 
and  a  few  resolved  that  they  would  carry  no  more  spirit 
to  their  field  of  labor.  A  conflict  was  commenced,  and 
a  second  work  of  conversion  was  to  be  effected.  I  need 
not  say,  it  was  a  laborious  and  often  painful  one.  It 
alienated  many  friends,  especially  among  the  older  class. 
It  at  times   interrupted  religious   effort;     but  it  was  a 


REVIVAL   TRIALS DK.    NETTLETOX.  17 

necessary  work,  remoYing  one  of  the  greatest  obstructions 
to  the  reception  of  the  Gospel,  and  the  purity  and  pros- 
perity of  Zion.  In  suceeding  revivals,  several  hard 
drinkers  were  awakened ;  and  long  was  the  struggle  be- 
tween giving  up  the  cup  or  the  Gospel  salvation.  An 
abandonment  of  drink  was  often  the  point  of  submission 
to  the  Gospel.  When  it  came  to  be  understood  that  but 
little  credit  was  given  to  a  religious  hope  connected  with 
a  continuance  in  moderate  drinking,  and  that  none  would 
be  received  into  the  church  but  upon  an  abandonment 
of  the  cup  ;  the  victory  was  gained. 

While  in  this  revival  labor,  I  was  visited  by  the  Rev. 
Asahel  Nettleton,  the  distinguished  revival  preacher,  and 
I  saw  him  often  in  an  adjoining  town,  the  ]3lace  of  his 
birth.  We  conversed  much  on  this  subject,  the  destructive 
influence  of  spirit-drinking  on  the  soul.  He  strengthened 
me  in  the  position  I  had  taken,  as  he  afterwards  did  many 
others,  in  an  admirable  letter  which  he  published  on  the 
subject  in  the  Spirit  of  the  Pilgrims,  in  1829.  Several 
strong  cases  are  in  my  recollection,  shewing  the  power  of 
the  drink  over  good  men.  A  much-loved  deacon  was 
greatly  tried,  believing  that  a  daily  use  of  spirit  was  es- 
sential to  check  the  progress  of  a  disease  with  which  he 
was  afflicted.  A  hasty  young  convert  refused  to  take  from 
him  the  Sacramental  Elements  at  the  Lord's  table ;  on 
inquiry,  after  communion,  for  the  reason,  the  convert  said 
he  would  not  take  bread  from  the  hands  of  one  who  drank 
brandy.  The  deacon  Avent  home  distressed,  and  said  to 
his  wife :  "  Live  or  die,  I  will  become  an  abstainer."  In 
a-  few  weeks  he  came  to  me  with  a  bright  countenance, 
saying,  that  his  complaint  had  left  him,  and  he  was  satis- 
fied, it  was  the  brandy  which  had  caused  it.  Another 
excellent  brother  was  so  devoted  to  revivals,  that  temper- 
ance meetings  and  temperance  sermons  were  a  great  an- 
noyance.    He  almost  considered  them   the  work  of  the 


18  TEMPERANCE    RECOLLECTIONS. 

adversary  to  put  a  stop  to  revivals.  I  labored  with  him 
much,  but  it  Avas  all  in  vain.  He  absented  himself  from 
prayer  meetings,  because  he  could  not  unite  in  prayer  for 
the  success  of  the  temperance  cause ;  and  from  the  com- 
munion table,  for  the  temperance  brethren  could  not  fel- 
lowship him.  Yet  he  was  a  good  man  ;  a  precious  brother 
in  revival  seasons.  I  made  him  a  special  visit ;  I  talked,  I 
reasoned,  I  pleaded ;  finally  I  said  ;  "  Have  you  ever  made 
this  the  subject  of  prayer?  "No,"  said  he,  "and  I  won't." 
"  Then,"  said  I,  "  Brother,  you  are  wrong  ;  for  if  there  is 
any  subject  on  which  you  are  unwilling  to  ask  counsel  of 
God,  there  you  are  wrong ;  conscience  condemns  you,  and 
you  feel  or  fear  that  God  will  condemn  you."  He  saw  it, 
and  promised  he  would  carry  the  case  to  God.  The  next 
time  I  met  him,  his  face  shone  as  did  the  face  of  Moses 
when  he  came  down  from  the  mount.  "  It  is  all  over," 
said  he,  "  the  moment  I  was  on  my  knees,  I  saw  you  were 
right  and  I  was  wrong  ;  I  could  not  pray  that  the  temper- 
ance cause  might  not  prevail."  From  that  time  he  be- 
came one  of  our  best  temperance  advocates. 

In  the  midst  of  this  conflict  I  took  one  of  those  practi- 
cal stands  which  try  the  hearts  of  many.  I  had  com- 
menced building  a  house ;  my  frame  was  all  ready,  and  a 
general  inA'itation  Avas  given  to  my  parishioners  to  come 
to  the  raising.  But  it  was  understood,  it  was  to  be  a 
cold  water  raising.  Good  refreshments  would  be  pro- 
vided, but  no  liquor.  This  was  an  unheard-of  thing. 
Raisings  were  great  times  for  drunkards  and  hard  drink- 
ers. Liquor  was  free  and  abundant,  and  the  jugs  and 
demijohns  were  well  emptied  ;  awful  scenes  for  Christian 
communities.  A  raising  was  one  of  the  devil's  harvests, 
and  not  a  few  were  the  distressing  accidents  then  occur- 
ring. It  was  predicted  that  men  enough  could  not  be 
collected  to  jjut  up  the  building.  Attachment  to  the 
youthful  pastor,  however,  and  a  sense  of  shame  at  sta^ng 


RAISING — PEEPAEATION   OF  TRACTS.  19 

away  for  want  of  the  drink,  brouglit  out  a  goodly  force. 
And  the  frame  went  up,  amid  much  exhilaration  on  the 
part  of  the  abstainers.  But  several  individuals,  and  among 
them  members  of  the  church,  came  to  see  the  failure,  and 
seating  themselves  on  a  bank  near  by,  looked  on,  like 
Shimei,  cursing  as  the  timbers  went  up,  and  at  last,  as 
they  saw  they  would  go,  retreating  in  vexation.  After 
this,  raisings  were  effected  without  liquor,  and  soon 
the  tables  were  turned;  the  rum  men  being  the  feeble 
party. 

Besides  preaching  occasionally  on  the  subject,  I  -pre- 
pared  and  published  two  tracts  which  I  circulated  freely 
among  my  people  ;  one,  an  "  Aj^peal  to  Professors  of  Reli- 
gion on  the  Use  of  Ardent  Spirits  ;  "  and  the  other,  "  The 
Rum-drinking  Christian  "  :  The  Lord  pardon  thy  servant  in 
this  thing.  Is  it  not  a  little  one  f  to  meet  the  cases  of  jdIous 
brethren  Avho  plead- that  they  drank  but  little.  In  my  action 
I  had  the  strong  sympathy  of  neighboring  ministers  and 
churches,  and  on  September  8, 1828,  a  large  County  meeting 
was  held  in  my  church,  and  a  County  Society  was  organ- 
ized ;  Charles  Griswold  of  Lyme,  a  gentleman  of  high  char- 
acter, was  appointed  President.  Monthly  meetings  were 
established,  which  the  ministers  almost  without  fail  at- 
tended ;  and  by  some  one  an  able  address  was  prepared. 
Soon  we  had  600  men  in  the  county  pledged  to  total  ab- 
stinence from  ardent  spirits,  before  it  was  supposed  there 
were  half  that  number  in  the  whole  State.  The  next  autumn 
the  Middlesex  Consociation  met  in  my  church,  and  such 
had  been  the  influence  of  our  County  meetings  on  the  min- 
isters and  churches  that  it  was  unanimously 

Besolvcd,  That  this  Consociation  do  highly  approve  of  the  measures 
which  have  been  recently  adopted  for  the  suppression  of  Intemperance, 
and  that  the  success  of  these  measures  calls  loudly  for  the  gratitude  of  the 
churches  to  God  under  whose  blessing  it  has  been  attained. 

Resolved^  That  the  Consociation  do  recommend  to  the  members  of  the 


20  TEMPEKAXCE    KECOLLECTIONS. 

churches  in  their  connexion  total  abstinence  from  the  common  use  of 
ardent  spirits  and  a  union  with  the  temperance  societies ;  these  societies 
being  the  most  powerful  antidote  to  the  alarming  evil  of  intemperance, 
which  the  providence  of  God  has  pointed  out  to  his  people. 

But  we  were  but  one  of  a  mighty  host  which  was  gath- 
ering to  the  battle.  .  In  February,  1826,  the  American 
Temperance  Society  had  been  organized  at  Boston.  A 
weekly  paper  called  the  National  Pliilanthropist  had  been 
established  by  Wm.  Collier.  Its  motto  was,  "  Temperate 
drinking  the  doAvnhill  road  to  intemperance."  This  was 
removed  to  New  York  and  succeeded  by  the  Journal  of 
Humanity,  established  by  the  society  at  Andover,  and 
edited  by  Rev.  Edward  W.  Hooker.  Rev.  Justin  Ed- 
wards,  of  Andover,  and  Rev.  Nathaniel  Hewitt,  of  Fair- 
field, Ct.,  had  entered  on  those  great  labors  which,  it  was 
hoped  and  believed,  would  result  in  the  overthrow  of  this 
kingdom  of  blood.  The  principle  of  total  abstinence  had 
been  established  in  the  Christian  Spectator  by  the  pen  of 
Rev.  Joshua  Leavifct,  of  Stratford,  Ct.  The  well-conduct- 
ed farm,  a  tract  from  the  pen  of  Rev.  Justin  Edwards,  de- 
scribing the  farm  of  S.  V.  S.  Wilder,  Esq.,  of  Bolton,  con- 
ducted on  strict  temperance  principles,  had  awakened  the 
attention  of  farmers  throughout  the  country  to  the  useless- 
ness  and  the  injurious  effects  of  ardent  spirits  in  all  agricul- 
tural pursuits.  A  series  of  papers,  in  the  Connecticut  Ob- 
server, from  the  caustic  pen  of  Rev.  Calvin  Chapin,  on 
total  abstinence  the  only  infallible  antidote,  over  the  sig- 
nature T.  I.  A.,  commencing  January,  1826,  had  confound- 
ed and  put  to  silence  pleas  for  moderate  drinking ;  and 
the  Six  Sermons  of  Rev.  Lyman  Beecher,  of  Litchfield,  in 
the  ensuing  summer,  on  the  nature,  signs,  evils,  and  reme- 
dies of  intemperance,  with  an  electrifying  address,  soon 
after,  by  Jonathan  Kittredge,  of  New  Hampshire,  on  the 
effects  of  intemperance,  had  set  the  country  on  fire ;  and 
everywhere  State,  county,  and  town  societies  were  being 


PUTNAM   AND   THE    WOLF.  21 

established  witli  a  resolution  and  vigor  which  promised 
and  actually  secured  the  greatest  results. 

The  flame  spread  across  the  Atlantic,  and  a  fire  had 
been  kindled  in  England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland.  The  first 
temperance  society  in  the  old  world,  on  the  abstinence  sys- 
tem, was  formed  in  1829  by  Kev.  George  Carre,  of  'New 
Ross,  in  Ireland.  Voluntary  abstinence  from  doing  evil, 
as  an  essential  prerequisite  to  doing  well,  had  been  pro- 
claimed, at  Belfast,  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Penny,  of  Rochester, 
N.  Y.,  and  on  this  as  a  base,  numerous  societies  sprang  up 
in  that  year,  in  Ireland  and  Scotland,  numbering  over 
14,000  members. 

One  of  the  earliest  of  the  State  societies  was  the  Con- 
necticut. It  was  organized  at  Hartford,  May  20,  1829; 
Rev.  Jeremiah  Day,  D.  D.,  President  of  Yale  College,  Pre- 
sident ;  Rev.  Calvin  Chapin,  Chairman  of  Executive  Com- 
mittee ;  and  myself.  Secretary  and  General  Agent.  The 
appointment  led  me,  without  leaving  my  pastoral  charge, 
to  visit  various  parts  of  the  State,  attend  meetings,  make 
addresses,  and  institute  inquiries  relative  to  the  extent 
and  evils  of  intemperance.  In  October  of  that  year  I  was 
invited  to  address  the  Windham  County  Temperance  So- 
ciety at  Pomfret,  a  distance  of  forty  miles  from  my  resi- 
dence. I  thought  it  idle  to  perform  such  a  journey,  then 
difficult  to  address  a  meeting,  and  dismissed  it  from  my 
thoughts.  But  on  rising  from  dinner  one  day,  I  burst  into 
a  laugh.  My  wife  inquired  what  so  amused  me.  I  said, 
"  I  am  going  to  Pomfret."  "  Why  !  "  said  she,  "  I  thouglit 
you  had  given  it  up;  pray  what  has  changed  your  mind?" 
I  replied,  "  That  is  the  place  where  Putnam  killed  the  wolf, 
and  I  will  make  a  temperance  address  out  of  that,  PuTNAii 
AND  THE  Wolf  ; — the  wolf  devouring  the  sheejD,  and  the 
people  out  upon  the  hunt."  I  ran  up  to  ray  study,  found 
in  a  school  book  Gen.  Humphreys'  story  of  the  hunt,  and, 
before  I  went  to  bed,  which  was  past  midnight,  I  had  fin- 


22  TEMPERANCE    RECOLLECTIONS. 

ished  my  address  ;  amused  and  exhilarated  beyond  meas- 
ure at  the  wonderful  adapteduessof  the  affair  to  the  sub- 
ject. The  next  day,  a  letter  was  despatched  to  the  secre- 
tary of  the  county  society  saying,  I  would  be  on  hand. 
The  28th,  the  day  of  the  meeting,  was  fine.  The  large 
Pomfret  meeting-house  was  full.  Venerable  men,  well 
conversant  with  the  story,  sat  around  the  pulpit.  The  den 
of  the  Avolf  was  not  far  off,  and  descendants  of  the  hero 
were  near  by.  Commencing  with  an  account  of  that  mar- 
vellous affair,  and  bringing  it  to  bear  upon  the  present 
hunt  after  an  enemy  among  us  devouring,  not  sheep,  but 
men,  and  having  among  us  his  a23ologists  by  scores,  no 
small  emotion  was  excited.  The  old  men  first  looked  up 
and  smiled,  and  then  put  their  heads  down  between  their 
hands  and  knees  to  repress  their  laughter,  while  the  active 
combatants  in  the  field  felt  that  they  had  a  new  weapon 
in  their  hands  against  the  rumseller  and  the  distiller  which 
would  hew  its  vv^ay  and  bring  great  results.  Often,  with 
difficulty,  could  I  keep  as  composed  as  became  the  orator ; 
and  Avhen  I  had  finished,  and  gained  the  open  air,  there 
was  a  rush  upon  me  for  a  copj  for  the  press.  I  replied 
they  might  have  it  if  they  would  go  to  Hartford  and  get 
from  an  engraver  a  picture  of  Putnam  dragging  the  wolf 
from  the  den.  They  did  so  at  once.  An  enterprising 
bookseller  undertook  the  publication,  and,  in  a  short  time, 
disposed  of  150,000  copies.  Soon  after,  the  American  Tract 
Society  adopted  it  as  one  of  their  permanent  tracts,  and 
have  scattered  abroad  thousands  on  thousands.  Such  was 
the  result  of  a  happy  caption  to  an  address  which  other- 
wise would  have  attracted  no  special  attention. 

In  1830  I  published  my  First  Report  as  Secretary  of 
the  Connecticut  Temperance  Society.  The  anniversary 
was  held  May  1 9,  in  the  Centre  Church  in  New  Haven. 
It  was  a  proud  occasion  for  the  friends  of  the  cause.  The 
assembly  was  large.  The  Governor  and  most  of  the  Legis- 


CONNECTICUT    ANNIVERSARY.  23 

lature  were  present.  Prayer  was  offered  by  President 
Day.  After  the  reading  of  the  Report,  able  addresses 
were  made  by  the  Hon.  Timothy  Pitkin  of  Farmington, 
long  a  distinguished  member  of  Congress,  Daniel  Frost, 
Esq.,  Agent  of  the  Society,  the  Hon.  Minot  Sherman,  and 
the  Hon.  David  Daggett.  An  advocacy  by  such  gentle- 
men made  a  deep  impression.  Mr.  Sherman  was  one  of 
the  most  finished  speakers  of  the  day.  He  took  a  lively 
interest  in  the  cause,  and  was  ready  at  all  times  to  speak 
in  its  behalf.  He  put  all  opponents  to  shame,  and  im- 
parted great  strength  and  courage  to  those  who  were  en- 
gaged in  its  promotion.  Judge  Daggett  bore  ample  and 
powerful  testimony  to  the  intimate  connection  between  in- 
temperance and  crime.  He  viewed  the  dram-shop  as  the 
"  curse  of  the  community,"  the  "  outer  chamber  of  hell," 
and  he  then,  and  often,  expressed  the  opinion  that  there 
was  little  hope  of  much  success  in  the  cause,  until  the  sale 
of  ardent  spirits  was  placed  on  a  par  with  counterfeiting 
and  thieving.  In  the  Report,  I  was  able  to  present  a  mass 
of  information  relative  to  the  extent  and  evils  of  intem- 
perance in  the  State  which,  to  the  uninformed  and  unre- 
flecting, was  truly  appalling.  In  addition  to  constant  im- 
portations of  rum  from  the  West  Indies,  there  were  two 
large  rum-distilleries  in  the  State,  and  ten  gin  and  whiskey 
distilleries,  doing  a  great  business  ;  with  300  smaller  dis- 
tilleries' on  the  farms,  chiefly  cider  distilleries.  Licensed 
retailers  and  licensed  taverns  were  in  every  town.  The 
consumption  of  spirituous  liquors  in  the  State,  containing 
a  population  of  275,248,  was  annually  about  1,238,616  gal- 
lons, which,  at  62^  cents  a  gallon,  cost  the  people  $782,- 
894.95.  In  several  of  the  farming  towns,  merchants  gave 
an  account  of  their  annual  sales  of  10,000  gallons  and  up- 
wards. Among  45,000  families,  every  twenty-fifth  family 
Yv^as  engaged  and  found  support,  at  least  in  part,  in  sup- 
plying the  remainder  Vv'ith  intoxicating  liquors.     As  the 


24  TEMPER A.XCE    RECOLLECTIONS. 

result  of  all  this  terrible  enginery,  besides  the  waste 
of  property,  the  idleness,  sabbath-breaking,  contention, 
murders  and  general  demoralization,  there  were  in  the 
State  thousands  of  common  drunkards,  one  in  ten  of  whom 
went  annually  to  the  grave,  leaving  their  places  to  be 
at  once  supplied  by  a  new  generation.  In  nine  parishes 
in  the  county  of  Hartford  tliere  were  reported  by  the 
Hartford  County  Society,  from  an  actual  inspection  of 
every  adult  in  those  parishes,  594  drunkards;  giving  2,005 
to  the  county.  Of  172  paupers  in  Middlesex  County,  114 
were  reduced  to  beggary  by  intemperance,  and  Captain 
Pillsbury,  Warden  of  the  State  prison  at  Wethersfield,  a 
noble  temperance  man,  said  to  me,  on  inquiry,  ''  that  he 
might  say  of  his  167  prisoners  that  the  whole  were  brought 
there  by  intemperance."  To  meet  and  overthrow  this  ter- 
rific evil,  the  combination  in  the  State  had  now  become 
mighty.  Eight  counties  and  1 74  towns  and  societies  were 
reported  with  22,532  members  pledged  to  total  abstinence 
from  the  use  of  and  traffic  in  ardent  spirits  as  a  beverage. 
The  county  societies  were  headed  by  some  of  the  most 
distinguished  men  of  the  State  :  Hon.  Timothy  Pitkin  of 
Farmington  ;  Hon.  David  Daggett  of  New  Haven  ;  Hon. 
John  Cotton  Smith  of  Sharon  ;  Darius  Matthewson,  Esq., 
of  Windham;  William  P.  Greene  of  IsTorwich;  Elisha 
Stearns,  Esq.,  of  Tolland;  Charles  Griswold,  Esq.,  of  Lyme  ; 
His  Excellency,  Gideon  Tomlinson  of  Fairfield,  Governor 
of  the  State.  These  gentlemen  all  took  a  pride  and  pleas- 
ure in  attending  the  county  meetings  and  advancing  the 
cause.  The  medical  faculty  throughout  the  State  were,  as 
a  body,  deeply  interested,  and  at  their  State  Convention  ii: 
1828  they  passed  a  series  of  strong  resolutions  in  its  favor. 
They  especially  declared  that  it  was  the  duty  of  all  physi- 
cians to  abstain  from  the  use  of  ardent  spirits  in  their  at- 
tendance upon  the  sick ;  as  such  use  rendered  the  system 
more  susceptible  of  contagion  and  other  causes  of  disease. 


JAMES  BEEWSTEIl,  THE  MASTEB-MECHANIC.  25 

They  also  recommended  entire  abstinence  to  nurses  and 
all  attendants.  But  with  no  individual  did  I  meet  in  the 
State  more  clear  in  his  views,  and  more  decided  and  in- 
fluential in  his  practice  than  Mr.  James  Brewster  of  New 
Haven,  the  head  of  a  large  mechanical  establishment. 
More  tools  he  assured  me  were  destroyed  and  more  work 
spoiled  through  ardent  spirits  than  from  any  other  cause. 
He  made  a  thorough  cleansing  of  his  own  establishment, 
and  his  influence  was  great  in  inducing  other  mechanics 
throughout  the  State  to  banish  the  poison  from  their 
works.  He  still  lives ;  a  great  ornament  and  blessing  to 
his  race.  . 

Amid  such  conflicts  and  successes  was  it  my  happiness, 
while  in  the  ministry,  to  do  something  for  the  introduc- 
tion and  advance  of  the  principle  of  entire  abstinence  in 
my  native  State. 


CHAPTER  II. 

Taking  a  three  months'  Temperance  Agency — Labors  in  Baltimore  and 
Washington — Gathering  of  First  Congressional  Temperance  Meeting 
— Acquaintance  with  Judge  Cranch,  Dr.  Sewall,  and  others — Appoint- 
ed Permanent  Agent  of  American  Temperance  Society — Dismission 
from  Pastoral  Charge — Attendance  on  First  National  Temperance 
Convention  at  Philadelphia — Made  Secretary — Labors  in  Connecticut 
and  Massachusetts — Removal  to  Philadelphia — Three  years'  labor  in 
connection  with  Pennsylvania  State  Society. 

"  As  the  lightning  shineth  out  of  the  East  unto  the 
"West,  so  also  shall  the  coming  of  the  Son  of  Man  be ; " 
and  so  was  the  rapid  extension  of  the  temperance  reforma- 
tion. In  May,  1831,  there  were  reported  nineteen  State 
societies,  embodying  3,000  local  societies,  with  more  than 
300,000  members,  pledged  to  entire  abstinence  from  the 
manufacture,  sale,  and  use  of  ardent  spirits  as  a  beverage. 
Maine,  Alabama,  Louisiana,  Illinois  and  Missouri  were  the 
only  States  in  which  a  State  society  had  not  been  organ- 
ized. Some  of  the  State  societies  were  very  large  and 
efficient,  especially  the  Society  of  the  State  of  New  York ; 
and  it  was  the  opinion  of  the  Chairman  of  the  Executive 
Committee  of  that  society  that  there  had  been  saved  to  the 
State  in  that  year,  in  the  diminished  use  of  ardent  spirits, 
at  least  16,250,000,  and  that  there  was  everywhere  mani- 
fest both  an  improved  state  of  morals  and  fresh  vigor  in 
every  department  of  human  industry  :  3,000  lost  drunkards 
in  the  country  had,  it  was  supposed,  been  reclaimed,  and 
more  than  10,000  men,  on  the  brink  of  ruin,  had  been  kept 
back  from  falling  and  once  more  had  gained  firm  footing  ; 


STATE    OF   THE    CAUSE    IN    1831.  27 

while  more  than  a  million  had  already  resolved  not  to 
enter  the  drunkard's  path  or  become  liable,  in  any  degree, 
to  the  drunkard's  end.  More  than  a  thousand  distil- 
leries had  been  stopped,  and  serious  conscientious  venders, 
who  had  been  unwittingly  engaged  in  dispensing  for  gain 
the  delusive  and  destructive  poison,  had,  without  number, 
abandoned  their  business.  The  press  had  become  very  pro- 
lific in  spirited  and  stirring  appeals  and  addresses.  Besides 
the  publications  already  noted,  the  community  had  been 
favored  in  1827  with  two  "Discourses  on  Intemperance"  by 
Rev.  John  Palfrey  of  Boston,  and  "Effects  of  Spirituous 
Liquors  on  Society,"  by  S.  Emlen,  M.  D.,  of  Philadelphia. 
In  an  address  before  the  Medical  Convention  of  I^ew  Hamp- 
shire, by  Reuben  Mussey,  M.  D.,  Dr.  Mussey  developed 
the  "  True  Nature  of  Alcohol,"  and  showed  that  it  was 
neither  needful  nor  useful  in  all  the  labors  of  life.  An 
address  before  the  Canterbury  Society  in  Connecticut,  by 
Daniel  Frost,  Esq.,  a  lawyer,  who  had  entered  the  field  as  a 
temperance  lecturer,  attracted  much  attention  from  his 
own  sad  personal  experience.  In  1828  twelve  "  Essays  on 
Intemperance"  were  presented,  by  Albert  Barnes,  then  a 
young  minister  in  Morristown,  N.  J. ;  but,  though  able, 
their  circulation  was  very  limited ;  also,  "  Intemperance, 
a  Just  Cause  of  Alarm,"  by  Rev.  W.  Sprague  of  West 
Springfield,  Mass.  A  -masterly  "Parallel  between  In- 
temperance and  the  Slave  Trade,"  by  Heman  Humphrey, 
D.  D. ;  "  An  Appeal  to  the  People  of  Lower  Canada,"  by 
Joseph  Christmas ;  and  "  An  Address  to  Manufacturers 
and  Venders  of  Strong  Drink,"  by  Jonathan  Kittredge, 
appeared  in  the  same  year.  But  the  most  effective  publica- 
tion of  the  time  was, "  Aisr  Appeal  to  the  Intemperate," 
by  Samuel  Nott  of  Gal  way,  IST.  Y.  It  was  a  small,  but 
thoroughly  practical  common  sense  view  of  the  subject ; 
showing  that  the  temperate  were  the  guilty  cause  of  all 
the  intemperance  in  the  land.     It  had  a  very  wide  circu- 


28  TEMPERANCE   EECOLLECTIONS. 

lation.  The  First  Report  of  the  American  Tcmperanco 
Society  for  1827,  prepared  by  Rev.  Dr.  Hewitt,  was  ex- 
tensively circulated.  And  in  1829  appeared  **  Bcman's 
Song  of  the  Drunkard;"  "  Sweetzer's  Dissertation  ;"  "Put- 
nam and  the  Wolf; "  and  "  Professor  Hitchcock's  Argu- 
ment against  the  Manufacture  of  Ardent  Spirits."  These 
and  other  publications,  too  numerous  to  mention,  had 
great  influence  on  the  public  mind. 

At  this  time,  1831,  Dr.  Hewitt  had  not  only  aroused 
the  attention  of  his  countrymen,  but  had  electrified 
England,  Scotland  and  Ireland  by  the  power  of  his  elo- 
quence ;  while  Dr.  Justin  Edwards  of  Andover,  Mass., 
fastened  conviction  of  truth  and  responsibility  upon  the 
minds  of  men  as  it  had  never  been  before ;  and  in  a 
visit  to  the  city  of  Washington,  in  the  winter  and  spring 
of  that  year,  he  addressed  the  citizens  of  the  District  and 
also  both  houses  of  Congress,  making  a  deep  impression 
upon  them  and  upon  the  several  Heads  of  Departments. 
On  leaving  that  city  to  return  home,  earnest  requests 
were  made  for  some  similar  aid  another  season ;  and  on 
application  through  him  from  the  Baltimore  Temj^erance 
Society,  I  was  induced  to  leave  my  pulpit  in  the  hands  of 
another  for  the  space  of  three  months,  and  do  what  was 
in  my  power  in  aid  of  the  cause  both  there  and  in  the 
capital  of  the  nation.  I  left  my,  home  in  the  month  of 
November,  and  immediately  on  my  arrival  at  Baltimore 
commenced  my  work.  It  was  an  inviting  field  of  labor. 
A  large  Committee  of  the  Baltimore  Society  were  ready 
to  cooperate  with  me.  The  first  pulpits  of  the  city  w^ere 
opened  to  me,  and  I  preached  morning  and  evening  on 
the  sabbath  ;  addressed  ward  meetings  in  the  week  ;  and 
schools,  almshouses  and  prisons  as  time  would  admit ;  and 
during  a  ISTational  Political  Convention  held  an  immense 
public  meeting.  For  this  I  had  the  promised  aid  of  the 
Hon.  John  Sargent,  one  of  the  first  lawyers  of  Philadephia, 


LETTER   OF   HON.   WM.   WIRT.  29 

and  the  Hon.  William  Wirt,  the  eloquent  attorney-general 
of  the  United  States.  Mr.  Wirt  entered  into  the  subject 
with  great  ardor  and  zeal,  but  alas  !  was  kept  from  the 
meeting  by  the  sudden  illness  of  liis  daughter ;  yet,  while 
in  her  sick  room,  he  wrote  me  the  following  letter  of 
apology,  which  I  read  in  the  meeting,  and  which  may  be 
read  with  profit  while  the  world  lasts  : 

Baltimore,  November  28,  1831. 
Rev.  Mr.  Marsh, 

Dear  Sir  : — I  have  been  for  more  than  forty  years  a  close  observer  of 
life  and  maimers  m  various  parts  of  the  United  States,  and  I  know  not  the 
evil  that  will  bear  a  moment's  comparison  with  intemperance.  It  is  no  ex- 
aggeration to  say,  as  has  often  been  said,  that  this  single  cause  has  pro- 
duced more  vice,  crime,  poverty,  and  wretchedness  in  every  form,  domestic 
and  social,  than  all  the  other  iUs  that  scourge  us  combined.  In  truth,  it 
is  scarcely  possible  to  meet  with  misery  in  any  shape,  in  this  country,  which 
will  not  be  found  on  examination  to  have  proceeded,  directly  or  indirectly, 
from  the  excessive  use  of  ardent  spirits.  Want  is  one  of  its  immediate 
consequences.  The  sad  spectacle  of  starving  and  destitute  families,  and 
of  ignorant,  half  naked,  vicious  children,  ought  never  to  be  presented  in  a 
country  like  this,  where  the  demand  for  labor  is  constant,  the  field  unlim- 
ited, the  sources  of  supply  inexhaustible,  and  where  there  are  none  to 
make  us  afraid ;  and  it  never  would  be  presented,  or  very  rarely  indeed, 
were  it  not  for  the  desolation  brought  upon  famiUes  by  the  general  use  of 
this  deadly  poison.  It  paralyzes  the  arm,  the  brain,  the  heart.  All  the 
best  affections,  aU  the  energies  of  the  mind,  wither  under  its  influence.  The 
man  becomes  a  maniac,  and  is  locked  up  in  a  hospital,  or  imbrues  his  hands 
in  the  blood  of  his  wife  and  children,  and  is  sent  to  the  gallows  or  doomed 
to  the  penitentiary ;  or,  if  he  escapes  these  consequences,  he  becomes  a 
walkhig  pestilence  on  the  earth,  miserable  in  himself,  and  loathsome  to  all 
who  behold  him.  How  often  do  we  see,  too,  whole  famihes  contaminated 
by  the  vicious  example  of  the  parent ;  husbands,  wives,  daughters,  and 
sons,  all  drunkards  and  furies :  sometimes  wives  murdermg  their  husbands ; 
at  others,  husbands  their  wives ;  and  worst  of  all,  if  worse  can  be  in  such 
a  group  of  horrors,  children  murdering  their  parents.  But  below  this  grade 
of  crime,  how  much  is  there  of  unseen  and  untold  misery,  throughout  our 
otherwise  happy  land,  proceeding  from  this  fatal  cause  alone.  I  am  per- 
suaded that  if  we  could  have  a  statistical  survey  and  report  of  the  affairs 
of  unhappy  families  and  individuals,  with  the  causes  of  their  misery  an- 


30  TEMPERANCE   RECOLLECTIONS. 

nexcd,  we  should  find  nine  casc3  out  of  ten,  if  not  a  still  greater  propor- 
tion, resulting  from  the  use  of  ardent  spirits  alone.  With  this  conviction, 
which  seems  to  have  become  universal  among  reflecting  men,  the  apathy 
shown  to  the  continuance  of  the  evil  can  only  be  ascribed  to  the  circum- 
stance that  the  mischief,  though  verbally  admitted,  is  not  seen  and  felt  in 
all  its  enormity.  If  some  fatal  plague,  of  a  contagious  character,  were  im- 
port;pd  into  our  country,  and  had  commenced  its  ravages  in  our  cities,  we 
should  see  the  most  prompt  and  vigorous  measures  at  once  adopted  to  re- 
press and  extinguish  it :  but  what  are  the  most  fearful  plagues  that  ever 
carried  death  and  havoc  in  their  train  through  the  eastern  countries,  com- 
pared with  this  ?  They  are  only  occasional ;  this  is  perennial.  They  are 
confined  by  climate  or  place ;  this  malady  is  of  all  clknates,  and  all  tunes 
and  places.  They  kill  the  body  at  once  ;  this  consimaes  both  body  and  soul 
by  a  lingering  and  dreadful  death,  involving  the  dearest  connections  in  the 
vortex  of  ruin.  What  parent,  however  exemplary  himself,  can  ever  feel 
that  his  son  is  safe  while  the  living  fountain  of  poison  is  within  his  reach  ? 
God  grant  that  it  may  soon  become  a  fountain  sealed,  in  our  country  at 
least.  "What  a  relief,  what  a  delightful  relief  would  it  be  to  turn  from  the 
awful  and  horrid  past,  to  the  pure,  peaceful,  and  happy  future !  to  see  the 
springs  of  life,  and  feeling,  and  intelligence  renewed  on  every  hand ;  health, 
industry,  and  prosperity  glowing  around  us ;  the  altars  of  domestic  peace 
and  love  rekindled  in  every  family ;  and  the  religion  of  the  Saviour  pre- 
sented with  a  fair  field  for  its  celestial  action. 

The  progress  already  made  by  our  temperance  societies,  in  advancing 
this  golden  age,  proves  them  to  be  of  a  divine  origin.  May  the  Almighty 
crown  his  own  work  with  full  and  speedy  success.  I  remain,  dear  sir,  re- 
spectfully and  truly  yours, 

William  Wirt. 

By  request  of  citizens  of  Washington  my  labors  were 
divided  between  Baltimore  and  the  capital,  where  I 
preached  both  in  the  Presbyterian  and  Methodist  churches, 
and  at  once,  in  connection  with  the  Rev.  Dr.  Post,  Dr.  Sew- 
all  and  others,  entered  on  the  gathering  of  a  Congressional 
temperance  meeting  which  should  make  a  powerful  im- 
pression on  the  nation.  Having  procured  the  use  of  the 
Hall  of  the  House  of  Pepresentatives,  our  great  business 
was  to  obtain  speakers  who  would  enter  heartily  into  the 
work,  command  respect,  and  secure  an  audience.     Of  one 


FIRST  CONGEESSIOXAL  TEMPERANCE  MEETING.  31 

we  were  sure  from  the  first ;  indeed  he  was  a  tower  of 
strength  to  us — the  Hon.  Theodore  Frelmghuysen,  U.  S. 
Senator  from  l^ew  Jersey ;  but  he  was  doubtful  whether 
another  one,  unless  it  was  Mr.  Grundy,  Senator  from  Ten- 
nessee, who  had  recently  talked  loudly  against  wine  drink- 
ing, would  open  his  lips.  But  who  would  preside,  to  give 
character  to  the  meeting  ?  We  called  upon  Mr.  Adams, 
the  late  President,  and  stated  our  object.  He  treated  us 
kindly,  and  promised  attendance,  but  nothing  more.  "We 
next  called  upon  Gen.  Cass^  Secretary  of  War,  who  we 
knew  had  never  been  known,  in  all  his  arduous  Western 
campaign,  to  taste  of  ardent  spirit.  He  cordially  received 
us,  entered  warmly  into  our  object,  and  agreed  to  preside. 
Success  was  now  certain.  We  next  wended  our  way  to 
the  house  of  the  Tennessee  delegation.  There  we  found 
the  two  senators  and  three  or  four  representatives  all  de- 
cided temperance  men  ;  they  had  entirely  discarded  ardent 
spirit  from  theu'  table,  for  the  cause  had  made  much  prog- 
ress in  their  own  State.  The  Hon.  Felix  Grundy,  U.  S. 
Senator,  said  he  would  speak ;  but,  if  he  did,  he  should  be 
an  ultra,  for  he  should  go  against  wine ;  he  had  no  idea 
of  calling  upon  the  laboring  population  to  give  up  their 
ardent  spirit  and  leave  the  more  refined  and  wealthy  to 
drink  their  wine,  when  he  knew  it  was  equally  a  source  of 
drunkenness  ; — and  he  did  it  faithfully.  To  the  Hon.  Isaac 
C.  Bates,  of  Massachusetts,  a  gentleman  of  great  purity  of 
character  and  eloquence  of  diction,  and  whom  I  had  the 
happiness  to  know,  we  next  successfully  applied ;  and,  as 
one  from  the  South  and  the  opposite  side  in  politics  was 
desirable,  the  Hon.  James  M.  Wayne,  member  of  the  House 
from  Georgia,  since  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court,  was  com- 
mended to  us.  He  assured  us  that  our  principles  met  his 
approbation,  especially  in  relation  to  the  army  and  the 
navy,  and  he  would  speak  on  that  point.  We  now  seemed 
to  have  a  full  corps.    But  there  was  one  who,  of  all  others, 


32  TEMPERANCE    KEC0LLECTI0N8. 

was  the  great  favorite  in  Washington,  and,  if  we  could 
secure  his  name,  we  should  not  want  for  an  audience ;  that 
was  the  Hon.  Daniel  Webster,  U.  S.  Senator  from  Massa- 
chusetts. Having  once  preached  in  Portsmouth,  N.  H., 
where  he  attended  worship,  I  had  no  difficulty  in  present- 
ing my  petition.  But  not  the  least  encouragement  would 
he  give  me,  because  of  his  engagements.  I  left  with  him, 
however,  a  resolution  to  offer,  and  had  liberty  to  call  again. 
On  entering  his  room  the  next  day  I  found  him  in  a  pleasant 
mood.  He  handed  back  my  resolution,  saying.  Ministers 
never  know  how  to  make  resolutions,  they  use  too  many 
superlatives — lawyers  are  more  careful  and  precise  ;  there, 
take  that,  handing  me  one  he  had  written,  and  saying,  If 
you  want  this  you  shall  have  it ;  it  shall  be  my  speech — 
Ions:  enousfh — and  it  will  be  all  I  can  make. 

The  meeting  was  now  announced,  and  six  hundred  cards 
of  invitation  were  sent  out,  having  upon  them  the  names 
of  the  presiding  officer  and  the  expected  speakers.  The 
evening  was  fine,  and  the  splendid  Hall  was  perfectly  filled 
with  the  elite  of  Washington.  To  make  it  entirely  Con- 
gressional, Walter  Lowry,  Esq.,  Secretary  of  the  Senate, 
was  made  Secretary  of  the  meetings,  and  the  meeting  was 
opened  with  prayer  by  Dr.  Post,  Chaplain  of  the  House, 
and  closed  by  Dr.  Durbin,  Chaplain  of  the  Senate.  Mr. 
Grundy  made  the  opening  speech,  after  I  had  briefly  stated 
the  object  of  the  meeting,  and  was  followed  by  Messrs. 
Frelinghuysen,  Bates,  and  Wayne.  Mr.  Webster,  I  feared, 
had  failed  me,  as  he  was  nowhere  to  be  seen ;  but  when 
his  name  was  called,  he  rose  in  the  back  part  of  the  Hall, 
where  he  had  been  the  entire  evening,  and  coming  forward 
a  little,  standing  upon  a  seat,  he  read  with  great  distinct- 
ness and  force  his  resolution,  with  a  few  appropriate  re- 
marks. All  the  speeches  were  worthy  of  the  subject  and 
of  the  speakers.  Some  were  truly  eloquent.  Mr.  Grundy 
was  sportive  upon  wine  drinkers,  and  put  the  audience  in 


JUDGE   CEANCH — HIS  CALCULATIONS.  33 

fine  humor.  Mr.  Frelinghuysen  was  in  sober  earnest,  ten- 
der, and  subduing.  He  had  seen  too  many  promising  men, 
and  even  members  of  Congress,  fall  before  the  destroyer, 
not  to  have  much  feeling  as  he  spoke.  Mr.  Bates  was  very 
finished  and  eloquent.  Mr.  Adams  sat  near  him,  and  was 
much  moved.  He  turned  to  him  at  the  close,  and,  wiping 
a  tear  from  his  eye,  said :  "  Mr.  Bates,  I  thank  you  for  that 
figure  of  Laocoon — father  and  sons  wrapped  together  in 
the  enormous  folds  of  the  serpent — it  is  one  of  the  most 
striking  and  truthful  I  have  ever  heard."  I  remained  in  my 
mission  until  I  had  collected  the  speeches  and  proceedings 
in  pamphlet  form,  and  had  them  circulated,  through  the 
assistance  of  members  of  Congress,  over  the  land. 

While  in  Washington  I  made  the  aquaintance  of  Judge 
Cranch,  of  the  United  States  District  Court,  who  was 
very  kind  to  me  and  of  essential  service.  He  had  turned 
his  attention  much  to  the  subject  in  which  I  was  engaged, 
and  had  given  the  result  of  his  investigations  in  an  address 
to  the  citizens  of  Washington.  Judging  from  the  quantity 
of  ardent  spirits  actually  consumed  in  the  city  of  Wash- 
ington, he  estimated  that  six  gallons  was  the  average 
annual  consumption  by  each  person  in  the  United  States ; 
and  as  we  had  a  population  of  twelve  millions,  the  consump- 
tion would  be  72,000,000  gallons  of  ardent  spirits  ;  which 
at  66^  cents  a  gallon,  would  be  forty-eight  million  dollars. 
He  estimated  that  there  were  375,000  drunkards  in  the 
country,  and  that  three-fourths  of  the  crime  and  pauperism 
of  the  nation  might  be  traced  to  intemperance.  The  en- 
tire liquor  bill  for  the  country  he  made  to  be  annually 
94,425,000  dollars.  Such  an  annuity  Avould  in  twenty 
years,  with  simple  interest  only,  at  six  per  cent,  per  annum 
upon  each  year's  annuity,  from  the  time  it  became  pay- 
able to  the  end  of  the  twenty  years,  amount  to  3,064,800,- 
000  dollars.  The  valuation  of  all  the  houses,  land,  and 
Blaves  in  the  United  States  was  2,519,009,222  dollars;  so 


84  TEMPERANCE   RECOLLECTIONS. 

that  the  amount  annually  lost  to  the  country  by  the  use 
of  ardent  spirits,  would  be  more  than  sufficient  to  buy  up 
all  the  houses,  land  and  slaves  in  the  United  States  once 
in  every  twenty  years.  Such  presentations  from  so  ac- 
curate and  distinguished  a  gentleman,  could  do  no  other- 
wise than  excite  alarm  throughout  the  community.  I  be- 
came also  intimately  associated  with  Dr.  Thomas  Sewall, 
who  was  then  giving  much  attention  to  the  subject  of 
temperance  in  his  high  profession,  and  with  Dr.  Harvey 
Lindsley,  author  of "  A  Prize  Essay  on  Alcoholic  Stimu- 
lants, and  Substitutes  for,  in  the  Practice  of  Medicine,"  who 
from  that  day  gave  me  ever  after  a  delightful  home  in  his 
dwelling.. 

The  American  Temperance  Society  at  Boston  were 
now  finding  a  vast  work  upon  their  hands,  and  the  need 
of  more  laborers  in  the  field ;  and  they  resolved,  if  the 
means  could  be  found,  to  sustain  an  agent  in  each  of  the 
great  points  of  influence  in  the  United  States — Philadelphia, 
Cincinnati,  St.  Louis,  Charleston  and  New  Orleans — who 
in  cooperation  with  their  Committee  and  CoiTesponding 
Secretary  at  Boston  should  aid  in  the  diffusion  of  informa- 
tion and  in  giving  impulse  to  the  work.  In  a  letter  from  the 
Secretary,  Kev.  Justin  Edwards,  D.  D.,  dated  January  21, 
1833, 1  was  invited  to  leave  my  pastoral  charge  with  a 
view  of  removing  to  Philadelphia,  and  occupying  that 
post ;  certain  gentlemen  there  having  guaranteed  my  sup- 
port. The  tie  which  bound  me  to  my  people  was  strong. 
I  had  been  with  them  fourteen  years,  in  as  perhaps  ardu- 
ous labor  as  was  the  allotment  and  privilege  of  any  of  my 
brethren  ;  for  there  was,  from  the  extent  and  roughness  of 
the  place,  no  harder  field.  But  it  was  a  fruitful  one.  Three 
powerful  revivals  had  created  a  large  and  flourishing  church. 
Attachments  between  pastor  and  people  were  strong.  Not 
with  an  individual  had  I  any  conflict,  excepting  on  the 
temperance  question,  and  here  the  battle  was  nearly  over 


35 

and  the  victory  won.  Another,  it  was  supposed,  might 
enter  into  my  field,  while  there  seemed  to  be  a  door  of 
usefulness  opened  before  me  which  it  might  be  duty  to 
enter.  "  If,"  said  Dr.  Edwards  in  his  letter,  "  you  think 
it  to  be  the  will  of  God  that  you  should  accept  the  ap- 
pointment, I  should  rejoice  to  have  you  do  so,  but  not 
Avithout ;  because  without  such  a  conviction  it  would  not 
be  comfortable  to  endure  the  privation,  and  labor,  and 
trials  to  which  it  will  call  you.  These,  as  you  know, 
must  be  great;  and  nothing  else  will  sustain  you  and 
carry  you  forward  perseveringly  but  the  conviction  that 
you  are  jorobably  accomplishing  more  for  the  final  good 
of  men  than  you  possibly  can  in  any  other  way." 

With  these  monitions  before  me,  and  having  consulted 
my  fathers  and  brethren,  and  asked  counsel  of  Him  who 
in  wisdom  and  kindness  directs  our  steps,  I  requested 
a  dissolution  of  the  bonds  which  held  me  to  my  peo- 
ple. It  was  granted  me  on  the  1st  of  Aj)ril,  1833;  the 
more  readily  and  willingly  (an  unusual  case),  by  my  best 
friends,  because  they  had  become  interested,  most  deeply, 
in  the  temperance  cause,  for  which  they  professed  a  will- 
ingness even  to  sacrifice  then*  own  minister ;  while  to  me 
it  was  a  satisfaction  that  those  who  had  been  most  disaf- 
fected at  my  course,  most  opposed  my  release. 

To  come  to  a  sudden  stand-still  in  all  the  duties  of  a 
large  parish ;  to  dismiss  at  once  all  responsibility,  look  at 
mine  OAvn  and  find  they  were  not  mine,  but  another's ;  to 
seek  another  pulpit  and  leave  mine  to  a  stranger,  was  a 
shock  for  which  I  was  not  fully  prepared ;  and  I  could 
rise  above  it  only  by  breaking  away  from  all,  and  engag- 
ing resolutely  in  my  new  work. 

On  May  24,  1833,  the  first  National  Temperance 
Convention  was  held  at  Philadelphia,  in  the  Hall  of 
Independence.  Four  hundred  delegates  were  in  attend- 
ance from  twenty-one  States.     I  attended  from  Connecti- 


36  TEMPERANCE    KECOLLECTIONS. 

cut,  and  was  appointed  one  of  the  Secretaries.  The  meet- 
ing was  probably  the  largest  that  had  ever  been  assembled, 
for  a  moral  purpose,  in  this  or  any  other  country.  Chan- 
cellor "Walworth  of  New  York,  then  in  the  prime  and 
vigor  of  life,  and  possessed  of  unequalled  powers  as  a  pre- 
siding officer,  was  made  President,  and  Rev.  Justin  Ed- 
wards, D.  D.,  of  Massachusetts,  chairman  of  the  business 
Committee.  Dr.  Edwards  had  been  more  conversant 
with  the  temperance  reform,  its  necessity  and  wants, 
than  any  other  man,  and  stood  ready  ^vith  a  series  of  reso- 
lutions which  were  calculated  to  secure  approbation,  and 
give  a  great  extension  to  the  temperance  principle.  Other 
men  of  distinction  :  Robert  Yaux  of  Pennsylvania  ;  John 
Tappan  of  Massachusetts  ;  Timothy  Pitkin  of  Connecticut ; 
Peter  D.  Vroom  of  New  Jersey;  Joseph  Lumpkin  of 
Georgia ;  Gerrit  Smith,  Hugh  IMaxwell,  Edward  C.  Dela- 
van  of  New  York;  D.  W.  Lathrop  of  Ohio;  Rev.  Dr. 
Hewitt  of  Connecticut,  and  a  very  large  body  of  clergy  of 
various  denominations,  were  present,  and  took  part  in  the 
proceedings.  Unfortunately  the  Hall  of  Independence 
was  not  sufficiently  large,  and  the  Convention  was  ad- 
jouraed  to  the  Arch  Street  Presbyterian  Church,  depriving 
the  meeting  of  much  national  enthusiasm,  and  exciting  in 
the  minds  of  some,  especially  of  Friends,  a  sectarian  pre- 
judice. Numerous  general  resolutions  w^ere  discussed  and 
adopted  with  great  unanimity ;  but  a  resolution  declaring 
the  traffic  in  ardent  spirits  to  be  morally  wrong,  caused 
great  conflict,  it  being  considered  as  an  impeachment  of 
pious  dealers  of  former  days.  It  was,  however,  adopted 
by  an  almost  unanimous  vote. 

A  public  meeting  of  great  power  was  held  at  the 
Musical  Fund  Hall,  which  was  addressed  by  G.  S.  Hillard 
of  Massachusetts ;  Thomas  P.  Hunt  of  North  Carolina ; 
Thomas  S.  Stockton  of  Maryland ;  and  Nathaniel  Hewitt 
of  Connecticut.     Chancellor  Walworth  also  made  an  ad- ' 


AMEEICAN  TEMPERANCE   UNION   ORGANIZED.  37 

dress  on  female  influence.  Stephen  Van  Rensellaer,  Esq., 
of  Albany,  offered  to  defray  the  expense  of  distribut- 
ing 100,000  copies  of  the  proceedings  of  the  Convention, 
and  did  so.  The  reformation,  by  this  Convention  and  its 
proceedings,  was  now  placed  upon  high  ground,  and 
nothing  seemed  to  be  wanting  but  "  a  bold,  manly  and 
steady  perseverance  to  eradicate  from  the  land  the  manu- 
facture, sale  and  use  of  ardent  spirits."  !N'o  other  drink 
was  then  the  object  of  attack.  The  sale  of  none  other  was 
considered  morally  wrong.  The  harmony  prevailing  was 
an  assurance  of  success. 

During  the  meeting  of  the  Convention  a  large  Com- 
mittee was  appointed  to  organize  a  "  General  Temperance 
Union."  The  Committee  reported,  that  the  ofiicers  of  the 
American  Temperance  Society,  and  the  officers  and  dele- 
gates from  the  State  Societies  should  form  this  Union. 
Accordingly  a  meeting  of  all  such  was  convened.  Dr.  S. 
Agnew,  of  Pennsylvania,  was  called  to  the  chair,  and  Rev. 
John  Marsh  and  I.  S.  Loyd  were  appointed  Secretaries. 

On  motion,  Justin  Edwards,  Edward  C.  Delavan,  N.  S.  N.  Beman, 
Thomas  Brainard,  and  G.  B.  Perry,  were  appointed  a  Committee  to  report 
officers  and  prepare  business  for  the  meeting.  The  Committee,  after  hav- 
ing retired,  reported  the  following  members  as  officers  for  the  present 
meeting  of  the  Union  :  Stephen  Van  Kensselaer,  of  New  York,  President. 
Samuel  Agnew,  of  Pennsylvania  ;  William  Jay,  of  New  York  ;  G.  B.  Perry, 
of  Massachusetts  ;  Richard  Boylston,  of  New  Hampshire  ;  Cyrus  Yale,  of 
Connecticut ;  Vice-Presidents.  John  Marsh,  of  Pennsylvania  ;  Isaac  S. 
Loyd,  of  Pennsylvania ;  Harrison  Gray,  of  Massachusetts ;  Thomas  Brainard, 
of  Ohio;  Secretaries. 

The  Committee  further  reported  a  series  of  resolutions, 
which  were  adopted,  as  follows : 

1.  licsolved,  That  the  officers  of  the  American  Temperance  Society, 
and  of  each  of  the  State  Temperance  Societies,  in  their  associated  capaci- 
ty, be  denominated,  The  United  States  Temperance  Union. 

2.  Resolved^  That  the  object  of  this  Union  shall  be,  by  the  diffusion 


38  TEMPEEANCE   RECOLLECTIONS. 

of  information,  and  the  exertion  of  kind  moral  influence,  to  promote  the 
cause  of  Temperance  throughout  the  United  States, 

3.  JResolveJ^  Tliat  Isaac  S.  Loyd,  Matthew  Ncwkirk,  and  Isaac  Collins, 
of  Pennsylvania,  John  Tappan,  of  Massachusetts,  Edward  C.  Delavan,  and 
Samuel  "Ward,  of  New  York,  and  Christian  Keener,  of  Maryland,  be  a 
Committee  to  carry  into  effect,  by  all  suitable  means,  the  objects  of  this 
Union  ;  and  that  they  continue  in  office  till  others  are  appointed. 

4.  Resolved^  That  the  above-mentioned  Committee  call  another  meet- 
ing of  this  Union  at  such  time  and  place  as  they  may  judge  proper. 

5.  JRcsolvcd,  That  the  Corresponding  Secretaries  of  all  State  Societies 
be,  ex  officio,  members  of  this  Committee. 

The  organization  thus  created  consisted  of  the  officers 
of  the  American  Temperance  Society  at  Boston,  twenty- 
three  State  Societies,  and  more  than  seven  thousand  asso- 
ciations in  counties  and  smaller  districts  of  the  country. 
Its  object  was,  by  the  diffusion  of  information  and  the  ex- 
ertion of  a  kind  moral  influence,  to  extend  the  principles 
and  blessings  of  temperance  throughout  the  world.  But 
though  thus  established,  and  with  every  promise  of  a  bl-ess- 
ing,  for  want  of  readiness  and  cooperation,  its  wheels  were 
not  set  in  motion  for  more  than  three  years,  w^hen  its 
name  was  changed  to  American  Temperance  Union. 

On  the  breaking  up  of  the  Convention  I  returned  to 
Connecticut  and  performed  some  service  in  that  State  and 
in  Massachusetts,  lecturing  and  collecting  funds  for  the 
American  Temperance  Society.  In  October,  I  removed 
with  my  family  to  Philadelphia,  where,  for  three  years,  I 
labored  in  connection  with  the  Pennsylvania  State  Society. 
That  Society  was  organized  in  February,  1829,  and  had 
for  its  President  Robert  Vaux,  Esq.,  a  distinguished  citi- 
zen, and  was  sustained  by  several  liberal-minded  gentle- 
men. Early,  the  doctrine  of  total  abstinence  from  ardent 
spirit  had  been  promulgated  and  practised  in  Pennsylvania, 
especially  among  the  followers  of  William  Penn.  The  tract 
of  Dr.  Rush  on  the  effects  of  ardent  sj^irits  upon  the  hu- 
man body  and  mind,  published  in  1804,  had  in  itself  done 


LABOES    IN   PENXSTLVANIA.  39 

a  great  work ;  and  the  personal  influence  of  that  distin- 
guished man  had  been  great  among  medical  men  and  in 
the  higher  classes  of  society.  In  1827,  Dr.  Hewitt  addressed 
the  General  Assembly  in  Philadelphia,  and,  as  a  result,  the 
Assembly  adopted  numerous  spirited  resolutions,  and  rec- 
ommended to  the  Presbyteries  and  congregations  under 
their  care  to  cooperate  with  the  American  Society  in  ex- 
tending the  principles  of  temperance  throughout  the  coun 
try.  "  Intemperance,"  they  said,  "  that  giant  vice,  marches 
through  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  land  and  carries 
destniction  in  its  train.  Its  name  is  Apollyon.  It  de- 
stroys heal^i,  wealth,  reputation,  domestic  happiness,  con- 
science, the  soul."  Though  the  Quaker  city,  and  though 
a  drunken  Quaker  was  perhaps  seldom  seen,  yet  the  city  of 
Philadelphia  had  long  been  a  great  sufterer  from  this  evil. 
The  number  of  23aupers  received  into  her  Alms  House  from 
1823  to  1826  was  18,825,  costing  the  city  8662,940.  A 
great  proportion  of  these  wretched  men,  women,  and  chil- 
dren owed  their  poverty  and  misery,  it  was  declared,  to 
spirituous  liquors.  So  impressed  were  the  College  of  Phy- 
sicians and  Surgeons  with  the  communications  and  state- 
ments of  Dr.  Hewitt,  that  they  adopted  a  resolution  to  be 
presented  to  him,  of  concurrence  with  his  views,  and  ap- 
pointed a  Committee  to  investigate  the  subject  of  intem- 
perance in  the  city ;  so  that  Pennsylvania,  once  the  seat 
of  the  whiskey  rebellion,  and  still  abounding  in  distilleries, 
was  a  field  well  prepared  for  temperance  action. 

At  once  my  mission  was  inaugurated  by  a  very  large 
meeting  in  the  Locust  Street  Hall,  which  was  addressed 
by  myself  and  several  gentlemen.  An  office  and  press 
were  furnished;  pulpits  were  opened;  temperance  meet- 
ings were  frequent ;  a  weekly  meeting  of  an  eflicicnt  com- 
mittee opened  new  doors  for  action  and  influence.  A  pa- 
per was  established,  called  the  Pennsylvania  Temperance 
Recorder,  and,  a  still  smaller,  the  Monitor ;  the  printing 


40  TEMPERANCE   EECOLLECTIONS. 

of  tracts  was  commenced,  and  an  Annual  Almanac.  All 
of  these  were  to  be  translated  into  German  and  scattered 
through  the  German  counties.  In  the  winter  I  went  with 
others  to  Harrisburg,*  and  attended  Legislative  temperance 
meetings,  and  in  the  summer  I  went  twice  through  the 
State,  lecturing  and  scattering  documents  in  the  principal 
towns  and  villages.  In  our  third  year  the  Society  printed 
and  distributed  215,000  Temperance  Recorders  in  English ; 
40,000,  in  German,  70,000  Monitors  and  30,000  Almanacs, 
in  English  and  German.  In  some  of  the  German  counties 
much  interest  was  felt  in  the  cause ;  and,  throughout  the 
State,  the  total  abstinence  principle  prevailed  among  pro- 
fessed temperance  men.  In  my  work  I  was  sustained  not 
only  by  the  committee  at  home,  but  by  several  excellent 
men  throughout  the  State,  and  by  numerous  ministers  and 
churches,  whom  I  ever  shall  hold  in  grateful  remembrance. 
Some  of  those  churches  attributed  powerful  revivals  of 
religion  to  the  adoption  of  the  temperance  principle. 

During  1833,  the  first  Congressional  Temperance  So- 
ciety was  organized  at  Washington,  and  the  first  of  those 
simultaneous  temperance  meetings,  on  the  last  Tuesday  of 
February,  which  were  continued  for  many  years,  was  held. 
The  public  mind  was  much  excited  and  the  power  of 
reform  greatly  enhanced  by  many  able  issues  from  the 
press:    as  My  Mother's   Gold  Ring,  and  other  tales, 

*  During  a  visit  at  Harrisburg,  I  called  on  the  Governor  and  invited 
him  to  sign  our  pledge.  He  said  he  had  done  it  long  since ;  not  because 
he  thought  himself  in  any  danger,  but  to  save  a  friend  :  "  The  head  of  one 
of  the  best  families  was  evidently  becoming  intemperate  to  the  great  dis- 
tress of  all  his  household.  I  saw  their  consternation  and  grief.  I  resolved  to 
speak  to  him  on  the  subject ;  did  so,  and  urged  him  to  sign  the  pledge.  He 
suddenly  turned  upon  me,  saying,  Governor,  I  will  if  you  will.  It  is  a  bar- 
gain, said  I,  and  we  went  immediately  to  the  ofiBce  of  the  Secretary  and 
both  signed,  and  I  know  not  that  he  ever  touched  a  drop  of  liquor  after- 
wards. Nothing  else  would  have  induced  me  to  sign,  but  I  think  of  it  as 
one  of  the  best  acts  of  my  life." 


ALBANY   BEE  WEES — DEACON   GILES'    DISTILLERY.        41 

from  the  pen  of  Lucius  M.  Sargent,  Esq.,  of  Boston ;  The 
Intempeeate,  a  tale  by  Mrs.  L.  H.  Sigourney,  of  Hartford ; 
BuENiNG  OF  the  Ephesian  Books,  a  discourse  by  Rev. 
John  Pierpont,  of  Boston ;  and  an  Address  by  T.  S.  Grimke, 
of  South  Carolina.  In  the  State  of  N"ew  York  a  deep  im- 
pression was  made  through  an  examination  by  Mr.  Samuel 
Chipman  of  all  the  poor-houses  and  jails  of  the  State,  to 
ascertain  the  connection  between  intemperance,  pauperism, 
and  crime.  The  expense  was  borne  by  Aristarchus  Cham- 
pion, Esq.,  of  Rochester.  The  results  of  the  examination 
were  of  a  most  astounding  character.  Though  somewhat 
behind  the  Eastern  States  in  its  date,  the  IsTew  York  State 
Society  was  soon  in  advance  in  action.  Edward  C.  Dela- 
van,  a  young  and  enterprising  merchant  of  Albany,  having 
retired  early  from  business,  with  a  fortune  at  his  command, 
was  induced,  in  connection  with  John  T.  Norton  and  other 
spirited  gentlemen,  to  throw  his  whole  soul  into  the  enter- 
prise and  give  it  all  his  power.  In  1829-30  he  became 
Chairman  of  the  Executive  Committee,  and,  in  less  than 
three  years,  flooded  the  State  with  millions  of  publica- 
tions. The  Temperance  Recorder  was  placed  in  almost 
every  family,  and  260,000  of  the  Ox  discourse  were  distrib- 
uted in  a  single  month.  Temperance  societies  were  or- 
ganized in  every  town  and  village,  and  more  than  450,000 
persons  were  enrolled  as  pledged  members. 

The  traffic  was  affected  in  every  quarter,  and  so  hard 
was  the  pressure  upon  the  Albany  brewers  that,  in  1835, 
they  prosecuted  Mr.  Delavan  for  a  libel,  in  eight  suits 
of  $40,000  each,  laying  damages  at  $300,000,  for  saying 
that,  ih  malting,  they  used  filthy  water ;  but  all  in  vain. 
Mr.  D.  came  off  victorious.  In  New  England,  a  distiller 
had  been  stirred  to  much  wrath  by  a  Dream,  by  Rev.  Geo. 
B.  Cheever,  a  young  clergyman  in  Salem,  entitled,  Deac. 
Amos  Giles'  Distillery,  and  published  in  the  Salem  Land- 
mark.   Mr.  Cheever  was  prosecuted  for  a  libel,  condemned 


42  TEMrEEANCE   RECOLLECTIONS. 

by  the  jury,  find  imprisoned  for  a  few  days;  but  distilla- 
tion received  a  blow  from  which  it  never  recovered.  This 
was  followed  by  Deacon  Jones'  Brewery,  or  the  Distiller 
turned  Brewer,  from  the  same  pen.  Here  demons  were 
represented  as  dancing  round  the  boiling  caldron,  and 
casting  in  the  most  noxious  and  poisonous  drugs : 

Round  about  the  caldron  go, 

In  the  poisoned  entrails  throw. 

Drugs  that  in  the  coldest  veins 

Shoot  incessant  fiery  pains  ; 

Herbs  that,  brought  from  hell's  black  door, 

Do  its  business  slow  and  sure.    " 

All  in  chorus  : 

Double,  double,  toil  and  trouble, 
Fire  burn  and  caldron  bubble. 

Alarmed  at  the  rapid  spread  of  truth  and  the  power 
of  reformatory  principles,  Bishop  Hopkins,  of  Vermont, 
published  a  book  entitled,  The  Triumph  of  Temperance 
THE  Teitimph  of  Infidelity  ;  charging  temperance  with 
assuming  to  do  what  Christianity  could  not  do,  and  set- 
ting Christianity  aside  as  useless  ;  but  the  work  only  pro- 
voked the  smile  and  pity  of  all  good  men.  The  temper- 
ance cause  was  an  emanation  from  the  Gospel,  and  removed 
the  greatest  obstructions  to  its  spread  and  reception.  Oth- 
ers contemned  the  temperance  cause  as  utterly  unable  to 
hold  its  reformed  men,  and  therefore  valueless.  Dr.  Ed- 
wards had  said,  in  his  Fifth  Report,  1832,  that  4,500  drunk- 
ards had  been  reformed  and  had  ceased  to  use  intoxicating 
drinks.  Some  were  well  known  to  hold  out  and  become 
blessings  and  comforts  to  their  families;  but  many  had 
gone  back  like  "  the  sow  that  was  washed  to  her  wallow- 
ing in  the  mire,"  and  it  was  found  that  in  most  cases  they 
had  done  so  without  breaking  their  pledge,  having  become 
intoxicated  on  other  than  distilled  liquors.     This  led  to 


KEASONS   FOR   A   NEW   PLEDGE.  43 

much  investigation.  Gerrit  Smith,  Esq.,  of  Peterboro', 
N.  Y.,  gave  a  report  of  numerous  reformed  drunkards,  who 
had  gone  back  on  cider.  Others  reported  relapses  on 
wine.  Others  on  beer.  The  basis  of  all  these  drinks  was 
found  to  be  Alcohol,  generated  in  fermentation  and  not  in 
distillation ;  and  hence  the  conclusion  was,  that  if  men 
would  have  the  reform  progress,  and  our  children  saved, 
the  pledge  must  embrace  all  intoxicating  drinks.  Not  only 
was  it  impossible  for  reformed  drunkards  to  stand  in  the 
use  of  fermented  drinks,  though  they  abstained  from  all 
distilled ;  but  sound  and  stable-minded  temperance  men 
were  becoming  satisfied  that  they  were  far  better  without 
them  than  with  them.  A  circular  of  inquiry  on  this  sub- 
ject, addressed  to  a  large  number  of  intelligent  gentle- 
men, brought  replies  of  a  most  decided  character,  placing 
wine,  cider  and  malt  liquors  under  the  ban  as  deleterious 
articles  to  the  human  constitution.  No  testimony  was 
stronger  or  more  influential  than  that  of  Professor  Hitch- 
cock, of  Amherst  College.  Said  he :  "  I  have  watched  the 
reformation  of  some  dozens  of  inebriates,  and  have  been 
compelled  to  witness  the  relapse  of  many  who  had  run 
well  for  a  time.  And  I  say,  without  any  fear  of  contra- 
diction, that  the  greatest  obstacle  to  the  reformation  of 
drunkards  is  the  habitual  use  of  wine,  beer,  cider  and 
cordials  by  the  respectable  members  of  community ;  as 
in  very  many,  I  believe  in  most,  cases,  intemperate  habits 
are  formed,  the  love  of  alcoholic  drinks  induced,  by  the 
habitual  use  of  these  lighter  beverages.  I  rejoice  to  say 
that  a  very  great  majority  of  the  several  hundreds  of 
clergymen  of  my  acquaintance,  are  decided  friends  of  the 
temperance  cause,  and  both  by  preaching  and  practice 
inculcate  total  abstinence  from  all  that  can  intoxicate  as  a 
beverage." 


CHAPTER  III. 

Second  National  Convention  at  Saratoga  Springs,  1836 — Appointed  first 
Secretary — Adoption  of  Total  Abstinence  from  all  Intoxicating  Drinks 
— Organization  of  American  Temperance  Union — Gen.  Cocke,  of  Vir- 
ginia, President — Located  at  Philadelphia — Appointed  Corresponding 
Secretary  and  Editor — Mr.  Delavan's  Gift  of  Ten  Thousand  Dollars 
— First  Issue  of  the  Journal — Second  Visit  to  Washington — Reor- 
ganization of  the  Congressional  Temperance  Society — Great  Progress 
— Issues  of  the  Press. 

So  great  was  the  demand,  in  all  the  States,  for  taking 
high  ground,  that  a  second  National  Convention  was 
called,  to  be  held  at  Saratoga  Springs,  in  the  summer  of 
1836.  Many  were  strongly  opposed,  doubting  the  wisdom 
of  including  fermented  drinks  in  the  pledge ;  some  believ- 
ing beer  essential  and  useful  to  our  laboring  foreign  popu- 
lation, and  some  dreading  all  conflict  with  the  Bible  on 
the  use  of  wine  at  weddings  and  the  sacramental  table. 
But  a  very  large  gathering  was  witnessed  from  the  States 
and  from  Canada.  Chancellor  Walworth  was  again  ap- 
pointed President.  I  was  made  first  Secretary  of  the 
Convention.  The  great  point,  the  introduction  of  the 
pledge  of  total  abstinence  from  all  intoxicating  liquors, 
was  at  once  reached  by  a  resolution  to  that  effect  by  the 
business  committee,  of  which  Dr.  Edwards  was  chairman. 
It  was  sustained  by  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher,  and  others,  and 
unanimously  adopted.  A  subsequent  resolution,  giving 
the  reasons  why  all  men  should  unite  in  total  abstinence 
from  all  intoxicating  liquors,  fermented  aS  well  as  distilled, 
as  of  hurtful  and  deleterious  tendency,  drew  out  severe 


COMPEOMISE   PKEVAILING.  45 

conflicts ;  Professor  Potter,  Dr.  Reese,  and  others,  denying 
the  correctness  of  the  classification,  and  believing  that 
vinous  and  malt  liquors  might  be  harmlessly  used ;  but 
as  their  use  might  lead  to  evil  results  with  some,  they 
were  willing  to  adopt,  from  benevolent  motives,  the  total 
abstinence  principle.  On  motion  of  Dr.  Reese  a  resolu- 
tion of  total  abstinence,  without  assigning  any  reason 
therefor,  was  substituted  for  that  of  the  blisiness  commit- 
tee and  unanimously  adopted,  though  that  of  the  business 
committee  was  strongly  sustained  by  Dr.  Beman,  of  Troy, 
Geo.  N.  Briggs,  Esq.,  of  Mass.,  and  a  large  majority  of 
the  Convention.  A  spirit  of  compromise  prevailed  and 
the  Convention  adjourned.  Previous  to  adjournment, 
howeyer,  the  American  Temperance  Union  agreed  upon 
at  Philadelphia,  in  1833,  was  reorganized  and  set  in  mo- 
tion by  the  appointment  of  John  H.  Cocke,  of  Virginia, 
President,  with  eight  Vice-Presidents  ;  an  Executive  Com- 
mittee, consisting  of  Edward  C.  Delavan,  of  Albany,  Isaac 
S.  Loyd  and  Isaac  Collins,  of  Philadelphia,  John  W.  Leav- 
itt,  of  New  York,  John  Tappan,  of  Boston,  Christian 
Keener,  of  Baltimore,  and  John  T.  Norton,  of  Connecticut ; 
John  Marsh,  of  Pennsylvania,  and  Dr.  L.  A.  Smith,  of 
New  Jersey,  Secretaries ;  Robert  Earp,  of  Philadelphia, 
Treasurer,  and  Thomas  Fleming,  Auditor. 

In  the  month  of  October  the  Committee  met  in  the 
city  of  New  York,  and  resolved  on  Philadelphia  as  the 
seat  of  their  operations,  and  on  the  establishment  there  of 
a  national  press.  A  committee  of  three  were  appointed 
to  procure  a  suitable  Editor.  To  this  office,  and  that  of 
Corresponding  Secretary,  I  was  invited,  and  preparations 
were  at  once  made  to  issue  a  monthly  publication  of  six- 
teen quarto  pages,  to  be  called  "  The  Jouknal  of  the 
AMERicAisr  Temperance  Uniox."  Mr.  Delavan  designed 
removing  to  Philadelphia,  and  taking  charge  of  the  whole 
concern;  but  being  prevented  from  so  doing, he  generously 


46  TEMPEEANCE   KECOLLECTIONS. 

placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  Committee  the  sum  of  Ten 
TnousAXD  Dollars. 

A  new  and  wide  field  of  labor  was  now  opened  before 
me ;  though  I  had  found  the  one  I  had  occupied  in  Penn- 
sylvania sufficient  to  task  all  my  powers. 

On  the  fifteenth  of  January,  1837,  the  first  number  of 
the  Journal  of  the  American  Temperance  Union 
was  issued.  Fifty  thousand  copies  were  printed,  and 
gratuitously  scattered.  It  commenced  with  an  Address  of 
the  Executive  Committee  to  the  Friends  of  Total  Absti- 
nance  in  the  Western  Hemisphere.  It  assumed  that  Alco- 
hol is  the  same  in  fermented  as  in  distilled  liquors,  an  in- 
toxicating agent,  never  useful  but  always  hurtful  to  men 
in  health,  injuring  the  mind  and  the  body,  and  to  be  dis- 
carded by  all  classes  as  a  common  beverage.  Appeals 
were  made  to  the  President  of  the  United  States,  to  Gov- 
ernors, Legislators,  Magistrates,  Farmers ;  to  Parents,  to 
Young  Men,  to  Women,  to  Teachers,  and  to  Ministers.  A 
Circular  was  added  to  the  Proprietors  and  Superintendents 
of  Manufacturing  Establishments  in  the  Unite'd  States  and 
the  British  Provinces,  asking  for  facts  relating  to  the  use 
and  disuse  of  spirituous  liquors  in  their  establishments, 
with  several  answers  which  had  been  received. 

My  personal  business  in  the  office  was  regular  and 
pressing ;  but  it  was  thought  advisable  by  the  Committee 
that  I  should  go  to  Washington,  and  aid  in  reorganizing 
the  Congressional  Temperance  Society,  which  was  formed 
in  1833,  but  had  fallen  somewhat  into  decay.  At  a 
meeting  held  in  the  Caj^itol,  February  24,  in  the  absence 
of  Hon.  Lewis  Cass,  President,  the  Hon.  Felix  Grundy 
took  the  chair,  and  I  vf  as  requested  to  act  as  Secretary. 
A  series  of  resolutions  prepared  were  offered  by  the  Hon. 
George  N.  Briggs  of  Massachusetts,  and  unanimously 
adopted;  and,  on  nomination  by  a  committee  of  three, 
officers  were  appointed  for  the  year  ensuing.     Hon.  Felix 


1837.  47 

Grundy,  Senator  from  Tennessee,  President;  Hon.  G.  N. 
Briggs  from  Massachusetts,  Chairman  of  the  Executive 
Committee ;  and  L.  H.  Machin,  Chief  Clerk  of  the  Senate, 
Secretary.  While  at  Washington  I  learned  many  impor- 
tant facts  in  relation  to  our  cause.  A  distinguished 
medical  gentleman,  much  in  attendance  upon  members, 
assured  me  he  had  known  no  Congress  so  temperate  as 
that.  A  Senator  informed  me  that  public  sentiment  was 
in  advance  of  the  action  of  temperance  societies,  and  that 
the  general  demand  was  for  the  thorough  total  abstinence 
pledge. 

Stationed  at  the  fountain  head  of  temperance  action, 
and  called  to  make  record  and  report  of  all  new  and  ag- 
gressive movements,  it  w^as  with  deep  interest  that  intelli- 
gence was  daily  welcomed.  Nothing  had  occurred  to 
give  greater  satisfaction  than  the  eighth  anniversary  of 
the  iSTew  York  State  Temperance  Society,  which  was  held 
at  Albany  on  the  16th  of  February,  1837.  95  delegates 
were  present  from  24  counties,  men  of  high  character, 
much  intelligence  and  zeal.  The  Annual  Report  by  Elisha 
Taylor,  Esq.,  was  exceedingly  flattering.  The  whole 
number  of  publications  issued  to  the  1st  of  February,  1836, 
was  12,626,210.  The  whole  expenditure  of  the  Society 
had  been  $130,408,  41.  The  distilleries  m  the  State  had 
decreased  from  1149  to  337.  More  than  three  thousand 
drunkards  had  been  reformed  in  the  eight  hundred  towns 
of  the  State,  and  more  than  one  hundred  towns  had  stopped 
the  sale  of  liquor.  More  than  forty  thousand  of  the  popu- 
lation of  New  York  city  had  signed  the  ardent  spirit 
pledge.  Out  of  more  than  four  hundred  clergymen  in  the 
State,  who  had  been  called  on  by  the  Secretary,  all  but 
nine  had  signed  the  total  abstinence  pledge;  and  the 
greater  part  of  the  physicians  were  avowed  total  abstain- 
ers. Chancellor  Walworth  was  reelected  President,  and 
the  society  adopted  the  total  abstinence  pledge.     From 


48  TEMPERANCE   RECOLLECTIONS. 

Virginia  favorable  reports  were  received.  One  of  the 
oldest  State  Societies,  this  had  been  very  active,  and 
though  not  ready  at  the  annual  meeting,  February  28,  to 
adopt  the  thorough  total  abstinence  pledge,  more  than 
twenty  local  societies  had  reported  favorable  to  it. 

In  Maine  the  old  Temperance  Society  declined  chang- 
ing its  base,  and  a  new  organization  sprang  into  existence, 
called  "The  Maine  Temperance  Union"  on  the  new 
principle.  In  Ohio  more  than  93,500  copies  of  a  State 
Temperance  paper  had  been  circulated  in  the  year.  In 
Michigan  a  State  Society  had  been  formed.  Its  first  anni- 
versary was  held  on  the  1st  of  February.  Most  of  the 
Society,  Avith  but  little  opposition,  had  adopted  the  prin- 
ciple of  abstinence  from  all  intoxicating  liquors  as  a  bever- 
age. Exceedingly  interesting  intelligence,  with  which  we 
were  enabled  to  enrich  our  Journals,  was  received  from 
the  Rev.  Robert  Baird,  who  had  visited  the  North  of 
Europe,  and  caused  the  Permanent  Temperance  Documents 
to  be  translated  into  the  French,  German,  Dutch  and 
Swedish  languages,  and  twelve  thousand  volumes  to  be 
circulated,  making  everywhere  a  great  impression. 

The  period  which  intervened  between  1833  and  1837 
was  one  rich  in  temperance  literature.  Besides  the  very 
able  Reports  of  the  American  Temperance  Society  by  Dr. 
Edwards,  discussing  great  principles,  there  was  a  con^ 
tinuous  flow  of  Sargent's  Temperance  Tales;  able  ad- 
dresses, by  Hon.  Mark  Doolittle,  Alvan  Stewart.,  Dr.  E. 
W.  Channing;  "The  Immorality  of  the  Traffic,"  by  Albert 
Barnes,  and  of  "  The  Use  of  Ardent  Spirits,"  by  Robert  R. 
Breckenbridge ;  "  Medical  Prize  Essays,"  by  Dr.  Reuben 
Muzzey,  and  Dr.  Harvey  Lindsley,  showing  that  ardent 
spirits  could  safely  be  disj^ensed  with  in  the  Materia 
Medica ;  "  Debates  of  Conscience  with  a  Distiller,"  by 
Heman  Humphrey,  D.  D. ;  "  Prize  Essay  on  Sacramental 
Wines,"  by  Calvin  Chapin,  D.  D.     "  Sermons,"  by  Bishop 


ISSUES   OF   THE   PEESS.  49 

Meade,  of  Virginia ;  Rev.  E.  N.  Kirk,  of  Albany ;  Rev. 
Mark  Tucker,  of  Troy ;  and  "Harvey  Boys,"  by  American 
Sunday  School  Union.  With  these  and  other  works,  I 
was  able  to  make  myself  conversant,  which  gave  me  and 
my  fellow  laborers  good  ground  to  believe  that  our  prin- 
ciples were  coincident  with  the  word  of  God,  and  the  de- 
velopments of  human  science,  and  must  ultimately  gain  a 
signal  triumph. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

First  Anniversary  of  tlic  American  Temperance  Union — Action  of  the 
Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer — Speech  of  Alvan  Stewart — Object  and 
Influence  of  the  Journal — Opening  of  Marlboro'  Temperance  Hotel, 
Boston — Buckingham  Festival,  Philadelphia — Visit  with  Mr.  Buck- 
ingham at  "Washington — Congressional  Temperance  Meeting — Mr. 
Delavan's  Present  to  Queen  Victoria — Address  to  the  French  Court — 
Second  Anniversary  at  Philadelphia — President  Nott's  Address — Pro- 
hibition taken  in  Hand — Rev.  T.  P.  Hunt's  Exposure  of  Frauds  in 
the  Liquor  Traffic — Terrible  Disasters  on  Western  Waters — Circular 
to  Marine  Insurance  Offices^Circular  to  Emigrants — Liberal  Con- 
tributions— Removal  to  Xew  York — Mr.  Delavan's  Charge  on  Leaving 
for  Europe — Third  Anniversary  at  Boston — Good  Progress. 

On  the  9th  of  May,  1837,  the  first  anniversary  of  the 
Amekican  "Tempeeance  Union  was  held  at  the  Chatham 
Chapel  in  the  city  of  New  York.  Though  the  seat  of  its 
operation  was  Philadelphia,  it  was  thought  best  by  the 
Committee  to  make  its  first  public  demonstration  amid 
the  other  national  anniversaries.  In  the  absence  of  Gen- 
eral Cocke  of  Virginia,  the  chair  was  taken  by  E.  C.  Del- 
avan,  Esq.,  of  Albany,  Chairman  of  the  Executive  Com- 
mittee, and  prayer  was  offered  by  Rev.  Mr.  Curtis,  of  the 
Baptist  denomination  in  Maine.  My  first  Annual  Report 
was  necessarily  short,  being  confined  much  to  our  own 
organization  and  six  months'  labor,  and  yet  taking  a  brief 
view  of  the  advance  in  princijole,  in  the  adoption  of  the 
total  abstinence  pledge  from  all  that  intoxicates ;  of  the 
action  of  the  Massachusetts  Legislature  on  the  license  sys- 
tem, and  of  good  progress  of  temperance  in  foreign  coun- 
tries.    The  meeting  was  ably  addressed  by  Elisha  Taylor, 


FIRST   AXNIVERSAEY   A.    T.    U.  51 

Esq.,  of  Albany;  Rev.  Thomas  Brainarcl,  of  Philadelphia; 
Alvan  Stewart,  Esq.,of  XJtica;  and  Rev.  Thomas  P.  Hunt, 
of  North  Carolina.  What  gave  a  peculiar  zest  to  the 
meeting,  was  a  letter  from  Mr.  Buckingham,  announcing 
that  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  had  granted  per- 
mission to  an  entrance,  free  of  duty,  to  a  very  large  amount, 
four  millions,  of  a  small  pamphlet,  which  the  friends  of 
temperance  in  America  were  about  addressing  to  the  peo- 
ple of  Great  Britain,  a  copy  to  be  placed,  if  possible,  in 
every  family.  Mr.  Stewart  said,  "  In  this  there  was  a 
moral  sublimity  which  the  world  has  seldom  witnessed. 
But  a  few  years  ago,  these  two  nations  were  at  war,  send- 
ing into  each  other's  borders  arrows,  fire-brands  and  death ; 
now,  breathing  toward  each  other  a  spirit  of  good  will, 
and  interchanging,  without  money  or  price,  the  means  of 
reform  and  blessedness  to  mankind."  To  our  Annual  Re- 
port were  appended,  Hon.  Theodore  Frelinghuysen's 
speech  before  the  New  Jersey  State  Temperance  Society, 
on  the  adoption  of  the  total  abstinence  pledge ;  statistics 
on  the  consumption  of  wine  in  the  United  States,  from 
John  Tappan,  Esq.,  of  Boston ;  and  the  annual  cost  of  in- 
toxicating drinks  in  the  United  States,  from  the  Report  of 
the  NeAV  York  Total  Abstinence  Society. 

While  there  were  more  than  twenty  local  temperance 
papers  in  the  country,  the  Committee  designed  making 
the  Journal  a  feeder  to  them  all,  and  not  merely  to  them, 
but  to  all  the  religious  and  political  papers  of  the  nation  ; 
for  could  the  twelve  hundred  newspapers  published,  with 
an  average  circulation  of  eight  hundred  each,  all  receive 
into  their  columns  a  small  portion  of  the  matter  furnished, 
it  would  be  the  publication  and  dissemination  of  an 
amount  equal,  monthly,  to  nine  hundred  and  sixty  thousand 
copies  of  the  Journal.  If  the  issue  of  the  Circular  pro- 
posing this  did  not  entirely  effect  the  object,  it  was  not 
in  vain.     Many  gratifying  responses  were   received,    A 


52  TEMPERANCE    KECOLLECTIONS. 

subscription  of  about  ten  thousand  copies  was  made  to  the 
Journal ;  a  gratuity  of  one  number  of  twenty  thousand 
had  been  sent  out ;  one  to  every  minister  of  the  Gospel, 
one  to  every  postmaster,  one,  monthly,  to  every  member 
of  Congress,  and  many  to  foreign  countries  and  missionary 
stations. 

In  a  most  exhilarating  scene  I  became  a  participant  in 
the  opening  of  the  Marlboro'  Hotel  at  Boston,  on  the  4th 
of  July,  as  a  Temperance  Hotel.  About  two  hundred 
gentlemen  sat  down  to  dinner,  where,  for  a  new  thing 
under  the  sun,  no  intoxicating  drink  was  to  be  seen.  Ani- 
mated speeches  were  made,  by  Hon.  Messrs.  Rich  and 
Fletcher,  members  of  Congress ;  Rev.  Dr.  Pierce,  Deac. 
Moses  Grant,  Mr.  John  Tappan  and  others  ;  and  a  beauti- 
ful poem  eulogizing,  from  scripture  history, "  Cold  Water," 
was  brought  out  by  my  friend  and  classmate  Rev.  John 
Pierpont; 

"  In  Eden's  green  retreats, 
A  water  brook  *  *  * 
Was  Adam's  drink, 
-And  also  Eve's,  &c." 

And  in  another,  and  still  greater  and  more  magnificent 
scene,  was  I  during  that  year  not  only  a  participant,  but 
one  of  the  principal  agents :  a  festival  given,  February 
22,  1838,  in  the  Arch  Street  Theatre,  Philadelphia,  to  the 
Hon.  James  Silk  Buckingham  of  England.  SucH  had 
been  his  services  for  temperance  in  the  British  Parliament, 
that  we  thought  it  due  to  him  ;  and  we  honored  him  with 
an  assemblage  of  two  thousand  peoj)le,  and  an  entertain- 
ment of  the  richest  character.  It  was  a  work  of  great 
labor,  but  of  most  happy  influences.  Afterward  Mr.  Dela- 
van  and  myself  accompanied  him  to  Baltimore,  where  a 
large  meeting  was  held  at  the  Eutaw  Methodist  Church, 
and  addresses  were  made  by  the  Rev.  Robert  J.  Brecken- 


HON.  J.  S.  BUCKINGHAM! — DE.  NOTT.  53 

bridge,  Mr.  Delavan  and  Mr.  Buckingham.  We  next  pro- 
ceeded to  Washington,  and  attended  the  meeting  of  the 
Congressional  Society.  The  Hall  was  filled  with  Con- 
gressmen and  citizens ;  the  Hon.  Felix  Grundy  presiding. 
In  lieu  of  a  Report,  I  was  called  upon  to  give  a  brief  view 
of  the  state  of  the  cause  in  this  and  in  foreign  countries, 
and  to  offer  a  resolution  of  gratitude  for  success.  Resolu- 
tions and  speeches  followed  from  Hon.  John  Read,  of 
Massachusetts ;  Hon.  J.  C.  IN'oyes,  of  Maine ;  Hon.  Mr. 
Randolph,  of  New  Jersey ;  JSon.  Mr.  Briggs,  of  Massa- 
chusetts ;  and  Hon.  Mr.  Buckingham,  who  occupied  an 
hour  and  a  half,  greatly  to  the  delight  and  edification 
of  his  large  audience.  With  foreign  countries  our  intima- 
cies were  becoming  great.  Mr.  Delavan  had  sent  to 
Queen  Victoria  a  beautiful  copy  of  Mr.  Sargent's  Temper- 
ance Tales,  and  received  a  grateful  response  ;  the  meetings 
of  foreign  temperance  societies  and  able  speeches  had 
drawn  us  out  towards  them ;  and  the  inquiries  of  Count 
Mole,  relative  to  our  organization,  had  led  our  Committee 
to  send  a  lengthy  communication  to  the  French  Court. 

Our  second  Anniversary  was  held.  May,  1838,  in  the 
Central  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia,  Matthew 
Newkirk,  Esq.,  a  wealthy  merchant,  in  the  chair.  The 
meeting  was  deeply  interested  in  a  most  eloquent  address 
by  President  Nott  of  Union  College,  giving  us,  in  his  pe- 
culiarly impressive  style,  the  best  passages  of  his  lectures, 
with  which  he  has  since  favored  the  world.  Few  were 
the  dry  eyes  and  unmoved  hearts  in  that  large  assembly. 
In  this,  my  second  Annual  Report,  I  was  able  to  present  a 
great  variety  of  advances,  as  the  past  was  a  year  of  much 
action.  But  the  most  important  item  was  the  great  sub- 
ject which  was  now  treading  upon  the  heels  of  total  ab- 
stinence, the  prohibition  of  the  trafiic,  or  shutting  off  of 
temptation  from  the  community.  Dr.  Edwards,  in  1833, 
in  his  sixth  Annual  Report,  had  most  fully  and  clearly 


54  TEMPERANCE   RECOLLECTIONS. 

dcmonstratccl,  that  all  laws,  authorizing  the  traffic  in 
ardent  spirits,  were  morally  wrong  ;  that  this  traffic  should 
never  be  licensed ;  on  the  contrary,  the  people  should  be 
defended  against  the  evil  it  causes.  Yet,  though  con- 
viction of  the  truth  of  his  position  had  settled  down  upon 
the  minds  of  many  of  the  first  men  of  the  country,  both 
legislatures  and  the  people  were  slow  to  move ;  but  in 
1837-8  there  were  sensations  throughout  the  country, 
which  could  not  be  suppressed.  A  committee  of  the 
Legislature  of  Maine  took  the  highest  ground  which  ever 
had  been  taken,  viz. :  That  the  law  giving  the  right  to 
sell  ardent  spirits  should  be  repealed,  and  a  law  prohibi- 
tory, except  for  the  arts  and  medical  use,  be  passed ;  for 
the  reasons  for  such  a  law  were  as  numerous  as  the  evils 
of  intemperance.  The  entire  principle  was  here  advanced 
which  afterwards  prevailed,  in  1851.  Massachusetts  fol- 
lowed in  a  Convention  of  four  hundred  delegates  at  Bos- 
ton, February  21,  1838,  with  the  same  positions.  And  to 
the  Ohio  Legislature  was  i:)resented  from  Portage  County, 
in  the  same  month,  a  memorial  unsurpassed,  before  or 
since,  in  eloquence  and  power.  A  Committee  of  the  Con- 
necticut Legislature,  in  May,  fell  into  line,  adducing  nu- 
merous facts  most  touching  to  the  public  heart. 

These  various  documents,  woven  into  the  Annual  Re- 
port, with  some  consequent  Legislative  action,  formed  one 
of  the  strongest  fortresses  for  temperance.  They  can 
never  be  set  aside.  The  character  of  the  traffic  was  at 
the  same  time  being  so  developed,  as  to  become  the  object 
of  public  indignation  and  alarm.  No  one  pursued  it  with 
more  power  and  skill  than  my  warm  personal  friend,  the 
Rev.  Thomas  P.  Hunt,  who  had  spoken  with  much  effect 
at  the  Philadelphia  National  Convention,  and  who,  for, 
years  after,  stood  at  the  very  head  of  effective  temperance 
lecturers,  full  of  argument  and  of  amusing  but  striking  an- 
ecdote.     To  sustain  himself  in  his  declarations  relating 


CIRCULAK   TO   MARINE   INSURANCE   OFFICES.  55 

to  frauds  in  the  liquor  trade,  which  were  incredible  to 
many  and  pronounced  slanderous  by  the  dealers,  he  sent 
to  London,  and  obtained  the  brewers'  guides,  distillers' 
and  wine-makers'  receipt  books,  from  which  he  spread 
abroad  the  secrets  of  the  infernal  machinery  of  drunkard 
making.  His  productions  were  placed  in  the  Journal, 
and  in  the  appendix  to  the  Report,  producing  a  deep  sensa- 
tion. The  action  of  most  of  the  great  religious  denomina- 
tions, in  favor  of  the  total  abstinence  pledge,  was  recorded, 
and  more  intellig^ence  from  foreiorn  countries  than  had  be- 
fore  been  collected.  By  this  anniversary,  in  connection 
with  the  Congressional  temperance  meeting,  we  were  much 
encouraged,  and  seemed  to  be  in  favor  with  the  people. 
In  a  few  weeks,  terrible  disasters,  by  the  burning  of 
steamboats,  the  Ben  Sherrod,  Moselle  and  others,  on  the 
Western  waters  through  rum,  led  the  Committee  to  issue 
a  Circular  to  the  Marine  Insurance  Offices,  calling  upon 
them  to  make  an  abatement  of  ten  per  cent,  in  favor  of  all 
boats  conducted  without  intoxicating  liquors.  A  large 
number  complied  with  the  request.  $500  were  put  into 
the  hands  of  the  Committee  to  aid  in  this  object,  by  General 
Cocke,  President  of  the  Union,  and  $400  by  other  gentle- 
men. 

Another  document  of  great  importance  was  issued, 
viz. :  "  An  Address  to  Emigrants  leaving  their  native  coun- 
tries for  America."  Of  this  short,  kind,  but  pointed  tract, 
a  large  number  were  piinted,  and  sent  over  to  be  put  into 
their  hands  as  they  should  leave  their  own  shores,  and  be 
well  considered  on  their  passage.  Five  hundred  dollars 
were  contributed  by  Gerrit  Smith,  Esq.,  to  expedite  this 
matter. 

In  the  course  of  this  year,  a  change  of  locality,  in  some 
respects  painful,  in  others  pleasant,  was  effected  for  our 
seat  of  operations.  The  residence  of  Mr.  Delavan,  chair- 
man of  the  Committee,  at  Albany,  and  the  connection  of 


56  TEMPERANCE   RECOLLECTIONS. 

New  York  with  Europe,  and,  indeed,  with  New  England 
and  the  opening  West,  had  led  the  Committee  in  October 
to  remove  their  office  to  Xew  York.  Our  first  Journal  in 
that  city  was  printed  in  October,  1838.  My  attachment 
to  Philadelphia,  where  I  had  resided  and  labored  in  the 
cause,  in  connection  with  such  men  as  Rev.  Albert  Barnes, 
Rev.  Thomas  Brainerd,  Rev.  Dr.  Tyng,  M.  Newkirk,  I.  S. 
Loyd,  Th'bmas  and  Robert  Earp,  Dr.  Gebhard  and  others, 
since  1833,  was  very  great ;  and  I  was,  perhaps,  sacrificing 
too  much  acquired  influence  for  an  expenment  in  a  new 
city,  especially  as  we  did  not  come  for  local  labor.  New 
York  was  already  in  better  hands  than  our  own.  An  im- 
mense temperance  work  had  been  done  here  by  a  well- 
organized  and  efficient  City  Society,  established  in  1829, 
and  ably  conducted,  first  under  the  Secretaryship  of  Rev. 
Joshua  Leavitt,  and  afterwards  of  Robert  M.  Hartley, 
Esq.  An  immense  mass  of  publications  had  been  scattered 
here ;  auxiliary  societies  had  been  formed  in  every  ward. 
Ministers  and  churches  had  been  enlisted,  and  thousands 
had  signed  the  temperance  pledge.  The  men  of  the  sea 
had  been  gathered  in,  and  happy  changes  were  effected 
along  the  docks  and  on  shii^board.  With  so  important 
and  efficient  an  organization  I  desired  cooperation.  But  I 
early  found  there  was  a  lack  of  harmony.  Few  of  the 
members  of  the  City  Society  had  adopted  the  total  ab- 
stinence pledge,  while  all  were  still  admitted  to  full  stand- 
ing, who  signed  the  old  pledge  of  abstinence  simply  from 
ardent  spirits.  Such  a  course  had  been  remonstrated 
against  in  the  Journal,  and  hence  it  met  with  but  little 
favor.  The  New  York  Young  Men's  Total  Abstinence 
Association  had  long  been  correct,  both  in  principle  and 
practice,  and  gave  us  cordially  the  hand  of  fellowship. 
Without  any  unhappy  controversy  or  division,  however, 
the  principle  established  by  the  National  Convention  of 
1836,  gradually  predominated;  and,  in  the  course  of  time, 


REMOVAL  TO   NEW   YOEK.  57 

the  old  pledge  fell  into  disuse.  Here,  in  this  great  em- 
porium of  wealth  and  trade,  we  felt  that  our  field  was  the 
world. 

While  thus  locating  in  New  York,  Mr.  Delavan  was 
just  leaving  us  for  Europe,  to  attend  to  some  private 
business  ;  but  designing  to  make  accurate  and  extensive 
researches  into  the  cause  there,  and  to  impart  all  the  in- 
formation in  his  power,  relative  to  the  cause  here.  He 
designed  making  the  Journal  the  medium  of  his  communi- 
cations ;  and  did  so,  for  near  a  year,  to  the  great  gratifica- 
tion of  the  public.  To  me  he  gave  a  solemn  charge  of 
fidelity,  especially  in  relation  to  the  prohibition  of  the 
traffic,  which  was  beginning  to  agitate  the  public  mind. 
"  Throw  out  your  light,"  he  said,  "  my  dear  Sir ;  teach  the 
people  to  feel  that  they  are  the  law-makers.  Show  all 
the  friends  of  temperance  the  folly  of  sending  drinking 
men  to  our  legislative  halls,  and  then  sending  them  peti- 
tions to  save  the  community  from  the  ruinous  efiects  of 
their  own  practice." 

Our  third  anniversary  was  held  at  Boston,  in  the  Win- 
ter Street  Church,  in  the  last  week  of  May,  1839.  Boston 
was  the  mother  of  temperance,  and  needed  no  contribu- 
tions from  abroad ;  but  her  children  felt  it  a  privilege  to 
gather  at  the  old  family  seat,  and  show  what  was  their 
number  and  growth,  and  what  they  in  fiiture  expected  to 
accomplisli.  The  following  letter  was  addressed  to  me  by 
our  excellent  President : 

Saratoga  Springs,  May  22,  1839. 
Dear  Sir  :  It  would  give  me  great  pleasure  to  be  able  to  attend  the 
meeting  of  the  American  Temperance  Union  at  Boston  for  several  reasons ; 
but  my  official  engagements  are  such  as  to  render  it  absolutely  impossible 
I  trust,  however,  that  as  many  of  our  friends  from  this  State  as  possible, 
will  try  to  give  their  attendance  at  the  meeting,  as  I  think  it  is  due  to  our 
friends  in  Massachusetts,  who  have  exerted  themselves  so  nobly  and  effec- 
tually in  the  great  cause  of  benevolence  in  which  we  are  engaged.  And 
3* 


58  TEMPERANCE   RECOLLECTIONS. 

I  hope  the  time  will  speedily  come,  when  the  State  of  Xcw  York  will  not 
be  behind  any  of  her  sisters  in  drying  up  the  sources  of  intemperance,  and 
thereby  preventing  its  numberless  attendant  evils. 
Yours  with  esteem, 

R.  H,  Walworth. 
Rev.  J.  Marsh,  Secretary. 

The  Report  which  I  was  able  to  make  congratulated 
the  friends  of  the  cause  on  the  almost  universal  adoption 
of  the  total  abstinence  principle.  Twenty-four  State  socie- 
ties were  in  full  and  vigorous  action.  New  ones  had  been 
formed  in  South  Carolina,  Missouri,  and  Wisconsin  Terri- 
tory. A  great  decrease  was  visible  in  the  manufacture 
and  sale  of  liquor.  The  ]N'ew  York  Society  had  reported 
1,188  auxiliaries,  2,000  ministers,  and  100,000  members  on 
the  comprehensive  pledge,  which  pledge  was  ably  sus- 
tained by  fifteen  periodicals,  besides  our  Journal.  Seven 
hundred  ministers  of  Wales,  and  150,000  of  her  people 
had  signed  the  total  abstinence  pledge.  The  Permanent 
Temperance  Documents  had  been  translated  into  Persian. 
The  rapid  spread  of  our  principles,  and  the  thrilling  re- 
ports coming  from  all  quarters,  drew  out  from  one  of  our 
speakers  the  sublime  description  of  the  thunder  storm 
among  the  Alps. 

"From  peak  to  peak  the  rattling  crags  among, 

Leaps  the  live  thunder — not  from  one  lone  cloud, 
But  every  mountain  now  hath  found  a  tongue ; 
And  Jm:a  answers  from  her  misty  shroud — 
Back  to  the  joyous  Alps  that  call  to  her  aloud." 


CHAPTER   y. 

Fourth  of  July  in  Boston — Fifteen  Gallon  Law  of  Massacliusetts — Youth's 
Temperance  Advocate  established — Mr.  Delavan's  correspondence  in 
Europe — London  procession — Dr.  Baird's  letter  from  Russia — India 
— Sandwich  Islands — Bacchus  and  Anti-Bacchus — Character  of  Scrip- 
ture wines. 

The  Fourth  of  July,  the  glorious  day  of  American 
Independence,  began  early  to  attract  attention  from  the 
friends  of  temperance.  This  had  long  been  the  great 
harvest  season  for  the  rum  power.  All  men  felt  that 
they  must,  on  that  day,  be  joyful  as  joyful  could  be  ;  and 
that,  to  increase  the  glorification,  it  was  right  and  proper 
to  use  stimulants  to  almost  any  excess.  On  that  day 
more  men  went  home  in  a  state  of  intoxication,  more 
hearts  were  broken,  and  more  children  and  youth  com- 
menced the  downward  path  to  the  drunkard's  end,  than  on 
any  other.  But  less  and  less  interest  was  beginning  to  be 
felt  in  that  occasion  ;  and  as  hostility  to  Britain  had  passed 
away,  and  there  was  nothing  in  the  minds  of  men  to 
kindle  enthusiasm  or  cause  the  day  as  a  holiday  to  be 
profitably  spent,  the  temperance  men  began  to  claim  the 
day  as  their  own,  as  an  Independence  day  from  King 
Alcohol,  who  had  long  triumphed  and  slain  his  thousands. 
The  Declaration  of  Independence  from  King  George  was 
made  to  read  in  almost  the  same  words  as  a  Declaration 
of  Independence  from  King  Alcohol ;.  large  assemblies  of 
men  and  women  gathered;  processions  were  formed  in 
cities  and  villages  with  banners,  and  badges,  and  bands  of 


60  TEMPERANCE    RECOLLECTIONS. 

music,  moving  to  some  cliurch  or  grove,  where  a  tempe- 
rance oration  was  delivered,  to  be  succeeded  by  some 
refreshments  from  tables  under  the  shades  of  the  forest. 
Large  bands  of  children,  called  the  Cold  Water  Army, 
also  improved  the  day  for  pic-nics  and  pleasant  gather- 
ings, and  securing  a  noble  host  who  should  withstand  the 
foe  when  father  and  mother  were  no  more. 

In  many  of  these  gatherings  it  was  my  happiness  to 
mingle ;  but  in  none  to  be  compared  with  the  temperance 
celebration  in  Boston  of  this  year,  1839.  Our  own  city  of 
New  York  had  not  then  begun  to  taste  of  liberty  from 
the  liquor-god.  Booths  filled  the  Park,  and  riot  and  con- 
fusion was  in  every  quarter.  But  Boston  friends  had  met 
the  enemy  and  the  city  was  theirs  ;  and  as  the  struggle 
had  been  great  in  the  previous  winter  to  maintain  the  law, 
the  entire  company  of  temperance  men  gave  up  all  busi- 
ness on  this  occasion  and  came  to  the  banquet.  Fourteen 
hundred  men  of  noble  bearing  marched  the  streets  with 
badge  and  banner ;  and  at  3  p.  m.  entered,  in  great  order, 
Fanueil  Hall,  the  old  cradle  of  American  liberty,  where 
were  spread  numerous  tables,  decorated  with  flowers,  and 
loaded  with  substantial  viands,  fruits  and  delicacies. 
Edward  C.  Brooks,  Esq.,  a  gentleman  of  high  character, 
presided,  supported  by  some  of  the  first  citizens  of 
Boston  :  Samuel  Dorr,  Esq,,  Dr.  John  C.  Warren,  James 
Savage,  John  C.  Gray,  Moses  Mellen,  Henry  Edwards,  &c. 
The  highly  respectable  Dr.  Jenks,  of  Boston,  and  Rev. 
Dr.  Pierce,  of  Brookline,  acted  as  chaplains.  And  when 
the  refreshments  were  used  up,  the  chairman  made  an 
address,  in  which  he  assured  the  company  that  they  could 
well  dispense  wdth  alcoholic  drinks  when  they  were  brought 
to  contemplate  the  privations  and  sufierings  of  those  who 
fought  and  gained  our  Independence;  when  we  needed 
no  stimulus  other  than  the  occasion  afforded  to  warm  our 
hearts  with  gratitude ;  and  when  it  would  be  most  dis- 


INDEPENDENCE   IN"   BOSTON,    1839.  61 

graceful  to  mar  this  holy  day  with  bacchanalian  orgies. 
Numerous  toasts  were  then  given,  not  to  be  drunk  with 
wine,  but  responded  to  by  speeches  and  songs,  as :  1.  "  The 
day  we  celebrate;"  2.  "  Old  Faneuil  Hall,  the  cradle  of 
Liberty,  to  be  guarded  by  the  genius  of  Temperance ; " 
3.  "  The  memory  of  George  Washington,"  (received 
standing  ;)  4.  "  Temperance  ; — The  common  cause  of  all 
good  men,  confined  to  no  party,  sect,  profession  or  coun- 
try ;  for  each  and  all  it  has  been  a  duty  and  a  blessing." 

To  me,  as  Secretary  of  the  American  Temperance 
Union,  it  was  assigned  to  sustain  this  sentiment ;  and  I 
could  only  say  that  we  were  this  day  a  spectacle  to  thou- 
sands and  tens  of  thousands,  for  it  was  as  natural  for  the 
people,  in  all  parts  of  the  Union,  to  cast  their  eyes  toward 
Boston  when  they  desired  or  expected  any  good  thing,  as 
for  the  Persian  to  look  at  the  rising  sun  for  needed  bless- 
ings. Boston  led  in  the  great  struggle  which  gained  our 
Independence,  and  Boston  would  go  before  us  in  the  great 
conflict  in  which  we  were  now  engaged.  The  speaker 
had  entered  tlie  vestibule  of  the  temple,  not  to  join  in 
battle,  for  the  seventeenth  of  June  with  the  glories  of 
Bunker  Hill  were  passed  ;  we  had  fought  our  great  fight 
and  now  were  for  establishing  by  our  cause  the  moral 
independence  of  our  country.  After  dwelling  on  the 
value  of  the  temperance  reformation  to  the  agricultural, 
commercial,  political  and  religious  interests  of  the  coun- 
try, I  gave  way  to  others,  first  rejoicing  to  behold  in 
that  assembly  the  venerable  William  Pierce,  who,  in  1773, 
had  assisted  in  throwing  the  tea  into  Boston  harbor,  and 
who  had  now  come  forward  a  second  time,  in  his  advanced 
age,  to  assist  in  saving  his  country.  (Great  cheering,  as 
the  venerable  teetotaler  rose  and  bowed  to  the  assembly.) 

An  ode,  by  Rev.  John  Pierpont,  was  then  sung. 

Let  the  trump  of  fame 
Now  to  thek  noemory  swell, 


62  TEMPERANCE   EECOLLECTIONS. 

Who,  in  Freedom's  name, 
Fought  and  bravely  fell,  &c. 

On  the  heroes  moved, 

"With  death  on  every  side, 
For  the  land  they  loved. 

They  died,  they  died. 

Come  pledge  the  Temperance  cause,  &c. 

Other  sentiments  followed,  and  spirited  speeches  Avere 
made,  first  by  Samuel  Hoar,  Esq.,  of  Concord,  a  member 
of  Congress,  and  next  by  Hon.  Josiah  Quincy,  President 
of  Harvard  University.  He  had  asked  his  friend  James 
Savage  if  it  was  consistent  for  him  to  come  to  the  meeting, 
as  he  had  not  signed  the  pledge.  He  was  told  it  was.  And 
so,  said  he,  heke  I  am.  {Great  cheering.)  He  took  a 
view  of  the  state  of  things  as  they  existed  thirty  years 
before,  compared  it  with  the  condition  at  the  pres- 
ent time,  and  declared  the  wonderful  change  effected  by 
the  temperance  reformation  greater  in  some  important 
points  than  had  been  produced  by  the  American  revolution. 
He  would  say  to  the  temperance  men  in  the  language  of 
the  times  :  "  Go  ahead  ;  fear  nothing."  For  the  Judi- 
ciary, James  T.  Austin,  Esq.,  Attorney-General  of  the 
Commonwealth,  spoke  with  great  strength.  Robert  Ran- 
toul,  Esq.,  of  Beverly,  one  of  the  chief  politicians  and 
practical  reformers,  offered  a  series  of  strong  resolutions. 
Jonathan's  Independence,  a  new  poem  by  Rev.  Mr. 
Pierpont,  was  then  sung  by  Mr.  Colburn,  to  the  tune  of 
Yankee  Doodle,  amid  great  eclat. 

