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' 1

^RMANENT /

X.EMPERANCE DOCUMENTS

tf9 IS!

MPERANCi: SOCIETT.

VOL. I.

BOSTOK:

8ETH BUBS, 5 CORNHtLL; AND PERKINS, MARVIN, AND CO.

114 WASfflNGTON STREET.

Rw tork: j. p. ErAVBir,14B hamau strxet; aitd leatitt, lord akd

CO., CORNER OF BROADWAY AKD JORK STREET. PRULADRUPHEA :
BKVRT PRRKIKS, 169 CRRSTNtTT STREET. BALTIMORE: JORV W. TIL-
TUID, SOtfTB CALyRRT STREET. WASHIlfGTOK, D. C. : JOHH JCEKKSDT,

rBXH. AvsirirB. cikcikkati: trytmait akd smith, maik street.

SOLD ALSO BT VART OTHER BOOKSELLERS ARD OTHERS, THRMrCWRHTT

van ^oim'so '#yj»c8.

1 8 »5.

•^>.

(

9 / TABLE.

■

>J3

ne gill of liquor per
day, is

"o,

•«4

he quart per day, is

hree cents per day
for liquor, ia

tx centa per day for
liquor, ia

•a

o
.5

welve centa per day
for liquor, ia

ifteen centa per day
for liquor, is

iehteen centa per
day for liquor, ia

wentv-one centa peF
day tor liquor, ia

1
wenty-five centa per
day for liquor, ia

O
Gal.

Gal.

O
Gal.

D.C.

10 95

31 90

33 85

43 80

64 75

65 70

76 65

91 35

114

188

31 90

43 80

65 70

87 60

109 50

131 40

153 30

183 50'

138

171

373

38 85

65 70

98 55

131 40

164 35

197 10

339 95

373 75

184

338

364

43 80

87 60

131 40

175 30

319 00

363 80

306 60

365 00

330

385

455

54 75

109 50

164 35

319 00

373 76

338 50

383 35

456 25

376

343

546

65 70

131 40

197 10

363 80

338 50

394 30

459 90

547 50

332

399

637

76 65

153 30

338 95

306 60

383 35

459 90

536 55

638 75

368

456

728

87 60

175 30

36Si80

350 40

438 00

535 60

613 30

730 00

414

513

819

98 55

197 10

395 65

394 30

493 75

591 30

689 85

831 35

110

460

570

910 109 50

319 00

338 50

438 00

547 50

657 00

766 50

913 50

131

506

637

1001130 45

340 90

361 35

481 80

603 35

733 70

843 15

1.003 75

133

558

J84

•93 131 40

SK8 80

394 30

535 60

657 00

788 40

919 80

1.095 00

13
14

•^

Aa3143 35
(374 153 20

!^70
&I6 6^

497 05
458 90

'S69 40

.711 75
, «665Q

854 10
^80

996 45
1.073 JIO,

1.186 35
1.277 59
1.368 75

^60Q

.855

,1365

16r!$

338 50

493 75

83136

fflsso

1. 149 7^

736

913

1450

175 30

ISS0 40

fJSSIW

.876;^

H05IJ9O

MMOIO

L460 00

187

783

968

1547

186 15

373 30

558 45

744 60

930 75

1.118 90

h303 05

1.551 35

198

838

1036

1638

197 10

394 30

591 30

788 40

985 50

1.183 60

1,379 70

1.643 50

309

874

1083

]729|306 05

316 10

634 15

833 30

1.040 35

1.348 30

1.456 35

1.733 75

330

930

1140

1830 319 00

338 OC

657 00

876 00

1.095 00

1.314 00

1.533 00

1.835 00

331

966

1197

1911 329 95

359 90

689 85

919 80

1.149 75

1.379 70

1.609 65

1.916 35

343

1013

1357

2008:340 80

381 80

733 70

963 60

1.204 50

1.445 40

1.686 30

3.007 50

353

1058

1311

2093

251 75

403 70

755 55

1.007 40

1.359 35

1.511 10

1.763 95

3.098 75

364

1104

1368

2184

362 70

435 70

788 40

1.051 30

1.314 00

1.576 80

1.839 60

3.190 00

375

1150

1435

22751273 65

447 50

831 35

1.095 00

1.368 75

1.643 50

1.916 35

3.381 35

386

1196

1483

3366

284 60

469 40

854 10

1.138 80

1.433 50

1.708 30

1.993 90

3.373 50

397

1343

1539

2457

295 55

491 30

886 95

1.183 60

1.478 35

1.773 90

3.069 55

3.463 75

306

1388

1596

3548! 306 40

513 30

919 80

1.336 40

1.533 00

1.839 60

3.146 30

3.555 00

l39

319

1334

1653

3639 317 45,

535 10

958 65

1.370 30

1.587 75

1.905 30

3.333 85

3.646 25

(30

330

1380

1710

3730 338 40

557 00

985 50

1.314 00

1.643 50

1.971 00

3.399 50

2.737 50

This table is designed "ha a help to all cIrsbcs of spirit drinkers, firom the
man who uses his gill per day, to the man who uses his pint, and the
one who uses his quart, and closes the day in a state of intoxication.
Each df these classes may, by inspection of this table, see the quantity
they wiU drink in one, two, or five years, and so on to thirty.

We have also calculated the expense of drinking, from one to thirty
years at difierent sums per day, from three to twenty-five cents. Few
persons who spend three, six, or twelve cents per day, are aware how
fast the amount increases, or of how many comforts they deprive them-
selves, by their habit of small expenditures. One thing, however, must
be noticed in the expense part of this table ; no interest is added to the
principal, and no calculation is made for loss of time, &c. These would
greatly increase the respective sum total. — Temp. Rec,

(S^ All communications, relative to the ffeneral concerns of the Amer-
ican Temperance Society, may be addressed to the Rev. Justin Edwards,
Corresponding Secretary, AimovER, Mass.

(t^ Donations and the payment of subscriptions, and all communica-
tions with regard to money, may be sent to Hon. Gsoftas ODioftNXi
Treaswrtr qf&e Societtf^ 97 Milk Street, BoBton.

CONTENTS.

PART I.

Covnection beti^i^een 'Error in Principle and Immorality in Practice^ 1 } GooaeqnencM fhtal, T ;
Tatimony of Fhyvicians, Jurista and Diyinet, S ; State prerioiu to the Temperance Refbmif
K\ Gieat Cliange, d s Origin of the American Temperance Society, 6 ; Teatimony to the Ben*
eftt* of kbetmence, 7 ; '< The Well-conducted Farm,** 8 ; Formation of the Amwican Teniper- "-
tnccBociely, 11 \ Address of the Executive CommiUee, 12; The InfUIihle Antidote, 14; N»>
tionilFhilanthropIsi, 15 ; Temperance Association In Andover, 15; Agents, 15; Temperance
Pid>Ucat\ons, 16 ; Resolutions of the Massachusetts Society fbr Suppression of Intemperance,
17; Testimony of Kittredge and Beecher, 18 ; Testimony of Medical Societies, 31 ; State of
Things at the close of 1827, 22; Operations and Success in 1828, 23 ; Kittredge's Addrtas at
the Annual Meetiag, 24 ; State of Things at the close of 1829, 27 ; Decrease of Mortality, 28 ;
Increased Success oi the Gospel, 28 ; Commencement of the Temperance Eefbrmation in
Europe, 29; Operations and Success in 1830, 30 f l^limohy of Members of Congress, 32;
Testimony of the President of the United States, 32 ; Testimony of the Secretary of War, 32 ;
Desertions from the Army, 33 ; Reform in the Army, 33 ; RefiMrm in the Na^, 34 ; Refnrm in
Merchant Vessels, 35 ; Eflftets of Ardent Spirit on Seammi, 36 ; State of the Reformation at
the close of 1830, 38 ; Efifects of one Man's using a Little daily, 39 ; Eilhcts of another Maa*s
using None, 39; Drunhards reclaimed, 40; Great Benefits from small Expenditures, 41 ; Tes-
timony of Physicians, 42 ; Persons prevented from becoming Drunkards, 44 ; Expense of per-
soading Men to abstain fh>m the Use of Ardent Spirit o<»ipared with the Expense of taking
Care of those who use it, 45 ; The Good which may be eflbcted by $10^000, 45 ; Reasons why
more Drunkards are not reformed, 46 ; Established Principle of Law, 47 ; TMtlmony of Mer>
...^haiita, 47 ; Principle of the Divine Government, 48 ; The great Hinderance to the Temperance
Refbrmation, 49 ; Belief of the Churches, 50 ; Success of the Cause, 50 ; Publications on the
Iinnnorality of. the Traffic, 51; Progress of Reform fai Foreign Countries, 52; Prospects of
Extending through the World, 52; Things to be avoided, 53 ; Dealers In Ardent Spirit tai fofur
Cities, 53 ; Benefits of Temperance Societies, 50 ; Character of those who continue in the
Traffic, 56 ; Testimony of the New Tork State Committee, S7 ; OfciJections stated and answer-
ed, 58.

AppBin>ix. — Nature and Origin of the Use of Ardent Spirits, 63 ; Lunatics in Dublin and
Liverpool, 64; Statements in ^ The WeU-couducted Farm," 66 ; Origin of the Massachusetts
Society for Supiwession of Intemperance, 68 ; Error corrected, 69 ; Judge Parker's Letter, 70 ,
Judge Hallock's Decision, 70 ; Desertitms from the Army, 71 ; Gtoneral Jones's Statement, 71 ;
General Gaines's Statement, 71; Lieut. Gallagher's Sutement, 72; Dr. Sewall's Letter, 73;
Br. Warren's Remarks, 74 ; Letter from a Gentleman of the Army, 75 ; Judge Cranch's State-
ment, 76 ; Connection between Temperance and Religion, 81 ; The Iniquities of the Fathers
Tiaited upon the Children, 85 ^ Testimony of Dr. SewaU, 86 ; Testimony of Forty Physicians,
39 'j. Dr. Hosaek's Statements, 91 ; Dr. Hale's Essay, 91 ; Dr. Aldea's Address, 95 ; Testimony
of Fhysieians in Scotland and Ireland, 97 ; Dr. Clelaad'% TaUes, 97 ; Deaths by Ardent Spirits,
98 ; Judge Cranch's Statement, 98; Barbour's Statement, 99; Resolutions of Ecclesiastical
Bodiea, 89 ; London Temperance Society, 100 ; Viiginia Association to abstain from Tea, 103.

PART IL

Truths established by the Fourth R^ort, 111 ; Opinion of a Member of Congress, 111 ; Cir-
colation of the Fourth Report, 112 ; Testimony of old Men, 113; Report re-published in Great
Britain, 116; hard Chancellor's Declaration, 116 ; Formation of the British and foreign Tem-
perance Society, 117 ;xEflbct of Strong Drink In producing the Cholera, 118 ; Guilt of these who
s« Ardent Spirit, 119 ; Comparison with die Slave Trade, 190 ; Conneecion with BurUBg, 120$
ChanceUor Walworth*! Opinion, 121 ; Meeting at Washington, 122; WlrTi Taatimoay, 123}

CONTBNT&

fteMdntiOM and Addre« of AuMricui Temperance Bociety, 186 ; National Cfrcnlar, 127 } Cer-
reapondinf Becretary, 128 j Proftasor Ware's Teatimonyf 129 } Preaident Wayland*a Inqniriea,
129 } Preiklent Flake** Addra« to Church Membera, 132 } Uickinaon'a AdTice, 133 j Beecher's
AddreM to the Young Men of BoateD,l34( Jndfe Daggett** Declaration, 135; Opinion of
Judge Cranch, 135; Ii^aatice of the Trafflg in \jtoy ^^^rit. is6; The Rnm-eelling Church
Member, 137 ; Venders of Ardent Spirit in the City of Washington, 138 ; Confession of a Be*
tailer, 138 ; Wives murdered by their husbands, 139 ; Children murdered by their Fathers, 141 ;
Loaa of the Rothsay Captle, 142; Commodore Biddle*s Letter, 143 ; Letter from an Officer in
the AnBy, 144; Maasachuaetta Lunatic Asylum, 145 ; Demoralixing Effltct of the Traffle in
Ardent Spirit, 146 ; Circular concerning Churches, 147 ; Connection between T^mperanoe and
ReUgioB, 149} Influence of Church Members who traffic in Ardent Spirit, 150 ; Testimony of
the British and Foreign Temperance Society, 161 ; The Great Obstruction to the Temperance
Befonnation, 153 ; Churches in which are no Members in the Traffic, 156 ; Family Temperance
fiocietlea, 155; Facts in the SUte of New York, 156 ; TaTem Keepera ruined, 156; Temper-
ance TaTcma, and Groceriea, 160; Progress of the Cause and its Results, 161 ; The Bebbath
the proper Time to speak i^pon it, 162 ; Duty of Ministers and Churches, 163; Temperance
BodeHea i» Africa and the Sandwich Islands, 164 ; Couclualon, 166.

An«in>ix.---Edgar*s Speech, 173; Wealthy Dninkarda, 174; Higgln*s Letter, 176; Jeraey
Temperance Social, 176 ; Licenses inglasaow. 177 ; Britiah and Foreign Temperance Society,
178; Maryland State Temperance Society, 180; Address of the Bishop of London, 181 ; Na-
tional Circular, 186 ; The Immorality of_^fiJrafflc,198 ; Letter, 221 ; Reaolntiona of Ministers
of the Goepel, 222 ; Extract from the Minutes of the General Assembly, 222; The danger of
aelllng Ardent Spirit, 223; Temperance Ellbrts in China, 224 ; Important Decision in Chan-
cery, 224 ; Tax on the Sale of Ardent Spirit, 226; The sale of Ardent Spirit a Nuisance, 225 i
Beneflta of Abstinence flrom the uae of Intoxicating Liquor, 226.

PART III.

Truths eatabUshed in the laat two Reports, 227 ; Number of. copies printed in this country,
988 J TesttaDOBiy of distinguished men concerning them, 228 ; Object of those Reports, and of
the preaent, 229; Additional Ageata, 230; Circnlar tat Simnltaneooa MeetiBgs, 231; Order
ftem the War Department, 235; Teatimony of a diatinguisbed Jurist, 235; Testimony of a
Mail Contractor, 236} Testiouwx gf Thomas Jefltosyn, 237; Testimony of the Secretary of
the NaTy, 238; Teatimony of Naval Officers, 239; Bribery of Electors by Candidates fbr
office, 240 ; General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 241 ; General Assembly of
the Presbyterian Church, 242; General Association of New Hampshire, 243; General Asso-
ciations of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Maine, 244 ; American Quarterly Temperance
Magazine, 244 1 Cook*s Bpeedi at the Capitol in Washington, 246 ; Testimony of a European
writer, 248 ; Conduct of a Millwright, and of a Miller, 249 ; Doings of Legislatures, 260 ; Sale
iif Ardent Spirit treated as immoral, 261 ; Churches free fit>m traffickers in ardent spirit, 252 ;
A great Mistake, 263 ; Testimony of a gambler, and a vender of lottery tickers, 254 ; Temper-
ance eflbrts in tiie City of New York, 256; Circular fbr a United Statea Convention, 256;
Meeting at the Capitol In Washington, 297 ; Formation of the American Congressional Tem-
^»erance Society, 269; Simultaneous Meetings in Great Britain, 260; Addreas of John Wilke,
Esq. M. P., 260; Address of the Bishop of Chester, 261 ; Address of P. Crampton, Sol. 6en»
fbr Inland, 262; English Temperance Magazine, 263; Insurance of Temperance drips, 264;
Drunkards ceasing to use intoxicating drinks, 266 ; The way to render refbrmation permanent,
369; The great hindrance to the Temperance R^bnnatlon, 270; License laws mordly and
politically wrong, 271 ; Licenae laws promote intemperance, 271 ; Licenae laws iiOnrloas to
the wealth of a nation, 272; Testimony of a country merchant, 274; Teatimony of a dty
merchant, 276; Amount lost by the traffic in ardent spirit, 276; Beneficial usee to which it
Wight be applied, 277 ; The traffic in spirit injnrious to the puUic he•lti^ 278 ; The traffie in
■piitt mdnelfvs 0t Cholera, 281 « The trsffie inapirit ii^urioip to intellect and tomprala, 282}
BoBMBs why it prednoaa each eflbds, 283; Obatactoa te the Temperance Refermatioo, 886 ;
iJBMai hiss vtefcoMh 287 ; License lawa without HMndatioa, 888 } Lteenae laws highly expcsn-
artve, 869; Lioawe tem detdoMOtal to AgriciiltiMB> 891 1 Jii4is Ptottls Opinioa, 883; The
Turning Point, 294.

CONTENTS.

Appihbix.— ^Extracts firom Gerrit Smith's Addreaa, 900 } Extract! from Judge Platt*i Ad-
tm, 905; Eztracto from Preaident Fiik*s Addraia, 906 ; Laws of Maasachuaetta •gainat Ld-
teries, and letJen pipea, 316 j United Sta.tea Temperance Conventioni 917 •, Rggaojlt ftw <*flmg^
plyisf witli the Reaolutiona of the ConTentioUf 326 ; Extracta of a len^fli>m a gentleman M
Washington, 328 ; Conatitution of the Am. Congreaaional Temp. Bocietyf 929; Reduction of
Taxfli, 390 ; Letter from a merchant i^ Alabama, 991 ; Letter fix>m the Sandwich lalanda, 998 }
Facts with regard to Catokill, 999; New Tork State Report, 998; General Aaaociation oT
Mawachmetta, 938 ; Lawa which licenae the traiBc in ardent apirit morally wrong, 998.

PART IV.

Avpidoos indicationa of the preaent time, 998 j Ottlect of fbrming the American Temper-
ance Society, 941 ; State of Temperance in 1899, 942 } Meeting of the United Statea* Temper^
anoe Cmvention, 942 ; Convention fai Maaaachuaetta, 949 ; ConTontlon in New York, 944;
CoBTeoticoa in Ohio, Mtoaiaaippi, and Kentucky, 345; CouTentiona in Vermont, Maine, and
New Jeney, 946 ; Congreaaional Temperance Meeting, 946 ; Conventionfl in Pennaylvania,
MjMouri, and Delaware, 950 ; Preaent state of the Temperance cause, 952 ; Inaurance <m
Temperance veasels, 369 ; Drunkards refbrmed, 955; Temperance Talea, 957 ; The price of
blood, 960 ; Conacience and the apirit Tender, 962; Temperance in England, 971 ; Temperance
in Sweden, 372 ; Temperance in Ruasia, 979 ; Temperance in India and Alhca, 974 ; Temper-
ance in New Holland, 875; Reporta of the American Temperance Society; 376; Opiniona of
Jnristo and Stateamen, 880; Remarka in a London Magexine, 982 ; Traflte in ardent apirit for^
bidden by the Bible, 384 ; Principlea inTolred, 996 ; Effecta on Crimea, 987 ; Effects on lifis, 408 ^
Traffic dishonest, 406 ; TralBc destroys the soul, 408 ; Lettoa fit>m England, 412 ; Resolutiona
of American Temperance Society, 416; Reaolutiona of Eccleaiaatical Bodiea, 418; Teatimony
oTEditorB, 418 ^ ObjecUona, 422 ; Addreaa to Moderate Drinkera, 425 ; Addreas to Venders, 426>f
Addiess to Miniatera of the Goapel^ 428 ^ Addreaa to Members of Churches, 493.

AppKnniXv^American Congressional Reaolutiona, 440; Extracta ttom the Addreaa of Hoft.
B. F. finder, 441 ; Extracta fh>m the Addreaa of Hon. H» L. Pinckney, 443; Extracta from
Gerrit Smith's letter^ 449 ; Extracta from CMpman*a Report, 448 ; Summary of ReauHa of tha
New Tork State Temperance Society, 460^ Amwlcaa Temperance Union, 450i

PART V.

Alcohol, the product of Tinoua fermentation, 455 ; Tha prooeaa-of extracting it, 4M; Opin-
ions of its Medical ▼irtuea, 457; DiatiUed Uquar introduced as a drink, 458; Reaaoaa whgr
men continue to drink it, 450 ; Reaaona why they continue to inereaae the quantity, 461 ; The
way in which Alcohol cauaea death, 469 ; Ita efibcto on in&nt ddldren, 464 ; The testimony of
God, with regard to it, 465 ; Violation of principle, and ita results, 467 ; Efibcts of Alcohol on
tlie8oa],469; Ita production of pauporlam and crime, 470; Ita eflhcta in counteracting the
efficacy of theGoapel, 473; Ita polluting and hardening influence upon the heart, 479; State
ofthe Temperance Refbrmation in the U. S., 474 ; Do. in Great Britain, 475 ; Efibcta of abati-
nenoe from all intoxicating drinks, 476 ; J. S. Buckin^am's statement, 484 ; Addiesa to tha
Dnmkarda of Great Britain, 485 ; Progress of Temperance in Sweden, 486 ; Do. in Rnaaiai
Finland, and India, 487 ; Do. in Bormah and Sumatra, 488 ; Do. in Egypt, 488; Plan of flitura
opentioiM, 481 ; Dr. Mussey*s Prise Essay, 484 ; Experiments In the Auburn State Prison, 484 ;
Otlker experiments, 495; The best ]nt>tection against diseases, 486; Effects of Alcohol on the
Cholera, 486 ; Testimony of Physicians to water, as the proper drink for man, 487 ; Testimony
tf aearbring men, 500 ; Snbatitutea fbr Alcohol as a medicine, 501 ; RestoratiTes from sickness^
M; Extracta from Dr. Lindaly*s Price Essay, 507 ; Efibeta of Alcohol on diildren and on men*
^ i Sobstitates fbr ardent spirit, aa a medicine, 508; In Pyapepsy and in low Typhoid states
of the system, *c 511 } Opinion of Dn^ SawaB, and Warren, 519 ; Reaolutiona af the New
Tork State Temperanee Society, 514.

iNTllOfltTCTlON.

Thk great iMrtiase of tfriiiikeiiiiess^ within the last half centufy, among the pe!io|>lcr
of the United States, led a number of philanthropic indiyidusds, in the year 1^5 to
oonsalt together, upon the dnty of making more united, systematic^ and extended efibrttf
for the prevention of this evil. Its i&hae v^as at once seen to be, the nse of intoxicat'^
ing liquor; and its appropriate remedy^ abttinence. It was also known, that the nae
(ff such ]ic|CK>r, a» a beverogie, is not only needless, but iijorioos to the health, the
virtue, and the hinniinen of niM. It was belieted, that the iaets which had been, and
which mi^ht be eoUected, woald prove this) to the satisfoction of every disinterested and
candid mind ; and that if the knowledge of ihem w«re onivenaUy disseminated it wouldy
with the divine blessing, do much toward changing the habits oi tlie natiott. It was
thought therefore to be proper to make the experiment. For this purpose, was formed
on the ISth of February, 1826, The American Tempkrakce Society. Ittf
dbject is, by the diffhsidfi of infdrmation, the exertion of kind moral influence, and
the power of united^ and coMiritent eitaliiple, to filSect such a change of sentiment and
]Mractioe, that dnftdLennets ahd att its tvib Will c^ase; and temperanocf with its atten^
dant benefits to the bodies aad sods of men, wJN univtersaBy prevail. This ol^ect the
Society has bow pursued for ten years; abd tiie results of its efforts, are presented to
the consideratioB of the oommunity, m the subsequent volusw. It is earnestly desired
that a copy of this volume may be put into the hands of every Preacher, Lawyer, Phy-
sician, Magistrate, Officer of trovernment, Secretary of a Temperance Society, Teach-
«r of youth, and edifcated young knan, throughout the United States, and tnroughout
the worlds

The principle, Ihcts, aadY^ttsonhics CMktahted in this volume, have special reference
to Alcohol, in the form of distilled liquor; but they will app)^ to it, in every other
form, in proportidn to its quantity, the fi^equency wim which it ts used^ and its power
to produce intoxication ; or derodgement of the regtftar and faealtiiy action of the Human
System. The volume is divided into five pails> called Reports^ These, however, are
not so much Reports of the ^geracions of the friends of TeaqMrance and their results^
as Reports of Principles id the Grovemment of God, as illustrated by facts, with regard
to men, which show, that for them to continue to use ardent spirit as a beverage, is a
violation of his laws; and will prove, by its consequences, tnat, ''the way of traiis-'
gressors is hard."

The first part shows that it is immoral to drink such liquw; and the second tliat it
ii immoral to manufacture, vend, or furnish it, to be drank by others. The third part
ahows that the makh^, or isontinuing Of laws vrhich license men to sell ardent spirits
to be used as a beverage, and thus teachinff to the oommimity that the driiriiing oi it is
r^ht, and lowing over it the shield of le^slative sancti<maad supp«Nrt, is also tmmoral.
The fourth part, exhibits those principj«9 of Divioe Revelation, which the above meo'
tioned practices violate ; and the fifth part, shows the manner in whidi Alcohol j when
used as a beverage, causes death to the bodies and souls of men.

Hundreds of mousands of persons of all ages, conditions and enmloymems, in view
of its evils, have c<«sed to use it ; and so fhr as they or others can discover, have been
gteatly benefited by the change. Let all do the same, and drunkenness will universally
and for ever cease. Pauperism, crime, siokaess, insanity, wretchedness, and premature
death, will, to a great extent^ be prevented. Heahh, virtue and happiness will be in-*
creased ; human lifi^ be prolonged ; the eeepel, thro«{^ grace, be more widety extended,
and g^erally embraced; God De mcMro/ highly bonor^, and souls in greater numbers be
fllttminated. purified, and saved.

Each inaividna), therefore, into whose hand this volume may oome, is most respect-
fellj^ and earnestly entreated attentive^ to peruse it; and if he has not already done it,
senousiy to Inquire Wh^fther it is not his daty to renounce for ever the use of intoxicating
drink. He h alao r^uested to commaufcate as eft«eniiv«)Y as possible the knowledge
of the focts which the Vohime eoataitis ; and to labor, in all ioitable ways, to indoM ^
persons to exanplifjf its principles, by a united and cKBistoBt «ianple»

J^^_//-

FOUKTH AWWUAL REPORT.

■UJilMU

The Executive Committee of the American Temperance So-
ciety, having been permitted, throi^h the kindness of the Lord, to
continue their labors in his service, would, as a testimony to his
gixKiaess, present their Fourth Report.

In tlie evils which this Society aims to remove, the connection
between error in principle, and immorality in practice, is strikingly
exliibited. Less than three hundred years ago,* the error began to
prevail in Great Britain, that ardent spirit, as an article of luxury
or diet, or as an aid to labor, is useful. The cause of this error
was, the deceptive feelings of tiiose who used it. Being, in its
nature, a mocker, it deceived them. By disturbing healthy action
and inducing disease, it created an imnatural ^irst ; the gratification
of which, like the gratification of the desire of sinning in the man
who sins, causey it to increase ; and the end is death.

The consequence has been, as stated by a writer in Scotland,
and as illustrated by facts, '^ There is reason to believe, that intem-
perance has cost that country more lives, demoralized more persons,
broken more hearts, beggared more families, and sent more souls to
perdition, than all other vices put together.''

This fatal error, that ardent spirit is for men in health useful, did
not prevail generally ainong the mass of people in this country, tiU
after the American Revolutbn. In that mighty struggle whk^h gave
birth to a nation, and in the numerous hardships and dangers to
which the soldiers were exposed, they were furnished, by the
government, with a portion of this poison, under the. fatal delusion
9)at it would do them good* The consequence was, as, under
similar circumstances, it ever must be, the diseased appetite which
this poison creates, was formed by great numbers ; was carried out
by them, at the close of the war, into the community ; and wias ex*
tended through the country.

At the close of the first half century of our national existence,
this diseased appetite bad become so prevalent as to demand, annu-
ally, for its gratification, more than sixty milli(»i gaUons of liquid
fire. And while it cost the consumers more than thirty million

* Appsitdix, A.

2 ^ '- AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETY.

dollars, it caused more than three fourths of all the pauperism,
crimes, and wretchedness of the community. . It also greatly in-
creased the number, frequency, and violence of diseases ; and,
according to the testimony of the most intelligent and judicious
physicians,. occasioned annually the loss of more than thirty thousand
lives. The loss of property, occasioned by tlie consumption of
ardent spirit, amounted, m forty years, to a. greater sum than tlie
value of all the houses and lands b the United States, forty years
ago. The use of it caused a destruction — and, there is reason to
fear, for both worlds— of more tlian half a million of men.

Though no exact account had been taken in this country, it was
known that it had destroyed the reason of a great portion of all the
maniacs in the land ; and had lessened the reason, as well as weak-
ened the bodies, blunted the moral susceptibilities, and* hardened
die hearts of all who had freely used it.

Of seven hundred and eighty-one maniacs in two hospitals in
Great Britain, three hundred and ninety-two were made such by
intemperance.* And had the bquiry been as carefully made in this
country, the result might have been substantially the same. The
free use of this stimulant had, in many cases, caused a predisposition
to insanity, pot only in those who used it, but in their children,
and children's children. A tendency to this disease, and many
others occasioned by strong drink, had become hereditary, and
was transmitted from g^ieration to generation. A diminution of
size and stature, a decrease of bodily and mental strength, a feeble-
ness of vision, and a premature old age, told of a disease that had
seized on the vitals, and was consuming the eneigies of life. The
use of thi^ liquid was causmg a general deterioration of body and
mind, and was threatening to roll its curses, in broader and deeper
streams, ove^r all future generations.

Yet, notwithstandmg this, such was the nature of this poison,
and such its power to deceive those who used it, that the opinion
was almost universal, that the use of it was salutary, and to laboring
men neediul.

Trotter^ who had as good an opportunity and was as well able
to judge as any man, had indeed said, " That of all the evils of
human life, no cause of disease had so wide a range, or so large a
share, as the use of spirituous liquors ; and that more than half of all
the sudden deaths were occasioned by them ;" — Mid Aitman had
declared, " That art never made so fatal a present to mankind
as the invention of distilling them."

Willan had said, ". That die use of these liquors, in large cities,
produced more diseases than confined air, unwholesome exhala-
tions, and the combined influence of all other evils ;" — and Paris^

• Afpeitoix, B.

FOURTH REFORT. — 1831. 3

"IW the art of distillation must be regarded as the greatest
curse ever inflicted on human nature ; and that ardent spirits produce
more than half of all chronical diseases."

Darwin had testified, " That when chronical diseases arise from
the use of ardent spirit, they are liable to become hereditary, even
to the third generation ; and if the cause is con^nued, to increase
dU the family becomes extinct."

Frank had declared, '^That the use of these liquors ought to be
entirely dispensed with, on account of their tendency, even when
taken in small doses, to induce disease, premature old age, aiid
death ^'^-^ 'Cmd Cheyne had stigmatized them, as bebg ^' most like
opium in their nature and operation, and most like arsenic in their
deleterious and poisonous effects."

Mosely had said, from his own observation, having resided in the
West Indies, " That persons who drink nothing but cold water, or
make it their principal drink, are but little affected by tropical cli-
mates ; that they undergo the greatest fatigue without inconvenience,
and are not so subject as others to dangerous diseases ;" — and Bell,
" That rum, when used even moderately, always diminishes the
strengdi, renders men more susceptible of disease, and unfits them
for any service in which vigor and activity are required ; and tliat
we might as well throw oil into a house, the roof of which was cm
fire, in order to prevent the flames from extending to the inside, as
to pour ardent spirits into the stomach, to lessen the effect of a
hot sun upon the skin."

Munro had declared, ''That a man had no more need of ardent
spirit than a cow, or a horse ;" — ^and Kirk, " That fifteen out of
twenty cases of liver complsdnt were occasioned by the use of it ;
and that men who had always been considered temperate had,
by using it, shortened life more tlian twenty years." He had also
given it as his opinion, that the regular and respectable use of this
poison kills more men tlian dnmkenness itself. Barkhausen had
testified, " That he had known persons afifected even with delirium
tremens, who had never been intoxicated in their whole lives."

Rush had maintained, '' That men in aU kinds of business would
be better without the use of spirituous liqucx^ ; and that there are
but one or two cases in which they can be used without essential
injury ;" — and Chapman, " That the evils of using them are sq
great, that the emptying of Pandora's box was but the type of what
lias been experienced by the diffusion of these fiquors amcMig the
human specks !"

Others had given a similar testimony, and denounced the use of
thepti alt(^ether, except in case of necessity. But, with many
who professed to adopt this rule, the difficulty was, the necessity,
in their estimation, came every day. The consequence was, if
tliey and their cWldren did not become drunkards, they raised no

4 AMERICAN TEWPlTRANCrE SOCrETT.

barrier to dmt tide of drunkenness which was sweeping througK the
land.

Judge Hale, after twenty years' observation and experience, had
declared, " That if all the murders, and manslaughters, and
burglaries, and robberies, and riots, and tumults, the adulteries, forni-
cations, rapes, and other great enormities, which had been commit-
ted within that time, were divided into five parts, four of them
would be found to have been the result of intemperance."

The Sheriff of London and Middlesex had said, " That the evil
which lies at the root of all other evils, is that, especially, of drink-
ing ardent spirit ; that he had long been in tlie habit of hearuig
criminals refer all tlieir misery to this, so that he had ceased to ask
the cause of tlieir ruin, so universally was it effected by spirituous
liquors." And Mr. Poinder, in an examinatiiHi before the Commit-
tee of the House of Commons^ had testified, " That firom facts, that
had fallen under his own observation, he was persuaded that, in all
uials for murder, witli very few, if any exceptions, it would ap-
pear, on investigation, that the criminal had, in the first instance, de-
livered up his mind to the brutalizing effects of spirituous liquoi-s.''
And similar was the testimony from others.

John Wesley had declared, and published to the world, " That
the men who traffic in ardent spirit, and sell to all who will buy, are
poisoi^ers general; that they murder his majesty's subjects by
wholesale; neither does their eye pity or spare. And what," said
lie, " is their gain ? Is it not the blood of tiiese men ? Who would
env)'- their large estates, and sumptuous palaces ? A curse is m tJie
midst of them. The curse of God is on their gardens, their walks,
tlieir groves ; a fire that bums to die nethermost hell. Blood,
blood, is there ; the foundation, the floor, the walls, the roof, are
stained with blood. And canst thou hope, O man of blood, though
thou art clotlied in scarlet, and fine linen, and farest sumptuously
every day, canst diou hope to deliver down the fields of blood to the
ttiird generation f Not so — ^tliere is a God in heaven ; therefore thy
name shall be i*ooted out. Like as those whom thou hast destroyedf,
both body and soul, thy memorial shall perish with thee."

The Friends had prohibited their members from engj^ing in the
traffic in ardent ^irit, and discountenanced the use (A it as an
immorality.

Yet such was the power of ardent ^irit to blind the understand-
ing, sear the conscience, and harden the heart, that, notwithstanding
these, and other similar testimonies fi"om physicians, jurists and
divines, many were engaged in the traffic ; some who professed to
be Christians, who had covenanted to do good, and good only, as
they had opportunity, to all, were making, and, for the sake of gain,
were furnishing to aJl who would purchase, that which tended to ruin
them, and tbeii* children afi:er them, for both worlds. And so de^

IB-OtJMH KfiPORT. — 1831. 5

tHved were the community, that it was generaDjr thought to be
proper. It was licensed by the government, and sanctioned by
Chrisdan churches. Some who were officers in these churches,
and who profess to be ministers of tlie gospel, were actively en-
gaged in fumishing that which tended, with its whole influence, to
prevent the progress of die gospel, and to peri>etuaie spiritual deatli
10 all future generations.

But a great change has been commenced ; and one which, in
the rapidity and extent ef its progress, has no parallel in the history
of man. Already is it spoken of, by tlie wise and die good in tliis
and other countries, as one of the wonders of the world.

"The great discover}'," says a European writer, "has at length
come forth like the light of a new day, that the temperate members
of society ar^ the chief agents in promoting and perpetuating
drunkenness. On whose mind this great trudi first rose, is not
known. Whoever he was, whether humble or great^ peace to his
memory. He has dcme more for the world dian he who enriched
it with the knowledge of a new continent; and poi^erity, to the re-
motest generation, shall walk in the light which he has thrown
around diem. Had it not been for him, Americans and Europeans
might have continued t9 countenance the moderate ordinary use of
a substance, whose most moderate ordinary use is temptation and
danger ; and, amidst a flood of prejudice and temptation, urged on-
ward by themselves, they would have made rules against drunken-
ness, like ropes of sand, to be burst and buried by the coming wave.
Temperance Societies," he says, *' have not only made America truly
the new world, but in a few months they have produced an un-
paralleled change In msmy districts of the United Kingdom."

And sajrs anodier writer, " Temperance Societies have arisen on
our darkness like the cheering star of hope. They now flash across
our £astem hemisphere with the bright and beauteous radiance of
the bow of promise."

And says another writer, " It would be an act of ingratitude

towards our American friends, were we in any degree to throw into

the shade the obligations under which we lie to them for having

originated this noble cause. If the names of Washington and

others are deservedly dear to them for their struggles in the cause

of freedom, there are other names which will descend to the

latest posterity, as the deliverers of their country from a thraldom ■

more dreadful by far than that of any foreign yoke."

** The American Temperance Society," says a writer of our own
country, " has accomplished more good than aaiy other ever formed,
b the same space of time. The precipice over which we were
falling has been described, the alarm has been sounded, an^ we
are Dot lost* Heaven has decreed that we shall not be lost. God
im said to America, as he did of old to ancient Sodom, ' I will save

AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETY.

you, if ten righteous, sober men can be found.' They Irnvfe beevi
found, and we are redeemed."

And says another, ^'The greatest improvement of modem times
consists m the discovery that alcohol, as a beverage, is poison for
the mind, as well as the body ; and the greatest invention of our
day is, that of constructing those moral machines, called Tempe-
rance Societies. They as far exceed steam-engines, railways,
cotton-spiniling machines, inc. as the mind is superior to matter ;
and the bodies and souls of mankind, are of more consequence than
money, and merchandise. We hope, therefore, that the time will
soon arrive, when all the inhabitants of the United States will com*
pose a Temperance Society ; of which every man, woman and
child, who has arrived at years of discretion, will be a member."

Multitudes now believe, that they cannot continue even to use
ardent spirit, without the commission of known and aggravated sin ;
or furnish it for others, without being accessory to the ruin, temporal
and etemaljj of their fellow men. Hundreds of ministers of the gos-
pel, thousands and tens c^ thousands of professed Christians, and
hundreds of thousands of distinguished and philandiropic men, have
become convinced, that the traffic in ardent spirit, as an article of
luxury or diet, is inconsistent with the Christian religion, and ought
to be abandoned throughout the world.

When great changes take place in the natural or moi*al world,
many are anxious to know the cause ; and the means by which
those changes were effected. This is now the case with regard to
the Temperance Reformation. Numerous inquiries have been
made, during the past year, in this and other countries, with regard
to the origin of the iunerican Temperance Society ; and tlie rea-
scMis which led its friends to adopt abstinence from the use cf ardent
^znV, as the first grand principle of their operations.

These inquiries the Ck}mmittee are disposed to answer; both as
a testimony to the divine goodness, and an encouragement to all
who are disposed; in dependence on divine aid, and in the use of
suitable means, to attempt to do all for the benefit of man which
needs to be dohe.

About seventeen years ago, a communk^tion was made by a
member of this Committee, on the evils of using intoxicating liquors
at funerals ; and reasons were presented, why this practice, wbk^h had
become common in some parts of the country, should be doi^
away. One reason was, the tendency of this practice to f»ev«5it
the benefit that might otherwise be derived from providences, and
the religious exercises of funeral occasions. The eiieet showed
that such labors are not in vain in the Lord. The practice de-
clined, and was soon, in a great measure, done away.

Not long after, he made another commuiiicatbn on the evils of
furnishing ardent spirit as an article of entelrtainment, especially to

IPOtniTH REPORT. — ISol. 1

ministers of the gospel ; a practice which was also common, and wm
thought by many to be a suitable expression of respect and kind-
ness toward the ministerial office. The effect of this also was
jungly mai'ked ; and some peisons from that time adopted the
ilan of not using ardent spirit on any occasion* The benefits of
abstinence were striking; facts were collected, and arrangements
made for a more extended exliibition of this subject. Men were
found who had been led by tlieir own reflections, m view of the evil
wliich it occasions, to renounce the use of this poison ; and others
who had never used it. Yet, as a body, they enjoyed better health
than those who continued to use it, were more uniform and consist-
ent in their deportment, and more ready for every good word and
work.

In 1822, a teamster, partially mtoxicated, by using what some
persons, for less, probably, than twenty-five cents, had given him, fell
under the wheels of his wagon, and was cmshed to death. Anoth-
er man, tending a coal-pit, became partially intoxicated, fell asleep
on some straw, and was burnt to death. These events occasioned
t'je delirery of two discourses, viz. one on the wretchedness of in-
lemperate men, and another on the duty of preventing sober men
from becoming intemperate ; that, when the present race of drunk-
ards should be removed, the whole land might be fi*ee. The means
of doing this, the sure means, and the only means, were shown to
be, abstine3ice from the use of intoxicating liquors. This was
shown, by facts, to be both practicable and expedient, and was urged
as the indispensable duty of all men ; a duty which they owed
to God, to themselves, their children, their country, and the
worid.

This doctrine appeared to many to be strange ; excited great at-
tention, occasioned much conversation, and, through the blessing of
the Lord, produced great results. It was again and agab enforced.
A conviction of the duty of abstinence was fastened on many con-
sciences; and it became evident fix)m facts, that this doctrine is
adapted to commend itself to every man's conscience in the sight
of God.

A man, for instance, distinguished for sobriety and influence, said,
"When I first heard the doctrine of abstinence, I did not believe it.
J was sorry to hear it. I thought it was going so much too far, that
it would only do hurt. I was opposed to intemperance as much as any
one, but I thought that the temperate use of ardent spirit was, for
men who labor, in hot weather, necessary. I did not believe that
men could work without. My father used it: though I recollect,
when I was about fourteen years old, two gallons would carry him
and his workmen through afi the business of the season ; and when
lleft him at twenty-one, it took twelve or fifteen gallons to do the
same work. However, I began in the same way, and continued,

8 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETY.

rill I heard that sermon. And 1 then thought, that tlie man who
could say, that all men, in all kinds of business; would be better with-
out the use of ardent spirit, did not understand the subject. How-
ever, I thought of it as I went home — ^I thought of it the next day —
it kept in my mind ; and^ seeing its awful effects among the poor, 1
said to myself, If it is true that men can live without, and would be
better without, it would be a great improvem'ent, and would save
property, character, life and soul, to a great amount. So I resolved
to know whether it is true or not. I resolved, that I would not
use any myself for three months. I said nothing, how^ever, to others^
lest they should think I was becoming wild ; but before the close of
three months, I began to suspect that it is true, I certainly fdt better
than before ; and I resolved to try it three months more. At the
end of six months, I was as perfectly satisfied us I ever was of any
thing, that the idea which I had, and which most men have, that
the use of spirit does good, is a delusion. O," said he, " it is one of
the greatest delusions under which sober men ever were. I after-
wards mentioned it to my workmen, and we agreed that we would
not use any for a year. And now, for almost two years, we have
not used a drop ; and we are all persuaded, that we are vastly bet-
ter without it."

Others tried it, and came to the same result. All whp made the
experiment were satisfied that men in all kinds of business are bet-
ter without it.

And the question arose. Who knows, should the subject be pre-
sented kindly and plainly throughout the United States — ^be illus-
trated by facts, and pressed on the conscience — ^but that it may,
through the divine ble&sing, change the habits of the,nation ? Who
knows, but that our children, and children's children, may be raised
up free from this abomination, to be instnimental in perpetuating
the blessings of firee institutions — to be themselves made free by
the Son of God — and to spread the light and glory of that freedom
round the globe ?

In 1825, the present Corresponding Secretary wrote the Tract
No. 176 of the American Tract Society's series, entitled "The
WELL-C0NDUCT15D Farm," exhibiting the result of an experiment
made by an original member of tliis Committee, upon an extensive
farming establishment, in the county of Worcester, Mass. This
tract was the same year printed, and circulated extensively through
the country.

The following are some of the advantages of abstinence, which
were shown to have resulted to the workmen, viz. Tliey had a
better appetite for food, and were more nourished by it, than be-
fore. They had greater vigor of body and mind ; they performed
more labor, with greater ease, and - were free from many of the
diseases to which they were before accustomed. They accmnu-

FOURtH REPORT. 1831. 9

lated more property, were more happy, and were more useful to
themselves and others.

The following were some of the advantages of abstinence which
were shown to have resulted to their employer : — ^The men did
more work, and in a better manner. It was easier to have a place
for every thing, and to have every thing in its place. The walk
and fences were kept in good repair without direction Jtom the
owner. The cattle did not, as before, break in and destroy the
crops. The farm was more productive, and the fruits were gath-
ered in better season. Tlie tools were kept in better order ; the
bams exhibited greater neatness ; the cattle and horses were more
kind— and showed, in various ways, the benefits of abstinence fh>m
strong drink. The men were more respectful and uniform in their
deportment ; were more contented with their living ; more desirous
of being present at morning and evening family devotion ; were more
attentive at pubhc worship on the Sabbath, and were more interest-
ed in the welfare of all around them.

It was then shown that, should all the people of the United
States adopt tlie plan of abstinence from the use of ardent spiritSi
the following would be some of the beneficial results, viz.

They would enjoy better health, be able to accomplish more
business, and live to a greater age. None of them would ever be-
come intemperate ; and as soon as the present drunkards should be
dead, intemperance would be done away.* They would save a vast
amount of property ; remove one of the principal causes of pauper-
ism and crime, disease, insanity and death ; one of the greatest
dangers to our firee institutions, and one of the mightiest obstructions
to the efficacy of the gospel, and all the means of grace ; and
would greatly increase the prospect of their happiness and use-
fiilness, and that of their children, for both worlds.f

The same year, the following sentiments were delivered by John
Wai-e, M. D., before the Massachusetts Society for the Suppression
of IntemperanccJ

" It is an impression almost universal among the laboring classes,
that ardent spirits, if not absolutely necessary, are, at least, of great
use and importance, as a support during labor ; and that, moderately
used, they are a salutary, or, at least, an innocent stimulus. But no
impression can be more unfounded, no opinion more fataDy false,
than that which attributes to spirituous liquors any power of promot-
ing bodily strength, or supporting the system under labor or fatigue.
Experience has in all quarters most abundantly proved the contrary.
None labor so constantly, so cheerfully and with so little exhaus-
tion, as those who entirely abstain ; none endure so well hardships
and exposure, tlie inclemency of weather, and the vicissitude of

season."

* This, mnd all ■imilar ■tatementsare made on the fluppoeition that they do not
rab^tute or oae alcohol in any other form.

t Appbhdiz, C. t Appkhdix, D.

to AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCICTT.

•

Similar testimonies began to multiply. The evib of asing, and
the benefits of abstaining from ardent spirit^ became more and more
conspicuous ; and also the necessity, as well as the encouragement^
to make mcwre systematic, general and persevering efforts on the
subject. Individuals not only abstained, but, in some cases, j^greed
together, that they would not use or furnish to others that destruc-
tive posion. But there was no system, no plan of operation, to
cause such a union to become universal ; and it was evident that,
unless something more universal, efficacious and persevering should
be done, our country would be ruined ; tlie gospel would never have
its legitimate influence over the human mind, and the reign of dark-
ness and sin would be perpetuated to the end of time. Past efibrts,
though they had on some spots, and in some cases, done good,
had not struck at the root of the evil. Tlieir object was, to regu-
late the use of ardent spirits, not to abolish it. Those who made
them admitted, and most of them practised, the fundamental en*or,
that men in health might, \vithout injury, and, of course, without
sin, use the poison, if they did not use too much. This was the
case with members of Societies for the Suppression of Intem-
perance. Thus, while they only retarded the gi'owth, or clipped off
a few of the top twigs of this 'poisonous tree, the roots w^ere con-
stantly nourished, and daily struck deeper and deeper. While the
friends of temperance were reforming one old drunkard, their own
habits, if followed, would make a hundred new ones. They were,
indeed, sounding the alarm, but were treading in the footsteps of
the lost ; denouncing intemperance and encouraging the use of
strong drink; bewailing the effect, and perpetuating the cause;
warning men not to be drunken, and urging them to drink. Many
were enraged, almost to madness, at those who represented the
use of ardent spirit to be a sin; and, though they had followed a
promising son |o the drunkard's grave, and were expecting soon to
follow another, and another, they would denounce as enthusiasts, and
treat as enemies, those who urged them not to drink.

The husband, who had lost his wife by inteniperance, would, for
the sake of money, furnish that which killed her to all who would
purchase, and even give it, as a token of kindness, to his nearest
friends. The wife, who had seen her husband die by this poison,
would use it herself, and give it daily to her only son.

And it was perfectly evident that, unless a new movement could
be started, on a new plan, aad one which should be commensurate,
in place and time, with the evir, — One which should strike it at the
root, and exterminate rt,— drunkenness could never be done away.
The people would never become " all righteous,^ nor the day of
millennia] glory ever break on the world.

A meeting of a few individuals was therefore called, to qonsider
the following question^ viz.

FOtTRTH REPORT. — 1831. 11

" IVhat shall ^ be done ta banish intemperance frqm the ViUted
States r

After prayer for divine guidance, and consultation on the sub-
ject, the result was, a determmation to attempt the formation of an
American Teicperance Society, whose grand principle should
he, abstinence from strong drinlc; and its object, by light and lo^e,
to change the habits of the nation, with regard to the usa of
intoxicating liquors. Some of the reasons of this determination
were,

1. Ardent spirit, which is one of the principal means of drunk-
enness, is not needful, and the use of it is, to men in health, always
injurious.

2. It is adapted to form intemperate appetites ; and while it b
continued, the evils of intemperance can never be done away.

3. The use of this liauor is causing a general deterioration of
body and mind ; which, it the cause is contmued, will continue to
increase. ^

4. To remove the evils, we must remove the cause ; and to
remove the cause, efibits must be conmiensurate with the evil, and
be continued till it is eradicated.

5. We never know what we can do by wise, united, and perse-
vering efforts, in a good cause, tiH we try.

6. If we do not try to remove the evils of intemperance, we
cannot free ourselves frona the cuilt of its effects.

A correspondence was thereiore opened, and a meeting of men,
of various Christian denominations, nolden in Boston, January 10,
1826.

Hon. Geot^ OdioEne was called to the chair, and Rev. William
%iks,-D. D., chosen clerk.

The meeting was opened with prayer by the Rev. Timothy
Merritt, of the Methodist Episcopal church ; and after consulta-
tionTIhe folbwing resolutions were introduced by JerepkJrE^rts!,
Esq., Correspondmg Secretary of the American Board of Commis-
sioners for Foreign Missions, and adopted, viz.

" 1. Resohed, That it is expedient that more systematic and
more vigorous efforts be made by the Christian public to restram and
prevent the intemperate use of intoxicating liquors^

"2. That an mdividual of acknowledged talents, piety, industry
and sound judgment, should be selected and employed as a perma-'
Dent agent, to spend his time, and use his best exertions for the
suppression and prevention of the intemperate use of intoxicating
liquors."

A committee was then appointed to prepare a constitution, and^
the meetii^ was adjourned to February 13tn, 1826.

At the adjourned meeting, a Constitutbn was presented and
adopted, and the following persons were chosen by the members of
the meeting, at the commencement, to compose the Society, viz.

12 AlffiiuCAN T£Mr£&ANC£ SOCISTY.

Rev. Leonaid WoodsjD. D. ; Rev. William Jenks, D. D. J Retr,
Justin Edwards; Rev. Warren Fay; Rev. Bemamin B. Wisner;
Rev. Francis Wayland ; Rev. Timothy Merritl ; Hon. Marcus Mor-
ton ; Hon. Samuel Hubbard ; Hon. William Reed ; Hon. Creorce
Odiorhe ; John iTappan, Esq. ; William ^ Ropes, Esq. ; James r.
Chaplin, M. D. ; S. V. S. Wilder, Eso. ; and Enoch Hale, M. D.

The Hon. Heman lincoln, of the Baptist church, then offered
the following resolution, which was. unanimously adopted, viz.

" Resolved, That the gentlemen composing this meeting pledge
themselves to the American Society for the Promotion of Temper-
ance, that they will use all their exertions in carrying into effect
the benevolent plans of the Society."

The Society then held its first meetbg,. and chose the ibUpwing
officers, viz*

- Hon. Marcus Morton, President; Hon. Samuel Hubbard, Vice-
President; William Ropes, Esq., Treasurer; John Tappan, Esq.,
Auditor.

Executive Committee — Rev. Leonard Woods, D, D, : Rev. Jus-
tin Edwards ; John Tappan, Esq. ; Han. George Odiome, and S« V.
S. Wilder, Esq. ' ' .

On the 12th of March succeeding, the Society mef, and chose
eighty-four men, from the Northern, and Middle States^ as addi-
tional members of the Society*

The Executive Committee tlien presented,, through the prea9, the
£)llowing address to the pubSc : —

" In view of the transactions above mentioned, and in accordance
with the Constitution of T^E American Societtfor the Promo-
tion OF Temperance, the Executive Committee solicit the atten-
tipn of the Christian community to a few remarks relative fo the
important subject here presented before them.

"The evils resxill'ing from an improper use of intoxicating liquor*
have become so extensive and desolating, as to caB for the im-
mediate, vigorous and peraeverme efforts of every philanthropise,
patriot, and Christian. The number of lives annuaDy destroyed by
this vice, m our o^vn country, is thought lo be more than thirty
thousand ; and the number of persons who are diseased, distressed
and impoverished by it, to be more than two hundred thousand-
Many of tliem are not only useless, but a burden and a nfHsazice \q
society.

" These liquors, it b calculated, cost the inhabitants of this country
annually more than forty millions of doUars ; and the pauperism
occasioned by the improper use of them, (taking the cpmipon-
wealth of Maissachusetts as an example,) costs them upwards of
twelve millions ; njaking an annual expep3€ i^ more than; fifty
million^ of dollars^

" Out of ten hundred and siis^ty-one cases of criminal prosecutions^

TMuru ntVQnni, — 183L 19

Ifl the yeSLT 1820, before the Court of Sessions in the city of New
York, more than eight hundred are stated to have been connected
mth iotemperance. And so it is in all our principal cities. More
than three quarter? of the crimes coromitoed in the country are
probably occasioned by this hateiiil vice* And if we, add to
these ^e loss of timp which it occasions, the loss of business,
the loss of iroprovement) the loss of character, and the loss of
happiness for time and for eternity, the evil swells to an ovei^
wiielming magnitude, The guilt and wretchedness resulting from
it surpass all finite conception. Scarcely any thing has a more
powerfiil and fatal efficacy to weaken, pollute, and debase tlie
human mind. It palsies every effort for improvement, hinders the
success of the gospel, and prevents th^ progress of the kbgdom of
Christ It destroys, by himdreds and thousands, both the bodies
and souls of men ; cutting them off from the possibility of enjoy-
ment, and plundng them into endless darkness and wo.

^^ No sooner is a person brought under the power of intoxicating
liquors, than he seems to be proof against the bfluence (^ all the
means of refcnrmatioq. If, at any time, the truth gain? access to hb
mind, and impresses, his heart, by a few draugW of this fata)
poison, die impression is ahnost sure to be effaced* Hence tlie
notorious and alarming fact, that a person addicted to this vice is
seldom renewed in the temper of bis mind, or even reformed as to
his outward character. If a single instance of the kind occurs, it
is so uncommon, that it quickly becomes the subject of remark
through a neighborhood, and often over a large ei^tent of country^
and for years is mentioned as an extraordbary event. Most
persons given to intemperance, proceed hvfn <me degree of
wickedness to another, till, having been often reproved, and
hardened their necks, they bring sudden and remediless destruction
upon themselves. And they detsuoy not only themselves, but e
taultitude of others. The intemperance of a father has extended
to three, four, five, and even to seven of his children. The in-
temperance of a family has extended its contagion through a
neighboiiiood^ and its baleful effects have been felt by numerous
individuals and famSies. Many persons, in all classes of society.
have been destroyed by this vice ; and tio one is fi-ee from dan-
ger. A fiither has no security that his children will not die
dnmkards; and no security that the evil will not be extended,
4rou^ them, to future generations. And with the continuance
of the present feelings and habits of the community, there is no
prospect that the evil will be lessened, and no possibility that it will
be done away. AU personS) especially the young, must continue
^ be exposed. Dangers meet them in the street ; overtitke them
io business; follow tbem to then* dwellings; attend them m the
private iaterviewy and in the social circle, and assail then) wherover
2

14 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETT.

tbey go; and without a change in the sentiments and practices
of tiie community, the evil must continue to increase, till the
animating prospects of this great and mighty republic are darkened,
its precious institutions ruined, and thousands and millions of its
population borne cm a current of liquid fire to a world of wo.

" The American Society for the Promotion of Temper-
ance have, therefore, after deliberate and devout attention to t^e
subject, resolved, in the strength of the Lord, and with a vi6w to
the account which they must render to him for the influence they
exert in the world, to ipake a vigorous, united, and persevering
effort to produce a change of public sentiment and practice with
regard to the use of intoxicating liquors.

" For this purpose, they deem it of primary importance that they
should obtain an adequate fund for the support of a mail of suitable
qualifications, in the ofl5ce of Secretary, who shall devote himsdf to
the service of the Society, and, in the various ways pointed out in
the Constitution, labor to promote its object.

" In attempting to procure this fund, the Committee cheerfully
make tlieir appeal to men of known and expansive benevolence,
who are blessed with property, and are fiiends to Him, who was
rich, yet, for our.sakes, became poor, that we, through his poverty,
might be rich,— and request them, fix)m lov^ to Him and to their
fellow men, to take into serious consideration the magnitude of tlie
evil which this Society aims to prevent, and the immeasurable good
which it aims to secure, and to furnish the necessary means. If a
man of the right character may be wholly and permanendy devoted
to this object, with the aid which he may receive fi-om good men,
throughout the country, the Committee are confident that, with the
divine blessing, a i^rstem of general and powerful cooperation may
be formed, and that a change may in a short time be effected,
which will save an incafculable amount of property, and vast multi-
tudes of valuable lives — a change which will be coimected with the
highest prosperity of our country, and with the eteiiial salvation
of millions of Our fellow men.

"And may God Almighty crown with glorious success tl^is and
every other effint to do good, so that Christian morality, and piety,
and happiness, may universally prevail.

L. WOODS, N

J.EDWARDS, / e.^,^^.

J. tappan, > ^J^^j

G. ODIORNfe, ( ^<«»"««e«-
S. V. S. WILDER, )
•* Boston, Afarchy 1826/*

On the 1 6th of January , Rev. Calvm Chapin, D. D., ofWethersfield,
Conn., commenced the publication of a series of thirty-three num-
bers, in the Connecticut Observer, entitled " The Infallible An-
tidote." His motto was, " Entire abstiftencejtom ardent spiritit is

.■•■>»

FOURTH REPORT^ — 1831. 15

Ai only certain preveTUive of intemperance.^^ This was strikin^y
illustrated in the various numbers, aud strongly urged upon all as
an indispensable duty. He had himself, as had a number of
others, practised it for many years, and urged it. as the duty of all
men.

In April, 1826, the National Philanthropist, a weekly paper, de-
voted to the cause of teni]>e ranee, was established, in Boston, by
the Rev. William Collier. Its motto was, " Temperate drinking ts
the downhill road to intemperance,^^ This paper has been con-
tinued, and, with some modifications, is now published by Messi'S.
Goodell and Crandall, in New York. It is an able and efficient pa-
per, and, under its successive editors, has been a valuable auxiliary
to the cause.

In September of the same year, an association of more than fifty
heads of families, and more than one hundred and fifty young men,
vras formed in Andover, Mass., on the plan of abstinence, with the
rollowing c(xistitution, viz.

" Believing that the use of intoxicating liquors is, for persons in
health, not only unnecessary, but hurtful ; that it is the cause of
forming intemperate appetites and habits ; and that, while it b con-'
tinued, the evils of intemperance can never be prevented, —

"Therefore, we, the subscribers, for the purpose of promoting our
own welfare, and that of the community, agree that we will abstain
from tlie use of distilled spirits, except as a medicine in case of bod-
ily infirmity ; that we will not allow the use of them in our fami-
lies, nor provide them for the entertainment of our friends, or for
persons in our eir;ployment ; and tliat, in all suitable ways, we will
discountenance the use of them in die community.

Andover, Mass., Sept.f 1826."

In January, 1827, the present Corresponding Secretary visited Bos-
ton, and commenced an effort to obtain means for the support of a per-
manent agent. At the first meeting, although the evening was ex-
ceedingly stormy, the amount subscribed was more than $3dOG.
At the second meeting, the amount subscribed was more than
$1200; and at the third meeting, more than $700. In Salem,
Newbiiryport, Andover, and Northampton, were obtamed upwards
of $2Q0a more.

As the pastoral duties of the Secretary did not permit of his con-
tinuing his agency, the Committee appointed the Rev, Nathaniel
Hewit, of Fairfield, Conn., who was known to have preached and
acted successfully on tliis subject, who spent twenty weeks in the
service of the Society. He visited various places in Massachusetts,
Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, and Pennsylvania ; preach-
ed on the subject, addressed public bodies, and in various ways
promoted successfully the great and good cause.

IC AMEmCAK TEMPERANi.1. bOCtlbTT.

In September of the same year, the present Secretary was again
appointed to an agency of three months, and visited various places
in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Connecticut.

The prospect continued to brighten, and the evidence to increase
that the work was of God. Numbers were found who had been led,
within a few years, from their own reflections, without concert, in
view of what they saw, to the conclusion, that they could not con-
tinue to use ardent spirit, or to furnish it for tlie use of others, with-
out the commission of sin. These were evidences which God had
prepared, when tlie duty of abstinence was preached, to rise up
and say, " We have felt it ;" and when the utility of abstinence
was exhibited, to say, " It is true ; we have tried it, and found it
so." This was said by men in various kinds of business, and in
all conditions of life, and it gave a powerful impulse to the cause.
"I wbh," said an old man, as he rose at the close of a temperance
meeting, " to say to the people, before they go away, that ali which
they have heard with regard to the utility of abstinence from ardent
spirit is true. I know it is true. I have tried it. More than a
iumdred tons of hay I have gathered diis summer off my own farm,
and not a man in my employment has used a drop. I never got
through the business of a season before without having some of my
men sick. In the hot days of haying and harvestmg, one was taken
off a day, another a week, and so on. But this summer, not a man
has lost a meal of victuals during* the season. They have not
broken the tools, as they used to ; Uiey have not quarrelled among
themselves, as they used to ; and I finished the busmess of the sea-
son much sooner than my neighbors who kept on in the old way^
and much better than ever before. Oh ! it is a great improvement."

In the course of the year, were published Kittredge's First Address,
Dr. Mussey's Address before the Medical Convention of New
Hampshire, Mr. Palfrey's Sermons, and Dr. Beecher's Sermons on
the Nature, Signs, EvOs, and Remedy of Intemperance ; and they
were all powemil auxiliaries to the cause.*

To show the state of the public mind at this period, we present
a few extracts firom the publications of that year.

The Massachusetts Society for the Suppressron of Intemperance,
m their Annual Report, Nov., 1837, say, ^^ It is becoming unfashion>-
d)le to drink ardent spirits in decent company ; and it is no longer
considered a necessary mark of hospitality to offer them. People
are beginning to yidd to the conviction that they are injurious to
health, even when used in moderation. It is presumed that the im-

* Dr. Beecher*fl Sermons were preached the year before, at Litchfield, Conn.
This fact, howeyer, was not kno^ n to those who formed the American Temper-
ance Society, thus showing that different minds, in distant places, without con*
cert, were taking sabstantially the same views uf this great subject.f

t ArpcNOix, £.

rOUHTH B£PORT.— -I8S1« 17

[ffoyement which has begun will go on, and they will be at length
universally hanished. It seems now to be generally admitted fay
those who have had an opportunity for observation, or have made
themselves acquainted with the various facts, which have been col-
lected with regard to intemperance, that we are to attribute much of
the prevalence of immoderate drinking to erroneous opinions and prac^
tices of society, with regard to moderate drinking. No man probably
ever became at once a drunkard. Drunkards have all once been
moderate drinkers, and have only gradually and insensibly become
immoderate drmkers. It would seem, then, that there must be some-
thing wrong in this habit of moderate drinking, since it leads, m so
large a proportion of cases, to so deplorable a result."

They also passed the following resolutions, viz ^—

"1. Resolvedy That, in the opinion of this meetmg, there is suf-
ficient evidence that ardent spirits are not necessary as a refresh-
ment or a suppc^t to the strength during labor, but, on the contrary,
are absolutely injurious to the health ; Aat to the general moderate
use of them is to be chiefly attributed the prevalent habit of in-
temperance; and that entire abstmence from their use, except
when prescribed as medicines, be recommended to all classes of
society.

"2. Resohedj That it be reconmiended to ship-owners, masters
of vessels, farmers, mechanics, proprietors and superintendents of
manufacturing establishments, and all others having the care of
young persons when first entering upon laborious occupations, to
endeavor to induce those under their charge to form the habit of
labor without any use of ardent spirits.

" 3. Resoloedy That it be recommended to all having the charge
of the education of the young, to endeavor to produce upon their
minds a strong impression of the dangerous tendency of even a
moderate use of ardent spirits."

The conviction had now become extensive, that the use of ardent
spirit is wrong. Many had come to the conclusion, that no man in
health, who understands its natiu*e and e^cts, can continue to use
it as an article of luxury or diet, or to traffic m it, without guilt.

Kittredge,in his Address, said, '^ Ardent spirits are said to be useful
and necessary. It is false. It is nothing but the apology that the
love of them renders for their use. There are only two cases in
which. Dr. Rush says, they can be administered without injury ;
and those are cases of persons likely to perish, and where substi-
tutes may be applied of equal effect. What rational man would use
them for the soke of these two pos^ble cases? As well might he
introduce rattlesnakes among his children, because their oil is
good in diseases with which they may posdbly be afflicted. What!
drink none ? Yes — ^I say, Drink none. One gallon for this town is

18 AMEmCAN TEMPSftANCe SOCIETY.

just four quarts too much. In addition to the miseries of debt atid
poverty, which they entail upon a xx)mmunity, they ar& the parent
of one half the diseases that prevail, and one half the crimes that
are conunitted. It is ardent spirits that fill our poor-houses and
pur jails ; our penitenti^'ies, mad'-houses, and state prisons. It is ar-
dent spirits that furnish victims for the gaUows. They are the
greatest curse that God ever inflicted on the world, and may well he
called the seven vials of his wrath. They are more destructive in
their consequences than war, plague, pestilence or famine, yea, than
all combined. They are slow in their march, hut sure in their grasp.
They seize not only on the natural, but the moral man. They con-
sign the body to the tomb, and the soul to hell. But have not ar-
dent spirits one good quality, one redeeming virtue I None, I say,
none. There is nothing, not even the shadow of a virtue, to se-
cure them from universal and everlasting execration. The. parent
should instil into his children a hatred of ardent spirits as much as
he does of falsehood and theft. He should no more suffer his chil-
dren to drink a little, than he does to lie a litde, and to steal a little.
No longer use that which is the source of infinite mischief, witliout
one redeeming benefit ; which has entailed upon you, upon yoiu*
children, and upon society, woes unnumbered and unutterable.
Banish it from your houses. It can be done. You have only to
will, and it is effected. Use it not at home. Let it never be found
to pollute your dweUings. Give it not to your friends or your
workmen. Touch it not yourselves, and suffer not your children
to touch it. And let it be a part, of your morning and evening
prayer, that you and your children may be saved from intemper-
ance, as much as from famine, from sickness and dealli."

Dr. Beecher, in hi? Sermons, said, " The traffic in ardent spirits
is wrong, and should be abandoned as a great national evil. The
amount of suffering and moitality, insepantble from the commerce
in ardent spirits, renders them an unlawfiil article of trade. The
commerce in ardent spirits, which produces no good, and produces
a certain and an immense amount of evil, must be regarded as an
unlawful commerce, and ought, upon every principle of humanity,
patriotism, conscience, and religion, to be abandoned and pro-
scribed. It seems to be a manifest violation of the command, * Thou
shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,' and of various other evan-
gelical precepts.

" No man can act in the spirit of impartial love to his neighbor,
who, for his own personal emolumentj inflicts on him great and ir-
r^)arable evil ; for love worketh no ill to his neighbor. Love will
not bum a neighbor's house, or poison his food, or blast his reputa-
tion, or destroy his soul. But the conmierce in ardent Spirits does
all this inevitably and often. Property, reputation, health, life and
salvation fall before it.

^ FOURTH REPORT. 1831. 19

"The direct infliction of what is done indirectly, would subject a
man to the ignominy of a public execution." * » * *

^4t is scarcely a palliation of this eviJi that no man is destroyed
maliciously, or with any direct intent to kill ; for the ceitainty of
evil is as great as if waters were poisoned which some persons
would surely drink, or as if a man should fire in the dark upon
masses of hjuman beings, where it must be certain that deatli would
be the consequence to some." * * # *

" Can it be denied that the comnjerce in ardent spirits makes a
fearful havoc of property, morals and life ? Does it not shed blood
as really as the sword, and more blood than is shed by war ? In
this point, uone are better witnesses dian physicians, and, according
to their testimony, intemperance is one of the greatest destroyers
of virtue, health and life." * » * *

" The consideration, that those, to whose injmy we are accessory
by the sale of ardent spirits, ai*e destroyed ako by the perversion
of their own free agency — and that the evil is silent, and slow-paced
in its march-~doubtless subtracts, in no smaU degree, from the keen
sense of accountability and crime, which ^would attend tlie adminii^
tration of arsenic, or the taking of life by the pistol, or the dagger-
as does also the ccmsideration that although we may witiihold the
cup, yet, from some other source, the deleterious potion will be
obtained.

" But an this dters not the case. He who deliberately assists his
neighbor to destroy his life, is not guiltless because his neighbor is a
free agent and is also guilty ; and he is accessory to the crime, though
twenty other persons might have been ready to commit the same sin if
be had not done it. Who would sell arsenic to his neighbor, to destroy
himself, because he coidd obtain it elsewhere ? Who would sell
a dagger for tlie known purpose of assassination, because, if it
were refused, it could be purchased in another place? We are
accountable for our own wrong-doing, and liable to punishment
at the hand of God, as really as if it had been certab that no am
would have done the deed, if we did not.

^^The ungodliness in time, and the everlasting ruin in eternity, in-
separable from the coomierce in ardent spirit, proscribe it as ;aii
udawful article of traffic.

"Who caa estimate the hatred of God, of his word and worshipi
and of his people, which it occasions ? or number the oaths and
blasphemies it causes to be uttered ? or the violations of the Sabbath J
the impurities and indecencies, violence and wrong-doing, which
it origmates? How many thoussinds does it detain every Sabbath-
day from the house of God — cutting them off from the means of
grace, and hardening them against their efficacy ! How broad is tjha
road which bteraperance alone opens to heU, and how thronged
with travelers!" ^^ * * *

so AMERICAN TKafFCRANCE SOCIETY.

" Here is an article of commerce spread oVer the land, whose
effect is evil only, and that continually, and which increases an
hundred-fold the energies of human depravity, and the bo|>eless
victiips of future punislunent.

^' Drunkenness is si sin which excludes from heaven^ The com-
merce in ardent spirits, therefore, productive only of evil in time, fits
for destructibn, and turns into hell, multitydes which no man can
number.

*' I am aware that, in the din of business, and the eager thirst for
gain, the consequences of our conduct upon our views, and the
foture destiny of our fellow men, are not apt to be realized, or to
modify our course.

" But has not God connected with all lawful avocations the welfaixi
©f the life that now is, and of that which is to come ? And can we
lawfully amass property by a course of trade which fills the land
with beggars, and widows, and orphans, and crimes ; which peoples
the grave-yard with premature mortality, and the world of wo with
the victims of despair ? Could all the forms of evil produced in tl;e
land by intemperance come upon us in one horrid array, it would
appall the nation, and put an end to the traffic in ardent spirits.
Il m every dwelling built by blood, the stone fi-om the wall should
utter all the cries which the bloody traffic extorts, and the beam
out of the timber should echo them back, who would build such
a house ? — ^atid who would dwell in it ? What if, in every part of
the dwelling, firom the cellar upward, through ^ the haHs and
chainbers, babblings, and contentions, and voices, and groans, and
f hrieks, and waitings, were heard, day and night ? What if the cold
blood oozed out, and stood in drops upon the walls, and, by preter-
natural art, all the ghastly skulls and bones of the victims destroyed
by intemperance, should stand upon the walls, in horrid sculpture
within and without the building — ^who would rear such a building ?
What if, at eventide, and at midnight, the airy forms of men destroy-
ed by intemperance, were dimly seen haunting the distilleries and
stores, where they received their bane — following the track of the
ship engaged in the commerce-^— walking upon the waves — ^flitting
athwart the deck — sitting upon the rigging — ^and sending up from
the hold within, and from the waves without, groans, and loud
laments, and wailings! Who would attend such stores? Who
Hfould labor in such distilleries? Who would navigate such
•hips >

" Oh ! were the sky over our heads one great whispering gallery,
bringing down about us all the lamentation and wo which intemperance
creates, and the firm earth one sonorous medium of sound, brmging
up around us, from beneath, the wailings of the damned, whom tlie
commerce in ardent spirits had sent thither; — these tremendous
realities, assailing 6ur sense, would invigorate our conscience, and

ftnniTH REPOKT. — 1831. f ]

fffve deci^on to xmx purpose of reformation. But these evils are as
real as if the stone did cry out of the wall, and the beam answered
it ; as real as if, day and night, waitings were heard in every part
of tiie dwelling, and blood and skeletons were seen upon every
wall ; as real as if the ghostly forms of departed victims flitted
about the ship as she passed over the billows, and showed them-
selves nightly about stores and distilleries, and, with unearthly*
voices, screamed in our ears their loud lament* They ai'e as real as
if the sky over our heads collected and brought down about us
all the notes of sorrow in the land ; and the firm e^h should
open a passage for the waOings of despair to come up fitMn
beneath."

The Massachusetts Medical Society passed resolutions in fevor
of abstinence, and gave it as their opbion, tlrnt the best drink br
man is water.

The Medical Society of the Western District of New Hampshire
declared, that S{Hrttuous drinks have no tendency to protect the
system from diseases, but expose it the more. The New Hamp-
shire Medical Society did the ^me, and gave it as their opinian,
that distilled spirits, are not essentially necessary in a single disease.
They resolved that they would abstain from the use of them them-
selves, and discourage the use of them by others.

The President of the Society, in his address delivered June, 1827,
said, " Does a healthy laboring man need alcohol ? No more than
he needs arsenic, corrosive sublimate, or opium. It has been proved
a thousand times, that more labor can be accomplished in a months
or a year, under the influence of simple nourishing food, and un-
stimulating drink, than through the aid of alcohol." * * *

" From a commercial friend in Massachusetts I have lately re-
ceived the following information. * I visited,' says he, ' four or
five years since, in New Jersey, an iron foundery belonging to Mr.
Wood, of Philadelphia. I think there were thirty or forty men em-
ployed in the establishment, and all they drank was pure spring
water. I saw them often while lading out the hot metsQ, and sweating
at every pore, take a mug, run to the spring, and drink very fi^y
of the water. I inquired if they did not feel anv ill effects from
drinking so much cdd water. They answered, JVo. The furnace
went into bldst in April, and continued till October. All those
empbyed had the best of health during the whole season, and re*-
turned to their friends in the autumn with better health and fiiUer
purses than they ever had before.

<^ * A vessel belonging to my neighbor went from this place to
South America, and from thence to India. No spirit wasalfewed to
die crew during the whole voyage. They all arrived home in good
heahh. One of my own captains kept grog from his men the
vhole of an India voyage; they all came liome in fine health. For

22 AMERICAN TEMPGBANCe SOCIETY.

my crews in hot (dhnates, I direct spruce beer^ made with the mt
or essence of spruce, and nioiasses and water. I shipped two
crews last week for lon^ voyages in hot climates, and named to tlie
men that we should not allow them grog. There was not a single
ohiection made to signing the shipping papers. It is in the pow^er
of every ship owner to prei^ent the use of ardent spiiit on board his
vessels, by sending out a few barrels of molasses, and a few dozen
bottles of the essence of spruce, for beer.'

" To the foregoing suggestion it may be proper to add, that, for
labeling men in hot weather, sweetened water, sometimes with the
addition of ginger, is a most salutary drink ; so also is a mixture of
milk and water.

" The principle of life is afforded to every individual iii such quan-
tity, or in such manner, as to admit of the living actions being car-
ried on under the most favorable circumstances only for a limited
[period ; and rs no human power or skill can inojrease this principle
one jot or tittle, so neither can the actions of life be urged beyond
the standard of ?ound health (leaving casualties out of the question)
without necessarily shortening it. And this shortening of life will
be for minutes, or montlis, or years, according to the degree and
continuance of the excitement beyond the natural and uniform rate
of healthy action.