Says  Jonathan,  says  he,  To-day 

I  will  be  independent, 
And  so  my  grog  I'U  throw  away, 

And  that  shall  be  the  end  on't. 
Clear  the  house,  the  tarnal  stuff, 

Sha'n't  be  here  so  handy, 


1839.  63 


"Wife  has  given  the  winds  her  snuff, 
So  now  here  goes  my  brandy. 

Chorus — Clear  the  house,  &c. 


And  now,  says  Jonathan,  towards  Rum 

I'm  desperate  unforgiving, 
The  tyrant  never  more  shall  come 

Into  the  home  I  live  in. 
Kindred  spirits,  too,  shall  in- 

To  utter  darkness  go  forth, 
Whiskey,  Toddy,  Julep,  Gm, 

Brandy,  Beer,  and  so  forth. 

Chorus — Kindred  spuits,  &c. 

While  this  cold  water  fiUs  my  cup, 

Duns  dare  not  assail  me. 
Sheriffs  shall  not  lock  me  up, 

Nor  my  neighbor  bail  me. 
Lawyers  will  I  never  let 

Choose  me  as  defendant, 
Till  to  death  I  pay  my  debt, 

I  will  be  independent. 

Chorus — Lawyers,  &c. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Rogers,  of  Winter  St.  Church,  spoke  for 
the  Clergy,  and  the  Hon.  Samuel  J.  Armstrong,  once  a 
practical  printer,  and  afterwards  acting-Governor  of  the 
State,  spoke  for  the  Mechanics  of  Boston,  distinguished 
for  their  enlightened  devotion  to  the  cause  of  education 
and  good  morals.  Eleven  years  before,  he  said,  the 
Mayor  of  Boston,  Mr.  Quincy,  came  near  losing  his  life 
for  attempting  to  enforce  the  law  against  the  grogshops ; 
now  behold  fourteen  hundred  stalwart  men  in  Faneuil 
Hall  at  a  temperance  dinner !  A  national  ode  was  next 
sung  by  the  choir. 


64  TEMPERANCE   KECOLLECTIONS. 

Our  country's  banners  play, 
On  this  her  native  day, 
With  every  breeze,  &c. 

Here  at  her  altar  swear, 
Your  country's  ark  to  tear 

From  despot's  hand  ;  • 

'Midst  drunkards'  hosts  to  brave, 
Your  holy  birth-right  save, 
Roll  back  that  heUish  wave 

Which  sweeps  the  land. 

Dr.  L.  Pierson,  of  Salem,  spoke  for  the  Medical  Profes- 
sion. Dr.  P.  alluded  to  the  struggles  the  Medical  men  had 
to  make  against  the  demon.  The  cup  had  been  offered  to 
the  i^hysician  every  visit  he  made,  but  his  friends  would 
now  as  soon  think  of  offering  him  any  other  drug. 

The  venerable  Pierce,  in  his  96th  year,  was  toasted ; 
also  the  Rev.  John  Pierpont,  author  of  the  odes  for  the 
occasion.  Rev.  Robert  Baird  gave  some  account  of  his 
mission  in  the  North  of  Europe.  "No  evidence  was  want- 
ing, that  a  sufficient  jollification  could  be  had,  without  the 
maddening  influence  of  wine.  All  retired  at  seven,  feeling 
that  it  was  a  day  of  great  glory  for  the  temperance  cause 
in  Boston. 

Our  Boston  friends  we  found  in  a  state  of  great  excite- 
ment, through  a  strong  effort  on  the  part  of  the  liquor 
dealers,  to  have  the  fifteen  gallon  law  repealed.  This 
law  was  enacted  by  the  Legislature  of  1838,  and  went  in- 
to operation,  14th  April,  1839.  It  forbade  the  sale  of 
any  spirituous  or  mixed  liquors  in  less  quantities  than 
fifteen  gallons.  Great  efforts  had  been  made  for  its  re- 
peal. 17,000  persons,  at  one  time,  petitioned  for  it,  and 
32,000  males  and  42,000  females  remonstrated  against  it. 
An  able  and  eloquent  argument  was  made  in  its  favor  by 
Hon.  Peleg  Sprague.  By  two  successive  Legislatures  it 
wai3  sustained ;  but  by  others,  under  a  new  political  Gov- 


youth's  tempeeance  advocate.  65 

emor,  chosen  by  one  vote,  it  was  repealed.  The  repeal 
produced  great  excitement  among  the  friends  of  temper- 
ance, inasmuch  as  it  re-established  the  old  license  system  ; 
and  on  the  12th  of  February,  a  Convention  of  1481  gen- 
tlemen assembled  in  Boston,  to  know  what  they  should 
do.  The  conclusion  was :  that  they  would  continue  to 
operate  by  light  and  love,  through  sound  argument  and 
kind  persuasion,  on  the  people,  the  people^  till  they  demand 
and  secure  to  themselves  protection  from  the  great  evil. 
In  1839  I  established  the  "  Youth's  Temperance  Advo- 
cate," that  the  children  and  youth  of  the  country  might 
early  be  rescued  from  the  temptations  to  which  they  were 
exposed,  and  brought  under  the  influence  of  our  reform. 
On  proposing  it  to  Mr.  Frelinghuysen,  he  wrote  me  the 
following  note : 

New  York  University,  October  29,  1839. 
Dear  Sir  : — I  have  examined  your  proposal  for  publishing  monthly 
from  the  office  of  the  American  Temperance  Union,  a  small  temperance 
paper,  adapted  to  the  vast  body  of  children  and  youth  throughout  our 
country,  and  am  happy  to  give  it  my  full  and  hearty  approbation.  Could 
such  a  paper  be  distributed  monthly,  by  the  friends  of  temperance,  ui  all 
our  Sunday-schools  it  could  not  fail  of  exerting  an  influence  unspeakably 
important,  not  only  over  the  minds  of  children  and  youth,  but  even  of 
parents  and  relatives,  m  whose  path  it  might  thus  providentially  be  scatter- 
ed. That  success,  more  and  more  abundant,  may  attend  you  and  others 
in  the  great  work  of  rescuing  our  land  from  mtemperance,  ^  the  wish  of 
your  sincere  friend, 

Theodore  Frelinghuysen. 

Of  the  first  number  we  printed  and  scattered,  chiefly 
through  Sunday-schools,  20,000.  It  soon  became  a  flivorite, 
and  obtained  large  circulation,  and  has  never  missed  a  num- 
ber in  its  regular  issue  to  the  close  of  the  year  1865. 

During  the  latter  part  of  1838,  and  the  former  of  1839, 
my  mind  and  heart  were  much  engaged  iii  the  correspond- 
ence  of  Mr.  Delavan,  the  chairman  of  our  Committee. 


66  TEMPERANCE   RECOLLECTIONS. 

This  true  reformer  had  gone  to  England  and  France,  to 
make  observations  on  the  state  of  those  countries,  and  aid, 
if  possible,  in  extending  the  temperance  reformation.  On 
his  passage  out,  he  induced  his  fellow  passengers  in  the 
Great  Western,  to  memorialize  the  directors  to  remove  all 
intoxicating  liquors  from  the  table  to  a  bar ;  and  on  his 
arrival  in  London,  he  made  provision  for  circulating  a 
thousand  copies  of  our  last  Annual  Report,  and  two 
thousand  Permanent  Documents,  among  the  influential 
classes ;  also  for  placing  our  address  to  Emigrants  in  the 
hands  of  all  who  should  come  to  America.  lie  Avas  at 
once  recognized  and  welcomed  by  the  friends  of  tem- 
perance, and  he  sent  home  frequent  let'ters  of  the  deepest 
interest,  which  it  was  my  province  to  give  to  the  public, 
through  the  Journal.  He  was  in  London  during  the  great 
controversy,  relating  to  the  short  and  long  pledge,  and 
mingled  freely  with  men  belonging  both  to  the  new  and  old 
societies — one  pledge  was  of  personal  abstinence,  but  did 
not  promise  not  to  give  to  others ;  the  other  pledged  not  to 
drink,  and  not  to  give  or  ofter  to  others,  except  for  medicin- 
al or  sacramental  purposes.  In  France  he  had  an  interview 
with  Louis  Philippe,  then  on  the  throne,  who  assured  him 
that  the  drunkenness  of  France  was  on  wine.  Of  thirty- 
four  millions  of  people,  he  found  fourteen  millions  engaged 
in  making  or  vending  intoxicating  drinks ;  and  he  en- 
deavored to  show  them  how  much  better  it  would  be  for 
France,  if  her  soil  and  people  were  devoted  to  stock  and 
grain.  He  agreed  with  Dr.  Hewitt,  that  if  there  was  lit- 
tle actual  drunkenness  visible,  the  people  were  burnt  up 
with  wine,  as  were  the  people  of  New  England  formerly, 
with  cider  and  cider  brandy.  At  Rome  he  became  inti- 
mate with  Judge  Acton,  one  of  the  most  able  jurists,  who 
assured  him  that  nearly  all  the  crime  of  Italy,  was  from 
intoxication  on  wine.  In  the  spring  he  attended  the  great 
anniversaries  in  England  and  Scotland  ;  and  when  he  left 


GEEAT  PROCESSION   IN   LONDON.  67 

England,  in  June,  1839,  it  was  with  the  strong  convic- 
tion that  the  principle  of  entire  abstinence  was  to  spread 
in  Europe,  until  its  healthful  influence  would  be  felt 
and  acknowledged  by  all  classes.  The  following  is  the 
account  which  he  gave  me  of  the  great  procession,  which 
he  had  the  happiness  to  witness  in  London : 

May  26,  1839. 
My  Dear  Sir  : — The  20th  of  May  was  a  day  that  will  not  long  be  for- 
gotten. Eight  thousand  total  abstinence  men  this  day  marched  through 
the  streets  of  London.  The  grand  procession  was  most  imposing.  For 
miles  and  miles,  as  the  procession  moved  onward,  a  dense  mass  of  human 
beings  filled  the  streets,  and  side-walks,  and  doors,  and  windows,  and  it 
appeared  that  London  had  poured  forth  its  whole  population  to  witness  so 
singular  a  spectacle.  The  orderly  demeanor  of  the  members  of  the 
society,  their  numbers,  the  immense  length  of  the  procession,  between  two 
and  three  miles,  the  beautiful  and  appropriate  banners,  bearing  inscriptions 
"  Total  Abstmence,"  "  Try  our  Principles,"  "  Down  with  the  Tyrants," 
"  Come  with  us  and  we  will  do  thee  good^'  the  one  hundred  and  sixty  car- 
riages filled  with  well-dressed  females,  every  female  and  every  member 
bearing  a  rosette,  composed  of  white  and  blue  satin  ribbons,  and  the  ma- 
jority wearing  the  temperance  medal,  was  deeply  affecting  ;  and  though  it 
drew  forth  the  jeers  of  the  liquor  dealers  and  their  customers,  I  could 
not  but  notice  the  degree  of  thoughtfulness  and  expression  of  approbation 
on  the  countenances  of  all  well-dressed  and  respectable  spectators.  I  trust 
a  blow  has  been  struck  in  London  by  the  total  abstinence  society  that 
will  tell  favorably  on  millions  yet  unborn. 

From  the  Rev.  Robert  Baird,  who  for  the  third  and 
fourth  time  was  in  Europe,  circulating  his  Temperance 
history,  and  making  a  great  impression  in  Sweden  and 
Russia,  Denmark  and  Norway,  I  had  frequent  letters. 
In  his  third  visit,  in  1840,  he  travelled  6,500  miles,  and  had 
frequent  interviews  with  all  the  crowned  heads.  In  the 
following  letter  he  described  his  interview  with  the  Em- 
peror of  Russia : 

St,  Petersburg,  October  17,  1810. 
To  the  Corresponding  Secretary  American  Temperance  Union  : 

My  Dear  Brother  : — I  wrote  you  fully  from  Stockholm  in  relation  to 


68  TEMPEEANCE   RECOLLECTIONS. 

the  efforts  which  I  had  made  in  behalf  of  the  temperance  cause  on  the 
present  journey,  until  that  date.  The  next  day  after,  I  left  that  city  for 
Russia.  I  have  now  spent  six  weeks  in  this  city  and  in  Moscow.  On  a 
former  visit,  made  three  years  ago,  I  made  arrangements  to  have  my  his- 
tory of  the  temperance  societies  translated  and  published  in  the  Russ 
language.  It  was  undertaken  by  Dr.  Haus  of  Moscow,  and  $400  were 
.sent  for  its  accomplishment.  Upon  ray  arrival  I  found  it  was  delayed, 
and  it  was  necessary  for  me  to  go  to  Moscow.  [Here  he  met  Prince  Galit- 
zin  and  other  distinguished  men,  who  were  anxious  that  he  should  see 
the  Emperor  on  the  subject.]  The  result  was  that  I  was  invited  by  His 
Majesty  to  attend  the  service  of  His  Majesty  in  the  palace  at  Tsarskoe 
Telo  last  Sabbath  morning.  I  repaired  thither,  and  was  presented,  after 
service,  to  the  Emperor,  the  Empress,  and  the  Grand  Duchesses,  their 
daughters.  The  Emperor,  in  a  long  interview,  in  which  I  was  allowed  to 
present  the  subject  fully  to  him  alone,  received  me  in  the  kindest  manner, 
and  acceded  at  once  to  the  proposaj  to  have  the  history  of  the  temperance 
societies  pubHshed  m  the  Russ.  He  even  went  farther,  and  expressed  a 
desire  that  it  should  be  translated  into  the  Finnish  language,  and  pubhshed 
and  scattered  as  far  as  that  language  is  spoken.  At  dinner  His  Majesty 
again  alluded  to  the  subject,  as  &id  the  Empress  and  the  Grand  Duke.  I 
cannot  tell  you  how  much  dehghted  I  was  with  the  expressions  which  the 
ruler  of  this  great  empire  made  to  me,  in  response  to  this  great  subject. 
Twenty-five  milhon  dollars  are  the  revenue  derived  from  whiskey ;  a  fact 
which  shows  the  fearful  extent  to  which  it  is  used.  But  we  may  now  hope 
its  ravages  may  be  stopped. 

Yours,  truly, 

Robert  Baikd. 

In  1839,  the  attention  of  temperance  men  in  England 
and  Scotland  was  arrested  by  two  works  develojDing,  what 
their  authors  supposed  to  be,  the  true  character  of  the 
wines  spoken  of  in  scripture — Bacchus,  by  Dr.  Grindrod, 
and  Anti-Bacchus,  by  Rev.  Benjamin  Parsons.  They  con- 
tended that  the  wines  commended  as  a  blessing,  used  at 
the  Passover  and  at  the  marriage  at  Cana,  were  not  in- 
toxicating ;  differing  entirely  in  this  respect  from  the  wines 
which  were  condemned  and  forbidden  as  a  mocker.  The 
distinction  was  not  a  novel  one  in  America.  In  1830, 
Professor  Stuart,  of  Andover,  in  a  prize  essay,  examined 


BACCHUS   AND   ANTI-BACCHUS.  69 

the  question  whether  it  was  consistent  with  a  professor  of 
religion  tg  use  distilled  liquors  or  traffic  in  them,  or  to  use 
wine.  The  use  of  distilled  liquors  he  condemned,  but  of 
wines  he  allowed,  provided  there  was  no  excess ;  as  the 
natural  wines  of  the  East,  though  slightly  intoxicating, 
were  used  by  holy  men  of  old.  Professor  McLean,  of* 
Princeton,  contested  his  first  position  and  vindicated  the 
use  of  strong  drink,  as  well  as  wine,  on  Bible  principles, 
provided  there  was  no  excess.  While  the  controversy 
was  running  high,  the  Rev.  George  Duffield,  now  Dr.  Duf- 
field,  of  Detroit,  in  1835,  thought  he  could  relieve  Profes- 
sor Stuart  from  the  embarrassing  position  in  which  he  was 
placed,  by  showing  that  there  were  two  kinds  of  wine 
spoken  of  in  scripture,  one  under  the  term  Yayin,  the 
other  under  the  term  Tirosh ;  the  former,  fermented  and 
alcoholic,  a  mocker,  the  "  poison  of  asps ; "  the  latter,  the 
juice  of  the  grape,  unfermented  and  harmless; — a  wine 
that  was  preserved  by  the  Romans,  and  might  be  by  us. 
Professor  Stuart  acknowledged  great  indebtedness  to  Mr. 
Duffield,  but  his  positions  also  were  severely  contested. 

These  works  from  England  came  in  support  of  Mr.  Duf- 
field's  views.  Mr.  Parsons,  author  of  Anti-Bacchus,  had 
engaged  in  a  most  laborious  search  into  the  character  of 
ancient  wines,  to  ascertain  if  those  whose  use  was  per- 
mitted or  commended  in  the  Bible,  were  of  an  intoxi- 
cating character.  The  result  of  his  inquiries  confirmed  the 
temperance  community,  generally,  in  the  belief  that  total 
abstinence  from  all  intoxicating  beverages  was  in  accord- 
ance with  the  letter  and  spirit  of  the  word  of  God. 

So  interested  did  the  community  become  in  theSe  works, 
that  I  ventured  to  publish,  though  not  a  professed  publisher, 
an  edition  of  a  thousand  copies  of  Anti-Bacchus,  which  I 
thought  most  immediately  useful;  with  an  introduction, 
showing  how  seriously  we  were  obstructed  in  our  j^rogress 
by  the  belief  that  God  had  ^^ronounced  wine  a  blessing,  and 


70  TEMPERANCE   KECOLLECTIONS. 

that  the  Divhie  Saviour  both  drank  intoxicating  wine  and 
made  it  by  miracle  to  re2)lenish  vessels  which. once  had 
been  filled ;  and  what  a  relief  it  would  be  to  us  if  the 
j^oints  presented  could  be  established.  Among  2,270  cler- 
gymen of  the  State  of  New  York,  nineteen  hundred  had 
signed  the  total  abstinence  pledge,  resolved  to  dispense 
with  the  use  of  all  wine  as  a  beverage,  and  were  pleased 
with  the  new  theory.  Such  as  refused  did  so  generally, 
they  said,  in  deference  to  Scripture  representation  and  the 
Saviour's  example.  But  the  warmest  advocates  of  the 
new  theory,  while  gratified  with  this  vindication  of  Scrip- 
ture and  total  abstinence,  felt  and  acknowledged  the  dif- 
ficulty of  procuring  the  good  wine,  the  unfermented  wine 
for  use ;  and  not  needing  or  caring  for  it,  considering 
water  as  the  best  and  only  needful  drink  for  man,  were 
indifferent  to  the  matter,  excepting  for  sacramental  pur- 
poses, where  they  were  very  anxious  and  strenuous.  The 
Rev.  Calvin  Chapin,  D.  D.,  believing  that  none  other  than 
alcoholic  wines  could  here  be  procured,  and  opposed  to 
their  use  in  the  sacrament,  even  though  the  infusion  of 
alcohol  might  be  very  small,  supported  in  a  prize  essay 
the  use  of  water  at  the  sacrament  as  most  appropriate  to 
this  cleansing  ordinance. 

During  the  year  1839  my  attention  was  specially  called 
to  the  subject  of  Asylums  for  Inebriates  (now  so  well 
understood)  by  having  a  series  of  essays  upon  them  by 
Dr.  S.  B.  Woodward,  Superintendent  of  the  Insane  Hos- 
pital at  Worcester,  put  into  my  hands.  Dr.  Woodward 
had  for  many  years  been  at  my  father's  home  a  family 
physiciaii,  and  in  him  I  had  great  confidence.  He  was  of 
opinion  that  if  there  were  thirty  thousand  drunkards  in 
a  district  of  country,  one  half  would  be  susceptible  of 
cure  in  such  asylums,  and  he  was  satisfied  that  wealthy 
families  (and  they  were  numerous)  who  were  cursed  with 
drunken  inmates,  would  spare  no  expense  in  procuring 


ASYLUMS   FOR   INEBEIATES.  11 

the  aids  of  such  institutions.  He  felt  most  deeply,  he 
often  assured  me,  because  fathers  and  wives  of  these 
wretched  men  would  come  to  his  hospital  and  entreat 
him  to  take  their  ruined  ones  ;  but  it  would  be  impossible, 
as  they  were  not  accounted  insane ;  and  he  was  compelled 
to  turn  them  off*  with  grief.  SnrjDrising  it  has  been  that 
more  attention  has  not  been  paid  to  the  subject,  though 
grateful  we  are  that  such  institutions  as  the  Washingto- 
nian  Home  at  Boston,  and  the  Binghamton  Asylum  in 
New  York  are  now  in  successful  operation.  But  it  led  us 
to  ask  then,  and  it  leads  us  to  ask  now.  Why  must  we  have 
drunkards  among  us  ?  Because  and  only  because  men  for 
money  will  traffic  in  intoxicating  drinks.  It  led  me  then, 
in  my  third  report,  and  it  leads  me  still  warmly  to  remon- 
strate with  my  fellow  citizens  engaged  in  this  horrid  busi- 
ness, and  to  say : 

"  Men  and  brethren !  we  approach  you  earnestly  as 
friends,  not  as  enemies ;  we  come  not  to  wound,  not  to 
vilify,  but  to  touch  a  chord  in  your  hearts  which  we  know 
must  vibrate  to  the  woes  and  sufferings  of  a  bleeding  com- 
munity. '  Oh,  if  you  can  cure  him,  we  shall  owe  you  an 
eteraal  debt  of  gratitude ' — this  was  the  language  of  a 
distressed  father  bringing  his  son  to  the  door  of  a  lunatic 
asylum.  But  the  door  was  closed  upon  him.  He  could 
not  be  admitted.  He  was  not  a  lunatic,  only  a  drunkard. 
And  what  brought  all  this  misery  upon  that  family  ? 
The  business  in  which  you  are  engaged,  and  engaged  to 
pour  luxury  into  the  lap  of  your  own  family.  Father 
after  father  and  wife  after  wife  come  up  from  all  parts 
of  the  land,  and  cry:  Oh,  what  a  curse!  Is  there  no 
deliverance  ?  We  feel  that  there  must  be,  there  is  in 
the  arm  of  the  law,  but  why  must  we  be  driven  thither  ? 
Are  you  not  men  ?  Have  you  not  the  feelings  of  men  ? 
Have  you  not  the  responsibilities  of  men  ?  Can  you,  will 
you,  because   no   arm  holds  you  back,  set  fire  to  your 


72  TEMPEEAN(JE   EECOLLECTIONS. 

neighbor's  dwelling,  smite  him  on  the  head  and  deprive 
him  of  his  reason?  "Will  you  compel  us  to  rouse  the 
State  or  the  nation  to  say,  you  shall  cease  from  this  traffic  ? 
Should  not  the  sight  of  a  single  family,  scourged,  withered, 
blasted,  cause  you  to  roll  every  hogshead  forth  and  pour 
its  contents  into  the  streets,  and  to  vow  before  high  hea- 
ven that  you  will  no  longer  be  concerned  in  such  guilt  ? 
The  eyes  of  the  nation  are  upon  you.  Through  the  length 
and  breadth  of  the  land,  thousands  wait  to  see  what  you 
will  do.  The  wife  of  the  drunken  sot ;  the  father  of  the 
drunken  son ;  the  j^arents  of  little  flocks  yet  uncontam- 
inated,  all  over  the  world,  are  waiting  to  see  what  you 
will  do.  We,  know  that  sooner  or  later  you  will  yield. 
But  will  you  do  it  only  when  compelled  by  an  indignant 
community  weeping  over  its  thirty  thousand  slain  ?  " 


CHAPTER  YI. 

Wonderful  Events  in  Ireland — Letter  from  Eichard  Allen — Father  Mathew 
and  his  Operations — Six  Millions  take  the  Pledge — Dr.  Brownlee's 
Conjecture — Reformed  Drunkards  in  Baltimore — Great  Work  in  New 
York — Attendance  upon  it — Third  National  Convention,  1841 — 
Harvest  Gathered — John  II,  W.  Hawkins'  Character  and  Labors — 
Hannah  Hawkins — Christian  Keener. 

The  cause  was  now  just  bursting  out  in  Ireland  Avlth  a 
power  never  before  known.  The  first  intimation  we  had 
of  it  in  America  was  in  a  letter  received  at  our  office  from 
Richard  Allen,  Corresponding  Secretary  of  the  Irish  Tem- 
perance Union,  dated  Dublin,  November  19,  1839.  Its 
contents  surpassed  all  belief ;  but  soon  we  learned  that  far 
more  than  was  first  told  was  true.  Rev.  Theobald 
Mat  hew,  a  young  priest  of  Cork,  under  the  influence  of 
William  Martin,  a  Feiexd,  had  formed  among  his  people, 
working  on  a  new  church,  a  total  abstinence  society.  Al- 
most as  by  magic,  thousands  on  thousands,  of  Cork  and 
the  neighboring  towns  and  cities,  pressed  upon  the  rever- 
end Father  to  take  from  him  the  pledge.  In  few  places 
less  than  10,000  ;  in  some  50  and  100,000  ;  by  the  first 
of  March  more  than  four  millions,  with  eight  prelates  and 
seven  hundred  Catholic  ^lergy. 

In  Maryboro,  in  three  days,  65,000.  Limerick,  10,000. 

Ahascragh,   90,000.  Thurles,  65,000. 

Killaloe,  15,000.  Templemore,  V0,000. 

Athlone,  100,000.   '  Ballyshannon,  60,000. 

Dublin,  72,000.  Enniscorthy,  15,000. 
4 


74  TEMPEKANCE   RECOLLECTIONS. 

Castlerea,  65,000.  Carlow,  100,000. 

Kclls,  100,000.  Maryborough,  100,000. 

Tippcrary,  60,000. 

In  a  letter  to  me  dated,  April  10,  1841,  said  Mr. 
Allen : 

*'  The  battle  is  gained,  the  victory  won !  The  great  mass  of  the  peo- 
ple in  Lcinster,  Munster  and  Connaught  are  teetotalers ;  our  jails  are  com- 
paratively empty ;  a  drunken  man  is  a  rarity.  Ireland  needs  but  few 
soldiers  to  keep  her  in  order.  Distilleries  have  sunk  in  value  from  50  to 
70  per  cent.,  and  the  duty  on  spirits  has  Mien  off  in  a  year  £354,000 ; 
while  a  great  increase  is  reported  on  tea,  and  other  conveniences  and  com- 
forts of  Ufe." 

The  fiame  spread  to  America,  and  in  many  of  our  cities, 
from  five  to  ten  thousand  of  the  sons  of  Erin  took  the 
pledge. 

In  Xew  York,  10,000.  Providence,  1,000. 

Brooklyn,  3,000.  Louisville,  2,000. 

Philadelphia,  6,000.  Detroit,  1,000. 

Albany,  3,200.  Montreal,  6,900. 

Boston,  6,000.  Baltimore,  3,000. 
Washington,  400. 

The  words  of  the  pledge  were  : 

"  I  do  promise  to  abstain  from  all  intoxicating  drinks,  unless  used  medi- 
cally, and  that  I  will  discountenance  by  advice  and  example  the  causes  of 
intemperance  in  others ; "  the  Rev.  gentleman  adding,  "  God  bless  you, 
and  enable  you  to  keep  the  promise." 

This  remarkable  work  was  the  great  theme  at  our  An- 
niversary in  May,  1 840.  It  was  most  graphically  present- 
ed by  Dr.  Heman  Humphrey,  President  of  Amherst  Col- 
lege, who  had  himself  just  witnessed  the  scene ;  also  by 
Rev.  Dr.  Kirk  of  Boston.     Said  Dr.  H. : 

"  An  insurrection,  a  glorious  insurrection  in  Ireland  !  It  began  in  the 
South,  and  rolling  on,  like  an  irresistible  torrent,  it  has  broken  out  all 
over  the  land.     Even  the  capital  is  in  the   hands  of  the  revolutionists. 


WORK    IN   IRELAND — FATHER   MATIIEW.  75 

The  priests  and  the  highest  dignitaries  of  the  church  are  in  the  revolt, 
the  magistrates  are  favoring  it,  and  the  army  is  infected.  "Was  there  ever 
such  an  electric  shock  ?  Let  the  shouts  of  green  Erin  for  once  drown  the 
voice  of  our  own  poUtics ;  for  the  greatest  tyrant  that  ever  lacerated  her 
skin,  laid  bare  her  sinews,  and  consumed  her  flesh,  is  routed,  and  in  a 
fair  way  to  be  expelled  from  her  coasts.  Alcohol,  the  personification  of 
all  evils,  physical,  political  and  moral,  there  maintained  dominion  over 
mountains  and  valleys,  rivers  and  lakes,  with  iron  hand,  marble  heart  and 
pestiferous  breath.     But  in  a  little  while  more  all  Ireland  will  be  free." 

Kot  a  few  of  our  good  people  viewed  it  all  as  a  mere 
Roman  affair,  designed  to  increase  the  power  of  the  priests 
by  the  pledge,  and  their  wealth  by  the  sale  of  medals.  In 
pnbiicly  contending  with  a  most  eloquent  and  powerful 
enemy  of  Rome,  the  Rev.  Br.  Brownlee,  I  drew  upon 
myself  much  reproach  as  a  disturber  of  a  Lecture,  but  I 
was  too  well  informed  of  the  facts  in  the  case,  and  too 
much  interested  in  the  temperance  cause  to  hold  my  peace. 
We  expected  in  our  efforts  at  saving  the  world  to  be  the 
"song  of  the  drunkard,"  but  not  the  ridicule  of  the  pul- 
pit ;  and  we  bade  our  good  Protestant  friends  hold  their 
peace,  and  let  Father  Mathew,  if  he  could,  destroy  the 
great  dragon  Avhich  was  drawing  millions  of  Catholics 
and  Protestants  down  to  destruction. 

While  we  were  astounded  and  delighted  at  tidings 
from  abroad,  a  ncAV  wonder  appeared  in  our  own  land. 
The  powerful  appeals  of  Drs.  Hewitt,  Edwards  and  others, 
and  the  general  attention  to  the  cause,  had  not  been  lost 
upon  that  class  of  men  known  as  drunkards.  In  the 
seventh  Report  of  the  American  Temperance  Society,  1834, 
Dr.  Edwards,  a  gentleman  who  seldom  committed  errors, 
stated  that  10,000  drunkards  had,  in  five  years,  ceased  to 
use  intoxicating  drinks.  And  in  his  a2)pendix  a  most 
interesting  letter  was  inserted  from  Gerrit  Smith,  Esq.,  of 
Peterboro',  IST.  Y.,  a  gentleman  of  remarkable  intelligence 
and  philanthropy,  giving  a  minute  account  of  the  reform, 
in  that  village,  of  thirty-eight  lost  men.     In  England  the 


Y6  TEMPERANCE   RECOLLECTIONS. 

temperance  reform  had  commenced,  not  as  in  America, 
among  the  more  intelligent  and  virtuous  classes  to  save 
others,  but  among  the  lower  and  drinking  population  in 
Lancashire,  to  save  themselves.  At  Preston  numerous 
and  most  interesting  meetings  had  been  held  and  conduct- 
ed by  men  of  that  class,  many  of  whom  related  their  ex- 
perience, as  long  lost  and  hopeless  drunkards,  who  had 
now  reformed;  and  these  extraordinary  changes  had  great- 
ly moved  the  public  mind.  Accounts  of  these  marvellous 
reforms  were  transmitted  to  America,  and  were  published 
in  the  Report  of  1835.  But  a  general  belief  was  spread- 
ing through  the  community,  that  there  was  little  or  no 
hope  for  the  drunkard,  especially  while  the  traffic  existed 
in  its  public  and  enticing  forms. 

At  this  moment  of  hopelessness  and  despair,  however, 
six  intemperate  men  in  the  city  of  Baltimore,  who  w^re 
accustomed  to  meet  almost  nightly  for  drinking  purposes, 
were  strangely  led  to  the  resolution  that  they  would  drink 
no  more  spirituous  or  malt  liquors,  wine  or  cider.  A 
pledge  was  drawn,  w^hich  in  a  few  days  all  signed.  This 
was  in  the  month  of  April,  1840.  They  formed  them- 
selves into  a  society,  which  they  called  the  Washington 
Temperance  Society,  after  the  Father  of  his  Country 
and  great  Liberator  from  tyranny.  These  six  men  imme- 
diately exerted  themselves  to  induce  their  bottle-com- 
panions to  unite  with  them.  In  a  short  time  they  num- 
bered an  hundred ;  and  by  the  1st  of  December,  about 
three  hundred ;  two  thirds  of  whom  were  drunkards  of 
many  years'  standing,  and  some  notorious  for  their  aban- 
donment. Their  meetings,  which  were  weekly,  were  excit- 
ing, and  made  more  so  and  increased,  by  a  relation  which 
each  member  gave  of  his  own  experience,  or  the  history 
of  his  drunkenness  and  its  ruinous  effect  upon  himself  and 
family.  In  less  than  a  year,  over  one  thousand  drunk- 
ards were  thus  gathered  in. 


BEPORMATIONS   IN    BALTIMORE.  ^7 

The  first  knowledge  we  had  of  these  extraordinary- 
events  in  New  York,  was  communicated  to  me  in  a 
letter  by  John  Zug,  of  Baltimore,  dated  December  12, 
1840,  which  was  published  in  the  Journal;  but  to  many, 
this  story  also  seemed  incredible.  Soon  after,  I  had  a  let- 
ter from  Christian  Keener,  giving  an  account  of  a  speecb 
by  John  H.  W.  Hawkins  (a  reformed  man,  who,  in  the 
month  of  June,  had  joined  the  Washington  Society) 
before  the  Legislature  at  Annapolis  :  "  He  commenced  his 
speech,"  said  Mr.  Keener,  "  by  letting  them  know  that 
he  stood  before  them  a  reformed  drunkard,  less  than 
twelve  months  ago  taken  almost  out  of  the  gutter ;  and 
now,  in  the  Senate  chamber  of  his  native  State,  addressing 
hundreds  of  the  best-informed  and  most  intelligent  of  men 
and  women,  and  they  listening  with  almost  breathless,  I 
was  going  to  say,  but  certainly  tearful  attention." 

These  accounts  led  the  friends  in  'New  York  to  invite  a 
delegation  to  come  to  this  city  and  tell  their  story.  Mr. 
Hawkins  and  four  others  immediately  came.  A  meeting 
was  announced  for  them  in  the  Greene  St.  Methodist 
Church,  as  a  meeting  of  reformed  drunkards,  to  be  ad- 
dressed by  them.  Instead  of  being  repulsive,  as  it  was 
feared  it  would  be,  it  attracted  a  large  crowd.  Anson  G. 
Phelps,  Esq.,  presided.  Mr.  Hawkins  made  the  first 
speech ;  and  while  relating  the  story  of  his  reform,  a  trem- 
bling voice  in  the  gallery  asked  :  "  Can  I  be  saved,  too  ?  " 
"  Yes,"  said  Mr.  Hawkins ;  "  come  down  and  sign  the 
pledge."  He  came,  amid  the  plaudits  of  the  assembly. 
Another  uttered  forth  his  feelings  from  the  gallery,  and 
was  led  to  come  down  and  sign  the  pledge.  Five  or  six 
others  of  this  miserable  class  followed,  with  thirty  or  forty 
other  hard  drinkers  and  drunkards.  The  victory  was  now 
gained  in  New  York.  In  two  weeks,  immense  meetings 
were  held  daily  in  the  largest  churches,  and,  finally,  in 
the  Park,  addressed  by  Messrs.  Hawkins,  Casey,  Pollard, 


IS  TEMPER. i.NCE    RECOLLECTIONS. 

Wriglit,  find  Sliaw.  In  tliat  time  2,500  individuals  were 
induced  to  sign  the  pledge  as  intemperate  men  bent  on 
reform. 

To  these  meetings  I  devoted  all  my  time  and  atten- 
tion ;  and  being  somewhat  of  a  reporter,  I  took  notes  of 
the  speeches  and  published  them  in  the  Journal.  Anxious 
that  other  cities  should  enjoy  the  same  blessings  with  our- 
selves, I  early  wrote  an  account  of  the  meetings  to  my 
friend  Mr.  Sleeper,  of  Boston,  who  read  the  statement  in  a 
public  meeting,  and  published  it  in  the  Mercantile  Jour- 
nal. No  time  was  lost  in  securing  the  blessing.  On  the 
10th  of  April  the  first  public  meeting  Avas  held  in  Boston ; 
and  soon  not  Faneuil  Hall  Avould  hold  the  people  that 
gathered  together.  There,  at  an  immense  meeting,  the 
Hon.  Theodore  Lyman,  ex-mayor,  presided,  and  gave  an 
address  of  welcome ;  and  John  H.  W.  Hawkins  made  a 
speech  of  remarkable  appropriateness  and  power,  winning 
all  hearts.     He  said  : 

"  When  I  compare  the  past  with  the  present,  my  days  of  intemperance 
with  my  present  peace  and  sobriety,  my  past  degradation  with  my  present 
position  in  this  Hall — the  Cradle  of  Liberty — I  am  overwhelmed.  It 
seems  to  me  holy  ground.  I  never  expected  to  see  this  Hall.  I  had 
heard  of  it  in  boyhood.  It  was  here  that  Otis  and  the  elder  Adams 
argued  the  principles  of  Independence,  and  we  now  meet  here  to  declare 
ourselves  free  and  independent ;  to  make  a  second  declaration,  not  quite 
so  lengthy  as  the  old  one,  but  it  promises  life,  hberty,  and  the  pursuit  of 
happiness.  Our  forefathers  pledged  their  lives  and  fortunes  and  sacred 
honors.  We,  too,  will  pledge  our  honor  and  our  life,  but  our  fortunes 
have  gone  for  rum.  Poor  though  we  drunkards  are,  and  miserable  even 
m  the  gutter,  we  will  pledge  our  lives  to  maintain  sobriety." 

Large  numbers  of  intemi3erate  men  were  at  once 
induced  to  sign  the  pledge.  Wives  and  parents  brought 
their  lost  and  hopeless  ones  to  the  meetings,  as  the  rela- 
tives of  the  sick  brought  their  diseased  and  afflicted  to 
the  Saviour  to  be  healed;  and  by  the  1st  of  October  the 


■WORK   IN   NEW  HAVEN,  CT.  79 

Boston  Washington  Society,  which  was  almost  at  once 
formed,  had  sent  out  two  hundred  and  seventeen  delegates 
to  one  hundred  and*  sixty  towns,  in  five  different  States, 
on  errands  of  love. 

Learning  that  the  General  Association  of  Congrega- 
tional Ministers  of  Connecticut  were  to  meet  in  New 
Haven  in  June,  and  that  there  was  no  small  unbelief  in 
that  quarter,  I  invited  Capt.  Wm.  A.  Wisdom  and  four 
others,  all  reformed  men,  to  accompany  me  thither,  prom- 
ising them  an  opportunity  to  tell  their  tale.  We  were 
received  respectfully,  but  manifestly  with  the  feeling  that 
there  was  a  great  distance  between  them,  a  highly  educated 
and  professedly  sacred  class,  and  men,  for  the  most  part 
uneducated,  and  from  the  grogshop  and  the  gutter.  But 
such  was  the  humility  and  meekness  of  Capt.  Wisdom, 
such  his  fulness  of  confession,  sense  of  unworthiness,  grati- 
tude for  reform,  and  desire  of  the  prayers  of  the  ministers 
and  churches,  that  he  and  his  brethren  might  be  kept 
from  falling,  that  the  entire  body  were  overcome,  and  all 
were  ready  to  exclaim :  "  It  is  the  Lord's  doing,  and  it  is 
marvellous  in  our  eyes." 

The  citizens  of  Xew  Haven  and  vicinity  at  once 
sympathized  with  them,  and  crowded  meetings  were 
held  for  several  evenings.  Many  miserable  di'unkards 
came  forward,  signed  the  pledge,  and  at  once  became 
blessings  to  their  families.  A  Washington  Society  was 
organized  on  the  29th  of  June.  Nearly  all  the  officers  had 
been  intemperate  men.  The  whole  number  reformed  in 
that  season,  was  one  hitndred  and  fifty,  and  most  of  them 
heads  of  families,  and  hopeless  cases.  Five  able-bodied 
men,  who  had  spent  days  and  nights  in  the  almshouse  in 
deep  degradation  and  misery,  came  forth  to  respectability 
and  hope.  Two  of  them  had  been  educated  merchants, 
and  were  well  connected.  In  gratitude  for  what  they 
bad  experienced,  numbers  left  their  home  and  went  forth 


80  TEMPEKANCE   RECOLLECTIONS. 

to  save  the  miserable  and  the  perishing  abroad.  In 
twenty  out  of  twenty-two  towns  in  the  county  they  pro- 
claimed deliverance  from  the  rum  power  with  great  suc- 
cess. In  less  than  a  year  they  had  held  in  New  Haven 
alone  sixty  public  meetings  and  obtained  1647  signatures 
to  the  pledge.  Everything  conspired  to  hold  these  mis- 
erable men  and  their  families  in  bondage  ;  but  the  power 
of  the  reformation  was  irresistible.  And  as  they  yielded, 
their  wholc.soul  and  body  were  filled  with  new  joys,  and 
the  community  around  them  united  in  thanks  to  God; 
and,  in  war  with  vice  and  degradation,  took  courage. 

When  the  first  meetings  in  New  York  were  past,  I 
was  induced  to  go  to  Baltimore,  to  attend,  on  the  5th  of 
April,  1841,  the  first  anniversary  of  the  Washington  Tem- 
perance Society,  and  there  saw  oxe  thousa:n"d  men  stand 
in  a  line  as  reformed  men,  and  moved  in  procession  with 
thousands  more  about  the  city.  It  was  a  most  interesting 
spectacle  as  their  wives  and  children  stood  on  the  side- 
walks, many  of  them  weeping  for  joy  as  they  beheld  their 
husbands  and  sons  marching  onward  in  sobriety  and  moral 
dignity.  In  proof  of  the  genuineness  of  the  work,  it  was 
ascertained  that  the  whiskey  inspections  for  the  city  were 
reduced  in  six  months  40,582  gallons,  a  decrease  of  twenty- 
five  per  cent.,  and  that  great  peace  and  quietness  every- 
where prevailed. 

These  extraordinary  movements  at  Baltimore  and  else- 
where, among  our  drunken  population,  filled  all  hearts 
with  joy,  at  our  sixth  Anniversary,  and  at  the  third  Na- 
tional Convention  at  Saratoga  Springs.  In  the  Annual 
Report,  which  1  presented  in  May,  I  condensed  as  far  as 
possible  the  wonderful  events  which  had  transpired,  and 
which  will  be  contemplated  when  these  generations  have 
passed  away  as  almost  incredible ;  but  never  to  be  sur- 
rendered as  wild  enthusiasm  and  profitless  hallucination. 
Never,  probably,  was  there  a  large  body  of  men,  of  high 


THIRD   NATIONAL    COIS^^ENTIOX,    1841.  81 

intelligence  and  business  character,  so  melted  into  grati- 
tude, joy  and  love,  as  were  the  attendants  on  that  National 
Convention  at  Saratoga  Springs  in  the  month  of  August, 
at  the  relation  of  their  experience  by  several  of  the  re- 
formed, and  the  relation  of  numerous,  most  affecting,  in- 
cidents by  others.  As  chairman  of  the  Business  Commit- 
tee, I  found  no  difficulty  in  framing  suitable  resolutions 
for  the  occasion ;  and  where  there  was  such  a  prevalence 
of  love  and  gratitude,  the  presiding  officer  had  no  occa- 
sion for  force  to  control  the  meeting.  It  was  a  sort  of  mil- 
lennium to  thousands  who  had  hoped  and  prayed  that  sin 
and  sorrow  from  intoxicating  drinks  might  be  done  away. 
"Never  before,"  said  a  venerable  member,  "did  560  men 
assemble,  and  continue  days  as  a  deliberative  body,  with- 
out one  unkind  look  or  action." 

As  the  Convention  dissolved,  the  reformed  men  scat- 
tered in  all  directions  in  their  work  of  mercy  ;  and  wher- 
ever they  went,  they  met  with  a  cordial  welcome,  and  be- 
came instrumental  in  reclaiming  multitudes  who  were 
bound  in  the  drunkards'  chain.  Messrs.  Pollard  and  Wright 
went  through  Central  New  York,  New  Jersey  and  Penn- 
sylvania, and  took  22,300  names  to  the  pledge.  Mr.  Haw- 
kins and  companions  went  through  New  England.  Vickars 
and  Small  from  Baltimore  set  their  faces  to  the  West,  first 
lighting  on  Pittsburg,  where  over  10,000  took  the  pledge. 
Through  the  summer  and  autumn,  the  whole  country  was 
in  a  blaze.  In  the  State  of  Ohio  60,000  were  reported  as 
having  signed  the  pledge,  and  many  of  them  hopeless 
drunkards.  In  Kentucky,  30,000 ;  in  Richmond,  Va., 
1,000;  in  Petersburg,  1,000  ;  in  Columbia  Co.,  N.  Y.,  in- 
cluding Hudson,  18,000;  in  Pennsylvania,  29,000;  at 
Portsmouth,  N.  H.,  30,000,  of  whom  100  were  confirmed 
drunkards;  in  Springfield,  Mass.,  1,100.  In  New  York 
the  Parent  Washington  Society,  in  a  year,  consisted  of  4,000 
members,  with  twenty-two  auxiliaries,  with  16,000  mem- 
4* 


82  TEMPERANCE    EECOLLECTIOXS. 

bers.  In  Syrncnsc,  5,000  ;  one  society  of  reformed  men 
alone  of  400.  In  Illinois  more  than  10,000;  at  St.  Louis, 
7,500.  All  classes  gave  their  names  to  the  plerlge  to  coun- 
tenance the  work,  but  there  was  good  reason  to  believe 
that  150,000  decidedly  intemperate  men  took  the  pledge 
and  abandoned  their  cups. 

How  Ihr  the  subjects  of  this  work  remained  steadfast, 
the  judgment  only  will  reveal.  For  a  time,  they  held 
to  it  with  Avonderful  tenacity.  If  they  violated  it,  they 
hastened  to  a  renewal.  Their  character  and  condition 
were  wonderfully  improved.  From  the  deepest  degrada- 
tion, poverty  and  shame,  they  came,  at  once,  to  respecta- 
bility and  comfort.  Men,  who  were  tottering  over  the 
drunkard's  grave,  were,  at  once,  strengthened  in  their 
physical  organization.  Men,  who  would  make  their  bed 
with  the  swine,  who  would  lie  and  steal,  and  be  the  vilest 
of  the  vile,  were  seen  well-dressed  and  taking  a  place 
among  the  respectable  and  good.  Homes  that  had  been 
abandoned,  were  sought  out  and  loved.  Families  neglected, 
were  again  provided  for.  Husbands  and  wives  that  had 
long  been  separated,  were  again  united ;  and  parties 
divorced  for  intemperance,  were  remarried.  Two  reformed 
men  became  Mayors  of  cities  ;  one.  Governor  of  his  State  ; 
several,  members  of  Congress.  Many  who  had  been 
ejected  from  Christian  churches  for  their  intemperance, 
were,  on  repentance,  restored.  One  in  ISTew  Haven,  Conn., 
Mr.  Abel  Bishop,  who  for  three  years  had  drank  a  quart 
of  rum  a  day,  who  had  suffered  his  family  to  fall  into  the 
deepest  want,  and  who  himself  had  often  raved  in  horrid 
delirium,  imagining  that  men  were  about  him  to  flay  him 
alive,  who  saw  them  begin  to  cut  his  flesh  with  saws,  and 
pull  off  his  skin  in  strings,  and  hang  them  on  wires ;  who 
often  thought  his  breast  was  full  of  animals  to  be  drawn 
out,  one  after  another,  amid  horrid  faintness,  was  so  re- 


BLESSED   RESULTS.  83 

stored,  as  to  become  a  blessing  to  his  family,  a  member 
of  his  church,  and  a  public  advocate  throughout  the  State. 

Judge  Smith,  of  Medina,  Ohio,  an  able  jurist,  had  been 
so  debased  that  his  wife  had  taken  advantage  of  the  law 
and  obtained  a  divorce,  after  which  he  sunk  to  deepest 
depths.  On  the  coming  of  the  reformed  men,  he  nerved 
his  arm  and  took  the  pledge.  He  soon  came  up  to  his 
former  condition,  sought  out  his  wife,  and,  in  j^resence  of 
thousands,  was  remarried,  and  then  became  a  public  advo- 
cate of  the  cause.  In  Massachusetts,  Joseph  J.  Johnson ; 
in  Maine,  Joseph  Hayes  ;  in  Xew  York,  George  Haydock, 
were  among  the  most  degraded  and  debased  of  men,  who 
all  became  most  signal  instances  of  moral  power,  extensive- 
ly reclaiming  inveterate  drunkards  and  breaking  up  most 
profitable  liquor  establishments,  Mr.  Johnson,  for  a  time, 
regenerated  Mobile  and  caused  New  Orleans  to  shake  to 
its  centre. 

Ministers  and  churches  everywhere  saw  that  the  great 
barrier  between  them  and  a  large  population,  who  never 
came  to  the  house  of  God,  was  broken  down,  and  rejoiced 
in  it.  Said  the  Rev.  Dr.  Joel  Parker,  in  a  sermon  before 
the  Xew  York  Presbytery : 

The  great  change  that  has  been  produced  within  the  last  few  months  in 
the  reforming  of  poor,  lost  inebriates,  is  a  wonderful  phenomenon.  The 
church  had  passed  them  by  as  hopeless.  God  raised  up  reformers  from 
among  themselves,  and  now  the  multiplied  and  movLag  tales  of  the  woes 
and  sins,  and  recoveries  of  poor,  lost  drunkards,  are  telling  with  amazing 
power  upon  hearts  that  were  accounted  to  be  beyond  the  reach  of  the  Gos- 
pel. These  reformations  are  bringing  thousands  of  new  subjects  under  the 
means  of  grace.  Nor  are  they  merely  brought  to  listen  while  under  a  pow- 
erful impulse  of  self-improvement.  Good  influences  are  upon  them  as  the 
nand  upon  the  helm  and  the  breeze  upon  the  sail  of  a  ship  under  a  good 
headway,  to  guide  and  propel  it  into  a  good  harbor.  Nor  is  their  conver- 
sion to  God  the  chief  good  to  be  hoped  for  from  this  remarkable  move- 
ment. The  greater  part  of  them  have  families,  wives  and  children,  brought 
out  of  degrading  poverty,  to  hold  a  place  in  the  sanctuary,  in  circimistancea 
to  awaken  gratitude  to  the  Giver  of  their  mercies. 


84  TEMPERANCE    EECOLLECTIONS. 

The  results  of  this  mighty  movement  to  many  individ- 
uals were  not  as  happy  as  they  would  have  been,  had  the 
States  stepped  in  and  closed  the  dram  shops.  The  re- 
formed men,  influenced  by  love  and  kind  feelings,  were 
hostile  to  law  in  the  suppression  of  the  traffic,  believing 
they  could,  in  due  time,  induce  the  liquor  dealers  to  aban- 
don their  business ;  but,  alas  !  the  venders  were  too  shrewd 
and  hardened  to  be  drawn  away  from  their  spoils.  The 
reformed,  being  often  without  self-control,  decision  of 
character,  and  moral  and  religious  principle,  the  old  ap- 
petite revived ;  and,  ere  long,  not  a  few  went  back  to  their 
old  habits;  yet  many  became  not  only  confirmed  in  sobri- 
ety but  eminent  in  piety,  and  died  in  the  triumphs  of  Chris- 
tian faith.  With  some  such,  I  was  intimately  acquainted 
till  they  departed  to  sing,  not  only  the  praises  of  temper- 
ance, but  of  redeeming  love,  in  glory. 

With  none  had  I  greater  intimacy  and  for  none  a  high- 
er regard  than  John  H.  W.  Hawkins.  He  was  surely  a  re- 
markable man,  most  devoted  to  the  last,  to  his  work  of 
reforming  and  saving  inebriates.  This  was  his  great  con- 
cern wherever  he  went,  and,  as  has  been  truly  said,  "  His 
wonderful  success  in  inspiring  the  victims  of  intemperance 
with  hope  and  a  belief  in  the  possibility  of  their  reform,  and 
in  leading  them  to  pronounce  the  words  I  will,  can  be 
attested  by  hundreds  of  living  and  grateful  men." — Dr. 
Jewett,  As  a  man  of  industry,  few  equalled  him.  He 
never  asked  for  rest.  He  ever  felt  that  he  must  be  about 
his  Master's  business.  In  eighteen  years,  he  had  travelled 
two  hundred  thousand  miles  and  delivered  over  five  thou- 
sand addresses.  Though  a  Washingtonian,  he  was  a  strong 
prohibitionist ;  clear  in  his  views  of  the  enormity  of  the 
traffic  and  the  wickedness  of  Legislatures  in  licensing  it. 
He  died  in  Pennsylvania,  August  28,  1858,  aged  60.  At 
bis  death,  many  tributes  were  paid  to  his  memory,  but 
none  more  beautiful  than  one  by  Wm.  H.  Burleigh,  not 


TRIBUTE   TO   ME.    HAWKIXS.  85 

only  a  true  poet,  but  himself  one  of  the  most  eminent 
temperance  lecturers : 

Shall  we  not  drop  a  tributary  tear, 
Oh,  champion  of  the  fallen !  on  thy  bier  ? 
Not  for  thy  sake,  for  thou  hast  found  thy  rest 
Among  the  many  mansions  of  the  blessed, 
Where  pours  no  fiery  desolating  flood 
Swollen  with  tears,  incarnadined  with  blood  ; 
Nor  ribald  song,  nor  drunkard's  jest  profane, 
Nor  horrid  oath  shall  vex  thine  ear  again ! 

Oh,  who  thy  perfect  blessedness  can  tell, 
As  lauds  and  hallelujahs  round  thee  swell, 
While  angel  hands  sweep  over  quivering  wires, 
To  wake  the  music  of  a  thousand  lyres. 
And  angel  voices  tuned  in  sweet  accord. 
Welcome  thee  home,  thrice  blessed  of  the  Lord. 

Nay,  not  for  thee,  thou  habitant  of  heaven. 
But  for  the  wine-enthralled  our  tears  are  given. 
Thou  art  not  dead !  for  still  thy  name  shall  be 
Heard  in  the  songs  of  those  thou  hast  made  free. 
The  wife,  whose  husband  thou  didst  toil  to  save. 
Not  vainly  from  the  drunkard's  yawning  grave, 
Shall  teach  her  little  ones,  in  coming  days. 
To  tell  thy  story  and  to  lisp  thy  praise. 
The  child,  redeemed  from  all  the  shames  that  fill 
A  rum-cursed  house  from  woes  that  bhght  and  kill, 
Lisping  thy  name,  shall  link  it,  morn  and  even. 
With  the  sweet  prayers  that  tremble  up  to  Heaven. 

In  his  daughter  Hannah,  the  instrument,  when  twelve 
years  old,  of  his  reformation,  I  ever  took  a  deep  interest ; 
and,  for  the  benefit  of  the  young,  wrote  and  published  a 
small  memoir  of  her.  Hannah  Hawkins,  or  The  Reformed 
Drunkard's  Daughter,  has  passed  through  sixteen  editions, 
and  is  in  most  Sabbath-school  libraries.  Strongly  sympa- 
thizing with  the  victims  of  vice,  in  the  early  stage  of  this 
work,  I  also  wrote  and  published  "  The  Pool  of  Bethesda," 


86  TEMrERANCE    RECOLLECTIONS. 

or  the  unfortunate  drunkard's  call  for  help,  now  that  the 
waters  are  troubled  by  an  angel  of  mercy,  that  he  may 
be  taken  to  the  pool  and  not  be  discouraged  and  driven 
away. 

My  home  in  Baltimore  was  with  Christian  Keener,  a 
warm-hearted  and  devout  member  of  the  Methodist  church, 
who  took  the  deepest  interest  in  all  moral  reforms.  At 
his  own  expense  he  established  the  Maryland  Temperance 
Herald,  and  continued  it  many  years  with  great  ability. 
He  was  from  the  first,  one  of  our  Executive  Committee. 
Whether  at  home  or  abroad,  in  church  or  legislative  meet- 
ings ;  among  the  aged,  or  in  Sabbath-schools  and  Cold  Wa- 
ter armies,  his  voice  and  heart  were  for  perfect  temperance, 
the  reform  of  all  inebriates,  and,  above  all,  the  prevention 
of  drunkenness,  as,  in  his  view,  infinitely  preferable  to 
cure.  When  he  died,  temperance  in  Maryland  lost  its 
strong  supporter;  and  many  an  individual  a  precious 
friend. 


CHAPTER   Vn. 

Change  in  our  Committee — Dr.  Sewall's  Plates  of  the  Stomach — Excite- 
ment of  Thomas  F,  Marshall — Signs  the  Pledge — Speech  of  G.  N". 
Briggs — Visit  Washington — Great  Meeting — Procure  Messrs.  M.  and 
B.  for  our  Anniversary — Great  Meetings  in  New  York — Soiree  at  Cen- 
tre Market — Sixth  Anniversary — Mr.  Marshall's  Speeches — Duel — De- 
praved Morals  of  Reformed — T.  B.  Segur  on  Sabbath-schools — Croton 
"Water — Seamen — Sons  of  Temperance — Issues  of  the  Press. 

On  the  18th  of  January,  1842,  Mr.  Delavan,  being 
compelled  to  go  to  Cuba  with  his  invalid  son,  resigned 
his  office  as  Chairman  of  the  Executive  Committee  of  the 
American  Temperance  Union.  His  extraordinary  liberal- 
ity, his  uncommon  zeal  and  devotedness  to  the  cause,  his 
ability  to  reach  the  higher  classes,  to  set  great  wheels 
in  motion  and  unexpectedly  effect  great  results,  caused  his 
resignation  to  fill  me  with  fearful  apprehensions.  Deeply 
sympathizing  with  him  in  his  expected  affliction,  I  bade 
him  adieu.  The  Committee  were  fortunate  in  inducino- 
the  Hon.  Theodore  Frelinghuysen,  Chancellor  of  the  N.  Y. 
University,  who,  for  years,  had  been  a  tower  of  strength, 
to  take  his  place ;  he  promising  to  give  as  much  of  his  time 
and  counsel  as  his  other  occupations  would  permit. 

About  the  same  time,  my  friend  and  fellow  laborer 
(though  differing  a  little  on  the  pledge),  Robert  M.  Hart- 
ley, resigned  the  office  of  Secretary  of  the  New  York  City 
Temperance  Society,  having,  in  thirteen  years,  been  active 
in  forming  174  auxiliaries,  calling  1,400  temperance  meet- 
ings, and  obtaining  179,624  pledges.    From  this  he  passed 


88  TEMPERANCE   RECOLLECTIONS. 

• 

to  the  Secretaryship  of  the  N.  Y.  Association  for  the  Re- 
lief of  the  Poor,  where,  by  his  efficient  labors,  he  has  drawn 
upon  him  the  blessing  of  many  thousands  ready  to  perish. 
At  Washington,  much  excitement  was  produced  at  this 
time  by  a  delineation  of  the  effects  of  Alcohol  on  tl^^  hu- 
man stomach,  by  Dr.  Thomas  Sewall,  in  a  series  of  draw- 


1.  The  humau  stomach  in  a  state  of  health. 

2.  The  inner  surftice  of  the  stomach  of  the  temperate  drinker  of  intoxi- 
cating wine  or  other  alcoholic  drinks. 

3.  The  confirmed  drunkard's  stomach. 

4.  The  drunkard's  stomach  in  an  ulcerous  state. 
5. after  a  debauch. 

6. in  a  cancerous  state. 

7. after  death  by  delirium  tremens. 

These  drawings  were  taken  with  great  care,  by  Dr. 
Sewall,  after  dissections ;  and  were  first  exhibited  in  "Wash- 
ington, with  a  lecture  upon  the  pathology  of  drunkenness, 
before  an  assembly  of  three  thousand.  The  reformed  men 
of  the  city,  thankful  for  their  deliverance,  and  feeling 
deeply  for  others,  yet  victims  to  the  cup,  held,  nightly,  pub- 
lic meetings,  which  were  often  attended  and  addressed  by 
members  of  Congress.  Of  those,  one,  a  highly  talented 
gentleman,  Hon.  Thos.  F.  Marshall,  of  Kentucky,  nephew 
to  the  distinguished  Chief  Justice,  was  fearfully  awakened 
to  his  own  condition,  as  on  the  very  brink  of  ruin,  while 
admonishing  others.  Entering  the  House,  on  the  evening 
of  January  V,  1842,  he  found  himself  nervously  affected 
to  a  degree  that  alarmed  him,  as  the  sensation  was  accom- 
panied by  a  raging  thirst  for  strong  drink.  Terrified  at 
his  condition,  he  called  for  Mr.  Briggs,  of  Massachusetts, 
to  bring  him  a  pledge,  that  he  might  at  once  sign  it  and 
place  himself  in  a  condition  of  safety.  Mr.  Briggs  came 
with  a  pledge,  which  he  signed  on  the  spot.  But  he  said 
he  must  go  to  the  temperance  meeting,  make  a  public  con- 


THOMAS  F.  MARSHALL  SIGNS  THE  PLEDGE.  89 

fession,  and  put  himself  beyond  the  power  of  temptation. 
Mr.  Briggs  and  others  accompanied  him.  The  meeting 
was  at  the  Medical  College.  "  I  was  present,"  said  Dr. 
Sewall,  in  a  letter  shortly  to  me,  "  and  saw  him  sign  the 
pledge  of  total  abstinence,  after  which  he  made  a  most 
touching  speech.  Several  other  members  followed  his  ex- 
ample. Mr.  Marshall's  step  has  astonished  Congress. 
There  is  no  man  who  compares  with  him  in  debate."  The 
IN'ational  Intelligencer,  the  next  morning,  spoke  of  the  oc- 
currence as  one  of  the  most  interesting  which  ever  took 
place  in  Washington.  Mr.  Briggs  closed  the  meeting 
by  saying :  "  From  this  day  a  new  era  in  the  cause  of 
temperance  may  be  dated.  The  high  and  commanding 
talents  of  his  friend,  would  give  it  a  new  impulse.  His 
name  had  gone  over  the  country  once ;  and  it  would  go 
over  it  again,  leaving  a  trail  of  light  behind.  He  rejoiced 
that  he  had  seen  this  night  and  congratulated  the  Society 
on  the  happy  event  which  he  had  witnessed  in  that  hall." 
I,  at  once,  in  the  name  of  the  American  Temperance 
Union,  sent  Mr.  Marshall  my  congratulations  ;  and,  in  re- 
ply, he  said :  "  The  great  cause  in  which  you  are  engaged 
and  in  which  we  will  be  co-workers,  as  far  as  I  can  aid 
you,  has  my  most  ardent  wishes."  Under  the  powerful 
impression  made,  measures  were  immediately  taken  to  re- 
organize the  Congressional  Temperance  Society,  and,  if 
possible,  get  the  whole  body  to  take  the  pledge.  A  meet- 
ing of  members  friendly  to  the  object  was  called  on  the 
9th,  in  the  Capitol,  and  the  Society  was  reorganized,  under 
the  presidency  of  the  Hon.  Mr.  Briggs,  and  a  day  appoint- 
ed for  a  large  public  meeting  in  the  Hall  of  Representa- 
tives. Believing  that  the  presence  of  Mr.  Marshall,  the 
most  eloquent  man  in  Congress,  would,  under  these  cir- 
cumstances give  great  interest  to  our  May  anniversary,  I  at 
once  resolved  on  going  to  Washington,  to  attend  the  gi-eat 
meeting,  form  an  acquaintance  with  him,  and  induce  him. 


90  TEMPERANCE   RECOLLECTIONS. 

if  possible,  to  come  to  New  York.  I  was  soon  in  his  room, 
and  on  terms  of  intimacy  and  friendship  with  him.  The 
meeting  came  off  on  the  25th;  the  Hall  was  crowded 
to  excess,  in  expectation  of  a  speech  from  Mr.  Marshall. 
Mr.  Briggs  presided.  It  was  a  day  of  triumph  and  joy 
with  him.  He  gave  an  account  of  the  old  Congressional 
Society,  which  was  formed  on  the  ardent  spirit  pledge, 
and  which,  with  the  pledge  in  one  hand,  and  a  bottle  of 
champagne  in  the  other,  had  a  name  to  live,  but  was  guilty 
of  suicidal  acts.  A  temperance  society  had  perished  by 
intemperance.  In  compliment  to  my  office,  I  was  put  for- 
ward to  make  the  first  speech  after  the  President's  ad- 
dress ;  in  which  I  gave  a  summary  of  the  present  extra- 
ordinary movement  and  its  results,  so  far  as  I  had  been 
able  to  collect  them.  My  statements  were  confirmed  by 
William  K.  Mitchell,  of  Baltimore,  who  was  President  of 
the  Washington  Society  of  reformed  men,  and  the  first 
who  signed  the  pledge.  The  meeting  was  then  addressed 
by  Hon.  Mr.  Riggs,  of  New  York ;  Mr.  Fillmore,  of  New 
Jersey ;  Mr.  Gilmer,  of  Virginia ;  Mr.  Burnell,  of  Massa- 
chusetts ;  Mr.  Giddings,  of  Ohio  ;  lastly  by  Mr.  Marshall, 
who  spoke  more  than  an  hour,  in  a  strain  of  unsurpassed 
eloquence.  He  was  often  received  with  bursts  of  applause.* 

*  Mr.  Marshall's  appreciation  of  the  pledge  he  had  taken : — Sir,  the 
pledge  I  have  taken  renders  me  secure  forever  from  a  fate  inevitably  fol- 
lowing habits  like  mine  ;  a  fate  more  terrible  than  death.  That  pledge, 
though  confined  to  myself  alone,  and  with  reference  only  to  its  effect 
upon  me,  my  mind,  my  heart,  my  body,  I  would  not  exchange  for  all 
earth  holds  of  brightest  and  of  best.  No,  no,  Sir  ;  let  the  banner  of  this 
temperance  cause  go  forward  or  backward  ;  let  the  world  be  rescued  from 
its  dcgi-ading  and  ruinous  bondage  to  alcohol  or  not ;  I,  for  one,  shall 
never,  never  repent  what  I  have  done.  I  have  often  said  this,  and  I  feel 
it  every  moment  of  my  existence,  waking  or  sleeping.  Sir,  I  would  not 
exchange  the  physical  sensations,  the  mere  sense  of  animal  being,  which 
belongs  to  a  man,  who  totally  refrains  from  all  that  can  intoxicate  his 
brain  or  derange  his  nervous  structure — the   elasticity,  with  which  he 


GRAND   SOIREE   AT  CENTRE   MARKET.  91 

Having  secured  his  attendance  with  Mr.  Briggs  at  our 
anniversary,  I  set  my  face  homeward,  to  record  the 
interesting  events  I  had  witnessed,  in  the  Journal,  and 
prepare  for  the  Anniversary. 

On  the  22d  of  February,  the  birth-day  of  Washington, 
a  grand  Festival  was  held,  by  the  reformed  men  of  our 
city,  at  Centre  Market  Hall,  a  floor  of  275  feet  by  40, 
whose  appropriate  decorations,  crowds  of  people,  mutual 
congratulations,  supplies  of  table,  and  eloquence  of  ora- 
tors, had  not  before  been  known  amongst  us.  Here  the  res- 
cued men  met  with  their  haj)py  families,  and  received  the 
congratulations  of  some  of  our  first  citizens.  And  a  month 
later,  on  the  29th  of  March,  their  Anniversary,  they  moved 
in  procession,  3,000  in  number,  with  four  teetotal  fire  com- 

bounds  from  his  couch  in  the  morning — the  sweet  repose  it  yields  him  at 
night — the  feehng,  with  which  he  drinks  in  through  his  clear  eyes,  the 
beauty  and  the  grandeur  of  surrounding  nature  ;  I  say,  Sir,  I  would  not 
exchange  my  conscious  being  as  a  strictly  temperate  man — the  sense  of 
renovated  youth — the  glad  play,  with  which  my  pulses  now  beat  healthful 
music — the  bounding  vivacity,  with  which  the  life-blood  courses  its  exult- 
ing way  through  every  fibre  of  my  frame— the  communion  high,  which 
my  healthful  ear  and  eye  now  hold  with  all  the  gorgeous  universe  of  God — 
the  splendors  of  the  morning,  the  softness  of  the  evening  sky — the 
bloom,  the  beauty,  the  verdure  of  earth,  the  music  of  the  air  and  the 
waters — with  all  the  grand  associations  of  external  nature,  reopened  to 
the  first  avenues  of  sense  ; — no.  Sir,  though  poverty  dogged  me — though 
scorn  pointed  its  slow  fingers  at  me,  as  I  passed — though  want  and  desti- 
tution, and  every  element  of  earthly  misery,  save  only  crime,  met  my 
waking  eye  from  day  to  day ;  not  for  the  brightest  and  noblest  wreath  that 
ever  encircled  a  statesman's  brow — not  if  some  angel,  commissioned  by 
heaven,  or  some  demon,  rather,  sent  fresh  from  hell,  to  test  the  resisting 
strength  of  virtuous  resolution,  should  tempt  me,  both  with  all  the  wealth, 
and  all  the  honors,  which  a  world  can  bestow;  not  for  all  that  time  or 
earth  can  give,  would  I  cast  from  me  this  precious  pledge  of  a  liberat- 
ed mind,  this  tahsman  against  temptation;  and  plunge  again  into  the 
dangers  and  the  terrors  which  once  beset  my  path.  So  help  me  heaven, 
Sir,  as  I  would  spurn  beneath  my  very  feet  all  the  gifts  the  universe  could 
offer,  and  live  and  die  as  I  am,  poor,  but  sober. 


92  TEMPERANCE   RECOLLECTIONS. 

panics,  and  more  than  sixty  splendid  banners,  and  several 
bands  of  music,  from  Hudson  Square  to  the  Park,  and  up 
Broadway  to  Washington  Square,  where  they  were  dis- 
missed, to  attend  a  large  meeting  in  the  Broadway  Taber- 
nacle in  the  evening.  Indeed,  temperance  was  now  the 
all-engrossing  topic.  Fifty-two  public  meetings,  many  4n 
large  and  well-lighted  halls,  were  regularly  held,  and  as 
many  as  1,200  pledges  were  taken  weekly.  The  traffic,  the 
drinking,  and  the  drunkenness  were  much  diminished,  and 
there  was  great  joy  iri  the  city. 

The  sixth  Anniversary,  held  in  the  Broadway  Taber- 
nacle, in  May,  surpassed,  in  interest,  our  highest  anticipa- 
tions from  the  presence  of  Mr.  Briggs  and  Mr.  Marshall. 
In  absence  of  the  President,  the  Hon.  Theodore  Freling- 
huysen  presided.  My  Report  was  filled  with  interesting 
facts  which  few  other  years  had  f) resented.  From  our 
office  we  had  issued  10,000  Journals,  45,000  Youth's  Tem- 
perance Advocates,  40,000  Almanacs,  10,000  Hymn  Books, 
numerous  tracts  and  hand-bills  ;  more  than  700,000  publi- 
cations in  all.  The  number  of  pledges  taken  this  year  in 
the  United  States,  was  estimated  at  half  a  million.  Many 
details  were  given  of  the  public  sympathy  in  this  move- 
ment, especially  in  the  readiness  of  the  Martha  Washing- 
ton Societies  to  clothe  the  naked,  and  sustain  the  reformed, 
and  in  the  enthusiasm  expressed  in  numerous  and  often  mag- 
nificent processions  in  cities,  towns  and  villages.  All  the 
large  distilleries  in  Philadelphia  were  reported  as  stopped ; 
all,  or  nearly  all,  in  Brooklyn.  Breweries  were  closed  ; 
tavern  bars  taken  down.  In  1831  seventy-two  million 
gallons  of  ardent  spirits  were  consumed  by  twelve  millions 
of  people;  but,  in  1840,  only  forty-three  million  gallons, 
by  seventeen  millions  of  peoj^le ;  such  had  been  the  opera- 
tions of  temperance. 

Mr.  Briggs  did  not  arrive  at  the  first  meeting  on  Anni- 
versary evening,  but  Mr.  Mai'shall  poured  forth,  before  an 


MEETINGS  OF  MESSRS.  MARSHALL  AND  BBIGGS.  93 

immense  and  highly  intellectual  audience,  such  strains  of 
eloquence  as  had  not  before  been  heard  in  our  city.  His 
speech  was  fully  reported  in  the  Journal,  and  now  stands 
before  the  world,  as  unsurpassed  for  interesting  and  effec- 
tive oratory.  For  several  days  these  two  gentlemen  re- 
mained, addressing,  every  afternoon  or  evening,  some  pub- 
lic meeting.  At  one  Lecture,  they  were  preceded  by  Dr. 
Nott,  of  Union  College,  who  gave  an  explanation  of  Dr. 
Thomas  Sewall's  j^lates  of  the  human  stomach  under  the 
ravages  of  Alcohol.  Another  meeting  was  devoted  to  the 
Washingtonians.  Another,  filling  to  overflowing  the 
Tabernacle,  to  the  Firemen.     Another,  to  ladies. 

These  effective  speakers  were  earnestly  solicited  to  go 
to  Boston  and  other  cities,  but  his  duties  in  Congress 
called  Mr.  Briggs  back,  while,  unfortunately  for  himself 
and  the  cause,  Mr.  Marshall  remained  entangled  in  some 
political  controversies,  which  resulted  in  a  duel  with 
James  Watson  Webb ;  unhappily  blasting  the  good  in- 
fluence of  his  temperance  speeches,  and  putting  an  end  to 
farther  operations.  By  some  of  our  clergy,  I  was  made 
to  bear  the  whole  sin  in  bringing  to  the  city  as  moral 
instructors,  men  who  feared  not  God,  and  in  the  violence 
of  passion  could  shed  a  brother's  blood.  I  replied,  tem- 
perance had  no  concern  with  duelling,  and  I  was  not  re- 
sponsible for  it ;  we  only  brought  forward  the  testimony 
of  men,  who  knew  in  their  own  experience,  the  evils  of 
strong  drink,  and  who  were  willing  to  raise  the  warning 
voice  to  young  men,  and  to  testify  to  the  practicability 
and  blessedness  of  reform.  But  I  was  not  readily  for- 
given. 

Over  the  subsequent  history  of  this  gentleman,  though 
often  displaying  his  great  talents,' humanity  wept  at  this 
loss  of  moral  power ;  and  all  learned,  more  than  ever,  the 
curse  of  the  traffic  and  drinking  usages.  And  yet  this 
gentleman  had  much  in  him,  that,  at  times,  drew  toward 


94  TEMPERANCE    RECOLLECTIONS. 

him  the  religious  community.     On  receiving  the  thanks 
of  an  aged  mother,  for  saving  her  son,  he  said : 

"  I  too  have  a  mother,  and  if  she  knew  a  man  through  whom  I  have 
been  plucked,  as  a  brand  from  the  burning,  how  would  her  prayer  go  up 
for  him  to  the  throne  of  God  night  and  day.  And  she  does  offer  up  her 
blessings  to  the  Most  High.  She  writes  in  her  letters  to  me,  that  she  con- 
siders my  reformation  as  through  the  direct  agency  of  God  himself;  and 
her  voice  is  raised  in  continual  thanksgiving  and  praise  to  the  Father  of 
mercies.  Oh,  to  be  instrumental  in  doing  just  such  good  to  others,  I  do 
believe,  I  would  quit  Congress,  the  bar,  and  every  thing  else,  and  just 
turn  circuit  rider,  and  preach  through  the  country." 

In  justice  to  the  temperance  cause,  and  as  a  warning 
to  temperance  lecturers,  I  would  say,  that  it  >must  have 
the  whole  man,  or  it  has  no  security.  From  the  first  I 
was  distressed  at  the  amount  of  tobacco  which  Mr.  Mar- 
shall used,  and  I  often  felt  and  said,  no  good  would  come 
of  it.  When  remonstrated  with  and  warned,  he  would 
ever  say,  it  was  for  his  life,  and  how  could  he  give  it  up  ? 
still  he  knew  he  ought  to ;  and  yet  if  he  perished,  temper- 
ance men  could  be  held  responsible  !  Said  Colonel  S.,  one 
of  our  first  citizens  :  "Mr.  M.,  why  don't  you  give  up  this 
extravagant  use  of  tobacco  ?  "  "I  will,"  replied  Marshall, 
"  if  you  will  give  up  your  wine."  But  this  he  could  not  do  ; 
and  on  went  the  victim  under  this  excitement  to  the  field  of 
blood.  From  our  proud  Anniversary  season  I  turned 
away  in  sadness,  and  many  a  rich  devotee  of  the  weed  and 
wine  cup,  almost  persuaded,  turned  back  and  went  on  to 
ruin. 

Anniversary  over,  I  made  an  excursion  to  Boston, 
where  I  beheld  on  the  26th  of  May  an  immense  Washing, 
tonian  procession,  and  attended  a  Washington  Conven- 
tion in  the  Representatives'  chamber,  in  the  State  House, 
which  sat  two  days,  for  the  organization  of  a  "Wash- 
ington Total  Abstinence  Society."  An  immense  public 
meeting  was  held  at  the  Odeon.     This  Convention  adopt- 


MOKAT.   DEPRESSION   IN   THE   EEFOEMED,  95 

ed  moral  suasion,  in  opjoosition  to  prohibitory  law,  as 
the  true  and  proper  basis  of  action  with  the  traffic.  Nu- 
merous interesting  letters  were  ^dailj  laid  upon  my  table, 
giving  reports  of  large  meetings  and  great  reforms  in 
Charleston,  S.  C,  Cleveland,  O.,  Mobile,  Ala.,  Pittsburg, 
&G. ;  also  from  England,  Ireland,  the  Sandwich  Islands, 
and  Missionaries  in  China.  Jheir  publication  gave  great 
interest  to  our  Journal. 

The  celebration  of  the  Fourth  of  July  this  year  was 
distinguished  for  juvenile  movements ;  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  of  which  was  in  New  Haven,  Conn.,  where  six 
thousand  children  gathered  from  all  the  surrounding 
towns,  beautifully  robed,  with  badges,  banners,  and  music, 
marched  through  the  principal  streets  to  Hillhouse  Av- 
enue and  Sachem's  Wood,  and  there,  amid  appropriate 
exercises  and  addresses,  the  minds  of  all  were  forestalled 
for  temperance. 

In  the  summer  of  1842,  there  was  an  evident  depress- 
ion in  the  moral  state  of  the  reformed ;  a  lack  of  readiness 
on  their  part  to  acknowledge  their  dependence  on  God, 
no  small  desecration  of  the  Sabbath,  and  a  painfal  un- 
willingness, in  not  a  few  professed  Christians,  to  connect 
the  temperance  cause,  as  now  seen,  with  religion ;  all 
which,  within  a  few  months,  had  extensively  shown  itself, 
and  led  me  to  prepare  and  publish  in  the  ISTational  Preacher 
a  sermon,  entitled  God's  Hand  in  the  Reformation  of 
Drunkards.  I  had  reason  to  believe  that  it  led  some  of 
our  reformed  friends  to  see  to  Avhom  they  were  indebted 
for  their  deliverance,  and  to  consecrate  themselves  to  the 
divine  service.  But,  alas !  Satan  Avas  let  loose.  Good 
men,  who  had  gloried  in  the  work,  became  alarmed.  Said 
Dr.  Edwards,  in  a  public  meeting  in  Massachusetts,  "  If  this 
mighty  movement  is  destined  to  go  onward,  the  glory  of 
it  must  be  given,  not  to  men,  but  to  God.  He  was  its 
author ;   He  has  been  its  continuer ;   and  He  must  be  its 


96  TEMPERANCE    KECOLLECTIONS. 

finisher.  The  glory  of  it  does  not  belong  to  any  man,  or 
body  of  men.  Everything  good  about  it  was  from  him ; 
and  let  all  who  attemi:)t  to  carry  it  on,  in  all  their  ways 
acknowledge  him,  and  then  He  shall  direct  their  paths." 

My  friend,  T.  B.  Segur,  Esq.,  of  Dover,  N.  J.,  addressed 
me,  in  September  of  1842,  a  letter  of  much  feeling,  on 
a  juvenile  temperance  effort  in  connection  with  Sunday 
Schools.  He  had  for  some  time  been  most  deeply  inter- 
ested in  it.    Said  he : 

"I  am  absent  from  home  almost  every  Sabbath;  sometimes  visit 
several  schools  the  same  day ;  and  I  love  children.  No  man  of  my  infor- 
mation and  ability  can  love  Sunday-schools  more.  My  object  is,  among 
other  things,  to  make  temperance  a  branch  of  Sunday-school  teaching  and 
training.  The  way  it  is  done  gives  no  offence.  All  denominations,  to 
whom  it  has  been  presented,  have  approved ;  scruples  and  objections  have 
vanished  like  the  early  dew.  Let  the  plan  and  manner  of  carrying  it  out 
be  fully  imderstood,  and  such  must  always  be  the  case,  for  its  principles, 
purposes,  and  sympathies,  are  those  of  the  Bible." 

No  man  in  his  State  was  more  efficient  in  the  cause  of 
temperance  than  Mr.  Segur.  No  dramshop  or  liquor-sel- 
ler could  live  in  his  village.  He  was  a  great  friend  to  the 
Youth's  Temperance  Advocate. 

*'  The  object,  dear  sir,  is  worthy  of  your  best  efforts.  Let  its  influence 
be  for  the  healing  of  the  nations.  In  Xew  Jersey,  there  are  over  one  hun- 
dred and  eighty  thousand,  under  twenty  years  of  age  ;  in  the  State  of  Xew 
York,  more  than  one  million  two  hundred  thousand ;  and  in  the  United 
States,  more  than  nine  millions.  What  a  field  for  moral  and  religious 
effort !     How  interesting  !  How  promising  !     Go  in  and  possess  it." 

In  Mr.  Segur  I  had  a  firm  and  independent  friend. 
He  was  ever  hopeful  when  others  were  desj^onding ;  cheer- 
ful, when  others  were  depressed ;  fully  confident  that  the 
cause  was  right,  and  would  prevail.  When  he  died,  New 
Jersey  lost,  in  her  temperance  effort,  her  greatest  support. 

On  the  14th  of  October,  the  vast  population  of  New 
York  and  vicinity  welcomed  the  introduction  of  the  Croton 


CEOTON   WATER   INTKODUCED.  97 

Water,  and  it  was  felt  to  be  a  great  event  for  temperance. 
While  multitudes  of  temperance  men  were  in  tlie  civil, 
military,  and  firemen's  processions,  numerous  societies 
were  out  with  their  banners  and  badges  welcoming  the 
coming  guest.  "  The  Croton  Ode,"  written  by  George  P. 
Morris,  Esq.,  was  sung,  in  front  of  the  Park  Fountain,  by 
the  New  York  Sacred  Music  Society : 

"  Hail  the  wanderer  from  a  far  land ! 

Bind  her  flowing  tresses  up, 
Crown  her  with  a  fadeless  garland, 

And  with  crystals  brim  the  cup. 
From  her  haunts  of  deep  seclusion 

Let  intemperance  greet  her,  too. 
And  the  heat  of  his  delusion 

Sprinkle  with  the  mountain  dew. 

Water  leaps,  as  if  delighted  ; 

"While  her  conquered  foes  retire ; 
Pale  contagion  flies,  affrighted. 

With  the  baffled  demon,  Fire  ; 
Safety  dwells  in  her  dominions, 

Health  and  beauty  with  her  move, 
And  entwine  their  circling  pinions 

In  a  sisterhood  of  love."     &c. 

Samuel  Stephens,  Esq.,  Preside;nt  of  the  Water  Com- 
missioners, in  his  address,  viewed  it  as  the  greatest  help  to 
temperance.     Said  he  : 

The  more  good  water  that  is  conveniently  supplied,  the  more  temperate 
will  be  our  people  ;  because  we  shall  now  no  longer  afford  the  poor  apology 
for  mixing  brandy  and  rum  with  water — that  of  making  it  drinkable — and 
we  may  hope  the  temperance  cause,  with  pure  Croton  Water,  and  a  Croton 
Banner  floating  to  the  breeze,  will,  on  the  present  system,  so  successfully 
carry  on  the  warfare  in  all  future  time,  as  to  make  it  impossible  for  them 
to  find  subjects  to  fill  up  that  part  of  their  corps  which  now  consists  of 
reformed  drunkards." 

On  the  18th  October,  I  went  to  Hartford,  Ct.,  and  with 
0 


98  TEMPERANCE   KECOLLECTIONS. 

others  addressed  the  State  Temperance  Convention— a 
body  of  more  than  200  delegates.  The  report  of  reformed- 
drunkards'  and  cold-water  armies  was  most  heart-cheering. 
Hartford  reported  six  hundred  reformed  drunkards,  and 
scarce  any  relapses ;  Norwich,  seventy-two ;  Fairfield, 
fifty ;  Suflield,  seventy-five.  Sixty-five  divisions  of  the 
Cold- Water  army  had  been  formed,  numbering  14,000 
children.  The  Convention  united  with  the  Hartford 
"Washington  Society  and  the  Catholic  Society,  and  march- 
ed from  the  Centre  Church,  where  they  had  met,  to  the 
front  of  the  State  House,  where  several  speeches  were 
made,  and  resolutions  adopted  on  the  Cold- Water-army 
enterprise  ;  on  the  Washingtonian  movement,  and  that  the 
sale  of  intoxicating  liquors,  to  be  used  as  a  beverage, 
ought  to  be  prohibited  (for  a  great  change  had  come  over 
the  Washingtonians  in  this  matter)  by  law.  It  was  a 
proud  day  for  Connecticut. 

The  Cold- Water  armies  which  were  now  formed,  much 
under  the  labors  of  my  friend,  Rev.  Charles  J.  Warren,  at 
thi^  time,  were  a  most  interesting  portion  of  the  tem- 
perance reform.  In  many  towns,  they  embodied  the  chil- 
dren of  nearly  all  religious  families,  and  often  drew  in  the 
children  of  the  poor  drunkard  ;  and  they  laid  the  founda- 
tion of  temperance  among  the  youth  of  both  sexes,  who, 
in  a  short  time,  would  be  the  controlling  power  in  Church 
and  State.  Many  a  temperance  man,  in  these  days,  has 
looked  back  to  his  stand  in  the  Cold- Water  army  of  1842 
as  the  foundation  of  his  temperance,  in  principle  and  prac- 
tice. 

Great  attention  was  paid  also  to  the  condition  of  sea- 
men in  all  our  ports.  The  Mariners'  Society  in  New  York 
had  been  organized,  and  interesting  meetings  were  held 
weekly  in  the  Mariners'  Church,  in  Roosevelt  street.  Usu- 
ally, from  two  to  three  thousand  pledges  were  there  taken 
in  a  single  year,  much  to  the  annoyance  of  the  vile  grog- 


BENEFICIAL    SOCIETIES SONS    OF   TEMPERANCE.         99 

geries — the  bane  of  the  noble  tars.  Few  meetings  did  I  at- 
tend with  more  pleasui:e ;  and,  on  the  Fourth  of  July,  1 840, 
I  had  the  opportunity  and  pleasure  to  deliver,  before  this 
Society,  an  address,  entitled  The  Bow  of  Peomise,  which 
was  printed,  and  widely  circulated  among  the  seamen. 
This  Society  still  flourishes,  under  its  excellent  President, 
Captain  Richardson,  and  has  on  its  roll-book  43,000  mem- 
bers. The  chanoje  it  was  enabled  to  effect  amons^  seamen 
was  great.  Out  of  its  operation  grew  the  "  Sailor's 
Home,"  which  became  a  most  influential  establishment. 
Both  in  England  and  America,  a  strenuous  effort  was 
made  to  induce  ship-owners  to  dispense  with  the  spirit 
ration  m  merchant  vessels,  and  to  lower  the  premium  on 
ships  sailing  on  temperance  principles.  In  this  work,  Mr. 
John  Dougal,  of  Montreal,  was  long  actively  and  success- 
fully engaged. 

A  larg^e  proportion  of  the  reformed  men  were  in  desti- 
tute cu'cumstances — a  natural  result  of  their  intemperance 
— and  so  much  was  the  sympathy  of  the  community  excited 
for  them,  on  theu'  signing  the  pledge,  that  extensive  bene- 
ficial societies  were  established,  in  which  they  could  find 
clothing,  fuel,  food,  support  in  sickness,  and  burial  in 
death.  These  were  most  numerous  in  Philadelphia.  But 
in  N'ew  York,  one  was  established  among  themselves,  on 
the  plan  of  the  Rechabites  in  Great  Britain,  and  called  the 
"  Order  of  the  Sons  of  Temperance."  Its  avowed  object 
was  to  shield  its  members  from  the  evils  of  intemperance, 
afford  mutual  aid  in  case  of  sickness,  and  elevate  character. 
It  held  its  meetings  with  closed  doors,  with  forms  and  pass- 
words. It  proposed  local.  State,  and  national  organiza- 
tion. 

It  soon -manifested  an  esprit  du  corps^  which  gathered 
into  it  a  large  portion  of  the  reformed ;  inasmuch  as,  on 
paying  a  small  weekly  or  quarterly  due,  they  were  sure 
of  a  useful  remittance  in  case  of  sickness  or  death.     An  im- 


100  TEMPERANCE   EECOLLECTIONS. 

posing  initiation  gave  the  order  impressiveness,  brother- 
hood, and  attachment ;  and  a  regalia,  a  distinction  from 
other  temperance  men.  Soon,  divisions  and  grand  divi- 
sions, based  on  total  abstinence  principles,  were  found 
springing  np  in  every  quarter.  Old  temperance  societies 
lost  such  of  their  members  as  were  reformed  men ;  and 
where  there  was  a  revival  of  temperance,  young  reformed 
converts  were  allured  hither,  often  in  large  proportions. 
The  chief  agent  was  the  New  York  Organ,  a  paper  pub- 
lished by  Mr.  J.  W".  Oliver,  which  obtained  U  large  circu- 
lation among  them,  giving  all  the  details  of  business,  and 
reports  of  progress.  They  also  published  a  spirited  and 
popular  address  to  the  friends  of  temperance  through- 
out the  United  States.  Their  pecuniary  basis  was  admir- 
able and  worthy  of  imitation.  General  S.  F.  Gary,  of 
Ohio,  a  gentleman  of  great  eloquence  and  power,  became 
one  of  their  chief  advocates  and  supporters. 

At  this  time  Mr.  Delavan  gave  to  the  public  eight 
large  drawings  of  Dr.  Se wall's,  on  a  grand  lithograph,  nine 
times  the  size  of  a  common  stomach.  They  were  extensive- 
ly taken  at  ten  dollars  a  set,  and  hung  in  public  institu- 
tions and  temperance  halls,  for  the  use  of  public  lecturers. 
He  also  commenced  a  preparation  of  a  small  set  to  be 
placed  in  every  school  in  the  State,  confident  that  no 
parent  would  withhold  his  mite  for  such  an  object. 

My  table  had,  in  the  last  two  years,  been  furnished 
with  many  important  documents.  "  Examination  of 
Bacchus,"  by  John  McLean,  Professor  of  the  Gollege  in 
Princeton,  iN".  J. ;  "  Bible  Temperance,"  in  three  dis- 
courses, by  Joseph  Garroll,  D.  D.,  Newburg ;  "  Proceed- 
ings of  the  National  Gonvention,  1842,"  with  an  address, 
by  General  Gocke ;  "  Moral  Principle  of  the  Temperance 
Movement,"  addressed  to  the  students  of  Harvard  College, 
by  Henry  Ware,  Jr. ;  "  Pathology  of  Drunkenness,"  by 
Thomas  Sewall,  M.  D.,  of  Washington  Gity,  with  draw- 


DOCUMENTS  ON  TEMPERANCE.  101 

ings  of  tlie  human  stomach,  as  affected  by  Alcohol ;  "  The 
Inquirer,"  devoted  to  free  discussions  of  the  kind  of  wine 
to  be  used  at  the  Lord's  Supper,  by  E.  C.  Delavan; 
"  Reminiscences  of  a  Ruined  Generation,"  by  Rev.  Daniel 
A.  Clark ;  "  The  N'ew  Impulse,  or  Hawkins  and  Reform ; " 
"A  View  of  the  Excise  Law  of  the  State  of  ITew  York," 
by  Gerrit  Smith;  "The  Respondent,"  an  answer  to  the 
Inquirer  of  E.  C.  Delavan;  "  The  Cold  Water  Army,"  by 
Rev.  J.  C.  Warren;  "Address  to  the  Merchants'  Temper- 
ance Society  of  New  York,"  by  Hon.  Theodore  Freling- 
huysen ;  "  An  Historical,  Scientific,  and  Practical  Enquiry 
on  Milk,"  showing  its  destructive  nature,  when  derived 
from  feed  in  the  distilleries,  by  R.  M.  Hartley,  Secretary 
of  the  New  York  City  Temperance  Society  ;  "  Six  Nights 
with  the  Washingtonians,"  a  series  of  original  tales,  by 
T.  S.  Arthur ;  "  Connection  between  Intemperance  and 
Religion,"  an  address  before  the  Home  Temperance  Socie- 
ty, Philadelphia,  by  Rev.  Albert  Barnes ;  "  The  Temper- 
ance Lecturer,  or  Investigations  in  the  Poor  Houses  and 
Jails  of  the  State  of  New  York,"  by  Samuel  Chipman ; 
"  Importance  of  Female  Influence,"  by  S.  J.  Grosvenor ; 
and  several  Hymn  and  Song  Books ;  all  showing  that  the 
cause  of  temperance  had  a  strong  hold  of  the  public  mind. 


CHAPTER  YIII. 

Letters  to  Friends  Abroad — Pierpont's  Song  of  the  Reformed — Incidents 
in  the  Work — City  Traffic — Alexander  Welsh — Firemen — Merchants' 
Society — Mr.  Frelinghuysen's  address — Pennsylvania  State  Society — 
Toast  and  Water  Dinner — Barnes'  Sermon — Liberal  Donations — For- 
eign Con-espondence — Seventh  Anniversary,  A.  T.  U, — Change  of 
Presidency — Hon.  G.  CatUn's  Speech — Hutchinson  Family  Intro- 
duced to  New  York — Inquirer,  Sacramental  Controversy — Contro- 
versy with  Dr.  Hun  on  Stomach  Plates — High  Appreciation  of  Plates 
— ^Feeling  of  Drunkards — ^Missionary  Reports. 

So  impressed  were  they  with  the  magnitude  and  bless- 
edness of  this  work,  that  I  was  directed  by  our  Executive 
Committee,  to  draft  a  full  account  of  it  and  send  it,  as  from 
the  Committee  to  the  friends  of  temperance  in  England, 
Scotland  and  Ireland,  that  they  might  sympathize  with  us, 
and  have  no  misapprehensions.  The  statement  was  well 
received  and  widely  circulated. 

Ever  ready  with  his  pen  to  aid  the  good  work,  the 
Rev.  John  Pierpont,  of  Boston,  indited  a  spirited  song 
for  the  reformed : 

A  SONG. 

We  come,  we  come  !  that  have  been  held 

In  burning  chains  so  long ; 
We're  up !  and  on  we  come. 

Full  fifty  thousand  strong. 
The  chains  were  snapp'd,  that  held  us  round 

The  "wine  vat  and  the  still — 
Snapped  by  a  blow — nay,  by  a  word, 

That  mighty  word — I  will. 


SONG    OF   THE   KEFORMED.  103 

We  come  from  Belial's  palaces, 

The  tippling  shop  and  bar ; 
And  as  we  march,  those  gates  of  hell 

Feel  their  foundation  jar. 
The  very  ground  that  oft  has  held 

All  night  our  throbbing  head 
Knows  that  we're  up,  no  more  to  fall, 

And  trembles  at  our  tread. 

From  dirty  den,  from  gutter  foul, 

From  watch  house  and  from  prison. 
Where  they,  who  gave  a  poisonous  glass, 

Had  thrown  us,  have  we  risen  ; 
From  garret  high,  have  hurried  down, 

From  cellar  cold  and  damp, 
Come  up,  till  alley,  lane  and  street, 

Echo  our  earthquake  tramp. 

To  God  be  thanks,  who  pours  us  out 

Cold  water  from  the  hills, 
In  crystal  springs  and  bubbling  brooks, 

In  lakes  and  sparkling  rills ; 
From  there  to  quench  our  thirst  we  come, 

With  freemen's  shout  and  song, 
A  host,  already  numbering  more 

Than  fifty  thousand  strong. 

Many  incidents  in  that  great  Washingtonian  reform 
come  to  ray  recollection,  which  should  not  be  unknown  to 
those  who  come  after  us.  One  was  a  great  diminution  in 
hospitals  in  cases  of  insanity  from  intemperance.  Another 
was  a  great  diminution  of  the  common  accidents  of  life 
from  drinking.  Another  was  diminution  of  crime.  Judge 
Humphrey,  of  Ohio,  said  it  was  too  palpable  to  escape  ob- 
servation ;  and  it  was  publicly  spoken  of  by  the  Recorder 
of  the  city  of  New  York.  In  the  State  prison  at  Charles- 
town  there  was,  in  1842,  a  diminution  of  46  commitments. 
Of  192  discharged  convicts,  148  had  taken  the  pledge,  and 
of  these,  only  three  were  ever  recommitted.  .  Another  was, 


104  TEMPERANCE   RECOLLECTIONS. 

of  pauperism  and  family  destitution.  Many  children  of 
drunkards,  who  were  in  alms-houses,  were  taken  away  by 
their  reformed  parents,  a  thing  never  before  known.  An- 
other was,  that,  in  revivals  of  religion,  reformed  men  were 
apt  to  become  the  first  subjects  of  the  work.  In  a  letter 
to  me,  from  Lewiston,  Pa.*,  in  February,  1843,  the  Rev. 
Thomas  P.  Hunt  said  : 

I  have  been  from  home  since  the  6th  of  Xovember,  1842 ;  I  have  lec- 
tured and  preached  upwards  of  two  hundred  times.  The  blessing  of  God 
seemed  to  follow  my  temperance  lectures,  and  a  glorious  revival  of  religion 
now  exists  in  every  place  where  I  have  lectured  since  I  left  home.  Many, 
very  many  of  reformed  men,  are  now  converted.  In  one  place,  more 
than  one  hundred  and  fifty,  many  of  them  bard  cases,  now  belong  to  differ- 
ent churches.  I  do  not  know  the  number  that  profess  conversion  in  all  the 
places,  but  it  is  somewhere  in  the  neighborhood  of  a  thousand. 

In  Lockport,  N.  Y.,  where  seven  hundred  and  eighteen 
persons  united  with  the  church,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Wisner  said: 

As  an  event  which  prepared  the  way,  I  would  mention  the  wonderful 
temperance  reform  which  has  been  in  progress  for  some  time  past,  under 
the  direction  of  the  "Washingtonians,  as  they  are  called.  Many  of  this  class 
of  our  citizens,  having  bi'oken  off  from  a  life  of  profligacy,  are  peculiarly 
susceptible  to  the  influence  of  divine  truth ;  and  a  large  number  of  them 
have  opened  the  door  of  their  hearts  to  admit  the  Saviour  as  a  permanent 
guest.  • 

The  free  and  frank  confessions  of  these  men,  of  the 
connection  between  their  habits  of  drink  and  infidelity, 
were  often  very  impressive.     Said  one : 

There  are  infidels  plenty  made  in  public  houses,  and  it  must  be  so,  for 
they  are  driven  to  it  to  reconcile  themselves  to  their  wicked  practices.  Not 
nine  but  of  ten  can  meet  a  sick  bed  and  a  dying  hour  with  their  principles. 
I  know  more  of  infidelity  than  they  do,  and  have  been  more  determined 
than  they  all,  never  to  yield  to  the  truth  of  divine  revelation.  Ah !  many 
a  time  have  I  sat  up  an  hour  together,  three  parts  drunk,  to  defend  Infi- 
delity, and  a  poor  shattered  thing  I  made  of  it. 

Still  another  mark  was,  that  a  great  degree  of  worldly 


EUM-SELLING  AND  DEINKING  IN  NEW  YORK.  105 

comfort  accrued  to  their  families ;  and  this  was  of  no  short 
continuance.  Said  Gov.  Baldwin,  in  his  address  to  the 
Legislature  of  Connecticut,  in  1844: 

In  our  own  State  it  is  gratifying  to  know  that  this  glorious  reformation, 
though  retarded  perhaps  by  legislation,  still  maintains  its  onward  progress. 
Its  fruits  are  everywhere  apparent.  Within  the  past  year,  poverty  and 
crime  have  sensibly  diminished.  The  tears  of  the  broken-hearted  have 
been  dried  up  ;  and  joy  and  gladness  are  diffused  through  many  a  family 
circle  to  which  they  had  long  been  strangers. 

Few  knew  what  was  the  character  of  the  rum  traffic 
in  our  city  before  that  time,  nor  what  it  is  now.  Its 
internal  horrors,  and  the  part  our  leading  citizens  had  in 
it,  were  fully  revealed  in  the  conversion  of  Alexander 
Welsh,  who  had  been  considered  the  head  of  rumsellers, 
and  who,  when  converted,  became  one  of  the  most  sub- 
stantial of  the  reformed  men.  I  knew  him  well,  and  was 
on  terms  of  great  intimacy  with  him.  The  following  was 
the  account  he  gave  of  himself,  in  a  public  meeting,  March 
22,  1842: 

"  I  am  called  '  King  of  the  Rmnsellers '  (and  I  suppose  I  am),  in  the  way 
of  ridicule.  I  stand  before  you,  one  of  an  unfortunate,  or  fortunate,  class . 
of  reformed  drunkards.  I  have  been  nine  months  on  the  list,  and  I  have 
had  a  new  life  of  it.  I  never  attended  a  temperance  meeting  in  all  my 
life.  I  said  it  was  all  a  humbug.  I  was  converted  at  home,  in  a  rumshop 
where  more  rum  has  been  sold  than  in  any  place  in  New  York.  I  was 
sitting  there,  at  twelve  o'clock  at  night,  with  friends — I  called  them  friends 
— drinking  friends.  I  had  drank,  that  day,  twenty-five  glasses.  Few 
know  \that  is  going  on  in  New  York  after  twelve  o'clock  at  night ;  and  no 
man  could  tell  the  extent  of  his  drinking.  It  is  only  when  a  man  has 
drank  twelve  glasses,  that  he  begins  to  get  dry.  I  was  asked  to  drink, 
that  night ;  but  I  had  made  up  my  mind  to  drink  no  more.  But  I  would 
not  come  out  then ;  for  I  kept  a  rumshop,  and  had  to  ask  men  to  drink 
rum — but  that  fs  a  poor  business ;  it  will  always  end  in  making  the  rumsel- 
ler  himself  a  drimkard.  I  would  not  drink,  and  the  drinkers  began  to 
suspect  me,  that  I  had  been  among  the  teetotallers.  They  do  not  love  to 
have  a  teetotaller  among  them.  Some  have  advised  mc  not  to  go  into  the 
rumshops.     I  do  not  go  much,  only  when  I  see  a  poor  fellow  there,  I 


106  TEMPERANCE    RECOLLECTIONS. 

go  in  and  say,  '  Come,  now,  this  won't  do  ;  come  and  sign  the  pledge'  I 
don't  want  to  hurt  the  rumsellers ;  but  they  had  better  quit,  now  the  cause 
is  going  on.  I  met  one  to-day,  and  he  said,  last  night  he  had  a  ball  at  his 
house,  and  he  took  oiily  twenty-seven  dollars  for  liquor,  whereas,  last  year, 
he  took  ninety.  And,  said  he,  if  you  want  my  room  for  a  temijerance  meet- 
ing, you  may  have  it  for  nothing,  and  I  will  light  it  up.  I  stuck  to  my 
plan.  Two  months  before,  I  made  up  my  mind  to  sign  the  pledge;  and 
I'll  tell  you  how  I  came  to :  I  was  invited  among  gentlemen  of  distinction, 
the  Governor,  Corporation,  Mayor,  and  four  hundred  others,  to  the  opening 
of  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad.  There  is  drinking  in  high  places  as 
well  as  in  low.  SOme  are  here  to-night  who  were  along  with  us — I  see 
you,  gentlemen !  Soon  after  we  left  the  dock,  I  went  to  the  bar  to  get 
some  lemonade,  but  it  was  all  crowded  full.  "When  we  arrived  at  Goshen, 
I  went  out  and  got  my  dinner,  and  two  glasses  of  water.  When  I  came 
back  to  the  cars,  I  saw  a  dozen  of  Champagne  brought  in.  I  was  asked  to 
partake.  I  said.  No.  I  had  not  signed  the  pledge,  but  I  had  made  up  my 
mind  not  to  drink.  Soon  a  second  dozen  came,  and  was  drank  up ;  and 
then  a  third,  and  a  fourth,  and  a  fifth,  all  drank  by  men  in  high  stations 
and  some  of  your  old  pledged  men,  too.  Then  came  the  result :  one  hang- 
ing his  head  out  of  the  car,  like  a  dead  calf;  another  tumbled  over  on  to 
his  neighbor ;  then  settling  all  manner  of  subjects,  pohtics,  religion,  rail- 
roads, all  mixed  up,  hurrahs  and  shouting.  I  then  saw  what  liquor  would 
do  with  gentlemen.     I  made  up  my  mind  to  sign  the  pledge." 

At  the  commencement  of  1842  there  was  great  excite- 
ment among  the  fire  companies  of  the  city.  On  the  5th 
of  January  there  was  an  immense  meeting  at  the  church  in 
Chrystie  street.  I  was  called  to  open  it  with  prayer ;  after 
which,  several  spirited  speeches  were  made,  when  Engine 
Company  No.  2  and  Hose  Company  No.  13  came  in  under 
escort  of  No.  18,  and  over  fifty  fine-looking  men  went  up 
to  the  table  and  signed  the  pledge.  They  then  sang  with 
great  spirit  the  Temperance  Firemen's  Song : 

When,  in  the  night, 

The  skies  grow  bright 
With  the  flames  of  the  poor  man's  dwelling, 

The  fireman  springs 

As  the  Hall  bell  rings, 
The  burning  district  telling. 


fieemen's  song.  107 

Hark  !  the  cry,  Fire  !  Fire ! 
As  the  flames  rise  higher, 
The  gallant  firemen  fly 
At  the  sleep-dispelling  cry, 
Fire !  Fire  !  Fire  !  Fire  ! 
And  we'll  dash  on  the  water  till  the  flames  expire. 

Thus,  in  the  height 
Of  his  drunken  phght. 
If  the  tippler  falls  in  the  gutter, 
The  fireman  kind, 
Who  the  pledge  has  signed. 
Plies  him  with  good  Cold  Water. 
He  puts  out  rum's  fire, 
Drags  hun  out  of  the  mire, 
Nor  leaves  him  there  to  die, 
'ISTeath  the  cold  and  stormy  sky  ; 
On  rum's  curst  fire 
He  pours  cold  water  till  the  flames  expire. 
&c.,  &c.,  &c. 

Five  companies  had  joined  in  N'ew  York  and  two  in 
Brooklyn. 

On  the  27th  of  January,  1842,  our  chairman,  the  Hon. 
Theodore  Frelinghuysen  delivered  an  address  in  the  Tab- 
ernacle, before  the  Merchants'  Temperance  Society.  This 
had  been  an  important  institution,  and  Mr.  Frelinghuysen 
was  the  man  from  whom,  of  all  others,  they  would  best 
take  counsel ;  a  man  of  distinguished  talent,  of  the  purest 
character  and  warmest  benevolence.  His  address  was 
worthy  the  occasion.  At  the  close,  he  said  for  their  en- 
coui-agcment,  and  the  record  should  not  be  lost : 

The  Mayor  of  our  city — it  is  grateful  to  honor  his  name  for  it — in  the 
late  New  Year  salutation  of  his  fellow  citizens,  received  and  entertained 
them  without  any  intoxicating  drmks.  The  Chief  Magistrate  of  our  State, 
with  like  examplary  regard,  also  excluded  them  from  his  mansion  on  the 
last  New  Year's  day  ;  and  has  since  given  still  more  decided  proof  of  his 
personal  approval,  by  enrolling  hmiself  as  a  member  of  the  total  abstinence 
society.     The  American  Institute,  an  association  of  gentlemen  of  first  re- 


108  TEMPERANCE    KECOLLECTIONS. 

spcctability  and  usefulness,  in  their  late  anniversary  supper,  with  no  loss 
of  wit  or  enjoj'meut,  abstained  from  all  exciting  liquors.  And  very  recent- 
ly, the  Xew  England  Society  of  this  city  celebrated  their  anniversary  in 
like  manner  ;  they  banished  wine,  and  introduced  the  ladies  to  their  dinner 
party,  and  who  could  quarrel  at  the  substitution  ?  It  was  worthy  of  their 
name.  It  well  became  the  sons  of  New  England,  that  home  of  their  prin- 
ciples— that  cradle  of  liberty,  and  spring  of  an  enterprise  that  never  tires — 
that  is  now  pushing  its  settlements  into  the  untrodden  forests  of  the  West, 
and  will  soon  plant  its  institutions,  and  open  the  spelling-book  and  the 
Bible,  beyond  the  Rocky  Mountains.  To  conclude  with  another  affecting 
incident :  Within  the  past  week  two  hundred  seamen  of  one  national  ves- 
sel, and  three  hundred  of  another — the  ship  Columbia — with  her  captam 
and  purser,  have  associated  as  members  of  a  total  abstinence  society.  To 
the  merchants  this  voice  from  the  sea  is  full  of  meaning,  and,  I  think,  will 
be  heeded  and  responded  to  by  them.  The  merchants  of  this  city  hold  a 
position  of  most  commanding  and  extensive  mfluence.  New  York  is  the 
heart  of  this  great  community  ;  a  throb  felt  here,  creates  a  pulsation  at  the 
remotest  extreme  of  the  country.  Think,  gentlemen,  of  the  precious 
interests  you  may  preserve  and  promote.  Your  example  will  reach  your 
country  merchants — the  sailor — every  harbor  where  your  commerce  floats, 
and  every  sea  where  the  flag  of  your  country  waves.  Let  your  example 
be  lofty  as  your  position.  Let  it  go  forth  in  its  power  to  reform  the 
tastes  and  purify  the  sentiments  of  the  whole  earth. 