" This vital principle has been likened, not altogether inaptly, to
oil in a lamp, which is capable of sustaining flame only for a certain
length of tiiTie. If the wick be raised higher than necessary to
produce a full and clear light, a part of the oil goes off in smoke,
and the whole- is sooner consumed."

Many of the ecclesiastical bodies in the Northern and Middle
States passed resolutions in favor of abstinence ; and recommended
to all the churchesc and congregations under threir care, to cooperate
with the friends of the American Temperance Society in extending
its principles and operations throughout the, land. The members
of several churches resolved entirely to abstain from the use of ar-
dent spirit themselves, being persuaded that the gospel required it^
and to use their influence to lead all others to do the same. The
youth in various colleges, and the citizens in numerous towns,
linked in Temperance Societ^s, on the plan of abstinence from tlie
use of this poison; and the impression was rapidly extending, that
Do-man could continue, as an article of luxury or diet, to use it, or
be accessory to the use of it by others, without the commission of
sin, and, in proportion to the light which he might have on the
subject,, the accumulation of tremendous and ever-growling guilt.

iTie facts which had been developed showed that the use of
itits article is not needful, not salutary, but is uniformly hurtful ;
that it caused more than three fourths of tlie pauperism, crimes,
and wretchedness of the conununity; greatly increased, the number^

FOURTH HEPOHT 1831. tS

Ireqaeocy, and violence of diseases ; destroyed t6e reason pf mul-
titudes ; and brought down greater, and still greater multitudes lo an
untimety grave. They showed, conclusively, that it tended, with
a mighty Influence, to ohstruct the progress of the gospel, to hinder
the efficacy of all the means which God has provided lor tlie moml
and spiritual illuminatipn and purification of men, and thus to ruia
tliem forever. And tlie prospect was, that, should suitable meaner
be used, and the whole community be made acquainted with ib^
facts, the conviction of this truth, unless prevented by avarice or
appetite, would, with the divine blessing, become universal.

In November, 1827, the Committee reiippomted Rev. Na*
thaniel Hewit to an agency for three years. And, having been
dismissed from his pastoral care for that purpose, he accepted
tlie appointment, and entered upon its dudes January 1, 1828.

In May of the same year, they appointed Rev. Joshua Leavitt
to an agency for four months. A commission was also given to
Mr. Daniel C. Axtell, to labor as an agent in the western parts of
the state of New York. His salary and travelmg expenses were
paid by a benevolent individual in that part of the state.

Rev. Dr. Woodbridge, of Hadley, Mass., at the request of the
Hampshire Couaty Temperance Society, performed an agencjK
through most of the towns in that county. Other individuab per-
formed voluntary agencies in their own towns and districts. Ai
the close of the year 1828, there were formed- and reported 13
Temperance Societies m Maine, 23 in New Hampshire, 7 in Ver-
mont, 39 in Massachusetts, 2 in Rhode Island, 33 in Connecticut^
78 m New York, 6 in New Jersey, 7 in Pennsylvania, 1 in De^
aware, 1 in Maryland, 5 in Virginia, 2 in Nc^tb Carolina, 1 in
South Carolina, 1 in Kentucky, 1 in Ohio, and 2 in Indiana. Oth-
ers had been formed in different parts of the country, which had
not been reported. State Societies had been formed in New
Hampshore, Vermont, Pennsylvania, Vu*ginia, and Illinois. A So-
ciety had also been formed m Lower Canada } and it is supposed
that there were not lesd than thir^ thousand persons who bad
agreed not to use ardent spirits.

In Belchertown, Mass., the quantity used in 1825 was only
^ut one fourth as much as in 1824. In Plymouth, New Hamp-
shire, the cost of ardent spirits was not one sixteenth part at
much as in 1826. Similar changes had been eflbcted in other
places.

Resolutions of abstinence had been passed by more than 20
military ^companies, by the officers of 4 regiments, by 10 med-'
ical societies, and a ^at portion of all the ecclesiastical bodieifc
in the coimtry. The lawyers of 3 counties had voted to abatain
^ ardent spirits,'* and the members of the House of Rop*

* ArpMVDix, F.

94 AHICmCAN TRMPEtiAKCE SOCIETT.

resentatives of New Hampshire, not to use tliem during the ses-
sion of the Legislature.

A number of distilleries had been stopped, and more than a
hundred merchants had renounced die traffic ; vessels were sent
to foreign ports without canying the poisoft ; ind the impression
continued to extend, that no jperson, acquainted with the subject,
could continue to use or to traffic in ardent spirit without the
guilt of blood.

The language used at the annual nieetings, to which thousands,
of the wisest and best hearts in die land responded, was,
*^ There is no longer any doubt of' the part which the Christian
should act. He is imperiously called upon, by the principles of his
religion, to abandon all connection, of whatever kirid, with tlie in-
toxicating cup. Every glass he drinks is a warrant for his neiglibor
to do the like ; and intemperance is sure to follow the use of ardent
spirits. There is nothing on eartlj tliat can prevent it ; and as long
as human nature remains the same, this will continue to be the
case. No man can tiierelore encourage that use ; nO man can ad-
minister the pobon^ without being responsible for the consequences.
The trader knows that every baiTci he purchases will spread sormvr
and grief wherever it is carried. There is a moral certainty, that
every gallon that is carried into the country, will help to keep alive
that baneful disease, which rag^ wvth a iliry that knows no re-
straint, and with a force that cannot be resfeted. Every man,
therefore^ who Carries it into the country, is directly concerned in
producing tliat mass of pauperism, disease, and crime, which results
from intemperance. He supplies the fijel diat keeps alive me
flame, and he is the incendiary who spreads that liquid fire which
involves the peace and hsipptness of the domestic circle, the promise
of youth, and the hopes of old aee, in one general ruin.

^' The vending of ardent spirits Cannot be carried on without
guilt. Ev^ grog-shop exhibits scenes that religion cannot witness
without horror, nere every evil passbn is fed ! Here every base
propensity is noudshed ! Here is kept the food of drunkenness,
and hither resort all those miserable victims of the disease who
would rather di6 of it than be cured ! Here is found the poison that
vitiates the taste of the temperate, and prepares them to supply the
places of those who die of this plague ! Here the temperate drink,
»id here the temperate learn to be drunkards. All the drunk-
ards in the country are brought up at these stores. They are the
flchods of intemperance, and as long as they continue the traffic in
ardent spirits^ tliey will continue to be the poison of the land. As
long as they furnish the supply of ardent spirits called for, they wiU
Qontioue to send forth through the towns in which they^ are found,
a. pestilence, laying waste every noble laid maiily feeling of the
human heart, and every lovely trait in the human character. Is

J*QURTH BSPOBT. 1831. 25

not this so? Where were the drunkards of our vfflage formed, but
at those places where ardent spirits are sold ? Where is the origin
of all that poverty and erime which are traced to intemperance, but
at these Aceldamas of human blood ? Where can the wife and the
mother find the cause of tliat fountain of tears which they are con-
strained to shed, but at these fountains of ardent spirits? And
can the Christian carry on this, traffic ? Can he supply the lava
whir.h scorches the land, and i^e innocent ? Does he find nothing
in that benign religion which he professes, to fdrbid it ? Can he be
the agent of intemperance, the commissary of the drunkard, and
feel no remorse? I know the vender tells you he is not an-
swerable for the consequences ; that he frowns on intemperance,
and wtthbolds the cup from the dnmkard. But this is not so.
Does not the vender know tlie effects of ardent spirits ? Does he
not know the consequences which they will assuredly produce ?
Does he not know that of thoie who drink, many will be drunken ?
And can he supply the cause, and detach himself from the effect?
Can he hurl firebrands through your city, and witness the confla-
gration, and claim exemption from blame ? Can he spread the
contagion among your families, and, when he hears the dying groan
and sees the funeral, tell you tliat he is innocent ? Yet the vender
of ardent spirits does all tliis. He spreads the intoxicating cause ;
he sees the drunken effect ; he hears the drunken curse ; he wit-
nesses tlie drunken revel ; he is surrounded with it ; he is producing
it ; and yet tells you that he is innocent ! Wohderfiil fatuity ! But
he knows the responsibility is so great that he shrinks from
acknowledging it. He sees the guilt and the wo, and shudders at
the thought of being its cause. And well he may ; but he cannot
escape. As long as he fiirnishes the means of drunkenness to
others, he is a partaker of the crime. And he should be so held
in public opinion. He should be held directly responsible for thfe
consequences of his acts, and the same odium which attaches to
the pnncipal should attach to all accessories. But he tells you
he frowns on intemperance. So, perhaps, he does. After produ-
cing it, he frowns on the wretch that he has made drunken, and
abhors his own oflfepring. But every retailer should remember that
the drunkards with whom he is surrounded are his own children
and apprentices^ «nd that they afford a living exhibition of the char-
acter of his own deeds. When he looks upon them, ragged, filthy
and debased — when he hears the noon-day curse and the midnight
broil, he should say, * Here is my work ; this is what I have done.
It is my trade to mi^e such men. 1 have spent my life in it.' And
if he is a Christian, and duly appreciates his guilt, he will raise his
hands to Heaven, ^md beiore God declare that he will make no
more ^ndi.
*^Bitt the vender tdls^ you again that he withholds the cup
3

26 AM£KICAN TEMPEBANCE SOCIETY.

from the dninkard. So, perhaps, he may. He wiU furnish the cup
uU the wretch is made drunken, and then refuse him till he is sober
again. But this is too late ; this refusal comes wl^eii it can do
litde or no good« The crmie is already perpetrated. The guilt is
already incurred, and in vain does the venaer attempt to escape.
But it is not true, that he withholds the cup from the drunkard.
Every retailer does sell to the drunkard, and, however well mean-
ing he may be, he cannot carry onithis trade without contributing
to the support of intemperance. And this traffic should be
abandoned by the Chrbtian public. Conscience should be allowed
d triumph over interest and custom, apd the merchandise of spirits
should be classed with the merchandise of blood. NoCfanstian*
should contaminate his hands and his soul with this most destructive
and demoralizmg comm^ce. And I am happjr to say, that many
merchants have lately viewed this as they ought, and fortoken
the trade, as being a curse revoking to the feelings of patriotism and
Christianity. They have given a noble example of ,tfae triumph of
principle, and one that deserves the universal aj^furobation of the
Christian public.

/'But, the retailer is not alone. He is but a subaltern in that
mighty army of the agents of intemperance which is scattered
through tlie land^ He is the immediate instrument of the ruin
which spirituous liquors occasion, but the wholeskle dealer, ^Ithou^
one grade above jHim^ is equally a partaker of the guilt. He sup-
plies the ilumerous streams which issue through die land, laying
waste every thing ii\ their course. Could the vender learn the
history of a sin^e h(^head of this liquid ; could every drop return
to him, and give a faithful account of the effects it had produced, —
he would shudder at the narration. Could he coUect. before him,
and be enabled to see, the crime, the disease and death, the poverty
and distress, to count the tears and hear the groans, which every
cask of spirits occasions, he would revolt with horror from the trade.
But he may conceive it. Let him learn the history of intem-
perance, and then let him reflect that he is constantly engaged in
spreading its horrors ; that he is supplying from day to day the
liquid fire that is scattered by an army of retailers throi^h the land,
scorching and destroying every thing within its reach, and he will
be constrained to pronounce it an unchristian occupation. And let
the distiller remember, that he stands at the head of the stream, and
lets loose the flood-gates to deluge and destroy; that his occupation
is to poison the land, and that the more he does, the more wretched
is the world ; and he will not find one single consolation to cheer
and support him." * * *

'^ Does the Christian pray for the spread of his religion, and is he
at the same time engaged !n the spread of intemperance ? Does
he pray for the reformation of the world, and, while his prayers' are

VOITRTB ^SPaWF* — 1801. 27

ascending to heaven, is he spreading the plague, that poisons the
heart, and renders mankind incapable of reformation ? Is he sup-
porting the missionary in foreign lands, from funds which he has
collected as the wages of dnm|^enness ? And does he believe the
God of heaven will smile on the labors of him who is supported by
food taken from the mouths of the children of the intemperate, for
the driuk ths^t destroys them ? While he is attempting to teach the
lieathen the way to heaven, is he binding his own countrymen* in
clinins strong as the bands of death, and leading them in tlie road
to hell ? Is he training them to practices and habits which will as
surely bar them from the realms of bliss as though no- redemption
had been provided for them ?

"I venerate the Christian's character, and whenever I find him
acting in consistency with the principles of the gospel, I do indeed
re.5ard Iiira as the salt of the earth. But I fear on this subject
theie is an awful inconsistency in the conduct of some. I believe
all connection with spirituous liquors, in the present state of society,
t'j be sinful. Since the way, and the only way, to banish intemper*
aoce from the earth, has been pointed out, it is the Christian's duty
to adopt that course, whatever may be the sacrifice, and ta disclaim
ail connection between rum and religion.

" They cannot agree. Every feeling tliat the former inspires is
hostile to the latter ; and if there be any thing on earth that can
eiMfiicate piety from the heart, it is the use of ardent spirits. Its
i.ispi ration is unholy and impure ; and I call upon tlie Christian to
abjiain, not only for his own sake, but for the sake of tlie world,
for the sake of the example, as the means, and the only means, of
e.Tecting a reformation of mankind fi om intemperance. I believe
tlie time is coming when not only the drunkard but the drinker wHl
be excluded from the church of our God — ^when the gambler, the
slave dealer, and the rum dealer, will be classed togetlier. And I
care not how soon that time arrives. I would pi-ay for it as devout-
ly as for the mUlenniurn. And when it comes, as come it will, it
should be celebrated by the united band of philanthropists, patriots,
and Christians throughout the world, as a great and most glorious
jubilee."

In several cases, the efForts for the promotion of temperance
were followed by remarkable success of the gospel, and numbers
were led hopefully to embrace the Savior ; and the connection
b gan strikingly to appear between these efForts and the salvation
of men.

In 1829, the Committee established a weekly paper> called
The Journal of Humanity, to be the organ of their communica-
tion with the public,, and appointed Rev. Edward W. Hooker,
editor and associate general agenu The present Correspond-
ing Secretary was also reappointed as general agent, and the

S8 AMERICAN TJBIIPSRAKOX SOCHCTT.

following persons as local agents, viz. Rev. Asa Mead for
Maine, Rev. Andrew Rankin for New Hampshire, Rev. I^aniel
O. Morton for Vermont, and Rev. Talcott Bates for Connecti-
cut. Rev. Messrs. Coggin, Barbour, Mann, Shepherd, Clark,
Bond, and. Woodbury, were also appointed, each as an agent for
a county in Massachusetts. Other agents were employed by
State Societies ; and benevolent individuals performed voluntary
agencies in various parts of die country.

At the close of the year 1829, there had been fortned, on the
plan of abstmence, and reported, more than 1000 Societies, em-
bracing more than 100,000 members. Eleven of them were
State Societies. Of those known to the Committee, 62 were in
Maine, 46 in New Hampshire, 66 in Vermont, 169 in Massachu-
setts, 3 in Rhode Island, 133 in Connecticut, 300 in New York,
21 in New Jersey, 63 in Pennsylvania, 1 in Delaware, 6 in Mary-
land, 62 in Virginia, 15 in North Carolina, 10 in South Carolina,
14 in Georgia, 8 in Alabama, 30 in Ohio, 9 iii Kentucky, 6 in
Tennessee, 4 in Mississippi, 13 in Indiana, 1 in Illinois, 3 m
Michigan, and 1 in Missouri. Societies were also formed in
Upper and Lower Canada, in Nova Scotia, and in New Brunswick.

More than 60 distilleries had been stopped, more than 400
inerchants had renounced the trafBc, and more than 1200 drunk-
ards had ceased to use the drunkard's drink. Persons, who, a
few years before, were vagabonds about the street, were now
sober, respectable men, providing comfortably, by their labor, for
their wives and their children.

In a number of towns, ardent spirit was not sold, and^ in sev-
eral cases, not even kept at the public house^s. And in some
places, no person who was acquainted with the subject, and yet
continued to use distilled liquor, as an article of luxury or diet, or
to traffic in it, was viewed as a proper person for admission to a
Christian church. The business was viewed as an immorality, in
which no person could continue, and yet give credible evidence
of being a good man.

The guilt of aiding and abutting in this work of death, became
more and more obvious ; and the number rapidly increased, who
saw that the effect of enlightened Christian principle would be,
to banish this awful immorality from the globe. And the ben-
efits which would result, from such a cliange, to the property,
character, health, reason, lives and souls of men, became more
and more apparent.

' In one town in Vermont, individuals, by abstaining from ardent
spirit, saved, in one year, more than $8000. In the state of
New Hampshire,' they saved, in the same way, more than
$100,000. In Lyme, New Hampshire, in which had been sold
annually about 6000 gallons, the quantity sold that year tvas only

FOtTRTH REPORT.— '1831. SO

600 gallons. The bill of mortality, which hafl, for six years, upon
an average, been antiually 24} wa& reduced, for two years, to 17|;.
In 1826, the yearlbefore die formation of the Temperance So-
ciety, the number of deaths under 40 years of age was 15;
in 1828, only 9.

Had eveky town in the United States pursued a similar dourse.
that is, used but one tenth part the usual quantity of ardent
spirits, and had it been followed by a similar result, the number
of deatlis, that year, wodd have been lessened more tiian 70,000.*

In a number of towns, the Holy Spirit followed, with his life-giv-
ing power, the efibrts for the promotion of temperance, and
hundreds, under his gracious influence, hopefully embraced the
gospel.

In one town in Massachusetts, a temperance discourse was
delivered near the close of 1827. Numbers renounced the use
of ardent spirit, and conducted all their business without it.
Many were anxious to form a Temperance Society; but some,
among the aged and influential, thooght that they could not do
without a little, and no society was formed, till die young men,
impatient at the delay of their fathers, called a roeedng, and
formed a Society among themselves. They resolved to have
stated meetings, coDect information, and spread it through the
town. At the first meeting, many were solemn, and at the second,
anxious for their salv'ation ; a prayer was offered, and the Holy
Spirit descended upon tliem : the anxiety increased, became
general, and extended through the town ; and more than 200, it
is believed, have passed from death unto life. Ten of those yOung
men are now preparing for the gospel ministry ; and, should their
lives be spared, and their talents consecrated to the Redeemer,
they may be instrumental in preparing many for an exceed-
ing and eternal weight of glory. And, could we trace the influ-
ence of that single Temperance Society, in all its various con-
nections, bearings, and consequences, upon the temporal and eter-
nal interests of men, the vision would be transporting. And
when the Committee saw these Societies rising, and extending
their benign influences not merely over one, but over a thousand
towns, and promising to extend them through the whole land, and
to all future ages, they could not but diank God, and take
courage.

This year was also rendered memorable, and will be marked
as an era in the history of Europe, from its having been the
commencement of the Temperance Reformation in the old world.

* In the Connecticot State Prison, with an avera^ of 130 «»ncts, more than 90 of
**Ha were aotorionsiy utenperate b0fore they eama tberp, not one of wfaon ^Mtm
PffmiltjeU to take a drop of intozicatiiur liquor aftfr he entered the walls of the piison,
im wu no death for 1<> months, and but one dtoth fdr ahoa' t y^sM.

3»

30 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETY.

A meeting was bolden, in July, at Belfast^ ia Ireland, to devise
ways an<i meaas for preveilting the profaaation. of tlie Sabbath ;
and, in otder to this,, for preventing, on that day, the aale and use
of spirituous liquors.. It was found, as it ever will be, impossible
to prevent the one, without first preventing the pther. The use
of ardent spirit' will, in all countries, and all ages, cause the
profanauon of the Sabbath, and all its abominations. To remove
the effect, therefore, they undertook to remove the cause. And
this they attempted to do in the old way, by 4he force of eivil huv.
But a certain individual (Rey. John Edgar, professor qf divin-
ity in the college at Belfast) expressed his dissent from thai
mode of attempting to accomplish the object, and his desire to
employ moral ineans only, in attempting to effect moral refor-
mation.

He was therefore appointed to prepare an appeal to tlie piiblic
6n this subject. While engaged in this preparation, he learned,
for tlie first time, by a friend from America (Rev. Mr. Penny,
of Rochester, New York), the nature, means and success of the
Temperance Reformation in die United States. Eagerly seizing
on its grand principles, and the grand principle of, all moral refor-
mation, viz. J^obintary abstinence from doing evil, as an essential
pre-requisite to doing well ; and voluntary associations, exhibiting
this principle in practice, as ike grand means of effecting it ; he
embodied his thoughts, and published thenvin the Belfast papers,
on tiie J 4th of August, 1829. This was the first appeal on
this subject to the Christians of Europe ; and was followed by
results similar to tiiose which had been witnessed in the United
States. The first Temperance Society in the old world, on the
plan of abstinence, was formed by Rey. Cfeorge Carre, of New
Rossy in Ireland. Special pains were taken to furnish them with
the Journal of Humanity and other temperance publications
from this country, and before the close of the year, they had
numerous Temperance Societies in Ireland and Scotland, em-
bracing mor^. than 14,000 members. The subject had been
taken up in England, and bid fair to extend through the king-
dom. More than 65,000 temperance publications had issued
from the press, and were in a course of rapid and extensive
circulation. Persons were employed to go frpm house to house,
and distribute them, and i]aake known to the people the benefits
that would result to them and their children, for both worlds, from
the Temperance RefojrmatioQ.

Thus had the subject at to period, taken deep root on two con-
tinents ; and the ryrospect was increasing, that, should Providence
continue to spnile, and teihperate men to do their duty, it would
hold OQ its way, tUl there siiould not be a drunkard on the globe.

In the early part of 1830, Rev. Mr. Hewjt iri;^ted fbe Middle

FOVRTB REPORT.— 18^1 . SI

•ad Southern States, He was received with kindness, heard with
Attention, and was instrumental in awakening new interest in that

|)art of the country. In March, he returned, and continued his
abors in New England, till within three months of the close of
Aisenpgement. Having bieen invited to take charge of a church
in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and believing it to be his duty to ac-
cept the invitation, he resigned Iris laborious and successful agen-
cy, Sept. 30th, 1830, And while the Committee would grate-
wily acknowledge the kindness of the Lord in his preservation and
success, they would affectionately sympathize with him in hb
recent domestic affliction,* and express their earaest hope that
both mercies and trials may be overruled for his greater useful-
ness on earth, and his more distinguished glory in heaven.

Rev. Edward W. Hooker, associate general "agent, and editor
of tlie Journal of Humanity, after the judicious and able dis-
charge of its duties till the paper was established, and had takqn
strong hold on the interests of the community, resigned his connec-
tion with the Society ; and Mr. E. C. Tracy was appointed editor
in bis stead. This paper still continues to be a powerful auxil-
iary in the great and good cause. It is read witli deep interest,
by intelligent and philanthropic men, in this and other countries ;
and should its circulation be extended so as to render its publication
permanent, it would accomplish unspeakable good to our country
and to the world. And the Committee would earnestly request the
friends of the object, as extensively as practicable, to promote its
circulation.

Other papers, and periodical publications, have exerted a power-
ful influence, and rendered valuable aid to the cause ; and it is de-
arable that such publications should be circulated extensively
throughout the country. ^

Rev. Wm. Kinner, si Baptist clergyman in Slmois, has been
appointed to labor for one year, as agent, m that state ; and the
American Tract Society has made a donation of teiiiperance tracts,
to be distributed by our agents', in that extended and interesting
part of our country.

The Corresponding Secretary, since his reappointment, August
27th, 1829, has continued uniritemiptedly his labors in the service
of the Society. He has visited various parts of the British
provmce of New Brunswick, and the states of Maine, New Hamp-
shire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Penn-
sylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and the District of Columbia. He
has traveled more than 6,400 miles, and preached and addressed
public bodies three hundred and eightv-six times. He has assisted
in the formation, and attended the anniversaries, of numerous Tem-

* Mm. Rebecca Hewit, wife of Rev. Nathaniel Hcwit, died at Bridgeport. Gonik,
^7 kunented, Jan. td, 1831.

32 AMERICAN TEMFER^VNCS SOCIETT.

perance Societies ; written a number of articles for pubfication ; c<;
dticted the coi7;es|)OQdeDce ; and superintended the general concei
of the Society.

At the request of a number of gentlemen, he, in January, 1 8^
visited the District of Columbia, and addressed the citizens
Washington, Georgetown, and Alexandria. Three Temperan
Societies had been formed, and ten others were ^rmed^ duri
his visit, embracing more than one thousand members. At t
request of individuals of both houses of Congress, he addressed t
members of that body, in the capitol, on the subject. The i
tendants were numerous, and the interest manifested was higl
auspicious. From all parts of the country, members pf Congn
testified that a great change had been effected, and one in t
highest degree salutary to all the social, civil, and religious mU
ests of the community.

A member from one of the Southern States,, and from a distr
in which it had been customary for candidates for office to bri
the electors with spirituous liquors, declared, " that so great h
been the change of public sentiment, that, should jany man now pi
sue a similar course, that, of itself, would defeat his election."*

Another member from one of the Western States, declare
** that the change in his part of the countnr had been wonderft
and that he considered the object of the Temperance Society
one of the jmost important, and its operatioi?s as among the m<
useful, of any in the world. The children — ^the children," said 1
" to all future generations, will experience the benefit. Any put
cations on this subject, which you may wish to send into my d
trict, I will cheerfully forward.'^'

Similar was the testimony of others, and their readiness to c
culate information on the subject.

There is no obje^ct, said they, a[ more importance than this,
the welfare of the country.

From a number of the principal Iwardbg-houses in the city
Washington, ardent spirit was excluded ; and many of the mei
bers of Congress used none during the session.

The President of the United States gave it as his opimon, th
through an extensive region of country where he had traveled, tl
quantity used had been diminished more than half.

The Secretary of War stated, that, of more than tme thousa]
desertions from the aitny, during the last year, nearly idl were o
casioned by drinking.

From January 1st, 1823, to December 31st, 1829, the numb
of desertions was 5,669 ; upon an average, more than eig^t hu
dred ; nearly one sevendi part of the whole army (which coash

* Appirdix, G.

FOURTH REl^ORT. — 1831. XI

of abont six thousand) every year. The loss to the country by
desertioDS in these seven yeais, exclusive of the expenses of coor
yening courts-mardal, and several other items, was $471,263; or
about $70 to a man ; and during six years, ending December Slst,
1828, the number of soldiers tried by courts-martial, was 7,058,
In five years, ending December 31st, 1827, there wwe 6,682 ; be-
ing nearly one to each individual in the army, during one term of
enlistmeDt. And a great majority of the whole resulted from the use
of ardent spirit. And if to this we add the cost of die liquor, the
expenses of a great increase of i^ckness, and numerous premature
deaths, the loss, from the use of this poison, in tlie army, the whole
tendency of which is to injure the soldier, and unfit him for the de-
fence of his country, must have been very great.*

A distinguished officer of the army declared, " Nearly all the trouble
we have with the men arises from drinking." And in a leOer
which our Secretary lately received from him, he says, " Since 1
last wrote you, I have visited a military post ; and, on looking over the
sick list, with the acting surgeon and hospital steward at my el-
bow, to tell me the cause of each man's sickness, I was assured
that, out of forty-six cases, the diseases of more than forty had
their origin in intemperance. Probably more than five sixths of
all military ofifences tried before our courts-martial, result from in-
temperance." The same officer gave it as his opinion, that, since
his acquaintance with the army, which has been (or many years,
more than three fourths of the deaths amone the soldiers were oc-
casioned by ardent spirits. And he says, "The Secretary of War
has, in my opinion, done incalculable good to the aiiny, by witb-v
holding the whiskey part of the rations. We want now a few ten>-
perance preachers to visit from post to post, and bring the subject
of temperance before the troops ; form Societies ; iiirnish tliem with
addresses, essays, and periodicals; and I doubt not that a happy
reformation would be witnessed in the army."

And bis anticipations seem to be justified by facts. In a num-
ber of cases. Temperance Societies have been formed at various
nulitary posts, and with the most cheering results.

From one of them, a correspondent writes, " Ardent spirit had
l)een, as was customary, deak out to the sddieis. The con-
sequence was, the majority were in a state of degiudation, and
were going die broad road to ruin, as ^ast as the wheels of time^
and the ruinous consequences of irregular living, would carry them.
About one fourth, on an average, were unable to do duty on ac-
count of drunkenness ; which caused sickness, punishments, and
(lesertions, not a few. Tn consequence o{ the visits and efhrts of
iodiriduals, a cb»age bias taken place, so great^ that the officers

* ArpciiBffi, H.

M AMERICAN TKXPEKANCE SOCIETT.

cbeerfiilly acknowledge, that die Lord hath done4t^ One hundred
and sixty-ni»ey out of two hundi^d and ten sojdiers, si^ed a petition to
have no ardent spirit brought to the gaiTison. The petition wa*
granted. With their grog-nioney, tliey have purchased a library ot
more than five hundred volumes ; and it is now a shame for any
man to drink or be drunken. The Sabbath is spent in reading;
and attending public worship. The Sabbath schod is taught
by the officers and others, and conducted in an orderly and a useful
manner." ^

The regulation above referred to, adopted by the war depart-
ment, together with the remarks upon it of a gentleman connected
with the army, and of distinguished medkal gentlemen, will be
J found in die Appendix ;* and should sutlers and all others be pro-
hibited from furnishing ardent spirits, and the troops from pur-
aliasing them, the result to the army and to the country would be
in the liighest degree salutary. It would prevent a great portion of
all the desertions and courts-martial ; of sickness and premature
deaths; and would save annually more than half a million of
dollars.

The use of ardent spirit has done more than every thing else to
deteriorate the character of the sqldier, and unfit him for the de-
fence of his country. And so long as the cause is continued,
whether it is kept in operation by the government or by individu-
als, the effect can never be done away.

The Secretary of the Navy also expressed his conviction, that
the use which is made of ardent spirit is one of the greatest curses ;;
and declared his intention to recommend a ch$inge with regard to>
the navy. A distinguished officer gave it as his opmion, that nine
tenths of all the difficulties which the officers have with the men
arise from ardent spirits ; and expressed his strong conviction,,
from what he had witnessed on board . his own ship, and others,,
which had made the experiment, of the practicability and great utili-
ty of entire abstinence throughout tj)e navy. . He said, " If Con-
gress would pass a ]aw, prohibiting the use of ardent spirit in the
navy, and giving to the men the value of it in money, there would
be no difficulty ; and it would be one of the greatest blessings that
could be conferred upon them." There is now a provision ^at all
who will voluntarily relinquish it, shall be allowed six cents per
ration, as a substitute. But what is needed, is, that the government
should cease to furnish it for any.

On board the United States sloop of war Falnoouth^ in her late
cruise, seventy of die men abstained entirely firom the use of ardent
spirit ; and between forty and fifty on board the Brandywine ; and
they were among the most healthy, cheerful and orderly in die

FOURTH REPORTd^— 1831. 95

ship. ^ During the pruise/' said the chaplain, <^ I never Im^w a
complaini aeaindt one of thein ; and the total, disuse of s{Arit is in-
creasing in die navy generally. The inquiry, ' Can seamen advan-
tageously and comfortably dispense with spirituous liquors, while )ai
sea ?' is satisfactorily answered, by a cloud of witnesses. Both in
our navy and in our merchant ship, the quesdon is at rest.^ A
later communicatipn, from the Mediterranean squadron, stateSi
^'That, out of the whole ship's company of the frigale Brandywine,
amounting to four hundred and eighty-six souls, only one hundred
and sixty men drew their grog."

Since January 1st, 1830, more than one hundred and fifty ves^
sels have sailed from the port of Boston, w^ich do not carry ardent
spirit j and it is believed? that there are now afloat on the ocean,
more than four hundred of this description. The longest and nniost
difficult voyages are made without it; and gready to the health,
comfort and safety of the men. Of seven hundred sailors, w1k>
have called for a supply of books, at one office, more than two
hundred abstain fixxn the use of spirituous Hquors ; and ^ould this
coui-se be adopted by aU seafaring men, it would prevent^ accord-
ing to the opinion of experienced navigators, more than half of aH
tbe shipwrecks on the ocean. .

A captain, Tvhq had just arrived from Europe, said to our Secr^
tary, <*I took seven mea fr*om a wreck just before my arrival, in a
state of almost utter starvation. When wrecked, they took a keg^
of whiskey, but never thought of victuals ; and had it not been (or
a timely discovery, they must all have perished. And tbcs habit
of drinking is the cause of a great portion of all tbe shipwrecks,.
The moment sailors become frightened, they begin to drink, soon
despair, give up all for lost, and drink till they ore lost. Had they
held on, and not touched the poison, they bad out-rode the storm,
and been safe."

So say the facts^ A vessel, lately coming from Virgbia to New
York, with a number of passengers on board, was overtaken with a
storm, which ra^ed with great violence, and continued a long time.
All the saibrs on board who drank ardent spirit, from intemperance^
fatigue, or despair, gave up^ and ceased to labor. But one num on
board drank no ardent spirit ; and although he, with die rest, had
buffeted the storm, he took the helm, and stood for hours after the
others had ceased to make exertion ; and the whole crew were saved*
Had It not b^en for him, long before the storm abated, they had all
probably been at the bottom of tbe ocean^r

Said a distingubhed navigator, ^^ The great day of account wiB
bear terrible witness, when the sea shall ^ve up the dead that are
in it, of the vast and unsuspected ext^it of the sacrifice of life
unong seamen, firom shipwrecks, and other catastrophes occasioned
by drunkenness. One aistressfiil instance, among toe numbers thai

36 AMEIUCAN TCMPERANCir SOGfETT.

vnll heretfter be brou^t to light, occurred within my own obsetvu^
mn» A collier brig was stranded on the York coast ; and I had
occasioii to assist^in die interesting, but distressmg service of rescu^
iog a part of the crew by drawing them up a vertical cliff, two or
three hundred feet in altitude, by means of a d^p-sea lead^line, the
only rope that could be procured. The first two men who caught
.{lokl of this slender line, were hauled safely up the frightful clUf;
.put the next, after being drawn to a considerable height, sBpped hl»
bold, and he fell ; and with the fourth and last, who ventured upon
this only chance of life, tlie rope gave way, and he also wa^ plunged
into foaming^ binedkers beneath, immediatdy afterwards, the vessel
broke up, and the remnant of the ill-fated crew, with the ex^ption
.of two, who were washed into a cavern in the cliff, perished before
our eves. Bui what was the cause of this heart-rendine event ?
. Wris it stress of weather, or bewildering fogy or unavoidable acci-
dent ? No ;'^t arose entirely from the want of sobriety ; every sailor,
to a man, beiag in a state of tntoxicatioD. The tiessel, but a few hourn
before, had saded from Sunderhmd ; th^ men being dmnk^ a boy,
unacquainted with the coast, was intrusted with the hehn. He ran
tbe brig upon Whitby tUftk, and one half of the miserable, dissi-
pated crew awoke to consciousness in eternity ! To this solitary
instance I nnght add many; but Ais must suffice, both as to illus-
tratbn and proof of the terrible consequences ^f intempemnce at
pea.*'

Numerous other cases, and from all parts of the Worid, mkht be
raek^doned, fllustrative of the same truth ; and, should the use of spirit-
uous liquors be done away^ the risk of property cfti the ocean and
the rate of insurance might be lessened prbbably more than half.
i\nd it is hoped ihat the time is) not dt9ttot, when no itierchant will
siifier tUs grand cause of immorality, disease, and deaft, tempora)
and eternal, to be found on board his vessel } and when it shull not
be used, bs an artide of luxury ^r diet, or sdd by any sober man,
eapeciaily by. any Ghristian, in* our land.

-^Nor will the prevention of the loss of property, m that case, be
cptifined to the oc^. The Hon. William Cranch, chief jtidge of
the District of Columbia, who is extensively known as a candid and
aecdhrate reporter of principles ahd facts, ki kn Actdress which he
delivered before the Washington and Alexahdriia Temperance
Sdeieties, estimates the loss aimually m the Unitled States, nom the
uiB (tf ardent spirits, at not less than $d4,425,pO0i* In thb esti-
mate, he has taken no account of what is lost by shipwrecks, sick-
n1b»9 iod m various other ways. But even this sum would, in tlrirty
years, amount to more than the Valtie of all the houses, laiids and
jda^fes in the 'l%iil(eMl Stattes. Hrese l^^ei^ estimated, k> 1815, at

»•■<■••

|l,771,31d,908. And if the vahie of them has since iacr^saed
ia proportion to the increase of po|)ulatioti, it wOuM now be
^2,519,009^32. And die loss to the consumers of ardent tspirits,
and to the oommunity, in thirty years^ would, aeccrding to the Core-
gobg estimate, be $2,832,750,000, which is |31 3,740,778 nuire
tbao tlie value of all the^ houses and laud m the United States ; thus
exliibhing to the world the awful spectacle of a people losing, by the
use of strong drink, m thirty years, i|J3l3,740,'5t8 more than the
\ralue of their whole country. And ail for what ? To gratify an
artificiai and destructive appedte, which men do not need, and
which they had better be without ; which God does not give them,
but which they, by their own voluntary and wicked conduct, form.
And if the crimes, which are prosecuted annually in the United
States, are only one fifth as many, in proportion to the population,
as in the ci^ of New Yoik, and should they not increase with the
increase of population, they would, in tliirty years, amount to
1,800,000; more than i,<KX),000 of whiqh must, aocdrdine to the
testimony of judges and jurists, be attributed to the use of ardent
spirits. And of the 7,200 murders which will, should the present
numher not increase, in that time be committed, more tbtti 5000
of them must be attributed to the same cause. And of aH the
deaths which will in that time take place, in the United States^
more than 900,000 must be considered, oiccarding to die testimony
of the most distinguished physicians, as occasioned by strong drink.
Or, if we take the number who are killed by it in Plnkdelphia, as
stated hy a committee of the College of Phyneians, as the average
proportion, being in diat city seven hundred in a ytur, it would
inake moie than l,dOO/)00. In one place, of oiAy 6000 inhab-
itants, the chief magistrate, being himself an eminent physician, in-
fonned our Secretary, that twenty-eigiit in that place were killed by
strong drink m one year. Tliis would make, m thirty years, eight
hundred and forty. And if eight hundred and forty would be killed
in a population of 6000, how many would be killed, in that time,
among 12,000^)00? The proportion would be 1,680,000: while
tbe use of this poison, without affi)rding the least benefit, wodd
g^tly increase the diseases, lessen the reason, and diminbh the
tappiness of aH who used it ; and, upon an average, would sfa<Nten
their fives probably at least five years. And if drunkards, upon an
average, snorten life only ten years, and temperate drinkers five,
^d there are only four sober drinkers to one drunkard, it would
cause a lofls in the United States, in thirty years, of 3^,400,000
years of bunmn probation and of active usefulness ; in a world, too,
in which every noUe and faenevotent deed might model the charac-
ter, and tell on the destinies of men, for eternity. Amazing loss !
And when we consider- the efiect of this poison, in detericKating tfie
character, blinding the understanding, searing the cosseience, aaid<
4

S8 AUfiRIOAN TfiMFERANGX SOCIETT.

hardening the heart ; when we see it tehd to hinder ibe success of
the gospel, and prevent the efficacy of all. the means of grace ; and
to perpetuate and accumulate its deleterious influence over all
future generations of men^—- 4he evils become overwhelming.

And yet, by abstammg from their cause, these evils may be dpue
away ; without injury to any, and greatly to the benefit of all. And
as more than a thousand among the most intelligent physicians on
the globe^ have certified, that nien in health do not need ardent
spirit, and cannot,- without injury, use it ; and as the correctness of
this opinion is proved abundantly by facts, in the experience of
hundreds of thousands of all ages and conditions, and in all kinds
of business, — ^the conviction is extending and deepening, and tend-
ing to become universal, that no person can continue to use it, or
be ^cessory to the use of it by odiers, witllout, if acquainted with
the sutgect, the accumulation of awful and overwhelming guilt.

This conviction is msdiifested by the increasing numbers "who
are voluntarily withdrawing from all connection with this abomina-
tion, and pledging ^mselves to use all suitable means to persuade
all others to do the same.

Fifteen Temperance Societies, on the plan of abstinence, were,
the past year, formed in the city of Baltimore, embracing noore
than 2000 mejnhers. A State Society was also formed in Mary-
land, in Delaware, and in seven other states. Eleven had been
formed before, making, m all, at the present time, eighteen; State
Societies. There is one in each state, except Maine, Rhode
Island,* Alabama^ Louisiana, Illinois, and Missouri. And it is
hoped^ that a State Society will soon be formed m every state in
tlie Union. And should each State Society, as is earnestly desired
by this Society, employ an agent, and take the direction bf this
cause within tneir own limits, and temperate men do their duty, a
Tempeirance Society may soon be formed in every county, town
and viHage in the country.

On the first of May, 1831, there were reported 140 Societies
in.Mame, 96 in New Hampshire, 132 m Vermont, 209 in Massa-
chusetts, 21 in Rhode Island, 202 m Connecticut, 727 in New
York, 61 in New Jersey, 124 in Pennsylvania, 6 b Delaware, 38 in
Maryland, 10 in the District of Columbia, 113 in Virginia, 31 in
Nordi Carolina, 16 in South Carolina, 60 in Ge<M*gia,. 1 in Florida,
IQ in Alabama, 19 in Mississippi, 3 in Louisiana^ 15 in Tennessee,
23 iii Kentucky ,^ 104 in Ohio, 25 in Indiana, 12 in Illinois, 4 in
Missouri, and 13 in Michigan Territory^; making, in all, more than
2200, and embracing more than 170,000 members. These members
have been constantly increasing, and have, in many casfes, been

* A State Society has since been formed in Rhode Island, making at the pi««-
ewt time, 19 Stat^ Societjes.

FOURTH- RKFOllV.— ^1831^ 39

more than doubled since they were repotted. Hiere are abo
Dumeroas Societies which have been formed^ and some of than
embract^ lai^e districts of country, not contained in the above list^
and from which no r^urns have been received. The number be-
longing to Societies which are not reported^ in the state of New
York, are supposed, by the Committee of the State Society, to
amount to more than 30,000. In other states from which tlie
returns have been less general and complete, the number, in pro-
portion, is still greater. In Kentucky, in which but 23 have been
reported to us, cx>ntaining only about 1600 members, a correspond*-
em writes, that they have, in his opinion, nearly 100 Societies, aad
not much short of 15,000 members. So it may be in other states;
and from the best information which has been obtained, the Com-
mittee conclude that there are now formed, in the United States, on
the plan of abstinence from the use of ardent spirit, more than
3000 Temperance Societies, contabing more than 300,000 ra^n-
bers.

From the influence of these Societies, and other causes, 300,000
more may have adopted the plan of not using it, or furnishing it
for the use of others. Connected with these^ 600,000 of children
and persons in their employment, and under their control, may
be as many more. And thus 1,200,000 may ahready have been
brought under the influence, and may now be experiencing the
benefit, of the Temperance Reformation. Among these, should
they continue to refrain from intoxicating drink, there will never be
a dmnkard : whereas, had they continued in habits which prevailed
five years ago, 50,000 of them might have come to the drunkard's
grave.

So tliat, should this reform now be merely stationary, and make
no further progress, it may have saved 50,000 from the drunkard's
doony; and how many it would save of their children, aind childrenV
children, none but God can determine.

In one case, as our Secretary was informed, a father adopted
tile plan of using a litde ardent spirit every day. He was never
intoxicated, and never thought to be in the least intmnperate.
He only took a little, a very tittle, because he thought that It did
Urn good. For the same reason, his children took a litiley daik ;
and so did their children. And now^ no less than 40 of his de-
scendants are drunkards, or in the drunkard's ^ve.

Another man adopted a diflSbrent plan ; he would not use ardent
spirit; he would not purchase it; nor would he suflfer it to enter
his house. He taught his children to treat it as a poison, a mortal
poison ; and they taught their children. And now, there is not a
drunkard among them; nor has one of his descendants ever
come to the drunkard's grave. Long, long may it be, before any
ooe ever shall. And when the long Unes of descendants of dieae

40 AXsiucAM TEi^eiuNCE sooanrT*

two men, through all fiiture ages, shall rise up before them, a^d
beibre the universe, in the . blazing Cebt of eternity, .who can es-
timate the difference of results, of the di^rent courses adopted
and pursued by their progenitors i None but He, who seetb the
end uom the beginning, and to whom they have both now gone to
render their account.

If such may be the difference of result from a single individual
adopting the plan of abstinence, from what it might have been, had
he adopted the plan of moderate drbking, and in two generations,
who can estimate the difference, from the pkn of abstinence having
been adopted by 1,200,000, — 50,000 of whom might have been
drunkards, and 1,150,000 habitual drinkers,— down through all
future generati(»is to the end of the world — ^and onward to eternity ?
And here let it not be forgotten, that more than 3000 of those who
now abstain, actually were drunkards ; who, should they continue
their present course, will have been saved with a great salva-
tion. And this might have been the case with more than 6000
others, who are drunkards still. They ceased to use strong drink
for a time, and were sober meii. Such they might have been now ;
and not only sober men, but respectable men, a comfort and a
blessing to all a^>und them ; had not some sober drinker, oc some
retailer,— whpse name, were it to number the evils which he has oc-
casioned, would be Legion, for they are many,— indeed them to
go back, and perish.

To a respectd^le stranger,in a provmce of a neighboring kingdom,
our Secretary handed a temperance tract, and said, ''Sir, the man
who wrote that tract was once a drunkard."^ '' And so,^' said the
stranger, with tearful emotion, '' was the man who now holds it.'^
But he i» not a diiinkard now. No ; he adopted the plan of absti-
nence ; has since, it is believed, chosen that good part which shall
Hot be taken from him ; and is shedding on a wide circle of ac-

?uaintance the lifegiving and purifying influence of a consistent
/hristian example. He is a warm advocitte, and active promoter
of the temperance cause ; and through his influence, and that of
others, there is reason to hope that it will spread through the
province.

A respectable merchant, in one of our principal cities, said, '' I
shdl have reason to remenaber the Temperance Cause as long as 1
live. Had it not been for that, I, before now, should have been
a drunkard." On relating this fact taa merchant, in another ci^,
'' And so," said he, ^' should I. I was on the brink of ruin ; but it
saved me." And the grace of God. came m, and he, it is believed,
was doubly saved. '' Yes," said he, with gratefril emphasis, as he
looked on his wife and children, '' und I wiugive a hundred dollars
a year, to spread the Temperance Reformation through tho
eeuotry*"

And who, ^«t has a hundred dollars of Ae Lord's property, and
can, conisistently ^th duty, wiH not ^ve it, to spread the Temper-
nice Reform throughout our country, and throughout the Tvorld ?
in what possible way can that aimount, BimuaSy, front one hundred
men, to whom the Lord has committed property, with the inscrip-
tion ** Occupy till I come," do more good to the temporal and eter-
nal interests of men?

Suppose the American Temperance Society has, within the last
dve years, expended $10,000, and other Societies and individuals
have expended, in this cause, as much more ; in What way did
|20,000 ever do more good ? In what way was $20,000 ever
more productive in the accumulation of propert}- ? or, what is bettei,
in the saving of property, character, health, reason, lives and souls
of men ?

In the county of Baltimore, in Maryland, out of 1134 paupers,
admitted to the alms-house from May, 1829, to May, 1830, 1059
were brought there by intemperance ; viz. of temperate adults, 24 ;
of adults whose habits were not known, 24 ; children of temperate
parents, 13; children of parents whose habits were not known, 14;
children of intemperate parents, 115 ; and intemperate adults, 944 :
total of temperate adults, and persons whose habits were not known,
and their cUldren, 75 ; and ol intemperate adults and their children,
1059.

In the county of Cumberland, Pennsylvania, of 50 paupers, 48
were made such by intemperance. And in the county of Oneida,
New York, out of 253, 246 were made paupers in the saitie way.
"According to a Report of the superintendents of the Wash-
ington comity (N. Y.) poor-house, out of 322 person? received intc
that house since its establishment, 290 Were sent there in conse-
quence of their own intemperance, or that of others.

"According to a statement made by Col. Hoffinan, nineteen
twentieths of the mmates of the Mbntgomery county (N. Y.) poor-
house, owe their situation to intemperance.'

And the superintendent of the Albany alms-house states, that,
were it not for the use of strong drink, that establishment would be
tenaiitless.' And substantially so it would be throughout this coun-
try ; and in proportion as the Temperance Reform has prevailed,
alms-houses have become tenantless, and crimes been done away.

The s(rficitor general, at the sitting oif the Supreme Court, in
the county of Hampden, Massachusetts, remarked, that he found
but ooe itidictment for crime in the county of Worcester ; but one
in the eoenty of Hampshire ; and but three m the county of Hamp-
den ; ^id thait, in aH parts of the state, die indictments for crimes
bod surpfisingltf 'dimimshed within two years. And he could
ascribe tnis change in favor of virtue and sood order, to no other
cause than the influence cX Tfempieiratice SDcieties, and the great
4»

43 JLMKBICAN TEHPSaAHCE SOGISTY.

change, which they had been the means of ^^6tiBg mibr regard t

the use of strong drink.

^' The keeper of the Ogdensburg (N. Y«) jail states, that seve
eighths of the criminals, and thre^ fourths of the debtors, imprisone
there, are intemperate persons.

"Of the first 690 chiklren ,sent to cthe New York house o
refuge after its establishment, 401 were known to be children c
intemperate, parents. ^ , . _

" In two districts in Upper Canada^ 38 out of 44 bquests hel
by the coroners, were, in cases of death, caused by intemperance.

" The keeper of the Ohio penitentiary, in his Report to the Lej
islature of that state, Dec. 1829, says, that, of the 134 prisonej
under his care, 36 only claimed to be tenaperate men. .

" The sheriff of Washington county. Pa., stated, last year, tha
out of 24 committals, 21 were caused by intemperance.

" In Litchfield county, Ct., the proportion of criminals who ai
intemperate, is 35 out of 39."

" My belief is," says the chairman of the Committee of the Nei
York State Society, " that this state has sav^d, during the last yeai
in the lessened use of ai'dent spirits, $6,250,000. And it is entire)
past all calculation to estimate the . great increase of wealth to th
state in labor, more usefully and more v^orously applied, to ever
department of industry. And .since rum has been dismissed, an
the mind has recovered its healdiful tone, the Spirit of the Lor
has a pow6r, and has been at work, in various parts of this stat<
in a wonderful manner ; and all appear to agree, now, that the to
common use of aitlent spirits has been one great cause of apath
on religious subjects."

The Committee of tlie New York State Society estimate th
saving, in the cost of spirits alone, at $2,000,000 the last yeaj
" But," they say, '• our greatest gains firom the Temperance Refoi
mation are not to be estimated in dollars. They are manifes
in our improved morals, ,and in the fresh vieor which is infused int
every ^branch of industry. They are manifest m the unexample
prosperity which pervades our state, and which all candid observei
agree in ascribii^ so largely to the arrest of the desolating tide o
intemperance. They are manifest, the Christian is sure, in th
unprecedented attention to religion in all parts of the state ; fc
our greatest enemy to the work of the Holy Sphit on the minds o
men, is more than half conquered."*

Equally conspicuous and salutary is the effect on the health q
tlie community. Said a distinguished physician in Massachusett
*^ Since our people have given up the use of ardent spirits, th
amount of sickness has been diminished about half. And 1 hav

VorrRTH BEPORt.— 1831. 43

W) douk, should the people of the United States renounce tlie use
of spirituous liquors, nearly half the diseases of tlie country would
be prevented.''

And said another eminent physician, after forty years' extensive
practice and observation, "I have no doubt that half the raen, ever^
year, who die of fevers, might recover, had it not been for the use
of spirituous h'quors. No one but a physician knows bow power-
fully ail inflammatory diseases are increased, even by wliat is called
tmperate drinking ; or how fatally the best remedies in the world
are counteracted by the same cause. I have seen men who were
never intoncated, down twenty days with a fever, who, had it not
been for tlie use of ardent spirit, probably would not have been
conQned to the house a day. And I have often seen men stretched
on a bed of fever, who, to all human appearance, might be raised up
as well as not„ were it not for that state of the system, which daily
temperate drinking produces ; who now, in spite of all that can be
dooe, sink down and die." And die decrease in the bills of mor-
tality, among those who have renounced the use of strong drinki
exhibits evidence, that, should this course be adopted by all, the
number of deaths annually in the country, would be lessened more
than 50,000.

And facts, so far as they have been developed, as well as ihe
nature of the case, give reason to believe, that the same amount of ,
moral means, employed for human benefit, would more than double
their influence and their benefits over the minds and hearts of men.
The special attention which is now manifested to the great interests
of the soul, and of eternity, under the influence of the Divine Spirit,
in fourteen colleg.es, and more than five hundred towns, in which
the effects of the Temperance Reformation have been most con-
spicuous, speaks with a voice that will be beard, and heeded by
the friends of God throughout the earth.

Men who have given up the waters of death, have, in great numr
bers, under the means which God has appointed and blessed for
that purpose, passed from death unto lite.* Many more have
l)een saved firom becoming drunkards, and from the drunkard's
grave.

Prom a town of about 2000 inhabitants, a correspondent writes,
^We have not a drunkard in the place, except those that were
soch when our Temperance Society was formed, four years ago.
Not a new drunkard has since been made*'' Yet, had the people
of that town continued in the habits which prevailed five years ago,
uid furnished new drunkards, in proportion to their pppuladon,
^ had made, in four years, not less than 24 new drunkards.
And if 24 have been saved from becoming drunkards, among 2000

* AprBMDix, L,

44 AMERICAN TEtfPERANCE SOCIETY.

inhabitants, how many may have been saved among 12,000,000?
The proportion would be 144,000. But it may be said, ijiat
the Temperance Reformation has not prevailed through the country,
as it has through that town. This is true. Let us, tiierefore, take
another proportion. In that town are not over 700 members of the
Temperance Society; and if 24 have been saved from becoming
drunkards, by 700 members of the Temperance Society, and such
as act with them, how many have been saved by 300,000, and
thdse who act with them? The proportion would be 10,285.
Arfd the Committee know of no reason to believe that tiiis is more
than die real number, who, in four years, have been saved frora
becoming drunkards. And if to these we add the 3,000 who were
drunkards, and who now do not use the drunkard's drink, we have
13,285 sober men, who would otherwise have been drunkards.
And the prospect of their comfort and usefulness in this life, and
their salvation in eternity, is increased, should they continue to
abstain, a hundred fold.

And let the Temperance Reformation bccoitie as genera), and
as efficacious throughout the country, as it has been in that town,
and it might save, in 30 years, 1,080,000 from the drunkard's life,
the dnmkard's death, and the drunkard's eternity.

It might save, abo, multitudes of their chBdren, and children's
children, through all future ages, from being swept, by that
burning cuirent, to. "the lake of fire, which is the second
death."

And $10,000 a year, judiciously applied, and attended, as past
efibrts have beeti, by the blessing of the Most High, might render
the temperance efforts as efficacious, throughout our country*-, as
they have been in that town. In what, way, then, the Committee
would ask again, cian that amount of property be annually expended
to greater advantage to the temporal and eternal interests of men ?

3000 drunkards already reclaimed ; 10,285 sober men kept from
becoming drunkards; 1,200,000 abstjuning from tlie drunkaid's
drink, 50,000 of whqm, had they continued to use it, might have
becorxie drunkards; and as many more of their children in eve-
ry future generation;' the quantity used by 11,000,000 more
greatly diminished, and the pauperism, crimes, sickness, insanity
and death diinihished in proportion ; one of the mightiest obstruc-
tions to the efficacy of the gospel and all the means of grace re-
moved, and those means rendered proportionably more efficacious,
in the moral and spiritual illaraination and purification of men ; —
and all for how much? $20,000; which, if divided among the
drunkards reclaimed and the sober men, who in five years have been
saved fi"om becoinipg drunkards, would amount to $1,50 to a man ;
or, If divided among the 1,200,000, who abstain from the use of
ardent spirit, would be less than two cents to an individual ; while

rOiritTH KEPORT. — 1831. 45

the loss to the couotiy by desertions from the army, of the men wIm>
osed strong drink, was, in die same space of time, more than ^50
to a man : or more than $342,188, exclusive of the expenses of the
courts*maitial to try them. Is it not cheaper, then, to mduce men
to renounce the use of strong drink, dian it is to iiiniish it, and
then take care of them ?

Facts justify the belief, that should 100 men give 100 dollars
annually to promote this cause, they may be instmmental in annually
saving ten thousand lives, and ten million dollars ; and may exert
an influence in the higliest degree salutary to the social, civil, and
religious interests of men ; which shall be felt in its effects to all
Hiture generations, and shall tell, in accents of glory, upon tlie
destinies of millions to eternity.

In one town in Maine, containing a population of about 1000,
a Temperance Society was formed about four years ago. Before
the formation of that Society, the quantity of ardent spirit sold was
10,000 gallons a year ; and there were 17 retailers licensed to ^U it.
Now, there are none ; and not more than 200 gallons are used in
the town. Before, tliere were 53 drunkards ; and now, there aro
but 29. 24 have ceased to use strong drink, and are at present
completely reformed. Should an equal number, in propoition to
the population throughout the United States, be induced to adopt
the same course, which, by the use of suitable means, may be done,
it would amount to 288,000. Yes, 288,000, who are now drunk-
ards, may be led to abandon the use of that which intoxicates, and
who, should they continue to abstain, will have been saved from
an av?ful and overwhelming ruin.

But to accomplish this, means must be used. Men must not be
licensed to poison and destroy their fellow men. No sober man,
especially no professed Christian, must be willing, for the sake of
money, thus to become accessory to their temporal and eternal
niin. If they are^ numbers, who refrain for a time, will afterwards
go back and perish ; and the guilt of blood will rest on them.

" Not an individual," writes a correspondent from a town in
Massachusetts, " who was an habitual drunkard when our Temper-
ance Society was organized, has been permanently reformed . Num-
bers broke off the use of ardent spirit, for a time, and some even
joined the Temperance Society. But they have all gone back,
every one.*'

What was the reason ? Some, who were not drunkards, and
some, too, who professed to be good men, and who had covenanted,
before Heaven and earth, to do good, and good only, as they bad
opportunity, to all men, for a mere pittance of that which will per-
ish with the using, if it does not eat the soul like fire, would furnish
these men with the drunkard's drink ; and dius, knowingly, become
accessory to the drunkard's ruin.

46 A3IF.KICAN TeMFFJlAIfCE 90CIETT*

From a tovrn in Comiectieut a geDtkaian states, *< We succeeded
m forming a large Tetnperaiice Society^ Several ojT tlie drunkards
ceased to use spirituous liquors. Tiiey appeared like new iBen, aod,
oil ! , their families appeared to be in a new world. The change
was wonderful. Biit they have, alntost all, gone back. And we
cannot help it, so long as one of our deacons will sell rum. They
say, ' If* it is not wrong tot the deacon to seU it, it b not wrong for
us to buy it. He thinks thi^t a little does good, and so do we.'
And thus they go down to ruin. And, oh i their fanultes, their

wi'etched families U but we cannot help them, so king as the

deacon will sell rum."

No ; if deacons, and church members, and sober men^ will con-
tinue, for tlie sake of money, to sell rum, and make drunkards, and
llius becoine their temptei's and destroyers, good men, and the
friends of humanity, cannot he]p it^^^ Nor can tliey, but to a small
extent, furnish relief to their wretdhed famflies. Though they go
with an angel's kindness and with an angel's freeness pouir it out
upon them — the deaicon, or the church member, or some other
retailer of pauperism, crime, sickness, insanity and death, for 25
cents will throw.that whole family, for days, ii^to all the agonies, the
lieart-rending, heart-breaking agonies, of having a drunken and an
infuriated maniac for a husband and a father. Yes, for 25 cents,
he will hear the scream of the children, and see them run away
hnd hide, and liear the graans of her who cannot get away ; and
though she comes, when the storm is over, and beseeches him,
with tears, not lo sell her husband the madman's poison, for she
and her children — and her tongue falters as she says children —
cannot endure it ; yet, for 25 cents, he will sell it yet again and
again,— ^till, as was the case in one instance, the husband and the
father went home from the deacon's store, and, under the influence
of what the deacon bad given him, murdered his wife. She will
never again beseech him, for her children's sake, and the Savior's
sake, not to sell her husband rum. No ; she wiii not complain,
npT will she beseech him any more. But his own children may do
both. One of them, on bearing of this murder, and the circum-
stances, said, '^ Father, do you not think, that, in the day of judg-
ment, you will have to answer for that murder ?" And must not
C(>nscience, when awakened , echo, " Mwder I — Mvn-der /" Why ?
Did he murder that woman } No ; but he gave her husband that
whk:>.h excited him to do it ; when he knew, from the testimony of
judges and jurists, that it caused more than three fourths of all the
murders i^ the United States. And why did be do k? For
money. How much ? A sum so great that a man could, not with-
stand it? No; for less than 25 cents. YeSy for less than 25 cents
tiKuse children were made orphans ; and their father, when our
agent passed through that part of the coimtry,. was in prison to bet

jFOU&TH REPORT. 1831 • 4T

tnei for his life, for murderbg their mother. And all his excuse
was, be was excited to do it by what he received from the deacon.
No wonder his child should beseech him to give up the trai^,
and warn him, with tears, that, if he did not do it, he would be, at
the day of judgment,, stained with the guilt of blood.

It is an established prijiciple of law, for the violation of wfaic^
men have been hanged, that the accessory and the principal, ih
the commission of crime, are both guilty. If this principle is
correct, and applies to divine as well as human law, and the
drunkard cannot enter heaven, what will be die condition of Urn
who is accessonr to the making of drunkards? who iumLshes the
materials, and, tor the sake of gain, sends them out, to all who wiR
parchase them, when he knows the nature and ojfeets of this em-
pioyraent ? Can he enter heaven ?

The Committee do not ask these questions concerning those who
were engaged in this traffic when, its nature and effects were not
known, and when it was supposed to be consistent vnih tlie Chris-
tian religion ; but only concerning those, who, since its nature and
consequences are known, and loiovma to be ruinous to the temporal
and eternal interests of men, still continue it. And they do not
make such inquiries concerning them, but vridi the kindest fbeUnf^^
both toward them and the community.

But when it is known that more than two murders in a week,
upon an average, are conmiitted in the United States, through the
iofluence of ardent spirit, and that more than 500 persons in a
week are killed by the use of it, they cannot but present this sub-
ject, kindly and plainly, to the consideration of all sober men.

Said a man, who, in those days, of ignorance which have now
cone by, was engaged m this traffic, '* I have no more doubt diat
I have killed a hundred men, than if I had taken a gun and ihoC
them, and saw every one of them fall dead at my feet."

Said another merchant, as he read a temperance tract, which oUr
Secretary handed him, — and the te^urs rolled plentifully down his
cheeks, — ^^ I never thought of it. I have been selling ardent spirit
for many years, I don't know about this making obrunkards. 1
am pretty much like the hearers of ^Paul, almost persuaded ;*•
meaning that he was almost persuaded to abandon the traffic as an
immoral, and a wicked, destructive business. He went to a tem-
perance meetingr— the first he had ever attended — and then to
another ; and said he, " It is now settled. I will never purchase
any more ardent spirit to sell. I could make several hundred
dollars a year by the sale of it ; but what would that be ? Should
I continue to scatter the estates of my neighbors, make wives
^dows, and children orphans, I should expect my own children
would become orphans, and their wives be widows, as God vbits
<he iniquities of the fathers upon the childrai to the third and

48 AMERICAN TCXFKAA9CE 9O0I£TY«

fourth generation.* If you will take some monej, atid send ifie a
parcel ^f those Httle books — I know all the merchants for a hundred
miles tip the river — ^they have, naany of them, purchased their ruro
^rf rae,-^I will take a journey, and get them to .give up the traffic."
The litUct books have beea ?ent to him> and the result d* his labors
eternity will disclose. As he was returning from the temperance
meeting, he met one of his tAA customers, who had come nearl)
a hundred miles to purchase goods, of which rum had always
formed a part And he said to him, who had f^ been at the
temperance meeting, " What do you thkik of it P' " What !" said
be ; ^^ I think that the man who will continue to seU rum, is worse
Iban a drunkard. The drunkard kills himself, and ruins hk family ;
but the man who sells rum, makes drunkards by hundreds. And
though I intended, when I left home, to buy it, I^haye concluded
to purchase the rest of my goods, and leave the rum behind.'*^
And why shoidd he not teave it behind ? Is it not certain that the*
injury which the use of it would occasion to others, would be
^eater than the benefit of the av^ls to him ? And ha» any one a
right to benefit himself by the destruction of his feltow men f
, Tliere is a great principle of the divine eovemraent, which is
brought to view in the Scriptures, and which applies strongly
to this case. If an Israelite had a beast whidi was dangerous^
but the owner did- not know it, and that beast killed a man, tlie
beast^ by. divine direction, must be slain ; his flesh must not be
eaten ; the owner must lose the whole, as a testimony to the
sacreckiess of human Hfe; and as a warning to aH, not to do any
tiling, or connive at any thmg, which should fend to destroy if^
But as the owner did not know that his- beast was dangerous, he wa9
not otherwise to be pmidied. <

But if it had been testified to the owner, that the beast was dsiiH
gerous, and he £d not keep him in, but soiiered him to go abroad^
and he killed a man, both the beast and his owner were, by GodV
direction, to be put to d6ath. The man was held respGns3)le for
the ^mischief which the beast might do.

Althou^ we are not reqtiired, oj permitted, now, to execute dis
law, as th«y were when God himsen was Judge, yet the reason of
this law retnains. It is founded in justice, is eternal, and the spirit
of it will be enforced at the divine tribunal.

. There was a time when the daz^erous and destructive qualitie?
of avdeoit spirits were not generally known to the owners. Though
they killed hundreds and thousands, the owners would not, by the
above rule, foe heU lesponsKrle. But now they are known, rhy^
sicians^ of the first eminence, and in great niimfiers, with a unanimhy
akno$i unpamUeled, have testified that ardent spirit is dangerons
and destructive ; that m»r m health cannot use it wiAout inji^ y

* ApPKHDffX, M,

that it induces and aggravates disease, impairs reasoHi and sborteos
life, aad that muttitudes are kiU^ by it every year.*

Jurists, toOf of distiuguished character, and judges, m great imno*
bers, have testified, that this liquor oecasioiis a. great majority of
all the criinesrwhich are coounitted. One says, ^' Of eleven niui^
der9 committed, all, except one, were occasioned by strong drink.''
Anodxer says, " Of eleven murders committed, all were occanoned
by intemperance." Another says,," Of twenty murders examined
by me, all were occasioned by spirituous liquors." And another
says, " Of more than two hundred murders committed in the United
Stales in a year, nearly all have their origin in drinking.".

These facts, and many others, which Daight be multiplied to an
almost indefinite extent, are now knowo; and they are known to
the owners of ardent spirit. It is known, too, tliat Jiundreds of
thousands have ceased to use this liquor, and that tbehr health and
comfort, and those of tlieir families, have been greatly improved ;
tlm the amount and severity of sickness have lessened, and the
number of paupers, crimes and deaths been diminished. It is
known that, while men continue to use this liquor, intemperance
can never be prevented, and its evils never be done away. It is
known, too, that it tends, when used even ntoderately, to hinder the
efficacy of the gospel and prevent the salvation of men, and thus
to mill them, not tor time only, but for eternity. All this is known,
and known to the owners of ardent spirit. And if they, notwilh-
standing this, not only suffer it to zo abroad, but sell it to all who
will buy ; send it out, and spread; it through the coipmunity ; let
them know, let it be told, and let it echo thi:ough creation, that they,
by Jehovah, will be^ held responsible, at bis tribunal, for its effects.
To the pauperism, crimes, and wretchedness, the sickhess, insanity,
and deaths, which it occasions, and to the ruin, temporal and eter-
nal, they are knowingly and voluntarily accessory. And of all
the obstructions which the friends of temperance now meet with,
which stand in the way, and binder the progress of that mighty
movement which God has awakened, and whkh takes hdd on the
destinies of unborn millions for eternity, these men,-— yes, the men
who traffic in ardent spirit, — -present uie greatest.

And if this movement is ever to stop, and that deluge of fire
again roll, unobstructed,, through the length and breadth of this land,
scorching and withering, consuming and annihilating, all that is iiur,
and lovely, and excellent, and glonous in possession and in prospect,
these men — the men who c(»itinue to traffic, in ardent spirit— are
to bear a vast and ever-growing portkxi of the odium, the ^uik, uid
the retributbn, of this tremendous ruin. They not only sm them*
selves,, but they tempt others to sin. They stand at the fimntain of
death, and open streams which may roll onwards, after they are
dead, and sweep multitudes to the world of wo.

5 * Af riHDis, N.

60 AMSIUCAN TEMPERANCK SOCIETT.

Bat we do not believe, and we shall not admit, till we beliold it,
diat this mighty movement, which God has commenced, and hith-
erto carried forward' with a rapidity, and to an extent, altogether
unexampled in the history of man, and which is now spoken of, in
both hemispheres, as one of the wooders of the world, is ever to
stop, till the use of ardent spirit, and the traffic tn it, as an article
of luxury or diet, is abandoned by every good man m our country.
We cannot believe, that any good man, or any man that expects to
render an account for the bfluence which he exerts on the world,
when he sees what he is doing, will consent, for the sake of money,
to be actively instrumental in destro}Hng the bodies and souLs of
men. We cannot believe that, for the sake of money, good men
will consent, when they know what they do, to deal out die cause
of pauperism and crime, sickness, insanity and death ; to raise a
barrier against the influences of the Holy Spirit, and help the
great adversary to people the world of wo. Even shoidd human
governments continue to license such a business, we cannot believe
that good men, or any men who regard the welfare of their
fellow men, will continue to consent to take otit svLth a license, or
to use it, for all- the wealth of the world. That light and love
which have already led more than 1,000,000 to give up the uise of
ardent spirit, and more than 3000, who were engaged m the traffic,
to renounce it, will, we trust, if kindly, universally and perseveringly
difiused, and attended, as they have been, by the mighty power of
Him who woriceth all in all, lead all good men to do the same.

More than 1000 distilleries have already been stopped ; and the
owners of many would not again open them for the wealth of cre-
ation. In one town, in which were 16 of these fountains of death,
there are now but 3; and tlK)se, it b believed, furnish a less
Quantity of the poison, destroy a less number of lives, and ruin
fewer souls than they did when the whole were in operation. One
brass-founder states, that he has bought 30 stills, and sold but one
In many towns, this destroyer is not even sold. Among more tlian
100,000 people, none, except keepers of public houses, have license
to sell it; and firom more than 100 public houses it is excluded.
The owners will not consent, for die sake of money, to poison even
the traveler ; and he finds, often to his amazement, that he can be
received cheerfully, treated politely, and refireshed abundandy, by
thos^ who furnish nothing adapted to destroy him. And why,
should these and similar facts be made known to all,, and the Holy
Spirit incline them to do their duty, may We not expect this to be
the case, throughout our land, and throughout the world.

Many churches, now, do not believe that any man among them,
while he continues, for the sake of money, to ruin his fellow men,
by furnishing them with ardent spirit, can ^ve credible evidence
that he is a good man. And why, should the true light continue to

shine, and become universal, must not this be die conviction of all*
Some churches have expressed this by vote, and thus assisted to
awaken ptiblic attention, and con-ect public sentiment, on this sub-
ject. Others, that act upon k, do not think it needful to express
by vote their conviction, that the man, among them, who does this,
cannot give credible evidence tli^t he is a good man, any more than
they do, that the man who keeps a gambKng house, a house of ill fame,
or who engages in the slave-trade, cannot, while he continues this,
^ve credible evidence that lie is a good man. The thing speaks for
itseif. It is, in their view, an immorality ; and they treat it as an
miraorality.

During the past year, a number of publicaUons, on this subject,
have been issued from the press,

.\ benevolent individual offered a premium of $250 for the best
essay on the foUowing questions, viz. : — ^*' Is it conmtent with a
profession of the Christian religion, for persoTu to uscycuan article
of luxury or of living y distilled liquors, or to trnMc in them 9 And
u k consistent vnth duty for the churches of CJkrist to admit those
as members who contintie to do this ?"

More than 40 manuscripts were presented ; and some from most
of tlie Northern and Middle States. Only one attempted to sup-
port the affirmative of the above questions. The one to which the
ju'cmium was awarded, was written by Rev. Moses Stuart, Associate
Professor of Sacred Literature, in the Theotegical Seminary,
Andover, Massachusetts. It has since been published. Two
others on the same subject, one by Rev. Austin Dickinson of New
York, and one by Rev. Joseph Harvey of Connecticut, have also.
been published ; and they are all now receiving an extensive circu-
lation. Others, it is expected, will soon be published ; and it is hoped
that the attention of all philanthropists and Christians will be di-
rected to this subject, till no professed friend of God or man shall
be found engaged in this nefarious traffic in our land.* Then wiU
the light of the moon be as the light of the sun, the light of the sun
be seven ibid, and the light of truth and love, beaming with celes-
tial radiance, will eclipse them.

Nor vnll its benign and heavenly influence be confined to tliis
country ; but will sdiine with equal, and {lerhaps with greater bright-
ness, on the inhabitants of other lands. In Ireland, and Scotland,
and England, the cause is extending with a rapidity whwh aston-
ishes even its most active promoters. The British government has
ceased lo furnish ardent spirit, or wine, to their armies throughout
the provinces ; and allow a penny a day, as a substitute, to every
soldier. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, in a debate on petitions
torn the friends of temperance, declared, in Pai'liament, that,
^ far from government desiring to pro];note the con3umptioD of

*AprEiroii, O.

52 AMERICAN T£]fFBRANCS SOCI^TT.

spiHts, they would rather see the people refrain from them alto-
gether.*

From Switzerland appfication has been made for our Constitu-
tion, Reports, and all the temperance publications of this country.

The Secretary of the Roysd Patriotic Society of Sweden, in a
letter dated Stockholm, 28th of May, 1830, says, **By foreign
journals received here, it appears that Temperance Societies have
been formed in the Free States of North America. The results ob-
tained by those Societies, if the accounts we have received be not
exaggerated, are so surprising, tliat they have attracted the particu-
lar notice of the Royal Swedish Patriotic Society, and created a
desire of beccnning acquainted with their organizadon and mode
of proceeding. It is for this purpose tliat, in ray capacity of Secre-
tary of the said Society, I have to solicit your procuring and com-
municating all the mformation in your power to obtain respect-
ing the Nordi American Temperance Societies, which, it is said,
publish a Journal, giving an account of their proceedings and pro-
gressive attainments. Should this publication contam information
applicable to other nations, as well as America, sufficiently inter-
esting to be subscribed for by the Royal Society, you will oblige
us by sending what has been published, the expense of wriiich
shall be satii^ed."

The Journal of Humanity, and various other temperance publica-
tions, have heen sent to the Royal Patriotic Society ; and from later
communications, it appears that Temperance Societies have already
been formed at Stockholm, Gottenburgh and Tonkioping, are ex-
ertii^ a powwful influence, and, it is expected, will extend through
the country.

They have also been formed in great numbers, and are now
exerting a mighty influence, in the islands of the South Sea. Nu-
merous vills^es, whose inhabitants, a few years ago, were, as a
body, for days, intoxicated together, have now not an individual
in them who uses any thing that intoxicates-

The traffic is denounced as immoral, and prohibited under severe
penalties, by the government. For selling a single botde of
rum, a man was fined j(200, because die sale of this poison tended
so strongly to rum his fellow men. And may we not hope, that
the time is approaching, when the traffic will be viewed and treated
as a notorious and destructive immorality, over the whole earth.
In the island of Oahu is a Society of more than 1000 mem-
bersj aH of whom engage not to use or to traffic in ardent spirits,
or in any way to furnish them for the use of others.

Measures have also been taken to fcnn Temperance Societies in
Africa ; and there is reason to expect, th^t their influence will soon
be felt in every countiy on the globe ; that, wherever the gospel

*ArPBiroix, P.

votmiru HXPOR-r. — 183L 6$

{Qes,ttid exerts its legitimate influence over the mind of man, ab*

sdnence from all which intoxicates, and thus wars against the soul,

wiQ he its sure and invariable attendant. The Hottentot and

the Hindoo, the Greenlander and Tahitian, will unite with the

inhabitants of the Emerald Isle, the Caledonian, European, Asiatic,

African and American of every name, in ceasing to do evil. Then.

uader the means of Ood's appointment, will they learn to do weU.

The word of the Lord, unobstructed, wiQ run very swiftly ; and,

pouring with double energy its mighty, all-pervading influence upon

the whole mass of mmds, will be like the rain and the snow that

come down from heaven, and water the earth, and cause it to bring

forth and bud. The frost and the snows of six thousand winters

will be forever dissolved ; and the spring-time of millennial beauty,

and the autumnal fruit of millennial glory, open upon the world.

But, in order to this, a number of things must be avoided ; and a
number of other things must be done.