At  a  New  England  Cold  Water  Festival  a  leading 
member  of  the  largest  Insurance  Company  in  Wall  Street, 
proposed  that  all  intoxicating  liquors  be  removed  from 
the  office.  The  President  seconded  it,  since  intoxicating 
liquors  were  the  cause  of  more  shipwrecks  than  anything 
else.     And  it  was  accordingly  done  from  that  time. 

On  the  14th  of  January,  1842,  the  Pennsylvania  State 
Convention  met  at  Harrisburg  ;  250  members.  On  invita- 
tion both  houses  of  the  Legislature  adjourned  to  take  their 
seats  in  the  Convention  as  honorary  members.  They  came 
in  a  body,  headed  by  the  Governor  and  Heads  of  Depart- 
ment. The  speaking  was  deeply  interesting  and  im- 
portant. 

On  the  4th  of  March,  1842,  a  committee  of  the  two 


GENEROUS    DOXATIOXS.  109 

Legislatures  of  'New  York  and  Massachusetts  met,  and 
dined  together  at  Springfield.  The  Hon.  Mr.  Quincy, 
President  of  the  day,  congratulated  them,  that  as  they 
were  drinking  their  toasts  without  any  wine,  they  were 
dining  on  toast  and  water. 

In  July,  1842,  Rev.  Albert  Barnes  of  Philadelphia,  de- 
livered an  admirable  sermon  before  the  Howard  Benevo- 
lent Society,  on  the  connection  between  Temperance  and 
Religion,  which  I  gladly  inserted  in  my  August  Journal, 
and  which  should  be  a  permanent  tract  of  the  Tract  Socie- 
ties. 

Long  was  it  my  heart's  desire  to  reach  many  minds 
with  our  publications,  besides  regular  subscnbers  and  pur- 
chasers ;  and  in  1842, 1  was  gratified  with  a  donation  from 
Chester  Bulkley,  Esq.,  of  Wethersfield,  Conn.,  of  one  hun- 
dred dollars  to  send  two  hundred  Journals  for  a  year  to  as 
many  home  missionaries ;  and  of  the  same  sum  from  Orin 
Day,  Esq.,  of  Catskill,  to  send  two  hundred  to  the  for- 
eign missionaries  of  the  American  Board.  The  first  named 
gentleman  afterward  gave  one  thousand  dollars  for  gen- 
eral purposes,  and  the  latter  and  his  family  have  continued 
their  donation  to  1865.  And  it  has  ever  since  been  a 
great  source  of  happiness  to  me,  when  I  have  met  returned 
missionaries,  to  have  them  take  me  by  the  hand,  and  say, 
"Sir,  we  know  you  well.  Your  monthly  Journal  has 
been  a  source  of  great  pleasure  and  profit  to  us."  Oh,  how 
little  do  men  of  wealth  know  of  their  ability,  by  a  small 
contribution,  to  dry  up  the  fountains  of  wickedness,  and 
bless  the  world. 

I  was  brought  by  my  position  much  in  contact  with 
distant  parts  of  our  globe,  to  see  and  know  what  were 
the  ravages  of  the  alcoholic  fiend,  and  what  were  the  com- 
mencement of  counteracting  influences.  The  following 
letter  reached  me  from  Lodiana,  Lidia,  dated  May  21, 
1841: 


110  TEMPERANCE   RECOLLECTIONS. 

Ret.  J.  Marsh  : 

Dear  Sir  : — The  temperance  publications  despatched  on  June  20, 
1840,  together  with  your  note,  arrived  here  two  days  ago.  The  soldiers 
are  greatly  delighted  with  them.  The  whole  troop  is  now  engaged  in  read- 
ing them.  Societies  are  formed  in  nearly  all  the  large  stations.  Some 
number  hundreds,  and  others  fifty,  twenty,  and  so  on.  The  soldiers  are 
in  advance  of  the  officers.  Abstinence  from  ardent  spirits  would  generally 
be  approved  of,  but  the  wine  and  the  beer,  that  is  the  stumbling-block. 
Our  prayers  are  with  you ;  your  success  is  indispensable  to  our  own. 
You  fight  on  the  side  of  Omnipotence  and  must  prevail. 

W.  S.  Rogers. 

From  Pontlanck,  Borneo,  Dr.  Pohlman,  American  Mis- 
sionary to  China,  wrote  me,  November  12,  1841 : 

As  the  American  Temperance  Union  is  laboring  for  the  whole  world, 
it  cannot  be  unmindful  of  the  vast  family  of  the  Chmese.  Myriads  of  eyea 
are  now  turned  toward  China.  The  Christian  sees  a  train  of  events 
which  is  to  eventuate  in  pouring  the  light  of  the  Gospel  day  upon  that 
great  portion  of  the  human  race.  But  before  that  happy  period  arrives 
all  obstructions  must  be  removed.  The  greatest  of  these  obstacles  will 
no  doubt  be  found  to  arise  from  the  use  of  opium,  arrack,  wine,  &c. 
Whether  there  is  more  intemperance  from  opium  or  from  liquors  of  various 
kinds,  it  is  difficult  to  ascertain.  The  disastrous  effects  of  intemperance 
in  a  country  so  thickly  peopled  as  China,  must  be  great  beyond  all  concep- 
tion. "Will  you  not  try,  my  dear  Sir,  to  enlist  the  sympathies  and  prayers 
of  the  friends  of  the  cause  in  America,  in  behalf  of  their  antipodal  brethren. 
Yours  truly, 

Ret.  J.  Marsh.  W.  J.  Pohlmajj. 

A  letter  in  1842  from  the  Secretary  of  the  Temperance 
Society  for  foreign  residents  and  visitors  at  Lahaina,  in 
the  Sandwich  Islands,  said  : 

The  visit  of  the  French  frigate  in  1839,  demanding  and  enforcing  the 
introduction  of  French  brandy  into  the  Islands,  broke  the  salutary  laws  of 
that  feeble  nation,  and  let  in  a  fiery  flood.  On  the  foreign  residents  and 
seamen  its  burning  pbwer  has  been  dreadful.  But  through  counteracting 
influence  the  native  population,  have  been  saTcd.  At  Lahaine  the  king, 
and  all  the  high  chiefs  of  the  nation,  with  1,500  people,  have  united  in  a 
total  abstinence  society,  and  the  king  takes  pleasure  in  addressing  tem- 
perance meetings,  which  he  does  with  great  success. 


NEW   YOEK   MEDICAL   SOCIETY.  Ill 

Frequent  letters  from  Germany  assured  me  that,  while 
the  temj^erance  societies  at  Berlin  and  other  places  were 
strong  against  all  distilled  liquors  as  a  poison,  wine  and 
all  fermented  drinks  were  viewed  as  nutritious  and  pro- 
motive of  health.  Bat  tliese  were  opposed  by  Berzelius, 
the  distinguished  chemist  of  Sweden,  who  vindicated  the 
existence  of  the  intoxicating  principle  in  all  vinous  and 
fermented  drinks.  With  him  German  Professors  were  in 
a  si^irited  controversy. 

The  Temperance  Society  of  the  New  York  College  of 
Surgeons  and  Physicians  held  its  tenth  Anniversary,  at 
the  Medical  Hall  in  Crosby  Street,  February  15,  1843. 
Two  hundred  students  had  attached  themselves  to  it  in 
all.  Letters  were  read  from  Professor  Krauschfield  of 
Berlin,  giving  an  account  of  the  progress  of  temperance 
in  GeiTQany,  and  from  Baron  Berzelius,  Professor  at  Stock- 
holm, containing  cheering  news  from  Sweden.  Rev. 
Robert  Baird,  JX  D.,  gave  an  interesting  account  of  the 
progress  in  the  iN'orth  of  Europe.  This  Society  was  con- 
sidered one  of  the  most  important  of  any  in  the  city. 

At  the  seventh  anniversary  of  the  American  Temper- 
ance Union,  General  Cocke,  of  Virginia,  resigned  the  pres- 
idency, much  to  our  regret.  He  was  a  very  gentlemanly 
man  of  the  old  school,  of  great  liberality,  and  much  de- 
voted to  the  cause ;  but  so  exceedingly  diffident,  that  he 
could  never  be  induced  to  attend  an  Anniversary  meeting, 
where  he  should  be  expected  to  preside  and  make  a 
speech.     In  his  resignation  he  said : 

"  While  life  lasts,  I  shall  never  cease  to  work  and  pray  for  our  common 
cause ;  and,  I  trust,  more  efifectually  in  a  private  station  than  in  the  high 
»nd  conspicuous  one  which  all  the  partiality  of  friends,  and  the  kindness 
of  coadjutors,  never  released  me  from  the  consciousness  of  my  unfitness 
for,  and  which,  the  progress  of  our  blessed  enterprise,  under  God,  has 
now  rendered  more  disproportionate  to  my  qualifications  than  ever." 


112  TEMPERANCE   EECOLLECTIONS. 

The  Hon.  Reuben  H.  Walworth,  Chancellor  of  the 
State  of  New  York,  was  elected  in  his  place;  and  at 
once  consented  to  fill  it,  bringing  me  into  frequent  con- 
ference with  him,  in  which  I  have  long  had  the  greatest 
satisfaction.     Said  he,  in  his  letter  of  acceptance : 

*'  Although  my  heart  has  long  been  engaged  in  the  cause,  my  official 
duties,  for  the  last  fourteen  years,  have  deprived  me  of  the  power  to  lend 
much  aid  to  the  many  eflQcient  men  who  "were  devoting  their  time  and 
their  talents,  and  contributuag  of  tlieir  substance,  to  carry  the  blessings  of 
temperance  to  the  palaces  of  princes,  and  the  splendid  dwellings  of  the 
wealthy  of  the  world,  as  well  as  to  the  more  humble  habitations  of  the 
poor.  After  duly  considering  the  subject,  however,  I  have  concluded  to 
accept  the  office,  and  to  hold  it,  at  your  disposal,  until  some  one  shall  be 
elected  who  is  entitled,  by  his  standing  in  the  Union,  and  his  devotion  to 
the  cause  of  temperance,  to  the  honor  of  being  at  the  head  of  the  Tem- 
perance Associations  of  the  United  States." 

The  state  of  public  feeling  required  that  our  meeting 
should  be  principally  addressed  by  some  reformed  man ; 
and  I  was  fortunate  in  procuring  one  who,  from  the  very 
lowest  debasement,  through  intemperance,  had  attained 
to  the  elevation  of  a  Member  of  Congress  for  Connecticut, 
the  Hon.  George  S.  Catlin.  For  more  than  an  hour,  he 
spoke  with  great  appropriateness  and  effect.  He  was  not 
unwilling  to  look  back  to  the  rock  from  whence  he  was 
hewn,  and  to  the  hole  of  the  pit  from  whence  he  was  dig- 
ged.    In  his  speech  he  said  : 

"  To  the  temperance  principle  I  am  indebted  for  the  physical  power 
which  has  brought  me  here ;  to  it  I  owe  my  life.  Had  it  not  been  for  this, 
my  voice  would  long  since  have  ceased  to  be  heard  among  men.  I  have 
known  long  years  of  cruel  bondage  to  a  fearful  folly.  I  have  known  long 
years  of  poverty  and  of  deep  suffering.  My  spirit  struggled  to  throw  off"  its 
chains,  but  I  saw  open  no  way  of  escape.  The  dangers  thickened  around 
me,  I  was  ready  to  fall  crushed  into  the  grave.  But  the  world  was  told 
there  was  hope.  I  heard  of  the  triumphs  of  temperance  in  the  Monu- 
mental City.  I  signed  the  pledge,  and  the  struggle  for  release  from  the 
wretched  thraldom  was  at  an  end:  I  was  myself  again." 


HUTCHINSON   FAMILY.  113 

He  WHS  followed  by  Rev.  Dr.  Patten,  of  New  York ; 
Rev.  John  Chambers,  of  Philadelphia;  John  H.  W.  Haw- 
kins, and  the  venerable  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher,  of  Cincinnati, 
who,  when  at  Litchfield,  Connecticut,  had  so  caused  his 
battle-axe  to  ring  on  the  walls  of  King  Alcohol.  The 
Doctor  was  introduced,  amid  much  applause,  as  Father 
Beecher.  He  looked  around  upon  the  immense  assembly, 
and  exclaimed,  "  I  am  alarmed  ;  for  I  never  expected  to 
have  so  many  children."  B.ut  he  made  one  of  his  pithy, 
characteristic  speeches. 

Having  heard  of  a  family  of  rare  vocalists,  who  were 
singing  temperance  songs,  and  doing  good  service  to  the 
cause  in  'New  Hampshire,  I  wrote  to  them,  and  invited 
them  to  come  to  our  Anniversary.  They  replied,  in  an  un- 
willingness to  appear  before  a  Xew  York  audience,  being 
fitted  only  for  the  country  village.  Again  pressed,  they 
consented  to  come,  and  they  gave  us  such  a  musical  enter- 
tainment as  had  not  been  heard  on  any  former  occasion. 
Such  was  the  introduction  of  the  Hutciiixson  family  to 
Xew  York.     It  was  never  forgotten. by  them. 

Two  great  events  occurred  in  June,  1843.  The  Corpor- 
ation of  the  City  of  Xew  York  resolved  they  would  pro- 
vide no  intoxicating  liquors,  at  the  reception  of  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States ;  and  none  were  provided  in  Bos- 
ton, at  the  magnificent  Bunker  Hill  Celebration.  With 
300,000  peoj^le  abroad,  no  booths  or  stalls  were  provided 
for  liquor,  and  at  a  dinner  for  the  chief  men  of  the  State, 
not  a  drop  of  the  bewitching,  fascinating  poison  was 
visible. 

A  singular  event,  attracting  the  attention  of  all  con- 
cerned, was,  that  the  ship  John  G.  Carter,  Capt.  Barlow, 
went  to  sea,  for  India,  with  a  crew  of  twenty-eight  men, 
direct,  without  hauling  ofi*  and  waiting  for  the  men  to  be- 
come sober,  as  all  went  on  board  sober  and  orderly.  Tlie 
Journal  of  Commerce  remarked  upon  it,  as  a  rare  occur- 


114  TEMPERANCE   EECOLLECTIONS.  . 

rence.  Once,  it  was  necessary  to  haul  off  the  vessel,  so 
that  the  men  would  not  get  back  on  shore.  "  Now,"  ex- 
claimed Capt.  Hart,  "  we  can  go  on  board  all  sober,  ready- 
to  meet  the  storms  of  the  ocean." 

"While  I  was  devoted  to  the  Journal,  Advocate,  and 
tracts,  as  the  great  instruments  of  advancing  the  cause, 
Mr.  Delavan,  unwilling  to  have  its  progress  obstructed  by 
the  Sacramental  controversy,  commenced,  in  1841,  a  publi- 
cation called  The  Inquieee,  which  should  be  devoted  to 
free  discussion  as  to  the  kind  of  wine  to  be  used  at  the 
Lord's  Supper.  A  reform  in  the  Communion  cup,  from  the 
highly  brandied,  drugged,  and  factitious  wines  of  com- 
merce, containing  from  forty  to  fifty  per  cent,  of  proof 
spirit,  to  the  new  wine  of  the  Bible,  he  thought  the  duty 
of  all  Christian  Churches,  and  very  important  to  the  tem- 
perance cause.  He  was  met  in  a  publication  called  the 
Respondeat,  in  which  he  was  charged  with  a  desire 
to  substitute  water  for  wine  at  the  communion,  or  at  least 
unfermented  juice-grape,  which  could  not  be  obtained, 
and,  if  it  could  be,  would  not  be  acknowledged  as  wine. 
The  controversy,  for  a  long  time,  caused  much  warmth  of 
feeling  throughout  the  community.  But  he  was  attacked, 
not  only  on  this  subject,  but  on  the  truthfulness  of  the 
plate  No.  H.  of  the  drunkard's  stomach,  by  Dr.  Hun, 
Registrar  of  the  Albany  Medical  College.  Dr.  Hun  denied 
that  there  was  any  effect  visible  from  the  use  of  alcoholic 
liquors  in  the  stomach  of  the  moderate  drinker,  and  aflSrm- 
ed  that  there  was  nothing,  therefore,  in  the  moderate  use  of 
such  liquors  which  called  for  condemnation.  Mr.  Delavan 
promptly  replied,  and  the  controversy  was  warmly  main- 
tained in  the  Albany  papers.  But  not  only  the  testi- 
monials to  the  correctness  of  the  plates  of  scientific  men, 
such  as  Drs.  Mott,  "Warren,  Horner,  Green,  and  others, 
but  the  common  sense  of  the  community,  put  down  Dr. 
Hun ;    for,  if  the   stomach   of  the    drunkard   is  a  ruin, 


THE   STOMACH   PLATES — THEIR   VALUE.  115 

when  did  that  ruin  commence — with  ten  glasses,  or  with 
five,  or  one  ?  With  immoderate,  or  with  moderate  use  ? 
The  appreciation  of  the  drawings  continued  greatly  to  in- 
crease. General  Scott  desired  that  they  might  be  furnish- 
ed to  every  military  post.  The  Hon.  Samuel  Young  de- 
sired they  might  be  hung  in  every  common  school  in  the 
State.  The  presidents  of  the  Marine  Insurance  Companies 
expressed  a  wish  that  they  might  be  put  on  board  of 
every  vessel  on  the  ocean,  on  our  rivers,  and  on  our  lakes, 
counteracting  the  peculiar  temptations  to  which  mariners 
and  emigrants  were  exposed.  Testimonials  from  lecturers 
were  often  of  a  most  affecting  character.  "  It  is  very  fre- 
quently the  case,"  said  one,  "that,  after  all  the  facts  I 
could  present,  or  the  appeals  I  could  make,  seem  to  fall 
powerless  on  the  ear  of  the  drunkard,  his  head  up  and  ap- 
parently entirely  unmoved,  when  these  pictures  are  shown, 
his  cheeks  turn  pale,  and  his  head  droops."  "I  have 
heard,"  says  another,  "  the  unfortunate  drunkard  exclaim, 
when  looking  at  them — and  particularly  at  the  one  repre- 
senting the  stomach  after  a  debauch — the^/  loolc  as  I  have 
often  felt !  "  Missionaries  in  foreign  lands,  at  Constanti- 
nople and  other  places,  were  found  to  be  exhibiting  the 
plates  with  .  great  effect.  "  I  will  drink  no  more,"  said  a 
gentleman  in  that  city,  after  gazing  at  the  pictures,  "  how 
can  I,  when  I  see  the  effects  of  this  habit  on  the  constitu- 
tion, and  when  I  remember  I  must  give  account  to  God 
for  the  manner  in  which  I  deal  with  my  body,  as  well  as 
my  soul  ?  " 


CHAPTER   IX. 

Fiftccnlli  Anniversary  New  York  State  Society — New  Jersey — Visit 
Wasliington — Reorganization  Congressional  Society — Gov.  Briggs  in 
Massachusetts — Eighth  Anniversary  A.  T.  U. — Progress  among  Sea- 
men, and  in  Navy — Great  indignation  against  the  Traffic — Usclessnea^ 
of  Moral  Suasion — Opinion  of  L,  M.  Sargent — Dr.  Bacon — John  B. 
Gough  introduced  to  New  York — Great  Popularity — Travel  with  him 
through  the  State — Great  Washingtonian  Meeting  at  Boston — Ex- 
cursion with  Mr.  Gough,  south — Letter  of  Dr.  Beecher. 

The  Fifteenth  Anniversary  of  the  New  York  State 
Society  was  held  at  Albany,  on  the  14th  February,  1844. 
One  hundred  and  seventy-nine  delegates  were  present. 
The  indefatigable  chairman  of  its  executive  committee, 
Elisha  Taylor,  had  retired ;  and  Philij)  Phelps  was  now 
occu])ying  his  place.  The  Report  related  chiefly  to  the 
effort  for  the  circulation  of  Dr.  Sewall's  plates  of  the 
stomach.  The  public  meeting  was  addressed  by  Rev.  S. 
Pritchett,  of  Washington  county,  L.  S.  Parsons,  Esq.,  of 
Albany,  and  myself.  I  felt  peculiarly  happy  in  addressing 
this  venerable  society,  which  had  performed  an  immense 
amount  of  labor  in  sustaining  numerous  agents,  and  send- 
ing more  than  fifteen  millions  of  publications  abroad ;  and, 
now  that  it  was  drooping  under  a  debt  of  83,000,  and  feeling 
unable  to  sustain  longer  its  State  organ,  I  could  not  but 
call  loudly  on  the  people,  to  whom  it  had  saved  millions, 
to  come  to  its  support.  I  said,  One  thing  was  certain,  the 
rich  cannot  keep  their  money.  If  they  do  not  give  it  to 
lis  to  reform  and  save  the  drunkard  and  suppress  intem- 
perance, they  must  soon  give  it  to  support  the  paupers  and 


NEW  YORK  AND  NEW  JERSEY  STATE  SOCIETIES.        117 

criminals  which  the  bloody  traffic  will  make.  Like  the 
powerftil  locomotive,  this  society  once  moved  forward 
with  mighty  energy,  and  I  desired  to  see  it  thus  moving 
again.  In  the  language  of  General  Cass,  oui*  late  minister 
to  France :  "  If  the  temperance  enterprise  could  be  carried 
forward  to  its  completion,  it  would  be  a  monument  far 
prouder  than  the  genius  of  antiquity  had  bequeathed  to 
us,  and  more  useful  than  any  which  modern  wealth  or 
power  had  erected,  for  the  generations  that  are  to  follow 
us  upon  the  theatre  of  life." 

The  society,  at  this  meeting,  resolved  to  discontinue 
their  paper,  the  "  Recorder,"  and  to  adoj)t  the  "  Journal  of 
the  A.  T.  U."  as  their  organ,  thus  bringing  me  into  closer 
connection  with  them,  and  increasing  my  res23onsibilities. 

On  the  1 8th  of  February,  I  was  invited,  with  Lewis  C. 
Levin,  to  address,  at  Trenton,  the  "New  Jersey  State 
Temperance  Society.  The  Governor  and  Legislature,  with 
a  large  number  of  citizens,  were  present.  In  one  hundred 
and  eighty  towns,  30,892  -had,  during  the  year,  signed  the 
pledge;  of  these,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  were  re- 
formed drunkards.  Yet  two  hundred  and  seventy-nine 
taverns  and  fifteen  stores  were  still  engaged  in  the  ruin 
of  the  people. 

In  the  month  of  January,  I  went  to  Washington,  by  re- 
quest, to  aid  once  more  in  reorganizing  the  Congressional 
Temperance  Society.  The  change  of  members  rendered 
it  very  difficult  to  sustain  an  organization.  Mr.  Briggs, 
the  strong  tower,  had  left,  and  become  Governor  of  Massa- 
chusetts. But  a  meeting  of  temperance  members  was  col- 
lected, and  the  Hon.  Charles  Hudson,  of  Massachusetts, 
was  chosen  president.  A  public  meeting  was  held  in  the 
Capitol,  February  15,  and,  as  a  result,  a  resolution  was 
adopted  in  the  House,  by  a  large  majority,  excluding  from 
it  all  intoxicating  liquors. 

In  Massachusetts,  Mr.  Briggs  at  once  brought  all  his 


118  TEMPERANCE    KECOLLECTIONS. 

intlucnce  to  bear  upon  the  cause.  The  Legislative  Tem- 
perance Society  made  him  their  president.  On  taking  the 
chair,  He  hoped,  .before  the  session  closed,  every  name 
would  be  enrolled  under  their  constitution.  For,  he 
said ; 

"  Such  a  course  would  be  a  benefit  to  the  Commonwealth.  We  shall 
not  do  as  much  for  the  public  good  by  legislating,  as  we  should  by  con- 
tributing to  the  temperance  reform.  If  we  should  lend  all  our  exertions, 
we  might  soon  say,  there  is  no  drunkard  in  Massachusetts,  and  there  is  no 
wretched  family  in  our  State.  We  could  Uve  then  with  but  little  legisla- 
tion. And  the  citizens  of  Boston  have  the  power  to  produce  such  a  state 
of  things.  The  plan  is  simple ;  the  easiest  on  earth.  Let  no  one  drink 
himself,  nor  offer  it  to  others,  and  the  triumph  is  complete." 

Governor  Briggs  had  power  with  the  people.  *  Simple 
in  his  habits,  honest  and  determined  in  his  purpose,  and 
full  of  pity  and  compassion  for  the  lost,  few  could  stand 
before  him  in  their  vindication  of  the  wine-cup.  Early  in 
life,  returning  from  Court,  he  found  a  demand  of  the 
stomach  for  an  ordinary  drink  before  dinner.  "  What  is 
that  ?  "  said  he.  "  A  demand  ?  It  shall  not  be  granted ; 
no,  not  while  I  live  ! "  And  it  never  was.  In  the  Sara- 
toga Convention  of  1836,  as  has  been  related,  he  took 
strong  ground,  though  a  young  man,  for  the  true  prin- 
ciple. Wherever  he  spoke,  he  made  a  deep  impression. 
At  a  meeting  in  Albany,  he  related  the  story  of  the  mys- 
terious woman  who  appeared  before  the  licensing  com- 
missioners, in  Pennsylvania,  and  defied  them  to  give  license, 
if  they  dared,  in  view  of  her  husband  and  sons,  who  had, 
all  four,  filled  drunkards'  graves ;  and  there  was  given  a 
unanimous  No  ! — a  story  which  has  probably  been  read  by 
more  people,  and  made  more  impression  than  any  other. 
At  a  Presidential  dinner,  where  many  drank,  and  a  gentle- 
man next  him  said,  "  I  do  not  drink,  I  only  make  believe," 
Mr.  Briggs  said,  "  I  do  not  make  believe,  sir."  And  he 
told  me  himself,  that,  in  all  circles,  and  all  companies,  he 


GOOD   NEWS    FROM   SEA:\IEX.  119 

never  had  the  least  difficulty  m  maintaining,  openly,  the 
total  abstinence  principle. 

On  our  eighth  Anniversary,  in  1844,  I  was  enabled  to 
report  much  cheering  information  from  seamen  in  harbor 
and  on  the  ocean,  from  sailors  on  boats  and  canals,  and, 
more  especially,  from  our  gallant  navy.  At  Charleston, 
South  Carolina,  over  twelve  hundred  seamen  had,  during 
the  year,  signed  the  pledge.  The  captains  of  British  ves- 
sels in  that  port  acknowledged,  with  gratitude,  the  extra- 
ordinary change  there  was  both  in  officers  and  crews.  On 
board  the  revenue-cutter  stationed  in  that  harbor,  the 
captain,  officers,  and  entire  crew  signed  the  pledge,  which 
only  two  of  the  ninety  were  known  to  violate.  On  board 
of  the  U.  S.  frigate  Cumberland,  under  Commander  Foote, 
between  two  and  three  hundred  had  refused  their  grog. 
All  intoxicating  drinks  were  excluded  from  the  Avard- 
room  and  steerage.  In  Boston,  not  less  than  one  thou- 
sand persons  connected  with  the  navy  signed  the  pledge. 
The  Brandywine,  on  a  cruise  to  Bombay  and  the  Indian 
seas,  signalized  herself  by  her  temperance  spirit.  The 
English  residents  declared  she  should  change  her  name, 
as  her  officers  neither  drank  brandy  nor  wine.  And  in 
the  Pacific,  a  commodore  (Jones)  issued  an  address  to  all 
the  officers  and  seamen  of  the  U.  S.  naval  forces  in  that 
section,  inviting  them  to  abandon  entirely  the  use  of  all 
intoxicating  drinks,  and  to  unite  with  him  in  memorializing 
Congress  to  withhold  at  once  the  spirit  ration  from  the 
navy. 

It  was  the  constant,  terrible  exposure  of  our  pledged 
seamen,  as  well  as  reformed  men,  to  destruction,  from  the 
licensed  and  unlicensed  dram  shops,  that  was  rapidly 
changing  the  public  sentiment  from  a  reliance  on  moral 
suasion,  for  the  removal  of  temptation,  to  a  demand  for 
law.      On  this   subject  no  individual  expressed  himself 


120  TEMPERANCE   RECOLLECTIONS. 

more  truthfully  and  powerfully  than  did  Lucius  M.  Sar- 
gent, Esq.,  author  of  the  "Temperance  Tales."     Said  he: 

"  I  believe  moral  suasion  alone,  as  a  means  of  ridding  the  world  of 
drunkenness,  would  prove  about  as  effectual  as  a  bulrush  for  the  stoppage 
of  the  Bosphorus.  In  spite  of  the  expectations  of  the  most  sanguine 
Buasionists,  unless  opposed  by  some  more  powerful  barriers,  this  river  of 
rum  and  ruin  will  flow  on  to  eternity. 

'  Eusticus  expectat  dum  transeat  amhis,  at  illo 
Labitur  et  labetur  in  omne  volubilis  sevuin.' 

The  Gospel  openly  recognizes  the  civil  rule.  The  moral  suasionist 
of  modern  times,  though  not  always  inspired,  presumes  to  accomplish, 
without  the  aid  of  law,  more  than  was  achieved  in  the  days  of  the  Apostles, 
by  the  power  of  the  law  and  Gospel  combined.  The  rumseller  steals  the 
widow's  son,  the  stay  and  staff  of  her  old  age.  The  rumseller  knows  all 
this ;  he  listens  heartlessly  to  her  importunities  for  mercy ;  he  will  not 
pity ;  he  will  not  spare,  until  he  has  stretched  his  miserable  victim  in  the 
grave,  and  left  that  lone  woman  the  heart-broken  mother  of  nothing  better 
than  a  drunkard's  corpse." 

But  the  community  needed  something  more  than  the 
reasoning  and  declarations  of  powerful  intellect  to  array 
them  against  the  deadly  traffic ;  even  the  full  sufferings, 
from  their  own  lips,  of  the  deluded  victims.  They  had  al- 
ready heard  it  from  the  lips  of  the  reformed  men.  They 
had  had  it  in  the  eloquence  of  a  Marshall,  who  had  stood  on 
the  brink  of  the  burning  crater,  and  w^ho  had  started  back 
affrighted,  and  raised  his  warning  voice  to  all  young 
men  who  would  venture  near ;  though  his  testimony  was 
sadly  blighted  by  the  unfortunate  duel.  Something  now 
was  needed,  which  before  had  not  been  granted,  though 
we  knew  not  what ;  but,  in  an  overruling  Providence,  it 
was  sent  in  one  who,  in  the  morning  of  life,  had  been 
thrown  to  the  bottom  of  the  crater,  and  had  been  surpris- 
ingly brought  forth  to  tell  an  experience  which  should 
touch  all  hearts.  I  heard  of  him  as  addressing  crowded 
school  houses  at  the  East,  to  the  surprise  of  all  who  could 


JOHN  B.    GOUGH.  121 

gain  admittance ;  and  last  as  addressing  the  prisoners  in  the 
State  Prison  of  ISTew  Hampshire,  throwing  all  the  prison- 
ers into  tears,  and  causing  almost  the  entire  company  to 
raise  their  hands  in  the  declaration,  that  when  once  at 
liberty,  they  would  never  take  into  their  lips  the  intoxi- 
cating drink.  I  immediately  wrote  to  Deacon  Moses 
Grant,  the  devoted  friend  and  patron  of  temperance  in 
Boston,  to  find  him,  and  bring  him  to  our  Anniversary, 
that  we  might  hear  him.  He  did  so ;  and  in  the  afternoon 
of  the  day,  he  stood  before  me,  with  John  B.  Gough.  I 
could  scarce  give  credit  to  reports  that  he,  a  still,  quiet, 
unimpassioned  man,  had  a  power  of  eloquence  to  move 
millions.  But  the  evening  came ;  the  Broadway  Taber- 
nacle was  filled,  as  usual  on  those  occasions,  to  its  utmost 
capacity,  when,  after  the  reading  of  the  Report,  and  a 
lengthy  and  able  sj)eech  by  the  Rev.  Leonard  Bacon,  D.  D., 
of  New  Haven,  Ct.,  highly  satisfactory,  the  young  orator 
was  introduced.  In  a  simplicity  and  modesty  promising 
nothing,  in  less  than  three  minutes  he  struck  a  chord  in 
every  heart,  and  drew  tears  from  many  an  eye.     Said  he  : 

"  God  forbid  that  I  should  boast  of  my  degradation  !  Oh,  there  is  a 
dark  spot  upon  my  past  life  ;  and  if,  by  any  efforts  of  mine  in  the  temper- 
ance cause,  I  can  wipe  it  out,  I  shall  feel  that  I  have  attained  the  height 
of  my  ambition.  A  bright  star  of  hope  now  gleams  upon  my  pathway, 
and  the  dark  pall  which  has  hung  over  my  existence  for  a  few  past  years 
is  looped  up,  and  I  can  see  in  the  distance  the  gleaming  of  that  bright 
star  ;  and  I  thank  God  who  has  plucked  a  brand  from  the  burning,  and 
that  I  am  deemed  worthy  to  raise  my  voice  in  this  cause,  which  I  love." 

His  relations,  showing  the  hardening  influence  of  the 
traffic,  first  in  the  case  of  the  lady,  a  maniac  in  the  Wor- 
cester Insane  Hospital,  whose  reason  reeled  as  the  rum- 
seller  asked  her,  if  he  should  say  to  her  father,  that  she 
had  requested  him  to  sell  him  no  more  rum ; — of  the  poor 
woman,  once  in  affluence,  but  now  sadly  reduced,  hus- 
band and  two  sons  wasting  their  all  in  a  tavern,  who  on 
6 


122  TEMPERANCE    RECOLLECTIONS. 

the  terrible  death  of  one  of  her  boys  petitioned  the  rum- 
seller  to  spare  the  rest,  but  he  rolled  up  the  petition  into 
matches  to  light  cigars  with,  as  father  and  son  came  in 
for  their  drink,  and  then  boasted  that  he  had  made  the 
husband  and  son  burn  up  the  pious  petition  of  the  old 
woman  ; — but  more  of  the  poor  widow  in  Oxford,  Mass., 
whose  son  Frederic  returned  from  a  long  prodigal  absence, 
having  signed  the  pledge,  but  was  induced  by  the  heart- 
less rumseller  to  drink  before  going  home,  and  in  the 
morning  was  found  dead  in  the  rumseller's  bam — ^the  rum- 
seller  helping  to  carry  him  to  his  mother  on  a  board,  when 
the  mother  cursed  him  as  the  murderer  of  her  son.  He 
acknowledged  he  had  given  him  the  liquor,  but  did  not 
know  it  was  her  son.  She  told  him  he  did ;  "  and  it  was 
wrong,"  she  said,  "  but  I  cursed  him  ;  I  did  it.  Heaven 
forgive  him  and  me  !  " 

This  remarkable  young  man,  remarkable  for  a  natural 
eloquence,  seldom  surpassed,  came  from  England  with  a 
stern  farmer  when  he  was  twelve  ;  but,  at  fifteen,  he  left 
the  farm  for  a  more  congenial  employment  in  the  city, 
where  he  labored  at  the  book-binding  business  to  support 
himself  and  his  poor  mother  and  sister,  all  sufiering  the 
most  cniel  privations  ;  but  soon  he  fell  into  the  debasing 
habits  of  a  drunkard,  wandering  about  to  gain  his  living, 
now  by  a  little  work,  and  now  by  singing  songs,  and  per- 
forming at  low  theatres,  till  he  was  reached  by  a  kind 
friend  in  Worcester,  Mass.,  who  induced  him  to  sign  the 
pledge,  and  then  to  attend  temperance  meetings,  and  re- 
late his  sad  story.  In  New  York  he  remained  a  few  even- 
ings, filling  every  house  where  he  would  speak.  I  felt 
that  such  an  instrument  of  rousing  the  public  mind  should 
not  be  lost ;  and  I  made  arrangements  with  him  to  go 
through  the  State  of  ISTew  York,  and  speak  with  me  in  all 
the  principal  towns  and  cities. 

In  the  mean  time  we  went  together  to  Boston,  to  at- 


WASHINGTONIAN   ENCAMPMENT  AT   BOSTON.  123 

tend  on  the  28tli  of  May  a  vast  Washingtonian  encamp- 
ment on  the  Common.  On  the  steamer,  Mr.  Gough  made 
an  address,  for  which  he  was  well  rewarded  by  the  numer- 
ous passengers.  On  the  Common  by  eleven  o'clock  from 
20  to  30,000  were  gathered  'from  all  parts  of  the  State; 
9,500  came  by  the  Eastern  Railroad.  At  twelve,  an  im- 
mense procession  of  military  and  temperance  societies 
started  from  the  State  House — Governor  Briggs  leading 
the  way  in  a  barouche,  with  four  white  horses — pass- 
ing down  the  Mall,  through  two  long  rows  of  beautiful 
children,  under  direction  of  Deacon  Grant,  and  around 
the  principal  streets,  magnificently  decorated  with  flags 
and  banners,  and  lined  with  crowds  of  spectators,  who, 
with  joyful  voices  and  waving  handkerchiefs,  cheered  us. 
Riding  with  the  Governor,  W.  K.  Mitchell  and  Mr.  Gough, 
I  had  a  fine  opportunity  of  seeing  the  whole.  Arriving 
at  the  Common,  the  Governor,  from  the  stand,  made  an 
appropriate  address.  "  The  cause,"  he  said,  "  is  a  glorious 
one  ;  one  which  was  near  his  heart,  and  it  should  have  his 
entire  influence  and  strength  as  long  as  Heaven  preserved 
his  life.  He  was  glad  to  state  from  that  platform,  and  on 
that  day,  that  the  Chief  Magistrates  of  six  States  of  the 
Union  were  pledged  teetotalers,  who  would  give  all  their 
influence  in  favor  of  the  cause."  The  Hutchinsons  sung 
some  of  their  happiest  songs.  The  Banks  were  closed. 
Most  business  was  suspended,  and  in  the  evening  an  im- 
mense meeting  was  held  in  the  Tremont  Temple. 

On  the  24th  of  Jime,  I  commenced  my  tour,  with  Mr. 
Gough,  through  the  State  of  New  York.  Announcement 
had  been  made  of  every  meeting ;  and,  as  high  expecta- 
tions had  been  raised,  we  found  every  place  of  assem- 
blage entirely  full.  About  thirty  meetings  were  before 
us— first,  at  Hudson;  next,  at  Albany.  Mr.  Gough, 
after  a  short  introduction  by  myself,  gave  full  proof  of  his 
ability  to  sustain  himself.   At  Schenectady,  President  Nott 


124  TEMPERANCE   RECOLLECTIONS. 

received  us  most  kindly,  at  the  College ;  and  released  the 
students  from  their  evening  studies,  that  they  might  hear 
the  young  orator,  who  admirably  adapted  himself  to  such 
an  audience.  Anxious  to  be  at  the  Auburn  State  Prison 
on  the  Sabbath,  we  hastened  on  to  that  important  post. 
Eight  hundred  prisoners  stood  before  us,  for  the  most 
part,  the  victims  of  rum.  After  prayer  and  singing,  Mr. 
Gough  addressed  them  for  an  hour.  Few  were  unmoved ; 
many  wept  freely,  as  he  told  them  all  the  evil  they  did, 
and  under  what  influences  they  had  conducted;  and 
when  asked  for  an  expression  of  their  determination  to 
drink  no  more  rum,  a  forest  of  hands  was  raised.  Two 
pulpits  were  opened  to  us  in  the  day  and  evening ;  and  on 
the  next  morning,  at  ten  o'clock,  the  laboring  classes,  and 
the  polloi,  gathered  in  front  of  the  Exchange,  where  other 
speaking,  save  that  required  by  the  sacredness  of  the  Sab- 
bath, was  freely  indulged  in.  At  Geneva,  Palmyra,  and 
Canandaigua,  the  people  gave  themselves  up  to  the  occa- 
sion, and  expressed  great  satisfaction.  Rochester  claimed, 
and  had  us,  on  the  Fourth  of  July — the  glorious  day  of 
Independence.  In  lieu  of  military  display,  we  had,  on  the 
public  square,  a  monster  temperance  meeting,  which  we 
addressed  as  the  occasion  required ;  and,  in  the  evening, 
the  large  Methodist  Church  was  entirely  full,  and  the 
same  was  true,  the  succeeding  evening,  of  the  Presby- 
terian. The  minister  came  forward,  with  the  acknowl- 
edgment that  he  had  never  signed  the  pledge ;  but  now 
he  was  ready  to  do  it,  and  did  so,  several  following  his  ex- 
ample. Geneseo  and  Mount  Morris  gave  us  good  au- 
diences; and  on  our  return  to  Rochester,  we  had  the 
largest  and  most  enthusiastic  meeting  we  had  had  since 
we  left  home.  At  Batavia,  four  hundred  citizens  had  just 
petitioned  the  authorities  not  to  sign  a  license,  and  they 
were  determined  so  to  do.  Speaking  to  them  was  pleas- 
ant.    Niagara  Falls  and  Lockport  next  had  our  attention. 


I 


ME.    GOUGH   AT  NIAGARA.  125 

At  the  former,  we  saw  mucli  wine-drinking ;  and  here,  Mr. 
Gongh  learned  one  simile,  which  he  ever  after  used  with 
poAver,  of  the  moderate  drinker  commencing  moderately, 
carelessly,  and  playfully;  but,  as  he  advanced,  cries 
reached  him  from  the  shore ;  cries  for  help  rose  up  in  the 
boat ;  but  on  he  pushed,  with  terrible  fury,  till  he  went 
over,  and  knew  no  more.  Buifalo  threw  open  its  largest 
buildings  to  us,  and  gave  us  deeply  interested  audiences. 
A  general  meeting  of  children,  on  Saturday  afternoon, 
foreboded  the  attendance  we  should  have  of  parents  the 
next  day.  A  large  ladies'  meeting  was  held  in  the  after- 
noon of  Monday,  succeeded  by  a  great  crowd,  at  Dr. 
Lord's  Church,  in  the  evening.  The  people  of  Buffalo 
seemed  determined  on  an  exterminating  war. 

Oswego  and  Syracuse,  Utica,  and  Rome,  all  gave 
us  a  good  hearing  on  our  way  back.  Saratoga  Springs 
was  a  world  in  miniature ;  and  most  fashionable  people, 
from  all  quarters,  rushed  to  hear  the  young  temperance 
orator.  A  meeting  in  the  Temple  Grove  was  also  ad- 
dressed by  Messrs.  Hawkins,  Stainsby,  Huntington  of  Sa- 
lem, and  others.  At  Troy,  the  greatest  preparations  were 
made  to  receive  us,  by  military  and  fire  companies,  and 
temperance  processions,  and  Cold- Water  armies ;  but  the 
rain  drove  them  from  the  streets  ;  the  churches  were  quite 
inadequate.  In  Albany,  a  mass  meeting  was  held  in  the 
State  House  yard,  and  Mr.  Gough  spoke  from  the  steps. 
But,  in  the  evening,  the  very  elite  of  the  city  were  gather- 
ed in  the  North  Dutch  church — for  fashion  had  no  power 
now  to  make  the  most  refined  stand  aloof;  and  in  all  my 
travel  with  Mr.  Gough,  I  never  saw  so  much  weeping  as 
in  that  meeting — by  far  the  happiest  effort  of  his  mind 
and  soul.  Here  ended  our  tour ;  a  complete  success.  The 
whole  of  the  Empire  State  which  we  traversed  was  roused 
to  thought  and  action.  The  rich  put  away  their  wine, 
and  the  poor  their  whiskey  and  beer.   The  open  infidelity, 


126  TEMPERANCE   RECOLLECTIONS. 

and  radicalism,  and  abuse  of  ministers,  by  some  reform- 
speakers,  had  kindled  up  in  many  minds  an  opposition 
to  all  temperance  effort,  especially  on  the  Sabbath ;  but 
Mr.  Gough  took  such  decided  ground  on  religion,  as 
the  basis  of  all  temperance,  and  the  great  security  and 
hope  of  the  reformed,  as  entirely  reconciled  them,  not 
only  to  the  meetings,  but  to  his  occupying  the  pulpit,  on 
the  Sabbath,  as  most  j^rofitable  to  the  spiritual  interests  of 
men. 

Mr.  Gough  proceeded  to  Springfield,  and  I  returned  to 
New  York,  to  the  duties  of  my  office.  But  so  valuable 
were  his  services,  especially  among  the  religious  and 
wealthy  classes,  that  I  procured  them,  the  following 
winter,  in  New  York  city,  for  more  than  thirty  consecu- 
tive meetings,  in  crowded  halls  and  churches ;  took  him 
to  Hartford  and  New  Haven,  in  Connecticut ;  to  New- 
ark, Patterson,  New  Brunswick,  and  Trenton,  in  New 
Jersey ;  to  the  city  of  Philadeljihia,  where  we  had  eleven 
enthusiastic  and  powerful  meetings ;  to  Baltimore  and 
"Washington,  where  we  had  eight  meetings,  which  were 
attended  by  members  of  Congress  and  numerous  strangers 
assembled  at  the  inauguration  of  the  new  President ;  and 
as  far  South  as  Richmond,  where  a  great  imj^ression  was 
made.  In  all  this  action,  we  were  well  sustained  by  the 
liberality  of  friends,  and  had  the  countenance  and  prayers 
of  the  ministry  and  churches.  Though  himself  an  unedu- 
cated man,  Mr.  Gough  deeply  interested  the  ofiicers  and 
students  of  Harvard,  Yale,  Princeton,  and  other  colleges, 
and  induced  many  to  pledge  themselves  against  the  use  of 
intoxicating  liquors.  In  what  consisted  his  peculiar  pow- 
er, was  the  subject  of  much  sj)eculation  in  the  press.  In 
my  own  Journal,  I  spoke  of  his  eloquence  as  Antenor,  in 
the  Iliad,  spoke  of  the  eloquence  of  Ulysses  : 

"  '  When  Ulysses  arose,  his  eyes  were  cast  down.     He  used  no  motion 


ME.    GOTJGH — WHENCE    HIS   POWER.  127 

with  his  staff,  but  held  it  motionless,  after  the  manner  of  a  clown.  You 
might  have  taken  him  for  a  simple  feUow.  But  no  sooner  had  he  begun 
to  give  vent  to  his  sonorous  voice,  uttering  flakes  of  words  gently  falling 
like  wmter  snow,  than  it  became  evident  that,  in  eloquence,  no  man  could 
cope  with  Ulysses.' " 

The  Journal  of  Commerce  said : 

"  Mr.  Gough  is  certainly  a  wonderful  young  man.  He  is  worth  study- 
ing as  a  model  of  natural  eloquence,  as  well  as  of  Christian  fervor  and  kind- 
ness.     No  man,  or  woman,  can  hear  him  without  rising  in  moral  feeling." 

"  It  is  impossible,"  said  the  New  York  Sun,  "  to  convey  anything  like 
an  adequate  idea  of  the  powers  possessed  by,  or  to  tell  what  there  is  about 
him  so  fascinating.  A  close  critic,  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten,  attending  for 
the  express  purpose  of  picking  flaws  in  his  address,  would,  in  five  minutes, 
forget  the  nature  of  his  errand." 

Said  the  Tribune : 

"  Mr.  Gough  has  no  system  about  his  lecturing  ;  he  never  uses  notes. 
He  does  not  stop  to  sermonize,  but  feehng  that  his  story  has  gone  home, 
and  that  it  will  do  its  own  work,  he  dashes  off  on  another  theme,  depicts 
the  wife  of  the  drunkard  as  she  sits  in  her  destitution  and  misery,  in  the 
cold  damp  cellar,  or  the  rickety  garret,  working  her  fingers  to  the  bone, 
that  she  may  gain  a  morsel  of  bread  for  her  band  of  half-starving,  half- 
naked,  shivering  children  ;  hearing  no  sound  but  their  cries  for  food  and 
fire.  The  scene  of  early  days  and  her  youthful  bloom — the  time  when  she 
pledged  her  all  to  the  man  who  has  now  deserted  her — his  broken  promise 
— his  progressive  steps  in  vice — his  waning  love — his  brutality — his  indif- 
ference to  her  wants — and  the  deep,  utter  midnight  darkness  that  has 
settled  upon  her  hopes  and  happiness,  are  all  brought  before  the  mind,  as 
though  they  were  daguerreotyped  upon  the  wall.  And  then  the  sketch 
of  the  drunkard — the  husband,  as  he  sits  in  his  apathy  in  the  groggery 
within  a  hundred  yards  distant,  carelessly  steeping  the  Httle  left  of  his 
sensibility  in  the  damning  bowl : — you  can  almost  hear  the  sigh,  the  cry, 
the  voice,  the  low  jest — almost  see  the  thin  wife  and  the  bloated  husband 
— the  days  of  light,  and  the  days  of  darkness,  and  the  scenes  of  happiness, 
and  the  midnight  despair ;  all  are  touched  as  by  the  hand  of  a  master 
who  has  not  been  taught  in  the  schools  of  others,  but  in  his  own." 

Such  is  my  clear  and  pleasant  recollection  of  the  intro- 
duction of  Mr.  Gough  to  New  York.     From  every  quarter 


128  TEMPERANCE   RECOLLECTIONS. 

I  was  asked  for  his  services.  The  following  characteristic 
letter  was  from  the  temperance  veteran  and  orator,  Dr. 
Lyman  Beecher,  at  the  West : 

CrsciNNATi,  January  21,  1845. 
Dear  Brother  Marsh  : — You  must  come  out  here,  and  without  fail,  with 
Mr.  Gough,  and  as  soon  as  you  can.  The  flood  of  Coffee  House  opposition 
has  rolled  over  us,  and  though  the  Washingtonians  have  endured,  and 
worked  well,  their  thunder  is  worn  out.  The  novelty  of  the  common- 
place narrative  is  used  up,  and  we  cannot  raise  an  interest  which  will  com- 
mand the  respect  and  attention  of  those  who  have  been  restrained  and 
half  convinced,  but  have  not  joined  us,  or  wholly  given  up  their  wine,  and 
are  now  beginning  to  turn  against  us  by  open  transgression  in  high  places. 
We  must  open  a  new  campaign,  and  you  and  Mr.  Gough  must  come.  I 
long  to  see  you,  and  once  more  buckle  on  the  harness. 
Affectionately  yours, 

Lyman  Beecher. 

To  such  as  may  he  desirous  of  knowing  what  Mr. 
Gough  actually  said  in  these  addresses  to  excite  such 
emotion,  I  here  quote  the  close  of  one  which,  delivered  in 
his  impassioned  tones  and  action,  will  never  pass  from 
my  memory : 

"  What  fills  the  almshouses  and  jails  ?  What  brings  yon  trembling 
wretch  upon  the  gallows  ?  It  is  drink.  And  we  might  call  upon  the  tomb 
to  break  forth.  Ye  mouldering  victims  !  wipe  the  grave  dust  crumbling 
from  your  brow  ;  stalk  forth  in  your  tattered  shrouds  and  bony  whiteness 
to  testify  against  the  drink !  Come,  come  from  the  gallows,  you  spirit- 
maddened  man-slayer,  give  up  your  bloody  knife,  and  stalk  forth  to  testify 
against  it !  Crawl  from  the  slimy  ooze,  ye  drowned  drunkards,  and  with 
suffocation's  blue  and  livid  lips  speak  out  against  the  drink  !  Unroll  the* 
record  of  the  past,  and  let  the  Recording  Angel  read  out  the  murder  in- 
dictments, written  in  God's  book  of  remembrance  !  aye  !  let  the  past  be 
unfolded,  and  the  shrieks  of  victims  wailing  be  borne  down  upon  the 
night  blast !  Snap  your  burning  chains,  ye  denizens  of  the  pit,  and  come 
up  sheeted  in  the  fire,  dripping  with  the  flames  of  hell,  and  with  your 
trumpet  tongues  testify  against  the  damnation  of  the  drink. 

"  Of  those  who  began  this  work  some  are  hving  to-day,  and  I  should 
like  to  stand  now  and  see  the  mighty  enterprise  as  it  rises  before  them. 


129 

They  worked  hard.  They  lifted  the  .first  turf;  prepared  the  way  in  which 
to  lay  the  corner-stone.  They  laid  it  amid  persecution  and  storms. 
They  worked  under  the  surface;  and  men  almost  forgot  that  there 
were  busy  hands  laying  the  solid  foundation  far  down  beneath.  By- 
and-by  they  got  the  foundation  above  the  surface,  and  then  com- 
menced another  storm  of  persecution.  Now  we  see  the  superstruc- 
ture, pillar  after  pillar,  .tower  after  tower,  column  after  column,  with 
the  capitals  emblazoned — '  Love,  truth,  sympathy  and  good  will  to  all 
men  ! '  Old  men  gaze  upon  it  as  Jt  grows  up  before  them.  They  will 
not  live  to  see  it  completed,  but  they  see  in  faith  the  crowning  cope-stone 
set  upon  it.  Meek-eyed  women  weep  as  it  grows  in  beauty;  children 
strew  the  pathway  of  workmen  with  flowers.  We  do  not  see  its  beauty 
yet ;  we  do  not  see  the  magnificence  of  the  superstructure  yet,  because 
it  is  in  course  of  erection.  Scaffolding,  ropes,  ladders,  workmen,  ascend- 
ing and  descending,  mar  the  beauty  of  the  building ;  but  by-and-by,  when 
the  hosts  who  have  labored  shall  come  up  over  a  thousand  battle-fields, 
waving  with  bright  grain,  never  again  to  be  crushed  in  the  distillery — 
through  vineyards  under  trelUsed  vines,  with  grapes  hanging  with  all  their 
purple  glory,  never  again  to  be  pressed  into  that  which  can  debase  and  de- 
grade mankind ;  when  they  shall  come  through  orchards,  under  trees 
hanging  thick  with  golden  pulpy  fruit,  never  to  be  turned  into  that 
which  can  injure  and  debase  ;  when  they  shall  come  up  to  the  last  distil- 
lery, and  destroy  it — to  the  last  stream  of  liquid  death,  and  dry  it  up — to 
the  last  weeping  wife,  and  wipe  her  tears  gently  away — to  the  last  little 
child,  and  lift  him  up  to  stand  where  God  wills  that  mankind  should  stand 
— to  the  last  drunkard,  and  nerve  him  to  burst  the  burning  fetters,  and 
make  a  glorious  accompaniment  to  the  song  of  freedom  by  the  clanking 
of  his  broken  chain — then,  ah,  then  will  the  cope-stone  be  set  upon  it — 
the  scaffolding  will  fall  with  a  crash  ;  and  the  building  will  start  in  its 
wondrous  beauty  before  an  astonished  world. 
6* 


CHAPTER  X 

Changes  in  the  Advocacy  of  Temperance — Experience  Meetings  give 
Place  to  Argumentative — Dr.  Charles  Jewett — W.  H.  Burleigh — A. 
W.  Riley — Dr.  Scwall's  Death — Excitement  on  the  Traffic — Trials 
before  U.  S.  Supreme  Court — Webster — Choate,  Liquor-dealers' 
Counsel — Prohibition  demanded  in  New  England — No  License  in 
New  York — Ninth  Anniversary  A.  T.  U.,  1845 — T.  P.  Hunt  on 
Rights'  of  Liquor  Dealers — Six  Mouths'  Action  for  no  License — Glori- 
ous Results — Tenth  Anniversary,  1846 — Rev.  A.  Barnes — Commodore 
A.  H.  Foote — Cold  AYatcr  Army — Yale  College  Temperance  Society 
Literature. 

As  years  rolled  on,  many  and  important  changes  were 
called  for  in  the  temperance  meetings.  They  were  for  a 
time  almost  entirely  experience  meetings.  No  individual 
had  been  called  for  or  expected  to  speak,  who  could  not 
relate  an  experience  as  a  reformed  man.  This  excluded 
almost  entirely  all  clergymen  and  the  early  temperance 
speakers  from  the  platform.  The  popularity  of  the  reform 
S2:)eeches  was,  for  a  time,  great ;  and  as  many  of  their  ex- 
periences were  both  of  the  comic  and  tragic  character,  they 
were  very  exciting.  But  ultimately  there  w^as  much  of  a 
sameness  in  them,  and  as  *here  would  be  often  five  or  six 
at  a  meeting,  the  interest  in  them  waned,  and  the  public 
sentiment  demanded  something  scientific,  something  on 
the  moral  basis,  and  the  religious  obligation.  But  so  had 
speakers  of  this  class  retired  from  the  platform,  and  such 
was  their  sense  of  unpopularity  with  the  masses,  that  it 
was  difficult  introducing   them   again.     Some,  however, 


I 


NEW   ADVOCACY — JEWETT — BURLEIGH.  131 

were  to  be  found  that  were  highly  acceptable  to  all  classes. 
Such  an  one  was  Dr.  Charles  Jewett,  early  in  life  a  skilful 
physician  in  Rhode  Island,  but  who  had  been  so  impressed 
in  his  practice  with  the  evils  of  strong  drink,  that  he  every 
where  commenced  war  against  it ;  and  in  1832  he  delivered 
a  public  address  in  the  town  of  Exeter,  which  was  pub- 
lished and  extensively  circulated.  So  much  were  his 
services  here  demanded  that,  in  1839,  he  gave  up  a  lucra- 
tive practice,  and  devoted  himself  for  life  to  the  public 
advocacy  of  the  temperance  cause.  Various  departments 
he  has  since  filled;  sometimes  State  agent,  sometimes 
editor  and  conductor  of  the  press,  bookmaker,  &c.,  but 
always  pre-eminent  as  a  lecturer.  As  Hawkins  by  his  ap- 
peals touched  every  fibre  of  the  soul,  and  Gough  gave 
beauty,  life,  and  a  charm  to  all  he  touched,  so  Dr.  Jewett 
now  began  most  deeply  to  interest  the  thinking  communi- 
ty by  the  well-prepared  lectures  on  the  medical  points, 
the  pathology  of  drunkenness — its  destruction  of  the  physi- 
cal, intellectual  and  moral  powers  of  men — its  insidious 
advances — the  connection  between  temperance  and  the 
educational,  agricultural  and  commercial  interests  of  the 
State,  and  the  abominations  and  deadly  influence  of  the 
traffic  in  all  its  branches.  With  a  vein  of  humor  seldom 
possessed,  both  in  poetry  and  prose,  he  made  the  lecture 
hours  pass  rapidly,  and  has  proved  one  of  the  mightiest 
instrumentalities  of  advancing  our  great  cause. 

William  H.  Burleigh,  Esq.,  was  another  mighty  advo- 
cate, both  in  poetry  and  prose,  who  followed  on  after  the 
Washington  reformers,  and  coped  with  high  intellectual 
power  and  true  eloquence,  with  all  who  would  sustain  the 
drinking  usages,  and  the  traffic  in  intoxicating  drinks. 
For  a  time  he  was  Corresponding  Secretary  and  Editor 
for  the  New  York  State  Society,  masterly  both  with  his 
tongue  and  pen.  His  poem.  The  Rum  Fiend,  is  one  of 
the  standard  works  of  true  genius. 


132  TEMPERANCE   RECOLLECTIONS. 

General  A.  W.  Riley,  of  Rochester,  also  early  entered 
the  field  as  a  lecturer  sui  generis,  who  has,  perhaps,  trav- 
elled more  miles,  and  delivered  more  off-hand  lectures 
than  any  other  individual  of  the  class ;  always  battling 
tremendously  the  rum-seller  wherever  he  could  meet  him, 
and  even  offering  him  pay,  so  much  an  hour,  if  he  would 
give  him  his  attendance ;  and  not  sparing  the  church  and 
the  ministry,  where  they  were  holding  back  from  the 
cause,  and  countenancing  the  drinking  usages  of  society. 
To  him  I  was  long  indebted  for  large  subscriptions  to  the 
Journal. 

Mr.  J.  P.  Coffin,  himself  a  reformed  man  of  an  early 
date,  was  long  an  able  agent  of  the  New  York  State  So- 
ciety, and  a  lecturer  most  able,  powerful,  and  acceptable. 

ThurloAV  Weed  Brown,  editor  and  publisher  of  the 
Cayuga  Chief,  was  excelled  by  none  on  the  platform  in 
instructive,  soul-stirring  speech.  With  a  beauty  and  pow- 
er of  thought  and  language,  and  a  two-edged  sword, 
giving  the  liquor-dealer  his  due,  he  moved  on  through 
his  hour  with  great  force,  charming  all  by  his  diction,  ex- 
cept those  who  were  resolved  not  to  be  saved  themselves, 
nor  to  save  others. 

G.  W.  Bungay,  a  gentleman  of  unusual  genius  as  a 
writer,  both  in  prose  and  verse,  and  talented  in  speech, 
took  the  field,  and  did  much  service.  In  Ohio,  Gen.  S.  F. 
Cary,  a  prince  of  orators,  visited,  and  spoke  in  all  cities 
and  villages,  with  great  effect. 

On  the  10th  of  April,  1845,  I  heard  of  the  death  of  my 
friend,  and  the  Mend  of  humanity.  Dr.  Thomas  Sewall,  of 
Washington,  at  the  age  of  fifty-nine.  Few  had  done  so 
much  for  the  cause  of  temperance.  Few  had  seen  so  much 
of  the  ruins  of  intemperance  as  he  had,  connected  as  he  was 
with  Congress  and  its  members.  In  most  glowing  and 
expressive  language,  did  he  ever  express  himself  on  the 
subject.     I  quote  his  emphatic  words : 


TRAGEDY   AT  PIITSFIELD.  133 

"  Intemperance  has  swept  over  our  land,  with  the  rapidity  and  power 
of  a  tempest,  tearing  down  everything  in  its  course.  Not  content  with 
rioting  in  the  haunts  of  ignorance  and  vice,  it  has  passed  through  our  con- 
secrated groves,  has  entered  our  most  sacred  enclosures ;  and  oh !  how 
many  men  of  genius  and  of  letters  have  fallen  before  it !  how  many  lofty 
intellects  have  been  shattered,  and  laid  in  ruins  by  its  power  !  how  many  a 
warm  and  philanthropic  heart  has  been  chilled  by  its  icy  touch !  It  has 
stalked  within  the  very  walls  of  our  capital,  and  there  left  the  stains  of  its 
polluting  touch  on  our  national  glory.  It  has  leaped  over  the  pale  of  the 
Church,  and  even  reached  up  its  sacrilegious  arms  to  the  pulpit,  and  drag- 
ged down  some  of  its  brightest  ornaments." 

His  drawings  of  the  stomach  will  ever  remain  a  monu- 
ment of  his  philanthropy  and  genius. 

Leaving  the  reformed,  the  attention  of  the  community- 
was  now  beginning  to  be  turned  much  toward  the  traffic, 
as  blasting  all  the  good  work  which  had  been  done ;  and 
the  question  was  rising  in  every  State,  has  the  liquor-sel- 
ler a  right  to  carry  on  his  destructive  business ;  especially 
is  it  right  for  the  State  to  grant  him  a  license  to  do  it  ? 
With  the  general  burdens  all  were  acquainted,  the  people 
paid  theii*  heavy  taxes  imposed  by  the  traffic,  without 
complaining  ;  but  when  there  was  blood  and  murder  in  the 
streets,  they  would  stand  it  no  longer.  In  the  spring  of 
1845,  a  respectable  mechanic  of  Pittsfield,  Mass.,  was 
made  drunken  by  liquor  sold  contrary  to  law,  and  was 
torn  to  pieces  while  lying  on  the  railroad-track,  in  the 
darkness  of  midnight.  A  public  indignation  meeting 
was  at  once  held,  and  indignation  speeches  were  made, 
and  resolutions  adopted  by  some  of  the  first  citizens  which 
thrilled  the  country.  Gov.  Briggs,  afler  narrating  the 
destitute  condition  of  the  family  of  the  deceased,  the 
aggravating  circumstances  of  his  death  to  his  family,  and 
the  desolation  and  woe  it  had  brought  to  the  hearts  of 
his  wife  and  children,  called  upon  every  friend  of  hu- 
manity to  come  forward  and  lend  liis  aid  in  drying  up  the 
prolific  fountain  of  wretchedness.     He  asked: 


134  TEMPERANCE   EECOLLECTIONS. 

"Who  did  the  deed?  Who  robbed  those  children  of  a  father,  and 
made  that  wife  a  widow,  perhaps  a  maniac  ?  It  was  not  the  ponderous 
engine,  rushing  with  whirlwind  speed  over  its  iron  road.  It  was  the  ven- 
doi'  of  intoxicating  drink,  the  man  who,  in  defiance  of  all  laws,  human  and 
divine,  scattered  around  him  the  seed  of  temporal  and  eternal  death." 

The  Hon.  Thomas  B.  Strong  said : 

''  It  was  demanded  by  every  feeling  of  self-respect,  by  every  dictate  of 
pride  of  character,  by  every  impulse  of  generous  humanity,  that  our  village 
be  purified  from  this  unhallowed  traflSc.  Woe  to  him  who  putteth  the  bot- 
tle to  his  neighbor's  lips.  It  was  all  the  same  to  him,  whether  the  victim 
of  his  avarice  were  crushed  under  the  ponderous  wheels  of  the  railroad 
engine,  or  swung  from  the  gibbet,  or  died  amid  the  horrors  of  delirium 
tremens,  or  eked  out  a  miserable  existence  in  a  dungeon,  or,  outliving 
health  and  fortune,  and  friends,  and  respect,  and  home,  staggered  over  his 
last  years  down  to  a  drunkard's  grave.  Judas  sold  his  master  for  thirty 
pieces  of  silver ;  but  the  rum-seller  sells  "his  victims  for  one.  The  piece  of 
money  would  canker  in  his  posssession ;  and,  if  he  died  in  his  unhallowed 
traffic,  hke  Judas,  he  would  go  unrepented  and  unforgiveu  to  his  own 
place." 

Said  Rev.  Dr.  Todd,  minister  of  the  place : 

"  For  what  would  you  be  the  man  who  sold  that  bottle  of  spirits  ?  For 
what  would  you  own  that  money  ?  Oh  !  if  the  man  be  here  who  owns  it, 
and  has  got  it,  let  him  look  at  it !  Don't  you  see  the  blood  on  it  ?  In 
your  bar-room,  by  the  cask,  don't  you  see  that  mangled  body  ?  Don't  you 
hear  the  steps  of  the  naked  feet  of  the  orphans  ?  Don't  you  see  the  wild 
eye  and  the  pale  face  of  the  broken-hearted  widow  ?  Can  you  look  up, 
and  see  written  on  those  heavens,  '  No  drunkard  shall  inherit  the  kingdom 
of  God,'  and  then  rejoice  that  you  have  cut  one  more  such  off  from  life,  and 
hurried  him  to  judgment  ?  Where  will  you  hide  that  money,  from^hich 
the  blood  will  not  wash  ?  " 

But  how  should  the  evil  be  suppressed?  The  liquor- 
dealers  now  demanded  the  right  to  sell.  They  appealed  to 
the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  against  the  un- 
constitutionality of  the  license  law  of  Massachusetts, 
which  made  it  criminal  for  any  person  to  sell  without  li- 
cense.   They  engaged  for  their  counsel  the  two  first  law- 


CASE  BEFORE  SUPREME  COURT  U.  S.         135 

yers  of  the  State,  Hon.  Daniel  Webster  and  Hon.  Rufus 
Choate,  U.  S.  Senator,  men  whose  sympathies  were  always 
with  the  moral  community.  But  the  State  was  defended 
by  a  gentleman  of  adequate  power,  Asahel  Huntington, 
Esq.,  of  Salem.  Mr.  Webster  argued  "  that  the  right  to 
import  implied  the  right  to  sell — to  the  unrestricted  use 
of  all  the  channels  of  commerce,  even  the  most  minute — 
to  the  consumer."  But  it  was  replied,  "  the  men  who  made 
the  Constitution  never  thought  of  giving  it  such  a  con- 
struction; but  were  continually,  with  their  descendants, 
regulating  commerce  as  circumstances  demanded."  Mr. 
Choate  relied  chiefly  on  the  position,  that  the  license  law 
interfered  with  our  treaty  T\nth  France.  On  the  question, 
the  court  were  divided,  and  the  decision  was  deferred  to 
a  full  bench,  in  1846. 

But,  throughout  the  country,  a  spirit  was  rising  for  an 
entire  suppression  of  the  trafiic.  At  large  conventions,  in 
Maine,  New  Hampshire,  and  at  Boston,  the  high  ground 
was  taken  :  1.  To  grant  no  license  for  the  sale  of  intoxica- 
ting drinks  as  a  beverage.  2.  To  provide,  by  fine  and  im- 
prisonment, for  the  eifectual  suppression  of  the  traffic.  In 
the  State  of  New  York,  great  efibrts  were  made  to  give  the 
question  of  License  or  Xo  License  to  the  people,  to  be 
decided  at  the  ballot-box.  A  bill  to  that  effect  was  passed 
unanimously  in  the  Assembly ;  but  it  was  stayed  in  the 
Senate,  unless  the  city  of  New  York  could  be  exempted. 
Against  this,  a  remonstrance  was  made  by  25,000  citizens. 
But  the  Assembly  yielded,  and,  in  this  form,  the  bill  passed 
on  the  14th  of  May,  1845.  The  day  fixed  for  the  vote  was 
the  last  Tuesday  of  April,  1846.  Great  was  the  exulta- 
tion of  the  temperance  men,  though  it  threw  upon  them 
a  vast  amount  of  labor  to  secure  the  desired  result.  It 
was  at  once  resolved  that  there  should  be  two  State  Con- 
vention«,  one  at  the  east  and  one  at  the  west;  and  a 
county  meeting  in  every  county.     My  Journal  was  to  be 


136  TEMPERAISCE   KECOLLECTIONS. 

devoted  to  the  enligbteDraent  of  the  people ;  and  from  our 
office  was  to  go  forth  a  large  amount  of  tracts,  hand- 
bills, etc. 

At  our  ninth  Anniversary,  May,  1845, 1  made  a  strong 
effort  to  secure  the  presence  and  aid  of  Gov.  Briggs,  of 
Massachusetts,  and  Gov.  Slade  of  Vermont.  Both  de- 
clined, owing  to  their  press  of  business,  but  manifested 
great  interest  in  the  cause.  Said  Gov.  Briggs:  "I  be- 
lieve, under  God,  the  cause  is  advancing  all  over  the  land ; 
its  mighty  currents  are  growing  deeper,  and  wider,  and 
carrying  away  one  obstacle  after  another.  Benevolence, 
patriotism,  and  religion  must  slumber,  before  it  will  cease 
to  advance."  And  said  Gov.  Slade :  "  The  present  is  a 
very  important  crisis  in  the  Temperance  Reform,  as  the 
transition  is  being  made  to  Legislative  action,  a  resort 
which  every  intelligent  friend  of  the  cause  must  see  is  in- 
dispensable to  its  final  triumph." 

The  meeting,  which  was  very  large,  was  ably  addressed 
by  Rev.  Dr.  Pohlman,  of  Albany ;  Rev.  J.  P.  Thompson, 
of  New  York ;  and  Rev.  Thomas  P.  Hunt  of  Pennsyl- 
vania.    Mr.  Hunt  supported  a  resolution  : 

"  That  while  the  whole  community  is  groaning  under  the  evils  which 
flow  from  the  traflfic,  it  is  incumbent  upon  the  friends  of  humanity  to  pur- 
sue firmly  and  unflinchingly  every  measure  to  relieve  society  of  it,  con- 
sistent with  the  liquor  dealers'  rights." 

Mr.  Hunt  became  well  known  by  his  attacks  upon  the 
rum-trade  in  Wilmington,  N.  C.,  even  before  his  amusing 
and  striking  speech  before  the  National  Convention  in 
Philadelphia.  No  man  was  ever  more  fearless  in  his  at- 
tacks on  iniquity,  or  master  of  a  more  stinging  satire.  His 
numerous  publications,  and  arduous  labors  in  the  pulpit  and 
on  the  platform,  have  long  entitled  him  to  the  gratitude  of 
the  country.  On  this  occasion  he  was  for  guarding  care- 
fully the  rights  of  the  liquor-seller: 


REV.  T.  P.  HUNT  ON  LIQUOE-SELLERS'  RIGHTS.  137 

"But  what  were  the  rights  of  the  liquor-seller  ?  The  same  as  the  rights 
of  any  other  man,  the  right  to  carry  on  his  business  without  injury  to 
others,  and  none  other.  If  he  can  carry  on  his  business  without  injury 
to  others,  he  may  do  so.  But  can  he  ?  The  liquor-seller  may  say  he  has 
a  right  to  carry  it  on,  provided  he  makes  the  damage  good  that  his  poison 
makes.  I  say  to  him,  '  You  cannot  do  it,  if  you  try.  You  cannot  bring 
back  the  dead  from  the  grave  and  the  damned  from  hell,  put  there  by 
your  business.  You  cannot  dry  up  the  widow's  tears,  nor  be  the  father 
to  her  children,  as  he  was  before  he  fell  in  among  you.  The  liquor-sellers' 
business  cannot  wipe  away  from  the  country  the  disgrace  of  their  busi- 
ness, nor  remove  its  curse  from  the  land.  Your  business  has  filled  hell 
with  groans  unutterable  and  despair  never  dying,  while  the  earth  has  been 
heaving  and  mourning  and  groaning,  filled  with  the  widows  and  the 
orphans'  voices,  from  the  time  your  business  has  commenced  to  the  present 
moment ;  and  you  cannot  deny  it.' " 

The  two  State  Conventions  designed  to  prepare  the 
people  of  the  State  of  'Ney^  York  to  vote  on  the  license 
question,  met,  the  one,  in  June,  at  Albany,  and  the  other 
in  October,  at  Rochester.  Both  were  very  full  and  spirit- 
ed. To  me  it  was  allotted,  as  one  of  the  business  Committee, 
to  prepare  a  series  of  resolutions,  which  were  to  be  dis- 
cussed as  the  basis  of  action,  and  which  drew  out  many 
spirit-stirring  and  powerful  speeches.  Great  indignation 
was  felt  in  both  Conventions,  at  the  omission  of  the  city 
of  New  York  from  the  law,  but  yet  all  felt  the  importance 
of  bringing  the  rest  of  the  State  to'a  bold  and  decided 
action  against  the  license  system.  An  able  address  to 
the  people  was  prepared  and  issued  by  Vice-Chancel- 
lor  Whittlesey,  of  Rochester.  In  presenting  the  reso- 
lutions at  Rochester,  I  remarked,  "That  we  were  not 
in  this  cause  strangers  to  deep  and  solemn  responsibilities ; 
but  we  were  now  in  a  peculiar  position.  Year  after  year 
we  have  asked  the  Legislature  to  permit  the  people  to 
carry  the  question  of  license  or  no  license  to  the  ballot- 
box.  With  the  unreasonable  exception  of  the  city  of  New 
York,  they  have  granted  the  desired  privilege  to  every 


138  TEMPERANCE   RECOLLECTIOXS. 

town  and  city.  And  in  Aj^ril  next,  are  to  go  up  all  our  elec- 
tors throughout  this  vast  State — with  the  exception  of 
New  York. city — and  say  whether  they  will  or  will  not 
legalize  this  most  demoralizing  and  desolating  business. 
Never,  it  is  believed,  has  there  been  a  more  important 
crisis.  Not  only  have  we  to  act,  and  act  rightly,  our- 
selves, but  on  us  it  rests  to  prepare  the  electors  of  these 
States  to  do  their  duty  in  the  matter.  There  is  a  noble 
field  of  action  before  us ;  the  eyes  of  the  world  are  upon 
us,  and  philanthropists  are  everywhere  awaiting  the 
issue." 

For  the  remaining  six  months,  the  subject  engrossed, 
all  hearts.  My  own  and  other  Journals  of  the  day 
were  filled  with  short  and  pithy  appeals  to  the  people. 
Tracts,  handbills  and  pictorial  illustrations  were  scattered 
over  the  State.  Messrs.  Delavan,  Bradford,  R.  Wood,  Azor 
Taber,  Dr.  Pohlman  and  O.  Scovil  were  a  Central  Vigilant 
Committee,  who  issued  through  my  Journal  a  series  of 
articles  on  the  license  question,  addressed  to  various  classes, 
to  farmers,  to  manufacturers,  to  the  Irish,  to  laborers,  to 
ladies,  &c.,  and  a  general  address  to  the  people. 

To  bring  out  the  strength  of  the  State,  I  addressed  a 
letter  to  a  number  of  distinguished  citizens ;  Judge  Smith 
of  Genesee,  Mr.  Delavan,  Alvan  Stew^art,  Gerrit  Smith, 
General  J.  J.  Knox,  and  others,  asking  them  for  a  written 
opinion,  which,  when  received,  was  printed  in  the  Journal. 
Conventions  were  held  in  most  of  the  counties,  and  an 
immense  amount  of  reading  was  circulated  among  the 
people.  And  when  the  day  came  in  which  the  Empire 
State  was  to  cast  its  vote,  (it  had  been  changed  to  the  19th 
of  May,)  many  a  heart  w^ent  up  to  Him,  in  whose  hands 
are  the  hearts  of  all,  that  the  people  might  J)e  led  to  a  right 
decision. 

But  little  doubt  was  there  of  a  favorable  result ;  for 
great  had  been  the  change  of  public  sentiment  throughout 


GLORIOFS  VOTE  IN  N.  Y.  ON  THE  LICENSE  QUESTION.      139 

the  laud.  In  Connecticut  the  previous  year,  a  similar 
election  had  given  temperance  commissioners  in  about 
200  of  220  towns.  In  Michigan,  the  question  had  been 
given  by  the  Legislature  to  the  j)eople ;  and  in  Detroit, 
and  a  large  number  of  towns,  the  vote  had  been  No 
License.  But  the  result  in  ISTew  York  exceeded  all  ex- 
pectation. More  than  five-sixths  of  the  towns  and  cities 
gave  overwhelming  majorities  against  license.  Several 
whole  counties  voted  No  License.  Of  856  towns,  528  voted 
No  License  ;  of  the  528  thus  voting,  382  gave  majori- 
ties of  48,101  ;  of  the  104,  voting  License,  63  gave  majori- 
ties of  2,623.     Excess  of  No  License  majorities  45,478. 

Great  rejoicings  were  manifested  by  the  friends  of  hu- 
manity and  reform  throughout  the  country.  The  licensed 
dealers,  wishing  for  license,  not  merely  to  give  them 
liberty  to  sell,  but  respectability  to  their  vocation,  held 
large. meetings  to  give  vent  to  their  indignation ;  but  it 
was  biting  a  file.  A  congratulatory  State  Temperance 
Convention  was  called  at  Albany,  July  15,  to  express  pub- 
lic thanks,  and  to  consider  what  measures  should  now  be 
taken  to  gain  the  greatest  possible  good  from  the  vote  of 
the  State.  Two  hundred  and  eighteen  delegates  were 
enrolled  as  members.  The  Governor  of  the  State,  Hon. 
William  C.  Bouck,  was  called  to  the  chair,  and  thanks 
were  rendered  to  Almighty  God  for  the  glorious  advance 
the  cause  had  made,  evidenced  in  the  extraordinary  vote 
of  the  people  for  No  License.  Much  gratitude  was  ex- 
pressed to  Mr.  Delavan  and  the  central  Committee,  for 
their  arduous  labors  in  placing  a  copy  of  the  State  Ad- 
dress, at  much  expense,  in  every  family;  also  to  Azor 
Taber,  Esq.,  for  his  able  Report,  and  to  the  lecturers  and 
agents :  General  Riley,  of  Rochester,  Rev.  R.  S.  Crampton, 
W.  H.  Burleigh,  Mr.  Coflin  and  others,  Avho  had  been 
untiring  in  their  labors.  The  Convention  resolved  that, 
in  view  of  the  overwhelming  majority  for  No  License, 


140  TEMPERANCE   RECOLLECTIONS. 

any  attempt  to  secure  the  return  of  a  Legislature  hostile 
to  the  Excise  law,  and  secretly  pledged  to  repeal  it,  would 
be  an  outrage  upon  Republican  principles  and  a  palpable 
endeavor  to  subvert  the  will  of  the  majority,  by  mingling 
the  question  of  temperance  with  politics,  from  which  the 
new  Excise  law  had  separated  it. 

As  our  Tenth  Anniversary  preceded,  a  few  days,  the 
great  vote,  and  was  held  in  an  hour  of  anxiety  and  uncer- 
tainty, it  was  without  the  enthusiasm  which  would  have 
attended  it  in  another  week;  but  it  was  an  excellent 
meeting,  being  ably  addressed  by  Rev.  Albert  Barnes,  of 
Philadelphia,  on  the  resolution  "  That,  in  promoting  the 
temperance  reformation,  while  it  is  proper  to  invoke  the  aid 
of  the  laws  of  the  land,  and  the  principles  of  science,  the 
ultimate  reliance  must  be  on  the  religious  principle,  and 
the  cooperation  of  the  religious  community;  and  that 
every  friend  of  religion  should  be  the  friend  of  the  cause 
of  temperance."  He  showed  that  the  religious  principle, 
be  it  right  or  wrong,  is  the  most  powerful  agency  in  the 
world ;  that,  in  a  community  under  the  influence  of  re- 
ligion, no  reform  can  succeed  that  does  not  call  religion  to 
its  aid;  that  the  temperance  reformation  has  ever  had 
close  connection  with  religion,  and  the  religious  community 
have  the  deepest  interest  in  its  success. 

''The  cause  of  intemperance  opposes  religion,  with  the  boldest  and 
most  open  front.  All  other  evils  put  together  have  not  robbed  the  Church 
of  so  many  distinguished  men  as  that.  Why  then  should  the  Church  stand 
aloof  from  so  good  a  cause  as  this  ?  It  makes  no  infidels,  disrobes  no  min- 
ister of  religion,  bars  out  no  prayers  from  heaven,  infuses  no  pestilential 
air  in  the  way  through  life ;  wherever  its  friends  go,  it  accompanies  them 
as  a  blessing  to  the  end  of  their  days." 

I  had  made  special  effort  to  get  my  friend.  Captain 
Andrew  H.  Foote,  to  address  the  meeting,  as  he  had  just 
returned  from  his  late  temperance  cruise  in  the  Mediterra- 


J 


COMMODORE  Ain)REW  H.  FOOTE.  141 

nean,  but  I  was  left  only  with  the  following  letter,  which 
I  read  to  the  meeting  : 

Cheshire,  lOth  May,  1846. 

Mt  Dear  Sir  : — I  regret  exceedingly  that  orders  to  the  Boston  Station, 
and  suffering  from  ophthalmia,  will  prevent  my  being  present  and  making 
some  remarks  at  the  Temperance  Anniversary.  I  hope  that  the  friends  of 
temperance  will  petition  Congress  until  the  whiskey-ration  shall  be  abol- 
ished, as  this  must  be  the  basis  of  any  permanent  reform  in  the  service. 

The  frigate  Cumberland,  during  her  late  cruise,  fairly  tested  the  experi- 
ment ;  and  conclusively  proved,  that  discipline,  efficiency,  good  morals, 
and  everything  requisite  to  render  a  man-of-war  creditable  to  a  nation,  at 
home  and  abroad,  are  only  to  be  secured  by  the  discontinuance  of  intoxi- 
cating drmks.  Some  officers  of  the  Navy  are,  no  doubt,  still  opposed  to 
abolishing  the  whiskey -ration ;  for  a  large  portion  of  the  crew  of  the  Cum- 
berland, at  the  outset  of  the  cruise,  regarded  it  as  impracticable,  but  ex- 
periment changed  the  sentunent  entirely,  when  the  commissioned  officers 
and  two  hundred  and  fifty  of  the  crew  petitioned  Congress  for  the  abolish- 
ment. 

Respectfully  and  truly  yours, 

A.  H.  FooTE. 
To  the  Corresponding  Secretary  American  Temperance  Union. 

Captain,  and  afterwards  Commodore,  and  Rear-Ad- 
miral  Foote,  was  an  excellent  platform  speaker,  and  ever 
ready  to  throw  his  influence  in  behalf  of  the  temperance 
cause.  His  mind  was  much  bent  on  the  abolition  of 
the  spirit-ration  in  the  navy,  and  he  lived  to  see  it  accom- 
plished. Noble  man  !  he  fought  heroically,  both  moral 
and  civil  battles,  and  died  full  of  honors,  amid  the  lamenta- 
tions of  millions.* 

*  The  following  was  from  a  letter  written  by  a  seaman  on  board  the 
Cumberland,  dated  Port  Mahon,  February  8,  1844: 

"  The  Society  met  in  the  sail-loft,  at  Mahon's  Navy  Yard.  Lieutenant 
Foote  took  the  floor,  and  for  twenty  minutes  addressed  the  meeting,  in  his 
usual  happy  way,  and  concluded  by  inviting  all  to  sign  the  pledge  who 
had  not  done  it.  Forty  new  names  were  added.  We  muster  now  two 
hundred  and  ninety-three  strong;  and,  next  week,  our  Commodore  talks 
about  breaking  up  the  spirit-room,  and  storing  water  in  it  instead  of  rum." 


142  TEMPERANCE   RECOLLECTIONS. 

After  the  Albany  Convention,  in  June,  came  to  a  close, 
most  of  the  members  adjourned  to  the  new  and  mag- 
nificent Delavan  House,  which  had  just  been  opened,  on 
strict  temperance  princij^les,  where  a  splendid  entertain- 
ment was  provided  by  Mr.  Rogers,  the  keeper,  at  which 
one  hundred  and  fifty  ladies  and  gentlemen  sat  down,  and 
where  v/as,  also,  "  a  feast  of  reason  and  a  flow  of  soul." 
Numerous  speeches,  of  wit,  humor,  and  powerful  elo- 
quence, were  made  by  Dr.  Jewett,  Rev.  G.  H.  Ludlow, 
C.  W.  Dennison,  and  the  Mayor  of  Boston,  who  was 
present.  It  was  considered  a  great  triumph  of  temper- 
ance over  the  system  which  had  consecrated  everywhere 
the  traveller's  home  to  drunkenness. 

The  President  of  the  United  States,  Mr.  Polk,  was  re- 
ported as  having  travelled  to  Washington  and  opened  his 
house  without  wine  at  his  table  ;  and  at  the  inauguration 
of  the  Hon.  Edward  Everett  as  President  of  Harvard  Col- 
lege, six  hundred  distinguished  citizens  of  Massachusetts, 
with  numerous  literary  gentlemen  from  other  States,  sat 
down  to  dinner,  without  any  intoxicating  drinks  ;  and  all 
the  rejoicings  of  the  students  were  without  any  ruinous 
excitement.  Indeed,  leading  minds,  in  all  departments, 
were  giving  the  temperance  cause  their  decided  ajDproba- 
tion.  The  venerable  John  Quincy  Adams,  at  a  meeting 
in  his  own  county,  not  long  before,  had  said : 

He  had  been  aa  attentive  and  rejoicing  witness  of  the  successful 
movements  in  favor  of  temperance,  throughout  the  world  ;  although  he  had 
not  entered  on  the  arena,  as  one  of  its  enthusiastic  advocates  and  apostles. 
He  regarded  the  temperance  movement  of  the  present  day  as  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  phenomena  of  the  hmnan  race  ;  operating  simultaneously 
in  every  part  of  the  world,  for  the  reformation  of  a  vice  often  sohtary  in 
itself,  but  infectious  in  its  nature  as  the  small  pox  or  the  plague,  and  com- 
bining all  the  ills  of  war,  famine,  and  pestilence.  Among  those  who  had 
fallen  by  intemperance,  were  included  untold  numbers  who  were  respected 
for  their  talents  and  worth,  and  exalted  among  their  neighbors  or  coun- 
trymen.   He  had  read  an  excellent  discourse  by  Rev.  Albert  Barnes,  show- 


COLD-WATER  ARMIES — YALE  TEMPERANCE  SOCIETY.   143 

ing  the  connection  between  temperance  and  religion ;  and  he  thought  a 
small  portion  of  time  might  not  be  unprofitably  spent  in  inquiring  into 
the  principles  of  total  abstinence,  and  the  doctrine  of  pledges,  as  sanctioned 
by  the  writings  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  the  laws  of  Moses,  and 
the  doctrines  of  Jesus  Christ. 

Under  the  auspices  and  activities  of  the  Rev.  C.  J. 
Warren,  secretary,  more  than  sixty  thousand  children  had 
now  oeen  enrolled,  in  the  State  of  New  York,  in  the  Cold- 
Water  army.  In  Boston,  also,  under  Deacon  Moses 
Grant ;  and  in  Pennsylvania,  under  the  Rev.  T.  L.  Har- 
man,  this  organization  was  securing  the  most  important 
results.  Said  Mr.  Warren,  in  his  enthusiasm,  in  a  letter 
to  me : 

"You,  my  dear  sir,  are  among  the  few  privileged  persons,  that  have 
been  led  up  to  the  mount,  and  there  have  gazed  upon  the  lovely  prospect 
that  will  gladden  the  eyes  of  happy  milUons,  when  this  Juvenile  Temper- 
ance movement  shall  become  universal.  The  2,500,000  boys  who  are  now 
under  fifteen  years  of  age  will  sway  the  destinies  of  this  vast  Republic 
when  it  shall  contain  fifty  millions." 

A  circular  was  addressed  by  the  officers  of  the  New 
York  Juvenile  Association,  to  all  the  county  and  town 
superintendents  of  common  schools,  soliciting  their  coop- 
eration, and  proposing  that  each  teacher  should  be  fur- 
nished with  a  pledge-book,  in  which  children,  with  consent 
of  parents,  should  enrol  their  names  ;  and  that  there  should 
be  in  every  school  a  monthly  meeting,  for  the  Report 
to  be  read,  for  recitation  of  speeches,  dialogues,  singing, 
and  an  address  by  the  leader  ;  reports  for  all  the  schools  to 
be  made  annually  to  some  central  society.  Such  a  system 
could  not  fail,  if  carried  out,  of  being  eminently  successful. 

As  the  year  1841  drew  to  a  close,  the  third  anniver- 
sary of  the  Yale  College  Temperance  Society  was  held, 
Professor  Silliman  in  the  chair,  and  Professor  Goodrich 
offering  prayer.    Professor  Silliman  stated  that,  thirty-five 


144  TEMPERANCE   RECOLLECTIONS. 

years  ago,  he  had  abandoned  the  use  of  all  kinds  of  liquors ; 
and  his  hale  and  hearty  look,  as  he  stood,  with  his  eye 
flashing  with  pleasurable  excitement,  bore  ample  testi- 
mony to  all  who  saw  him,  that  none  of  his  faculties  had 
been  injured  by  the  abandonment.  Professor  Goodrich 
had  frequently  stated  that  much  of  the  drunkenness  of 
college  was  chiefly  on  wine.  The  society  now  numbered 
two  hundred  and  sixty-four  members,  being  more  than 
three  fifths  of  all  the  undergraduates. 

The  social  and  civil  benefits  of  the  temperance  reform 
were  now  looming  up  from  every  quarter ;  but  in  nothing 
did  they  appear  more  signal  than  in  the  diminution  of 
crime.  From  returns  from  twenty  county,  and  twelve 
State,  prisons,  it  appeared  that  there  bad  been,  from  the 
commencement  of  the  work  to  the  close  of  the  year  1844, 
a  constant  diminution  of  crime,  w^ith  an  amazing  increase 
of  population  ;  which  was  uniformly  attributed  by  men  in 
official  stations  to  the  temperance  reform. 

The  temperance  literature,  if  not  as  voluminous  as  in 
some  earlier  days,  was  not  less  valuable.  Lucius  M.  Sargent, 
Esq.,  author  of  the  Temperance  Tales,  was  like  an  over- 
flowing fountain.  No  productions  were  read  more  exten- 
sively, or  with  better  eflect.  Between  the  first,  "My 
Mother's  Gold  Ring,"  and  "  The  Temperance  Meeting  at 
Tattertown,"  they  met  every  want  of  the  community,  over- 
threw every  false  principle  abroad,  and  established  our 
scientific  and  moral  principles  on  a  solid  basis.*   The  Rev. 

*  The  following  tribute  to  the  value  of  these  tales  was  sent  to  Mr.  Sar- 
gent, by  a  female  missionary  in  Siam : 

Dear  Sir  : — A  short  time  since,  an  English  ship  came  in  here,  and  I 
went  on  board,  and  offered,  if  needed,  a  supply  of  the  officers  and  men 
with  Bibles,  which  were  coldly,  but  politely  declined.  The  next  day,  I 
sent  a  dozen  of  the  "  Temperance  Tales,"  with  a  note,  requesting  the  cap- 
tain to  induce  all  his  men  to  read  them  attentively.  In  answer,  I  received 
the  following :  "  The  title-pages  of  the  little  books  are  such  as  will  entice 


TEMPERANCE    LITEEATUEE.  145 

Thomas  P.  Hunt  also  gave  the  public  some  moral  and  in- 
structive works,  chiefly  from  his  own  observation  and  ex- 
perience :  "  Wedding  Days  of  Former  Times"  "  Jessie 
Johnson,"  "  Death  by  Measure,"  "  It  will  not  Injure 
Me  " — books  which  may  well  be  in  every  Sunday-school- 
library,  and  should  never  be  out  of  print.  The  "  Annual 
Reports  of  the  American  Temperance  Society,"  by  Dr. 
Justin  Edwards,  were  invaluable  documents — the  Sixth  Re- 
port especially,  which  entered  into  a  full  discussion  of  the 
license  question ; — a  discussion  that  was  submitted  to 
several  of  the  first  statesmen,  lawyers,  and  divines  of  the 
land,  and  received  their  hearty  approbation.  "  The  In- 
vestigation in  the  Jails  and  Poor-houses  of  the  State  of 
New  York,"  by  Samuel  Chipman,  was  brought  out  in 
1841  ;  "Hannah  Hawkins,"  and  "Fourth  of  July  Ad- 
dress," by  Albert  Rhett,  of  Charleston,  in  1842;  Dr. 
Tyng's  "  Address  to  Medical  Students,"  and  "  Inquirer " 
No.  1.,  in  1843  ;  "  Life  of  J.  B.  Gough,"  "  The  Voice  of 
Blood  from  the  Grave,"  by  Rev.  Edwin  Hall,  of  ISTorwalk, 
in  1845  ;  and  Dr.  Nott's  "Lectures,"  in  1846 ;  all  books  to 
be  held  in  lasting  remembrance. 

my  sailors  to  peruse  them  carefully,  and  they  may,  I  trust,  instil  into  the 
minds  of  myself,  officers,  and  crew,  that  knowledge  which  is  requisite  to 
make  us  happy  here,  and  to  enjoy  everlasting  life  in  a  future  state."  A 
request  for  Bibles  soon  followed,  with  a  promise  that  they  should  be  care- 
fully read.  Here,  the  whole  current  is  evil,  but  I  have  never  seen  one  of 
these  tales  rejected  ;  and  I  have  seen  the  whole  crew  of  a  vessel  seated  on 
the  deck,  bent  in  eager  attention  over  one  of  these  little  works,  while  the 
rough  hand  was  ever  and  anon  drawn  hastily  across  the  weather-beaten 
cheek,  to  stop  the  course  of  the  falling  tear. 


CHAPTER   XL 

World's  Temperance  Convention — Retrospect — Foreign  Operations — For- 
mation of  London  Society — Mr.  Buckingham's  Report — Spread  of  the 
Cause  in  Britain  and  North  of  Europe — Pacific  Ocean — Australia — 
Call  for  a  "World's  Convention — Letter  from  Mr,  Compton — Appoint- 
ment of  delegates — Reception  Meetings  and  Speeches — Covent  Garden 
Theatre — Visit  to  Father  Matthew — Attendance  on  the  Christian  Al- 
liance— Meetings  at  New  Castle,  York,  Edinburgh,  Glasgow,  Liver- 
pool, Huddersfield — Return  to  America  in  Great  Western — Incidents 
Abroad — Dr.  Beecher  on  Sunday-schools — Extracts  from  Speeches — 
Response  in  Broadway  Tabernacle. 

The  little  seed  carried  across  the  water  by  Rev.  Mr. 
Penney  of  Rochester,  and  planted  and  watered  by  Rev. 
Mr.  Cjirre,  of  New  Ross,  in  Ireland,  in  1829,  was  destined 
to  spring  up  and  become  a  great  tree,  under  whose  shade 
the  nations,  burned  and  cursed  by  Alcoholic  fires,  should 
find  life  and  peace.  In  less  than  two  years,  numerous 
temperance  societies  had  sprung  up  in  all  the  three  king- 
doms. Many  temperance  publications  had  been  issued 
from  the  press ;  and  a  general  expectation  was  raised  of 
some  great  and  wonderful  moral  reform. 

On  the  29th  of  June,  1830,  the  London  Society  was 
formed,  much  through  the  agency  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Hewit,  of 
America.  His  Honor,  the  Mayor,  had  promised  to  preside, 
but  was  prevented.  Able  addresses  were  made  by  the 
Solicitor-General  of  Ireland,  Professor  Edgar,  Dr.  Hewit, 
the  Bishop  of  Chester,  and  Mr.  Carre,  of  New  Ross. 
Thirty  societies  had  then  been  formed  in  England,  and 


147 

10,000  tracts  put  in  circulation.  By  this  meeting,  in  con- 
nection with  a  Report  of  a  Parliamentary  Committee  of  six 
hundred  pages,  prepared  by  James  Silk  Buckingham,  giv- 
ing a  minute  account  of  the  extent  and  evils  of  intemper- 
ance, the  attention  of  the  higher  classes  was  widely  arrested; 
while  the  other  extreme  of  society,  in  Lancashire,  at  Pres- 
ton, and  other  places,  had  been  moved,  in  1831-2,  to  great 
and  noble  efforts  to  burst  the  chains  which  had  Ion 2^  held 
them  in  cruel  bondage.  A  large  number  of  miserable, 
worthless  men,  who  had  been  ten,  twenty,  and  even  thirty 
years  cast  off  as  hopeless  drunkards,  became  reformed,  sign- 
ed the  total-abstinence  pledge,  and  related  their  experience 
in  public  meetings,  in  a  manner  similar  to  the  reformed  men 
afterwards  in  the  United  States.  Dr.  Baird,  our  country- 
man, had  kindled  a  temperance  flame  in  the  north  of  Eu- 
rope ;  and,  in  1846,  scarce  a  place  was  known  among  civ- 
ilized men,  where  the  temperance  banner  had  not  been  un- 
furled. In  Ireland,  Father  Matthew  was  holding  on  his 
way,  with  great  power.  Large  national  institutions  were 
well  established,  and  in  successful  operation,  in  England 
and  Scotland.  In  Holland,  Silesia,  Poland,  Germany, 
Prussia,  Sweden,  IsTorway,  Denmark;  at  the  Sandwich 
Islands,  Tahiti;  in  Australia,  in  Africa,  China,  India; 
wherever  missionaries  had  lifted  up  the  standard  of  the 
cross,  there  men  and  women  were  combining  to  rid  the 
world  of  the  monster  evil. 

At  this  time,  there  was  a  demand  for  a  World's  Tem- 
perance Convention,  that  the  advocates  of  temperance 
might  come  from  the  East  and  the  West,  the  North  and 
the  South,  and  by  consultation,  in  London,  the  world's 
capital  and  the  fountain-head  of  religious  and  philanthropic 
influences,  might  bind  themselves  together,  and  become 
more  resolute  and  engaged  in  their  blessed  enterprise.  In 
December,  1845,  I  received  the  following  notice: 


148  TEMPEKANCE  EECOLLECTIONS. 

WORLD'S  TEMPERANCE  CONVENTION. 

The  National  Temperance  Society,  London,  to  the  Corresponding  Secretary 
of  the  American  Temperance  Union: 

London,  18ih  Nov.,  1841. 
Dear  Sir  : — I  have  the  pleasure  of  handing  you  the  enclosed  circular, 
by  which  you  will  perceive  that  a  World's  Temperance  CoNVENifbN  is  at 
hand,  I  have  to  request  your  kind  attention,  in  giving  all  possible  infor- 
mation, throughout  the  United  States,  and  arranging  for  delegates  to  be 
appointed. 

I  have  to  call  your  particular  attention  to  the  desirableness  of  securing 
the  most  ample  and  correct  statistics  of  the  state  of  temperance,  the  nu- 
merical strength  of  the  societies,  the  number  of  houses  for  the  sale  of 
liquor,  open  and  closed,  the  total  consumption,  the  drinking  customs,  and 
other  facts  bearing  upon  the  subject.  We  hope  to  be  provided  with  such 
information,  on  our  part,  and  shall  do  our  best  to  procure  it  from  all  parts 
of  the  world. 

I  am,  dear  sir,  yours  sincerely. 
Rev.  J.  Marsh.  Theodore  Compton. 

A  Meeting  of  the  Committee  was  at  once  called;  and 
it  was  resolved,  that  we  cordially  respond  to  the  proposal 
and  invitation :  and  that  as  many  State  and  local  societies 
as  conveniently  can,  be  invited  to  appoint  and  send  dele- 
gates. How  much  the  world  needed  the  influence  of  such 
a  Convention,  could  not  easily  be  told.  In  France,  Great 
Britain,  Sweden,  Prussia,  and  the  United  States,  the  an- 
nual consumption  of  intoxicating  liquors  was  officially  re- 
ported at  one  thousand  nine  hundred  and  seventy  million, 
nine  hundred  and  sixty-three  thousand,  nine  hundred  and 
eighty-eight  gallons,  valued  at  $546,268,880.  Under  such 
a  terrible  machinery,  the  greater  part  of  the  world's 
degradation  and  woe  was  caused.  The  number  dying  of 
drunkenness,  in  Great  Britain  alone,  was  estimated  at 
60,000  annually;  the  number  in  the  United  States,  at 
30,000.  To  arrest  such  an  evil,  was  felt  to  be  one  of  the 
greatest  objects  for  which  a  Convention  could  be  gathered. 
But  the  distance,  the  expense,  and  the  dangers  of  the  sea, 


DELEGATES   TO    WOELD's    CONVENTION. 


149 


with  some  threats  of  war,  prevented  a  large  delegation 
from  America.  Only  thirty-one  were  found  ready  to  go ; 
but  among  these,  were  gentlemen  of  high  respectability 
and  influence.  ' 


FROM   NEW   YORK. 

Rev.  Samuel  H.  Cox,  D.  D., 
Rev.  Wm.  Patten,  D.  D., 
Rev.  John  Marsh,  D.D., 
Henry  Wager,  Esq., 
Rev.  A.  Wheelock, 
Rev.  Gorham  D.  Abbott, 
WiUiam  Brown,  Esq., 
W.  A.  Passavant. 

MASSACHUSETTS. 

Rev.  E.  N.  Kirk, 
Daniel  Saiford,  Esq., 
H.  E.  Wright, 
J.  D.  Ross, 
Henry  Clapp,  jr., 
Wm.  Lloyd  Garrison, 
Elihu  Burritt, 
Rev.  Joshua  Y.  Hines. 

RHODE    ISLAND. 

Rev.  Dr.  Elton, 
Rev.  H.  S.  Osborn, 


George  Webber,  Esq., 
Rev.  S.  L.  Pomroy. 

PENNSYLVANIA. 

Rev.  J.  Andrews, 
Professor  Caldwell, 
Rev.  Dr.  Pressly, 
Rev.  S.  S.  Smucker,  D.  D. 

OHIO. 

Rev.  Lyman  Beeeher,  D.  D., 
R.  D.  Mussey,  M.  D., 
Dr.  Cappell. 

MICHIGAN. 

Charles  Galpin. 

VIRGINIA. 

Frederic  Douglass. 

KENTUCKY. 

Gen.  T.  C.  Floumoy. 


Letters  of  regret  at  their  inability  to  attend,  were  re- 
ceived from  Presidents  Wayland  and  Olin,  Rev.  Dr.  Tyng, 
Gen.  S.  F.  Gary,  E.  C.  Delavan,  and  others. 

In  England,  there  were  high-raised  expectations  from 
this  gathering  of  the  friends  of  reform. 

"As  a  mere  matter  of  curiosity,"  said  the  Teetotal 
Times,  "  there  will  be  much  to  interest.  Who  does  not 
wish  to  -see  the  founders  of  great  systems,  the  originators 
of  wise  plans,  the  first  apostles  of  important  truths  ?  We 
pray  that  the  spirit  of  wisdom  and  charity  may  shed  his 


150  TEMPEKANCE   RECOLLECTIONS. 

choicest  influences  on  the  assembly,  and  that  its  delibera- 
tions may  prove  instrumental,  through  the  divine  blessing, 
in  accomplishing  a  vast  amount  of  good." 

Through  a  kind  Providence,  several  of  us  were  favored 
with  a  safe  passage  in  the  packet-ship  Victoria,  Captain 
Morgan.  On  our  arrival  in  London,  I  was  welcomed  to 
the  house  of  G.  W.  Atwood,  an  American  merchant,  but 
one  of  the  Convention  Committee.  It  being  Saturday 
evening,  he  proposed  giving  me  the  best  exhibition  I 
could  have,  in  the  week,  of  the  doings  of  Alcohol.  I  had 
seen  them  pictorially ;  but  oh !  the  crowd  of  squalid  pov- 
erty and  vice  presented  to  the  eye  at  the  gin-shops  !  Rot- 
ten men,  and  rotten  Avomen,  rushing  up  to  get  their  glass 
of  gin,  or  sitting  packed  in  large  rooms,  with  their  pots 
of  ale ;  listening,  for  a  moment,  to  shameful  songs,  from 
abandoned  women — "How,"  I  inquired,  "is  a  World's 
Temperance  Convention  to  reach  these  people  ?  "  I  gladly 
escaped,  looking  forward  to  a  peaceful.  Christian  Sabbath, 
when  I  was  gratified  to  hear  Dr.  Campbell,  editor  of  the 
Christian  Witness,  and  Rev.  James  Sherman,  of  the  Surrey 
Chapel. 

The  next  morning,  several  of  our  delegates  were  intro- 
duced to  the  Convention  Committee,  with  whom  we  were 
politely  asked  to  cooperate,  in  preparing  for  business ;  but 
as  I  had  a  week  to  spare,  I  improved  it  in  visiting  Paris, 
and  seeing  its  sights — its  palaces,  its  gardens,  hospitals, 
and  scientific  establishments ;  and  witnessing,  with  my 
own  eyes,  its  wine-drinking  customs.  Drunkenness  was 
not  in  France— as  in  England  and  America — a  prevailing 
vice;  and  yet  every  Frenchman,  with  all  his  meals,  drank 
wine.  In  a  single  year,  the  thirty-four  millions  of  France 
consumed  748,571,429  gallons  of  wine,  but  only  11,000,000 
gallons  of  spirits,  221,000,000  of  cider,  and  74,000,000  of 
beer;    while    England  consumed,  of  beer,  500  millions. 

The  cafe  and  hotel  keepers  were  disposed  to  j^ay  me 


woeld's  tempeeance  convention.  151 

but  little  attention,  when  I  refused  to  order  a  bottle  of 
wine.  But  the  merriment  of  those  who  drank  freely  satis- 
fied me  that  it  was  a  powerful  exciter.  I  found  a  glass  of 
iced  water  tasting  as  delicious  in  Paris  as  in  America; 
though  Americans  often  complained,  when  abroad,  that 
they  could  not  drink  the  water.  In  the  suburbs  of  Paris, 
where  were  the  brandy-shops,  I  saw  in  plenty  the  bloated 
face,  the  bleared  eye,  the  staggering  gait. 

On  Tuesday  morning,  August  4,  it  was  my  happi- 
ness to  meet,  in  the  Theatre  of  the  Literary  Institute, 
the  World's  Temperance  Convention.  Two  hundred 
delegates  were  present.  Ladies  filled  the  galleries.  It 
was  delightful  to  us  to  look  upon  men  whose  writings  we 
had  read,  v/ith  whom  we  had  corresponded,  and  who 
were  everywhere  known  as  the  pioneers  in  the  cause — ^Dr. 
Grindrod,  Rev.  Benjamin  Parsons,  John  Dunlop,  Joseph 
Sturge,  James  Teare,  Mr.  Buckingham,  Dr.  Campbell, 
Rev.  William  Reid,  Samuel  Bowley,  John  Cassell,  Wm. 
Janson — and  to  be  recognized,  and  taken  by  the  hand,  in 
cordial  welcome.  After  organization,  Joseph  Sturge,  of 
Birmingham,  rose  and  offered  a  welcome  address.  He 
said : 

"  A  few  months  ago,  they  were  alarmed  at  the  proba- 
bility of  a  war  with  America ;  but  now,  thank  God,  those 
fears  were  altogether  dispelled.  They  nov;"  saw  their 
American  brethren  crossing  the  Atlantic,  for  the  purpose 
of  assisting  them  in  their  efforts,  and  mingling  with  them, 
on  the  present  occasion,  to  endeavor  to  crush  and  abolish 
one  of  the  greatest  evils  that  ever  afflicted  humanity,  the 
use  of  intoxicating  liquors."  "  The  Secretary  of  the  Amer- 
ican Temperance  Union  (said  the  report)  seconded  the 
resolution.  From  the  time  that  he  first  heard  of  the  Con- 
vention, he  felt  desirous  of  coming  to  it.  The  clouds  of 
war,  however,  hovered  over  us,  and  the  voices  of  our 
wives  and  children  said  ^  You  cannot  go  ;  there  is  danger.' 


152  TEMPERANCE   RECOLLECTIONS. 

But  we  did  not  believe  that  the  dogs  of  war  would  be 
permitted  to  hinder  us  ;  and,  by  the  time  ships  were  ready- 
to  bring  us,  the  voice  of  peace  was  heard,  and  we  came 
away,  amid  the  congratulations  of  many.  God,  in  his 
good  providence,  had  j^ermitted  us  to  come  to  England; 
and  it  delighted  his  heart,  to  see  the  faces  of  men  of  whom 
he  had  heard  for  years,  and  who  had  gloriously  aided  in 
this  good  work." 

I  was  followed  by  Rev.  Dr.  Beecher,  the  object  of 
much  curiosity  and  veneration,  in  a  speech  full  of  emotion 
and  power. 