I. Men must not adopt the opinion, that the Temperance Refor-
mation is already accomplbhed ; or that it is so far accomplished, tliat
it will go forward of itself; or that any one may now be excused
from great and persevering efibrts. There is a tendency with many
to conclude that the work is already accomplished ; or that so mucn
is done, that it will now go forward to its completion of itself;
and that its friends may be excused from fiirther efllbrt. But as
well might a man who had undertaken to sail around the globe, and
had gone a few miles with a- prosperous gale, conclude that the
royage was accomplished, or tiiat so much was accomplished, and
he was now going so finely, that wind, and tide, aod gravitation
would of themselves accomplish the work, and that he might be
excused from further eiFoit, as for a man to adopt diis opinion with
regard to the Temperance Reformation. It is the very opinion
which the drunkard, who means to continue such, propagates ; and,
so far as it prevails, it is fataL Tiie work is not accomplished till
there is not a drunkard in our land ; and not a sober man, much
less a Christian, to make his children drunkards.

The work accomplished ! In the city of Boston, with only
about 60,000 inhabitants, there were, the last year, 690 persons
licensed by the government to sell diis poison.* If each has
only 10 customers a day, it would make 6,900 who daily use
it. And if each spends only 10 cents a day, it would amount to
$251,950 a year.

In the four cities of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Bal-
timore, containing only about 500,000 inhabitants, more than
6,000 persons are licensed by the government to seU ardent spirit,
and thus to be accessory to the ruin of their fellow men. If they have

* More than 1 to every 22 men, over 21 yean of age, make it their biiainei|p
to induce men to buy.

5»

54 AM£ftlCAN TEtfPttlUKCfi dOClRTY.

dpily 10 customers each) and they each spend fen this poison only 10
cents, it would be more than ^6,000 a dav, or more than $2,196,000
a yean More than 6,000 men — more dian one in 30 of all the men
over 21 years of age— «re, for a little money, licensed to carry on a
trade which b proved, by a vast accumulation of bets, to be among
the greatest curses which have come upon tlie htimaii family ; which
has caused a loss to the people of the Uitked States of more than
$90,000,000 a year; and brought down more tlmn 30,000 persons
to an untimely grave. And this is continued, aRer it is proved, by
(he experience of more than a million of persons, tliat mer.*; in all
kinds of business, are better without Uie use of it ; and those who
profess to be good men are furnishing it to all who will purchase,
and thus assisting to perpetuate this mighty iiiin down to the end
of the world-
No ; the work is not done ! It is only begun. Enough has
been done to show that it is practicable ; that it ought to be done ;
and, if temperate men and women do their duty, it will be done.

But, in the language of a distinguished civilian, '^ Every thing,
now, with regard to temperance, turns on perseverance,^^ Its friends
have adopted tiie right plan,— 4cind moral influence, the influence
of facts, brought home to the bosoms of the people, and enforced
by their responsibilities to God ; and the retribution, not of time
only, but eternity. " 1 have just returned," said the man referred
to, " from a long journey ; and I did not suppose, tw^o years ago, that
it was in the power of all the world to produce the change, with
regard to the use o{ strong drink, which I have witnessed on this
journey. And I am now perfectly satisfied, that, if we hold on, the
cause will be triumphant. But every tmino turns on perse-
verance."

So say the facts. Wherever sober men dp their duty, the cause
advances. With opposition, or without it, the cause advances.
The efforts of friends and foes seem to help it onward. But where
sober men adopt the opinion, that they have done enough, that the
work is accomplished ; or that so much is done, that it will now go
forward of itself; or that oihera will carry it on without them, — ^the
cause recedes, death advances, and extending destruction follows.
2. Men must not be afraid or ashamed to adopt the plan of entire
abstinence from the use of ardent spirit, and from all instnunentality
in the furnishing of it for the use of others. Nor must they refiise
to let this be known, and to unite with others, in making vigprous
and persevering efibrts, till all ore persuaded to do the same.

And one of the most unexceptionable and efficacious modes of
doing this, is, by united and visible example, embodied and ex-
hibited in the formation,, and active, persev^mg operation of Teno-
perance Societies ; composed of all, DOth male and femalei who do
not use ardent spirit.

rOUBTH REPORT. 183). 6^

Some ure ready to say, "Why should we unite with othei*s ? If
«re only abstain, that is enough." And others contend, that they
can do more good by not uniting in any Society ; and ask, " What
is the benefit of Temperance Societies ?"

Wlien (Mir fathers and motliers could not drink tea without its
coming with a little paltry tax upon it, which would endanger the
welfare of their children, the men of '76, and the women too, saidj
"We will not use it." Total abstinence was the doctrine whicb
went, like an electric shock, through the land. And not only so,
but they said that they would agree together not to buy, sell, or u§e
the detestable thing.* They did. The effect was felt across the
Atlantic, It is felt throughout this land, down to this day. It will
be fek in every land, t6 th<e end of time. What was the benefit oF
that visible organized union ? Union is strength. And organized,
visible unk)n, is consolidated, permanent, ever-growing strength.

When armies of oppression were poured in to desolate our coun-
try, had our fathers said, " We will abstain from it ; we will not
fight in their armies; nor will we have any visible, orguiiized uoion
among ourselves to oppose them, but will act single-handed, each
one ill his own way ;'* they Imd taken the very course which tlieir
enemies had wshed. No drunkards advocate the formation" and
active operation of Temperance Societies. And from this fact,
the friends of temperance ouglit to learn much. Twenty men,,
united by visible agreement, will ordinarily exert greater moral in-
fluence on the community, than a hundred inen, with no visible
organized union. And of all the means which God has blessed, to
cany forward this great work, Temperance Societies are among the
most ^BcacioDS.

The Committee, therefore, cannot look upon the efibrts of the
chanceDor of the state of New Yorfc, and his associates, for the
ferraation of a Tempei*ance Society, in each school district of
the greatest state in the Union, but with peculiar delight. Tem-
perance Societies in 9053 schools, embracing 500,000 children,
will exert an influence that will be felt round the globe, and wiD
teB on the destinies of men to endless ages. Some, who are
afraid, and have reason to be, of a sound moral influence, may
Jpprehend danger fix)m such combinations; but the Committee
can see in them only unmingled benefits. And, should they be-
wrae universd throughout our country, our country will be saved.
Three millions of children, abstaming from that iSeshly lust, which
wars against the body and the soul, and against all the social,
avil, and religious mterests of men ; and educated, as they may be,
«nd brou^, through grace, under the influence of that "law
which is perfect, converting the soul, sure, making wise the simple,
^ which is true and nghteous altogether," — can never be emiao^

*AprKirDii, Q.

•66 AMERICAN TEMP£RANC£ SOGIETT.

ed : nor can they submit to the degradation of making, efibrts for
tha enslaving of others. That spirit which cries, " Glory to Grod
in the highest," breathes, " good will to men." Its motto is, " As
ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them." L
unU n&cer enslave, nor be enslaved. The Son of God makes it
free, and it must be free indeed.

Some refuse to join a Temperance Society, because, they say,
"We are temperate already." But should a patriot refuse to join
with others for the defence of his country, and give as a reason, " 1
am a patriot already," he would cause his patriotism to be some-
thing more than suspected.

Should a man in apparent health refuse to unite with others to
drain off a stagnant pond, that was filUng a city with pestilence, and
give as a reason, that he was in health already, he would give sad
evidence that his heart, if not his head, was disordered. Were a
conflagration raging in a city, and should a man reiiise to unite with
others to extinguish the flames because his own house was not on
fire, he would be likely to excite little sympathy sliould his house
)be burnt.

Terapenii.::o Sociedes are designed for temperate men. Their
objeqt is, to keep all sober, who are so now; till all drunkards, who
will not reform, are dead, and the world is free. No persons will
do good, in Temperance Societies, except those who do not use
ardent spirit, and who do not furnish it for the use of others. The
fact, therefore, that a man entirely abstains himself, and is in no
way accessory to the use of ardent spirit by others, bstead of being
a reason why he shotdd not, is the very reason why he shovld join
a Temperance Society. No other men will show by practice the
utSity of this course, which must be adopted by all men, or intem-
perance will never be done away. On the other hand, let men
cease to use that which intoxicates, and the evil will vanish. And
die way to accomplish this, is, to show, by visible, united example,
the pi'acticability and utility of this course. And to do this is the
object of Temperance Societies. And no man can join them, and
act perseveringly, in accordance with their spirit, without doing ex-
tensive good to iiis fellow men. And let all sober men do, this, and
Providence will do the rest. Intemperance and all its abominatioDS
will be speedily done away. If new drunkards are not made, in
one generation, and that a short one, you may seek tbeiu^ but you
cannot find them ; they will have gone to their own place, aind the
ear^h be eased of Its burden*

. 3. Men who understand the nature and effects of ardent spirit,
and who, with a knowledge of the subject, enter upon, or continue
in, the business of furnishing this poison, as an article of luxury
<*■ diet, to all who will purchase, and thus assist in perpetuating
drunkenness, and all its abominations^ must be viewed and treated

FOURTH REPORT. 1831. 47

as sharers in the drunkard's guilt, and as ripening to be partaken
of the drunkard's plagues. For, in the language of the Committflie
of the New York State Temperance Society, who, by their lafaon
in this cause, are rendering themselves the benefactors of the worid,
^^ Disguise that business as they will, it is still, m its true characteFi
the business of destroying the bodies and souis of men. The vend-
er and the maker of spirits, in the whole range of them, from the
pettiest grocer to the most extensive distiller, are fairly chargeable
not only with supplying the appetite for spirits, but with creaiing
that unnatural appetite ; not only with supplying the drunkard wi£
the fuel of his vices, but with making the drunkard.

" In reference to the taxes with which the making and vfending
of spirits loads the community, how unfair towards others is tlte
occupation of tlie maker and vender of tliem ! A town, for
JBStance, contains one hundred drunkards. The profit of midcing
these drunkards, is enjoyed by some half a dozen perscHis. But
the burden of, these dmnkards rests upon the whole town. The
Executive Committee do not suggest that there should be such a
law; but they ask whether there would be one law in the whde
statute-book, more righteous than that which should require those
who have the profit of making our drunkards to be burclened with
the support of them."

Suppose that half the persbns in a town use no intoxicating
liquors, and do not furnish them for the use of others, and are not
accessory, by example or business, to the makmg of drunkards ;
how exceedingly unjust and oppressive, that ihey should be taxed
for the support of them ! — tliat men should be licensed to tempt
their children to become drunkards ; to excite them to the com-
niission of crimes *, and, for the sake of gain, without benefit, and
greatly to the injury of the community, increase the danger of
their temporal and eternal ruin ! What can be more just, than that
the men who cause such evils, should themselves bear the burden
of them ?

And should the men who sell ardent spirit have to bear not onljr
the burden of supporting all the paupers which they make, but to
bear the loss of property, the loss of character, the loss of reputation
and dome^c comfort which they occasion ; and to bear also the
loss of healthy the loss of reason, the loss of life, and the loss of
soul, to which they are knowingly and voluntarQy bstrumeatal ;
and aU this, in righteousness, as a punbhment for being accessozy
to the bringing of these evils upon others ; — ^would they not find their
burden to be inexpressibly great ? and be ready, like another,
when punished justly, to cry, " My punishment is greater than I
can bear?" And if the killing of one man justly brought upon tte
author such fearfiil and overwhelniing retributbn, who can bear
die indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, of continuing l»

fr8 AMfiKlCAN TEMPEBANCIi: SOCIETT*

be knowingly and voluntarily accessory to the Jailing of those htm-'
dieds of thousands who me brought to an untimely grave hy
ardent spirit ?

And as the autliors and accessories of this mighty ruin live
under a righteous, moral government, by which every thing that is
now covered will ere lou§ be revealed, and which wiU render to
e^v'ery man accord mg to his work, — does not humanity, patriotism,
conscience^ religion, and every thing dear for this life, and the life
to come, urge them, without delay, whatever it may cost them, to
abandon this work of deatli forever ?

" But," says one, " if I do not sell ardent spirit, I must change
my business." If so, tlie Committee would say, Change your bu-
siness ; or it may have been better for you neve^ to have been bom.
You are required to change it, by your own good and that of
others; by that law which requires you supremely to regard God^
and to. do good, and good oqly, as you have opportunity, to all men,

^* But," says another, " if I should do this, I could not support
my family." But it would be a libel on the character of God. to
suppose, that men cannot live under his government, and support
their families, without continuing to be,, knowingly and voluntarily,,
accessory to the ruin of their fellow men. Nine tenths of all the
families m this country are supported by other . kinds of business ;
and it is not true diat the odier tenth cannot be suppoited.

- ^' But, if I do not sell, other people will." It may be true, tliat
ptiier people will traffic in human flesh and blood, if you do not ;
tlmt they will steal, i*ob, and commit murder, if you do not. 6ul
that will not lessen the intensity and awfulness oi your retribution,
if you do. No more will it, if you continue knowingly, by the sale
of ardent spirit, to ruin your fellow men. You may be prevented,
by this, from seeing its criminality, but you will not be prevented
from feeling its retribution. This you cannot escape, but by aban-
doning the business, and using all suitable means to lead all others
to do the same.

Datliis, and you escape the guilt of its continuanoej ^d others
escape its woes. You dry up, so far as yoy are concerned, the
giand source of pauperism, crime, and wretchedness ; diminish
exceedingly tlie sickness, insanity and death; remove one of the
greatest dangers, to which our social, civil and religious institutions
are exposed; and one of the mightiest obstructions to the efficacy
of die gospel, and all the means of grace ; you remove that which^
with thousands and millions, now hinders the influence of that
overflowing kindness which God has opened upon a guihy vinorld
through a Savior ; and w^hich, if not obstructed and resisted, would
illuminate find purify, cheer, bless and save, from the rising of the
sun U) the going down of the same, with a holy imd an everlasting
salvation.

A P P £ n D I X •

A. (p. 1.)

Whun treated of by medical writers, and arranged accordii^ lo
its effects on the human body, distilled spirit is placed in the Mine
class, aD4 considered under the same relations, with henbane,
deadly night-shade, tobacco, hemlock, opium, and various mother
poisons ; and, in another point of view, as exerting an inflnenceon
the human system similar to the continued action of the coMa^on
of the pla^e, tyjdms fever, and smaU-pox. Discovered at:&dt- ^
a Mohammedan alchemjst, while torturing the wholesome giftrtf-a
beneficent Creator, in search of a universal solvent, by vrH.dk to
extract gold from its hidden recesses, and minutest state of dtmioni
distiHed spirit continued, for centuries, to be employed in their mytste-
rious, and, in general, vam inventions ; and it was not till more than
fifty centuries of the world's history had passed away, tharihe< un-
happy ingenui^ of a Spanish physician, first suggested its use as ^
remedy in disease ; nor till several centuries atterwards, ihat^'lbe
popular taste e^blished it as a remedy in health. HbW'lilMfrally
it has since, in innumerable instances, in this latter character, redUeeil
the Italian epitaph, '^I wasweU; I would be better; and 'here I
am !" (Glas, Temp. Record, vol. i. p. 18.)

1111 the reign of William and Mary, ale had been the oomnion
beverage of the laboring classes in England. But no 60oiier->wa6
ardent spirit ingrafted in their habits by an act for the encourage-
meat of distillatioD, than its employment became so excesmve^atf tx^
call for legislative interference; and it was not till 1751,rthttt^4he
measures of the government were successful, in bringing back the
consumption of ale to its original quantity ; before which, according
to SmoUet, ^' such a shameful degree of profligacy prevuled, that
the retailers of this poisonous compound (gm) set up painted
boards in public, mviting the people to be drunk for the small
expense of a penny ; assui'ing them that they might be dead drunk
for twopence, and have straw to lie on till they recovered, fornolh-
ing." From this time till the removd of the restricrions M the
sale of gin, in 1827, beer continued to be again the favoriteiditiik
of the English workmen ; but immediatelv on the nation being agafa^

64 AMEIUCAN TEMPKRAKCE SOCIETT.

the second time, exposed, with all its ale-quaffing habits^ to the li^iC,
diffiisive^ and agreeable stimulus of distilled spirit, it fell; — the
tliirst for the new liquor spreading with the rapidity of ligbtning^
and its consumption increasing, in two years, twelve millions oi
galbns. (Do, vol. ii. p. 4.)

Distilled spirits began to be prepared on the contment of Europe,
on a large scale, in the commencement, and was first introduced
into this country in the hitter end^ of the 16th century; and in the
comparaUvely short period which has elapsed since, its consump-
tion has extended in the United Kingdom, to about 40,0009000
gallons per annum. The earliest notice of its application to the
purposes of ordinary life, which we have seen^ is its exhibhiofi, as
a supposed (nreservative from cold and damp, tb the laborers int tbe
Hungarian mines ; and Cambden mentions it as having been adopt-
ed in 1581, for the first time, as a cordial, by the English soldiei-a
engaged in assisting the Dutch in the Netnerlands. And from
this Uttle cloud, no bigger than a man's hand, haft been evoh^ed
the mighty mass, which is now suspended over our country, and
poiiriag its fiery streams into all the currents of public and domestic
mtercQurse. {Do, p. 50.)

it was not till die end of the ISth century, that spirits of wine,
iii^pregnated with certain herbs, was introduced mto use as a retne-
dy ip the treatment of disease. The first ardent spirit known in
Europe was made fit>m grapes, and sold as a medicine both in
Italy and Spain. Tlie Genoese afierwards prepared it firom grain,
and sold it in small bottles, at a very high pUce, under the name of
aqua vita^ or the wcUer of life. Down to the 16th century, it
continued to be kept exclusively by the apothecary, and its use
restricted to medicine^ {Jour, of Hum. vol. ii. p» 145.)

It appears, however, that as early as the reign of Henry VIII., a
Equor termed aqua vitA, supposed to have been brandy, was
known in Ireland ; it being decreed by that monarch, that there be
but one maker of aqua vtta in any borough or town. In 15S^,
an act of parliament was passed at Drogheda, agakist distilling it at
all;, it bemg described, m the language of the act, as ^<a drmk
nothing prc^table to be daily drunken and used/' (Do. p. 149^^

B. (p. 2.)

Of 28& persons in the Lunatic Asylum in Dubim, 1 15 wgtb
feiown to have been deprived of reason by mtemperance, and
there is reason to believe that this was the case also with many
otlienu

I'OURTH BEBOKT.'— 1831.-*-A^PIi»miX. 6*

h four years, from 1826. to 1829 inclusive, 495 patients were
admitted into the Liverpool Lunatic Asylum ; and 257 of theni
vfBi-e known to liave brought on tlieir derangement by drinking ;
and this was supposed to Imve been the case with many others.

A dlstiDguished medical gentleman, who has had extensive exp^
rience with regard to this malady, states, that more than obe half,
aad probably three fourths, of all the cases of insanity which have
cotne under his notice, were occasioned by excessive drinking. In
the Pauper Lunatic Asylum in Middlesex, the numbei^ of patients
increased in one year from 825 to between llOO^and 1200; and
piincipally by an increase of the use of gin. (Jour, Hum. p. 105.)

"The comparative sobriety of the French nation is familiar to
every one ; and Dr. Esquirol states the proportion of the insane
from 'inebriety, at one of the asylums in Paris, to amount only to
about one thirteenth of the whole ; while Dr. Crawford, of the
Richmond Lunatic Asylum of Dublin, reports the proportion of the
same descriptbn of patients throughout Ireland to be as high as
one half of Uie total insane. The prodigious increase of insanity in
Great Britain — ^amounting, according to Sir Arthur Haliday, to
two thirds within the last twenty years — may, with great justice, be
ascribed, in some degree, to the more general use of spirituous
liquors within that period ; and this view receives much confirma-
tion from the melancholy fact, that in Scotland the propoition b
higher than in either England or Wales. In England, it is said to
amount only to about one msane person in every 1000 of the popu-
lation ; in Wales, to one in every 800 ; and in Scotland, to one in
every 574.'' {Temp. Rec. No. 2. vol. i. p. 20.)

And why should this not be the case ? " What," says Dr. Kirk,
^^ is the nature of ardent spirits ? All of them contain, as their basis,
alcohol — a narcotic stimulant, possessing properties of the kind
that opium does ; which you know to be a poison, — ^with this addi-
tion, that it is more inimediatcly imtating to the tissues of the body
to which it is applied, than opium is. It mixes witli die food and
juices of the stomach, and m the act, time after time, injures the
coats of that oi^an. It mixes with the chyle, which is to form part
of the mass of blood, and is carried with it into the circulation —
courses through every vessel, and is exhaled at every pore* You
feel it pollute the respiration of the drimkard, when he blows his
nauseous breath upon you. The liquor has been absorbed into
the blood, is circulating through the lungs at every respiration, is
exhaled from the numerous vessels containbg the circulating blood
of these organs. The vessels of the brain, as well as other parts,
are loaded with it. t dissected a man who died in a state of in-
toxication after a debauch. The operation was performed a few
hours after death. In two of the cavities of the brain, the lateral
ventricles, was found the usual quantity of limpid fluid. When
6

66 AMl^CAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETY.

we smelt it, the odor (^ whiskey was distinctly visible ; and when
we applied the candle to a portion in a spoon, it actually burned
blue — ^the lambent bhie flame, characteri$tic of the poison, playing
on the surface of the spoon for some seconds." (I)r» Kirk's
Address to the Leven Temperance Society, p. 6.)

No wonder it destiY>ys reason. It is a poison in the brain. And
no wonder that those who take even a little of it, have less reason
than those who take none ; and that those who take it dally are so
much more exposed, and their children also, to insanity, than those
who. entirely abstain from it.

" Thelove of strong drink," says Dr. Peirson, " and the proneness
to mania, are, with respect to each other, interchangeaUe causes."

C . (p. 9.)

Should each individual in our country adopt the same course,
the following are some of the advantages which would result firom
it: —

1. They would enjoy better health, be aWe to perform more
labor, and would live to a greater age.

2. The evils of intemperance would soon be done away ; for all
who are now intemperate, and continue so, will soon be dead, and
no' others will be found to succeed them.

3. There will be a saving, every year, of more than thirty mil'
lions ofdoUarSy which are now expended for ardent Spirits. There
will be a saving of more than two thirds of all the expense of sup-
porting the poor, which, in Massachusetts alone, would amount to
more than 4^00,000 annually. And there would be a saving of
all that idleness and dissipation which- intemperaiice occasions, and
of the expense of more than two thirds of all the crimipal prosecu-
tions in the land. In one of our large cities, in which there were
1000 prosecutions for crimes, more than 800 of them were found
to have sprung from the use of ardent spirits.

4. There would be a saving of a vast portion of sickness ; and
of the lives, probably, of 30,000 persons every year.

'L^t these four considerations be added together, and traced in
their various bearings and consequences upon the temporal and
eternal welfare of men ; and then let each individual say, whether,
in view of all the evils connected with the practice of taking ardent
spirit, he can, in the sight of God, be justified in continuing the
practice. That it is not necessary, has been fully proved. No
one thinks it to be necessary, except those who use it. And they
would not think so, if they were not in the habit of using it. Let
any man leave off entirely the use of ardent spirit/for only one

FOURTH REPORT. 1831. APPENDIX. 67

}'ear, and he will find by his own experience that it is not necessary
or useful. The fathers of New England did not use it, nor did
liieir cliildren. They were never, as a body, in the practice of
taking it. And yet Uiey enjoyed better health, attained to a larger
stature, and, with fewer comforts of life, performed more labor, en-
dured more fatigue, and lived, upon an average, to a greater age,
than any generation of their descendants wlio have been in the
practice of taking spirit. As it was not necessary for the fathers
ol iS'ew England, it is certaui that it is not necessary for their de-
scendants, or for any portion of our inhabitants. Hundreds of
healthy, active, respectable and useful men, who now do not use it,
can testify that it is not necessary. And tliis will be the testimony
^ every one who will only relinquish entirely tl.c use of it.

It is by the temperate and habitual use of ardent spirit, that in-
temperate appetites are formed. And tlie temperate use of it can-
not be continued, without, in many cases, forming intemperate
appetites ; and after they are fonned, multitudes will be desU'oyed
by their gratification.

Xatural appetites^ such as are implanted in our constitution by
the Author of nature, do not by their gratification increase in their
demands. What satisfied them years ago, will satisfy then) now.
But artificial appetites^ which are formed by the wicked practices
of men, are constantly increasing in their demands. What satisfied
them once, will 710^ satisfy them now. And what satisfies them
now, will not satisfy them in future. They are constantly crying,
" Gioe, give^ And there is not a man, who is in the habituaJ use
of ardent spirits, who is not in danger of dying a drunkard. Be-
fore he IS aware, an intemperate appetite may be formed, the
gratification of which may prove his temporal and etenial ruin.
And if the practice should not come to thb result with regard to
himself, it may with regard to his children, and children's children.
It may with regard to his neighbors and tlieir children. It may
extend its baleful influences far and wide, and transmit th^m, with
all their innumerable e\dls, from generation ^ generlttiou.

Can, then, temperate^ sober men be clear from gttUt, in continuing
a practice which is costing annually more than $30,000,000 ; in-
creasing more than three-fold the poor rates and tlie crimes of tlie
country ; undermining the health and constitution of its inhabitants ;
and cutting off annually 30,000 lives ?

There is tremendous guilt somewhere. And it is a truth which
ought to press with overwhelming force upon the mind of every
sober man, that a portion of this giiilt rests upon every one who,
with a knowledge of facts, continues the totally imnecessary and
mfidly pernicious practice of taking ardent spirits. Each indi-
vidual ought, without delay, m view of eternity, to clear himseli^

6B AIUBBICAN TEHPERANCE SOCIETT*

and, neither by precept nor example, ever again encourage or even
connive at this aeadly evil. ( WeU^onducted Farm^ pp. 9, 10, 11 •)

D. (p. 9.)

On the 26th of June, 1811, the General Association of Masi^chu-
setts appointed Rev. Samuel Worcester, D. D., Rev. Jedediali
Morse, D. D., Rev. Abiel Abbot, Rev. Benjamin Wadsworth,
Reuben D. Mussey, M. D., WilUam Thurston, Esq., Joseph
Torrey, M. D., ana Jeremiah Evarts, Esq., a committee to coop&*
rate with committees of the General Assembly of the Prcsby terian
church, and the General Association of Connecticut, in devising
measures which may have an influence in preventing some of tlie
numerous and threatening mischiefs, that are experienced thrqugh-
out our country, from the excessive and intemperate use of spiritu-
ous liquors. This committee met at different times for consultation,
con'esponded on the subject, and, finally, determined to make an
effi>rt foi the formation of a State Society for the Suppression of
Intemperance. A sub-committee, consisting of Dr. Worcester^
Dr. Torrey and Mr. Wadsworth, was appointed to prepare a Con-
stitution. After being presented to the whole committee, and adopted,
it was presented, by them, to a more general meeting, in Boston,
on the 4th of February, 1813. At another meeting at the State
House, on the 5tli, the Constitution was adopted, and a Society
formed, called The Massachusetts Society for the Suppres-
sion OP Intemperance. The object, as expressed in the second
article of the Constitution, was, " To discountenance and suppress
the too free use of ardent spirit^ and its kindred vices ^ prof aneness
and gaming J and to encourage and promote temperance and gene*
ral morality.^

For a number of years, this Society languished. Some of its
members, at length, advocated its dissolution ; and others retired from
it m despair. In the language of the late Hon. Isaac Parker, Chief
Justice of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts, in a letter dated
Boston, 25th May, 1829, "Many, seeing no happy results, after
many years of effort, have retired from the field in despair. 1 am one
of tliis number ; but I now see, and rejoice in tt, that, however des-
perate the disease, it is at last yielding to the power and skill of the
great Physician above, through the instrumentality of the human
agents he has employed. The National Society, established here
a few years ago (meaning the American Temperance Society), has
given great decision to the preexisting Massachusetts Society, and

FOURTH REP0RT-^18dl. — ^APPENDIX. 09

loth tt^ether, with the aid of country and town assodations, and
iofluential individuals, have been the secondary causes of working
the greatest moral change which has ever taken place in this com-
munity."

The Massachusetts Society stSl continues its operations, and,
since it has directed its efibrts to the promotion of entire abstinence
finom ^e use of ardent spirits, has been productive of much eood.

In February, 1813, the same month in i;i4)ich the Massachusetts
Society for the Suppression of Intemperance was formed, the Rev.
Heman Humphrey, of Fairfield, Connecticut, commenced m the
Panoplist and Missionary Magazine, a periodical published in Bos-
ton, edited by Jeremiah Evarts, Esq., a series of six numbers,
on the causes, progress, cfTects, and remedy of intemperance in the
United States. In the closing part of tliese numbers, he said, " If
farmers and mechanics would asree not to drink spirits themselves,
and not to provide them for their workmen ; if, mstead of furnish-
ing liquor, they would give additional compensation to laborers, fiir-
nisbing them, at the same time, with a generous supply of nutritious
and palatable drinks, — a very large advance would be made toward
banishing the fiery products of the distilleries fix>m the field and the
shop. And this would be no inconsiderable part of that general
reformation, which is so loudly caUed for, with regard to me use
of ardent spirits.'*

lliough this suggestion w^ not extensively followed, even by
those who were laboring for a reformation, yet the facts which have
been developed since the formation of the American Temperance
Society, abundantly prove the correctness and importance of the
above remarks.

E. (p. 16.)

The following notices have been extensively circulated, both in
this country and in Europe.

"These discom-ses (Dr. Beecher's on Intemperance) were com-
posed and delivered at Litchfield, in the year 1826. Sir.'*«» **'"
time, the American Society for the Promotion of Temperance has
been formed, and is now (1827) in successful operation."

" Temperance Societies took then- origm in America, in the fol-
bwing manner: — ^The Rev. Dr. Beecher, deeply impressed with
the evils of drunkeimess, attacked that vice from the pulpit with
so muoli vigor as to engage public attention, and to lead to the
fbrniation of Societies, in many parts of the Unbn, for its suppress

9ff a racunreoee to the diaites, it will be seen that the impresaoir

70 AHEBIGAK TEia»£IUNCE BOCIETT*

made by the above notices is not in accc»rdance with the fitcts.
Dr. Beecber's semions had no influence m the formation of tlie
American Temperance Society, It was not then known, by those
who formed the American Temperance Society, that those sermons
had been preached, though, after they were published, in 1827, they
exerted a powerful and extensive influence in aiding its operations.

F. (p. 23.)

" It ought to be mentioned, to the honor of the bar of Berkshire,
that they have, I believe unanimously, entered into a compact
which they strictly execute, to promote the cause of temperance by
example and otherwise. They have banished all ardent spirits
from their houses at home, and their lodgings when at court, mak-
ing literally no use of them. They have also discarded the use of
wine, which, at first, I thought might be carrjdng the thing too fai*,
because extremes geneirally cause revulsions ; but, upon hearing
their reasons, I am satisfied they are right. They do not object to
wine, as, of itself, used in moderation, hurtful ; but the use of it in
a great measure destroys tlie power of example, and tends much
to defeat the effect of any remonstrance they may have occasion
to make to those who ar^ destroying themselves and families by
hard drinking. The poor man, when urg6d to refrain, is apt to
retort, *Why, if we could afford to drinlc wine, as you do, we
certainly would not drink rum ; but we must have something, as
well as you ; and rum i^ the cheapest thing we can get.' It is
necessary to show such people that there is no need of any stim-
ulants." {Judge Parker^s letter to Ih. Warren,)

G. (p. 32.)

*^ jury Guise, of Stark county, Ohio, was, on the 12th of Opto*
her, 1830, elected to the oflice of sherifi' of the county. His
election was contested on the ground of his having treated the
electors with ardent spirits. The following, delivered by Judge
Hallock, is the decisbn of the court j-^—

" The Court here find, that the said Guise, on the 12th day of
October, 1S30, it being the day of holding the election m Stark,
for sheriff, at the tavern of Henry Husser, in the town of Canion,
m said county, did give, by himself and agent, to divers electors

rOURTB REFORl.— 1831.— APPENDIX. 71

rfsaid county, between two ahd three gallons of spirituous liquors, to
wit, whiskey, brandy, and rum, with tlie intent to procure the
election of said Guise to the office of sheriff of said county; he,
then and there, being a candidate for said office, at sdd election.

" Whereupon the Court do now here adjudge tlie said election of
said Guise to said office void ; and the office of sheriff of said
county vacant. *• {Pitts, Her.)

H. (p. 33.)

Desertions from the Army in seven Tears,

Vow.

Nnabei. Coft. Triad by Gootts-aiartittl.

1823

668 158,677 1093

1824

811 70,398 1175

1825

803 67,488 1208

1826

636 54,393 1115

1827

848 61,344 991

1828

820 62,137 1476

1829

1083 96,826

Total, 5,669 $471,263 7,058

(Report of the Secretary of War^ Fe*. 22, 1830.)

•* Ardent spirit should be discontinued, in the army, as a part of
the daily rations. I know from observation and experience, when .
in the command of the troops, the pernicious effi^cts arisine from
the practice of regular, daily issues of whiskey. If the recruit joins
the service with an unvitiated taste, which is not unfrequently the
case, the daily prinlege and the uniform example soon induce him to
taste, and then to drmk his allowance. The habit being acouired,
he, too, soon becomes an habitual toper.'* [Adjutant Gen. Joneses
statemejtt.)

" The proceedings of courts-martial are alone sufficient to prove
that the crime of intoxication ahnost alwa3rs precedes, and is often
the immediate cause of desertion. And I am, moreover, convinced,
that roost of die soldiers, who enter the army as sober men, acquire
habits of intemperance principally by falling into the ^ practice of
drinking their giD, or hall gill, of whiskey, every morning. I have -
known sober recruits, who would often throw away dieir rooming
aUowance, but whose constant mtercourse with tipplers would soon
mduce them to taste a little^ and, in time, a little more, until they ,
became habitual dmnkards. I am therefore decidedly of opinioi).
4at the whiskey part of the radon does, slowly, but surely j lead
men into those intemperate and vicious habits, out of whicn grow

73 41IIERlCAlf TEMPERANCE SOCIETY.

desertions and most other crimes. In support of this opinion, 1
will only advert to one otlier dociunent. It is the subjoined extract
of a letter from one of the most excellent and exemplary officers of
the anTiy, which contains litde or nothing more than the verbal
statements which I haVe received upon the same subject, from
many other meritorious officers." {Juaj.Gen,Gaines^s statement.)

"I have served extensively as the recorder, of regimental courts-
martial, and do not hesitate to say, that five out of six cases of the
crimes which are proved before these courts, have resulted frx)m
intemperance; and nine years' experience in the army has con-
vinced me, that no inconsiderable proportion of the desertions
occur in consequence of intemperate drinking, either of the desert-
ers thenaselves, or others; I say others, because bad treatment
from petty officers, while under the mfluence of ardent spirits, has
caused many to become disgusted with the service, and finally to
desert.

" I have known cases like the following, and think them not un-
conunon. A non-commissioned officer, cither inebriated or not,
oppresses a young soldier, "Who complains to his commander ; the
subject is investigated by him ; and the witnesses upon whom the
complainant relied to sustain his charge, either from fear of the
displeasure of their non-commissioned officer, or from being bribed
to hold tlieir peace, by whiskey, " know nothing." The petty
officer produces his witnesses, bought with spirits, to exculpate
himself, and perhaps cast blame upon the complainant. The
accused, thtis cleared, is prompted by revenge to render tlie siiua-
don of the soldier as irksome as possible, who, despairing of redress,
deserts." [Ideut. Gallagher* s statement »)

I. (p-34.'\

Letter from TTwmas SewaU, M* D., of WasMtigtanf to John C

Warren^ M. D., of Boston.

Washington Citt, DterniAtr 19, 1830.
Dbar Sir,

You will rejoice to learn that the cause of temperance, for
which so much has been accomplished at the North, is extending
its influence over the South and West. For several weeks past,
the Rev. Dr. Edwards, General Agent of the American Temper-
ance Society, has been with us, and has given a powerful impuke
to the subject in this District. He has proceeded on the plan of
addressing the dififerent religious congregations, and of forming a

FOURTH REPORT. 1831. ^APPENDIX. '75

Temperance Society in each. He has already constituted several
OD this ' principle. Last Sabbath evening, he delivered a discourse
to a large and crowded audience, in the Foundery Chapel in thui'
city, — embrapbg the head of tlie Wtr Department, the Major-
General of the army, and oth<?r distingiiished citizens and strangers.
On this bccasion, he came forth wiui an array of facts and argt>-
ments altogether overwhelming, to which the audience listened for
more than an hour with the most intense interest. At the close of
the discourse, he proposed that a Temperance Society should be
formed. A paper was passed through the congregation, and in a
few moments upwards of one hundred names were enrolled ; and^
what we regard as highly important, no door was left open for the
use of ardent spirit as a medicine,*— no permission to use it when
indisposed. The following is tlie fonii of the pledge given : —
"Believing that the use of ardent spiints is not only needless, but
hurtful ; that it is the cause of forming intemperate appetites and
habits ; and that, while it is continued, the evils of intemperanee
cannot be prevented ; we therefore agree that we will not use thcnii
that we will not provide them as an article of entertainment, and
that we will, in all suitable ways, discountenance the use of them in
the community."

While we are convinced that there is no case in which ardent
spirit is indispensable, and for which there is not an adequate sub-
stitute, we are equally assured, that, so long as there is an exception
allowed, and men are permitted to use it as a wedicine, so long *ve
shall have invalids and drinkers among us. Only let our professioa
take a decided stand upon this point, and intemperance will soob
vanish from our country.

Among other cheering indications which present themselves,, it
gives me pleasure to be enabled to state, tnat the members of
Congress generally manifest a deep interest in the cause, and avail
themselves of every opportunity to procure such pubUcations on
the subject as are calculated to Impart information or excite to
action, and are disseminating these among their constituents. The
Secretary of Yfor and the lilajor General of the army appear fullj
sensible of the evils of intemperance, as known to exist among our
soldiers, and are ready to adopt every suitable measure to eradicate
it. An order has already been issued for suspending the rations
of ardent spirit to the soldiers, in order that a fair experiment ma^
be made, to ascertain whether its disuse in the army be not practi-
cable,— an experiment which, I doubt not, will ciemonstrate . the
unTity of the measure, and constitute a new era in the hktory of
military life.

Very truly, your friend,

THOBIAS SEWALI^
De. Wabrvv.

74 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE 90CIETT.

RemarJcs by Dr, Warrenm

The informati^h contained in Dr. Sewall's letter appears to me
to be of great importance to the morals and happiness of our coun^
try. II' the heads of departments and members of Congress take
an interest in discouraging the use of ardent spirits, the amount of
misery which will be prevented, must be great beyond calculation.
— -The suspension of the rations of spirituous liquors to the army is
a measure that may be very useful. Its good effects. will, I fear,
be much diminished by the permission to sutlers to sell spirits to
ihe soldiery, under permission of an officer. The consequence of
this arrangement will be, that some officers will grant this permis-
sion, while others will refuse it; apd in this way discontent will arise,
and the most valuable officers in the army become unpopular and
obnoxious. — ^The way seems to be open for a total prohibition ; and
certainly an order to this effect would gready increase the efficiency
of the army. The opinion of great bodies of physicians, given in
the most solemn manner, is unfavorable to the use of spirits ; and 1
nmnot find language strong enough to repeat and impress the fact,
that these articles do not give strength, but weakness. A momenta-
ry flush of power may be excited under their first impulse ; but
diis is soon followed by a moral and phydcal failure of strength, and
a loss of that steady, unyielding courage necessary to the support of
a regular engagement.

The necessity of using ardent spirits in medicine is extremely
limited. Now and then a solitary instance presents itself, in which
there seems to be some reason for preferring alcohol to other articles,
[n the greater number of cases of^disease requiring the use of stim-
ulant liquids, wine is to be preferred to alcohol ; and the importance
of this is much less than was thought a few years since.

In the year 1827, the Mass. Medical Society passed a resolution
to discourage the use of alcohol and its preparations in the treatment
of diseases. Since this was done, the use of brandy as a medicine
has been greatly diminished ; and the spii'ituous preparations or
tinctures are almost banished from the prescriptions- of the physi-
cian, excepting Where the quantity employed is so minute as to be
of no consideration m regard to its" alcoholic properties. A Kghly
respectable apothecary stated to me that, since the passage of the
resolution alluded to, the amount of tinctures sold by him bad
diminished in the proportion of five parts out of six.

ThCe reservation of the use of alcohol for cases of sickness ap~
pears to be of litde importance in a medical way, and, if it leads to
practical abuses such a reservation should not be made.

rOXItOH REPOBT. 1831. ^APPHNDIX. 7J

Letter from a Gentleman connected tnth the Armg*

Jamtmry 25. IQM.

81B,

The cause of temperance in the army has for a year or twd
past engaged the attention of some of our best and most enlightened
men in Congress, and many plans have been devised to remedy an
evil which all must acknowledge to be great.

With this intention, perhaps, the Secretary of War has lately
issued an Order (of which the following is tlie purport) prohibit^
the regular issues of spirits to the soldiers, to vnt :

1. Regular issues of spirit are prohibited.

2. Extra issues of liquor to men on fatigue duty qr extra service,
being established by law, are still continued.

3. Soldiers are permitted to purchase from the sutler, at tlie
"discretion of his company commander, a quantity of ardent spirit
not to exceed two gills daily."

This order will not answer the desired purposes ; but, on the
contrary, I fear it will do more evil than gooa, — and for the foDow-
ing reasons :

1. The order will have an unequal operation, because sonae
companies in the army will be permitted to purchase from tha
sutler two gills, some one gill, daily 5 and some none. This dis-
tinction will tend to create uneasiness and dissatisfactioii in the
minds of those who think themselves not as highly favored as tlieir
comrades.

2. This order will not only have an unequal operation as regards
(iifferent companies, but also in the same conipany at diiferent
times. The better to illustrate my meaning, I will suppose a caae«
f^bich not only exists now, but always will exist, so long as we
have an army :

There are two companies living toge^er at a military station.
The commanding officer of one exercises his " discretion," asd
pennits his men to purchase two gills a day ; while the other com-
mander will not suffer his men to buy a drop. Let me ask any
candid nerson, if such a stete of thmgs is not likely to produce
mischief.

I carry my instance still farther, and suppose (what is neither
impossible nor unlikely) that, after a few months, both these coin-
manders are relieved, and the companies commanded by officers
living difierent views and feelings fix)m their predecessors. The
company, therefore, wMch, until now, has been temperate, is allowed
the utmost latitude in drinking, and that which has been induced
in the iiree use of ardent spirit, is now reduced to entire abstinence.

76 AMERICAN TSJfPERANCr. SOCI£TT«>

In the frequent mutations of military command, these cases must
occur ; and will they not have a direct and necessary tendency to
make soldiers dissatisfied with their situation? And will not de-
sertions uid other crimes grow out of them ? To-day indulged in
drtiD-drinking — to-morrow enjoined total ahstinence-— and 50 on
through the alternations of temperance and ebriety, — ^wiU not sol-
diers feel that they are the helpless objects of capricious tyranny ? —
And will they not be likely, by open acts of mutiny to resist, or by
desertion to nee from such an odious and senseless despotism ?

The evils of drinking — great as they are, and dreadful in civil life,
— ^e still greater in the army. Many acts which, committed by
citizens, would be trifling and venial, would, if committed by soldiers,
be of a serious nature, and be visited with instant and severe retri-
bution. Otherwise discipline and subordination would cease.
• A proportion of at least nine tenths of crimes committed in the
^army can be safely and certainly traced to excessive drinking ; and
there is no way, that I can see, oif removing this evil entirely, except
by legalizing temperance.

L#et Congress pass a law prohibiting, under any circumstances,
the issue or sale to the soldier of the smallest quantity of spirit.
Such a law might, and probably would, at first, give uneasiness to
some confirmed tipplers; but soon it would be cheerfully ac-
quiesced in, because the law would make no invidious distinctions,
and all would fare alike. Our army would gradually, though cer-
tainly, become temperate, and its moral and religious character be so
far improved as to oe an ^onor as well as safeguard to our country,

I am, sir, with respect, ,

Dr. — your obligiGfd servant.*

J. (p. 36. ,

In the city of Washington, there were granted in the last year
60 tavern licenses, 34 grog-shop licenses, 4 confectionary licenses,
SHid 126 licenses to retail spirits in quantities not less than a pint —
making in all 224 licensed houses. If daily sales under these li-
censes were 1 J gallons e^ch, the quantity thus sold amounts to
122,528 gallons annually. The population of the city, by the late
census, is not quite 10,000; so those sales will average more than
6} gallons to each person, which is also the average of 33 estimates
made in various parts of the United States; we may therefore
ss/ely say that the quantity of ardent spirits consumed in tlie United
States two years ago, was at least equal to 6 gallons ibr each per-

son; and, as the popuhtion of the United States was, at that time,
ai)out 12,000,000, the quantity consumed in the United States was
72,000,000 gallons.

Havmg alluded to the number of licenses granted by the city of
Wasliington, I cannot forbear to notice the bad policy of making
the sales of ardent spirits the source of revenue.

The amount raised annually by the sale of licenses in that city,
is about six thousand dollars. The expense of supporting the
poor is about three thousand five hundred dollars^ three fourths of
which are admitted, by the overseers of the poor, to have been
caused by the use of ardent spirits, and to be a charge upon the
amount raised by the sales of those spirits— leaving the net revenue
from that source 3375 dollars. The quantity of spirits consumed,
to ndse this small revenue, is 122,528 gallons,, which cost the con-
sumers not less than 60,000 dollars, which are worse than lost to
the city, and this is the amount paid by the city to its tax-gatherers,
the retailers of spirits, for collecting the paltry revenue of 3375
dollars. This amount of loss would probably be doubled if we
were to add the loss of labor and lives, and the expenses of litiga-
tion, caused by the use of the ardent spirits sold under the authority
of those licenses.

We have estimated the whole quantity ccMisumed in the United
States at 72,000,000 gallons : — ^let us for a moment imagme in
what proportions this quantity is probably distributed among the
pe^le of the United States.

The women and children under 16 years of age, according to
the census of 1810 and of 1820, constitute three fourths of the
whole population of the United States.

It can hardly be supposed that any considerable quantity of
ardent spirits is drunk by the children, and, it is to be hoped, a very
small proportion by the women. We will simpose, however, that
the women and children consume one sixth oi the whole quantity ;
say 12,000,000 gallons.

Of the men over 16 years of age, constituting one fourth of the
whole population, one half, probably, consi^ of those who wholly
abstab, and of those who do not drink habitually, and who may
therefore average half a gill a day ; one eighth of 12,000,000 is
1,500,000 persons, at half a gill a day, equal to 8,554,687^ gallons.

One half of the residue of the men, being one sixteenth of the
whole population, equal to 750,000 persons, may be habitual
temperate drinkers, averaging three half gills a day, amounting to
12,832,031^ gdlons. One half of the remaining men, bemg ^
of the whole population, equal to 375,000 perscms, may be regular
topers, and occasional drunkards, who average! 3 g^lls a day, equal
to 12,832,031 i gallons.
7

TB iJfClUCAll TCMPERANCC SUCIETT.

9,000,000 . . consume

1,600,000 . . «

760,000 . .

376,000 . .

11,626,000
376,000

12,000,000

U
l€

12,000,000
8,564,687J
12,832,03l|
12,832,03li

46^18,750
26,781,260

72,000,000

These quantities added make 46,218,760 gallons; which, de-
ducted from the whole quantity consumed, 72,000,000 gallons,
will leave 26,781,260 gallons to be divided annually among the
376,000 remainihg^ men, who will average more than six gills a
day, and who will, of course, be confirmed drunkards.

This estimate supposes that one in every 16 is an habitual tem-
perate drinker, and that one in every 32 is a regular tippler ami
occasional drunkard, and that one in 32 also is a confirmed drunk-
ard.

Whether thb distribution of the quantity be correct or not, it h
morally certain that the whole quantity is annually consumed, or
rather was consumed prior to the year 1828, when the influence
of the Temperance Societies began to be generally felt

When we consider that a large portion of the ardent spirits
consumed is of foreign manufacture, anrf that much of the domes-
tic is mingled with the imported liquor, and sold to the consumer
as foreign, at 1 J or IJ dollar a gallon — ^that the foreign spirits used
in taverns is sold at 4 doDars a gallon — and that even the whiskey
at the dram-shops is retailed at 1 dollar 28 cents to 2 dollars a
gallon — ^there can be little doubt that the average price to the
consumer is at least 66§ cents a gallon.

Seventy-two millions ofgaUotis of ardent spirits, at 66f cents is
forty-eight milUmis of dollars.

lliis amount is annually lost to the country ; as much lost as if
as many dollars were actually cast into the sea ; for the spirits are
consumed without the least benefit in return.

TTie grain destroyed, the labor of raising the grain, and convert-
ing it into spirits, the fuel consumed m the manufacture, are all
lost to the country.

Although the farmer is paid for his grain, and the dtsdller for
his liquor, yet the poor man who buys it, gets po return but pov-
erty, disease and misery. To him, and to the country, it is worse
than a total loss.

The wealth of a country arises from the produce of the soil and
the labor of the inhabitants. The kxss of labor, therefore, is the loss
of wealth.

FOURTH REPORT. 1831. — APPEITDIX. 79

There are, in the United States, 375,000 regular drunkards.
Tliese, upon an average, do not earn more than two thirds as niudi
as if they were sober.

Here is an annual loss of 100 days' labor of each drunkard,
worth, if he were sober, at least 40 cents a day ; making a loss of
15,000,000 of dollars per annum.

It is estimated that, of the habitual drunkards, one in ten annu-
ally comes to a premature death, and that their term of life is, upon
an average, shortened ten years. Of the 375,000 regular drunk-
ards, therefore, 37,500 are killed annually by ardent spirits, and
ten years' labor of each of them is lost to the country. It is rea-
sonable to suppose that each of them, if sober, might have earned,
upon an average, 50 doUai-s a year more than the cost of his sup-
port. The loss of ten years'' labor of 37,500 men, at 50 dollars
per annum, is a loss of 18,750,000 dollars.

It is admitted, on all hands, that at least three fourths of the
whole cost of crime in the United States, is chargeable to the use
of ardent spirits. — ^Mr. Hopkins, of New York, who seems to
have been very cautious in his estimates, has stated in his communi-
cation to the Executive Committee of the New York State Society
for the Promotion of Temperance, pnblished in the first annual
Report of that Societv, that the result of his calculation gave a total
amount of eight million seven thousand dollars as the cost of crime
to the United States — three fourths of which, chargeable to mtem-
perance, \&six million five hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars.

It is also generally admitted, that three fourths of the cost of
pauperism is chargeable to the same cause.

Mr. Hopkins, in the same communication, estimates the whole
annual cost of pauperism in the state of New York, exclusive of the
city, to be 3,800,000 dollars, the whole of which, he thinks, might
be fairly charged to intemperance, I, however, take only three
fourths of it, which is two millions eight hundred and fifty thousand
dollars.

To these might be added the expense of those paupers who are
supported wholly or partially by private and individual chanty ; —
orphan asylums, insane and other hospitals, and houses of refuge
for juvenile offenders — ^and the loss of labor of prisoners confined
for trial, or for punishment by simple imprisonment, or for debt —
three fourths oi all which are properly chargeable to the use of
ardent spirits. The amount of private charity is probably much
greater than that of pubHc.

llie corporation of the city of Washington pays annually, for
the support of the poor, about three thousand five nundred dollars.

The population is nineteen thousand, consisting of about three
thousand five hundred families ; surely the average amount of private
charities must be more than one dollar a year for each family.

60 AMBBICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETT;

We may 9dd, therefore, for this item, another sum of two milium
eight hundred andjifty thinuand doUars paid by the temperate for
the intemperate.

The average number of prisoners in the jail of the county of
Washington, committed on criminal prosecutions, is about 30. The
population of the county is nearly thirty thousand. At that rate,
the average number of criminal prisoners in the United States is
twdve thousand; the labor of each of whom, if sober, would be
worth, upon an average, probably 60 dollars a year, beyond the
cost of his support, amounting to six hundred thousand doUars —
three fourths of which, chargeable to intemperance, is^bwr hundred
and fifty thousand dollars.

Let us now put these items together, and c6unt the cost of the
consumption of ardent spirits in the United States.

1st— 72,000,000 gallons of ardent spirit, at 66§ cts., 48,000,000
2d — 100 days' labor, rf 37 6,000 drunkards, lost, at 40 c, 1 6,000,000
3d — 10 years' labor, of 37,600 men, killed by ardent

spirits, at 60 dollars per annum for each man, 18,750,000
4th — I of the cost of crime to the United States, . 6,626,000
5th — I of tlie cost of pauperism to the United States, 2,860,000
6th — f of the amount of private charities, .... 2,860,000
7tb — } of 1 year's labor of 1200 prisoners lost, at $60, 460,000

The annual loss to the country by the use of ar. spirits is 94,425,000

In this estimate, no account is taken of the loss of the labor of the
paupers, prisoners confined for debt, nor of the cost of litigation
created or excited by the use of ardent spirits, nor the salaries of
judges, the expenses of jurors, nor of the fees of counsel.

How many paupers must be made by the abstraction of ninety-
four millions of dollars annually from the small earnings of that
class of society upon which the greater part of this loss must fall !
And what immense benefit would the inhabitants of this country
derive from ninety-four millions of dollars expended annually for
their best interest and comfort !

An annuity of nmety-four millions would, in twenty years, with
ample interest only, at six per cent, per annum, upon each year's
annuity, fix)m the time it became payable to the end of the twenty
years, amount to 3,064,800,000 dollars. Tlie valuation of all the
lands, houses and slaves in the United States, in the year 1815, ex-
clusive of Virginia, South Carolina and Tennessee, who agreed to
pay their quotas of the direct tax without a valuation, was

1,479,736,098 46-100 doDars. If we add for

Virrinia, 200,000,000 «

S. Carolina, 48,862,192 «

Tennessee, 42,715,618 " the aggregate will be

1,771,312,908 46-100 «

romiTH BEPORT. 1831.— APPENmX. 81

And if we stippose the value to have increased, since 1815, in pro-
portion to the population, the present value of all the houses, lands
and slaves in the United States, is 2,519,009,322 dollars; so
diat the amount annually lost to the country by the use of ardent
spirits would be more than sufficient to buy up ail the houses, lands
mi slaves in the United States once in every 20 years. [Judge
Crandi^s Address.)

K. (p. 42.)

The opinion of the Conmiittee of the New York State Society
is supported by such facts as the following : — ^A distinguished gen
tleman from that state writes — ^^ The great and good work of the
Lord goes on in the midst of us ; and the temperance movement,
like John the Baptist, prepares the way of the Lord. One might
follow in the wake of this movement, and say, ' The kingdom of'
heaven is at hand.' "

Another gendeman, from another part of the state, writes — " In
this county, it is notorious that those towns which have been the
most active in the temperance cause have been the most blessed
by the Holy Spirit. In all the towns in this county, there have
been revivals ; and, as a general remark, it may be said, that, in
every town, those neighborhoods which have done the most in the
promotion of temperance, have been most blessed in religious
matters. In C , the spirit has seemed to follow the temper-
ance effort from neighborhood to neighborhood ; and so in other
places. In short, so manifest is the connection between temper-
ance and revivals of religion, in this county, that we no more
expect the latter, where the former does not exist, than we expect
snow in summer. This, of course, is a general remark. There
are, undoubtedly, exceptions."

L. (p. 43.)

Tlie coniiection between the promotion of temperance and the
special success of the gospel in the salvation of men, appears to be
confined to no particular spot, but is common in all parts of the
country.

A gerdeman from Vemaont writes — ** I am more and more con-
vinced of the importance of the Temperance Reformation, consid-
ered merely in ks bearings on the success of die gospel. A few

63 AHBlUCAir Tt^tt^EBANCE SOCIETY*

years ago, the churches were withering under an akofaolic curse.
Members generally were moderate drinkers, and some immoderate^.
As the sin of intemperance naturally increased, a reformation on
the principle of total abstinence became indispensable. I have
known churches and congregations on the brink of a hopeless
overthrow, because some leading member or members would
drink rum.

" How long the church and congregation under my csare
would have sustained themselves without a Temperance Reform, 1
cannot tell ; but to me ruin appeared to be near. We were ahnost
deluged widi liquid fires. Two distilleries, five stores, four taverns,
all grog-shops, sent abroad their poisonous effluvia. A little more than
two years ago, I determined to have a Temperance Society here, at a
time when there were none in this part of the country. I took the
constitution recommended by the Parent Society, and spent nearly
three weeks, pleading the cause of temperance from house to
house. The result was a Temperance Society of 1 00 members.
Hardly had we time to forget the struggle and the viclon- of temper^
ance, before the Holy Spirit descended, and a revival of six months'
continuance rejoiced our souls. The extent of the revival seemed
to be measured by the success of the Temperance Reform. There
were in town about 100 hopefiil conversions. So far as we could
ascertain facts, and form an opinion, the number of converts dif-
fered little from tlie number who first broke away from the iron
bondage of custom, and adopted the principle of abstinence. Those
families where the parents had enlisted on the side of temperance,
were more richly blessed with divine influence than others. In-
deed, die revival scarcely prevailed, without the influence of the
Temperance Reformation.

" The history of other towns in this vicinity, is similar to ours. In

B , the Temperance Reformation has been triumphant. Scarcely

was the Temperance Movement begun when an mterestin©- revival
of religion commenced, and the two reformations mutually aided
and strengthened each other.

" In A , and H , and W , and C — ■- — , there are

revivals of religion of great interest ; bringing into the kingdom,
not only children and youth, but the aged, and men of influence.
The revivals have followed directly after the commencement of an
efficient Temperance Reform,

" The cause of temperance in M has also been wonderfully

successful. They have a Temperance Society of nearly lOOO
members. There, also, a heavenly influence has followed in the
track of temperance, and there is now a glorious revival of religion.'*

A gentleman from Massachusetts writes — ^*' In 1829, a number of
young men formed themselves into a Temperance Society. A few
days after, the revival of rdigion began to show itself. Within a

rOtrHTH RfiPOttT.— 1631.— APPE2JD1X. 83

im weeks^ nlost of tlie young raeh, who were raost active in th«
Teraperance Society, were rejoicing in liope. The revival has
added 164 to the church of which I am pastor, and nearly 40 to
the Baptist church in this place. 91 of tlie 164 are males^
Our Temperance Society contains neai'ly 300 members, a lai^e
proportion of wham are youth. What connection the temperance-
efforts in this plabe sustained to the revival, God only knows ; but 1
cannot but believe that they prepared the way, by removing one of
the most powerful baniers against religious impression."

A distinguished civilian from Connecticut writes—" In 1827,.
there were in — • — 20 retailers of spirits; in April, 1831, there.
were only six, with a prospect that two of them will soon stop the
sale, leaving only four jn a population of 4000. The diminished
consumption of spirits is at least equal to the reduction in the num-
ber of retailers. In H tliere is no retailer, and nearly all the -

famis and the fisheries are carried on witliout spirit. The church
in that place is a Temperance Society ;^ not a mexabet drinks

spirit. In Y s, also, tlie church is a Temperance Sodety*

Four excommunications have taken place since its formation, and
three of them for intemperance. In K— — society, tliere were, in
1827, seven retailers ; there is now only one, with a prospect that be
will relinquish die saJe of spirit in the course of this year. The
number of members in our Temperance Society is about 900. On
a large majority of the best farms^ no liquor is drunk. The opposers
have been, for a year or two, crying out, that a reaction would soon
come; that the cold water system could not possibly hdid out.
But never were we 50 far from a ^^eaction as at the present moment.
The cause is daily gaining strength ; and new members are obtabied
almost every weeic. The reformation has also operated to expel
mjie^grogs (righdy named) ahnost as entirely as distilled liquors..
{ think 1 have not been offered a glass of wine, or spirit, in this
region, for two years past — a sirfiple and direct result of the Great
Reformation.

" We are hoping that (rod will viat us in the. way of his grace, as
he has other places in our land ; apd we trust that the Temperance
Movement will prove a preparatory way for a revival trf pure reli-
gion; as we rejoice to hear it has been in many places."

Since the above wa^ written, the means of grace in that place
have been attended, in a remarkable manner, with the blessings of
the Holy Spirit. Numbers are now rejoicing in hope of the glory
of God, imd many more are anxiously inquiring what they shall
io to be saved. This is also the case with many other towns in the
vicim^, in which idmilar efforts had been made for the promotion of
temperance.

A gentleman firom New Jersey writes, aft^r mentioning * the
efforts which have been made for the promotion, of temperance—" 1

84 AMERICAN TSMPERANCB SeCIETT*

have also to communicate to- you still more cheering intelligence*
1 refer to the fruits, by which we know tlie tree to be of God's own
right hand planting. Immediately after the celebration of the last
annivetsary (preceding which we had made renewed e£>rts to
increase trie number of our niiembers)| the Spirit of God was
poured upon us in copious efSisions. Nearly 100 have been
nithered, we trust, into the church of Christ. The patrons of our
Society have participated largely in the work ; arid he who now
writes you;' and has filled the office of Secretary of the Temperance
Society since its organization, was soon made to feel the claims
which a God of infinite mercy had upon him, for his love sind his
service."

From Pennsylvania a gentleman writes — " In Februaiy, 1829, a
Temperance Society was formed here ; and during the spring and
summer, the cause made rapid advances. Temperance was the
. aH-engrossing topic* In the ensuing fall, a powerful revival of reli-
gion commenced in the Presbyterian churches under my care ;
which, in the course of the winter, extended tp the Baptist churches
in the neighborhood. About 300 persons have been added to the
communion of the two denominations. Of these a very large
proportion had prenously become members of tlip Temperance
Society. It is a rentarkable fact, that the. revival was the most

Eowerfiil in those neighborhoods in which the tempfei-ance cause
ad been most triumphant ; and scarcely perceptible m those where
the way had not thus been previously prepared.

" It was also remarked, that tliose professors of religion who oj>-
posed tlie progress pf temperance, and continued tp use the drink
of drunkards, and the cup of devils, in no instance appeared to
ibare in flie revivihg influences of the Spirit j while those who had
been most aqtive in the cause of temperance seemed to share those
influences in the largest measure. I could mention many instances
of hopeful conversion, in which the Temperance Society was the
first in the chain of means which conducted then^ to a Savior.
Multitudes in this section of country will bless God to all eternity,
that such a Society has been established here. A revival pf religion

has succeeded a temperartce movement at M , in this county ;

and another at S-^^ — , in Virginia. Our Temperance Society has
at present about 300 members."

Many similar testimonies might be given, and from various parts
of the country.

rOU&TH BJJPORT.^ — 1831. — ^AI*PENI>IX. 85

M. (p. 48.)

Illustrations of the Truth, that God visits the Inicmiti^ of the
Fathers upon the Children ; and that the Way of Transgrtssm^
is hard.

FROM A MERCHANT IN NEW TORK.

" Dear Sir — ^Without undeitakirig to answer the specific ques*
tioDs proposed in your letter as Secretaiy of the City Temperajce
Society, 1 will relate some facts that have come under my own ob-
servation. I have been engaged in trade and commerce in tb«s
city upwards of twenty-two yeai-s, and occupied the store I am now
in during tlie whole time. Not an incfividiial originally neai* me is
now to be found, save three flour merchants. In casting my eyes
amuud tlie neighbdrhood, and looking back to the peqod above men-
tioned, I ask, Where are tiiey now ? On my left were a father and
his two sons, grocere, in prosperous business. The sons went down
10 the grave several years since in poverty, confirmed drunkards.
On my right was a firm of long and respectable standing, engaged
in foreign commerce, the junior partner of which i^ome years since
died, confirmed in this habit. Five or six dooi-s above, was rn» ^
holding a highly responsible situation under our State Government ;
at fim, he was seen to stop and take a little gin and water ; sopn
hii was seen staggering in the street ; presently was laid in the grave,
a victim to intemperance. On the coi ner immediately opposite my
store was a grocer, doing a moderate business. Being addicted to
drink, in a state of intoxication he went into tlie upper loft of his
store at noon-day, put fire to an open keg having powder in it, blew
off the roof of his store, and himself into eternity. One door beyond
this comer was a father, an ofiicer in one of our churches, a grocer,
and his two sons : both sons have loug since been numbered witli*
the dead, through the effects of drbk ; a son-in-law of the above
father, pursuing the same busiriess, following the practice of the
SODS, has come to the same end ; a young man, clerk and success
sor in the same store, has also gone down to the grave firom the
same cause. On the other side of the Slip, a wealthy grocer died,
leaving a family of several young men, three of whom, together with
a sister and her husband,- have since died in poverty, confirmed
drunkards. Next door to this, a junior partner of ^one of the most
respectable grocers in this city has long since followed the above
from the same cause, leaving behind him two brothers, compara-
tively young in years, but old in this vice, now living on the charity
of their fi-rends. On looking^ down the street in front of my store,
there were seen three of middle age, grocers, but a few years
«nce in prosperous business, now numbered with the dead from (he

86 AM ERIC AM TEMPERANCE SOC|ETT.

same cause. Ih the same square in which I now am, wris an ixidi-
ridual at the head of an extensive shipping house, owning several
stores, renting from six to ten hundred dollars each a year ; owning
and occupying a house in Broadway, worth twenty thousand dollars^
with a family of several sons and daughters living in afBuence.
From a moderate drinker, he became a confirmed dmnkard : his
property is now all gone, his family scattered, and himself a vagabond
about our streets. His next door neighbor, a partner in one of our
most respectable shipping houses, has gone to his grave, in early life,
&om the same cause, not having had time to spend the large amount
of his previous earnings. Near me was one in the prime of life,
Sind of respectable and pious parentage, liberally educated, engaged
extensively in foreign commerce, and awhile one of our City Coun-
cil. In the short space of three years, he was| a bankrupt, a drunk-
^d, and in his grave I But my heart sickens at the detail, which 1
could extend.

'*Most of those mentioned were men with whom I have had
daily intercourse in tlie way of business, slnd, but for this cause,
might at this moment, in the ordinary course of Providence^ have
beeii useful members of society." (iV. Y. City ReportJ)

jr* (p. 49.)

" But I pass on to notice one state of tlie system produced hy
ardent spirit, too important and interesting to leave unexamined. It
IS that predisposition to disease and death, which so strongly charac-
terizes the drunkard in every situation in life.

At is unquestionably true, that many of the surrounding objects
in nature, are constantly tending to man's destruction. The excess
of, heat and cold, humidity and dryness,, the vicissitudes of the
season, noxious exhalations from the earth, the floating atoms in the
atmosphere, the poisonous vapors from decomposed annnnal and
vegetable matter, with many other invisible agents, are exertinc;
their deadly influence; and were it not that every part of his system
IS endowed with a self-preser\ang power, a principle of ei^ci lability ,
or, .in other words, a vital principle, the operations of the economy
wQuld cease, and a dissolution of his organic structure take place*
But, this principle being implanted in the system, reaction takes
place, and thereby a vigorous contest is maintained with the warring
eleineQts without, as well as with die principle of decay within.

It, is thus that man is enabled to endure, from year to year, the
toils and fatigues of life, die variation of heat and cold, and the
vicissitudes of the season; that he is enabled to traverse every
region of the globe, and to live with almost equal ease undeF the

rOtniTH BEPORT. — 1 83 1 .—APPENDIX. 81

equator, and in the frozen re^ons of the north. It is by this power
that all his functions are performed, from tiie commencement to the
dose of life.

The principle of excitability exiisis in the highest degree in the
infant, and diminishes at every succeeding period of life ; and if man
is not cut down by disease or violence, he struggles on, and finally
dies a natural death ; a deatti occasioned by the exhaustion of the
principle of excitability. In order to prevent' the too rapid exhaus-
tion of this principle, nature has especially provided for its restora-
tbn by establishing a period of sleep. After being awake for
sixteen or eighteen hours, a sensation of fatigue ensues, and aO the
functions are performed with diminished energy and precision.
Locomotion becomes feeble and tottering, the voice harsh, the in-
tellect obtuse and powerless, and a;ll the senses blunted. In thb
state, the individual anxiously retires from the light, and from the
noise and bustle of business, seeks that position which remures the
least effi)rt to sustain it, and abandons himself to rest. The will
ceases to act, and he loses in succession all the senses. The mus-
cles unbend themselves, and permit the limbs to fall into the most
easy and natural position. Digestion, respiration, circulation, secre-
tion, and the other functions, go on with diminished power and
activity ; and consequently the wasted excitability is gradually
restored. After a repose of six or eight hours, this principle be-
cptnes accumulated to its full measure, and the individual awakes,
and finds himself invigorated and refi^shed. His muscular power
is augmented ; his senses are acute and discriminating ; his intellect
active and eiager for labor ; and' all his fiinctions move on with
renewed energy. But if the stomach be oppressefl by food, or the
system excited by stimulating drinks, sleep, though it majr be pro^
found, is never tranquil and refreshing.' The system being raised
to a state of feverish excitement, and its healthy balance disturbed,
its exhausted excitability is not restored. The mdividual awakes,,
but finds himself fatigued rather than invigorated. His muscles
are relaxed, his senses obtuse, his intellect impaired, and all his
functions disordered ; and h is not unfil he is again under the in-
fluence of food and stimulus, that he is fit for the occupations of
life. And thus he loses the benefits of this wi^ provision of repofie,
designed for his preservation. Nothing, probably, tends more pow-
erfully to produce premature old age, than midnight revels or di^
turbed and unrefreshing asleep.

It is also true, that artificial stimulus, in whatever way applied,
tends constantly to exhaust the principle of excitability of the
system, and this in proportion to its intensity, and the freedom with
which it is applied.

But there is still: another principle on which the use of ardent
spirit predisposes the drunkard to disease and death. It acts on the
blood, impairs its vitality, deprivef it of its red color^ and thereby

B9 AHEBICAN TCMPEBANCC SOCIKTr^

renders it unfit to stimulate the heart ^nd otl^er organs tbradgb
which it circulates ; unfit, al^ to supply materials for the di^rent
secretions, and to renovate the different tissues of the body, as weB
as to sustain the energy of the brain— offices which it can perform
only while it retains its vemiilion color and other arterial proper-
de*s. The blood of the drunkard is several shades darker in its
color than that of temperate persons, and also coagulates less
read^y and firmly, and is loaded with serum — appearances which
mdi'c4te that it has exchanged its arterial properties for those of the
venous blood. This is the cause of the livid complexk)n ^f the
inebriate, which so stix)ng]y marks him m the advanced stage of
intemperance. Hence, loo, all the functions of his body are slug-
gish, irregular, and the whole system loses its tone and its en«^.
if ardent spirit, when taken into the system, exhausts the vital
principle pi the solids, it destroys the vital principle of the Mood
also ; and if taken in large quantities, produces sudden death; m
which case the blood, as in death produced by lightning, by opium,
or by violent and long-contbued exertion, does not coagulate.

The principles laid down are plain, and of easy a{q[)Iicat]on to the
case before us.

The inebriate having, by the habitual use of ai'dentsjHrk, exhaust-
ed, to a greater or less extent, the principle of excitability in the solids,
the power of reaction, ^nd the blood having become incapable of
performing its office also, he is alike predisposed to every disease,
and rendered liable to the inroads of every invading foe. So tar,
therefore, fropi protecting the system against disease, intemper-
ance' ever constitutes one of its strongest predisposing causes.

Superadded to this, whenever disease does lay its grasp upon the
drunkard, the powers of life being already enfeebled by the stimu-
lus of ardent spirit, he unexpectedly sinks in the contest, and but
too firequently to the mortification of his physHcian, and the surpiise
and grief of his fi-iends. Indeed^ inebriation so enfeebles the pow-
ers df life, so modifies the character of disease, and so changes the
opertction of medical agents, tliat, unless the young physician has
rftudied thoroughly the constitution of the drunkard, he has but par-
tially* learned his profession, and is not. fit for a practitioner of the
present age.

These are the true reasons why the drunkard dies.so easily, and
fit>m such slight causes.

A sudden cold, a pleurisy, a fever, a firactured limb, or a sli^t
wound of the skin, is often more than his shattered powers csm en-
dure. Even a little excess of exertion, an exposure to heat or cold^
a hearty repast, or a glass of cold water, not unlrequently extnigobhes
the small remains of the vital principle.

In the season that has just closed upon us, we have had a melan-
choly exhibition of the efiect of intemperance iu the tragical death

roUI^TH REPORT. — 1831.-^APPC99». 89

qT some dozens o! our fellow citizens ; and, had the extreme heat
which prevailed for several days continued for as many weeks, we
should hardly have had a confirmed drunkard left among us.

Many of those deaths which came under my notice seemed al-
most spontaneous, and some of them took, place in less than one hour
from the first symptom of indisposition. Some died apparently firom
a slight excess of fatigue, some from h few hours' exposure to the
sun, and some from a small draught of cold water — causes quite jn^
adequate to the production of such efibcts in temperate persons.^
{Dr, SewalPs Address.)

"A circular letter, adaressed by the New York City Society, to a
number of the most respectable physicians of that state, proposing
certam interrogatbries respecting the effect of ardent spirits upon the
human body, has been answered by at least forty of those. to whom
it was sent ; and whose names are given m the Report of that Socie^.

From those answers it appears, 1st, that the use of distiUed u-
quors, by those in health, is, in no case whatever, beneficial for the
preservation of health? or for the endurance of fatigue 6r hardship.

2d. That disease and death are the inevitable result of the con-
tinued use of alcohol upon the healthy human system.

3d. That ardent spirit never operates as a prtvewtioe of epidemic
or pestilential diseases ; but is very generally an exciting cause of
such diseases, and always aggravates them.

4th. That, the Unae of the nervous system being impaired by the
use of intoxicating liquors, the constitution thus becomes more sus-
ceptible to the impression of all noxious agents.

5th. That nothing has a tendency more immediately and com-
pletely to destroy the moral faculty ^ than intemperate drinking.

6th. That the intellectval facukies are impaired by alcohol. Ev-
ery excess is a voluntary insanity, and if often repeated, and carried
beyond a certain degree, it often produces the horrible disease called
(fefiftttw tremens; in which, while the animal powers are prostrated,
the mind is tortured with the most distressing and fearful imagina-
tions.

7th. That intemperance destroys the susceptibility of the body to
the operation of medicine, so far as it mjures the tone of the nervous
system.

That the disease of an habitual dnmkard will generally run its
course, uninfluenced by medical treatment ; that in the exhaustion
80 produced by intemperance, medicines are often useless, and the
diseases of the water-drinker are, comparatively, few in number ;
in general, readily controlled ; and when the malady is removed, the
constitution is easily restored to its original health and vigor.,

8th. One fifth,' and perhaps one fourth, die, directly or indirectly,
hxnmtemperance. (This is the answer of the only physician who
has undertaken to make an estimate of the proportion of deaths pro^
8

90 AinBlltCAN TCMPBIUNCE SOClfiTt.

duced by ajrdent spirits. The othei*s speak iif general terras, and
say a large proportion,)

9th. That ardent spirits are the most tommon source of inscmiiy^
and that they operate by producms inflammation of the brain, as
well as other diseases oi that organ, and of the nervous system in
general.*

10th. That no person who uses distilled liquor can reasonably
expect to avoid the contraction of an unnatural thirst for stimulus. ^

1 1th. That the specific effects of alcohol are produced by a two-
fold proceiss : —

First by its direct e&cts upon the nervous system ; and secondly
by being absorbed into the circulation without undergoing digestion.

12th. That ardent spirit is not b^nefitial in cases of dyspepsy or
hi chrcmic debility; but in niost cases is prejudicial.

13th. That it is not safe as a family medicine.

14di. Finally, diat about one hundred physicians have died in the
city of New York within the last thilljr years ; of whom forty were
intemperate ; but that the character oi the profession, in that respect,
is now much improved.

To this testimony may be added) that, according to the accounts
published of the sudden deaths during the excessive heat of the past
summer, it appears, upon inquiry, that in every instance where the
death has been ascribed to the drinking of cold water, or to the di-
rect efiect of the beat, the deceased was in the habitual use of ardent
spirit ; and not one instance is recorded of such a death where the
person was in the habit of entire abstinence, f

* Doctor Carter, one of the resident phytfrciaas of the Philadelphia alitis*
house infirmary, in a paper published in the. American Journal of the Medical
Scieuces, calls ardent spirit a destructive poison, and speaks of mania a votu
as the usual penalty of excessive drinking. In the establishment in whicn he
is connectQ.d, there were^^from November 21st, 1828, to February 1st, 1829, 70
cases of mania a potti^ and from June lOth to September lOih,. 1829, 75 cases ;
makingr 145 oases in ^ix months.

t It IS stated in a letter from Greeni^ieh (Gonn.) to the Editor of the Journal
of Humanity, dated -July 26, 1830, that, '* during the preceding week of exces"
sively hot weather, no man who had been of cold water character for any length
of time had given out ; that two persons had died suddenly in the vicinity, but
that both were of intemperate habits ; that others had stopped work, but all
of them were given to the use of strong drink."

In the Journal of Humanity of Aujrust 19, 1830, is the following article,, taken
from the Belvtdere Apollo: —

<* Nine eases of death from drinking cold water have occurred amonff the
laborers engaged in excavating the sections of the Bristol aiid Morris (New
Jersey) canal adjoining this place. We are assiured by highly respectable
physicians, that, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, ^he victims of cold
water drinking are those who 4iave been addicted to the free use of ardent
spirits." ^

" In the last we^k but one in July last, the deaths in New York were 204 ;
11 of which were frOin drinking cold water, &nd 22 by convulsions. In the same
v/eek in Philadelphia, the deaths were 196 ; of which 11 were from drinking cold
water, C from heat,' 6 from intemperance, and 22 from convulsions.

FOURTH REPORT. X831. ^APPENDIX. 91

It is said by Doctor Hosack in bis late address, that it appears
bom the society of Friends, that, in consequence of their haUtua]
temperance, one half of the members of that society live to the age
of 47 ; and that one in ten livqs to be 80 :* whereas the average
of human life is 33 years, and not -more than one in 40, of the gen-
eral population, lives to be-80 years of age. The amount of human
life, then, gained by temperance, is more than the difference between
33 and 47 — or an average of 14 years gained in every life — ^which
is equal to 42, per cent." (Judge CranMs Address,)

'' It appears from our former remarks,4hat the blood, by its circula-
tion, conveys to every part of the body tlie nutritious matters of
which it is composed, while each organ is endowed with the power
of selecting from the common mass, the materials both for its own
uourishiillent, and for tlie performance of its peculiar functions, and

It will be recollected that about the same time a very considerable valarm took
place in the neighboring town of Georgetown (D. C), inconsequence of a great
nuQiber of sadden deaths among the laborers upon the canal ; 20 or 30 having
died in the course oj^ a week. An extract from a letter from that to^n dated
Jiilj 27th, 1830, was published in the Baltimore Gazette, in which the writer
^ys—- 1 regret to add that death, in its most appalling form, has made its ap-
psirance in this town and vicinity. It seems to be confined to the labdring
ciastiesin general, but more especially to the, emigrants working upon the ca-
nal. Its approach seems to be preceded by a wild delirium, which hold'^ till
the body shrinks from exhaustion, and afler a few hours' continuance in this
condition, the spirit departs from its mortal tenement. Shortly after death the
corpse takes a dark hue, and becomes nearly black. In the Koman Catholic
grave-yard, I have been informed that as many as 14 were interred in one day.
The laborers are chiefly members of that ciiurch. The disease is not always
fatal. There have been several cases of recovery. — It is represented by the
piiysicians, that, so far as regards the native citizens, the town was never
Iwaltliier.'

At Uie time of this alarm, I caiised inquiry to be made of the coroner, the
andertaker, and the town physician, and was satisfied that, in every case of
sudden death, the deceased had been in the habitual use of ardent spirit.

la the Journal of Humanity of 2d September, 1830, the Editor says — 'A
^eiitlcman of the greatest respectability from the south asserted, the other
day. in oar hearing, that tliose who fell victims in the southern climee, are
almost invariably those who indulge in the free use of ardent spirits. So sajs
the New York Journal. The same paper mentions the death of three persons
in its vicinity , occasioned by heat and drinking cold water, aU of whom were
intemperate.' .

A gentleman of respectability (Mr. Symonton), whose family has an inter-
est in the island of Itey West, on the coast of Florida, informed me that the
island was very sickly last year, and many died of the fever ; but that all who
died had been in the habitual use of ardent spirits ; that this fact was ascertained
oya minute investigation of every case ; and that the evidence wasso satisfacto-
ry, that the inhabitants this year have generally abstained from distilled liquors;
80 that not more than one gallon has been consumed this year for every barrel
J»d last year. The consequence is, that this year they have been uneommonlt
healthy.

The fact that nine tenths, if not all, the deaths from drinking 6old water,

happen among those who are in the habitual use of ardent spirits, is so impoi--
^t, that I have deemed it expedient to state this evidence upoR which Uie
wsertion is founded."

^ This fact i» stated also in M'Ktnzey's 5000 Receipts

93 AXERICAN TKMPEIUNCC SOClStr*

of returning to it the refuse materials which are no longer of use.
The 1)lood is thus a sort of common carrier, conveying from part to
part whatever is intrusted to it for the common benefit* When
obliged to carry spirit (and it carries it so reluctantly that some phy-
sicians have doubted whether spirit ever actually entere the blood),
it presents it, as it does its otlier commodities, to tlie several orgaiis
for their selection : but, as we have seen, they all decline it. The
bead says, " My nerves are cahner, my tlioughts are clearer, without
it, — ^I beg to be excused ;" the heart says, " My motions are more
regular, my afiections are purer, without it,— I have no occasion for
it ;" the limbs say, " Our strength is firmer, our vigor is more dura-
ble, without it, — we need it not ;" all say, " It cannot nourish us, it
cannot sustain us, — ^we will none of it ;■' and at length, rejected by
all, except by those organs whose peculiar office it is to convey out
of the blood its refuse and worthless parts, it is taken up by them
and thrown out of the body. How happy for mankind, did the
reason of man conduct him to the same practical wisdom, which is
thus given by hLs Creator to the instinctive excitabilities of his ani-
mal faculties ! But, unhappily, these several organs, altliough they
may refuse what is unsuitable to them, cannot escape without suf-
fering. Our carrier, inflamed by his burden, though be received it
at first with reluctance, becomes the insolent pedlar, who insults and
abuses the customers who decline his wares.

The o$ce of the stomach, as is weU known, is to digest the food,
and prepare its nutritious parts for absorption into the blood. This
it does cliiefiy by means of the juices which are formed in its coats,
to be mixed with, and dissolve the food. When these juices are in
a healthy condition, the digestion is well performed ; when tliey are
unhealthy, we have flatulence, oppression, and a host of ills. Now
the stomach, in common with the other parts of the body, is pre-
served in health by a proper state both of its nutrition and of its ex-
citability. Whenever it is excited by an unnatural stimulus, — and
we have sufficiently shown that ardent spirit is an unnatui*al stim-
ulus,— although the action may be increased for a short time, debil-
ity immediately follows, and the next portion of food is imperfecdy
digested. If this indigestion is at once met by a temporary absti-
nence, or judicious diet, it may soon be i^emoved. But the sensa-
tions by winch it is accompanied, form a temptation to renew them
by repeating the stimulus. Indeed the digestion itself may for a time
be improved by a daily repetition of the excitement. But, then,
every such repetition exhausts a certain portion of the excitability, and
this process cannot go on long before the powers of tlie stomach be-
come so debilitated, that no food is properly digested, and there is
an uneasiness wliich craves^ relief by some new stimulus. It is this
uneasiness, this gnawing sensation, that constitutes one of the great-
est obstacles to breaking off the habit of taking spirit, whenever such
a habit has been begun.

FOURTS BEMaT.—p-l 831 .—APPENDIX. 93

Ifl consequence of the imperfect madner in which the food is
digested, either a su/Ecient quantity of nutritive matter is not prepar-
ed to be absorbed into the blood, or it is absorbed in a crude state,
and not well suited to the purposes of nutrition. Thus all the parts
of the body sufier from the delinquency of the stomach. It is well
known that all the several organs of the body exert an influence
upon each other by means that are not fully understood ; which
physiciahs call sympathetic. The sympathies of the stomach are
nKM% extensive tlian those of any otlier part ; and hence it is that
(rhen this oi^an is disordered, a greater variety and extent of suf-
fering is'the consequence, than is produced by an equal extent of
iojuiy to any other part.

We come next to speak of the effect of the use of spirit upon die
tver. The principal function' of tliis c»*gan is to aid in the process
of digestion. As, in the performance of this function, its actions are
associated with those of the stomach, so many of tlie effects of dis-
ease are of a similar character. There are, however, one or two
particidars in which the effects are so different as to demand a sep
arate though concise consideration. The liver complaint and the
jaundice are sufficiently known to be the frequent consequences of
intemperance. Bu^ it seems not to be so well known that a more
moderate use of spirit produces a strong tendency to the same dis-
uses. The liver is easily excited to extraordinary action, not ordy
by what afiects the stomach, with which it is so closely associated,
but also by whatever powerfully stimulates the general system, and
especially by strong emotions of the mind. When the excitiement
is moderate, snch as is produced by. a proper diet, or by a rational
employment of the mental faculties, then the effect upon this organ
is Kdutary and healthful. But if, from either cause, the excitement
becomes too great, it tends to disease ; and the tendency is increas-
ed with every repetitioufc This explanation may show how it is
that any quantity of ardent $pirit, however moderate, has an injurioa^
effect upon the functions of the liver-

I shall notice only one more class of the effects of ardent spirk y
and this is its influence upon die brain and nervous system; It is
here that we have exhibited the phenomena of that most distressing
of diseases, deliriuv/i tremens. The tremblings, — ^the watchfubiess,
which opium itself can scarcely conquer, — ^the characteristic delirium,
so full of fearful apprehensions, that seem like the embodied repre-
sentations of a guilty conscience,~all are the result of undue excite-
ment of the nervous system by ardent spirit ; and all united consti-
tute a measure of distress and anguish, which is ncme too forcibty
expressed by the name given to this disease among the sailors in our
naval service, the horrors. The miserable victim is deprived of
his understanding before he is aware that he is sick, a3 if to show
that the drunkard has outlived his probation ; and he sinks mto death

d4 ANXBICAN T£MPE&ANC£ SOCtfiTY*

vithout one moment's opportunity to profit by the alairm o( his
djyiger.

i3ut you yrill say, my readery This is the disease of the drunkard:
why speak of its horrors to me ? I driiok a litde, it is true^ perhaps
daily,-— sometimes oftener,and sometimes, it may be, not for several
days; surely lam no drunkard; and svhy tallc to me of delrnvm
tremens'? Be it so, you are no drunkard ; are you not in the way
to become one ? Or, concede that you are safe from this danger,
still you are not so safe as you imagine from this most appalling dis-
ease. Some of the worst cases of it that I have ever seen (and the
number that 1 have seen is so^ great that my heart shudders at the
recollection of them) have been of persons who had iiarely or never
been known to be intoxicated. , Men have been taken down by this
delirium, who have regarded themselves, and have been regarded
by their, neighbors, as temperate men. They were known to
drink occasionally, indeed; bat -they would have resented as much
as you do to be told tliat they were intemperate. Nor is this the
only evij. The nervous system is a nicely adiusted structure, which
superintends the functions of the whole livmg body. There are
many degrees of dei*angement, of which it is svisceptible ; all of
which are of more or less importance, although they may not amount
to so severe and fatal a disease as this of w^hich we have spoken.
Every glass of spirit that you drink does some violence to the deli-
cacy of this complicated and beautiful system ; and every repetitwn
of the glass destroys the harmony of one of those thousand string
of which your life is composed.

The conclusion of /the wliole matter is as follows. We have
seen that ardent spirit can be of no possible benefit, to the human
constitution, and is huitfiil, unless in some peculiar and rare cases
of disease, in which its administration, so as to do good and not
harm, requires the skill of a judicious physician. We have seen,
further, that to take spirit only occasionally, and even rarely, uicurs
a risk, and an imminent one, of being drqiwn, by a sort of necessity,
to taking it again and again, Until a habit is formed of taking it, first
in moderate and then in larger quantities, unt'd the unhappy individ-
ual, with little or no consciousness of his danger, becomes a con-
firmed, unreclaimed, despairing drunkard. Lastly, we have seen
that, should so strange a thing be accomplished, as that a man
should persevere in limiting his quantity of spirit to what may be
termed, in comparison with that of others, a moderate allowance,
still he is by no means exempt fix>m the evil effects upon his health
and constitudon. ^

Wherefore, my dear reader, I conclude once mor^^with the ad-
vice to DRINK NO SPIRIT. It is not good for your health ; but it
tends directly to induce disease, and to shorten human life.^
(Dr. Hole's Essay.)

tOUSlTH REPORT. 1881. APPENDIX. 95

" All the healthy functions are the result of the action of appropri-
ate agents upon the several organs. Thus light is adapted to the
eye, air to the lungs, appropriate food to the digestive organs, re-
spectively ; giving origin to the functions of vision, respiration, and
assimilation.

But where has nature provided a receptacle for ardent spirits ?
What organ requires their stimulus, to enable it to perform its of!ice ?
What gland possesses the power of extracting from them the small-
est portion of nutriment, or any other ingredient winch can be use-
fully employed in the animal economy ?

On every organ they touch they operate as a poison. Nowhere
in the human body are they allowed even a lodgment, until the
vital powers are so far prostrated that they cannot be moved.
They are hurried onward from orie organ to another, marking their
course with irregularity of action and disturbance of function, until
at last, as a common nuisance, they are taken up by the emuncto-
ries — the scavengers of the system — ^and unceremoniously excluded.
\Vhen, through decay of organic vigor, this process ceases, the work
of destruction is drawmg to a close, and the last glimmerings of life
are soon extinguished.

The records of eve^y hospital, and the recollections of every in-
telligent physician, will furnish multitudes of examples in which
mild diseases have been rendered severe, and severe ones fatal, ih
consequence of the use of spirits. This is more particularly the
case during the prevalence of epidepiics and in extremely warm
weather.

A British surgeon tnany years ago stated, that in his opinion half
the sudden deaths that happen in the community are in a fit of in-
toxication, softened into some milder name, not to rufiBe the feelings
of friends in laying them before the public ; and there is no doubt
that at least an equal proportion of all the sudden accidents requiring
the aid of surgery, such as wounds, dislocattons, and broken bones,
are occasioned in the same manner.

These, things physicians teU you from no sinister views, from
no lurking principle of selfishness. For they well know that, when
distilled and stimulating liquors shall be banished from the commu-
nity, the fountain of one half of all chronic diseases — ^a fiiiitful
source of their emolument — ^will be dried up ; that a large propor-
tion of surgical operations will be uncalled for ; and that the number
and intensity of acute diseases will be materially diminished.

When a person unaccustomed to stimulants is induced for the
first time to take a glass of spirits, an instantaiieous excitement is
produced. The pulse becomes more frequent ; the face is flushed ;
and the functions of the body and the mind are hurried; the eye
sparkles ; the tongue is unloosed ; the imagination is excited ; the
whole scene assumes the appearance of vivacity, and glee, and
happiness.

96 AMERICAN 1TEMP£RANCE SOCIETTk

But, after all, it is unnatural. It is not the glow of health. It is
not tiie vivacity of youth. It is not the. buoyancy of bnocence.

It is tlie flush of approaching, fever ; tiie excitement of itioinen-
tary delirium ; the hilarity of Uie incipient maniac ; an<jl it cannot
endure. Lassitude, weakness and depression are its inevitable re-
sults. A shock has been given to the constitution ; the laws of
health and life have been violated, and the first chastisement inflicted.

Suppose the warning to be disregarded, and habits of daily tip-
pling established. The rosy hue of health is exchanged for a deep
scarlet ; the eye loses its intelligence ; the voice becomes hiisky ; the
blood parts with its florid color ; the appetite is impaired ; the mus-
cles waste ; the face is bloated ; and in rapid succession the liver,
the digestive organs, the lungs, and heart, and brain, lose their vital
forces, and but imperfectly perform their functicms ; and sooner or
later the constitution is broken down, organic disease supervenes,
and death closes the scene.

Since life is extinct, send now for a surgeon, and let the body be
inspected for the benefit of the living.

The stomach is enlarged or contracted ; often bdurated, and al-
ways diseased ; the intestinal canal, a mass of disease ; the mucous
membrane through its whole extent, irritated; the liver ^ shrunk,
dense, discolored, and its vessels nearly obliterated; the lungs , en-
gorged, adhering, often filled with tubercles ; the brain, hardened,
as if it had been immersed for weeks in alcohol.

Every tissue proclaims but too distinctly the injuries it has receiv-
ed. There are no marks of weakness or decrepitude, as the result
of ^ natural decay and advancing age ; but aU the organs, in accents
awfully impressive, speak of poison, of madness, of self-immolation.
The anatomist turns away in horror ; the last funeral rites are per-
formed ; the earth closes over the dust ; tlie scene is forgotten.

This is the -short history of thousands in our own time and coun-
try, and of untold millions of other times and in other lands.

Could I present a picture of all die diseases and death-bed scenes
occasioned by spirits, which it has been my pmnful lot to witness
within the last twenty yeSirs, every one present would involuntarily
start back with horror ; the IFeeling would be universal. If such are
the effects of spirits, let tliem be banished from the world.

If the preceding remarks are well founded, to a man in health
there is no such thing as a temperate use of spirits. In any quantity,
diey are an enemy to tlie human constitutwn ; their influence upon
the physical organs is unfavorable to health and life : they produce
weakness, and not strength ; sickness, and not health ; death, and not
life. Is the moderate use, or any use, of such an article as this, to
be accounted temperance ? ,

I appeal to every philanthropist, patriot. Christian, to take part in
the reform ; to avoid the use of spirits as a violation of the laws of

FQUBTH BEPOBT. 1 83 1 .-—APPENDIX.

life ; to abstain from the unholy traffic as from a tralGc in human
blood." {Dr, Alden's Address,)

" We, the undiersigned, do hereby declare oiir conviction, thai
ardent spiiits are not to be regarded as a nourishing article of diet ;
that the habitual use of them is a principal cause of disease, poverty,
and misery in this place ; and tiiat the entire disuse of them, would
powerfully contribute to improve the health and comfort of the com-
munity."

"This document has received the signatures of four Professors of
the Medical Faculty in the University, of eleven Membera of the
Royal College of Physicians, of the President and twenty-seven
Fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons, and of thhty-four other
medical practitioners : — 77 in all." {Report Glasgow Temp, Soc.)

" We, the undersigned, hereby declare that, in our opinion, noth-
ing would tend so much to die improvement of the health of the
community as an entire disuse of ardent spirits, which we consider
as the most productive cause of the diseases and consequent pover-
ty and wretchedness of the working classes of Dublin : —

Alex. Jackson, M. D.,
State Physician.

John Orampton, M. D.,
Prof. Mat. Med.

R. Carmichael.

Fr. L'Estrange.

S. Wilmot, Prof. Surgery.

Philip Crampton, Sur-
gf'on General.

R. M. Peile.

Tbw. Milh, M. D.

Casack Roney.

J. Cheyne,M- D., Phy-
sician General.

A. Colles, Prof, of Sur-
gery.

Francis Barker, M. D.,
Prot Chem. T. C D.

Tbo9. H. Orpen, M. D.

8. B. Labatt, M. D.

John O'Brien, M. D ,
Vice-Presid. K. and

Q. Con.

John Brecn, M. D.

Tbos. Hewson.

J. W. Cusack.

Hen. Marsh, M. D., Prof.

Med. Pract. Coll. Sur.
£ph. M'Dowel.
N. Adams, M. D.
J. Browne, M. D.
John Houston.
John M'Donncll.
J. Harvey, M. D.
R. L. Nunn.
Com. Daly, M. D.
Will. Auchinleck.
Francis White.
R. M'Namara* Pro£

Mat. Med.

Rob. Bell, M. D.

Maurice C'^llis.

C. E. H. Orpen.

W. Stokes, M. D.

J. A. Crawford, M. 1>.

W. W. Campbtsll

Win. Renny.

J. Kirby.

John Osborne, M. i).

W. J. Morean, M. D.

R. Collins, M. D., Mm

ter Lying-in Hosp.
John Mollan, M D.
G. A. Kennedy, M. D.
Roh. Law, M. D.
Ch. Johnson, M. D.
George Hayden.
C. J. Madden.
J. C. Brennan."

" Being thoroughly convinced, by long and extensive observation
amongst the poor and middling classes, that there does not exist a
more productive cause of disease, and consequent poverty and
vrretchedness, than the habitual use of ardent spirits, I cannot there-
fore hesitate to recommend the entire disuse of such a poison, rather
than incur the risks necessarily connected with its most moderate
use, "William Harty,

" Physician to the Prisons of Dublin."
( Glasgow Temperance Society Recotdi)

" In Glasgov^, according to Dr. Cleland's Tables, there has been »
i^ery great imjrease in the mortality since 1 822, the year m which

98 AHEMCAN T£MP£RANCE SOCIimr.

the duty on distilled spirit was reduced. In 1821, the number of
deaths was 3686 ; in 1822, 3690 — being an increase only of 4 ; bul
in 1823, die year when the low duties began to operate, the mortal-
ity rose to 4627 ; and hi 1824, it amounted to 4670, being an in
crease, in tlie former year, of no less than 937, and in the latter, o
980 deaths, compared with 1822.'' {Do,)

" Let every man who indulges in the use of spirits^ ponder wello
the declaration of a committee of one of the most enlightened mec
ical societies in our land* * Beyoind comparison, greater is the ris
of life undergone in nearly all diseases, of whatever description, wh(
they, occur in those unfortunate men who have been previou^y di
ordered by those poisons/ Such men too, it may be added, a
inuch more liable to the attacks of disease than those who total
abstain from alcohol. In botli these ways, therefore, the use
spirits, even in the greatest moderation, ^tends to shorten lift
{Prof, Hitchcock* s Address,)

" Of 33 persons found dead in one city, 29 were luUed by inte
perance.

Of 77 persons found dead in difierent places, the deatlis of
according to the coroners' inquests, were occasioned by strong dri

Of 94 adults, w^ho died in one city, in one year, the. deaths
more than pne third were, according to the testimony of the M<
cal Association, caused, or hastened, directly or indirectly, by
temperance.

And in another city, of 6't adults who died in one year, 28 'i
Killed in the same way. Who slew all these ? And who wiH be
responsible at the divine tribunal ? Those who were knowingly
cessory, by furnishing the liquor, and those who were actively in
mental in producing the result ^ in violation of the command, ' j
shalt not IcilU " I know tliat the cup is poisoned — I know tl
may cause his death — I know that it may cause more than des
that it may lead him to crime — to sin — ^to the tortures of everls
remorse. Am I not then a murderer^ worse than a mur.derei
much worse as the soul is better than the body."
^^If ardent spirits were nothing worse than a deadly poison — -il
did not excite and inflartie all the evil passions — -if they di
dim tliat heavenly light, which the Almighty has implanted
bosoms to guide us through the obscure passages of our pilgr
— ^if they did not quench the Holy Spirit in our hearts, they
be comparatively hannless. It is their moral efiect — ^it is th
of the sovl which they produce, that renders them so dF<
The difference between death by simple poison, and death 1
bitual intoxicadony may extend, to the whole difference betive
erlasting happiness and eternal death." {Judge Oranch^s m^d

rOUBTH REPORT. 1831. ^il^PBNDIX.. M

O. (p. 51.)

From authentic documents, collected by tlie Rev. J. R. Barbour,
which are soon to be published, with. remarks, — 3, copy of which
ought to be in the hands of every minister of the gospel, and everjr
church member in the United States, — ^it appears that, from 135
churches, more than 360 persons have been excommunicated for
intemperance ; and more than 200 others for inmioralities to whichy
it is supposed, the use of ardent spirits led them. In 1634 cases
of discipline, nnore dian 800 of them were for intemperance ; and
more than 400 others, it is believed, from the best ioiormation that
can be obtained, were for immoralities occasioned by the use of
strong drink. More than seven eighths of all the difficulties m
churches, have probably resulted from this evil ; and so long as
members of churches use ardent spirit, or traffic in it, they are
instrumental in producing and perpetuating these evils. This is the
case with all who are engaged in the traffic, whether members of
the church or not. And should they, for the sake of gain, continue
this destructive business, they will not, when its enects shall be
thoroughly understood, be able to give credible evidence to any oae^
that tliey are good men.

The following resolution has already boen adopted by the
General Conventipn of New Hampshire, the Pastoral Association,
and tlie General Association of Massachusetts, and the General
Association of Connecticut; bodies embracing more than 500
evangelical ministers of the gospel ; and it expresses, no doubt, the
\iews of hundreds of thousands of Christians and philanthropic
men, in all parts of our land : —

''As the use of ardent spirit^ for persons in health, is not only
needless, but hurtful ;*-as it tends to form mtemperate appetites and
habits; and while it is continued, the evils ol intempei*ance can
never be done away ;— as it causes a great portion of the pauperianiy
crimes and wretchedness of the community ; increases the number,
frequency and violence of diseases ; deprives many of reason, and
brings down multitudes to an untimely grave ; — «s it tends to pro-
duce in the children of those who use it a predi^|)Osition to intem-
perance, insanity, and various diseases ; and to cause a universal
deterioration of both body and mind ; — as it tends to prevent the
efficacy of the gospel, and all the means which Grod has provided
ibr the moral and spiritual illummation and purification of men, and
thus to ruin them for both wcfflds,— Therefore,

" Resolvedj That, in our opmion, the traffic in ardent spirit, as aa
article of luxury or diet, is inconsistent with the spirit and require-
ments of the Christian religion, and ought to be abandoned througbr
oot the Christian world.

100 AMCRICAK TSMPISRAflce SOCIlMT*

" And we would express our deep regret, that, after all the Kgh(
which, in the course of providence, has been thrown on this subject
by physicians, jurists, philanthropists and Christians, any sober man,
especially any member of a Christian church, should be found en-
gaged in tlus destructive traffic.*'

The Methodist Quarterly Conference, at the city of Washington,
March 16, 1831, adopted the following, viz: —

<< Believing the mianufacture^ sale and use of ardent spints to be
unnecessary, injurious, and inconsistent with the Christian profesK
sion, — therefore, resolved, that we will not manufacture, sell or use
ardent spirits, and we will do all in our power to discountenance
the manufacture, sale, and use of them by others."

The Baltimore Annual Conference say, " Being deeply convinced
diat the manufacture and scAe, as well as use, oi ardent sph*its, are
inconsistent with the best mterests of the community, and therefore
incompatible with the Christian profession and character, we do
hereby express our decided disapprobation of our members being;
concerned in the distiUati&n and traffic of ardent spirits ; and
with these views the members of this Conference invite all oiar lay
brediren to get up petitions and memorials for the next General
Conference, praying that respectable body to take such measures
as they in their wisdom shall judge best, to prevent the manufactui^
and sale of ardent spirits, by the members of the Methodist Episcopal
church. And we also {dedge Ourselves to aid such of our lay
brediren, in our respective circuits and stations, as may attempt to
get' up such memorials^; and we beg leave to call the attention of
Sii3. other Annual Conferences, and our lay brethren throughout the
connection, to this important subject } and request them to adopt
similar measures in relation to it, that the General Conference may
have before them a full expression of the sentiments of our people
on this subject, thiioughout the whole connection.^^

SimHar resolutions have been adopted by the Phfladelphia Con-
ference, and various other bodies. And no doubt, if temperate
men do their duty, this will soon be the conviction of die whole
Christian world. What stronger evidence can there be that the
traffic in ardent spirit is inconsistent with the Christian religion,
than the facts which ttre eidiibked in the foregoing Report !

'P* (P- ^2-)

The first public meeting of the London Temperance Society
10 faeld on the 29th of Mae. A letter was read from the Lord
Mayor, expressing his regret that official engagements prevented his

attendance ;. whereupon Sir John Webb, Director General of the
Medical Department of the Ordnance^ was called to peside. On
taking the chair, he mentioned the evils of spirit-^dnnking in the
umy and navy, and in the community at large, as they had come
before him as a magistrate. Intemperance, in his opinion, was the
cause of most of the vices that prevailed.

The Secretary then read a Keport, exhibiting the principles of
the Society, and the progress of temperance in America, and in
Scotland and Ireland. In England, 30 Societies had already been
foiraed, and 100,000 tracts put into circulation.

The meeting was then addressed by W, Allen, Esq., the Solici-«
tor General of Ireland, Rev. Dr. J. F. Smith, Professor Edgar of
Belfast, Rev, Dr. Hewit, of Connecticut, Rev. Dr. Bennet, Mr*
Collins of Glasgow, Mr. Carre, of New Ross, Ireland, the Bishop
of Chester, and Rev. G. Clayton.

The Solicitor General of Ireland, after alluding to his official
ccHinection with another Temperance Society (the Hibernian)^ and
his devotion to the cause, proceeded to give his views at length on
three pixnts— ^he objects of Temperance Societies-^the necessity
of them — and the adequacy of the measures adopted by them to
secure their end.

"The object of Temperance Societies was simple and single; it
was but one. The principle was so simple, that it was amazing it
had escaped the skill, the uigenuity and the talent of so many cen-*
tories, and had remained to be discovered, within the last few years,
hy a clergyman in one of the Northei'n States of America. The
smiple principle was, that the common use of ardent spirits was
one of die chief causes of the crimes, the misery, the poverty, and
the distress of mankind ui the present day ; and that there was one
efficient remedy for the subjugation of that hostile principle, which
had been preymg agamst man's best interests for so long a period
of time ; namely, that it was the bounden duty of all who loved
themselves, who loved their neighbors, and who venerated their
God, to abstain from ardent spirits themselves, and by bfluence5
example, and authority, to discountenance the use of them in others*
Suppose ardent spirits were altogether unknown — suppose the
knowledge of the mode of distilling them was lost— -would there not
be a gain by the loss? Oh, there would be great losers by it ; all
the dram-shops would be shut up, the public houses would be
closed ; — but much of the Sabbath-breaking would be put an end to }
nuich of blasphemy would be stopped ; much of perjury, swearing^
assault, riot, and even murder, would be banished from the land.
Temperaoce Societies wanted to get rid of these poison shops alto*
gether. That was the object of the present meetbg ; and wad
tbete aiqr man, who had the heart of a man, that would raise his
9

103, AKEBICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIStT;

hand against it? The language was, perhaps, too strong, but he
was about to say, Was there any man so cold-blooded, so careless,
so indifferent about the interests of his neighbor, as to stand neuter
when an intestine war was waging between holy and unholy prin-
ciples ? Yet that was tlie situation in which these stood who called
themselves the temperate* drinkers of the present day. The sword
was drawn j the war was proclaimed, temperate . members of society
against ardent spirits ; and how could these men answer for it to
their conscience, who were quietly standing by ? They were trai-
tors to the cause. He would enforce the Athenian intestinal war
act against them, that, where tWo parties were contending, the man
who stood neuter should be put to death. He begged permission
to give his idea of a temperate man, because he knew that legal
subtleties had been set up against these institutions. A temperate
man was he whose reason ruled his^ appetite, and the intemperate
man was he whose reason was ruled by his appetite. 'No man, in
his humble judgment, could be considered a temperate man, who,
to indulge his . appetite, would do an injury either to himself, or,
above aU, to his neighbor. Now, if be were right in that definition,
and if he could show that the man who used ardent spirits, in the
most moderate degree, was doing an injury to his neighbor, then
he dethroned liim from the situation in which he had placed him-
self as a temperate man ; and the individual Was, according to the
true, logical, and philosophical definition of tjie word iemperatey an
intemperate man.

Let all persons become subscribers to this institution, and,
without adding one sbillmg to their expenses, they would cut ofF ten
millions of expenditure, which th^ would have in their pockets to
contribute to benevolentsocieties. The honorable and learned gentle-
man then proceeded to state, that three fourths of the cases of crime,
of premature death, and of lunacy, and other violent and distressing
maladies, were occasioned by intemperance. And he would ask,
whether, if ther^ were a person present who would refuse to become
a subscriber to this institution, that person were not an acce&<sory to
the commission of these crimes, and to tlie procurement of these
ills. He would boldly state, that if any person, after examining
the documents which he should now {H^esent to the meeting, could
coldly stand back, and say, " I will not support your Society, and
thus give to the public the benefit of my example," thut individual
wotdd be chargeable tvith the guilt of an accessary to the evUs
which spring from this fruitful source of crime^ disease, and detzth.
The honorable and learned gentleman here read the certificates to
which he had referred. The first was that of the Phjracian-GeneraJ
of Ireland ; the second was signed by 77 professbnal men of Ekl-
inburgh ; he had others, also, from Manchester^ Bradford, and other

rOUETH IlEPOR':^.—-183i.— APPENDIX. 103

respectable and populous towns. They all reprobated, in strong
terms, the use of ardent spirits, as dangerous to the health and
existence of those who indulged iri them, and recommended their
entire disuse. These* physicians, the honorable and learned gei^-
tlemao proceeded, had told the meetings that out of the use of
ardent spirits grew the direst maladies to which the human frame is
subject.

He had been long in the habit of prosec:uting criminals at the
bar of justice in Ireland, and he could state positively, that at least
three tourths of the criminals tried there, were led on to crkne by
intemperance. The greater part of the crimes which were com-^
mitted in Ireland, were the results of intoxication — of the use of
ardent spirits. He had the sanction of all the high authorises in
Dublin to the statement, that the disuse of ardent spirits would be
one of the most effectual meani^ of preventing crime there. And
ffould not the same cause produce similar effects in London ?

An individual, who has been in die habit of visiting the cells of
tlie condemned, bad told him that a condemned criminal had stated,
that the plan adopted in the commission of murder, was, to get hold
of some man ifond of liquor, and, having taken him to a public
house, having t!icre made him high in spirits, to reveal gradually
the plan laid for robbery and murder, and then to prevail on him
to execute the fatal deed. First, hints would be thrown out, and
then more explicit statements would be n\ade ; and he who at first
shuddered at the very thought of crime, would ultimately yield to
the effects of liquor and persuasion^ and consent to do the deadly
act proposed to him."

Sir Astley Cooper, in a letter which was read, stated, that no
person had greater hostility to dram-drinking than liknself ; inas-
much as he never suffered spirits to be in his house, considering
them to be evU spirits ; and if the poor could see the white livers,
the dropsies, and the shattered nervous systems which he had seen
as the consequences of drinkbg, they would be aware that ajnn^t
poisons are synonymous;terms. (Boston Recorder.)

q. (p. 55.)

The following is the form of agreement entered into by the dele-
gates of Virginia, assembled at Williamsburg, August 1, 1774 : —

" Art. 3d. Considering the article of tea as the detestable instntr-
ifient which laid the foundation of the present suffering of our
distressed friends in the town of Boston, we view it with horror ;—
and therefore,

104 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SO.OIETY.

" Resolvedf That we will not, fro^) this day, import tea, of any
kind whatever ; nor will we use it, nor suffer such of it as may now
be on hand to be used, in any of our families.''

And they say, '* that, in view of the grievances and distresses
inflicted by the hand of power \jn the people, they recommend their
association to merchants, traders, and odiersj hopmg they will ac-
cede to it cheerfully." Their hopes were not disappointed. Sim-
ilar associations were formed throughout the land j and posterityi to
all future generations, will experience the benefit.

And says a distinguished civilian, " What have we here ? An
association on the principle of total abstinence. The men of '74,
it seems, were no strangers to this wonder-working principle ; and
they brought it forward in aid of one of the noblest causes that
ever attracted the admiration and sympadiies of the world. The
Virginia^ delegates looked upon tea, with its slavish appendage,
* with horror.' So do we, I hope, look with equal horror upon rum,
with the slavery annexed to that. The)r resolve to abstain from
tea, and invite all others to do the same. We, in our turn, abstain
from rum, and entreat all otliers to do the same. What was the
slavery of drinking tea, in comparison with the slaveiy occasioned
by ruii^drinking, ^ith all the abominations unutterable it brings on
the bodies and. souls of men ! Why, then^ are not bonds for total
abstinence from rum, in 1831, as necessary and proper as the same
bonds to abstain from tea, in 1774? Did the nien of '74 and '76
drive too fast, or carry matters to an extreme ? We answer, JNo.
We all unitedly commend tlieir wisdom, energy, and self-denial.
With these they gained our independence* How is it, then, that
Temperance Societies drive too fast? As tea was once detested
because it was the instrument that brought so much distress on our
citizens, we would call upon all moderate drinkers to detest ardent
spirit, and let it alone; and' would entreat them to have com-
passion for the distresses of their miserable fellow creatures, who
are consuming away in the fires of intemperance."

And if the men, who, in '76, continued to traffic in tea^ were
viewed as traitors, aiding and abetting in the oppression of their
country, how ought the men to be viewed who continue, now,
to trafiic in rum i Are they not aiding in the promotion of intem-
perance and all its abominations ? And will they not be held re-
sponsible at the divine tribunal ? Judge ye, and in such a mam[ier
that your judgment will not be reversed in the day of final decision.

FIFTH REPORT

or THX

AMERICAJf TEMPERAJ^CE SOCIETY.

Bt the facts presented in the Fourth Report of this Society, the
following truths are established, viz.

1. Ardent spirit as a drink is not needfiil.

2. It is not useful.

3. It is a poison which injures both die body and the mind.
And this results not merely from the creat and increasing quantity
of the liquor which may be taken, but from the kind. It is a liquor
which is injurious in its nature, and which Cannot betaken without
harm.

4. It impairs, and often destroys reason.

5. It lessens die power of moUves to do richt.

6. It strengthens the power of modves to oo wrong.

7. It teqds to bring all who use it to a premature grave ;
and usher those who understand its nature and effects, and yet
continue to drink it, or to furnish it as a drink for others, into a
miserable eternity.

From these truths, all of which are establrshed by numerous
and in Jubi table facts, it follows that to use ardent spirit as a drink,
to manufacture, buy, sell, or in any way fifrnish it as a drink for
others, is a sin ; and in magnitude equal to all the evils, temporal
and eternal, which it tends to produce. He who has the means of
anderstanding it* nature and effects, and yet continues to use it, or
to furnish it, will at the divine tribunal, and ought at the bar of pub-
lic ophiion, to be held responsible for its effects. For the pauper-
ism, crime, sickness, insanity, wretchedness and death, which he
occasions, he is responsible. " In the vice of drunkenness," says
a distinguished member of Congress,* "as indeed in every
other, the man who holds out the temptation to it, is the chief
transgressor. The weak mortal who is sunken by intemperance
to the level of the brute, is a vicdm to the avarice of the man who
can calmly look upon him, and condnue for cents and sixpences to
sell him the dreadiul poison." And says an eminent writer, " Words

* (fon. Jamefl M. Wayno.
9*

2 AMERICAN TUMPEKANCE SOCIETY. [11

cannot express the guilt of those individuals who are now engagei
in any way, in manufacturing or vending ardent spirits." Su(
ought to be, and as light prevails, such will be, the sentiment <
the ^'hole commuiihy. The men whot futnish thei means, ai
present the temptation for the making of drunkards, are partak(
in their guilt, and ripening for their awful retribution. They s
exerting an influence which is hostile to the holiness and happin«
of the commonity ; and which lends strongly to lh« ilettraotioa
man for both worlds.

To illustrate these truths, and impress them on the hearts of
the Executive Committee of the American Temperance Socl
have, through the divine kindness, condnued their operations c
ing another year. The last Report, which contains the histor
this Society, and of its operadons from its comiuenceinent, and
the reasons why its gresA principles should be extended througV
world, was stereotyped ; and ten thousand copies have been prir

It has been cu^culated in various parts of the United St
and copies have been sent to Canada, New Brujpiswick^ and N
Scotia ; to Mexico and South America ; to England, Ireland, ^
land, Denmark, Sweden, Russia, Germany, Malta, PalesUne, '
key, Bombay, Ceylon, Burmah, China, Liberia, and die Sand
Islands ; and the committee have abundant assurances that i
been producuve of great good. It has been received witli s|
approbation, and has produced powerful effects. While readi
the rum drinker has resolved no longer to use the poison, an
rum seller no longer to poison his fellow men ; the man wh
renounced the use of it and the traffic in it, and thought that th
enough, has resolved, while reading it, to unite with others
Temperance Society, and to do good as he has opportunity
because be has fek, that to him that knoweth to do good, and
it not, to him it is sin. Those who had before united with sc
have been excited to new and more vigorous exertions, ar
the number and influence of such societies have been gres
creased. The conviction is extending, that all men are under
oI)ligations to aid in this cause, and to continue their efforts
temperance is done away. It is seen that short enlistments
answer the purpose; and increasing numbers are engaj
serve during the war. An old man of more than fourscore
afflicted with a bodily infirmity, for which he had been adv
a physician to use. ardent spirit as a medicine, was px
with a constitutk)n pf a Temperance Society on the plan c
neoce. He read it, and said, "That is the diing to s
country ; I will join it." " No," said one, " you must not
because ardent spirit is necessary for you, as a medicint
know," said he, "that I have used it, but if something is n
our country will be ruined ^ and I will not be accessary to

I13J FIFTH REPORT. 1832. 3

of my country. I will join the Society." " Then," said another,
"you will die." Well," said the old man, in the true spirit of '75,
*' for my country, I can die ; " and signed the constitution ; gave
tip his medicine, and his disease fled Fway. It was the remedy
ihat kept up the disease ; and when he had renounced the one,
be was relieved of the other. So it probably would be, in nine
cases out of ten where this poison is Ubcd as a medicine. It tends
to perpetuate and aggravates disease, till it ends in death ; and
often does it render that which would otherwise be slight and
temporary, permanent and fatal. Another old man, once the gov-
ernor of the State in which he lives, who had long been afflicted
widi a disease for which ardent spirit had been prescribed as a re-
medy, at a temperance meeting, said,

" Friends and neighbors : i am now more than seventy years
of age. You all know my state of health. I haye been trying an
experiment for two months past in abstaining from the use ol ar-
dent spirits, which affords me much relief from the great distress
I at times experience. My suffering has been great, but less than
I feared. In the war of the revolution, i commanded a company
of militia in this state. At the approach of the enemy to Benning-
ton, I had just recovered from i fever that had confined me to
my bed for many days. 1 had not then left my room. The
alarm was given, the militia called out ; and I, in opposition to the
entreaties and expostulations of my fnends, marched at the iiead
of my company for Bennington. In our march we had to ford a
river ; a sturdy soldier shouldered and carried me over on his
back. We met the enemy, — fought— conauered, — ^and returned
in safely to our families. I thus put my lite in jeopardy to aid in
serving my country, and I am willing to do it again. An enemy
more powerful and subde than the British, is destroying our fire-
sides, and tr^tnpling with iron hoofs the fairest portions of our land.
I present myself to join your ranks in tliis war of extermiriation,
and enlist under your banner, bearing the motto Total Absti-
nence. This step will no doubt shorten my days. Be it so ; I
stand ready to sacrifice my life in the cause, and 1 fieely subscribe
your pledge, totally and forever to abstain from the use of ardent
spirits."

We are happy in the expectation that the life of this venerable

?itriot, instead of being shorteoed, as ho expected by joining the
emperance Society, will probably be prolonged a number of
years. And if it should nbt, his comfort on tlie whole, and his
usefulness will no doubt be gready increased, by all his disinterest*
€d sacrifices for the good of others.

Some friend, your committee are informed, sent to the first of
these men a copy of your last Report ; and he has read it through
six times; says that he will have it bound, laid up by the side of

4 AxMEFJCAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETY. fll4

his Bible, and keep it till he die?. No book of d.e size, he thinks,
will do greater good to tlie countiy.

" Tlii? Report, says a judicious writer, contains a detailed and
feithful history of one of ttie greatest changes which was ever ef-
fected in the condition of the human race. The Temperance
Reformation will form a most important chapter in the history of
navigation and commerce, of political economy and morals, of
tnanners and fashions, and of the christian religion. There is reason
to believe that a great proportion of the youth and children in the
United States, and of the young men under thirty years of age,
are acting on the temperance principle. Those who dnnk,. and
those who vend or manufacture the poison, are generally over thir-
ty years of age. Their bodies will soon fall in the wilderness
where they have tempted God and their fellow men ; a new genera-
tiod who have not been slaves in Egypt, will rise up and enter a land
flowing with what is better. than milk and honey. A vision of glo-
ry and beauty, such as the dying legislator of Israel did not see
from the top of Pis^ah, opens to the eye of the philanthropist and
christian of this country. We would recommend the Report of
tlie Temperance Society, with all the earnestness in our power.
We wish it could be circulated by hundreds of thousarids. It
contains facts and reasonings which are absolutely irresistible.
It is precisely the pamphlet which was wanted. Why will not
ever}' temperance society in tlie land supply all their members
with a copy ?" * •

A distinguished gentleman from the city of Washington, writes,
•* The Fourth Report of the American Temperance Society seems
to receive the universal approbation of all sects and parties, as a
paper most able and judicious. It seems to me that the supply of
a copy to each family in the United States, would do very much
toward accomplishing the great object for which it is designed,
the removal oi intemperance from the country." After saying that
a copy had been presented to each member of congress, and that
Its good effects had been manifested in the great temperance meet-
ing which had been held in the capitol, he adds, " The strong and
steady march of the temperance cause in this region^ and at the
South, and West, is obvious and unequivocal. That the great
principles of the Reformation are every where gaining ground,
and that public sentiment is every day rising in its demands, and
that the manufacture, sale, and use of ardent spirits are daily
becoming more and more disgraceful, is most unquestionably tme.
And if all christians and sober men will do their duty, fear-
lessly and perseveringly, I am sure our country w«[] be purilied."
This sentiment deserves to be written in letters of god, it is the

* Joama] of Education, Vol. iv. No. 2. p. 143.

1151 FIFTH REPORT. 1832. 5

hinge on which the Temperance Reformation, with all its inesti-
mable benefits, now turns. *' If christians and sober men will cb
their duty^ fearlessly and perseveringly, our country will be purt^
fied,^^ How momentous then is their duty ; and, how overwhelm-
ing will be their guilt, if they do not perform it. "The meeting
at the capitol," the writer adds, " will do great good, and in a tliou-
sand ways. Temperance publications have been working their
way, and hardly a day passes but brings new evidence of the pro-
gress of the cause in this city and neighborhood.''

Similar testimonies have been received from various other parts
of the country. Friends of temperance, in many places, have put
a copy of the Report into eveiy family. In other cases benevo^
lent individuals have visited various towns in a county, delivered
addresses, or read extracts from the Report, and at the close of
meetings proposed a subscription, and- thus procured for it a gen*
eral circulation. Parents have often taken copies for their child-
ren ; and could each child in the United States, have one for his
own, and become acquainted with its principles and facts, your
committee cannot but think, with the writer above referred to, that
it would do very much for the salvation of the country. Those
facts are so various and strong, so numerous and decisive", that it
appears to be hardly possible for any one, not abandoned to hard*
ness of heart and blindness of mind, to become acquainted ' with
them, in their various bearings, connexions, and consequences,
and not be deeply and permanently affected by them. Many a
man who, by reformation, has been saved from the drunkard's
grave, may say, " Had I known when I was young what 1 know
now, I might always have been a sober man ; have been saved
from wretchedness unspeakable, and my family been saved from
ruin." , And many a man, now in the drunkard's grave and in the
drunkard's eternity, had he known in youth, what every child in
the United States may know now, and acted accordingly, might
have been in glory, singing tlie song of Moses, and the song of
the Lamb. Had the facts contained in that Report been known
to every child in our land fifty years ago, and duly regarded, rnoro
than half a million of men had been saved from the drunkard's
gnwe ; more than five millions from die living death of drunker
relatives and friends ; and one of the sorest, foulest calamities
which has ever afflicted humanity liad been prevented. And
as the Report is adapted to be a permanent document, and till
drunkenness has ceased, its principles, facts, and reasonings will be
as important as they are now. — ^the committee cannot but unite in
the desires expressed by many in this and other countries, t^iat it
may have a universal circulation. They rejoice to learn that aii
Abstract of it, in an edition of ten thousand copies, has been pub-
JisJied in the state of North Carolina, and that the whole Report

6 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETT. [116

has been republished in Great Britain, and large portions of it in
numerous publications, in this, and other countries. It is spoken
of. in the Lnglish papers, as ^ one of tlie most cheering and extra-
ordinary documents which has ever appeared, in any age or coun-
try." " It would seem, they say, as if Great Britain were follow-
ing, in some humble measure, the noble example of our transat-
lantic brethren — and the provinces are rising up, en masse, in fa-
vor of Temperance Societies." ' '

The editor of the English Temperance Magazine anfl Review
says, " We have before us the Fourth Report of the American
Temperance Society ; and certainly, it has seldom fallen to our
lot to peruse a more important and deeply interesting publication.
We look at the facts which it adduces, and the results which it ex-
hibits of exertions made in the cause of Temperance, and we are
compelled, on a careful examination, to come to the conclusion that
tlie enemy of Temperance Societies is the enemy of man. He
may be so ignoranily ; he may be so unwittingly ; he may be so
under the impression that Temperance Socieries are the fruit of
enthusiasm, and that there is no harm in drinking a litde ; still we
repeat it, he is the enemy of man ; and he is an opponent of one
of die grandest practical schemes which has ever been devised for
the promotion of human comfort and happiness."

" The Lord Chancellor from his place on the wool-sack denoun-
ced gin-drinking as an evil so extensive diat if any thing could pre-
vail on him to abandon his principles of free trade, it would be
the desire to put down the free trade in ardent spirit. We can-
not help thinking that the old world is under deep obligauon to
America for the developement of the principles of Temperance
Societies ; and now that they have been introduced and with suo-
cess mto Great Britain, we trust that we shall not be slack, as
Englishmen, in acknowledging our obligations* We know that
tliere has been a feeling in this country against every thing Ameri-
can, but we trust and believe that that day has gone by, never to re-
turn. Ijet us emulate them in this good work, and may the alac-
rity with which we follow in their footsteps excite them to persevere
till the cope-stone of the building is brought forth with joy. We
warmly recommend this Report to any individual who wishes to
be correcdy informed on the subject on which it treats. To
Temperance Societies and the friends of temperance it cannot fail
of proving highly interesting ; and if they peruse it with the same
feelings which we have done, they will rise from the perusal more
firmly determined than ever, to go on with the work which they
have begun, and in the strength of God, not to give in, till death
sounds the retreat."

The Temperance Society Record, printed at Glasgow in Scot-
land, says, " It is a work which will be read with deep interest by

in J FIFTH REPORT. 1632. 7

those who rejoice in seeing sufiering humanity delivered {torn stieb
z desolating scourge ; and its numerous facts and solemn appeals
cannot fail to produce in the minds of those who give it an attea-
tive perusal sentiments favorable to Temperance Societies."

A gentleman writes from the island of Malta, " The Fourth
Report of the American Temperance Society is doing great good
here. One of the Judges to whom I lent it is delighted with it.**
Anotlier gentleman says, " Give to that Report a universal circv-
lation, and it will accomplish the object. The facts and rea^ooiog
canno* be resisted."

In June last, through the distinguished liberality of a friend of
this cause, our late agent the Rev. Dr. He wit visited .England.
He was received with great kindness, a.nd his labors were crown-
ed with signal success. A meeting in London, of the friends i^
Ten>perance, was appointed, previous . to his arrival, for the pur-
pose of forming a London Temperance Society. That meeting
he was enabled to attend ; and his communications added greatly
to the interest of the occasion. Persons were present not onW
fronn the metropolis, but from various parts of England, Iralaua,
and Scotland, and a London Temi)enance Society was formed.
The impression was so strong, the need and practicability of a
Temperance Reform so obvious, and the benefits, which, shooid
it become universal, it would confer on the world, were so numer-
ous and important, that at a subsequent meeting, by the desire of
Dr. Hewit ajad others they enlarged the object of the society aod
also its name. " The liondon Temperance Society " was chan^;-
ed to the "British and Foreign Temperance Societjr" for the
purpose of extending its blessings throughout the kingdom and
throughout the world. Should they continue to act in acccNrdaiiee
with thw high privileges, their gi'eat responsibility and tlieir dia-
tinguished name, and witli the success, which, tlirough the divine
kindness, may be expected in . that case to attend their exertiotm*
this event will form an era in the history of the Temperance Re-
formation. In addition to other efficient measures, the friends of
the object have established in London two monthly periodicals, via
The British and Foreign Temperance Herald, 27,000 copies ^
which have been published, and tlie Temperance Magazine and
Review. One is a dudecimo, and the other an octavo, and both
are to be devoted to this great cause : there are also two monthly
publications, viz. The Temperance Society Record, published. hi
Scotland ; and the Temperance Advocate, published in Ireland ;
besides various other publications of different forms, devoted lo
dus ob^cC m different parts of the kingdom. The number of

8 AM£HICA5r TEMPERANCE SOCIETy. [1I&

copies which have been published during the year amounts ta
more than a million.

Mr. Carr, of Ireland, and Mr. Cruikshank, of Scotland, have
been employed as agents ; more than two hundred meetings have
been held, and numerous Temperance Societies formed in various
parts of the kingdom. More than a hundred thousand are now
Embodied in Great Britain, on the plan of abstinence from the
use. of ardent spirit; and among them are 400 veteran British
seamen, inmates of Greenwich Hospital, under the auspices of the
distinguished naval officers who govern that institution.

Dr. Hewit also visited France, and woctld have gone to Ireland
and Scodand had not providentral afflictions in his family hasteiied
his return.* But although his stay was shorter than was desired
by the friends of Temperance, both in this country and m Eng-
land, we would gratefully acknowledge tlie kindness of Providence
in his preservation, and in the good which he was enabled to ac-'
complish; and indulge the hope that the benefits will be felt to
all future time.

We view it as a great favor, and hail it as a token for
good, that a system of effi)rt to abolish the use of ardent spirit,
and the traffic in it, was devised and adopted previously to the ap-
pearance in Europe of that direful malady the Cholera, nine tenths
of whose victinw are those who indulge in strong drink. And we
■ hope that it will be borne in mind, that the men who use ardent
spirit, and especially the men who furnish it for the use of others,
are inviting the ravages, and preparing the victims of that fatal dis-
easCr Nor will they be guiltless, should it never visit the places
in which tliey live ;: for otfier diseases in great numbers, and with
multitudes equally fatal, are infallibly produced by it. In one of
our cities, half die men over 18 years of age, who died in 1828, ac-
cording to the testimony of the physicians, were killed by rt.
And those physicians, remark, *^ When we recollect that even the
temperate use, as it is called, of ardent spirits lays tlie foundation
of a numerous train of incurable maladies, we feel justified in
expressing the belief, that were the use of distilled liquors entirely
discontinued, the number of deaths among the male adults would
le diminished in our city at least one half.'' What would be
thought of the men who, for the sake of money, slrould directhr
sell disease ? would it not be viewed as an immorality of a high
iand aggravated character ; as a sin, continuance in which would
be utterly inconsistent with christian character? and is it not as
really immoral, as really a crime, to sell the known cause of dis-
ease, as it would be to seU disease itself? What would be thoagbc

* Rebecca Hewit, daughter df Rev. Nathaniel' Hawit, D. D.,diedfat New Ha-
v«B, Coon.) July 80th, 1881.

I19J FirrM ftfiPOKT,— 1832, 9

of the man tvho should knowingly and deliberately sell death;
and io such quantity as to double the tenants of the grave^yard ?
iVhat ought to be thought of hira ? And is it not as really wicked
for men to sell the known cause of death ; and when survivohi
Tdise, in loud and solemn tone, the note of remonstrance, are they
to be put off, with the supremely contemptible reply. If we should
not sell this, we could not sell so many other things ?**-or, we must
change our business ?-*-orj we could not support our families? — or^
if we do not do it, somebody else will ? Suppose somebody would
import plague, if you should not ; and in that case could sell more of
some kinds of goods, which he had on hand, than if he die' not ; and
should give this as the reason why he mtist do it; would that screen
you from the indignation of a suffering community, or the retributions
of a righteous God, if for a similar reason you should do it ? What
would be thought of an apothecary who should import pestilence, or
wake up fever, because if he did not do it, he could not sell so ma^
ny medicines, and perhaps must change his business? What would
be thought of the merchant who should do this in order to seU a
greater quantity of mourning apparel. Suppose an apothecary, in*'
stead of being confined to one branch of business, sells both drugs
and cloths ; and also sells indiscriminately, to all who will buy
arsenic or opium ; though he knows that it kills men by thousands*
And when an injured community rise up and remonstrate, array
against him the tears of widows, and the groans of orphans, he
says, " If I should not sell arsenic I could not sell so many grave-
clothes ; and as my family depend upon my business for a living,
I must destroy other families, to support my own." And sup-
pose it were told in heaven, that such a man professed to be a
friend of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that he cried daily, " Glory
to God in the highest, good will to men," would they not quake
in view of the indignation, and wrath, and tribulation, and anguish
which would fasten upon him, when the earth discloses her blood,
and no more covers her slain; but tlie God of the widow,
and the father of the fatherless proclaims in actions, " Vengeance
is mine } I will repay, saith Jehovah ? "

When the nature of this business is duly considered and its in-
variable effects ; when its consequences are viewed in the light of
eternity, we cannot but think that every man who has the spirit of
Jesus Christ will renounce it, as a business at war with Jehovah,
and with tUb temporal and eternal interests of men. The idea
of making property by a business so destructive, is revolting
even to humanity, and will ere long be reprobated as a high-hand-
ed offence throughout the world. Says an eminent European
writer,* ^ The a^lition of the slave trade is deservedly considered

.^ • IVofcMQr E4gar.

10 AMKB1CA.N TEMPERANCE SOCIETY. [120

the glory of modern times ; yel neither in the evils to be removed,
in the opposition of difSculties to be encountered, or in tlie amount
of good done, is the abolition of the slave trade to be once named
in comparison of the Temperance Reformation."

And, says another distinguished writer,* " Hard must be the
heart tliat bleeds not, cruel indeed the nature that weeps not,
while surveying the emaciation of body,- the bloated ghastliness of
rountenance, the paralization of neiye, the poverty, and conse-
quent meanness, that slowly, it may be, yet surely creeps on their
constant customers ; and their consciences must be callous indeed
if they permit them without loud, tormenting, and reiterated accu-
sation, without awful forebodings of future retribution, and fearful
lockings for of fiery indignation, daily to observe, and hourly to
promote in their victims, the gradual prostration of inidlect, the
destruction of honor, th^ obliteration of shame, the forgetfulness
of religious obligation and even of common honesty, the loss of de-
licate feeling, the withering of reputation, the insensibilhy to char-
acter : in a word, the destruction of the men, and their transfor-
mation, first into brutes, and then into fiends, which is the con-
stant and palpable effect produced in their hell-assistiDg manufac-
tories.

'' Every man, as a patriot, is bound to employ himself in a
manner that will promote the welfare of his country ; but I assert,
without fear of successful contradiction, that the spirit trade is the
greatest bane to our country, but especially to its poor, that at pre-
sent does, or probably ever did exist : it kills more people than
any war in which we ever were engaged : it destrojrs more of the
industry and consequent wealth of our country than ail the other
evils under which we labour ; and as it respects crime, it may be
called Legion, for it either embodies in itself, or drags in its hag-
gard and desolating train, every abomination which is tarnishin?
the fair page of our history, and blasting our yet lofty national
character ; in the dens of intemperance almost every crime is de-
vised ; by the brutifying stimulus of intoxicating liquor alnnost
every crime is perpetrated ; and, oh ! you who are employed in
spreading liquid madness, with its attendants, misery, blasphemy,
and iniquity, tremble while you hear it, — hy your agency our
age and nation groans under the shameful burden of such erne!
monstrosities, of such heartless and mercenary murders, as hav«
been perpetrated by a Burke, a Hare, a Bishop, a Williams, a
Stewart, the Ghimerton Carters, and others of infamous memory :
while, through the preparation of liquid fire, some of you are exah-
ed to roll along in your caiTiages, and by your boastiul tnotlos insult

* Cmluluink's Addraai on the tpirit trade, British Temperance Magudae and
Review, ^ ioa

121 J FIFTH REPORT. 1832. 11

your dupes by telling, that ' Gin hath bought it : . who could have
thought it ? ' By spreading the fiery strean:, and heaping fuel on
the destructive conflagration, many more are wallowing in almost
princely affluence ; while the victims of your trade, tlieir wives,
and children, are covered with rags and drenched in misery. I
would affectionately beseech such to examine the source whence
their riches flow. I would beg of them to consult their con-
sciences, which will inform them diat their ornaments are purchas-
ed at the expense of misery to their customers, their superfluous
finery deprives the others of necessary clothing, their ease, volup-
tuousness, and splendor are supported by inflicting acute pains,
wasting diseases, excruciating toiments, madness, despair, and
death ; on whom ? on the enemies of their country ? on strangers
or foreigners ?— even this would be cruel ; but no i tlieir victims
are their friends, relations, neighbors, and fellow countrymen, i
would conjure them, therefore, by the latent spark of manly feel-
ing that yet warms their breast, by the strugglings of tliat feeling
against sordid interest, by their yet remaining patriotism, to aban-
don the accursed trade, and attend to their interest for tin^e and
for eternity, by turrting to the Lord's side."

And fays a distinguished civilian in our own country,* " It is of
the utmost importance to the temporal and eternal interests of onr
citizens, tliat a stop should be put to the sale of ardent spirits ns
speedily as possible." — " Convince the men who make shiines for
tlie goddess Diana that they are partakers in the guilt of those
who worship the idol, and most of them will abandon the unhalbwed
pursuit. Satisfy the unreflecting vender of ardent spirits that he
is morally responsible for all the crime and misery which his mad-
dening potations naturally produce, and he will relinquish tlie He-
monilizing traffic. Point the christian to the sacred page wliere
the pen of inspiration hath written, 'he who hath the love of Goa
in his heart, worketh no ill to his neighbor,' and he will not, for liu?
sake of a few dollars, destroy the temporal and eternal happisi»e:>s
of tlx)se around him. Convince the retailer who makes the drunk-
ard, and sends him staggering home to abuse, and perhaps to mur-
der a wretched wife and starving children, that the curse of Hea-
ven is denounced against him who holdeth the cup to his neighbor's
lips, and surely he will forbear. Let the attention of the fond pa-
rent who seeks to provide for his beloved oflTspring, by the manu-
facture or sale of ardent spirits, be directed to this withering curse
which may soon be resting upon his own head, when he may be
compelled to rescue his own broken-hearted daughter from the
indescribable wretchedness of a drunkard's hovel, or to follow bis
last son to that hopeless depository, a drunkard's grave ; and

* RMten H. Walworth, Chancellor of the State of New Yoilu

12 AMEBIC AN TEMPERANCE SOCIETY. [122

certainly coercion cannot be necessary to induce him to forsake
this (hngerous pursuit. And let all emulate the precept, and en-
deavor to live up to the requirements of that law, which commands
us to love our neighbors as ourselves; and to consider and treat all
mankind as our brethren.

** High on a acroll, inscribed on Natare's ahrine.
Live, in bright characters, the words divine—
' In all life*8 changing 6ceae9, to others do
' What you would wish by others done to yoa.'
Winds, wide o'er earth thii$ sacred law convey ;
Ye nations heiir it, and let all obey."

In September the Temperance Society of Baltimore applied to
our secretary for an agent to labor under their direction and at
their expense, in that city and state. He engaged for that service
the Rev. John Marsh, of Haddam, Connecticut, Sexiretary of the
Connecticut Temperance Society. In addition to the visiting of
different parts of thsi state, he visited also, during his agency, the
city of Washington ; and was instrumental in procuring the meet-
ing in the capitol which has been referred to, and which has been
so extensively useful throughout the country. The Hon. Liev^is
Cass, secretary of war, presided, and Walter Lowry, Esq. clerk of
the senate of the United States, was secretary of the meeting.
The Rev. Reuben Post, of Washington City, chaplain of the
House of Representatives, opened ilie meeting with prayer. Ilie
Rev. Mr. Marsh stated that the object of it was, the promotion of
the cause of Temperance in the United States, and throughout
the world. The meeting was then addressed by the Hon. Felix
Grundy, United States Senator from the State of Tennessee ; tlie
Hon* Theodore Frelinghuysen, United States Senator from
the state of New Jersey; the Hon. Isaac C. Bates, meraber
of the House of Representatives from the State of Massachusetts ;
the Hon. James M. Wayne, member of the House of Representa-
tives from the State of Georgia, and the Hon. Daniel Webster,
United States Senator, from the State of Massachusetts. A vote
of thanks was tlien presented to the secretary of war for presiding
on the occasion, and the meeting was closed with prayer by the
Rev. Professor Durbin^ of Kentucky, chaplain of the Senate of the
United States.

Those who addressed the meeting spoke in high terms of the
social, civil, and religious benefits which have resulted to our
country, from the formation and operations of Temperance Socics-
tieSf and expressed their conviction that the influence of them will
be felt through the world. The speeches have since been publish-
ed in various parts of the country, have passed through several
editions, and are now receiving a very extensive circulation.

Anothor important tesumouy tr> the benefits of temperance

123] FIFTH. REPORT. 1832, 13

•

societies, and to the iaiportance of their universal extension, was
given by the Hon. William Wirt, late attorney general of the Uni-
ted Slates. In a communication which he made to a meeting cf
the Baltimore city Temperance Society he said, " 1 have been
for more than forty years a close observer of life and manners in
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 been often said, that this single cause
has produced more vice, crin)e, poverty, and wretchedness in
every form, domestic and social, than all the other ills 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 examina-
tion to hsve proceeded, directly or indirectly, from the excessive
use of Ardent spirits. Want is one of its immediate consequences.
The sao spectacle of starving and destitute families, and of igno-
rant, half naked, vicious children, ought never to be presented in
a country like this, where the demand for labor is constant, the
field unlimited, the sources of supply inexhaustible, and where
^ere are none to make us afraid ; and it never would be presented,
or very rarely indeed, were it not for the desolation brought upon
families by the general use of this deadly poison. It paralyses the
arm, the brain, the heart. All the best affections, all the energies
of the mind, wither under its influence. The man becomes a
raaniac, 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 walking pestilence on the earth, miserable in him-
Jjelf, and loathsome to all who behold him. How often do we
see, too, whole families contaminated by the vicious example of
the parent ; husbands, wives, daughters, and sons, all drunkards
and furies : sometimes wives murdering 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 mise-
fjj throughout our otherwise happy land, proceeding from this fatal
tause alone. I am persuaded that if we could have a statistical
survey and report of the affairs of unhappy families and individu-
als, with the causes of their misery annexed, we should find nine
cases out of ten, if not a still greater proportion, 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
f^lt in all its enormity. If some fatal plague, of a contagious
character, were imported into our country, and had commenced
its ravages in our cities, we should see tlie most prompt and vigor-

2 10*

14 AMERICAN T££P£BAMC£ SOCIKTT. [124

ous measures at once adopted to repress and extinguish it : but
what are the most fearful plagues that ever carried deatli and
bavoc in their train through the eastern countries, compared with
this ? They are only occasional ; this is perennial. They are
confined by climate or place ; this malady is of all climates,
and all times and places. They kill the body at once ; tliis con-
sumes both body and soul by a lingering and dreadful death, involv-
ing the dearest connections in the vortex of ruin. What parent,
however exemplary himself, can ever feel tllat his son is safe while
the living fountain of poison is within his reach ? Grod 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 presented with a fair field for its celes-
tial action.

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

"William Wirt."

So numerous and striking have been the benefits of societies
formed on the plan of abstinence from the use of ardent spirit, that
mcreased efibrts have been made during the past year to extend
them through the country. The friends of temperance in the
State of New York have set an example on this subject, whicli,
if followed, would do much towards banishing intemperance from
the earth. They have entered, with systematic vigor, and with great
success, on the plan of forming a temperance society in every town,
and in every school district in the State. A circular has been issued
and sent to every family, inviting all the members who have come
to years of understanding, to abstain from the use of ardent spirit ;
and to unite witli a temperance society. More than 50,000 have
been added to their temperance societies during the past ye^ir.
And the secretary of that society states, that the members vrhich
are added to their societies will average a thousand a day. *« The
circulars," he says, " have produced and are producing wonder<5.
All that our State needs is information, and the work will be on^vard .
Pennsylvania has sent for a partial supply of the circulars, and we
have sent enough to the Secretary of tne navy for the supf^y of
our national ships.

To engage in this benevolent work aD classes of people, and tc

125] rirTH report. — 1832. 15

extend the same efficient system throughout the country , the Com-
mittee of the American Temperance Society, at their meeting in
Boston, January 16, 1833, adopted the following resolutions, vis.

^ 1. That the social, civil, and religious interests of our country,
lodofthe world, would be greatly promoted, should each indivi-
dual abstain entirely from the use of ardent spirit, as a drink ; frotii
the manuiactire of it, and the traff c in it ; and from the fomisb-
ingofit, in any way, as drink for others.

^'2. That each individual in our country, as soon as practicable,
he partkularly invited thus to abstain, and in all suitable ways to
exert his influence^ to lead all others to do tlie same.

*^3. That, as ioformation is important,' a Circular, containing a
brief view of the prominent facts on this subject, be prepared, and,
9s means can be obtained, be sent to every femily in the United
States, respectfully and earnestly requesting each individuali who
bas come to years of understanding, to adopt the abo^'e plan,; &;id,
for the sake of doing good, to unite with others in a Temperance
Society.

"4. That, to promote the ibrmataon of Temperance Societies^ to
invite all to jota them^ and to carry the above plan into practical
effect throughout our country, it is needful that one or more wise
and efficient Agents should be employed by each State ; and that
some General Agents should visit all parts of our land.

"d« That application be made to benevolent individuals and
koowfl friends of temperance, for means to accomplish the above*
iQeotioned objects^ and to enable the American Temperance So-
ciety to |)rosecute its great and benevolent work, till the use of ar-
dent spint as a drink, the manufacture of it, and the trafSc in it, shall
be done away throughout our country, and throughout the world.''

In pursuance of the above resolutions, the following letter has
been published, and^sent to a number of gendemen in d^rent pfffts
ofiheUniterf$tates: —

*^The American Temperance Society is engaged in the
great and benevolent woric of extending the principle of abstinence
fi^m the use of ardent spirit, till it sha^ become universal. By
means of tlie press and of living agents, a strong impression has
already been made, and a great change effected with regard to
this subject. More Aan a million of piersons in the United States
oow abstain from the use of ardent spirit. Among them are those
of all ages, and in all kinds of lawful business. Many, who fer
years used it habitually^ and thought it needful, have (bund by
experience that they were mistaken, and that they are in all re*
spects better without it. And should the experiment be fairly
niade, this would be found to be the case with all.

*^ More than a thousand distilleries have been stopped ; more
^ three thousand merchants have ceased to traffic tn the poison,

16 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETY. [^1526

and more than three thousand drunkards ceased to use m^sicating
drinks. More than ten thousand persons, as appears from numer*
ous facts, have, by the change in the s6num6nts and practices of
|he community, akeady been saved from becoming druakards.
The quantity of ardent spirit used over extensive districts of coiin-
Iry, has been greatly diminished ; and pauperism, crime, sickness,
insanity, and premature, deaths have been diminished in propor-
tion.

*^ And when personshave ceased to use intoxicating drinks, they
bave^ not only become more sober, healtliy, diligent and econorni*
cal, and their condition for this life been greatly improved ; but
they have, in much greater numbers, become hopefully pious, and
experienced an entire change of character and of prospects for the
life to come. And could appropriate means be used, over our
whole country, a change, with the divine blessing, might be efiect-
fed, which would save, annually, millions of property, and thousands
and tens of tliousaods of lives ; a change which would renrrove one
of the greatest dangers to our social, civil, and religious institutions,
one of th^ greatest obstructions to tiie efficacy of the gospel, and
all the -means of grace; and one of the chief causes, throughout
our knd, of human wretchedness and wo.

But for ability to employ these means, and accomplish these
objects, the American Temperance Society is dependent upon
what Ihe friends of temperance are disposed to furpish. Its wiiole
permanem income is not six hundred dollars a year; a sum insuf-
ficient to print and circulate, as extensively as is desirable, even
its Annual Report. Numerous aixl pressing applications, froai all
parts of tlie country, are made for publications, and for agents ;
out the Society has not the means of complying with these re-
quests. And without assistance, its labors, whicK, in time past
have 'been sq greatly blessed, «ind. which are so intimately connect-
ed with the welfare of the present and all future generations of
«icn, for both worlds, must in a great measure cease. Whether
<hcy shall be continued, or not, now depends upon this, whether
tfie friends of tlie object will furnish the means;

Tlie Committee, therefore, in reliance on Him who has all
hearts in his hands, have resolved to make application to as inany
as practicable, of the known friends of temperance, who are blessed
with property, and respectfully and earnestly request them to fur-
nish the necessary means. Should one hundred individuals give
one hundred dollars a year, or could a sum equal to that be ob-
tained, abstinence from the use of ardent spirit might, it is believed,
be extended throughout our country, and throughout the Chris-
tian world. The next generation, and all future generations of
men might come forward into life without the habit of using it,
without any appetite for it, or expectatibn of any benefit to be de-

rived from the use of it. Then the gospel and all the means of
grace may be expected to produce more than double their patA
eifects ; and all efforts for the intellectual^ moral and spiritual bene*'
fit of man be crowned with greatly augmented success. And ill
DO way, probably, could the same aoiiount of property do greater
good to mankind.

The Committee, therefore^ in fulfilment of the high trust assigns
ed to them, and for the purpose of promotbg the great, interests
of our country and the world, respectfully and earnestly request
the friends ol temperance to assist them in this great and moment"*
ous work. Anci although they have no desire to dictate as to the
manner, or the amount, yet as it is very. desirable that they should
know what means ^hey ban obtain in order to lay out their plans^
and direct their operations accordingly, they take the liberty tfi
present the following form of subscription, viz.— rTo enable the.
American Temperance Society, by means of the press, and of living^
ageots, to extend the principle of abstinence from the useof ardeni
spirit, throughout our countiy, — we the subscribers agree to pay
annually to said society, so long as it shall appear to us to be prop
per, the sums -annexed to our names.

Geobgr Odiorng^'

John Tappabt,

Heman Lincoln,

Justin Edwabos^

Enoch Hai-e, Jr.
Boston J Jan. 16, 1832.
P. S. — ^Although, for the reasons above mentioned, and also imi
account of the greater ease and diminished expense of collecting
it, an annual subscription is viewed by the Committee as mors
desirable than a donatiouj^ yet if any person prefcir to assist by t
donation, be is requested to wrij:e donation against hb name. And
any amount, furnished in either way, and sent to the Treasurer, 97
Milk street, Boston, will be thankfully received, and iaithfuUy ap*
propriated to the great object of the society."

The Circular referred to in the 3d resoli^tion has been prepar-
^* It is a pamphlet of twelve pages, and has been stereotyped.
It is sold by A. Russell, No. 5, CornhUl, Boston, at 4t 10 par
thousand, and is adapted to universal circulation.

Should one hundred individuals give one hundred dollars a
year, or could a sum equal to that be obtained, a copy of it might
be put into every family in the United States : millions be added
lo Temperance Societies, and their operations be conUti^ued till th«
use of ardent spirit as a drink, and the tra^c b it, shall be duie away.

Ccmmttee*

18 AMEBICAtf TBNFERAlfCB SOCIETY. [128

More tlmn 100,000 copiies of the pamphlet referred to, have already
been printed ; and all who are disposed to promote the good of
mankind, >are requested to aid in furnishing meanSf and in giving to
it a universal circul«'\tion.

The Corresponding Secretary has continued to devote his whoTe
time to the concerns of the Society. He superintended the stereo-
typing and printing of the Fourth Report, and assisted in its circula-
tion. He also prepared the circulars which have been referred
to; has traveled more than 1700 miles, and addressed public
bodies more thian 150 times. He has prepared numerous ardcles
which have been circulated extensively tnroi^h the medium of
periodicals, and public papers ; has published forty letters on the
immorality of the traffic in ardent spirit ; conducted the correspoa-
dence, and ^ s'jperin: ended the general concerns of the Society.
An abstract of the letters on the immorality of the tragic in ardent
spirit, have, at the request of friends of the cause^ been published
in a pamplilet, and are found in the~ Appendix to this Report** ,
Means have been furnished for the employment of an agent six
months in the city of New York, who was appointed by, and la
bored under the direction of the Committee of the New York City
Temperance Society. An agent also of the Baptist denomination
has been employed for eight months, in the State of Illinois.
Other agents have been employed by State and County societies ;
numerous individuab have performed voluntary agencies; ad-
dresses have been delivered by clergymen, attorneys, physicians
and others; the press, with its powerful and all-pervading voice,
has continued to speak, and the conviction to deepen and extend,^
that the use of ardent spirit as a drink, the manufacture of it, and
the traffic in itj is an immorality of a high and aggravated character ;
wholly opposed in its nature and influence to the spirit and require-
ments ot the Christian religion ; at war with the honor and govern-
ment of Jehovah, and hostile to the holiness and happiness of
mankind. The conviction is becoming general, that the men who
understand die nature and effects of ardent spirit, and yet continue
to traffic in it, are accessories to the evils, and accomplices in all
the crimes which it occasions; that they give fearful evidence
that they regard money more than God, and are willing, for the
sake of it, to destroy, for both worlds, their fellow-men. Sober
men of all classes, who have ex^^nined diis subject, are moving:
onward to the settled and permanent conclusion, that such men
cannot, while they continue to do this, give that credible evidence
of being good men, which would justify an impartial community,
in receiving and treating them as such.

Multitudes, during the past year, have spoken out on this subject «

* AifMadix G.

129J rirrir R£FORT.-r-]d3S« If

iio4 With great cle9rne$8 and strengdi, (corroborated what otlMVi

had said before.