The  Convention  sat  five  days,  listening  to  able  papers 
which  were  prepared  for  the  occasion ;  to  discussions  of 
important  resolutions ;  to  reports  from  distant  countries, 
and  to  projects  of  reform,  and  greater  extension  of  the 
temperance  cause.  Dr.  Beecher  and  myself  were  made 
members  of  the  Business  Committee,  and  were  often  much 
occupied  in  its  deliberations.  Wednesday  morning,  a  rich 
breakfast  was  given  to  the  American  delegation,  at  Guild- 
hall, at  which  one  hundred  and  fifty  were  present ;  and  in 
the  evening,  meetings  were  held  in  the  city  chapels.  On 
Thursday  evening,  a  large  meeting  was  held  at  Free- 
masons' Hall ;  but  the  crowning  meeting  of  all  was,  on 
Friday  evening,  at  Covent  Garden  Theatre,  which  was 
filled  to  its  utmost  capacity.  Such  a  meeting  for  temper- 
ance had  never  before  been  held  in  London.  Members  of 
the  American  delegation  spoke,  and  did  credit  to  them- 
selves and  to  their  country.  The  Hon.  Lawrence  Hey- 
worth,  M.  P.  for  Liverpool,  brought  forward,  from  the 
Committee,  the  great  principles  of  the  temperance  re- 
form, which  were  ably  discussed  and  unanimously  adopted ; 
and,  from  the  same  committee,  I  brought  forward  a  plan 
for  a  Temperance  Union  for  the  World,  to  have  its  seat  in 
London,  and  a  powerful  press  and  agents  for  all  countries. 


VISIT  TO    FATHER   MATHEW.  153 

The  discussion  continued  a  long  time;  but  at  last  it  Tvas 
laid  on  the  table. 

I  regretted  to  see  so  few  of  the  clergy  of  England  and 
Scotland  in  the  Convention.  It  would  not  be  so  now.  I 
regretted  also  not  to  find  Father  Matthew  there.  An  un- 
willingness to  mingle  with  so  many  of  the  Protestant 
creed,  was  supposed  to  prevent  his  coming.  After  preach- 
ing in  London  on  the  Sabbath,  I  set  my  face  at  once  to 
see  him.  On  my  way,  I  spent  a  night  with  Rev.  Benja- 
min Parsons  (author  of  "Anti-Bacchus"),  at  Stroud,  who, 
knowing  I  was  coming,  had  assembled  his  people  in  a  tem- 
perance tea-party,  in  his  session-room,  to  whom  I  was  in- 
troduced. The  next  morning,  I  called  on  Pev.  Wm.  Jay, 
of  Bath ;  and  in  the  evening,  addressed  a  large  meeting  at 
Bristol,  which  was  got  up  in  honor  of  the  American  dele- 
gation, of  whom  several  were  expected.  A  steamer  took 
me  roughly  to  Cork,  where  I  had  no  difficulty  in  finding 
Father  Matthew.  He  was  living  in  a  very  plain  house. 
A  large  company  were  about  the  door,  waiting  >  to  receive 
the  pledge.  As  I  entered,  he  gave  me  a  cordial  welcome, 
for  we  had  corresponded.  He  gave  the  pledge  to  some 
forty,  with  his  blessing  on  each  individual,  kneeling.  These 
retired,  and  another  batch  came  in.  He  then  took  me  up 
to  his  parlor,  and  insisted  upon  my  dining  with  him. 
While  dinner  was  preparing,  he  took  me  into  the  street, 
and  showed  me  a  large  number  of  liquor-shops,  all  empty. 
"  These,"  said  he,  "  were  formerly  crowded."  On  the  after- 
noon of  the  next  day,  the  Sabbath,  I  attended  with  him 
the  funeral  of  one  of  his  juvenile  band  of  music,  and  walk- 
ed with  him,  next  to  the  bier,  with  a  thousand  people 
following,  but  without  order.  We  went  to  the  cemetery, 
which  he  had  purchased  and  fitted  for  the  j^oor.  In  the 
evening  he  took  me  to  a  temperance  meeting,  where  I 
was  introduced  to  the  Mayor,  and  called  upon  for  a 
speech.      The    next    morning,  after    introducing    me   to 


154  TEMPERANCE    EECOLLECTIONS. 

William  Martin,  the  Quaker  friend,  who  was  the  means  of 
his  temperance  conversion,  and  whom  he  called  his  Tem- 
perance Father,  I  left  him,  for  Dublin.  I  was  impressed 
Avith  his  simplicity,  humility,  kind-heartedness,  and  regard 
for  the  poor;  and,  before  I  left  him,  I  extracted  a  promise 
from  him  that,  God  willing,  he  would  come  to  America. 
His  roll-book  was  before  me,  with  from  five  to  six  million 
names.  On  my  way  to  Dublin,  I  witnessed  the  awful 
desolation  of  the  potato  rot ; — but  not  of  men.  But  one 
drunken  man  met  my  eye.  Even  in  Kilkenny,  I  saw  no 
quarrelling. 

On  my  return  to  London,  I  spent  some  time  with  the 
World's  Evangelical  Alliance.  But  there,  we  American 
delegates  were  pained  with  seeing  a  sad  amount  of  drink- 
ing, among  ministers.  Our  white  glasses  were  subjects 
of  much  merriment.  But  w^e  knew  we  were  right,  and 
that  they,  one  day,  would  see  and  acknowledge  it.  A 
violent  eifort  was  made  to  shut  out  of  the  Alliance  the 
slaveholder  ;  but  not  the  manufacturer  and  vender  of  in- 
toxicating drinks. 

On  Monday  evening,  October  24,  a  closing  temper- 
ance meeting  was  given  to  the  American  delegation,  in 
Exeter  Hall.  It  was  an  immense  one,  and  well  sustained. 
The  press  highly  complimented  the  speakers.  The  Pa- 
triot gave  many  of  the  speeches  in  full. 

Leaving  London,  I  visited  the  excellent  Richard  Dykes 
Alexander,  at  Ipswich,  the  publisher  of  the  Temperance 
Tracts;  and  then  I  set  my  face  homeward,  by  York,  New- 
castle, Edinburgh,  Glasgow,  Liverpool,  and  Huddersfield, 
where  temperance  meetings  were  in  readiness  for  the 
American  delegation.  Both  at  York  and  Glasgow,  I  de- 
livered, on  the  Sabbath,  temperance  sermons ;  and,  at  the 
latter  place,  I  witnessed,  on  Saturday  evening,  those 
scenes  which  had  led  the  Mayor  to  say  that  thirty  thou- 
sand people  went,  Saturday  night,  in  Glasgow,  drunk  to 


BEER    AND   BRANDY-GOD,  ENGLAND'S    BENEFACTOR.    155 

bed,  Only  one  of  the  ministers,  Dr.  Brown,  could  I  then 
find,  who  sympathized  with  ns  in  our  doctrine  of  total  ab- 
stinence ;  though  things  have,  since  then,  much  changed. 
At  Liverpool,  with  Dr.  Beecher,  Dr.  Mussey,  and  several 
others,  I  took  the  Great  "Western,  for  America.  Most 
mercifully  were  we  preserved,  on  encountering  one  of  the 
severest  of  storms.  Our  steamer  was  much  broken  ;  but 
much  prayer  was  offered,  and  we  were  permitted  to  come 
safely  to  the  desired  haven.  "  Oh  !  that  men  would  praise 
the  Lord  for  his  goodness,  and  for  his  loving  kindness  to 
the  children  of  men." 

While  in  England,  I  spent  not  a  little  time  and  strength 
in  kindling  up  a  civil  war.  I  saw  there  the  beer  and 
brandy-god  wringing  out  the  life-blood  from  thousands  and 
tens  of  thousands  of  her  sons.  And  yet  it  was  England's 
greatest  benefactor  !  Everywhere,  the  god  Avas  praised,  as 
bringing  vast  revenues  to  the  crown ;  as  the  life  of  the 
army  and  of  the  navy  ;  as  the  source  and  spring  of  all  men- 
tal energy  and  social  hajDpiness.  The  licensed  victuallers  of 
London  alone,  paid  the  Government  eleven  millions  annu- 
ally. So  I  proposed  in  my  speech,  at  Exeter  Hall,  that,  as 
London  was  full  of  statues  to  distinguished  benefactors, 
a  statue  should  be  erected  in  Hyde  Park  to  England's 
greatest  friend,  the  beer  and  brandy-god,  higher  than  any 
statue  ever  conceived ;  and  to  carry  it  out  as  it  should  be, 
I  would  have,  on  one  side,  carved  by  the  most  eminent 
sculptors,  groups  of  miserable  drunkards,  raving  in  delirium 
tremens,  tearing  the  hair  of  their  wives,  beating  their 
children ;  and,  on  another  side,  I  would  have  paupers, 
lunatics,  and  criminals,  in  chains  and  on  gallowses,  through 
strong  drink ;  on  another,  parents  pressing  into  the  horrid 
temple,  and  leading  their  children  up  to  their  god,  to 
drink  early  of  his  cup.  But  not  ridicule,  it  was  found, 
could  move  England  in  her  self-complacency.  There 
must    be   war — exterminating    war.      "Down   with  the 


156  TEMPERANCE    RECOLLECTIONS. 

tyrant !  "  I  cried ;  so  we  found  it  in  America ;  and  as  I  said 
this,  I  was  received  with  shouts  and  applause.  The  pub- 
lic press  responded,  and  said :  "  These  Americans  have  put 
some  new  thoughts  into  our  minds.  "We  confess  we  are 
converts  to  their  views ;  and  we  are  greatly  mistaken  in 
the  signs  of  the  times,  if  the  late  interviews  which  the  tee- 
totallers have  had  with  the  Americans  have  not  produced 
similar  results  in  the  minds  of  others.  Hence,  a  crusade 
against  the  traffic  has  alreaijy  commenced." 

A  large  Sunday-school  meeting  was  held,  and  the  for- 
mation of  temperance  associations  in  all  the  Sunday- 
schools  was  strenuously  urged.  My  beloved  colleague.  Dr. 
Beecher,  made  a  powerful  speech  on  the  occasion. 

He  compared  the  instructor  of  youth  to  a  person  standing  at  the  rise 
of  some  mighty  river,  having  in  his  hand  two  phials,  the  contents  of  which 
were  capable  of  impregnating  the  whole  of  the  waters.  One,  if  imparted 
to  the  stream,  would  cause  it  to  roll  along  the  instrument  of  disease,  and 
pain,  and  death ;  and  the  man  who  thus  impregnated  it  would  be  justly 
execrated  through  life,  and  would  sink  into  the  grave  amidst  the  maledic- 
tions of  thousands.  But  if  he  uncorked  the  other  phial,  filled  with  the 
elements  of  life  and  vigor,  fruitfulness  and  beauty,  what  happiness  would 
he  not  be  the  means  of  communicating,  and  with  what  gratitude  and  de- 
light would  not  thousands  bless  his  memory  !  Sunday-school  and  other 
teachers  stood  at  the  head  of  such  a  river ;  each  teacher  had  the  water 
of  life  or  death  ;  if  he  poured  in  the  death-Avater,  the  river  would  roll  along 
with  disease  and  death ;  but  with  life  and  health,  if  he  poured  in  the  life- 
giving  liquid — which  he  powerfully  applied  to  the  dispensing  of  intoxica- 
ting drinks,  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  temperance  agency,  on  the  other. 

Rev.  Dr.  Cox,  of  New  York,  offered,  in  the  Conven- 
tion, a  resolution  expressing  entire  confidence  in  the 
practicability  of  the  reformation  of  the  most  confirmed 
drunkards,  both  in  England  and  America. 

He  expressed  regret  that  the  clergy,  instead  of  impelling  the  movement, 
retarded  its  advance,  by  holding  on  the  traces  of  its  progressive  and  tri- 
umphant chariot.  There  could  be  no  objection  to  a  glass  of  water,  when 
it  was  recollected  that  our  common  father,  Adam,  had  nothing  better  for  a 


DOCTORS  COX,  PATTOX,  AND  KIEK.  157 

wedding  dinner.  He  deprecated  despair  of  the  conversion  of  the  most  con- 
firmed drunkard,  as  well  as  the  most  hardened  sinner.  His  colleagues  in 
total  abstinence  sounded  the  blessed  word  "hope,"  in  the  ears  of  the  most 
desponding  drunkard.  The  worst  was  reclaimable,  and  capable  of  being 
made  a  zealous  and  effectual  apostle  of  the  camp,  which  was  the  camp  of 
religion  as  well  as  morality,  and  would  be  the  means  of  diffusing  Christian 
civilization,  on  catholic  principles,  through  the  world.  Heathenism  and 
Mahommedanism  were  antipodes  to  temperance.  Our  reformed  men 
claimed  no  glory  for  themselves.  They  laid  the  crown  assigned  to  them 
at  His  feet  to  whom  all  power,  and  honor,  and  glory  belonged. 

Rev.  E.  IST.  Kirk,  of  Boston,  offered  a  resolution  on 
the  shamefnlness  and  Avickedness  of  exporting  intoxicating 
liquors  from  Christian  to  Pagan  countries,  especially  in 
ships  which  carried  out  missionaries  of  the  cross;  and 
made  a  very  effective  speech.     He  said  : 

While  wine  and  beer  were  sent  out  in  our  missionary  ships  to  the 
castes  of  India,  the  mission  produced  as  much  evil  as  good.  He  was 
not  extreme  in  identifying  Christianity  with  total  abstinence.  The  latter 
was  a  negative,  the  former  a  positive  medium  of  reformation.  But,  of 
one  thing  he  was  well  assured,  that  Christianity  did  not  approve  or  sanction 
the  existence  of  gin-palaces,  and  the  degrading  train  of  vices,  miseries, 
offences  and  crimes,  which  they  engendered.  They  struck  at  the  root  of 
Christianity. 

Kev.  Dr.  Patton,  of  New  York,  offered  a  resolution 
on  the  late  signal  triumph  in  the  State  of  New  York,  on 
the  license  question,  commending  it  as  an  example  to  all 
who  were  suffering  under  the  burdens  of  the  liquor  traffic. 

Dr.  Patton  gave  a  history  of  the  progress  of  the  cause  in  America,  from 
the  first  commencement  of  temperance  by  Dr.  Rush,  in  1804,  till  the  move- 
ment reached  the  high-pressure  form,  in  1S36,  dwelling  on  the  glorious  re- 
fusal of  license  by  the  trial  of  the  ballot-box — five  sixths  of  the  towns 
pronouncing  against  licensing.  He  elociuently  urged  England  to  imitate 
America,  in  abolishing  the  whole  system.  They  should  sing  "God  Save 
the  Queen"  and  "Yankee  Doodle  "  in  concert. 

Frederic  Douglass,  formerly  a  slave  in  Virginia,  was 


158  TEl^IPEEANCE   RECOLLECTIONS. 

received  at  the  Covciit  Garden  Meeting  with  great   ap- 
plause. 

"  He  was  not  a  delegate  from  America,  for  those  who  would  be  anxious 
to  send  him  there,  in  that  capacity,  were  themselves  slaves.  He  was  sorry 
to  say,  there  were  three  millions  of  his  brethren  in  a  state  of  slavery.  He 
loved  the  Americans;  but  they  had  neglected  their  duties  towards  their 
fellow  creatures,  because  they  had  a  skin  not  colored  Uke  their  own. 

In  1842,  when  the  temperance  movement  was  making  such  immense 
progress  among  the  white  men,  a  great  number  of  the  black  men  had  the 
wisdom  and  courage  to  declare  in  favor  of  the  movement.  They  walked 
in  procession  though  Philadelphia,  on  the  first  of  August ;  but  they  were 
met  with  shouts  of  contempt,  with  hurled  brickbats,  and  other  missiles, 
upon  them.  He  did  not  mention  the  fact  with  a  view  of  insulting  his 
brethren  here ;  but  he  wished  that,  when  they  went  home  to  America,  they 
would  themselves,  while  advocating  the  cause  of  their  white  brethren,  also 
seek  to  rescue  the  black  man  from  the  pit  of  slavery  into  which  he  was 
thrown."  (Great  cheering.)  Here  the  chairman  whispered  something  into 
the  speaker's  ear,  when  a  voice  from  the  gallery  cried  out,  "  Don't  interrupt 
him !  Don't  dictate  to  him  ! "  This  caused  the  most  tremendous  cheering 
for  several  minutes,  when  the  speaker  assured  the  audience  the  chairman 
had  only  told  hun  his  time  had  expired.  "  He  concluded  by  calling  on  the 
ministers  in  England  to  aid  in  effecting  that  progress  in  the  cause  which  it 
had  reached  through  the  instrumentality  of  the  American  clergy  in  the 
New  World." 

Mr.  Kirk  asked  if  Mr.  Douglass  had  intimated  that  the  temperance  men 
of  America  were  in  favor  of  slavery  ?  He  said  he  had  not.  Then  Mr.  K. 
had  nothing  to  say. 

An  able  letter,  full  of  important  suggestions,  from  IMr. 
Delavan,  in  America,  was  read  to  the  Convention ;  and  an 
address  was  sent  out  from  the  Convention  to  the  friends 
of  temperance  throughout  the  world. 

A  pleasant  response  to  the  World's  Convention  was 
held,  on  the  29th  of  December,  in  the  Broadway  Taber- 
nacle, Anson  C  Phelps,  Esq.,  presiding.  As  Secretary,  I 
gave  an  account  of  the  Convention,  and  offered  a  series  of 
resolutions,  to  be  adopted  and  sent  to  our  friends  who  had 
BO  hospitably  entertained  us,  the  first  of  which  was : 


EETURNED    HOME.  159 

"  Eesolved,  That  the  World's  Temperance  Convention,  held  in  London, 
on  the  4th  of  August  last,  was  one  which  met  the  views  and  designs  of  the 
friends  of  temperance,  in  all  countries ;  that  it  was  a  noble  convocation  of 
brethren — reformers  and  reformed — who,  in  various  countries,  had  long 
toiled  in  the  cause  ;  that  its  harmony  of  principle,  and  unity  of  action  is 
the  subject  of  devout  gratitude ;  and  that  its  various  resolves  and  acts,  its 
appeals  and  counsels,  should  inspire  us  with  new  zeal  and  devotion  in  our 
blessed  enterprise." 

Animated  and  brilliant  speeches  were  made  by  Rev. 
A.  Wheelock,  Dr.  Patton,  and  Dr.  Cox,  returned  dele- 
gates, and  by  Rev.  Dr.  Tyng ;  and  the  following  hymn, 
composed  by  Rev.  Dr.  Hatfield,  was  sung  by  the  choir, 
the  congregation  all  standing  : 

"  They  come  !  see,  they  come,  from  the  land  and  the  sea ! 
The  friends  of  the  world,  to  the  world's  jubilee ; 
They  come  from  the  north,  from  the  east,  and  the  west, 
To  save  the  inebriate,  to  help  the  distressed  ; 
While  floating  on  high,  is  their  banner  unfurled, 
Inscribed  with  the  motto.  The  Hope  of  the  World. 

They  meet,  to  rehearse  what  Jehovah  hath  done ; 
To  tell  of  the  triumphs  by  temperance  won ; 
To  joy  for  the  drunkard  from  ruin  reclaimed, 
And  weep  for  the  millions  by  liquor  inflamed ; 
While  floating  on  high,  is  their  banner  unfurled, 
Inscribed  with  the  motto,  The  Hope  of  the  World. 

Now,  praised  be  the  God  of  the  winds  and  the  waves ! 
Who  rescued  our  brethren  from  watery  graves. 
Who  gives  us  the  blessing  to  meet  them  once  more. 
His  wonders  to  hear,  and  his  grace  to  adore ; 
While  floating  on  high,  is  our  banner  unfurled, 
Inscribed  with  its  motto,  The  Hope  of  the  World. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

Decision  of  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  on  the  License  Question 
— ^Repeal  of  the  New  York  Law — Dr.  Nott's  Lectures — The  Nott  Con- 
troversy— Famine  in  Ireland — Instructive  Lessons. 

The  friends  of  temperance  entered  on  the  year  1847  in 
great  solicitude  relating  to  the  forthcoming  decision  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  on  the  license  ques- 
tion. Should  it  declare,  as  Messrs.  Webster  and  Choate 
were  arguing,  that  the  States  had  no  constitutional  right 
to  regulate  or  suppress  the  traffic  in  intoxicating  liquors, 
there  would  be  an  end  to  all  hope  of  protection  from  that 
great  evil,  excepting  through  moral  suasion.  All  law  would 
be  for  the  protection  of  the  traffic,  rather  than  the  people. 
It  was  with  great  joy,  therefore,  that  they  heard  on  the 
sixth  of  March,  that  the  unanimous  decision  of  the  Court 
was,  that  "  the  States  have  a  right  to  regulate  the  trade 
in,  and  licensing  the  sale  of  ardent  spirits."  Six  of  the 
nine  judges  were  upon  the  bench,  viz. :  Taney,  McLean, 
Wayne,  Nelson,  Woodbury  and  Grier.  All  gave  full  writ- 
ten opinions,  which  were  very  instructive  and  satisfactory 
to  all  reflecting  men  throughout  the  country.  In  Portland, 
Boston,  Providence,  New  York,  and  other  cities,  large 
public  meetings  were  held,  in  which  the  decision  was 
joyfully  received,  in  full  confidence  in  its  justice  and  its 
important  connection  with  the  future  progress  of  the  tem- 
perance cause,  and  the  welfare  of  the  people. 


KEVEESE    IN   NEW    YORK.  161 

But  in  the  State  of  New  York  joy  was  almost  im- 
mediately turned  into  grief  and  indignation  by  the  vote  of 
the  people,  in  a  large  number  of  toAvns,  reversing  their 
former  decision  on  the  license  question;  and  by  the  act  of, 
the  Legislature  repealing  the  law  of  1845,  and.  throwing', 
the  State  back  under  the  old  Revised  Statutes.  The 
magnitude  of  the  temperance  victory  in  1846  had  placed 
the  friends  of  temperance  at  their  ease,  and  led  them  to 
feel  that  their  v/ork  was  accomplished.  The  facilities  of 
obtaining  drink  in  towns  which  voted  license,  by  adjoin- 
ing towns,  especially  the  open  trade  of  the  great  city  of 
Kew  York,  which  did  not  come  under  the  law,  made  the 
NO  LICENSE  vote  in  many  places  almost  a  nullity.  Many 
politicians  were  most  active  to  make  capital  for  them- 
selves ;  and  now  the  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States  had  extinguished  all  hope,  in  the  thousands 
of  manufacturers  and  venders,  of  resisting  license  law  as 
unconstitutional.  So  that,  with  a  desperate  effort,  in  two 
hundred,  out  of  three  hundred  towns,  which  had  voted  no 
license,  the  decision  was  reversed,  and  in  many  cases  by 
large  majorities ;  and  the  Legislature,  chosen  much  with 
this  object  in  view,  in  a  summary  manner  gave  a  quietus 
to  all  the  temperance  expectation.  Great  was  the  exulta- 
tion among  the  manufacturers,  venders,  and  consumers  of 
strong  drink,  while  the  friends  of  truth  and  humanity 
were  taught  to  be  still,  and  put  their  trust  in  the  power 
of  truth  and  love,  and  the  overrulings  of  a  righteous 
Providence.  They  had  nothing  to  regret  in  all  they  had 
done.  The  law  was  as  successful  as  any  reasonable  man 
could  have  expected.  Said  the  report  of  the  minority  of 
the  Legislature  in  resisting  the  repeal : 

In  the  country  towns  where  the  vote  was  no  license,  to  a  great  extent . 
the  traffic  has  been  abandon ed.     Many  dealers  have  acquiesced  in  the  pub- 
lic sentiment  of  the  State  and  of  their  towns,  and,  in  good  fixith,  obeyed 
the  law.     Many  others  have  apparently  done  so,  and  if  they  have  not 


1G2  TEMPERANCE   RECOLLECTIONS. 

yielded  implicit  obedience  have  closed  their  bars,  or  withdrawn  their 
liquors  from  the  public  gaze,  and  thereby  removed  a  great  temptation  to 
the  young,  the  idle,  and  the  community  at  large. 

Other  States,  however,  held  to  their  integrity.  Maine 
had  enacted  a  law  prohibiting  the  traffic  altogether,  and 
empowering  the  heirs,  or  widow  and  orphans  of  the  drunk- 
ard to  recover  back  the  money  paid  for  liquors — the  first 
law,  thoroughly  prohibitory,  ever  passed  by  a  Christian 
State.  Vermont,  voting  on  the  license  question,  gave 
8,091  majority  against  all  license.  In  New  Hampshii-e, 
many  towns  had  elected  boards  of  excise,  who  had 
refused  to  grant  license.  In  Rhode  Island,  every  town 
but  three,  had,  for  two  years,  voted  no  license.  In 
Massachusetts,  commissioners,  elected  by  the  people,  had, 
with  one  or  two  exceptions,  withheld  all  license.  In  Con- 
necticut, the  Legislature  gave  the  license  question  to  the 
people,  who,  in  three-fourths  of  the  towns;  voted  no  license, 
but  in  1846  they  repealed  the  law,  and  enacted  another 
countenancing  and  sustaining  the  reputable  vender  in  his 
business.  In  New  Jersey,  the  license  question  was  given 
to  the  people,  and  twenty  thousand  petitioners  had  asked 
that  all  sale  might  be  forbidden  on  the  Sabbath.  In 
Pennsylvania,  the  license  question  was  given  to  all  who 
desired  it,  being  eighteen  counties,  and  these  generally 
voted  NO  LICENSE.  In  Indiana,  Michigan,  Iowa,  and 
Wisconsin,  the  question  was  given  to  the  peoj^le ;  about 
half  the  towns  voted  no  license.  In  Iowa,  every  county 
but  Keokuk.  Ohio  and  Michigan  made  it  unconstitutional 
ever  more  to  grant  license.  Such  progress  had  been  made 
throughout  the  country  against  licensing  and  sustaining 
the  traffic.  Its  ruinous  tendencies  were  everywhere  de- 
manding prohibition.  From  the  first  of  May,  1846,  to 
April  30,  1847  ;  12,876  persons  had  been  committed  for 
intoxication  in  New  York  city.      The  minority  report  of 


WICKEDN'ESS    OF   THE   REPEAL.  163 

the  committee  of  the  New  York  Legislature,  just  quoted, 
remonstrating  against  the  repeal,  said  : 

Within  the  last  ninety  days,  and  since  we  have  been  here  convened, 
and  engaged  in  legislative  duties,  our  ears  have  been  pained,  and  our 
sensibilities  aggrieved  almost  by  the  cries  of  twelve  human  beings  sacri- 
ficed  in  the  counties  of  Albany,  Schenectady,  and  Schoharie  upon  the  altar 
of  this  inhuman  traffic.  Four  men  perished  in  the  highway  from  drunken- 
ness ;  two  children  from  drunlcenness,  in  presence  of  their  drunken  parent. 
One  mother  and  five  children  burned  ahve.  One  boy  stabbed  by  drunken 
men  in  the  street,  and  his  bowels  gushed  out ;  and  a  man  in  Rochester 
killed  by  a  blow  on  his  head,  by  a  billet  of  wood,  by  boys  inflamed  by 
whiskey. 

And  yet  the  license  law,  as  given  in  New  York,  in 
1845,  was  not  satisfactory  to  temperance  men,  inasmuch 
as  it  gave  towns  which  voted  license  opportunity  to 
enrich  themselves  on  the  miseries  of  their  neighbors  who 
voted  NO  license  ;  and  especially  New  York  city,  to  flood 
the  whole  State  with  rum  and  ruin.  They,  therefore,  held 
themselves,  when  it  was  repealed,  in  hope  of  something 
better  in  future,  but  in  great  indignation  at  the  indif- 
ference of  many  professedly  good  men,  and  the  arts  of 
base  politicians. 

The  following  language  in  the  Report  of  our  commit- 
tee, at  the  May  Anniversary,  expressed  the  feelings  of  the 
temperance  community : 

"  The  right  of  self-defence  none  can  question.  It  is  a  primary  law  of 
nature.  It  lies  at  the  very  foundation  of  civil  government,  and  is  the 
great  object  of  government.  All  laws  are  enacted  in  self-defence,  to  pro- 
tect the  community  from  existing  or  threatened  evils.  But  what  evil  is 
greater  than  the  traffic  in  intoxicating  drinks,  which  brings  with  it  such  a 
train  of  wailing,  lamentation,  and  wo  ?  War,  famine,"  and  pestilence  are 
trifles  compared  with  it.  Let  a  son  be  brought  wounded  or  slain 
from  the  field  of  battle,  and  it  can  be  endured  ;  let  him  come  home  with 
the  plague  of  Smyrna  or  Egypt,  and  it  can  be  endured  ;  let  him  pine  away 
with  hunger,  and  die  like  the  sons  of  Erin,  and  it  can  be  endured  ;  but  let 
him  come  from  the  shop  of  the  vender,  a  drivelling  drunkard,  and  curse 


164  TEMPERANCE    RECOLLECTIONS. 

his  fatlier  and  his  mother,  and  fall  into  a  drunkard's  grave,  and  it  cannot 
be  endured.  The  question  is  between  the  people  and  the  manufacturers 
and  venders.  It  is  not  between  the  people  and  the  Government.  The 
people  demand  protection.  The  vender  says :  '  You  shall  not  have  it ;  no  law 
shall  intervene  between  me  and  my  business.  If  I  fire  my  gun,  and  send 
my  shot  through  your  streets,  and  kill  your  sons,  no  law  shall  prevent  me.' 
Yea,  the  \'ondcr  says  more :  '  I'll  have  protection ;  I'll  be  licensed  to  do  it. 

'  Licensed  to  do  my  neighbor  harm, 
Licensed  to  kindle  hate  and  strife, 
Licensed  to  nerve  the  robber's  arm, 
Licensed  to  whet  the  murderer's  knife. 

Every  law  shall  be  repealed  which  takes  away  my  license ;  and  if  I  can't 
have  license,  I  will  sell  without  Hcense ;  and  take  vengeance  on  the  man 
who  interferes  with  my  business.' 

"  Here  is  the  conflict  in  the  Empire  State,  and  in  almost  every  other  State 
in  the  Union.  The  acts  of  a  legislature  in  relation  to  the  two  parties,  are 
much  as  they  are  swayed  by  the  parties  themselves,  and  are,  by  no  means, 
the  index  of  truth.  In  giving  to  the  people  the  liberty  of  sapng  at  the 
4)olls  whether  they  wished  protection,  they  sided  with  the  people.  In  taking 
away  that  Hberty,  they  sided  with  the  venders.  The  vender,  even  while  he 
claims  immense  majorities,  and  says  the  people  are  with  him,  and  he  wants 
no  protection,  is  not  willing  to  trust  the  question  with  the  people.  He 
dare  not.  He  knows,  if  he  has  a  majority  with  him,  it  is  a  forced  majority, 
a  bought  majority,  a  miserably  deluded  majority ;  and  that,  as  soon  as  they 
are  unshackled,  and  come  to  the  light,  the  people  will  drive  him  from 
them,  with  burning  indignation.  The  plea  is  offered  that  no  law  sup- 
pressing the  traffic  can  be  enforced,  and  therefore  none  should  ever  be 
enacted.  Why  not  say  the  same  of  laws  against  murder,  arson,  theft,  and 
counterfeiting  ?  Who  says  the  law  cannot  be  enforced,  but  the  rum-sell- 
er ?  And  what  a  spirit  is  his  which  refuses  obedience  !  He  is  the  cause 
of  all  the  difficulty — the  only  nulhfier.  And  are  the  people  never  to  be 
defended  against  unendurable  evils,  because  the  doer  never  chooses  to  re- 
gard punishment  or  law,  or  to  cease  doing  injury?  Surely,  a  government 
that  would  wink  at  this  could  not  be  ordained  of  God,  for  good  ;  but  for 
evil  of  the  basest  kind." 

My  excursion  to  England  deeply  impressed  me  with 
the  importance  of  sustaining  the  cause  in  America ;  for 
I  saw  that  our  friends  there  looked  much  to  our  operation, 


DE.  nott's  lectuees.  165 

and  success  here,  as  their  great  impulse  and  encourage- 
ment ;  and  therefore  forbade  all  despondency  from  the  mo- 
mentary triumphs  of  venders  and  political  aspirants  who 
would  improve  the  moment  for  revolutionizing  the  State. 

In  1846,  the  temperance  lectures  of  Dr.  Nott,  President 
of  Union  College,  which  had  been  exceedingly  admired 
in  their  delivery,  in  various  places,  were  published ; 
attracting  then,  as  they  ever  must  and  will,  much  atten- 
tion. Few  productions  in  the  English  language  had 
excelled  them  in  eloquence ;  but  some  portions  of  them 
drew  forth  severe  animadversion  as  incorrect  in  their 
quotations  from  classical  authorities,  while  other  portions 
were  thought  to  be  at  variance  with  the  fundamental  prin- 
ciples of  true  temperance. 

By  most  temperance  men.  Alcohol  was  considered,  as 
described  by  Dr.  Mussey,  to  be  "  a  thin,  colorless  fluid, 
produced  only  by  the  decomposition  of  vegetable  and 
animal  substances  in  a  state  of  fermentation,  and  the  in- 
toxicating principle  of  all  fermented  liquors,  as  wine,  beer, 
cider,  &c  ;  "  in  no  direct  sense,  therefore,  the  creation  of 
God,  or  existing  in  natural  fruits,  and,  as  an  intoxicating 
principle,  to  be  shunned  by  all  who  took  the  pledge  of 
total  abstinence  from  all  intoxicating  liquors.  It  might, 
indeed,  be  so  mixed  and  mingled  with  other  things,  and 
so  diluted,  as  to  produce  no  visible  effect ;  still  if  it  was 
in  the  cup,  it  gave  it  character.  Dr.  Nott  was  understood 
by  many  to  affirm  that  the  wine  of  the  Bible,  which  was 
pronounced  "  a  blessing,"  while  it  was  not  intoxicating,  had 
in  it  still  the  intoxicating  principle ;  that  this  j^rincij^le 
was  united  to  it  by  God  with  other  elements  of  the  pure 
blood  of  the  grape,  and  that  the  beverage  thus  formed 
s  was  not  only  innocuous,  but  nutritions  and  renovating,  un- 
vil,  increasing  in  potency,  it  became'  in  Bible  language,  a 
"  Mocker,"  when  it  must  no  longer  be  used.  His  language 
was: 


166  TEMPERANCE   RECOLLECTIONS. 

"  The  wiue  (the  wine  of  the  cluster)  must  be  good  wine,  for  it  was  ap- 
proved of  God ;  and,  however  it  may  now  be  spoken  against,  we  believe 
it  to  be  not  the  less  worthy  of  commendation  on  that  account ;  because 
we  believe  it  still  to  be  what  it  then  was,  unintoxicating  wine.  Not  that 
we  affirm  the  pure  blood  of  the  grape,  as  expressed  from  the  ripened 
cluster,  to  have  been  absolutely  untouched  by  fermentation,  but  only  slight- 
ly and  healthily  affected  by  it.  I  am  aware  that  there  are  those  who  con- 
sider the  question  of  fermentation  in  wines  a  question  not  of  degree,  but 
of  totaUty.  '  Pure  alcohol,'  say  they,  '  is  poison  ;  and  because  it  is  so, 
every  beverage  in  which  alcohol  is  contained,  how  minute  soever  the 
quantity,  must  be  poison  also.'  This,  though  plausible,  is  not  conclusive ; 
and  were  it  so,  the  water  A^e  driuk,  nay,  the  very  air  we  breathe,  would 
be  poison,  for  oxygen  and  nitrogen  are  so.  In  like  manner,  though  alcohol 
be  poison,  and  though  every  mixture  of  it  in  any  greater  proportions  than 
that  in  which  God  has  united  it  with  those  other  elements  in  the  pure 
blood  of  the  grape  may  also  be  poison,  it  does  not  follow,  if  so  united,  it 
must  be  so.  On  the  contrary  the  beverage  thus  formed  may  be  not  only 
innocuous,  but  nutritious  and  renovating ;  as  the  noble  Cannaro  found  it 
when  he  drank  the  fresh  new  wine  of  the  recent  vintage  ;  and  yet  this 
same  beverage,  so  bland  and  healthful  while  its  original  elemental  pro- 
portions are  maintained,  may  increase  in  potency  as  its  contained  alcohol  is 
'increased  by  progressive  fermentation,  till,  changed  in  its  nature,  it  be- 
comes what  the  Bible  significantly  calls  it,  '  a  Mocker,'  executing  on  those 
who  drink  it  a  vengeance,  which  the  Bible  no  less  significantly  describes 
by  comparing  it  to  the  bite  of  the  serpent  and  the  sting  of  the  adder." 

The  objection  to  the  Doctor's  theory  was,  that  it  sup- 
posed Alcohol  to  exist  in  the  pure  blood  of  the  grape,  and 
to  be  placed  there  with  other  elements  by  God  himself; 
that  it  helped  form  a  beverage,  nutritious  and  renovat- 
ing, which  it  was  right  to  use  until  its  alcohol  in- 
creased in  potency,  and  so  changed  the  character  of  the 
wine  that  it  became  a  "  mocker ;  "  that  this  would  always 
furnish  an  excuse  for  drinking  alcoholic  beverages  until 
men  became  intoxicated ;  and  that,  if  practicable  to  obtain 
the  wine  which,  though  alcoholic,  was  innocuous,  no  man 
could  ever  draw  the  line  between  the  good  and  the  bad, 
the  intoxicating  and  unintoxicating.  Our  only  safety,  it 
was  believed,  was  in  total  abstinence  from  all  alcoholic 


NOTT   CONTEOVEKSY.  167 

liquors,  because  such  liquors  had  in  them  the  intoxicating 
principle  which  might  commence  a  ruin,  not  to  be  checked 
or  retarded. 

A  controversy  on  these  several  points  was  long  con- 
tinued in  the  Journal.  Several  distinguished  gentlemen, 
as  Dr.  Mussey,  Dr.  Tyng,  L.  M.  Sargent,  Esq.,  Dr.  Calvin 
Chapin,  Chancellor  Walworth,  Mr.  Delavan ;  as  well  as 
Dr.  Nott  himself,  and  the  Editor,  taking  part  in  it.  Dr. 
K.  D.  Mussey,  then  of  Cincinnati,  said,  that  he  regretted 
that  Dr.  Nott  had  taken  so  much  pains  to  show  that  the 
declarations  of  Scripture  necessarily  imply  the  existence 
of  alcohol  in  the  ripe  grape. 

"  The  wine  of  the  cluster  is  without  alcohol,  and  the  taking  of  it  as 
soon  as  it  is  pressed  from  the  fruit,  is  the  same  thing  as  eating  the  grapes. 
A  sound  ripe  grape  is  as  destitute  of  alcohol  as  a  ripe  peach,  or  a  grain 
of  wheat ;  should  a  peach  or  an  apple  be  mashed  or  have  its  skin  broken, 
so  as  to  expose  its  juice  to  the  atmosphere  long  enough  for  a  partial  de- 
composition, and  for  the  generation,  either  of  alcohol  or  of  vinegar,  or  of 
what  is  commonly  called  rot,  the  fruit  is  none  the  better  for  it,  but  the 
worse,  and  should  not  be  eaten.  The  notion  that  a  little  alcohol  makes 
the  juice  of  the  grape  wholesome  for  a  person  in  health,  strikes  me  singu- 
larly." 

Rev.  Dr.  Tyng,  of  N"ew  York,  expressed  himself  great- 
ly interested  in  the  Lectures,  and  affected  by  their  per- 
suasive eloquence  ;  but  he  should  be  greatly  mistaken,  and 
should  rejoice  to  be  so,  if  they  were  not  perverted  by 
those  who  Avould  covet  the  use  of  such  authority  to  a  use 
most  foreign  from  the  purpose  of  their  venerable  author 
and  abhorrent  to  his  feelings.  "  How  direct,"  said  he,  "is 
exposure  to  perversion  in  the  following  passage  : 

"  '  It  is  enough  if  wine  be  placed  on  the  same  footing  as  other  articles 
of  diet,  with  respect  to  each  of  which  the  question  in  relation  to  deleterious 
quaUties  is  a  question  of  degree,  and  not  of  totality.  If  we  procure  the 
best  article  in  our  power,  it  is  all  that  can  be  required  of  us.' " 


168  TEMPERANCE    EECOLLECTIONS. 

Said  Mr.  Sargent,  author  of  Temperance  Tales,  in  a  let- 
ter to  me : 

"You  believe,  I  presume,  that  total  abstinence  means  total  abstinence. 
So  do  I.  Dr.  Beecher,  Dr.  Edwards,  Professor  Stuart,  and  some  others, 
I  presume,  are  of  the  same  opinion.  This  simple  opinion  is  very  intel- 
ligible and  very  safe  ;  this  abstinence  from  all  that  will  intoxicate — all,  as  I 
have  understood  it,  that  contains  alcohol.  All  chemistry  agrees  that  de- 
composition and  fermentation,  without  which  there  can  be  no  alcohol, 
readily  and  speedily  take  place,  at  a  temperature  of  about  60  Fahrenheit. 
New  or  old,  fermented  or  unfermented,  are  ticklish  questions.  The  re- 
sult of  incorporating  such  novel  doctrmes  with  our  system,  will  inevitably 
be  that  every  individual  will  profess  to  be  cautious  that  he  drinks  nothing 
but  good  wine,  containing  a  very  little  alcohol,  so  carefully  proportioned 
that  it  will  not  intoxicate." 

Professor  Stuart,  the  most  eminent  Biblical  critic  of 
his  age,  said : 

' '  I  have  read  Dr.  Nott's  addresses  with  great  pleasure.  My  opinion 
is,  that  it  would  be  better  to  modify  them,  or  make  them  less  equivocal. 
The  cause  cannot  be  supported  on  any  distinction  between  wines  " — doubt- 
less meaning  alcoholic. 

Chancellor  Walworth  sustained  Dr.  ISTott.     He  said : 

"  His  lectures  will  have  the  effect  to  relieve  the  minds  of  many  who 
cannot  believe,  and  who  ought  not  to  believe,  that  the  Scriptures  commend 
as  a  blessing,  or  that  our  Divine  Master  ever  made  or  used  that  which  it 
is  sinful  for  his  erring  followers  to  manufacture  and  use  themselves,  or  to 
commend  for  the  use  of  others.  I  think,  too,  he  has  succeeded  in  show- 
ing, that  the  pen  of  inspiration  only  commends  as  good,  the  pure  and  un- 
intoxicating  blood  of  the  grape  before  the  vinous  fermentation  has  pro- 
gressed so  far  as  to  render  it  inebriating,  and  absolutely  hurtful  to  man." 

The  Chancellor  made  a  distinction  between  alcoholic 
and  intoxicating  liquors.  If  the  former  were  not  of  suf- 
ficient strength  to  intoxicate,  they  were  not  to  be  classed 
with  the  latter.     This  had  been  his  decision  on  the  bench. 

The  recollection  of  this  controversy  is  still  fresh  in  my 


169 

mind,  as  it  was  painful  to  me  then  to  come  into  collision 
with  one  so  venerable  and  beloved  as  the  President  of 
Union  College,  and  his  numerous  friends.  It  was  con- 
soling, however,  to  have  the  President  of  the  Union  say : 

"I  cannot  regret  the  publication  of  your  strictures  upon  these  lectures, 
as  I  believe  it  will  be  productive  of  great  good  to  the  cause  of  which  you 
are  such  a  devoted  and  efficient  friend ;  for  their  pubhcation  in  our  Jour- 
nal wiU  induce  thousands  to  examine  the  Doctor's  lectures  particularly, 
who  might  otherwise  have  let  them  pass  without  a  perusal." 

To  those  who  were  filled  with  alarm  lest  the  lectures 
should  lead  to  the  free  use  of  new  wines,  mild  wines,  home- 
made wines,  etc.,  it  was  gratifying  to  hear  President  Nott 
say  at  the  close  of  the  controversy : 

"  I  HOLD  TO  THE  UTTER  ABANDONMENT  OP  THE  USE  AS  A  BEVERAGE  OF 
DISTILLED  OR  FERMENTED  LIQUORS  OP  EVERY  SORT  ;  ESPECIALLY  OP  WINES, 
WHETHER  GOOD    OR  BAD,  HAVING  MUCH  OR  LITTLE  ALCOHOL  IN  THEM." 

And  here  the  controversy  ended.* 
The  following  eloquent  passage  is  from  Dr.  ISTott's  ad- 
dress to  venders : 

"  Brethren,  innkeepers,  grocers :  whose  business  it  has  been  to  sell  to 
drinkers  the  drunkard's  drink,  has  it  never  occurred  to  your  mind,  that 
the  liquors  dispensed  were  destined,  though  unseen  by  you,  to  blanch 
some  glow  of  health — to  wither  some  blossom  of  hope — to  disturb  some 
asylum  of  peace — to  pollute  some  sanctuary  of  innocence,  or  plant  gratui- 

*  If  any  inquire  what  was  the  difference  between  the  wine  pronounced 
good  wine  and  a  blessing  by  Dr.  Nott,  and  that  which  was  commended  by 
Dr.  Duffield  and  Anti-Bacchus,  be  it  replied  :  the  latter  was  the  juice  of 
the  grape  unfcrmented,  and  without  any  Alcohol.  "The  juice  of  the 
grape,"  said  Dr.  Duffield,  "in  an  unfcrmented  state,  which,  being  new  or 
inspissated  by  boiling,  possessed  no  intoxicating  properties,  but  was  a  cool- 
ing, nourishing  drink,  either  taken  by  itself  or  diluted  by  water."  "  The 
case,"  said  Mr.  Parsons,  "  is  now  to  me  clear,  that  alcoholic  liquors  are 
never  spoken  of  with  approbation  in  any  part  of  the  Bible."  Dr.  Nott, 
as  Chancellor  Walworth  affirms,  considers  wine  touched  with  alcohol  as 
good  wine,  if  it  has  not  in  it  sufficient  to  intoxicate. 
8 


170  TEMPERANCE   RECOLLECTIONS. 

tous,  perhaps  enduring  misery  in  some  bosom  of  joy?  Have  you  never 
in  imagination  followed  the  wretched  inebriate,  whose  glass  you  have  poured 
out,  or  whose  jug  or  bottle  you  have  filled — have  you  never,  in  imag- 
ination, followed  him  to  his  unblessed  and  comfortless  abode  ?  Have  you 
never  mentally  witnessed  the  faded  cheek  and  tearful  eye  of  his  broken- 
hearted wife — never  witnessed  the  wistful  look  and  stifled  cry  of  his  ter- 
ror-stricken children,  waiting  at  nightfall  his  dreaded  return — and  marked 
the  thrill  of  horror  which  the  approaching  sound  of  his  footsteps  sent 
across  their  bosoms  ?  Have  you  never  in  thought  marked  his  rude  entrance, 
— ^his  ferocious  look — his  savage  yell — and  that  demoniacal  phrensy,  under 
the  influence  of  which,  father — husband,  as  he  was,  he  drove  both  wife  and 
children  forth,  exposed  to  the  wintry  blast,  and  the  peltings  of  the  piti- 
less storm,  or,  denying  them  even  this  refuge,  how  he  has  smitten  them 
both  to  the  earth,  beneath  his  murderous  arm  ? 

"  And  ye,  men  of  fortune,  manufacturers,  importers,  wholesale  dealers,, 
will  you  not,  for  the  sake  of  the  yoimg  and  the  old,  the  rich,  the  poor,  the 
happy,  the  miserable,  in  one  word,  for  the  sake  of  our  common  humanity, 
in  all  the  states  and  forms  in  which  it  is  presented,  will  you  not  shut  up 
your  distilleries,  countermand  your  orders,  and  announce  the  heaven-ap- 
proved resolution,  never  hereafter  to  do  aught  to  swell  the  issue  of  these 
waters  of  woe  and  death,  with  which  this  young  Republic  is  already  flood- 
ed ?  Have  you  never  thought,  as  you  rolled  out,  and  delivered  to  the 
purchaser  his  cask,  how  many  mothers  must  mourn — how  many  wives 
must  suffer — how  many  children  must  supplicate — how  many  men  of 
virtue  must  be  corrupted — men  of  honor  debased,  and  of  intelligence  de- 
mented by  partaking  of  that  fatal  poison  ?  These  are  evils  which  God 
registers  in  his  book  of  remembrance,  and  which  the  day  of  judgment 
will  bring  to  light ;  for  at  home  and  abroad,  in  the  city  and  the  country, 
in  the  solitude,  and  by  the  way-side — it  is  not  blessings,  but  curses,  that 
the  venders  of  intoxicating  liquors  dispense  to  their  customers." 

The  year  1847  furnished  two  most  instructive  lessons 
to  the  friends  of  temperance,  both  in  Europe  and  America, 
in  the  famine  which  was  pervading  Ireland.  While  seven 
millions  in  Ireland  were  crying  for  bread,  and  thousands 
had  been  hurried  into  eternity  amid  all  the  agonies  of  star- 
vation, sixty-two  million  bushels  of  bread-stuffs  were  devo- 
ed  in  a  single  year  to  the  creation  of  drinks  which  afforded 
no  nutriment ;  and  not  less  than  fifty-two  millions  of  pounds 
sterling  were  devoted  in  the  United  Kingdom  to  the  crav- 


FAMINE   IN   IRELAND LESSONS   FEOM.  171 

ing  appetite  for  strong  drink, — a  more  heartless  and  cruel 
appropriation  of  the  bounties  of  heaven,  and  the  love  of 
gold  in  man  was  perhaps  never  known.  The  Committee 
of  the  American  Temperance  Union  felt  themselves  called 
upon  to  remonstrate  against  such  an  awful  waste,  and 
such  indifference  to  the  best  interests  of  humanity.  They 
accordingly  sent  out  an  address  to  their  friends  in  England 
and  Ireland,  exhorting  them  to  improve  the  distress  then 
felt  to  show  the  wretchedness  and  cruelty  of  thus  wast- 
ing by  distillation  the  grain  and  fruits  of  heaven,  so  needful 
to  man. 

Another  lesson  taught  was,  the  value  of  temperance  in 
a  time  of  public  calamity.  While  the  poor  drinking  popu- 
lation, by  the  force  of  habit,  wasted  their  all  upon  the 
drink,  they  had  nothing  left  to  buy  bread,  which  was  so 
enormously  dear  as  to  be  beyond  reach  of  the  masses  ;  but 
the  temperance  men,  having  spent  nothing  on  liquor,  were 
now  able  to  give  bread  and  meat  to  themselves  and  their 
children.  A  most  wonderful  preparation  was  the  work 
under  Father  Mathew,  for  this  day  of  anguish.  At  be- 
holding the  spectacle,  his  heart  was  filled  with  joy.  "  Few," 
said  he^j  "  of  those  who  have  signed  the  temperance  pledge 
have  been  severe  sufferers,  as  they  had  been  led  to  a  prov- 
ident care  of  themselves."  And  again  in  a  letter  to  a 
friend : 

"  It  will  delight  you  to  be  assured  that  the  sacred  cause  for  which  we 
have  so  long  and  successfully  labored  is  progressing  gloriously.  In  the 
midst  of  sufferings  even  unto  death,  the  pledge  is  faithfully  observed ;  and 
^e  now— thanks  be  to  God— number  more  in  the  ranks  of  teetotalers,  than 
at  any  other  period.  The  temperance  society  is  being  tested  like  gold  in 
the  furnace  by  these  calamitous  times.  Drunkenness  will  never  again,  while 
the  Divine  assistance  is  vouchsafed,  become  the  national  sin  of  Ireland." 

And  another  lesson,  calling  for  devout  thankfulness, 
was,   that,  through  the  temperance   reformation,  we  at 


172  TEMPERANCE   RECOLLECTIONS. 

this  awful  moment,  when  God  was  thus  afflicting  our 
brethren  beyond  the  sea,  had  bread  enough  and  to  spare. 

Had  our  40,000  distilleries  continued  their  work  of  de- 
struction, enriching  their  owners  by  the  consumption  of 
whiskey  among  millions  at  home  and  abroad,  we  should 
have  been  without  ability  to  aid.  But  by  the  great  reform 
of  1841  and  '2  they  were  reduced  to  10,000  ;  the  bread  stuffs 
were  spared,  and  now,  in  this  year  of  want,  we  were  en- 
abled to  send,  and  had  the  heart  to  send,  in  less  than 
eight  months  forty-two  million  bushels  of  corn  and 
wheat  to  relieve  the  suffering.  England's  rulers  asked 
how  it  could  be  ?  We  told  them  how.  "  Our  people  for- 
bear. We  waste  not  the  gifts  of  heaven  on  brutal,  sensual 
appetite.  Our  j^eople  are  temperate,  prosperous,  philan- 
thropic and  happy."  It  was  an  argument  for  temperance 
they  could  neither  gainsay  nor  resist. 

So  affected  was  Mr.  Brotherton,  M.  P.,  that  he  called 
on  Parliament  to  encourage,  as  the  best  relief,  abstinence 
societies. 

^'  He  understood  the  object  of  the  government  measures  was  to  miti- 
gate the  distress  of  Ireland,  by  providing  food  for  the  people.  It  was 
proposed  to  convert  sugar,  a  necessary  of  life,  into  spirits  and  beer ;  that 
the  barley  might  be  used  for  food.  From  returns  on  the  table  of  the 
house,  it  appeared  that  27  million  gallons  of  spirits  were  annually  con_ 
sumed,  being  at  the  rate  of  one  gallon  for  every  man,  woman  and  child 
in  the  United  kingdom.  In  addition  to  which,  six  million  gallons  of  wine 
and  400  million  gallons  of  ale  were  consumed,  at  a  cost  of  Fifty  Millions 
Sterling.  Upwards  of  40  million  bushels  of  malt  were  charged  with 
duty  for  home  consumption.  Thus  the  produce  of  two  or  three  million 
acres  of  land  might  as  well  be  thrown  into  the  sea ;  for,  in  his  opinion,  in- 
toxicating liquor  produced  nothing  but  poverty,  crime,  disease  and  wretch- 
edness. If  the  House  would  use  their  moral  influence  in  encouragmg 
Abstinence  Societies,  and  discouraging  intemperance,  they  would  do 
more  to  amehorate  the  condition  of  the  people,  increase  their  comforts, 
and  elevate  their  morals  than  by  any  other  measure  whatever.  People  were 
very  apt  to  complain  of  bad  government,  but  it  appeared  they  voluntarily 
t^ed  themselves  to  the  extent  of  Fifty  Millions  Sterling." 


TESTIMONY    OF   ONE   THOUSAND   MEDICAL   MEN.        173 

A  manifest  change  was  this  year  coming  over  the 
ministers  of  Scotland.  Sixty  ministers  of  the  Relief 
Secession  Church  had  in  a  body  signed  the  pledge  ;  and 
united  with  184  ministers  of  the  city  and  county  of  Edin- 
burgh, and  the  provost  magistrates  and  councillors.  The 
existing  custom  of  giving  wines  and  spirits  at  funerals  was 
abolished.  So  slow  is  the  abolition  of  customs  which 
have  become  seated  upon  a  community  ;  though,  once  abol- 
ished, they  appear  so  perfectly  irrational,  useless,  and  even 
injurious,  that  they  could  never  be  brought  back. 

But  the  most  important  event  of  Britain,  this  year, 
was  the  obtaining  of  the  signatures  of  more  than  a  thou- 
sand eminent  medical  men,  throughout  Great  Britain,  to 
the  Declaration : 

"  That  Total  and  Universal  Abstinence  from  Alcoholic 
liquors  and  intoxicating  beverages  of  all  sorts  would  great- 
ly contribute  to  the  health  and  prosperity,  the  morality 
and  the  happiness  of  the  human  race."  Of  these,  184  Avere 
in  London,  26  in  Edinburgh,  184  in  Liverpool,  Yd  in  Man- 
chester, &c. 

One  of  the  greatest  evils,  much  complained  of  in 
America,  was  the  want  odf  such  decision  and  harmony 
among  the  medical  men  on  this  subject.  It  was  feared 
that  many  reformed  men  were  drawn  back  to  drink  anew, 
and  many  families  were  entering  the  path  of  ruin,  through 
the  medical  use  of  wine,  beer,  and  strong  drink.  As  one 
of  the  effects  of  alcohol.  Governor  Briggs,  of  Massachusetts, 
stated  that  a  Committee  of  the  Legislature,  after  careful 
investigation,  had  reported  to  him  that  there  were  from 
1,200  to  1,300  idiots  in  the  State,  and  from  1,100  to  1,200 
of  them  were  born  of  drunken  parents.  The  sixteenth 
Annual  Report  of  the  Massachusetts  Hospital  declared 
that  intemperance  produced  a  large  per  cent,  of  the  cases 
of  insanity;  that  the  continued  use  of  alcoholic  drinks 
produced  functional,  and  soon  organic,  disease  of  the  brain, 


174  TEMPERANCE    EECOLLECTIOXS. 

of  itself  almost  entirely  incurable.  "  A  confused  mind, 
a  horrid  apprehension  of  impending  evil,  timidity  and 
rashness,  and  a  homicidal  propensity,  were  the  common 
symptoms  of  this  form  of  insanity." 

The  21st  of  October,  1848,  was  a  great  and  glorious 
day  for  the  friends  of  Cold  Water  in  Boston,  when  the 
water  from  Lake  Cochituate  was  brought  to  that  city. 
Hundreds  of  thousands  witnessed  the  glad  spectacle.  But 
the  friends  of  Temperance  considered  it  their  day,  and 
turned  out  in  mass,  all  their  societies,  with  music,  badges, 
and  banners.  The  numerous  bands  of  children  were  all 
marshalled  upon  the  Common,  and  when  the  water  was 
let  in,  sang  with  their  ten  thousand  voices  : 

"  My  name  is  Water  ;  I  have  sped 

Through  strange  dark  ways,  untried  before, 

By  pure  desire  of  friendship  led, 
Cochituate's  Ambassador : 

He  sends  four  royal  gifts  by  me. 

Long  life,  health,  peace,  and  purity." 

Several  other  beautiful  temperance  odes  were  prepared 
for  the  occasion  by  Pierpont,  Tappan,  and  others.  By  all 
it  was  considered,  as  was  the  introduction  of  the  Croton 
into  New  York,  a  great  event  for  temperance. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

Atteution  of  the  Christian  Ministry  and  Churches  turned  to  the  Cause — 
Mr.  "Wesley's  rule  restored — Xew  York  and  New  Jersey  Synod — Con- 
vention of  Ministers  in  Philadelphia — Convention  of  Ministers  in  New 
York — Resolutions  of  General  Assembly  Pres.  Church — Ministers' 
Meeting  in  Boston — Resolutions — Meeting  of  200  Ministers  at  Man- 
chester, in  England — Does  TeetotaHsm  tend  to  Infidelity  ? — Sunday 
Liquor  Traffic  in  New  York,  Sermon  on — Petition  to  the  Mayor. 

If  the  ministry  and  the  churches  were,  in  a  measure, 
set  aside  by  the  Washingtonian  movement  and  its  subse- 
quent beneficent  Orders,  they  lost  no  sympathy  with  the 
cause;  and  when  that  marvellous  action  had  spent  its 
force,  called  upon  by  public  sentiment,  they  came  forward 
to  uphold  the  cause  and  save  the  land  from  the  renewed 
desolations  of  intemperance.  And  yet  there  were  difficul- 
ties in  the  way.  Influences  were  at  work,  with  which 
they  could  have  no  sympathy.  But  necessity  was  laid 
upon  them.  Said  the  Committee  of  the  American  Tem- 
perance Union,  in  their  Ninth  Report,  1845  : 

"  Without  decided  aid  and  support  from  the  Church,  the  Temperance 
Reform  may  struggle  on,  and  press  forward,  but  ultimately,  it  must 
languish  and  die.  That  aid  brought  it  up  from  infancy  to  manhood; 
when,  not  from  disaffection,  but  from  a  mistaken  apprehension  that  it  was 
not  needed,  it  left  the  cause  to  the  care  of  others.  But  she  must  return, 
and  cast  her  salt  into  the  fountain,  or  all  will  become  putrid,  and  corrup- 
tion will  seize  the  whole  vitality.  She  must  return  and  give  herself  to  its 
support,  or  the  strongest  hold  of  Satan  can  never  be  vanquished.  She  must 
return  and  cleanse  her  own  garments,  and  wage  a  personal  conflict  for  hei 


176  TEMPERANCE   RECOLLECTIONS. 

own  sake,  and  the  sake  of  her  own  baptized  offspring.  And  if  the  friends 
of  temperance  are  wise,  they  will  seek  the  aid  of  the  ministry  and  the 
churches,  that,  by  mutual  concession  and  action,  they  march  on  together  to 
certain  victory.  Let  not  the  hand  say  to  the  foot,  '  I  have  no  need  of 
thee.'" 

Not  a  little  cause  of  alarm  had  the  Church. for  herself 
and  her  offspring.  Errors  among  the  advocates  of  tem- 
perance ;  false  taste,  and  unauthorized  assumptions,  had 
prejudiced  many  good  men  against  the  entire  cause  ;  and 
one  whole  and  powerful  denomination — and  this  among 
the  higher  classes — had  stood  almost  entirely  aloof,  and 
gloried  in  it ;  but  not  without  humiliation,  in  seeing  some 
of  their  most  distinguished  and  talented  men  thrown  down 
by  drunkenness,  and  cast  out  in  open  disgrace. 

In  1847,  an  association  of  clergymen  and  pious  laymen 
was  formed  in  the  city  of  New  York,  to  be  conducted 
on  Christian  principles  (not  antagonistic  to  other  organi- 
zations, only  to  intemperance),  on  the  sure  basis  of 
the  Word  of  God,  from  Christian  love;  and  to  be  so 
conducted  as  to  commend  itself  to  the  attention  and 
regard  of  all  the  friends  of  religion  and  pure  moral- 
ity. A  similar  organization  was  looked  for  in  every 
town  and  city  throughout  the  land.  The  first  meeting 
of  this  Society  was  held  in  the  Broadway  Tabernacle, 
February  2d,  1848.  Dr.  Peck,  of  the  Methodist  Church, 
President,  was  in  the  chair ;  and  the  meeting  was  most 
ably  addressed  by  Rev.  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  and  Rev. 
Dr.  Tyng.  A  fine  spirit  pervaded  the  meeting,  and  there 
seemed  a  determination  to  rally  all  the  Christian  feeling 
in  the  city,  in  support  of  the  cause.     Said  Dr.  Tyng  : 

"  In  looking  around  upon  our  assembly  to-night,  I  cannot  but  think  it 
is  the  most  magnificent  meeting  I  ever  saw  in  this  tabernacle ;  and  tliat 
for  the  cause  of  temperance.  The  speaker  who  has  addressed  you  [ilr. 
Beecher]  has  called  himself  a  Son  of  temperance.  There  was  no  need  of 
such  an  annunciation ;  for  almost  the  very  father  of  the  cause  was  Lyman 


DE.  TYNG'S    plea    for   CHRISTIAN   SUPPORT.  l77 

Beecher.  In  the  zeal  and  activity  of  other  associations,  the  churches  had 
thought  themselves  absolved  from  any  great  call  to  be  active  in  the  cause. 
Indeed  the  book  might  be  found,  in  which  the  whole  glorious  work  was 
represented  as  the  majestical  triumph  of  infidelity.  It  was  when  priests  and 
Levites  passed  by,  and  the  man  was  left  to  die  on  the  road,  the  good 
Samaritan  came  along  and  took  him  up.  We  began  at  the  tune  when  the 
Church  was  almost  staunched  with  liquor.  The  '  Royal  George,'  a  noble 
ship,  with  eight  hundred  souls  on  board,  was  sunk,  with  a  cargo  of  rum. 
The  Church  was  almost  in  this  condition  m  the  early  days  of  the  reforma- 
tion, when  the  father  of  my  young  friend  raised  the  beacon-light ;  and,  like 
the  electric  fire,  it  spread  from  pole  to  pole,  till  the  great  work  was  done. 
We  now  intend  again  to  raise  the  standard,  in  connection  with  Christianity. 
Religion  perishes  without  it ;  and  without  it  every  moral  cause." 

My  recollections  are  very  vivid  of  the  joyful  anticipa- 
^tioDS,  from  this  meeting,  of  a  revival  of  an  interest  in  the 
cause  in  the  whole  religious  community ;  and  they  were 
not  wholly  disappointed. 

Among  foreign  missionaries,  of  various  boards,  in 
heathen  lands,  and  with  all  the  Home-missionaries,  at  the 
west,  the  cause  was  finding  powerful  aid ;  and  the  Amer- 
ican Tract  Society  published  and  circulated,  within  the 
year,  twenty  thousand  copies  of  "  The  Temperance 
Manual,"  by  Dr.  Justin  Edwards,  an  admirable  work  to 
put  into  the  hands  of  all  young  men. 

In  1847,  Mr.  Wesley's  rule  was  restored  in  the  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Church,  after  many  years  of  hard  struggle, 
to  the  great  joy  of  many  in,  and  out  of,  that  denomina' 
tion. 

At  the  regular  meeting  of  the  New  York  and  New 
Jersey  synod  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  it  was  unani- 
mously 

Resolved,  That,  as  the  churches  are  preeminently  permanent  and  un- 
concealed organizations,  formed  under  the  rules  of  the  Gospel,  and  destined 
to  operate  upon  men  iu  every  age,  the  Synod  desire  to  see  the  cause  of 
temperance  fully  embodied  in  them,  openly  recognized  and  adopted  as  the 
cause  of  God,  of  humanity,  and  sound  morals — a  practical  test  of  obedience 


178  TEMPERANCE   KECOLLECTIOXS. 

to  the  self-control  and  philanthropy  of  Christianity.  And  they  would 
recommend  it  to  the  pastors  of  churches  under  their  care,  to  take,  at  the 
present  time,  such  action  on  the  subject  as  shall  make  a  deep  impression 
on  the  community  around  them,  and  secure  the  great  reformation  in  all 
coming  generations. 

Od  the  8tli  of  March,  1849,  a  large  convention  of  min- 
isters, of  all  denominations,  met  at  Philadelphia,  and  unani- 
mously agreed  in  the  adoption  of  the  principle  of  total  ab- 
stinence as  the  basis  of  union  and  action,  recommending  to 
all  the  ministers  and  churches  that  they  take  efficient  meas- 
ures to  gather  in  all  their  people,  on  temperance  principles. 
The  general  impression  and  acknowledgment  was  that, 
when  the  ministers  and  churches  were  active  in  the  cause, 
then  it  advanced ;  but,  when  they  withheld  their  action, 
and,  in  a  measure,  ceased  to  operate,  that  then  temperance, 
in  most  of  its  essentially  practical  enterprises,  was  at  a 
stand,  and  even  retrograding. 

"  They  soon  organized  a  city  and  county  society,  assuming  that  the 
true  and  efficient  method  of  advancing  the  temperance  reform  is  by  setting 
forth  the  Gospel  of  Christ,  and  by  making  appeals  to  the  public  on  the 
ground  of  morahty,  public  good,  the  present  and  eternal  welfare  of  man, 
and  the  fear  of  the  Lord,  They  sent  out  a  circular  to  every  clergyman  of 
all  denominations,  and  to  superintendents  and  teachers  of  Sunday  schools, 
requesting  cooperation." 

During  the  Anniversary  Aveek,  in  May,  1849,  a  large 
convention  of  ministers  was  held  in  New  York.  Rev.  Dr. 
Dewitt,  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church,  was  called  to  the 
chair.  After  prayer  and  much  deliberation,  and  the  free 
expression  of  many  leading  divines  relating  to  the  state 
of  the  cause,  a  lengthy  and  solemn  declaration  relating  to 
the  obligations,  duties,  and  good  intentions  of  the  min- 
isters and  churches,  was  adopted,  and  ordered  to  be  pub- 
lished and  extensively  circulated.  By  this  meeting,  a 
great  and  good  impulse  was  given  to  the  cause,  in  all  the 
churches. 


GENERAL   ASSEMBLY   AT   PHILADELPHIA.  179 

On  the  2d  of  May,  the  General  Assembly  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  was  held  at  Philadelphia.  I  attend- 
ed, on  behalf  of  the  Convention,  and  being  invited  to  ad- 
dress it,  I  did  so  ;  and  gave  an  account  of  the  I^ew  York 
meeting,  and  read  the  Declaration ;  whereupon  it  was 
unanimously 

Eesolved,  That  the  General  Assembly  do  fully  approve  of  the  same, 
and  recommend  its  principles  and  plans  proposed,  to  all  the  pastors  and 
churches  within  their  bounds. 

On  the  31st  of  May,  a  large  number  of  ministers  met 
in  Boston,  and  put  forth  a  declaration  of  sentiments  rela- 
tive to  the  duties  of  ministers  and  churches  towards  the 
Temperance  cause. 

They  recommended, 

1.  Personal  abstinence  from  all  intoxicating  liquors  as  a  beverage. 

2.  Preaching  on  the  subject  from  the  pulpit,  so  long  as  the  evil  con- 
tinues. 

3.  The  circulation  of  the  Temperance  Manual  and  other  good  publica- 
tions in  every  family. 

4.  Keeping  a  list  of  all  the  famihes  in  every  congregation  who  do  not 
use  intoxicating  drinks. 

6.  Holding  of  pubUc  meetings. 

6.  Notices  of  progress  in  all  annual  reports  of  ecclesiastical  bodies. 

7.  Much  prayer  in  the  closet,  family,  and  social  circle,  for  the  exten- 
sion of  the  cause,  with  a  firm  and  desperate  struggle  with  the  traffic  wher- 
ever it  exists. 

"While  the  attention  of  ministers  and  churches  was  thus 
being  raised  to  the  cause  in  America,  no  less  so  had  it 
been  for  some  time  in  England.  On  the  13th  of  April, 
1848,  a  convention  of  more  than  200  ministers  of  various 
denominations  was  held  in  Manchester,  in  which  a  great 
spirit  of  harmony,  love,  and  zeal  in  the  cause  prevailed. 
Organizations  styled  Christian  Temperance  Unions,  formed 
of  ministers  and  Christians  of  all  denominations,  were  ex- 


180  TEMPERANCE   RECOLLECTIONS. 

tensively  formed.  "  The  Christian  Church,"  said  such, 
"  cannot,  ought  not,  and  must  not  let  the  subject  alone. 
Her  high  claims,  her  divine  mission,  her  benevolent  char- 
acter, her  unsuspected  consistency,  all  require  that  she 
pronounce  her  verdict." 

As  enemies  to  the  cause  in  England  had  charged  it 
with  pandering  to  infidelity,  or  being  a  substitute  for  the 
Gospel,  a  Circular  was  there  issued  to  several  distin- 
guished ministers,  asking  for  their  opinion  on  the  subject. 
Numerous  answers  Avere  soon  received,  denying  the  cor- 
rectness of  the  charge,  and  upholding  the  temperance 
cause  as  in  closest  alliance  with  the  Gospel. 

The  Rev.  Evan  Jones,  of  Wales,  wrote : 

*'  I  have  been  connected  with  teetotalism  ever  since 
1836,  and  have  visited  six  counties;  and  in  all  this  time, 
I  have  heard  of  but  one  single  case  in  which  some  mem- 
bers of  a  teetotal  society  were  suspected  of  infidelity. 
Temperance,  in  Wales,  is  under  the  guidance  of  religious 
men." 

Kev.  Wm.  Reid,  of  Edinburgh.  "  For  twelve  years,  the 
Temperance  question  has  been  the  subject  of  my  thoughts 
and  observation,  and  I  have  never  yet  met  the  individual 
who  has  been  led  to  infidelity  by  the  way  of  total  ab- 
stinence." 

Rev.  John  Pye  Smith,  LL.  D.,  D.  D.,  Hummerton 
Academy.  "  I  have  no  knowledge  of  any  facts  bearing 
upon  the  momentous  charge  brought  against  us.  Infidels 
and  other  ungodly  men,  though  they  may  profess  a  won- 
derful regard  for  religion  and  the  church,  will  draw  per- 
verse conclusions  from  the  best  principles.  Our  place 
is  to  confute  them,  by  practically  showing  the  injustice 
and  absurdity  of  their  reasoning." 

S.  Booth,  Surgeon,  Huddersfield.  "  My  own  observa- 
tion and  experience  go  to  prove  the  very  opposite  of  that 
which  says  that  infidelity  and  teetotalism  are  connected. 


TEETOTALISM   LEADS    NOT   TO    INFIDELITY.  181 

We  have  one  hundred  and  ninety-fiye  reclaimed  charac- 
ters, honorable  and  useful  members  of  society,  and  even 
of  Christian  churches." 

Rev.  Dr.  Marsh,  Leamington.  "  There  was  a  Judas 
among  the  twelve  apostles,  and  a  Simon  Magus  among 
the  professors  at  Samaria.  There  may  be  also  infidels 
among  the  Temperance  societies.  But  what  has  this  to 
do  with  the  principle  of  duty  ?  Is  it  not  also  better  for  a 
man  to  be  a  sober  than  a  drunken  infidel  ?  Here  the  total 
abstinence  plan  has  taken  several  from  drunkenness,  and 
brought  them  to  the  house  of  God." 

Rev.  James  Sheeman,  Surrey  Chapel,  London.  "  Al- 
though I  have  been  denominated  a  teetotaller  for  fourteen 
years,  and  have  had  tolerable  acquaintance  with  teetotal- 
lers and  their  societies,  I  know  not  an  instance  where  infi- 
delity has  been  the  result  of  teetotalism.  How  can  it  ?  I 
can  understand  how  the  drinking  customs  of  England  and 
the  habits  of  intoxication  are  calculated  to  lead  men  to 
infidelity,  and  I  know  men  who  were  once  sober  and  in- 
dustrious men,  who,  by  drinking,  have  found  it  conve- 
nient, for  the  gratification  of  their  appetites,  to  cast  off  all 
restraint,  and  to  rank  themselves  among  the  rejectors  of 
heaven  and  hell.  Yet  how  a  drunkard  who  leaves  his 
swinish  herds,  and  associates  with  sober  men,  can  be 
nearer  infidelity,  is  v>^hat  I  cannot  understand.  I  have  the 
pleasure  every  communion  to  see  at  the  Lord's  table  sev- 
eral who  were  once  the  curse  of  their  families,  the  plague 
of  their  neighborhood,  and  the  grief  of  their  own  souls, 
now  intelligent  and  devoted  members  of  Christ's  church, 
whom  teetotalism  first  led  to  the  house  of  God,  where 
the  Gospel  formed  them  into  new  creatures  in  Christ 
Jesus." 

One  of  the  most  devoted  of  England's  sons  was  Arch- 
deacon Jeftreys,  of  Bombay.  With  a  heart  full  of  love  to 
God  and  man,  he  had  devoted  himself  for  thirty  years  to 


182  TEMPER A.NCE   RECOLLECTIONS. 

the  cause  of  temi^erance  in  India,  satisfied  that  nothing 
else  would  secure  the  Church  of  God  there  from  utter  des- 
olation. For,  as  the  Hindoo  was  bound  by  caste  to  total 
abstinence,  the  moment  he  became  a  Christian,  he, would 
feel  himself  liberated  from  his  bonds,  and  would  at  once 
rush  into  the  use  of  intoxicating  drinks. 

We  all  hoped  to  have  seen  him  at  the  World's  Con- 
vention, but  were  much  disappointed.  We  had  from 
him,  ho\\'ever,  a  letter  addressed  to  the  Secretary,  in 
which  he  said : 

I  take  the  utmost  interest  in  the  cause,  as  twenty-eight  years'  experi- 
ence in  India  with  the  regiments,  and  in  the  hospitals,  has  convinced  me 
that  nothing  in  the  least  effectual  can  be  done  to  arrest  intemperance 
among  the  British  army  or  the  seamen  that  frequent  this  port ;  or  to  wipe 
away  the  disgrace  that  is  daily  brought  upon  our  country  or  upon  our 
common  Christianity  before  the  natives  of  India,  except  upon  this  principle. 
On  receiving  Hindoos  into  the  Christians'  caste,  if  the  missionary  does  not 
exhort  them  to  continue  in  the  same  principle  of  pure  temperance  in 
which  they  have  been  educated  from  their  youth,  and  set  the  same  exam- 
ple in  his  own  person — if  he  once  loosens  the  cord,  or  puts  the  stumbling- 
block  before  their  weak  consciences  by  even  the  sight  of  intoxicating 
drinks  upon  his  own  table,  a  flood  of  intemperance,  with  all  its  crunes,  will 
come  in  upon  the  infant  church  and  spread  over  India ;  and  all  our  mis- 
sionary efforts  will  end,  on  the  whole,  as  a  curse,  and  not  a  blessing,  to  this 
country. 

This  most  excellent  man  died  of  the  cholera,  in  'Eng- 
land,  in  1849.  Of  his  afiectionatc  appeal  on  the  subject 
to  all  who  love  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  fifty  thousand 
copies  had  been  distributed. 

The  exemption  of  the  city  of  New  York  from  the  ex- 
cise law  of  1845,  and  the  repeal  of  that  law  in  '46,  threw 
open  the  whole  State  to  the  cupidity  of  the  liquor-dealers, 
that  multitudes  regarded  no  law  of  God  or  man,  and  were 
led,  for  gain,  to  tread  down  the  Christian  Sabbath,  in 
spite  of  all  barriers  for  its  protection.  This  evil  had  be- 
come so  great,  at  the  close  of  1848,  as  to  cause  alarm 


SUNDAY   LIQUOR   TEAFFIC   IN   NEW    YORK.  183 

among  tlie  friends  of  this  holy  day.  It  was  found  on 
inquiry,  that  not  less  than  four  thousand  houses  were  en- 
gaged in  selling  liquor  on  the  Sabbath,  and  that  these 
houses  were  frequented  by  from  thirty  to  forty  thousand 
persons  ;  though  the  greater  part  of  the  venders  were  for- 
eigners, keepers  of  porter-houses,  beer-shops,  groceries,  etc. 
If  the  sales  of  each  Sabbath  amounted  to  ten  dollars  each 
(and  many,  it  was  well  known,  exceeded  fifty),  two  mil- 
lions of  dollars  were  exchanged  every  Sabbath,  in  New 
York,  for  intoxicating  drinks.  The  results  were,  not  only 
a  great  amount  of  disorder  and  violence  on  the  Sabbath, 
but  of  commitments  for  intoxication,  vagrancy,  and  crime, 
on  Monday  morning,  far  exceeding  any  other  day. 

Having  possessed  myself,  as  much  as  possible,  of  the  facts 
in  the  case,  extent  of  the  traffic,  how  far  it  was  a  licensed 
traffic,  what  were  its  peculiar  traits  and  evils,  and  what 
remedy  could  be  found,  I  prepared  a  discourse  on  the  sub- 
ject, which  I  was  permitted  to  present  in  several  pulpits, 
and  which  was  afterwards  published  and  widely  circulated. 
Several  of  the  clergy  of  the  city  took  a  deep  interest  in 
the  same  subject,  also  many  prominent  laymen ;  and,  on 
the  11th  of  December,  a  large  number  of  citizens  were 
assembled  for  consultation,  at  the  Methodist  Episcoj)al 
Church,  in  Greene  street,  where,  after  much  deliberation, 
and  several  spirited  speeches,  it  v/as  resolved  "  to  procure 
as  many  signatures  as  possible  to  a  petition  to  the  Mayor, 
asking  him  to  interfere,  and  see  that  the  law  was  enforced 
which  forbade  the  evil."  Forty-tAvo  leading  and  influential 
citizens,  with  the  Hon.  Theodore  Frelinghuysen  at  their 
head,  were  appointed  a  Committee.  A  petition  was  draft- 
ed, and  fifteen  thousand  names  were  soon  appended  to  it. 

On  the  2'7th  January,  1849,  the  committee  met  at  the 
Tract  House ;  and,  with  the  petition,  and  roll  of  signa- 
tures, borne  by  myself,  went  in  procession  to  the  City 
Hall,  and  laid  it  before  the  Mayor.     It  was  an  impres- 


184  TEMPERANCE   RECOLLECTIONS. 

sive  spectacle.  He  received  us  courteously;  and  it 
could  have  no  other  than  a  good  effect ;  at  least,  every 
man  engaged  was  thankful  that  he  had  done  his  duty  in 
the  matter.  During  the  next  July,  his  Honor  issued  his 
proclamation  requiring  obedience  to  law  in  the  matter.  It 
was  gratifying  also  to  know  that,  during  the  year,  the 
Legislatures  of  Maryland  and  New  Jersey  had,  by  severe 
enactments,  rescued  this  day  from  that  vile  and  ruinous 
desecration. 

The  same  subject  was  engrossing  the  attention  of  the 
Christian  public  in  England.  In  the  United  Kingdom,  it 
was  reported,  one  hundred  thousand  men  were  employed 
in  making  liquor,  and  two  hundred  thousand  in  selling, 
and  two  millions  in  buying  and  drinking.  In  six  consecu- 
tive years,  the  number  of  commit als  for  drunkenness  in 
London,  was  twenty-five  per  cent.,  and,  in  the  seventh 
year,  thirty-six  per  cent,  of  the  entire  commitments  of  the 
land ;  w^hen,  if  there  were  no  difference  in  the  days,  it 
should  have  been  fourteen  per  cent.  The  friends  of  tem- 
perance and  religion,  of  all  classes,  earnestly  petitioned 
Parliament  for  the  suppression  of  the  evil ;  and  the  result 
was,  the  passage  of  a  bill  closing  all  the  beer  and  spirit 
shops  throughout  the  kingdom,  from  twelve  o'clock  Satur- 
day night,  until  one  o'clock,  p.  m.,  on  Sunday — a  measure 
which,  it  was  estimated  by  the  chief  of  police  in  Bristol, 
would,  in  a  year,  cause  the  diminution  of  prisoners  in  that 
city,  a  thousand  in  number. 

In  the  year  of  which  I  am  writing  appeared,  a  second 
time,  the  cholera,  that  frightful  judgment  of  the  Almighty 
upon  our  race.  The  friends  of  temperance,  in  remem- 
brance of  the  past,  began  to  thank  God  for  the  temper- 
ance reform ;  which  had  once  proved  a  good  protection, 
and  might  be  again.  But  soon  their  joy  was  turned  into 
sorrow ;  for,  under  a  strange  delusion,  and  new  medical 
advice,  the  very  food  of  the  cholera  was  sought  after,  as 


CHOLERA   IN   NEW   TOEK.  185 

the  great  preventive  and  cure.  In  Albany,  in  1832,  of 
three  hundred  and  ninety-six  cases,  all  but  sixteen  ter- 
minated fatally ;  of  these,  one  hundred  and  forty  were  in- 
temperate; thirt^^-eight,  free  drinkers;  one  hundred  and 
thirty-one,  moderate;  five,  total  abstainers.  In  that  city, 
which  had  a  population  of  twenty  thousand  inhabitants, 
eight  thousand  were  members  of  temperance  societies;  of 
these,  only  two  died  of  cholera.  In  the  ravages  of  the 
cholera,  in  this  year,  the  same  discrimination  was  visible. 
In  the  city  of  St.  Louis,  in  a  population  of  seventy-five 
thousand,  were  ten  thousand  deaths ;  but  of  these,  only 
ten  were  Sons  of  Temperance — though  that  association 
numbered  two  thousand  members.  And  in  the  whole 
State  of  Missouri,  among  6,800  Sons  of  Temperance,  there 
had  been,  during  the  year,  but  thirty-five  deatlis  from 
cholera.  In  New  Orleans,  among  twelve  liundred  Sons 
of  Temperance,  only  three  had  been  attacked ;  while 
scores  of  drinking  and  drunken  men  were  swept  ofi:'.  In 
New  York,  where  were  five  thousand  victims,  only  eleven 
persons  in  twelve  Christian  congregations,  as  testified  by 
their  ministei's,  fell  before  it.  And  yet  brandy,  strange  to 
tell,  was  the  universal  panacea,  by  advice  of  physicians, 
who  seemed  to  pander  to  the  appetites  of  drinkers,  and 
willing  to  yield  to  the  cry  of  venders  ready  to  im- 
prove the  chance  to  get  gain.  Even  pledged  temperance 
men,  to  a  surprising  extent,  yielded;  and  numerous 
fiimilies  supplied  themselves,  to  be  l*eady  for  the  terrible 
emergency.  Eminent  physicians  and  medical  men,  as  Dr. 
John  Bell,  of  Philadelphia,  Dr.  Samuel  Woodward,  of 
the  Worcester  Insane  Asylum,  and  Dr.  R.  H.  Mussey,  of 
Cincinnati,  set  themselves  firmly  against  it ;  but  it  was 
like  resisting  the  rolling  in  of  the  ocean  in  a  tempest.  Said 
Dr.  Mussey: 

"  Upon  boats  on  the  rivers,  the  increase  of  brandy-drinking  consequent 
upon  the  approach  of  Cholera  has  been  frightful ;    and  the  mortality  on 


186  TEMPERANCE   RECOLLECTIONS. 

board  those  vessels  has  been  terrible  and  unprecedented.  One  boat  lost 
forty-three ;  another,  forty-seven ;  and  a  third,  fifty  nine  of  its  passengers 
and  crew.  Spirit  is  not  a  protection,  in  any  case.  To  the  temperate,  it  is 
an  active,  exciting  cause." 

Said  Dr.  Woodward : 

"  Brandy  and  water,  sulphur  and  charcoal,  laudanum  and  camphor, 
Stevens'  Specific,  and  Bird's  Specific,  and  all  other  drugs  and  medicines, 
are  useless,  and  worse  than  useless,  as  preventives  of  cholera.  All  intoxi- 
cating drinks  are  injurious ;  and  tobacco,  which  is  never  beneficial,  but 
always  detrimental  to  health,  should  be  abandoned,  and  never  resumed." 

But  the  temperance  cause  suffered  an  injury  from 
which,  it  is  supposed,  it  never  has  recovered.  Many  a 
family  which  had  banished  the  brandy-bottle  and  spirit 
from  their  closets,  returned  them  again ;  and  there,  in 
numerous  cases,  they  have  remained  to  this  day,  ready  to 
step  forth  on  the  call  of'  every  ailment.  The  medical 
faculty,  too,  lost  much  of  their  firmness,  and  have  been 
far  more  ready  than  before  to  commend  the  use  of  alcohol 
in  their  practice.* 

*  During  the  prevalence  of  the  cholera,  a  gentleman,  a  rigid  member 
of  a  religious  society,  and  who  had  been  a  rigid  teetotaller,  desired  his  wife 
to  put  a  tablespoonful  of  brandy  in  his  glass  every  day  at  dinner.  The 
wife  was  surprised  ;  but,  deeming  it  the  result  of  wise  professional  coun- 
sel, she  complied ;  and  the  husband  filled  up  the  glass  with  water,  and 
drank  it.  A  week  passed  by,  and  he  said  to  his  wife  while  at  dinner : 
"  My  dear,  you  have  been  cutting  off  my  supply  of  brandy.  This  has  lost 
its  taste.  It  does  not  produce  the  same  effect  as  at  first."  His  wife  as- 
sured him  that  she  had  given  him  the  full  amount,  and  he  said  nothing  more. 

Another  week  passed  by,  and  he  repeated  to  his  wife  the  conviction 
that  she  had  lessened  the  quantity  of  brandy.  It  did  not  produce  the  same 
effect  as  at  first.  He  could  scarcely  taste  it,  and  the  effects  on  his  stomach 
were  not  perceptible. 

"My  dear,"  said  the  wife,  "you  have  been  taking  two  tablespoonfuls 
every  day,  for  a  w^eek  past — since  you  found  fault  with  me  for  stinting 
yoH."  He  was  thunderstruck.  He  sat  a  few  moments  in  deep  thought, 
and  then  desired  the  decanter  of  brandy  to  brought.  Seizing  it  vehe- 
mently, he  flung  it  from  the  window.  He  saw  his  danger,  and  made  an  end 
of  brandj--drinking. — Cin.  paper. 


CHAPTER   XIV. 

Father  Mathew  in  America — Reception  at  New  York — Sail  up  the  Bay 
from  Staten  Island — Reception  at  Castle  Garden — Speech  of  the 
Mayor — Procession  through  Broadway — Administers  the  Pledge  in 
Brooklyn — Bishop  Hughes  not  Friendly — Meetings  at  the  Cathedral — 
Invitation  to  Boston — Magnificent  "Welcome — Speech  of  Gov.  Briggs 
— Operations  in  Massachusetts — Illness  at  Worcester — Sets  his  Face 
to  the  South — Compliments  at  Washington — Reception  at  Charles- 
ton, New  Orleans,  St.  Louis — Return  to  Ireland — Death — Eulogy. 

On  Saturday  morning,  June  29,  1849, 1  had  the  pleas- 
ure of  taking  Father  Mathew  by  the  hand  at  the  house  of 
Mr.  Nisbeth,  on  Staten  Island,  whither  he  was  taken  from 
the  ship  Ashburton,  belonging  to  Grinnel,  Minturn  &  Co., 
in  which  he  had  been  brought  gratuitously  from  Ireland. 
He  sprang  forward  to  grasp  my  hand  as  he  spied  me  in 
the  crowd ;  as  much  as  to  say,  here  is  a  friend  I  know  in 
this  land  of  strangers.  He  was  not  so  vigorous  and  pow- 
erful as  when  I  saw  him  in  Ireland  ;  had  been  suffering  at 
home  from  illness,  and  was  now  wearied  with  his  voyage. 
His  voice  had  failed,  but  his  eye  was  bright  and  his  heart 
warm.  On  his  voyage  he  held  a  temperance  meeting 
every  Sunday,  and  administered  the  pledge  to  175  of  the 
400  steerage  passengers. 

In  New  York,  there  was  the  same  enthusiasm  in  his 
behalf  as  if  he  had  come  in  the  days  of  his  greatest  glory  • 
and  appropriate  measures  were  at  once  taken  for  his  re- 
ception. On  Monday,  the  city  was  very  much  given  up 
to  the  welcome.     At  ten  o'clock  a  splendid  steamer  was 


188  TEMPERANCE    RECOLLECTIONS. 

in  readiness  at  Castle  Garden,  to  take  the  Common  Coun- 
cil of  the  city,  committees  of  temperance  societies,  and  in- 
vited gentlemen — about  250  in  number — with  Dingle's 
Washington  Band,  to  Staten  Island,  there  to  take  and  bring 
him  to  the  city.  Never  was  a  finer  day,  nor  could  a 
sail  in  the  bay  be  more  delightful.  In  a  short  space  after 
the  boat  reached  the  wharf,  he  appeared  in  a  carriage,  es- 
corted by  the  "  Island  Star  "  division  of  the  Sons  of  Tem- 
perance. As  he  descended  from  his  carriage,  he  was  ad- 
dressed by  Alderman  Haws,  on  the  part  of  the  Common 
Council,  and  assured  of  the  hospitalities  of  the  city.  In  a 
neat  speech  he  replied,  thanking  him  for  the  honor  con- 
ferred upon  him ;  when  he  was  conducted  on  board,  the 
band  playing  Hail  Columbia  and  St.  Patrick's  Day  in  suc- 
cession. On  the  deck,  a  circle  was  formed  for  the  Common 
Council,  to  whom  he  was  introduced ;  when  Alderman 
Kelly,  as  President  of  the  Board  of  Aldermen,  addressed 
him  with  a  hearty  welcome.  He  replied,  saying,  "  It  was 
the  proudest  day  of  his  life.  He  had  never  done  anything 
but  his  duty;  but  whatever  sacrifices  he  had  made,  he 
now  felt  repaid  for  them  all."  The  committees  of  temper- 
ance societies  next  advanced,  headed  by  "William  E, 
Dodge,  Esq.,  who  welcomed  him  to  America  in  behalf  of 
all  the  friends  of  temperance.  "  You  are  no  stranger," 
said  Mr.  Dodge ;  "  there  is  not  a  town  in  the  United 
States  where  your  name  is  not  known.  You  come  a  con- 
queror, but  not  with  the  spoils  of  the  battle-field.  Your 
victories  are  moral — you  have  overthrown  intemperance. 
We  erect,  to-day,  a  monument  to  you,  Father  Mathew. 
It  is  a  monument  of  gratitude  in  our  hearts." 

Mr.  Mathew  was  too  much  overcome  to  make  much  re- 
ply. He  was  then  led  to  the  pilot-house  on  the  upper 
deck,  where  he  was  introduced  to  a  large  number  of  gen- 
tlemen, and  where  he  had  a  fine  oi^portunity  of  seeing  the 
bay  and  shipping,  as  the  boat  steamed  up  to  Williams- 


EECEPTION    OF   FATHER   MATHEW   IN   NEW   YORK.     189 

burg,  and  around  up  the  IS'ortli  River  to  Hoboken.  Many 
of  the  ships  were  decorated  with  flags,  and  many  of  the 
wharves  crowded  with  people.  The  entire  Irish  popula- 
tion seemed  abroad,  to  get  sight  of  the  apostle  of  tem- 
perance. 

Landed  by  5  o'clock  at  the  battery,  he  was  conducted 
to  Castle  Garden,  filled  to  its  utmost  capacity,  where  he 
was-  addressed  by  the  Mayor  of  the  city : 

"  Rev.  Theobald  Mathew  :  In  the  name  of  the  Common  Comicil,  and 
in  behalf  of  the  citizens  of  New  York,  I  welcome  you  to  these  shores,  and 
invite  you  to  accept  the  hospitalities  of  our  city.  The  story  of  your  life 
has  forerun  your  arrival,  and  will  secure  to  you,  wherever  you  may  go 
through  this  wide  country,  the  high  appreciation  of  good  citizens  for  the 
eminent  services  you  have  rendered  to  the  noble- cause  in  which  you  have 
been  engaged.  The  enemy  with  which  you  have  grappled,  is  one  of  the 
du-est  of  the  human  race.  Frightful  are  the  ravages  of  plague  ;  but  the  de- 
stioying  angel  of  intemperance  has  entombed  more  victims  than  any  pesti- 
lence which  has  ever  afflicted  humanity.  Quarantines  and  sanitary  precau- 
tions cannot  check  its  career.  Yet  there  is  one  human  power  which  can 
subdue  this  enemy  of  man.  It  is  the  moral  power  of  a  persuasive,  earnest, 
and  benevolent  heart.  It  is  this  power  which  you  have  so  successfully 
exercised,  and  by  which  you  have  obtained  such  astounding  results. 

"  In  your  progress  through  this  country,  we  wish  you  much  health  and 
pleasure." 

Father  Mathew  said,  in  rej)ly : 

"  I  have  long  wished  for  the  pleasure  I  now  enjoy.  I  feel  prouder  on 
this  day  than  I  can  give  utterance  to  ;  gratitude  is  too  swelling  to  find  words 
of  sufficient  expression  to  convey  any  sense  of  it.  All  I  can  say  is,  I  thank 
you — from  my  heart,  I  thank  you.  I  am  only  sorry  that  ill-health  prevents 
my  addressing  you  as  I  ought ;  the  intensity  of  my  feelings  precludes  the 
possibiUty  of  giving  utterance  to  them." 

A  procession  was  then  foi-med,  consisting  of  numerous 
temperance  societies,  with  banners  and  music ;  several 
Irish  benevolent  societies ;  a  large  number  of  carriages, 
which  moved  up  Broadway,  through  an  immense  crowd  on 


190  TElsrPERANCE   KECOLLECTIONS. 

the  sidewalks,  to  the  City  Hall,  where  he  appeared  a  few 
inoments  on  the  balustrade,  and  was  loudly  cheered  by 
the  multitude  below  ;  after  which  he  was  conducted  to  the 
Irving  House,  where  he  was  entertained  by  the  Common 
Council  with  a  dinner,  on  strict  temperance  principles. 

The  next  day,  he  gave  a  reception  in  the  Governor's 
room  in  the  City  Hall.  An  interminable  stream  of  men, 
women,  and  children  passed  by  him  from  10  in  the  morn- 
ing, shaking  his  hand.  Some  knelt  before  him  to  take  the 
pledge.  In  the  evening  he  was  welcomed  at  the  Broad- 
way Tabernacle  by  the  American  Temperance  Union. 
Prayer  Avas  offered  by  Rev.  Dr.  De  Witt.  The  secretary 
said  it  was  his  usual  business  to  read  a  report.  He  now 
had  but  a  very  short  one,  and  that  was,  Fatiiee  Mathew 
HAS  ARRIVED  (loud  checring).  Dr.  Cox  moved  the  adop- 
tion of  the  report — ^that  it  be  printed  and  spread  over  the 
land.  In  an  unique  but  most  happy  siDcech,  Dr.  Cox  then 
gave  him  a  hearty  welcome.  This  was  followed  by  a 
lengthy  address  from  the  President,  Chancellor  Walworth, 
who  was  unavoidably  absent,  and  which,  in  his  absence,  I 
read.  The  band  then  played  the  national  air  of  Ireland, 
St.  Patrick's  Day,  the  entire  audience  standing.  All  eyes 
were  now  upon  Father  Mathew,  to  hear  what  he  would 
say.     He  rose,  and  uttered  himself  as  follows  : 

"  Mr.  Chairman — Ladies  and  gentlemen  :  With  all  the  feelings  of  a  warm 
heart,  I  thank  you  for  tliis  reception.  The  greeting  which  I  have  already 
received  far  exceeded  my  humble  merits.  I  know  my  own  unworthiness, 
and  little  did  I  anticipate  the  welcome  which  was  so  cordially  extended  to 
me  by  the  American  people.  I  had  long  seen  with  the  deepest  sorrow  the 
miserable  and  degraded  state  to  which  my  countrymen  were  reduced  by 
the  ravages  of  intemperance.  I  knew,  in  view  of  this,  the  difficulties  I  had 
to  encounter,  but,  in  a  trust  in  that  God  who  always  aids  the  cause  of  the 
righteous,  I  set  about  the  task  before  me  with  a  zeal  and  willingness  which 
so  far  have  been  blessed  with  success.  I  proceeded  in  the  great  cause  of 
temperance.  I  knew  that  the  vices  of  my  countrymen  proceeded  from 
their  position  and  not  from  tho  heart ;  they  were  not  wedded  to  intemper- 


FATHER   MATHEW    IN   NEW   YOEK.  191 

ance,  and  only  wanted  enlightenment.  I  went  among  them,  and  urged 
upon  them  the  fearful  state  to  which  they  were  brought  by  intemperance, 
and  upwards  of  five  millions  of  them  took  the  pledge.  I  cannot  yet  speak 
of  the  conduct  of  their  countrymen  here.  I  was  sorry  to  hear  of  so  many 
hundreds  who  have  been  guilty  of  violating  their  pledges  ;  and  from  my 
intimate  knowledge  of  my  countrymen,  I  feel  confident  that  after  my 
visit,  those  few  who  have  fallen  into  the  vice  of  intemperance  will  return 
to  the  path  of  temperance." 

Rev.  Mr.  Schneller,  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  in 
Brooklyn,  followed  with  a  welcome  address  from  his 
comitrymen  in  America  and  the  city  of  Brooklyn ;  when 
the  beautiful  ode,  "  Sparkling  and  Bright,"  was  sung  by 
the  assembly  standing,  and  all  were  dismissed. 

As  a  little  time  was  required  for  rest,  and  he  had  been 
afflicted  with  a  slight  paralysis,  and  the  cholera  was  fright- 
fully raging,  Father  Mathew  did  not  enter  immediately 
into  a  great  field  of  labor.  I  soon,  however,  found  that  he 
was  administering  the  pledge  to  numbers  of  his  country- 
men in  Rev.  Mr.  Schneller's  church  in  Brooklyn.  The 
scenes  there  were  much  as  those  I  had  witnessed  in  Cork. 
Large  numbers  were  in  a  few  days  enrolled.  I  called  on 
his  behalf  upon  Bishop  Hughes  to  see  what  arrangements 
could  be  made  for  him.  The  Bishop  unhesitatingly  said 
he  did  not  approve  of  his  operations,  he  thought  the  church 
had  a  better  way.  But  the  next  day  he  called  upon  him 
at  the  Irving  House,  and  invited  him  to  his  cathedral,  and 
to  stay  with  him.  But  he  assigned  him  only  a  small 
room  in  the  basement  of  the  cathedral,  altogether  too 
small  and  obscure.  It  was  filled  for  several  days  ;  much, 
however,  to  the  chagrin  and  mortification  of  Father 
Mathew,  who  unhesitatingly  said,  he  would  never  have 
gone,  had  he  supposed  he  should  have  had  a  place  so  small 
and  obscure  assigned  him. 

But  an  invitation  awaited  him  from  Boston,  where  a 
great  desire  was  manifested  to  welcome  him  ;  and  on  the 


192  TEMPEEANCE   RECOLLECTIONS. 

23d  of  July  he  left  New  York  with  his  Secretary,  Mr. 
O'Meara,  for  that  city.  On  his  arrival  in  the  neighbor- 
hood, a  large  committee  of  respectable  gentlemen  met  him. 
On  Tuesday  he  was  introduced  to  the  city,  which  was 
much  given  up  to  the  welcome.  The  multitude  of  men, 
women  and  children  that  were  assembled  to  see  his  face, 
was  immense.  As  he  descended  from  his  carriage.  Dr. 
John  C.  Warren,  ever  foremost  in  teriiperance  operations, 
made  him  an  address  in  behalf  of  the  Massachusetts  Tem- 
perance Society.  By  the  Franklin  School  House,  the  tem- 
perance societies  were  all  forming  under  the  supervision 
of  Moses  Kimball,  Esq.,  Chief  Marshal  of  the  day.  Fa- 
ther Mathew  was  seated  in  a  barouche  drawn  by  four  splen- 
did horses,  with  Dr.  "Warren,  Alderman  (Deacon)  Grant, 
and  Mr.  O'Brien.  Nearly  twenty  societies  with  splendid 
banners  and  bands  of  music  followed,  marching  through 
all  the  principal  streets  of  the  city ;  arriving  at  noon  at  the 
•  Adams  House  for  refreshments.  At  4  p.  m.  all  were  gath- 
ered on  the  Common,  where,  on  a  platfoiTQ,  silence  being 
restored,  Governor  Briggs  addressed  him  :- 

"His  Excellency  alluded  to  the  exertions  of  Father  Mathew  in  the 
Temperance  movement  in  Ireland,  in  England,  and  in  Scotland,  and  hoped 
that  his  visit  to  this  continent  would  be  productive  of  much  good.  The 
people  of  this  country  sympathize  with  the  Irish  in  their  present  sad  con- 
dition, and  deplore  that  political  oppression  had  brought  them  to  such  a 
pass.  But  we  live  in  hope,  and  from  you,  Father  Mathew,  said  the  Gov- 
ernor, we  expect  much  for  Ireland  and  for  humanity.  Though  you  make 
your  first  appearance  in  Boston  to-day,  you  are  no  stranger  to  its  inhabi- 
tants, or  to  the  inhabitants  of  this  Commonwealth,  who  welcome  you — 
not  as  the  warrior,  crowned  with  bloody  laurels — but  as  the  chieftain  of  a 
noble  cause,  and  the  benefactor  of  your  species.  By  your  fair  character 
and  reverend  name,  the  hearts  of  the  people  of  Massachusetts  have  been 
drawn  out  toward  the  Irish  here.  In  behalf  of  the  people  of  Massachusetts 
the  Governor  welcomed  the  Christian  philanthropist  of  Ireland  to  visit  the 
workshops,  the  schools,  and  the  institutions  of  learning  and  charity." 

,  Father  Mathew  replied  in   a   spirit  of  humility  and 


I 


FATHER  MATHEW   IN   BOSTON.  193 

thankfulness,  remarking  that  he  had  long  desired  to  ex- 
press the  thanks  of  poor,  unfortunate  Ireland  to  the  peo- 
ple of  Boston — for  Boston  was  the  first  to  send  a  vessel  of 
war  laden  with  food  to  the  starving  Irish.  He  hoped  to 
aid  in  the  regeneration  of  his  own  people,  whose  happy- 
lot  it  is  to  enjoy  freedom  beneath  the  wings  of  the  Ameri- 
can Eagle. 

Several  spirited  speeches  were  made  from  the  stand  by- 
Dennis  W.  O'Brien,  Rev.  C.  Waterson,  Mr.  Leland,  of  Il- 
linois, Father  Taylor,  Rev.  Lyman  Beecher,  D.  D.,  and 
Deacon  Grant,  who  said  every  body  was  happy  on  this 
occasion  but  the  rumseller. 

The  next  morning  Father  Mathew  was  received  by 
the  City  Government,  at  the  City  Hall,  and  cordially  wel- 
comed to  Boston,  and  offered  all  the  hospitality  of  the 
city,  in  a  speech  from  Mayor  Bigelow ;  after  which  he 
was  taken  to  the  Custom  House,  Exchange  and  other 
public  places. 

Faneuil  Hall  was  at  once  opened  for  the  Apostle  of 
temperance,  where  he  might  meet  his  countrymen,  and  ad- 
minister to  them  the  pledge.  He  made  no  pretensions  to 
oratory,  but  he  had  a  kind  word,  which  entered  into  the 
heart  and  soul  of  the  Irish  more  readily  than  would  the 
highest  strains  of  eloquence.  All  his  speeches  and  teach- 
ings were  of  a  most  practical  character.  He  impressed 
upon  them,  in  a  few  words,  the  importance  of  laying 
strongly  the  foundations  of  temperance,  and  then  avoiding 
every  place  and  thing  which  would  at  all  disturb  them. 
He  was  prompt  to  urge  his  countrymen  to  escape  from  the 
toil  and  drudgery  and  temptations  of  cities,  and  pressed 
til  em  to  remove,  as  early  as  possible,  to  the  West,  where 
there  was  land  enough  to  support  countless  millions,  and 
where,  by  honest  industry,  every  man  can  soon  become 
the  owner  of  the  soil  he  lives  on.  He  pleasantly  invited 
every  one  who  wished,  to  step  forward  and  take  the 
9 


194  TEMPERANCE    RECOLLECTIONS. 

pledge.  lie  did  not  require  it  of  every  one  to  kneel ;  but 
he  preferred  it  of  his  own  countrymen,  also  that  they  should 
make  the  sign  of  the  cross,  inasmuch  as  it  inspired  them  with 
reverence  for  the  solemn  promise  they  made.  Often.„  his 
address  was  very  familiar,  as,  "  Come,  my  friends,  there 
is  room,  plenty.  I  promise  you,  you  will  not  regret  this 
step.  It  will  be  the  foundation  of  your  happiness  here, 
and  your  eternal  happiness  hereafter."  Several  were  fond 
of  reminding  him  that  they  had  taken  the  pledge  from 
him  in  Ireland,  and  when  and  where ;  and  he  expressed 
his  joy  that  they  had  kept  it.  In  Faneuil  Hall  no  less  than 
3,000  took  the  pledge.  On  the  first  Sunday  he  preached 
at  the  Cathedral  in  Franklin  Street,  and  during  the  day 
administered  the  pledge  to  about  4,000.  A  great  levee 
was  made  for  him  at  the  Mayor's.  The  principal  citizens 
of  Boston  were  present,  and  several  of  the  clergy,  medical 
men  and  reporters.  For  him  was  prepared  a  splendid 
supper. 

It  was  soon  manifest  that  Father  Mathew  had  not  suf- 
ficient vitality  to  perform  the  labors  expected  of  him.  He 
visited  several  of  the  towns  in  the  vicinity  of  Boston; 
went  to  Lowell  and  Lawrence,  to  Providence,  Fall  River, 
New  Bedford,  Woonsocket,  Bridgeport,  New  Haven,  Hart- 
ford, Springfield  ;  and  in  all  New  England  he  administered 
about  100,000  pledges. 

Deeply  was  he  impressed  with  the  beauty  of  the  coun- 
try, and  its  progress  in  all  that  makes  society  blessed. 
In  reply  to  a  welcome  from  the  authorities  at  Lawrence, 
he  said : 

*'  Since  my  first  entrance  into  your  free  and  glorious  country,  every- 
thing I  have  observed  demands  my  unqualified  approbation.  It  is  a  coun- 
try worthy  of  its  great  people.  Language  is  incapable  of  expressing  the 
delightful  sensations  that  throbbed  within  my  bosom  as  I  passed  up  through 
the  files  at  each  side  of  youths  of  both  sexes,  who  are  enjoying  the  bless- 
ings of  a  religious  and  moral  education  in  your  schools,  thus  giving,  at 


FATHER   MATHEW   IN   AYASHINGTON.  195 

the  cost  of  the  State,  free  industrial  and  religious  education  to  the  rising 
generation." 

While  at  Boston  he  yisited  the  Blind  Asylum,  and  was 
deeply  interested  in  Laura  Bridgman,  the  deaf,  dumb  and 
blind  girl.  On  being  told  that  she  was  shaking  hands 
with  Father  Mathew,  she  expressed  great  delight.  He 
presented  her  with  a  temperance  medal,  when  she  wrote  : 
"  I  thank  you  for  the  medal ;  we  are  all  very  glad  to  see 
Father  Mathew."  On  leaving  Boston  an  immense  body 
of  juveniles  were  gathered  on  the  Common  to  bid  him 
farewell.  It  was  a  scene  of  surpassing  beauty.  He  de- 
signed visiting  Albany,  Rochester  and  the.  West ;  but  at 
Worcester  he  was  suddenly  disabled  by  the  severity  of 
the  cold  and  some  slight  paralysis,  and  it  was  thought 
advisable  that  he  should  go  for  the  winter  to  the  sunny 
South.  I  saw  him  frequently  on  his  arrival  in  New  York. 
He  was  quite  changed,  especially  in  his  speech.  At 
Philadelphia  he  remained  a  week ;  was  j^resented  to  the 
City  Authorities  in  the  Old  Independence  Hall,  and  ad- 
ministered the  pledge  in  some  of  the  Catholic  churches. 