Rev« I^eor^ Ware^ jr. professor of pulpit eloquence and the
pastoral care in Harvard University^ says, " No proposition seMif
to me stiseeptible of more satisfactory demonstration than thkf^
and I am stir^ that no person can give it one hour's serious Miougbl
without ^asaentjog. to ity**-4bat, in the present state of iiiibi joationon
tUs sub^eet, bo man caii tbink to act on Christian priwpt^* ov,^
a patiiot's duty to bis country, and at the sau^ time laake or tfM
the ifialriiment of intoxication." And shall men continue t(^ be
roc^ired as giving credible evidence of being Christiaofs, mk^
knowBigly carry on an eoofrfpyment, in which they cw^mot tbiniilt
act on Christian principle ? and which is utterly inconsistent, efffm
with apatiiot's duty? whicb» in the language of this wdjtjel^ is
'< no less than ^fnpbying bis tim^, capital and industry to prej^M
for use, and offer for use^ that whicn has been proved tp b^lkMi

Erincipal souree of n^is^ aind jcrinie in ooioderB aocieiy j pfoyicUng
)r men the coiivenient and tempting aieans of ruioiag their bofiMH
and their buskness ; be^aong their boiitiesi beooffiiing vagabooJi^
and a nuisance while alive, and sinking premaUiurely tq a disl¥>iA>ro
able grave?'' and whtii '^ the na^iffa m hb calling renders, |}ii$
inevitable, and he cannot be a deafer in spirit witbont becoiqM4
accessory to all this vice and ruin ? " Is he who, for Ae «(^ oT
money, perseveringly eootiliiAei to do Ms, |o he v^ejifnd Mni
treated as giving credible evidence tfaal he Is a good man^ Au
injured and sufimi^ coovmimi^, by the vQice o( ac^ugiuMif
millions, answers — ^No.

The Rev. Francis Ws^land, D.D. Present of Bra^raJUnif^r-
ty in Providence, Khode I^and, in an address laiQly dciliv^o^
after stating that it has been shown that move than '|tdQ«00€g^(MI
are annually lost to the country by the use of ardent ffMieit, in adtfUlitii.
to aU the other evils which now from iu puts to the con^ieipt^ pf
each one who caatinues, wb^er by wfaotesale or retailt U> be £|^
^aged in the traffic, or in aoy way to fun^isb aidepl sprit t»^km^
use of bis leUow men, thie following questions, viz.

'^ First. Can it be right fpr me to derive my living from (thit
which is spreading disease, and poverty, apd precDipture jtemh
throc^bout my neighborhood ? How would it be in any. siinttnr
case ? Would it be right for m^ to derive my living from aeUiit
poison, or from propagating plague, or leprosy around me ? .

Seeond. Can it be right for me to derive my Jiving fypm tbat
which is debasing the minds, and rubing the soub of my nei^
bors? How would it be in any other case? WouU it bedglil
for me to derive my ^ving iirom the sale of a dvug wbioh ptodneodr
toisery, or madness ; or from the sale of obsc^M^ie books whioh e«T

B6 AMERICAN TCMP£HANCe SOtieXT. [ISO

mt&d the passiotis, atid brutalue^d the minds, and ftibed the soub
of my fellow inep ?

Tnird. Can it be ri^ht for me to derive mj livbi^ from that
which destroys forever the happiness of the domestic circle—
which is filling the land with women and children in a conditiaa
far more deplorable than that of widows and orphans ?
* Fourth. Can it foe right for me to derive my living from that
which is known to be the cause of nine^nths of all the crimes
which are perpetrated against society ?

Fifth. Can it be right for me to derive my living fiiom that
which brings upon society ntne«tenths of all the pauperism which
exists, and which the rest of the community are wliged to pay
ifor?

• Sixth. Can it be right for me to derive my fiving from that
#faich accomplishes all diese at once^ and wliich doefs it vnthout
ceasing?

Do you say dial you do not know that die liquor wbicb you are
tdiing win produce these results? Do you not kpow that nine
hundred and nmetynfiine gallons prodilee diese effects for one
which is used innocendy ? I ask, tnen, i

Seventh. WouM it be right for me to sell poison^pn the ground
tkn there was one chance in a thousand that the purchaser would
not die of it ? '

' Eighth. Do you say that vou are not responsible for the acts
of your nmghbor? Is this clearly so? Is not he who knowingly
• funushes a murderer with a weapon, considered an accompKce?
Is not he who navigates a slave ship, considered a pii^te ?

If these things be so, and that tbey are so, who can di^nite, t
aric you, my respected felkiw citizens, what is to be done?^ Let
me ask, is not this trade altogether wrong ? Why, then, should
we not altogether abttndon it?

Jf any man think otherwise and choose to continue ft, I have
but one word to sav. My brother, when you order a carg|0 of iti"
'tXHKatmg drink, think how much misery you are hnporung imo
the community. As you store it up, think how many curses yoif
aw heapfa]^ together against yoursetf* As you roll it out of your
wnehouse, dnnk how many families each cask vriU rain. Let
ywut thoughts then revert to your own fireside, your wife, and Toor
utde ones ; kx>k upward to Him who iudgeth righteously, and ask
yourself, my brother. Is this right f^-

' The Hon. Reuben H. Walworth, Chancellor of the State of
New York and President of the New York Stsete Temperance
Socie^, in an address lately delivered, says, ** Though my public
duties Imve not allowed me to particip^le m this great woric m the
itoancer I could have desif'ed, 1 bare witnessed with delight its
lapid progress, and shaB ever esteem it the highest hi^ooir I coidd

181] fiFTH ]it:poRT.f-]8d2< 2t

have received from my feHovr citizensi to have been permitted to
connect mv name with this institution, and to use the little personal
mduence I possessed in aiding its operations.

"In reviewing the proeress of temperance for a few years past,
the chdnges which have been produced in public opinion on this
important subject are a^onishing, even to its most sanguine friends^
And it furnishes to us all the highest encouragement to continue
our exertions, until the common use of ardent spn^its shall be con-
sidered as disgraceful as open opposiUon to such use was once
deemed tinpopular ; until reflecting men will no more think of
making and vending ardent spirits, or of erecting and rentine grog^
ahopsas a means of gain, than they would now think of poisonine
the weH from which a neighbor obtains water (or his family, or oi
arming a maoiac to destroy bis own life, or the lives of those around

Such are becoming the views of good men of all descriptions,
who are acquainted with this subject, throughout the country.
They view it aS' a sin of high and awful aggravation ; and believe
that a man is as reaUy guilty who kills himself, or is accessory to
the death of his fellow men, by means of ardent spirit, as by means
of opium, a knife, or a pistol $ and that the hope of greater bodily
gratification, or worldly gain, is no more really a justification in
one case,^ than in the other. And they believe that the commands
of God, <^ abstain from fleshly lusts, f bodily gratificatkms) which
war against the soul^" *^ as ye woula that otliers should do to
you, do ye to them ; " and >< thou shalt not kill^" and many others,
as really forbid a man's being the occasion of death in one case,
8s in the other.

Says a distinguished writer,* *^ I challenge any man who un«
derstands the nature of ardent spirit^ and yet, for uiedake of gain,
continues to be engaged in the traffic, to show that he is not in-
volved in the guilt of murder .'' The money that is accumulated
in this way is now viewed as the price of blood, and when left to
the chikh-en, and scattered by them to the four winds of heaven,
win be spoken of as th0 inheritance which the Lord hath cursed.

Another writer,f declares, *' They who keep these fountains of
pollution and crime open, are sharers, to no small extent, in the
guilt which flows from them* They may be temperate men
tiiemselves, but diey contribute to make others intemperate. They
stand at the very source of the evil. They command the gate*
way of that mighty flodd which is spreading desolation through the
hnd ; and are chargeable with aU the present and everlasting con-
lequences, no less than the infatuated victim who throws himself

• Lpmm Bcwcher, P. IX t Rev. SuihmI Qfimg,

23 AXEUCAIV TBHrKBAlVCK SOCIKIT. [13S

upoKk die iiofloiii 01 die boning ttJticiil, md is borne by it mto tb6

1^ of IPO."

The Rer. WUbor Fiake, D. D. Pke^dent of Ae Wed^aa
Uoivenitjr, Middletofini, Comu in an address lo members of
dmrcbes on die immoralftj of die traffic, says, ** It b not miough
tbat a roajoffilj erf* tbe cburch ke^ tfaerasebres from e¥il ; if they
boU tbe sacred and protecting banner of tbe cfaurcb orer those
wbo cause otbers to sin, tfacj are Terflj gnibj diemsehres. Tie
same train of wteam and canset that hme pridmeed the intemper^
ate cfthe pott and the present generatione are Ml m operation
to produce an equal or greater propartuni in the next emermtion^
and $o our forever I And what is sdH worse, the ikmm tf aiding
and abeittng thi$ diabolieal eonapiraeif against the bodies and
souls rf men ! We had indeed hoped for better diings of Chris*
tians ; but we are obliged to acknowledge tbe fact. And I appeal
to the church herself, and ask her in the name of sinceri^ if she
can clear herself of tbe chdrge ? Do not many of her members
use ardent spirits ? Do they not traffic in the accursed thing ?
Do they not hold out on diw signs invitations to all that pass by^
to come and purchase of them the deadly poison? Then indeed
ill the <^urch a partner in thi^ conspiracy ; for k cannot be de-
nied that aU the drunkenness in the land is produced by uAat is
iUJled the tenqterate use of ardent spirits.

I ^^ Tbe conclusion, then, is irreasdble, and every candid mind

inust feel it, every Christian will feel it, he who by use and traffic

I countenances the practice of drinking ardent spirits, is throwing

his influence into the work of. recruiting the ranks of the intein-

/ per^te, and renders himself personally responsible for thie woes

j that follow. I ss^, then, on a/l the moderate drinkers in our land,

on all that traffic in the accursed thing, rests the wo that Gk>d him«

self hath denounced on him that putteih the cup to his neighbor's

mouthy and maketh him drunken,

^^ My Christian broitber, if you saw this trade as I believe God
sees it, you would sooner beg your bread from door to door, than
gam money by such a traffic. Tbe Christian's dram shop !
Sound it to yourself, flow does it strike your ear ? It is doubt-
less a choice gem in the phrase-'book q( Satan ! But liow para-
doxical ! How shocking to the ear of tbe Christian 1 How ofieo-
sive to the ear of Deity ! Why, the dram shc^ is th^ recruiting
rendezvous of hell ! (If the term shocks you I cannot help it, fcHr
we all know it is the trutii.) And shall a Christian consent to be
the recruiting officer ? It is here the drunkard is made, and you
pander to his appetite until you have kindled up in his bospm a
raging fire that can never be quenched^ — and all this for a little
money ! — And when you have helped make him a drankard, and
he becomes troublesome, you drive him, perhaps, from your

I33J riFTH REPOBT. — 18^. 23

house or your shop, declare you mean to keep ao orderly Ikhisc !
express your abhorrence of drunkards ! and imagine you are in-
nocent ra* their bipod ! But it is too late to talk about denying
him now. The man u n*intd^ and you have been the inUrumtiU.
Say not, if you do not sell, others will. Must you be an ally of Sa-
tan, and a destroyer of your race, because others are ? If you
leave off selling, you wilt weaken die ranks of sin, and strengtrien
the hands of the righteous. Say not, if you do not sell, it will
injure your busmess, and preveut your supporting your family.
It was said by one, that ^ such a statement is a libel upon the Di«
vine government.' Must you, indeed, deal out ruin to your fel-
bw men, olr starve } Then starve ! It would be a glorious mar*
^dom contrasted with the other alternative. Do not say, I sell
07 the large quantity — ^I have no tipplers about me — ^and dierefiM^
I am not guilty ! Vou are the qnief man in this business— ^e
others are only suhakems. You are the ^ poisoners general,' of
whom Mr. WesJey speaks, who murder your fellow citizens by the
wholesale. But for the retailers to do your drudgery, you would
rhave nothing to do. While you stand at the bulk head, and open
^the flood gates, they from this river of fire draw off the small riv-
nlets, and direct them all over the land, to blight every hope, and
Urn up every green tiling. The greater your share in the traffic,
the greater is your guilt. Th^re is tio avoiding this conclusicMi.
The same reasoning will also apply to the manufacturer. If any
man has priori^ of claim to a share in this work of death, it is the
manufacturer. The church must free herself from this whole
business. It is all a sinful work, with which Christians should
have nothing to do, only to drive it from the sacred enclosures of
the church, and if possible from the earth."

The Rev. Baxter Dickinson, of Newark, in the Slate of ^. J.
in addressing makers and venders of ardent spirit, says, '* You are
creating and sending out the materials of disorder, crime, poverty,
disease, and intellectual and moral degradation. You are contrio-
uting to perpetuate one of the sorest scourges of our world. And
the scourge can never be removed till those deadly fires which you
have kindled are all put out. — ^Without a prophet's visk>n, I foresee
the day when the manufacture of intoxicating drink (ot common
distribution, wUI be classed with the arts of counterfeiting and for-
gery) and the maintenance of houses of midnieht revelry and pollu-
tion.— ^Upon the d weUings you occupy, upon the fields you enclose,
upon the spot that entombs your ashes, there will be fixed an in-
describable gloom and odiousness, toofiend the eye and snken the
heart of a virtuous community, till your memory shall perish. Quit,
then, this vile business, and spare your name, spare your family, spare
your children's children such insupportable shame and reprQach.**
. And be might have added, spare yourself too the insupportable

94 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETY. [1S4

angMish of meeting, at the tribunal of God, those whom you have
poUuted, debased, and ruined. All, who, by the fiery poison
which you have furnished, have ripened for the fire that never can
be quenched, will ineet you at the judgment day, and pour out
upon you, as accessories to their ruin, dieir deep and awful execra-
tions ! Nor do they always delay till the light of eternity awakes
thera. A man who had been furnished 1^ his neighbor with the
naeans of destruction, and been brought by it to the verge of the
grave, was visited, in his last moments, by the authcMr of his ruin ;
who asked him, whetlier he remembered him. The dying man,
forgetting his struggle with the king of terrors^ said, " i es, I re-
member' you, and I remember your store, where I formed the
habit which has ruined me for this world and the next. And
when I am dead and gone, and you come and take from ray
widow and feth^less children tlvs shattered remains of my proper*
ty to pay my rum debts, they too will remember yoti.^ And he
addea, as tney were both members of the same church, " Yes,
brother, we shall all remember you, to all eternity." And it
might be added, he too, will remember them, and wiu remember
wtett he did, for the sake of money to bring their husband and fa-
ther and his own brother in the church, to the drunkard's grave ;
and to take irom the widow and fatherless not merely property
hut that which no weakh can purchase ; and which when taken,
no power on earth can restore. And he may remember himself
too, as the author, the guilty, polluted, execrable author of mis-
bhiisf which eternity cannot repair; and which may teach him, in
deqper and deeper wailings, that it profits a man nothing to gain
the world, and lose his soul ; or be accessory to the loss of the
souls of others.

.The Rev. Dr. Beecher, in addressing the young men of Boston
said, ^^ The dealers in this liquid poison of ardent spirit may be com-
pared to men who should advertise for sale, consumptions, anrl
fevers, and rheumatisms, and palsies, and apoplexies. jBut would
our publb authorities permit such a traffic? No— *The public
voice would be heard at once, for the punishment of such ene-
mies of our race ; and the rulers that would not take speedy ven-
geance would be execrated and removed. But now the men who
deal out this slow poison are licensed by law ; and they talk about
their constitutk>nal rights, and plead that they are pursuing their
laafid callings. But does the law of God, or the good of society
admit of an employment to decoy the unwary, and murder the
innocent ? yet these traffickers in the Mood of men, tell us that this
work of death is their livings their means of supporting their fam-
ilies ; and that others will prosecute the business if they decline it«
But can they imagine that Ood will prosper such a course for the
destruction of their fellow beings ? or tl)at he has sO constituted

135] FIFTH UEPORT,*— IB32. 26

things as to render the transgression of bis laws the necessary
means pf family subsistence ? Siiould a class of persons attempt to
dig pit-Xalls in our public streets, to insnare the passengei's ; oi
should they make use of blood-hounds to tear and devour our
peaceful citizens, or siiould they hire a company of cut-(hroats to
drag out our young men from tlieir peaceful homes, and murder
diem in our streets ; how long may we suppose the authorities ot
our cFty would endure such ravagers and spoilers ^ But where lies
the di&rence in criminality between the dram -seller who adminis-
ters toe slow, but certain death, and the public murdeier? The
former is licensed in his wickedness, by law, the other must be
hanged." Over every grog-shop, says Judge Daggett, should be
written, in ereat capitals, " The way to hell, going down to the
chambers oj death" Nor have such appeals, which, during (he
past year have been multiplied from all pans of the country, been
in vain. Hundreds of distilleties have been stopped, and thousands
of merchants have given up the traffic. And those who have not,
are becoming daily more and more criminal, often in their own
view, and. more often in the view of others. A distinguished gen-
tleman from one of our principal cities writes, " Distillers, retailers,
and drunkards are culprits here in the eyes of all sober men.'^ The
remark is now common, that it is as wicked to kill a man, by one
kind of poison, as by another. And the conviction is settling
down upon the public mind, that be who continues knowingly to do
it in any way, b, in the sight of (rod a murderer, and as such
will be held responsible at his tribunal. The opinion of Judge
Cranch, with regard to the criminality of furnishing ardent spirit,
as a drink, is, with conscientious and enlightened men, fast becom- J
ing common. "I know, that the cup is poisoned — ^I know that it^'
may cause death — ^that it may cause more than death*— that it
may lead to crime, to sin — ^to the tortures of everlasting retnorse.
Am I not then a murderer^ worse than a murderer? as much ("
worse as the soul is better than the body?*' — ** If ardent spirits, I
were nothing worse than a deadly poison — if they did not excite '
and inflame all the evil passions — ^if they did not dim that heav-
enly light which the Almighty has implanted in our bosoms
to guide us through the obscure passages of our pilgrimage— -if
they did not quench the Holy Spirit in our hearts, they would
be comparatively harmless, ft is their moral effect — it is the
roin of the soul which they produce, that renders them so dread-
ful. The difference between deatli by simple poison, and death by
habitual intoxication, may extend to the whole difference between
everlasting happiness, and eternal death." Multitudes, increasing
rapidly, now say, with the gentlemen who compose the committee
of the New York State Temperance Society, ** Disguise that busi-
ness as tliey wtU^ it is ^stiil^ in hs true character, the business of de-

3 11*

36 AUBmcAN mi^EHAKce society. {136

stroyiDg the bodies and the souls of men. The vender and the
maker of spirit, in the whole range of them from the pettiest grocer
to the most extensive distiller, are fairly chareeable not only with
supplying the appetite for spirit, but With creattng diat unnatural ap*
petite ; not only with supplying tlie drunkard with the fuel of his
vices, but with making the drunkard." * And they are feirly
chargeable too with bejng accessories to all the mischief, and ac-
complices in all the guilt which flows from it. Nor is the cSmniu*
nity any longer to be blinded, and put off by the stale plea, that
they do not Know that they produce such cTOcts, and do not in-
tend to kill men, by their empk)^ment. The fact is, they do
know ; or if they did not hate the light, and shut their eyes against
it, would know. The evidence is before the public, and accessible
to any man. It is now proved by facts which no impartial man can
gainsay or resist, that ardent spirit as a drink is not necessary, not
useful, not harmless, and not safe ; th^^t it is a poison both to the
body and the mind ; that it causes a great portion of all the crimes
and wretchedness in our land ; that it hinders the eflicacy of the
gospel, and often ushers men, in a state of drunkenness and not
unfrequently with blasphemy on their tongues, into a boundless eter-
nity. Providence has exhibited facts on this subject, which are de*
cisive ; as well might a man continue to discharge grape-shot among
muftitudes of people, or poison their wells of water, and say that
he does not know that he shall kill ; or to circulate among them
atheistical and immoral books, and say that he does not intend to
destroy, and expect therefore to be excused,-*— as to expect it, while
he continues to furnish them as a drink with ardent spirit. The
community will look at the results of his actions, and fasten upon
him their odiousness and guilt. Nor are they any longer to be
misled by the sophistical declaration applied to this subject, that tlte
abuse ot a thing is no argument against its use ; for all use of ar-
dent spirit as a drink, is now known to be an abu»e. It is now
known to be mischievous as a drink, under all circumstances. It
is now known, on every organ it touches to operate as fnpaiscn;
nowhere in the human body b it allowed even a lodgement till the
vital powers are so far prostrated that it cannot be removed : " It
produces weakness, not strength ; sickness, not health ; death, not
life." The use of it therefore is branded as a sin; and the fur-
nishing of it, for the use of others, as a still greater sin.

There is another view of this subject which is becoming com-
mon, viz. That the traffic in ardent spirit is a business which is
unjust toward the community. Here, for instance, is a county
which has in it a thousand drunkards ; a great portion of them
paupers, of course ; and are, or soon will be, with their children,

* Seoond Report of th« New Yorii State Tempenoee Soeielj, p. Ml

I37J riPTH REPORT. — 1832, 27

thrown as a burden upon the public. The profit of making these
paupers is enjoyed by a few grocers, but tlie burden of supporting
them comes ou the whole community. By what theory of politi-
cal economy, or what principle of correct legislation, can it be
shown that there is not, in this, horrible injustice. Do the mea
who carry on the business say, that they pay a bonus to the govern-
mem, and by it increase the revenue of the State, and tlius in some
measure compensate the community for the miifchief which tliej
do to it? Let us examine this plea. Here is a town of a thou-
sand people. In it is a retailer who sells ardent spirit to all who
win buy ; and thus causes a great portion of ail the pauperism
and wretchedness in the place. And what does he pay for thus
burdening the community w^ith taxes, and bringing upon it a host
of other evils? The paltry sum of one dollar.* And are the
cotnrounity to be told that therefore this business is not unjust ?
that as he pays four dollars, it is just that he should increase more
than four-fold their paupers and their criminals ; augment greatly
their diseases, expose their children to drunkenness and ruin r On
what principle of^righteousn^ss can it be shown to be just for him,.
for one dollar, to burden that community with ten times that sum,
and bring upon it evils, for which no money can. compensate. In
one town, through which our Secretary passed, tliere was but one
tnan who sold ardent spirit, and he was a mepiber of tlie church.
There were one fourth as many drunkards in that place as their
were families ; and he supplied them all. He supplied,- also, all
ntoderate drinkers with that which is adapted to niake them
<ininkards, to ruin their children, and to perpetuate a drunkard
to every four families to all future generatious. At one time his
own son, in the house and business of his father, was dealing out
this poison, and partaking of it himself, till he became so poisoned
that he could not stand ; and was carried home to his heart-broken
wife and children, b a state of intoxication. This you say is hor-
fihle— horrible. It is, indeed. Yet it is the very business in
which are many church members, even in New England. Some
of this character have, the last year, been admitted to the churches,
who are as really accessory to the making of drunkards, as was this
man. If they do not make drunkards of their owp children, they
^ of the children of others. And the committee cannot but deep-

Sf^gret Uiat Boston, the metropolis of the pilgrims, exalted by
^gs to heaven, and which ought to be a lignt and a glory to
Elands, should have churches in which there are members, who
^e it a business to stand at these poiscmous fountains, and pour out
of death over the community ; thus teaching by business, the

a mukti in tiie State •fMaMUsfauetli, for a UceoM to mM

•». ^

28 AMERICAN TESIPERANCE SQCUBTT. [138

most impressive way, that for men to buy and use ardent qpirit, is
right ; a doctrine that has probably, during the past century, pol-
luted more hearts, beggarea more families, destroyed more lives,
and ruined more souls, than any other heresy or crime whatever.
And so long as the churches shall connive at such deadly evils in
their members, may they expert to be visited with the withering
f Curse of the Almighty. They cannot hold the protecting banner of
• the cross over such enormides, and escape the blasting mdignation
!; of Him who bled upon it, to redeem unto himself a peculiar peo-
: pie, zealous only oi good works. Not only are they ruining men
' by thousands for the next world, but most unjustly and cruelly
^.^ding the community with tremendous bmrdens in this.
C In £e pity of Washington, 225 venders of spirit paid for the
\ privBege of seffing it, about $6000, annually. The pecuniary loss
to the citizens from the use of it. Judge Cranch has estimated at not
1 less thatl $60,000. Ahd were all tiie losses which result from it
taiken into the account, he says that the amount would probably be
doubled. Here then, supposing this estimate to be correct, is a
community su^ring a loss of $120,000 annually, to obtain the
paltry revenue of $6000.

And are those who receive no profits from the sale of ardent
spirit to be told that it ii^ just that tiiey should endure these evilS;
and bear these burdens? This will not be believed. Thousands
who have no wish for such a law, still ask, " W^ a law ever enacted
more perfectly righteous, than one which should reguire that the
men who alone have the profits of makipg drunkards*, should alone
bear the burden of supporting them." And so long as this is not
the case, the business will be reprobated, by an enlightened com-
munity, as palpably unjust, and as highly criminal. And even
should those who traffic in ardent spirit support all die paupers
they make, still the tew of God would condemn the employment;
because it is injurious, in all its connections, to the spintual good
of men. And they cannot contmue to prosecute it, without fasten-
ing upon the public mind the conviction that they are notoriously
wicked men ; men who, for their own pecuniary profit, wiS know-
ingly and perseveringly cut*se the community.

A^ Certainly as the nature of man continues the same, and light
on this subject continues to increase, this conviction will extend,
till it shall become universal. It fastens, even now, upon the
seared conscience of many a retailer himself. Said one, who du*
ring the past year renounced this traffic, laying his hand on his
heart, <* You can't think what a load I have ^ot off here." He
had been the whole round of excuses, fpr contmumg the business ;
bad persevered in the contest between covetousness and con-
science, until he had fought every mch of ground % but, *^ I
ave Wn awake," ^aid be, <' night after night, and night after

139J pipta ftEPORT.— 1832. 29

mght, thinking of it." Thinking of what ? Tliat he was engaged
ma Work of death ; tliat for the wretchedne3S, temporal and eter-
nal, which he was occasioning, he must answer at the tribunal of
God — ^thinking that it would profit him nothing to gain the world
and lose his soul ; or be instrumental in destroying the souls of'
others. Yes, he lay awake night after night, thinking of it. It is
the deternunation of God, that men shall ihiiik of it. His provi-
dence is pressing it upon their minds. Light has penetrated even
the thick darkness which surrounds the distiller's conscience and the (
wholesale dealer's. While furnishing by hogsheads and cargoes, V
what Robert Hall called ^' distilled death, and liquid damnauon,"
a dreadful sound has be,en in their ears, crying, ** although sen-
tence against an evil work is not executed speedily, yet judgment
of along time lingereth not, and damnation slumbereth not.''
The Holy Ghost, in many cases, has convinced them of sin, of
righteousness, apd of judgment. And where the heart of the fa-
ther hds not been touched, his children often have prayed and
wept over his approaching ruin. " Father," said a son, with tear-
ful emotion, ^^ are you going to sell any more mm ? I should not
think ywi would.-'-Oh, I hope ybu im not'- Jtle trerribled Jest
be should witness his own father, stained widi the guilt of blood
He abhorred the thought of his providing, by such an employment,
even bread for his children. While eating it, they might le^l, as
if they were living upon the tears and groans of other children.
Jfor are such feeKngs ^with regard to this business, without good
reasons. In the State of New York alone, in the course of a few
weeks,not less than four.men, under tlie influence of ardent spisfts
murdered their wives, and with their own hands made their chil«-
dren orphans. And shall other children wish to live on the gaius
of such a business? or parents by it to provide bread for their
children? Can their children desire that they should lay up
money, or even support them, by that which leaves other children,
who need support as much as they, without parents? One of
these men put to death not only his wife, but six of his children.
With his own band, under the influence of this poison, which some
man for a trifle had sold him, he could butcher his ofl^pring, and
place one of them to broil to death on tlie fire of his own hearth.
And shall other children wich their parents to sell it ? Shall any
of those, who, under the light of the Bible, are rising through sab-
bath schools, into life, ever think for a moment, of engaging in
such an employmeitt, or wish to have their parents continue in it ?
Is it strange that they beseech tlieir fathers with tears, as they
vahie the lavor of God, and would escape his righteous indigna-
tion, to renounce it ?

The Judge, in passing sentence upon ohe of the unhappy men
whose children had by his own hand been rendered motherless.

30 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETT. [140

said, " By one fata] act your wife was sent to the cold and alent
mansions of the dead } your children were deprived of all the en-
dearments and fostering care of their mother, and you are fated
to expiate your offence upon a gallows. Upon a review of this
shocking transaction, the question naturally presents itself, what
could so have perverted your nature ? what could so have steeled
your heart ? The answer is,-^-spirituous li^uojf. It has had the
effect to estrange you from the jmost endeanng relation, from the
ties of blood, from your obligations to your fellow beings and to your
Creator. If any further evidence were wanting to manifest the deso-
lating effects of ardent spirits which have moved like a destroying
angel over our land, we have it in the astounding fact, that within
the last two months, three men have been arraigned before me, on
charges of murdering their wives ; e^ch of these offences was com-
Oiitted by inteniperate men."*

As another Judge was passing sentence of death upon anoth-
er of these unhappy men, a spectator remarks, " When the allu-
sion was made to die tender and thrilling circumstance of his vic-
tiiB, being not only a defenceless woman, but his own confiding
jj^. the mother of bi« own children, who was, at jthe moment of

receiving the fatal blow from hii^^ band, giving sustenance to his
smiling mfant, folded in her arms ; and of^her being found by the
neighbors, after the murderer had fled, literally weltering in her
own blood, and in the very agooies of death, still folding the cling-
ing babe to her bosom, with a maternal fondness that neither cruel-
ty nor death could overcome ; I say, when these circumstances
wi^re alluded to, a shock passed over his system too heavy for coo-
vCealment.

" A sudden flash and rapid roll of the eye showed a living sen-
sibility in him, which even drunkenness and crime had not the
power to extinguish. But it was momentary. He soon recover-
ed himself, and heard acain, like one who has been accustomed to
master compunctions of conscience, until he was referred to the
awful retributions of eternity, and reminded that his only hope was
in speedy repentance and humbling himself before God, when
another shudder came over him, too powerful not to be noticed.
A strong emotion, in spite of resistance, rose in his soul, at the
thought of eternity, and its retribution to the murderer^ But, ex-
cept in these two instances, it was not seen that Holt felt more than
others. He stood there, at once, a living victim to his ruling vice,
btemperance ; and a living demonstration of its hardening, petrify-
ing influence upon all that is dignified and lovely in ourJ)eing, and
of its certain tendency to obliterate tlie last trace of humani^'' and

* Jadge Edwardi* aentenco of death upon James Raniom.

141] FIFTH HEPORT. 1832. 31

of kindly feeling from our natare, and to transform a man, a hus-
band, a father, into the veriest monster in the universe.

" Holt was the keeper of a tippling shop, and himself a tippler.
Ah ! this tells the story ! let those, then, who are so far following
in his steps be warned, and beware lest they overtake Hm in bis
end!''

"Paul B. Torrey, of Naples, N. Y. in a fit of intoxication on
Sunday, the 17th inst after cruelly beating his own son, took him by
the legs and dashed his head against the side of the house with such
violence, as to break the wall, and then with a boot-jack beat the
poor child's head literally to a jelly. The dead body was discov-
ered on Monday afternoon. The murderer is in jail at Canandaigua.
Torrey was addicted to intemperance. His wife wa$ driven Irom
his house some time since. He was a merchant, as we learn
from a house in this city, with whom he dealt^ in good standing.
AD this unutterable anguish comes from the detestable habit of
drinking." — Albany paper.

A gentleman from Portsea, England, writes, '< I was called yester-
day to a ^ouse in the neighborhood, where a man had just mur-
dered his wife ; the purple gore was yet flowing, and life was not
exdnct, when I arrived. The husband w^s in a state of i^tOxica'-
tioo, and his wife speedily expired, from a wound inflicted by him,
with a shoe-maker s knife. They were both drunkards. I at-
tended the inquest : (he verdict returned, was, ' wilful murder.'
The day before, a child was burnt to death by its clothcjs taking
fire, llie father and mother, at the time it took plac^, were both
so drunk that they could not assist the little iSijtferer."

In view of such facts, which might be recounted for hours, the
community will apply the principle maintained by the distmguish-
ed legislator referred to, that '' the man who holds out the temp-
tation, is the cluef transgressor." For cents and sixpences, he
^▼ill thus knowingly sport with the lives and souls of his fellow
men.

On a certain day, duriqg the past year, one of these men sold
his neighbor, who, with his wife and son slboat 22 years old, had
been intemperate, some New England rum/ The next day an
altercation took place betwen the son and his mother. He told
her if she Would fumii^ him with a rdpe he would hang himself.
The rope was procured, and a few rods from th^ house, he suspend-
ed himself from a tree. In that situation a neighbor discovered him,
and mformed his mother that her son was 'd^ad. She'3aid she
ym glad of it, atid hoped he was in faeH. Wbilp the man was gone
to call others, she made her way to the spot, where her son himg, a
lifeless corpse, took a bottle from his coat pocket, and drank her-
self to intoxication. Not many months after, her husband was
found on the^o6rt>f his house, m which state it'is supposed he had

32 ABfERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETT. L^^^

been 24 hours, dead. And what did that man get probably (or
the rum which he sold them ? Perhaps thirty cents. And for
Aat paltry sum, he is to be held eternally responsible for its effects.
" Such painful effects," says a writer on the spot, who conversed
with this woman on the death of her son, " speak loudly and im-
pressively; and I hope will excite all the friends of temperance to
increased devotedness in a cause, which so directly involves the
present and eternal welfare of mankind."

In anotlier ca^e, a man sold to a man and woman a pint of
ardent spirit. They drank a part of it, and made their way to-
ward a pond, in which they were both shortly after found dead,
with their clotlies and theb bottle lying together on the shore.
And how much did that man get for thus being acces3ory to the
death of two of his fellow men? perliaps six cents. . So true is it,
that men who call themselves sober, humane, and who sometimes
even profess religion, for cents and sixpences will destroy the
bodies and souls of their fellow men.

To one individual was committed at one 'time on board a
steam-boat the care of a hundred and twenty persons. Some
one, for a mere pittance, sold him some ardent spirit; under its in-
fluence he was called to encounter a storm. Night approached,
danjger became imminent, and being near the port the passen-
gers besought him to return. ''No, said he, if we go back we
i&all have no profit." And for three hours he held those, passen-
gers in danger of death ; and when entreated to make signals of
distress, he utterly refused ; and would not even hang out a light ;
although by doing it, the prospect was that all might be s^ved ;
ftnd by not doing it, that all would be lost. The, vessel struck
«p6n ^ rockj and fifty persons were plunged into the sea. And,
as if in judgment, the first among them, was the captain himself.
And there, amidst the foaming billows, more than a hundred persons
found a watery grave, — all apparently occasioned by ardent
spirit. Says a passenger who was saved, **the captain was in-
toxicated all the wfiy." And what did the person who sold him
the liquor get for thus being accessory to the loss of more than a
hundred lives ? And what will it avail him in the day when he
must answer for the influence of his business upon the world ?
Will it screen him from the accusation of the slain, the stings of
an accusing conscience, and the burning indignation of an in-
censed God, to say. If he had not done it, somebody else would ^

From a similar cause, thousands of lives are wantonly sacrificed,
and property to an almost incredible, amount, buried in the ocean^
every year. And shall the men who are knowingly accessory,
think to escape the execrations of earth, or heaven ?

A merchant from one of our principal sea-poits remarks, " I
Bent out a ve^ under an express agreement that no ardent spirit

1431 rlFTH toPOKt. — 1832. 33

should be taken on board. I bad suffered so many losses from
it, that I resolved never to permit it to be taken on board again.
The captain, in violation of his agreement, when about to return
took on board four gallons of brandy, which lasted him about four
weeks; and that four gallons of brandy cost me j^4000. A great
proportion of all the shipwrecks on the ocean are occasioned by
It. I hardly ever suffered a loss at sea, or had vessels meet wim*
disasters, where this was not the cause; and I am resolved
never to send out another vessel under the command of a man,
who will either use, or furnish it."

So strongly marked are the facts, that such are now becoming
the sentiments of respectable merchants throughout the country.
More than five hundred vessels are afloat, which do not carry ar-
dent spirit; and they will outride storms which will shipwreck a
great portion of the vessels that do. Insurance offices, have, in
some cases on such vessels, diijpinished the rate of insurance five
per cent. And the time, it is hoped, is not distant when the use
of ardent spirit by officers or crews, in case of the loss of vesselSi
shall be a forfeiture of the insurance.

Nor is the change more striking or beneficial, in the merchant
service than in the Navy. An order was issued by the Secreta-
ry of the Navy, directing that each ipan on board the United
States vessels, who should relinquish his grog ration, should re-
crive as an equivalent six cents a day. An officer on board the
doop of war John Adams, in a letter dated Syracuse, Jan. 1st,
1832, writes, " Since the Secretary's letter respecting grog rationitf
has been read to the men, we have not had more than forty on
board who drew their grog, and to-day they aH stopped it, except
two."

Commodore Iffiddle, who commands the Mediterranean squad-
ron, in a letter to the Secretary of the Navy, states that the whole
number of persons in the squadron, exclusive of commissioned
and warrant officers, is 1107; and that 819 have stopped their
allowance of spirits ; and that on board the sloop of war John
Adams, not a man draws his grog. And a gendeman from Syra-
cuse writes that not an officer on board draws his rations of spirits ;
and that there is much zeal among them, in the temperance causes.
Similar changes have taken place on board other ships. One
19 now fitting out at Washmgton> and every man, before he goesf^
aboard of her, voluntarily pledges himselt to abstain fix>m the use^
of ardent spirit, and receives in lieu of his rations of grog, an
eqwvalent in cash. No man not disposed thus to pledge himself, b^
receii'ed. And there can be no doubt that the practice of fiirnish-
ing ardent spirit by the government, and thus wifhout benefit, and
Bt a great expense exciting the men to violate the commands of
ibeir officers, templing ibem to form intemperate* habits, and reu-

34 ASiEMlCAX TCairEKARCE SOCIET7. [144

dering them vmStfar tbe pablic service; conupdng their morals,
iDO'easing tbdr diseases, shortening thw lives, and ruining their
souk, will ere long in the Navy, as well as the Army, be done
awa J. Millions now unite with that member of Congress, who, in
addressbg the head of die War Department on the subject of
Temperance, said, *'It maj be quickened by what I trust will be
its next great step, the relinqoishment, through enlightened and
patriotic feelbgs, of ardent qurit by our gallant army and navy.

^ Those who have had experience in both, have officially declared
diat the greatest difficuldes they had to encounter, have arisen from
the daily rations of spirit to the soldier or sailor. The physician
says that it is not promotive of heabb, but that it weakens the
energies, engenders diseases, and destroys life. Why then ^should
it be given at all to the gallant men who bear our banner upon
the land and the wave, and who have the gbries of their fathers
past achievements in keeping? The smi^ quantiQr.of ardent
^irit allowed creates an appetite for more, and 4t often happens,
in both army and nasy, that a month's pay of the men is spent for
the means of btoxicaticm. In our little army of 5642 men, there
have been, it b stated, 5832 courts martial, withm five years ; of
which five sixths are. chargeable to intemperance ; and also 4049
desertions of which almost all are chargeable to intemperance.
Desertion alone has cost the United States j^336,616 in five years.
Add to this the declenidon of moral feeling, the diseasa.and pre-
mature deaths produced, and what a hideous aggregate does it
give of the ravages of intemperance. — ^\^at has been done, it
was right and best to do gradually* But now strike boldly in
unison with the public tone; fulfil its expectation; recommend
the entire disuse of spirits, and receive fix)m your countrymen the
praise of not being statesmen alone, but statesmen and benefactors.
Give us your aid to bring upon men almost the brightness of the
world's mrst morning."

A distinguished officer of tbe army, in a letter to oiir Secretary,
sa^s, '< I am under great obligations to you for the Fourth Report
ol die American Temperance Society ; and I feel myself highty
honored in having been made a member of that truly benevolent
institution. When I arrived here, I question whether there were
three men who abstained wholly ifrom the use of ardent spirit^^
now, more than three fourdis of our whole number are members of
a Temperance Society, on the principle of entire abstinence. They
hold regular meetings once a fortnight, at which, cme of their num-
ber reads an essay or tract' on intemperance. The ofiect has
been jiist what I anticipated — a manifest improvement in the ap-
pearance, spirits, and conduct of the soldiers. Instead of the €tu-

* IIoB. Jaam M. Wayne.

145J riYTH BSPoaT.^-— 1832. 35

pkl and bloated visage, is now seen the cheerful and healtliy coun*
tenance — where was wrangling and strife is good humor and play-*
(illness — and insubordination and negligence have given place to
cheerful obedience and prompt attention to duty. Not a member
of the society, which is of six weeks' standing, has been confined
in the guard-house, and such has bean its influence even upon
others, that but two men of the whole command have been con-
fined since the society was established. I hardly need to add that
the (^ence, in both cases, was intoxication— whUe, before the soci-
ety was formed, the average number of men confined was three
in twenty-four hours ; so that there were as many men confined
before in one day, as are now confined in six weeks. — Since
the ibrmation of the socie^ no desertion has occurred ; while dur-
ing the month preceding its formation, five men deserted — I must
beKeve that the difiference is mainly to be attributed to the temper-
ance reformation. — ^I am more than^ ever convinced that were a
judicious friend of temperance to visit the various military posts,
and exert himself in this truly benevolent cause, bis efi&rts would
save die government thousands, and the members of the army from
incalculable evils."
And who can doubt, after reading the above statement, that
would be the ease ; when as many men were confined in the
gaard-house in one day before the temperance society was form-
ed, as were afterwards in six weeks; and when the number of
desertions was diminished in a still gi eater proportion ? Tlius in-
dicatiDg that the officers have more than forty times as much trou-
ble with men who use ardent spirit, as with men Who do not.
On what principle, then, of prudence or economy, patriotism, or
even humanity, can the government continue to furnish it, or li-
cense men to sell it to the soldier or the seaman ? Just views on
this subject, the committee are sure, must cause a practice produc-
tive of no benefit, and fraught with such numerous and alai*ming evils,
to be abolished ; and they rejoice to find that a change has taken
place in other-countries on this subject similar to what has been ef-
fected in our own. The British government has ceased to furnish
vdent spirit for their armies throughout their provinces ; and to a
great extent it is relhiquished on board many vessels in the British
navy. And if the friends of Crod and man do their duly, the prac-
tice of furnishing it in any case will ere long cease throughout die
eanh.

Manufactories of every description are now carried on, canals
and rail-Yoads are constructed, and lawful business of every sort,
and by constantly increasing numbers, is conducted, and with gre^^y
increased advantage, without the use of ardent spirit. In the erec-
tion of the Massachusetts Lunatic Asylum, the state commission-
ers say, that more than eleven hundred thousand brick have been

86 AMEBtCAN TEMPERAHCE SOCIETY. [146

Uud during the past year ; that not an acchlent has happened } that
not an hour's time has been lost by the indisposition of any of the
workmen ; and thai not a drop of ardent Spirit has b^en consumr'
ed in the petformance. Such facts are becoming common in* the
greatest and roo$t difficult wbrks, and the conviction is extending,
that should this course be adopted by all, and < in all kinds of busi-^
ness, on ^le land and on the water, the benefits would be unspeak*
able to our country and the world.

Another point on which great advance has been made during
the past year in the public senUment, is, the immorality of the
use of ardent spirit) and also the traffic in it, arising from its de-
structive influence on the soul. Facts have been developed
which are adapted to impress sUx)i|gly on the mind, the conviction
that the use of ardent spirit, and especially the traffic in it, tends
in a peculiar manner to blind the understanding, to sear the con*
science, t6 harden the heart, and corrupt and ruin the whole
character. Those cold-blooded, long continued, and often re-
peated murders which have been committed for tlie purpose of
obtaining money by the sale of the bodies of the murdered for an-
atomic dissection, have unifermlv been committed in connection
with the use and sale of ardent spirit.

And, says an energetic writer,* " The evil effects of ardent
spirits are not exhitnted alone on those who drink them. The
very traffic stands unrivalled, for its hardening and debasing influ-
ence, on those engaged in its operations. Who that has been
conversant with the pollutions of the petty ^grog-shop, grocery, or
tavern^ does not recollect the cold-blooded barbarity and cupidi^-
which has been exhibited by its keeper, who doles to his drunken
revelers, with' a calculating air — and whose sole care is, the profit
of his establishment? Many of us have witnessed its effects on a
higher order of dealers. It is, ev'enin this vicinity, not unfrequently
the case, that the bread-stuffs, which are worse, infinitely worse
dian annihilated, by their conversion into whiskey, will oomniand
9 price on account of scarcity, nearly equal to what can be real-
ized by distillation, and yet, the accursed machinery must be kept
in motion, if by the process,. one copper is to be gained — although
the hungering and helpless poor are. pining for the very dregs,
which the distiller flings to his swine. ^ And how often has this
same distiller furnished the means of drunkenness to the worthless
roaster of a family, and refused his suffering wife and children the
very amount of bread, which, in the form of whiskey, has served
only to make a brutal husband more brutish — ^and which might
hav^ gladdened the hearts of a whole family.

"Who does not shudder at the appalling disclosures, in relation to

♦ John L. Chandler, 1^1. D.

i47j fIFTH B£PORT.-<-1832. 37

the deeds perpetrated in the grog-shops and groceries of Edin-
burgh? Burke and his associates, if i mistake not, were one or
more of them the keepers of these establishments. They had
been long practised in the arts by which the lower classes are en-
trapped in such resorts — and thus successfully plundered of their
last shilling. After the wretched victim had ceased to be a profit-
able customer, be was plied with liquor-^perhaps gratuitously,
uutil be became stupified and insensible — and then, in darkness
and privacy — was sufibcated. And for what purpose i That his
body might be sold to the schools of anatomy or surgery-^for the
sum of ten — ^perhaps of twenty dollars ! I challenge the annak
of the world to furnish a parallel to this monstrous combination of
avarice and blood ; and I charge it, fearlessly, upon the traffic in
ardent spirits."

The firitish and Foreign Temperance Society, in their last Re-
port, say, " We qannot m this place, adduce the numerous and
affecting proofs of the necessity of a reformation. It may be suffix
cjentto mention the afl^oting loss of the Rothsay Casde ;* and the
discovery of murders of so horrible. a character, that no word had
been found in the English language to describe their atrocity ; and
It should be remembered. that ^e indispensable iustnitneKt for
brutalizing the perpetrators^ and for preparing their victims, was
intoxicating liquor." And here it should not be forgotten that these
fiends in human shape did not drink to intoxication f but oidy tb
sqch an extent, as they thought needful to fit them for their busi-
ness; on the same pnnciple as to quantity, which governs other
nooderate drinkers, viz. to take only as much as is adapted, ia
their estimadoQ, to fit them for their work« And can the use
and the traffic in ardent spirit stand thus connected with such
deeds of darkness, and tend to fit men to perpetrate them^ and
not be adapted to destroy theur souls ?

In February, our Secretary issued the following circular, viai.

"It is known to all persons who are acquainted with the
churches of Christ in the United States, that an unusual nuKiber
of persons have been admitted to many of them during the past
year. The American Temperance Society isx desirous of ascer-
taining concisming tho^echurches^the following particulars, viz«

1. Are there any persona^ in tbera who traffic in ardent spirit)
If 8o» how many?

2. What prqportion of the persons who have been admitted to
those churches, during the past year, do not use it?

3. What prpportioi^ of the whole populatioii to whom the gos-
pel is preached in the town or parish abstain from the use of it ?

* In which mora thui one hq]i4red penonf lost thmr lif e«, thnagh die iain-
Me of liqQor on ono man. ^ \2*

38 AHERlGAir TEMPERANCE SOCIETT. [148

If the ministers of those churches, when they make their re-
turns to the various ecclesiastical bodies with which th?y are con-
nected, will answer the above questions ; or the^ friends of Tem-
perance will answer them with regard to any particular county,
or any number of parishes, in the public papers^ or by letter to
the subscriber, they will promote the cs^use of Temperance, and
perform an im^rtant service to the community.

Justin JEdwabds,
Cor, Sec. Am. Temp. Societi/.^*

In consequence of the above, one man writes, that the number
rf inhabitants* in the town in which he lives is about thirty-six hun-
dred ; the number over twelve years of age who abstain from the
use of ardent s^rit, about sixteen hundred ; and the number who
belong to the Temperance Society, about twelve hundred. Of
the sixty persons who, at the close of 1830, were members of the
Temperance Society, but not hopefully pious, more than half have
since become so.

Another tnan states, that of about fifteen hundred souls in his
parish, he should think that three fourths abstain from the use of
ardent spirit; tbat from those three fourths more than seventy
naade ja profession of religion, and were admitteid" to the church
in one day, while from the other fourth there were only three :
and that as many, lacking two, have been admitted to the church
during the past year, as for twenty years before.

Another man writes, that in his parish, about two fifths of the
population abstain firom the use of ardent spirit ; that during the
past year more than one hundred and fifty have become hopefully
devoted to God ; and, although as well acquainted with them as
any man in the place, he knows of but two, who had not previous-
ly given up the use of ardent spirit. As a general thing, he says,
all who appeared to experience the power of the gospel were
fix>m the ranks of Temperance. Others, in some cases, appeared
to become almost christians, who were in the habit of using a
little ardent spirit, but they have gone back ; and the impression
among those who understand their case is, this habit was the cause
of their failing of the grace of life. Within a year and a half
there have been admitted to the church, or are now on probation
for admission one hundred and diuly ; being a greater number
than had been added to it for twenty years before ; and nearly all
were from the two fifths who had renounced the use of strong
drink.

Another man states, that in his parish about two thirds of the

Eeople use no ardent spirit; that during die past year about thir^
ave become hopefully pious, and all from those who had adopted
the plan of abstinence from the Use of spirituous liquors. Others
had their attention arrested, and for a time bquired with deep

J49J FIFTH RfiPORT. — 1832. 39

anxiety what they should do to be saved. But they have all
agaia become careless, and are now stupid in sin.

Another man states, that of more than forty, and another that
of more than four hundred, who have apparently passed from
deatli unto 4ife, there was not one who was not a friend to the
Temperance cause. - i

Another man, who, since October 1830, has visited three hundred \
towns in which special efforts have been made for the promotion \
of temperance, states, that of those, who, in September, 1830, \
were not hopefully pious, but belonged to temperance societies, I
six-tenths profess, since that time, to have devoted themselves to j
God ; and that of those who did not belong to such societies, and""^
have since become hopefully pious, eight-tenths have immediately
united with them. He also states, that of those three hundred
towns, two hundred and seventy-five have been visited with the spe-
cial inJSuences of the Holy Spirit ; that he has witnessed cases, not
a few, in which persons who had been swearers, sabbath-breakers,
&c. have joined a Temperance Society, and soon have, for the
first time in their lives, been heard inquiring what they should do
to be saved ; and that he has himself known of more than one
hundred persons, who had been drunkards, who have been re-
claimed, and are now consistent members of christian churches, v

He also mentions two other facts which deserve to be record-^
ed, viz. that he has seen but few professors of religion who oppos-
ed temperance societies, but who either made, sold or drank ar-
dent spirit ; and that he has never known an intemperate man
who gave up the use of ardent spirit, but who continued to drink
wine, beer, or cider, who did not perpetuate his intemperance, and
ultimately turn back to his former habits of using ardent spirit.
These facts deserve to be remembered, and e^ecially the last.
The disease of drunkenness, i( not fed with intoxicating drink, will
sleep, and not afflict him who has contracted it^ — but if fed, even
with fermented drinks, will continue to rage, will ordinarily increase,
and its deluded victim may expect to die a drunkard. And this
will be the case, if he begins, though it may have been years since
he ceased to use it. There is no safety but in eptire and perpe-
tual abstinence from the use of every thing which intoxicates-^
Those friends, therefore, and all who urge such persons to use m
any degree either fennented liquor, or distilled, take the course
to destroy them. And numerous are the cases where the result
has been speedy- death. A dmnkard ceased to use intoxicating
drink, and was, as every drunkard, should he take a similar course,
will be, a ^sober man. He continued iso, for yea^-s, till urged by
a pretended friend to take a tea-spoon full a day in some restora-
tive bitters. He did, and was soon again a drunkard, raging in
ail the madness of tlio delirium tremens. Another, by abstaining

40 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETY. [150

in a similar manner, was a sober man, till his mother urged him to
cake a little porler ; and told him, when he refused, that it would not
hurt him, and pressed him, till he complied ; and from that day
Bhe was doomed^ as if in righteous judgment, to see her son a
confirmed sot. Can a man take coals into his bosom, and his
clothes not be burnt ? as well might a man put a match to gun-
powder, and not expect an explosion, as to throw alcohol into the
stomach of a drunkard, or one that has been such, and not expect
that it will take fire. Water, pure, cool water, and unstimulating
food and drinks, are the only safeguard against his being con-
sumed.

With such facts, and numerous others of a similar kind which
are now before the community, can any one doubt as to the course
of duty and of safety i or whether the use of ardent spirit as a
drink, and the traffic in it, is an immorality of a high and aggrava-
ted character ; altogether inconsistent with a professbn of the chris-
tian religion ; at war alike with the spiritual good of man and with
the glory of his Maker ? Suppose that in the towns above referred
to, the proportion of the people who do not use ardent spirit is as
stated by the writers of the letters, who lived among them, and
had as good an opportunity as any others to judge correctly on the
subject — how shsdl we account for the fact, that, in one case, from
one quarter of the people, but three professed the religion of Jesus
Christ, while from the other thre^ quarters there were more tlian
seventy; being more than twenty to one? and in another case
where two-fifths of the people abstained from the use of ardent
spirit, how shall we account for the fact that among the three-fifths
who did not abstain, not five appeared to become pious, while
among the two-fifths that did abstain, there appeared to be more
than a hundred ? How shall we account for the facts of thirty
becoming hopefully pious in one district, >and forty in another, and
four hundred in another, who had espoused the temperance cause,
and not one who had not, without' drawing the conclusion, that ar-
i dent spirit, ii> all its influences, is hostile to the interests of the soul,
and tends strongly to ruin it forever ? The facts are so numerous,
. and so striking by which this is illustrated, as to force the convic-
tion upon every attentive observer. And the number is rapidly
increasing, who cannot be persuaded that men who understand the
nature of the traffic in ardent spirit and its effects, and yet con-
'tinue in it, can, while they do this, give credible evidence that they
are good men. And nothing now hinders this conviction from be-
coming universal, so much as the fact tliai there are some church
members who still continue in the traffic. Yet so great isttbe light,
that notwithstanding their connection with the church, the convic-
tion is pervading the whole community, tliat they, in. violation noi

lol] FIFTH REPOKT. 1832fc 41

only of the divine law, but of their profession, regard money more
than God.

Certain it is, whether they know it or not, that few men in the
comn[}UQity are doing so much for the destruction of souls as those
professors of religion who continue in the traffic in ardent spiriu
A young man, who had been awakened to a deep conviction of his
guilt as a sinner, who was in great distress, and anxiously inquir-
ing what he should do to be saved, recollected that he had before
banished such feelings, by the use of spirituous liquor. In his
agony, be made his way to the place where it waiS sold-*— procui-
ed it, and drank it. lus distress abated. His eyes seemed to be
so enlightened that he could see that his former distress was de-
lusion. A scoffer came in. and began to ridicule him for hav*
isg, as be had heard, been serious. The young man denied it^
ridiculed the idea ; and has apparendy been in a state of moral
death ever since.

Another young man, who was in the habit of freely using ar-
dent spirit, was at one time tormented with the idea, that his wife,
who was anxious for h^r salvation, was ia danger of beooming
pious. He opposed her, and opposed all her .effi>rts tp secnre
eternal life. He strove, by all means in his power, to banish seri-
ous impressions from h^ mind. He succeeded ; and was permit-
ted again to hear her, like himself, cry Peace, peace, when Jeho-
vah said, " There is no peace." He was induced, not long after,
to give up the use of ardent spirit. His mind soon became
soleom, and he was deeply anxious for his own salvation. His
wife opposed him ; but he was too much in earnest to be hindered.
He sought the Lord while he was to be found- — called upon him
while he was near — ^forsook, as he believes,- every false way,
and turned heartily unto the Lord, who had mercy upon him,
and abundantly pardoned. He is now rejoicing in hope, and is
exceedingly anxious that his wife too, may become partaker of the
same great sahradon. She, however, remains as he once wished
to have her ; and whether the separation, which appears to have
been begun, is to continue and increase, till a great gulph opens
netween them, and is eternal, remains yet to be determined. A.
strong and permanent convicdon, however, rests upon his mind,
made apparently by the Holy Ghost, that had be not ceased to use
the drunkard's poison, which once excited him to violent hostility to
tbe truth, and unceasing opposition to those who embraced it, he
liever had experienced its illuminating and purifying power. Nor
is die connection between abstinence and the use of sti-ong drink
confined to this country. The British and Foreign Temperance
Society, with the Bishop of London at its head, and composed of
men whom no one can justly accuse of enthusiasm, say in iheir
Report, "We need not dwell upon the effects of obviously exces-*

42 AMEBICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETY. fl52

sive drinking. The habitual use of such portions of liquor as
have no apparent effect upon the capability for ordinary occupa-
tions, maintains, In multitudes of our fellow countr}'men, a contin-
ued excitement, which sets them free from effectual consciousness
of responsibility for every action, and renders impressions of un-
easiness, regarding their spiritual state, transient and inoperative.

" But, in many instances, to which the Committee refer with pe-
culiar satisfaction, persons unaccustomed to any obser\'ance of the
duties of religion, having been induced to join temperance
societies, have at first become thoughtful hearers, and ultimately
joyful and sincere receivers of Christian truth.

'^ Your Committee indulge, indeed, the highest hope that itas In-
stitution will be the honored instrument in removing from the
human mind a general and fatal delusion, which most powerfully
opposes the reception, and obstructs the progress of the Gospel
01 Salvation."

Even wicked men now understand, and confess, that between
the traj£c in ardent spirit, and a profession of the christian religion,
there is a total hostility. - They quote the fact of church members
continuing in the traffic, and thus being accessory to the pauper-
ism, crimes, and wretchedness of the community, as conclusive
proof that they are no better than others : they state that they wiU
ruin men, (and on their own principles,) for both worlds, for
money. And does not the excuse which such men often make,
"that if they did not sell rum, they would not sell so many other
things," countenance the idea ? What is their excuse, but an
acknowledgment that their object of supreme regard is money?
Your church member^ says one, is making more paupers and
more criminals than any other man in the town : and the great
difficulty, in many cases with this assertion, is, it is true. For his
own profit he is making paupers, says another, and I have to sup-
port them. He is ekcitmg men to commit crimes, and I have to
pay for the prosecution of them. He is taking from the very
fadier, whose children come from >day to day to my door and beg
for bread. He is covering that amiable woman, and her lovely
children, with gloom and wretchedness, more desolating and more
relentless than the grave. For twelve and a half cents, he will doom
that more than widowed mother to the more than death-like
agony of seeing her husband, not laid motionless by the hand of
her heavenly Father, bur staggering homeward under a living
death, inflicted by the hand of a brother in the church, of which
she is herself a member ; and who, before heaven and earth, has
covenanted to do her husband good, and good only, as he has op-
portunit)'. And he will doom her more than fatherless children,
not to stand and weep over their father's corpse, but to fiee for
iheir lives, lest, by their father's hand, they shoald be made

^53] 9iFTH R£PQAt« — 1S33. 43

^fi^s; and to leave -their mother) their last earthly bope^ to
y they fear, as mothers often have been, murdered by the
inds of her husband. -Are such men, it is asked, Chris-
lians? Are these the men who give up aU for Jesus Christ?
And yet such men there are in American lurches — ^who, if they
do not sell their Master for thqrty pieces c^ risiiver, do sell his dis^
ciples, to more than the agonies of crucifixion,, for one; and with-
out manifesting even as ilMicb compunction as. did Judas, when he
went away and hanged himselfi Are these men the friends of
liim who said, ^* Inasmuch as ye have done it, unto ope of the
least of these my disciples, ye have done it unto me i '' For a piece
of money will they thus agonize^^the Saviour ia the person of his
disciples, and yet profess to be his friends? Are these the men
whase grand object is ^* Glory to God in the hishest, good will to
men?" Who can believe itr Nor are sucbieelings, m view of
these abominations confined to men who make , no profession of
i«ligion. The consistent Christian beholds them, aiid from the
heart, cries, ^' Father, foi^ve them, for they Juiow not what they
do." But as he prays, his voioe is choked .sby the recollection
that they do know; or if they- do not. shut their eyes, would
know ; and if they do not, it is because t' he that doth evil hateth
the li^t, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be
reproved." And as voluntary ignorance will not for. a moment
screen them from the righteous indignation of the father of the
fatherless, and ibe judge of the widows, they are ready to say, " O
that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that
I mi^ weep day and night for the slain of the daughters of my
people;" Nor is their grief assuaged, or. th^ic righteous indigna-
tion abated, by die cold, heartless plea, .*' lif I should not do it,
sometx)dy else would" — a plea that mi^it fit a slave-dealer, or an
assassin, but not a disciple of him who said, *' If a man love me
let him keep my commands. — ^He that loveth houses or land, gold or
silver, more than me, is not worthy of me — and he that forsaketb
not aH that he hath, cannot' be my disciple. — He that findeth his
life shaU bse it, and he that losetb his life for my sake .and the
gospel's, shall keep it unto life eternal."

The Committee know of no principle of the gospel that will
justify churches of Jesus Christ in permitting their members, who
have opportunity to understand this subject, to continue this work
of death. From all parts of the country the lamentation now
comes, and often with tears, tliat the greatest difficuldes in the
way of the Temperance Reformation— of tlie success of tli^ Gos-
pel, and the salvation of men — are those members of the church,
who sllll seU arii^ni spirit* And if the church shall continue to

44 AMEBICAN T£XP£RAKCE SOCIETY. ri54

admit persons who are engaged in this traffic, as member ^
connive at it, by suffering those who are already in the churchjQ
contmue it, she will herself assume the responsibility, and be loav,
ed with the guilt of perpetuating intemperance and its abomina**
tions to the end of the world.

If the princijples of revelation and the facts which God, in his
providence and by his grace is developing, as those who abstaia from
all connection with ardent spirit, as a drink, in greater and greater
numbers become devoted to his sernce, and others, amidst all the
triumphs of his grace, are almost uniformly passed by ; and if the
knowledge of the fact that ten times as naany in proportion to the
number of one class are apparently renewed in the temper of their
minds as of the other, do not awaken and move the members of
the church to do their duty, — -they would not be persuaded though
one should rise from the dead. And should the temperance re-
formation cease to move onward, and the burning tide of desola-
tion again roll back upon us, let them not forget that they are the
cause. Should their own members, in greater numbers apostatize,
become abandoned, and the Holy Ghost depart, and their children
die drunkards, let them not forget they ai-e themselves the cause.
Should the drstgon, that old serpent; again renew hb vigor, and
pour out in greater abundance his poison — ^party spirit in our land
continue to rage, and become a diousand ibid more maiignant,
and burning — ^let thera, not forget that they are fumishiog the mate-
rials, and kindling the flames. Should they rise even into fury, and
burn wltfir increasing fierceness, .$11 the bands of social order burst
asunder and the foundations of society dissolve, let them not for-
get that they are the cause. And should death on his pale horse
pass through every place, and destruction follow, the universe
would pronounce it just. They that sow the wind shaH reap the
whirlwmd ; and they that sow death shall reap also death.

These views, wherever the means are used, are extending
through the country. Many churches utteriy refuse to admit any
persons as members who continue to traffic in ardent spirit, or to
allow this in any of their members. They do not believe that they
can allow it, without violating the known will of God. Nor is this,
as some have supiposed, adopting a new rule of discipline : it is only
applying the rule laid d6\^nin the Bible, correctly to this case, viz-
that those shall not be admitted to the church, or suffer^ to con-
tinue in it, who continue perseveringly in the practice of.open im-
morality. That being JicceSsory to the production of the pauperism,
crime, sickness, insanity, death and destruction, which are occa-
sioned by the sale of ardent spirit,* is an immorality, is by the Bi-
ble forever settled. And when this subject is presented, in the

155] iFlFTH KEPOKT.-«-l832. 46

spirit of the Bible, and illustrated by the niafufestations of provi-
dence, h is felt to be an inimorality of a bigb and ac;gravated char-
acter, by every impartial, candid and sober man. The truth on tliis
subject commends itself to the conscience, and moves strongly on
the heart. During the past year this subject has been presented,
by our secretary, to fourteen of the churches in Boston ; and eight
of those churches have now in them, no members who are engag-
ed in this traffic ; viz. Bowdoin Street, Green Street, Pine Street,
and Salem Churches ; the first and second Baptist Churches, the
Mariner's Church, and the Congregational Church in South Bos-
ton. Several churches in Salem, Beverly, and various other
places, making in all more than two hundred, are now free. And
when the church as a body shall treat the traffic in its true charac-
ter, it will be stamped as a gross immorality throughout the chrisdan
worid. Zion will then arise and shitie, her light being come, and
the glory of the Lord beaming upon her.

A city society has also been formed in Boston, during the past
year ; and societies formed or enlarged in fourteen different con-
gregations, embracing more than three thousand members. A so*
ciety of young men has also been formed on the plan of entire ab-
stiuenne from the use of ardent spirit and the traffic in it, embracing
more than 500 members.* Three State societies have also been
formed, during the past year, viz. in Maine, Rhode-Island, and
Dlinois. There is now a State society in each of the United States^
except Alabama, Louisiana and MisiSouri ; and it is hoped that,
before the close of another year, there will be one in every State
in the Union. ,

In the State of New York there has been added to temperance
societies, during the year, more than 60,000 members. In severd
counties the increase has been more than 200 per cent. They
have printed 350,000 circulars, and sent, them to every family in
the State, inviting each member, who has come to years of under-^
standing, to abstain from the use of ardent spirit, and to unite with
a temperance society. They have also printed and sent to all parts
of the State, 100,000 constitutions for family temperance societies,
in the following form, Viz.

"This society shall be composed of the heads of „this family*
and such other meigbers as shall hereunto subscribe tlieir names.
In subscribing the constitution we pledge ourselves to the follow-
ing rules, viz. • -- . . ,

I . We win use no ardent^ spirits ourselves, nor suffer the use of
tliem in our families, nor present them to our friends, or those in
our employment, unless in cases of extrerhe nccessk}^, for medicd-
[Airposes*

♦ Constant add itioha are also inacte lo the Society.

46 JiMERICAN TEMPEIUNCE SOCIETY. [156

2. Those of us who are, or shall hereafter become heads of
families, solemnly agree to teach our household the principles of
entire abstinence, and use our best endeavors to obtain their signa-
tures to this constitution.

3. A copy of this constitution, shall be pasted in our family Bi-
ble, to which our children, if any, shall be often pointed as the act

I of their parents ; and we solemnly enjoin it on them, as they revere
•• our memories, sacredly to regard these our sentiments."

They have expended in this benevolent work, dui'ing the year,
about $4,500.

The following facts, mentipned in their last Report, deserve here
t|) be recorded. In the town of Gates, there are sixty-nine gro-
ceries,*and twenty-six taverns, where ardent spirits are sold. A
^ngle ntHigistrate in Roehester, during the past year has committed
to the common jail one hundred sixty-two persons, and a hundred
and twenty 'five of them were habitual drunkards, or committed
their crimes in a state of intoxication.

Within the bounds of Ira and Cato Temperance Society, there
are seventy-five drunkards, and twelve have apparently b^eq re-
formed.

In the state prison of Auburn, are six hundred seventeen con-
victs, who, with reference to their former habits, may be classed
as follows, namely : intemperate persons five hundred sixt^-six ;
moderate drinkers one hundred thirty-two ; under the influence
of spirits when their crimes were committed, three hundred forty-
six ; discharged durbg the past year one hundred diirty-three, of
whom ninety-five had been drunkards.

Before the formation of the Hector Temperance Society, more
than 8,500 gallons of ardent spirit were annually consumed in
the town. Eleven distilleries were in operation. Since that time
the consumption of ardent spirit has diminished nine-tenths.
Nine of the distilleries, have been stopped, and two are now
struggling for a doubtful existence. At the commencement of
the temperance reformation there' was scarcely grain enough
raised in the town for the supply of its inhabitants ; and the last
year it is supposed that 60,000 bushels were sold for foreign
consumption. Such has been the effect of absdnence from ar-
dent spirit, in only a part of the people.

In West Lansing there were 11,000 gallons ofjspirits consumed
in 1831 ; seventy-one drunkards; $600 paid for the support of
paupers, and seven-eighths caused by inteniperance. There are
now five hundred and twenty-six members c^ Temperance Socie-
des, and nine drunkards have been reformed.

In Lockport nine merchants have abandoned the sale of spirits;
one of whom formerly sold 20,000 gallons in a year.

In Fishkill Landing, the Matte wan Faetor}' store formerly sold

157] nyTH bepokt. — 1832, 47

two hundred barrels of beer in a year : that factory, and the one
at Glenhan), employing a capital of $250,000, now cany on their
business without either spirit or beer.

In Clintonville, the iron forge where seventeen and a half tons
of iron are maufactured in a week, the extensive rolling miO,
chain and nail factories are all carried on without spii'its. In
Clintonville twenty-five persons, most of them husbands and
fathers, who were intemperate, have renounced the use of strong
drink ; and three-fourths of the harvest the past year was gather-
ed widiout the use of spirit. Cases of assault and battery, and
petty lawsuits, which before were of almost daily occurrence, are
DOW seldom known. *

In Cherry Valley, before the Temperance Society was formed
30,000 gallons of spirits were sold in a year; in 1831, 8000;
and to the inhabitants of the town only 6000. Of that, 4000 gal-
lons were retailed in small measure, at the rate, it is supposed, of
$2 per gallon, making ^8000 ; to which add 2000 gallons at
31| cents per gallon, and we have $8,625 paid out the last year
for ardent spirit, notwithstanding the use of it had been diminish-
ed more than fourfold. For conunon schools, they paid the last
Sir $1310. Four districts were not able to have any school,
eir town and county taxes were $2177 ; their ardent spirit
tax, notwithstanding its diminution, $8,625.

The Secretary of the ClarksvUle Temperance Society says,
there are in town three distflleries, manufacturmg annually 60,000
gallons; and for die greater accommodation of dae people, eleven
taverns and eight grog-shops are licensed to vend it, making one
to everv thirty-two voters m the town.

h ]Bufialo, as ascertained by the Young Men's Temperance
Society, there are more than one hundred places where ardent
spirit is sold, and more than six hundred intemperate persons.
Mneteen twentieths of the pauperism and crimes appear to
spring from intemperance; and a great majority of the male
adults who have died, m the last ten years, were intemperate men.

In Hamburg, with about 3500 inhabitants, three himdred barrels
of whiskey are drunk in a year ; and there are one hundred drunk-
ards.

In Penn-yan, with a population of about 1500, there are four-
teen stores in which no ardent spirit is sold. Two hardware
merchants, three saddle and harness makers, one hatter, eight
lawyers, five physicians, fifteen master mechanics, and one hun-
dred and twelve heads of families are members of temperance
societies. Of one hundred and seven, who have united with the
church, eighty-three had previously to their hopeful conversion
abstained entirely from the use of^ ardent spirit. Nevertheless,
three stores, four taverns, and eleven groceries sell ardent spirit ;

48 AMEBICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETT. [158

and tliere are in the village two hundred and twelve daily tooder-
ate drinkers,, and one hundred and eighty-sev^n immoderate;
fifty of the latter are empbyed on the c^nal ; one hundred thirty*
seven are permanent residents^ and sixty of diem habitual drunk-
ards; thirty-five are fathers, and four are mothers; and seventy-
seven are occasional drunkards.

In Starkey, out of forty-two deaths of all persons both old and
young, eight, nearly one-fifth of the whole, were occasioned
by drinking. The tax for pauperism occasioned direcdy by in-
temperance was, in 1830, $260 96 ; and as an equivalent for
the privilege of making these paupers, they received by way of
excise from die grocers $70, less than one-third enough to sup-
port the paupers which they made. The other two-thirds was
a burden upon the public. Is this fair ? is it just, that grocers, for
their own profit, should tax the whole community ? In that coun-
ty it is supposed there are eight hundred drunkards, and eleven
hundred persons who do not use the drunkard's drink. The profit
of making the3e drunkards is enjoyed .by the grocers; and is it
right that others, in this land of liberty and equal rights, should be
taxed for the support of them ?

In Henderson, with three hundred and fifty-seven voters,
$17,104 have within three years been received by grocers and
others for ardent spirit ; sixty-two - persons are drunkards,
and nine-tenths of the poor tax is occasioned by intemper-
ance. Would it not be just that those who have the profits of
making these drunkards should have also the burden of support-
mg them? And should they, and their families have to endure
all the wretchedness which they occasion to other families, would
they find it a profitable business ? or be ready to complain, if they
coiud not be Lcensed to pursue it ?

In Lewis, no person has a license to sell ardent spirit ; and
drunkards, if they will purchase the deadly drink, are obliged to
. go from ten to twenty miles to obtain it. How would the foun-
tains of sorrow be dried up, and ten thousand hearts leap for joy,
were this the case throughout our country. And were there none
in the land wicked enough to sell it as a drink, how many would
be saved from the drunkard's grave, and from the fire which no
man can quench.

And is it not criminal— rexceedbgly criminal, for the sake of
money to be knowmgly and actively instrumental in preventing ttie
salvation of such men ? In raising up others like them, and in per-
f^etuating their guilt and their anguish to endless aces ?

The traffic in ardent spirit seems to be marked, even in this
(lie, with decisive indications of divine abhorrence ; and with pre-
moniuoiis of sure and awful retribution in the life to come. In
3 great projportion of all the families that have been accustomed to

159] FIFTH REPORT. — 1832. 49

deal out this poison to others, one or more of the members, often
the head, and in many cases a majority of the members, have died
drunkards.

In Stephentown, N. Y. there have been fifty-four tavern-keepers
who sold ardent spirit ; thirty-seven did not succeed in business ;
sixteen are living, intemperate ; and four have died drunkards.

In Petersburgh there have been fifty-four inn-keepers ; five suc-
ceeded in their business, and of the forty-nine who did not, eleven
died drunkards.

In Sandlake there have been, in twenty years, twenty-nine inn-
keepers; seven made money, and five became drunkards.

In Brunswick there have been forty tavern-keepers, twenty-two
of them became intemperate, and four died drunkards.

In Wynants Kill and Albia there have been twenty-two ; and
nmeofthera failed by intemperance.

In Lansingburgh, of eighteen tavern-keepers, twelve are intem-
perate, or have died drunkards. Ten deaths have been occasion-
ed in the town by ardent spirit, during the past year. Here then,
in a angle county, of 207 tavern-keepers who sold ardent spirit,
seFenty-nine,more than one-third the w^hole number, became drunk-
ards themselves. And could we ascertain the number of their
children who also became drunkards^ and the number of the chil-
dren of those who, notwithstanding their business, remained sober ;
and how many became drunkards to whom they sold, and iiow
many of their children, and how many will through their instrumen-
tality; and could we catch a glimpse of the prospects of these
persons in the future world, we should - want no further evidence
that the sale of ardent spirit, as a drink, is a business which the
Ix)rd hath cursed. Not only does it tend to destroy others, but
it increases more than four-fold the prospect tliat ii Will bring upon
those who pursue it, and tlieir cliildren, the horrors of the second
death.

We rejoice therefore to find that there are now more than fifty tav-
erns in the State of New York, in which ardent spirit is not sold ;
and that there are more than 200,000 members of temperance
societies; that more than 1000 merchants have ceased to traffic in
the poison ; and that more than 2000 drunkards have ceased to
use intoxicating drink.

And here the Committee v.ould present distinctly to the consid-
eration of all sober men, the subject of temperance tavemsy and
temperance groceries ; establishments conducted by men who will
not consent, for tlie sake of money, to poison and destroy their
fel)ov7 men. CouW houses for the accommodation of the public,
ke opened in Boston^ Worcester, Northampton^ Pittsfieldy and qjher

fit

50 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE 30CIETT. [160

principal places, on all great roads, and especially in seaports, in
which the drunkard's drink is not sold, and no one doomed to the
torment of witnessing the evils which invariably attend the use of
it, and could such houses be patronized by all friends of temper-
ance, the comfort of travelers would be greatly promoted, thou-
sands be highly gratified, and a most important service rendered to
the communi^. It is indeed humiliating, and to many distress-
ing, that they camiot stop at a public house, without inhaliqg, on
the threshold, the stench of the drink of drunkardg; and that
those plaoes i^icb ought to be, and which might be so respecta-
ble, pleasant, and useful, shduld be to multitudes the gate-way of
death.

And as to temperance groceries, the Committee would suggest
whether it is not the duty of all friends of temperance to patronize
them, in preference to those whose owners are aiding in perpetu-
ating intemperance and in demoralizing and burdening the com-
munity. Even if tiiose men, in consequence of the profit which
they make on ardent spirit could afford to sell other things at a
lower rate, those who should purchase, and thus, in their estima-
tion, save something by trading at rum stores, would be aiding, to
the amount of what they save, in perpetuating drinking and
drunkenness, vnth all their evils, throughout the community.
And as it is a sin to make, so it is a sin to save property in a way
that is adapted to perpetuate, and does in fact tetid to perpetuate
mtemperance. And if none who submit to the guilt}*^ degradation
of aiding the drunkarjd in destroying himself, or assisting others to
become like him, should be patronized by any, who do not use
his poison, a mighty obstruction to the Temperance Reformation
would be removed, and a much greater number say,ed from tem-
poral and eternal ruin. The friends of temperance must come
out, and be separate from this iniquity. They must not by tlieir
influence aid in perpetuating this mischief, but in causing it to
cease. In no other way can they escape the guilt of being ac-
pessory to the making of drunkards, and the danger, in the day
of retribution, of being partakers in their plagues.