In  Baltimore  he  was  cordially  received  by  numerous 
friends.  At  Washington  he  was  invited  to  a  seat  within 
the  bar  of  the  House,  but  the  motion  was  objected  to  in 
the  Senate  by  Southern  members.  At  home,  with  Mr. 
O'Connell,  he  had  signed  an  address  to  the  Irish  in 
Amel'ica,  exhorting  them  to  set  their  faces  against  slavery. 
This  was  republished  in  a  Georgia  paper.  Colonel  Lump- 
kin, President  of  the  State  Society,  addressed  him  a  let- 
ter, asking  if  those  were  his  present  sentiments  ?  Receiv- 
ing no  answer,  he  withdrew  his  invitation  to  him  to  visit 
the  South,  and  it  was  thought  by  many  hazardous  for  him 
to  go  ;  but  he  was  resolved  to  proceed,  and  commit  him- 
self to  Him  who  judgeth  righteously.  The  opposition  to 
the  motion  made  in  the  Senate  drew  out  from  some  of  the 
Senators  the   most  signal  tributes  to  his  worth,  and   to 


196  TEMPERANCE    RECOLLECTIONS. 

the  value  of  his  labors.  It  was  most  heart-cheering  to 
the  friends  of  the  cause  to  see  it  so  exalted  in  the  high 
places  of  the  nation;  and  these  tributes  to  the  cause  de- 
serve a  place,  not  only  in  the  notices  of  Father  Mathew, 
but  in  every  history  of  temperance.  Said  the  Hon.  Hen- 
ry Clay : 

"  I  think,  Sir,  that  that  resolution  is  an  homage  to  humanity,  to  phi- 
lanthropy and  to  virtue ;  that  it  is  a  merited  tribute  to  a  man  who  has 
achieved  a  great  social  revolution — a  revolution  in  which  there  has  been 
no  blood  shed — no  desolation  inflicted — no  tears  of  widows  and  orphans 
extracted;  and  one  of  the  greatest  which  have  been  achieved  by  any  of 
the  benefactors  of  mankind." 

Said  General  Cass : 

"  This  is  but  a  complimentary  notice  to  a  distinguished  man  just  ar- 
rived among  us,  and  well  does  he  merit  it.  He  is  a  stranger  to  us  personal- 
ly, but  he  has  won  a  world-wide  reno'svn.  He  comes  among  us  upon  a 
mission  of  benevolence,  not  unhke  Howard,  whose  name  and  deeds 
rank  high  in  the  annals  of  philanthropy,  and  who  sought  to  carry  hope 
and  comfort  into  the  darkest  cells,  and  to  alleviate  the  moral  and  physical 
condition  of  their  unhappy  tenants.  He  comes  to  break  the  bonds  of  the 
captive,  and  to  set  the  prisoner  free — to  redeem  the  lost — to  confirm  the 
wavering,  and  to  aid  in  saving  all  from  the  temptation  and  dangers  of  in. 
temperance.     It  is  a  noble  mission,  and  nobly  is  he  fulfilling  it." 

Said  General  Houston : 

*'  Father  Mathew  goes  not  with  a  torch  of  discord,  but  with  a  bond  of 
peace,  reformation,  and  redemption  to  an  unfortunate  class  in  the  com- 
munity. I,  Sir,  am  a  disciple ;  I  needed  the  discipline  of  reformation,  and 
I  embraced  it ;  and  would  that  I  could  enforce  the  example  upon  every 
American  heart  that  influences  or  is  influenced  by  filial  affection,  con- 
jugal love,  or  parental  tenderness.  Yes,  Sir,  there  is  a  love,  purity  and 
fidelity  inscribed  upon  the  banner  that  he  bears.  It  has  nothing  to  do 
with  abohtion  or  with  nuUification,  Sir,  Away  with  your  paltry  objections 
to  men  who  come  bearing  the  binnacle  above  the  turbid  waters,  which 
unfortunately  roll  at  the  foot  of  this  mighty  Republic." 

At  Charleston,  S.   C,  Father  Mathew  found  himself 


I 


197 

mucli  improved,  and  be  officiated  all  the  Sabbath  at  the 
Catholic  Church — a  vast  crowd  in  attendance.  He  ad- 
ministered 1,200  pledges  during  the  day^  At  ^New  Or- 
leans he  occupied  St.  Patrick's  Cathedral,  where  thousands 
were  assembled.  In  an  admirable  discourse,  he  related 
what  had  been  done  in  Ireland,  how  admirably  the  pledge 
had  been  kept,  and  called  upon  his  countrymen  to  come 
forward  and  blot  out  every  stain  upon  their  escutcheon. 
He  administered  the  pledge  to  large  numbers.  In  grati- 
tude they  made  him  a  purse  of  $700.  The  authorities  of 
the  city  gave  him  a  cordial  welcome,  to  which  he  returned 
a  grateful  answer.  On  his  passage  up  the  Mississippi  he 
stopped  at  all  the  principal  landings  for  a  short  time, 
dropping  a  few  words,  and  administering  pledges ;  but  at 
times  he  was  quite  feeble,  and  it  was  often  feared  he 
would  not  see  Ireland  again.  At  St.  Louis  he  was  re- 
ceived with  great  attention,  and  he  there  administered 
the  pledge  to  2,500  of  his  countrymen. 

From  St.  Louis  he  designed  going  East  as  far  as  Pitts- 
burg, and  then  returning  South  for  the  winter.  Wher- 
ever he  went,  he  was  urged  to  make  America  his  home, 
but  he  always  replied :  "  It  would  be  violating  a  promise 
made  to  his  people,  that  he  would  return  and  die  with 
them." 

.  Father  Mathew  returned  to  Ireland  in  a  Collins 
steamer,  November  8,  1850.  Crowds  welcomed  him 
home,  but  frequent  attacks  of  palsy  drove  him  to  the 
Madeiras,  whence  he  only  came  home  to  die,  December  8, 
1850,  in  the  66th  year  of  his  age. 

The  visit  of  Father  Mathew  to  this  country,  notwith- 
standing his  bodily  weakness,  was  most  happy  in  its  in- 
fluence. Not  a  countryman  was  there  of  his  who  did  not 
give  him  a  cordial  welcome.  Not  one,  perhaps,  who  had 
violated  his  pledge,  who  did  not  feel  conscience-smitten 
and  troubled  in  heart;   and  not  one  who  had  kept  his 


198  TEMPERANCE   EECOLLECTIONS. 

pledge  who  did  not  feel  rejoiced  that  he  had  done  so,  and 
become  greatly  strengthened.  In  great  veneration  for 
his  charactei*,  and  love  for  his  object,  temperance  societies 
everywhere  sprang  up,  bearing  his  name,  and  based  on 
his  pledge.  These  Father  Mathew  Societies  have  not 
only  continued,  but  greatly  increased  in  number,  especially 
in  our  large  cities,  and  now,  in  many,  may  be  considered 
the  chief  strength  of  the  cause.  May  they  be  handed 
down  in  great  force  to  future  generations,  and  his  words 
ever  prove  a  great  talisman. 

Father  Mathew's  friends  at  home  were  much  gratified 
by  the  reception  which  he  met  with  in  America.  Said  the 
Cork  Examiner ; 

"  We  have  the  utmost  satisfaction  in  pointing  to  the  account  of  the 
splendid  reception  given  to  Father  Mathew  by  the  citizens  of  New  Yorlf. 
It  was  a  reception  such  as  the  people  of  that  majestic  Republic  would  not 
have  given  to  a  crowned  monarch ;  it  reflected  honor  alike  on  those  who 
gave,  and  on  Mm  who  received  it.  America  recognizes  in  the  humble 
Irish  Friar  a  man  of  whom  all  mankind  may  be  justly  proud — a  man  for 
whose  glories  no  nation  mourns,  and  no  people  is  in  bondage — a  man 
whose  victories  over  sin  and  evil  have  been  more  splendid  than  it  has 
ever  fallen  to  the  lot  of  mortal  save  himself  to  achieve— one  whose  whole 
life  has  been  a  lesson  of  universal  love — one  whose  mission  is  the  hoHest 
that  could  enter  into  the  heart  of  man  to  conceive.  America  beholds  in 
Father  Mathew  the  greatest  benefactor  of  the  race  of  man  ;  one  who  has 
conferred  more  solid  advantages  and  more  practical  blessings  on  individu- 
als and  masses  than  any  living  being. 

Lines  on  Father  Mathew's  visit  to  America,  by  Lady 
Emeline  Stuart  Hartley  : 

"  The  Hero  of  Two  Worlds,"  that  man  of  war, 
The  brave  Lafayette,  in  old  times  was  called ; 

More  hallowed  far  thy  deathless  titles  are. 
Friend  of  mankind — 0  sainted  Theobald  ! 

A  peace-apostle  'twixt  two  worlds  of  peace, 

Thine  is  the  triumph  that  can  never  cease  ! 


EULOGY  ON  FATHER  MATHEW.  199 

See  !  charioted  along  the  hearts  of  men, 

How  that  true  conqueror  reigns  where'er  he  moves, 

Blest  be  the  difference  wide  'twixt  now  and  then  ; 
Then  war  scowled  hate  where  now  a  nation  loves. 

Earth  round  seems  one  colossal  temple  made. 

Where  angels  are  the  only  hosts  arrayed. 

The  noble  "  Hero  of  Two  Worlds  "  art  thou ; 

ISTo  purer  pilgrim  ever  touched  this  shore  ; 
Echoes  man's  voice  of  praise  and  reverence  now, 

Where  raged  the  battle  thunder's  deafening  roar ; 
Thrill,  softly  thrill,  thou  gracious  western  air, 
With  all  the  meek  omnipotence  of  prayer. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

Temperance  Life  Insurance  Company  projected, — Correspondence. — Dr. 
Nott,  E.  C.  Delavan,  S.  Chipman,  Rev.  T.  P.  Hunt,  Dr.  J.  C.  Warren, 
Gen.  Cary,  and  others — Medical  Society  at  Cincinnati. — ^Addresses  of 
Dr.  Drake  and  Dr.  Mussey. 

The  great  success  and  utility  of  the  Temperance  Provi- 
dent Life  Insurance  Companies  in  England  early  attracted 
my  attention,  and  the  attention  of  friends  of  temperance 
in  America  ;  and  in  January  1850,  several  small  meetings 
were  held  on  the  subject  in  New  York.  It  was  manifest 
to  all,  that,  in  the  matter  of  life  insurance,  temperance  men 
were  not  on  a  par  with  others.  Not  to  speak  of  drunkards 
and  hard  drinkers,  many  moderation  men  were  not,  through 
a  small  indulgence  in  alcoholic  drinks,  living  out  their  ex- 
pected days ;  and  life  insurance  offices  were  meeting  with 
some  of  their  heaviest  losses  in  the  early  deaths  of  drink- 
ing men.  In  England  it  was  found,  in  an  experience  of 
eight  years,  that  the  number  of  deaths  in  the  temperance 
insurance  company  were  less  than  half  of  that  insured  in 
all  other  companies  in  the  kingdom ;  while  they  suffered 
no  losses  from  intemperance.  Should  a  temperance  man 
join  in  a  company  with  a  hard-drinking  man,  or  even  a 
moderate  drinker,  much  more  an  intemperate  man,  his 
money  might  for  years  be  going  to  the  families  of  such, 
while  his  family,  through  his  long  continuance  in  life  from 
temperance,  would  have  no  benefit.     The  more  the  subject 


TEMPERANCE   LIFE   INSUEANCE  COMPANY.  201 

was  contemplated,  the  more  were  all  impressed  with  the 
importance  of  a  company  on  the  abstinence  principle. 

Much  ridicule  was  elicited  from  wine  and  spirit 
drinkers.  We  were  accused  of  making  invidious  distinc- 
tions in  society,  and  contending  against  the  natural  laws 
of  life;  and  since  the  bounds  of  human  life  were  fixed,  we 
were  saying  we  would  break  over  those  bounds,  and  cause 
men  to  live  beyond  their  time.  We  were  also  assured  that 
enough  of  a  single  class  of  men  could  not  be  found  in  the 
country  to  sustain  one  institution ;  but  we  computed  there 
were  a  million  teetotallers  in  the  country,  and  one  half  of 
these  would  be  sufficient.  Besides,  so  manifest  would  it 
soon  become,  that  an  advantage  would  be  obtained  by 
having  total  abstinence  in  a  life  insurance  comj^any,  that 
it  would  become  an  actual  means  of  increasing  the  num- 
ber of  abstainers.  The  very  existence  of  such  an  institu- 
tion, would  be  a  great  temperance  lecture.  It  would  lead 
man  everywhere  to  inquire  :  Does  the  use  of  intoxicating 
drinks  actually  shorten  human  life,  and  would  it  be  a 
strengthener  of  the  principles  of  temperance  where  adopt- 
ed ?  Would ,  it  not  be  a  powerful  confirmer  in  all  who 
were  insured  ?  Would  it  not  act  like  the  pledge  ?  Know- 
ing that  he  forfeited  his  insurance  if  he  was  seen  to  drink, 
would  not  the  young  man  be  careful  how  he  yielded  to 
temptation ?  "I  have  my  life  insured  for  $5,000.  Shall  I 
now  forfeit  that  for  a  single  glass  of  wine  ?  " 

While  we  were  thus  examining  and  discussing  the  sub- 
ject, I  sent  out  a  Circular  to  reflecting  minds  over  the 
country,  asking  their  opinion  ;  from  which  were  received 
encouraging  replies. 

Said  Dk.  Nott  : — "  I  am,  on  satisfactory  evidence,  con- 
vinced that  entire  abstinence  from  intoxicating  liquor,  as 
a  beverage,  tends  to  increase  the  duration  of  liuman  life. 
I  am  therefore  pleased  to  see  that  a  company  is  about  to 
be  formed  exclusively  for  insuring  the  lives  of  'teeto- 
9* 


202     •  TEMPERANCE    RECOLLECTIONS. 

taller.^,'  as  it  is  unreasonable  that  those  who  do  not  drink 
should  be  subject  to  pay  for  the  greater  hazard  of  death 
in  those  that  do." 

E.  C.  Delavax  : — "  I  cannot  hesitate  a  moment  in  ex;- 
pressing  my  most  cordial  approval  of  such  an  undertaiiing. 
I  doubt  not  the  practical  working  of  a  company  formed  on 
the  j)rinciple  of  trice  temperance  {total  abstinence  from  all 
that  intoxicates) J  would  bring  to  the  aid  of  the  cause  you 
have  so  long  advocated,  overwhelming  evidence  of  its  ad- 
vantages in  prolonging  life,  over  even  the  moderation 
principle — a  principle  no  one  yet  has  been  able  to  define 
satisfactorily,  and  which  if  it  could  be  defined,  few  would 
for  any  length  of  time  adhere  to. 

"  It  is  as  well  known  to  you  as  to  me,  that  there  is  little 
or  no  intoxicating  drink  in  this  country,  whether  distilled 
or  fermented,  free  from  base  adulterations.  So  that,  in 
addition  to  the  poison  alcohol,  other  poisons  more  intense 
and  more  fatal  to  life  are  consumed  by  that  part  of  the 
community  which  still  use  intoxicating  liquor.'''' 

Samuel  Chipman,  Esq.  : — "  I  must  express  my  gratifica- 
tion at  the  proposed  measure,  and  wish  it  a  hearty  God 
speed.  It  is  right  in  principle  that  temperance  men,  in 
getting  their  lives  and  those  of  their  relations  and  friends 
insured,  should  enjoy  the  pecuniary  advantages  which  ab- 
stinence from  the  use  of  intoxicating  drinks  may  give  them. 

"  There  is  one  way  in  which  the  use  of  liquor,  in  what  is 
called  moderation,  greatly  increases  the  dangers  to  which 
human  life  is  exposed,  that  is  seldom  thought  of.  It  ope- 
rates direct'y  on  the  nervous  system  ;  and,  at  one  time,  the 
same  quantity  will  produce  a  greater  amount  of  excite- 
ment than  at  another,  owning  to  different  states  of  the  sys- 
tem. And  who  that  has  had  experience,  or  has  observed 
in  regard  to  others,  does  not  know  that,  under  such  ex- 
citement, persons  are  frequently  led  to  attempt  some  dan- 
gerous exploit,  some  hazardous  experiment — the  fording 


1 


TEMPERANCE   LIFE   INSURANCE  COMPANY.  203 

of  a  swollen  stream,  the  riding  of  a  colt,  or  a  vicious 
horse,  which  they  never  would  have  attempted  but  for  the 
unusual  stimulus  ?  I  have  known  a  person  thus  excited, 
in  the  most  reckless  manner  seize  hold  of  his  neighbor,  and, 
in  a  scuffle,  he  was  crushed  down,  and  his  back  broken. 
There  was  an  inconsiderable  number  of  this  class  that  I 
found  on  examination  in  regard  to  deaths  from  intemper- 
ance, but  they  were  always  placed  among  the  temperate 
in  my  classification.  In  that  examination  of  all  the  towns 
of  four  of  our  Western  counties,  although  I  have  shown 
that  in  one  county  40  in  a  hundred,  in  another  36,  and  in 
two  others  39  per  cent,  of  the  men  over  twenty-one  years 
of  age  who  had  died  in  the  year,  were  intempei-ate — yet 
that  proportion,  as  large  as  it  is,  would  have  been  greatly 
increased,  had  I  charged  to  the  account  of  intemperance 
the  cases  where  the  physician  told  me  that,  although  the 
individual  was  considered  a  temperate  drinker,  yet  he  was 
fully  persuaded,  had  not  the  system  been  deranged  by  the 
liquor  he  drank,  he  would  have  recovered.  But  what  is 
still  more  to  the  point ;  at  the  suggestion  of  Dr.  l^ott,  in 
three  of  the  four  counties,  I  ascertained' the  ages  of  both 
classes,  and  found  that,  on  an  average,  the  temperate  had 
lived  ten  years  longest.  Another  fact  which  it  appears  to 
me  may  have  great  weight  in  regard  to  life  insurance  as 
connected  with  temperance,  is  that,  during  the  visitation 
of  cholera  to  this  city  last  summer,  which  took  off  over 
150  of  our  inhabitants,  out  of  one  thousand  Sons  of  Tem- 
perance, not  one  fell  a  victim  to  that  terrible  scourge." 

Dr.  Charles  Jewett. — "  Why  should  we  who  abstain 
from  the  use  of  intoxicating  drinks,  pay,  when  we  get  an 
insurance  of  our  lives,  for  the  additional  risk  to  which 
those  of  the  company  are  exposed  who  daily  pour  into 
their  stomachs  an  intoxicating  poison  subjecting  their 
physical  constitution,  either  to  the  necessity  of  harboring 
it,  which  tends  to  the  destruction  of  vitality  or  wasting  its 


204  TEMPERANCE    RECOLLECTIONS. 

sclf-prcscrving  power  in  one  ceaseless  struggle  to  tln-ow 
off  the  poison?  That  human  life  is  thus  shortened,  no 
candid  and  intelligent  person  will  deny.  Why  then  should 
we,  who  endeavor  to  order  our  lives  in  conformity  with 
the  laws  of  our  Creator,  and  thus  secure  to  ourselves 
health  and  long  life,  as  well  as  the  ability,  mentally  and 
morally,  to  accomplish  more  for  God  and  humanity,  go  into 
a  IMutual  Life  or  Health  Insurance  Company  on  equal 
terms  ?  No  good  reason,  I  believe,  can  be  given  ;  and  if 
I  can  do  aught  toward  securing  to  the  friends  of  temper- 
ance an  opportunity  to  effect  insurance  of  their  lives  on 
more  equitable  terms,  it  will  afford  me  pleasure  to  do  so. 
The  moral  influence  of  such  an  arrangement  cannot  but  be 
great. 

Rev.  THo:iiAs  P.  Hunt,  Pennsylvania: 

1.  Is  moderate  drinking  a  shortener  of  human  life  ? 
3fost  certainly.  And  any  man  who  will  take  the  trouble 
to  examine  the  effect  of  any  unneeded  stimulant  on  the 
human  system,  wnll  see  at  once  that  it  is  so. 

2.  Are  temperance  men  on  a  par  in  an  Insurance  Com- 
pany, with  men  who  drink  ?  You  might  just  as  reason- 
ably ask,  are  men  who  have  had  the  small  pox,  on  an 
equality,  as  to  exemption  from  that  disease,  wdth  those 
who  are  inoculated  with  its  virus  ?  All  men  admit  that 
drunkards  and  teetotallers  do  not  stand  on  an  equality. 
Drunkenness  is  a  physical  disease,  produced  by  moderate 
drinking.  No  moderate  drinker  can  j^rove  by  a  train  of 
philosophical  reasoning,  that  he  will  not  be  a  drunkard. 
He  may  not  be  ;  but  he  may  be.  While  I  do  not  affirm 
that  he  will  be,  he  cannot  assure  me  that  he  will  not  be. 
He  is  using  the  virus.  I  look  out  for  the  disease.  If  he 
has  it,  it  is  what  philosophy  led  me  to  expect.  If  he  es- 
capes, it  is  what  he  had  no  reasonable  right  to  expect. 
We  are  not  equal  in  a  Life  Insurance  Company. 

Moderate  drinking  renders  men  moi*e  liable  to  disease ; 


TEMPERANCE    LIFE    INSURANCE.  205 

and  more  difficult  to  be  cured.  This  is  not  mere  assertion. 
In  one  of  the  oldest  settlements  (Saybrook)  in  Connecticut, 
the  oldest  minister  in  the  State  kept  a  record  of  all  the 
deaths  and  their  causes,  for  many  long  years.  He  was 
kind  enough  to  permit  me  to  see  it.  I  was  struck  with 
the  unusual  number  of  deaths  from  palsy,  epilej)sy,  &c. 
On  inquiry  into  the  habits  of  the  persons,  I  was  told,  that 
many  of  them  were  most  exemplary,  pious  persons — none 
of  them  were  what  would  be  called  drunkards,  but  all  of 
them  habitual  cider  dri7i7cers.  About  the  beginning  of 
the  temperance  reform,  many  cut  down  their  orchards. 
The  number  of  deaths  from  palsy,  &c.,  decreased  from 
that  period.  And  when  they  occurred,  cider  drinkers  were 
the  victims. 

3.  "  Do  we  deal  unkindly  with  wine,  beer  and  cider 
drinkers,  because  we  say,  "  Gentlemen,  your  lives  lie  under 
a  heavy  mortgage "  ?  I  think  not.  It  may  be  best 
sometimes  to  let  some  men  have  their  own  way.  But  no 
man  has  a  right  to  complain,  if  another  set  of  men  follow 
out  their  own  ris^hts  without  interferinsc  with  theirs.  I 
would  not  complain  if  the  moderate  drinkers  excluded 
me  from  their  insurance,  if  they  believed  that  a  little 
liquor  drank  daily  promoted  the  health  of  the  corporation. 
They  would  act  consistently  in  rejecting  one  who  pursued 
a  course  that  endangered  the  profits  of  the  company. 
Moderate  drinking  has  caused  more  pecuniary  and  social 
injury  than  drunkenness  ever  did.  And  I  would  much 
sooner  insure  soine  drunkards,  than  I  would  so7ne  mode- 
rate drinkers.  They  will  outlive  them.  This  may  sound 
strange  in  your  ears.  But  it  is  true.  And  more  men 
have  died  from  the  result  of  moderate,  than  from  immode- 
rate drinking.  The  Physicians  of  the  Uyion  will  sustain 
this  declaration.  But  be  it  correct  or  not,  I  can  conceive 
of  no  injury  done  to  the  character  or  feelings  of  any  gen- 
tlemen, by  our  refusing  to  insure  on  the  same  grounds 


206  TEMPERANCE   RECOLLECTIONS. 

with  men  who  drmk.  I  act  according  to  my  best  jndg- 
ment.     I  would  allow  others  to  do  the  same. 

Most  heartily  do  I  approve  of  the  formation  of  a  Com- 
pany on  the  principles  you  suggest. 

Doctor  J.  C.  Warren,  Boston : — Having  received 
from  you  this  day  a  communication  requesting  my  opinion 
on  the  expediency  of  forming  a  Mutual  Life  Insurance 
Company,  on  the  ground  of  abstinence  from  intoxicating 
drinks,  I  would  express  my  opinion  as  follows  :  All  in- 
toxicating drinks  produce  an  unnatural  stimulus  to  the 
vital  actions,  and  hurry  them  on  more  rapidly  than  nature 
designs.  In  proportion  to  the  strength  of  the  stimulus 
will  be  the  overplus  of  action,  and  the  waste  of  vitality. 
In  other  words ;  life  will  be  shortened  in  proportion  to  the 
power  of  the  artificial  stimulants.  Hence  it  must  follow, 
I  think,  that  persons  Avho  employ  no  intoxicating  drinks 
will  average  a  longer  life  than  others,  and  be  entitled  to 
insurance  at  a  lower  rate. 

General  S.  F.  Cary,  Cincinnati: — Dear  Brother 
Marsh  :  Your  excellent  journal  of  February  states  that 
several  meetings  have  been  held  in  New  York  City,  by 
friends  of  the  Temperance  Reform,  "  on  the  subject  of 
forming  an  American  Temperance  Life  Insurance  Com- 
pany." Such  an  association  commands  my  warmest  ap- 
proval, for  the  following  among  many  reasons : 

1.  The  subject  of  Life  Insurance  has  not  received  that 
attention  which  its  importance  demands.  It  is  certainly 
a  matter  of  great  moment  that  a  man  of  limited  resources 
may,  without  inconvenience,  secure  to  his  rising  and  de- 
pendent family,  in  case  of  his  death,  ample  means  for  their 
maintenance  and  education. 

2.  Such  an  association  making  total  abstinence  a  con- 
dition of  insurance^  would  enable  the  temperance  man 
who  would  avail  himself  of  its  benefits  to  do  so  at  a  lower 
premium  than  could  otherwise  be  afforded.     It  is  mani- 


TEMPEEANCE   LIFE    INSUEANCE.  207 

festly  unjust  to  tax  him  with  any  portion  of  the  risk  in- 
cident to  the  use  of  intoxicating  drinks.  That  total  ab- 
stinence men  are  less  liable  to  disease,  casualty,  and  death 
than  others,  cannot  be  controverted.  Let  the  skeptic  on 
this  point  examine  the  journals  of  the  Sons  of  Temperance 
for  the  past  three  years,  and  he  must  be  convinced.  ISTo 
association  on  earth,  not  incorporating  the  total  abstinence 
principle,  can  compare  bills  of  mortality  with  that  Order. 
There  were  but  1,260  deaths  in  1840  in  a  membership  of 
221,478. 

3.  If  such  a  Company  was  organized,  multitudes  of 
temperance  men  would  avail  themselves  of  its  benefits, 
whose  families  will  otherwise  be  left  to  struggle  with  ad- 
versity. 

4.  Such  an  association  would  lead  many  to  inquire 
into  the  importance  of  temperance  in  prolonging  life,  who 
would  never  think  of  the  destructive  influence  of  intoxi- 
cating drinks. 

5.  Connecting,  as  this  Society  would,  temperance  with 
length  of  days,  it  would  serve  powerfully  to  confirm  tem- 
perance men  in  their  resolutions,  and  would  furnish 
another  and  powerful  motive  to  induce  the  insured  to  re- 
main true  to  their  pledge. 

6.  The  distinction  of  the  temperate  and  intemperate 
classes,  which  necessarily  must  be  recognized,  would  give 
character  and  respectability  to  the  one,  which  the  other 
would  lose  in  the  same  ratio. 

While  many  moderate  drinkers  may  not  Avisli  to  have 
their  lives  insured,  it  would  be  no  small  rebuke  to  them 
to  bo  informed  that  they  could  not,  if  they  would. 

7.  The  general  cause  of  temperance  would  be  promot- 
ed, as  everything  promotes  it  that  brings  the  subject  be- 
fore the  public  mind. 

Deacox  Moses  Grant,  Boston. — The  project  is  one 
of  vast   and   incalculable  importance,  and  calls   for  the 


208  TEMPERANCE   EECOLLECTIONS. 

profound  and  deepest  attention  of  those  who  may  be  in- 
terested in  it.  That  temperance  men,  who  have  their  lives 
insured  at  a  mutual  office,  do  not  stand  upon  equitable 
grounds  with  the  other  assured,  is  a  proposition  too  plain 
on  its  face  to  need  defence.  I  know  of  but  one  mutual 
life  insurance  company  here,  that  even  partially  protects 
itself  against  intemperate  men,  and  that  is  the  New  Eng- 
land Company.  In  their  list  of  questions,  is  the  fol- 
lowing : 

No.  13.  Is  he  of  temperate  habits?  Has  he  always 
been  so  ? 

If  the  applicant  answers  Yes,  to  the  first  query,  and 
No,  to  the  last,  the  company  require  what  they  call  the 
tem|3erance  clause  to  be  inserted  in  their  policy,  never 
minding  if  the  applicant  is  a  pledged  man,  and  has  been 
for  years.  Well,  it  being  a  mutual  company,  does  he  stand 
upon  equal  ground  with  the  others  assured  ?  Certainly 
not ;  for,  while  his  policy  is  forfeited,  if  he  is  known  to 
drink,  half  of  all  the  others,  who,  though  daily  in  the  use 
of  intoxicating  drinks,  having,  on  application,  answered 
Yes,  to  both  queries,  may  increase  their  potations,  become 
intemperate,  and  die  drunkards,  having  shortened  their 
lives  by  their  evil  habits ;  and  our  temperance  man  is 
yearly  losing  something  in  the  way  of  money,  by  not  re- 
ceiving any  return  premium,  as  provided  for  in  mutual 
companies,  because  drinking  men  and  drunkards,  assured 
at  the  same  rates  that  he  is,  are  dying  out,  and  the  pol- 
icies are  to  be  paid.  If  my  engagements  admitted,  I  could 
go  into  statements  of  facts  and  principles  connected  with 
this  business  which  would  show  the  vast  imjDortance  of 
temperance  men  establishing  such  a  company. 

Gen.  Cocke,  of  Virginia. — To  the  scheme  for  a  life 
insurance  company  upon  the  basis  of  total  abstinence  from 
intoxicating  beverages,  I  hasten  to  express  my  entire  ap- 
probation. 


MEDICAL    SOCIETY — DE.    DEAKE'S    ADDEESS.  209 

It  may  well  be  placed  among  the  felicitous  concep- 
tions of  this  our  age,  so  fertile  in  the  production  of  enter- 
prises pregnant  with  future  blessings  to  mankind. 

These  various  opinions  strengthened  us  in  our  deter- 
mination to  proceed.  A  constitution  was  adopted,  and 
capital  fixed  at  $100,000,  in  1,000  shares  of  8100  each,  on 
Avhich  were  to  be  paid  ten  dollars,  at  commencement ;  and 
officers  were  chosen.  But,  alas  !  there  w^as  not  sufficient 
advance  of  public  sentiment  in  the  matter  for  success. 
Other  cities  wished  for  the  location ;  moneyed  men  in 
l^ew  York  were  already  stockholders  in  institutions 
which  might  be  injured  by  this ;  a  spirit  of  rivalry  and 
jealousy  sprang  up ;  temperance  men  might  be  good 
moral  reformers,  but  no  managers  of  moneyed  institutions  ; 
and  so,  from  a  failure  to  get  the  stock  taken,  it  died  out, 
when,  it  is  even  now  believed,  it  might  have  become  one 
of  our  greatest  insurance  companies,  and  been  of  incal- 
culable importance  to  the  cause  of  temperance. 

About  the  same  time,  we  were  encouraged  by  the  pro- 
posed formation  of  another  institution,  which  promised  great 
and  good  results  to  our  cause,  viz. :  A  Medical  Society  by 
the  Professors  and  Students  of  the  Oldest  Medical  Insti- 
tute in  Cincinnati,  to  call  out  discussions  among  professors 
and  students  which  might  show  how  alcoholic  stimulants 
undermine  the  constitution,  and  debase  the  moral  senti- 
ments. The  first  lecture  was  delivered  by  Dr.  Drake,  of 
Ohio  Medical  College. 

After  a  few  introductory  remarks,  the  Doctor  proceed- 
ed to  define  alcohol,  and  to  investigate  its  effects  on  the 
human  economy.  "  It  was  formed  with  the  same  chemical 
constituents  wliich  compose  sugar,  but  in  different  affin- 
ities: alcohol  was  only  from  sugar.  This  substance 
might  be  obtained  from  starch,  and  alcohol  distilled  from 
the  sugar,  but  it  could  not  be  made  directly  from  the 
starch.     It  was  a  stimulant  and  narcotic,  and  was  ranked 


210  TEMPERANCE    RECOLLECTIONS. 

among  the  deadliest  poisons.  Numerous  experiments 
had  demonstrated  it  to  be  a  rapidly  fatal  poison  ;  but 
it  was  unnecessary  to  make  such  experiments  at  this  day, 
in  the  laboratory ;  because  they  were  continually  being 
made  through  the  community. 

"  The  influence  of  alcohol  upon  the  human  system  was 
an  important  matter  for  the  study  of  the  medical  man. 
He  was  expected  to  understand  it,  and  he  ought  to  be  able 
to  give  instructions  upon  it.  Drunkenness  was  a  disease,  a 
disagreeable  and  dangerous  disease ;  it  deranged  all  the 
functions.  Its  injuries  were  not  only  physical,  but  mental 
and  moral."  As  a  general  proposition,  the  Doctor  stated 
that  the  liquor  in  common  use  was  about  one  half  alcohol 
and  one  half  water.  "  When  a  person  took  a  glass  of  spirits, 
he  only  felt  at  first  its  stimulating  influence,  and  was  in- 
clined to  doubt  that  it  was  a  narcotic,  but  as  he  repeated 
the  glass,  he  found  that  a  larger  quantity  was  necessary  to 
produce  the  first  excitement ;  and  after  numerous  repeti- 
tions, without  the  spirit,  he  felt  dull  and  inclined  to  sleep, 
and  was  often  rendered  perfectly  stupid.  In  large  doses 
only  was  alcohol  a  narcotic ;  then  its  narcotic  eflect  went 
before,  and  prevented  the  action  of  the  stimulating  prop- 
erty. It  was  the  narcotic  property  which  made  it  neces- 
sary that  the  drinker  should  continually  increase  the 
quantity  or  frequency  of  his  glasses,  to  keep  up  the  wont- 
ed excitement.  It  stultified  the  sensation.  In  the  growth 
of  this  stupefying  influence,  the  disease  of  drunkenness  was 
produced ;  not  the  derangement  particularly  of  any  one 
organ,  but  a  morbid,  unnatural  appetite  in  every  part  of 
the  system ;  from  the  most  important  to  the  most  insig- 
nificant organs  and  vessels,  were  mouths  craving,  crying 
out,  sending  an  account  of  their  pressing  wants,  by  means 
of  the  nerves,  to  the  sensorium,  there  acting  upon  the 
will,  and  driving  the  victim  to  great  lengths  and  desperate 


MEDICAL  TESTIMONIES.  211 

means  to  obtain  the  bane  whicli  has  thus  deranged  the 
entire  economy  of  his  system. 

"  This  would  account  for  the  violent,  disgraceful,  and 
unfeeling  acts  intemperate  men  had  committed,  when  their 
debased  system  required  ardent  spirits.  There  was,  to 
many  persons,  a  delicious  sensation  in  jDartial  intoxication ; 
but  it  was  a  dangerous  pleasure.  Every  repetition  led 
nearer  to  the  dreadful  condition  of  him  who  was  so  dread- 
fully diseased  that  he  could  not  exist  without  stimulus. 
The  moderate  drinker  ran  a  great  risk.  In  what  was  he 
indemnified?  Where  could  he  take  out  a  life  policy? 
Only  from  a  teetotal  abstinence  society." 

Before  the  same  Society,  Dr.  Reubex  H.  Mijsset  said : 

"  So  long  as  alcohol  retains  a  place  among  sick  patients, 
so  long  there  will  be  drunkards ;  and  who  would  under- 
take to  estimate  the  amount  of  responsibility  assumed  by 
that  physican  who  prescribes  to  the  enfeebled  dyspeptic 
patient  the  daily  internal  use  of  spirits ;  while,  at  the  same 
time,  he  knows  that  this  single  prescription  may  ultimately 
ruin  his  health,  make  him  a  vagabond,  shorten  his  life,  and 
cut  him  off  from  the  hope  of  heaven  ?  Time  was,  when  it 
was  used  only  as  a  medicine  ;  and  who  will  dare  to  offer  a 
guaranty  that  it  shall  not  again  overspread  the  world 
with  disease  and  death." 

Throughout  the  country,  at  this  period,  the  medical 
faculty,  through  the  influence  of  Bush,  Sewall,  Warren, 
and  Mussey,  were  generally  with  us.  In  a  great  enter- 
tainment given  at  Boston  to  the  National  Medical  Conven- 
tion, where  more  than  six  hundred  physicians  were  pres- 
ent, not  a  drop  of  intoxicating  liquor  was  provided.  And, 
in  the  annual  meeting  of  the  New  York  Medical  Society, 
at  Albany,  temperance  and  total  abstinence  were  fully  sus- 
tained by  the  most  distinguished  physicians.  A  practical 
view  of  the  mutual  duties,  relations,  and  interests  of  the 
medical  profession  and  the  community  was  presented,  in  a 


212  TE]tfPERANCE   EECOLLECTIONS. 

work  styled  "Physician  and  Patient,"  by  Worthington 
Hooker,  M.  D.,  Norwich,  Connecticut.  Few  men  felt  more 
deeply  on  the  subject  of  temperance  than  did  Dr.  Hooker. 
He  had  gratuitously  spent  much  of  his  time  in  the  Alms 
House ;  and,  finding  the  rich  and  luxurious  ignorant  of  the 
state  of  things  there  and  its  causes  (their  own  practice  and 
example)  he  published  a  series  of  letters  from  the  Alms 
House,  giving  inimitable  delineations  of  the  degradation 
and  miseries  of  the  drunken  poor ;  enough  to  cause  every 
man,  how  rich  soever  he  might  be,  to  dash  the  wine  cup 
from  his  table.  Under  the  influence  of  his  own  observa- 
tion and  experience,  he  said: 

"  It  is  difficult  to  conceive  that  a  physician  possessed  of  the  ordinary 
feelings  of  humanity  should  fail  to  be  decided  on  this  subject,  either  in  his 
opinions  or  in  his  influence.  No  man  has  had  so  varied  and  extensive  oppor- 
tunities of  witnessing  the  ravages  of  intemperance.  It  is  not  occasionally 
that  he  has  heard  from  trembling  lips  the  tale  of  woe,  and  seen  its  painful 
and  often  hideous  signs.  It  has  been  with  him  an  ahnost  every-day  occur- 
rence. Misery  on  every  hand,  has  made  it  appear  to  him.  And  if  he  has 
suffered  his  desire  for  popularity  to  hinder  him  from  heeding  such  touch- 
ing and  frequent  appeals,  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  to  him  that  he  has  been 
shamefully  recreant  to  the  dictates  of  humanity,  and  that  he  will  have  to 
render  a  large  account  of  neglected  opportunities  of  doing  good." 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

The  Half-century — Retrospect  and  Prospects — Tribute — Power  of  the 
Enemy — Army  for  Future  Conflict — Truth  and  Love — Mmisters — 
Churches — Temperance  Orders — Sons  of  Temperance — Grand  Division 
at  Boston — Kecent  Publications — Fifteenth  Anniversary  A.  T.  TJ. 

When  a  traveller  has  been  long  ascending  a  great 
height,  and  has  at  length  reached  the  summit  and  sees  all 
beyond  him,  below,  and  witnesses  the  setting  sun  going 
down  on  distant  regions,  he  naturally  pauses,  looks  back 
on  all  the  way  over  which  he  has  travelled,  and  girds  him- 
self with  new  courage  for  what  lies  before  him.  The  mid- 
dle of  the  century  was  such  a  summit  for  us  temperance 
men ;  and  if  we  had  not  labored  full  half  a  century  in  regu- 
lar organization,  we  had  for  a  quarter ;  and  near  half  was 
completed  since  Rush  and  Porter  and  Beecher  sounded 
the  voice  of  alarm.  As  standing  officially  on  the  watch 
tower  on  the  mount,  looking  behind  and  before,  I  felt  it 
incumbent  on  me  to  prepare  and  publish  a  HxILf  Cextuey 
Tribute,  in  which  I  endeavored  to  show  what  we  had 
done,  what  Ave  had  gained ;  Avhere  we  were  now  standing, 
and  what  was  before  us;  with  an  appendix  of  impor- 
tant documents  of  forty  pages ;  which  was  well  received, 
and  had  a  circulation  of  six  thousand.  In  fact,  mighty 
changes  had  been  effected  among  almost  all  classes,  and 
in  almost  every  department  of  human  industry. 

Thousands  on  thousands  had  been  reclaimed,  and  ten 
thousand  times  ten   thousand  had  been  prevented  from 


214  TEMPERANCE   EECOLLECTIONS. 

entering  into  the  drunkard's  path,  and  suffering  his  ter- 
rible woes.  But  many  a  dark  cloud  hung  over  the  past. 
Amid  all  our  exultation,  intemperance  had  been  the 
master-spirit  of  evil ;  wasting  millions  of  dollars ;  break- 
ing up  the  peace  and  comfort  of  happy  families;  send- 
ing j^rocession  after  procession  to  the  poor  house,  the  jail, 
the  mad  house,  and  the  orphans'  refuge,  and  at  least  a 
million  to  the  drunkard's  eternity.  We  stood  in  hope  for 
the  future ;  but  oh  !  what  heart  would  not  have  been  ap- 
palled could  he  have  foreseen  what  already,  in  the  first' 
half  of  this  half  century,  have  been  the  ravages  of 
the  great  destroyer.  Whether  we  look  forward  or  back- 
ward, the  true  estimates  are  beyond  human  comprehen- 
sion ;  yet,  in  the  almost  universal  disposition — especially 
among  the  unreflecting — to  think  lightly  of  them,  and 
to  inquire,  when  money  is  asked  to  arrest  the  evil,  Why 
all  this  waste  ?   it  is  well  to  look  at  it. 

Not  to  speak  of  our  own, — for  we  cannot  get  statistics 
here  as  they  can  be  obtained  in  the  fatherland — an  Eng- 
lish writer  at  that  time  estimated,  from  authentic  and  un- 
disputed data,  that,  if  drunkenness  in  that  country  goes  on 
unopposed,  to  the  end  of  the  present  century,  there  will 
have  been  consumed  from  1801  to  1900,  inclusive,  fifty-one 
thousand  million  gallons  of  intoxicating  liquors ;  causing 
eight  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  million  cases  of  drunk- 
enness, and  turning  fifteen  million  seven  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  sober  men  into  common  drunkards;  ex- 
citing five  million  persons  to  commit  crime;  reducing 
twenty  million  individuals  to  pauperism,  and  taxing  the 
community  seven  hundred  million  pounds  sterling  for  their 
support ;  four  million  individuals  will  have  been  deprived 
by  it  of  their  reason ;  255  million  years  of  human  life  will 
have  been  cut  off  and  wasted ;  eleven  hundred  millions 
sterling  will  have  been  lost  to  the  trade  of  the  country — 
equal  to  the  foreign  trade  of  210   years;   5,800  million 


I 


RAVAGES    OF   INTEMPERANCE.  215 

bushels  of  grain  will  have  been  destroyed  for  liquor  which, 
made  into  bread,  would  feed  the  present  population  for 
twenty-four  years;  in  the  manufacture,  and  trade,  and 
drinking,  would  be  21,774  million  violations  of  the  Sab- 
bath ;  three  million  persons,  equal  to  thirty  thousand  con- 
gregations, would  have  been  expelled  or  departed  from 
Christian  churches ;  and  4,700,000  of  the  children  of  the 
church  w^ill  have  been  demoralized,  if  not  ruined.  Well 
did  he  exclaim,  "  O  come  to  the  rescue  !  Great  God, 
DO  thou." 

The  means  and  the  ravages  of  intemperance  were,  in 
our  own  country,  appalling.  In  the  State  of  New  York, 
there  were  committed  to  the  prisons,  in  1849,  36,610  per- 
sons who  committed  the  crimes,  for  which  they  were  ar- 
rested, under  the  influence  of  intoxicating  liquors;  and 
of  the  poor  in  the  poor-houses,  two  thirds,  or  69,260 
were  pronounced,  in  the  Assembly  document,  from  intem- 
perance. In  Massachusetts  (the  most  temperate  State  in 
the  Union),  of  2,598  paupers,  1,467,  or  56  per  cent. — and 
of  8,760  committed  for  crime,  3,341,  or  more  than  38  per 
cent. — were  from  intemperance.  In  the  city  of  New  York, 
there  were,  in  1849,  4,425  licensed  houses,  750  selling 
without  license,  and  3,896  selling  on  the  Sabbath.  In 
the  quarter  ending  December,  1810,  there  were  arrested  in 
the  city,  1,600  for  drunkenness,  1,485  for  intoxication  and 
disorderly  conduct,  744  for  vagrancy,  1,214  for  assault 
and  battery,  1,006  for  disorderly  conduct;  nearly  all,  the 
results  of  drink — in  five  years,  111,360  victims  of  the  grog- 
shop. In  Philadelphia,  there  were  admitted  to  the  alms- 
house, in  1849,  5yll9;  2,323  were  intoxicated  when 
received.  In  the  Mayor's  Court,  there  were  5,987  cases 
of  drunkenness  and  disorderly  conduct,  and  only  324  of 
other  descriptions  of  crime.  In  his  work  on  Intemperance 
in  Cities,  R.  M.  Hartley,  Esq.,  estimated  the  annual  aggre- 
gate expenditure  for  intoxicating  liquors  alone,  consumed 


21 G  TEMPERANCE    RECOLLECTIONS. 

in  New  York  city,  at  $13,030,000— four  times  the  cost  of 
administering  the  State  government,  with  the  interest  on 
the  public  debt ;  twelve  times  the  annual  receipts  of  the 
Bible,  Tract,  Missionary,  and  other  public  benevolent 
societies  in  the  United  States ;  twenty  times  the  sum  ex- 
pended for  religious  works  and  educational  expenses. 

What  army  and  what  forces  had  we  wherewith  to 
commence  the  second  half-century  warfare  with  this  terri- 
ble foe,  in  our  own  land  ?  Truth  and  love  were  the  great 
weajjons  by  which  Ave  were  still  to  conquer.  The  Chris- 
tian ministry  and  churches  had  taken  the  field  more  de- 
cidedly and  boldly  than  for  several  years.  The  American 
Temperance  Union  was  well  holding  its  own,  scattering 
widely  its  tracts  and  papers.  Numerous  State  societies, 
and  county  and  local  organizations,  were  doing  as  much 
as  at  any  former  period ;  though  some,  alas !  had  quit  the 
field.  Temperance  lecturers  were  still  abroad,  with  their 
armor  bright.  The  Father  Mathew  Societies  were  be- 
coming numerous  and  powerful.  Throughout  Canada,  the 
cause  was  almost  equally  prosperous  as  with  us.  The 
Rev.  W.  Chiniquy,  a  young  Roman  priest,  and  powerful 
speaker,  had  there,  and  in  the  adjoining  States,  arrested 
much  attention ;  and,  in  a  short  time,  administered  the 
pledge  to  250,000  persons ;  18,000,  in  four  days,  in  Mon- 
treal. The  marvellous  Washingtonian  movement  had  in- 
deed finished  its  course,  and  its  fruits  were  gathered  into 
new  organizations.  Rechabites,  Samaritans,  Temples  of 
Honor,  were  doing  their  work,  in  their  vaiious  depart- 
ments. But  the  Order  of  the  Sons  of  Temperance  had  now 
swelled  beyond  any  other  single  organization,  and  was 
spreading  widely  over  the  States  and  British  provinces. 

To  the  Fourth  Annual  Meeting  of  the  National  Divi- 
sion, to  be  held  at  Boston,  June  11,  1850,  I  repaired, 
though  not  a  member  of  the  order  (not  being  a  reformed 
man),  and  still  preferring  open  organizations,  as  best  fitted 


NATIONAL   DIVISION    SONS    OF   TEMPERANCE.  217 

to  the  cause  and  the  country — though  others,  highly  es- 
teemed, differed  from  me.  This  meeting  was  the  repre- 
sentative of  no  less  than  thirty-six  grand  divisions,  5,894 
subordinate  divisions,  with  245,233  paying  members.  Its 
meeting  at  Boston,  with  its  banners  and  regalia,  was  very 
imposing. 

At  an  early  hour,  there  had  been  seen  rail  trains  coming  from  every 
direction,  laden  with  members  of  different  Divisions,  who,  at  ten  o'clock, 
began  to  form  in  different  places,  and,  by  twelve  o'clock,  began  to  move 
in  one  very  imposing  procession  through  the  various  streets  of  the  city. 
Heading  the  line,  was  William  A.  White,  Esq.,  the  Chief  Marshal,  on  a 
splendid  charger.  He  was  followed  by  the  Boston  Brigade  Band,  and 
thirty-six  bright  boys,  Cadets  of  Temperance,  each  bearing  a  small,  but 
neat  flag,  having  the  names  of  the  different  States,  and  British  Provinces, 
representing  the  thirty-six  Grand  Divisions  of  the  Order. 

The  line  of  procession  occupied  over  an  hour  in  passing  a  given  point, 
and  arrived  at  the  Common  at  about  half-past  one  o'clock,  where  a  counter- 
march took  place ;  the  divisions  were  dismissed,  and  proceeded  to  their 
respective  head-quarters,  with  music  playing  and  banners  flying. 

At  half-past  three  o'clock,  a  mighty  gathering  was  to  be  seen  on  the 
Common,  to  hear  speaking  at  the  stand  from  Gen.  Cary,  Phihp  S.  White, 
Rev.  Thomas  P.  Hunt,  Dr.  Charles  Jewett,  Rev.  John  Pierpont,  WiUiam  R. 
Drinkard,  and  Sir.  Copway,  the  Ojibwa  Chief.  All  these  gentlemen  were 
popular  orators ;  and  their  addresses,  chiefly  relative  to  the  iniquity,  abom- 
ination, and  iU-deserts  of  the  traffic,  were  responded  to  with  loud  cheering. 

On  Thursday  evening,  the  18th,  Alderman  Grant  had,  at  his  house,  a 
Temperance  soiree.  More  than  one  hundred  gentlemen  from  abroad  were 
present,  who  were  welcomed  to  Boston  by  a  neat  address  from  Dr.  John  C. 
Warren,  which  was  responded  to  by  Gen.  Cary  and  others.  The  meeting 
passed  off  with  great  sociality,  and  all  felt  that,  though  engaged  in  differ- 
ent ways  in  promoting  the  cause,  all  were  of  one  brotherhood,  and  should 
labor  with  a  kind  and  friendly  spirit,  in  delivering  our  land  and  world  from 
a  fearful  bondage. 

A   WELCOME. — BY    GEORGE   W.    BUNGAY. 

With  the  voice  of  many  waters, 

Let  us  sing  while  echo  starts — 
Welcome  !  Welcome  !  sons  and  daughters. 

To  our  hearth-stones  and  our  hearts  ! 
10 


218  TEMPERANCE   RECOLLECTIONS. 

^Yith  your  snow-flakes  Avlicre  our  fountains 

Fall  in  showers  of  golden  spray, 
Ye  have  conic  from  snow-flaked  mountains, 

Like  an  avalanche,  to-day  ! 

Here  are  banners  and  devices 

Borne  aloft  with  stalwart  arm, 
From  the  South-land,  where  the  spices 

Kiss  the  winds  with  lips  of  balm  ! 
Onward  !  upward !  bear  the  banner, 

Like  an  angel's  wing,  on  high  ; 
"Whilst  your  loud  and  glad  hosanna 

Shakes,  with  thunder-shouts,  the  sky  ! 

From  1846  to  1851  there  were  continually  laid  upon 
my  table  productions  of  powerful  minds,  which  showed 
that  the  nation  was  resolved  not  to  sleep  under  the 
ravages  of  Alcohol,  and  suffer  the  drinking  usages  of  socie- 
ty to  drag  thousands  down  to  death,  or  the  manufacturers 
and  venders  of  strong  drinks,  for  gain,  to  fill  up,  unrebuked, 
our  jails  and  almshouses  with  wretched  victims. 

The  first  that  occurs  to  my  recollection,  for  it  made  a 
deep  impression  at  the  time,  was  An  Address  to  the 
People  of  Ohio,  by  S.  F.  Gary,  Esq.  This  appeared  in 
1848.  General  Gary,  though  a  successful  lawyer  and  a 
man  of  wealth,  had  devoted  himself  to  the  temperance 
cause,  and  had  become  the  head  of  his  favorite  organiza- 
tion, "  The  Order  of  the  Sons."  He  had  visited  and 
spoken  in  every  city  and  town  in  the  State.  No  man  bet- 
ter knew  the  ravages  of  Alcohol ;  the  miseries  carried  into 
unnumbered  families — the  taxes  imposed  upon  a  hardy 
and  laborious  and  honest  people,  and  the  impossibility  of 
overcoming  and  subduing  the  traffic  by  mere  moral  sua- 
sion. To  no  man  would  the  people  so  listen  as  to  him, 
and  from  no  one  would  an  address  come  with  equal  force. 
And  though  many  might  occasionally  hear  him  in  the 
large  places,  it  was  desirable  that  his  words  should  go,  as 


I 


CAKT    AXD   KITCHELL    ON   THE   TRAFFIC.  219 

they  might .  and  would  in  a  tract,  to  every  hamlet.  It 
was  a  subject  of  rejoicing,  therefore,  that  he  had  made  and 
published  this  address.  He  said  :  "  A  crisis  had  come  to 
the  people  of  Ohio.  The  question  was  to  be  settled  by 
them,  whether  the  land,  overshadowed  by  the  wings  of 
the  Almighty,  should  belong  to  drunkards  and  be  under 
the  dominion  of  that  most  heartless  of  all  tyrants,  the 
drunkard  maker."  In  no  common  lano-uao-e  he  called  their 
attention  to  the 

Evils  of  the  traffic ; 

Dishonesty  of  the  traffic  ; 

Their  connection  with  it ; 

Remedy  to  be  applied.     He  then  called  upon  the  people  to 

Dissolve  the  partnership  ;  to 

Brand  the  traffic  as  criminal ;  and  to 

Believe  and  feel  that  the  Rumseller  must  be  punished. 

Moral  appliances  alone  are  ineffectual ; 

Our  position  is  right,  and  we  must 

Petition  the  Legislature  at  once  to  abolish  all  laws  regulating  the 
sale  of  Hquor,  and  to  incorporate  the '  traffic  among  its  kindred  crimes  of 
theft,  arson,  robbery  and  murder. 

These  were  his  positions ;  half  a  million  copies  were 
published ;  and  few  were  the  men  in  Ohio  or  elsewhere, 
who  did  not  see  that  they  were  well  sustained. 

The  next  that  comes  to  my  recollection  was  :  An  Ap- 
peal TO  THE  People  for  the  suppression  of  the  Liquor 
traffic,  by  Rev.  A.  D.  Kitchell ;  a  prize  essay. 

When*  Mr.  Kitchell  wrote  this,  he  was  a  minister  in 
Connecticut.  It  so  brought  him  to  the  notice  of  the  pub- 
lic, as  a  man  of  power,  that  he  was  called  to  a  jDulpit  in 
Detroit.  The  appeal  was  lengthy  ;  it  answered  every  ob- 
jection which  the  nimseller  could  make  to  the  overthrow 
of  his  traffic,  and  left  him  without  a  word  in  defence. 
This  was  published  in  1848. 

My  own  sermon  upon  the  Sunday  Liquor  traffic  has 


220  TEMPERANCE   EECOLLECTIONS. 

already  been  alluded  to.  This  was  soon  followed  by 
another,  upon  The  True  Element  of  Moral  Reform, 
and  hojje  of  the  temperance  enterprise.  I  knew  many 
leaders  in  temperance  did  not  sympathize  with  me,  and 
would  keep  all  religion  out  of  temperance  meetings,  on 
the  plea  that  it  would  keep  from  the  meetings  all  irre- 
ligious, profane,  drinking  men,  whom  Ave  most  desired  to 
benefit.  But  my  anxieties  were  to  place  the  cause  upon 
Christian  principle,  to  build  it  up  in  Christian  love,  and 
in  dependence  on  a  higher  power  than  man. 

Dr.  Charles  Jewett's  Lectures  were  first  published 
in  1849.  Many  were  opposed  to  his  publishing  them,  as 
it  might  prevent  his  delivering  them  more,  which  would 
be  a  calamity,  since  the  force  of  what  he  presented  lay 
much  in  the  delivery.  But  as  he  had  ceased  reading,  and 
as  in  his  extemporaneous  lectures  he  brought  forward  what- 
ever was  appropriate  or  demanded  from  all  he  had  writ- 
ten, it  was  of  small  consequence.  In  a  printed  form  they 
have  been  read  by  hundreds,  and  perhaps  by  thousands, 
who  would  never  have  had  the  opportunity  to  hear  him. 
These  lectures,  as  was  the  case  with  most  of  the  Doctor's 
speaking,  were  of  a  scientific  and  practical  character,  upon 
the  connection  of  temperance  with  the  agricultural,  com- 
mercial, and  educational  interests  of  human  society,  show- 
ing that,  like  Christianity,  temperance  brings  men  out  of 
a  state  of  darkness  and  barbarism,  and  elevates  man  into  a 
condition  of  refinement,  purity,  and  blessedness,  which  it  ■ 
is  beyond  the  power  of  language  to  express.  -It  is  to  be 
regretted  that  they  have  for  a  time  been  out  of  print ;  but 
they  will  not  long  be  so  when  -the  public  are  deprived  of 
his  bodily  presence,  his  expressive  countenance  and  living 
voice. 

The  Crisis  and  the  Triumph  ;  a  sermon  by  Doctor 
Nathan  S.  S.  Beman,  appeared  in  the  same  period.  Dr. 
Beman  was  most  thoroughly  radical  whenever  he  touched 


PUBLICATIONS    FROM    1846    TO    1850.  221 

the  cause  of  temperance  with  his  pen  or  voice.  He  ad- 
mitted no  apology  for  the  vender  of  intoxicating  drinks 
or  the  consumer,  even  if  he  stood  on  the  highest  pinnacle 
of  the  church  and  was  most  careful  not  to  pass,  in  the 
slightest  degree,  the  bounds  of  moderation.  He  saw  no 
hope  for  the  community,  but  in  perfect,  total  abstinence, 
and  in  the  prohibition  of  the  traffic.  His  heart  was  ex- 
ceedingly cheered  by  the  triumph,  in  1846,  in  the  License 
question  before  the  people,  as  was  his  indignation  kindled 
at  the  subsequent  conduct  of  the  Xew  York  Legislature. 

ScKiPTUEE  View  of  the  Wine  Question,  by  Moses 
Stuart,  Andover,  and  Reply  by  Rev.  James  Lillie,  Carlisle, 
Pa.  These  discussions,  which  appeared  in  1848,  had  so  long 
been  before  the  public  that  most  men  had  lost  their  inter- 
est in  them.  Mr.  Lillie  discovered  not  a  little  critical 
acumen  in  detecting  errors  into  which  the  learned  Pro- 
fessor had  fallen,  but  he  showed  little  disposition  for  total 
abstinence. 

Temperance  Anecdotes,  by  myself.  This  was  a 
small  work,  a  collection  of  200  anecdotes  for  the  aid  of 
speakers  in  public  meetings  to  arrest  attention  where  dry 
abstract  truth  failed.  It  commanded  at  one  time  a  large 
sale. 

Groceries,  A  Source  of  Mischief,  by  G.  Magoun,  Ten- 
nessee. A  thoroughly  practical  exhibit  of  an  enormous 
evil  in  every  village,  where  groceries  and  liquor-selling 
Avere  under  one  roof,  exposing  servants  and  children  to 
inevitable  ruin. 

Address  on  Wine,  by  Sumner  Stebbins,  M.  D.,  Ches- 
ter, Pa. ;  an  address  of  much  power  by  one  who,  more 
than  most  other  men,  had  made  temperance  his  study. 

Zoological  Temperance  Convention,  by  Professor 
Hitchcock,  Amherst,  1849  ;  an  exceedingly  ingenious  and 
amusing  work,  from  one  of  the  most  profound  minds  in 
America.     It  was  a  Pictorial  Temperance  Convention  of 


222  TEMPERANCE    RECOLLECTIONS. 

birds  and  beasts,  well  illustrated ;  and  each  made  to 
play  liis  part  in  temperance  or  intemperance,  in  smok- 
ing or  chewing  tobacco,  &c.,  &c.  ;  designed  greatly  to  at- 
tract the  attention,  and  impress  the  minds  of  children  and 
youth.  One  of  the  first  publications  on  temperance  was 
from  the  pen  of  this  excellent  man  in  1829,  entitled,  "An 
Argument  against  the  Manufacture  and  Sale  of  Ardent 
Spirits."  Few  men  did  more  in  his  day  for  the  temperance 
cause,  than  did  President  Hitchcock. 

National  Temperance  Offering,  Sons'  and  Daugh- 
ters' Temperance  Gift  Book,  by  S.  F.  Gary,  1850;  a 
Splendid  volume  of  500  pages,  containing  the  portraits 
and  likenesses  of  several  of  the  principal  officers  and 
speakers  of  the  Sons  of  Temperance.  As  a  gift  book,  it 
had  a  large  circulation. 

Putting  the  Bottle  to  our  Neighbor's  Lips  ;  a  ser- 
mon by  T.  L.  Guyler,  Trenton,  1850.  A  spirited  and 
timely  attack  uj)on  the  traffic  and  drinking  usages  in 
Trenton. 

Sermon  on  the  Death  op  Thomas  Tew,  agent  of  the 
Rhode  Island  State  Temperance  Society,  by  Rev.  Dr. 
Gleveland.  Mr.  Tew  had,  by  indefatigable  labor,  almost 
entirely  extricated  Rhode  Island  from  Intemperance,  and 
he  well  deserved  the  character  given  of  him  in  this  dis- 
course. Dr.  Gleveland  showed  why  the  course  of  true 
reformers  appears  to  men  of  the  world  perfectly  absurd. 
1.  Their  principles  are  Ghristian,  opposed  to  the  selfish- 
ness of  worldly  men.  2.  Their  faith  is  in  things  unseen  ; 
not  in  present  circumstances,  which  may  be  all  unfavor- 
able, but  in  the  providence  and  provision  of  God. 

"  Sermon  on  the  State  of  Morals  in  New  Haven,  Gonn.," 
by  Dr.  Gleveland,  1850  ;  a  bold  and  faithful  exhibit  of  the 
intemperance  of  that  beautiful  city. 

Address  of  the  New  York  Gity  Society  on  Ghristian 
Principles. 


SONGS  AND  POEMS,    1846   TO   1850.  223 

"  Responsible  Agents  of  Intemperance,"  by  Rev.  J.  F. 
Williams,  Eastford,  Conn.  ;  a  pungent  discourse. 

Dr.  Carpenter's  Prize  Essay  (England).  "Should  alco- 
holic liquors  form  part  of  the  ordinary  sustenance  of  man  ?  " 
Republished  in  Boston  with  a  glossary ;  the  most  able 
and  convincing  work,  in  the  opinion  of  Dr.  Warren,  which 
had  been  written. 

"Intemperance  in  Cities  and  large  Towns,  its  causes 
and  cure,"  by  R.  M.  Hartley,  Esq.,  the  long  and  efficient 
Secretary  of  ISTew  York  City  Temperance  Society  ;  a  most 
valuable  work. 

Several  tracts.  No.  2,  for  sons  of  Temperance,  by 
Horace  Greely.  'No.  3,  by  S.  F.  Cary.  Curse  of  Meroz  j 
Kingdom  of  Intemperance  ;  Delirium  Tremens  ;  by  Rev. 
J.  Marsh. 

Pictorial  Tales  and  Anecdotes,  Oliver  and  Brother. 

Such  Avere  some  of  our  forces  in  the  field,  and  new 
weapons  in  our  armory. 

Kor  had  the  Muse  been  backward  to  come  to  our  help* 
The  last  four  years  had  brought  out  stirring  songs. 

The  last  drunkard  ; 

He  stood  the  last — the  last  of  all. 

The  prairie  fire. — Fierponf. 

The  maniac's  plea ; 

There's  none  can  plead,  as  I  can  plead. 

The  drunkard's  snare. — Carter. 

I  loathe  it,  I  loathe  it,  the  poisonous  wine. 

The  wine  fiend. — Kimball. 

AMVdiy  with  songs  of  revelry. 

There's  a  good  time  coming. 

Upward !  onward ! 
This  your  watchword !  glorious  one. 
Look  out  while  the  bell  is  ringing. — Bungay. 
Triumphs  of  the  Pledge. — Tappan. 
The  tempter. — Burleigh. 
If  angels  in  the  heavens  r^'oice. 


224  TEMPERANCE    RECOLLECTIONS. 

A  song  of  welcome. — Bungay. 

The  Wife's  Appeal— J/;-s.  Rich. 

I  stood  near  his  grave. — Mrs.  Richmond. 

The  temperance  shout  is  ringing 

In  triumph  through  the  air. — Atwood. 

Muster  for  the  battle  glorious. — Rev.  P.  Clark. 

The  Temperance  Banner. 

Hail  thou  blest  king !  to  thee  we  bring. 

The  temperance  "  No  License  "  Triumph. 
From  hill-side  and  from  valley. 

Temperance  Harvest  home. — Star  of  Temperance. 
A  voice  from  the  mountain,  a  voice  from  the  plain. 

Down  with  the  groggeries,  down. — George  Burleigh. 

The  Hope  of  the  World.— Ilafjield. 

They  come,  see  they  come  from  the  land  and  the  sea. 

Widow's  Petition  to  the  Rumseller. — Star  of  Temperance. 
Have  I  e'er  wronged  thee  ? 

Fanny  Forrester  to  the  Sons  of  Temperance. 
God  bless  the  Mayor's  casting  vote. — Boston. 

Our  FiETEENTH  ANNIVERSARY,  held  in  the  Broadway 
Tabernacle,  May  8,  1851,  was  one  of  much  interest,  as  we 
were  standing  between  two  half  centuries.  In  absence 
of  the  President,  John  Tappan,  Esq.,  of  Boston,  Vice- 
President,  took  the  chair.  He  stated  that  it  was  just 
twenty-five  years  since  the  first  Anniversary  of  the  Ameri- 
can Temperance  Society — a  quarter  of  a  century  of  great 
and  glorious  labor  to  rid  the  world  of  an  insufferable  evil. 
He  congratulated  the  officers  and  members  of  the  Union 
at  the  progress  of  the  cause ;  and  only  regretted  the  ab- 
sence of  our  distinguished  President  on  an  indispensable 
and  joyful  occasion.  After  the  reading  of  my  Report,  tlie 
Hon.  Andrew  T.  Judson,  Judge  of  the  U.  S.  District 
Court,  who  had  become  a  warm  supporter  of  the  cause, 


FIFTEENTH    ANNIVEKSARY   A.    T.    U.  225 

was  announced  as  a  speaker,  but  a  letter  from  him  was 
handed  in,  informing  us  that  a  sudden  illness  had  prevented 
his  attendance.  The  letter  expressed  his  ardent  wishes 
for  the  ultimate  success  of  the  good  cause  and  a  final  con- 
quest over  the  greatest  enemy  of  mankind. 
.  The  meeting  was  addressed  by  Rev.  H.  S.  Carpen- 
ter, of  New  York,  William  H.  Burleigh,  Rev.  Dr.  Cleve- 
land, of  Providence,  P.  T.  Barnum,  on  a  donation  fi-om 
Jenny  Lind,  the  queen  of  song,  of  an  hundred  dollars. 
Rev.  John  Chambers,  of  Philadelphia,  and  Rev.  Dr. 
Tyng.     Dr.  Cleveland,  speaking  on  progress,  said: 

"  When  two  trains  meet,  travelling  at  the  rate  of  twenty-five  miles  an 
hour,  we  seem  to  be  going  fifty,  when  we  are  going  but  twenty-five.  The 
croakers  say,  we  are  now  going  backwards.  The  question  is  whether  the 
croakers  are  right,  who  say  we  have  done  nothing,  or  the  temperance 
workers,  who  think  we  have  done  much  for  which  to  be  thankful.  I  think 
we  have  mowed  a  pretty  handsome  swarth.  I  am  willing  to  admit, 
there  is  as  much  rum  drunk  now  as  there  was  twenty-five  years  ago,  yet 
it  must  be  remembered  that  twenty-five  years  ago,  there  were  but  twelve 
millions  of  people  in  the  laud,  whereas  now  there  are  twenty-five.  If  we 
have  reformed  no  one,  we  may  have  kept  our  twelve  millions  from  falling 
into  the  sin  and  ruin  of  drunkenness." 

His  address  was  throughout  one  of  great  wit  and 
humor.  To  Rev.  Dr.  Tyng,  of  New  York,  was  specially 
assigned  a  half-century  speech  on  the  following  resolution, 
but  his  time  had  been  nearly  all  engrossed  by  others. 

Resolved^  That,  standing  on  this  interesting  point  of  time,  one  half 
century  behind  and  another  before — one,  a  half  century  of  preparation, 
the  other,  we  trust,  of  decisive  battle  and  conquest,  we  pause,  grateful 
for  the  past — stern  and  uncompromising  for  the  future.  To  ministers,  to 
legislators,  to  magistrates,  to  judges,  to  parents,  to  teachers,  to  young  and 
old,  we  appeal  for  co-operation  in  labors  which,  under  God,  are  to  remove 
one  of  the  greatest  moral  evils  afflicting  our  race,  and  prepare  the  world 
for  the  reign  of  the  Prince  of  Peace. 

Dr.  Tyng  remarked,  "  that  it  was  too  late  in  the  even- 
10* 


226  TEMrEIlANCE    EECOLLECTIONS. 

ing  for  him  to  think  of  speaking  much,  but  the  resoUition 
spoke  of  pausing;  tliere  is  no  time  to  pause  in  the  great 
work  that  is  before  us.  The  Half  Century  that  lias  passed 
has  been  one  of  stirring  effort,  and  tliere  should  be  no  ces- 
sation  in  the  exertions  of  this  Society.  A  short  time  since 
a  friend  who  had  been  travelling  in  the  West,  told  him 
that  in  his  travels  he  had  one  day  encountered  an  emigrant 
journeying  with  his  family  to  the  fertile  regions  beyond 
the  Mississippi.  •  He  had  all  his  worldly  goods  packed  on 
wagons,  and  on  one  load  there  hung  a  huge  jug  with  the 
bottom  broken  out.  He  asked  him  why  he  carried  that 
with  him.  Why,  he  said,  that  is  my  Taylor  jug.  And 
what  is  a  Taylor  jug  ?  asked  my  friend.  Why,  said  he, 
I  had  a  son  Avith  Gen.  Taylor's  army  in  Mexico,  and  the 
old  General  always  told  him  to  carry  his  whiskey-jug  with 
a  hole  in  the  bottom ;  and  since  that  I  have  carried  my 
jug  as  you  see  it,  and  I  find  it  is  the  best  invention  that  I 
ever  met  with.  Now,"  said  Dr.  Tjnig,  "  if  our  Presidents, 
and  Governors,  and  Legislators  would  only  carry  such 
whiskey-jugs  as  this  Western  emigrant  carried — if  their 
jug  had  no  bottom  to  it,  we  should  have  much  less 
drunkenness  and  misery.  It  is  their  example  that  docs 
more  mischief  than  rum-sellers  do." 


CHAPTER   XVII. 

Death  of  General  Taylor — Vigor  of  old  Temperance  men — Permanent 
Temperance  Documents  in  School  Libraries — Colhsion  between  New 
and  Old  Organizations — Letter  of  Gen.  Gary — Temperance  Hotels — 
Delavan  House — Efforts  of  Dr.  Jewett — Navy — Abolition  of  Flogging 
— Evil  continuance  of  spirit-ration — Spirit-ration  Abolished. 

At  tlie  commencement  of  the  second  half  of  our  cen- 
tury, the  nation  was  suddenly  called  to  mourning  by  the 
death  of  Gen.  Zachariah  Taylor,  President  of  the  United 
States.  He  expired  on  the  9th  of  July,  1850,  in  the  sixtieth 
year  of  his  age.  Temperance,  religion,  and  patriotism 
wept  at  his  tomb.  During  the  Mexican  war,  he  ever 
showed  himself  a  decided  temperance  man;  and  hence,  it 
was  conceded,  was  much  of  his  calmness  and  power.  He 
was  succeeded  by  Vice-president  Fillmore  ;^  also  a  decided 
temperance  man.  "Not  a  few  of  the  early  friends  of  the 
cause  were  still  in  the  field,  to  stamp  their  features  on  the 
second  half  century.  Dr.  Hewitt  was  still  living,  and 
powerful  as  he  ever  had  been  in  the  pulpit,  at  Bridge- 
port, Connecticut;  Dr.  Humphrey,  by  his  graphic  and  en- 
ergetic pen,  was  doing  great  service  to  the  Church ;  Dr. 
Lyman  Beecher  was  vigorous  at  Cincinnati.  Visiting 
Boston,  he  was  pressed  for  an  address,  l^efore  he  left  for 
home,  at  the  Tremont  Temple.  The  New  Englander,  in 
an  account  of  it,  remarked  : 

"The  fire  of  the  old  warrior,  in  his  noble  philanthropy,  burned  as- 
brightly  on  this  evening  as  in  the  days  of  his  vigorous  youth.    Time  had 


228  TEMPERANCE    KECOLLECTIONS. 

possibly  impaired  his  vision  and  his  memory ;  but  there  was  still  manifest 
the  same  active  vitality  of  brain,  the  same  force  of  utterance,  the  same 
fitly  chosen  words,  the  same  hearty  vehemence  against  this  giant  evil  of 
the  land.  His  illustrations  were  deduced  from  a  most  extended  experi- 
ence ;  his  teachings  had  all  the  import  of  patriarchal  words.  Though  he 
had  preached  two  sermons  the  same  day,  there  was  no  exhaustion  of  the 
system  manifest,  no  evidence  given  that  fatigue  had  come  upon  him ;  but 
clear,  rapid,  powerful,  were  his  premises  and  conclusions,  his  delineations 
of  the  cause,  and  his  description  of  the  effect  of  the  vice.  It  was  a  thrill- 
ing sight — that  crowded  auditory,  hanging  with  intense  interest  on  the 
faintest  lispings  of  the  aged  laborer." 

One  of  the  most  important  and  laborious  of  the  opera- 
tions, of  this  period  and  of  my  life,  for  the  cause,  was  the 
reprinting  and  placing  in  the  school-libraries  of  the  State 
of  New  York,  the  three  volumes  of  the  Permanent  Tem- 
perance Documents.  It  was  believed  that,  for  family- 
reading,  consultation  by  clergymen,  teachers,  temperance 
speakers,  and  young  men,  who  might  wish,  in  every  place, 
to  make  themselves  acquainted  with  the  history  of  the 
cause,  nothing  would  be  more  valuable  ;  and,  as  there  was 
a  public  library  in  every  school-district,  it  would  give 
these  Documents  a  wide  circulation,  and  do  much  toward 
securing,  in  the  State,  permanency  to  the  cause.  The 
plan  was  cordially  endorsed  by  the  following  friends : 

Saratoga  Springs,  July  2,  1851. 
Kev.  J.  Marsh  : 

Sir — In  my  opinion,  the  volumes  of  Permanent  Temperance  Docu- 
ments, furnishing  a  history  of  the  Temperance  Reformation  from  its  com- 
mencement, would  be  a  valuable  acquisition  to  every  school-Ubrary  in  the 
State. 

Reuben  H.  Walworth. 
• 
"We  fully  accord  with  Chancellor  Walworth  : 

Eliphalet  Nott,  President  of  Union  College, 

Edward  C.  Delavan,  Ballston  Centre, 

Frederic  Whittlesey,  Vice-Chancellor,  Rochester, 


TEMPEEANCE    DOCTJMEIilTS    IN    SCHOOL   LIBRARIES.     229 

Samuel  Chipman,  Rochester, 
George  Peck,  D.  D.,  Xew  York, 
Stephen  H.  Tyng,  D.  D.,  New  York. 

Albany,  July  3,  1857. 
Sir — The  three  volumes  made  up  of  the  Annual  Reports  of  the  Amer- 
ican Temperance  Society  and  Union,  Addresses  and  Statistics  upon  the 
subject  of  temperance,  vrould,  in  my  opinion,  form  interesting  and  in- 
structive books  for  the  district-school  hbraries. 

Christopher  Morgan,  Secretary  of  State 
Fev.  J.  Marsh.  and  Superintendent  of  Public  Schools. 

Having  secured  the  approbation  of  the  authorities  at 
Albany  ;  and  as  the  trustees  of  each  school  had  the  privi- 
lege of  selecting  their  own  books,  for  which  they  paid  from 
the  public  moneys  appropriated  to  the  district,  I  sent  a  cir- 
cular, with  the  above  recommendations,  to  every  school- 
district  in  the  State,  agreeing  to  deliver  the  three  volumes 
of  about  five  hundred  pages,  each  bound  in  muslin,  and 
lettered  "  School-District  Library,"  for  four  dollars.  I 
little  knew  what  I  had  undertaken ;  but  I  earnestly  and 
vigorously  engaged  in  the  work,  and  continued  in  it  suc- 
cessfully, for  about  three  years.  I  was  enabled  to  supply 
over  eight  hundred  libraries.  But  there  was  a  difficulty 
in  obtaining  payment,  as  almost  every  library  was  in  debt 
for  books  previously  taken ;  and  new  trustees  were  often 
unwilling  to  be  held  responsible  for  what  past  committees 
had  done ;  so  that  I  was  compelled  to  relinquish  the  work, 
though  it  was  generally  highly  approved  of.  Five  hun- 
dred sets,  in  sheets,  were  ordered  for  the  school-libraries 
in  Ohio,  by  the  superintendent  of  common  schools  at  Cin- 
cinnati, and  were  forwarded  there,  to  be  bound  up  in  uni- 
formity with  other  works. 

As  we  were  pressing,  in  every  place,  our  claims  upon 
the  community,  and  endeavoring  to  draw  the  entire  tem- 
perance population  into  combined  action  against  the  retail 


230  TEMPERxVNCE    RECOLLECTIONS. 

trafiic,  and  the  drinking  usages,  we  were  much  liindered 
by  continual  collisions  between  the  old,  open  organizations 
and  the  new  temperance  Orders  which  became  exclusiye, 
and  whose  po[)uhirity,  and  success  in  securing  members, 
resulted  in  the  extinction  of  many  associations,  on  whose 
continuance  hung,  to  a  great  degree,  the  sympatliy  of  min- 
isters and  churches.  Their  forms  and  ceremonies,  regalia 
and  exclusiveness,  were  of  little  moment,  provided  it  was 
based  on  Christian  principles,  and  had  the  promotion  of 
temperance  at  heart.  To  satisfy  myself  on  this  subject,  I 
addressed  a  letter  of  inquiry  to  Gen.  Cary,  of  Ohio,  who 
returned  me  the  following  answer,  which  did  such  honor  to 
his  head  and  heart  that  I  am  happy  in  putting  it  on  rec- 
ord. It  showed  that,  if  we  walked  in  different  paths, 
there  was  no  cause  of  alienation. 

Temperance  Cottage,  Monday,  Oct.  8,  1849, 
Rey.  axd  Dear  Brother — Your  valued  letter  of  the 
10th  July  reached  me  when  I  was  upon  a  bed  of  sickness, 
and  for  some  time  subsequent  I  was  unable  to  answer  it. 
On  my  recovery,  a  multiplicity  of  duties  compelled  me  to 
defer  writing.  Your  letter  afforded  me  real  gratification, 
not  only  on  account  of  the  continued  confidence  which 
you  were  pleased  to  repose  in  me,  but  more  especially  for 
the  zeal  and  devotion  manifested  in  the  great  cause  of  tem- 
perance. The  Order  which  I  have  the  high  honor  to  lead 
into  the  battle  against  the  common  foe,  is  worthy  of  com- 
mendation and  confidence  only  so  far  as  it  promotes  the 
total  abstinence  reform.  I  am  glad  that  you  appreciate  my 
position  so  well,  in  reference  to  the  great  cause  to  w^hich 
your  energies  have  been  so  long  and  so  well  devoted. 

I  am  not  tenacious  of  the  form  of  organization,  or  the 
means  by  which  the  great  end  shall  be  attained,  provided 
they  are  not  inconsistent  with  the  word  of  God.  I  have 
ever  maintained,  that  no  society  or  organization,  which 


LETTER   FROM    GEN.    S.   F.  GARY.  231 

has  for  its  object  tlie  elevation  of  man's  moral  condition, 
can  loDg  prosper,  or  even  exist,  unless  it  is  based  upon 
eternal  truth.  The  Bible  is  the  only  safe  rule  for  faith  and 
practice.  Again,  I  regard  it  as  a  fundamental  truth,  that 
no  standard  of  reform  can  be  maintained  higher  than  is 
assumed  by  the  Glinstlan  Church  sanciijied.  Mind  must 
take  the  lead  in  the  great  warfare  against  vice  and  sin  of 
every  description,  or  defeat  is  certain.  I  see  nothing  in 
our  Order  that  conflicts  with  the  revealed  will  of  God ; 
nor  do  I  believe  that  there  is  anything  which  can  hinder 
its  members  from  making  the  highest  attainment  in  Chris- 
tian excellence.  But,  as  I  have  said,  I  am  -not  tenacious 
of  forms.  I  am  a  Son  of  Temperance  only  because  I  sup- 
pose it  better  adapted  than  any  other  known  form  of  vol- 
untary association  to  advance  the  Temperance  BefOrma- 
tion :  but  I  am  not  an  exclusive.  I  am  prepared  to  labor 
with  any  and  all  who  difier  with  me  on  this  subject.  I 
would  abandon  this  organization  in  an  instant,  when  an- 
other should  be  formed  more  likely  to  succeed.  I  think 
there  has  been  some  misapprehension,  as  to  the  chief  ob- 
ject of  the  temperance  reformation,  on  the  part  of  many 
of  its  advocates.  They  seem  to  think  that  its  chief  glory 
consists  in  picking  up  drunkards  and  reforming  them. 
However  praiseworthy  and  honorable  may  be  this  em- 
ployment, I  think  our  aim  should  be  higher.  We  should 
direct  our  chief  energies  to  prevent  the  present  and  com- 
ing generations  from  becoming  drunkards.  Those  de- 
grade our  enterprise  who  regard  it  as  doomed  to  be  a 
mere  scavenger,  generation  after  generation.  We  must 
purify  the  moral  atmosphere  by  holding  up  the  terrors  of 
intemperance,  and  the  beauties  of  total  abstinence,  by  way 
of  encouraging  the  power  of  resistance  within  ;  and  an- 
other and  important  part  of  our  work  is  to  remove,  by 
moral  and  legal  means,  the  temptations  from  without.  But 
I  am  taxing  your  attention  too  much.     I  hope  to  hear 


232  TEMPERANCE   EECOLLECTIONS. 

again  and  again  from  yon.  While  wc  may  differ  as  to  the 
best  means  of  promoting  the  cause  we  love,  we,  I  trust  and 
believe,  have  but  one  object  in  view — the  utter  extii'pation 
of  intemperance  from  this  sin-stricken  earth. 

May  God  bless  you,  my  dear  brother,  in  all  your  efforts 
to  promote  the  great  reform. 

Truly  yours,  &c.. 
Rev.  John  Maksii,  N.  Y.  City.  S.  F.  Caky. 

Our  friends  in  Canada  were  much  troubled  on  the 
same  subject.  With  a  spirit  of  kindness,  they  bore  with 
the  new  organizations,  deprecated  the  divisions,  but  held 
firm  to  the  old  societies.  Said  the  Caaada  Advocate,  in 
1850: 

"  Sincerely  as  we  rejoice  in  what  has  been  done  by  the  Sons  in  the 
West,  the  Rechabites  in  the  east, and  the  Cadets  of  Temperance,  we  cannot 
sjiut  our  eyes  to  the  fact,  that  the  old  Total  Abstinence  Societies  are  the 
root  out  of  which  they  have  all  sprung.  We  do  not  desire  to  see  any  of 
them  given  up,  or  feebly  carried  on ;  on  the  contrary,  we  wish  to  see  them 
push  forward  with  as  much  energy  as  ever ;  they  are  all  important  in  their 
place,  and  all  fitted  to  enUst  many  on  our  side  who  would  never  join  the  old 
societies.  Yet  these  latter  are  the  trunk  of  the  temperance  tree  ;  the  new 
organizations  are  branches  that  have  sprung  from  it ;  and,  though  they 
spread  wider,  and  look  more  beautiful  and  attractive,  with  their  verdant 
foliage,  we  should  not  lose  sight  of  the  stem  which  they  both  conceal  and 
adorn.  There  are  many  who  may  be  expected  to  join  the  old  society,  that 
would  not  join  any  of  the  newly  formed  organizations ;  and  many  old 
valued  friends  will  gladly  remain  in  connection  with  the  former,  and 
cooperate  with  the  Sons  or  the  Rechabites.  Let,  therefore,  these  old  asso- 
ciations be  still  assiduously  kept  up,  in  town  and  country.  Let  all  the  doors 
be  kept  open,  by  which  new  friends  may  enter  our  ranks,  and  all  the  ma- 
chinery be  still  plied,  by  which  friends,  whether  new  or  old,  may  render  us 
assistance." 

Temperance  Hotels  were  early  forced  upon  our  at- 
tention, as  absolutely  essential  to  the  success  of  our  cause. 
Temperance  men  had  banished  liquor  from  theii'  houses ; 


TEMPERANCE     HOTELS.  233 

they  had  resolved  never  to  be  seen  frequentmg  a  saloon, 
or  supporting  a  grocery,  by  purchasing  its  articles,  which 
sold  liquor;  and  yet,  when  travelling,  they  were  compelled 
to  make  their  home,  at  least  for  the  night,  where  was 
the  revelry  of  the  rum-fiend;  and,  as  they  left  in  the 
morning,  to  leave  their  money  for  the  support  of  a  public 
curse.  A  combination  among  the  friends  of  temperance 
throughout  the  country,  never  to  patronize  such  houses, 
would,  it  was  seen,  reduce  their  number ;  and  should  their 
patronage  be  exclusively  given  to  strictly  temperance 
houses,  they  might  be  well  sustained. 

The  Marlboro'  Hotel,  in  Boston,  was  early  placed  on 
strict  temperance  principles.  The  Adams  and  Quincy 
House  soon  followed.  The  Croton  was  early  established 
in  New  York ;  the  Delavan,  at  Albany ;  and  soon  there 
was  scarce  a  large  town  or  city  in  the  country  which  had 
not  its  temperance  hotel. 

These  institutions,  how  much  soever  called  for  and  valu- 
able they  might  be,  for  the  most  part  soon  degenerated. 
It  required  too  much  capital  in  the  proprietors  to  sustain 
them,  and  give  the  satisfaction  to  travellers — usually  exor- 
bitant in  their  demands — ^that  other  hotels  could  give, 
which  made  great  profit  on  their  sales  of  liquors  ;  so  that 
the  contrast  was  drawn,  in  the  estimation  of  the  public, 
very  much  to  the  disparagement  of  the  temperance  house, 
and  it  was  often  forsaken,  even  by  temperance  men. 
In  1850,  my  friend.  Dr.  Charles  Jewett,  took  up  the 
subject  in  earnest,  in  the  Worcester  Cataract,  and  en- 
deavored to  gain  the  confidence  of  the  public  in  such 
houses ;  while  he  gave  all  a  severe  scathing  who  kept 
such  houses  without  any  principle— merely  for  gain — 
giving  their  patrons  the  lowest,  and  often  most  miserable 
fare. 

"  Temperance  men  cannot  be  comfortable,  where  sights  and'  sounds  are 
every  moment  reminding  them  of  that  terrible  scourge  which  is  annually 


234  TEMPERANCE    RECOLLECTIONS. 

dragging  down  thousands  of  our  countrymen  to  graves  of  infamy.  There 
must  be  liouses,  Avhere  such  music  and  exhibitions  are  not  added  to  the 
bill  of  fare,  for  the  accommodation  of  temperance  men,  of  whom  New 
England  can  number  her  tens  of  thousands.  But  why  should  a  friend  of 
temperance  go  out  of  his  way,  or  make  special  efforts  to  send  his  friends  to 
a  particular  hotel,  though  it  holds  out  a  temperance  flag,  and  is  called  a 
temperance  house,  when  he  knows  that  its  landlord  or  proprietor  has  no 
interest  in  the  cause,  and  would  sell  liquor  to-morrow,  if  more  money  could 
be  made  by  it,  or  the  public  opinion  and  the  laws  of  the  State  allowed  him 
to  do  it?  Some  seem  to  have  supposed  that  the  word  temperance  could 
feed,  warm,  and  lodge  men.  They  have  therefore  put  the  word  on  the 
sign  wliich  swung  before,  or  was  placed  above  the  door,  and  neglected  to 
make  provision  for  the  comfort  of  their  guests." 

His  remonstrances  were  not  without  effect,  and  a  bet- 
ter state  of  things  was  widely  visible. 

The  Second  Arm  of  onr  National  Defence,  our  gallant 
Navy,  had  had,  from  the  commencement  of  the  temperance 
reform,  much  of  the  attention  of  the  friends  of  temperance. 
Noble  officers,  as  Foote,  Hudson,  Stringham,  and  Jones, 
themselves  abstainers,  had  long  wished  and  hoped  that  the 
spirit  ration,  alias  the  whiskey  tub,  the  cause  of  most  of  the 
difficulties  in  the  Navy,  might  be  abolished ;  and,  at  their 
instigation,  numerous  petitions,  largely  signed,  had  been 
sent  to  Congress  for  its  removal.  One  member,  whose 
services  deserve  to  be  held  in  lasting  remembrance,  John 
N.  Rockwell,  Esq.,  of  Connecticut,  devoted  himself  for 
several  sessions  almost  entirely  to  the  work ;  and  often 
was  he  sure,  such  were  the  imjDressions  he  made,  that  he 
should  be  successful.  Letters  to  him  from  numerous  com- 
manders, presenting  the  ration  as  a  nuisance,  the  great 
cause  of  crime,  were  laid  by  him  before  Congress.  One, 
in  a  special  manner,  from  Commander  Wilkes,  on  his  return 
from  his  exploring  expedition,  came  with  great  power. 
"  There  are,"  said  he,  "  more  drunkards  made  at  the  grog- 
tubs  of  our  ships,  than  in  any  other  place  in  our  country 
with  a  hundred  times  the  same  population.     The  best  men 


SPIEIT-EATIONS   IN   THE   NAVY.  235 

on  our  ships  do  not  draw  their  spirit  ration."  But  the  only- 
thing  Mr.  Rockwell,  after  years  of  labor,  was  able  to  ac- 
complish was,  the  procuring  a  commutation  of  six  cents. 
JSTumbers  accepted  this  in  lieu  of  their  grog ;  but  the  mis- 
chief was  done  to  young  seamen,  before  they  had  time  to  esti- 
mate the  value  of  the  exchange.  While,  however,  the  Navy 
seemed  destined  to  sufler  under  this  evil  for  years  to  come, 
a  new  excitement  arose,  in  1849-50,  on  another  point, 
which  ultimately  A^as  to  secure  all  that  was  desirable.  A 
Mr.  Watson  G.  Haynes,  a  bold  and  fearless  seaman  of 
the  Navy,  visited  all  the  ports  and  cities,  and  by  his  rude 
and  harsh  eloquence,  endeavored  to  arouse  the  public  at- 
tention to  the  horrors  of  the  flogging  system.  Many  of 
his  representations  were  of  the  most  thrilling  character. 
Of  a  thousand  seamen,  paid  off  in  Boston,  from  three  ships 
of  war,  some  had  received  2,700  lashes  on  their  cruises. 
While  many  might  be  unwilling  to  take  away  his  grog 
from  poor  Jack,  every  one  would  be  anxious  to  spare  his 
back  from  the  cruel  stripes.  And  yet  the  two  were  so 
intimately  connected  that  they  could  not  be  separated. 

If  the  spirit  ration  was  continued,  there  would  inevita- 
bly be  cause  for  the  stripes.  The  Captain  of  the  Saratoga 
declared  that  nearly  the  whole  of  the  offences  for  which 
the  punishments  were  found  necessary  on  his  ship  might 
be  traced  directly  or  indirectly  to  the  effects  of  liquor. 
Captain  Wilkes  said,  "  I  am  satisfied  that  nine-tenths  of 
the  punishments  of  the  Navy  may  be  traced  to  the  spirit 
rations;  certainly,  this  was  the  case  in  my  four  years' 
cruise  with  the  exploring  expedition."  In  the  great  ex- 
citement, therefore,  relative  to  the  abolition  of  the  flogging 
system,  it  seemed  almost  absolutely  certain,  that  if  flog- 
ging was  abolished,  the  spirit  ration  would  be  also.  And 
yet,  strange  to  say  !  Congress  abolished  the  flogging 
system,  but  left  the  spirit  ration.  The  punishment  for 
offences  was  taken  away,  but  the  cause  of  the  oflences  was 


236  TEMPERANCE    RECOLLECTIONS. 

suffered  to  remain.  This  brought  the  government  of  the 
Navy  into  a  bad  condition.  What  punishment  could  be 
substituted  for  flogging  ?  Confinement  in  the  hold?  This 
would  be  just  what  the  offender  would  like,  especially  if 
he  was  too  lazy  to  work.  But  his  services  were  needed, 
and  he  could  not  be  spared  for  this.  A  man  must  often 
be  brought  instantly  to  duty,  perhaps  to  save  the  ship. 
Some  ollicers  threatened  to  resign,  as  they  saw  no  way  to 
govern  the  ship  without  flogging.  A  large  crew,  on  com- 
ing into  port,  hearing  that  flogging  was  abolished,  de- 
clared they  would  not  enlist  again,  for  without  the  sum- 
mary punishment,  they  had  no  protection  from  thievish 
and  bad  men,  who  might  be  among  them.  The  more  the 
subject  was  agitated  and  discussed,  the  more  did  the 
spirit  ration  appear  as  at  the  bottom  of  the  whole  diffi- 
culty. Intemperance  was  the  cause  of  two-thirds  of  all 
the  disobedience  and  crime  on  board  shi]3 ;  and  the  spirit 
ration  must  now  be  abolished  under  the  new  plea,  that  it 
was  the  cause  of  nearly  all  offences,  while  for  those  of- 
fences there  was  no  penalty.  I  one  day  said  to  Captain 
Hudson,  one  of  the  Vice-Presidents  of  the  Union,  as  he 
was  going  on  a  two  years'  cruise  in  the  ship  Yincennes  in 
the  Pacific,  "  Well,  Captain,  are  you  going  to  deal  out  the 
spirit  ration  ?  "  "  Going  to  ?  "  he  replied,  Avith  a  look  of 
indignation ;  "  I  must,  I  must.  It  is  the  abhorrence  of 
my  soul,  but  I  must  to  all  who  wish  it.  But  I  have  some 
fine  temperance  men  with  me,  and  hope  to  make  all  so. 
I  want  a  good  supply  of  books  and  tracts.  Send  me 
some."  I  sent  him  to  the  amount  of  ten  dollars.  He 
was  opposed  to  connecting  the  abolition  of  the  spirit  ra- 
tion with  the  discipline  of  the  ship.  He  would  never 
flog,  but  in  the  most  extreme  cases  ;  but  he  thought  the 
power  to  inflict  such  punishment  should  be  left  with  the 
commander  to  make  him  respected.  So  many  and  great 
were  the  difficulties,  that  it  was  much  feared  that  the  flog- 


SPIRIT-RATION   IN   THE   NAVY.  237 

ging  system  would  be  brought  back.  Nearly  all  the  good 
seamen  were  in  favor  of  it,  while  the  vile  and  disorderly 
were  oj^posed.  Said  Captain  Mcintosh  of  the  U.  S.  Frig- 
ate Congress:  "My  crew  are  generally  well  disposed; 
and  if  I  had  the  power,  I  would  not  have  the  law  abolish- 
ing the  lash  repealed  to-morrow,  but  should  the  crew  of 
this  ship  be  mustered,  and  the  question  asked,  '  Cat,  or  no 
cat  ?  '  it  would  almost  unanimously  be  given  for  the  cat." 
In  this  state  of  thino^s  there  was  much  tremblino^  for  the 
Navy  ;  and  the  friends  of  reform  saw  there  was  no  hope 
for  the  Navy  but  in  the  abolition  of  the  spirit  ration.  At 
the  annual  meeting  of  the  Seamen's  Fund  Society,  1850, 
Charles  Tracy,  Esq.,  of  New  York,  offered  and  sustained  a 
resolution  on  the  subject.     He  said : 

*' Government  had  done  a  good  thing  in  abolishing -flogging.  There 
were  those  who  said  the  time  had  not  come  for  that,  but  Congress  had  to 
come  to  it,  and  do  it  before  the  time ;  and  they  would  have  to  do  the 
same  thing  with  the  grog.  They  had  taken  one  step.  Revolutions  never  go 
backward.  They  had  taken  one  step  forward,  and  thrown  the  '  cat '  over- 
board, and  would  they  say  the  grog-tub  should  remain  ? 

"Lieutenant  Jones,  of  the  TJ.  S.  N.,  in  seconding  the  resolution,  said 
'  he  had  seen  men  come  on  board  vessels,  who  were  not  in  the  habit  of 
drinking,  who  had  fallen  into  the  habit  in  consequence  of  the  grog  rations. 
He  had  visited  a  great  many  of  the  ports  where  are  seamen's  chaplains, 
and  bore  honorable  testimony  to  their  good  influence.  At  Honolulu,  at 
one  time,  on  visiting  the  chaplaincy,  100  signed  the  pledge,  and  many 
more  afterwards.'  " 

But  great  bodies  move  slowly.  The  public  fell  again 
into  a  strange  apathy,  and  for  more  then  ten  years, 
the  spirit  ration  was  continued,  and  Commanders  were 
left  to  struggle  on,  punishing  disobedience  as  they  best 
could,  with  the  great  cause  of  disobedience  continued. 
The  cause  of  delay  was  supposed  to  lie  in  depriving  the 
officers  as  well  as  the  men.  At  length,  as  we  were  thrust 
into  war,  and  it  became  necessary  to  bring  our  gallant 


238  TEMPEllANCE    EECOLLECTIONS. 

Navy  up  to  the  highest  point  of  discipline,  Congress 
were  ready  to  listen,  and  did  listen,  to  the  long-repeated 
demand,  and  banished  utterly  from  all  ships  of  war  the 
ruinous  spirit-ration. 

In  tlie  Senate  of  18G2  the  Hon.  Mr.  Grimes  introduced 
the  following  resolution : 

Be  it  enacted,  That,  from  aud  after  the  first  day  of  September,  1802, 
the  spirit-ratiou,  in  the  Navy  of  the  United  States,  shall  cease ;  and  there- 
after, no  distilled  spirituous  liquors  shall  be  admitted  on  board  of  vessels 
of  war,  except  as  medical  stores,  and  upon  the  order,  and  under  the  con- 
trol of,  the  medical  officers  of  such  vessels,  and  to  be  used  only  for  medical 
purposes. 

To  avoid  all  complaints  of  injustice  to  any,  five  cents  a 
day  was  allowed  to  any  Avho  had  enlisted  in  the  service 
under  the  implied  promise  of  the  spirit-ration. 

Mr.  Grimes  stated  that  the  resolution  was  offered  in 
accordance  Avith  the  wishes  of  almost  every  officer  with 
whom  he  had  been  brought  in  contact,  and  that  almost  all 
the  difficulties  that  Ifad  grown  up  during  the  war,  on 
board  our  vessels,  was  traceable  to  liquor,  of  which  the 
resolution  deprived  the  officers  as  well  as  men.  The  bill 
passed  the  house,  and  at  once  received  the  signature  of  the 
President. 

Thus  was  finally  accomplished  one  of  the  most  impor- 
tant projects  of  reforln  for  our  beloved  country,  after  years 
of  much  labor  in  a  few  individuals,  verifying  the  declara- 
tion, "  In  due  season  we  shall  reap,  if  we  faint  not."  All 
who  now  say,  "  The  temperance  cause  is  a  failure ;  you 
have  done  and  are  doing  nothing,"  I  ask  to  look  at  our 
gallant  navy.  See  in  what  condition  it  was,  and  in  what 
it  now  is ;  what  commanders  we  have  under  the  temper 
ance  flaoj,  and  what  s^lorious  deeds  our  men  with  sober 
minds,  and  strong  heads  and  hearts,  have  been  able  to  ac- 
complish! 


NAVAL    SPIRIT-EATION    ABOLISHED.  239 

I  had  an  expression  from  E ear-Admiral  Foote  of 
his  high  satisfaction  at  the  expulsion  of  the  spirit-ration 
from  the  navy,  and  an  assurance  that  when  he  should  have 
leisure,  he  would  give  some  account  of  his  long  labor  to 
accomplish  the  object,  and  his  own  happy  experience  in 
the  cold-water  system.  He  was  then  on  his  way  to  Wash- 
ington, on  his  crutches,  to  take  charge  of  the  new  bureau. 
But,  alas !  he  was  to  remain  with  his  grateful  country  but 
a  short  period.  He  was  soon  to  be  translated  to  a  higher 
state,  where  he  should  receive,  not  the  patriot,  but  the 
Christian  crown. 

Commodore  Stringham,  too,  expressed  to  me  the  high 
joy  he  had  at  the  passage  of  the  resolution ;  and  he  gloried 
in  saying  to  the  Governor  of  Massachusetts,  when  asked 
to  take  wine,  "  Sir,  I  have  not  known  the  taste  of  wine 
for  twenty  years."  Such  men  feel  their  responsibilities ; 
and  are  the  life,  too,  of  their  country,  in  the  hour  of 
danger. 

So,  Faeeagtjt.  [To  Secretary  Seward  I  am  indebted 
for  the  following.]  Everybody  admired  Farragut's  hera- 
ism  in  clinging  to  the  topmast  to  direct  a  battle ;  but  there 
was  another  particular  of  that  contest  that  no  less  forcibly 
illustrates  his  heroic  character.  "  Admiral,"  said  one  of 
his  officers,  the  night  before  the  battle,  "  won't  you  con- 
sent to  give  Jack  a  glass  of  grog  in  the  morning,  not 
enough  to  make  him  drunk,  but  enough  to  make  him  fight 
cheerfully."  "  Well,"  replied  the  Admiral,  "  I  have  been 
to  sea  considerably,  and  have  seen  a  battle  or  two,  but  I 
never  found  that  I  wanted  rum  to  enable  me  to  do  my 
duty.  I  will  order  two  cups  of  coffee  to  each  man,  at  two 
o'clock ;  and,  at  eight  o'clock,  I  will  pipe  all  hands  to 
breakfast,  in  Mobile  Bay."  And  he  did  give  Jack  the 
coffee  ;  and  then  he  went  up  to  the  mast-head  and  did  it. 
— Speech  at  Auhwni. 


240  TEMPERANCE   RECOLLECTIONS. 

Well  versified. 

"  No,  I'll  give  them  good  cofFee,  there's  no  need  of  rum 
To  keep  up  a  man's  courage,  when  fighting  hours  come. 
I've  been  on  the  ocean,  in  stormiest  nights, 
Have  seen  some  hard  service,  and  one  or  two  fights ; 
But  I  never  yet  found  that  I  needed  a  glass 
Of  spirits,  to  help,  or  the  danger  to  pass. 
They'll  have  two  cups  of  coffee,  at  two,  and  then  wait 
Till  I  pipe  all  to  breakfast  in  harbor  at  eight. 

"  The  men  had  their  coffee,  and  each  seemed  a  host, 
As  he  manfully  stood  at  his  perillous  post ; 
For  their  leader  shrank  not  from  the  danger  they  passed 
They  knew  he  would  stand  with  them,  firm  to  the  last, 
And  many  an  anxious  glance  upward  was  cast 
At  the  heroic  Admiral,  lashed  to  the  mast." 

Linda  May. 


CHAPTER  XVin. 

Great  Progress  in  Foreign  Countries,  and  in  British  Provinces — Prohibition 
— Agitation — Wisconsin  Law  supported  by  Dr.  Hewitt — Maine  Law — 
Rise — Adoption,  and  Enforcement  under  Neal  Dow — Approvals  of. 

As  we  were  rallying  oui*  forces  in  America,  for  a  gen- 
eral conflict  witli  our  great  enemy,  at  the  commencement 
of  tlie  second  half  of  the  century,  we  had  the  ha23piness  of 
hearing  of  great  and  good  progress  in  other,  and  even  dis- 
tant parts  of  the  world.  More  tidings  of  good  were 
continually  laid  upon  my  table  than  I  was  able  to  present 
in  brief  to  the  public,  in  my  small  monthly  Journal.  In 
England,  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  had  reported 
an  increased  consumption  of  tea,  coflee,  and  cocoa,  and  a 
proportional  decrease  of  drinks  which  intoxicate.  The 
Naval  Lord  Admiral  had  reduced  the  spirit  ration  one 
half,  and  taken  it  entirely  from  all  under  eighteen.  Into 
the  Crystal  palace,  for  the  great  Industrial  Exhibition  in 
1851,  no  wines,  spirits,  or  beer  were  to  be  admitted;  and 
'the  contractors  were  to  be  required  to  supply  glasses  of 
water  gratis  to  all  visitors; — a  temperance  lecture  for 
the  world.  Ireland  was  in  a  state  of  great  prosperity. 
Oscar,  King  of  Sweden,  accompanied  by  his  queen,  at- 
tended personally  a  grand  temperance  meeting,  held  re- 
cently at  Stockholm,  and  became  himself  so  impressed 
with  the  importance  of  abolishing  intemperance  in  his 
dominions,  that,  besides  giving  his  adhesion,  and  that  of 
the  queen,  to  the  principles  and  practices  of  the  temper- 
11 


242  TEMPERANCE    KECOLLECTIONS. 

ance  societies,  he  offered  full  pecuniary  compensation  to 
all  distillers  of  ardent  spirits- who  would  cease  manufac- 
turing alcoholic  drinks ;  w^hiRi  was  accepted  by  many. 
Over  six  thousand  persons  were  enrolled  in  the  Nether- 
lands. Liberia  had  entirely  excluded  all  spirituous  liquors. 
In  South  Africa,  at  Cape  Town  and  Port  Natal,  were 
flourishing  societies.  At  the  Sandwich  Islands,  tem- 
perance was  triumphant ;  liquors  on  sale  were  seized  and 
destroyed.  In  British  Ahierica,  220,000  French  and  Irish 
Catholics,  and  240,000  Protestants  were  enrolled  on  the 
total  abstinence  pledge ;  35,000  were  embraced  in  the  Or- 
der of  Sons.  In  Nova  Scotia,  ten  counties  were  w^ithout 
license ;  and  vigorous  efforts  were  making  for  a  prohibi- 
tory law,  under  the  action  and  eloquence  of  our  friend,  F. 
W.  Kellogg. 

For  such  a  law,  the  friends  of  temperance  were  no^^ 
earnestly  looking,  in  almost  every  State.  Perhaps  un- 
wisely (but  it  seemed,  as  human  nature  is  constituted,  un- 
able to  look  at  more  than  one  point  at  a  time),  turning 
away  from  the  subject  of  personal  total  abstinence — the 
great  basis — and  the  training  of  the  young  in  the  way 
they  should  go,  all"  minds  were  beginning  to  be  engross- 
ed with  the  removal  of  temptation  by  some  strong 
legislative  action.  For  years,  it  had  been  thought  suf- 
ficient if  the  license  system  was  abolished,  for  then  com- 
mon law  w^ould  shut  out  the  sale ;  and  it  was  effected  in 
many  of  the  States.  Ohio  and  Michigan  had  made  it  for- 
ever unconstitutional  to  grant  license,  and  yet  venders 
would  sell  without.  To  meet  them,  Wisconsin  had,  it 
was  sui>posed,  completely  confronted  them  however,  by 
holding  them  responsible  for  all  damages.  This,  known  as 
the  Wisconsin  Law,  was,  with  many,  exceedingly  popu- 
lar, and  considered  the  nepliis  ultra  of  legislation.  It  was 
taken  up  and  improved,  and  pressed  upon  the  public,  by 
the  old  pioneer,  Rev.  Dr.  Hewitt,  of  Connecticut.     "He 


DE.    HEWITT    ON   THE    WISCONSIN   LAW.  243 

thouglit  a  petition  for  such  a  law,  carefully  prepared,  and 
sent  to  the  legislatures,  would  at  once  be  attended  to. 
There  could  be  no  valia  objection  to  it.  The  State  is 
bound  to  provide  for  the  protection  of  wives  and  children 
against  the  avarice  of  the  rum-seller.  As  it  is,  they  are 
left  Avidowed  and  fatherless;  there  is  no  redress.  No 
other  such  wrongs  are  left  without  provision.  "  We  have 
the  liberty  of  speech,  but  we  are  accountable  for  the  use 
of  it ;  and  the  liberty  of  the  press,  but  those  who  publish 
a  iibel  are  held  responsible.  Suppose  a  law  cannot  be 
passed  prohibiting  the  sale  of  liquors,  why  at  least  should 
not  the  liquor-seller  be  put  on  the  same  footing  with  us  all 
— held  responsible  for  the  use  of  his  liberty  ?  " 

To  this  it  was  objected,  that  no  court  or  jury  could 
rightly  estimate  the  damages  done,  as  in  the  death  of  a 
husband,  or  father,  or  son — above  all,  in  the  loss  of  the 
soul.  "  A  minor  becomes  a  drunkard,  whereby  the  father 
loses  his  services.  What  damage  can  be  laid  for  convert- 
ing an  only  son  into  a  sot  ?  And  it  was  forcibly  inquired 
how  it  could  be  proved  who  did  the  damage?  A  man 
gets  drunk,  and  is  frozen  to  death.  It  is  proved  that  he 
bought  his  last  glass  of  A.  Was  A.  the  cause  of  his  death, 
or  some  one  or  more  of  half  a  dozen  other  rum-sellers  of 
whom  the  drunkard  had  bought  liquor  shortly  before  the 
occurrence  ?  " 

But  the  people  seemed  to  be  resolving  that  no  damage 
should  be  done ;  no  drunkards  sliould  be  made  ;  nor,  for 
gain,  should  venders  be  continually  inflicting  upon  the  com- 
munity terrible  calamities,  and  then  challenging  the  people 
to  prove  that  they  were  criminal.  Prohibition  of  the  traf- 
fic in  intoxicating  drinks  in  opposition  to  license,  and  in 
lieu  of  free  trade  as  in  all  animals  and  useful  articles,  was 
slowly  taking  possession  of  men's  minds ;  and  when  it  had 
got  possession,  no  plea  of  the  rum-seller  or  of  the  panderer 
to  the  appetite  of  the  consumer  could   ever  blot  it  out. 