Nor would this in die least interfere with the rights of others.
It would merely be to abstain from conniving at iniquity, and
from aiding in perpetuating its evils ; which is not only the right,
but tlie duty of every man in the community. Abstinence, entire
abstinence from all known influence which is adapted in its na-
ture, and is found by experiment to aid in perpetuating intemper-
ance, is the duty of all. It is merely ceasing to do evil ; and just
in proportion as men take this course, will intemperance forever
ceape. Facts, as well as the character of the divine government,
warrant this conclusion, and afford the greatest encouragement to
ail friends of the cause to persevere with increasing activitv and

161 J FIFTH REPORT. 1832. 61

diligence till tlils foe of God and man is banished from the
earth. •

From the best information which the Committee have been able
to obtain, diey are led to conclude that more than 1,300,000 peo-
ple in the United States now abstain from the use of ardent spirit,
and from the furnishing of it for the use of others ; that there are
more than 4000 temperance societies, embracing more than 600,000
members ; that more than 1 600 distilleries have been stopped,
more than 4000 n^rchants ceased to traffic in the poison, and
more than 4,600 drunkards ceased to use intoxicating drinks.
There is also reason to believe that more than 20,000 persons are
now sober, who, had it not been for the temperance reformation
would have been sots ; a,nd that 20,000 families are now in ease
and comfort, with not a drunkard in them, or one who is becoming
a drunkard, who would otherwise have been in poverty, or
cursed with a drunken inmate ; tliat 60,000 children are saved
from the blasting influence of drunken parents, and 200,000 from
that parental influence, which tended to make tiiem drunkards.
There is also reason to believe that thousands and^ens of thousands
are members of christian churches, and rejoicing in hope of the
glory of God, who, had they continued to drink, had now been
without hope and witliout God in the world. There is reason to
believe also, that thousands and tens of thousands are now im-

fenitent, unbelieving, and on their way to the second death, who,
ad it not been for the sale and use of ardent spirit, had been
ripening for glory, and honor, and immortality, and eternal life ;
and that tens of thousands more have passed the boundaries of
hope, and are weeping and wailing, who, had it not been for this,
might have been in heaven. . And in view of such things, shall
we be told, that temperance is only a secular concern ? that it
affects only the bodies of men, not their souls, and is a concern
which relates to time only, not to eternity } that it ought not to
be discussed from the pulpit, on the sabbath? Should Satan
cause this to be believed, he would perpetuate intemperance to
the end of the world. Shall the fires which make tliis poison,
burn on the sabbath, and the use of it tend to counteract all the
merciful .designs of Jehovah, in establisliing that holy day ? Shall
Jehovah be insulted by the appearance in the sanctuary of men
who use it on the sabbath, and yet the sabbath not be occupied,
by light and love, to abolish the use of it ? Shall it cause the
word of the Lord, even from the pulpit, to fall as upon a rock, .
instead of being as the rain and the snow that come down from
heaven and water the earth ; and thousands who might be trees
of righteousness in the garden of the Lord, to stand like tlie heath
in the desert, not seeing good when good comes, and yet the pul-
pit be dum^Bi or speak only on week days, when those who traf-

S2 AMEIUCAK TEMPERAJfCE SOCIETY. [1C2

&c in it, have so much to do in furDishing the poison,, that they
have no time, and less inclination to hear ? If Satan can cause
this to be believed, and those who manufacture, sell, and use the
weapons of his warfare, and multiply the trophies of his victory
not hear of their sin on the sabbath, when God speaks to the con-
science ; or be entreated from the pulpit, his mercy's seat, by the
tears and blood of a Saviour, to flee from coming damnation, the
adversary will keep possession of his strong hold. Church mem-
bers will garrison it, and provision it, and fight for him. From the
communion table, he will muster recruits, and find officers, in
those who distribute the elements, to fight his battles, perpetuate his
warfare, and people with increasmg numbers his dark domain, to
the end of time. If we may not, in this warfare fight, on the Lord's
day, when he himself goes forth to the battle, and commands on the
field — ^if we may not use his weapons, forged in heaven ; and from
the high place 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 tlie glittering of our spear. Leviathan is not so
tamed. There is no coping with him, but with weapons of hea-
venly temper from the armory of Jehovah, on the day when he
goes forth, and creation, at his command, stands still to witness the
conflict. Then it is, as conscience kindled from above, blazes,
and thunders in the heart of the enemy, that he is consumed by
the breath of the Almighty, and destroyed by the brightness of bis
coming.

Never was an idea farther from the truth, tlian that which rep-
resents the Temperance Reformation as only a secular concern,
afiiecting principally the body ; or confined in its influence to this
world, or to time ; to be discussed only on the week day, and that
as a matter of convenience, expediency, or domestic comfort,
pecuniary profit, or reputation, and respectability. Its principal
influence, and that which in importance eclipses and swallows up
every other, is upon the soul, and for eternity ; according to tlie
sentiments of the learned judge referred to— As much as the soul
is worth more than the body, as much as eternity is longer than
time, so much more important is its influence on the soul than on
the body, and with regard to eternity than with regard to time.
And till its influence on the character, prospect, . and destiny of
the soul for eternity shdl be exhibited on the sabbath, from the
pulpit, by the ministers of Christ, to every distiller, and traflicker,
and user of the drunkard's poison in the land, who does not, on
account of doing evil, so bate the light as to refuse to come to it,
tliis engine of death eternal will not cease to operate, nor this
citadel of Satan be demolished. Ministers may think that they
could not be supported without the avails of the distillery, and the

163] FIFTH REPORT. 1832. 53

dram-shop, or the countenance of those who furnish or support
them ; and churches may think that it is not ecclesiastical for
them to move, or for their members to act on tlie subject ; and
ix)th may hope that others, temperance agents, or societies will
do the work, and accomplish the object without tlieir assistance,
and that they had better say nodiing, and do nothing, but mourn
iu secret and pray ; though church members continue to carry on
the traffic, and cause thousands eternally to die ; yet it is not so.
No minister of Christ, in doing the work of Christ, needs the
gains of ungodliness ; and no church of Christ is strengthened, or
sancdfied by having rum-makers, and rum-sellers, and rum-drink-
ers for members. None such formed the family of the Saviour,
the company of his apostles, or any of that bright constellation,
who, in their day, through faith and patience, entered in, and took
possession of the promises. They were men of another sort.
They could not look up to God, and pray, " Lead us not into
temptation," and then, go away and tempt their fellow men to ruin,
and yet hope for his favor. They felt bound to do to others, as
they would that Grod should do to them. And if they did not
strive to use their influence, not to corrupt and destroy, but
to save others, they knew tliat God would not save them. Nor
will he save any, who are not, in this respect, like them. In
vain will they plead their connecdon with the church, in arrest oi
condemnation, for destroying their feUow men. And if they
continue that work of death, and the church contbues to hold
them within its sacred enclosure, and spread over them the pro-
tectmg banner of the cross, she will be judged as accessory, and
held responsible for the mighty ruin. And when the overflow-
ing scourge shall pass through, judgment will begin, where, bad
reformation begun and continued, it had wrought out salvation,
at die house of God. And whether the rainbow of mercy which
has begun to appear, shall extend, and encircle the world, or
earth be enveloped in blackness of darkness, now, under Christ,
hangs on the decision of the church which he hath purchased
with bis own precious blood. Let her members extract flrom the
boundes of his kindness, the material for burning out the con-
sciences of their fellow men, — ^let them set it on fire, apply it, and
make it a business, to spread it through the community, and the
smoke of their torment will cover the whole earth, and spread
through all its dwellings darkness, lamentation, and mourning, and
wo. A fire in (3od's anger wiU burn continued perpetrators of
such wickedness, even to the lowest hell. They would keep the
jewels from the crown of his Son, and ruin the souls for whom
he died.

But let ministers and churches do their duty, free themselves
irom all participation in, or connivance at iniquity, and let them,

54 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETT. [164

by light and love, poured out kindly and perpetually, labor to per-
suade all, from supreme rejgard to God, and good will to men, to
do the same, and the night and wo of ages will pass away, and
the Sun of Righteousness, rising in his glory, will pour round the
globe the Ufe and the bliss of universal and unceasing day.

Already, in different parts of Africa, are there Temperance
Societiesj and African newspapers state, that of all the reforms
in this reforming age, this is the greatest. The way is preparing
to exclude the scourge of the white man from the whole continent
which he has cursed.

The Emperor of China has forbidden it to be sold to the
nominal Christian, because it makes him demoralize the heathen,
and sinks him too low even to associate with them.

In the Sandwich Islands, a thousand in a day covenanted not to
make, sell, or use it. The manufacture and sale of it are prohib-
ited by law, and a man was fined twoliundred dollars, for selling
a bottle of It. A Temperance Society has also been formed, de-
signed to embrace the nation. " This society," says one who was
present, " it is hoped will be a permanent institution, a happy safe-
guard to the present, and a lasting blessing to fiiture genera-
tions— an institution which may yet claim kindred with the nobler
National Temperance Society of the United States, which now
waves the banner of deliverance to our drowning cbimtry, and
gives her high-bom pledge to stay die glory that was departing
from her. The striting fact of a southern dealer in the ^ United
States emptying his casks on the ground, because he could not
conscientiously sell so dangerous and destructive an article,
strikes oiir serious natives, as it does me, as one of the best efforts
that has been known for exhausting that fbuntaiil 6f death which
is desolating the earth. Let every dealer in that ' kind of mer-
chandize follow so noble, so safe an example, and Moy to the
world,' would be the song of the rising generation. I am told
that oi^r young king has ordered a cask of spirits on board one of
his brigs, to be poured into the sea — ^that, die British consul ap-
plied to the Grovernor for permission to biiy up rum for his Bri-
tannic Majesty^s ships when they touch here, and was denied, —
that others applied for the pri^lege of ilelling to foreigners only,
not to natives, and the reply of the Governor was, ' To horsesy
catthj and hogs you may sell rum^ hut to real men you must not
on theseshoire^J*^

Such is the language of a ruler, lately in pagan darkness,
among a nation of drunkards. A single owner of rum in the
United States, who sinks it in the earth, rather than poison and
destroy his fellow men, may exert influence in the promotion of

165] FIFTH KEPORT. — 1832. 65

salvation over the whole earth ; while he, who, from the paltry
love of gain, continues to sell it, tends to perpetuate sin and death
throughout the human family, forever. Both exert influence
which may be felt after earth is dissolved ; and told, the one in
strains of glory rismg higher and higher, the other in tones of an-
guish sinking deeper and deeper, to endless being.

And when Ethiopia is rising and stretching out her bands, and
the isles of the sea are receiving and obeying God's law ; when
China is struggling to keep off death from her people — ^Iceland in
su|)plication for deliverance is melting ; and the whole creation
giuaneth and travaileth in pain — ^when the Saviour, with a V(UC6
which pervades creation, is proclaiming, Who is on the Lord's
side? — ^Who? — ^and the universe look with intense gaze to witness
the result; — ^and when a single individual, by coming out openly
and decidedly on the Lord's side, and sacnficing, in a single in-
stance, money to dut^, may roll a wave of salvation on the other
side of the globe; shall professed members of that church which
Christ has bought with his blood, take part with the enemy of all
good, and assist in perpetuating his dark and dismal reign over
souls, to endless ages? — If toey do, God will write, for the
universe to look at. To wham they yield themselves servants to
obey, Ks servants they are. And the Register, in blazing capitis,
will be eternal. And though men who continue knowingly and
habitually to do evil, and to hate the light, may, ui this worid,
refuse to come to it, and when it approaches lltein may attempt
to flee away ; in the future world it will blaze upon them in one
unclouded vision of infinite brightness, and show the hearts of all
who persevere in wickedness to be more black dian darkness it-
self forever.

88 AMXRiGAN TEMPERAircx socicrr. {108

«. (P. 18.)

(

OK THK

IMMORAL! T Y

THE TRAFFIC IN ARDENT SPIRIT.

. , No. I.

Ardxnt spirit is compdiBea of alcohol and water, in nearly equal
proportions. Alcohol is composed of hydrogen, carbon, and
ojtygen, in the proportion of about 13, 52, and 35 parts to the
hundred. It is, m its nature, as manifested by its effects, a potion
When taken in any quantity, it disturbs healthy action in the hu-
omn system, and in i<rge doses suddenly destroys life; it re-
sembles opiiuA in its nature, and arsenic in its effects. And
though wlien tnixed with water, as in ardent spirit, its evils are
somewhat modified, they are by no means prevented, Ardent
spirit is an enetny to the human constitution, and cannot be used
as a druxk, without inju.i^y. Its ultimate tendency invariably, is,
to produce weakness, not strength; sickness, not health; death,
not life.

Consequently j to use it is an immorality. It is a violation of
the will of G^od^ and a sin in magnitude equal to all the evils,
temporal and eternal, which flow from it. '^o furnish ardent spirit
lor the use of others, is a still greater sin, inasmuch as this
tends to produce evils greater than for an individual merely, to
drink it. And if a man knows, or has the opportunity of know-
ing, the nature and effects of the; traffic in this article, and yet
continues to be engaged in it, he is an immoral man, and ought
to be viewed and treated as such throughout the world ; for the
following reasons, viz.

I. Ardent spirit, as a drink, is not needful. All men lived
without it, and all the business of the world was conducted with-
out it, for thousands of years. It is not three hundred years
since it began to be generally used as a drink in Great Britain;
nor one hundred years since it became common in America. Of
course, it is not needful.

II. It is not useful. Those who do not use it, are,^ other things
being equal, in all respects better than those who do. Nor does
the fact that persons have used it with more or less frequency,
in a greater or smaller quantity, for a longer or shorter time,
render it either needful, or useful, or harmless, or right for them

199J FIFTH BEPORT. 1832* — APPENDIX. 89

to continue to use it. More than a million of persons in this
country, and multitudes in other countries, who once did use it,
and thought it needful, have, within five years, ceased to use it;
and they have found that they are in all respects better without
it. And this number is so great, of all ages, and conditions, and
employments, as to render it certain, should the experiment be
fairjymade, that this would be the case with all. Of course^ ar-
dent spirit, as a drink, is not useful.

III. It is hurtful. Its whole influence is injurious to the body
and the mind, for this world, and the world to come.

1. It forms an unnecessary, artificial, and very dangerous ap-
petite; which, by gratification, like the desire for sinning in the
man who sins, tends continually to increase. No man can form
this appetite without increasing his danger of dying a drunkard,
and exerting an influence which tends to perpetuate^ drunken-
ness and all its abominations to the end of the world.* Its very
formation, therefore, is a violation of the will of God. It is, in its
nature, an immorality, and springs from an inordinate desire of
a kind, or degree of bodily enjoyment — animd gratification,
which God has shown to be inconsistent 'with his glory, and the
highest good of man. It shows that the person who forms it
is not satisfied with the proper gratification of those appetites
and passions which God has given him, or with that kind and
degree of bodily enjoyment, which infinite wisdom, and goodiiess
have prescribed, as the utmost that can be possessed consist-
ently with a person's highest happiness and usefulness, the gloi'^
of his Maker, and the good of' the univefsie. That person covets
more animal enjoyment: to^ obtain it, he forms a new appetite, and
in doing this, he rebels against Grod. That desire for increased
animal enjoyment, from which this rebellion spriiigs, is sin ; and
all the evils which follow in its train^ are only so many voices
by which Jehovah declares ''the way of transgressors is hard."-
The person who has formed an appetite for ardeiit spirit, and
feels uneasy., if he does not gratify it, Has violated the divine ar-
rangement; disregarded the divide will; and if he \inderstands
the nature of what he has done, and approves pf it, and continues
in it, it will ruin him.. He will show that there is one thing, in
which he will nbt have God to reign over him. And should he
keep the ^whole law, and yet continue knowingly, habitually,
wilfully, and perseyeringly to offend iii Ihat one point, he will
perish. Then, and^hen only, according to fhe Bible, can any
manbe sav^d, when he has respect to all the known will of God,
and is dis{^sed to be governed by it. He must carry out into
practice, with regard to the body arid the soul, ** not niy will, b^t
thine be done." Bis grand object must be to know the will of
God; and when he knows it, to be governed by if, and with re-
gard to all things, lliis, the man who is not contented with that
portion of animal enjoyment which the proper gratification* of
the appetites and passions which God hsts given him will afford,

14 8*

90 AMSAICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETT. [200

but forms an appetite for ardent spirit, or continues to gratify it,
after it is formed, does not do. In this respect, if he understands
the nature and effects of his actions, he prefers his own will to the
known will of God, and is ripening to hear, from the lips of his
Judge, *' those mine enemies, that would not that I should reign
over them, bring them hither and slay them before me." And the
men who traffic in this article, or furnish it as a drink for others,
are tempting them to sin; and thus uniting their influence with
that of the devil, forever to ruin them. This is an aggravated im-
morality; and the men who continue to do it, are immoral men.

2. The use of ardent spirit, to which the traffic is ac-
cessory, causes a great and wicked waste of property. All that
the users pay for this article is to them lost, and worse than
lost. Should the whole which they use, sink into the earth, or
mingle with the ocean, it would be better for them, and better
for the community, than for them to drink it. All which it takes
to support the paupers, and prosecute the crimes which ardent
spirit occasions, is, to those who pay the money, utterly lost. All
the diminution of profitable labor which it occasions, through im-
providence, idleness, dissipation, intemperance, sickness, insani-
ty, and premature deaths, is, to the community, so much utterly
lost. And these items, as has often been shown, amount, in the
United States, to more than $100,000,000 a year. To this enor-
mous and wicked waste of property, those who traffic in the ar-
ticle are knowingly accessory.

A portion of what is thus lost by others, they obtain them-
selves; but without rendering to others any valuable equivalent.
This renders their business palpably unjust; as really so, as if
they should obtain that money by gambling; and it is as really
immoral. It is also unjust in atiother respect ; it burdens the com-
munity with taxes, both for the support of pauperism, and for the
prosecution of crimes ; and without rendering to that community
any adequate compensation. These taxes, as shown by facts, are
four times as great as they would be, if there were no sellers of
ardent spirit. All the profits, with the exception perhaps of a
mere pittance which he pays for license, the seller puts into his
own pocket; while the burthens are thrown upon the community.
This is palpably unjust, and utterly immoral. Of 1969 paupers,
in different alms-houses in the United States, 1790, according
to the testimony of the overseers of the poor, were made such by
spirituous liquor. And of 1764 criminals in difiTerent prisons,
more than 1300 were either intemperate men," or were under the
power of intoxicating liquor, when the crimes, for which they
were imprisoned, were committed. And of 44 murders, accord-
ing to the testimony of those who prosecuted or conducted the
defence of the murderers, or witnessed their trials, forty-three
were committed by intemperate men, or upon intemperate men, or
those who at the time of the murder were under the power of strong
drink.

20lJ riFTH REPORT.— 1632. ^A.PP£NBl^. 91

A distinguished Senator in Congress,* after thirty years exten-
sive practice as a lawyer, gives it as his opinion, that four-fiflha
of all the crimes committed in the United States cajn be traced
to intemperance. A similar proportion is stated, from the highest
authority, to result from the same cause in Great Britain. ' And
when it is considered that more than 200 murders are committed,
and more than 50,000 crimes are prosecuted in the United States
in a year; and that such a vast proportion of them are occasioned
by ardent spirit,— can a doubt remain on the mind of any sober
man, that the men who know these facts, and yet continue to
traffic in this article, are among the chief causes of crime, and
ought to be viewed and treated as immoral men? It is as really
immoral for a man by doing wrong to excite others to commit
crimes, as to commit them himself ; and as really unjust wrong-
fully to take another's property, with his consent, as without it.
And though it might not be desirable to have such a law; yet
00 law in the statute book is more righteous than one which
should require that those who make paupers should support
them, and those, who excite others to commit crimes, should pay
the cost of their prosecution, and 3hould, with those who commit
them, bear all the evils. And so long as this is not the case,
^hey will be guilty, according to the divine law, of defrauding,
as well as tempting and corrupting their fellow^ men. And
though such crimes cannot be prosecuted, and justirce be awarded
in human courts, jtheir perpetrators will be held to answer, and
will meet with full and awful retribution, at the divine tribunal.
And when judgment is laid to the line, and righteousness to the
plummet, they will appear as they really are, criminals,- and
will be viewed and treated as such forever.

There is another view in which the traffic in ardent spirit is
manifestly highly immoral. It exposes the children of those who
use it, in an eminent degree to dissipation and crime. Of 690
children prosecuted and imprisoned for crimes, more than 400
were from intemperate families, l^hus the venders of this liquor
6xcrt an influence which tends strongly to ruin not only those who
use it, but their children; to render them more than four times
as liable to idleness, profligacy, iand ruin as the children of those
who do not use it; and through them, to extend these evils to
others, and to perpetuate them to future generations. This is a sin
of which all who traffic in ardent spirit are guilty. Often, the
deepest pang which a dying parent feels for his children, is, lest
through the instrumentality of such men, they should be ruined.
And is it not horrible wickedness for them, by exposing for sale
one of the chief causes of this ruin, to tempt them in the way to
death. If he who takes money from others without an equiva-

* Hon. Felix Gnuidy, Uuited States Scuator from the St^e of TeuaQfitf9e»

92 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETY. [202

lent, or wickedly destroys property, is an immoral man, what is
he who destroys character; who corrupts the children and youth,
and exerts an influence to extend and perpetuate immorality and
crime through future generations? This, every vender of ardent
spirit does; and if he continues in this business with a knowledge
of the subject, it marks him as an habitual and persevering vie*
lator of the will of God.

3. Ardent spirit impairs, and oflen destroys reason. Of 78 1
maniacs, in different insane hospitals, 392, according to the testi-
mony of their own friends, were rendered maniacs by strong
drink. And the physicians who had the care of them, gave it as
their opinion, that this was the case with many of the others.
Those who have had extensive experience, and the best opportu-
nities for observation with regard to this malady, have stated,
that probably from one half to three fourths of the cases of insan-
ity, in many places, are occasioned in the same way. Ardent
spirit is a poison, so diffusive and subtil that it is found by actual
experiment, to penetrate even the brain.

Dr. Kirk, of Scotland, dissected a man who died in a fit of in-
toxication, a few hours after death. And, from the lateral ven-
tricles of the brain, he took a fluid distinctly visible to the smell,
as whiskey; and when he applied a candle to it in a spoon, it took
fire, and burnt blue; ''the lambent blue flame," he says, " char-
acteristic of the poison, playing on the surface of the spoon for
some seconds."

It produces also in the children of those who use it freely, a
predisposition to intemperance, insanity, and various diseases of
both body and mind; which, if the cause is continued, becomes
hereditary, and is transmitted from generation to generation; oc-
casioning a diminution of size, strength, and energy; a feeble-
ness of vision, a feebleness and imbecility of purpose, an obtuse-
ness of intellect, a depravation of moral taste, a premature old
•ge, and a general deterioration of the whole character. This is
the case in every country, and in every age.

Instances are known, where the first children of a family, who
were born when their parents were temperate, have been healthy,
intelligent, and active ; while the last children, who were born
afler the parents had become intemperate, were dwarfish, and
idiotic. A medical gentleman writes, <' I have no doubt that a
disposition to nervouis diseases of a peculiar character, is trans-
mitted by drunken parents.'^ Another gentleman states, that,
in two families within his knowledge, the different stages of in-
temperance in the parents, seemed to be marked by a corres-
ponding deterioration in the bodies and minds of the children.
In one case, the eldest of the family is respectable, industrious,
and accumulates property ; the next is inferior, disposed to be ih-
dustrious, but spends all he can earn in strong drink. The third
is dwarfish in body and mind, and, to use his own language, '* a
poor miserable remnant of a man."

203] FIFTH REPORT. 1832. APPENDIX. 93

In another family of daughters, the first is a smart, active girl,
with an intelligent well-balanced mind; the others are afilicted
with different degrees of mental weakness and imbecility, aad
the youngest is an idiot. Another medical gentleman states,
that the first child of a fartily, who was born when the habits of
the mother were good, was healthy and promising;, while the
four last children, who were born after the mother had become
addicted to the habit of using opium, appeared to be stupid; and
all, at about the same age, sickened and died of a disease ap-
parently occasioned by the habits of the mother.

Another gentleman mentions a case more common, and more
appalling still. A respectable and influential man early in life
adopted the habit of using a little ardent spirit daily, because, as
he thought, it did him good. He, and his six children, three
SODS and three daughters, are now in the drunkard's grave, and
the only surviving child is rapidly following after, in the same
way, to the same dismal end.

Tlie best authorities attribute one half the madness, three-
fourths of the pauperism, and four-fiflhs of the crimes and wretch-
edness in Great Britain, to the use of strong drink.

4. Ardent spirit increases the number, frequency and violence of
diseases, and tends to bring those who use it, to a premature grave.
In one place,* of about 7506 people, twenty-one persons were killed
by it in a year. In another,! of 1 8 1 deaths, twenty were occasioned
in the same way. Of ninety-one adults, who died in another cityj
in one year, thirty-two, according to the testimony of the Medi-
cal Association, were occasioned, directly or indirectly, by strong
drink'; and a similar proportion had been occasioned by it in
previous years. In another city,^ of sixty-seven adult deaths in
one year, more than one-third were caused by intoxicating liquor.
In another city, |1 of 4,^92 deaths, 700 were, in the opinion of
Jhe College of Pnysicians and Surgeons, caused in the same way.
The physicians of another city IT state that of thirty-t\yo per-
sons, male and female, who died in 1B23, above eighteen years of
age. ten, or nearly one-third, died of diseases occasionpd by in-
temperance ; that eighteen were males, and that of these, nine,
or one half, died of intemperance. They also say, ** When we
recollect that even the temperate use, as it is called, of ardent
spirits, lays the foundation of a numerous train of incurable mal-
adies, we feel justified in expressing the belief, that were the use
of distilled liquors entirely discontinued, the number of deaths-
among the male adults would be diminished at least one half"

Says an eminent physician, *' Since our people generally have
given up the use of spirit, they have not had more than half as
much sickness as they had before; and I have no doubt, should
Jill the people of the United States cease to use it, that nearly

* Portsmouth, N. H. t Salem, Mass. X New Haven, Conn.

^ New BmiiBwick, N. J. li Philadelphia, Pcnn. IT Annapolis, Maryland.

14*

94 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETY. [204

half the sickness of the country would cease." Says another,
after forty years, extensive practice, ** Half the men every year
who die of fevers might recover, had they not been in the habit
of using ardent spirit. Many a man, down for weeks with a
fever, had he not used ardent spirit, would not have been
confined to his house a day. He might have felt a slight
headache; but a little fasting would have removed the diiTiculty,
and the man been well. And many a man who was never in-
toxicated, when visited with a fever, might be raised up as -weU
as not, were it not for that state of the system, which daily mod-
erate drinking occasions, who now, in spite of all that can be
done, sinks down and dies."

Nor are we to admit for a moment the popular reasoning, as
applicable here, ''that the abuse of a thing is no argument
against its use ; ^ for, in the language of the late Secretary of
the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Philadelphia,* * * AH
use of ardent spirits (t. e. as a drink) is an abuse. They are mis-
chievous under all circumstances." Their tendency, says Dr.
Frank, when used even moderately, is to induce disease, prema-
ture old age, and death. And Dr. Trotter states, that no cause
of disease has so wide a range, or so large a share as the use of
spirituous liquors.

Dr. Harris states that the moderate use of spirituous liquors has
destroyed many who were never drunk; and Dr. Kirk gives it as
his opinion, that men who were never considered intemperate, by
daily drinking have often shortened life more than twenty years ;
and that the respectable use of this poison, kills more men than
even drunkenness. Dr. Wilson gives it as his opinion, that the
use of spirit in large cities, causes more diseases than confined
air, unwholesome exhalations, and the combined influence of all
other evils.

Dr. Cheyne, of Dublin, Ireland, after thirty years practice and
observation, gives it as his opinion, that should ten young men
begin at twenty-one years of age to use but one glass of two
ounces a day, and never increase the quantity, nine out of ten
would shorten life more than ten years. But should moderate
drinkers shorten life only five years, and drunkards only ten, and
should there be but four moderate drinkers to one drunkard, if
would, in thirty years, cut off, in the United States, 32,400,000
years of human life. An aged physician in Maryland, states,
that when the fever breaks out there, the men who do not use
ardent spirit, are not half as likely as other men to have it; and
that, if they do have it, they are ten times as likely to recover.
In the island of Key West, on the coast of Florida, after' a great
mortality, ft was found that every person who had died, was iu
the habit of using ardent spirit. The quantity used was after*

^. Samuel Emlen^ I!4« P-

205] FIFTH REPORT. — 1832. APPENDIX. 95

wards diminished more than nine-tenths, and the inhabitants be-
canlte remarkably healthy.*

A gentleman of great respectability from the South, ' states,
that those who fall victims to Southern climes, are almost inva-
riably addicted to the free use of ardent spirit. Dr. Mosely,
after a long residence in the West Indies, declares, ** that per-
sons who drink nothing but cold water, or make it their principal
drink, are but little affected by tropical climates; that they un-
dergo the greatest fatigue without inconvenience, and are not so
subject as others to dangerous diseases;" and Dr. Bell, ** that
rum, when used even moderately, always diminishes the strength,
and renders men more susceptible of disease ; and that we might
as well throw oil mto a house, the roof of which is on fire, in or-
der to prevent the flames from extending to the inside, as to pour
ardent spirits into the stomach, to prevent the effect of a hot sua
upon the skin."

Of 77 persons found dead in different regions of country, 67,
according to the coroners' inquests, were occasioned by strong
drink. Nine-tenths of those who die suddenly afler the drinking
of cold water, have been habitually addicted to the free use of
ardent spirit; and that draught of cold water, that effort, or fa-
tigue or exposure to the sun, or disease, which a man who uses
no ardent spirit will bear without inconvenience or danger, will
often kill those who use it. Their liability to sickness and to
death is oflen increased ten fold. And to all these evils, those
who continue to traffic in it, after all the light which God in his
providence has thrown upon the subject, are knowingly accesso-
ry. Whether they deal in it by wholesale or retail, by the car-
go or the glass, they are, in their influence, drunkard-makers.
So are also those who furnish- the materials; those who advertif?e
the Hquors, and thus promote their circulation; those who lease
their tenements to be employed as dram-shops, or stores for the
sale of ardent spirit; and those also who purchase their groceries
of spirit dealers rather than of others, for the purpose of saving
to the amount, which the sale of ardent spirit enables such men
without loss to undersell their neighbors. These are all acces-
sory to the making of drunkards, and as such will be held to
answer at the divine tribunal; So are those men who employ
their shipping in transporting the liquors, or are in any way know-
ingly aiding and abetting in perpetuating their use, as a drink,
in the community. '

Four-fifths of those who are swept away by that direful mala-
dy the cholera, are sucli as have been addicted to the use of in-
toxicating drinl^; Dr. Bronson, of Albany, who lately spent
some time in Canada, and whose professional character and stand-
ing give great weight to his opinions, says, ** Intemperance of any

* AddresB of Judge Crapph — Fourth Report of the American Temperance So-
eicty, p. 91. * ~*

96 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETY. £200

Species, but particularly intemperance in the use of tHstUled
liquors, has been a more productive cause of cholera than any
other; and indeed than all others." And can men, for the sake
of money, make it a business knowingly and perseveringly to
furnish the most productive cause of cholera, and not be guilty
of blood ? not manifest a recklessness of character which will
brand the mark of vice and infamy on their foreheads ? '' Drunk-
ards and tipplers," he adds, '^ have been searched out with such
unerring certainty, as to show that the arrows of death have not
been dealt out with indiscrimination. An indescribable terror has
spread through the ranks of this class of beings. They see the
bolts of destruction aimed at their heads, and every one calls
himself a victim. There seems to be a natural affinity between
cholera and ardent spirits." What, then, in days of exposure
to this malady, is so great a nuisance as the places which furnish
this poison ? Says Dr. Rhinelander, who with Dr. De Kay was
deputed from New York to visit Canada, " We may ask who are
the victims of this disease ? I answer, the intemperate it invari-
ably cuts off." In Montreal, afler 1200 had been attacked, a
Montreal paper states, that ^' not a drunkard who has been attack-
ed has recovered of the disease, and almost all the victims have
been at least moderate drinkers." In Paris, the 30,000 victims
were, with few exceptions, those who freely used intoxicating
liquors. Nine-tenths of those who died of the cholera in Poland
were of the same class.

In Petersburg and Moscow, the average number of deaths in
the bills of mortality, during the prevalence of the cholera, when
the people ceased to drink brandy, was no greater than when they
used it, during the usual months of health — showing that brandy
and attendant dissipation, killed as many people in the same time,
as even the cholera itself, that pestilence which has spread sack-
cloth over the nations. And shall the men who know this, and
yet continue to furnish it, for all who can be induced to buy,
escape the execration of being the destroyers of their race ? Of
more than 1000 deaths in Montreal, it is stated that only two were
members of Temperance Societies; and that as far as is known
no members of Temperance Societies in Ireland, Scotland, or
England, have as yet fallen victims to that dreadful disease.

From Montreal, Dr. Bronson writes, "Cholera has stood up
here, as it has done every where, the advocate of Temperance.
It has pleaded most eloquently, and with tremendous effect.
The disease has searched out the haunt of the drunkard, and has
seldom left it without bearing away its victim. Even moderate
drinkers have been but little better off. Ardent spirits, in any
shape and in all quantities, have been highly detrimental. Some
temperate men resorted to them, during the prevalence of the
malady, as a preventive, or to remove the feeling of uneasiness
about the stoniath, or for the purpose of drowning their appre-
iiensions; but thev did it at their peril."

207") FIFTH REPORT. 1832. APPENDIX. 97

Says the Liondon Morning Herald, afl&r stating that the chol-
era fastens its deadly grasp upon this class of men, ^'The same
preference for the intemperate and uncleanly has characterized
the cholera every where. Intemperance is a qualification Mvhich
it never overlooks. Often has it passed harmless over a wide
population of temperate country people, and poured down, as an
overflowing scourge', upon the drunkards of some distant town."
Says another English publication, ''All experience, l)oth in Great
Britain and elsewhere, has proved, that those who have been
addicted to drinking spirituous liquors, and indulging in ir-
regular habits, have been the greatest sufferers from cholera.
In some towns the drunkards are a]l dead. Rammohun Fingee,
the famous Indian doctor, says, with regard to India, that people
who do not take opium, or spirits, do not take this disorder,
even when they are with those who have it. Monsieur Huber,
who saw 2,160 persons perish in twenty-five days, in one town,
in Russia, says, ''It is a most remarkable circumstance, that
persons given to drinking have been swept away like flies. In
Tiflis, containing 20,000 inhabitants, every drunkard has fallen-^
all are dead, not one remains."

And Dr. Sewall, of Washington city, in a letter from New
York, states, that of 204 cases of cholera in the Park Hospital,
there were only six temperate persons, and that those had re-
covered; while 122 of the others, when he wrote, had died; and
that the facts were similar in all the other hospitals.

'the men then who furnish ardent spirit as a drink for their fel-
low men, are manifestly inviting the ravages and preparing the
victims of that fatal disease, and of numerous other mortal dis-
eases; and when inquisition is made for blood, and the effects of
their employment are examined for the purpose of rendering to
them, according to their work, they will be found, should they
continue, to be guilty of knowingly destroying their fellow men.

What right have men, by selling ardent spirit, to increase the
danger, extend the ravages, and augment and perpetuate the
malignancy of the cholera, and multiply upon the community
numerous other mortal diseases.^ Who cannot see that it is a
foul, deep, and fatal injury inflicted on society.^ that it is, in
a high degree, cruel and unjust? that it scatters the popula-
tion of our cities, renders our business stagnant, and exposes our
sons and our daughters to premature and sudden death ? And so
manifestly is this the case, that the Board of Health of the city
of Washington have declaimed that the vending of ardent spirit,
in any quantity , is a, nuisance; and, as such have ordered that it
be discontinued for the space of 90 days. This has been done
in selMefence, to save the community from the sickness and
death which the vending of spirit is adapted to occasion. Nor
is this tendency to occasion disease and death, confined to the
time when the cholera is raging.

98 Ji.U£iUCAN TCMPERANCC SOCIETY* f208

By the statement of the physicians in one of our cities,*
it appears that the average number of deaths by intemperance,
for several years, has been one to every 329 inhabitants;
which would make, in the United States, 40,000 in a year. And
it is the opinion of physicians, that as many more die of diseases
which are induced, or aggravated and rendered mortal by the uso
of ardent spirit. And to those resuhs, all who make it, sell it,
or use rt, are accessory

It is a principle in law, that the perpetrator of crime and the
accessory to it are both guilty, and deserving of punishment.
Men have been hanged for the violation of this principle. It
-applies to the law of God. And as the drunkard cannot go to
heaven, can drunkard-makers? Are they not, when tried by the
principles of the Bible, in view of the developements of Provi-
aence, manifestly immoral men? men who, for the sake of money,
will knowingly be instrumental in corrupting the character, in-
creasing tbe diseases, and destroying the lives of their fellow-men ?

** But'* says one, ** I never sell to drunkards; I sell only to sober
men." And is that any better? Is it a less evil to the conmou-
nity. to make drunkards of sober men, than it is to kill drunkards?
Ask tliat widowed mother, Who did her the greatest evil? The
man who only killed her drunken husband, or the man who made
a drunkard of her only son? Ask those orphan children, Who
did them the greatest injury? the man who made their once so-
ber, kind, and affectionate father a drunkard, and thus blasted
all their hopes, and turned thejr home, sweet home, into the em-
blem of hell; or the man who, after they had suffered for years
the anguish, the indescribable anguish of the drunkard's chil-
dren, and seen their heart-broken mother in danger of an un-
timely grave, only killed their drunken father, and thus caused
in their habitation, a great calm? Which of these two men
brought upon them the greatest evil? Can you doubt? You
then do nothing but make * drunkards of sober men, or expose
them to become such. Suppose that all the evils which you may
be instrumental in bringing upon other children, were to come
upon your own, and that you were to bear all the anguish
which you may occasion; would you have any doubt that the man
who would knowingly continue to be accessory to the bringing of
these evils upon you, must be a notoriously wicked man?

7. Ardent spirit destroys the soul.

Facts in great numbers are now before the public,t which show
conclusively that the use of ardent spirit tends strongly to hin^
der the moral and spiritual illumination and purification of men;
and thus to prevent their salvation, and bring upon them the hor-
rors of the second death.

A disease more dreadful than the cholera, or any other that

• Annapolis, Maryland.

\ Bae Fourth and FiAh Reports of the American Temlmnce Soekftf.

209] PirrH beport. — 1832. — appendix. 99

kills the body merely, is raging, and is universal, threatening
the endless death of the soul. A remedy is provided, all suffi-
cient, and infinitely efficacious; but the use of ardent spirit aggra-
vates the disease, and with millions and millions prevents the ap-
plication of the remedy, and thus prevents its effect. Great multi-
tudes therefore die the second deaths who, were it not for this,
might live forever.

More than four times as many, in proportion to the number,
over wide regions of country, during the past year, have appar-
ently embraced the gospel, and experienced its saving power,
from among those who had renounced the use of ardent spirit, as
from those who continued to use it.*

The Committee of the New York State Temperance Society, in
view of the peculiar and unprecedented attention to religion which
followed the adoption of the plan of abstinence from the use of
strong drink, remark, that when this course is taken, the great-
est enemy to the work of the Holy Spirit on the minds and hearts
of men appears to be more than half conquered.

In three hundred towns, six-tenths of those, who, two years ago,
belonged to Temperance Societies, but were not hopefully pious,
have since become so; and eight-tenths of those who have, with-
in that time, become hopefully pious, who did not belong to Tem-
perance Societies, have since joined them. In numerous places,
where only a minority of the people abstained from the use of ar-
dent spirit, nine-tenths of those, who have of late professed the
religion of Christ, have been from that minority. This is occa-
sioned in various ways. The use of ardent spirit keeps many away
from the house of God, and thus prevents them from coming un-
der the sound of the gospel. And many who do come, it causes
to continue stupid, worldly minded, and unholy. A single glass
a day, is enough to keep multitudes of men, under the full blaze
of the gospel, from ever experiencing its illuminating and purify-
ing power. Even if they come to the light, and it shines upon
them, it shines upon darkness, and the darkness does not com-
prehend it. While multitudes who thus do evil, will not come
to the light, lest their deeds should be reproved. There is a total
contrariety between the effect produced by the Holy Spirit, and
the effect of spirituous liquor upon the minds and hearts of men.
The latter tends directly and powerfully to counteract the former.
It tends to make men feel in a manner which Jesus Christ hates,
rich spiritually, increased in goods, and in need of nothing;
while it tends forever to prevent them from feeling, as sinners must
feel, to buy of him gold tried in the fire, that they may be rich.
Those who use it, therefore, are taking the direct course to de-
stroy their own souls; and those who furnish it, are taking the
course to destroy the souls of their fellow-men.

In one town, more than twenty times as many, in proportion to

* Seo FifUi Rej^rt of American Temperance Society, p. 88.

100 AMERICAN TEMPBIIANCE SOCIETT. [^10

the number^ professed the religion of Christ, during the past year }
and in another town, more than thirty times as many of those who
.did not use ardent spirit, as of those who did. In other towns, in
which from one-third to two-thirds of the people did not use it, and
from twenty to forty made a profession of religion, they were all
from the same class. What then are those men doing, who fur-
nish it, but taking the course which is adapted to keep men stii^
pid in sin^ till they sink into the agonies of the second death ?
And is not this an immorality of a high and aggravated descrip-
tion? and one which ought to mark every man, who understands
its nature and effects, and yet continues to live in it, as a notori-
ously immoral man ? What though he does not live in other
immoralities — is not this enough i Suppose he should manufac-
ture poisonous miasma, and cause the cholera in our dwellings;
sell knowingly the cause of disease, and increase more than one-
fiflh, over wide regions of country, the number of adult deaths,
would he not be a murderer ? " I know,'' says the learned Judge
Cranch, ''that the cup (which contains ardent spirit) is poison-
ed: I know that it may cs^use death^ that it may cause more
than aeath, that it may lead to crime, to sin, to the tortures of ever-
lasting remorse. Am I not then a ipurderer? worse than a mur-
derei ? as much worse as the soul is better than the body ?-^ — If
ardent spirit, were nothing worse than a deadly poison — if they
did not excke and inflame all the evil passions — -if they did not
dim that heavenly light, which the Almighty has implanted in
our bosoms to guide us through the obscure passages of our pil-
grimage— ^if they did not quench the Holy Spirit m oiir hearts,
they would be comparatively harmless. , It is their moral effect —
it is the ruin of the soul which they produce, that renders them so
dreadful. The difference between death by simple poison, and
death by habitual intoxication, may extend to the whole differ-
ence between everlasting happiness and eternal death."

And say the New York State Society, at the head of which
is the Chancellor of the State, ''Disguise that business as they
will, it is still, in its true character, the business of destroying the
bodies and souls of men. The vender and the maker .of spirits,
in the whole range of them, from the pettiest grocer to the most
extensive distiller, are fairly chargeable not only with supplying
the appetite foi spirits, but with creaiin^ that unnatural appetite ;
not only with supplying the drunkard with the fuel of lifs Vi6eS,
but with making the drunkard.

" In reference to the taxes with which the making audi v€mding
of spirits loads the community, how unfair towards others is the
occupation of the maker and vender of themf A town, for in-
stance, contains one hundred drunkards. The profit of making
these drunkards, is enjoyed by some half a dozen persons; but
the burden of these drunkards rests upon the whole town. The
Executive Committee do not suggest that there should be such a
law ; but they ask whether there would be one law in the whole

211] FIFTH BEPORT. — 1832. — ^APFENDIX. 101

statute-book, more righteous than that which should require those
who have the profit of making our drunkards to be burdened with
the support of them."

Multitudes, there is reason to believe are now wailing, beyond the
reach of hope, who, had it not been for ardent spirit, might have
been in glory; and multitudes more, if men continue to fur-
nish it as a drink, especially sober men, will go down to weep
and wail with them to endless ages.

No. III.

"But," says one, *'the traffic in ardent fl[pitit is a lawful
business; it is approbated by law, and is therefore right." But
the keeping of gambling-housed is, In some- cases, approbated
bj human law. Is that therefore right ? The keeping of broth-
els is, in some cases, approbated by law. Is that therefore
right? Is it human law that is the standard of morality and
religion.^ May not a man be a notoriously wicked man, and yet
not violate 4iuman law? The question is, Is it right? Does it ac-
cord with the divine law? Does it tend in its effects to bring
glory to God in the highest, and to promote the best good of
mankind? If Hot, the word of God forbids it ; and if a man,
who has the meaps of understanding its nature and effects, con-
tinues to follow it, he does it at the peril of his soul.

" But," says another, ** if I should not sell it, I could not sell
80 many other things.-" If you could not, then you are forbid-
den by the word of God to sell so many other things. And if
you continue to mabe mtmey by that which tends to destroy your
fellow-men, you incur the displeasure of Jehovah. '* But if I
should not sell it, I must change my business." Then you are
required by the Lord to change your business. A voice from
the throne of his excellent glory," cries, Turn ye, turn ye from
this evil way ; for why will ye die 1

" If I should turn firom it, I could not support my family."
This is not true; at least no one has a right to say that it is
true, till he has tried it, and done his whole duty, by ceasing to
do evil and learning to do well,' trusting in God, acd found that
his family is not supported. Jehovah declares that such as seek
the Lord, and are governed by his will, shall not want any gddd
thing. And till men have made the experiment of obeying" him
in all things, and found that they cannot support their " f&iAilies,
they have no right to say that it is necessary for them to sell ar-
dent spirit. And if they do say this,, it is a hbel on the divine
character and gorvcrnment There is no truth in it. He who
feeds the sparrow and clothes the lily, will, if they do rights
provide for them and their families; and there is no shadow of
necessity^ in order to obtain support, for them to carry on a btisi-
ness which destroys their fellew-men.

''But others Vill do it, if I do not.'^ Others will send out
their vessels, steal the black man, and sell him and his children in«

15 9*

10^ AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETT. [212

to perpetual bondage, if 70a do not. Others will steal, rob, and
commit murder, if you do not; and why may not you do it, and
have a portion of the profit, as well as they ? Because if you
do, you will be a thief, a robber, . and a murderer, kke them.
You will here be partaker of their guilt, and hereailer of their
plagues. Every friend therefore to you, to your Maker, or the
eternal interests of men, will, if acquainted with this subject,
say to you. As you value the favor of Grod, and would escape his
righteous and eternal indignation, renounce this work of death ;
for he that soweth death, shall also reap death.

** But our fathers imported, manufactured, and sold ardent
spirit; and were not they good men? Have not they gone to
heaven?" Men, who professed to be good, once had a multi-
plicity of wives; and have not some of them too gone to heaven?
Men w^o professed to be good, once, were engaged in the slave
trade; and have not some of them gone to heaven? But can
men, who understand the wiU of Grod, with regard to these sub-
jects, continue to do such things now, and yet go to heaven?
The principle which applies in this case, and which makes the
difference between those who did such things once, and those
who continue to do them now, is, that to which Jesus Christ re-
ferred, when he said, If I had not come and spoken to them, they
had not had sin; but now they have no cloak for their sin. The
days of that darkness and ignorance which God may have winked
at, have gone by; and he now commandeth all men, to whom his
will is made known, to repent. Your fathers, when they were
engaged in selling ardent spirit, did not know that all men, under
all circumstances, would be better without it. They did not
know that it caused three-quarters of the pauperism and crimes
in the land — ^that it deprived many of reason — ^groatly increased
the number and severity of diseases, and brought down such
multitudes to an untimely grave. The facts had not then been
collected and published . They did not know that it tended so fatally
to obstruct the progress of the gospel, and ruin for eternity the
souls of men. You do know it, or have the means of knowing
it. You cannot siii wkh as little guilt as did your fathers. The
facts, which are the voice of God in his providence and manifest
his Y^ill, are now before the world. By them he has come and
spoken to you. And if you continue, under these circumstances,
to violate his will, you will have no cloak, no covering, no ex-
cuse for your sin. And though sentence against this evil work
is not executed at ortce, judgment, if you continue, will not lin-
ger, nor will damnation slumber.

The accessary and the principal in the commission of crime,
are both guilty. Both by human laws are condemned. The
principle applies to the law of God; and not on7v drunkards, but
drunkard-makers — not only murderers, but those vho excite them
to commit murder, and furnish them with the knovn cause of

213] FIFTH REPORT. 1832. APPENDIX. 103

their evil deeds, will, if they und<ir9tand what they 60, knd con-
tinue thus to rebel against God, be shut out of heaven.

Anmag the Jews, if a man' had a beast, that went out and
killed a man, the beast, said Jehovah, shall be slain, and his
flesh shall not be eaten. The owner must lose the whole of him,
as a testimony to the sacredness of human life ; and a warning
to all, not to do any thing, or connive at any thing, that tended
to destroy it. But the owner, if he did not know that the beast
was dangerous and liable to kill, was not otherwise to be pun-
ished. But if he did know, if it had been testified to the owner
that the beast was dangerous and liable to kill, and he did not
keep, him in, but let him go out, and he killed a man, then, 'by
the direction of Jehovah, the beast and the owner were both to
be put to death. The owner, under these circumstances, was
held responsible, and justly too, for the injury which his beast
might do. Though men are not required, or permitted now, to
execute this law, as they were when God was the Magistrate,
yet the reason of the law remains. It is founded in justice, and
is eternal. To the pauperism, crime, sickness, insanity, and
death, temporal and etemaf, which ardent spirit occasions,
those who knowingly furnish the materials, those who manufac-
ture, and those who sell it, are all accessory, and as such will
beheld responfiible at the divine tribunal. There was a time
when the owners did not know the dangerous and destructive
qualities of this article — ^when the facts had not been developed
and published, nor the minds of men turned to the subject; when
thej did not know that it caused such a vast portion of the vice
and wretchedness of the cbmmunity, and such wide-spreading
desolation to the temporal and eternal interests of men; and
although it then destroyed thousands, for both worlds, the guilt^^
of the men wbo sold it, was comparatively small. But now
they sin against light, pouring down upon them with unutterable
brightness; and if they know what they do, and in full view of
its consequences, continue that work of death — not only let the
poison go out, but furnish it, and send it out to all who are dis-
posed to purchase, — ^it had been better for them, and better for
many others, if they had never been born. For,

1. It is the selling of that, without the use of which, nearly all
the business of this world was conducted, till within less than
three hundred year? ; and which of course is not needful,

S. It is the selling of that, which was not generally used by
the people of this country, for more than a hundred years after
the country was settled; and which, by hundreds of thousands,
and some in all kinds of lawful business, is not used now. Once
they did use it, and thought it needful, or useful. But by exper-
iment, tlie best evidence in the worfd,' they have found that they
were mistaken ; and that they are in all respects better without
it. And the cases are so numerous as to niake it certainy that

104 AMEBICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETY. [214

should the experiment be fairlj made, this would be the case
with all. Of course, it is not useful.

3. It is the selling of that which is a real, a subtil, and very
destructive poison; a poison, which bj men in health eannot be
taken, without deranging healthy action, and inducing more or
less disease, both of body and mind; which is,wh^i taken in
any quantity, positively hur^vl; and which is, of course, forbid-
den by the word of God.

4. It is the selling of that, which tends to form an unnatural
and a very dangerous and destructive appetite; which, by grati-
fication, lU(c the desire of sinning in the man who sins, tends con-
tinually to increase ; and which thus exposes all who form it, to
come to a premature grave,

5. It is the selling of that, which causes a great portion of all
the pauperism incur land; and thus for the benefit of a few,
(those who sell) brings an enormous tax on the whole communi-
ty. Is this fair? Is it just.^ Is it not exposing our children
and youtt) to become drunkards? And is it not inflicting great
evils on society?

6. It is the selling of that, which excites to a great portion of
an the crimes that are committed; and which is thus shown to be
in its effects hostile to the moral government of God, and to the
social, civil, and religious interests of men; at war with their
highest good, both for this life and the life to come.

7. It is the selling of that, the sale and use of which, if con-
tinued, will form intemperate appetites, which if formed will be
gratified; and thus will perpetuate intemperance, and all its
abominations, to the end of the world.

8. It is the selling of that which makes wives widows, and chil-
dren orphans; which leads husbands often to murder their wives,
and wives to murder their husbands; parents to murder their
children, and children to murder their parents; and which pre-
pares multitudes for the prison, for the gallows, and for hell.

9. It is the selling of that which greatly increases the amount
and severity of sickness; which in many cases destroys reason;
which causes a great portion of all the sudden deaths; and brings
down multitudes, who were never intoxicated, and never con-
demned to suffer the penalty of the civil law, to an untimely
grave.

10. It is the selling of that which tends to lessen the healthy
the reason, and the usefulness, to diminish the comfort and short-
en the lives of all who habitually use it.

n . It is the selling of that which darkens the understanding,
Mais the conscience, pollutes the affections, and debases all
tke powers of man.

12. It is the selling of that which weakens the power of mo-
tives to do right, and increases the power of motives to do wrong;
and is thus shown to be in its effects hostile to the moral govern-
ment of Grod^ as well as to the temporal and eternal interests of

215J . FIFTH REPORT. 1832. ^APPENDIX. 105

men; which excites men to rebel against him, and to injure and
destroy one another. And no man can sell it without exerting
an influence which tends to hinder the reign of the Lord Jesus
Christ over the minds and hearts of men, and to lead them to
persevere in iniquity, till, notwithstanding all the kindness of Je**
hovah, their case shall become hopeless.

No. IV.
Suppose a man, when about to commence the traffic in ardent
spirit, should write in great capitals on his sign-board, to be seen
and read of all men, what he will do, viz. that so many of the in«>
habitants of this town or city, he will, for the sake of getting their
money, make paupers, and send them to the alms-house ; and thus
oblige the whole community to support them and their families ;
that so many others he will excite to the commission of crimes,
and thus increase the expenses, and endanger the peace and
welfare of the community ; that so many he will send to the jail, and
80 many more to the state prison, and so many to the gallows ;
that so many he will visit with sore and distressing diseases;
and, in so many cases, diseases which would have been compar-
atively harmless, he will by his poison render fatal ; that in so
many cases he will deprive persons of reason, and in so many
cases will cause sudden death ; that so many wives he will make
widows, and so many children he will make orphans, and that in
so many cases he will cause the children to grow up in ignorance,
vice, and crime, and after being nuisances on earth, will bring
them to a premature grave ; that in so many cases he will pre*
vent the efficacy of the gospel, grieve away the Holy Ghost, and
ruin for eternity the souls of men. And suppose he could, and
should give some faint conception of what it is to lose the soul,
and of the overwhelming guilt and coming wretchedness of him
who is knowingly instrumental in producing this ruin; and sup-
pose he should put at the bottom of the sign this question, viz.
What, you may ask, can be my object in acting so much like a
devil incarnate, and bringing such accumulated wretchedness
upon a comparatively happy people? and under it should put
the true answer. Money; and go on to say, I have a family to
support; I want money, and must have it; this is my business, 1
was brought up to it. And if I should not follow it, I must change
my business, or I could not support my family. And as all faces
begin to gather blackness at the approaching ruin, and all hearts
to boil with indignation at its author, suppose he should add,
for their consolation, ** If I do not bring this destruction upon you,
somebody else will" What would they think of him? what
would all the world think of him ? what might they to think of
him? And is it any worse for a man to tell the people before-
hand, honestly, what he will do, if they buy and use his poison^
than it is to go on and do it ? And what if they are not aware
of the mischief which he is doing them, and he can accomplish

16*

106 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETT. [216

it J through their own perverted «nd voluntary agency? Is it not
equally abominable, if hekiwwa it, and does not cease from pro-
ducing it?

And if there are churches whose members are doing such things,
and those churches are not blessed with the presence and favor
of the Holy Ghost, they need not be at any loss for the reason.
And if they should never again, while they continue in this
state, be blessed with the reviving influence of God's Spirit, they
need not be at any loss for the reason. Their own members are
ejterting a strong and fatal influence against it; and that too,
after Divine Providence has shown them what they are doing.
And in many such cases there is awful guilt, with regard to this
thing, resting upon the whole church. Though they have known
for years what these men were doing ; have sec^^ the misery,
heard the oaths, witnessed the crimes, and known the wretched-
ness and tleaths, which they have occasioned; and perhaps have
spoken of it, and deplored it among one another; many of them
have never spoken on this subject, to the persons themselves.
They have seen them- scattering firebrands, arrows, and death,
temporal and eternal ; and yet have never so much as warned
them oh the subject, and never besought them to give up their
work of death. An individual lately conversed with one of his
professed Christian brethren, who was engaged in this traffic,
and told him not only that he was ruining for both worlds many
of his fellow-men, hut that his Christian brethren viewed his
business as inconsistent with his profession, and tending to coun-
teract all efforts for the salvation of men: and the man, afler
frankly acknowledging that it was wrong, said that this was the
first time that any one of them had conversed with him on the
subject. This may be the case with other churches; and while
it is, the whole church is conniving at the evil, and the whole
church is guilty. Every brother iii such a case is. bound, on his
own account, to converse with him who is thus aiding the powera
of darkness, and opposing the kingdom of Jesus Christ, and try
to persuade him to cease from this destructive business. And
the whole church is bound to make efforts, and use all proper
means, to accomplish this result. And before half the individual
members have done their duty on this subject, they may expect,
if the offending brother has, and manifests the spirit of Chrisi,
that he will cease to be an.oflence to his brethren, and a stumb-
ling-block to the world, over which such multitudes faU to the
pit of woe. And till the church, the whole church, do their duty
on this subject, they cannot be freed from the guilt of conni^ng
at the evil. And no wonder if the Lord leaves them to be as the
mountains of Gilboa, on which there was neither rain or dew.
And should the church receive from the world ^ose who make it
a business to carry on this notoriously immoral traffic, they will
greatly increase their guilt, and ripen for the awful displeasure
of thpir God. And unless mend>ers of the <;hurch shall cease to

217] FIFTH REPOUT. 1832. APPENDIX. I 107

teach, by their business, that fatal error that it is right for men
to buy and use nrdent spirit as drink, the , evil will never be
eradicated; intemperance will never cease, and the day of mil-
lennial glory never come. And each individual who names the
name of Christ, is called upon, by the providence of God, to act
on this subject openly and decidedly for him; and in such a man-
ner as is adapted to banish intemperance and^all its abominations
from the earth, and to cause temperance and all its attendant
benefits universally to prevail. And if ministers of the Gospel
and members of Christian churches do not connive at the sin of
furnishing this poison as u drink, for their fellow-men; and men
who, in opposition to truth and duty, Continue to be engaged in
this destructive employment, are viewed and treated as wicked
men; the work which the Lord hath commenced and carried
forward, with a rapidity and to an extent hitherto unexampled in
the history of the world, will continue to move onward, till not
a name, nor a trace, nor a shadow of a drunkard, or a drunkard-,
maker shall be found on the globe.

Professed Christian: — You have been redeemed, not with
silver, nor with gold, but with the precious blood of Jesus Christ.
When all were dead, he died for all, that they who live should not
hve unto themi^elves, but unto him that died for them and rose
again. And the distinguishing mark of his people, is, that no
one of thern, liveth unto himself; and no one dieth unto himself.
While they live th«y live unto the Lord, and when they die they
die unto the Lord. And it is on this condition only, that, living
or dying, they can be the Lord's, in such a sense as to meet his
approbation or enter into his joy. They must make it the grand
object in their whole influence, to honor him, and promote the
holiness and happiness of his kingdom; to glorify the Gt)d of
heaven, and to do good, and good only, as they have opportunity^
to all men. And it is only on this condition, that they can be
owned of him as his followers and friends in the great day; for
he that is not for him is against him, and he that ^athereth not
with him, scattereth abroad.

In the manufacture or sale of ardent spirit as a drink, you do
not, and you cannot honor God; but you do, and so long as you
continue it you will, greatly dishonor Him. You exert an influ*
ence which tends directly and strongly to ruin, for both worlds,
your fellow-men. Should you take a quantity of that poisonous
iiquid into your closet, present it bafore the Lord; confess to
him its nature and effects, spread out before him what it has
done and wliat it will do, and attempt to ask him to bless you in
extending its influence; it would, unless your conscience is al-
ready seared as with a hot iron, appear to you like blasphemy.
Tou could no more do it, than you could take the instruments
of gambling, and attempt to ask God to bless you in extending
them through the community. And why not, if it is a lawful
business^? Why not ask God to increase jt, make you an^

no AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETT. [220

into his own children, for he says, ' It will ruin them, ' jet he will
furnish to mine. And there is my neighbor who was once as so-
ber as the deacon himself; — ^but he had a pretty farm, which the
deacon wanted; and, for the sake of getting it, he has made him
a drunkard. And his wife, as good a woman as ever lived, has
died of a broken heart, because her children would follow their
father." No, you cannot convince even a drunkard, that the
man who is selling him that which he knows is killing him, is any
better than the drunkard himself. Nor can you convince a so-
ber man, that he, who, for the sake of money, will, with his eyes
open, make drunkards of sober men, is any less guilty than the
drunkards he makes.

Is this, writing upon your employment " Holiness unto the
Lord; " without which no one from the Bible can expect to be
prepared for the holy joys of heaven? As ardent spirit is a poi-
son, which when used even moderately, tends to harden the
heart, to sear the conscience, to blind the understanding, to pol-
lute the afT^ctions, to weaken, and derange, and debase the
whole man, and to lessen the prospect of his eternal life, it is the
indispensable duty of each person to renounce it. And he can-
not refuse to do this, without becoming, if acquainted with this
4subject, knowingly accessory to the temporal and eternal ruin of
his fellow-men. And what will it profit you to gain even the
whole world by that which ruins the soul? My friend, you are
soon to die, and in eternity to witness the influence, the whole
influence which you exert while on earth, and you are to witness
its consequence, in joy or sorrow, to endless' beins. Imagine
yourself now, where you v/ill soon be, on your deo^ bed. And
imagine that you have a full view of the property which you have
caused to be .wasted ; or which you have gained without furnish-
ing any valuable equivalent; of the health which you have de-
stroyed, and the characters which you have demoralized; of the
wives that you hav6 made widows, and the children that you have
made orphans; of all the lives that you have shortened, and all
the souls that you have destroyed. O! imagine that these are
the only ** rod and staff*" which you have to comfort you, as you
go down the valley of the shadow of death ; and that they will all
meet you in full array at the judgment, and testify against you.
What will it profit you, though you have gained more money
than you otherwise would; when you have left it all far behind
in that world which is destined to fire, and the day of perdition
of ungodly men? What will it profit, when you are enveloped in
the influence which you have exerted ; and are experiencing its
consequences to endles ages; finding forever that as a man sow-
eth so must he reap; and that if he has sowed death, he must
reap deathl Do not any longer assist in destroying men; nor
expose yourselves and your children to be destroyed. Do good,
and good only, to all as you have opportunity and good shall
come unto you.

221] riFTH REPORT. — 1832.-^APPENDIX. Ill

H. (P. 43.)

i 6th June, 1830.

Measures are in progress to supply each family in this town
with the Circular of the A. T. S. and Ware's Address before the
T. S. of Cambridge. Some other towns in this county are dis-
tributing the Circular; and it is probable it will soon go into

every house in the county. I feel under obligations to

for their generous offer, and feel heartily willing to pay

them in their own coin, — and will pay more than my share of the
expense of supporting an agent who is qualified for the impor-
tant duty — to be employed in the meti'opolis of the U. S. in go-
ing from merchant to merchant who may deal in ardent spirits
in any way; either as commissioii merchants, importers, distil-
lers, or grocers. These are the men, who are commanders of
the great army of retailers, not only in the great city, but through
the country; and not only commanders, but they fill the depots
from which this desolating army are furnished with ammunition.
If this class of human beings, who are styled gentUmeriy could by
any means be persuaded to wash their hands from dealing in this
** mother of miseries," the retailers would be like the armies of
the Philistines, when Goliah fell by David. — But so long as the
little retailers can have such champions as the most opulent mer-
chants in Boston and New- York, persuading them to purchase
the article, and daily advertising all sorts and all quantities
in the business papers, they will stand out in battle array against
• the efforts of Temperance Societies. I fervently believe, that
the temperance reformation cannot progress farther in this
''cgion, until these men are made to sec and feel the evil
of their deeds. To my certain knowledge, some of the
f»fficersofthe oldest society in this state, within one year were
large dealers in the poison, in Boston. With one hand they
would hand out tracts on the evils of intemperance, or money to
pay temperance agents, and with th6 other, hand out (perhaps
to the same persons) bills of rum sufficient to make a hundred
drunkards ! I pray Him who is able to make men feel, that the
time may soon come when men who move in the highest circles,
and where example rules the world, many of whom profess to be
His followers, may see the gross inconsistency of their conduct,
and renounce every species of the rum trade. The country
dealers who yet make drunkards would be looked down, were
they not sanctioned in their evil deeds by men of the highest
standing in Boston and New- York.

You know Gen. Washington pointed out the evils of short en-
listments, and urged the enlistments of " during war men." The
temperance cause has suffered much from short enlistments. I
hope you will urge the necessity to all who enlist in our greiat
and good cause, of engaging during war. [Genius of Temp.)

112 AMEIUCAN TKMPERANCE SOClETf. 1*222

I. (P. 44.)

The Pastoral Association, and the General Associations of
Massachusetts, and the General Association of Connecticut and
Maine, embracing more than live hundred Evangelical ministers
of the gospel, at their last meeting, passed the following Resolu-
tions, viz.

1. Resolved, that in the judgment of this Association, the traf-
fic in ardent spirit as a drink is an immorality, and ought to be
viewed and treated as such throughout the world.

2. Resolved, that this immorality is utterly inconsistent with a
profession of the Christian religion; and that those who have the
means of imderstanding its nature and effects, and yet continue
to be engaged in it, ought not to be admitted as members of
Christian churches.

3. Resolved, that in our view those members of Christian
churches who continue to be engaged in the tr^afiic in ardent
spirit as a drink, are violating the principles and requirements of
the Christian religion.

''Among the means which the Lord has graciously owned
and blessed during this year of jubilee, many of your reports
j?pecially commemorate the influence of Temperance Societies.
It is now a well-established fact, that the common use of strong
drink, however moderate, has been a fatal, soul-destroying bar-
rier against the influence of the gospel. Consequently, whcre-
ever total abstinence is practised, a powerful instrument of re-
sisting the Holy Spirit is removed, and a new avenue of access
to the hearts of men, opened to the power of truth. Thus, in
numerous instances, and in various places, during the past year,
the temperance reformation has been a harbinger, preparinnr the
way of the Lord; and the banishment of that liquid poison, "which
kills both soul and body, has made way for the immediate en-
trance of the Spirit and the word, the glorious train of the Re-
deemer.

The cause of temperance continues to extend and multiply its
triumphs, notwithstancling the machinations of Satan, and the mad-
ness of the multitucles, who are striving to demolish the only bar-
rier which can secure them from destruction. The testimony of
our churches, as to tlie sign£il success, which has crownecf tho
efforts of the friends of this dause, the astonishing effect which
has thus been produced upqii pulilic sentiment, and crpon tho
habits and customs of the higher classes, and especially as to the
unquestionable connection between total abstinence from ardent
spirits, and the success of the gospel, ia of the most decided antl
gratifying character. The fbrmatton of a Temperance ASsocia*
tion in each congregation, has taken place extertsively, with the
happiest results. While, therefore, rn view of these things, the
friends of temperance are called upon to thank God and take

223] FIFTH REPORT. 1832. ^APPENDIX. 113

courage ; let them remember that much, very much, remains to
be done. Let them not remit their vigilance and activity ; for
their foes never slumber. All the powers and resources of the
kingdom of darkness are vigorously employed in opposition.
Much indeed has been done, in staying this plague, among the
more intelligent and elevated orders of society ; but all the en-*
ergies o£ Christian benevolence are demanded, to stem the tor-
rent which is spreading misery, and guilt, and ruin, through the
dwellings of labor and poverty. A great work is still to be
effected in the church. The sons of Levi must be purified. The
accursed thing must be removed from the camp of the Lord.
While professing Christians continue to exhibit the baleful ex^
ample, of tasting the drunkard's poison; or, by a sacrilegious
traffic, to make it their employment to degrade a^^d destroy their
fellow-men; those who love the Lord must not keep silence,
but must lifl their warning voice, and use all lawful efforts, to
remove this withering reproach from the house of God. Let all
our congregations become efficient Temperance Associations ;
let all our ministers and elders be united, consistent and perse-
vering in this cause, and we may derive from experience a full
persuasion, that the ravages of the direful foe will be arrested ;
that the rising race will be rescued from his deadly grasp, and
thus a most formidable obstacle, to the success of the Grospcl,
will at last be removed."

(Minotet of the General Assembly of the Presbyteriaa Charab
in the United States, 1882/)

J. (P. 48.)

A correspondent in a Western State has sent us ttte following
statement. Its truth' may be relied on.

An owner of one of the principal taverns in — 4^' has been
beard to declare, that since his knowledge, there had been be-
tween three hundred and five hundred bar^keepers m that tatem,
and out of the whole of them h6 knew but eight or ten, who have
not ultimately becomfe intemperate, two of whom dre yet in that
tavern. What an^awful warning this ought to hh to those pa-
rents who put theit sons to tavern-keeping ! " What an enorinoiis
m^ufactory of drcfiika^ds this tavern has been ! And yet one
of the owners of it,* who hiiS kept it for the last ten or twenty
years, and who knows this aj^palling fact, still keeps it^ dnd makes
jprofesnon of ifeligion ! (JV*. F. Evangelist.)

10*

114 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIEIT. [224

K. (P. 63.)

Temperance Reform in China, — ^The Chinese authorities at
Canton have caused proclamations to he pasted on the walls,
forbidding the sale of wine or spirits to foreign seamen. This
measure was much needed, as European and American seamen,
in their fits of intoxication, have often disturbed the public peace,
and sometimes ao seriously as to cause the suspension of com-
mercial intercourse, between China and the European Nations.
In the present act we see the legislation of an Asiatic despot,
directed to the promotion of the public good ; we see a heathen
government defending its subjects from the immoralities of those
who claim to be Christians; we see a salutary guairdianship of
the morals of professed Christians and republicans, by a heathen
monarch ; and we see all this on the very site of a Christian mis-
sionary station, designed to instruct these same heathen, in the
pure precepts of our religion. Such a sight should make Amer-
icans blush, and send Christians to their closets, weeping. (Jour,
Humanity.) ■ __^

Ia. (P. 63.).

Important Decision in Chancery, The Albany Argus contains
the following extracts from the decision of Chancellor Walworth,
in the case of Jacob Hiller, an idiot : —

'' I have recently learned that many suits at law have been
brought against idiots, lunatics, and drunkards, after the appoint-
ment of committees by this court; and sometimes for debts con-
tracted by them against the wishes of their committee, after their
appointment. No debt contracted by the idiot, lunatic, or drunk-
ard, under such circumstances, can be paid out of the estate;
and if paid by the committee without the sanction of this court,
although after a recovery at law, he will not be allowed for it in
the settlement of his accounts. In the case of an habitual drunk-
ard particularly, if the committee find that any person is furnish-
ing him with the means of intoxication, even gratuitously, he
should apply to the court for an order, restraining all persons
from furnishing the drunkard with ardent spirits, or with the
means of obtaining liquor, upon pain of contempt."

His Honor also directed the following clause to be added to
all orders, hereafter to be entered, appointing committees of hab-
itual drunkards : —

''And it is further ordered, that all persons be restrained from
selling to, or furnishing said habitual drunkard, or any person for
him, with ardent spirits, or with the means of obtaining the
same, without the express sanction of this said committee, under
pain of a contempt of this court. And said committee is hereby
directed to serve a copy, or a notice of this order, on such of

225J FIFTH REPORT. 1832. — ^APPENDIX. 115

the retailers of ardent spirits and others in the neighborhood of
said individual drunkard, as he may think proper, to the end
that they may not hereafter plead ignorance thereof."

The Commissioners of the town of Athens, Georgia, have im-
posed a tax of ^500 on every person who shall retail spirituous
liquors. {Charleston Courier.)

The Board of Health of the city of Washington, have declared
the traffic in ardent spirit to be a nuisance, and passed the fol-
lowing order with regard to it: —

The Board being fully impressed with the belief that the use
of ardent spirits is highly prejudicial to health, and the corporate
authorities having decided that this body possess full power to
prohibit and remove all nuisances, and the late Attorney Gener-
al, Mr. Wirt, having officially given it as his opinion that the
Board of Health have, under the charter and the acts of the city
councils, sufficient authority to do any, and every thing which the
health of the city may require ;

Therefore, Resolved, That the vending of ardent spirit, in what-
ever quantity, is considered a nuisance — and, as such, is hereby
directed to be discontinued for the space of 90 days from this date.
By order of the Board of Health. James Larnaud, Sec'y.

As the traffic in ardent spirit, as a drink, is a nuisance, not
only while the cholera is raging, but at all times, because it is
not only needless, but hurtful ; as it tends to produce numerous fatal
diseases, and occasions an immense waste of human life, and
also causes the ruin of many souls, it is, of course, a manifest
violation of the will of God, for legislatures, magistrates or any
body of men, to grant a license to any person or persons to en-
gage in it. It is granting a license for the commission of sin;
and as such will be viewed and treated by Jehovah, and ultimate-
ly by all his friends. And even if it should a little longer con-
tinue in some places to be approbated by human law, no man,
under the cover of s^uch a license, or any^ other, can continue to
be engaged in it, without exposing himself, in proportion as the ef-
fects of his business are understood, to the abhorrence of a vir-
tuous community, and the indignation of the Almighty.

In a number of counties in the State of Georgia, the members
of the bar have formed themselves into Temperance Societies,
on the plan of abstinence from the use of ardent spirit. They
have addresses delivered on the subject during the sitting of the
courts, and are accomplishing great good to the community.
The committee would earnestly recommend that a similar course
be pursued throughout the country; and request that all who
are disposed to promote their own good qr the good of their fel-
lov;-mcn, would do the following things, viz.

116 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETY. [226

1. Abstain from the use of ardent spirit; from the furnishing
and from the manufacture of it, and also from the traffic in it.

2. That they would not in any way aid and abet in perpetuating
this destructive employment.

3. That they would unite with Temperance Societies; and
perseveringly endeavor, by all suitable means, to lead all others to
do the same.

4. That they would make it a subject of united and unceasmg
prayer to the Author and Finisher of this good work, that He
would guide all who are, or rnay be engaged in it, by wisdom
from above; that their efforts may spring from love to the Saviour
and love to men, and be continued till intemperance has ceased,
that all future generations may experience the benefit, and the
glory be given to God for ever.

Should all the inhabitants of the United States cease to use intoxicating
liquor, the followinfir would be some of the beneficial results, viz. —

1. Not an individual would hereafter become a drunkard.

2. Many, who are now drunl^ards, would reform, and would be saved from
the drunkard's grave.

3. As soon as those who would not reform should be dead, which would be
but a short time, not a drunkard would be found, and the whole land would be
free.

4. More than three fourths of the pauperism of the country might be pre-
vented ; and also more than three fourths of the crimes.

5. One of the grand causes of error in principle, and immorality in practice,
and of all dissipation, vice and wretchedness, would be removed.

6. The number, frequency and severity of diseases would be greatly lessened ;
and the number and hopelessness of maniacs in our land, be exc-eedingly dimin-
ished.

7. One of tlie greatest dangers of our children and youth, and one of the
princijpal causes of bodily, mental and moral deterioration, would.be removed.

8. Loss, of property, in one generation, to an amount greater than the present
value of all the houses and lands in the United States, might be prevented.

9. One of the greatest dangers to our free institutions, to the perpetuity of
our government, and to all the blessings of civil and religious liberty, would be
removed.

10. The efficacy of the gospel, and all the means which God has appointed
lor the spiritual and eternal good of men, would be exceedingly augmented ;
and the same amount of moru and religious effort might be expected to pro-
duce more than doable its present effects.

11. Multitudes of every generation, through all future a^es, might be pre-
vented fi*om sinking into an untimely grave, and into endless torment : they
mif^i be tnnsfornied into the divine image, and prepared, through grace, for
sfet eadleai joys of heaven.

13. Qod would be honored, voluntarily and actively, by much greater num-
hetB ; and with greater clearness, and to a greater extent, would, through their
Instruraentality, manifest his glory.

SIXTH REPORT

or THE

AMERICAJV TEMPERAirCE SOCIETY.