244  TEMPERANCE    RECOLLECTIONS. 

It  was  first  presented  in  IBS'?  in  a  memorial  from  the 
pen  of  General  James  Appleton,  of  Portland,  to  the 
Legislature  of  Maine,  demanding  an  abrogation  of  all 
license  laws  as  the  support  and  life  of  tlie  traffic,  and  also 
an  entire  prohibition  of  all  sale,  except  for  medicine  and 
the  arts ;  for  the  same  reason  that  the  State  makes  laws  to 
prevent  the  sale  of  unwholesome  meats,  or  for  the  removal 
of  anything  which  endangers  the  health  and  life  of  the 
citizen,  or  which  threatens  to  subvert  our  civil  rights  or 
overthrow  the  government.  That  document,  surpassed 
for  clearness  and  force  by  none  since  written,  made 
an  impression  on  a  few  minds,  though  it  was  considered 
by  the  mass  of  political  and  commercial  men  as  too  im- 
practicable for  human  society  in  its  present  state,  and 
especially,  in  its  republican  character.  Yet  it  formed  a 
school  who  were  ultimately  to  have  the  mastery,  at  least 
in  all  IN'ew  England. 

The  Washingtonian  movement  soon  cast  in  the  shade  all 
projects  of  law.  It  was  believed,  especially  by  the  reformed 
men,  that  nothing  was  needed  to  effect  an  overthrow  of  the 
traffic,  but  appeals  from  the  sufterers  to  those  who  unin- 
tentionally caused  the  suffering  ;  and  it  was  only  through 
sympathy  with  the  reformed  men,  as  they  became  suffer- 
ers from  the  liquor  dealers,  and  were  often  drawn  back  to 
drunkenness  and  woe,  that  the  indignation  of  the  com- 
munity was  once  more  roused  against  the  traffic. 

ISTeal  Dow,  a  citizen  of  Portland,  whose  family  w^ere 
Friends,  took  a  deep  interest  in  the  reformed  and  their  fami- 
lies. He  mingled  much  with  them,  and  rejoiced  to  see 
them  made  comfortable  by  the  thousands  of  dollars  which 
had  before  gone  to  the  rum-seller,  and  he  n^w  resolved 
that  it  should  not  go  in  that  channel  again ;  and  if  venders 
would  not  be  persuaded  to  give  up  their  traffic  by  moral 
suasion,  they  must  and  shoiild  by  the  law  of  the  State. 
His  first  effort  was  to  have  the  question  of  license  or  no 


NEAL   DOW    SECURING   THE    MAINE    LAW.  2i5 

license  referred  to  a  vote  of  the  people.  This  was  in  1839. 
Bnt  here  he  was  defeated.  That  only  roused  his  energies 
and  gathered  around  him  the  reformed  men  ;  and  in  the 
year  1842  he  carried  his  position  by  a  majority  of  four 
hundred.  But  it  was  of  little  avail  while  he  had  none  but  the 
city  authorities,  many  of  whom  were  in  league  with  the  ven- 
ders, to  enforce  the  law  on  such  as  sold  without  license,  and 
brought  ruin  and  desolation  upon  the  reformed.  He  now 
resolved  to  go  to  the  Legislature,  and  get  the  power  of 
the  State  to  put  a  stop  to  the  traffic,  which  he  stamped 
as  "  an  infamous  crime."  He  succeeded  with  the  House 
but  not  with  the  Senate ;  and  at  once  resolved  ona  Legisla- 
ture which  should  favor  his  views.  In  1846  he  travelled 
over  four  thousand  miles  in  the  State,  everywhere  holding 
meetings  for  discussion,  and  securing  a  prohibitory  Senate 
as  well  as  House.  In  that  he  succeeded ;  and,  in  July, 
1846,  he  aj^peared  before  the  Legislature  with  the  names 
of  forty  thousand  petitioners  for  a  prohibitory  statute.  A 
bill  was  introduced  and  passed  in  the  House,  81  to  42, 
and  in  the  Senate,  23  to  5.  In  a  letter  addressed  to  me, 
he  said : 

*'  This  is  the  first  instance,  I  believe,  in  which  the  government  of  a 
civilized  and  Christian  State  has  declared  by  statute,  that  there  shall  not 
be  within  its  borders  any  traffic  in  intoxicating  liquors  to  be  used  as  a 
drink  ;  and  that  if  any  such  liquors  shall  be  sold  for  such  purpose,  under 
any  circumstances,  it  shall  be  against  law,  and  equity,  and  a  good  con- 
science. It  was  enacted  in  answer  to  the  petition  of  more  than  forty 
thousand  of  the  good  people  of  the  State,  and  constitutes  the  first  blow 
only  which  the  friends  of  temperance  here  propose  striking  at  the  traffic 
in  strong  drinks." 

But  the  bill  was  an  inefficien  t  one ;  the  penalties 
struck  no  terror  into  the  hearts  of  the  liquor-dealers 
and  the  victory  was  lost.  The  dealers  and  consumers  of 
the  infuriating  poison  made  a  desperate  effort  for  its 
repeal,  but  utterly  failed.     Intemperance  rolled  in  like  a 


216  TEMrEKANCE    RECOLLECTIONS. 

flood,  for  the  law  was  void.  One  was  resolved  on,  how- 
ever, which  should  be  ellicient,  and  a  Legislature  was 
secured  which  Avould  not  fail  to  pass  it — the  Legislature 
of  1849.  But  it  was  vetoed  by  Governor  Dana,  to  his  polit- 
ical death.  In  August,  1850,  he  appeared  before  the  Legis- 
lature with  what  is  known  as  the  Maine  law,  but  it 
was  lost  by  a  tie  vote  in  the  Senate.  This  produced  the 
greatest  excitement  throughout  the  State,  and  true  mem- 
bers were  returned  in  the  fall  election,  so  that  on  the  26th 
of  May  Mr.  Dow  appeared  before  the  Legislature  with  his 
law  perfected,  and  he  had  the  great  happiness  of  seeing  it 
become  the  law  of  the  State  by  a-  vote  of  86  to  40  in 
the  House,  and  18  to  10  in  the  Senate.  It  w^as  approved  by 
the  Governor  on  the  2d  of  June.  Mr.  Dow  assured  the 
members  that,  if  they  enacted  that  bill,  in  six  months  the 
State  would  be  cleared  of  every  grog-shop. 

Foreseeing  the  absolute  necessity,  if  the  bill  should  pass, 
of  an  efficient  magistracy  ;  its  friends,  in  the  spring  election, 
had  elevated  Mr.  Dow  to  the  mayoralty  of  Portland; 
thus  throwing  upon  him  the  responsibility  of  executing 
the  law. 

All  eyes  were  at  once  turned  upon  Maine,  to  see  if  she 
would  execute  her  law.  Will  the  Mayor  of  Portland 
stand  firm  at  his  post,  and  do  his  duty,  or  will  he  shrink 
in  fear  of  mobs  and  riots  ?  Almost  at  once  he  issued  his 
proclamation,  decl goring  that  he  should  j^romptly  enforce 
the  law ;  first  giving  all  venders  sixty  days  to  ship 
their  liquors  to  States  whose  governments  would  admit 
their  introduction  and  sale.  The  Mayors  of  other  cities 
did  the  same ;  some  giving  a  longer,  and  some  a  shorter 
term. 

The  Mayor  of  Bangor  resolved  on  a  prompt  execution  ; 
and  on  the  morning  of  the  fourth  of  July  rolled  out  of  the 
basement  of  the  City  Hall  ten  casks  of  liquor,  seized  and 
confiscated,  and  destroyed  the  Avhole.     At  the  expiration 


ENFORCEMENT    OF   THE   LAW   IN   PORTLAND.  247 

of  the  term  allowed,  the  Mayor  of  Portland  issued  his 
search  warrant,  Seized  two  thousand  dollars  worth  of 
liquor,  and  had  it  openly  destroyed.  No  resistance  was 
made.  The  people  stood  quietly  by,  and  witnessed  the 
whole  in  respectful  silence.  The  smaller  cities  and  towns 
followed  on ;  and  throughout  Maine,  with  some  exceptions, 
prohibition  was  established.  The  world  were  taken  by 
surprise  and  filled  with  amazement.  The  predictions  of 
opponents  were  all  proved  to  be  without  foundation. 
Tippling-shops  and  bar-rooms  were  everywhere  closed ; 
temptations  removed ;  no  more  drunkards  were  seen  in 
the  streets.  Old  inebriates  were  of  necessity  reformed, 
and  their  families  comfortable.  "  Oh,"  said  one  tenant  of 
the  almshouse,  as  she  saw  the  liquor  poured  out,  "  that 
this  had  been  done  twenty  years  ago  ;  my  husband  would 
not  have  died  a  drunkard,  and  I  should  not  have  been 
here  with  my  children."  Pauperism  and  crime  were  re- 
duced 50  and  75  per  cent. ;  and  jails  and  poorhouses  were 
scarce  needed.  The  immense  sums  everywhere  expended 
before  for  strong  drmk,  now  being  expended  for  clothing, 
fuel  and  bread,  made  hundreds  of  families,  once  subjects 
of  charity,  comfortable  and  haj^py.  In  his  first  quarterly 
report,  after  the  enforcement  of  the  law,  the  Mayor  of 
Portland  said : 

"  At  the  time  of  its  passage,  there  were  supposed  to  be  in  the  city  from 
two  hundred  to  three  hundred  shops  and  other  places  where  intoxicating 
liquors  were  openly  sold  to  all  comers.  At  the  present  time  there  are 
no  places  where  such  liquors  are  sold  openly,  and  only  a  very  few  where 
they  are  sold  at  all,  and  that  with  great  caution  and  secrecy,  and  only  to 
those  who  are  personally  known  to  the  keepers,  and  who  can  be  relied 
upon  not  to  betray  them  to  the  authorities. 

"  The  results  of  the  law  so  far  have  been  more  salutary  and  decisive 
than  its  most  ardent  friends  had  reason  to  anticipate." 

The  marshal  of  the  city  of  Augusta,  the  capital  of  the 
State,  reported : 


248  TEMPERANCE   EECOLLECTIONS. 

*'  Augusta  had  four  wholesale  stores,  business  worth  $;200,000  a  year ; 
retail  shops,  twenty-five.  The  city  was  exempted  ^rom  the  new  law  for 
sixty  days  by  a  dispensation  of  the  mayor.  During  the  sixty  days,  one 
dealer  made  a  profit  of  about  $900.  As  soon  as  the  sixty  days  were  out, 
three  of  the  wholesale  dealers  sent  off  their  liquors  to  New  York,  and 
ultunately  to  California.  The  remaining  firm  persisted  in  selling,  imtil 
about  $1,000  worth  of  their  liquors  were  seized.  Liquor  may  be  sold  at 
the  principal  hotels,  but  stealthily.  The  police  used  to  be  called  up  a 
hundred  nights  in  a  year.  Since  the  passage  of  this  law  they  have  not 
been  summoned  once." 

The  Mayor  of  Bangor,  in  his  message  to  the  Council 
of  that  city,  on  its  organization  the  22d  of  April,  bore 
full  testimony  to  its  benign  operations.  The  occupants 
of  the  almshouse  and  house  of  correction  in  the  year  an- 
terior to  the  creation  of  the  law  were  12,206  ;  in  the  year 
subsequent,  9,192;  the  prosecutions  varied  from  101  to  58. 
"On  the  1st  of  July,"  he  said,  "  when  I  gave  notice  that 
I  should  enforce  the  liquor  law,  108  persons  were  selling 
liquors  here  openly ;  twenty  of  them  have  left  the  city, 
and  are  carrying  on  their  trade  in  Massachusetts.  Of  the 
remaining  eighty-eight,  not  one  sells  here  openly." 

Unable  to  remain  a  listener  to  all  that  was  reported, 
I  made  a  tour  through  Maine,  that  I  might  be  an  eye 
witness  of  the  wondrous  spectacle.  Patriotic,  philan- 
thropic, and  Christian  men,  throughout  the  nation,  were 
filled  with  admiration  of  the  law,  and  its  operation.  Said 
the  venerable  Professor  Moses  Stuart  of  Andover,  Mass. : 

"I  thank  and  praise  my  God,  that,  by  his  holy  providence,  there  is  one 
people  on  the  face  of  this  wicked  world  who  dare  to  do  their  duty  boldly, 
faithfully,  and  thoroughly.  People  of  Maine,  the  God  of  heaven  bless  you 
for  achieving  such  a  victory  !  Many  triumphs  have  been  achieved  in  the 
good  cause,  but  none  like  yours.  Others  have,  more  or  less,  fought  with 
the  drunkards  and  the  liquor-sellers,  in  the  way  of  arguments  and  moral 
suasion,  and  indirect,  and  inefficient,  and  temporizing  legislation.  You 
have  followed  the  most  adroit  conqueror  the  world  has  ever  seen,  in  your 
scheme  of  poHcy  or  struggle.     You  have  steered  for  the  capitol  itself,  with 


OPINIONS    ON   THE    MAINE    LAW.  249 

all  its  magazines  and  material  of  war ;  and  these  once  in  your  hands, 
YOU  know  the  contest  cannot  long  continue.  Whence  are  the  arms  and 
ammunition,  and  rations,  to  come,  when  all  the  depots  are  seized  ?  You 
have  the  unspeakable  advantage  of  making  war  upon  all  the  suppHes  of 
war,  aud  not  directly  upon  the  men  who  take  the  field  against  you- 
You  combat  with  the  body  of  sin  and  death  itself,  and  not  with  those  who 
are  deceived  and  misled.  You  do  not  purpose  to  destroy  those  who  are 
misled  and  drawn  to  ruin,  but  to  cripple  and  annihilate  the  power  that 
misleads  them.  It  is  an  elevated  and  noble  purpose.  When  mighty 
conquerors  and  crafty  poUticiaus  will  be  forgotten,  the  laurels  on  your 
brows  will  be  freshening  and  blooming  with  a  beauty  and  glory  that  will 
be  immortal." 

Said  the  Hon.  Lucius  M.  Sargent,  of  Boston,  author  of 
the  Temperance  Tales: 

"  Maine  has  most  worthily  extended  her  legislative  arm  for  the  protec- 
tion of  her  children.  How  long  she  will  be  enabled  to  retain  it  in  its 
present  position,  is  a  question  of  the  deepest  interest  to  the  inhabitants  of 
that  commonwealth,  and  of  no  ordinary  soUcitude  to  the  citizens  of  other 
States,  who,  equally  in  the  event  of  ultunate  failure  or  success,  will  accord 
to  her  all  the  merit  of  her  noble  example,  and  yet  more  warily  contem- 
plate the  course  of  her  experiment,  and  abide  their  time.  I  have  read — I 
may  say  studied — the  several  provisions  of  this  law,  with  considerable  care ; 
and  I  have  not  been  able  to  raise  a  doubt  of  its  constitutionahty." 

Said  General  John  H.  Cocke,  of  Virginia  : 

"  I  am  grateful,  indescribably  grateful,  that  my  life  has  been  spared  to 
see  the  day  when  a  sovereign  State  has  outlawed  the  master  evil  of  our 
day  and  generation." 

Said  the  Rev.  John  Pierpont,  of  Boston  : 

"  My  private  opinion  is,  that  the  liquor-law  of  Maine  is  a  new  era  in  the 
Temperance  Reformation." 

Said   the  Rev.  Justin  Edwards,  D.  D.,  of  Andover, 

Mass. : 

"  If  the  people  prevail,  and  permanently  defend  themselves  and  their 
children  as  they  have  a  right,  and  it  is  their  duty,  to  do,  from  the  evils 
11* 


250  TEMPER.VNCE    RECOLLEC/l'IONS. 

of  the  liquor-tninTic,  they  will  be  benefactors,  not  only  of  the  present  gen- 
eration, but  of  all  future  generations  of  men  ;  not  only  in  Maine,  but  in 
every  State  in  the  Union,  and  ihrou^hout  the  Chii.stian  world." 

Said  the  Hon.  Gcrritt  Smith,  of  Petcrhoro',  N.  Y. : 

"  That  law  has  laid  the  foundation  for  an  unrivalled  progress  in  respect- 
ability and  knowledge  and  happiness.  If  no  oth.er  State  should  follow  her 
example,  in  this  respect,  Maine  will  very  soon  be  able  to  boast — if,  indeed, 
she  cannot  thus  boast  now — that  her  people  surpass  every  other,  physi- 
cally, mentally,  and  morally." 

Said  the  Hon.  Thomas  S.  Williams,  Chief  Justice  of 
Connecticut : 

"  Honor  to  the  men  by  whose  energy  thiy  mighty  victory  has  been  won  ! 
Honor  to  the  legislature  who  yielded  to  the  wishes  of  a  virtuous  commu- 
nity !  Honor  to  those  who  have  so  faithfully  executed  it ;  and  honor  to 
those  who,  being  originally  opposed  to  the  law,  have  now  become  its 
strenuous  supporters  ! 

"  As  a  matter  of  political  economy,  the  value  of  this  law  can  hardly  be 
overestimated ;  but,  ui  its  moral  bearings,  it  is  beyond  all  price." 

Said  Governor  Briggs,  of  Massachusetts  : 

"  This  law,  so  far  as  I  understand  it,  is  above  all  laws  that  I  have  ever 
seen.  It  is  clear;  it  deals  with  vice  just  as  all  laws  should  deal  with  it. 
It  puts  in  the  plough  to  the  beam :  aye,  it  puts  in  the  subsoil  plough,  and 
lets  in  the  pure  air  of  heaven  on  this  infamous,  this  polluting  traffic." 

Said  Dr.  R.  D.  Mussey,  head  of  the  medical  profession 
at  Cincinnati : 

"  We,  temperance  men,  all  pray  for  the  Maine  Law,  that  it  may  be  sus- 
tained, and  ultimately  overspread  the  land  and  the  world." 


CHAPTER   XIX. 

Fourth  National  Convention — Great  Rejoicings — Thanl^ful  Resolution — 
Maine  Men  heard — Workings  of  the  Law — United  and  Decided  Action 
agreed  upon — Speech  of  Dr.  Edwards — Action  in  Massachusetts — 
126,000  Petitioners— Adoption  of  Maine  Law — Adoption  in  Rhode 
Island — In  Connecticut — In  Vermont — Action  in  New  York — 300, 
000  Petitions  at  Albany — Adoption  of  Maine  Law — Governor  Sey- 
mour's Yeto — Maine  Law  Record — Workings. 

So  excited  were  the  friends  of  temperance  throughout 
the  country  at  the  passage  and  enforcement  of  the  Maine 
law,  that  a  great  desire  was  expressed  for  a  general  gath- 
ering, that  they  might  take  each  other  by  the  hand,  and 
unitedly  bow  before  the  Sovereign  of  the  universe  in 
thankfulness  and  praise.  Accordingly,  on  consultation 
with  several  individuals  of  enlarged  views,  the  Executive 
Committee  of  the  American  Temperance  Union  issued 
a  call  for  a  National  Temperance  Convention,  to  be  held 
on  the  20th  of  August,  1851,  at  Saratoga  Springs.  The 
call  was  well  responded  to ; — more  than  300  delegates 
were  enrolled  from  seventeen  States,  and  the  Canadas. 
Chancellor  Walworth  was  elected  President.  Letters 
were  read  from  Father  Mathew,  Judge  O'Xeal,  of  South 
Carolina,  Hon.  Neal  Dow,  and  Christian  Keener,  ex- 
pressing regrets  at  unavoidable  absence.  Mr.  Dow  was 
unable  to  leave  his  post  as  Mayor  of  Portland.  The  Con- 
vention, on  gathering,  manifested  the  greatest  exhilaration 
and  joy  at  the  progress  in  legislation  against  the  traffic, 
and  early  unanimously  adopted  a  resolution,  declaring : 


252  TEMPERANCE    RECOLLECTIONS. 

"  That  the  recent  discussion  and  action  in  the  Legislatures  of  New 
Hampshire,  Massacliusctts,  Rhode  Island,  Connecticut.  Vermont,  and  In- 
diana, on  the  legal  suspension  of  the  traffic — the  constitutional  exclusion  of 
all  license  in  Michigan  and  Ohio,  and  the  entire  outlaw  of  the  traffic  in  spirit- 
uous and  intoxicating  liquors  as  a  beverage  in  Iowa  and  Maine  are  grati- 
fying tokens  of  advance  in  public  sentiment,  and  give  reason  to  hope 
that,  with  the  Divine  blessing  on  judicious  and  persevering  efforts,  the  im- 
moral and  pernicious  traffic  will,  ere  long,  be  done  away." 

Dr.  Edwards  remarked  that  tlie  State  upon  which  the 
sun  first  shines  in  the  morning  in  its  uj^ward  course  is 
making  an  experiment  which  no  legislative  body  is  called 
to  make  more  than  once  in  a  thousand  years.  If  their 
way  is  the  best  way,  they  are  setting  the  world  an  exam- 
ple it  will  be  wise  to  follow. 

Dr.  Jewett  thought  the  resolution  was  defective,  inas- 
much as  it  did  not  allude  to  that  feature  in  the  Maine  law 
which  destroys  the  liquor  in  possession  for  sale.  It  was, 
therefore,  judged  proper  that  the  delegates  from  Maine 
be  heard  fully  in  relation  to  the  law  and  its  workings. 
Rev.  Mr.  Peck,  of  Portland,  then  took  the  stand,  and  at 
length  addressed  the  Convention.  He  was  followed  by 
Rev.  Freeman  Yates.  Their  developments  were  intensely 
interesting.  They  were  followed  by  sj^eeches  from  Gen- 
eral Cary,  of  Ohio;  Mr.  Kilbourn,  of  Iowa;  Rev.  Mr. 
Thurston,  of  Maine ;  Deacon  Grant,  of  Boston  ;  John  A. 
Foot,  Esq.,  of  Cleveland,  in  warm  congratulatory  speeches. 
In  the  evening  an  enthusiastic  meeting  was  held  in  the 
Presbyterian  Church.  On  the  ensuing  day  a  series  of 
resolutions,  adapted  to  the  times,  were  introduced,  dis- 
cussed and  adopted.  General  Cary,  and  Mr.  Godfrey,  of 
Maine,  and  myself,  were  appointed  a  Committee  to  prepare 
an  address  from  the  Convention  to  the  friends  of  temper- 
ance throughout  the  United  States  ;  which,  on  being  read 
at  the  close  of  the  Convention,  was  unanimously  adopted, 
with  great  cheering.     A  desire  existed  to  embody  in  one 


FOUETH   NATIONAL    CONVENTION.  253 

resolution,  more  explicitly  than  any  which  had  been  offer- 
ed, the  fall  views  of  the  Convention  on  the  character  and 
correctness  of  the  Maine  Law,  to  be  j^ut  on  record,  and 
spread  abroad  over  the  world.  After  several  vain  at- 
tempts, as  if  guided  from  above,  I  presented  the  following, 
which  seemed  fully  to  satisfy  all  parties,  and  was  declared 
to  be  the  great  resolution  of  the  Convention.  I  felt  grate- 
ful in  my  heart  for  such  an  inspiration,  though  so  un- 
worthy an  individual. 

"  Resolved^  That  the  principle  assumed  and  carried  out  in  the  Maine 
Law,  that  spix'ituous  and  intoxicating  liquors,  kept  for  sale  as  a  beverage, 
should  be  destroyed  by  the  State,  as  a  public  evil,  meets  the  approbation 
of  this  Convention,  as  consonant  with  the  destruction  of  the  implements 
of  gambling  and  counterfeiting,  of  poisonous  food,  infectious  liides,  and 
weapons  of  war  in  the  hands  of  an  enemy ;  that  if  the  liquor  destroyed  is 
private  property,  it  is  only  so  as  are  the  implements  of  the  counterfeiter, 
dangerous  and  deadly  to  the  best  interests  of  the  community ;  that  its  de- 
struction is  no  waste  of  the  bounties  of  Providence,  more  than  the  de- 
struction of  noxious  weeds,  while  its  very  destruction  enriches  the  State 
exceeding  the  amount  for  which  it  could  have  been  sold.  It  tends  to  put 
an  end  to  all  subterfuges,  frauds,  and  secret  sales,  and  to  the  demand  for 
it  in  the  community.  It  makes  the  State  a  perfect  Asylum  for  the  inebriate. 
It  is  a  solemn  manifestation  to  the  world  of  the  vile  and  worthless  nature 
of  the  article  destroyed ;  and  an  unmistakable  token  to  the  vender  of 
the  end  to  which  a  righteous  public  sentiment  will  ultimately  bring  his 
business.  For  these  and  other  reasons  the  Convention  give  it  their  hearty 
approbation ;  and  they  do  strongly  recommend  to  all  the  friends  of  tem- 
perance to  cherish  it  as  the  sure,  and  the  only  sure  triumph  of  their  cause, 
and  continually  to  urge  its  adoption  upon  every  Legislature." 

At  the  conclusion  of  all  business,  Dr.  Justin  Edwards 
addressed  the  Convention  in  an  able,  dignified  and  im- 
pressive manner ;  which,  however,  seemed  to  be  the  close 
of  his  long  and  able  services,  through  threatening  ail- 
ments.    He  said  : 

"As  to  the  future,  we  take  it  for  granted  in  this  delightful  Conven- 
tion— delightful  as  to  union  and  results — if  we  do  not  displease  Him  from 


254  TEMPERANCE    EECOLLECTIONS. 

whom  all  blessings  come,  we  shall  be  prospered.  The  Convcntiou  is  only 
a  development  of  Avhat  has  been  done  for  fifty  years.  Every  town  will 
have  such  a  temperance  meeting  as  was  never  held  before,  to  hear  what 
has  been  done  at  Saratoga.  The  press  will  be  employed.  Every  paper 
will  speak.  The  pulpit  will  speak  ;  and  patriots  and  philanthropists  will 
unite  their  efforts,  until  the  evil  shall  all  be  done  away  ;  and  all  the  glory 
will  be  given  to  Ilim  from  whom  all  good  cometh,  and  to  whom  it  is  the 
happiness  of  all  to  live  forever  and  ever. 

All  retired  from  tlie  Convcntiou  with  clear  and  decid- 
ed views,  relating  to  the  falseness  in  principle  of  all  license 
laws  or  efforts  to  regulate  the  traffic  in  intoxicating  drinks, 
and  with  the  determination  to  take  the  earliest  j^racticable 
measures  to  establish  a  prohibitory  law  in  every  State. 
Where  Legislatures  were  in  existence  who  would  enact 
no  such  law,  all  felt  that  appeals  must  be  made  at  once  to 
the  people,  with  whom  was  the  "  hiding  of  the  power,"  and 
who  must,  if  possible,  be  induced  to  elect  such  Executive 
and  Legislative  officers  as  would  give  the  people  the  pro- 
tection demanded. 

In  Massachusetts,  a  petition  for  the  law  was  at  once 
circulated  among  the  people,  for  signature ;  and  on  the 
first  of  January,  1842,  a  large  meeting,  for  its  presenta- 
tion, was  held  in  Boston,  at  the  Tremont  Temple ;  Horu 
A.  Huntington,  of  Salem,  presiding.  After  a  few  remarks 
from  him,  the  petition,  containing  one  hundred  and  twen- 
ty-six thousand  names,  of  whom  fifty  thousand  were  legal 
voters,  was  brought  in,  and  placed  upon  tlie  platform.  It 
was  then  borne  to  a  double  sleigjh,  containino^  the  commit- 
tee,  with  the  venerable  Dr.  Lynian  Beecher,  Chairman. 
Before  it  was  borne  a  banner,  on  "which  was  inscribed, 
"The  Voice  of  Massachusetts;  130,000  Petitioxers 
IN  FAVOE  OF  the  Maine  Temperance  Law."  A  pro- 
cession, preceded  by  the  police  and  a  band  of  music,  passed 
through  several  streets,  to  the  State  House,  where  it  was 
duly  presented.     On  return  of  the  procession,  a  series  of 


MASSACHUSETTS    ADOPTS   THE   MAINE    LAW.  255 

spirited  and  decided  resolutions  were  adopted,  and  sent 
over  the  State. 

In  the  Legislature,  the  petition  was  referred  to  a 
select  committee,  who  gave  its  friends  a  public  hearing, 
where  it  was  ably  sustained  by  Rev.  E.  Othman,  Hon.  ISTeal 
Dow,  Dr.  Beecher,  Rev.  John  Pierpont,  and  others.  A 
bill  was  reported,  containing  the  great  features  of  the 
Maine  Law,  with  modifications  adapting  if  to  Massachu- 
setts. In  the  debates,  facts  were  brought  to  light  most 
appalling:  8,394  persons  were  committed,  in  1851,  to  the 
jails  and  houses  of  correction,  29  per  cent,  of  which  were 
for  intemperance  ;  1,200  idiots  were  in  the  State  (children 
of  drunken  parents.)  The  retail  traffic  of  the  State  was 
annually  $8,400,000.  Opponents  denied  the  right  and  ex- 
pediency of  the  measure.  But  the  Hon.  Mr.  Pomeroy,  of 
Southampton,  ably  supported  the  bill,  and  it  finally  passed 
both  Houses,  by  handsome  majorities,  with  a  submission  to 
the  people,  in  open  ballot.  It  was,  however,  vetoed  by  the 
Governor,  he  preferring  the  secret  to  the  open  ballot.  The 
Legislature  then  passed  the  bill,  without  submission,  to  go 
into  operation  in  sixty  days.  It  was  approved  by  the 
Governor ;  and  thus  the  Law  of  the  daughter  became 
THE  Law  of  the  mothee. 

In  Rhode  Island,  the  then  existing  Legislature  rejected 
the  law  on  its  first  presentation  ;  but  the  people  at  once 
returned  a  new  one,  which  passed  the  law,  almost  by  ac- 
clamation ;  while  the  city  of  Providence  elected  a  Mayor 
who  would  secure  its  immediate  and  perfect  enforcement. 

In  Connecticut,  a  State  Temperance  Convention  for  re- 
vising the  tickets  for  State  officers,  was  held  at  New 
Haven.  Eight  hundred  and  forty  delegates  were  enrolled 
from  all  parts  of  the  State.  Replies  were  read  to  in- 
quiries whether  candidates  for  office  would  vote  for  the 
Maine  Law.  Such  as  said  Aye,  were  to  receive  the  votes 
of  temperance  men  at  the  next  election.     A  Legislature 


256  TEMPERANCE    KECOLLECTIONS. 

was  returned  which,  on  the  14th  of  June,  1854,  adopted 
the  Maine  Law,  by  a  vote  of  148  to  Gl  in  the  House,  and 
19  to  2  in  the  Senate,  to  go  into  operation  on  the  first  day 
of  August.  It  was  immediately  signed  by  the  Governor, 
and,  on  the  22d,  a  large  congratulatory  meeting  was  held 
in  New  Haven. 

At  Albany,  N.  Y.,  an  exciting  scene  was  witnessed, 
on  the  28th  of  January,  in  a  large  gathering  of  the  friends 
of  temperance,  at  the  Delavan  House,  whence  they 
moved  in  procession,  led  by  the  Albany  Artillery  Com- 
pany, through  the  principal  streets,  to  the  Capitol,  where 
they  entered,  by  permission,  the  Assembly-Chamber,  with 
an  immense  roll  of  300,000  petitioners  for  a  Maine  Law. 
There  they  were  addressed  by  Dr.  Jewett,W.  H.  Burleigh, 
and  myself.  On  the  folio v^dng  morning,  the  petition  was 
l^resented  to  the  Legislature,  and  was  referred  to  commit- 
tees of  the  Senate  and  House,  which  shortly  reported  ac- 
ceptable bills,  with  reasons  for  their  adoption.  From  this 
time  until  early  in  March,  there  was  great  excitement  among 
the  friends  and  foes  of  the  law.  Whenever  the  subject 
was  before  the  Senate  or  Assembly,  floods  of  eloquence 
were  poured  forth  for  its  adoption  or  rejection ;  until,  at 
length,  on  the  9th  of  March,  1854,  the  bill,  complete,  was 
passed  in  the  Senate,  21  to  11 ;  and  in  the  House  by  the  de- 
cided vote  of  78  to  42 — absent  V.  As  the  two  bodies  differ- 
ed on  the  time  of  execution,  by  compromise,  the  1st  of 
December  was  agreed  upon. 

This  was  viewed,  excepting  by  the  trade,  as  a  day  of 
great  glory  for  the  Empire  State.  All  eyes  were  now 
upon  Governor  Seymour,  for  his  signature.  But,  alas ! 
they  were  destined  to  sad  disappointment.  The  Gover- 
nor VETOED  the  bill.  Overlooking  entirely  the  great  ques- 
tion on  which  a  constitutional  question  could  properly  be 
raised,  viz. :  the  right  of  a  State  wholly  to  prohibit  the 
sale  of  an  article  pronounced  to  be  destructive  of  the  pub- 


GOVERNOR  Seymour's  veto.  257 

lie  good,  which  had  been  settled  by  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  United  States  affirmatively,  Governor  Seymour  con- 
fined himself  to  the  mere  machinery,  or  workings  of  the 
law.  In  this,  he  found  some  constitutional  difficulties; 
some  interference  with  the  practices  of  the  courts ;  much 
that  would  be  oppressive  to  the  people,  and  injurious  to 
the  cause  of  temperance.  An  immense  meeting  of  the 
friends  of  temperance  was  at  once  called,  at  the  City  Hall, 
to  express  their  indignation.  The  Maine-Law  members  of 
the  Legislature  held  a  meeting  in  which  they  agreed  to 
issue  a  document  reviewing  the  Governor's  veto,  and  scat- 
teiing  it  broadcast  over  the  State  ;  and  to  seek  out  a  man 
for  the  high  office  of  Governor,  at  the  next  election,  who 
would  give  the  people  the  protection  they  demanded. 

The  essential  features  of  the  Maine  Law  were,  that 
alcohol  was  necessary  for  medicine  and  the  arts,  and  must 
be  sold ;  but  that  the  unrestricted  sale  was  ruinous  to  the 
community.  When  sold  for  medicine  and  the  arts,  it  was 
to  be  by  agents  appointed  for  that  purpose.  All  other  sales 
were  outlawed.  Wherever  found,  it  might  be  destroyed. 
Officers  might  search  stores,  vessels,  and  all  public  convey- 
ances, and  destroy,  without  compunction.  No  action  for 
damages  could  be  brought.  If  any  one  was  found  un- 
lawfully selling,  the  fine,  for  the  first  offence,  was  820  ;  for 
the  second,  830  ;  and  for  the  third,  a  fine  and  three  months' 
imprisonment. 

What  Maine  had  accomplished  for  the  protection  of 
her  citizens,  other  States  were  anxious  to  do ;  and  soon, 
many  were  found  coming  up  with  vigor  and  power — some 
in  one  form,  and  some  in  another,  but  all  sustaining  the 
great  principle  of  prohibition  of  all  sales  of  intoxicating 
liquors  as  a  beverage,  on  pains  and  penalties. 

The  first  Legislature  which  moved  in  the  matter  was 
Minnesota,  in  the  year  1852;  submitting  the  law  to  the 
people,  who  decided  favorably ;  but  the  act  of  submission 


258  TEMPERANCE    KECOLLECTIONS. 

was  pronouuced  unconstitutional  by  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  State.  In  the  same  year,  the  Maine  Law  was 
adopted'  by  Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  and  Vermont. 
In  1853,  by  Michigan,  and  ratified  by  the  people.  In  1854, 
by  Ohio  and  Coimecticut.  In  1855,  by  Indiana,  Illinois^ 
Iowa,  and  Delaware.  In  1855,  by  Wisconsin — and  twice 
vetoed  ;  also,  in  New  Hampshire. 

The  workings  of  the  law  at  first,  in  every  State,  were 
almost  equally  as  surprising  and  gratifying  to  its  friends, 
astonishing  to  its  enemies,  as  it  had  been  in  Maine. 

In  Ilhode  Island,  both  at  Newport  and  Providence, 
there  was  a  general  acquiescence  in  the  law.  Hon.  Mr. 
Barstow,  Mayor  of  Providence,  issued  his  proclamation, 
calling  on  good  citizens  for  acquiescence,  assuiing  them 
that  he  should  do  his  duty.  In  some  places,  the  law  was 
openly  trampled  upon ;  but  the  people  were  determined 
upon  its  enforcement,  and  the  refractory  were  compelled 
to  yield. 

In  Massachusetts,  with  the  exception  of  Boston,  and 
some  other  large  cities,  there  was  a  good  observance. 
Said  the  Minority  Peport  against  its  repeal,  in  1864: 
"  The  same  public  sentiment  that  spoke  this  law  into  being- 
still  rallies  around  it,  and  is  making  it  effective  throughout 
the  Commonwealth.  Its  prospects  for  efficiency  and  suc- 
cess were  never  better  than  at  the  present  time." 

From  New  Hampshiee,  the  most  cheering  tidings 
reached  us  of  the  enforcement  of  the  law,  even  beyond 
any  other  State*  in  the  Union.  The  expectations  of  the 
friends  of  the  law  were  more  than  realized. 

In  Vermont.  In  answer  to  an  inquiry,  relative  to  the 
working  of  the  law,  ex-Governor  Eaton  said : 

"  The  law  has  exerted  an  immense  influence,  and  accomplished  great 
good ;  yet,  I  would  not  overstate  the  amount  of  what  it  has  accomplished. 
Enacted  as  it  was,  and  executed  as  it  has  been,  in  defiance  of  the  strong 
and  bitter  opposition  of  a  portion  of  the  community,  no  one  would  sup- 


MAINE   LAW   IN    CONNECTICUT.  259 

pose  that,  in  the  short  space  of  a  few  months,  it  could  have  exerted,  in 
full,  its  beneficent  influences.  And,  besides,  so  vast  is  the  magnitude  and 
extent  of  the  evil  to  be  removed,  no  reasonable  man  could  expect  to  see 
the  whole  work  accomplished  in  a  single  year,  even  under  the  most  favor- 
able auspices." 

In  Connecticut,  the  Governor  of  ihS  State  declared, 
after  six  months'  trial  of  the  law  : 

"  The  Maine  liquor-law,  in  its  operation,  has  been  decidedly  successful. 
Not  a  grog-shop,  so  called,  is  to  be  found  in  the  State,  since  the  law  came 
into  force.  I  do  not  mean  that  there  are  not  a  few  dark  spots,  where,  by 
falsehood  and  secrecy,  evasion  may  not  be  managed ;  but,  in  a  word,  the 
traffic  is  suspended.  I  have  not  seen  a  drunkard  in  the  streets  since  the 
first  of  August.  Crimes  which  directly  result  from  rum  have  fallen  away 
half.  The  opposition  predicted  to  the  enforcement  of  the  law,  is  not  real- 
ized. Its  enemies  cannot  get  up  an  opposition  to  it,  because  it  commends 
itself  to  all  men's  judgments  ;  another  reason  is,  the  incentive  to  violence 
is  taken  away — riot  is  always  preceded  by  rum.  Take  away  the  rum,  and 
you  cannot  have  the  riot.  At  the  late  State  Agricultural  Fair,  from  26,000 
to  30,000  people,  of  all  conditions,  were  assembled,  and  not  a  solitary 
drunkard  was  seen,  and  not  the  slightest  disturbance  made.  Some  jails 
are  almost  tenantless.  The  home  of  the  peaceable  citizen  was  never  more 
secure." 

At  the  meeting  of  the  State  Temperance  Society,  at 
Hartford,  November  14,  1854,  it  was  unanimously 

Resolved,  That  the  universal  experience  of  the  people,  imder  the  oper- 
ation of  our  excellent  prohibitory  law,  fully  confirms  our  most  sanguine 
expectations,  and  establishes,  on  a  firm  and  sure  basis,  its  wisdom,  ef- 
ficiency, and  power.  With  the  poor  people,  many  of  them  say,  *'  the  law 
must  have  come  from  heaven ;  it  is  too  good  to  be  from  man." — Cit^ 
Missionary. 

Amid  all  this  excitement,  and  advance  of  the  Temper- 
ance community,  the  vast  hosts  of  distillers,  brewers,  im- 
porters, venders  and  consumers,  were  not  in  a  state  of  in- 
difference, much  less  of  acquiescence.  They  held  numer- 
ous meetings,  wherever  they  could  find  sympathy.   In  New 


260  TEMPERANCE    RECOLLECTIONS. 

York,  a  call  for  a  meeting,  signed  by  from  two  to  three 
thousand  names,  was  sent  out.  The  Maine  Law  was  de- 
nounced as  an  outrageous  attempt  to  destroy  the  interests 
of  the  city ;  to  rob  respectable  men  of  their  capital ;  to 
disfranchise  many  of  their  inherited  rights,  guaranteed  by 
the  Constitution.  All  temperance  men  were  called  upon 
to  put  down  these  fanatical  movements,  which  must  ulti- 
mately destroy  temperance  itself.  Thirty  thousand  names 
were  sent  to  Albany,  remonstrating  against  any  Maine- 
Law  action. 

A  similar,  and  even  more  violent  meeting  was  held  iu 
Detroit. 

The  brewers  and  maltsters  of  Philadephia  city  and 
county  issued  an  address  to  the  Farmers  of  Pennsylvania 
revealing  the  astounding  fact  that  to  supply  the  demands 
for  brewing,  600,000  bushels  of  barley  had  been  obtained 
from  the  State  of  New  York  ;  that  Pennsylvania  was  bet- 
ter adapted  to  the  raising  of  barley,  and  that,  therefore, 
the  farmers  of  Pennsylvania  should  be  on  the  watch 
against  a  Maine  law,  which  would  make  valueless  their 
beautiful  soil. 

False-hearted  politicians  were  continually  active  to 
thwart  the  Maine-Law  men  in  their  attemi^ts  to  secure  pro- 
hibition ;  often  drafting  bills  of  a  special  character,  bear- 
ing the  appearance  of  friendship,  and  getting  the  Maine- 
Law  men  in  their  web,  from  which  there  was  no  extrica- 
tion. 

Scientific  gentlemen  were  found  ready  to  come  forward 
and  declare  that  Alcohol,  the  good  creature  of  God,  was 
useful  and  essential  to  the  constitution  of  man  ;  that  to  a 
Maine  law  none  could  be  obedient,  more  than  to  a  law 
which  should  deprive  them  of  bread  and  meat ;  and  such, 
connected  with  the  rich  and  luxurious,  declared  in  their 
merriment,  that  it  was  unconstitutional,  or  against  the 
interests  of  their  constitution,  more  ready  to  consult  the 


PROFESSOR   TOUMANS    ON    BRAIN-POISON.  261 

apiDetite,  and  make  their  God  their  belly,  than  to  read 
the  lectures  of  Professor  Yoiimans  on  Alcohol  and  the  con- 
stitution of  men,  giving  the  chemical  history  and  proper- 
ties of  Alcohol,  and  its  leading  effects  upon  the  healthy 
human  constitution,  illustrated  by  a  beautiful  colored 
chart,  which  appeared  about  this  period,  and  in  the 
midst  of  these  discussions.     Said  Professor  Youmans : 

"  Alcohol  is  a  Brain  Poison.  It  is  so  to  all  intents 
and  i^urposes.  It  seizes  with  its  disorganizing  energy 
upon  that  mysterious  part  whose  steady  and  undisturbed 
action  holds  man  in  true  and  responsible  relations  with 
his  family,  with  society  and  with  God,  and  it  is  this  fear- 
ful part,  that  gives  to  government  and  society  their  tre- 
mendous interests  on  this  question."  In  other  cases  of 
insanity,  the  criminal  is  not  held  responsible.  Here  it  is 
voluntarily  brought  on,  and  is,  therefore,  crime,  and  the 
drunken  murderer  is  hung  upon  the  gallows.  But,  in- 
quires Professor  Youmans,  "  Is  not  society,  is  not  every 
individual  who  makes,  sells  or  patronizes  the  use  of  Alco- 
hol, and  leads  the  wretch  to  temptation  and  death,  respon- 
sible also  ?  Must  not  Alcohol  be  a  subject  of  law  ?  Sure- 
ly it  must.  There  has  always  been  a  jurisprudence  of 
Alcohol ;  there  is  still,  and  the  necessity  for  it  will  con. 
tinue.  But  the  demand  of  the  age  is  for  a  new,  a  highei 
and  juster  legislation,  for  more  thorough  and  potential  law, 
through  which  the  most  ubiquitous  and  omnipotent  energy 
of  government  shall  be  expressed  for  the  protection  of 
society." 

With  Professor  Youmans  I  was  on  terms  of  great  inti- 
macy ;  and  from  him  I  derived  my  most  decided  confirma- 
tion of  the  correctness  of  total  abstinence,  for  the  human 
constitution ;  and  of  prohibitory  law,  for  human  society. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

"World's  Temperance  Convention  in  New  York,  September  6,  1853 — Neal 
Dow,  President — Slight  Disturbance — Lady  on  the  Platform — Intro- 
duction of  Foreign  Delegation — "Wendell  Phillips — Great  Tumult — 
House  cleared  by  Police — Soiree  abandoned — Peaceable  Progress — 
Children's  Meeting — Speech  of  Dr.  Lees — Address  to  all  Nations — Dr. 
Pierpont's  Speech  and  Poem — Tribute  to  Dr.  Edwards — Meeting  of 
Sons  of  Temperance — Adulterations — Frauds  in  the  Liquor  Traffic — 
Rum  Maniac. 

Ox  tlie  6th  of  May,  1853,  at  a  meeting  of  the  friends 
of  temperance,  in  New  York,  it  was  resolved,  that  it  was 
expedient  and  desirable  to  hold  a  World's  Temperance 
Convention,  in  the  city  of  New  York,  in  September  next. 
A  committee  of  forty  gentlemen  from  every  State,  Terri- 
tory, and  the  British  provinces,  were  appointed  to  issue  the 
call,  inviting  all  temperance  organizations  and  associations, 
based  on  the  principle  of  total  abstinence,  to  appear  by 
their  delegates,  for  mutual  congratulation,  but  more  es- 
pecially for  the  enactment  of  a  prohibitory  law,  like  the 
Maine  Law,  in  every  State  and  nation ;  and  extending  the 
invitation  to  friends  of  temperance  in  all  parts  of  the 
world,  assuring  them  of  a  cordial  welcome,  and  of  an  op- 
portunity to  present  the  full  progress  of  the  cause  in  their 
own  district  or  country.  The  day  appointed  for  the  Con- 
vention was  the  6th  of  September,  and  its  continuance  to 
be  at  least  four  days.  Large  preparations  were  at  once 
made,  and  several  gentlemen  were  requested  to  prepare  dis- 
sertations on  important  topics,  to  be  read  at  the  Con- 
vention. 


I 


world's    CONVEXTIOX    in    new    YORK.  263 

On  the  day  designated,  a  very  large  body  of  men,  from 
all  parts  of  the  country,  were  gathered,  by  ten  o'clock, 
A.  M.,  at  the  Metropolitan  Hall— the  largest  and  most  mag- 
nificent room  in  the  city.  They  were  called  to  order  by 
John  W.  Oliver,  Chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Arrange- 
ments, who  invited  Gen.  S.  F.  Cary  to  the  Chair.  Gen. 
C.  made  a  few  eloquent  remarks,  appropriate  to  the  occa- 
sion. A  committee  on  organization  reported,  for  Presi- 
dent of  the  Convention,  Hon.  Neal  Dow,  of  Maine ;  twen- 
ty vice-presidents,  six  secretaries,  and  a  Business  Commit- 
tee, of  which  the  Hon.  J.  Belton  0'!N'eal,  of  South  Carolina, 
was  chairman.  Mr.  Dow  was  conducted  to  the  chair  by 
Gen.  Cocke,  of  Virginia,  and  Judge  O'N'eal  of  South  Caro- 
lina, amid  loud  acclamations.  Mr.  Dow  returned  thanks 
for  the  honor  done  him.     He  said : 

"  They  had  assembled  to  take  counsel  on  the  cause  of  temperance.  He 
regretted  there  were  men  hostile  to  it ;  but  it  was  not  surprising.  All 
great  enterprises,  which  had  for  their  object  the  amelioration  of  society, 
were  'destined  to  opposition.  On  passing  through  the  Park,  he  had  just 
noticed  the  statue  of  one  of  our  great  men  (De  Witt  Clinton),  who,  when  he 
proposed  to  join  the  waters  of  the  Great  Lakes  and  the  Atlantic,  met  with 
nothing  but  scorn  and  opposition.  And  yet,  they  had  all  lived  to  see 
that  mighty  work  accomplished,  and  contributing  more  to  the  wealth  and 
power  of  the  State  than  anything  else.  The  cause  of  temperance  was  no 
exception,  either  in  reproach  or  blessedness.  They  had  gone  steadily 
on  against  opposition,  and  were  now  about  at  the  termination  of  their 
labors. 

A  female  from  Western  New  York  presented  herself* 
on  the  platform,  expressing  much  interest  in  ther  cause, 
and  asking  to  be  received  as  a  delegate  from  two  societies 
— admitted.  A  motion  was  made  that  the  platform  be 
occupied  only  by  officers  of  the  Convention.  Gen.  Cary 
moved  that  the  platform  was  not  the  appropriate  sphere  of 
woman.  Some  confusion  ensued,  and  the  Convention  ad- 
journed. 


264  TEMPERANCE    RECOLLECTIONS. 

An  immense  meeting  was  held  in  the  evening,  which 
was  addressed  by  Rev.  Rufus  W.  Clark,  of  Boston,  and 
Gen.  Gary.  He  said,  "  We  are  in  the  midst  of  a  great 
moral  revolution ;  so  let  us  buckle  on  our  armor,  and  go 
into  the  conflict  undaunted;  and  we  may  rest  assured 
that  a  grateful  posterity  will  ever  bless  our  memory." 
A  splendid  song  was  sung  by  M.  Golburn,  Esq. : 

"  From  hall  and  from  hamlet,  from  mountain  and  plain, 
The  songs  and  the  prayers  of  the  just  are  ascending; 

The  armies  of  Truth,  and  the  Revellers'  train, 
In  the  tumult  of  conflict  and  battle  are  blending. 

Then  on !  while  the  ranks  of  the  foe  shall  unfold  ; 

Press  forward,  for  victory  smiles  on  the  bold. 

After  a  collection,  Rev.  Dr.  Pat  ton  introduced  the  for- 
eign delegation,  viz. :  John  Gassell,  of  London ;  Dr.  Lees, 
of  Leeds  (England) ;  Mr.  Jeffries,  of  Scotland ;  John 
Dougal,  of  Montreal ;  and  E.  N.  Harris,  of  New  Bruns- 
wick. Mr.  Gassell  addressed  the  audience,  giving  an  ac- 
count of  the  rise  and  progress  of  the  cause  in  England ;  the 
miseries  inflicted  on  that  country  by  strong  drink ;  the  op- 
position they  met  w^ith  from  the  higher  classes  and  the 
clergy  ;  and  the  hope  they  indulged  that  the  day  was  not 
far  distant  when  England  and  America  would  both  be 
blessed  with  a  Maine  law. 

On  Wednesday  morning,  prayer  was  offered  by  Rev. 
T.  L.  Guyler.  Letters  were  read  from  a  number  of  dis- 
tinguished gentlemen  in  America,  England  and  Scotland. 
A  large  number  of  committees  were  appointed;  when 
Wendell  Phillips,  of  Boston,  reporting  himself  as  a  dele- 
gate from  a  New  York  society,  made  several  reflec- 
tions upon  the  action  of  the  day  previous  relating  to 
speeches  from  the  platform,  causing,  for  an  hour,  great 
confusion.  When  order  was  restored,  at  the  request  of 
Judge  O'Neal,   I    read,  from    the    Business    Gommittec, 


GREAT   children's   MEETING.  265 

fifteen  resolutions,  expressive  of  the  sentiments,  purposes, 
and  designs  of  the  friends  of  temperance  in  the  United 
States  and  the  world,  to  be  discussed  and  adopted.  To 
these,  another  was  added,  viz. : 

That,  while  we  do  not  design  to  disturb  political  parties,  we  do  intend 
to  have,  and  enforce,  a  law  prohibiting  the  liquor  manufacture  and  traffic 
as  a  beverage,  whatever  may  be  the  consequences  to  political  parties,  and 
we  will  vote  accordingly. 

John  Dougal  of  Montreal  was  heard  in  an  able  si^eech 
on  the  first  resolution ;  w^hen  all  was  thrown  into  confu- 
sion by  the  lady's  taking  the  platform  iij  opposition  to  the 
resolution  passed.  The  Chair  decided  that  she  had  a  right 
to  the  floor ;  and  invited  her  to  the  platform.  The  Chair 
was  sustained,  on  an  appeal.  As  it  w^as  supposed  that  many 
were  in  the  hall  who  were  not  delegates  and  had  voted, 
it  was  moved  that  the  hall  be  cleared,  and  none  readmitted 
but  regular  members.  The  police  at  once  cleared  the  hall. 
The  process  of  reconstruction  engrossed  all  of  the  morning. 

A  most  magnificent  soiree  had  been  for  days  in  prepara- 
tion, for  which  the  sum  of  $1,100  had  been  subscribed. 
Expensive  articles  of  furniture  had  been  procured,  and  in- 
sured against  damage.  The  committee,  filled  witli  fears 
of  disorder,  or  fire,  concluded  to  abandon  it,  to  the  great 
regret  of  all ;  especially  from  other ,  cities  and  county 
towns.  The  afternoon  meeting  was  one  of  great  beauty 
and  loveliness.  More  than  five  thousand  children  filled  the 
hall,  and  were  addressed  by  Dr.  Edward  Beecher,  of  Bos- 
ton ;  the  Mayor  of  Providence  ;  Christian  Keener,  of  Bal- 
timore ;  and  Hon.  ISTeal  Dow.  Mr.  Dow  was  welcomed  by 
the  waving  of  a  thousand  handkerchiefs.  He  put  it  to 
vote  whether  the  children  wanted  any  grog-shops ;  when 
all  shouted,  No  !  and  all  sang,  "  Some  Wine  to  Drink, 
from  the  Foamy  Brink ;  "  and  also,  "  The  Noble  Law  of 
Maine." 

12 


266  TEMPER.VNCE    RECOLLECTIONS. 

The  evening  was  occupied  by  a  masterly  speech  from 
Dr.  F.  It.  Lees,  of  Leeds  (England),  new,  in  its  chemical 
developments,  to  most  of  his  hearers ;  and  acceptable  to 
nil  in  his  moral  applications : 

"  It  is  necessary,"  said  he,  "  that  the  body  should  be  pure,  in  order  to 
the  soul  being  pure.  This  must  be  the  appropriate  temple  for  the  Spirit 
of  the  living  God ;  and  if  you  defile  that  temple,  in  which  the  Spirit  dwells, 
you  defile  and  grieve  the  Spirit  itself  We  borrowed  this  doctrine  from 
you,  and  we  return  it  to  you,  with  our  hearty  commendations.  (Loud  ap- 
plause.) We  will  adhere  to  it  forever.  Intemperance  interferes  with  the 
health,  the  temper,  the  social  prosperities ;  with  the  laAvs,  the  political  econ- 
omy ;  wiih  the  courage,  the  advancement,  the  education,  the  religion,  and 
virtue,  of  the  human  race;  and  the  highest  sanctions  of  earth  and  heaven, 
of  the  past  and  the  future,  demand  that  we  should,  as  far  as  we  can,  exter- 
minate the  destroyer.  You  dwell  in  a  wonderful  age.  To  you,  the  nations 
of  the  earth  are  now  looking — to  you,  in  whose  bosom  burns  the  love  of 
liberty  exhibited  by  the  old  Puritan  Fathers — to  you  we  are  looking,  for 
the  future  steps  in  this  great  work.  (Applause.)  Finish  the  work  so 
nobly  commenced  ;  and  the  magnificent  destiny,  and  glorious  opportunity 
before  you,  will  make  you  the  future  glory  of  the  world,  and  the  wonder 
of  all  ages. 

Dr.  Lees  was  followed  by  Kev.  Mr.  Wolcott,  of 
Providence,  and  Rev.  Thomas  P.  Hunt. 

On  Thursday,  none  but  delegates  were  admitted  to  the 
body  of  the  House.  Strangers  occupied  the  galleries. 
Wendell  Phillips  would  amend  the  minutes.  Honorable 
Judge  Hoar,  of  Massachusetts,  rose  to  a  point  of  order. 
He  said :  That  gentleman,  learned,  eloquent,  and  powerful, 
whose  aid  was  desired  in  every  cause  in  which  his  heart 
was  concerned,  was  not  a  member  of  this  body.  He  moved 
that  the  credentials  he  had  presented  be  recommitted.  It 
was  done.  Mr.  Phillips  asked  whether  he  was  a  member 
of  the  Convention.  The  President  said  his  rights  were 
suspended.  Gen.  Cary  offered  a  resolution  that  the  com- 
mon usages  of  society  had  excluded  women  from  the  plat- 
form •  and,  whethei'  right  or  wrong,  we  will  in  this  Con- 


TEMPERANCE    AXD   POLITICS.  2.6Y 

vention  conform  to  this  usage.  This  was  carried  and  re- 
stored quietness  to  the  Convention.  Reports  of  Commit- 
tees were  received  and  adopted.  The  Report  on  obstruc- 
tion to  progress,  ended  with  the  following  resolution, 
which  was  adopted : — 

"  Eesolved,  That  the  cause  of  Jemperance  is  a  question  altogether 
separate  and  apart  from  the  question  of  Woman's  Rights,  Land  Reforms, 
or  any  other,  and  that  it  must  stand  or  fall  upon  its  own  merits." 

On  the  case  of  Mr.  Phillips,  the  Committee  reported 
that  he  was  not  a  delegate  from  any  regular  organization, 
but  from  a  Society  which  was  a  new  creation,  formed  after 
the  Convention  had  assembled,  for  the  purpose  of  sending 
delegates  to  this  Convention,  and  that  he  was  not  entitled 
to  a  seat. 

Rev.  R.  W.  Clarke  read  an  able  address  from  the  Con- 
vention to  the  governments  of  the  world,  and  recommend- 
ed the  adoption  of  the  following  sentiment,  "  Sink  or 
swim,  live  or  die,  survive  or  perish,  I  give  my  heart  and 
hand  to  the  enactment  and  execution  of  the  principles  of 
the  Maine  Law  throughout  the  world."  Adopted  by  a 
unanimous  vote. 

The  regular  resolutions  were  discussed  and  adopted. 
On  an  objection  to  mingling  temperance  and  politics,  Rev. 
John  Pierpont,  of  Boston,  rose  and  said  : — 

"  We  ask  at  the  hand  of  our  civil  legislatures  a  prohibitory  law  which 
we  cannot  get  except  at  the  hands  of  political  action.  It  is,  therefore,  to 
me  absurd  to  renounce  or  reject  all  pretensions  to  mingling  in  politics.  We 
mean  to  carry  it  to  the  polls  and  to  carry  the  polls  in  our  favor.  We  do  it 
upon  the  principle  that  it  is  a  moral  question,  paramount  in  God's  eye  to 
questions  of  office  holding,  of  finance  and  of  pohcy.  We  have  up  to  this 
time  been  timid  before  politicians.  We  have  said,  '  We  did  not  mean  you.' 
We  say  now,  '  We  do  mean  you,  and  will  put  you  down,  if  you  do  not  give 
us  what  we  ask.'     These  are  our  sentiments." 

A  long  debate  ensued  on  temperance  and  politics,  when 


268  TEMPERANCE   RECOLLECTIONS. 

Mr.  Carson  had  leave  to  unfold  to  the  Convention  the  en- 
tire system  of  The  Cakson  League. 

The  social  gathering  and  soiree  having  been  given  up, 
Thursday  evening  was  devoted  to  a  speech  from  Judge 
O'Neal,  of  Charleston,  S.  C,  a  splendid  poem  by  Rev.  John 
Pierpont,  and  an  auction  of  a  barrel  of  Wisconsin  flour. 
(This  had  been  sent  from  Wisconsin  to  be  sold  in  the  Con- 
vention, and  its  avails  to  be  returned  to  that  State  in 
Maine-Law  tracts.)  Rev.  Thomas  P.  Hunt  was  appointed 
auctioneer,  and  bid  it  off,  in  great  sport,  to  Bowen  & 
McXamee,  for  $100.  Addresses  were  then  made  by  Rev. 
Mr.  Hatfield,   of  New  York,  and  Gen.  Cary. 

Friday  was  devoted  to  hearing  reports  from  foreign 
delegates :  Dr.  Lees  and  Mr.  Cassell  from  England,  and 
Rev.  Mr.  Scott,  from  Montreal. 

Mr.  Cox,  of  Georgia,  then  offered  a  glowing  tribute  to 
the  memory  of  Dr.  Justin  Edwards,  deceased,  in  the  fol- 
lowing resolution  : — 

"  Resolved,  That  the  Convention  hereby  expresses  its  high  and  grate- 
ful appreciation  of  the  distinguished  services  rendered  the  cause  of  Tem- 
perance by  the  late  Justin  Edwards,  D,  D.,  and  that  while  they  bow  with 
resignation  to  the  decrees  of  that  unerruag  "Will  which  has  removed  him 
from  his  position  of  earthly  usefulness  and  toil,  we  cannot  too  deeply 
mourn  the  loss  from  our  ranks  of  so  efficient  and  useful  a  laborer." 

The  motion  was  resj^onded  to  in  impressive  speeches 
from  Christian  Keener,  Mr.  Cassell,  Rev.  Dr.  Kennedy, 
and   Gen.  Cary.     Gen.  Cary  said : 

"  I  desire  to  say,  as  Chairman  of  this  Convention,  that  the  name  now 
mentioned  in  the  resolution  was  a  dear  one  to  me.  I  learned  my  first  tem- 
perance lessons  from  Justin  Edwards  twenty  years  ago  in  his  meetings. 
His  virtues  are  recorded  in  the  living  tablets  of  my  heart.  Posterity  will 
honor  him ;  succeeding  generations  will  sigh  over  his  ashes,  and  the  children 
of  the  future  will  drop  tears  of  gratitude  and  plant  perennial  flowers  on  his 
tomb." 


ADULTERATION    OF   LIQUORS.  269 

On  an  unanimous  vote  of  thanks  to  Mr.  Dow,  for  so 
ably  presiding,  the  Convention  adjourned  sine  die. 

Well  might  my  recollections  of  this  Convention  be 
fresh,  for  its  preparations,  its  arrangements,  its  correspond- 
ence, its  resolutions,  an  attendance  upon  it  night  and 
day,  and  finally  its  summing  up,  publishing  and  sending 
abroad  the  report  of  its  proceedings,  cost  no  small  amount 
of  labor ;  but  it  was  a  noble  Convention,  never  to  be  for- 
gotten by  those  who  mingled  in  it.  Could  the  soiree  have 
been  carried  out,  it  would  have  surpassed  in  beauty  any- 
thing our  country  had  witnessed  ;  but  the  owner  of  the 
building  was  unwilling  to  incur  the  risk  of  fire  in  case  of 
a  disturbance  like  the  morning  meeting  ;  which,  for  tem- 
perance men,  was  truly  intemperate. 

The  N'ational  Division  of  the  Sons  of  Temperance 
held  an  adjourned  meeting  during  the  sitting  of  the 
Convention,  and  closed  the  meeting  by  a  great  demon- 
stration at  the  Metropolitan  Plall,  on  Friday  evening, 
Judge  0':N'eal,  of  S.  C,  M.  ^Y.  P.,  presiding. 

The  exposure  of  Frauds  in  the  liquor  traffic,  by 
Rev.  Thomas  P.  Hunt,  in  1838,  by  means  of  the  Brewers' 
Guides  and  Receipt  Books  which  he  had  procured  from 
London,  produced  no  small  sensation  through  the  country. 
The  authentic  statements  which  were  also  made  relative 
to  the  vast  manufacture  of  Port  wines,  out  of  Oporto, 
and  of  Champagne  wines  which  were  never  on  the  ocean, 
but  made  in  New  York  and  elsewhere,  troubled  their  con- 
sumers with  the  thought  that  they  were  taking  logwood, 
sulphuric  acid,  arsenic,  nux  vomica,  gypsum,  cocculus  indi- 
cus,  into  their  stomachs,  not  for  their  own  good,  only  for 
the  good  of  the  manufacturers  and  venders,  who,  by  these 
means,  often  increased  their  profits  an  hundred  fold ; 
and  it  greatly  advanced  the  temperance  reformation. 
Men  who  gloried  in  their  old  wine,  finding  that  it  was 


210  TEMPERANCE    RECOLLECTIONS. 

manutacturcd  within  six  weeks;  and  who  drank  pure, 
wholesome  ale  and  beer,  learning  that  it  had  little  or 
notliing  of  the  hop,  but  some  clieap,  venomous  drug,  said, 
"If  this  is  so,  we  ^vill  have  none  of  it," — took  to  the 
pure  beverage  of  heaven,  and  found  themselves  and  fam- 
ilies in  better  health  and  spirits,  besides  saving  much  of 
their  money,  which  had  gone  to  enrich  the  trade.  The 
Beer  Trials  in  Albany,  showing  that  the  choice  beer  was 
made  of  the  filthiest  water — w^ater  into  which  were  thrown 
dead  animals  of  every  description — increased  the  disrelish 
for  the  products  of  the  brewery.  A  tract  published  by 
Mr.  Delavan  on  adulterations  had  a  wide  circulation ;  and, 
coming  from  so  creditable  a  gentleman,  made  a  great  im- 
pression upon  the  masses.  Dr.  Nott  in  bis  lectures  said : 
"  I  had  a  friend  who  had  been  once  a  wine-dealer,  and 
having  read  the  startling  statements  made  public,  in  rela- 
tion to  the  brewing  of  wines,  and  the  adulterations  of 
other  liquors  generally,  I  inquired  of  that  friend  as  to  the 
verity  of  those  statements.  His  reply  was,  *  God  for- 
give wJiat  has  passed  in  my  own  cellar,  hut  the  statements 
MADE  are  true,  and  all  true,  I  assure  you.' "  And  yet, 
such  were  the  fascinations  of  the  drink,  that  thousands  of 
intelligent,  discerning  men  w^ould  persist  in  its  use,  al- 
ways flattering  themselves  that,  if  others  were  imposed 
upon,  they  were  not.  Unbelief  here  proved  the  damning 
sin  to  many  a  man  who  prided  himself  on  his  good  judg- 
ment. 

Hearing  of  the  appalling  statements  of  Dr.  Cox,  of  Cin- 
cinnati, that  he  had  been  analyzing  liquors  for  five  years, 
and,  during  that  time,  had  tested  2,279  samples,  alco- 
holic and  malt,  and  had  found  only  350  that  were  really 
pure;  two  hundred  and  fifty  were  mixed  liquors;  all  the 
remainder  were  adulterated  with  prussic  acid,  sulphuric 
acid,  stramonium,  strychnine,  etc.,  I  sent  for  him  to  come  to 
New   York,  give  a  course  of  lectures,  and   perform   his 


ADULTERATIONS — DEVELOPMENTS — DR.  COX.     271 

exjoeriments  in  presence  of  an  intelligent  audience.  He 
came,  in  the  spring  of  1860,  and  commenced  his  lectures 
in  the  Cooper  Institute.  I  procured  for  him  wines  and 
brandies  from  the  first-class  venders,  but  without  stating 
the  object.  Notices  were  given  by  the  press  of  the  lec- 
tures, and  much  excitement  w^as  created  for  the  movement. 
His  lecture  was  well  attended.  But,  unfortunately,  the 
Doctor  was  advanced  and  feeble ;  slow  of  speech,  and 
slow  of  movement — the  result  of  much  nice  operation  in  his 
chemical  laboratory.  The  consequence  was,  the  audience 
got  wearied  and  retired  disappointed  ;  and  the  Doctor 
proceeded  no  farther.  The  correctness  of  his  examina- 
tions and  developments  were  not  called  in  question, 
though  many  liquor-dealers  w^ere  present,  and  witnessed 
his  tests.  The  press,  the  next  morning,  gave  to  their  ten 
thousand  readers  full  information,  with  striking  com- 
ments.      Said  the  ISTew  York  Express : 

"  Every  man,  with  a  grain  of  common  sense,  knows  very  well,  that  it  is 
not  the  pure  juice  of  the  grape  that  fills  the  almshouse  with  paupers,  and 
digs  a  drunkard's  grave  in  Pottersfield,  almost  every  hour  in  the  day,  but 
poison — poison — poison  !  Twenty-four  thousand  dollars'  worth  of  these 
villainous  substances,  we  are  assured,  is  consumed  every  day  in  New  York ; 
but  who  can  calculate,  with  anything  like  a  certainty,  the  awful  cost  to  the 
bodies  and  souls  of  the  drinkers  ?     Who,  indeed  !  " 

In  the  year  1857,  the  Legislature  of  Ohio  passed  a  law 
prohibiting  the  use  of  strychnine,  or  other  active  poisons, 
in  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  intoxicating  or  alcoholic 
liquors  ;  the  penalty  prescribed  w^as,  imprisonment  in  the 
penitentiary,  at  hard  labor,  not  more  than  five,  orUess  than 
one  year ;  showing  the  indignation  roused  in  the  public 
mind  at  the  developments.  Yet  few  results  were  visible. 
The  works  of  darkness  continued,  and  men  drank  on. 
Pure  alcohol  itself  is  a  subtle  and  dangerous  poison, 
against  w^hich  men  should  be  warned,  were  there  no  adul- 


272  TEMPERANCE    RECOLLECTIONS. 

teration.  The  millionnaire,  glorying  in  his  old  and  pure 
wines  and  best  of  brandy,  is  as  miserable  an  object,  when 
groaning  with  the  gout,  or  raving  with  delirium  tremens, 
as  the  wretched  pauper  lying  drunk  in  the  gutter — drunk 
on  the  liquor  sold  by  law  in  the  filthy  dram-shop.  What 
the  brain-fever  is,  produced  by  the  brain-poison  by  which 
many  are  swept  awfully  into  eternity,  all  our  young  men 
should  know,  before  they  experience  it,  as  they  are  most 
likely  to,  if  they  will  madly  indulge  in  these  intoxicating 
drinks.  A  much-esteemed  friend  of  mine,  in  Bordentown, 
New  Jersey,  Joseph  Allison,  wrote  a  description  of  the 
delirium,  which  he  gave  me,  and  which  I  published  in  the 
Journal,  January,  1842.  I  afterwards  published  it  in 
tract  form,  with  a  striking  engraving,  entitled  the  Rum 
Maniac.     It  was  as  follows : 


THE    RUM    MANIAC 

(a   soliloquy.) 

Say,  Doctor,  may  I  not  have  rum. 

To  quench  this  burning  thirst  within  ? 
Here  on  this  cursed  bed  1  lie. 

And  cannot  get  one  drop  of  gin. 
I  ask  not  for  health,  nor  even  life — 

Life  !  what  a  curse  it's  been  to  me ! 
I'd  rather  sleep  in  deepest  hell 

Than  drink  again  its  misery. 

'  But,  Doctor,  may  I  not  have  rum  ? 

One  drop  alone  is  all  I  crave. 
Grant  this  small  boon — I  ask  no  more — 

Then  I'll  defy — yes,  e'en  the  grave ; 
Then,  without  fear,  I'll  fold  ray  arms, 

And  bid  the  monster  strike  his  dart. 
To  haste  me  from  this  world  of  woe, 

And  claim  his  own — this  ruined  heart. 


Allison's  kum  maniac.  273 

"  A  thousand  curses  on  his  head 

Who  gave  me  first  the  poisoned  bowl, 
Who  taught  me  first  this  bane  to  drink, — 

Drink — death  and  ruin  to  my  soul. 
My  soul !  oh,  cruel,  horrid  thought ! 

Full  well  I  know  thy  certain  fate, 
With  what  instinctive  horror  shrinks 

The  spirit  from  that  awful  state  ! 

"  Lost — lost — I  know,  forever  lost ! 

To  me  no  ray  of  hope  can  come ; 
My  fate  is  sealed  ;  my  doom  is — 

But  give  me  rum  ;  I  will  have  rum. 
But,  Doctor,  don't  you  see  Mm  there  ? 

In  that  dark  comer,  low,  he  sits  ; 
See  !  how  he  sports  his  fiery  tongue, 

And  at  me  burning  brimstone  spits  ! 

"  Go,  chase  hun  out !    Look  !  here  he  comes  ! 

Now,  on  my  bed  he  wants  to  stay  ; 
He  shan't  be  there.     0  God  !  0  God  ! 

Go  'way,  I  say !  go  'way !  go  'way  ! 
Quick !  chain  me  fast,  and  tie  me  down  ; 

There,  now ;   he  clasps  me  in  his  arms ; 
Down — down  the  window  !  close  it  tight ; 

Say,  don't  you  hear  my  wild  alarms  ? 

"  Say,  don't  you  see  this  demon  fierce  ? 

Does  no  one  hear  ?    Will  no  one  come  ? 
Oh,  save  me — save  me  !     I  will  give — 

But,  rum  !  I  must  have — will  have  rum. 
******* 
Ah !  Now  he's  gone ;  once  more  I'm  free : 

He — the  boasting  knave  and  liar — 
He  said  that  he  would  take  me  off 

Down  to — but  there !  my  bed's  on  fire  ! 

Fire  !  water  !  help  !  come,  haste — I'll  die  ; 

Come,  take  me  from  this  burning  bed ! 
The  smoke — I'm  choking — cannot  cry ; 

There,  now — it's  catciiing  at  my  head ! 
12* 


274  TEMPERANCE    RECOLLECTIONS. 

But  sec !  again  that  demon's  come  ; 

Look  !  there,  he  peeps  tlirough  yonder  glass ; 
Mark  how  his  burning  eyeballs  flash  ! 

How  fierce  he  grins  !  what  brought  him  back  ? 

"  There  stands  his  burning  coach  of  fire  ; 

He  smiles,  and  beckons  me  to  come. 
What  are  those  words  he's  written  there  ? 

*  Li  hell^  we'll  never  want  for  rum  ! '  " 
One  loud,  one  piercing  shriek  was  heard ; 

One  yell  rang  out  upon  the  air ; 
One  sound,  and  one  alone,  came  forth — 

The  victim's  cry  of  wild  despair. 

"  Why  longer  wait  ?  I'm  ripe  for  hell ; 

A  spirit's  sent  to  bear  me  down. 
There,  in  the  regions  of  the  lost, 

I  sure  will  wear  a  fiery  crown. 
Damned,  I  know,  without  a  hope  ! 

(One  moment  more,  and  then  I'll  come  !) 
And  there  I'll  quench  my  awful  thirst 

With  boiling,  burning,  fiery  rum." 


CHAPTER    XXL 

Campaign  in  New  York  for  the  Maine  Law — Publications  issued — Xew 
York  State  Society — "  Prohibitionist "  established — Frequent  Meetings 
— Methodist  Fire — Congregational  Convention — Address  of  Senators — 
Anniversary  A.  T.  U.  of  State  Temperance  Society — Convention  at  Au- 
burn— Nomination  for  Governor — Election  of  Governor  Clark — Con- 
gratulatory Meeting — Meeting  of  Opposition — Adoption  of  the  Law 
in  New  York — Hesitancy  of  Mayor  Wood  to  its  Execution — Success  in 
the  State — Opposition — Pronounced  Unconstitutional  by  the  Court  of 
Appeals — Results  and  Opinions. 

The  full  and  decided  opinion  of  a  large  number  of  tlie 
most  intellectual,  patriotic,  and  Christian  men  of  the  comi- 
try,  on  the  wisdom,  justice,  and  necessity  of  prohibitory 
law,  in  opposition  to  a  license  system,  and  the  action  of 
several  State  legislatures  strengthened  the  friends  of  tem- 
perance in  the  Empire  State,  in  their  resolution  to  make 
another  bold  and  powerful  effort  to  secure  it  at  the  ballot- 
box,  though  they  had  been  sadly  thwarted  by  the  Veto 
of  GoverHor  Seymour.  It  might  cost  them  much  labor ; 
but  Avhat  was  labor,  in  view  of  the  poverty,  crime,  and 
di'unkenness,  to  be  prevented  ?  It  might  cost  them 
money ;  but  what,  compared  with  the  amounts  levied  for 
poor-taxes,  prisons,  alms  houses,  and  courts  of  justice?  It 
would  bring  upon  them  reproach  and  hostility ;  but  it 
would  be  the  reproach  and  hostility  of  men  who  would 
make  no  sacrifice  of  luxurious  indulgence,  to  save  thou- 
ands  from  death ;  and  who,  for  gain,  would  persevere  in  a 
traffic  Avhich  was,  as  Chancellor  Walworth  expressed  it,  a 
traffic  in  the  bodies  and  souls  of  men. 


276  TEMPERANCE    RECOLLECTIONS. 

t 

From  tlie  adoption  of  prohibition  by  Maine,  an  im- 
mense amount  of  labor  had  been  performed  in  the  State  of 
New  York,  by  the  State  Temperance  Society  and  other 
organizations,  to  prepare  tlie  public  mind  for  the  recep- 
tion and  adoption  of  the  same  principle.  Col.  Herman 
Camp,  the  President,  and  William  11.  Burleigh,  Corres- 
ponding Secretary,  and  Messrs.  Gregg  and  Crampton,  lec- 
turers, were  men  of  power,  and  caused  their  influence  to 
be  widely  felt.  At  their  first  meeting,  held  at  Syracuse, 
their  Executive  Committee  were  directed  to  confer  with 
me  on  the  subject  of  preparing  and  publishing  a  series  of 
short  and  impressive  tracts,  such  as  the  exigencies  of  the 
times  might  require. 

As  the  result  of  this  conference,  I  speedily  prepared 
and  published,  in  pamphlet  form,  Six  Reasons  why 
THE  State  of  New  York  should  adopt  the  Maine 
Law.  These  reasons  approved  themselves  to  all  reflecting 
men ;  were  widely  circulated  by  the  agents  of  the  So- 
ciety, and  were  inserted  in  several  of  the  public  papers  of 
the  State.  Subsequently,  I  prepared  and  published  about 
twenty  Maine-Law  Tracts,  of  four  pages :  Three  Cheers 
FOR  Maine  !  Shall  we  have  the  Maine  Law  ?  Twen- 
ty-five Objections  Answered.  Triumph  of  Humanity. 
Female  Influence  for  the  Law,  &c.,  of  which  there 
were  sent  out  from  the  office  of  the  American  Temperance 
Union  over  a  million.  I  also  prepared  a  life  of  Neal  Dow  ; 
Review  of  Gov.  Seymour's  Veto  ;  and  published  Dr.  Spear's 
and  Albert  Barnes'  sermons  on  the  LaAv  These,  for  a  time 
were  our  ammunition  for  the  great  battle. 

In  1853,  Mr.  Delavan  entered  into  the  work,  became 
president  of  the  State  Society,  and  instituted  at  Albany  the 
Prohibitionist,  of  which  W.  H.  Burleigh,  first,  and  Amasa 
McCoy,  next,  became  editor;  and  for  which  he  secured 
throughout  the  country,  a  great  circulation.  He  also 
caused  to  be  prepared  for  the  State  Society,  a  series  of 


COXGREGATIONAL    CONVENTION ALBANY.  2V7 

twelve  Maine-Law  Tracts,  suited  to  all  the  leading 
topics,  and  printed  in  cheap  style.  Of  these,  an  immense 
amount  were  sent  forth.  The  State  Society  early  resolved 
on  the  most  active  and  determined  measures ;  and  they 
spared  no  effort  or  expense  to  create  a  right  public  senti- 
ment. Throughout  the  State,  frequent  Maine-Law  meet- 
ings were  held,  for  discussion,  and  to  answer  the  objec- 
tions which  were  continually  made  to  the  Maine  Law,  as 
unconstitutional,  and  depriving  men  of  their  natural  rights. 
The  pulpit  was  prompt  to  perform  good  service ;  and  the 
religious  press  spoke  with  energy  for  the  great  object. 
Said  the  Christian  Advocate  and  Journal  (Methodist) : 

"We  bespeak  a  little  of  our  characteristic  denominational  element, /re, 
for  the  cause  out  of  Maine.  Every  man  should  be  up  and  doing.  Peti- 
tions should  be  circulated,  signed,  and  loaded  upon  the  tables  of  the  Legis- 
lature of  every  State.  None  of  these  memorials  should  stop  short  of  ask- 
ing the  total  abolition  of  the  traffic.  Let  Methodists  be  in  the  van  of  this 
mighty  movement." 

A  mammoth  Congregational  Convention  was  held  at 
Albany  during  the  conflict.  On  my  oflering  a  resolution 
approving  of  the  Maine  Law,  it  was  moved  that  it  be  re- 
ferred to  the  committee.  "  No,  No ! "  uttered  a  dozen 
voices;  "pass  it  at  once."  "It  must  be  referred,"  said 
the  moderator,  "  by  rule."  "  No  matter  ;  no  matter,"  it 
was  replied.  "  Will  you  suspend  the  rule  ?  "  asked  the 
moderator.  "  Ate,"  came  like  a  thunder-clap  from  the 
whole  house.  "  "Will  you  adopt  the  resolution  ?  "  "  Aye," 
was  swelled  up  by  the  voice  of  every  member  of  that 
august  body.  "Old  men,  with  whitened  locks;  young 
men,  in  the  full  vigor  of  their  prime,  vied  with  each  other 
in  throwing  into  that  response  all  the  energy,  the  deter- 
mination, the  fire,  of  their  souls." 

The  Address  of  the  Senators  and  Members  of  Assem- 
bly, who  had  voted  for  the  suppression  of  intemperance. 


278  TEMPERANCE    RECOLLECTIONS. 

to  the  people  of  tlie  State  of  New  York,  was  an  able  pro- 
duction;  and  put  all  tlie  supporters  of  Governor  Sey- 
mour's veto  beyond  a  word  of  defence.  They  said  :  "  A 
single  man  has  stood  between  the  will  of  the  peoi)le,  clear- 
ly expressed,  and  the  accomplishment  of  their  purpose. 
That  will,  founded,  as  it  is,  on  the  principles  of  eternal 
truth,  on  the  profoundest  wisdom,  and  looking  to  the 
greatest  possible  good  of  the  people,  will  not  change." 
Nothing  was  w^anting  more,  but  that  time  should  roll  on, 
and  the  State  of  New  York  would  surely  wheel  into  line. 
The  fall  election  of  1854  was  to  give  a  new  Assembly  and  a 
new  Governor,  who  w^ould  not  veto  a  bill. 

The  American  Temperance  Union  held  its  Eighteenth 
Anniversary  on  the  11th  of  May,  1854,  all  in  sympathy 
with  the  State  in  its  present  struggle.  The  Report 
detailed  the  extraordinary  progress  of  the  cause;  the 
adoption  of  a  prohibitory  law  in  five  States,  and  its  mark- 
ed results  in  the  improved  condition  of  the  people  of 
those  Sttites — esjDCcially  of  the  industrial  working  classes. 
The  meeting  was  ably  addressed  by  Hon.  Mr.  Powers, 
of  Vermont ;  Rev.  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  of  Brooklyn ; 
Rev.  Dr.  Cleveland,  of  Northampton  ;  Rev.  R.  M.  Hat- 
field, and  Rev.  T.  L.  Cuyler,  all  on  much  the  same 
topic.  Mr.  Cuyler  said  he  had  but  one  short  speech  to 
make ;  it  was,  *'  Go  home,  ye  men  of  New  York,  and  make 
up  your  minds  to  vote,  at  the  next  election,  for  the  pas- 
sage of  the  Maine  Law,  as  Henry  "Ward  Beecher  has  told 
you ;  and  go  home,  you  men  and  women,  and  pray,  that 
you  may  know  the  truth,  to  that  same  God  from  whom  he 
has  received  all  that  he  has." 

On  the  22d  of  June,  the  State  Society  held  its  an- 
nual meeting  at  Albany ;  Mr.  Delavan  presiding.  Reso- 
lutions were  unanimously  adopted,  denouncing  Governor 
Seymour's  Veto,  and  appointing  a  committee  of  five  to 
confer  with  committee^  of  other  denominations,  on  calling 


AUBUEN    COXVENTION.  279 

a  State  Convention.  The  Society  resolved  that,  if  they 
would  succeed  in  their  great  work,  they  must  closely  ad- 
here to  the  one  great  idea,  Prohibition  ;  suffering  no  love 
of  gain,  no  desire  for  popularity,  no  attachment  to  partisan 
organization,  no  longing  for  political  success,  to  keep  it 
out  of  view.  The  2'7th  of  September  was  fixed  upon,  by 
a  committee  at  large — a  committee  of  the  State  Society  of 
the  Sons  of  Temperance — as  the  day  for  a  State  Conven- 
tion, at  Auburn,  for  the  prosecution  of  measures  to  pro- 
cure the  Legislation  that  was  now  demanded. 

That  Convention  consisted  of  over  three  hundred  of  the 
self-sacrificing  and  energetic  temperance  men  of  the  State. 
Coming  in  a  late  train,  I  found  it  difiicult  gaining  admis- 
sion to  the  Hall.  E.  C.  Delavan  was  appointed  President, 
but  he  declining,  David  Wright,  of  Cayuga,  was  substi- 
tuted in  his  place.  Amid  such  a  multitude,  processes  of 
organization  were  slow  ;  some  proposed  one  thing,  and 
some  another.  Early  in  the  afternoon  session,  a  venerable 
gentleman  from  Oneida  moved  that  Myron  H.  Clark,  of 
Canandaigua,  be  put  in  nomination  for  Governor;  but  he 
was  premature,  and  the  nomination  was  withdrawn.  He, 
however,  was  the  man  toward  whom  the  eyes  of  the  tem- 
perance men  were  turned  for  the  high  office ;  and  when 
business  had  assumed  its  regular  shape,  and  a  series  of 
strong  resolutions  by  Mr.  Burleigh  were  adopted,  he  was 
again  nominated  by  the  same  gentleman,  Mr.  Leonard 
Moore,  of  Oneida,  and  the  nomination  was  approved  by 
acclamation.  Mr.  Clark  had  for  some  time  been  State 
Senator  from  Onondaga  County,  and  had  been  most  promi- 
nent and  active  in  preparing  and  supporting  a  prohibitory 
law.  Seldom  has  a  nomination  to  high  office  been  made 
with  more  harmony  and  enthusiasm,  by  a  large  body  of 
most  intellectual  and  patriotic  men.  The  harmony,  how- 
ever, was  broken,  upon  the  nomination  of  the  second  offi- 
cer of  the   State   government,   as   a  portion  of  the  Con- 


280  TEMPERANCE   EECOLLECTIONS. 

vention  wished  it  to  foil  upon  some  gentleman  of  .in  op- 
posite political  party,  inasmuch  as  in  that  party  were  many 
of  the  friends  of  temperance  and  of  prohibition.  Such 
desired  Bradford  R.  Wood,  of  Albany,  of  the  Democratic 
party,  and  one  of  the  earliest  and  most  devoted  friends  of 
the  temperance  cause  ;  but  Mr.  Wood  withdrew  his  name, 
and  Henry  J.  Raymond,  of  the  Whig  party,  who  had  sent 
in  his  adherence  to  the  Maine  Law",  obtained  the  nomina- 
tion for  Lieut.  Governor.  The  Convention  adjourned  in 
great  confidence  of  success. 

Great  efforts  were  now  made  to  secure  the  election. 
Four  candidates  were  in  the  field.  Mr.  Clark,  Gov.  Sey- 
mour, Mr.  TJllman,  the  Know  Nothing  candidate,  and 
Judge  Bronson,  the  Conservative  Whig.  A  plurality  vote 
secured  the  ofiice.  While  the  friends  of  the  opposing  can- 
didates were  not  lacking  in  eflforts,  the  friends  of  Mr. 
Clark  held  a  most  enthusiastic  meeting  at  the  Broadway 
Tabernacle  on  the  4th  of  November.  It  was  my  province 
to  read  the  j)roceediugs  at  Auburn,  the  nominations  and 
resolutions ;  when  the  meeting  was  powerfully  addressed 
by  Rev.  T.  L.  Cuyler,  Mr.  Greeley,  and  R.  M.  Hatfield. 
The  day  of  election  was  one  of  intense  excitement,  as  the 
returns  brought  the  opposing  candidates  so  near  together, 
that  it  was  exceedingly  doubtful  which  would  prevail.  At 
length  it  was  manifest  that  Mr.  Clark  had  the  lead,  and 
was  to  be  Governor  of  the  State  of  New  York.  Mr.  Clark 
had  15 8,7 95  votes,  Gov.  Seymour,  156,501,  Mr.  Ullman, 
122,274,  and  Judge  Bronson,  33,820.  We  felt  it  to  be  a 
great  moral  as  well  as  political  triumph,  inasmuch  as  there 
were  involved  in  it  vast  moral  interests,  as  w^ell  as 
humane,  and  we  felt  disposed  to  give  God  the  glory. 

A  card  issued  by  twenty  citizens,  headed  by  W.  E. 
Dodge,  invited  the  temperance  community  to  set  apart  the 
twentieth,  as  a  day  of  rejoicing.  It  was  honored  by  a 
display  of  flags  and  banners,  and  in  the  evening,  a  large 


GOV.  Clark's  election  and  inaugukation.        281 

meeting  was  held  in  the  Broadway  Tabernacle.  On  each 
of  the  main  pillars  which  supported  the  roof,  were  sus- 
pended banners,  with  the  names  of  the  States  which  had 
adopted  the  Maine  Law,  viz.,  Maine,  Minnesota,  Massachu- 
setts, Rhode  Island,  Vermont,  Connecticut,  and  Michigan, 
with  the  dates  of  adoption ;  and  hanging  over  the  organ, 
was  a  banner  of  muslin,  on  which  was  inscribed,  Myeon 
H.  Claek.  NewYoek  is  Coming.  I^o  Rum  at  all. 
Mr.  Dodge  was  elected  President,  and  the  meeting  open- 
ed with  prayer  and  thanksgiving,  by  Dr.  Cox.  It  was  my 
province  to  read  several  congratulatory  letters  from 
friends  abroad,  to  read  the  resolutions,  and  to  welcome  the 
good  ship  Maine  Law  into  port,  with  Commodore  Clark 
hoisting  his  Broad  Pennant.  Governor  Dutton,  of  Con- 
necticut, warmly  expressed  his  congratulations  in  an  able 
speech,  showing  the  condition  of  things  in  Connecticut, 
followed  by  the  Hon.  E.  D.  Culver,  and  others,  with  soul- 
stirring  addresses.  Chancellor  Walworth  said  in  his  letter, 
which  was  read : — 

"  If  the  result  of  the  recent  election  shall  be  the  passage  of  a  law  to  pro- 
hibit the  sale  of  intoxicating  drinks,  to  be  used  as  a  beverage,  all  the  friends 
of  humanity  may  well  rejoice  and  congratulate  each  other.  One  thing  is 
certain,  the  election  of  Gov.  Clark  will  prevent  the  vetoing  of  a  law,  if  a 
proper  law  should  be  passed  by  the  Legislature,  and  submitted  to  him  for 
approval.  And  from  what  I  can  learn  of  the  Legislature,  a  clear  majority 
of  temperance  men  have  been  elected  to  the  Assembly." 

Said  the  Hon.  Neal  Dow : — 

"  I  rejoice  with  all  my  heart,  in  the  glorious  triumph  of  our  friends  in 
New  York,  at  the  recent  election.  It  is  right  and  fitting  that  you  should 
hold  a  Jubilee  to  thank  God  that  the  right  has  triumphed." 

The  inauguration  of  Governor  Clark,  on  the  first  of 
January,  was  a  proud  day  for  temperance,  though  few 
knew  with  what  trials  he  and  his  friends  were  to  meet ; 
but  all  were  in  the  hands  of  a  righteous  Providence.     His 


282  TEMPERANCE    RECOLLECTIONS. 

messages  was  very  decisive  and  satisfactory.  The  Senate 
of  the  last  year  held  over,  and  the  new  Assembly  was  one 
in  which  the  friends  of  prohibition  had  confidence.  When 
the  Proliibitory  Liquor  13ill  came  before  the  Legislature, 
every  possible  obstacle  to  its  passage  was  thrown  in  its 
way ;  but  all  in  vain.  On  the  21st  of  February,  it  came  to 
a  final  vote  in  the  Assembly,  when  it  was  adopted  :  80  for 
its  passage  and  45  against  it ;  absent  or  not  voting,  3.  Li 
the  Senate  every  possible  obstruction  was  thrown  too  in 
its  path,  but  on  the  3d  of  April,  at  a  quarter  before  twelve, 
it  was  passed  by  the  overwhelming  vote  of  21  to  11,  to 
take  effect  on  the  4th  of  July.  The  Assembly  concurred, 
and  on  the  ninth  of  April,  the  bill  was  signed  by  the  Gov- 
ernor, and  became  the  law  of  the  State  of  Xew  York. 

Through  the  State  were  great  sensations  of  joy  and 
gladness,  excepting  among  the  manufacturers  and  venders 
of  intoxicating  drinks.  On  the  26th,  a  congratulatory 
meeting  was  held  in  New  York,  in  the  Metropolitan 
Theatre,  quite  unsurpassed  by  any  before  held.  Here 
again,  I  was  permitted  to  read  many  timely  and  important 
documents,  especially  a  letter  giving  great  satisfaction, 
from  the  new  Governor  of  the  State.  The  resolutions 
were  modest  but  firm  ;  congratulatory  ;  inviting  the  most 
searching  scrutiny ;  expressive  of  a  determination  to  per- 
severe ;  for,  sink  or  swim,  live  or  die,  we  shall  not  again 
quietly  submit  to  alcoholic  dominion. 

Mr.  Dodge,  on  taking  the  Chair,  warmly  congratulated 
the  meeting  on  the  occasion.  He  had  just  returned 
from  a  four  weeks'  tour,  in  the  course  of  which  he  had  pass- 
ed through  most  of  our  cities  and  towns  at  the  West  and 
South,  and  had  been  astonished  and  gratified  at  finding  the 
cause  of  temperance  widely  spreading.  He  introduced  the 
Hutchinson  songsters,  who  greatly  delighted  the  audience, 
after  which,  spirited  speeches  were  made  by  Prof.  Mattison, 
Rev.  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  W.  H.  Burleigh,  Dr.  Peck  and 


BEECHER  AND  BUELEIGH.  283 

Rev.  Dr.  Tyng.     Seldom   was   a  meeting  known  of  siicli 
enthusiasm  and  power.. 

H.  W.  Beecher  said : 

"  This  was  the  most  important  meeting  that  had  been  gathered  in  New 
York  for  many  a  day.  The  whole  State  would  be  looking  towards  it. 
They  would  ask,  what  does  the  city  of  New  York  think  about  that  Maine 
Law?  What  is  the  pulse  there?  and  what  do  they 'intend  to  do  about  it? 
We  had,  at  last,  procured  common  and  statutory  law  to  this  effect,  that 
making  and  selling  intoxicating  drinks,  for  purposes  of  diet,  was  now" de- 
clared, by  the  voice  of  the  people  (what  he  regarded  as  common  law),  and 
by  the  voices  of  their  representatives  (which  was  statutory  law),  to  be  a 
crime.  We  might  be  bafHed  and  baulked  a  great  while,  before  we  could 
make  all  the  teeth  of  this  law  meet,  with  a  good  subject  between  them ; 
we  might  have  to  deal  with  men  who  could  come,  and  disappear,  as  spirits 
do ;  but  there  was  one  thing  they  could  not  reverse  ;  after  years  of  discus- 
sion, the  people  in  this  empire  State  had  declared,  that  the  making  and 
selling  of  intoxicating  drinks,  for  such  purposes,  was  a  crime.  The  principle 
was  born ;  and  there  was  nothing  born  on  the  face  of  this  earth  that  carried 
such  joy  as  the  birth  of  a  moral  principle.  They  could  never  get  that 
back  again;  they  might  as  well  try  to  crowd  the  last  year's  chicken  into 
the  shell.  (Loud  cheers.)  Till  now,  we  had  been  working  zig-zag  before 
this  Sebastopol ;  but  we  would  not  be  long  taking  it.  Efforts  would  be 
made  to  destroy  the  law  in  the  courts ;  but  what  the  courts  decided  to  be 
wrong,  could  be  rectified ;  we  were  in  for  the  battle,  and  would  have  per- 
severance and  ingenuity,  until  the  law  succeeded.  (Applause.)  The  voice 
which  the  State  sent  up  to  the  city  to-night  was,  '  AVill  you  abide  by  the 
prohibitory  law  ? '  The  response  he  would  send  back  was  this :  *  We  are 
watching  and  waiting ;  we  are  hke  the  men  at  Waterloo,  lying  close  to 
the  ground,  until  they  should  hear  the  old  hero  cry,  '  L'p  !  Guards !  and 
at  them.' " 

Mr.  Burleigh  said : 

"  For  two  hundred  years,  the  license  laws  had  been  undergoing  amend- 
ments; and  those  engaged  in  the  traffic  looked  on  with  perfect  com- 
placency. The  liquor-dealers  were  in  no  degree  annoyed  by  the  speeches 
of  the  temperance  men,  so  far  as  those  speeches  reached  the  newspapers, 
and  were  confined  to  moral  suasion.  But  from  all  of  them — from  our  gin- 
princes  down  to  the  very  democracy  of  our  rot-gut — there  came  up  a  de- 


284  TEMPERANCE   RECOLLECTIONS. 

monical  howl  against  the  law  of  prohibition.  We  now  stood  front  to 
front  "with  the  enemy.  It  was  for  this  that  we  had  labored,  and  we  had 
prayed.  It  was  for  this  that  wo  had  sent  up  our  supplications  to  the 
throne  of  God,  that  he  might  give  us  a  fair  word  in  open  fight ;  that  in  the 
arrangements  of  his  Providence,  He  would  bring  us  face  to  face  with  the 
foe,  where  foot  might  be  planted  against  foot,  where  eye  might  meet  glow- 
ing eye,  where  hand  might  clutch  with  hand  in  the  contest.  We  asked  for 
no  odds,  we  required  no  fuvor ;  we  had  but  one  prayer,  '  God,  defend  the 
right.' " 

Following  our  great  congratulatory  meeting,  as  might 
have  been  anticipated,  was  one  of  the  liquor-dealers,  and 
their  defenders,  at  the  Tammany  Hall,  where  the  law  was 
violently  denounced  as  unconstitutional  and  fanatical ; 
but  the  meeting  was  reported  as  one  of  great  confusion. 
The  very  distinguished  lawyers  said  to  have  been  feed  for 
needed  service,  by  the  Liquor-dealers'  Association,  and 
whose  presence  was  promised,  were  none  of  them  there ; 
nor  was  the  stand  graced  by  any  distinguished  orators. 

But,  in  fact,  throughout  the  city  and  State,  there  -was 
silence,  for  half  an  hour.  Men  of  all  parties  were  impress- 
ed with  the  vastness  of  the  change  which  would  come 
over  the  community,  and  of  the  sacrifices  which  many 
heavy  dealers  must  be  called  to  make.  The  general  feel- 
ing in  the  city  and  throughout  the  State  was,  that  the  law 
would  become  the  governing  rule  of  the  State.  Scarce  any 
Avere  to  be  found  among  the  venders  themselves,  who  were 
of  a  contrary  opinion.  In  the  city  of  New  York,  its  enforce- 
ment would  lie  much  with  Mr.  Wood,  the  Mayor  of  the 
city.  It  was  supposed  he  w^ould  be  very  decided  and  very 
efiicient.  He  had,  a  little  before,  acquired  the  confidence 
of  the  people,  by  a  surprising  and  efiicient  enforcement  of 
the  Sunday  liquor  law.  In  his  inaugural  speech,  he  had 
declared  that  the  laws  must  be  respected  and  obeyed.  On 
the  first  Sunday  after  his  assumption  of  office,  two  hundred 
and  eighty  liquor  shops  were  open ;  on  the  second,  one 
himdred  and  thirty  ;  on  the  third,  but  twenty-six.     Such  a 


MAYOR   WOOD    AND   THE   LAW.  285 

Mayor  was  raised  up  for  tlio  crisis ;  and  Mr.  Wood  re- 
ceived many  compliments  from  the  temperance  men,  and 
the  religious  community.  At  an  early  period,  his  minis- 
ter, Rev.  Dr.  Tyng,  preached,  before  his  Honor,  a  plain 
and  powerful  sermon  on  the  responsibilities  of  rulers  in 
great  exigencies,  and  the  duty  and  encouragement  of  sus- 
taining, in  firmness,  law  and  government ;  and  seemed 
confident  of  a  response  in  the  judgment  and  heart  which 
would  lead  to  no  disappointment.  But,  as  an  evil  spirit 
came  upon  Saul,  so  his  Honor  consulted  his  district  and 
corporation  attorneys,  as  to  what  would  be  the  operation 
of  existing  laws;  and  received  as  reply  that,  as  there 
would  be  no  license  given,  after  the  first  of  May,  free  trade 
should  be  given  to  all  people,  till  the  Fourth  of  July  ;  and 
that,  even  then,  and  after,  it  would  be  so  continued  in  all 
foreign  liquors.  By  these  opinions  he  concluded  to  abide, 
and  thus  opened  for  the  season  the  floodgates  of  rum. 

In  a  short  time,  questions  were  rising  relative  to  the 
constitutionality  of  the  law ;  and  some  judges  of  inferior 
courts  had  given  opinions  on  the  subject  adverse  to  the 
law,  which  were  at  once  seized  upon  by  its  enemies. 
Some  distinguished  men  in  the  city,  also,  eminent  lawyers, 
had  expressed  themselves  strongly  and  adversely  on  some 
points  of  the  law,  the  result  of  which  was  that  the  Mayor 
not  only  refused  to  exert  any  positive  influence  for  the 
enforcement  of  the  law,  until  its  constitutionality  was  set- 
tled in  the  courts,  but  warned  his  police  of  the  penalties 
which  would  be  visited  upon  them,  should  any  of  them 
make  mistakes  in  arresting  any,  in  the  performance  of 
duty,  for  violation  of  the  law.  The  entire  power  of  the 
city  government  was  at  once  neutralized.  So  was  it,  also, 
at  Albany ;  but  not  so  in  other  cities. 

In  the  city  of  Brooklyn,  the  Hon.  George  Hall,  then 
Mayor,  took  bold  and  decided  measures  for  the  enforce- 
ment of  the  law.     On  being  asked  if  he  would  not  let  the 


280  TEMPERANCE    RECOLLECTIOXS. 

subject  rest  until  there  had  been  a  decision  of  the  courts, 
in  the  autumn,  he  said,  " No ;  the  law  is  a  law  now;  he 
wanted  no  decisions  of  courts.  Wherever  the  law  was 
violated  it  was  his  duty  to  take  cognizance  of  the  viola- 
tion ;  and  he  should  do  so."  The  same  was  the  case  with 
the  mayors  of  other  cities.  In  TJtica,  Syracuse,  Os- 
wego, Rochester,  and  in  most  of  the  townSy  and  in  some 
entire  counties,  the  law  met  with  acquiescence  and  support. 
In  his  message,  at  the  opening  of  the  Legislature,  January, 
1856,  Governor  Clark  said  : 

"  The  Act  for  the  Suppression  of  Intemperance,  Pauperism,  and  Crime, 
passed  by  the  Legislature,  in  accordance  with  the  clearly  expressed  de- 
mand of  the  people,  went  into  operation  on  the  Fourth  of  July  last,  not- 
withstanding it  has  been  subjected  to  an  opposition  more  persistent, 
unscrupulous,  and  defiant,  than  is  often  incurred  by  an  act  of  legislation ; 
and  though  legal  and  magisterial  influence,  often  acting  unofficially  and 
extra-judicially,  have  combined  to  render  it  imperative  to  forestall  the  de- 
cision of  courts,  wrest  the  statute  from  its  obvious  meaning,  and  create  a 
general  distrust  in,  if  not  hostility  to,  all  legislative  restrictions  of  the  traffic 
in  intoxicating  liquors,  it  has  still,  outside  of  our  large  cities,  been  gener- 
ally obeyed.  The  influence  is  visible,  in  a  marked  diminution  of  the  evils 
which  it  sought  to  remedy." 

The  autumnal  elections  in  the  State  were  favorable  to 
the  law.  But  little  could  be  expected  by  its  opponents 
from  the  new  Legislature.  Two  judges  of  one  judicial 
district  had  pronounced  it  unconstitutional  and  void. 
Some  distinguished  lawyers,  in  New  York,  had  given  their 
private  opinion  on  the  same  side.  This  had  drawn  out 
some  of  the  best  talent  of  the  State :  Judge  Edmunds, 
Chief  Justice  Savage,  Judge  Shankland,  Judge  Conklyn, 
and  others,  in  its  support.  As  it  was  known  that  the  whole 
subject  would  be  brought  before  the  Court  of  Appeals,  in 
March,  all  eyes  were  upon  that,  to  see  what  its  decision 
on  the  constitutionality  of  the  law  would  be.  That  Court 
was  composed  of  eight  judges.    By  that  Court,  on  the  29th 


DECISION    OF   THE    COURT    OP   APPEALS.  287 

of  March,  the  law  was  pronounced  unconstitutional ;  five 
of  the  judges  uniting  in  the  decision,  viz. :  Denio,  A.  S. 
Johnson,  Comstock,  Selden,  Hubbard ;  and  three  dis- 
senting :  Mitchell,  Wright,  and  T.  A.  Johnston.  The 
Court  was  of  opinion,  that  the  various  provisions,  prohi- 
bitions, and  penalties  contained  in  the  act,  substantially 
destroyed  the  property  in  intoxicating  liquors  already  pos- 
sessed, in  violation  of  the  terms  and  spirit  of  the  con- 
stitutional provisions;  and  also,  that  no  discrimination 
was  made  between  liquors  possessed,  and  those  which 
might  hereafter  come  into  possession.  But  it  was  remark- 
able that  the  five  did  not  unite  on  one  and  the  same  rea- 
son. Hon.  Mr.  Bradford,  of  the  Senate,  introduced  a  bill 
for  a  prohibitory  law  like  the  present,  but  conformed  to 
the  Court  of  Appeals.  The  same  was  introduced  to  the 
Assembly,  but  was  rejected.  And,  after  various  strug- 
gles for  a  new  laAV,  the  Legislature  adjourned,  leaving  the 
State  without  any  law  touching  the  sale  of  intoxicating 
liquors.  Thus  were  all  the  hopes  of  temperance  men  in 
the  State  of  New  York,  of  legislative  aid,  baffled,  and  scat- 
tered to  the  winds.  But  they  had  an  experience  of  what 
prohibitory  law  would  do,  which  justified  them  in  the 
course  they  had  pursued,  and  led  them  to  feel  that  the 
welfare  of  the  State  could  only  be  secured  by  a  return,  at 
some  future  day,  to  the  same,  or  similar  action. 

In  the  short  period  between  July,  1855,  and  the  first  of 
December  (as  compared  with  the  same  number  committed 
during  the  same  time  in  the  year  1854),  to  nine  jails  out 
of  New  York,  there  was  a  diminution  of  2,062.  More  than 
equal  to  this,  was  the  result  in  the  diminution  of  pauper- 
ism ;  while  visible  drunkenness  was  almost  swept  away. 

Even  in  the  city  of  New  York,  though  the  traffic  was 
unimpeded,  there  were  good  results  of  the  liquor  law.  The 
arrest  of  every  drunkard  abroad,  and  fining  him  $10,  and 
committing  him  in  case  of  default,  had  a  surprising  effect. 


288  TEiirERANCE    RECOLLECTIONS. 

It  both  made  the  vice  infamous  and  diminished  it.  The  com- 
mitments, in  the  month  of  July,  were  nine  hundred  and 
twenty-six ;  for  August,  five  hundred  and  twenty-six.  Of 
these,  none  were  of  respectable  or  young  men.  In  Suffolk 
county,  where  there  were  more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty 
licensed  houses,  scarce  one  place  of  sale  could  be  found. 
In  the  city  of  Rochester,  the  number  of  arrests,  thirty  days 
previous  to  the  law  taking  effect  there,  were  three  hun- 
dred and  four;  arrests  in  thirty  days  subsequent,  ninety- 
one.     E.  B.  Day,  Esq.,  wrote  me  from  Greene  county: 

"  Instead  of  noise,  and  the  tumult  of  rum-revelries,  daily  and  night- 
ly in  our  streets — instead  of  pinching  want  and  brutal  treatment — in  place 
of  deep  and  hopeless  sorrow,  depicted  in  the  countenances  of  drunkards' 
wives  and  children ;  and  the  dark  and  sombre  forebodings  of  the  father, 
who  knows  that,  except  in  the  law,  there  is  no  hope  for  his  son — we  have 
quietness,  peace,  competency,  and  domestic  happiness.  In  Rome,  was  a 
general  surrender ;  the  police  expressing  surprise.  In  Courtlandt  county, 
there  was  a  general  observance.  In  Liv^ingston,  many  opposers,  seeing  its 
blessedness,  became  afraid  of  the  law." 

But  the  suppression  of  the  traffic  could  not  be  borne. 

"  Man's  inhumanity  to  man, 

Makes  countless  thousands  mourn." 

While  we  were  in  the  midst  of  all  this  excitement  in 
the  State  of  New  York,  tidings  of  riot  and  blood  came  to 
us  from  Maine.  Indeed,  how  was  it  to  be  expected  that 
the  Dragon,  bound  with  a  great  chain,  should  do  other- 
wise than  rave  and  gnash  his  teeth,  and  seek  universal 
destruction.  By  vote  of  the  Board  of  Aldermen  of  the 
City  of  Portland,  the  Mayor  and  two  of  their  number 
were  appointed  to  purchase  liquor  for  the  City  Agency. 
$1,600  worth  were  purchased.  Inflammatory  papers  declar- 
ed that  that  they  were  purchased  by  Mr.  Dow,  for  himself, 
without  any  authority.  The  liquors  were  in  the  custody 
of  an  officer ;  but  this  did  not  satisfy  a  mob  who  were 


MAIXE.  289 

resolute  to  have  them  seized  and  destroyed.  They  rushed 
to  the  building  where  they  were  stored,  broke  the  windows 
and  attempted  to  force  the  door.  They  were  repeatedly 
warned  to  desist.  The  riot  act  was  read  to  them.  The 
military  were  called  out,  and  the  mob  assaulted  them  with 
stones  and  brickbats.  To  quiet  them  was  impossible,  and 
they  were  ordered  to  fire.  One  man  was  killed,  and  sev- 
eral were  wounded.  A  great  hue  and  cry  was  at  once 
raised  by  the  enemies  of  the  Maine  Law  throughout  the 
land,  as  a  law  to  be  maintained  by  the  military  and  blood- 
shed. But  the  riot  was  not  occasioned  by  the  execution 
of  the  law  at  all.  The  Court  which  sat  upon  the  case  de- 
cided that  the  liquors  were  ordered  by  a  Committee  chosen 
by  the  Board  of  Aldermen,  that  they  were  ordered  for 
the  City  Agency,  and  for  lawful  sale ;  that  they  were 
marked  and  invoiced  to  the  City  Agency.  The  Mayor 
was  found  not  guilty  of  a  charge  of  manslaughter  and 
was  discharged,  and  the  liquor  restored  to  the  City  Agent. 
A  large  Committee  of  highly  respectable  gentlemen  also 
acquitted  Mr.  Dow  of  all  error,  mistake,  rashness,  and 
misjudgment  in  the  matter.  Mr.  Dow,  by  his  firmness,  it 
was  believed,  saved  the  city  from  being  set  on  fire  and 
burned  up.  There  was  reason  to  believe  that  the  plan  of 
riot  was  concocted  at  a  distance.  The  man  killed  was  a 
profane  and  riotous  sailor  from  the  eastward. 

For  five  years  the  law  stood  well  in  this,  the  Dii-igo 
State,  without  any  political  change.  Mr.  Dow  acquitted 
himself  well,  in  the  high  and  responsible  ofiice  to  which 
he  had  been  called.  Not  a  brewery  or  distillery  was  left 
in  the  State,  and  but  little  drunkenness,  excepting  on  the 
borders  of  other  States.  But  no  State  can  be  expected  to 
continue  long  without  changes.  Men  die ;  political  leaders 
remove.  'New  interests  come  in  play.  In  the  election  of 
'55-6,  a  new  political  party  came  into  power.  Financial 
questions  and  strong  personal  antipathies  were  mingled 
13 


290  TEMPEPwANCE    RECOLLECTIONS. 

in  the  conflict,  and  old  political  organizations  were  involv- 
ed. The  Rci)ublican  or  JMainc-Law  ticket  mustered 
51,000,  the  Democratic,  48,000,  and  the  Whig,  11,000. 
The  result,  however,  was  not  seriously  threatening  to 
the  Maine  Law,  as  many  of  the  Whig  and  Democratic 
voters  were  decided  Maine  Law  men,  but  the  day  for 
great  union  and  harmony  was  passing  away. 

In  other  States  the  great  principle  of  prohibition  was 
steadfast  and  increasing.  In  Massachusetts,  the  friends 
of  the  law  continued  in  earnest  in  giving  the  law  fair 
trial.  In  1855,  they  prosecuted  the  keeper  of  the  Revere 
House,  the  principal  hotel,  for  violations  of  the  law,  and 
obtained  judgment ;  but  appeals  were  made,  in  expecta- 
tion of  escape  from  the  penalty,  under  flaws  in  the 
statute.  On  trials,  no  jury  could  be  found  to  agree.  A 
powerful  address  was  sent  out  to  all  the  ministers  of  the 
Gospel,  September  20th,  1855,  rejoicing  in  the  wonderful 
success  of  the  prohibitory  movement,  and  asking  their  co-op- 
eration, signed  by  Lyman  Beecher,  D.D.,  and  fifteen  others. 

In  Connecticut^,  at  the  expiration  of  a  year  from  the 
introduction  of  the  law,  a  public  meeting  w^as  held  at 
"New  Haven,  which  was  addressed  by  W.  H.  Burleigh, 
Governor  Dutton,  and  Dr.  Bacon.     Dr.  Bacon  said : — 

"  The  operation  of  the  prohibitory  law  of  Connecticut  for  one  year,  is  a 
matter  of  observation  to  the  people  of  the  State.  It  is  so  to  the  citizens  of 
New  Haven,  Its  effect  in  promoting  peace,  order,  quiet,  and  general  pros- 
perity, no  man  can  deny.  Here,  we  owe  it  in  pai-t  to  the  good  faith  with 
which  most  of  our  merchants,  who  had  previously  dealt  in  liquor,  proposed 
to  relinquish  the  traffic,  and  did  reUnquish  it  in  August,  1854.  They  gave 
it  up.  There  was  no  such  banded  defiance  to  our  law,  as  there  is  to  the 
present  law  in  the  city  of  New  York.  Never,  for  twenty  years,  has  our 
city  been  so  quiet  and  peaceful,  as  under  its  action.  If  it  is  not  equally  so 
for  a  year  to  come,  I  warn  those  at  the  head  of  our  government,  that  the 
next  election  will  give  a  sorry  account  of  them.  The  people  must  rule. 
Let  them  rule.  For  law  is  the  expression  of  the  moral  sense  of  the  people. 
The  enactment  which  expresses  this  sense  is  law  ;  that  which  does  not,  is 
not  law,  but  oppression." 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

Reception  of  the  decision  of  the  Court  of  Appeals — Death  of  B.  F. 
Harwood — Twenty-first  Anniversary  of  A.  T.  U. — Governor  Briggs 
elected  President — Meeting  one  of  darkness — State  Society — Letters 
to  Daniel  Lord,  Jr. — Fall  Elections — Prohibitory  Law  giving  way  to 
Anti-Slavery — State  Society  at  Albany — N.  Y.  City  Alliance — ^Peter 
Sinclair — Gough  Festival.       • 

The  decision  of  the  Court  of  Appeals  was  received  with 
great  exultation  by  distillers  and  venders,  and  with  ap- 
probation by  many  highly  respectable  gentlemen,  strong 
political  partisans,  (for  prohibition  was  viewed  as  a  child 
of  the  republican  party,)  and  many  men  of  wealth  who 
"  drank  wine  in  bowls  and  cared  not  for  the  affliction  of 
Joseph,"  but  it  filled  with  anxiety  and  concern  nearly  all 
the  patriotic,  philanthropic,  self-denying  and  religious  men 
of  the  State,  and  drew  tears  from  many  a  victim  of  the 
cup,  who  'daily  prayed  lead  me  i^ot   into  temptation.* 

*  A  most  tragic  event  followed  the  decision  of  the  Court,  in  the  death 
of  Benjamin  F.  Harwood,  the  long-beloved  and  honored  clerk  of  the  Court. 
The  prohibitory  law  was  his  only  hope  of  escape  from  that  terrible  death 
which  followed  the  cup.  On  the  morning  of  the  decision,  he  entreated  one 
of  the  judges  to  spare  the  law.  Said  he,  "  Sir,  you  know  I  am  addicted  to 
drinking ;  but  you  do  not  know — no  living  person  can  know — how  I  have 
struggled  to  break  off  this  habit.  Sometimes  I  have  succeeded ;  and  then, 
these  accursed  liquor-bars,  like  so  many  man-traps,  have  effected  my  fall. 
For  this  reason,  I  have  labored  for  the  prohibitory  law.  Your  decision  is, 
with  me,  a  matter  of  life  and  death."  When  the  decision  was  handed  him 
to  record,  he  felt  it  to  be  like  signing  his  own  death  warrant.  Hope  failed 
him ;  despair  seized  him  ;  amid  the  horrors  of  delirium  tremens,  when  four 
men  could  not  hold  him,  he  sunk  away  ;  and  in  less  than  four  days  was  no 
more.  All  Sunday  and  Monday,  it  was  the  topic  of  conversation  in  Albany, 
Death  by  the  Traffic,  in  the  Court  of  Appeals. — Prohibitionist, 


292  TEMrERANCE    KECOLLECTIONS. 

Never,  it  was  almost  unanimously  conceded,  was  a  law 
passed  by  a  legislature  of  whose  constitutionality  there 
had  been  so  little  question.  In  the  decision,  no  great 
point  of  law  was  established,  only  some  trivial  positions 
of  little  value  were  objected  to,  which  the  friends  of  the 
law  could  and  w^ould  abandon.  Judge  T.  A.  Johnston, 
Judge  Mitchell  and  Judge  Wright,  men  of  equal  strength 
with  any  on  the  bench,  gave  elaborate  opinions  on  the 
constitutionality  of  the  law,  and  the  unrighteousness  of 
the  decision  ;  so  that,  though  the  law  w^as  killed,  fet  its 
principles  remained  uninjured  ;  its  fi'iends  by  no  means 
felt  disheartened,  but  were  resolved  to  stand  before  the 
world  in  defence  of  what  they  had  established,  and  to 
support  the  public  sentiment  until,  at  some  future  day,  it 
should  command  the  ballot-box  and  the  government. 
Said  Judge  Johnston : — 

*'  The  whole  controversy,  so  far  as  it  involves  any  question  of  principle, 
is  narrowed  down  to  a  struggle  for  the  right  of  the  individual  to  traffic  in 
whatever  the  law  adjudges  to  be  property  at  his  discretion,  irrespective  of 
consequences,  over  the  right  of  government  to  control  and  restrict  it  within 
limits  compatible  with  the  public  welfare  and  security.  Everything  beyond 
this  is  merged  in  considerations  of  expediency.  As  there  is  nothing  in 
the  Constitution  either  of  the  State  or  United  States,  which  takes  away  or 
limits  the  right  of  the  Legislature  to  make  such  regulations  in  regard  to  the 
traffic  in  property  among  the  citizens  of  the  State,  and  to  impose  such  re- 
striction and  prohibitions  upon  it,  as  it  shall  deem  necessary  for  the  public 
good,  so  far  as  it  restrains  and  prohibits  the  sale  of  intoxicating  drinks  it 
must  be  pronounced  a  valid,  constitutional  act,  and  entitled  to  obedience 
from  every  citizen  of  the  State." 

The  prohibitory  law  of  the  State  of  New  York  was  in- 
deed dead  and  buried.  JSTo  thought  would  exist  on  its 
being  revived,  but  the  same  great  principles  might  be  put 
into  another  law,  and  therefore,  with  such  support,  its 
friends  fell  into  no  depression,  but  girded  themselves  to 
some  future  and   successful   conflict.     But  the  State  was 


TWENTY-FIKST   ANNIVERSARY   A.    T.    U.  293 

not  wholly  without  protection.  The  existing  law  was 
against  the  whole  retail  traffic  in  intoxicating  liquors.  No 
liquor  licenses  could  be  granted,  and  any  man  selling  un- 
der five  gallons,  could  be  prosecuted  for  misdemeanor ; 
the  penalty  being  a  fine  of  not  more  than  $250  and  im- 
prisonment not  to  exceed  one  year. 

The  twenty-first  anniversary  of  the  A.  T.  U.  was 
held  at  the  Academy  of  Music,  on  the  fourteenth  of 
May,  1856.  In  October,  1855,  Chancellor  Walworth,  long 
its  distinguished  President,  had  resigned  the  office,  and 
Chief  Justice  John  Savage,  of  Utica,  one  of  the  ablest 
Jurists  as  well  as  most  decided  temperance  men  and  pro- 
hibitionists, was  chosen  in  his  place.  But  being  advanced 
in  years  and  going  but  little  from  home,  he  had  consented 
to  serve  only  to  Anniversary  week,  when  the  Hon.  George 
N".  Briggs,  late  Governor  of  Massachusetts,  and  a  most 
devoted  friend  of  the  cause,  was  elected  in  his  place.  A 
letter  of  acceptance  was  received  from  him  on  the  morn- 
ing of  the  Anniversary,  in  which  he  manifested  his  readi- 
ness of  acceptance,  but  his  regret  at  not  being  able  to 
attend  on  that  occasion. 

The  meeting  was  in  some  respects  one  of  darkness  and 
gloom.  After  indefatigable  labor  to  gain  the  law,  it 
had  been  wrested  from  us,  not  by  the  whole  people,  not 
by  a  State  or  National  Convention,  but  by  five  individuals 
clothed  with  power.  Maine  also,  after  sustaining  and  en- 
joying the  prohibitory  law  for  five  years,  becoming  a 
perfect  asylum  for  reformed  men,  (where  in  their  walks 
and  labors  they  would  meet  with  no  temptations,)  and 
the  admiration  of  all  nations,  had  experienced  a 
political  reverse,  and  Mr.  Dow  had  been  permitted  to  re- 
tire from  an  office  which  he  had  filled  with  honor  to  him- 
self and  great  usefulness  to  his  country.  But  other 
States  were  standing  in  their  integrity,  and  their  people 
were  enjoying  a  deliverance  from  casualties  and  sufferings 


294  TEMPERANCE   RECOLLECTIONS. 

which  no  other  enemy  but  Intemperance  was  capable  of 
mflicting. 

Dr.  Tyng  presided  on  tlie  occasion,  and  opened  one 
of  the  Largest  meetings  we  had  ever  held,  in  an  admira- 
ble address.  "  We  are  here  assembled,"  he  said,  "  in  this  no- 
ble edifice,  to  congratulate  ourselves  upon  the  attainments 
of  the  past  and  to  express  our  hopes  for  the  future,  and 
we  meet  with  the  solemn  determination  never  to  give  up 
the  ship ;  never  will  we  give  up  this  work  till  the  whole 
American  Union  shall  become  the  American  Temperance 
Union." 

After  singing  to  the  tune  of  Old  Hundred,  led  by 
George  Andrews,  Esq., 

"  We  praise  Thee,  God,  our  fathers'  God, 

For  ceaseless  mercies  from  Thy  hand  : 
Still  spread  the  temperance  cause  abroad 

Till  it  extends  to  every  land," 

The'  immense  audience  were  addressed  by  Benjamin  Joy, 
Esq.,  and  John  B.  Gough,  once  more  on  his  adopted  soil. 
Mr.  Gough  said  his  first  appearance  was  in  New  York, 
at  the  anniversary  of  the  American  Temperance  Union  in 
1844.  He  remembered  that  he  was  clad  on  that  occasion 
in  a  brown  coat  and  gray  trowsers,  and  that  he  was  very 
shaky  and  very  thin,  and  that  he  came  forward  to  say  his 
say  and  then  sit  down.  He  was  rejoiced  to  be  present  at 
another  Anniversary,  and  to  hear  a  report  read  that  con- 
tained enough  to  cheer  the  heart.  He  was  never  discour- 
aged by  apparent  temporary  or  real  defeat.  It  was  to  be 
expected  in  such  a  cause  as  this.  He  felt  like  the  little 
Scotch  drummer,  who,  when  a  captive  in  the  hands  of  his 
enemies,  beat  at  their  bidding  the  reveille,  the  advance,  the 
charge,  but  said  he  had  never  learned  to  beat  a  retreat. 

The  semi-annual  meeting  of  the  N.  Y.  State  Society  was 
held  at  Albany,  on  June  18th,  Mr.  Delavan  presiding,  and 


LETTERS   TO    DAKTEL   LOTJD,    JE.  295 

adopted  a  series  of  resolutions  expressing  fully  the  views 
of  the  Committee  relative  to  the  repeal  of  the  prohibitory- 
law.  They  encouraged  no  relaxation,  but  a  renewed  and 
vigorous  effort  to  create  throughout  the  State  a  right  public 
sentiment,  and  to  secure  a  Governor  and  Legislature  which 
would  enact  another  temperance  law,  in  the  belief  that  no 
Court  of  Appeals  would  ever  again  pronounce  it  unconsti- 
tutional. Much  sensation  was  felt  on  the  power  of  the 
Court  of  Appeals ;  five  men  could  there  override  the  Gov- 
ernor and  Legislature  of  the  State,  and  back  all  the  wheels 
of  government  ;  while  those  five  were  but  men,  and  as 
subject  to  party  influences  and  not  unfrequently  as  servile 
and  weak  judgment,  as  other  men.  But  it  was  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  State. 

At  this  time,  I  took  the  liberty  to  address,  through  the 
Journal,  a  series  of  letters  to  Daniel  Lord,  jr.,  Esq.,  the 
head  of  the  bar  in  Xew  York,  and  a  professor  of  religion, 
but  the  leading  gentleman  in  hostility  to  the  prohibitory 
law,  inquiring  of  him,  if  the  victory  was  not  too  dearly 
won  ?  I  asked  him  to  look  back  at  the  condition  of  things 
in  the  Empire  State,  with  her  teeming  millions,  when,  by 
request  of  thousands  on  thousands  of  her  best  citizens,  a 
Legislature,  not  surpassed  by  any  in  wisdom  and  intel- 
ligence, had  extended  protection  over  the  State,  by  sus- 
pending a  traffic  which  was,  by  friends  and  foes,  acknowl- 
edged to  be  the  source  of  the  greater  part  of  the  j^auper- 
ism,  and  crime,  and  insanity,  and  personal  and  domestic 
sorrow  in  the  State ;  an  act  which  was  fully  approved  by 
the  Executive,  and  hailed  with  joy  throughout  the  State 
by  multitudes  of  the  wisest  and  best,  and  bringing  deliv- 
erance to  almost  numberless  suffering  families ;  enabling 
wives  to  look  uj^on  husbands  reformed,  and  no  longer  to 
be  led  into  temptation,  and  fathers  to  look  upon  this  as  the 
land  where  they  should  now  delight  to  rear  their  children, 
and  the  Church  to  send  up  her  thanksgivings  to  God,  that 


296  TEMPERANCE    RECOLLECTIONS. 

the  greatest  obstacle  to  lier  growth  and  prosperity  was  re- 
moved; and  now  see  that,  through  his  counsel  and  influence, 
all  this  defence  wfis  swept  away,  and  the  flood-gates  of 
drunkenness  and  vice  were  to  be  set  open,  and  the  hopes 
of  the  good  and  the  suifering  were  all  to  be  blasted,  and 
our  children,  and  children's  children,  might  be  lefl  to  go 
in  crowds  to  the  drunkard's  grave,  and  the  drunkard's 
eternity.  I  could  but  ask  him,  if  his  victory  was  not  too 
dearly  purchased.  He  might  indeed  say  that,  in  matters 
of  constitutional  law,  the  cries  of  humanity  were  not  to  be 
regarded.  Perish,  man  !  perish,  domestic  peace  I  perish, 
public  virtue  ! — property  is  sacred,  and  must  be  preserved. 
Let  it  be  that,  "like  a  kennel  of  ferocious  bloodhounds,  the 
whole  pack  of  alcoholic  stuffs  is  let  loose,  to  worry  and 
destroy  innocent  women  and  children ; "  let  it  be  that 
"  drunken  orgies  again  break  the  solemn  stillness  of  the 
midnight  hour;  that  again,  does  the  sigh  of  the  heart- 
broken drunkard's  w4fe  or  mother,  the  low  wail  of  agony 
from  the  drunkard's  widow,  the  bitter,  burning  tears  of 
the  drunkard's  orphan  children,"  give  evidence  that  the 
reign  of  sorrow  has  recommenced — property  is  sacred,  and 
the  rights  of  the  liquor-dealer  in  what  he  has  on  hand  must 
be  respected  and  maintained ;  yet  could  he,  and  would  he 
and  others,  j^rofessing  humanity  and  patriotism,  rejoice  and 
be  thankful  that  they  were  permitted  to  be  the  instruments 
of  this  great  ruin  ?  I  asked  him  to  say  if  protection  from 
evil  was  not  the  constitutional  right  of  the  people,  as  much 
as  the  protection  of  property — and  property  that  was  a 
curse,  and  not  a  blessing  ?  I  asked  him  to  listen  to  the 
laments  and  appeals  of  the  sufiering  throughout  the  land  j 
if  he  could  glory  in  the  honor  and  plaudits  he  would  re- 
ceive, and  if  his  shoulders  were  sufficient  to  bear  all  the 
responsibility  ? 

As  the  seasons  rolled  onward,  and  the  fall  elections 
approached,  the  temperance  men  were  resolved  on  doing 


TEMPEKANCE    AND   POLITICS.  297 

their  duty  at  the  23olls.  But  here,  we  were  to  be  thwarted 
on  the  very  plea  of  humanity.  The  slavery  question  was 
now  the  great  question  before  the  nation.  Temperance 
men,  for  humanity's  sake,  must  yield  to  that.  Thousands 
of  men,  we  were  told,  there  were  in  the  State,  who  would 
vote  for  an  anti-slavery  Governor,  who  would  not  vote  for 
prohibition.  "  Now,  you  must  stand  aside;  give  us  your 
vote,  or  !N'ew  York  goes  for  slavery."  So  I  found  it,  in 
my  attendance  on  the  nominating  convention,  at  Syracuse. 
Our  excellent  Chief  Magistrate,  Gov.  Clark,  I  believed  to 
be  right.     In  a  letter  to  me  he  said : 

"  Let  us  not,  however,  lose  sight  of  the  great  and  glorious  cause  of 
Temperance.  Whiskey,  after  all,  is  of  greater  consequence  to  us  than  even 
the  slavery  question.  If  everybody  would  abstain,  entirely,  from  the  use 
of  intoxicating  liquors,  none  of  the  atrocious  scenes  we  have  witnessed 
and  heard  of  would  occur  again.  It  is  while  men  are  intoxicated,  in  some 
degree,  that  these  outrageous  scenes  in  "Washington,  and  in  Kansas,  and 
elsewhere,  occur.  The  question  of  temperance  is  more  important  to-day, 
than  ever  before  in  the  State ;  therefore,  I  trust  we  shall  not  allow  any 
other  question  to  overshadow  it." 

The  temperance  men  might  have  controlled  the  nomi- 
nations ;  but,  such  was  the  pressure  upon  them,  and  such 
the  solemn  assurance  that,  by  an  anti-slavery  government, 
though  not  prohibition,  a  better  law  would  be  given  to 
the  State  than  that  which  had  been  declared  unconstitu- 
tional by  the  Court  of  Appeals,  that  a  large  portion  gave 
way,  and  further  effort  ceased.  The  Empire  State  again 
wheeled  into  the  old  license  system  ;  under,  indeed,  better 
regulations  than  ever  before  made,  and  which,  if  thorough- 
ly enforced,  would  greatly  suppress  intemperance.  But 
the  State  legalized  and  protected  the  traffic,  greatly  to 
the  relief  and  comfort  of  liquor-dealers  and  consumers ; 
and  how  much  to  the  ruin  of  thousands  on  thousands, 
the  judgment  only  will  reveal. 

The  State  Society  held  a  special  meeting  at  Albany, 
13* 


298  TEMPERANCE    RECOLLECTIONS. 

January,  1857,  relative  to  the  state  of  the  cause.  It  was 
numerously  attended,  but  was  a  meeting  of  doubt  and  diffi- 
culty. It  was  reported  that  Intemperance  had  been  great- 
ly augmented  by  the  annulling  of  the  Pi-ohibitory  Law,  and 
that  the  excitement  attending  the  election  had  led  many 
back  into  Intemperance.  But  the  records  of  the  Police 
Courts  and  Jails  showed  a  great  good  from  the  law  during 
its  continuance.  The  Society  however  resolved  that  they 
could  not  assent  to  the  decision  of  the  Court  of  Appeals 
as  either  just  or  right ;  and  that  they  would  relax  no  efforts 
until  they  should  see  its  principles  re-established  as  the 
governing  law  of  the  State.  Exhausted  by  his  labors,  Mr. 
Delavan  threatened  to  resign  the  presidency  of  the  Society, 
much  to  the  regret  .of  the  members.  The  Society  resolved 
on  raising  the  sum  of  $25,000  to  pay  their  debts  and  prose- 
cute the  cause  to  its  legitimate  end,  if  he  would  remain. 

Some  were  disposed  to  reflect  severely  upon  the  Judges 
nullifying  the  law ;  others  opposed  that  course.  After  a 
compromise,  they  adjourned  in  harmony.  But  before  that, 
they  adopted  a  remonstrance  to  the  Legislature  against  a 
return  to  the  license  system.  But  as  it  was  done  at  the 
next  meeting  in  June,  it  was  the  subject  of  debate  whether 
the  friends  of  prohibition  should  aid  in  enforcing  it  on  all 
who  sold  without  license  and  give  the  licensed  men  the  mo- 
nopoly ;  or  leave  the  law  and  the  State  to  take  care  of  itself, 
under  a  law  legalizing  and  licensing  the  traffic.  I  used 
what  powers  I  had  to  induce  to  the  latter  course.  We  had 
tried  a  license  system  for  two  hundred  years,  and  under 
it,  had  grown  up  all  our  drunkenness.  The  Maine -Law 
had  in  six  months  suppressed  Intemperance  more  than  any 
license  law,  had  or  could  do  in  a  century.  "  Acquiesce  in  a 
license  law,  and  it  will  stand  in  the  statute  book  another 
century.  Stand  off  from  it  and  show  your  abhorrence  of 
it,  and  it  may  be  repealed  in  a  year."  Hon.  Horace  Greeley 
regarded  the  new  Excise  Law  as  educational.    He  regarded 


PKOHIBITIONIST   AND    JOURNAL    UNITED.  299 

it  as  a  bad  law,  but  containing  much  that  was  good,  which 
we  should  at  once  accept  and  adopt,  leaving  the  State 
responsible  for  all  its  evil.  Dr.  H.  Corliss  considered  the 
course  recommended  by  Mr.  Greeley  as  dangerous  and  in 
opposition  to  all  the  sentiments  of  the  Society.  The  Socie- 
ty resolved  on  a  good  Prohibitory  law  as  the  only  sure 
remedy  to  close  up  the  liquor  traffic,  and  renewed  their 
pledge  to  vote  for  such  candidates  only,  at  the  next  elec- 
tion, as  would  sustain  that  principle.  Mr.  Delavan  resign- 
ed the  presidency,  pledging  the  sum  of  $4,000  to  liquidate 
the  debts  for  Albany  County,  to  pay  it  if  they  would 
not ;  and  Gen.  Joseph  S.  Smith,  of  Ulster,  was  chosen  in 
his  place.  With  Mr.  Delavan's  resignation  the  Execu- 
tive Committee  relinquished  the  further  publication  of 
the  Peohibitionist  as  a  distinct  paper,  merging  it  in  the 
Journal  of  the  American  Temperance  Union  ;  a  pa- 
per which  they  said  met  their  entire  approbation  and  which 
so  nearly  expressed  the  views  of  the  Society,  that  such 
union  seemed  most  highly  desirable.  This,  a  second  time, 
threw  a  heavy  responsibility  upon  me.  The  Prohibitionist 
had  been  ably  conducted,  first  by  "W.  H.  Burleigh,  Esq., 
and  then  by  Mr.  M'Coy,  with  the  daily  superintendence  of 
Mr.  Delavan ;  but  I  was  ready  to  do  what  I  could  to  sus- 
tain the  burden,  trusting  to  a  kind  Providence  and  to 
friends  of  the  cause  to  uphold  me.  On  retiring  from 
office,  Mr.  Delavan  wrote  a  very  able  and  interesting  letter 
to  Gov.  King,  stating  what  the  cause  had  done. 

On  the  25th  of  May,  the  X.  Y.  City  Alliance  held  a  public 
meeting  in  the  Assembly  rooms,  on  the  duties  of  the  hour. 
N'umerous  speeches  were  made  in  favor  of  energetically 
enforcing  those  parts  of  the  New  Excise  Law  which  were 
of  a  prohibitory  character,  though  none  were  in  favor  of  a 
license  systenji.  My  own  mind  was  clear  on  these  points, 
viz. :  that  we  never  could  make  any  substantial  gain  under 
a  license  law  ;  that  if  we  could  suppress  all  sales  but  the 


800  TEMPERANCE    EECOLLECTIONS. 

licensed,  about  the  same  amount  of  drinking  and  drunken* 
ness  would  continue,  for  the  licensed  dealers  would  furnish 
all  the  community  would  desire,  and  have  the  monopoly  ; 
that  the  consciences  of  the  venders  would  be  quieted,  as 
their  sales  were  legal ;  and  the  consciences  of  temperance 
men  and  the  community  at  large  would  be  satisfied  with  le- 
gal sales,  whatever  might  be  the  mischief  done ;  that  it 
would  be  no  easier  stopping  the  illegal  traffic  under  a  li 
cense  law  than  under  a  prohibitory  law,  and  that  soon  the 
friends  of  temperance  would  be  weary  of  the  efibrt ;  that  all 
compromises  with  venders  should  be  done  away  with ;  that 
the  traffic,  whether  licensed  or  not,  should  be  held  up  as  a 
moral  wrong  and  a  nuisance;  that  if  venders  would  sell, 
they  should  sell  without  permission  or  legal  warrant,  and 
the  whole  temperance  community  should  stand  as  a  united 
phalanx  against  the  traffic  in  all  its  forms,  and  expend 
their  time  and  money  in  enforcing  on  the  minds  and  hearts 
of  the  people  the  great  subject  of  prohibition  ;  trusting  in 
God  for  results,  on  these  principles  I  should  conduct  the 
Journal,  if  continued  in  my  position. 

After  a  long  neglect,  from  our  attention  to  prohibitory 
lavr,  of  the  children  and  youth  of  the  State  and  nation,  our 
attention  was  once  more  turned  to  them  by  the  arrival  in 
New  York,  January  28th,  1857,  of  Peter  Sinclair,  from 
Scotland,  a  gentleman  who  had  most  successfully  for  years 
devoted  himself  to  Bands  of  Hope,  in  England  and  Scot- 
land. Mr.  Sinclair  came  to  us  with  the  commendations 
of  many  distinguished  gentlemen,  friends  of  temperance, 
as  a  man  of  ardent  piety,  great  philanthropy,  and  strik- 
ingly adapting  himself  to  children  and  youth.  The  Lord 
Provost  of  Edinburgh,  Rev.  Dr.  Guthrie,  and  Dr.  Brown, 
of  Dalkeith,  all  spoke  of  him  in  the  highest  terms  as  wor- 
thy of  countenance  and  support  in  the  temperance  cause 
among  children  and  youth.  Of  course  he  had  our  confi- 
dence, and  I  at  once  introduced  him  to   Sabbath  Schools, 


PETEK   SINCLAIR   AND   JUVENILE    MOVEMENTS.         301 

and  called  the  attention  of  the  people  to  him  as  a  great  god- 
send. He  at  once  prepared  and  published  in  all  our  papers 
a  letter  to  the  children  of  America,  which  in  itself  inspired 
confidence ;  and,  in  a  short  time,  few  were  the  schools  and 
youth  in  the  vicinity,  who  had  not  heard  the  pleasant  voice 
and  been  amused  and  instructed  by  the  addresses  of  Mr. 
Sinclair.  Invitations  were  sent  him  from  all  parts  of  the 
country  to  visit  and  lecture,  with  a  promise  of  suitable 
remuneration  ;  and  a  general  revival  of  temperance  among 
the  children  and  youth  of  America  was  confidently  and 
gladly  looked  forward  to. 

In  March,  I  accompanied  Mr.  Sinclair  to  Portland,  Me., 
to  visit  the  battle-ground  where  had  occurred  the  far- 
famed  riot ;  and  to  see  Mr.  Dow,  who  was,  with  him,  more 
of  an  object  than  the  President  of  the  United  States.  We 
found  him  at  home  on  a  Saturday  evening,  surrounded  by 
his  body-guard,  a  few  chosen  friends,  who  came  together 
on  that  evening  to  take  counsel  and  report  progress.  On 
Sunday  morning,  all  the  Sabbath  Schools,  by  previous  no- 
tice, were  gathered  at  the  Union  Church  to  welcome  him, 
and  in  the  afternoon  a  'second  meeting  was  held  in  the  Pev. 
Dr.  D wight's  church,  which  was  entirely  filled  with  ju- 
veniles and  their  teachers  ;  and  in  the  evening  a  large  and 
general  meeting  of  citizens  was  held  to  hear  of  the  progress 
of  temperance  in  Scotland  and  England.  In  Boston  also, 
large  gatherings  of  juveniles  were  made  for  him.  At  the 
Tremont  Temple  in  an. afternoon,  some  3,000  children  Avith 
600  adults,  were  assembled  ;  and  a  beautiful  choir  of  some 
300  children  gave  him  a  sweet  welcome.  The  meeting 
was  too  large  for  any  profitable  address,  but  the  occasion 
was  one  of  hallowed  inspirations.  While  in  Boston,  we 
visited  at  the  State  House,  the  Legislative  Temperance 
Society,  and  both  made  addresses  which  drew  forth  much 
interest  for  the  youth  of  the  country,  hereafter  to  be  the 
legislators  of  the   land.     Mr.  Sinclair,  after  this   good  in- 


302  TEMPERANCE    KECOLLECTIOXS. 

troductioii,  returned  to  New  York,  and  entered  on  that  field 
of  labor  in  which  he  will  long  be  remembered. 

After  Mr.  Gougii's  return  from  England,  where  he  did 
much  good  service,  and  previous  to  his  going  again,  I  pro- 
posed to  his  friends  in  New  York  that  we  should  honor 
him  by  a  public  festival,  which  was  cheerfully  acceded  to. 
He  was  addressed  by  thirty  citizens,  headed  by  W.  E. 
Dodge,  to  which  he  returned  a  favorable  reply  ;  and  the 
evening  of  the  14th  of  February,  1856,  was  fixed  upon  for 
a  festival  at  Niblo's  Saloon.  Tables  were  set  for  500  ladies 
and  gentlemen.  Single  tickets  $3  ;  lady  and  gentleman, 
$5.  The  scheme  was  as  popular  as  was  Mr.  Gough  ;  and  in 
a  short  time  I  made  sale  of  all  the  tickets.  The  evening 
was  fine,  and  the  comj^any  as  beautiful  and  splendid  as  any 
which  could  have  been  gathered  from  the  votaries  of  King 
Alcohol.  Indeed,  it  gave  the  temperance  men  and  women 
of  New  York  a  fine  opportunity  to  gather  together,  look 
at  each  other  and  show  their  strength.  Mr.  Dodge  presided, 
assisted  by  twenty  Vice-Presidents.  Dodworth's  Band 
was  in  attendance.  Dr.  De  Witt  implored  the  Divine 
benediction,  and  I  announced  the  answers  which  had 
been  given  from  abroad,  but  read  only  that  from  Governor 
Clark.  After  supper  a  large  number  of  choice  sentiments 
were  offered,  and  splendid  speeches  made  by  Rev.  Dr. 
Tyng,  Dr.  Cox,  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  B.  W.  Tompkins, 
Rev.  T.  L.  Cuyler,  A.  C.  Barstow  and  Mr.  Gough.  It  was 
a  beautiful  and  most  .appropriate  tribute. 

The  State  of  Maine,  in  which  such  triumphs  had  been 
achieved,  was  not  destined  long  to  be  under  a  cloud.  A 
new  prohibitory  law  was  enacted  in  the  winter  of  1858, 
and  submitted  to  the  j)eople  on  the  first  Monday  of  June. 
It  received  their  approbation,  and  the  prohibitionists  w^ere 
not  only  put  in  the  same  position  they  were  in  before  the 
repeal  of  the  law  of  1853,  but  their  moral  position  was 
greatly  in  advance.     The  public  mind  had  been  well  train- 


ME.    DOW    SAILS    FOR    EjS-GLAND.  303 

ed  to  appreciate  the  law  and  to  understand  the  power  and 
intent  of  the  enemy.  The  temperance  men  were  no  longer 
attached  to  and  standing  in  fear  of  some  political  party ; 
their  position  was  now  an  independent  one.  They  had 
learned  their  strength,  and  were  able  to  keep  clear  of  all 
political  entanglements. 

The  friends  of  prohibitory  law  in  England  had  been 
exceedingly  anxious  to  see  and  hear  Mr.  Dow,  and  they 
gave  him  many  pressing  invitations  to  come  over  and  let 
his  voice  be  heard.  Accordingly,  he  left  home  in  April, 
1847,  for  that  country,  amid  the  prayers  and  good  wishes 
of  thousands  in  his  city  and  State.  His  friends  were  pre- 
pared to  give  him  a  magnificent  reception,  and  had  carved 
out  for  him  a  great  field  of  labor,  designing  that  he  should 
speak  and  give  an  account  of  the  Maine  Law  and  its 
operations,  in  all  the  principal  cities  of  the  United  Kijig- 
dom. 


CHAPTER  XXm. 

North  American  Temperance  Convention  at  Chicago — Made  President — 
Action  of  the  Convention — Noble  body  of  men — Cause  at  the  "West — 
Home  Missionary  Work — Maine  Law  in  Illinois,  Michigan,  Indiana, 
Iowa  and  Nebraska — Cause  in  California  and  Oregon — Order  of  Good 
Templars — Inebriate  Asylums — Bingham  ton — Boston — Letter  of  John 
Tappan — Temperance  Battle  not  man's,  but  God's — Pubhcations. 

On  the  10th  of  November,  1857,  there  was  gathered  at 
the  Metropolitan  Hall,  Chicago,  the  North  American  Tem- 
perance Convention.  It  was  designed  to  embrace  a  dele- 
gation from  all  the  States,  Canada,  and  the  British  Provin- 
ces. Only  about  eighty  delegates  were  assembled  from 
twelve  different  States,  but  among  them  were  several 
eminent  clergymen,  jurists,  and  medical  gentlemen.  With 
the  delegation  I  went  with  from  New  York,  I  was  hap- 
py to  meet  our  brethren  on  their  own  ground  beyond  the 
mountains.  In  compliment  to  my  office,  and  perhaps  to 
my  age  and  services,  I  was  made  President  of  the  Con- 
vention ;  and  found  myself  well  supported  by  eight  Vice- 
Presidents  from  as  many  Western  States,  and  a  good  busi- 
ness Committee,  of  which  Rev.  Dr.  Peck,  of  New  York, 
was  chairman.  Soon  as  we  commenced  hearing  reports  it 
was  manifest  that  we  were  among  Western  men.  Wherev- 
er the  cause  had  been  taken  hold  of  at  all,  it  was  taken 
hold  of  strongly  and  pressed  earnestly.  Total  abstinence 
from  all  intoxicating  liquor  as  a  beverage,  was  considered 
too  much  as  an  old,  worn-out  doctrine,  and  an  early  mo- 
tion was  made  to  strike  out  the  words  "  as  a  beverage,"  and 


NORTH  AMERICAN  CONVENTION  XT  CHICAGO.  305 

discard  all  use  of  alcoholic  drinks  for  any  purpose,  but  the 
Convention  were  not  j^repared  for  that,  yet  they  unani- 
mously— 

^'  Resolved,  That  the  principle  of  unconditional  legal  prohibition  should 
be  the  ultimate  aim  of  Temperance  organizations  and  Temperance  men." 

In  the  evening,  a  large  assembly  was  convened  in  the 
Hall,  to  listen  to  public  speaking.  I  was  put  forward  to  make 
a  general  statement  of  the  condition  of  the  cause  in  the 
world,  and  to  urge  the  Western  States  to  come  up  to  the 
aid  of  the  old  guard  who  had  labored  at  the  East  for  near 
half  a  century.  The  Kev.  Dr.  Peck,  of  New  York,  follow- 
ed in  a  speech  of  much  eloquence  and  power. 

On  the  second  day,  the  Business  Committee,  through 
Dr.  Peck,  reported  a  platform  of  principles  based  on  Total 
Abstinence  from  all  intoxicating  liquors  as  a  beverage  ; 
no  license  of  the  traffic,  but  prohibition  of  the  manu- 
facture and  sale  by  the  will  of  the  people,  expressed  in 
forms  of  law  ;  a  plan  of  action  by  correspondence  be- 
tween all  organizations  ;  suj^port  of  temperance  journals 
and  temperance  lectures  ;  forming  no  political  parties,  but 
everywhere  securing  temperance  men  for  civil  office  to  as 
great  an  extent  as  possible.     They  said  : 

"  We  recognize  all  the  essential  principles  and  measures  of  temperance 
as  belonging  to  the  purest  forms  of  the  Christian  religion,  as  having  exist- 
ence and  organic  life  in  the  different  churches,  and  depending  largely  upon 
their  official  and  individual  action  for  success.  We  rely  most  confidently 
upon  the  efficient  labors  of  the  members  and  upon  the  guidance  and  bless- 
ings of  the  great  Ruler  of  the  Universe,  which,  as  we  solemnly  believe,  can, 
under  no  circumstances,  harmonize  with  the  forms  of  flagrant  vice  we  are 
seeking  to  destroy." 

As  many  pious  and  good  men  at  the  West  were  en- 
gaged in  the  manufacture  of  intoxicating  drinks,  the 
subject  drew  out  a  very  spirited  and  scourging  debate.  In 
answer  to  the  plea  that  moral  suasion  was  better  than  law. 


806  TEMPEUANCE    RECOLLECTION'S. 

Rev.  Mr.  Brooks,  of  Chicago,  showed  that  there  was  more 
moral  power  iu  hxw  than  in  anything  else  ;  that  God  al- 
ways led  men  to  do  right  by  law  ;  that  law  was  the  great 
educator  of  tlie  people,  and  that  we  never  should  extirpate 
an  evil  from  society  but  by  saying — It  shall  be  done.  The 
Rev.  Mr.  Patton  eloquently  summoned  the  ministry  and 
the  churches  to  the  work  Much  of  the  day  was  spent  in 
discussing  the  subject  of  organization :  some  were  for  hav- 
ing the  "West  unite  with  the  American  Temperance  Union, 
and  some  for  having  an  independent  organization  at  the 
West.  As  the  debate  became  somewhat  personal,  I  left 
the  chair  for  a  season.  The  independent  scheme  was  final- 
ly agreed  upon  and  a  constitution  adopted.  Rev.  A.  Ken- 
yon  was  chosen  Agent  for  the  new  Board  of  action. 

During  the  session,  a  large  union  meeting  of  the 
Temperance  and  Sabbath  School  Juvenile  Societies  was 
held  in  the  Metropolitan  Hall,  which  was  addressed  by 
Dr.  Peck,  Rev.  Mr.  Curtis  and  Mr.  Ilewlet. 

I  was  gratified  with  the  appearance  and  action  of  the 
Convention  ;  though  there  was  a  great  want  of  plan  and 
harmony.  It  was  composed  of  men  of  mind.  A  large 
number  of  ministers  Avere  present,  who  seemed  bent  on 
advancing.  The  cause  of  Prohibition  was  popular  with 
all,  but  with  ignorant  and  corrupt  judges,  little  could  be 
effected  ;  they  had  overridden  popular  majorities.  The 
general  feeling  was  that  there  must  be  a  reform  in  the 
courts.  A  thorough  temperance  discussion  was  demanded 
all  over  the  West.  In  the  same  week  a  Western  Sabbath 
School  Convention  was  in  session  in  Chicago,  so  that  I  had 
an  opportunity  of  seeing  many  excellent  men  not  only 
from  Illinois,  but  from  Michigan,  Wisconsin  and  Iowa. 

Chicago,  like  all  our  cities,  was  sadly  abandoned  to 
the  liquor  traffic,  and  there  was  a  vast  amount  of  drinking 
among  the  Irish  and  German  population.  The  Eastern  men 
were  too  much  engaged  in  business,  to  stop  to  drink.     On 


HOME   MISSIONAKY   ACTION.  307 

the  Sabbath  evening  after  the  Convention,  I  preached, 
by  request,  to  a  large  congregation  in  Rev.  Mr. 
Curtis'  (Presb.)  church,  on  the  importance  of  an  immediate 
temperance  movement  among  the  young  in  that  city.  My 
feelings  had  been  much  moved  by  a  procession  of  five 
thousand  children  on  Friday,  and  the  sight  of  many  large 
Sabbath  Schools  on  that  day. 

A  most  faithful  body  of  men  for  the  great  West,  in  the 
cause  of  temperance,  had  been  the  Home  Missionaries. 
Wherever  they  had  been  planted,  they  had  come  at  once 
in  oollision  with  the  terrible  evil,  and  they  hesitated  not  to 
wage  a  good  warfare.  Their  infant  churches  were  nearly 
all  based  on  the  total  abstinence  jDrinciple,  which  they  fully 
sustained  by  example  and  in  the  pulpit. 

The  Maine  Law  agitation  was  not  a  stranger  at  the 
West ;  sometimes  it  had  been  successful  and  sometimes  not. 
In  Illinois  the  popular  vote  was  taken  on  the  prohibi- 
tory law,  enacted  by  the  Legislature  on  the  first  Monday 
of  June,  1855,  with  a  majority  of  1,460  against  it.  The 
total  vote  was  167,336.  In  the  northern  part  of  the  State, 
every  county  gave  a  large  majority  for  the  law,  but  in 
the  southern,  which  is  Egypt,  it  was  the  reverse. 

In  Michigan,  the  State  Central  Committee  said,  a  year 
after  the  law  was  enacted  : — 

"  In  the  city  of  Detroit,  the  supremacy  of  the  law  is  fully  asserted,  and 
we  are  gratified  in  being  able  to  state  that  our  good  city  deserves  the 
credit  of  a  quiet  and  entirely  peaceable  submission  to  legal  process.  About 
fifty  cases  have  been  commenced  in  this  city.  No  difficulty  has  been  ex- 
perienced in  convicting  in  any  of  the  Courts.  The  friefids  of  the  cause 
have  never  had  any  thoughts  of  obtaining  any  decision  of  the  Supreme 
Court." 

The  Indiana  Prohibitory  law  took  efi*ect  on  the  12th 
of  June,  1855.  At  Brockport,  Spencer  County,  the  citi- 
zens assembled  in  large  numbers  in  the  morning,  and  about 
noon,  marched  to  a  grove,  where  they  were  entertained  by 


308  TEMPERANCE    KECOLLECTIONS. 

addresses  and  music.  In  the  evening  a  splendid  party  was 
given  by  tbe  Sisters  of  the  Social  Degree  of  the  Temple 
of  Honor.  Everything  passed  off  quietly.  Two  or  three 
drunken  men  were  on  the  side-walks,  but  they  suddenly 
found  themselves  in  jail.  And  all  over  the  State,  the 
liquor-dealers  honorably  shut  up  their  shops.  Indianapo- 
lis was  as  quiet  as  a  Sabbath.  The  Mayor  had  for  a  time 
no  commitments  for  violation  of  the  law. 

In  Iowa  the  j^rohibitory  law  went  into  operation  July 
1,  1855.  A  very  general  disposition  prevailed  throughout 
the  State  in  favor  of  its  enforcement.  In  Iowa  City,  means 
were  at  once  raised  to  carry  the  violations  of  the  statute 
to  the  utmost  limits  of  legal  conviction. 

In  Nebraska,  the^  Legislature  of  1855  adopted  the 
prohibitory  law.  In  the  House  there  were  but  two  dis- 
sentients. 

Still  farther  West,  in  California  and  Oregon,  temper- 
ance even  then  was  gaining  foothold,  and  since  has  become 
a  living  power.  The  Dashaways  at  San  Francisco,  have 
been  a  powerful  set  of  reformers.  The  Pacific,  and  other 
temperance  papers,  have  been  powerful  advocates  of  the 
cause.  "With  many  respectable  individuals,  pastors  and 
schools  have  I  corresponded  in  furnishing  them  with  Jour- 
nals, Youth's  Advocates  and  Tracts. 

In  Missouri,  especially  in  St.  Louis,  where  the  Wash- 
ington movement  and  the  Father  Mathew  Societies  Avere 
once  so  effective,  there  was  much  activity  in  the  cause.  In 
Minnesota,  the  second  State  that  adopted  the  Maine  Law, 
the  principle  took  deep  root  and  brought  forth  much  fruit. 
All  through  the  West  the  Sons  of  Temperance  were  once 
forming  divisions  ;  but  now  they  were  supplanted  much  by 
the  Good  Templars  ;  an  order  which  originated  in  Penn- 
sylvania, in  1851,  and  which  now  is  supposed  to  number 
over  a  hundred  thousand.  This  Order  devotes  itself  much 
to  holding  public  meetings,  scattering  tracts   and  other 


GOOD   TEMPLARS — INEBRIATE    ASYLUMS.  309 

publications,  and  inducing  men  to  enlist  on  their  distinc- 
tive principles.  James  Black,  Esq.,  of  Lancaster,  Pa.,  is 
one  of  its  principal  leaders,  and  the  Good  Templar,  at  Al- 
ton, and  the  Good  Templar  Oifering,  at  Chicago,  are  its 
principal  organs.  Before  them  is  a  vast  work,  as  the  West 
rolls  up  its  millions. 

The  subject  of  Inebriate  Asylums,  already  referred  to, 
was  renewed  in  September,  1858,  by  the  laying  of  the  cor- 
ner-stone of  the  noble  building  at  Binghamton,  N.  Y. 
The  inhabitants  of  the  place  had  given  a  beautiful  site  for 
it,  on  an  eminence  about  two  miles  from  the  village.  The 
Legislature  had  granted  it  a  charter,  in  1854,  and  some 
endowment,  and  Dr.  Turner,  the  founder,  had  gathered 
handsome  donations.  About  a  thousand  persons  were 
present.  After  the  ceremony  was  performed,  eloquent 
addresses  were  made  by  the  Hon.  B.  F.  Butler,  President 
of  the  board ;  Rev.  Dr.  Bellows  of  "New  York ;  Hon.,.D. 
S.  Dickinson,  and  Professor  Edward  Everett.  A  poem  was 
recited  by  A.  B.  Street  of  Albany.  It  was  anticipated 
that  it  would  become  a  very  large  and  useful  institution, 
Hon.  Mr.  Dickinson  said,  on  the  occasion : 

The  great  army  of  intemperance,  those  who  are  wasting  and  dying  of 
intemperance,  if  they  should  march  together  in  solid  column,  and  roll,  and 
heave,  and  beat,  and  shout,  as  though  by  the  convulsive  throes  of  a  vol- 
cano, what  a  spectacle  it  would  present !  And  the  cause  of  philanthropy 
is  marching  forward  to  arrest  this  foul  destroyer.  I  would  gladly  speak, 
did  time  permit,  at  length,  upon  the  benefits  of  the  Inebriate  Asylum — 
this  great  fountaia,  that  is  destined  to  send  forth  its  streams  of  philan- 
thropy throughout  our  extended  dominions.  I  can  merely  say,  that  this  is 
to  be  an  institution  that  shall  bring  back  the  prodigal  son  ;  that  shall  take 
him  who  is  insane,  and  clothe  him  in  his  right  mind  again.  How  many 
fathers,  how  many  wives  and  mothers,  will  reverently  kneel  and  pray  to 
their  Father  in  heaven  for  its  success  ! 

In  Boston,  an  asylum  for  inebriates,  called  the  Wash- 
ingtonian  Home  (because  originating  among  the  Washing- 


310  TEMPERANCE    RECOLLECTIONS. 

tonians,  in  their  desire  to  reform  and  save  all  dninken 
men),  was  inaugurated  at  Xo.  1  Franklin  Place,  in  1854; 
and  Mr.  Albert  Day  was  elected  and  installed  secretary 
and  superintendent.  It  was  chartered  by  the  State,  and 
soon  received  aid  from  the  State  Treasury.  This  early  at- 
tracted attention,  and  received  patronage ;  and  in  four  years 
had  been  the  instrument  of  reclaiming,  and  making  bless- 
ings to  their  families,  many  most  w^retched  and  hopeless 
inebriates.  Whenever  I  visited  Boston,  I  was  sure  to 
visit  this  institution — removed  to  887  Washington  street 
— and  found  myself  richly  repaid  in  all  I  witnessed. 
Moral  means  were  more  relied  upon  than  medical,  and 
much  dependence  was  placed  on  the  blessing  of  heaven. 
In  this  institution,  one  of  the  most  wretched  inebriates, 
a  Mr.  Brown,  w^ho  had  been  separated  from  his  family  ten 
years,  was,  in  a  short  time  restored  to  self-control,  and  be- 
came one  of  the  most  eloquent  and  effective  temperance 
lecturers  in  the  United  States.  Many  had  it  been  my  hap- 
piness to  recommend  to  that  institution,  as  their  relatives 
and  friends  came  to  my  office,  with  tearful  eyes  and 
broken  hearts,  inquiring  what  they  could  do  with  a  ruin- 
ed father,  son,  or  brother. 

In  one  case,  I  felt  deeply  interested.  A  lady  and  her 
daughter,  from  New  Jersey,  called  at  my  office,  impressing 
me  that  they  were  persons  of  wealth,  intelligence,  and  re- 
finement, and  made  inquiries  for  an  inebriate  asylum,  or 
some  private  institution.  I  said,  "  Surely,  madam,  you 
cannot  have  need  of  one  ?  "  "  Indeed  I  have,  sir  ; "  she  re- 
plied, "  we  have  come  to  it ;  we  cannot  go  on  any  longer 
as  we  have  gone.  My  husband  is  one  of  the  best  of  men 
in  his  family,  when  he  is  sober  ;  but  when  he  has  been  at 
a  drinking  party,  for  two  and  three  weeks  we  are  often  in 
peril  of  our  lives.  He  has  once  been  in  the  insane  hos- 
pital, but  the  law  would  not  allow  them  to  keep  him ;  and 
now  he  is  willing  to  go  from  home,  if  a  good  place  can 


WASHINGTOXIAN    HOME,    BOSTON.  311 

be  found  for  liim."     I  told  her  of  the  Asylum  at  Boston, 
and  advised  her  to  take  or  send  him  there. 

She  inquired  of  the  expense ;  and  I  asked  her  of  his  abil- 
ity to  defray  it.  "  Oh,  abundant,"  she  said ;  "  that  was  his 
ruin.  He  was  constantly  enticed  to  card  and  drinking 
l^arties,  because  it  was  known  he  had  wealth,  and  was  of 
a  generous  nature,  and  would  foot  the  bills ;  and  we  could 
not  keep  him  from  them."  I  advised  her  to  take  him  im- 
mediately to  Boston.  The  next  day  he  went,  a  friend  ac- 
companying him,  and  remained  for  some  time.  There  he 
was  treated  with  all  the  kindness  and  attention  due  to  his 
standing.  The  best  moral  and  religious  means  were  used 
with.  him.  There,  among  some  thirty  or  forty,  he  witnessed 
what  he  had  never  seen  before  in  others,  though  his  family 
had  seen  it  in  him — what  were  the  horrible  effects  of 
liquor-drinking  ;  and  there  he  was  so  horror-stricken  with 
the  vice  of  drunkenness,  that  he  publicly  renounced  the  prac- 
tice, and  earnestly  entreated  that  he  might  be  enabled  fo 
keep  from  it  forever.  A  letter  from  him,  to  the  superinten- 
dent, after  his  return  to  his  happy  family,  evinced  the  won- 
drous change  in  him — showing  what  a  change  of  place 
and  companions,  and  good  moral  influence,  may  accom- 
plish. 

May  27,  1858. 
Mr.  Day  : — 

3fy  Dear  Sir, — You  must  not  conclude,  because  I  have  not  written  be- 
fore tliis,  that  I  had  forgotten  you,  and  the  many  kind  friends  I  became 
acquainted  with  in  Boston.  I  try  often  to  remember  the  institution  over 
which  you  preside  in  my  prayers  to  the  throne  of  grace  ;  that  the  Lord 
will  continue  to  bless  it,  and  to  raise  up  to  its  aid  many  good  and  substan- 
tial friends.  I  there  learned  a  lesson  which,  I  hope,  I  shall  never  forget, 
viz. :  that  a  number,  who  have  been  very  intemperate  for  many  years,  and 
who  have  broken  off,  and  then  drank  again,  perhaps  worse  than  ever,  and 
so  continued  a  number  of  years,  now  have  come  out  decided  in  the  tem- 
perance cause,  and  are  now  respectable  men  and  good  Christian  citizens, 
happy  in  their  fanilies,  and  among  their  friends,  and  are  again  pursuing  a 


312  TEMPERANCE    RECOLLECTIONS. 

good  and  profitable  business.  So  there  is  hope  for  me ;  and  I  mean  and 
intend,  looking  to  the  Lord  for  hia  help  and  blessing,  to  live,  while  life 
lasts,  a  temperate,  and  I  hope  a  Christian  life,  and  perhaps  yet  see  many 
and  pleasant  days. 

Few  had  more  interested  themselves  in  Asylums  for 
inebriates  than  my  friend  and  kinsman,  John  Tappan,  of 
Boston.  I  had  expressed  to  him  my  feelings  of  revolt  at 
the  appropriation,  by  the  New  York  Legislature,  of  a  por- 
tion of  the  money  paid  for  license  to  the  Binghampton  In- 
stitution— first  establishing  drinking  houses  by  law,  to 
create  revenue,  and  then  appropriating  public  money  to 
cure  the  drunkards  there  made.  It  seemed  to  be,  and,  in 
fact,  was  so  used,  as  an  argument  for  continuing  the  li- 
cense. But  he-  viewed  it  in  a  different  light,  and  said  to 
me,  in  a  letter,  November  19,  1859 : 

"  I  hope  you  will  immediately  advocate  the  appropriation  of  one  half, 
instead  of  one-tenth  of  the  revenue  derived  from  licenses,  to  the  building 
up  of  the  Asylum  at  Binghamton,  and  kindred  institutions  through  your 
State,  so  as  to  have,  at  least,  as  many  as  you  have  State  prisons  ;  for  surely 
there  is  crying  need  of  them.  So  long  as  your  State  will  license,  and  your 
judges  support  the  law,  it  is  the  duty  of  temperance  men  to  obtain,  by  all 
lawful  means,  the  revenue  derived  from  the  infamous  business,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  taking  care  of  the  unhappy  victims,  who  are  murdering  wives  and 
debasing  their  children,  as  well  as,  by  daily  drinking,  supporting  the 
saloons,  hotels  and  grog-shops,  not  one  of  which  would  continue  their  busi- 
ness, if  none  but  those  temperate  and  intemperate  drinkers,  who  disdain  to 
enter  such  places,  were .  to  go  at  large.  We  must  do  what  we  can,  by 
abolishing  licenses,  and  by  the  strong  arm  of  the  law,  as  well  as  moral 
suasion ;  but,  as  long  as  the  customs  of  society  remaui,  and  the  appetite  is 
not  under  religious  restraint,  drunkards  "will  be  made,  in  high  places  and 
in  low.  To  meet  this,  we  must  labor,  and  pray  for  prohibitory  legislation ; 
build  asylums ;  arouse  parents,  and,  if  possible,  persuade  them  to  banish 
all  alcoholic  drinks  from  their  families,  and  to  avoid  all  parties  where  they 
are  introduced.  My  belief  is,  that  every  man  who  goes  to  Binghamton, 
and  all  his  friends,  will  be  your  most  powerful  aids,  in  abolishing  licenses." 

On  Mr.  Dow's  return  from  England,  where  he  was 


NEAL  DOW  EETUENS  FROM  ENGLAND.       313 

most  cordially  received,  and  where  he  accomplished  much 
good,  in  speaking  in  numerous  large  meetings,  and  ex- 
plaining the  Maine  Law,  and  cheering  the  hearts  and 
strengthening  the  hands  of  prohibitionists,  he  was  honored 
with  many  testimonials  of  respect  and  affection.  At  a 
meeting,  at  the  Academy  of  Music,  in  New  York,  he  re- 
ceived a  noble  tribute  from  Dr.  Tyng,  as  a  man  who 
would  be  honored  and  remembered  with  gratitude  when 
thousands  of  lecturers,  and  men  who  draw  admiring 
crowds,  would  be  forgotten  forever.  Mr.  Dow  spoke  for 
an  hour,  giving  an  account  of  his  labors  in  England,  and 
the  hopeful  progress  of  the  cause  in  that  country ;  though 
seventy-five  millions  sterling  were  there  expended  for 
strong  drink,  and  sixty  thousand  persons  annually  perish- 
ed from  its  effects. 

It  was  highly  gratifying  to  Mr.  Dow  and  to  all  the 
friends  of  the  cause,  to  see  prohibition  restored  in  Maine, 
after  a  few  years'  subjection  to  a  license  law,  under  which 
the  State  was  flooded  with  intoxicating  liquors.  By  a 
vote  of  the  Legislature,  the  question  was  submitted  to  the 
people,  when  28,864  voted  for  the  restoration  of  prohibi- 
tion, and  5,912  for  the  continuance  of  license.  The  new 
law  went  into  operation  on  the  15th  July,  1858.  At  this 
time,  grog-shops  had  increased  in  Portland,  doing  their 
work  of  death,  to  five  hundred ;  but  they  were  then  gen- 
erally closed;  and  Maine  became  once  more  an  Asylum 
for  the  inebriate. 

In  1858  I  published  a  discourse  entitled  The  Temper- 
ance Battle  not  Man's,  but  God's,  from  2d  Chronicles  xx.  15» 
Tlie  battle  is  not  yours,  butGocPs  /  8vo,  24  pp.  The  object 
I  had  in  view  was  not  to  prove  that  God  was  in  conflict 
with  Intemperance :  I  should  as  soon  think  of  proving  that 
God  existed;  but  to  illustrate,  draw  out  and  improve  this 
great  truth,  and  derive  such  instruction  from  it  as  would 
encourage,  animate  and  lead  the  temperance  hosts  on  to 
14 


314  TEMPERANCE    RECOLLECTIONS. 

battle.  I  desired  to  elevate  the  temperance  cause  ;  to  place 
it  on  mucli  higher  ground  than  it  had  heen  as  man's  work, 
and  to  place  it  where  no  professed  friend  of  God  could  find 
an  excuse  for  opposition  or  indifference.  I  said,  "If  the  bat- 
tle is  God's  battle,  then  the  advocates  of  the  cause  have  no 
reason  to  be  ashamed  ;  they  may  leave  all  their  adversaries 
to  settle  their  controversies  with  him ;  they  need  fear  no 
opposition  nor  results ;  they  may  well  look  to  all  the  friends 
of  God  to  be  foremost  in  the  fight ;  they  may  look  too  to 
civil  government  to  sustain  the  cause  and  not  license  the 
traflic ;  they  may  rest  assured  the  battle  will  go  on 
though  they  die  ;  it  will  last  while  God  lives,  unless  Intem- 
perance be  first  exterminated  by  Jesus  Christ,  who  shall 
have  dominion  from  sea  to  sea.  As  the  silver  and  the  gold 
is  the  Lord's,  men  of  wealth  should  come  to  the  help ;  and 
as  there  is  a  certainty  of  success,  they  who  are  fighting 
this  battle  should  be  ashamed  of  all  despondency,  doubt 
or  fear." 

I  desired  a  wide  circulation  of  the  discourse,  and  was 
gratified  with  several  contributions,  especially  the  fol- 
lowing : 

"  South  Ballston,  April  23,  1858. 
Rev.  J.   Marsh  : 

Dear  Sir : — I  have  perused  with  great  pleasure  your  discourse  :  The 
Temperance  Battle  not  Man's,  but  God's,  I  am  glad  to  perceive  that 
your  confidence  in  the  final  triumph  of  our  principles,  which  we  have  now 
for  near  thirty  years  endeavored  to  fasten  upon  the  public  mind,  is  una- 
bated. I  wish  I  could  send  you  the  means  for  printing  and  circulating 
100,000  ;  it  would  do  great  good  at  the  present  time  ;  but  as  the  payment 
of  the  debt  of  the  State  Temperance  Society  has  fallen  upon  me,  I  am,  in 
duty  to  other  claims,  constramed  to  hold  up  my  contributions  for  temper- 
ance at  present.  I  am  truly  yours, 

E.  C.  DELAVAN." 

"South  BalSton,  April  28. 
Dear  Sir  : — I  cannot  feel  it  to  be  right  to  praise  a  work,  and  not  aid  in 


TEMPERANCE  BATTLE  NOT  MAn's,  BUT  GOd's.  315 

its  circulation  ;  you  may  therefore  draw  on  me  for  $100  to  send  1,000  copies, 
post-paid,  where  you  think  it  will  do  the  most  good  in  the  country. 

Yours,  E.  C.  D." 

From  Hon.  T.  S.  Williams,  Chief  Justice  of  Con- 
necticut : 

"Your  address  to  the  friends  of  Temperance  on  God's  Battle,  is  a  word 
in  season.  I  hope  it  will  be  the  means  of  awakening  a  new  interest  in  the 
cause.     I  enclose  a  draft  often  dollars  for  its  circulation  in  this  State." 

Said  General  Cary,  of  Ohio  : 

"  Liquor-sellers  should  read  it,  that  they  may  learn  that  they  are  fight- 
ing against  their  Maker  and  Judge.  Lukewarm  temperance  men  should 
read  it,  and  learn  that  the  Almighty  is  on  our  side.  The  professed  people 
of  God  should  read  it,  that  they  may  know  to  whom  they  owe  allegiance. 
We  are  fighting  God's  battle,  and  if  kings,  rulers  and  jtidges,  and  aU  the 
powers  of  darkness  are  allied  against  us,  in  due  time  victory  is  certain." 

A  large  number  of  valuable  publications  had  been 
issued  in  support  of  the  Maine  Law,  besides  those  which 
have  been  already  alluded  to.  A  strong  discourse  in  its 
vindication  was  published  by  Rev.  Wm.  A.  Brown,  pastor 
of  the  Free  Church,  in  Andover,  Massachusetts,  from  Ex. 
xxi.,  29.  "A  Good  Law,"  by  Rev.  Isaac  P.  Lang, 
worthy  of  Chelsea,  Mass ;  "  The  law  of  God  and  the  Law 
of  Man,"  an  admirable  discourse,  by  a  Massachusetts  cler- 
gyman ;  Dr.  Spear's  "  Sermon  on  the  Maine  Law,"  Brook- 
lyn, N.  Y. ;  "  An  Appeal  to  the  Citizens  of  the  Common- 
wealth of  Maryland,  on  the  Necessity  of  Prohibition;" 
"  An  Argument  on  Prohibition,"  before  the  Temperance 
Mass  Convention  at  Winchester,  Va. ;  W.  Andrews'  "  Re- 
view of  Rev.  M.  Lovejoy's  Lecture'  against  the  Laws  in 
Maine ; "  "  Alcohol  and  the  Commonwealth ;  Shall  we  Leg- 
islate," Rev.  W.  Barrows  ;  "  Sennon  "  by  Professor  Shep- 
herd, of  Bangor;  "My  Sister  Margaret,"  a  temperance 
story;    "Methodist   Book-Room,  K  Y.  ; "    "Tracts,"   in 


316  TEMPERANCE    EECOLLECTIONS. 

variety,  by  Rev.  Geor<^c  Trask,  Fitcbburg,  Massacbusetts. 
Mr.  Trask  bad  engaged  in  combating  "  Tobacco,"  a  kindred 
spirit  witb  intemperance,  almost  its  equal  in  fascination, 
power,  and  ruin.  By  many  it  bad  been  supposed  tbat  tbe 
use  of  tobacco,  especially  by  tbe  young,  was  a  great 
cause  of  intemperance  ;  and  it  was  contended  that,  if  par- 
ents would  lead  tbeir  cbildren  to  all  disuse  of  tobacco,  tbey 
seldom,  if  ever,  would  see  them  in  the  paths  of  intemper- 
ance. Some  lecturers  on  temperance  were  great  users  of 
tobacco,  which  was  a  great  offence  to  the  friends  of  the 
cause.  Bands  of  Hope  were  therefore  widely  pledging 
themselves  to  also  disuse  tobacco,  as  well  as  intoxicating 
drink.  The  numerous  productions  of  Dr.  Trask  were 
powerful  and  Avidely  spread.  Some  he  wrote  and  pub- 
lished specifically  on  temperance,  and  on  prohibitory  law, 
which  were  very  useful.  "  Life  of  J.  H.  W.  Hawkins,"  by 
his  son  ;  Rev.  Mr.  Crampton,  on  "  The  Wine  of  the  Bible ; " 
"Alcohol,  its  Place  and  Power,"  by  Dr.  Miller,  Edin- 
burgh. 


CHAPTER    XXIV. 

Ministerial  Fidelity — Boldness  of  Puritans — Difficulties  in  Reproof — Dr. 
Justin  Edwards  on  Sabbath  Temperance  Preaching — Hewitt,  Fisk, 
Clarke,  Edwards — Origin  of  Washingtonians — Elder  Knapp — Twenty- 
third  Anniversary  A.  T.  IT. — Speech  of  Governor  Briggs — Death  of 
Anson  G.  Phelps — Encouraging  Report — Mr.  Delavan  in  England — 
Letter  from — Enghsh  Clergy  Address — Massachusetts  AlUance— ^ 
N.  Y.  State  League — Western  Pennsylvania  Convention. 

When  Paul  stood  pleading  before  King  Agrij^pa,  Fes- 
tus,  astounded  at  his  fidelity  and  boldness,  exclaimed, 
"  Paul !  thou  art  beside  thyself !  much  learning  doth 
make  thee  mad."  And  when  Luther  said  he  would  go  to 
Worms,  if  there  were  as  many  devils  there  as  there  were 
tiles  on  the  roofs  of  the  houses,  no  doubt  he,  too,  was 
thought  to  be  a  madman.  And  when  John  Knox  stood 
before  Queen  Mary,  and  rebuked  her  for  her  sins,  he  had 
no  claim  to  the  character  of  a  courtier.  The  puritan  min- 
isters were  characterized  for  their  boldness.  They  feared 
not  man ;  and  when  there  was  sin  among  the  people,  they 
hesitated  not  to  rebuke  it ;  and  when  they  did  rebuke, 
none  could  say  to  them,  "  Thou  which  teachest  another, 
teachest  thou  not  thyself  ?  thou  that  sayest,  a  man  should 
not  steal,  dost  thou  steal  ?  thou  who  sayest,  a  man  should 
not  commit  adultery,  dost  thou  commit  adultery  ?  "  It 
was  their  holiness  and  purity  that  gave  them  boldness. 
Bat  as  New  England  increased  in  population,  and  luxury 
abounded,  and  ministers  mingled  freely  in  pleasures  and 


318  TEMPEEANCE    KECOLLECTIONS. 

usages,  not  thought  to  be  decidedly  wrong,  yet  wliose  ten- 
dencies were  bad,  and  unbecoming  the  ministerial  charac- 
ter, they  were,  in  these  matters,  shorn  of  their  strength. 

When  tlic  temperance  reformation  broke  out,  few  were 
the  ministers  who  did  not  partake  with  their  people  in 
that  w^hich  was  condemned  by  the  reformers  ;  and  how 
could  any,  from  their  pulpits,  reprove  their  parishioners 
■who  had  furnished  them  a  dangerous  article  which  they 
had  gracefully  received.  And  when  they  were  right,  even 
then,  how  difficult  fidelity  and  boldness  were  in  the  early 
stages  of  the  work,  few  now  have  any  conceptions  of. 
The  loss  of  the  friendship  and  support  of  some  of  the  best 
families ;  of  a  w^ealthy  distiller  or  brewer,  or  wholesale  deal- 
er ;  would,  perhaps,  be  the  result  of  a  single  sermon.  Fresh 
are  my  recollections  of  several  ministers  who  were  driven 
from  their  pulpits,  for  their  boldness  in  this  matter.  It 
was  no  subject,  said  many,  for  the  pulpit.  "  Talk  temper- 
ance as  much  as  you  please,  in  your  temperance  meetings, 
but  bring  it  not  into  the  pulpit,  on  the  Sabbath."  So  had 
Satan  barred  the  doors  of  the  sanctuary  against  the 
temperance  preacher  on  God's  holy  day,  that  Dr.  Justin 
Edwards,  who  feared  not  man,  felt  bound  to  come  out,  and 
boldly  remonstrate  against  a  sentiment  so  absurd  and  aw- 
ful. Said  he :  "  Shall  the  fires  which  make  this  poison 
burn  on  the  Sabbath  ?  Shall  Jehovah  be  insulted  by  the 
appearance  in  the  sanctuary  of  men  w^lio  use  it ;  and  yet 
the  Sabbath  not  be  occupied  by  light  and  love  to  abolish 
the  use?  Shall  it  cause  the  word  of  the  Lord,  even  from 
the  pulpit,  to  fall  as  upon  a  rock,  and  yet  the  pulpit  be 
dumb  ?  or  speak  only  on  week-days,  when  those  who 
traffic  in  it  have  so  much  to  do  in  furnishing  the  poison, 
that  they  have  no  time,  and  less  inclination,  to  hear  ?  If 
Satan  can  cause  this  to  be  believed,  and  those  who  manu- 
facture, sell,  and  use  the  weapons  of  his  warfare,  and  mul- 
tiply the  trophies  of  his  victory,  not  hear  of  their  sins  on 


EDWARDS  ON  SABBATH  TEMPEKANCE  PREACHING.      319 

the  Sabbath,  when  God  speaks  to  the  conscience ;  or  be  in- 
structed from  the  pulpit,  his  mercy's  seat,  by  the  tears  and 
blood  of  a  Saviour,  to  flee  from  coming  damnation, 
the  adversary  will  keep  his  stronghold;  church-mem- 
bers will  garrison  it,  and  provision  it,  and  fight  for 
him.  From  the  communion-table,  he  will  muster  re- 
cruits, and  find  officers  in  those  who  distribute  the  ele- 
ments, to  fight  his  battles,  and  people,  with  increasing 
numbers,  his  dark  domains  to  the  end  of  time.  If  we  may 
not,  in  this  warfare,  on  the  Lord's  day,  when  He  Himself 
goes  forth  to  the  battle,  and  commands  upon  the  field ;  if 
we  may  not  use  his  weapons,  forged  in  heaven,  and,  from 
the  high  places  of  his  erection,  pour  them  down  thick, 
heavy,  and  hot,  upon  the  enemy,  we  may  fight  till  we 
die,  and  he  will  esteem  our  iron  as  straw,  and  our  brass  as 
rotten  wood;  our  darts  he  will  count  as  stubble,  and 
laugh  at  the  glittering  of  our  spear." 

These  solemn  warnings  brought  out  many  ministers 
to  speak  boldly  against  the  traffic,  and  the  drinking  usages 
of  their  people,  as  they  ought  to  speak,  and  not  unfrequent- 
ly  so  disturbing  the  conscience,  and  agitating  the  souls 
of  their  people,  that  great  revivals  ensued. 

I  recall  one  minister  who  was  greatly  distressed  on 
the  point  of  duty ;  his  church-members  were  selling  rum ; 
and  his  church-members  were  using  strong  drink  in  their 
families ;  and  there  was  no  rain  nor  dew  ;  all  seemed  given 
over  to  the  evil  one.  He  knew  it  was  most  hazardous  to 
allude  to  the  evil  on  the  Sabbath ;  he  expected,  if  he  did, 
some  of  his  best  people  would  leave  the  house ;  but  he 
said,  "  Sink  or  swim,  live  or  die,  I  cannot  go  on  so ;  I 
must  do  my  duty,  and  leave  the  event  to  God."  He  did 
it ;  and  boldly  called  the  selling  of  ardent  spirit  as  a 
beverage,  a  crime,  and  the  using  of  intoxicating  drink  a 
sin  against  the  body  and  against  the  soul.  Men  felt  that 
they  were  in  a  house  on  fire,  and  there  was  no  escape  into 


320  TEMPER.VJsrCE   RECOLLECTIONS. 

the  open  air ;  women  felt  there  was  no  religion  in  it,  and 
they  would  not  hear  such  preaching.  The  next  morning, 
some  wholesale  dealers  and  consumers,  heavy  tax-payers, 
met  on  the  side-walk,  and  said  one  to  another,  "  We  will 
bear  this  no  longer ;  let  us  drive  him  off."  A  dry  wag, 
listening  to  their  complaints  and  threats,  said,  "That's 
right,  brothers ;  go  and  get  J.  B.,  and  W.  T.,  and  R.  S. 
(notorious  infidels  and  Sabbath-breakers,  and  profane 
men),  and  a  few  more  of  the  same  sort,  and  get  a  vote  to 
drive  him  out."  They  started  back,  for  they  were  pro- 
fessors of  religion  and  good  men  ;  they  saw  where  tbey 
were,  and  where  their  minister  stood,  and  how  he  had 
done  his  duty.  Some  gave  up  their  traffic ;  all  were  quiet ; 
and  never  more  had  that  minister  any  difficulty  in  doing 
his  duty. 

When  I  first  heard  Dr.  Nathaniel  Hewitt  on  this  sub- 
ject, I  was  amazed  at  his  boldness.  Every  stone  was  the 
weight  of  a  talent,  and  it  was  of  no  consequence  with 
him  who  was  hit.  The  first  sermon  he  preached  in  New 
York,  was  in  Dr.  Spring's  pulpit,  and  it  was  like  the  roll- 
ing of  a  ball  among  ten-pins.  Several  of  the  first  men  of 
the  city  went  home  and  emptied  their  bottles. 

A  man  of  great  boldness  in  the  Methodist  Church, 
whom  I  well  knew — almost  equal  in  fidelity  to  John  Wes- 
ley, was  Wilbur  Fisk.  "  I  believe,"  said  he,  "  the  time  is 
coming  when  not  only  the  drunkard,  but  the  drinker  will 
be  excluded  from  the  church  of  our  God  ;  when  the  gam- 
bler and  the  slave-dealer  and  the  rum-dealer  will  be  class- 
ed together.  And  I  care  not  how  soon  that  time  ar- 
rives." A  hard  speech  forty  years  ago.  And  another  was* 
Dr.  Lyman  Beecher.  "  Oh  !  were  the  sky  over  our  heads 
one  great  whispering-gallery,  bringing  down  about  us  all 
the  lamentations  and  woe  which  intemperance  creates,  and 
the  firm  earth  one  sonorous  medium  of  sound,  bringing  up 
around  us  from  beneath  the  wailings  of  the  damned  whom 


REV.    JUSTIN   EDWARDS,    D.  D.  321 

the  dealer  in  ardent  spirits  had  sent  there,  tremendous 
realities  assailing  our  senses  would  invigorate  our  coun- 
sels and  give  decision  of  conscience  to  our  purposes 
of  reformation."  Another  was  Rev.  Daniel  A.  Clark. 
Wherever  he  went  he  thrust  a' sharp  spear  through  the 
bull's  hide  of  the  rum-seller,  and  there  were  howlings  and 
curses  and  threatenings,  which  either  drove  him  off,  or  ar- 
rayed all  God's  people  against  the. ungodly  traffic  and  its 
supporters.  His  two  sermons  "  Am  I  my  brother's  keep- 
er," and  "  His  blood  be  upon  us,"  are  sermons  of  tre- 
mendous power.  Every  minister  should  read  them  and 
resolve  that,  God  helping  him,  he  would  preach  like  them. 
Others  I  might  mention,  as  Rev.  John  Pierpont,  of  Bos- 
ton, and  Rev.  Thomas  P.  Hunt,  of  N.  C. 

Before  I  go  farther,  I  must  speak  a  word  of  that  admi- 
rable man,  and  dear  personal  friend.  Dr.  Justin  Edwards. 
He  seemed  raised  up  by  a  kind  Providence  just  for  this  great 
work  of  moral  reform.  Possessed  of  a  clear,  discerning 
mind ;  a  strong,  commanding  utterance,  without  the  smooth- 
ness and  polish  of  an  Addison  ;  few  men  ever  so  command- 
ed the  attention  of  a  large  assembly,  either  in  the  pulpit  or 
in  public  conventions.  Men  saw  clearly,  as  uttered  from 
his  lips,  that  "  He  that  soweth  to  the  wind  shall  reap  the 
whirlwind ; "  that  life  and  death,  blessing  and  cursing, 
were  set  before  them ;  and  that  it  was  altogether  wisest 
and  best  for  them,  as  individuals,  as  members  of  families, 
and  as  communities,  to  choose  life.  His  language  was  the 
purest  Saxon;  short  sentences,  weighty,  powerful.  His 
first  nine  RejDorts  of  the  American  Temperance  Society, 
constituting  the  first  volume  of  Permanent  Temperance 
Documents,  can  now  be  read  mth  more  profit  by  temper- 
ance lecturers  than  any  other  production.  His  subsequent 
labors  in  the  Sabbath  cause  were  almost  equally  valuable 
with  his  labors  for  temperance  ;  but  they  consisted 
rather  in  collections  of  facts  than  of  appeals  to  the  heart 
14^: 


322  TEMPERANCE    RECOLLECTIONS. 

and  conscience.  He  died  at  the  Sweet  Springs,  in  Virginia, 
of  afFections  of  the  liver,  July  23, 1853,  at  the  age  of  sixty- 
six,  and  was  buried  at  his  home  in  Andover,  Massachu- 
setts, in  the  Seminary  cemetery,  where  a  monument  has 
been  erected  to  his  memory. 

To  the  close  of  life,  he  was  in  favor  of  legislative  de- 
fence. To  Mr.  Dclavan  he  wrote,  September,  1851 :  "If 
we  can  keep  at  work  all  hands,  we  shall,  in  due  time, 
secure  effectual  legislative  defence  ;  but,  in  order  to  this, 
there  must  be  a  steady,  regular,  and  long  course  of  wise, 
patient  continuance  in  well-doing,  by  the  old,  substantial, 
and  long-tried  friends  of  temperance  who,  in  all  their  w^ays, 
acknowledge  God,  and  act  in  the  spirit,  and  under  the  influ- 
ence of  the  Gospel,  and  for  the  purpose  of  honoring  God 
in  the  salvation  of  men." 

Another  of  the  early  reformers,  and  most  valuable 
laborers,  who  passed  away  April  20,  1861,  at  the  advanced 
age  of  eighty,  was  the  Rev.  Dr.  Humphrey,  of  Pittsfield, 
Massachusetts,  formerly  President  of  Amherst  College. 
Dr.  Humphrey  commenced  his  temperance  labors  as  early 
as  1812,  when,  w4th  Mr.  Swan,  of  Norwalk,  lie  wrote  an 
address  to  the  churches  of  Fairfield  County,  Connecticut. 
It  was  an  able  production,  and  made  a  great  impression 
through  the  State.  He  afterwards  drew  a  comparison  be- 
tween intemperance  and  slavery,  showing  that  slavery  to 
the  bottle  was  the  worst  slavery  to  which  man  could  be 
subjected.  Ever  was  he  ready,  to  the  last  day  of  his  life, 
by  his  pen,  his  example,  and  his  speech,  whether  at 
home  or  abroad,  to  sustain  our  great  cause,  and  rejoice  in 
its  progress.  In  a  letter  to  me,  a  little  before  his  death, 
he  said,  speaking  of  the  reformation  : 

"  Although  so  much  remains  to  be  done,  it  is  one  of  the  most  remark- 
able reformations  that  can  be  found  on  the  page  of  history.  If  we  could 
contrast  what  we  everywhere  witness  with  the  drinking  habits  of  half  a 
century  ago,  and  count  the  multitudes  who  have  been  saved  from  falUng 


MINISTEEIAL   FIDELITY.  323 

into  the  snare  of  the  devil,  we  should  be  constrained  to  exclaim,  '  What 
hath  God  wrought ! '  I  hope  that  years  are  still  before  you,  to  labor  in 
the  temperance  vineyard." 

Some  ministers  did  not  preach  on  temperance,  because 
they  used  tobacco.  They  felt  the  inconsistency  ;  and,  for 
that  vile  weed,  let  Satan  draw  their  young  men  down  to 
death.  Some,  because  they  occasionally,  only  occasionally, 
took  wine  at  parties  and  festivals.  And  they  were  doubt- 
less right ;  for  their  hearts  would  not  be  in  the  work  and 
God  would  not  bless  them.  Some,  because  they  had  no 
drunkards  in  their  congregations.  That  was  more  than 
they  knew.  But  it  would  not  be  surprising  if  it  was  so ;  for 
what  was  there  in  their  preaching  that  attracted  drunk- 
ards ?  What  would  drunkards  care  for  their  beautiful  fig- 
ures of  speech,  and  sj^lendid  rhetoric,  and  fine-spun  morality, 
and  anticij^ated  heaven  ?  Drunkards  would  go  and  hear 
preaching  that  concerned  them ;  and  so  would  all  classes 
of  wicked  men.  Gamblers  would  go  and  hear  about 
gambling ;  Sabbath  breakers  about  Sabbath  breaking,  and 
Thieves  about  thieving,  and  feel  that  the  preacher  meant 
them,  when  he  warned  them  to  flee  from  the  wrath  to 
come. 

In  the  eleventh  annual  report  of  the  Maryland  State 
Temperance  Society,  the  wonderful  Washingtonian  move- 
ment was  traced  to  the  fidelity  of  a  Christian  preacher, 
who  had  given  notice  that  he  would  preach  on  temperance. 
The  six  founders  of  this  movement  were  iij  a  tavern,  drink- 
ing, when  their  conversation  turned  on  this  sermon ;  where- 
upon it  was  determined  that  four  of  them  should  go  and 
hear  this  Elder  Knapp  and  make  a  report.  After  ser- 
mon, they  returned  and  discoursed  on  its  merits  for  some 
time ;  when  one  of  the  company  remarked  that  "  after  all 
temperance  is  a  good  thing."  "  Oh,"  said  the  host,  "  they 
are  all  a  parcel  of  hypocrites."  "  Oh  yes,"  replied  one, 
"  I'll  be  bound  for  you,  it  is  for   your  interest  to  cry  them 


324  TEMPERAXCE    RECOLLECTIONS. 

down  any  how."  "  I'll  tell  you  what,"  said  another, "  let's 
form  a  Temperance  Society,  and  make  Mitchell  presi- 
dent." "Agreed  !"  they  cried,  and  soon  they  organized 
and  signed  their  pledge. 

This  statement  was  afterward  denied  by  some  who 
preferred  that  the  movement  should  be  considered  an  im- 
mediate impulse  from  Heaven,  without  any  human  instru- 
mentality. But  whether  true  or  not,  the  same  preacher 
was  a  well-known  instrument  of  turning  many  of  this  mis- 
able  class  to  righteousness.  That  remarkable  man,  Abel 
Bishop,  in  New  Haven,  said  in  his  account  of  himself:  "  I 
heard  that  Elder  Knapp  was  preaching  on  temperance.  I 
took  three  drinks,  then  went  and  heard  him.  I  came  home 
and  went  slyly  to  bed,  that  no  one  should  know  how  I 
felt.  The  next  night,  I  went  again  ;  when  I  came  home, 
my  wife  and  children  looked  strangely  at  me,  I  was 
so  quiet ;  I  walked  the  room  but  said  nothing  ;  I  went  to 
the  shelf  and  got  the  Bible,  arid  tried  to  read,  but  could 
not ;  my  wife  burst  into  tears.  The  next  day,  I  heard  of 
the  meeting  of  the  reformed  drunkards  ;  I  went  to  it  and 
signed  the  pledge."  This  man,  raised  from  the  very  lowest 
degradation,  w^as  restored  to  his  church  and  became  one  of 
the  most  powerful  temperance  lecturers,  and  died  in  the 
triumph  of  Christian  faith.  Truly  the  Word,  when  proper- 
ly preached,  is  quick  and  powerful,  sharper  than  any  two- 
edged  sword.  Thankful  w^e  may  be,  that  we  now  have  so 
many  who  handle  it  skilfully.  But  oh !  what  would  be  the 
state  of  our  country  if  all  were  faithful. 

The  ravages  of  Intemperance  and  its  hindrance  to  the 
prosperity  of  the  Churches  was  exciting  much  alarm  in 
Connecticut,  and  a  large  meeting  of  ministers  in  Litchfield 
County  was  called  to  consider  the  subject  of  Home  Evange- 
lization. I  received  an  invitation  to  deliver  an  address  on 
the  subject.  I  replied,  that  I  was  not  as  well  acquainted 
with  that  as  I  was  with  Home  Demoralization,  and  agreed 


SUFFOLK   CO.    TEMPERANCE    SOCIETY.  325 

to  prej^are  an  address  on  that,  which  I  did — showing  that, 
more  than  anything  else,  it  was  Intemperance,  the  dram- 
shop and  the  constant  use  by  many  of  intoxicating  drinks. 
It  was  listened  to  with  attention,  and  published  and  sent 
abroad. 

Many  ministers  and  laymen  manifested  in  their  districts 
an  earnest  and  persevering  attention  to  the  cause.  None 
more  so  than  those  of  SuiFolk  County,  N.  Y.  Through 
many  years  they  had  nobly  sustained  monthly  meetings 
of  two  days,  passing  around  the  county,  until  they  had  at- 
tained to  the  142d.  John  Sherry,  Esq.,  had  been  from  the 
commencement  its  President,  and  was  ever  at  his  post. 
All  the  ministers  of  the  county  made  it  a  point  to  attend. 
With  them,  it  was  frequently  my  happiness  to  mingle. 

The  Twenty-third  Anniversary  of  the  American  Tem- 
perance Union  was  held  at  the  Cooper  Institute,  May  11, 
1859 ;  Governor  Briggs,  the  President,  in  the  Chair.  The 
Governor,  in  an  address,  showed  his  attachment  to  the 
cause,  and  the  happiness  he  had  in  being  permitted  to  at- 
tend the  Anniversary  of  the  Union.     He  said : 

"  The  object  of  this,  and  all  other  temperance  organizations,  was  the 
social,  physical,  and  intellectual  improvement  of  men.  If  he  was  asked 
why  it  was  wrong  to  use  intoxicating  drinks  ?  He  should  reply,  '  because 
the  natural  tendency  of  their  use  is  to  injure  the  physical,  mental,  and 
moral  powers,  and  to  pull  man  down  from  his  high  position  to  something 
below  a  man.  Because  a  vast  proportion  of  those  who  use  such  drinks  be- 
come drunkards,  it  is  wrong.'  If  the  drunkards  in  this  city  to-night  could 
be  arranged  in  a  single  procession,  no  argument  would  be  needed  to  show 
the  wrong  in  the  use  of  intoxicating  drinks.  For  more  than  thirty  years 
I  have  abstained ;  but,  oh !  how  many  of  my  companions  who  started  in  Hfe 
with  me,  have  I  seen  go  to  destruction !  I  have  never  seen  the  time 
nor  the  occasion  to  regret  that,  in  1836,  I  resolved  never  to  drink  any 
intoxicating  Uquor.  But  there  have  been  many  times  when  I  thanked 
God  for  the  advantages  of  that  resolution  to  me.  Who  can  reahzc  what  it 
is  for  a  man  to  become  a  drunkard  ?  From  being  the  hope  of  parents,  the 
pride  of  friends,  it  is  to  be  brought  down,  in  disgrace,  to  a  horrible  death ; 
and  to  be  carried  to  the  prrave  unattended." 


326  TE3n?EEAXCE    EECOLLECTIONS. 

The  Uiuoii  were  called  to  lament  the  death  of  Anson 
G.  Phelps,  Esq.,  at  the  advanced  age  of  eighty-one.  Chair- 
man of  the  Executive  Committee,  who  had  long,  by  his 
excellent  character,  his  inflexible  i>rinciples,  and  munifi- 
cence, been  a  great  support.  The  annual  Report  spoke  of 
discouragements,  but  also  of  much  that  was  encouraging. 
The  formation  of  numerous  Bands  of  Hope,  under  Mr. 
Sinclair,  operating  both  in  the  United  States  and  Canada, 
awoke  dee\y  feelings  of  gratitude  and  praise.  The  exten- 
sive outpourings  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  in  the  last  two  years, 
had  led  large  numbers  of  young  men  to  adopt  the  prin- 
ciples of  temperance  in  their  daily  practice.  Nothing  had 
ever  proved  such  a  hindrance  to  revivals  and  the  advance 
of  the  Redeemer's  kingdom,  as  the  use  of  intoxicating 
drinks.  The  ministers,  and  churches,  and  friends  of  tem- 
perance,'were  now,  therefore,  joyfully  coalescing.  In  these 
seasons  of  religious  awakening.  Christian  laymen  were  in- 
spired with  unusual  boldness  and  zeal,  in  breaking  up  the 
strongholds  of  wickedness,  in  our  large  cities ;  and  with 
good  success.  The  restoration  of  the  prohibitory  law  in 
Maine,  after  a  two  years'  trial  of  a  license  law,  was  another 
subject  of  congratulation ;  and  an  unexpected  and  extraor- 
dinary decision  of  the  Chief  Justice  of  Massachusetts 
(Shaw)  that  all  intoxicating  liquors  kept  unlawfully  for 
sale,  with  implements  and  vessels,  were  to  be  considered 
as  nuisances,  and  to  be  treated  as  such,  sent  alarm  among 
those  engaged  in  the  traffic. 

The  Reports  from  abroad  were  of  an  encouraging  char- 
acter. Immense  and  enthusiastic  meetings  were  being 
held  throughout  Great  Britain,  at  which  distinguished 
gentlemen  presided,  and  liberal  contributions  were  made. 
In  the  death  of  Joseph  Eaton,  at  Bristol,  in  May,  1858,  at 
the  age  of  sixty-eight,  the  cause  lost  one  of  its  greatest 
supporters.  He  was  of  the  Society  of  Friends.  At  the 
World's  Convention,  I  much  enjoyed  his  friendship  and 


TEMPERANCE   IN   FOREIGN   COUNTRIES.  327 

great  decision.  He  toiled  much  for  the  cause ;  gave  liber- 
ally on  occasions;  and,  at  his  death,  made  large  pro- 
vision for  its  future  sup^Dort.  In  Russia,  a  great  revolt 
from  drinking  customs  had  been  caused  by  a  heavy  tax 
laid  upon  brandies.  In  Australia,  the  temperance  cause 
had  been  prosperous,  through  the  patronage  and  efforts  of 
Chief  Justice  A.  Becket.  In  the  Sandwich  Islands,  the 
immense  Christian  churches  held  fast  their  integrity. 
Able  addresses  were  made  by  several  gentlemen. 

In  the  summer  of  this  year,  Mr.  Delavan  again  visited 
Europe,  and  mingled  freely  with  the  friends  of  the  cause. 
In  his  correspondence  with  me,  he  gave  many  interesting 
and  encouraging  relations.  In  a  letter  dated,  London, 
October  31st,  he  said  : 

"  On  my  arrival  at  Liverpool,  I  found  letters  from  distinguished  friends 
of  temperance  from  various  parts  waiting  my  arrival,  and  extending  to  me 
the  kindest  hospitalities.  At  a  meeting  of  friends  there,  I  endeavored  to 
give  as  faithful  a  statement  of  the  condition  of  things  in  our  country  as  was 
in  my  power.  What  we  want,  is  to  show  to  this  country,  the  practical 
workings  of  a  prohibitory  law,  carried  out  in  a  single  State.  I  think  we 
must  rely  upon  Maine  for  this.  From  what  I  can  learn,  there  has  been  great 
and  wonderful  progress  since  I  was  here  twenty  years  ago.  The  evils  are 
universally  acknowledged.  The  term  as  "  drunk  as  a  lord  "  cannot  now  be 
applied  to  the  higher  classes.  Still,  they  cling  to  the  moderation  doctrine. 
The  clergy  for  the  most  part  occupy  this  position." 

But  soon  after  this  I  received  a  most  gratifying  address, 
which  I  inserted  in  the  Journal  of  November,  1859,  to 
the  Clergy  of  the  Church  of  England,  from  130  members 
of  their  own  body,  headed  by  Francis  Close,  D.  D.,  Dean 
of  Carlisle.  This  noble  man  had,  in  becoming  himself  a 
total  abstainer,  induced  a  great  change  among  the  clergy 
of  the  established  Church,  until  several  hundreds  of  them 
had  come  oat  on  the  true  principle.  He  had  also  estab- 
lished The  Church  of  England  Temperance  Magazine.  The 
address    assumed,  that    total  abstinence    was  the  only 


328  TEMPERANCE    KECOLLECTIOJfS. 

security  against  drunkenness  ;  that  moderate  drinking 
supports  drunkenness  ;  that  it  is  the  duty  of  ministers  to 
oppose  the  evil  by  all  lawful  means  ;  that  were  they  gen- 
erally to  adopt  the  principle  of  total  abstinence,  it  would 
be  a  great  death-blow  to  the  traffic,  and  exert  a  mighty 
influence  over  the  habits  and  practices  of  all  classes. 

In  Massachusetts,  Dr.  Jewett  inaugurated,  in  June, 
1859,  a  new  organization  on  a  pecuniary  basis,  called  The 
State  Temperance  Alliance.  Every  member  to  pay 
one  dollar  a  year.  Dr.  Jewett  was  principal  agent,  and 
entered  on  his  labors  with  great  earnestness.  He  had  long 
viewed  the  cause  as  suffering  for  want  of  a  pecuniary 
basis.  In  the  first  year  of  the  Alliance  the  one  dollar 
subscription  amounted  to  $24,844. 

In  1859,  The  State  League  was  organized  in  Central 
New  York,  avowedly  to  control  the  Legislative  and  Ex- 
ecutive action  of  New  Yorji  State.  A  strong  platform  of 
principles  was  adopted,  but  having  no  distinctive  charac- 
teristic, excepting  in  the  resolution  to  vote  for  no  civil 
officer  w^ho  w^as  not  committed  to  Prohibitory  law.  The 
Organ  of  the  State  League  had  a  wide  cii'culation.  Con- 
nected in  some  measure  with  the  Carson  League,  it  success- 
fully prosecuted  many  engaged  illegally  in  the  traffic. 

Western  Pennsylvania  was  strong  for  prohibition.  On 
the  25th  of  May,  1859,  a  large  Convention  w^as  held,  de- 
nouncing all  license  and  upholding  prohibition  as  the  only 
true  principle.  A  reverend  gentleman  from  Harrisburg, 
the  seat  of  government,  strongly  depicted  the  efforts  of 
the  liquor-dealers  in  that  place  ;  the  immense  sums  of 
money  spent  by  them  in  the  Legislative  Halls  to  accom- 
plish their  ends,  and  the  contempt  with  which  they  treat- 
ed the  friends  of  temperance.  Prof  Barrow  considered 
the  only  way  to  strike  at  the  root  of  the  evil  was 
by  Prohibition.  He  deprecated  the  discouragements 
among  temperance  men,  and  in  stirring  tones  urged  them 


STRONG   ACTION    IN   PENNSYLVANIA.  329 

to  press  onward.  Strong  and  united  action  was  taken  by 
the  Convention. 

In  Pennsylvania,  there  was  a  strong  support  given  to 
their  prohibitory  law,  which  was  of  a  peculiar  character, 
but  well  adapted  to  the  State. 

In  186 1-' 2,  a  vigorous  effort  was  made  in  the  State  and 
Legislature  of  New  York  to  incorporate  the  principle  of 
prohibition  in  the  organic  law  of  the  State,  by  making  it 
an  article  in  the  revised  Constitution :  "  That  the  sale  of 
intoxicating  liquors  as  a  beverage  be  prohibited  ;  that  no 
law  authorizing  its  sale  shall  be  enacted ;  and  that  the 
Legislature  shall,  by  law,  prescribe  the  necessary  fines  and 
penalties  for  any  violation  of  the  provisions — as  the  pro- 
hibition of  lotteries  was  inserted  in  the  Constitution  of 
1832  and  1836."  A  resolution  to  this  effect  passed,  both 
in  the  Senate  and  Assembly  of  1861,  but  failed  in 
the  Legislature  of  1862.  Had  it  passed,  it  would  have 
been  referred  to  the  people,  and  would  have  produced  the 
greatest  e?^citement. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

Death  of  Governor  Briggs,  President  A.  T.  U. — Hon.  W.  A.  Buckingham 
elected  to  fill  bis  place — Death  of  Mr,  Frelinghuysen — Chief  Justice 
WilUams — President  Lincoln's  Temperance — War — Dangers  to  the 
Cause — Visit  Washington — Army  Tracts — How  Supphed  and  Appre- 
ciated— Twenty-fifth  Anniversary  A.  T.  U. — Governor  Buckingham's 
Speech — Speech  of  Senator  Pomroy — Deaths  of  Dr.  Beecher,  Dr. 
Baird,  Admiral  Foote — ^Navy — Army — Progress  of  Temperance — War 
Ending — Assassination  of  President  Lincoln. 

Ox  September  13,  1861,  the  community  were  greatly 
shocked  at  hearing  of  a  wound,  by  the  accidental  dis- 
charge of  a  gun  in  his  house,  of  the  Hon.  George  IST. 
Briggs,  of  Pittsfield,  Massachusetts,  President  of  the  Amer- 
ican Temperance  Union.  He  survived,  in  great  anguish, 
for  a  few  days ;  and  then,  in  Christian  faith  and  hope, 
resigned  his  spirit  into  the  hands  of  his  Maker,  in  the  sixty- 
sixth  year  of  his  age. 

Governor  Briggs  was  ever  accounted  one  of  the 
noblest  specimens  of  humanity.  Though  self-educated,  he 
rose  to  the  highest  office  and  honors  of  his  State  ;  and  was 
a  man  of  great  influence  in  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States.  Possessed  of  sound  piety,  he  admirably  controlled 
his  appetites  and  passions  ;  and,  being  of  great  benevolence, 
he  deeply  interested  himself  in  the  temperance  cause,  and 
in  doing  good  to  all  as  he  had  oj^j^ortunity.  Early  in 
his  profession  as  a  lawyer,  he  adopted  the  principle  of 
total  abstinence.  On  returning  from  court  and  stopping 
to  dine,  as  he  sat  at  the  table  there  was  a  call  in  his 
stomach  for  something.     He  quietly  dropped   his  head, 


EAKLY   rtECISION   FOE   TOTAL   ABSTINENCE.  331 

and  asked,  "  What  is  wanting  there  ?  "  The  reply  was, 
"  brandy  and  water."  He  was  startled  at  the  thought  that 
it  was  demanded ;  and  he  said  to  liis  stomach,  "  You 
never  get  any  more ;  "  and  from  that  hour  to  the  day  of 
his  death,  he  never  drank  intoxicating  liquor.  He  was 
first  publicly  known  by  his  controversy  with  modera- 
tionists  in  the  Saratoga  Convention  of  1836.  He  was  most 
active  for  Temperance  in  Congress ;  became  President  of 
the  Congressional  Temperance  Society,  and  afterwards  of 
the  Legislative  Society,  in  his  own  State.  Wherever  he 
went,  he  was  true  to  the  cause,  and  filled  the  stations  to 
which  he  was  called  with  great  ability  and  Christian 
meekness.  I  was  delegated  to  attend  his  funeral,  and  took 
part  in  the  public  meeting  which  was  held  at  Pittsfield  to 
speak  of  his  worth.  At  his  grave,  I  could  truly  say, 
"  The  Chariot  of  Israel,  and  the  Horsemen  thereof." 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Committee,  in  April,  '62,  William 
A.  Buckingham,  Governor  of  Connecticut,  was  elected  to 
fill  his  place.  In  accepting  the  office,  he  said,  "  While  I 
am  conscious  of  my  inability  to  fill  properly  the  position 
so  honorably  occupied  by  your  former  distinguished  Pres- 
ident, yet,  feeling  a  deep  interest  in  the  cause,  and  es- 
pecially the  importance  of  pressing  its  saving  influence 
into  our  army,  composed  as  it  is  of  many  of  our  best 
and  most  promising  young  men  ;  I  fear  I  may  neglect  a 
duty  if  I  decline ;  I  therefore  accept  the  honorable  po- 
sition." At  its  Anniversary,  in  May,  all  hoped  for  the 
presence  of  Governor  Buckingham ;  but  duties  in  the 
Legislature  prevented  his  attendance ;  he,  however,  sent 
a  letter  regretting  his  absence,  with  his  cheque  of  8200 
to  aid  the  cause. 

Besides  Governor  Briggs,  the  Union  was  called  to 
lament  the  deaths  of  distinguished  Vice-Presidents,  Hon. 
Thomas  S.  Williams,  a  former  chief  justice  of  Connecticut ; 
and  Hon.  Theodore  Frelinghuysen,  President  of  Rutgers 


332  TEiirERANCE    EECOLLECTIONS. 

College,  N.  J.  Judge  Williams  lived  to  the  age  of  eighty- 
four,  in  the  i'ull  possession  of  all  his  faculties.  lie  was 
ever  the  firm  supporter  of  true  temperance  principles ; 
was  President  of  the  State  Temperance  Society ;  an  entire 
abstainer,  and  decided  prohibitionist.  His  legal  opinions 
gave  weight  in  favor  of  the  Maine  Law.  In  his  death, 
though  at  an  advanced  age,  the  temperance  cause  met 
with  a  great  loss.  Mr.  Frelinghuysen  was  one  of  the 
most  accomplished  Christian  gentlemen  the  world  had 
seen.  Of  fine  j^erson  and  manners;  a  sweet  voice  and 
earnest  tones ;  w^ith  a  large  grasp  of  thought,  and  unmis- 
takable reasoning,  Mr.  Frelinghuysen  w^as  ever  a  favor- 
ite orator,  on  all  temperance  and  religious  occasions.  He 
was  decided  for  total  abstinence,  as  the  only  safe  principle, 
w^hen  it  was  not  generally  received ;  and  for  prohibitory 
law  against  all  license  for  the  sale  of  liquors  as  a  beverage. 
His  temperance  speeches,  of  which  a  number  are  well  re- 
ported, should  be  collected  in  a  single  volume,  as  models 
for  all  good  temperance  speaking.  For  some  years,  he 
was  Chairman  of  our  Executive  Committee,  which  brought 
me  into  intimate  relations  with  him ;  and  he  was  as  devot- 
ed and  happy  there,  as  in  the  Chair  as  President  of  the 
American  Bible  Society,  or  American  Board  of  Missions. 
He  died  in  the  Presidency  of  the  Rutgers  College,  at  the 
age  of  seventy-five. 

The  Anniversary  meeting  was  ably  addressed  by  James 
A.  Briggs,  a  nephew  of  Governor  Briggs;  Rev.  H.  W. 
Beecher,  and  J.  B.  Merwin  of  the  United  States  army. 
It  was  a  time  of  great  excitement  and  interest  for  the 
cause — when,  in  fact,  it  seemed  in  danger  of  being  forgot- 
ten and  trampled  in  the  dust,  but  when  its  importance  to 
all  reflecting  minds  was  never  greater.  Our  nation  had 
received  a  new  President.  Nine  States  had  seceded  from 
the  Union,  and  with  them  we  were  involved  in  a  terrific 
war.     It  was  a  subject  of  rejoicing  and  hopefulness  for  the 


ABEAHAM   LINCOLN    A   TEMPERANCE    PRESIDENT.       333 

cause  of  temperance,  that  Abraham  Lincoln,  who  had 
been  called  to  lead  the  nation,  was  a  strict  temperance 
man.  No  disturbance  ever  had  been,  or  ever  would  be 
effected  by  Alcohol  in  that  mighty  brain ;  and  whatever 
the  friends  of  temperance  would  consider  desirable  in  the 
Government,  the  army,  or  the  navy,  they  might  ask 
from  him,  without  a  repulse.  His  example  in  the  high 
places  of  power  would  always  be  right,  and  his  conse- 
quent good  influence  great.  When  the  Committee  of  the 
dominating  Convention  came  to  him,  at  Springfield,  Illi- 
nois, to  inform  him  of  his  nomination,  some  of  his  neighbors, 
acquainted  with  his  temperance  habits — his  unprepared- 
ness  to  give  a  political  committee  the  usual  treats, — sent 
to  his  house  some  bottles  of  Champagne ;  but  he  said, 
"  It  won't  do  here,"  and  ordered  it  back  where  the  Com- 
mittee might  be  assembled.  When  offered  wine,  at  Cin- 
cinnati, on  his  way  to  take  the  reins  of  Government,  he 
said,  "  For  thirty  years  I  have  been  a  temperance  man, 
and  I  am  too  old  to  change."  When  asked  by  a  friend, 
after  his  inauguration,  if  he  was  not  overawed  in  address- 
ing that  immense  audience  of  intellectual  men,  "  Not  half 
so  much,"  he  replied,  "  as  he  had  been  in  addressing  a 
temperance  meeting."  To  this  he  had  often  been  accus- 
tomed. Thanks  to  God !  we  exclaimed,  for  such  a  gift. 
But  war  was  upon  us,  and  war  and  intemperance  were 
kindred  spirits,  dragging  thousands  down  to  untimely 
graves.  My  mind  woke  up  to  the  solemn  inquiry :  What 
is  to  be  done  ?  What  can  be  done  in  this  momentous  hour 
to  save  our  army,  to  save  our  nation  from  the  ravages  of 
intemperance ;  hitherto  the  invariable  accompaniment  of 
war.  Vast  numbers  of  our  noble  young  men,  members 
of  churches  and  members  of  temperance  societies,  were 
enlisting  for  the  fight.  Shall  they  be  sacrificed  ?  Are 
they  not  a  reliable  basis  for  some  temperance  action  ?  At 
the  suggestion  of  a  member  of  the  Sanitary  Commission,  I 


834  TEMPERANCE   RECOLLECTIONS. 

visited  Washington  to  see  if  I  could  not  prevail  on  that 
Commission  to  institute  a  Temperance  department,  through 
which  tracts  and  papers  should  be  distributed  in  the  forts, 
shipping,  and  every  brancli  of  the  array.  I  sent  in  my 
pro^josals.  I  consulted  with  the  Medical  Bureau  and  other 
officers  of  the  Government,  but  no  apprehension  of  danger 
seemed  to  arise ;  and  though  general  approbation  was  ex- 
pressed of  some  temperance  action,  I  found  it  must  be 
from  private,  individual,  and  not  governmental,  or  even 
Sanitary  Commission  action.  Clean  beds,  good  food,  com- 
fortable tents  and  efficient  discipline,  were  all,  in  the  opinion 
of  many,  that  was  needed  to  secure  from  intemper- 
ance. Alas !  little  was  then  known  of  its  serpentine  power 
and  its  awful  delusions.  I  returned  and  devoted  myself 
to  preparing  short  but  stirring  tracts  with  striking  cap- 
tions for  the  soldiers  and  officers.  Ten  were  prepared,  with 
the  design  of  sending  one  thousand  to  each  regiment.  In 
the  first  year  there  were  supplied  270  regiments,  besides 
several  forts  and  hospitals.  The  President  of  the  United 
States  expressed  his  high  approval  of  them.  Gen.  Fre- 
mont and  other  officers  of  rank  gave  their  approval.  One 
said  in  a  letter  to  the  office : 

*'  You  cannot  possibly  do  so  much  good  for  our  country's  cause  in  any 
other  way,  as  in  circulating  among  the  soldiers  of  our  army  your  admirable 
temperance  tracts.  If  our  men  of  wealth  could  only  see  the  eagerness 
with  which  they  are  read,  and  the  salutary  influence  that  they  exert  in  our 
camps,  they  would  furnish  means  to  place  them  in  any  desired  quantity  in 
the  hands  of  all  our  men.  For  be  assured  you  may,  intemperance  is  a  ter- 
rible enemy  to  soldiers,  and  kills  far  more  of  them  than  fall  on  the  battle- 
field, and  it  is  a  great  interest  to  the  country  to  save  them  from  the  foul 
abomination." 