In the last two Reports of this Society, the following truths were
established, viz. ardent spirit, as a drink, is not needful, or useful.
It is a poison, which injures the body and the soul. It deranges
healthy action, and disturbs the functions of life. It blinds the un-
derstanding, sears the conscience, pollutes the affections, and hard-
ens the heart. It leads men into temptation, and gives to evil
peculiar power over their minds. It impairs, and often destroys
reason. It tends to bring those who use it to a premature grave ;
and to usher all who understand, or have the means of under-
standing its nature and effects, and yet continue to drink it, or to
furnish it to be drunk by others, into a miserable eternity.

In view of these truths the following conclusions were drawn,
viz. to drink ardent spirit, or to furnish it to be drunk by others, is
a sin, in magnitude equal to all the evils, temporal and eternal, which
flow from it; and the men, who continue to do either will at the
divine tribunal, and ought at the bar of ^ public opinion to be held
responable for its effects. To the pauperism, vice, sickness, in-
sanity, wretchedness and death, which are occasioned, they are
accessory ; and as such will be treated when every man shall re-
ceive according to his work.

The above' truths were not only proved, but, by a variety of

considerations, were illustrated and enforced. Principles and lacts

were adduced, which, in view of the Committee, are adapted,

wherever known and regarded, to produce entire and universal

conviction. And the Committee would gratefully acknowledge

the divine kindness, in giving to those Reports such general favor,

and in causing them to produce such extensive and salutary effects.

It was mentioned the last year, that the Fourth Report had been

republished entire in England, that ten thousand copies of it had

been printed in this- country ; and also an edition in an abridged

form of ten thousand copies more. Since that time, five thousand

cc^ies of the entire Report have been printed ; and of an abstract

of it addressed to the head of each family in the United States,

one hundred and seventy thousand copies. A second edition of

it has also been published in England.

1 16*

3 AMEBICAN T£MPE|tANC£ SOCIETY. Q228

Of the Fifth Report, there have been published, entire, fourteen
thousand copies ; and of that part of it on the immorality of the
traffic in ardent spirit, forty thousand copies, making in aU of the
entire Reports and parts of them published in this country, about
two hundred and fifty thousand copies. This Report has also been
republished in England under the supervision of the British and
Foreign Temperance Society, and has had an extensive circula-
tion.

Copies of the Fifth Report, as well as the Fourth, have been
sent to most civilized countries, and to many parts of the Pagan
world. And wherever it has gone, it has drawn forth from intelli-
gent and philanthropic men, strong testimony of approbation, and
has produced most beneficial effects.

A distinguished Civilian in one of our seaports, who has been
active in its circulation, 'writes, " A more weighty document was
never presented to the public ; and the best way to promote the
cause of Temperance, is, to get the Reports of the American
Temperance Society into circulation." He then mentions, that of
the numerous vessels, engaged in an extensive trade with the Port
in which he lives, three fourths are navigated without the use of
spirit, and that three years ago rum was deemed as essential in
navigating those vessels, as a compass or light in the binnacle.
Another gentlemen, who is at the head of one of our public institu-
tions, writes, "The Fifth Report is a noble production, and fully
sustains the hieh character of the Fourth. It ought to find a
place in every family in the United States." An eminent Lawyer,
remarks, " Ii the Fourth and Fifth Reports were put into every
family, the very best effects must follow. The truth, as it is ex-
hibited in these Reports, is mighty ; and, if it were only carried
home to the hearts and consciences of the entire population of the
United States, I am sure it must prevail." Another says, " No
man of principle, who will candidly examine the Fifth Report, can
continue the traffic in ardent spirit, with a good conscience."
Another remarks, "It exceeds m interest, weight, and power,
either of the preceding Reports. If any professor of religion can
read it, and continue the traffic in spirit, his hope, we fear, is as a
spider's web." A venerable officer of a Christian Church, having,
like some other officers, deacons, elders, and even ministers of the
gospel, long been deluded by a very moderate use of ardent spirit,
into the dangerous and fatal error of believing that it is not wicked
to drmk it, withstood all attempts to induce \i\m to abstam from it,
or unite with the Temperance Society. He professed to be a
friend of temperance, as evety decent man of course m,ust do, or
lose his character, but then a little stimulus was for him, he con-
tended, under his peculiar circumstances, necessary ; or at least
was not sinful. He was furnished by a friend with our Fifth Re-

229] SIXTH R£PORT. — 1833. 3

port ; and after reading it, he writes, " I have read this very inter-
esting pamphlet through. I need no further importunity. I am now
fully determined to renounce the use of this destructive beverage,
from this day, to the day of my death. Yes, I do renounce \t, finally ^
totally. Pray add my name to your society." And the Committee
would respectfully suggest to the friends of temperance, whether
they can in tiny way do more for the cause oi temperance and
salvation, than by furnishing our Fifth Report to every praying,
and rum selling or rum drinking christian, deacon, elder, and
preacher in the United States. Should it have the effect, which
it had on that man, which it has had on thousatids, and which it
will be likely to have upon every man, who, from the heart, prays
" Thy kingdom come, thy will bfe done on earth as it is in heaven,"
it will remove one of the greatest obstructions to the cause of tem-
perance, and render the efforts of those men to do good much more
successful.

The British Temperance Magazine and Review says, " The
Fifth Report of the American Temperance Society is a most in-
teresting document. We are glad to inform our readers that it is
now reprinting in London. A second edition of the Fourth Re*
port is also published. It argues well for the Temperance cause
here, that these interesting productions are so much in demand in
England."

An eminent writer in Europe says, of the Fifth Report, " It em-
bodies an array of facts and arguments, and the testimony of wise
and good men, on the Immorality of the traffic in ardent spirits, far
surpassing in amplitude and strength, what is contained in any pub-
lication on this subject in existence. It will be circulated far and
wide ; and will undoubtedly be the means of inducing hundreds,
and perhaps thousands, to abandon the immoral traffic, from prii>-
ciple, and , thereby save them from temporal, and eternal ruin.**
And the Committee cannot but rejoice that such publications, dur-
ing the past year, have to an unprecedented extent, been multiplied
and circulated through this and other countries, and that the de-
mand for them is constantly and rapidly increasing. It shows
that the cause of Temperance is taking a deeper and firmer hold
on the hearts of the people ; and that in proportion as knowledge
and vutue are extended, will be their efforts to promote it ; till
intemperance, and its evils shall entirely cease. Many towns and
some counties, have undertaken to put on^ of our Reports into
CFery family. This might be done throughout the United States.

As the three first Reports were out of print, and were often
called for, the Fourth Report contains the history of the Temper-
ance Reformation from its commencement, and also a recafHtula-
tion of the prominent facts contained in the previous Reports. That
Report, and also the Fifth, are constructed,. not on the plan of be-

4 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETY. [290

iBg merely annual or temporary Reports, detailing only local
operations ; but on the plan of being general and permanent docu-
ments ; developing great principles, and embodying facts of perma-
nent interest, and of high importance in all ages, and to all coun-
tries* It was for the purpose of showing the fundaniental position,
which the cause of Temperance holds, and its radical influence on
the salvation of the human family, that this course was taken ; and
for the purpose of awakening universal attention, and leading to
universal, permanent, and ever growing effort,; which is the only
effort that is adapted to the magnitude of the subject, or will secure
ks infinitely high, and momentous results. The Fifth Report is a
continuation of the Fourth, and is paged accordingly, for the pur-
pose of being bound together. Both are stereotyped, can be fur-
nished in any quantity, and are adapted to universal circulation.
The present is a continuation of those two Reports, is constructed
and paged on the same plan, and for the same purpose. In no
way, it is believed, can parents, at the same expense, d6 greatei
good to their children, or the friends of Temperance more exten-
sively and permanently promote the cause, than by putting a copy
of these Reports into every family. If read and regarded, they
would change the habits of the nation ; dry up many of the deepest
fountains of human sorrow, secure our youth from one of their
greatest dangers ; and save immense multitudes from an untimely
grave. The property, which would be saved, would, in one gene-
ration, amount to more than the present value of all the real estate
in the country; the means of intellectual and moral culture would
begreatiy augmented, and would be vastly more successful ; and
a prospect be opened brighter than any human eye ever saw, that
free, social, civil and religious institutions may be extended over
all nations and perpetuated to all ages.

The Committee have also the past year appointed two additional
Agents, Mr. Charles Yale of the State of New York, and Rev.
John Marsh of Connecticut. They have both accepted their ap-
pointment, and entered upon its duties. Mr. Yale was appointed
as a temporary agent for the valley of the Mississippi. He started
from New York about the first of February, to go by land to New
Orleans. He is expected then to visit St. Louis, and return by way
of Cincinnati, to New York. His object is, to procure the forma-
tion of a State Temperance Society, m each State, in which there
now is none, to open the way and make arrangements for the
universal and permanent circulation of information, to embody the
friends of Temperance, and as far as practicable induce each State
to employ a permanent agent, and in the various ways= in his power
protnote the general cause.

The Rev. Mr. Marsh is appointed as a General Agent; and
commenced his labors on the first of April, in Connecticut, Aftei

331] SIXTH KEPORT. — 1 833* B

Jaboring Tor a lime in that State, he will visit otlier parts of the
country, and, in connection with other agents, assist the Committee,
and the friends of the cause, in extending by kind moral influence,
the principles of Temperance, throughout the United States.

Numerous Temperance Publications of various forms and sizes,
edited with ability, have been issued and circulated extensively in
various parts of the country. And it is earnestly hoped that tem-
perance publications may be multiplied, and supported ; till they
are established in every State ; and read and regarded by every
family and every individual in the country. No course could be
adopted, which would be more auspicious to the nation ; and none
open a prospect of greater blessings to mankind. Many of the
State Societies, and several of the County Societies have also, dur-
ing the last year, employed agents, and with the most gratifying
success. The number of members of Temperance Societies have»
in many cases, been doubled, and in some increased more than
four fold. Living agents, and ihe press, operating on the whole
mass of minds, aided by visible united example, are the divinely
appointed instruments, for .the illumination and renovation of the
world. And never has there been a specimen of more triumphant
progress, or an exemplificsiuon of the power of combined moral
effi)rt, which as a precedent, in its application to the human family,
may be more important, than that exhibited by the Temperance
Reformation. It is even ^ow often quoted throughout Christen*
dom, as a standing demonstration, that what needs to be done in
our world, and what ought to be done, through grace, can be done ;
and all that is needful, 4s, wise, united, energetic, persevering be-
nevolent action, in dependence on Gk>d, to secure, under Hinr,
glorious and everlasting success. It has awakened new confidence
in millions of hearts, and nerved with new vigor millions of hands.
For the extermination of deep and wide-spreading eWls, it has
drawn forth from millions, witli a firmer purpose and more unfal-
tering tongue, the declaration, " I will go in the strength of the
Lord God, I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine
only."

The weapons of their warfare being not carnal, and operating,
not by force, or coercion, but by light and love, on the conscience
and the heart, are mighty through God to the pulling down of
strong holds. Trusting in him, they mount up on wings as eagles,
they run and are not weary, they walk and are not faint. By
effort they renew theb strength, and they move on with increasing
energy from conquering to conquer. And if faithful, their efforts
will not cease, or be diminished, or be unsuccessful, till the last
vestige of open iniquity shall have* vanished from the globe*

In September the Committee issued the following Circular :

" At a meeting of the Executive Committee of the American
1 *

6 AME&ICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETY. [232

Temperance Society, holden m Boston, Sept. 21, 1832, it was
unanimously resolved,

1 . That it is highly desirable that meetings of Temjjerance So-
cieties and friends of temperance be holden simultaneously on some
day that may be designated, in all the cities, towns and villages
throughout the United States.

2. That Tuesday, the 26th day of February, 1833, be designated
for that purpose.

3. That measures be immediately taken to accomplish the
abovementioned object.

The reasons which lead the Committee to invite the co-opera-
tion of all their fellow citizens in carrying the abovementioned plan
into effect, are the following, viz :

1. It is strictly a national object ; and one in which persons of
all denominations, sects and parties can cordially unite, viz : the
removal of intemperance from our country.

2. The means to be employed are in all respects unexceptiona-
ble ; and are adapted to meet the cordial approbation of all friends
of humanity, viz : light and love, manifested in sound argument and
kind persuasion, for the purpose of inducing all voluntarily to ab-
stain from the use of ardent spirit as a drink, and from furnishing
it for the use of others.

3. The success which has attencied past efforts has already been
the means of rich blessings to all parts of our country, and is spoken
of with admiration throughout the world.

4. Philanthropists of the old worid are now, on this subject,
treading in our footsteps, and while they acknowledge their obliga-
tions for the benefits, are extensively copying our example.

6. Wherever the plan recommended by the American Tem-
perance Society, viz : abstinence from the use of ardent spirit as a
drink, and voluntary associations for the purpose of showing by
united example its benefits, has been adopted, in Europe, Asia, or
Africa, as well as in America, it has been highly efficacious, and
followed with the most beneficial results, to the social, civil, and
religious interests of man.

6. A union as to the time of holding temperance meetings, in all
the cities, towns, and villages of our country, would greatly increase
the interest which is felt on the subject, would call forth the efibrts
of the highest and best talents in the land, and would greatly in-
crease and extend the light, union, and efficiency on which, under
tlie divine blessing, the complete and universal success of the object
depends.

7. Facts seem to indicate that should temperance and its attend-
ant virtues and blessings universally prevail, the cholera, that scourge
of the nations, which has spread sackcloth round the globe and
threatens to cover our land with mourning, would be nearly if not

233] SIXTH REPORT. — 1833. 7

altogether unkbown ; the deep fountain of hura^n sorrow be dried
up, and ever growing light, purity, and joy, under the means of
divine appobtment, with all who obey the divine will) would uni"
versally prevail.

The Coramittee therefore earnestly invite -the eoroperatioa of all
State, and other Temperance Societies, and friends of temperance
of every name, in securing temperance meetings in every city,
town, and village in our country, on the abovemendoned day ; and
for this puipose they would respectfully request,

1. That in all places in which there are no Temperance Soci^
eties, immediately on the receipt of this Circular, there should be
a Committee of Arrangements appointed to give public notice, select
a speaker, or speakers, and take all needful measures for such a
meeting.

2. That in all places where there are Temperance Societies,
the officers of such societies, would do the same.

3. That ministers of the gospel of all denominations,, would
read this Circular from their pulpit, and use their influencef to ejSect
the design.

4. That all editors of newspapers and periodicals would give
puhlicmr to this Circular through the medium of their columns.

5. That a Temperance Society on that day be formed in every
place in which there is none ; and that efforts be m^de, previously

. to that day, and at that time, to have the present number of all
Temperance Societies, if possible, more than doubled. -.For this
end, and as a means to accomplish it, the Committee would invite
the attention of all their fellow citizens to the fourth and fifth Re-
ports of the Society, to the National Circular designed for every
family in the United States^ and to the tract which is published by
the Society, " On the immorality of the traffic in ardent spirit,"
and request that they may have a universal circulation. The avails
of said publications, will be devoted to the promotion of the cause
of temperance throughout our country.

Samuel Hubbard, President.

John Tappan,

George OnioRNE^^i

Heman Lincoln, \^Ex. Committee*

Justin Edwards,

Enoch Hale, Jr.

This document was extensively circulated,, and was hailed with
joy by the friends of Temperance throughout the country. It was
also forwarded to the British and Foreign Temperance Society,
and measures were promptly taken by them to secure meetings at
the same time, for the same purpose, throughout Great Britain.
Wherever the Circular went it met a prompt and lively response

8 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETT. [^3^1

from the hearts of the temperate, and multitudes looked forward
to the 26th day of February, 1833, as a day which would be
marked as an era in the history of the Temperance Reformation.
The prospect of beholding friends of humanity, without distinction
of name, party, sect or country, assembling at the same time, for
the same high purpose of uniting their energies for the moral eman-
cipation of the world, was indeed a noble, a sublime spectacle ; so
novel, and at the same time so grand and imposing, as to awaken
in many a bosom new anticipations, and raise from many a heart
more fervent aspirations to the Author of all good, that he would
grant to the enterprise his gracious benediction ; and hasten the
time, when men of mercy and of might, throughout the world,
shall simultaneously assemble, and with united hearts, before the
throne of the Eternal, in his strength, unite their hands, and all
their powers of body and mind, in one grand and evei^rowing
efibrt for the salvation from sin and death, of the whole hiunan
family.

On the 6th day of November, the Secretary of War issued
from the War Office the fdllowmg order :

"OFFICIAL.

'head quarters of the armt.

Adjutant GeneraPs Office, >
Washington, JVov. 5th, 1832. 5
The General-in-chief has received from the War Department
the subjoined Regulation, which is published for the information
and government of the Army, and all others interested :

War Department, Nov. 2d^ 1832.

1. Hereafter ho ardent spirits will be issued to troops pf the U
States, as a component part of the ration, nor shall any commuta-
tion therefor be paid to them.

2. No ardent spirits wiU be introduced into any fort, camp, or

farrison of the United States, nor sold by any suder to the troops,
for will any permit be granted for the purchase of ardent spirits.
Under the authority vested in the President by the 8th section of
the act of congress of April 14th, 1818, the following changes wiB
be made in the ration issued 1o the Army :

3. As a substitute for the ardent spirits Issued previously to the
adoption of the general regulation of November 30tfa, 1830, and
for the commutation in money prescribed thereby, eight pounds of
sugar and four pounds of coifee will be allowed to every one hun-
dred rations. And at those posts where the troops may prefer it,
ten pounds of rice may be issued to every one hundred rations, io
lieu of the eight quarts of beans allowed by the existing regulations.

4. These regulations will not extend to tlie cases provided foe

235] SIXTH REPORT. — 1833, 9

by the act of congress of March 2d, 1819, entitled ^'An act to
regulate the pay of the Army when employed on fatigue duty," in
which no discretionary authority is vested in the president, nor
to the necessary supplies for the Hospital Department of the army*

Lewi9 Cass.
R. Jones, Ad^. GenJ*^

This change had for some time been anticipated, and by none,
perhaps, more earnestly desired than by many of tlie officers of
the array. And few orders have ever issued from the war d,e-
partment more grateful to the people, or which have more generally
met their approbation. The author of it will long be held in
grateful remembrance, and will be noted in the future page of his*
tory as a benefactor of his country. The result is highly auspi-
cious. It saves an immense amount of property, and adds greatly^
to the health, the regularity, the happiness, and the strength of the
army. An officer of high rank and long experience, on hearing
that another officer, who had been intemperate, was dead, s£ud,
" It would be better for the army and for the country if such men
were all dead. They are only a burden and a disgrace.'' Young
officers, and those who are looking forward to promotion,, either
io military, or civil life, would do well to remember this. Such
sentiments are becoming common, and with regard to all depart-
ments. One of our most distinguished jurists, and successful ad-
vocates at the bar remarked, that, as witnesses in courts of justice,
men who drink ardent spirit, do not now, and that they never will
again, have equal influence with men who do not drink. It is
considered an impeachment of their character ; and lessens the
credibility and weight of their testimony. It is impossible to make
either the court or th^ jury repose the same confidence in them as
io other men. It is now understood, that even moderate drinking
weakens the intellect, blunts the power of discriminating perception^
and if it does not, as is often the case, make a man dishonest, it
renders him more liable to be deceived and to make mistakes.
It is not possible for a man to be, in any degree, under the power
of this mocker without being peculiarly exposed to deception*
*^ No man, (says an eminent physician,) who has taken only a single
glass, has all his faculties in as perfect a state, as the man woo
takes none. And there is no perfectly temperate physician, under
the influence merely of a glass of wine, who has so steady a hand,
or can, with as much prospect of safety and success, perform a
hazardous and difficult surgical operation, as the man who uses no
intoxicating drinks." And the community are becoming every day
more and more suspicious of men who drink, though only in mod-
erate quantities ; and whatever they may be in other respects, are
veposing less a»d less confidence in them. And evcsy new devel-

10 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETY. [236

opemeni of facts shows that they have most cogent reasons for
this. The time has gone by and will never return, when discern-
ing men will, other things being equal, repose as much confidence
in men who drink ardent spirit, as in men who do not. And the
more responsible the station, the greater reluctance they will feel,
at placing in it even the most moderate drinker. Such nnen are
dallying with the enemy ; admitting him to their bosoms and thus
jeopardizing all the great interests with which they are intrusted.
The records of stages, steam-boats and rail cars, as well as
courts of Justice and Halls of Legislation, and the numerous de-
falcations of incumbents of public offices, all bear testimony to the
truth of these remarks.

In a communication made to our Secretary by one of the largest
Mail Contractors in the United States, he says, " We seldom have
an accident worthy of notice, that we cannot trace to a glass oj
spirits^ taken perhaps to oblige a friend or a passenger who has
urged the driver ' to take a little ; ' thus putting his own life and
the lives of his companions in danger ; to say nothing of the loss
of character and property lo us."

" We were going," said a gentleman, "frpm Baltimore to Phil-
adelphia, in the stage. The day was cold, and the traveling ex-
ceedingly rough. But we had a careful driver and fine horses,
and we got on very well, till the driver stopped at a tavern and
took something to drink. Almost immediately after we started,
the horses became fractious." What was the matter ? The driver
did not hold the reins as he held them before. The poison which
for a pittance the tavern keeper gave him, and he drank, began to
affect his brain, and his arms ; it ran along in its influence through
the reins to the horses ; and the generous animals which had la-
bored so hard and well for the public good, reined and goaded
by a poisoned driver, became vexed even to madness. Descend-
ing a hill the stage was overturned ; and the passengers, with
broken bones and in imminent danger of death, experienced what
huidreds of others have, that the vexation and the mischief of hav-
ing poisoned drivers, and poisoiiing tavern keepers are not confined
to horses. They affect most seriously the passengers, in all pub-
fic conveyances ; and not only an immense amount of property,
but hundreds of lives are sacrificed .to an abominable custom. And
it is hoped that the time is not distant when no poisoned man will
be thought to be fit to take the direction of a stage, a rail car, or
a steam boat ; and when it will be thought to be much less proper
to entrust such an one wifli th6 momentous and complicated con-
cerns of the State and the Ndtion.

A distinguished officer 6f the United States (Jovernment in-
formed our Secretary, that the celebrated Author of the Declara-
tion of American Independence after long, and painful experience

237] SIXTH KEPORT. — 1833. 11

in the discharge of his arduous duties, as Chief Magistrate of the
nation, said witli great emphasis, " The habit of using ardent spirit,
by men in public office, has occasioned more injury to the pubUc
service, and more trouble ^o me, than any other circumstance
which has occurred in the internal concerns of the country, during
my administration. And were I to commence my administration
again, with the knowledge which from experience I have acquired,
the first question which I would ask, with regard to every candi-
date for public office, should be, Is he addicted to the use ofar^
dent spirit ? "

This question now, by those in power who regard the p¥iblic
good, often is asked, and it will be asked with greater frequency
in time to come. Men will not trust their money, their children
and their lives with poisoned men ', or make tliem the guardians,
in any department, of their rights. Experience and observadon
will affect all sober men, as they did that keen observer of men and
things, who would make it the first question, ^^Ishe addicted to the
use of ardent spirit ? " If he is, and men trust him with great
public interests, and meet with trovhle, they will meet what might,
and ought to have been their expected reward. Can a man take
fire in his bosom and his clothes not be burnt ? or can he put it
into the bosoms of others, and not burn them, and endanger the
interests entrusted to them ? Many have been made drunkards, by
men in public office, and many more have had intemperate appe-
tites formed or strengthened, and thus have been ruined, by the
government itself.

It is no less a matter of congratulation, that the government has
at last ceased longer to be accessory to such evils in the army,
than it is matter of grief and shame that they should have coi>-
tinued so long. Millions of property have been lost, and thousands
of brave men been helped by the country which they served, and
not unfrequently put by its authority, into a dishonourable grave.

The means of forming an unnatural and vicious appetite have
been furnished by the government ; an appetite stronger than death,
and more relentless than the grave ; and then, for crimes to which
it led, the miserable victim, by that very government, has been put
to death. With one hand they have furnished him the poison ;
and with the other taken away his life, for acting under its influence.

A soldier in the last war, once a sober and respectable man^
by daily taking a little, acquired an appetite for it. That appetite
he gratified, and under its influence deserted. He was taken and
condemned to be shot. Just before his execution he said to the
officer who visited him, " I owe my death to ardent spirit. It has
ruined me ; I never violated the orders, or broke the laws, except
when I had been drinking. I am now to die, and this it is which
has killed me. And now, if I could only get a draught of it, I

12 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETY. [238

should care nothing about death," And, said the officer, in relating
the case to our Secretary, " He actually pleaded for whiskey while
they were taking off his irons, with as much earnestness as a sinner
ever pleads for salvation." He was furnished with a pint, and,
under its influence, he was plunged into eteniity ; with the all con-
suming appetite strong in death. And four fifths of the capital
crimes, and of the executions in the army, in the navy and in the
community have been occasioned by the use of spirit. We fur-
nish the cause, excite to crime, and then put the criminal to death.
But a change with regard to the a^my has at last been effected ;
and one which if adopted and persevered in by the whole com-
munity will tend to render drunkenness and crime in the army and
out or it, as rare, as it is guilty, mean, and disgraceful. Many are
hoping and with high expectations, that a similar change will shortly
lake place in the Navy. Many of the officers and of the seamen
most earnestly desire it. Most of the men in two squadrons have
already voluntarily renounced entirely the use of spirit ; and the
consequent improvement, in their habits, health, and happiness, has
become a topic of common remark among the surgeons and other
officers.

The Secretary of the Navy states, thM the Sfchooner Experi-
ment had her men selected with a view to a full experiment on
this interesting subject. And righdy, in view of the Committee, is
she named Experiment ; for few if any vessels have ever made
an experiment on a subject of greater- importance to mankmd.
The Secretary also adds, " that by perseverance in holding out in-
ducements to the voluntary abandonment of the use of daily poi-
son, he trusts not only that the waste of human life, and the fre-
quency and severity of punishment will be diminished, but that a
great moral revolution will be permanendy effected among a class
of men, who have hitherto been too often considered irre-
claimable."

This testimony to ardent spirit as ^poison, and to the fatal evils
occasioned by the use of it, the Committee view as important; and
they would respectfully suggest whether, in the present state of in-
formation on this subject^ it is not morally wrongs for legislators
to wait, till seamen voluntarily refuse to accept the daily poison^
before they cease to furnish it ? especially as it is known, from the
testimony of surgeons and officers, that their furnishing it is the
cause of that waste of human life, and that frequency and severity
of punishment which die Secretary and thousands of others so
dee[^y deplore, and which is such a foul disgrace to the American
Navy ? and they would also suggest whether it is not the duty of
tbs govenunent, without delay to cease to furnish it? Many of
the officers have expressed, in strong terms, their abhorrence of
the practice; and to it have attributed by far the greatest portion

239] SIXTH REPORT. — 1833. 18

of their troubles with the men. And after it is known that, withr
out any benefit, it causes more than one fifth of the deaths, and more
than four fifths of the crimes among men who use it on the land ;
and that it is no less hurtful in proportion to its use on the ocean,
must it not be considered as a high immorality and as vicious le-
gislation to continue to furnish it ? and will the people of this free
country continue to consent to be thus taxed, for the sake of fur-
nishing seamen, as a meansj not of living, but of dying, with daily
poison ? to increase their diseases, augment their dangers, demoral-
ize their characters, shorten their lives, and ruin their souls ? Will
they consent to continue to be taxed for tlie purpose of multiplying
more than fourfold the difficulties of Naval officers ; degrading the
Naval service, and weakening the arm of National defence?
Said an officer of high rank, who for his country had long and
often braved the dangers of the deep, and faced tlie mouth of
cannon, " If Congress will only cease to furnish ardent spirit for
the Navy, we shall have comparatively no trouble with the men,
I have made the experiment, and I know, that when men cease to
use ardent spirit, they cease to violate their orders ; and are al-
most uniformly cheerful, healthy, respectful and obedient." And
it is indeed humiliating and degrading, that the facts which have
been developed have not before now produced entire conviction ,
and caused the practice of furnishing any class of citizens with ar-
dent spirit to be universally, and forever abolished. Nothing but
the blinding and palsying effect on the pubjic mind of the prac-
tice itself can account for this gross and long continued outrage
upon the character and comfort, the health and usefukiess, the
lives and souls of men. Still greater if possible is the violence
which is done to every correct principle, and the gloom which is
cast over every bright prospect, when this poison is furnished, as it
sometimes has been, by candidates for public office, cw a bribe to
electors. In this free country, raised by mercy high for all nations
to look at, and making for the world the momentous experiment,
whether free institutions can be permanent and men to luture
ages are to be governed by law or the sword ; in this mighty,
this stupendous conflict, where intelligence, and virtue, and moralityj
and religion, the religion of the J5i6fe, are all, and in all,— the pre-
tended patriot who sighed, '.^ O that I were made judge in the
land," has taken this poison and offered it to freemen to buy for
him their votes. And when charged with being so poisoned him-r
self as to be unfit for the public service, he has had the effrontery to
acknowledge in words and in deeds, tliat he loved it, and to declare
before th^ world that jf he could only have the votes of all in his
district, who were in this respect like himself, be would not ask
for more. And so enslaved have they sometimes been, that they
have put hiip into office, and continued him in it, till, not his conr
^ 17*

14 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIEIT. [240

stituents, but drunkenness cast him out. The very beasts, on
which some of them rode to elections^ on their return, lightened of
their burden, which could not ride, and much less could walk,
stopped to gaze at them in the gutter.

Men, born of sires whose blood flowed freely to purchase the
rich inheritance for then* children, were bribed to be slaves, by a
price which it would disgrace a slave to accept, and bound, not in
fetters of brass but of mud, which they had not strength enough to
break, and were doomed, while lifeTemained, to wallow in the mire,
an astonishment and a contempt to the most beasdy spectator.
The very dog wa^ ashamed of his company, while his meanest
feelings, as he, whom had he remained a man, he would gladly
have continued faithfully to serve, gasped in death, assumed a
moral grandeur, compared with the best of those which led the
destroyer of his master, by poisoning electors, to bribe himself into
office.

Had the Genius of Liberty not herself been put to sleep by the
lethean exhalations of that dark and putrid lake, her sword had
leaped from its scabbard to avenge the first invasion like this ; and
make an example, which as far, and as long as known, would for-
ever, among freemen, prevent its repetition. But she was asleep.
Her sleep however was not the sleep of death. The purifying
breezes have gone over her, and she begins already to stir ; and
in some cases she has opened her eyes.

" Nothing was more common a few years ago," says a distin-
guished Civilian, ^' in our part of the country, than for candidates
for public office to furnish electors with spirit. They did it to ob-
tain their votes ; and elections were scenes of dissipation, outrage
and riot. But no such thing is seen now. So great has been the
change since the formation o([ Temperance Societies, that diere is
not a man in the countiy, who, should he take that course, could
be elected to any office." Let Temperance Societies become
universal, and attempts to poison electors will no longer bribe their
authors into office. The cry of " Sectarianism," or " Church and
State," will not hide from the eye of freemen the cloven foot, or
shield him who wears it from their indignant execration.

Not a few associations have already been formed, whose mem-
bers solemnly pledge themselves not to vote for anv man to any
office, who at elections offers ardent spirit. The right of suffirage,
in their view, is too sacred, and liberty too precious to be bartered
away for rum, or whiskey. The false-hearted, traitorous pretend-
^s to patriotism, who think thus to purchase its honours and
emoluments, are in their estimation too base to be for a moment
tolerated by freemen. They view it as greater guilt and mean-
ness to buy votes with spirit, than with money ; and fraught with
greater dangers to the Republic. Frona supportmg the man who

841 J X SIXTH KfirORT. — 18.33. 16

does it, to whatever party he may belong, t!iey are resolved to ab-
stain. Total abstinence is ail that he will ever receive from them.
Let others treat him in the same manner, let this become univer-
sal, and the ciiange with regard to political corruption will be as
strongly marked, as the change witli regard to intemperance by
abstinence from ardent spirit. Let no man be elected to public
office whose qualifications and moral influence will not be a public
blessing, and the dark portentous clouds which have been hovering
aroufiu our horizon, and casting a broader and deeper shade over
ournational prospects, will be dispelled by that sun whose rising
glories will grow brighter and brighter to the perfect day.

The quaking apprehensions of the venerable patriot who poured
out his youthful blood to establish our freedom, that he should out-
live its continuance, would \\}en be hushed ; and every christian
bosom swell with high hope of the speedy and universal extension
and unchanging perpetuity of that heaven-born freedom which
makes all who partake of it to be " free indeed." Nor is the at-
tention of our countrymen confined to the ijonnection between
ardent spirit, and the political or temporal welfare of men. They
are tracing and exhibiting its more momentous connection with
their spiritual and their eternal concerns.

The General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church,
composed of that denoitiination throughout the United States, at
their last meeting, in addressing their churches, say, *^ God, who is
the Author of nature no less than revelation, has abundantly pro-
vided for the essential happiness and relative usefulness of man-
kind ; but the experience of ail ages and nations has given the most
indubitable prooi that the use of ardent spirits is totally inconsistent
with either; and, thus opposed to the benevolent intention of
Heaven and provisions of nature, must be considered as a trans-
gression of the will of God, The mischievous principle of ine-
briety, of which we now speak, cannot be made to nourish and
invigorate the body. It is, by the appointment of Heaven and the
constitution of our common nature rendered incapable of producing
such a result. Its conversion into chyle, after being received into
the stomach, and its subsequent appropriation by means of the
blood-vessels, for the purpose of renewing and invigorating the
body, are known to be impossible." And after saying that few
we aware of the insidious nature and great extent of the evil, they
add, " A large portion we fear of the most important and responsible
business of tlie nation is often transacted under the influence in a
greater or less degree of alcoholic excitement. And can those
be innocent who contribute to secure such a result, whether by the
pestilential example of temperate drinking, as it is called, or the
ttill more criminal means of furnishing the poisonous preparation
by manufacture and traffic for the degradatwn and ruin of others.^

J 6 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE S0CIET7. [242

The man who drinks intemperately ruins himself, and is the cause
of much discomfort and inquietude, and perhaps actual misery in
the social circle in which he- moves ; but manufacturers, and those
who 9re engaged in the traffic in ardent spirit and othef intoxi-
cdting liquors, do the work of death by wholesale ; they are devoted
by misguided enterprise to the ruin of human kind ; and become
directly accessory, though not intended by them, to the present
slmme and 6nal destruction of hundreds and thousands. And we
gravely ask, with no common solicitude, can God, who is just as
well as good, hold that church innocent which is found cherishing
m her bosom so awful and universal an evil? The father and
founder of methodism,* says, " It is amazing that the preparation
and selling of this poison should be permitted, I will not say in any
christian country, but in any civilized State." He denounces the
gain of the trafficker, as " the price of blood ;" and says, " Let not
any lover of virtue and truth say one word in favour of this mon-
ster. Let no lover of mankind open his mouth to extenuate the
guilt of it. Oppose it as you would oppose the devil, whose oflr-
spring and likeness it is. None can gain in this way by swallow-
ing up his neiglibor's substance, without gaiuing the damnation of
hell."

And it has been publicly announced by leading men in that Con-
nection, as their settled conviction, that he who lives to see the
year 1836, the time of the meeting of the next General Conference,
will witness the entire Methodist Connection throughout the United
States, free from makers and venders of spirituous liquors. May
their anticipations be realized and their zeal and success in this
work quicken and animate others, till every Christian Church of
every denomination, shall be free from this disgrace. And the
Church that shall be last to put away this abomination may expect
to be the last on which shall descend the dew, the rain, and the
sunshine of Millennial grace.

The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United
States say, " It is now a well established fact, that the common use
of strong drink, however moderate^ has been zfatal^ soulrdestroytng
barrier against the influence of the gospel. Consequently, where-
sver total abstinence is practised, a powerful instrument of resisting
the Holy Spirit is removed ; and a new avenue of access to tlie
hearts of men opened to the power of truth. Thus in numerous
instances, and in various places, during the past year the Tempe-
rance Reformation has been a harbinger preparing the way of the
Lord ; and the banishment of that liquid poison^ which kills both
soul and body, has made way for the immediate entrance of the
spirit and the word, the glorious train of the Redeemer. But, a

♦ John Wenley.

243J SIXTH REPORT.-r-1833, 17

great work is still to be effected in the church. The sons of Levi
roust be purified. The accursed thing must be removed from the
camp of the Lord. While professing Christians continue to ex-
hibit the baleful example of tasting the drunkard's poison; or,
by a sacrilegious traffic to make it their employment to degrade
and destroy their fellow men, those who love the Lord must
not keep silence, but must lift up their warning voice, and use
all lawful efforts to remove this witliering reproach from the house
of God.'*

Among the lawful efforts which the assembly declare that those
who love the Lord are bound to make, many ministers and elders
have had no doubt, is the kind, open, decided expression to the
churches and to the world of their conviction of the immorality
of the traffic in ardent spirit, and its utter inconsistency with tlie
spirit and requirements of the Christian religion.

The Presbytery of New York, therefore, at their meedbg in Octo-
ber, declared, " that in their opinion, it is the duly of all men, and
especially of those who profess the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ,
entirely to abstain from the use of ardent spirit as a drink, and from
traffic in it as such,'' and ordered that this opinion be communica-
ted to their churches.

The Synod of Albany, declared, " that in their judgment, the
traffic in ardent spirit ew. a drink is an immorality, and ought to be
viewed as such throughout the world ; " and remind the churches
under their care of the sentiments of the General Assembly, on
this subject, which we have quoted.

The Presbytery of Delaware expressed to their churches their
heart-rending regret that any of (he professed friends of the holy
and benevolent Saviour, should exhibit the shocking spectacle of
being engaged in the unholy and inhuman traffic of^ retailing that
which has fillecl the land with widows and orphans, with strife and
contention, crime and death ; and through the influence of which,
multitudes have -been doomed to eternal darkness and woe.

The General Association of New Hampshire, declared, " that
they believe the manufacture, sale, and use of that which kills the
body and destroys the soul, and which if continued as in time past,
will, in less than fifty years^ send a million of our fellow men ta
the drunkard's grave, and to the drunkard's doom, is utterly mcon-
sistent with the spirit of the gospel, and that no man, with his un-
derstanding enlightened on this subject, can continue either, and
jet give evidence of being born of God."

They also declare, " that they regard it to be the duty of alt
churches to refuse admission to all such persons as shall continue
10 make^ sell, or use ardent spirit as an article of drink or luxuiy.'*
They then make of all such persons the following momentous in*
quiries ; " Is it not your duty to aid in the suppression of vice i
2*

18 AMERICAN TEMPERAPTCE SOCIETY, [244

Can you continue a practice wliich inevitably leads to sin, and be
blameless? Can you feel for the salvation of men, anxJ yet en-
cotjrage a liabit that will certainly, in many cases, lead to the ruin
of the soul? Can you love the Saviour, and yet be unwilling to
do so little as to abstain from spirituous liquors to promote his
glory? In the day of judgment, when it shall appear that many,
encouraged by your example to drink, became drunkards and ai*e
lost, can you expect to enter the kingdom? Will not the bbod of
souls be found in your skirts? If you are not guilty of the sin of
iatemperanee, ought you not to sorrow that others are; and wiB
you not abstain from ardent spirit to prevent it? If you are nol
willing to make this sacrifice lor Christ, can you have any of that
love which led him to sacrifice himself for you? Oh reflect, and
over every glass you. drink, think of the rai'lions that the liquid
you drink has sent, and will send to hell. Oh thint of the judg-
ment, and prepare to meet us there/*

Th^ General Associations of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and
Maine, say, ^' thai in their judgment the traffic in ardent spirit, a$
a drink, is an immorality, and that it ought to be viewed and treated
as ^uch throughout the world; that this immorality is utterly in-
consistent with a profession of the Christian religion; and that
those who have the means of understanding its nature and effects,
and yet continue to be engaged in it, ought qot to be admitted as
members of Christian chorch&s; and that those loembers of
Christian churches who continue to be engaged in the traffic are
violating the principles and requirements of the Christian religion **
Similar views have been expressed by multitudes of others, both
in this and other countries, and they dre becoming the conunoo
views of enlightened and conscientious men throughout the world.

The American Quarterly Temperance Magazine says, ''We
consider moderate drinkers as the main, if not the only cause of
the continued use of distilled liquors; but for them, the manufac-
turer and vender would soon disannul their covenant with hell, and
abandon their trafiic in death. What has already been said of oi|^
regular temperate drinker, is apphcable to all. Their moral sense
is debased; they are enslaved to appetite; they are in league
against truth, reason, and revelation, with the enemy of their race.
He once said, ' Eat, and ye shall not surely die/ He now says,
' Drink, and ye shall not surely die. ' They quaff the bowl and join
in the response. This device is to be assailed and confuted »zain
and again, until public sentiment, which has been deeply vitiated
and perverted, shall be corrected and restored to the due perform-
ance of its office. Then shall the slaves of the enemy bear their
inaster's brand on their foreheads; and it shall no longer remain a
problem for critical solution, whether the fair honorable mercfaant^
who only sells the liquor to the misers^le drunkard whom his

S«4b] SIXTH EKPOKT. — Ib^iJ. |J^

regular business has enticed to ruin, till he snatches the last cnimb
of bread frorn his starving children, be more or less guilty than tfae
legaJ victim of his cupidity ; nor whether the distiller be more* or
less culpable than the merchant. Public sentiment, once tolerably
regulated and purified from the defilement derived from the same
all-corrupting source, would soon solve all such difiicult questions.
The reeling, profane, abandoned sot derives his arguments and ]m
justification for debasing himself apd preying upon society , froai
the same fund with his more decently appearing companions and
accomplices, tlie manufacturer and vender, and the whole cooi^
paoy of temperate drinkers. If a farmer, whose starving aniraalj»|
no less tlian his suffering family, designate, as with a sunbeam, I9
what corps he belongs ; you shall hear him decide authoritatively
against the reformation ; lest the cparse grains should remain a
useless drug on the' hands of the grower, and thereby injure the
agricultural interest. The importer, the manufacturer and yendei;
of all grades from the wholesale warehouse, or splendid maiisioa,
down to the occupant of the threepenny-glass hovel, aU sympa-
thise with him, and join in the argument. The cause of religion t?
scandalized by its professors j the sateless, never dying appetke
must have an apology, and one is soon found. With professions
of good will to man, and obedience to the requurements of the gpsh
pel on their lips, with the victims of their cupidity before their
eyes, in defiance pf the plainest prirfciples of the religion they pro-
fess, and in ccmtempt of the authority of its Author, they. too, hold
the polluting cup to their neighbors lips; and for what? to 8U»-.
tain and countenance themselves in the same indulgence ; or per-
haps for the more vile, debasing and guilty object, of making gaiii
by the unhallowed traffic. We do not read literally that the sen-
tence, < Depart into everlasting punishment,' was predicated oq
the fact that the delinquents had been the main instrunients, by
their example or fraudulent practices, whether legalized or not| 01
filling the abodes of misery with the sick, the naked, the wounded^
the friendless, and the hungry, as now is the fact toith every am
^ho bears an agency in procuring, diflfusing, or, by his example of
using mebriating liquors ; no, theirs was the negative guilt of no*,
according to their several ability and opportunity, administering to
the relief and comfort of their fellow creatures." The application
to the case in hand is too plain to be mistaken. If to him who
sees his fellow creatures hungry, or naked, or sick or in prisops
and does not, if in his po^ver, minister to their relief, the infinitely;
merciful Saviour says, " Depart, ye cursed into everlasting fipei;
prepared for the devil and his angels," what will he not say l|0
those who continue knowingly and perseveringly to make it their.
business to bring such evils upon them ? Can diey expect to os*
cape the withering indignation of Him, whose. eyes are as a flame

30 AMEBfCAN TCMPEKAJrcE SOCIETr. fi4&

of fire, and who is a just God as well as Saviour, when a fire shall
be kindled in his anger which shall burn to the lowest hell ; and aD
the proud, and all that do wickedly shall be as stubble 1^-

Said a member of Congress, at a meeting in the Capitol, " It has
long been settled by the concurrent testimony of the most distin-
guished physicians, that alcohol is a rank and deadly poison — ^that
m its effects it resembles arsenic, and tliat though slower in Its
operation, it is not less certain and destructive in its results. Ay,
that it is infinitely more so ; that it poisons, destmys, kills both the
body and the mind ; that the inevitable tendency of its use is the
paralysation of the health, the destruction of the human constitu^
tion } the prostration of morals ; the accumulation of crime ; the
augmentation of the sum total of hufnan wickedness and human
misery ; the derangement and stupefactbn of the intellect ; the
oblivion of every social and religious obligation ; the extinction of
the love of honor in the human breast ; and the annihilation of
every high and holy feeling of the soul, which elevates man above
the brutes that perish, and allies hrm to God ! Who is not, then,
ready to exclaim, that the mere use of this poison, is of itself a
crime ? A crime, however, which sinks into insignificance when
compared with that of making and vending it for the destruction oi
others— a crime that whitens into innocence when contrasted with
that of creating and pouring npon mankind this desolating stream
of moral death, this cataract oi liquid fire, to blast the rising glories
of our country, and desolate the land.— Time was when these re-
sults were either untbought of or unknown ; when the making and
vending of this now well-known cause of disease and death, of
crime and wretchedness, was either sustained ty the voice of pub-
lic opinion, or indulged without reprobation. 6ut, light has come
upon us. In that light a new law has revealed itself: It is foimded
in moral justice, and is eternal. It is no longer unpublished of
unknown to the world. It has been written, as it were, by the
finger of God, in glaring capitals of Irvhig light, in characters of
unutterable brightness upon the margin of the heavens. All na-
tions have read, and are preparing to obey it. It forbids man,
under the penalty of its eternal malediction — to deal in this poison^
It forbids him to scatter it like * firebrands, arrows and death/
among the children of his race. No one can longer plead igno^
ranee of its mandates, or of its penahies. No one can longer deny,
that from this source, (the manufacture and traffic of this destruc-
tive fluid) flows a train of evils, which embody every variety of
banian crime and human misery ; which convert the blessings of
heaven into curses, and those of life into the tortures of disease —
the madness of despair — ^the premature agonies of temporal and
eternal death. Without this agency, all these vast and complicated
evils would cease to exist. Tne individnaK therefore, who manu-

factures or traffics in this poison, knounng and reflecting upon thu
tvide-spread ruin and \desolation which result from his agency in
increasing its consumption, is, in the eye of Heaven, responsible
for all, and richly merits the disfavor and reprobation of his coun-
try. Where, in the eye of eternal justice, is the difference between
him who strikes the blow of death, and him who knowingly mad*
dens the brain, and tempts and flres the soul to strike it ? Where
is the difference between him who by the sale and dissemination of
this subtle poison, causes four fifths of the pauperism^ crime, sick-
ness, wretchedness, insanity and death, which afflict the world ;
and him who does it by the manufacture and universal diffusion
of * miasmatic cholera/ if you please, or by the administration of
other poisons ? What matters it to the widowed wife and uTeltched
orphan, whether you consign the husband and father to a prema-
ture grave by the midnight dagger, or by the lingering tortures of
the drunkard's death I The difference is only in the form : In the
form did I say ? I correct myself. The enormity of guilt rests
with a heavier weight- upon the head of the death-dealing grocer.
In the first case the destroyer inflicts upon the suffering survivor a
bereavement unerabittered with shame, and unstained by dishonor^
While in the latter he superadds to the crime of murder, and to
the destitution and loneliness of orphanage and widowhood, the
wretched inherluince of poverty and disgrace. I repeat, therefore^
that it is now too late to deny either the criminality of this traffic,
or the nnaghitude of the evils which result from it. I speak not of
the gallows-chains, the gibbets, the alms-houses, the dungeons, and
the penitentiaries, to whose ravening heights and hungry walls, the
makers and Venders of this poison are but the recruiting sergeants*
I speak not now of fields turned to waste — of homes deserted— of
hearths desolated— of happiness forever blasted, and hopes forever
crushed beneath the withering tread of this fell destroyer. Nor
will time permit me to point you even for a moment, to those scenes
of grovelling dissipation, of frantic riot, of desperate revenge, and
of brutal abandonment, from which the once kind husband dnd the
father is sent home, transformed into an infuriated demon, to his
trembling wife and famished children, the object alike of terror, of
shame, and of heart-rending commiseration. I cannot speak of
those truly tragical results of this inhuman traffic ; of those scenes
of unutterable wretchedness and agony of soul, over which my
heart has often bled, even in the far off peaceful wilds of the West ;
of those scenes, in which I myself have seen this demon of de-
struction rising on his pedestal of broken hearts and blasted hopes^
and, intent on gain, filling the very air with moral pestilence, blast-
ing every noble and manly feeling of the human heart, and poprin^
from his poisoned ch^Rce his fiery streams of agony and despair
into the onde happy and cherished circle of domestic peace and

93 AMEIUCAN TlSMPCftAKCC SOCISTT. [248

love. These are the scenes in which the effects of this most in-
excusable traffic in ardent spirits are exhibited : these the scenes,
where cruel and cold-hearted avarice, for the sake of a few paltry-
sixpences, palsies every healthful pulse of life, and sharpens every
pang of death — ^wbere the grim master of the sacri&ce himself,
coming forth from bis dark Aceldama of human blood, strikes down
every hope that can cheer, and wrings every 6bre that can feel,
before he gives the final blow that sends the suffering victim to
eternity. Can that traffic be justified by an enlightened and vir-
tuous people, which thus alone holds out the chief temptation to
intemperance, and strews the land with ' beggars, and widows, and
orphans, and crimes,' — ^which breaks up the foundations of spcial
happiness, consigns millions prematurely to their graves, and fills
the world with wailings, lamentations, and woe ? I answer, JVo^
Policy, morality, patriotism, religion condemn it."

Says an eminent European writer, " Let him who sells ardent
spirit bring the practices of his daily calling to the standard of the
Bible; and when he stores his ship with this body and soul destroy*
ing agent $ when he holds out its tempting symbols to his friends
and to all around him ; when he knows its deleterious nature, and
sees its demoralizing tendency ; when his hands are polluted In
transmittine it to the band of the drunkard ; — when husbands, and
wives, and mothers, and children, are pining in indigence and
hopeless sorrow caused by that very article which it is his business
ta retail, let him inquire whether he can be a participanjt in, or a
cause of such scenes and yet be free from guilt. Let him inquire
whether he can conscientiously go to his keees, and pray for the
blessing of God to rest upon, and to prosper the works of his hands.
Let him inquire whether he seriously believes, that God will send
forth his hogshead;s of whiskey, or rum, or brandy to be a blessing
to his fellow men ; or whether he can lie down on his pillow at
night with a calm .and tranquil mind, when he thinks on the mis-
erable and wretched beings whom, he has been helping to destroy,
and some of whom have passed into eternity under the influence
of spirits provided for them within his door. Let him ponder well
such passages of the word of God as these, and then let conscience
give her verdict. ' Woe to him diat giveth his neighbor drink,
and maketh him drunken.' ' Let no man put a stumbling block, or
tn, occasion to fall in his brother's way.' * Have no fellowship
with the unfruitful works of darkness. * Let no man seek his
own, but every man another's wealth.' * Whether therefore ye
eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.' "

And after quoting from a writer of our own country the decla-
ration, that could each hogshead of whiskey which a Christian sells,
come back, and as it enters his door tell him of the families it has
made niiserable, the wives it has made widows, and the children it

249] SIXTH REPORT. — 1833. 38

has made orphans, he would start back from the traffic as he would
from the pit of perdition ; and after stating many horrible cases of
its effects upon those who sell, and those who buy, and saying that
it seems as if the same malignant spirit reigned every where in the
bosoms of those who have sold themselves to strong drink, and
that nothing appears too base or Satanic for them to perpetrate, he
adds, " When will the moral man, and the Christian withdraw alto^
gether from couBtenanciog, either directly or indirectly, this system
of iniquity ; and resolve neither to make, sell, or use these distilled
liquors, which are so preeminently Satan's instruments of evil to a
guilty world."

Such is the voice of the press, both in this country, and in
Europe. And the truth which it has uttered has commended itself
to the conscience, and operates powerfully and efficaciously on the
heart.

Multitudes have during the past y^ar renounced the unhallowed
and degrading traffic ; and greater multitudes have been impressed
with its awfiil wickedness and guilt. One man writes, " The pub-
lications on this subject, if circulated and read, must drive every
man of conscience out of this traffic, or drive him distracted."
Another man remarks, " Every man who is in this traffic must re-
nounce it or give up his religion ; for Christian character and rum-
selling cannot any longer go together." Another man writes,
"Makers and venders of ardent spirits have no souls; if they had,
and understood what they are doing, they could not continue in
their present employment."

These are indeed strong expressions ; but they show the current
of public sentiment, and the deep abhorrence with which reflecting
men view that fatal employment.

A respectable master mill-wrigbt was solicited to repair the
pumps of a distillery ; but he refused, and Said that he could not
without a violation of conscience, even in the way of business, aid
in expediting the manufacture of an article that was working such
terrible destruction among his fellow men. Another man was ap-
plied to, to paint a sign that should show the passing traveller the
place in which he could get the poison. But though dependent on
his business for his living, he promptly refused ; and let the appli-
cant know that he believed it to be morally wrong thus to assist in
destroying others.

A miller who lived in a State that required by law, that millers
should grind such grain as might be brought to them for that pur-
pose, when grain was brought to be ground for distillation, refused
to grind it. He would not have his mill prostituted to such a vile
and loathsome purpose. He could not do it without a violation
of moral duty, and he felt bound, though it was a breach of human
law, to refuse. He did refuse, like a man who was not afraid to d©

24 AMERICAN T£]^P£RANCE SOCIETY. [250

right. The destroyer however, conunying intent upoQ his gain,
the man was prosecuted and fined. He applied to the Legisla-
ture ; whereupon they passed the following act, viz. " It is here-
by enacted, — tliat an act entitled, * an act, relating to mills and
miliars,' shall not be so construed as to make any qwner or occu-
pier of any mill, liable to the penalty therein named, who shall
refuse, or neglect to grind any grain brought to such mill to be
ground for the avowed, or apparent purpose, of manufacturing
such grain inio distilled spirits; nor liable to any suit or action for
so refusing." And, says an energetic writer, speaking of this man,
" He has done well, and has sho^n that a good,^well informed
conscience, resolutely obeyed, will make its possiessor a benefactor
to mankind. Time, place, occupation, circumstances cannot hin-
der it. Though shut up in a grist-mill, busy in watching the fine-
ness of Indian meal as it comes from between the stones, such a
man may amend the legislation of States, and Empires, and hasten
the march of mankind towards the enjoyment of all their rights ;
hy just doing one duty after another, as ihey come along, without
being deterred by fear of consequences."

In another State a town applied to the Legislature for an act o(
incorporation. While the bill was before the lower house, a mem-
ber moved to strike out the 3d section, which contained the usual
authority to town officers to grant licenses to retail spirituous
liquors. An animated debate ensued ; and in which the advocates
for liceqses, assumed the same rights for the town in question to
regulate its own morals, as bad been granted to. other towns. The
mover replied that the Legislature had no right to authorise the
granting of licenses for such a purpose. A noble sentiment, wor-
diy to be written in letters of gold y and destined soon to be the
opinion of the world* He said that he considered it to be their
duty as guardians of the public welfare, to take a stand on this
subject. He did not legislate, with reference to the state of things
in that town, which he presumed' was not worse thaa in others,
but he would^ oppose any measure, whencesoever it proceeded,
which tended to spread the pernicious influence of intemperance.
And on the final question the motion to surike out prevailed by a
large majority. -

The Keeper of a litde grog-shop in a narrow dirty lane, said to
his acquaintance, '* These temperance folks are doing a deal of
mischief. ,On Saturday night, the workmen, after getting their
wages, on their way home used to stop at my store and drink. I
used on that night and the next day to take a hundred dollars,
but now I cannot take ten." A deal of mischief to be sure, as the
jibcar ninety dollars now goes to support their starving families.

And what a deal of mischief will legislators do, when, they shall
ap longer sanction by legislation the licensing of men to sell ar-

461 J SIXTH KEPORT. 1833, 25

dent spirit, and thus to take on Saturday night and Sabbath day,
a hundred dollars from starving families ; and instead of poisoning
the father and rendering him a maniac, shBll let him remain sober,
to carry bread and clothing, peacie and joy, to his wife and children.

Another man, licensed to sell, and ax^ting under ^the full sanction
of legislative authority, had on hand a quantity of spirit. Findmg
DO opportunity to sell it, where it might not be drunk and destroy
his fellow men ; and not being willing to do that for money, he tumed^
if into the sea. He had rattier lose it, than to havie the drinker
lose it, and with it, as he might should he drink it, lose his life, and
his soul. Though he could get the money for it, he did not be-
lieve it to be right in that way to make money ; because it tended
to destroy others. He did not believe it to be right for him to teach
the doctrine, as he would should he sell it, that men can without
eommitting sin, buy and drink it. He did not believe it would be
right, even sholild he appropriate the avails to the distribution of
the Bible, or the relief of the poor. As Jehovah abhors robbery
for sacrifice, he knew that he would not accept the fruit of a traf-
fic which does more mischief than robbery itself. He therefore
resolved to cleanse his hands and purify his heart from that covet-
ousness, which leads men, for the sake of money, to desolate and
destroy.

Another man, who was convinced that it is wrong to make ardent
spirit, to import or to vend it, was y6t not so sure that there might
not be a case, in which a cargo consigned to him, not from anbtber
country but from his own, might be lawfully sold, as, if he should
not sell it, some other man would, and his doing it would not in-
crease the quantity in the country or the amount that would be used.
He had such a cargo, and after considerable doubt and hesitation,
he sold it and took the commission. But said he, after reflection,
" I believe I ought not to keep that money." He chose not to re-
tain it. And he appropriated it to the dissemination of informa-
tion as to the nature and effects of spirituous liquors, for the purpose,
as far as practicable, of convincing all men that it is wicked to
make, import, sell, or drink it. Should a nian sell it, even on
commission, though another man would sell it if he should not, he
woidd teach by that act the fatally erroneous doctrine, that it is
not wicked to buy and drink it ; — a doctrine which no man can
teach, without being accessory to the evils, temporal and eternal,
which it occasions.

And this, with Christians and sober men, in proportion as they
examine the subject, is becoming more and more the deep and
universal conviction.

The Clerk of a Presbytery writes, " We have within our bounds
twenty-one churches ; and there is not an individual in either, who
b in any way connected with the traffic in ardent spirit." There
3 18*

36 AM£RIGAN T£MP£iUNC£ SOCtfiTY*^ {2&i

are ten such churches id the city of Boston, snd twenty in the
city of New York ; and the Committee are led to beUeye, more
than a thousand in other parts of the country. The. inipression is
now common that for men to profess religion and covenant before
heaven and earth to do good as they have opportunity to all men,
and then make it a . business to manufacture, or sell, that which
produces such unmixed and overwhelming evils, is solemn mock-
ery. To go from the communion table to the grog-shop, the
liquor store, or the distillery, and pour out streams of death- oyer
the community, is an abomination in the sight of heaven, which the
great Head of the Church, who died to redeem it unto hiraself,^ re-
quires should be universally and forever done away. And those
who, notwithstanding all the light which the church can now fur-
nish as to the nature and effects of diis traffic, still continue in it,
are viewed as unfit for her communion. And increasing numbers
believe that I hey are forbidden by the sacred oracles to be acces-
sory to the introduction of such persons into the visible church.
Numbers of churches have been formed, with the understanding
among the members that no such persons are evefr tobe admitted.
Nor is this, as some suppose, adopting a new ryle or test of ad-
mission to churches, or one not recognized in the Bible. It is only
the application of the principles and requirements of the scriptures
correcdy to this case, whereas in times past, through ignorance and
error, they have not been so applied. The Bible does not indeed
say, in so many words, that retailers of spirit, or distillers, shall
not be admitled^ to the church. Neither does it. say, that gam-
blers, or counterfeiters of the public coin, shall not be admitted
to the church. And yet Christians act, and long have acted as if it
said so ; and they are forbidden to act otherwise. Why ? because
those practices are immoral, and as really known to be such as
if they were mentbned by name, and denounced ias immoralities in
the Bible. So with the traffic in ardenjt spirit.

If, with all the light which, from the Scriptures and. from facts,
the church can now furnish, a man does not ren9unce the traffic,
he fails to exhibit that evidence of being a good man, which would
justify others in receiving and treating him as such.

Besides, as the business is immoral, if it must be continued, less
mischief will be done if it is carried on only by men out of the
church, than if it is carried on also by church members. And
as most of the troubles which the churches have had with their
roembers have arisen from this employment, they are bound in self
defence not to admit such persons to their communion. They
have too many such in tlie churches already ; and they are bound
not to increase the number. If they do, they will increase their
weakness and their sorrows. This employment is one of the most,
powerful obstructions to the efficacy of tl)e gospel, and one of tlie

i53j stXTU «:eport.— 1B33. 27

greatest hin<lrances to the jsalvatipo of jfnen^ The greater the io-
fluence of men, who saucijon a vicious employment, the greater
*the mischief. Regard, therefore, to the good of others, requires
tbeiii to take this course* They cannot do otherwise without great
evil, and great guilt.

Some indeed suppose, although it is a wicked employment, yet
as some men will have spirit, and 6ther men will sell it, it had bet-
ter be sold by good men, than bad; by professors of religion,
rather than by others. Thi^ is a great mistake Some men will
have counterfeit moi^ey if tj^ey can get it, and other men will make
it, and others sell it^; some by. wholesale, or on commission, and
others by retail. And soine will use it moderately and prudently
themselves. They have done so perhaps for years, and do not
see that it injures them^ and may contend that there is no hurt in
it, as they manage it. But is it no worse for this to be done by
church menibers, than by the abandoned ? will it be better for pro-
fessed Christians to be engaged in wickedness, because they will
do it more decently, and in a manner less outrageous to public
feelipg? Will they not by doing it iaculcate, by the whole weight
of their character, that it is right, and thus give it respectability ?
or else that they, although professors d godliness, will for money
knowingly and habitually dp wrong? And would not either of
these doctrines be a reproach to religion? and if taught by the
practice of good men would it not do vastly more mischief titan
if taught only by notoriously bad men ? Who can doubt it ? Sa-
tan himself, when there is a demand for it, and some men will
carry it on, might delight to have members of the church, and the
best and most influential men in the community, engaged in hts
most infernal business* And he might be willing even to be laid
under some restrictions, if the business could be licensed, and thus
have the sainction of legislative J^uthority. It would aid him by
removing one of his greatest obstructions, arising from the con-^
sciences of men, and from the convictions that his business is
wicked, and that the end thereof is death. He might be willing
that his followers should even pay something for a license, and that
there should be, nominally at least, some penalty attached to out-
rageous excess ; and he might plead that the best men in the
community should carry on the business, because they would do
it with more regularity. But would it promote the cause of virtue
and the cause of God ? and would it lessen the power of the ad-
versary ^ does he not know, that the more respectable he caa
make a wicked employment, the greater will be the mischief?

A notorious gambler at thei head of a large establishment, the
keeping of which was made penal, but into which, in violation of
law, public sentiment and conscience, many a youth and many a
man, under the cover of night had stepped and been ruined, plead

28 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETY. [254

Strongly tiiat such establishments, for the public good, should be
licensed. He would be willing to pay, if needful, a thousand dol-
lars a year ; and be willing too to be laid, nominally at leaist, under
some restrictions, and to have some penalty attached to great ex-
cess. He said, if such establishments were licensed they might
be controlled, and be made to yield a large revenue to the gov-
ernment. And such men, in such cases, can talk long and loud,
about revenue, and rcgdlarity, and decency, and the public good ;
and appear very patriotic ; while their business is undermining the
pillars of the Republic, and is such as the great enemy of God and
man would have it. But he did not add, that this would remove
the odium of vice, without changing its character ; make the way
to death more respectable, and thus draw a greater number into it.
He did not add what, had he told the truth, and the whole truth,
he must have added, that it would ward off from those sinks of
iniquity the froWn of public indignation, and stifle many a conscience,
and remove the last barrier between many a soul and endless ruin.
And let men who plead that a wicked business should be licensed,
or be carried on by good men, not forget that they advocate the
cause of the great destroyer.

A vender of lottery tickets contrary to law, said, " It is a bad
business, but then somebody will carry it on, and it ought to be
licensed. The L#egislature can then control it, and prevent a
great deal of mischief ; and it might be a source of revenue to the
State. Men will buy tickets, legislators make laws against it,
and then come themselves, and buy th<5 litkets. I have sold more
than four hundred dollars worth of tickets to members of the Leg-
islature within four weeks. It ought to be licensed." So the
men who carry on the system of public swindling, and their associ-
ates reason. They too, would be willing, nay glad to pay for
^ a license, for this would ^iirnish over with legislative sanction, and
in view of rnultitudes hide the odiousness of their high-handed ini-
quity. But the people begin to tliink, that it is better for their
legislators not to license the perpetrators of such iniquity ; but if
tliey (x)ntinue to injure the community, and nothing else will prevent
it, to send them to the State Prison. The eommunity have already
begun to speak on this subject, and legislators have begun to hear.*
May they continue to speak, in louder and deeper tones, till the
practice of licensing iniquity, and thus throwing over it the shield
of legislative sanction, and warding off public rebuke, shall univer-
sally and forever cease.

In the month of October the Committee of the New York City
Temperance Society applied to our Secretary to assist them in com-
pleting a thorough Temperance organization of that city. A Society

* AppMdix B.

255 J SIXTH REPORT.— 1833. 39

was organized in every Ward, and a Committee appointed in each,
of from thirty to eighty men. A map of each Ward was procured,
the Ward divided into districts, and each district committed to the
care of some member of the Committee, who engaged to visit
every family, put into it a Temperance Circular, and invite its
members to join the Temperance Society. To a considerable
extent, this was accomplished before the 26th of February, the
day appointed for simultaneous meetings throughout the country.
On that day one of the largest and most interesting meetings ever
known in the city, was holden at the Chatham Street Chapel, and
was addressed by a number of eminent citizens, with great power
and effect. From the Report presented on that occasion, it ap-
peared, though only partial reports had been made, that the num*
ber of members of Temperance Societies in the city was from
fifteen to eighteen thousand ; and that they had been more than
doubled during the last year.'* The work is still going forward, and
could an agent of the right character be permanently located in
that city, and a system of effort be pursued to put information oo
this subject into every family, the work of moral reform, so happily
begun, might by the divine blessing be carried forward to a tn*
umphant consummation ; and from that great fountain of wealth and •
influence, streams of life and salvation flow out over the whole
country. Nor would the inhabitants of the city be among the
least of the gainers. Let the population of that great and growing
metropolis cease to use and vend ardent spirit, or to practise the
vices to which it leads, and the sad spectacle of two hundred thous-
and dollars expended to support paupers and prosecute the crimi-
nal$, and an hundred thousand to meet the wants of sickness which
it occasions ; fifty thousand people fleeing from their homes to es-
cape the ravages of the Cholera, and the universal stagnation of
business causing a loss of a million dollars niore, and the woful
sacrifice in three months of more than three thousand lives, would
probably not again be seen. Ceasing to manufacture and sell
death, its ravages to a great extent would cease. And let her hun-
dred churches, like tlie twenty referred to, and the thousand in
other parts of the country be freed from all members who stand at
the fountain he^d and pour out streams of desolation over the coun-
try ; and let all who name the name of Christ, imitate his example
of doing good and good only as diey have opportunity to all, and
Zion will arise and shine, her light being come, and the glory of
the Lord, above the brightness oi the sun, will break forth upon her. .
Violence will no more be heard in our land, wasting or destruction
within our borders — our walls will be salvation, and our gates will
be praise.

In December, 1632, the Committee issued the folbwing Cir-
cular, viz.

* They h%ve since been increased to more than 50,000, Jul/, 183^

90 AMERICAN TSafPERANCE SOCIETY. [256

*^ As the success of the Temperance cause depends upon the
universal diffusion of correct hiiormation amo^g all classes oi
people, the Executive Committee of the American Temperance
Society have tliought proper to adopt the following Resolutions :

1. ttesolvedf That it is expedient that delegates from Tempe-
rance Societies and the friends of Temperance ia every part of the
United States be invited to meet in Convention, lo consider the
best means of extending, by a general diffiision of information, and
the exertion of a kind and persuasive moral influence, the princi-
ple of abstinence from the use of ardent spirit throughout out
country.

2. That measures be immediately taken to procuie such a Con-
vention, to be held in the city of PhiladelpUa on the 24th day of
May, 1833.

3. That each State Temperance Society be, and hereby is, re-
quested to send three or more delegates^ and each County Society
tp send one or more delegates to the proposed Oonvention.

4. That it be recommended, that the app<»ntmeDt of delegates
so far as it shall be practicable, be made on the 26tb day dS Feb-
ruary next, the day already fixed upon for simultaneous meetings
of the Temperance Societies and friends of Temperance, in all the
cities, towns and villages throughout the United States.

5. That in those States^ and counties in which no Temperance
Society is organised, the friends of Temperance be, and they
hereby are, requested to appoint in such manner as they shall think
proper, the same number of delegates for each State or County,
as are proposed in the 3d Resolution, to be appobted by the seve-
ral State and County Societies respectively.

6. That all editors of papers and other publications thronghout
our country, who are friendly to the cause of Temperance, be and
they hereby are respectfully requested to insert the foregoing
resolutions in their several publications } and in such other ways
as they may deem suitable^ to use their influence to promote the
object of the proposed Convefition,-^4mtirerM/ abstinence from
the use of ardent spirit,

Samuei. Hubbakd, Presidents
John Tappan,
George Odiorne,
Heman Lincoln, yEoe. Committee.^
Justin Edwards,
Enoch Hale^ Jr.

The call (or tbb Convention has been greeted with joy in all
parts of the country. Numerous delegates have already been ap-

g)inted throughout the United States, and one appointed by the
ritish and Foreign Temperance Society has just arrived bom

257] sixTiK BSPORT. — 1833. 31

England to attend the meeting. High hopes are entertained that
it wiil be a ounierou^ and powerful meeting, and that it will give a
new impulse to the cause of Temperance throughout the world.*
Early in February our Secretary visited the city of Washington.
He was cordially welcomed by many members of Congress and
others, and at the special request of members of bgth houses ad-
dressed them on the sabbath, in the Capitol, oil the subject of
Temperance. The subsequent week, the House of Representa-
tives liberally granted the use of their hall for the purpose of hold-
ing a Congressional Temperance Meeting. Tius meeting was
Dumerously attended by members of Congress, citizens, and
strangers; and produced a highly salutary effect.

The Hon. Lewis Cass, Secretary of War presided, and the Hon.
John Blair, member of Congress from Tennessee was Secretary
of the meeting. The throne of grace was addressed by the Rev.
William Hammet of Virginia, of the Methodist Episcopal Church,
and Chaplain to Congress.

Addre;sses were then delivered by the Secretary of War ; the
Corresponding Secretary of the American Temperance Society ;
The Hon. Eleutheros Cook, member of Congress from Ohio ; &e
Hon. George R. Bri^s, member of Congress from Massachusetts ;
Thomas Sewall, M. P. Professor of Anatomy and Physiology in
the Columbian College, Washington, D. C ; the Hon. Liewis Con-
diet, member of Congress from New Jersey; the Hon. Andrew
Stewart, Member of Congress from Pennsylvania; the Hon.
William Wilkins, United States, Senator from Pennsylviania ; the
Hon. John Reed, member of Congress from Massacnusetts ; the
Hon. John Tipton, United States Senator from Indiana ; and the
Hon. Theodore Freelingbuysen, United States Senator from New
Jersey ; and the following Resolutions were unanimously adopted,
viz.

Resolved^ That the success of the cause of Temperance in this,
aod other countries, affords high encouragement to the friends of
morality lo persevere in their effi>rts till intemperance and its evils
are banished from the earth.

Resolvedj That the manufacture of, and traffic in ardent spirit
ought to be discountenanced and abandoned, as incompatible with
the obligations of social and moral duty, by every patriot, and es-
pecially by every Christian m the country.

Resolved^ That total abstinence trom the use of ardent spirit, as
& drink, is the only security to individuals against its ruinous con-
sequences, and gives the only sure pledge oi the ultimate success
of the cause of Temperance.

Resolvedf That Uie use of ardent spirit tends to produce disease

* Appendiz C.

82 ABnCRICiLN TEMPERAltce SfOClKTY* [259

^Dd prer.iature death ; and that there is no case in wbtcb h » in-
dispensable, even as a medicine, atid in which there may not be an
adequate substitute.

Resolved^ As the sense of ttiis meeting, that the liberties and
welfare of the nation are intimately and indissolubly contxected with
the morals and virtue of the people. And that, in the enactment
of laws foir the common benefit, it is equally the doty of the Legis-
lative body to guard and preserve the public morals from corrup-
tion, as to advance the pecuniary interest, or to maintain the civil
rights diid freedom of the commmiity.

The following resolution was to have been presented by the
Hon. H. A. S. Dearborn, member bf Congress from Ma«sachn-
ietts, but be was prevented by sickness from attending the meeting.

Resolved^ That the abolition of the use of ardent spirit through-
out the array, has been highly sahitary; and that its abolition
throughout the navy, while it would^ strengtheti the arm of national
defence, would elevate the character and increase the respectabrlify
and happiness of that interesting and iniportant class of our citizens.

Resolved^ That the adoption of the principle of abstinence from
the v»se of ardent spirit, by superintendent^of public works, propri-
etors of rail roads, steaniiboats, stages, &lc. with regard to all in
thfeir employment, would increase the value of their services, as
well as the comfort and safety of the community.

Resohedj That the use of ardent spirits and the unrestrained
traffic in them, directly lead to the introduction amongst us, of crimes
and vice inirarious forms, and to the overthrow of that purity and
virtue of the people upon which depend the permanence of oar
free institutions, and, therefore, ought to be discouraged and re-
sisted by eveiy friend of civil and religious liberty throughout the
world.

Resolved, That as a means of universal success, the fiiends of
Temperance are bound to redouble their efforts by the agency of
the press, and lay all other practical means tp enlighten the under-
standings of their fellow men, and awaken their attention to this
great and important cause.

Resolved, That it b^ earnestly recommended to all who adopt
the principles of the Ten^^^erance reformation, or who wish to pro-
mote it, to add the influence of their names and examples as oiem-
bers of Temperance Societies, and in all proper ways to promote
the formation of such societies, \iniil they sh^Il become universal.

ResoheijThdii the Temperance reformation ia fundamental m
its influence, npon all the great enterprizes, which hare for their
object the intellectual elevation, the moral purity, the social hap-
piness, and the immortal prospects of mankind.

The Hon. Felix Grundy, United States Senator from Tennes-
see, then rose and said, that be had been Inghly gratified, and even

95d] Bi%rn tifiPoftT. — 1833. S3

delighted with the meeting. But, said Mr. G. hi us not stop here.
Let the facts and argunoehts which have here been presented, go
out from this place over the land. Let them be pnnted and cir-
culated Universalty. Let it be seen by tlie whole American peo-
fAej that men in high places, men whom the people have elevated
to represent them in the Congress of the United States^ are the
friends, the patrons, and the active, zealous, and persevering pro*
moters of the cause of Temperance* Let them see that this bless-
ed cause has taken possession, even of the Capitol, and that it wiD
hold possession ; and from this elevated spot, this strong hold of
liberty, will expend itself over the whole country. He then ex-
pressed his readiness ta aid in publishing the addresses which had
been delivered, and in their circulation through the land.

In the able and powerful addresses which accompanied the
above resolutions, the duty and utility of entire abstinence from the
use of ardent spirit, and from the traffic in it, were strongly illus-
trated ; and also the benefits, which should this course be adopted,
would result to our country and the world. The addresses have
since been published in an octavo pamphlet of forty-eight pages,
and in other forms ; and have been circulated extensively through
the country. They have awaketted new interest and brougnt
many new and powerful auxiliaries to the Temperance cause. On
the ^6th day oi February, a meeting of members of Congress was
holden in the Senate Chamber for the purpose of forming a Con-

fressional Temperance Society. The Hon. William Wilkins,
Inited States Senator from Pennsylvania, was called to the chair,
and the Hdn. Walter Lowrie, Secretaiy of the Senate of the Uni-
ted States, was appointed Secretary of the meeting. The meet-
ing was opened with prayer by the Rev. John Proudfit of Penn-
sylvania. After discussion and deliberation, a Society was formed
on the basis of entire abstinence from the use of ardent spirit, and
from the traffic in it, called, Thc American Congressional
Temperance Society. Members of Congi^ess, and all who have
been members of Congress, officers of the United States Govera-
ment^ civil and military, and heads of departments, who practically
adopt the great principles of the Society, by signing the Constitu-
tbn, or addressing a letter to the Secretary expressive of their
wish to do so, may become members of the Society. The Society
is to hare an annual meeting during the sessions of Congress, and
the Executive Committee are, from time to time, to take such
measures as will render the Society most extensively useful to the
country.*

At this meeting, and also at the previous meeting in the Representa-
tive's HaU, the high responsibilides resting^on members of Congresi

• Appwdk D.
19

S4 AMERICAN T£1CP£BANCC SOCIETY. [260

tnd upon all men in public office was exhibited ia strong and
glowing colors; and also their duty to set an example of mora/
purity t as well as integrity ; an example which the people may safely
tollow, and which will make rulers what alone they were designed
to be, ministers of God for good to the people. And the Com-
mittee cannot but expect from this high and patriotic example, the
most extensive and beneficial results. The rulers of a ^reat na-
tion, in the halls of legislation recognizing their high moral obhga-
tions and forming themselves into an association for the purpose of
doing good by example and kind moral influence, to their country
and the world, is indeed a noble, a sublime spect^le ; and worthy
of imitation by the rulers of all States and nations on the globe ;
and one which we trust will be speedily and extensively followed.
On the 15th of March, a Society on the same plan, was formed at
the State House by members of the Legislature of Massachusetts.
His Excellency the Governor, is President ; His Honor Lieuten-
ant Grovernor, the spesdcer of the House of Representatives, and
two disUnguished laymen are Vice Presidents ; and many of the
legislature have already joined the Society. All persons, who are,
or who have been members of the legislative, executive, or judicial
branches of the government, and who practically adopt the princi-
ples of entire abstinence from the use of ardent spirit and from the
traffic in it, mav become members. It has already accomplished
much good. Let similar societies be formed in the legislature of
each State, and by friends of temperance throughout the land, and
that foulest, deepest "blot upon the human character, that most
witherbg blight of human nopes, that mighty obstruction to the
efficacy of the gospel, and to the intellectusd elevation and moral
purity of man will be no more.