The  hopeful  expectation  of  many,  that  efficient  milita- 
ry discipline  would  keep  out  all  intemperance  from  the 
army,  was  soon  disappointed.  The  men  themselves,  who 
should  effect  the  discipline  and  protect  and  guard  the  sol- 


DEIJNKENXESS   AT   BULL   EUN.  335 

diers,  were  often  found  drunk,  and  severe  orders  were 
issued  against  the  officers  leaving  their  posts  and  visiting 
Washington,  where  they  might  get  the  means  of  indul- 
gence. So  impressed  was  the  Commander-in-Chief  (Gen. 
McClellan)  with  the  greatness  of  the  evil,  that  in  a  review 
of  a  Court-Martial  decision,  when  an  officer  had  been  on 
trial  for  drunkenness,  he  declared :  "  Would  all  the  officers 
unite  in  setting  the  soldiers  an  example  of  total  absti- 
nence from  intoxicating  drinks,  it  would  be  equal  to  an 
addition  of  50,000  :^lbn  to  the  armies  of  the  United 
States." 

Several  distinguished  officers,  naval  and  military,  were 
decided  temperance  men.  Foote  and  Stringham  and  Du- 
pont,  in  the  Navy,  and  McClellan  and  Mitchel  and  Butler, 
in  the  Army,  all  deprecated  the  ravages  of  intemperance  ; 
but  to  Gen.  Butler  belonged  the  honor  of  first  interdicting 
the  presence  in  camp  of  any  intoxicating  liquor  whatever, 
and  renouncing  all  use  of  it  in  his  own  quarters.  In  his 
general  order  he  declared  that,  "  As  he  desires  never  to 
ask  either  officers  or  men  to  undergo  any  privations  which 
he  will  not  share  with  them,  he  will  not  exempt  himself 
from  the  operation  of  this  order ;  but  will  not  use  it 
(liquor)  in  his  own  quarters,  as  he  would  discourage  its 
use  in  the  quarters  of  any  officer."  Similar  orders  follow- 
ed in  other  posts,  and  a  resolution  passed  both  houses  of 
Congress,  that  any  officer  guilty  of  habitual  drunkenness 
should  be  immediately  dismissed  from  the  service.  The 
notorious  drunkenness  of  an  officer  high  in  command  in 
the  first  great  and  afflictive  battle  at  Bull  Run,  to  which 
defeat  was  in  a  measure  attributed,  created  great 
sensation  both  in  the  government  and  elsewhere  in  the 
country. 

For  the  means  of  supplying  the  Army  with  Tracts,  re- 
liance had  been  placed  on  individual  contributions,  ai^ 
collections  in  churches,  after  preaching  on  the  subject ;  but 


336  TEMrERANCE   RECOLLECTIONS. 

as  such  great  demands  were  made  by  Christian  and  Sani- 
tary Commissions  and  other  organizations,  it  was  becom- 
ing difficult  to  raise  sufficient,  and  in  September,  1862,  I 
devised  a  special  and  independent  charity  for  this  object, 
that  of  Sabbath  Schools.  Almost  every  Sabbath  School 
had  sent  into  the  army  a  superintendent,  or  chaplain,  or 
teachers,  and  even  members,  and  would  not  each  one  love 
to  follow  its  own  with  some  memorial  gift  ?  A  Circular 
was  accordingly  issued  to  numerous  Sunday  Schools,  in- 
viting them  to  send  $2  50 ;  and  a  thousand  tracts  should  be 
forwarded  by  Adams'  Express,  which  volunteered  to  take 
them  free  of  expense,  to  such  regiments  as  they  should 
name,  giving  its  location  and  Colonel  or  Chaplain.  It  was 
delightful  to  see  the  response,  and  the  interest  and  spirit 
manifested  ;  and  still  more  to  hear  of  their  reception  by 
company  after  company  as  from  their  own  Sabbath  Schools. 
"  I  burst  into  a  flood  of  tears,"  wrote  a  Chaplain  from 
Iowa,  "  as  I  received  a  package  from  my  own  dear  Sabbath 
School,  and  I  carried  them  through  the  regiment,  saying 
to  the  soldiers  :  '  Here  is  a  present  for  you  from  home.' 
All  joyfully  received  them,  and  in  a  few  moments  were 
reading  them."  These  tracts  were  multiplied  until  they 
reached  thirty  varieties.  Over  a  thousand  schools  con- 
tributed to  their  spread ;  and,  before  the  war  closed,  I  had 
sent  from  the  office  over  three  millions  ;  many  direct  to  the 
army,  and  many  through  the  Christian  Commission.  Many 
no  doubt  were  lost  ;  many  perhaps  never  read,  or  treated 
with  contempt.  But  they  checked  drinking  and  drunk- 
enness, strengthened  the  hearts  of  temperance  men,  and 
ensured  the  return  of  many  a  soldier  to  his  dear  ones  in 
sobriety  and  valor. 

During  the  war  Mr.  Delavan  made  a  like  effort  at  Al- 
bany ;  publishing  a  single  tract  of  a  large  size  for  officers 
l^nd  soldiers,  and  sending  it  forth  by  the  million  under  the 
recommendation    and    patronage  of  the  high   officers  of 


GOV.  Buckingham's  caee  for  the  arjiy.        337 

Government  and  the  Army  at  Washington.  Tracts  were 
published  also  for  soldiers  and  seamen  at  Philadelphia  and 
Cincinnati  and  Chicago,  and  both  the  American  and  Bos- 
ton Tract  Societies  made  large  issues  of  tracts  and  papers 
to  counteract  the  evil  influences  which  were  everywhere 
operating  for  the  ruin  of  the  soldiers.  No  seed  was  ever 
sown  with  better  effect. 

At  the  Twenty-fifth  Anniversary  of  the  A  T.  U.,  May, 
1863,  Governor  Buckingham  presided,  and  said:  "The 
question  of  Temperance  has  a  peculiar  importance  to- 
day. Events  fraught  with  the  interests  of  humanity 
are  passing  before  us  with  the  rapidity  of  thought.  The 
whole  people  are  engaged  in  earnest  controversy  respecting 
principles  which  lie  at  the  foundation  of  the  Government, 
and  are  contending  by  argument,  and  by  force  of  arms, 
for  a  new  adjustment  of  civil  rights.  Engaged  in  the  con- 
flict are  armies  embracing  a  million  of  men.  This  fact 
presses  upon  us  the  duty  of  surrounding  them  with  good 
influences  ;  and,  if  possible,  of  saving  them  from  the  evils 
of  intemperance."  He  would  not  hold  up  the  army  as  a 
school  of  morals,  but  he  would  have  it  so  cared  for,  that 
our  sons  and  brothers  should  come  home  better  citizens 
than  when  they  left.  He  manifested  great  interest,  there- 
fore, in  our  temperance  operations  with  the  national 
forces. 

Senator  Pomroy,  from  Kansas,  gave  a  lengthy  and 
very  able  speech,  chiefly  on  the  condition  and  habits  of  the 
the  army,  and  the  dangers  to  which  they  were  exposed. 
He  said : 

"  In  ordinary  years,  it  was  calculated  that  30,000  went  down  to  the 
grave — the  home  of  the  drunkard  ;  but  it  would  not  be  too  much  to  double 
that  number  each  year  since  the  war  began.  For  the  vice  of  intemper- 
ance has  followed  the  army  ;  has  visited  the  quarters  of  both  officer  and 
private  ;  has  taken  down  some  of  the  bravest  and  truest  of  the  land,  who, 
before,  had  always  stood  erect  in  their  manhood  and  their  pride.  It  has 
15 


338  TE^rPERANCE   RECOLLECTIONS. 

made  disordorly  and  riotous  the  loyal  camp  of  tlie  soldier;  has  made  dis- 
graceful the  tent  of  the  ofTicer;  and,  on  more  than  one  occasion,  defeated 
and  demoralized  an  army  on  the  field  of  battle.  Of  the  thirty  thousand 
victims  of  disease  and  death  attending  on  the  Peninsular  campaign,  the  last 
year,  at  least  ten  thousand  may  be  set  down  as  chargeable  to  the  daily  ra- 
tion of  whiskey  and  quinine.  Intemperance  and  its  fruits  made  such  sad 
havoc  in  the  Mexican  war,,  that  it  was  feared  that  the  dead  would  more 
than  outnumber  the  living.  General  Scott  said  that,  in  his  Mexican  cam- 
paign, fifty  per  cent,  of  all  he  lost  in  his  army,  who  are  left  in  unmonu- 
mented  graves,  are  there  from  this  source,  rather  than  from  the  bullets  of 
the  rebels.  He  therefore  plead  with  us  to  speak  out,  and  act  effectively ; 
for  the  voices  of  New  York  reached  over  the  continent,  and  awakened  an 
echo  from  the  deep,  rich  valleys  of  the  West,  are  reverberated  across  the 
prairies  of  the  Northwest ;  and  even  over  the  mountains,  to  the  golden 
shores  of  the  peaceful  Pacific." 

The  friends  of  religion,  temperance,  and  humanity, 
had  just  been  called  to  follow  to  the  grave  all  that  remain- 
ed of  the  venerable  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher.  He  died  in 
Brooklyn,  New  York,  January  10,  1863,  aged  87.  At  the 
meeting,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Newell,  of  New  York,  oflfered  the 
following  resolution : 

Resolved,  That  we  lovingly  cherish  the  memory,  and  earnestly  strive 
to  emulate  the  deeds,  of  that  early  Apostle  of  Temperance,  the  Rev. 
Lyman  Beecher,  D.  D.,.for  many  years  a  Vice-President  of  this  Society. 

Dr.  Newell  remarked : 

The  early  heroes  of  the  temperance  revolution  are  fast  passing  away. 
Their  venerable  forms  are  disappearing  from  our  platforms  and  our  pul- 
pits. They  were  men  of  original  ideas,  large  hearts,  and  great  valor.  Let 
us  gratefully  embalm  their  deeds,  and  honor  their  memory.  It  is  their  due. 
It  is  our  safety.  "Who  like  Dr.  Beecher  could  incite  men  to  mighty  deeds  ? 
He  never  feared  the  face  of  man ;  yet  he  was  genial,  modest,  laying  all  his 
vigorous  powers  on  the  altai*  of  God. 

Dr.  Beecher's  six  sermons  on  the  evils  and  remedy  of 
intemperance,  preached  at  Litchfield,  Connecticut,  in  1826, 
have  lost  none  of  their  freshness  and  power,  to  this  day. 


BEECHER — BAIED — FOOTE.  339 

They  form,  and  ever  will  form,  a  standard  work  among 
temperance  men.  He  was  mighty  in  argument,  and 
mighty  in  speech.  His  word  in  public  assemblies  had  a 
ring  like  that  of  the  hammer  upon  the  smooth  and  polish- 
ed anvil.  He  survived  the  activity  and  energy  of  both 
bodily  and  mental  powers  ;  but  was  followed  to  the  grave 
by  multitudes  who  well  knew  what  he  once  was,  and  what 
he  had  done  for  his  race. 

In  the  same  year,  passed  away  the  Rev.  Robert  Baird, 
D.  D.,  who,  in  former  years,  with  almost  incredible  indus- 
try and  despatch,  sjoread  the  principles  of  temj^erance  over 
the  I^orth  of  Europe,  and  obtained  favor  for  it  in  the 
courts  of  kings  and  the  palaces  of  emperors.  He  died  at 
his  home  in  Yonkers,  ISTew  York,  March  15,  1863,  aged 
sixty-five. 

On  the  26th  of  June,  another  great  champion  of  the 
temperance  cause  went  to  his  rest.  Rear- Admiral  AlexaU' 
der  H.  Foote.  He  died  at  the  Astor  House,  New  York, 
of  severe  illness,  at  the  age  of  fifty-six.  He  was  the  hero 
of  Fort  Henry  and  Fort  Donaldson ;  but  preeminently  the 
Christian  hero  and  friend  of  temperance.  He  was  one  of 
the  first  to  introduce  the  principle  of  total  abstinence 
from  intoxicating  drinks  into  the  navy ;  and  during  his 
cruise  in  the  flag-ship  Cumberland,  in  the  Mediterranean, 
he  induced  the  entire  crew  to  abandon  liquor,  and  person- 
ally engaged  in  their  religious  instruction.  I  have  already 
had  occasion  to  speak  of  his  labors,  at  home  and  abroad, 
on  the  platform,  and  in  abolishing  the  spirit-ration  in  the 
navy.  But  too  high  a  monument  could  not  be  erected  to 
Rear- Admiral  Foote.     Well  was  it  said: 

"Lower  ye  the  flags 
Half-mast ;  boom  ye  the  minute  guns  ;  toll  ye 
The  funeral  bell,  on  every  spire  and  ship. 
On  all  our  coast,  through  all  our  land,  drape  ye 
The  yards  and  ports,  the  Bethel  fla^,  and  churches, 


840  TEMPERANCE   RECOLLECTIONS. 

The  naval  rendezvous,  the  temperance  hall, 

The  Christian  Sabbath-school,  the  room  for  prayer ; 

And  let  the  distant  Heathen  Mission  join, 

To  bear  our  signs  of  mourning  round  the  globe. 

Who  saw  him  once  but  loved  to  see  him  more  ?  " — Dcnison. 

Other  men  of  influence  and  zeal  in  the  cause  of  tem- 
perance were  removed  in  1863  :  Chief  Justice  Savage, 
at  Utica,  a  strong  pillar  in  the  Temperance  Temjile.  So 
impressed  was  he  with  the  evil  of  wine-drinking,  that  he 
refused  uniting  with  the  temjDerance  men  in  their  efforts, 
until  they  adopted  the  total  abstinence  principle.  Then 
he  gave  them  his  hearty  concurrence.  He  abstained,  while 
on  the  bench,  from  Court-dinners,  because  his  example  was 
a  reproof  to  other  judges  ;  this  gave  him  time  for  a  thor- 
ough examination  of  his  cases,  so  that,  the  next  morn- 
ing, he  was  better  prepared  than  any  with  opinions,  which 
soon  gave  him  precedence  over  others,  though  themselves 
distinguished  men.  This  I  had  from  his  own  lips.  He 
was  long  of  opinion  that  wine  destroyed  more  of  our 
public  men  than  all  their  arduous  labors.  His  argument 
in  favor  of  the  constitutionality  of  the  Prohibitory  Law 
which  was  set  aside  by  the  Court  of  Appeals,  was  exceed- 
ingly able.  For  one  year  he  was  President  of  the  Ameri- 
can Temperance  Union.  I  loved  him  like  a  father.  His 
.  house  was  ever  my  home  when  at  Utica. 

Samuel  Chipman,  the  HoAvard  of  the  age,  also  passed 
away,  aged  74.  He  went  through  all  the  jails  and  poor- 
houses  of  the  State,  to  ascertain  the  evils  of  Intemperance, 
the  pauperism  and  crime  and  sufferings  of  the  great  com- 
munity. His  reports  were  exceedingly  valuable  and  very 
thrilling. 

President  Hitchcock,  too,  of  Amherst  College,  laid 
aside  his  armor.  Few  men  did  more  for  the  cause.  His 
example,  his  conversation  and  productions,  were  not  sur- 
passed in  worth  and  power. 


TEMPERANCE   WORTHIES.  S41 

Edgar  B.  Day,  of  Catskill,  was  a  gentleman  of  much 
intelligence,  decision  and  munificence,  in  the  cause. 
Prompt  in  his  attendance  on  public  meetings,  judicious 
in  counsel,  and  self-sacrificing  beyond  most  others,  he  was 
ever  to  me  very  precious.  For  many  years  he  and  his 
father,  Orrin  Day,  supplied  our  Foreign  Missionaries  with 
the  Journal.  But  he  was  more  especially  interested  in 
the  young,  and  often  able  articles  appeared  from  his  pen 
in  the  public  papers. 

Rev.  R.  S^^  Crampton,  of  Rochester,  was  long  an 
efficient  and  eloquent  Agent  of  the  State  and  other  Socie- 
ties. He  devoid  his  life  very  much  to  the  cause.  His 
Tract,  "  Look  at  your  Taxes,"  and  his  discourse,  "  The 
Wine  of  the  Bible,"  had  wide  circulation. 

Temperance  in  the  navy,  through  the  decision  of  Ad- 
miral Foote  and  others,  had  become  a  fixed  fact — a  won- 
derful revolution  for  the  nations  to  contemplate.  The 
spirit-ration  removed,  flogging  abolished,  good  order  and 
great  valor  were  constantly  exhibited.  So  long  on  the 
watef,  the  men  knew  but  little  of  the  temj)tations  of  the 
grog-shop,  and  were  not  often  its  victims. 

Numerous  letters  from  chaplains  in  the  army,  continu- 
ally assured  me  of  the  receipt  of  tracts,  and  their  distribu- 
tion; but  the  evils  of  intemperance  were  great,  both 
among  officers  and  soldiers.  So  great  was  the  evil  flow- 
ing from  the  whiskey-ration  in  the  army  of  the  Potomac, 
spoken  of  by  Senator  Pomroy,  that,  on  the  19th  of  June, 
1862,  General  McClellan  issued  an  order  for  its  immediate 
discontinuance ;  and  that  hot  cofiee  be  served  immediately 
after  the  reveille. 

Most  of  the  chaplains,  and  such  as  acted  as  temper- 
ance and  tract  agents  in  the  army,  were  men  of  high  char- 
acter, who  exerted  a  good  influence  for  the  suppression  of 
intemperance  and  other  vices  and  immoralities  among  the 
officers  and  soldiers.     The  first  who  devoted  himself  fully 


342  TEMPERANCE   KECOLLECTIONS. 

to  the  "work  of  addressing  the  soldiers  on  temperance,  was 
tlie  Kev.  J.  13.  ^Merwin,  of  Chicago,  who,  at  the  recom- 
mendation of  Governor  Cass,  of  Detroit,  to  General  Scott, 
Avent  to  Washington,  and  was  commissioned  by  the  Gen- 
eral, with  the  approbation  of  the  President,  and  immedi- 
ately addressed  a  large  number  of  regiments,  making  a 
deep  impression  of  the  importance  of  such  an  agency  in 
each  department.  The  chaplains  often  took  counsel  with 
each  other,  and  thek  officers,  on  the  proper  discharge  of 
duty.  A  general  council  of  chaplains  of  the  Army  of  the 
Cumberland  was  at  one  time  held  at  Murfreesboro',  Tenn. 
About  forty  were  present,  and  divine  wisilom  and  guid- 
ance were  sought,  that  they  might  faithfully  discharge 
their  duties.  In  many  of  the  places  of  rendezvous,  in 
camps  and  hospitals,  regular  weekly  temperance  meetings 
were  held,  and  large  numbers  of  names  were  attached  to 
the  pledge.  Often,  the  most  effective  speaker  was  the 
common  soldier  himself,  who  had  once  experienced  the 
evils  of  intemperance,  and  knew  what  the  enticing  cup 
would  do  to  man,  in  all  his  physical  and  moral  powers. 
At  Camp  Convalescent,  Alexandria,  there  was  a  roll 
of  over  live  thousand  soldiers'  names  to  the  temperance 
pledge ;  stretching  round  the  hall  in  which  the  soldiers 
held  their  weekly  meetings.  Among  the  marked  temper- 
ance men  in  the  army,  was  my  long-tried  friend,  Neal 
Dow.  He  had  long  labored  for  his  country  in  one  way  ; 
he  was  now  willing  to  lay  down  his  life  for  it  in  another. 
He  had  given  him  a  general's  commission,  and  became 
active  in  the  army.  But  his  known  character  for  tem- 
perance was  not  favorable  to  him  among  reckless,  wine- 
di'inking  officers.  His  opportunities  were  not  great  for 
military  display.  His  duties  lay  quite  at  the  South,  where 
he  was  taken  prisoner.  His  welcome  home  was  very 
gratifying.  Such  was  the  bad  influence  of  drinking  and 
drunken  officers,  that  the  Grand  Division  of  Massachu- 


INTERVIEW.  WITH   PRESIDENT   LINCOLN.  343 

setts  Sons  of  Temperance  memorialized  Gov.  Andrew  on 
the  subject",  asking  him  to  withhold  commissioning  officers 
to  the  army  of  intemperate  habits.  A  great  evil  existing 
was  the  distinction  made  between  officers  and  soldiers 
— allowing  officers  to  have  liquor  in  their  tents,  which 
was  forbidden  the  soldier.  Hence,  officers  were  accustom- 
ed to  treat  such  as  called  upon  them ;  brother  officers  and 
even  chaplains.  The  New  York  State  Society  was  so  im- 
pressed with  the  evil  that,  at  their  annual  meeting,  at 
Rome,  they  appointed  a  Committee  of  six,  to  repair  to 
Washington,  and, address  the  President  on  the  subject, 
and  see  if  they  could  not  induce  him  to  revoke  the  order 
allowing  it.  I  was  one  who  repaired  to  Washington,  and 
presented  the  petition  to  President  Lincoln,  v/ho  most 
kindly  received  it,  and  promised  to  give  it  his  early  atten- 
tion. Alas !  even  then,  his  days  were  numbered,  and  al- 
most finished.     But  who  suspected  it  ? 

With  the  defection  of  officers,  bringing  great  injury 
upon  themselves  and  the  army,  there  were  several  of  high 
rank,  both  in  the  army  and  navy,  greatly  cheering  the  hearts 
and  strengthening  the  hands  of  the  friends  of  temperance. 

If  laws  were  enacted  by  Government  relating  to  the 
traffic,  their  basis  was  prohibition.  In  the  last  magnificent 
display  of  200,0Q0  troops  at  Washington,  as  the  war  was 
closed,  no  liquor  was  allowed  to  be  sold.  Perfect  quiet 
and  order  Avas  the  result.  Kot  a  drunken  man  was  to  be 
seen.  No  fighting.  No  contests.  No  abusive  language. 
A  wonderful  spectacle  of  what  the  suppression  of  the 
liquor  traffic  could  accomplish  amid  vast  masses. ' 

As  the  war  was  terminating,  and  the  army  to  be  dis- 
banded, and  thousands  of  noble  men  would  be  passing 
through  our  cities,  to  be  tempted  on  every  corner  by  the 
deceptive  and  destructive  glass,  I  issued  the  tract,  Mus- 
tered Out  ;  Now  Look  Out  !  the  production  of  George 
W.  Bungay.      Of  these  I  sent  forth,  chiefly  through  the 


344  TEMTEEANCE   KECOLLECTIONS. 

Christian  Commission,  250,000.  It  a\\is  in  great  demand, 
and  was,  it  was  believed,  a  great  check  to  drinking  and 
drunkenness. 

The  general  appearance  of  the  troops,  as  they  reached 
their  homes,  showed  a  most  effective  discipline.  Many- 
came  back  to  their  farms  and  mechanical  employments  bet- 
ter men  than  they  were  when  they  enlisted.  But  few 
miserable,  drunken  soldiers  were  anywhere  visible — far 
less  than  after  the  Mexican  war.  So  far  as  temperance 
agency  had  connection  with  this,  Ave  desired  to  give  God 
the  praise. 

But  the  nation  was  in  mourning  for  its  beloved  chief. 
Abraham  Lincoln,  the  man  of  the  people,  the  friend  of 
the  oppressed,  the  liberator  of  four  millions  in  bondage, 
the  jDure  in  heart,  and  the  pure  in  life,  was,  on  the  15th 
of  April,  1865,  awfully  assassinated  by  a  pistol  shot,  in  a 
theatre  at  Washington,  by  a  wretch,  who  called  for  brandy, 
brandy  !  as  he  went  to  do  the  deed.  All  hearts  were  in 
agony,  as  the  wires  bore  the  sad  tidings. 

"  But  yesterday,  the  exultant  nation's  shout 

Swelled  on  the  breeze  of  victory,  through  our  streets ; 
But  yesterday,  our  banners  flaunted  out, 

Like  flowers  the  south  wind  woos  from  their  retreats — 
Flowers  of  the  nation,  blue,  and  white,  and  red. 

Waving  from  balcony,  and  spire,  and  mast, 
Which  told  us  that  war's  wintry  storms  had  fled, 

And  spring  was  more  than  spring  to  us,  at  last. 
To-day,  the  nation's  heart  lies  crushed  and  weak. 

Drooping,  and  drest  in  black,  our  banners  stand ; 
Too  stunned  to  cry  Revenge !   we  scarce  may  speak 

The  grief  that  chokes  all  utterance  through  the  land. 
God  is  in  all.     With  tears  our  eyes  are  dim, 
Yet  strive  in  darkness  to  look  up  to  Him. 

Tribune. 


CHAPTER  XXYI. 

Fifth  National  Convention — Governor  Buckingham,  President— Prepared 
dissertations — New  National  Organization  proposed — Termination  of 
American  Temperance  Union — Results  of  labors — Helps  and  Hin- 
drances— Future  prospects  and  expectations. 

As  the  war  came  to  an  end  and  slavery  was  no 
more,  the  friends  of  temperance  throughout  the  United 
States  felt  it  incumbent  on  them  to  make  a  new  and  vigor- 
ous effort  for  the  revival  of  the  temperance  cause  and 
securing  for  it  another  glorious  triumph.  To  meet  this  de- 
sire, I  invited  a  public  meeting  in  New  York,  on  Anni- 
versary week,  in  which  the  subject  was  discussed,  and  it 
was  resolved  to  call  a  Fifth  National  Convention,  to 
beheld  at  Saratoga  Springs,  on  the  first  of  August,  1865. 
A  large  Committee,  from  various  States  and  Societies, 
were  requested  to  issue  the  call,  and  prepare  for  the 
Convention.  It  excited  great  attention,  and  promised  an 
attendance  which  was  not  disappointed. 

Three  hundred  and  twenty-six  delegates  from  twenty 
States  and  the  Canadas,  all  temperance  organizations 
and  many  churches  were  present.  Governor  Buck- 
ingham, of  Connecticut,  was  unanimously  elected  Presi- 
dent. Many  of  the  surviving  fathers  of  the  reform  were 
present,  to  give  it  strength,  and  supplicate  blessings  upon 
its  deliberations.  Besides  being  of  a  highly  intellectual 
and  reformatory  cast,  it  was  pre-eminently  of  a  moral  and 
religious  character.  Several  papers  on  important  topics, 
15* 


346  TEMPERANCE    rwECOLLECTIONS. 

• 

prepared  by  request,  were  read  as  opportunity  was  given ; 
one  by  Dr.  Chickering,  of  Boston,  on  the  connection  be- 
tween temperance  and  religion  ;  one  by  Dr.  Charles  Jew- 
ett,  on  the  proper  place  of  Alcohol  in  the  Materia  Medica; 
one  by  James  Black,  of  Pa.,  on  the  importance  of  a  Na- 
tional Temperance  and  Tract  Publication  Office  ;  one  by 
Dr.  W.  W.  Xewell,  of  New  York,  on  the  subject  of  Pro- 
hibition ;  and  one  by  Mr.  Pardee,  of  New  York,  on 
efforts  among  the  young  and  in  Sabbath  Schools.  Out  of 
each,  much  discussion  was  elicited.  Other  subjects  came  up 
for  notice  and  action. 

Some  were  anxious  and  much  was  said  on  the  Sacra- 
mental question,  or  the  wine  to  be  used  in  communion  ser- 
vices. The  sympathy  of  the  Convention  with  the  Govern- 
ment in  its  late  suppression  of  the  rebellion  was  great  ; 
and  the  resolution  determined,  that  as  sla:^iery  was  now  dead, 
so  also  should  intemperance  be  put  away  from  the  nation. 
To  form  a  new  era  and  bring  all  organizations  to  work 
together,  a  large  Committee  were  appointed  to  organize  a 
New  National  Temperance  Society,  which  should  embrace 
all  orders  and  associations  and  give  a  new  impulse  to  the 
cause.  Several  eloquent  speeches  were  made  during  the 
sitting  of  the  Convention,  and  important  resolutions  were 
adopted  ;  and  on  the  fourth  day,  the  Convention  adjourned 
with  great  thankfulness  for  the  spirit,  harmony,  and  bright 
anticipations  for  the  future. 

In  the  autumn,  the  Committees  on  organization  of  a 
New  National  Society  and  of  a  Publication  House,  held 
several  meetings  in  New  York,  and  established  the  two 
Tinder  one  name  and  roof,  and  appointed  Wm.  E.  Dodge, 
Esq.,  a  distinguished  citizen,  wealthy  and  philanthropic, 
President  of  the  same. 

Though  nothing  was  said  to  the  American  Temperance 
Union  relating  to  its  surrendering  its  charter,  given  by 
the  second  National  Convention  held  in  1836,  yet  the  in- 


DISSOLUTION   OF   THE    AM.    TEMP.    UNION.  347 

congruity  and  diiBciiIty  of  having  two  National  Temper- 
ance Societies  laboring  at  the  same  point  and  in  the  same 
city,  led  the  Executive  Committee  to  assemble  and  take 
the  following  action  on  the  subject : 

"  WTiereas,  It  was  presented  that  the  National  Temperance  Conven- 
tion, held  at  Saratoga  Springs,  in  August,  had  resolved  on  a  new  and  en- 
larged National  Organization,  uniting  all  temperance  societies  of  every 
name,  with  a  National  Temperance  Publication  House,  so  desirable,  and 
whereas^  a  Committee  embracing  many  of  the  officers  of  the  Temperance 
Union,  have  met  in  this  city  and  organized  such  an  institution,  and  have 
made  proposals  of  assuming  our  work  and  liabilities,  continuing  our  peri- 
odicals, tracts,  and  agencies,  which  are  satisfactory  to  the  Committee  and 
promising  great  results  to  the  cause  ;  therefore,  after  much  deliberation 
and  many  expressions  of  attachment  to  our  now  venerable  institution, 
it  was 

"  Hesolved^  That  the  work  of  the  Union  be  suspended  after  the  1st  of 
December,  1865,  and  that  its  periodicals,  documents,  tracts,  stereotype 
plates,  and  good-will  be  transferred  to  the  National  Temperance  Society 
and  Publication  House. 

"  Resolved,  That  the  new  Society  be  commended  to  all  the  patrons  and 
friends  of  the  Am.  Temp.  Union,  and  that  a  greatly  increased  amovmt 
of  donations  be  solicited,  and  an  enlarged  circulation  of  the  periodicals, 
tracts,  &c.,  be  earnestly  looked  for  throughout  the  nation." 

Thus  terminated  the  labors  of  our  venerable  Institution 
and  my  official  connection  with  it,  just  at  a  point  where, 
under  a  kind  Providence,  we  had  been  more  influential  in 
the  four  years'  war,  than  in  any  previous  period  whatever. 
I  was  grateful  that  I  had  been  permitted  to  take  part  in 
this  work,  and  to  leave  it  at  a  moment  when  our  country 
could  best  dispense  with  the  labor. 

To  give  any  correct  and  satisfactory  estimate  of  the 
results  of  the  temperance  ''  reform  during  the  long  period 
in  which  it  has  been  my  happiness  to  be  employed  in  it, 
is  impossible,  and  will  not  be  attempted.  A  few  things  are 
to  be  borne  in  mind  whenever  we  consider  it ;  as,  first, 
the  difference  in  the  state   of  society  fifty  years  ago   from 


348  TEMPEEANCE   RECOLLECnONS. 

the  present  time ;  in  the  habits,  usages,  and  opinions  on  all 
points  touching  temperance  and  intemperance.  Had  no 
change  been  elfected  in  fifty  years,  beyond  what  had  been 
effected  here  in  five  or  ten  years  past,  we  might  almost  say 
we  had  labored  in  vain  and  spent  our  strength  for  naught. 
To  understand  what  has  been  done,  we  must  go  back  to 
the  day  when  drinking  was  universal ;  when  no  table  was 
properly  spread  unless  it  contained  a  full  supply  of  intoxi- 
cating drink  ;  when  no  man  could  be  respectable  Avho  did 
not  furnish  it  to  his  guest ;  when  no  man  had  the  liberty 
of  refusing  it,  on  its  being  ofiered  him  ;  when  no  laborer 
could  be  found  who,  for  any  price,  would  Avork  without 
strong  drink  ;  no  farm,  no  manufacturing,  no  mechanical 
work  could  be  carried  forward  unless  it  was  furnished  ; 
when  no  sailor  would  enlist  for  a  voyage  without  his  spirit- 
ration,  and  no  soldier  enter  the  army  unless  this  was  se- 
cured ;  when  on  all  parties  of  pleasure  it  had  a  prominent 
place  ;  when  ministers  of  the  Gospel,  meeting  for  associa- 
tion or  ordination,  were  abundantly  supplied  by  their 
people ;  and  when  moderate  drinkers,  and  those  who  sold 
the  drink  that  destroyed  body  and  soul,  were  received 
without  hesitancy,  if  piety  was  unquestioned,  to  the  Church 
of  Christ ;  when  all  the  natural  results  of  so  much 
drinking  was  common  and  universal ;  and  when  enormous 
sums  in  every  town  and  city  were  worse  than  wasted, 
keeping  the  people  in  poverty  and  ignorance,  and  without 
most  of  the  comforts  now  enjoyed.  Such  times  I  knew.  I 
have  seen  all  the  changes ;  but  how  fevv^  are  there  on  the 
stage  who  have  ? 

Another  point  to  be  considered  is,  that  the  greater  part 
of  the  subjects  of  the  work  have  passed  away,  and  the 
present  inhabitants  of  the  country  constitute  but  a  small 
portion  of  its  conquests.  .Of  the  first  converts  to  temper- 
ance, neai"ly  all  are  gone.  Of  the  Washingtonians,  how 
few  are  living !     In  twenty-four  years  a  generation  has  al- 


WHAT   HAS   BEEN   ACCOMPLISHED.  349 

most  passed  away.  The  country  has  more  than  doubled, 
almost  trebled  its  population;  and  who  for  the  last  twenty 
years  have,  for  the  most  part,  contributed  to  this  increase  ? 
A  mighty  host  of  Germans,  and  men  from  the  north  of 
Europe,  and  Irish,  but  not  plentifully  of  the  Father 
Mathew  school. 

But  to  speak  positively — a  mighty  work  has  been  ac- 
comj^lished,  and  few  are  the  men  who  will  not  acknowledge 
it.  If  we  had  only  gained  the  liberty  of  drinking  or  not 
drinking,  as  we  pleased ;  of  having  or  not  having  the  drink 
on  our  tables,  as  we  pleased  ;  of  giving  workmen  drink  or 
not  giving,  as  we  pleased  ;  we  should  have  accomplished  a 
great  work.  But  we  have  gained  a  vast  and  most  impor- 
tant knowledge  of  the  subject  of  Intemperance  ;  the  na- 
ture, cause,  and  cure  of  drunkenness  ;  the  nature  of  the  al- 
coholic poisons,  and  subject  of  adulteration.  We  have  firm- 
ly established  the  great  principles  of  temperance ;  we  have 
driven  liquor  from  our  farms,  our  manufactories,  our  fire- 
sides, our  sideboards,  our  shipping,  our  navy  ;  from  our 
Christian  and  ministerial  families,  our  pulpits  and  Chiistian 
Churches,  and  all  missionary  stations,  and  from  among 
those  who  would  evangelize  and  save  the  world.  Here, 
under  God,  are  the  triumphs  of  temperance. 

And  in  our  labors,  we  have  had  various  encouragements 
and  discouragements,  which  rush  upon  our  recollection. 
If,  at  times,  we  have  felt  distressed,  and  exclaimed,  "  The 
power  of  the  adversary  is  too  great  for  us  !  "  a  voice  has 
said  to  us,  "  The  battle  is  not  yours,  but  God's,  and  if  God 
be  for  us,  who  can  be  against  us  ?  "  We  have  heard  the 
voice  of  science  saying,  "  This  is  the  way ;  walk  ye  in  it." 
Health,  and  life,  and  domestic  happiness  ;  public  peace 
and  prosperity ;  sound  morality,  and  great  success  have 
cheered  us  onward.  One  wave  has  followed  another 
— to-day,  the  old  Hewitt  and  Beccher  movement;  to-mor- 
row, the  Irish  movement ;  next  day,  the  Washingtonian  j 


350  TEMPERANCE   RECOLLECTIONS. 

and  then  the  Maine  Law,  chaining  u])  the  dragon,  that  he 
should  deceive  no  more. 

And  then,  Ave  liavc  had  hindrances  in  our  work,  and 
discouragements,  whose  recollection  brings  bitterness  to 
the  soul. 

The  jiOAver  of  appetite,  and  the  power  of  habit ;  the 
ignorance,  the  want  of  faith,  and  the  stupidity  and  in- 
difference of  those  we  would  subject  to  our  principles 
and  practices,  very  often  caused  our  hands  to  hang  down, 
and  our  hearts  to  fail  within  us. 

A  great  hindrance  to  advance  in  the  cause  has  been 
the  want  of  funds  to  sustain  meetings,  procure  tracts 
and  papers,  pay  lecturers,  &c.  The  cause,  to  use  a  com- 
mon expression,  has  been  in  many  places  starved  to  death. 
Regular  and  good  societies  were  organized  ;  good  officers 
appointed,  pledges  made,  meetings  appointed,  a  lecturer 
secured,  but  who  should  foot  the  bills  ?  Two  or  three  in- 
dividuals for  a  time  ;  but  those  individuals  got  weary  of 
their  w^ork  and  were  missing ;  collections  Avere  then  re- 
sorted to,  and  these  were  of  the  smallest  possible  change, 
scarce  sufficient  to  pay  for  lighting  the  room  ;  and  as  the 
result,  the  meetings  ceased  to  be  held,  and  the  cause  died 
out.  The  Order  of  the  Sons  of  Temperance  had  made 
wise  provision  against  this  deadly  evil  by  the  regular 
payment  of  weekly,  monthly,  or  annual  dues,  severe- 
ly exacted,  and  this  kept  the  Order  alive,  doing  its 
work  through  many  years;  while  associations  of  com- 
munities preferring  other  systems,  speedily  went  to  de- 
cay and  perished.  Foreseeing  the  certain  death  of  the 
cause  through  this  evil,  Dr.  Charles  Jewett  began,  as 
early  as  1858,  to  sound  the  alarm,  and  was  the  instru- 
ment, by  conversations,  lectures  and  pamphlets,  of  placing 
the  cause  in  many  places  in  a  much  better  position  than  it 
had  been  for  many  years. 

Another  hindrance  to  progress  has  been  a  want  of  per- 


THE  BACON   CONTEOVEEST.  351 

severance  in  that  which  has  been  found  to  be  right  and 
good,  and  a  disposition  to  go  back  to  old  experiments,  or 
try  something  new..  By  this,  all  that  has  been  gained  in 
a  course  of  years  has  been  given  up  and  lost,  and  the  cause 
has  in  many  places  fallen  backward.  By  the  greatest 
effort,  and  with  the  approbation  of  the  wisest  and  best 
men  in  the  country,  prohibition  in  opposition  to  license  had 
been  obtained  in  many  States,  and  was  doing  a  great 
work ;  suppressing  the  traffic  in  a  few  years,  more  than 
the  law  of  license  had  done  in  a  hundred ;  and  yet  because 
it  did  not  suppress  it  entirely,  which  it  did  not  pretend  to 
do  any  more  than  the  law  of  God  which  said :  "  Thou 
shalt  not  kill,"  would  prevent  murder  ;  men  got  weary 
of  it  and  said  it  was  a  failure  ;  even  ministers  of  the  Gospel 
got  weary  of  it,  and  said,  "  Let  us  try  something  else  ;  go 
back  to  moral  suasion  or  a  license  law ;  "  and  so  laying  all 
the  blame  on  prohibition,  and  crying  out  for  something 
new,  put  back  the  cause. 

Before  the  vast  Congregational  Convention  at  Boston, 
in  June  last,  a  leading  member  would  no  longer  com- 
mit himself,  nor  the  churches,  nor  the  country,  to  pro- 
hibition. "The  temperance  cause  had  been  wrecked," 
he  said,  "  on  the  Maine  Law."  By  this  assertion,  endorsed 
at  the  time  by  the  Convention,  we  have  been  thrown 
back,  and  the  enemy  has  raised  the  voice  of  triumph. 
On  the  bended  knee,  we  have  asked  him  what  he  will 
give  us  in  its  stead?  Will  he  go  back  to  a  license 
system  ?  He  does  not  answer.  He  well  knows  that 
all  the  drunkenness  for  two  hundred  years  has  grown 
up  under  a  license  system.  Will  he  give  the  traffic  a  clear 
pass,  as  in  bread  and  meat?  He  gives  no  answer.  He 
knows  the  land  would  not  endure  it  a  year.  But,  ulti' 
mately,  he  would  substitute  for  prohibition  some  distinc- 
tion between  distilled  and  fermented  liquors ;  some  indul- 
gence in  the  mild  alcoholics,  though  shutting  out  those 


352  TEMPERANCE   RECOLLECnONS. 

which  rend  and  devour;  all,  discouragements  and  hin- 
drances, until  we  saw  their  fallacy ;  then  we  moved  on, 
stronger  than  before.  This  controversy  with  a  brother 
beloved  has  been  painful  to  me ;  but  I  can  already  see  it 
has  been  for  the  good  of  the  cause.  It  has  brought  out 
talented  men  in  support  of  the  tmth;  so  that  prohibition,  in 
opposition  to  license,  stands  stronger  to-day  than  ever. 

'Another  hindrance,  whose  recollections  press  pain- 
fully upon  me,  has  been  in  learned  and  devout  minis- 
ters of  the  Gospel,  standing  aloof  from  the  cause,  and 
treating  it  with  neglect,  if  they  have  not  directly  op- 
posed it.  I  have  looked  with  pain  upon  the  vast  and  in- 
telligent body  of  ministers  in  the  Episcopal  Church,  who 
have  stood  in  the  doorway  and  hindered  the  entrance  of 
the  cause  among  the  communicants  of  that  church.  While  a 
Bishop  Alonzo  Potter,  lately  fallen  asleep,  and  the  faithful 
Dr.  Tyng,  have  lifted  up  the  standard,  and  cried  to  all, 
"  This  is  the  way !  walk  ye  in  it,"  the  great  mass  of  that 
ministry  have  felt  it  to  be  a  part  of  their  work  to  let  the 
temperance  cause  alone.  But  how  will  they  and  their 
sons  escape  the  wiles  of  the  adversary  ? 

And  so  in  other  denominations ;  a  talented,  learned, 
polished  divine,  head  of  some  wealthy  congregation,  pro- 
claiming moderation  the  true  Scripture  doctrine,  in  oj)posi- 
tion  to  total  abstinence,  has  been,  in  cases  not  a  few,  a 
most  serious  hindrance  to  all  within  the  circle  of  his  influ- 
ence. "  Surely,"  the  young  have  said,  "  the  Doctor  knows." 
Another  hindrance  to  progress  has  been  an  unwilling- 
ness in  temperance  men  to  stand  by  the  Government.  The 
Governments  of  many  States  have  made  good  laws,  shut- 
ting up  the  traffic  ;  and  made  them  at  the  request  of  tem- 
perance men ;  and  yet,  the  temperance  men  have  stood 
afar  off,  and  done  little  or  nothing  towards  the  execution 
of  those  laws — have  virtually  said,  "  It  cannot  be  done.  If 
it  is  done,  it  must  be  done  by  State  officers ;  it  cannot  be 


FUTURE   PEOSPECTS   AlO)   EXPECTATIONS.  353 

done  by  us."  And  so,  withholding  their  influence  and 
aid,  it  has  not  been  done  at  all ;  and  the  cause  has  been 
hindered  and  has  rolled  backward. 

Another  hindrance  to  progress  has  been  an  indiffer- 
ence in  temperance  men  at  the  polls  in  giving  their  votes 
for  the  right  law-makers.  They  have  sacrificed  temper- 
ance for  politics ;  and,  for  the  sake  of  sustaining  a  political 
party,  or  an  anti-slavery  party,  suffered  temperance  to  j^er- 
ish.  Until  a  higher  standard  is  raised,  there  can  be  no 
great  progress.  If  intemperance  is  the  destruction  of  all 
that  is  good  in  the  State,  temperance  is  the  salvation  of 
all ;  and  so  it  must  have  control  at  the  polls,  or  it  can 
never  expect  anything  but  defeat.  But  can  the  temper- 
ance men  afford  to  sacrifice  temperance  for  other  objects  ? 

These  and  other  hindrances  are  fresh  in  my  recollec- 
tions, as  I  review  the  cause.  They  are  not  new  to-day. 
They  will  not  pass  away  to-morrow.  But,  in  despite  of 
all,  the  cause  will  roll  on.  It  is  destined  to  prosper, 
and  bless  the  earth.  It  is  an  emanation  of  the  Gospel,  and 
a  blessed  auxiliary. 

In  relation  to  the  prospects  and  expectations  of  the 
cause  in  the  future,  a  variety  of  thoughts  will  arise  ;  some, 
doubtless,  of  a  desponding  and  despairing  character.  But, 
as  I  believe  and  know  that  the  cause  is  God's,  and  that 
the  power  of  truth  is  omnipotent,  and  that  this  world  is 
given  to  Jesus  Chnst,  and  that  Satan  is  to  be  bound  a 
thousand  years,  I  can  give  way  to  no  such  sensations. 
Dark  may  be  the  hour ;  but  darkness  never  prevents  the 
introduction  of  light. 

As  we  leave  our  shores,  and  go  to  the  Fatherland,  and 
there  see  what  wonders  God  hath  wrought  within  half  the 
time  allotted  to  us ;  what  progress  the  permissive  bill  has 
made  in  the  hearts  of  rulers  and  people ;  how  large  and  in- 
fluential is  the  Church  of  England  Society ;  what  crowds 
of  children  and   youth  are  gathered  and  instructed  in 


354  TEMPERANCE   RECOLLECTIONS. 

Bands  of  Hope;  what  floods  of  valuable  publications  the 
Scottish  League  and  Edinburgh  Societies  are  pouring  over 
the  land ;  as  we  look  into  the  princij)ality  of  Wales,  and 
see  there  20,000  gathered  at  a  temperance  meeting,  and  ad- 
dressed by  some  of  the  most  talented  and  devoted  minis- 
ters of  Christ;  as  we  look  into  Ireland,  and  see  plainly 
the  footsteps  of  Father  Mathew,  and  his  spirit  still  hover- 
ing over  that  warm-hearted  but  excitable  nation;  at  the 
British  army  and  navy,  where,  at  one  period,  a  temperance 
society  was  unknown,  but  where  it  is  now  frequently  wel- 
comed, and  rejoiced  in ;  no  rational  man,  understanding  the 
influence  of  moral  causes,  can  be  brought  to  feel  that,  while 
England  lives,  the  cause  can  be  otherwise  than  prosper- 
ous and  powerful.  Indeed,  the  life  of  England  is  much  in 
the  temperance  cause ;  far  more  than  in  anything  else  on 
which  she  may  place  her  dependence.  Rum  and  beer  are 
the  cause  of  ignorance,  poverty,  and  crime  which  may  be 
dragging  her  down  to  death.  These  put  away,  she  has 
piety  and  trust  in  God  sufficient  to  save  and  prolong  lier 
existence  to  distant  ages. 

Every  missionary  station  on  the  globe  is  a  sure  guar- 
anty for  Africa,  Asia,  and  the  Islands  of  the  Sea.  As  the 
Gospel  goes  around  the  world,  so  now  will  temperance. 
As  soon  would  Christian  missions  give  up  the  fundamental 
principles  of  their  faith  and  practice,  as  they  would  yield 
their  attachment  to  the  principles  and  practices  of  temper- 
ance. But  as  all  success  is  the  result  of  action,  we  say, 
"  Be  not  we  weary  in  well-doing,  for  in  due  season  we 
shall  reap,  if  we  faint  not."  Africa,  Asia,  and  the  verdant 
spots  in  the  ocean  like  the  Sandwich  Islands,  will  taste  the 
blessedness  of  our  great  enterprise. 

Just  released  from  the  war  at  home,  we  may  ask  for 
rest;  but  when  better  prepared  for  battle  than  when  we 
have  our  armor  on  ?  when  better,  than  on  retiring  from  a 
fallen  foe,  whom  we  once  thought  unconquerable  ?     Rum 


CERTAINTY   OF   TKIU^IPH.  355 

and  slavery  Avere  looked  upon  as  permanent  evils,  to  be 
continued  long  as  the  sun  and  moon  should  endure ;  but 
He  who  opened  the  way  for  his  people  out  of  Egypt,  hath 
now  broken  the  chain  of  the  oppressor,  and  suffered  four 
millions  of  his  people  to  go  free ;  and,  if  we  do  our  duty, 
no  future  generation  shall  see  half  a  million  of  its  number 
falling  into  drunkard's  graves.  A  view  of  15,000  children 
and  youth,  on  Boston  Common,  last  June,  marching  un- 
der the  temperance  flag,  confirmed  me  in  the  belief  that 
all  our  children,  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  may 
easily  be  induced  to  become  total  abstainers.  While  our 
Temperance  Orders  have  wisely  secured  to  themselves 
needed  pecuniary  means,  by  the  payment  of  weekly  dues, 
the  admirable  essays  of  Dr.  Charles  Jewett  on  "  Wheke 
WE  Are,  ant>  .What  we  Need,  have  awakened  all  open 
organizations  to  the  necessity  of  a  pecuniary  basis,  and,  I 
trust,  secured  them  from  positive  distress  and  peril  in  the 
future. 

To  the  Church  we  may  look,  in  this  day  of  the 
Redeemer's  power,  to  purify  herself  from  the  great  abom- 
ination, and  to  lead  the  nations  in  the  way  they  should  go. 
Our  judiciary  has  been  the  hope  of  the  destroyer ;  plead- 
ing for  liquor-dealers'  rights.  But  there  is  a  God  above, 
as  well  as  a  god  below ;  and  judgment  and  justice  will 
not  always  go  backward.  The  late  decision  of  the  Su- 
preme Court  of  the  United  States,  blasting  the  hopes  of 
the  venders  in  Massachusetts,  that,  on  their  paying  their 
excise  tax  to  the  General  Government,  no  prohibitory  law 
of  the  State  could  shut  them  up,  we  receive  with  thank- 
fulness. It  inspires  us  with  confidence,  as  did  the  old  de- 
cision, that  we  are  right  and  shall  prosj^er. 

If  those  who  x^eruse  these  few  reminiscences  have  half 
the  pleasure  I  have  had  in  recording  them,  I  shall  be  satis- 
fied. Another  life  I  should  be  willing  to  spend  in  the 
cause ;  insuring,  as  it  does,  the  relief  of  thousands  from  sin 


356  TEMPERANCE   RECOLLECTIONS. 

and  vice,  and  aiding  in  the  salvation  of  immortal  souls. 
But  it  may  not  be.     We  do  all  fade  away  as  a  leaf 

Toward  my  early  companions  in  labor,  still  among  the 
living,  I  look  with  peculiar  emotions.  If  they  were  once 
the  men  who  "  would  turn  the  world  upside  down,"  busy- 
bodies  in  other  men's  matters,  intruders  upon  personal  and 
domestic  habits,  they  have  lived  to  receive  the  gratitude 
of  the  wise  and  good  throughout  the  world ;  and  have 
given  a  beautiful  illustration  in  their  o^vn  persons  of  the 
connection  between  temperance  and  longevity,  and  not 
only  longevity,  but  activity  and  vivacity.  Some,  as  Pier- 
pont  and  Hunt,  are  doing  public  service ;  some,  as  Hewitt 
and  Hawes,  yet  making  their  voices  heard  from  the  pul- 
pit; some — Tappan,  Sargent,  Walworth,  Delavan — yet 
wise  in  council,  rejoicing  in  hope,  ready  for  a  translation 
at  the  Master's  bidding.  May  their  mantles  fall  upon 
many  who  shall  be  as  bold  and  vigorous.  To  the  new 
National  Society,  State,  County,  and  Local  Organizations ; 
to  Sons  of  Temperance,  Good  Templars,  Rechabites,  Bands 
of  Hope,  a  voice  comes,  "  Fear  not."  *'  Be  of  good  cour- 
age, and  play  the  men  for  our  people,  and  for  the  cities  of 
our  God."  •  "  More  are  they  that  are  for  us  than  they  that 
are  against  us."  May  heaven,  friends,  strengthen  and  bless 
you,  and  reward  you  abundantly ;  and  it  shall  be  done,  as 
you  make  God's  glory  the  great  end  of  all  your  action. 


APPENDIX. 


TEMPEEANOE  PKmCIPLES. 

The  following  principles  were  nnanimously  agreed  upon  by  the 
Convention  at  London,  as  forming  the  basis  of  the  temperance 
reformation  in  all  countries,  and  throughout  the  world  : — 

Besolved.,  "That,  in  the  opinion  of  this  Convention,  as  a  means 
of  extending  the  temperance  reformation,  the  following  truths 
should  be  spread  throughout  the  world,  and  the  temperance  men 
and  temperance  organizations  be  exhorted  to  give  them  the  widest 
possible  extension. 

"  That  Alcohol,  the  intoxicating  principle,  is  a  subtle  poison, 
at  war  with  the  physical,  intellectual,  social,  and  religious  interests 
of  men. 

"  That  it  is  generated  by  the  process  of  fermentation,  and  is  the 
same,  as  existing  in  different  degrees,  in  cider,  wine,  and  malt 
liquors,  as  in  distilled  spirits. 

"  That  it  is  a  perpetual  fountain  of  disease,  poverty,  crime, 
temporal  and  spiritual  death,  never  needful  or  useful  to  men  in 
health,  in  any  clime  or  any  employment. 

"  That  total  abstinence  from  it,  as  a  beverage,  is  the  only  true 
principle  of  the  temperance  reformation ;  .the  only  hope  for  the 
drunkard,  and  security  for  others. 

"  That  the  whole  manufacture  and  sale  of  intoxicating  drinks 
as  a  beverage,  though  a  source  of  revenue  to  thousands,  is  a  manu- 
facture of  human  misery,  and  highly  injurious  to  the  souls  and 
bodies  of  men ;  and  should  not  be  licensed  more  than  other  moral 
evils,  by  human  governments. 

I  "That  the  Word  of  God  often  prescribes  total  abstinence  to 
tivoid  existing  evils ;  and  that  the  spirit  of  Christian  love  directs  us 
to  shun  wine,  or  anything  whereby  our  brother  stumbleth,  or  is 
bffended,  or  is  made  weak. 

<  "  That  a  voice  comes  up  from  every  part  of  the  globe,  calling 
hpon  kings,  and  all  that  are  in'  authority,  upon  reflecting  and  in- 
Juential  men  of  all  classes,  upon  parents,  teachers  of  youth,  medi- 
cal men,  ministers  of  religion,  and  all  true  lovers  of  their  race,  to 
-put  forth  the  hand  and  stay  the  plague  which  is  filling  our  world 


358  APPENDIX. 

with  Avoe,  and  which,  unless  chocked,  will  continue  to  sweep 
thousands  of  succeeding  generations  prematurely  and  wretchedly 
to  eternity." 


SPEECH  AT  COVENT  GARDEN  XnEATRE,  AUGUST  9, 

184G. 

Me.  Chaieman:  There  is -not  a  more  beautiful  figure  in  the 
sacred  Scriptures  than  that  handed  down  to  us  from  one  of  the 
old  prophets  which  represents  the  Gospel  as  a  little  stream  reach- 
ing first  to  the  ankles,  then  to  the  knees,  and  as  it  fiows  onward 
becoming  broad  and  deep,  a  mighty  river  ditlusing  joy  and  blessed- 
ness among  all  nations.  Almost  every  favor  which  has  been 
be>to\ved  upon  our  world,  has  been  small  in  its  beginning.  The 
first  mornmg  ray ;  the  little  sapling  ;  the  beautiful  infant,  all  how 
small  and  yet  how  expansive  and  glorious.  The  Church  of  Christ 
was  once  in  an  upper  chnmber.  The  glorious  Reformation  of  the 
sixteenth  century  was  at  one  period  all  in  the  heart  of  a  single 
monk.  For  twenty-six  years  your  Wilberforce,  that  man  beloved 
in  America,  and  whose  memorial  rushes  upon  us  as  we  come  in 
sight  of  your  shores — the  land,  we  said,  of  "Wilberforce ;  yes,  for 
twenty-six  years  he  pleaded  the  cause  of  bleeding  Africa  before 
humanity  and  truth  could  begin  to  prevail  over  the  horrors  of  the 
slave-trade.  In  no  work  of  mercy  under  the  Gospel,  it  is  believed, 
have  the  waters  risen  so  rapidly  and  spread  so  widely,  and  diffused 
so  great  joy  and  blessedness  as  in  that  which  is  now  delivering 
our  world  from  the  curse  of  Intemperance.  But  yesterday  it  was 
a  little  rivulet,  though  of  the  purest  water ;  now  millions  have 
quenched  their  thirst  and  bathed  their  limbs,  and  ai-e  healed  of  their 
wounds,  and  with  thanksgiving  to  God  will  it  increase  and  roll 
onward  to  the  ocean  of  eternity. 

Sir,  I  know  not  what  to  say  in  so  short  a  time  as  you  have 
given  me.  Intemperance !  Why,  Sir,  if  this  curse  had  come  upon 
us  in  any  way  but  through  the  delusive  gratification  of  appetite  or 
pecuniary  gain,  the  earth  would  have  been  clothed  with  sackcloth. 
A  blast  6r  mildew  which  should,  year  by  year,  cost  this  nation 
thirty  millions  sterling,  would  raise  an  universal  cry  of  ruin,  and 
yet  intemperance  costs  you  sixty  millions  a  year.  A  Nero  or 
Caligula,  who  should  strip  six  hundred  thousand  of  the  popula- 
tion of  food  and  clothing,  and  habitations  and  lands,  and  turn 
them  out  to  be  a  moth  and  a  curse  to  the  community,  would  be  a 
tyranny  which  not  even  Rome  in  her  most  degenerate  days  would 
have  borne;  and  yet  it  is  the  tyranny  of  Intemperance.  Or  had 
some  dreadful  spirit  been  let  loose  from  the  bottomless  pit,  with 
power  to  cripple  the  moral  and  physical  energies  of  men,  waste 
their  affections,  and  excite  to  the  commission  of  every  abomina 
tion  and  crime  ;  you  would  plead  for  wings  that  you  might  fly  to 


APPENDIX.  359 

some  distant  planet  for  safety  to  yourselves  and  your  children. 
And  yet  such  a  spirit  infests  every  gin-shop  in  London.  Look  at 
its  victim  !  What  a  wreck  of  man !  Look  at  his  family  !  Look  at 
him  on  his  hed  of  straw,  dying  amid  delirium  tremens  in  all  the 
agonies  and  despair  of  hell.  See  that  burning  ship  on  the  ocean 
in  the  darkness  of  midnight ;  see  the  ilames  rolling  up  on  high, 
the  rigging,  the  sails  all  on  fire,  and  behold  those  human  beings 
rushing  to  and  fro  on  the  deck  in  all  the  agony  of  wild  despair 
plunging  into  the  yawning  deep — only  a  faint  image  of  30,000 
drunken  men  and  drunken  women  in  America,  and  60,000  in 
Britain  hurried  frightfully  year  by  year,  all  on  fire,  to  the  bar  of 
God.  And  yet  for  this  tremendous  evil,  whose  magnitude  no 
mind  can  grasp,  there  is  a  cure ;  a  cure  so  easy,  so  simple,  tliat 
like  the  jDro.ud  Syrian  we  despise  it ;  costing  us  nothing  but  the 
sacrifice  of  pride  and  fashion  and  momentary  gratification  of  ap- 
petite ;  saving  us  everything,  money,  health,  morals,  domestic 
quiet,  and  public  prosperity,  and  preparing  the  way  of  the  Lord 
among  all  people.  And  I  say  (excuse  me,  Sir)  I  say  it  is  our  duty 
to  adoj)t  it,  it  is  the  duty  of  England,  it  is  the  duty  of  America;  it 
is  the  duty  of  the  church.  It  is  the  duty  of  the  world  ;  and  if  we 
cannot  fasten  this  on  the  conscience,  we  cannot  do  anything. 

Sir,  there  wa"s  a  beautiful  anecdote  related  in  our  papers  of 
your  youthful  Queen,  I  think  in  the  first  year  of  her  reign,  which 
gave  us  in  America  a  high  opinion  of  her  Majesty,  which  I  can 
assure  you  has  in  no  degree  diminished  (Loud  and  long  applause, 
and  waving  of  handkerchiefs.)  It  was  this  :  As  one  of  her  ministers 
was  urging  upon  her  Majesty  the  expediency  of  a  measure,  her 
Majesty  turned  to  him  and  said:  "  My  lord,  talk  not  to  me  of  ex- 
pediency ;  is  it  right?"  Novr,  Sir,  I  should  like  to  put  to  her 
Majesty  and  her  Majesty's  Government  the  question :  Whether, 
when  so  much  drunkenness  and  pauperism  and  crime  prevail  in 
this  realni,  it  is  right  for  the  manufacturing  of  it  to  go  on,  and  for 
the  government  to  derive  a  revenue  from  it  ?  "Whether  it  is  right  for 
all.  from  the  throne  to  the  children  in  the  Sunday-scliool,  to  keep 
up  those  drinking  usages  which  result  in  this  misery  ?  I  should  like 
to  put  it  to  every  minister  of  the  Gospel,  whether  when  these  intoxi- 
cating liquors  do  more  than  anything  else  to  harden  the  heart, 
sear  the  conscience,  hinder  the  spread  of  the  Gospel,  and  send  souls 
unnumbered  to  eternal  death,  it  is  right  for  ministers  of  the  Gospel 
to  use  them  ?  I  should  like  to  put  it  and  must  put  it  to  every 
philanthropist  and  patriot,  to  every  father  and  mother,  whether  it 
is  right  to  continue  in  the  use  of  that  which  may  give  thousands 
of  children  and  their  own  children  the  inheritance  of  a  drunkard's 
life,  and  a  drunkard's  eternity  ? 

Sir,  many  tell  us  moderation  is  temperance.  Moderation  is 
temperance  until  the  steam  is  up;  and  then  the  locomotive  dashes 
on  with  such  fury  that  you  cannot  overtake  it ;  and  wife  and 
children,  and  fortune  and  happiness  are  all  dragged  ©nward  and 


360  APPENDIX. 

dashed  in  picocs.  Sir,  it  is  not  moderate  drink,  but  it  is  total  abeti- 
nence  from  all  that  intoxicates  tliat  is  the  only  true  principle  of 
temperance.  And  avo  have  to  fasten  this  truth  upon  the  con- 
sciences of  men  and  women  in  America,  that  as  good  men  and 
women,  having  the  fear  of  God  before  our  eyes,  we  dare  not  drink, 
for  wo  feel  "  that  to  him  that  knoweth  to  do  good  by  abstinence 
from  such  evil,  and  doeth  it  not,  to  him  it  is  sin."  And  we  adopt  the 
same  principle  in  relation  to  the  traffic.  For  a  beverage,  it  is  all 
wrong.  The  supply  creates  the  demand.  When  the  intoxicating 
cup  was  on  all  our  tables  and  sideboards  we  were  ever  craving  it, 
and  ever  using  it ;  now  that  it  is  removed  we  seldom  think  of  it. 
So  it  will  be  in  England.  So  it  will  be  round  the  globe.  Renounce 
the  traffic,  that  scourge  of  the  world,  and  men  will  return  with 
delight  to  the  pure  beverage  which  God  hath  given  them.  Sii*, 
great  things  are  to  be  accomplished.  Through  the  help  of  the  Lord 
God  Omnipotent,  we  will  deliver  our  world  from  this  scourge, 
intemperance.  Then  the  kingdoms  of  the  world  will  speedily 
become  the  kingdoms  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour,  Jesus  Christ.  My 
God,  hasten  the  day.    (Loud  cheers.) — London  Patriot. 


TESTIMONIALS. 

At  the  closing  up  of  the  affairs  of  the  American  Temperance 
Union,  the  undersigned  were  appointed  by  the  Executive  Commit- 
tee to  express  their  appreciation  of  the  services  of  the  Secretary  of 
the  Society,  Rev.  John  Marsh,  D.  D. 

For  nearly  thirty  years,  Dr.  Maesh  has  toiled  in  this  glorious 
cause,  with  a  devotion  and  persistence  that  is  truly  commendable. 
"We  cannot  here  review  his  labors.  But  we  believe  that  his  peri- 
odicals have  been,  decidedly,  the  most  able  temperance  papers  in 
the  United  States.  The  millions  of  tracts  that  have  been* provided 
by  him  for  our  army  have  been  vastly  beneficial. 

His  fidelity  and  ability  have  won  for  him  the  respect  of  some 
of  the  best  and  ablest  men  in  this  country,  and  in  Europe.  Thou- 
sands now  living  are  grateful  for  his  benign  influence,  and  genera- 
tions yet  unborn  will  call  him  blessed. 

W.  W.  Newell, 
Thomas  Denny, 
Committee  of  Exec.  Board  of  the  A,  T.  U, 
New  Yoez,  December  1,  1865. 

A  LIFE  WELL   SPENT. 

BY  REV.  DR.  TYNG. 

The  present  paper  will  announce  the  action  of  the  Executive 
Committee  of  ihe  American  Temperance  Union,  in  transferring 


APPENDIX.  361 

their  influence  and  their  labor  to  a  new  central  association,  formed 
by  the  iSTational  Convention,  which  assembled  in  Saratoga  on  the 
1st  of  Anprust  last.  The  Avisdom  or  necessity  of  this  important 
step  we  will  not  now  question  or  discuss.  But  we  cannot  allow 
the  sun  to  go  down  on  the  labors  of  our  valued  and  venerated 
friend,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Marsh,  without  recording  our  solemn  and 
faithful  testimony  to  the  value  of  his  services  to  the  great  cause 
which  this  Union  has  sustained,  and  to  the  fidelity  with  which  he 
has  labored  for  the  best  welfare  of  his  fellow-men.  For  thirty 
years  have  we  worked  with  him,  and  continued  by  his  side.  His 
earnestness  in  the  cause  has  been  an  unceasing  encouragement, 
and  his  wise  fidelity  an  inestimable  example.  ISTo  man,  in  any 
country,  since  Dr.  Justin  Edwards  left  the  field,  has  written  or 
spoken  with  greater  effect  in  the  cause  of  temperance.  I^o  man 
has  more  thoroughly  understood  the  whole  field  of  warfare,  or 
more  boldly  maintained  the  contest.  His  pen,  in  argument,  has 
been  sharp  and  mighty ;  his  speech,  in  advocacy,  has  been  un- 
flinching and  clear.  The  fire  and  energy  of  youth  have  remark- 
ably endured  with  him,  even  to  old  age.  ISTor  have  we  ever  seen 
his  force  abated  in  the  great  warfare  in  which  he  was  engaged. 
Such  a  man  is  a  true  hero  in  the  great  contest  for  human  happi- 
ness and  freedom.  N'o  one  in  his  generation  more  truly  deserves 
to  be  honored  by  his  companions,  or  commemorated  by  those  who 
come  after  him.  At  the  close  of  a  long  life,  and  of  a  faithful 
career  of  labor,  Dr.  Marsh  retires  from  the  field,  honored,  trusted, 
and  beloved  by  all  who  have  been  united  with  him.  The  Journal^ 
in  his  hands,  has  been  a  fitting  continuation  of  the  Permanent 
Documents  of  Dr.  Edwards.  His  tracts,  prepared  for  various 
classes,  especially  for  the  soldiers  and  sailors  of  the'nation,  have 
been  unsurpassed  by  any  in  point  and  power.  The  army  and  the 
navy  have  acknowledged  the  great  blessing  and  favor  of  his  efibrts. 
The  children  of  two  nations  will  lament  his  separation  from 
the  work  which  has  so  much  interested  and  excited  them  ;  and 
the  multitudes  of  the  wise  and  good  of  the  land,  of  every  class, 
will  remember  his  fidelity  with  honor,  and  think  of  his  use- 
fulness with  delight.  They  who  have  been  most  intimately  asso- 
ciated with  him  value  him  the  most  highly ;  and  the  writer,  one  of 
his  oldest  and  long-tried  friends,  feels  it  to  be  a  privilege,  as  they 
both  draw  near  to  the  close  of  earth,  to  give  his  cordial,  spon- 
taneous testimony  to  his  excellence  as  a  man,  and  his  usefulness  as 
an  agent. 

s.  n.  T. 

December  9,  1865. 

LETTER  FROM  L.  M.   SARGENT,   ESQ., 

.  Boston,  Deceiriber  10,  1865. 
I  thank  you,  my  dear  sir,  for  your  note  of  the  8th,  and  the 
16 


362  APPENDIX. 

kiml  wishes  it  contains.  I  re,:irct  to  learn  tliat  the  Journal  is  to 
be  stoi)i)e(l.  Wliat  are  the  reasons?  Of  one  thing  yon  may  bo 
\ery  well  assured,  that  your  long-continued  and  valuable  labors 
of  humanity  cannot  bo  over-estimated.  Some  of  the  seed  you 
have  scattered,  may  have  fallen  on  stony  places;  but  God's  bless- 
ing has,  doubtless,  caused  mn<;h  of  it  to  spring  up  and  bear  fruit 
abundantly.  When  you  look  back,  in  a  dying  hour,  upon  the  de- 
votion of  your  time  and  talents  to  this  glorious  enterprise,  you  will 
count  all  your  toils  and  trials,  in  this  holy  cause,  among  the  things 
■reminisse  juvahit. 

How  nmcli  would  it  be  worth,  in  gold  or  currency,  to  get  a 
glimpse  for  live  minutes,  and  unobserved,  of  the  group  gathered  in 
some  humble  cottage,  around  the  reformed  inebriate,  with  his  first 
meeting  with  liis  wife,  and  children,  after  years  of  sloth  and  aban- 
donment !  If  you  have  never  witnessed  such  a  scene,  you  cannot 
reasonably  doubt  that  similar  results  have  been  produced  by  your 
efforts  in  the  cause  of  temperance  for  thirty  years. 

Excuse  this  long  letter,  and  believe  me,  dear  sir,  very  sincerely 
your  friend. 

L.  M.  Sargent. 
Rev.  De.  Maesh. 


LETTER  FROM  MR.  DELAYAK 

South  Ballston,  April  2, 1866. 
Rev.  Dr.  Maesh  : 

Dear  Sir, — I  intended  to  have  called  on  you  before  I  left  New 
York.  I  wanted  to  say  to  you  that  I  fully  estimate  your  long  and 
faithful  labors  in  the  temperance  cause.  Aud  as  to  your  forth- 
coming history,  no  living  man,  that  I  know  of,  is  better  qualified 
than  yourself  to  do  the  work.  I  pray  God  that  you  may  be  pre- 
served to  complete  the  work  to  your  own  satisfaction. 

Yours  truly, 
•  Edwaed  C.  Delavan. 

CHANGES  IN  THE  COUNTRY. 

To  those  who  are  confirmed  unbelievers  in  any  good  effected  by 
temperance  labor,  I  present  the  following  extract  from  a  discourse 
delivered  at  North  Coventry,  Ct.,  March  10th,  1859,  by  George 
A.  Calhoun,  D.  D.,  on  the  fortieth  anniversary  of  his  settlement 
among  the  people  of  that  parish.  No  man  has  sustained  a  higher 
character  for  correctness  and  veracity  than  Dr.  Calhoun  : 

"  Forty  years  ago,  there  was  but  little  property  in  this  parish, 


APPENDIX.  363 

or  in  the  county  of  Tolland,  compared  with  what  is  now  possess- 
ed. This  was  apparent,  not  only  from  the  aspect  of  buildings,  or- 
chards, fences,  the  cultivation  of  farms,  and  the  appearance  of  do- 
mestic animals,  but  from  the  furniture  of  dwellings,  and  the  equi- 
pages then  in  use.  There  were,  in  this  parish,  but  four  houses 
painted  white  ;  but  four  floors  covered  with  a  carpet,  and  less  than 
half  a  score  of  four-wheeled  vehicles.  Even  the  expense  of  white- 
wash, as  an  application  to  the  walls  of  houses,  was  incurred  by 
few  of  the  inhabitants.  And  these  were  not  the  only  indications  of 
poverty,  compared  with  the  present.  There  were  few  persons 
who  had  money  at  interest,  or  were  the  possessors  of  stocks,  com- 
pared with  the  number  who  Vv^ere  in  debt,  and  whose  farms  were 
mortgaged.  Even  our  larger  and  smaller  farmers  were  obliged  to 
resort  to  banks  to  save  their  property  from  foreclosures  or  attach- 
ments, to  what  would  now  be  considered  a  fearful  extent. 

"  And  what  was  the  reason  of  this  depression  in  worldly  cir- 
cumstances? The  people  were  industrious,  and,  in  all  respects  but 
one,  frugal.  The  expense  of  living  was  small,  compared  with  that 
at  the  present  time.  Their  gains  toere  consumed,  and  they  loere 
oppressed  ty  the  vse  of  intoxicating  drinTcs.  Think  of  the  annual 
expense  of  manufacturing  and  storing  in  cellars,  fifteen  hundred  or 
two  thousand  barrels  of  cider,  and  then  drawing  it  out  and  bring- 
ing it  forth,  a  quart  at  a  time.  Think  of  the  expense  of  making, 
transporting  to  distilleries,  and  converting  into  cider-brandy,  an 
equal  amount  to  be  consumed  here  and  elsewhere.  Think  of 
the  expense  of  hogshead  after  hogshead  of  rum  retailed  to  this  little 
community  during  the  season  oi,  haying  and  harvesting.  Think  of 
the  expense  of  supplying  various  kinds  of  intoxicating  drinks 
with  which  to  express  their  respect  and  hospitality  to  friends 
who  called  to  see  them.  Think  of  the  expense  of  providing 
these  drinks  abundantly,  for  all  gatherings — civil,  military,  so- 
cial, ecclesiastical,  and  clerical.  Think  of  the  expense  incurred 
at  stores  and  taverns  for  liquors  dealt  out  in  small  measures.  Ex- 
amine the  ledgers  of  our  old  merchants,  and  learn  what  proportion 
of  their  trade  was  in  intoxicating  drinks.  Learn  how  much  idle- 
ness, litigation,  and  crime,  were  then  occasioned  by  their  use. 

"  Could  any  community  secure  a  livelihood  and  gain  wealth 
from  a  rugged  soil,  under  such  a  pressure  ?  This  community  was 
then  composed  almost  exclusively  of  small  farmers,  without  invest- 
ments or  business  abroad.  If  there  were  a  few  individuals  who 
engaged  in  manufacturing,  the  enterprise  to  them  was  a  failure. 
And  is  it  a  matter  of  surprise  that  farms  were  mortgaged,  and  that 
what  would  be  considered  marks  of  poverty  were  seen  over  the 
place  and  the  region  ?  Is  it  a  matter  of  surprise  that  at  least  one 
man  in  every  score  became  a  drunkard,  and  that  not  a  few  women 
were  addicted  to  habits  of  intemperance  ?  Is  it  strange  that  the 
church  had  far  more  cases  of  discipline  from  the  use  of  intoxi^- 
eating  liquors,  than  from  all  other  sources  ? 


364  APPENDIX. 

"  I  licro  present  my  solemn  protest  against  the  conclusion  from 
what  has  been  said,  that  this  pooi>le  were  more  addicted  to  the  use 
of  iiitoxicatinuf  drinks  than  otiier  communities.  Tliey  "were,  com- 
pared -with  people  of  other  towns,  temperate,  sober,  and  religious. 
And,  as  long  as  I  live,  I  .'•hall  cherish  them  in  respectful,  aflection- 
ate,  and  grateful  remembrance.  Uhey  did  not  sin  in  the  use  of  in- 
toxicating drinks,  as  i)ersons  are  now  sinning,  who  in  health  use 
them  as  a  beverage.  They,  in  common  with  all  other  persons  in 
the  country  over,  were  strangely  and  dreadfully  deluded.  Forty 
years  ago,  there  was  probably  not  one  in  five  hundred  who  did 
not  believe  that  the  use  of  intoxicating  drinks  as  a  beverage  was 
absolutely  needful,  and  that  hence  it  was  a  duty  to  make  use  of 
them.  (Since  that  time,  a  flood  of  light  has  been  cast  on  the  sub- 
ject of  temperance,  and  no  community  were  more  prompt  than 
this  in  coming  to  the  light^  that  their  deeds  might  he  rej/roved. 
And,  just  in  proportion  as  they  were  delivered  from  the  oppression 
of  intoxicating  drinks,  their  worldly  circumstances  were  improved, 
and  their  moral  condition  became  more  and  more  eligible.  Within 
the  last  forty  years,  property  in  this  parish  and  in  this  county  has 
increased  fourfold,  if  I  do  not  misjudge.  And  the  county,  in  ap- 
pearance and  enterprise,  is  forty  years  younger  than  it  was  in 
1819. 

"  The  times  of  tl^at  ignorance  God  winked  at ;  but  now  He 
commandeth  all  men  everywhere,  who  use  intoxicating  drinks,  to 
repent.  K  there  is  a  person  who  is  ignorant  of  the  evil  conse- 
quences of  their  use  as  a  beverage,  it  is  his  own  fault. 


PRESIDENT  LINCOLN-'S  ANSWER  TO  THE  SONS  OF 
TEMPERANCE. 

As  to  the  suggestions  for  the  purpose  of  the  advancement  of 
the  cause  of  temperance  in  the  army,  he  could  not  now  respond  to 
them.  To  prevent  intemperance  in  the  army  is  a  great  part  of 
the  rules  and  articles  of  war.  It  is  a  part  of  the  law  of  the  land, 
and  was  so  long  ago,  to  dismiss  ofiicers  for  drunkenness.  He  was 
not  sure  that,  in  consistency  with  the  public  service,  more  can  be 
done  than  has  been  done.  All,  therefore,  he  could  promise  was, 
to  have  a  copy  of  the  address  submitted  to  the  principal  depart- 
ments, and  have  it  considered  whether  it  contains  any  suggestions 
which  will  improve  the  cause  of  temperance,  and  repress  drunken- 
ness in  the  army,  better  than  it  is  already  done. 

Octoler,  18G3. 


APPENDIX.  3G5 


LETTER  FROM  COLONEL  NExVL  DOW. 

Headqitarteks  of  ran  13th  Maine  Regiment,  f 
Camp  Beaufort,  February  1,  lb62.      J 

Dear  De.  MAEsn.— You  cannot  possibly  do  so  much  good  for 
our  country's  cause,  in  any  other  way,  as  in  circulating  among 
the  soldiers  of  our  army  your  admirable  Temperance  Tracts.  If 
our  men  of  wealth  could  only  see  the  eagerness  with  which  they 
are  read,  and  the  salutary  influence  that  they  exert  in  our  camps, 
they  would  furnish  means  to  place  them,  in  any  desired  quantity, 
in  the  hands  of  all  our  men. 

Intemperance  is  a  terrible  enemy  to  the  soldier,  and  kills  far 
more  of  them  than  fall  on  the  battle  field ;  and  it  is  a  great  in- 
terest to  the  country  to  preserve  them  from  its  ioul  contamina- 
tion. My  regiment  suffers  very  little  in  that  way,  as  it  consists  of 
a  select  body  of  men,  and  all  my  ofiicers  sustain  me  fully  in  the 
policy  I  enforce  in  relation  to  it. 

Truly  yours, 

Neal  Dow, 
Ool.  13th  Maine  Volunteers. 


TEMPERANCE  TRACTS  FOR  THE  ARMY  AND  NAVY, 

Of  which  over  three  millions  were  issued. 

Ellsworth  and  his  Zouaves,  License  or  No  License, 

"War  and  Intemperance,  The  Town  Meeting, 

The  Temperance  Soldier,  The  Sentinel  and  the  Spy, 

Beware  of  the  Bottle,  The  Pocket  Tales, 

Havelock  and  His  Crotchet,  The  End  of  the  V>q.v. —  Gibson, 

The  Soldier's  Sacrifice,  Medical  Use, 

The  Soldier's  Crown,  Adulteration  in  Liquors, 

The  Wounded  Soldier,  Blood-guiltiness  of  Rumselling.— 

The  Soldier's  Soliloquy,  Gibson. 

The  Best  Drink,  Wine  Drinking  and  its  Effects.— 

Do  Thyself  No  Harm,  Cleveland. 

The  Sick  Soldier  (Thoughts  of  The  Pledged  Regiment, 

Home). — A  Lady.  Appeal  to  Army  Officers, 

Tract  for  the  Navy,  Lager  Beer, 

The  Temperance  Admiral,  Constitutional    Question, 

The  Polished  Arrow,  Why  Legislate  on  Temperance  ? 

Temperate  Drinking,  The  Lobster  Bite, 
,  Our  Stumbling  Brotli^r — Cnyler.  The  Rum  Maniac. — Alison^ 

Address   of  a  Soldier  to  His  Getting  the  Worst  of  It.— Tl  P. 

Comrades,  Hunt. 


866  APPENDIX. 

PICTORIAL  CHILDREN'S  TRACTS, 

"SVIDELT     CIROCLATED     IN     SUNDAY-SCHOOLS. 

1  The  Upas  Tree,  6  Settling  the  Question, 

2  Beiijaniin  Franklin,  7  Tlie  Rum-seller's  Grave, 

3  Bible  rs.  Intemperance,  8  Out  of  Doors, 

4  The  Monkey  Imitators,  9  The  Jug  Turned  Out. 

5  The  Dragoon  and  His  Horse, 

RECENT  PUBLICATIONS. 

"Nephaliayi'  "Dr.  Mairs'  Letter  to  E.  C.  Delavan,"  "The 
Temperance  Cause ;  "  "  Past  and  Present,  or  Where  we  Are,"  Dr. 
Charles  Jeioett ;  "Considerations  of  the  Temperance  Argument 
and  History,"  B.  G.  Delaran,  John  Vine  Hall,  "True  Temperance 
Platform,"  Trail,  M.  D. ;  "  Drunkard's  Heart  the  Devil's  Palace," 
J,  Marsh. 

OPINIONS  OF  THE  U.  S.  SUPREME  COURT,  ON  THE 
LICENSE  QUESTION,  1847. 

CniEF-JusTiCE  Taxet:  "Every  State  may  regulate  its  own  in- 
ternal traffic,  according  to  its  own  judifment,  and  upon  its  own 
views  of  the  interest  and  well-being  of  its  citizens.  I  am  not  aware 
that  these  principles  have  ever  been  questioned.  If  any  State 
deems  the  retail  and  internal  traffic  in  ardent  spirits  injurious  to 
its  citizens,  and  calculated  to  produce  idleness,  vice,  or  debauchery, 
I  see  nothing  in  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  to  prevent 
it  from  regulating  and  restraining  the  traffic,  or  from  prohibiting 
it  altogether  if  it  thinks  proper." 

Mr.  Justice  McLean :  "  The  acknowledged  police  power  of  a 
State  extends  often  to  the  destruction  of  property.  A  nuisance 
may  be  abated.  It  is  the  settled  construction  of  every  regulation 
of  commerce,  that  no  person  can  introduce  into  a  community  ma- 
lignant diseases,  or  anything  which  contaminates  its  morals,  or  en- 
dangers its  safety.  Individuals  in  the  enjoyment  of  their  own  rights 
must  be  careful  not  to  injure  the  rights  of  others." 

Mr.  Justice  Catron :  •'  I  admit  as  inevitable  that  if  the  State  has 
the  power  of  restraint  by  licenses  to  any  extent,  she  has  the  dis- 
cretionary power  to  judge  of  its  limit,  and  may  go  to  the  length  of 
prohiiyiting  sales  altogether,  if  such  be  her  policy  ;  and  that  if  tliis 
Court  cannot  interfere  in  the  case  before  us,  neither  could  we  in- 
terfere in  the  extreme  case  of  entire  exclusion." 

Mr.  Justice  Daniel  said  of  imports,  that  arc  "  cleared  of  all 


APPENDIX.  367 

control  of  the  government,"  "  They  are  like  all  other  property  of 
the  citizen,  Tvhether  owned  by  the  importer  or  his  vendee,  or  may 
have  been  purchased  by  cargo,  package,  bale,  piece  or  yard,  or  by 
hogsheads,  casks  or  bottles.  If  then  there  was  any  integrity  in  the 
objection  urged,  it  should  abolish  all  regulations  of  retail  trade,  all 
taxes  on  whatever  may  have  been  imported."  In  answering  the 
argument  that  the  importer  purchases  the  right  to  sell  vrhen  he 
pays  duties  to  government,  Mr.  Justice  Daniel  continued  to  say, 
"  ^o  such  right  is  purchased  by  the  importer  ;  he  cannot  purchase 
from  the  government  that  vrhich  it  could  not  insure  him,  a  sale  in- 
dependent of  the  laws  and  polity  of  the  State." 

And  Mr.  Justice  Grier  said :  '.'  It  is  not  necessary  to  array  the 
appaUing  statistics  of  misery,  pauperism,  and  crime,  which  have 
their  origin  in  the  use  or  abuse  of  ardent  spirits.  The  police  power, 
which  is  exclusively  in  the  States,  is  alone  competent  to  the  cor- 
rection of  these  great  evils,  and  all  measures  of  restraint  or  pro- 
hibition necessary  to  effect  the  purpose,  are  within  the  scope  of 
that  authority.  All  laws  for  the  restraint  or  punishment  of  crime, 
for  the  preservation  of  the  public  peace,  health,  and  morals,  are, 
from  their  very  nature,  of  primary  importance,  and  lie  at  the 
foundation  of  social  existence.  They  are  for  the  protection  of  life 
and  liberty,  and  necessarily  compel  all  laws  on  subjects  of  secon- 
dary importance,  which  relate  only  to  property,  convenience,  or 
luxury,  to  recede,  when  they  come  in  contact  or  collision.  Salus 
pojmli  siiprema  lex.  The  exigencies  of  the  social  compact  require 
that  such  law^s  be  executed  before  and  above  all  others.  It  is  for 
this  reason  that  quarantine  laws,  which  protect  public  health, 
compel  mere  commercial  regulations  to  submit  to  their  control. 
They  restrain  the  liberty  of  the  passengers  ;  they  operate  on  the 
ship,  which  is  the  instrument  of  commerce,  and  its  officers  and 
crew,  the  agents  of  navigation.  They  seize  the  infected  cargo  and 
cast  it  overboard.  All  these  things  are  done,  not  from  any  power 
which  the  State  assumes  to  regulate  commerce,  or  to  interfere 
with  the  regulations  of  Congress,  but  because  police  laws  for  the 
preservation  of  health,  prevention  of  crime,  and  protection  of  the 
public  welfare,  must  of  necessity  have  full  and  free  operation,  ac- 
cording to  the  exigency  that  requires  their  interference.  If  a  loss 
of  revenue  should  accrue  to  the  United  States  from  a  diminished 
consumption  of  ardent  spirits,  she  will  be  the  gainer  a  thousand 
fold  in  the  health,  wealth,  and  happiness  of  the  people." 

Thus  all  the  judges  of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court  re- 
affirmed and  corroborated,  the  decisions  of  each  subordinate  Slate 
Court,  that  the  entire  control  of  the  sale  of  intoxicating  drinks  is 
within  the  legitimate  province  of  the  State  Legislature.  And  this 
control  is  not  limited  to  any  mere  regulations  or  partial  restric- 
tions, but  extends  to  the  entire  prohibition,  whenever  the  Legisla- 
ture of  any  State  think  such  legislation  essential  to  the  public  wel- 
fare. 


368  APPENDIX. 

DECISION  OF  THE  U.  S.  SUPREME  COURT, 
MARCH  20,  186G. 

Case  of  Massachusetts  vs.  JoJin  Maguire. 

Maguire  plead  tliat  he  had  a  rip^ht  to  keep  and  sell  intoxi- 
cating li(piors,  tliough  the  State  law  forbade  him,  on  the  ground 
that  lie  had  paid  his  license-tax  levied  by  the  General  Government. 
The  State  Court  decided  he  had  no  riglit  to  sell.  The  case  was  re- 
ferred to  the  Supreme  Court.  Great  expectations  were  raised  by 
the  liquor-dealers.  But  the  decision  was  affirmed.  The  Court 
said :  "  The  sixty-seventh  section  of  the  act  of  Congress  enacts, 
that  no  license  hereinbefore  provided  for,  if  granted,  shall  be  con- 
strued to  authorize  the  commencement  or  continuation  of  any 
trade,  business,  occupation,  or  employment  therein  mentioned, 
within  any  State  or  Territory  of  the  United  States,  in  w^hich  it  is 
or  shall  be  specially  prohibited  by  the  laws  thereof,  or  in  violation 
of  any  State  or  Territory." 

The  decision,  it  was  estimated,  would  carry  dismay  to  a  vast 
number  of  convicted  liquor-sellers  whose  sentences  had  been  sus- 
pended during  the  pendency  of  this  appeal. 


DEPARTED  LABORERS. 

The  names  of  good  men  who  have  founded  and  urged  on  this  moral 
temple  shall  live  in  the  hallowed  recollections  of  millions  of  men,  of  high 
and  spotless  honor,  when  the  blackness  of  darkness  has  extinguished  the 
hosts  of  its  opponents  in  everlasting  obhvion. 

DR.   S.   H.    TTNG. 

Armstrong  Rev.  Lebbeus,  Essays  on  Temperance  Reformation,  Fulfil- 
ment of  Prophecy,  ob.  1860. 

Archer  Hon.  Stephenson,  Chief-Justice  of  Maryland,  President  State 
Temperance  Society,  ob.  July,  1848. 

Baird  Rev.  Robert,  D.  D.,  ob.  March  15,  1863.     61. 

Bartlett  Charles,  Poughkeepsie,  May,  1857. 

Beecher  Lyman,  D.  D.,  Litchfield,  Ct.,  author  of  six  sermons  on  the 
nature,  evils,  and  remedies  of  intemperance,  ob.  at  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  Jan- 
uary 10,  1863.     87. 

Brantley  Rev.  T.  W.,  Philadelphia. 

Briggs  Hon.  George  N.,  N.  Y.,  Governor  of  Massachusetts,  President 
Congressional  Temperance  Society,  ob.  at  Pittsfield,  September  13,  1861. 
65. 


APPENDIX.  369 

Caldwell  Prof.,  Dickinson  College,  attended  "World's  Convention,  ob. 
June,  1848. 

Chapin  Calvin,  D.  D.,  Rockyhill,  Ct.,  author  of  "Total  Abstinence  the 
only  Infallible  Antidote,"  ob.  March  17,  1851.     88. 

Chipman  Samuel,  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  visited  all  the  jails  and  poor- 
houses,  ob.  March  5,  1814.     76. 

Clarke  Rev.  Daniel  A,,  Bennington,  Yt.,  a  powerful  temperance  preach- 
er, wrote  "  Reminiscences  of  a  Ruined  Generation." 

Clarke  Billy,  formed  the  first  temperance  society  at  Moreau,  N.  Y., 
1808. 

Christmas  Rev.  Joseph,  Montreal,  a  poet,  died  young. 

Collins  Deacon  A.  M.,  merchant,  Hartford,  Ct., 

Coffin  J.  P.,  a  powerful  pleader,  ob.  February  17,  1863.  Reclaimed  ten 
thousand  inebriates. 

Dickinson  Rev.  Austin,  "  Appeal  to  Youth,"  ob.  August  15,  1849,    53. 

Dickinson  Rev.  Baxter,  "Alarm  to  Distillers  and  their  Allies." 

Doolittle  Hon.  Mai-k,  Belchertown,  Mass.,  statesman. 

Downer  Rev.  D.  R.,  New  York,  wrote,  "  Intemperance  the  Destroyer," 
ob.  1840, 

Day  Orrm,  Catskill,  N.  Y.,  refused  carrying  liquor  for  freight ;  gave  one 
hundred  dollars  a  year  to  supply  foreign  missionaries  with  temperance 
journals. 

Day  Edgar  B.,  as  a  firm  and  munificent  promoter  of  the  temperance 
cause,  gave  same  for  missionaries,  and  was  much  devoted  to  the  young. 
Ob.  22d  November,  1863.     60. 

Edwards  Justin,  D.  D.,  Andover,  Mass.,  Corresponding  Secretary  Amer- 
ican Temperance  Society,  ob.  July  26,  1863.     66. 

Fisk  Rev.  Wilbur,  President  Wesleyan  University,  Middletown,  Ct,  ob. 
March,  1839. 

Foote  Andrew  H.,  Rear- Admiral  U.  S.  Navy,  first  introduced  total  ab- 
stinence in  the  Navy,  and  induced  his  whole  crew  in  the  flag-ship  Cumber- 
land to  dispense  with  their  grog.  He  fought  many  naval  battles.  Ob.  in 
New  York,  June  26,  1863.     57. 

Frelinghuysen  Hon.  Theodore,  President  Rutgers  College,  N.  J.,  ob.  12th 
April,  1862.     75. 

Grimke  T.  S.,  Charleston,  S.  C,  ob.  1 838.     Great  writer. 

Grant  Moses,  deacon,  Boston,  Mass.,  the  Children's  Friend,  ob.  July 
23,  1861.     75. 

Griswold  Charles,  Lyme,  Ct.,  ob.  1840.     Early  Advocate. 

Hawkins  John  H.  W.,  Baltimore,  the  great  reformer,  ob.  July  26, 
1854.     60. 

16* 


870  APPENDIX. 

Hitchcock  Edward,  President  Amherst  College,  great  writer.  Ob.  Feb- 
ruary 27,  18C4.    11. 

Hudson  Commodore,  U.  S.  Navy,  of  great  influence  for  temperance  in 
the  service. 

Humphrey  Heman,  D.  D.,  President  Amherst  College,  author  of  "  In- 
temperance and  the  Slave  Trade  Compared,"  and  many  other  works.  Ob. 
atPittsfield,  Mass.,  April  20,  18G1.     80. 

Ives  Ansel,  M.  D.,  New  York,  an  active  promoter  in  the  early  stages. 
Keener  Christian,  Baltimore,  editor  Maryland  Herald. 
Lcavitt  John  W.,  merchant,  active  and  bountiful. 
Mitchell  Prof.  0.  M.,  astronomer,  general  in  the  army,  an  eloquent  ab- 
stainer.    Ob.  at  Hilton  Head,  October  81,  1862. 

Mason  Anthony,  Union  Springs,  N.  Y.,  ob.  April  6,  1863.     59. 
Merrill  Rev.  David,  author  of   Ox  Discourse,  lived  in  Ohio.    Ob.  at 
Peacham,  Yt.  1850.     62. 

Nott  EUphalet,  President  Union  College,  author  of  "  Temperance  Lec- 
tures."   Ob.  1866.     93. 

Nott  Samuel  R.,  Galway,  N.  Y.,  "  Temperance  and  Religion,"  one  of 
the  most  influential  books. 

Noyes  W.  C,  eminent  lawyer,  one  of  Ex.  Com.  A.  T.  U.  Ob.  Decem- 
ber 23,  1864. 

Phelps  Anson  G,,  merchant,  N.  Y.,  converted  under  Dr.  Hewitt's  first 
sermon.  Chairman  Ex.  Com.  A.  T.  U.     Ob.  May,  1858.     82. 

Pond  Hon.  Judge  S.  M.,  devoted  to  the  cause.  House  a  home  for 
lecturers.  Had  more  temperance  works  and  statistics  than  any  other  man. 
Ob.  August,  1850. 

Potter  Alonzo,  D.  D.,  Bishop  of  Pennsylvania,  author  of  tract,  *' Drink- 
ing Usages."     Ob.  at  San  Francisco,  Cal.,  August  4,  1865.     65. 
Reese  D.  M.,  M.  D.,  New  York,  ob.  1861.     60.    Great  speaker. 
Savage  Hon.  John,  Chief-Justice,  Utica,  N.  Y.  Ob.  October,  1863.   84. 
Sewall  Dr.  Thomas,  M.  D.,  author  of  "  Drunkard's  Stomach  Plates." 
Ob.  April  10,  1859. 

Silliman  Benjamin,  Prof.  Chem.  Yale  College.  Ob.  November  24, 
1864.    85. 

Stewart  Alvan,  Utica,  N.  Y.,  great  political  writer. 
Stuart  Prof.  Moses,  ob.  at  Andover,  January  4,  1852.     11. 
Sigourney  Mrs.  Lydia  H.,  Hartford,  Ct.,  "  Only  this  Once,"  "  The  Upas 
Tree,"  "  The  Intemperate,  a  Tale."     Ob.  July  10,  1865.     74. 

Tappan  Arthur,  merchant,'N.  Y.,  ob.  at  New  Haven,  July,  1865.    80. 
Tappan  W.  B.,  a  sweet  temperance  poet,  ob.  at  Boston,  of  cholera, 
1859. 


APPENDIX.  311 

Thurston  Rev.  David,  Maine,  Father  of  Temperance,  ob.  July,  1865.  96. 

Tabor  Azor,  State  Senator,  eloquent  defender  of  the  cause  in  Albany, 
N.  Y.     Ob.  June,  1858. 

Taylor  Elisha,  long  Corresponding  Secretary  New  York  State  Temper- 
ance Society.     Ob.  at  Cleveland,  0. 

Teal  Oliver,  Syracuse,  N.  Y. 

Terry  Seth,  lawyer,  Hartford,  Ct.,  Vice-President  Am.  Temperance 
Union.     Ob.  1865. 

Tew  Thomas,  Providence,  E..  I.,  long  a  successful  State  agent.  Ob. 
August,  1850. 

Yan  Loon  Charles,  an  extraordinary  young  advocate,  Poughkeepsie, 
N.  Y.    Ob.  November,  1849. 

WaiTen  John  C,  M.  D.,  Boston,  an  eminent  surgeon,  and  thirty  years 
President  of  the  Massachusetts  Temperance  Society.    Ob.  May  14,  1856. 

Wayland  Francis,  D.  D.,  President  of  Brown  University,  Providence, 
R.  I.,  an  eminent  writer.     Ob.  1865.     65. 

Wilder  S.  Y.  S,,  Bolton,  Mass.,  owner  of  the  well-conducted  farm.  Ob. 
in  N.  J.,  March  3,  1865.     85. 

WiUiams  Hon.  Thomas  Scott,  Hartford,  Chief-Justice  of  Connecticut, 
President  State  Temperance  Society.     Ob.  December,  1861.     84. 

Woods  Leonard,  D.  D.,  Prof.  Theological  Seminary,  Andover,  Mass., 
Chairman  of  Ex.  Com.  of  American  Temperance  Society.     Ob.  80. 

"Wilkinson  Robert,  eminent  lawyer,  in  Poughkeepsie — once  reformed — 
active  member  of  first  National  Convention.     Ob.*  1863. 

Woodward,  Samuel  B,,  Insane  Hospital,  Worcester,  Mass.,  "  Treatise 
on  Asylums  for  Inebriates." 

ENGLISH. 

Buckingham  James  Silk,  first  brought  Temperance  before  Parliament, 
and  procured  the  great  Temperance  Report ;  travelled  round  the  world,  and 
lectured  on  Temperance.     Ob.  1861. 

Miller  Professor,  Edinburgh,  author  of  "Alcohol,  its  Place  and  Power." 
Ob.  1864. 

Parsons  Rev.  Benjamin,  author  of  Anti-Bacchus.     Ob.  1855. 

Sturge  Joseph,  Esq.,  Birmmgham,  a  great  supporter  of  the  cause.  Ob. 
1859. 

Jeffreys  Arch-deacon,  Bombay,  ob,  in  England,  of  cholera,  September 
9,  1849. 

Alexander  Richard  Dykes,  Ipswich,  England,  printer  and  distributor  of 
tracts.     Ob.  January  IG^  1866.     77. 


372  ATPENDIX. 

Eaton  Joseph,  (a  Friend),  gave  liberally  to  the  cause  at  hia  death.  Ob. 
May  26,  1858. 

Mathew  Father,  Ireland,  ob.  1856. 

Cassell  John,  London,  much  in  America.  Ob.  April  2,  1865.  44.  A 
great  publisher. 

Swindlchurst  Thomas,  Preston,  ob.  1861. 

Spenser  Rev.  Thomas,  ob.  1853. 

A  TESTIMONIAL  FOR  LONG  AND  USEFUL  SERYICE. 

"We,  the  undersigned,  impressed  with  the  value  of  the  long  and  self- 
denying  labors  in  the  cause  of  Temperance  which  have  been  performed  by 
the  Rev.  John  Marsh,  D.  D.,  deem  it  just  and  due  to  him,  to  offer  some 
fitting  and  appropriate  Testimonial  of  our  appreciation  of  his  services  in . 
that  cause,  and  of  his  character  as  a  mkuster  and  a  man. 

The  undersigned  deem  this  expression  needful  and  called  for — 

Because,  Dr.  Marsh  has  labored  faithfully  and  usefully  in  the  Temper- 
ance cause,  through  a  period  of  more  than  thirty  years,  in  doing  good  to 
others,  for  a  very  inadequate  compensation  ;  and 

Because,  the  organization  of  the  National  Temperance  Convention,  held 
last  summer  at  Saratoga  Springs,  has  superseded  the  American  Temper- 
ance Union,  whereby  Dr.  Marsh,  who  has  been  the  faithful  Secretary  of 
the  Union,  from  its  formation  by  the  National  Temperance  Convention  held 
at  Saratoga  Springs  in  1836,  has  been  compelled  to  close  his  long  and 
useful  labors,  of  which  the  country  has  reaped  the  benefit,  and  for  which  he 
has  received  merely  a  scanty  support. 

The  undersigned  cordially  and  heartily  commend  the  object  of  this 
testimonial  to  the  friends  of  Dr.  Marsh,  with  the  respectful  request  that 
any  sums  they  may  be  willing  to  contribute,  may  be  transmitted  by  mail, 
or  otherwise,  to  the  address  of  Thomas  Denny  &  Co.,  Wall  street,  New 
York,  who  have  kmdly  consented  to  receive  them  for  the  purpose  design- 
ed, and  for  which  the  proper  acknowledgments  will  be  duly  returned. 

Thomas  De  Witt,  D.  D.,  William  A.  Booth, 

Stephen  H.  Tyng,  D.  D.,  Hon.  R.  H.  McCurdt, 

Bishop  E.  S.  Janes,    "^  Thomas  Denny, 

Joshua  Leavitt,  D.  D.,  W.  H.  Bidwell. 
New  York,  January  1,  18G6. 

The  followmg  sums  have  been  received  up  to  April  1. 

William  A.  Buckingham,  Norwich,  Ct 8100 


APPENDIX.  373 

Gen.  William  Williams,  Norwich,  Ct $100 

James  Lenox,  New  York 100 

Samuel  F.  B.  Morse,  New  York 100 

Joseph  Battell,               "          100 

Thomas  Denny,               "          100 

WilUam  E.  Dodge,         "          100 

S.B.Chittenden,           "         100 

S.  Marsh,                        "          100 

H.  B.  Claflin,                 "          100 

John  Tappan,   Boston 100 

Hon.  Thomas  W.  WilUams,  New  London 50 

Samuel  WiUiston,  East  Hampton,  Mass 50 

H.  C.  Marquand,  New  York 50 

R.H.  McCurdy,           "         :.  50 

Stewart  Brown,           "         50 

H.  K.  Corning,            "         50 

C.C.  North,                "        50 

The  Church,  Orange,  N.  J 50 

Rev.  P.  H.  Fowler,  Utica,  New  York 10 


FORSYTH'S  "CIOERO." 


%  Irlu  f  if^  of  Ciura, 

BY  WILLIAM  FORSYTH,  M.  A.,  Q.C. 

With  Twenty  Illustrations.     2  vols,  crowu  octavo.     Printed  on  tinted  and  laid 
paper.     Price,  $5.00. 


The  object  of  this  work  is  to  exhibit  Cicero  not  merely  as  a  Statesman  and 
an  Orator,  but  as  he  was  at  home  in  the  relations  of  private  life,  as  a  Husband, 
a  Father,  a  Brother,  and  a  Friend.  His  letters  are  full  of  interesting  details, 
which  enable  us  to  form  a  vivid  idea  of  how  the  old  Romans  lived  2,000  years 
ago ;  and  the  Biography  embraces  not  only  a  History  of  Events,  as  momentous 
as  any  in  the  annals  of  the  world,  but  a  large  amount  of  Anecdote  and  Gossip, 
which  amused  the  generation  that  witnessed  the  downfall  of  the  Republic. 

The  London  Athenceum  says :  "  Mr.  Forsyth  has  rightly  aimed  to  set  before 
us  a  portrait  of  Cicero  in  the  modern  style  of  biography,  carefully  gleaning 
from  his  extensive  correspondence  aU  those  little  traits  of  character  and  habit 
which  marked  his  private  and  domestic  life.  These  volumes  form  a  very 
acceptable  addition  to  the  classic  library.  The  style  is  that  of  a  scholar  and  a 
man  of  taste." 

From  the  Saturday  Review : — '*  Mr.  Forsyth  has  discreetly  told  his  story, 
evenly  and  pleasantly  supplied  it  with  apt  illustrations  from  modem  law, 
eloquence,  and  history,  and  brought  Cicero  as  near  to  the  present  time  as  the 
differences  of  age  and  manners  warrant.  *  *  *  These  volumes  we  heartily 
recommend  as  both  a  useful  and  agreeable  guide  to  the  writings  and  character 
of  one  who  was  next  in  intellectual  and  political  rank  to  the  foremost  man  of  all 
the  world,  at  a  period  when  there  were  many  to  dispute  with  him  the  triple 
crown  of  forensic,  philosophic,  and  political  composition." 

"  A  scholar  without  pedantry,  and  a  Christian  without  cant,  Mr.  Forsyth 
seems  to  have  seized  with  praiseworthy  tact  the  precise  attitude  which  it  behoves 
a  biographer  to  take  when  narrating  the  Hfe,  the  personal  life,  of  Cicero.  Mr. 
Forsyth  produces  what  we  venture  to  say  will  become  one  of  the  classics  of 
English  hiograpliical  literature,  and  will  be  welcomed  by  readers  of  all  ages  and 
both  sexes,  of  all  professions  and  of  no  profession  at  all." — London  Quarterly. 

"  This  book  is  a  valuable  contribution  to  our  Standard  Literature.  It  is  a 
work  which  will  aid  our  progress  towards  the  truth ;  it  lifts  a  corner  of  the  veil 
which  has  hung  over  the  scenes  and  actors  of  times  so  full  of  ferment,  and 
allows  us  to  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  stage  upon  which  the  great  arama  was 
played." — North  American  Review. 

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FROUDE'S  ''ENGLAND. 


f\5tm  of  (Ditgltuiy,  from  the  M  0f  TMsq  ta  i\t  ieiiff 
fif  (glijabdlj. 

By  James  Anthony  FnouDE,  M.  A.,  late  lu-Ilow  of  Exetor  College,  Oxford. 
From  the  fourth  London  edition.  In  crown  octavo  vols.  Price,  $:3.00  per  voL 
{The  first  six  volumes  of  this  edition  now  ready;  the  other  volumes  icill 
follow  shortly. 

Vols.  I.  to  IV.  Reign  of  Henry  VIII.  Vols.  V.  and  VI.  Reigns  of  Edward 
VI.  and  Mary.     Vols.  VII.  and  VIII.  Reign  of  Elizabeth. 

Mr.  Froude  h,as  shown  in  his  admirable  history  what  new  results  may  be  de- 
rived, even  in  the  most  beaten  track,  from  a  thorough  investigation  of  the 
original  authorities.  His  researches  have  thrown  a  flood  of  light  over  the  per- 
sonal character  of  Henry  the  Eighth  and  his  relation  to  the  great  event  of 
modern  history,  the  Reformation  of  Religion  in  Europe  and  the  British  Isles, 
that  it  would  be  in  vain  to  seek  elsewhere.  His  views  often  run  counter  to 
received  opinions,  but  they  are  always  supported  by  a  weight  of  eviueuce  and 
a  classic  polish  of  style  that  place  him  high  in  the  rank  of  modem  historians. 

The  work  has  received  the  most  favorable  notices  from  the  leading  English 
journals,  and  has  already  passed  through  four  editions  in  England.  The  vast 
amount  of  fresh  and  authentic  materials  which  the  author  has  brought  to  bear 
on  the  periods  of  which  he  writes,  give  his  work  an  interest  and  value  beyond 
any  previous  history  of  the  same  events. 

*'  "We  read  these  volumes  with  the  pleasure  derived  from  interesting  materials 
worked  up  in  an  attractive  form." — Ediiiburgh  Review. 

"  The  style  is  excellent ;  sound,  honest,  forcible,  singularly  perspicuous  Eng- 
lish ;  at  times  with  a  sort  of  picturesque  simplicity,  pictures  dashed  oflF  with 
only  a  few  touches,  but  perfectly  alive.  .  .  .  We  have  never  to  read  a  pas- 
sage twice.  .  .  .  We  see  the  course  of  events  day  by  day,  not  only  the 
more  serious  and  important  communications,  but  the  gossip  of  the  hour.      .     . 

".  .  .    If  truth  and  vivid  reality  be  the  perfection  of  history,  much  is  to  be 
said  in  favor  of  this  mode  of  composition." — London  Quarterly. 


^n\t,  m  ||il05,aglrer,  latmt  anlj  "^ml 

With  an  analysis  of  the  Divina  Commedia,  its  Plot  and  Episodes.     By  Pro- 
fessor BoTTA.     1  vol.,  crown  8vo.     $2.50. 

The  ^N'eio  York  Evening  Post  says : — "We  have  seen  a  portion  of  this  work, 
and  regard  it  as  decidedly  the  best  account  of  the  poet  that  has  appeared  in  the 
English  language.  It  is  careful,  learned,  discriminating  and  eloquent,  written 
in  terse  and  eloquent  English  that  is  remarkable  in  the  pen  of  an  author  not 
native  to  our  soil.  The  analysis  of  the  poem  is  full  and  philosophical,  alive  with 
Italian  enthusiasm,  yet  calm  and  truly  catholic  in  its  humanity  and  tnist.  It 
will  do  more  than  anything  within  reach  to  answer  the  question  that  so  many 
are  now  asking  :  "  Who  is  this  Dante,  whose  name  is  now  so  much  on  the  lips 
of  scholars,  but  who  is  as  much  in  the  dark  to  most  of  us  as  the  dark  ages  in 
which  he  lived  ?  "  -"c 

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