The simultaneous meetings on the 26th of February were attend-
ed by great numbers and with intense interest, not only throughout
the United States, but in London and various other places in Great
Britain. Much valuable information was communicated, and a
powerful impulse given to the cause. .

At the meeting of the British and Foreign Temperance Society,
John Wilks, Esq. member of parliament, said, " When they found
that the number of criminals in the ^ear amounted to 195,000, and
that the number was perpetually mcreasing, notwithstanding the
effi>rts of legislation, and that this increase of crime is attributable
to intemperance and the use of ardent spirits, they roust feel the
absolute necessity of an effectual remedy. And what could be so
efficient as the simple process recommended by this Socie^,— -
persuasion and example.

*' They were met that day, and i( was delightful to think of it,
purely because the great philanthropists of America, throughout
the whole United States, were a]«o met to ofl^ their congratula-

261] SIXTH RBPORT.— -1833. 39

tions to each othek*, and acknowledge their obligations to their
Divine Master. Hundreds of thousands were that day congregated,
from their most northern regions to their most southern parts, and
we are assembled with them to thank God and take courage.

** To America, we looked with honest pride, and iiot there alone,
but to Sweden, where we were told the monarch— a monarch who
had led armies to and throtigh the field ; felt spirits unnecessary to
give energy to the vigorous, or bravery to the brave, and had pub*
lished his proclamation that his subjects should abstain from bran-
dy, which had been to them as it had been to us, not an angel of
mercy but of death. Go to the Cape of Grood Hope ; there the
testimony of Dr. Phillip informs us that gin-shops no longer ex-
ist. A vast improvement was perceptible in the morals of the
people, and the same results were obtained which we desire to seo
accomplished here. At the Sandwich Islands, we found that when
some recent navigators proposed to give the natives hogsheads of
ardent spirits, the king replied, ' No, we will not accept your pre-
sent. Break your casks, and let their contents mingle with the
green sea ; or give them, if you please, to your hogs, but they shall
not be drunk by real men.' Such a sentiment might become the
Sovereign who sits on our own imperial throne, and let us hope
that it may yet be heard in our own doroini<His. ' Give ardent
spirits to the hogs, but they are not -what ought to be bestowed, or
received by Enlightened of real men.' Such were the encourage-
ments from every part of the world, and under such circumstances
as these, he, for one, was glad that th^ had accepted the invitatioa
of their American brethren, and had assembled with them to ofier
thanks for the past, and to resolve that their future attempts should
correspond with the greatness of the evils and the importance of
the cause. We felt no jealousy in reference to America ^ oui
language was the same; our origin the same; we sprung from
the same parent ; our love of liberty was the same ; and our divine
religion was the same. While, then, our Temperance Sv)cieties,
and Bible Societies, and Missionary Societies existed, there was a
bond of brotherhood between America and us, which no national
prejudice, or political intrigue, could break."

The Hon. gentlemen concluded by proposing the following reso-
lution : — ^^ That this meeting view with feelings of lively interest
the efforts made by American philanthropists, to correct the public
opinion and practice with regard to the use of distilled spirits as a
beverage."

^^ The Bishop of Chester seconded the motion. He thought
the tetm philanthropists was well applied to the resolution. Those
were the greatest philanthropists who attempted to remove the
greatest evils, and to introduce the greatest benefits ; but they be-
came still greater philanthropists when they did this by means of the

96 AMEBICAN TSMPEKANCE «OCICTT. [262

boldest measures iii tlie face of the greatest oppoffltion. This was
indeed a bold idea, but, like other bold measures, entered upon
with right views and principles, it had succeeded as a measure so
mtroduced and supported would, having been introduced on right
views and principles. Therefore he called those philanthropists
who were pursuing this course ; and he rejoiced with the honora-
ble member who had just sat down, that England had received this
benefit from America. It was indeed a gratifying tiling for a pa-
rent to receive* a present from a distant child. America was a
grown-up child, it was true, but she was such a child as England
would not forget,^ and he trusted she would not forget the stock
from whence she sprung. She had returned a benefit which some
twenty-five years ago she received from England : she then re-
ceived the noblest institution which be thought the world had ever
seen — the British and Foreign Bible Society. That Society
America borrowed from England, and now the latter borrows the
Temperance Society from America. The Bible Society, had
taken deep root, and flourished there ; so he trusted the Tem-
perance Society would vegetate and prosper here, so tliat we might
find the benefit we had received from America was not inferior to
that she had received from us. This was the true intercourse
which ought t^ take place between nations. This was the real
rivalry they should exercise, and thus promote good works ; and
he trusted those benefits would extend farther and farther, until
they overspread the most distant nations. Sweden and Prussia
had caught a flame which he hoped would soon spread to other
countries, till, stimulated by our example, it reached the farthest
shores of Europe, Asia, and Aiinca."

P. Crampton, Es(]|^, Solicitor-General for Ireland, said, <^ On
all> occasions he felt it his duty, as he did his pride, to bear his
testimony, however humble, and raise his voice, however feeble, in
support of Temperance Societies, the good and holy cause in which
they were engaged. He did not think it necessary, on this occa-
sion, to enter into details ; he felt convinced himseli, and he trusted
it was the conviction of all present, that in proportioi^ to the con-
sumption of ardent spirits, was the amount of poverty, wretched-
ness, Crime, madness, disease, and premature death ; and to this
he might add, would be found obstructions to the reception and
promotion of evangelical truth. He was satisfied that every man-
ufactory for spfaits was a manufactory of poison ; that every spirit
store was a magazine of death ; and that every perscm who was
concerned in the trade of making, or buying, or selling spirits, was
distributor of disease and death. It had been proved to a demon-
stration, that all the natural evils to which man was subject, were
far exceeded by those produced by intemperance. It was the great
*~"^ of sin and misery j the chief agent of the enemy of

M3] SIXTH REPORT. — 1833. 37

souls : but the object of diis Society was to banish it ; to stay the
pestileoce ; and to airest and extinguish the conflagration ; and
could any Christian man oppose it, or connive at the existence of
this cause of misery ? Was it not the bounden duty of every man
who professed to be the friend of humanity, morals, and religion,
to concur in this object and assist in this design ? He felt this
subject to be great and important, and did not hesitate to describe
it as one of the greatest discoveries and blessings ever revealed to
men ; and tiie historians of after times would do that justice to its
progress which it would deserve^"

The attention of a great portion of the world has been aroused
to this subject, and multitudes have inquired with regard to ardent
spirit, "Is it right for me to use it?" And, says a philanthropic
European, " The moment a man of conscience seriously asks the
question, Does the use of ardent spirit on the whole do good, and is
it right for me to drink it ? the work is half done." The reasons,
the substantial reasons are all on one side. And the great object
is, to present those reasons, and lead all men, in view of endless
being, to ask the question, each one for himself, to be decided as
God and an enlightened conscience shall direct. Is it right for me
to drink ardent spirit 9 Two millions in our country, tod multi-
tudes in other countries, who have examined this subject, have
answered, No. A million have united in Temperance Societies,
and pledged themselves not to use it, or furnish it, and in all suita-
ble ways to discountenance the use of it, throughout the community.
The number of these societies in the United States exceeds five
thousand, and more than twenty of them are State societies, at the
head of which, in many cases are the first men in the community.
More than two thousand men have ' ceased to make it, and more
than six thousand have ceased to sell it. They do not believe it to
be right, however common, or however much money they might
make by it, to prosecute an employment so manifestly cursed of
Grod, and so notoriously destructive to the best interests of men.
Seven hundred vessels now float on the ocean, in which it is not
used ; and though they visit every clime and at all seasons of the
year, make the longest and most difficult voyages, and not unfre-
quently circumnavigate the globe, the men are uniformly better,
and in all respects, than when they used it. Seventy-five out of
ninety-seven vessels from New Bedford sari without ardent spirit.
It has becpme common ; and so great is the increase of safety to
the property in such cases, that Insurance Companies find it for
their interest to insure those vessels that carry no spirituous liquors
at a less premium than others.

And says the English Temperance Magazine and Review, " We
did hope that our country might be the loremost to set an exam-
ple to the world in this respect. But we have been disappointed,
4 19*

38 AMERICAN TEMPfiRANCC SOCtE'Tir. [264

America, xhmt country which has just sprung into existence, and
which those who have so industriously nattered our self-love, have
done all in their power to teach us to despise, has stepped bjefore
us. Not only are ships, which are sailed on Temperance princi-
ples, in demand by merchants, but the rate of insurance has been
so much lowered on them that a merchant in Liverpool sailing a
vessel to New York, would save a considerable sum by effecting
the insurance in New York rather than in Liverpool ; so that the
road of virtue is the way to wealth as well as to happiness ; and
liowever grating it may be to our feelings, we must toUow in the
wake of America." /

So with regard to manufacturing establishments, and other kinds
of property. Many officers of Insurance Companies and guardians
of public interests in various departments, when men make appli-
cation, now ask the question which Jefferson said he would ask
' with regard to candidates for public office, " Do they drink ardent
spirit?" If they do, however moderately, they find it needful to
beware. A master of a vessel, or the owner of that, or other

f)roperty, is not able perhaps to effect an insurance, according to
lis mind. There seems to be an unaccountable indifference, or
an egregious excess of caution on the part of the officers «ind agents
of Insurance Companies. He wonders what is the reason.
But were his olfactory nerves unscathed, or a mirror placed before
him, he would be al no loss for the reason. It is with vessels
often, as. with stages, and steam boats. When the fire and the
tempest rage within, they are wrecked, overturned or exploded.
The drinking driver, engineer, captain, sailor, and workman cause
more waste of property, and more loss of life, than all the elements
of providence. It is a tornado within that does .the mischief; and
it needs no eagle eye to see the character, or the guilt of those
who are instrumental in raising it ; and no spirit of prophedy to fore-
tell that the time is at hand when no provident man will have the^
cause of it, on board his vessel. More than five thousand drunk-
ards have also ceased to use intoxicating drinks ; and are, as
every drunkard who adopts and pursues this course will be — sober
men.

There is no tendency in the government of (Jod to m^ke drunk-
ards ; and it is not possible for any person who lives under it to
become one, except through his own guilty instrumentality, or that
of others. And even if a man has becorne a drunkard, and sunk
to the lowest depths of degradation, let that man cease, by'his own
wickedness, to perpetuate that degradation, and the providence of
God will make him sober, and will infallibly keep him sober, to
the day of his death, on the simple condition, which we must think
is most reasonable, that he shall just refrain from making himself,
by his own voluntary wickedness, a drunkard. And were there

265] SIXTH REPOHT.— 1833. 31>

00 man to exert an iafluence for making drunkards hi opposition
to that of (Jod, there never would be one. Let all men make it
tbeir object to imitate him, and drunkenness will cease from
under heavea* Wherever they do this, it does cease. And the
grand instrumentality of leading drunkards to becpme sober men,
is example ; united, consisten^^ and persevering example. This
is indeed the grand engine for the moral renovation of the world, ;
and never has its deep and all-pervading power been more con-
spicuously manifested tlian in the entire reformation of more than
five thousand drunkards, within five years. From one hundred
and thirty-§even towns in Maine, returns are made of four hundred
and fifty drunkards, who are now sober men. An equal number
in proportion to the population throughout the State, would make
more than a thousand ; and throughout the United States, more
than thirty thousand. Drunkards were lately thought by all, and
are by many thought now, to be beyond the reach of any moral
influence. But let all sober men set an example, united, public
and persevering, which drunkai'ds may safely follow, and the
world will be convinced of its mistake and even drunkards by
thousands and tens of thousands not only become sober, but be led
to glorify God.

Among the multitude of cases, known to the Committee, tliey
will mention only three. One was a man of respectable employ-
ment, character and property, with an amiable and intelligent wire,
and a number of lovely children. He became a drunkard, lost his
property, and sunk to the? lowest depths of inebriety and debase-
ment. The family experienced all the heart-breaking evils com-
mon in such cases ; and some that were very peculiar. For more
than ten years, they struggled hard amidst an almost unheard of
complication of trials, till the case appeared to be hopeless ; when
after many fruitless removes from place to place, and, changes of
many kind^, they removed about thirty miles into a neighbourhood,
in which no individual sold ardent spirit, find no one drank it
And when this soUtary drunkard looked around and saw not an
individual, who would touch the drunkard's poison, except himself.
and all were far happier than he, he said, what thousands of drunk-
ards under sinoilar circumstances would say, " If other peo[)le can
do without, I can." He had no idea of being singular and sustain-
ing all the odium of drunkard making, apd drunkenness alone.
He resolved to be like other people. And when our Secretaiy
saw him, he had taken nothing that intoxicates for three years ;
was a respectable man, and hi& family were in comfortable circum-
stances. '^That'^ said a gentleman of his acquaintance, ^^ is one
o{ the trophies of the Temperance Reformation. For ten years
not a woman in the United States perhaps suffered more than that
woman ; but f^r three years, her house has been the abode of

30 AMERICAir TEMPERAKCE SOCIETY. [259

'^ As the success of the Temperance cause depends irpon the
universal difiusion of correct mformation amo^g all cksses ol
people, the Execudire Committee of the American Temperance
Society have tliought proper to adopt the following Resolutions :

1. Hesolvedy That it is expedient that delegates from Tempe-
rance Societies and the friends of Temperance ia every part of the
United States be invited to meet in Convention, to consider the
best means of extending, by a general difiiiaon of information, and
the exertion of a kind and persuasive moral influence, the princi-
ple of abstinence from the use of ardent spirit throughout oui
country.

2. That measures be immediately taken to procute such a Con-
vention, to be held m the city of Philadelphia on the 24th day of
May, 1833.

3. That each State Temperance Society be, add hereby is, re-
quested to send three or more delegates, and each County Society
to send one or more delegates to the proposed Convention.

4. That it be recommended, that the appointment of delegates
so far as it shall be practicable, be made on the 26tb day of Feb-
ruary next, the day already fixed upon for simultaneous meetings
of the Temperance Societies and friends of Temperance^ in all the
cities, towns and villages throughout the United States.

5. That in those States^ and counties in which no Temperance
Society is organized, the friends of Temperance be, and they
hereby are, requested to appoint in such manner as they shall think
proper, the same number of delegates for eslch State or County,
as are proposed in the 3d Resolution, to be appointed by the seve-
ral State and County Societies respectively.

6. That all editors of papers and other publications throughout
our country, who are friendly to the. cause of Temperance, be and
they hereby are respectfully requested to insert the foregoing
resolutions in their several publications ; and in such other ways
as they may deem suitable^ to use their influence to promote the
object of the proposed Conveation,-*4mtverM/ iA^tnence from
the use of ardent spirit.

Samuel Hubbaju), Prenient^
John Tappan,
George Odiorns,

Heman Lincoln, yEae. Committee/*
Justin Edwards,
Enoch Hale, Jr.

The call f(M* this Convention has been gree]|ed with joy in all
parts of the country. Numerous delegate? have already been ap-
pointed throughout the United States, and one appointed by the
British and Foreign Temperance Society has just arrived from

K1] SIXTH ri:po&t. — 1833. 41

merchant, the Secretary made the inquiry. " Oh," (said the
merchant,) " his name is — — .. He used to be picked up in the
street here, and carried home a number of times in the week|

drunk. He is now the Cashier of Bank, a very respectable

and roost excellent man." His employment is of course sufficient
evidence of his entire reformation. And of the correctness of his
views on this subject we have a most striking exhibition in the fol-
lowing facts.

As our Secretary was passing in the public stage from Baltimore
to Washington, a genteel looking stranger accosted him, saying,
" How does the Temperance cause prosper now ? " " It goes well,^
said the Secretary, " where they do the needful work ; but it will
not go in any place without labor." " It is making great progress,*^
said the stranger, " in our part of the country. It is most sur-
prizing what it is doing. It is saving many, even of the drunkards.
There was a case of a man in my employment that has inter-
ested me very much.. He is a mechanic, of the first order ; was
married into a respectable family, and was once a man of pro-
perty. But he lost it, and became a drunkard. H^ had a large
iamUy of sons and daughters. His wife struggled long and hard
to support them, and sustain the family. But it was too much |
she sunk under it. For more than a year she had been confined
to her room, the greater part of the time to her bed ; and was
evidendy sinluDg to the grave. Not unfrequently they were en-
tirely destitute of provision ; and what was earned by the father
and sons was expended for liquor ; till they sunk so low that no-
body would trust them. His boys seemed to be stupid, and to
have in a measure lost their minds by dissipation. They would
undertake a job of work as quick for a shilling, as they would foi
a dollar. They seemed hardly to know the difference, and whea
they got it, they would spend a dollar for spirit, as quick as a shil-
ling. They somedmes worked in the factory ; but they were so
stupid, that the overseer would not trust them to mend ^ band oi
oil a gudgeon, or do any such thing. You could put no confidence
in them. And the mother being sick and no one to take care of
any thing, they were most wretched — and seemed to have no re-
solution, or desire to do any thing, except just to get the means of
intoxication. I met the doctor one day, as he came from the
house, and I asked him, * What is the matter of that woman ? ' and
be said, ^ Nothing. She has no disease upon her. It is trouble,
nothing but trouble, and their destitute wretched condition. And
that will sink her to the grave, if she cannot be relieved.' So I
thought of it, and resolved that I would make one more effort to
save them. I knew that in my business there was hardly a matr
in the country that would do better than he, if he would only keep
sober. One day I went to him, when he was sober ; and I told
4 *

42 AMERICAN TEHPSRANCE SOtlETT. \26S

hiro, You know that you are wretched, and your family are
wretched. Your wife is sick, and will no doubt die if she cannot
get relief. And the great cause is trouble. , And you never can
be in any better condition unless you break off entirely the use oi
spirit, if you will do that, I will take you and your boys into my
employ. I will give you so much and pay you every week, and
in such a time I will raise your wages. You may yet be a re-

gectable man, and support your family well, and be comfortable,
jt it is all on the condition that you do not drink intoxicating
liquor. If you do, I will have nothing more to do with you ; you
know I don't have it in my establishment. The man thought of it
?ind he seemed to be affected. I treated him very kindly. He
finally said he would do it ; and came to the resolution that he
would break off that very day. The next day he went to work^
and did very well about a month. His boys too began to im-
prove ; they treated him more respectfully, and were more kind
to one another. But at the close of the month he came to me
and said he could not get along ; his creditors were calling upos
him every day, and he could not pay them and support his fam-
ily. It was a gone case with him, and he bad as good give up
first as last. His creditors, you see, whom he owed for spirit, and
who before could not get their pay, as he had gone to work and
Was earning something, thought that now was their time to get
th6ir money, and they were constantly calling upon him. I told
him, Never mind, keep to work, you are doing well. I will raise
your wages. And when your creditors call, send them to me ; I
will take care of them. And he again went to work. They soon
began to have things more comfortable in their family, the nrK>ther
began to get better ; and the boys did improve most wonderfully.
They began to feel that they had some character, and being better
fed, and clothed, and treated with attention, it had a wonderful
efiect upon them. The family were soon clad so as to attend
public worship ; the children were fitted out to the sabbath schools^
and the younger ones sent to school during the week* I went to
the house last autumn and found it well stored with provisions ;
they had a large pile of wood, enough to last through the winter ;
the mother was about the bouse well, and you can't think wlmt a
change there was in the appearance of things. The father and
mother, and one of the sons have become hopefully pious, and are
members of the Church. One of the sons a few days ago bought
liis time of his father, till he is twenty K>ne, and gave him three bund red
and fifty dollars. And if he continues as he is now doing,, be wilt
earn the money, support himself, and gain several hundred dollars
beside. And these boys, which were so stupid that thej could
hardly do any thing, are now aniong the most active, ingenious and
enterprising youth I ever saw ; they can do almost any thing.. 1

269J §iXTH REPORT. — i833. 43

have a case of a few little things in my pocket, which they have
manufactured. See there,*' (showing a number of implements,
which they had wrought of the most beautiful proportions, and ex-
quisite workmanship^ " those are wholly of their own manufacture.
And I have paid their father already, for his labor and theirs, the
present year, between tliirteen and fourteen hundred dollars. Oh,
this Temperance Reformation is one of the noblest things in the
world." Our Secretary, on hearing this, could not but advert to
tlie declarations of the Cashier referred to—" Treat them kindly,
and tell them to break off now entirely aiid we will help you. Oh !
it will be like life from the dead to them. And they may break
off at once, it will not kill them. There is no other way." AH
experience testifies, and the Committee, had they the power, would
echo the declaration round the globe, " There is no other way4"
And though there be other ways that seem right to some men, the
end thereof are the ways of death. That man, and thousands of
others like him, through grace are now safe, on one condition, vir.
that they continue not to take any intoxicating drink. But if they
driok any quantity of any thing that intoxicates, they may expect
to die drunkards. And the use of these drinks by sober men, will
make multitudes of them drunkards, and roll thjs burning, deso-
lating curse over future venerations. It is to prevent this, to save
all tiiat can be saved of the drunkards, and pour the tide of life»
light and joy, over their families ; and to prevent all youth, and
sober men, from becoming drunkards, or engulpbing any more
families in the fathomless abyss of the drunkard's woes, that the
Committee began, have prosecuted, and intend perseveringly to
continue their arduous labors. It is for the purpose of saving
anbom millions, from becoming, through their own guilty instru-
mentality, and that of others, intemperate ; and entailing its cursea
to endless ages. It is for this purpose that they labor, by light and
love, to convince the understanding and impress the hearts of alU
that to drink ardent spirit, or to furnish it as a drink for others, i^
sin. And it having been decided, by a court froin which there h*
no appeal, that the wages of sin is death, they would continue
earnesdy to beseech all men, for their own sakes, and especially
for the sake of others, entirely and forever to renounce it. And
the immutable' and eternal principles of the divine government, the
explicit, unerring declarations of the divine word) and the mighty
and august developments of divine providence, all ensure ultimate^
universal, and triumphant success.

44 AMEEICAN T£Ja>EAAKCE SOCICTT. [TtO

LAWS

WHICH AUTHORISE THE TRAFnC IN ARDENT SPIRIT AS A

DRINK, MORALLY WRONG.

The Americaa Temperance Society^, at the cominenceDient^
took the ground that to drink ardent spirit is morally tffrong; and
in their Reports they have exhibited the reasons which demon-'
strata its truth. Millions in this country have embraced this truth,
and are now acting under its influence* Its influence has also
been extended to other countries, and great numbers in foreign
lands are imitating our example.

The next position taken by the Society, was, that it is wicked to
make ardent spirit, or to furnish it to be drunk by others. This
too they accompanied by legitimate and abundant proof; and it has
been embraced ; as whole counties in which it is now a violation
even of human law to sell it, and of a thousand churches in which
there is not a man who prosecutes the business, and thousands of
other churches that are struggling to throw off the mighty incubus,
abundantly testify. It is shown also by the existence of more
than six thousand Temperance Societies, embracing more than a
million of members ; pledged to abstain from the drinking of ardent
spirit, and from the traffic in it, and also to use all suitaole means
to cause this to become universal. The means by which such a
result may be expected, is the universal conviction that the drinking
of ardent spirit, or the furbishing it to be drunk by others, is sin ;
an offence against God, and injurious to the temporal and eternal in-
terests of men. Whatever tends to produce this conviction, tends
to promote the Temperance Reformation ; and whatever tends to
prevent the one, tends to hipder the other. Perhaps nothing now
stands more in the way of producing this conviction, and causing it
to become universal, than the fact, that the traffic in ardent spiril
is authorised by law ; and thus receives tlie sanction and support
of legislation. This is a public testimony to the world that the
sale of ardent spirit, and of course the drinking of it, are right ; a
fundamental and fatal error, destructive in its effects to the life tliat
DOW is, and to tliat which is to come. The next thing to be ac-
compUshed therefore, is, by the universal diffusion of information
and the exertion of kind moral influence, to produce throughout
the community, the conviction, that the laws which authorise the
traffic in ardent spirit as a drink, by licensing men to pursue it, are
morally wrong ; opposed in their influence to the laws of God ;
and that the public good, instead of requinng tHat some men should
sell ardent spirit^ utterly forbids that this should be done by any ;

??IJ SIXTH REPORT.— 1833. 45

and that no men or body of men who understand, or have the
roeans of understanding diis subject, can be instrumental in making
such laws without the commission of sin. And as such laws are
morally wrong, they never can be poh'tically right, or beneficial, or
expedient. While Jehovah lives, righteousness, and that alone will
exalt a nation ; sin in anv form, and especiallv if sanctioned by law,
will be a reproach, and a nuisance to any people. That this is
plainly and strongly the case with the traffic in ardent spirit, and that
the laws which authorise it are morally wrong, and in their influ-
ence opposed to the will of God, is manifest from the following
considerations, viz :

I. Ardent spirit is a poison, and the drinking of it is not needful
or beneficial to men. Even the moderate use of it is positively
hurtful ; and is a violation of the laws of heahh, and pf life. Of
course, no man has a natural right to furnish it, or to wish for
laws which shall authorise him to do it. And no man acquainted
with the subject can be instrumental in making laws which shall
authorise others to do it, even in a savage state, without guilt. Such
laws would legalize sin, and violate the law of God.

II. No man acquires a right to make such laws by entering into
society ; and no body of men by the establishment of civil govern-
ment. The only legitimate object of government is to protect,
and to benefit the community. It has no right, any more than in*
ui/iduals, to injure that community : or to pass laws which autho-
rise others to do it. And if it does, it violates the divine will ; and
the individuals who compose it, will, at the divine tribunal^ and
ought at the bar of public opinion, to be held responsible for the
effects. The personal responsibility of each individual for the in-
fluence which he exerts, is in no case merged in the general mass ;
or swallowed up and lost in the responsibility of the body. Each
one is bound by obligations which he can never throw off, in what-
ever situation or capacinr he may act, to honor God, and do the
greatest good of which he is capable to mankind. In no case has
he a right to injure others or be instrumental in making laws which
will authorise them to do it. It would be having a right to do
wrong, which carries on its face evidence of falsehood.

III. The authorising of men by law to traffic in ardent spirit as
a drink, is inconsistent with the temperance, of the community.
Temperance is the moderate and proper use of things beneficial,
and it is abstinence from things hurtful. Ardent spirit being onu
of the hurtful things, temperance with regard to this, is abstinence,
perpetual, entire, udiversal abstinence. But by authorizing men to
sell it, and professing to do this for the public good, legislators de-
clare that to buy and drink it is right, and useful. This is not
only false, but promotes intemperance. To use a thing which is in
its nature hurtful is intemperance, no less really than to use a ben-

46 AM£B1CAN TEMPSIUNCE SOCIETY. [272

eficial thing to excess ; and is often more injurious ; especially
when the use of it, as in the case of ardent spirit, even in small

Suantities, tends to a constant increase. To teach the doctrine
len by legislation, that it is right to drink it, in any quantity, is to
1)romote intemperance ; to inculcate a doctrine which tends to
brm intemperate appetites, and which lies at the foundation of a
great portion of all the drunkenness in the world. It does im-
mense injury in another way, by increasing the difficulty of con-
vincing men that to driqk ardent spirit, or to furnish it to be drunk
by others, is sin. Many see no difference between what is legal,
and what is right. With them, the standard of right and wrong is
human law. If a thing is legal and they wish to do it they take it
for granted that it b right. Show that it dishonors God, and de-
stroys men, and is therefore wrong, they meet you with the fact
that it is leeal, and therefore conclude that it is right ; and thus they
ward off tlie conviction, which they would otherwise feel, of its
enormous wickedness and guilt. They tell you that it is allowed
by law ; that they have gotten a license and paid for it; that this is
a land of liberty; and begin to clamor about tlieir rights to increase
the taxes, demoralize the character, destioy the health, shorten the
lives, and ruin the souls of men ; or else, which is vnove common,
contend in opposidon to facts that their business does not do this.
" If it did," say they, " legislators would not license it. They
know what is right, and as they have made laws, authorizing it,
and as they expressly say, for the public good, it is right, legally,
and morally right for ns to continue to sell it, — all its consequences,'^
which they acknowledge are tremendous, '^ and all that temperance
people say to the contrary notwithstanding.*' This, were legisla-
tors right in authorising the traffic, would be true ; and it would
present a barrier to the triumph of Temperance, which would be
absolutely and forever impregnable ; and it would roll the burning
current of desolation and death over man to all future generations.
And the fact that legislators, as well as rum-sellers and rum drink-
ers act as if it were right, and as if the public good required that
some men should continue the traffic, presents one of the greatest
obstacles to the progress of the Temperance Reform. It prevents
in the minds of thousands, the conviction of the demoralizing char-
acter, the deadly effects, the enormous injustice, the gross oppres-
sion, the high-handed immorality, and the tremendous guilt of that
desolating traffic. Were it not for the ramparts which legislation
has thrown around it, the pressure of public indignation, as light
and virtue increase, and facts are developed, would sweep it away ;
or sink it into the abyss from which its fires, smoke, and stench,
would no more escape to annoy and desolate the earth.

IV. Laws which authorise the licensbg of men to traffic ii
ardent spint, violate the first prmciples of politicod economy, and
highly injurious to the wealth ot a DatioQ«

273] SIXTH REPORT. — 1833. 47

The weallh of a nation consists of the wealth of all the individu-
als that compose it. The sources of wealth are labor, land, and
capital. The last is indeed the product of the two former ; but as
it may be used to increase their value, it is considered by writers
on political economy, as one of the original sources of national
wealth. Whatever lessens either of these, or their productiveniess
when employed upon each other, lessens the wealth of the coun-
try. Capital may be employed in two ways ; either to produce
new capital, or merely to afford gratiGcation, and in the production
of that gratification be consumed, without replacing its value. The
first may be caHed capital, atid the last expenditure. These will
of course bear inverse proportions to each other. If the first be
large, the last must be smaU, and vice versa. Without any change
of the amount of wealth, capital will be increased by the lessening
of expenditure, and lessened by the increase of expenditure. Al-
though the manner of dividing makes no difference with the pres-
ent amount of national wealth, it makes a great difference with the
fiiture amount ; as it alters materially the sources of producing it,
the means of an equal, or increased reproduction.

For instance, a man fond of noise and excited agreeably by the
hearing of it, pays a dollar for gunpowder, and touches fire to it.
He occasions an entire loss of that amount of property. Although
the powder maker and the merchant, may both have received their
pay, if it has not benefited the man, to him it has been a total loss ;
and if the sale of it was no more profitable than would have been
the sale of some useful article, it has^ been an entire loss to the
community. And if by the explosion the man is burnt, partially
loses his reason, is taken off for a time from business, and confincfd
by sickness to his bed, must have nurses, physicians, &lc. the bss
is still increased. And if he never recovers fully his heahh, or
reason, suffers in his social affections and moral sensibility, becomes
less faithful in the education of his children, and they are more ex-
posed to temptation and ruin, and he is never again as able or
willing to be habitually employed in productive labor, the nation
bses equal to the amount ot all these put together. And if his ex-
ample leads other men to spend, and to suffer in the same way,
the loss is still farther increased ; and so on, through all its effects.

And even though the powder maker and the merchant have
made enormous profit, this does not prevent the loss to the cotn-
niunity ; any more than the enormous profit of lottery gamblers, or
counterfeiters of the public coin, prevents loss to the community.
Nor does it meet the case, to say that the property only changes
hands. This is not true. The man who sold the powder made a
profit of only a part even of the money which the other man paid
for it; while be lost not f^^'^W the wliole, but vastly more. The
*nole ol the origiuaico.t waa only a 6»aali part of the loss to the

48 AMERICAN TEMP£BANCE SOCIETY. [274

buyer, and to the nation. The merchant gained nothing of the
time, and other numerous expences, which the buyer lost ; nor
dpes he io any way remunerate the community for that loss.

Suppose that man, instead of buying the powder, had bought a
pair of shoes ; and that the tanner and the shoemaker had gained
m this case, what tiie powder-maker and the merchant gained in
the other ; and that by tl)e use of the shoes, though they were
finally worn out, the man gained twice as much as he gave for
them ; witliout any loss of health, or reasou, social affection, or
moral susceptibility; and without any of the consequent evils.
Who cannot see that it would have increased his wealth, and that of
the nation, witliout injury to any, and have promoted the benefit

of an.

This illustrates the principle with regard to ardent spirit. A man
buys a quantity of it, and drinks it ; when he woulci b^, as is the
case with every man, in all respects better without it. It. is to him
an entire loss. The merchant may have made a profit of one

Juarter of the cost, but the buyer loses the whole ; and he loses
le time employed in obtaining and drinking it. He loses also,
and the community loses, equal to all its deteriorating effects upon
his body and mind, his children, and all who come under his in-
fluence. Hi$ land becomes less productive. The capital of course
produced by his land and labor is diminished ; and thus the means
are diminished of future reproduction. And by the increase of ex-
penditure in proportion to the capital, it is still farther diminished,
till to meet the increasingly disproportionate expences, the whole is
often taken, and the means of future reproduction are entirely ex-
hausted. And as there is no seed to sow, there is of course no fu-
ture harvest. This is but a simple history of what is taking place in
thousands of cases continually ; and of what is the tendency of tiie
trafilic in ardent spirit, from oeginninc to end. It lessens the pro-
ductiveness of land and labor, and of course diminishes the amount
of capital ; while in proportion, it increases the expenditure, and
tlms in both ways is constantly exhausting the means of future re-
production. And this is its tendency, in all its bearings, in propor-
tion to the quantity used, fix^m the man who takes only his glass,
tp the man who takes his quart a day. It is a palpable and gross
violation of all correct principles of political economy ; and from be-
ginning to end, tends to diminish all the sources of national wealth.
" Oh," said a merchant in a large country store, " it is, a horri-
ble business. When I set up my store at this comer, tliere were
within a mile, a great number of able, thriving farmers ; but now
about half of them are ruined ; and many of them were ruined at
my store. And there is not a store in the countr}*^ that sells ardent
epirit, but what tends to produce similar results. Oh, it is a hor-
ruole business,*' And are not the laws which sanction it horrible

275] SIXTH REPOKT.— 1833. 49

laws ? Do they not tend by their whole influence to render the
business resoectable, to perpetuate it, and permanently to produce
such results? results none tne less horrible because produced ac-
cording to law ; and which stamp the law thai sanctions the busi-
ness which produces them, with the dark, deep and mdeiible iai-
press of vice ?

Nor was it by any raeans the greatest of the evils, that those
farmers were ruined. In many cases too, their children were ru-
ined ; and the community was deprived of the benefits which they
might otherwise have conferred upon it. Nor was this all, but
many of them were thrown as a public burden into the alms-house,
to be supported b^ a tax on the sober and industrious. Another
part were corruptmg the children and youth, and demoralizing so-
ciety by the influence of their loathsome and pestiferous example.
Was not that merchant then prosecuting a business which, toward
the community, was palpably unjust? And are not the laws
which sanction it, equally unjust? What moral right have legisla-
tors to pass laws, which enable men legally to injure their fellow
men, to increase their taxes, and expose their children to drunken-
ness and ruin ?

And what was the effect ultimately on the merchant himself?
We say ultimately ; because it does not follow, even if he for a
time mcreased his profits by selling spirit, that it would ultimately
promote his benefit. A passer of counterfeit money, may some-
times inciease his present profit; but it does not follow that it will
ultimately promote even his pecuniary interest.

The permanent, valuable customers of that merchant, were con-
stantly diminishing, as their ability was diminishing to purchase his
goods, or to pay for them. Their farms were growing up to briars
and thorns, the enclosures were falling down ; their buildings were in
ruin, their iinplementsof husbandry scattered, or worn out; their chil-
dren were at the grogshop or the scene of revelry and dissipation,
and their whole interest was withering under the mdignation of the
Alnaighty. Of course, should they buy they had next to nothing
with which to pay. Many died insolvent, and the merchant not
un frequently lost in bad debts from his rum customers more than
his profits. And as the value of property around him diminished,
as is generally the case around those death-fountains, the value of
his custom diminished.

Said another merchant, who has made a great estate, but never
sold a drop of spirit, *' When you shut up a grogshop, or tear it
down and build on the spot a respectable store, it is surprising
bow rapidly property in the neighborhood begins immediately to
rise. '

Suppose that the merchant first referred to had sold only to pr<^
ductive consumers; and such articles, as in the consumption
5 20*

60 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE dOClETT. [276

virould more than have replaced their value ; as was the case with
the shoes, as is the case with needful clothing, provisions, and other
useful things. The property of the farmers would have been con-
stantly increasing, and of course the value of their custom to the
merchant, and of their wealth to the community. Their children
with increased advantages, might more than have filled the place of
tlieir fathers, and thus, without injury to any, the good of all been
promoted. The enormous taxes, for the support of paupers, and
the prosecution of criminals, with which the community were bur-
dened, might have been prevented ; and also the peculiar expo-
sure of the rising generation to drunkenness, death and hell.*

So with all farmers and all merchants, and all other classes of
men throughout the country. The traffic in ardent spirit is a curse
to the whole community ; a cancer on the vitals of all the sources
of national wealth. Even if the present profits of those who sell
to unproductive consumers were more, vastly more than those who
sell only to productive consumers, as the property of tlieir custom-
ers diminishes, and of course their ability to purchase, their future
profits must be less. On the other hand, the ability of productive
consumers, who replace what they consume with something of
greater value, constantly increases ; and of course their value as
customers. They can purchase next year, not only as much as
they have purchased this, but more ; equal to the value of the addi-
tion which they have acquired, or a proportion of it. And thus
what they consume becomes a source continually of increased re-
production, not only to them, but to the nation.f

On the other hand, what is consumed but not replaced by some
thing of a greater, or an equal value, is ultimately lost — and is, to
that amount, a loss to the country. Whatever pauses an increase
of unproductive consumption therefore, causes a decrease of na-
tional wealth. And this evil attaches in a high degree and to an
enormous extent, to the traffic in ardent spirit. If the property
which the consumers pay were burnt, all would acknowledge it to
be a total loss ; though the merchant and the distiller and the grain
erowcr might all have received their pay. But it would in that case
be a loss vastly less than it is now. It is now not only an entire loss,
but it diminishes, as we have seen, beyond almost any thing else
the sources and the power of future reproduction. It is therefore
not only a source of great present loss, but also a prevention of vast
future gain. It dimmishes in both ways, the wealth of the nation,
and to an amount, equal,

1 . To the whole sum which consumers pay for ardent spirit ;
estimated by those who are b^ acquainted with the subject at about
$50,000,000 annually.

« Appendiz E. t At)peii£z F.

277J SIXTH B£POBT.-*-1833. 51

2. The loss pf all the time which it occasions.

3. The diminished productiveness of land, Ijabor and cafTital.

4. The loss of health and reason ; and all the expenditures which
it occasions.

5. The cost of supporting the paupers, and prosecuting the crim-
inals occasioned by it.

6. The. property lost in consequence of it by casualties on the
land and on the ocean.

7. The shortening of human life and the consequent loss of hu-
man labor ; amounting in all, as all acquainted with the subject
admit, to a sum much^ greater than the cost of the liquor. One
hundred million dollars a year is a sum far less than is lost to the
United States by tiiis destructive traf&c. And yet this, and the
diminution of future gain which it occasions, would in one genera-
tion amount to a sum greater than the present value of all the real
estate in the coiuitry. And this loss, to a vast extent, is borne by
those who are least able to bear it, the laboring classes of the
community. It may not be amiss to advert for a moment to the
beneficial uses to which this money might be applied ; uses bene-
ficial to the individuals, and to the nation. It would purchase

4,000,000 sheep at $2,60 each - - ' i'lO,bOO,000

400,000 head of cattle at $26 each - - 10,000,000

200,000 cows at$ 20 each - - . - 4,000,000

40,000 horses at $100 each - - - 4,000,000

500,000 suit of men's clothes at $20 - 10,000,000

1,000,000 boys' do. at $10 - - - - 10,000,000

500,000 womens' do. at $10 - , - - 6,000,000

1,000,000 girls' do. at $3 - - - - 3,000,000

1,200,000 barrels of flour at $6 - - - 6,000,000

800,000 do. beef at $10 - - - - 8,000,000

800,000 do. pork at $12,60 ... - 10,000,000

3,000,000 bushels of corn 60 cts. - - - ' 1,600,000

2,000,000 do. potatoes at 25 cts. - - - 600,000

10,000,000 lbs. sugar at 10 cts. - - • 1,000,000

400,000 do. rice at 6 cts. - - - - 200,000

and 2,000,000 gallons of molas6es at 40 cts. a gallon - 800,000

It would also build^
1000 churches at $5,000 each - - - $6,000,000

support 2000 ministers of the gospel, at $600 each 1,000,000
build 8,000 school houses, at $600 - - - 4,000,000
furnish 600,000 newspapers at $200 - - 1,000,000

and establish 6,000 parish libraries at $600 each, 3,000,000

—and all in a single year. This might be repeated, year after
year, making in one generation of murty years, thirty times the
above amount.
Whp then in our land need to be poor, or wretched ? And what

52 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETT. [278

need to hinder this land, as soon as its population might wish, from
becoming Immanuers land ; its peace flowing as a river, and its
righteousness and blessings as the waves of the sea ?

But the loss of property, great as it is, and enough to stamp the
laws which authorise the business that occasions it, with everlast-
ing execration, is still among the least of its evils.

v. The traffic in ardent spirit as a drink impairs the health of
the nation. Health depends on one great law ; viz. The action of
certain agents, upon their appropriate organs in the human body ;
which agents and organs, '^ the product of the Divine hand," are
so perfectly adapted one to the other, that in view of all their con-
sequences to endless being, their author himself pronounced them
to be, " very good ;" perfect, good enough to satisfy the mind of
Jehovah. Light, for instance, was made for the eye ; air for the
lungs ; and food, nourishing food and drink, for the digestive or-
gans ; causing by their operations the functions of vision, respiration,
nutrition, and the various movements on which health and life de-
pend. But for what organ in the human body was ardent spirit
made ? There is none.

What organ in the human body needs its stimulus in order to
perform in the most perfect manner, healthy action ? There is
none. What gland can extract from it the least portion of nutri-
ment, or any thing which can contribute to health, or be in any
way useful in the animal economy ? There is none. The anatotn-
ist, the physiologist, the chemist and the physician examine with
the minutest care every part throughout the whole body, and they
can find none. God has made none, and there is none. Nor is
there an organ whose healthy action is not disturbed by ardent
spirit ; and which does not instinctively reject it. The blood by its
circulation conveys to each part of the body the materisds of which
it is composed, while each organ by its Creator is endowed with
the power of selecting from the mass what it needs for nourish-
ment, and the performance of its appropriate functions, and of re-
jecting the refuse to be thrown out of the system. " The blood is
therefore a sort of common carrier, conveying from part to part
what is entrusted to it, for the common benefit." When obliged
to carry spirit, it presents it on its way, as it does other materials,
to each organ ; and each starts with mighty effort, not to welcome
and receive, but to repel it. And if not crippled by the overpow-
ering force of th^ enemy, it succeeds ; and rejected, not su&red
to stop, because it is worthless, the carrier, though vexed with its
burden, is obliged to take it on to the next ; rejected by that, it
must carry it on, till, rejected by all as a common nuisance, " it is
seized upon by the emunctories, the scavengers of the system, and
unceremoniously excluded." This is not for any want of kindness
in the system toward friends, but because ardent spirit is an enemy,

279] SIXTH REPORT.— 1833. 53

a mortal enemy. It would be treason to harbor it, and suicide
to use it- Nature, tlirough unerring laws stamped by the Di-
vine band, true to herself and her God, is incapable of such an
offence ; and till poisoned and perverted by the enemy, will never
submit to it. On every organ it touches, spirit is a poison ; and as
sach it is chased from organ to organ, marking its course with bregu-
larity of action, and disturbance of function ; exciting throughout the
system a war of extermination, till the kst remnaht of the intruder
is expelled from the territory. Till vital power is prostrated the
enemy can never have a lodgment- And if, through decay of or-
ganic vigor, by the mighty force of the intruder, or the long con*
tinuance of the war, and by perpetual successions of new recruits,
it cannot be expelled, the work of death is done ; the last citadel
of life surrenders, and die banner of universal ruin waves over all.
Thousands of such conquests are made every year, and of territo-
ries more valuable than aH the material wealth of creation. Before,
the prospect was like Eden ; and after, a land of sepulchres, with
uncovered, putrid* carcasses of drunkards, sending up in clouds
their poisoQous exhalation, wafting contagion and death through the
land.

To sanction by law the recruiting and equipping qf siich an ene-
my, and the sending of him out to desolate the fairest portion of
God's heritage, is an outrage upon all principles, not only of pa-
triotism, but of humanity, which bids defiance to parallel in the
history of legislation. It is an outrage ahnost too gross for sober
consultation. It would seem to be hardly possible, in view of its
fruits, that it should be tolerated, we will not say in any christian,
but in any civilized State. Even paganism, under the first rays of
civilization, has aknost instinctively denounced it.* And were it
not for the pestilendail moral atmosphere which it produces, and
the deteriorating and stupifying effects which that atmosphere
occasions, its continuance would seem to be hardly possible ; or
its removal need any thing more than its own doings.

It is now known from the evidence of facts^ that more than one
in ten over wide regions of country, who iiave used ardent spirit,
and more than one in five who have mixed and sold it, have, them-
selves, become drunkards, and so wicked as often not to live Out
half their days. It is known also from the highest and most abun-
dant medical authority, that more than one in five of the men who
have habitually used it, have been killed by it ; and that multitudes
who were never intoxicated, and never tliought in time past to be
intemperate, by the habit of using it, even moderately, have short-
ened life many years ; and thaft it tends in its whole mfluence firom
beginning to end, to induce and aggravate disease, and to bring all

* Appendix 6.
5*

64 AMSBICAH TEMPKBilKCK SOCIBTT. [280

ivbo drink it to a premature craye. There b no reason to doubt)
that of the last generation in we United States, it cut off more^than
thirty million years of human probation, and ushered more than a
milKcMi of persons^ uncalled, into the presence of God.

The last year its deadly influence has been still more strongly
marked, especially over those regions which have been visited by
the Cholera. In the city of Albany, with a population of about
twenty*five thousand, of whom thr^e hundred and thirty-six, over
sixteen years of age, died of the Cholera, of the five thousand
members of Temperance Societies there were only two deaths ;
showing that such persons were not ooe. fortieth part as liable to
death, by that disease, as other persons. Of the rest of the popu-
lation one in sixty died, while oi the members of Temperance So-
eieties, only one m twen^-five hundred.

Of about six hundred who were brought to the Park Hospital in
the city of New York, but about one in five called themselves
even temperate drinkers. And many of them, after they recover-
ed, were soon intoxicated* The number was extremely small,
who died of that disease, who had not for two years used ar-
dent spirit. iSome such cases there were ; but they were strongly
marked exceptions to the general rule. Said a distinguished gen-
tleman in that city, after, paying special attention to this subiect,
^ facts abundantly authorise the conclusion, that had it not been
for the sale and u^e of spirit, there had not been Chdera enough
in the city of New York^to have cauised the cessation of business
for a single day.**

And says another gentleman of that city, ** a quantity of spirit
wras taken from a certain store in the morning, and distributed to
■i number of grogshops. In the evening the workmen assembled
and received their accustomed quantity. The next morning one
and another, and another were carried by my door to the hospital,
and in the afternoon were taken to the Potters I^eld. And so from
day to day, disease and death followed round after ardent spirit,
seizing upon those who drank it, and hurrying them to desti-uction,
till so obvious and striking was the connection, that some even of
the sellers, seared as were their consciences, said. This will never
do ; the way from the erog^op to hell is too short ;" and aban-
doned die business. Others shut up their shops and fled. ^* In my
neighborhood," says another gentleman, *' there was not a retailer
left ; they were actually afraid to encounter the dangers of their
own business." It maae the arrows of death fly so thickly around
them, diat they dare not risk it. Had they been sure that those
arrows would strike only their neighbors, they might have been
willing to stay and drive the business. But when there was dan*
ger that the shafts from their engines of death would strike them-
selves, they closed their doors and fled. How many lives had

'4S1] SIXTH BEPORT. 1833. • 55

been spared, ho^ many families saved from ruin, and how many
evils averted from the community, had they never seturned, and
their cholera manufactories remained closed focever.

Ho^ many who were consigned ttie last summer to an untimely
grave, and we fear to a miserable. eternity> had now beea. in the
land of the living, and prisoners of hope, had none . been found
reckless enough to keep such establishments open. But soma
there were who professed to be friends of humanity, who continued
vdth a steady hand to deal out the poison* And as their, customers
might not Uve to come again, they sold them instantly, on the spot^
what they would buy. When the husband fell, atiQ the children
were seized, they sold his widow the cause of death ; and when
the neighbors came to bury the children, their widowed rpo^er,
with what the rum-seller uirnished her, was found intoxicated ob
the floor. On the day that was set apart for humiliation, fasting,
and prayer, that God would spare his people and not suflkr the M^
stroyer any longer to smite them, one, lest praying, though it should
not make him leave off sinning, should at least for a dfy deprive
him of its gains, kept his lii^uor store open, and sold 4o all who
would purchase, till the time for public worship*. He then hastened
to be in his place, and join, apparently, witii devout gravity, in
supplication to the Lord, that he would keep off the Cholerqi;
and when public service was closed, he hastened again, as if to
make up lost time, to bis store ; and spent tlie day in furbishing, a
chief cause of Cholera to all who would buy, Ii he did not pro-
duce as much Cholera on that day as on other days, it may be
atuibuted, not so much to his prayers for its preivoption, as to the
time which they hindered him from furnishing its pause. Aqd if
prayers are answered, not according to words, but to deeds, instead
of having lessened the number of &e dying and the dead, hisma^
have increased it ; and they may mcrease too the awfulness of his
retribution, when he who, on probation sells death, shall, without
repentance, reap also death.

Were retailers of spirit in their own persons and families to bear
all the evils which they occasion to others, they would soon dose
their business. Or were these evils all concentrated on the heads
of legislators, they would cease to make laws whicl^ sliould au-
thorise the business that produces them.

Instead of " An act, entitled an act, to regulate tKe sale of spirit
for the public good," any .longer disgracing, the statute book and
vitiating tlie communitv» they would see that the proper title for
every such act, when determined hy its conseiquences, is, '' An act
for tne destruction of mankind." But would it be any more dread-
ful for the man who sells ardent spirit, or the man who makes the
law which authorises the sale of it, to endure ihese evils, than it is
for the community?

•••h,*

56 AJlteRICAN TEMPERANCE ' SOCIETY. [282

Suppose a man who biiys a gallon of a man authorised by law
to sell it, should under its influence go into the faniily of the
man who made the law, and for a few days take the direction, and
do what he now does in his own family ; break the looking-glass,
turn over the tables, strike tlie- children with the tongs, and their
mother with the chairs ; and to save their lives, make them flee,
naked and barefoot, throi^h the snow, to the neighbors for help ;
and suppose that this is a common fruit of the law whith authorises
the business ; would he make such a law again ? And would he
not raise both hands, his voice, and his heart, tc have that which he
has made repealed? or so modified as no longer to sanction such
a business ?

Or suppose again, that the intemperate appetites which the legal
traffic forms, and the' cases of drunkenness and death to which
they lead, instead of being, as they now are, scattered through the
community, should all be in the families of the legislators, of spirit
venders and their nearest friends ; and that they should have to
endure all the sickness and sorrows, and heart breaking wretched-
Hess, which they occasion, and which they will occisision to endless
being, would they any longer sanction the cause ? or would any
one, because he could do it legally, perpetuate it ? Though the
evils would be no greater if they were all endured by them than
when endured by others, yet who can doubt but that they would
be great enotigh, and be felt to be great enough, to stamp the cause
of them, and the sanctioning by law of the business which produces
them, with everlasting abhorrence. Who can doubt but that the
licensing of such a business would cease at once, universally and
forever ? Oh, if that would cause it to cease, and nothing else can,
what an unspeakable benefit woujd it be to the world, and what
an inestimable saving of property, character, health, reason, life
and soul, to all future generations, could these evils, past, present,
and to com.e be all concentrated, and poured out, for a time, in one
dark, desolating current on the heads of legislators and venders
of spirit. But the Committee, with all their hearts, would depre-
cate such a thing ; and rejoice with inexpressible delight, that a
fellow feeling for others' woes will certainly^ unless tliis cause be
abandoned of God, lead to the same glorious result.

VI. The traffic in ardent spirit, tends to derange the intellect*
ted to corrupt the morals of the nation.

In all cases in which ardent spirit deranges healthy functions of
body, it tepds also to disturb regular action of mind and to corrupt
the feelings of the heart. It injures the one, not less than the
other. This is the effect not only of a very free use of it, but of
all use of it. It is its tendency from beginning to end, in propor-
tion to the quantity taken, and to the power of the system, to with-
stand its natural effects. As it courses its way through the blood->

iS3] SIXTH HEPORT. — 1833, 6^7

vessels, it enters even tlie capillaries of the brain, that tender and
delicate organ which fornis the link between matter and mind, irri-
latins,, poisoning, and stupifying that heart and soul of mental vigor.
A man buying according to law, of a man who sells that which
legislators by law sanction, and drinking only as much, reasoning
as legislators do, " as the public good requires,*' becomes so
blockish that his neighbors and his acquaintance begin to whisper

one to anodier, " What is the 'matter of ? how he has lost his

mind. Not long ago he was one of the first men in the neighbor-
hood, but he is becoming an idiot." What is the matter r He
has been doing what legislators, by the high sanction of law, say
is foi- the " public good," drinking regularly ; not to intoxication,
that would be bad, the law forbids it ; but only as much and as
often, as in his estimation, judging from his feelings at the time, did
him good ; only enough, this time, to make him feel well, and the
next to make him feel better, and so on, "jfcr the public good,^ till
he has become, not only a blank but a blot in creation ; and has set
an example adapted to blast the exceUerice and wither the pros-
pects of his children, and children*s children, to the end of time.

The use of ardent spirit tends also to derange healthy mental
action, in another way, by its irritating effect on the nerves. And
this lead's, in many cases, to total insanity ; as the records of every
lunatic asylum in Christendom testify. The drinking of it, the
vending of it, and the laws which sanction it, all, by their natural
and constant effects, tend to weaken the understanding, blunt the
perception, and derange the intellect of the nation.

They tend also to harden the heart, sear the conscience, pollute
the affections, and corrupt the morals of the people. Hence the
wonderful fact, that three fourths of the crimes which are prose-
cuted, are committed under the influence of spirit ; not under its
influence when taken to intoxication, but when taken moderately,
and often in no greater quantities than the law contemplates. That
use of it. which the law sanctions, by its violation of the laws of
nature and of God, is carrying on continually a process as exten-
sive arid as criminal as its effects, of bodily and mental, physical,
intellectual and moral deterioration ; tendmg to change gigantic
strength to pigmy weakness ; celestial order to infernal di3Cord ;
and heavenly purity, light and love, to hellish pollution, darkness
and hate.

Through sin, man has. already in himself the elements of dis-
order, the seeds of death. This makes them vegetate, grow rank,
and produce a speedy and superabundant crop. It generates im-
pure thought ; and excites unhallowed feeling. It kindles polluted
desire, fires abandoned purpose, and fiendish malignity.

The harmony established by the divine hand between the men-
tal and moral powers, the appetites of the body and the passions

-^8 4UERI€AM T£MP£HANCE SOCIETT. [284

•of the soul) baviog by transgressios^ been broken, and rea^son and
conscience often through sin been brought into vile and , hateful
subserviency to appetite and passion^ ardent spirit increases that
subserviency, renders it more entire aqd perpetual. It operates on
all tlie powers of man, but satan*>like, on difier^nt powers, in totally
opposite ways. The understapding, already too wealc, it weakens
still more ; the conscience, too torpid, it renders more torpid still ;
and the heart, already hard, it niakes still harder ; and the affec-
tions polluted, it pollutes still more. While the appetites, already
too keen and headstrong, it makes still more so ; and the passions

' it vitiates, strengthens and inHames. The roan, already reckless,
it m^^es still more reckless ; sa3ring^ ^* Let us eat and drink, for
tomorrow we die." Thus it comes-m, with its whole influence in

^evpry stage of its operation, to aid the great adversary in the de-
struction of men. Depravity it depraves, pollutes even pollution,

-and makes yilenesd itself still more vile. All the mischiefs which
sin and Satan have occasioned in the soul, it increases; while with
a mighty force, it counteracts all the beneficent designs of Jehovah
for its deliverance from sin and hell, and its restoration to the dig-
nity and beauty of bis image ; the light and purity, the bliss and
glory of heaven. Thus, by a twofold process, throughout its whole
course, increasing voluntary wickedness, and counteracting the
means of divine- appoin(a)ent for its extinction, it is working out tlie
eternal daiiination of men.

Here is the philosophical reason, jthe rationale of the facts, that
ten times as many in the Uiuted States who drink ardent spirit, in
proportion to the number, are idle as of other men ; ten times as
many who drink it commit crimes, as of those who do not drink it ;
and ten times as jtiany in proportion to the number, who do not
drink it, become hopefully pious, embrace the gospel and confess

^ the Saviour before men, as of those who do. The opposite in all

'respects to- godliness, and its grand opposer, it is unprofitable unto

^all things, destructive to the life that now is, and also to that which
is to come. Whether we look at the body or « the sOul, at time or
eternity, in the light of prineiples and facts, we €ee upon it the broad

^ image of death. This results from its nature, from the nature of
man, and lirom priooiples deep in the government of God, all per-

^vading, irresistible, and which will be as durable and unchanging
as the eternal throne. So long as the traffic continues which vio-
lates them, the result, by laws establii^ed by the divine hand^ must
be death ; and the le^isktion which sanctions it, have ioscribed

'upon it in broad capitals fov cireation to look at, Oppo8;[;rioN to
THE LAWS OF God. And its consequences, with a voice like the
noise of many Avatersj and- of mighty thunderings, will break on
every ear m creation, paying, " The way of transgressors is hard."
Father, mother, brother, sister, husband, wife, children, all are

385 J SIXTH RSPORT.-^i833. 8d

sacr^ced; God, Christ, heaven, the soul, eternity, every thing
dear and every thing momentous for both wor)ds are madly spurn-
ed away in that state of mind which this foul spirit is; from its
nature, adapted universally to produce. Can^'there he a doubt hut
that the vending of it to be drunk, and the laws which sanction it,
are wicked ; and tend to array a mighty ikifluenee against the in-
Suence of the Soi) of God ?

Only a small quantity, taken so prudently as to leave *& man
the possession of his reason and the conti^)l'of his limbs, is, never-
theless, adapted to bar the mind to good and to open it to evil. Mo-
tives to tlie one it weakens, and to the other it strengthens. In di-
rect and palpable violation of what the Saviour inculcates^ as the
proper desire and daily pedtion of every sonl under heaven, it leads
men into temptation and delivers them to evil« Taking *<day by
day," not " dailv bread," but poison, and'of tfa6 most deceitful
and malignant kind, that Divine Agent \dio Idathes it, and all its
efl^cts as an utter abomination, and who would otherwise illumin-
ate and purify and save with an everlasting^ salvation, is grieved
away. The unrighteous and filthy not only remain, but be*
come moi*e unrighteous, and more nlthy ; till, having been often
reproved, and hardened their necks, they are suddenly destroyed,
and God saith, ^^ without remedy."

Over wide regions of country, where the iacts are known, and a
part of the people abstain from the use of ardent spirit, and from
the traffic in it, and a part do not,— as the Committee behold ten
times as many in proportion to the number, of one class enlisting
apparendy under the banners 6f Inunanuel, as of the other ; and
see the number from one, as light increases, constantiy and rapidly
increasing, and from the otiier as constantly and rapidly diminishing,
— they cannot but feel, thfilt the laws which sanction the traffic
and use, and proclaim them to be right, are radically and mor-
aBy wrong ; offensive to the Saviour, and hostile to the temporal
and eternal interests of men. And they cannot but most respect-
fully and kindly, eamestiy and perseveringly entreat the legisla-
tors of our country, by the rich mercies which he has so bountir-
fully bestowed upon it, and by the agonies which he so freely en-
dured for our race, and the glories which he so graciously profiers
them, no longer to sanction tiiese iniquities ; or say by legislation
that they are either useful or right. As He poured out lire to re-
deem them, and would have aU men come to the knowledge and
love of his truth, and be his obedient and glorified people, they
would beseech legislators no longer to do what tends so power-
fully, extenavely, and fatally to hinder it. As there is joy m hea-
ven over one sinner that repenteth, and a new burst of praise breaks
forth at the proclamation of a soul born of God, what must be the
grief, the indignation and wrath m that world at the ccintinuance

60 AMEUXCAN TEHPEBANCE SOCIETT. [286

and encouragement of what is known, with ait who come under its
influence, to tend infallibly and forever to prevent it ? If those who
have been wise to turn men to righteousness shall shine as the
brightness of the firmament and as the stars forever and ever,
what shall they Jbe who haive been instrumental in preventing it, and
sinking those who might have risen from glory to glory, into thc5
blackness of darkpess forever.

The Committee would not apply what they say, to the days ot
darkness and ignorance that are past, but only tp the continuance
of the evil in future, when, and where the facts on this subject are,
or might be known.

What they ask of legislators is, that they will not by legislation
hinder the progress of tlie Temperance Reformation, or sanction
by law that which opposes it ; but let its friends, in dependence on
God, by the universal diSusiou of information and kind moral in-
fluence, unobstructed by law, carry it onward from conquering to
conquer, till there shall not be a drunkard, or a drunkard-maker,
or a legislator who sanctions the business that produces either,
under heaven.

This Reformatbn first had to meet the numerous and mighty
army of moderate and respectable drinkers ; but they soon gave
way, and their ranks were broken ; a million deserted the enemy,
and came over in triumph to the temperance cause.

It next bad to meet the more formidable, array of church mem-
bers, headed by many a deacon, not a few magistrates, and some
preachers, in word at least, of the gospeL They were equipping
the enemy, furnishing him with provisions ai^d implements of war.
As his numbers by desertioa and death were diminished, they were
with fearful rapidity raising-oip new rei^ruits; and tempting those
who had deserted and seemed for a lime to have clean escaped
from the destroyer, back to fight again under his standard. The
battle here was more serious. The characters engaged gave im-
portance to the conflict. But this mighty phalanx has also been
broken. They are flying in multitudes, not away from, but to the
ranks of Temperance, and becoming, many of them the first and
the bravest, the most self-denybg and devoted in the promotion oi
the cause. Having before not only slain their thousands, but, un-
wittingly, fastened the poisoned arrow in the heart of tens of thou-
sands more, they are doubly anxious softly to extract it, and pcunt
tlie agonizing and often dying sufferer to the balm in Gilead, and
the physician there.

Under the Captain of Salvation the conquest has advanced, till
it now meets, in open day, the thoroughly disciplined, and long
tried bands of legislators. .

The great contest, which is to decide whether this work of mer-
cy is to go immediately and rapidly onward, to its consummation,
is to be with Ibem; not ibr the purpose of a conquest over them,

287] SIXTH B£P0R7. — 1833. 61

but for the purpose of reaching those who lie entrenched befhind
them ; around whom is thrown the mighty rampart of legislation,
and before whom are drawn up in solid column, the mighty pha-
lanx of legislators ; and who with spch a front, bid defiance to
those who would be their benefactors, and pour the swelling tide of
mercies down upon them and their children after them through all
generations to the end pf the world, and onward to eternity.

The Committee would state explicitly, that they do not address
legislatures as bodies, but they address legislators as individuals ;
each of whom has a soul, and like each one of the people is re*
sponsible to the same high tribunal of public opinion here, and of
unerring rectitude hereafter, and who, as a part of the people, is
himself and his children ^fter him, to bear the blessings or the
woes of his legislation ; and they say to them, We have no wish for
any contest with you ; we deprecate such a thing ; we see among
you many of our friends, and when disbanded and acting as indi-
viduals, the friends and helpers of our cause. With thousands we
rejoice in the aid thus afforded by your example and influence. But
as legislators you are organized, and on the wrong side. You li-
cense the enemy ; and it is under your flag that he makes his
depredations upon all that is dear and lovely in possession, and all
that is fair, and excellent and glorious, in prospect. You have
thrown around him the mighty breastwork of your sanction,* and
stand yourselves in front. It is only through your bodies diat
be can now be reached, and when the shafts strike him, the dense
medium through which they pass breaks their force ; and with the
shield of your sanction, their point is warded off, and execution pre-
vented. While his shafts, dipped in poison, and nerved by legis-
lation, are flying and spreading destruction on every side.

Legislators, Friends, called to be Benefactors, and to do good
as you have opportunily, we most affectionately and earnestly, as
the destinies of^ our country, of the world and its unborn millfons
are at stake, beseech you to remove yourselves, and your legisla-
Uon out of the way. Let the fire of light and love break unob-
structed, in its naked and all-subduing brightness, on the heart of
the enemy behind you, and the victory shall be ours, shall be yours ;
and the joy, the joy of all ; and the glory of all, be given to Him, of
whom, and through whom, and to whom are all things ; while the
fiiiits of the victory shall flow down with ever growing richness and
fertility, fulness and beauty, to endless ages.

The only reason why it was ever thought proper to license any
one to sell ardent spirit, and thus teach by law the propriety of the
traffic, was the erroneous idea, that to drink it moderately is use-
ful ; and therefore right. But as the drinking of it moderately,
would strongly tempt men to drink it immoderately, and many, if it
were sold to them, would be ruined, and become a nuisance to
a 21*

63 AMKBICAK TEMPEIUMCE 80CIETT. [288

society, legislators thought to guard against these evils, by providing
that none should sell it except respectable men ; and no more oi
them than the public good required ; and that they should sell
only to such men ^s would not be injured by it.

But as it is now known that all who drink it are injured by it,
and that the public good, instead of requiring, forbids that any
should sell it; and that licensing it, while it authorises, and perpet*
Qates the traffic, does not and cannot prevent its evils, the whole
foundation of that legislation which authorises and licenses its con-
tipuance is entirely swept away. It has nothing to stand upon ;
and were tlie traffic not upheld by the rum party, and those who
liope to make money by it, it would fall of itself; and. under the
long accumulated and mighty weight with which it has burdened
the community, it would sink to rise no more. Let legislators and
all respectable men cease to sanction it, and the last relic which
makes it even tolerable in a civilized community, will be removed.
None will engage in it but the abandoned, who carry the mark of
bfamy on their foreheads, and who are hastening rapidly, to their
own place.

But it is said, ^' The licensing of the traffic is a source of rev-
enue to the State, and therefore the public good requires it.'' This
revenue is much like that of the woman who sold her grain and
her rags to purchase whiskey for her children. She said it was
cheaper to keep them on whiskey, than on bread ; and as it made
a m<ket for hlr rags, it was a ^urce of profit ; in governmental
language, of revenue. Her garments and those of her children
were soon nearly all rags, and all sold ; when her revenue had be-
come such that she and her children, as a public burden, were
obliged, by a public tax, ^to be supported at the almshouse.

This well illustrates the principle and the effect of raising revenue
from ardent spirit. What are the facts } In the county of Balti-
more, Maryland, the support of pauperism, nearly the whole of
which was occasioned by the sale and use of spirit, cost in 1830,
more than $21,000. From which^ deduct between eight and nme
thousatid, the revenue obtained, leaving beti^een thirteen and four-
teen thousand dollars, in that single item, to come from the same
source with the support of the woman whose revenue was so im-
portant, the pockets of the people. To this also oughtto be added
m balancing, the account, the cost of crimes, idleness, dissipation,
sickness, and the various other evila occasioned by it. And will
not the people, for the sake of being relievecl of tne burdens, be
willing to dispense, with the revenue ? Is there a nian in the com-
munity, unless a rum-seller, or drinker, or one who hopes to make
money, or obtain influence by the use of spirit, who will wish to
icetain it? If so, let him be called to bear m his own person and
frmily all the evils which it opca»ons, and he will change his mmd.

289J SIXTH REPOM. — 1833. 63

The warden of the prison in Baltimore states that 2322 crim-
inals were the same year committed to that prison ; and that 424 of
them were intoxicated, when they were brought there ; and that in
his opinion, eight tenths of the whole were intemperate men.

The expenses of the city of New York in 1832, as stated in tlie
Reprt of the Comptroller, were $893,886 29,— $685,385 74 of
which were raised by a direct tax. The support of the criminal,
pauper, and civil establishment cost $315,782 98; and the Chol-
era, in addition to all public and private charities, and individual
expenditures, cost $102,575 85,— making $418,358 83 ; by far the
greatest proportion of which^ as well as almost innumerable other
evils, were the fruits of about 3000 spirit venders, licensed to deal
out the poison to about 210,000 souls. And what do these men
pay as a compensation for the enormons mischiefs which they
occasion? $22,157. And, say a most respectable committee of
gentlemen in that city, after investigating this suWect, ". We, the
people, pay about $400,000 more thaq we should it no drams were
sold or drunk in the city. Suppose that only half of the expenses
of Cholera were occasioned by drinking, and five sixths of the
criminal, police, and pauper establishments ; and one half of the
salaries of officers, it would amount to $302,099 15, which is now
paid as a ttix for licensed vices; over $10,000 taken from the
earnings of the people for every licensed grogshop which pays $10
into the treasury." What right have legislators to make laws,
which in their operation thus tax the community, and take away
the hard earnings of the people ?

The grand jury of the city and county of New York, after care-
ful examination, say that they have come to the deliberate conclu-
sion, that if this source of vice and misery were at an end, three
quarters of the crimes and pauperism of the city would be pre-
vented, together with an incalculable amount of wretchedness, that
does not come under the cognizance of law. And they add, " It
is our solemn impression that the time has now arrived when our
pvblic authorities should no longer sanction the evil complained of,
by granting licenses for the purpose of vending ardent spirit ;
thereby legalising the traffic, at the eccpense of our moral, intellect*
nal and physical power.^^

Of 653, who were in one year committed to the hpuse of Cor-
rection in Boston, 453 were drunkards. And the overseer states,
that many of the others who were committed as vagabonds, might,
with equal propriety, be called drunkards ; and that his opinion is,
that there were not ten among the whole who were not in the habit
of the excessive use of ardent spirit ; that intemperance is almost
the sole cause of all the commitments, that those who were com-
mitted as pilferers were almost all drunkards, and that pro^aDiy
tliey would not pilfer if tliey could not procure rum with the arti-
cles which thev have stolen.

64 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETY. [290

Is it not manifestly vicious for legislators to saaction a busi-
ness which produces such resuhs ? They are elected by the peo-
ple, and sent to legislate for the purpose of preventing crime, not
producing it. And a vast portion of all their time is now occupied
in making laws to punish crimes, which their own legislation pro-
duces. And the people are taxed millions of dollars annually, to
sustain the burden occasioned by that legislation. Will the people
of this free country longer endure it ? They punish the criminals,
and legalbe the traffic that makes them. Like the father, who, to
prevent his son from swearing, swore that if he did swear, he would
visit him with his wrath ; and with about as much wisdom as the
man, who, when asked what should be done by fathers to keep
their sons from being ruined by ardent spirit, answered, ^* Why,
they must drink it all themselves."

They build prisons, and license men to carry on the trade that
jSlls them ; erect lunatic asylums, and furnish their tenants ; the
people build almshouses, and the magistrate^ license pauper-
making manufactories to fill them, augment fourfold the public
burdens, and tenfold the personal and domestic wretchedness of
the countiy. And when the people rise, as they now often do,
and will more often in future, and vote that they will not have such
nuisances among them, the county commissioners, or some petty
officers clothed with a little brief authority, come in and gravely
declare, that ^^ the public good require them;" and thus again
load the community with burdens. This is legd oppression, legis-
lative tyranny ; and it leaves behind it a deep and stinging sense
of injustice. A few retailers have the profit of making paupers,
and the people have to support them ; and then when they com-
plain of the palpable injustice, to be told, " The public good re-
quires it ! " This is too much ; and it needs no spkit of prophecy
to announce that the time is not distant when men born to be free,
who have the power and the heart to be free, will not endure it.

A few men, for their own pecuniary profit, will not long be suf-
fered, under the sanction of law, thus to burden the community.

Of 3000 persons admitted to the workhouse in Salem, Mass., the
superintendent states, that in his opinion 2900 were brought there
directly or indirectly by intemperance. The superintendent of the
almshouse in New York states, that the number of male adults in
the house is 572, of which there are not 20 that can be called so-
ber men; that the number of females is 601, and that he doubts
whether there are 50 of them, that can be called sober women.

In the city of Boston, for six years, there were upon an average,
247 commitments annually to a single prison, for drunkenness ; and
95 drunkards were committed to the penitentiary, in a single month.

A distinguished jurist in the city of New York, acquainted with
the courts, stated, that he could find but three cases of murder

291] SIXTH REJPORT. — 1833. 66

coramitted in that city for fifteen years, except under the influence
of liquor. Legislators hang murderers, Jiud license the business
that makes them ; but not without becoming, if they know what
they do, sharers in the guilt. They expend millions to prevent
disease, and license the business which produces it, and renders it
doubly fatal ; but not without being accessory to the consigning of
multitudes to a premature grave, and a miserable eternity.

Is it not true then, and may not long afBicted and suffering hu-.
manity lift up her head with exultation, that the time is approach-
ing, when, in the language of the chancellor of the State of New
York, " reflecting men will no more think of erecting and renting
grogshops as a means of gain, than they would now think of poi-
soning the well from which a neighbor obtains water for his family;
or arming a maniac to destroy his own life and the lives of those
around him ? " And may we not add, when reflecting legislators
too, will no more think of sanctioning the one by law, than they
would now think of , sanctioning the other ? And when there shall
not be a christian legislator under heaven, whose countenance
would not turn pale, and whose tongue would not cleave to the
roof of his mouth, should he attempt to speak in favor of it. In
the city of Washington, the revenue from the sale of ardent spirit
was about $6000 ; and the loss, as estimated by Judge Cranch,
occasioned by it, was probably not less, all things considered, than
$100,000. Revenue then does not require the sale of ardent
spirit*

But it IS said, and grave legislators sometimes echo the declar-
ation, " It ought to be licensed, and the use of it encouraged, to make
a market for the coarse grains, in order to promote the agricultural
interests of the country." But where the drinking of spirit prevails
most, agriculture, other things being equal, uniformly flourishes
least ; and thus, like every show of argument on that side, it is to-
tally opposed to facts ; as well as to reason, religion, morality,
patriotism, and even to humanity.

Many grain growers will not now sell to distillers. They deem
it a crime to feed those fountains of death, yet their grains find a
market, and they are often among the most prosperous men in their
vicinity. It does not appear, that any naore dismal prospect than
that of others, is opening before their children.

In the year 1810 it was estimated that between five and six v
million bushels of grain were distilled in the United States. Sup- \
pose in 20 years it was doubled, and that in 1830, 12,000,000
bushels were thus destroyed ; and that this, to the growers who of
bourse obtained their pay, was worth 50 cts. a bushel, $6,000,000.
The annual cost of crime and of pauperism produced by the use

* Appendix H.
6 •

66 AMERICAN TEMPtBANCE SOCIETY. [292

of ardent spirit has been, estimated at $7,050,000. Subtract from
this the price of the grain, and you have from these two items
alone, a loss of $1,500,000. Say the Committee of the New
York State Society, " Since the farmers have beguri to open their
eyes to the evils growing out of the turning of the staff of life into
a substance to destroy it, and have made use qf their coarse grains
for bread stuffs, or to feed their catde, they have steadily advanced
in price." And they calculate that the change produced by the
Temperance Reformation, now saves the State of New York sev-
eral million dollars a year.

Let all farmers use their grains to increase the number and value
of their horses, cattle and hogs ; not to dimmish the number and
value of men, and they will find it to be, to themselves and their
country, great gain.

Others say, " The object of licensing is not to encourage the
sale and use of spirit, but to restrain and prevent it." To this there
are two answers. The first is, it does not restrain and prevent it.
It has been tried effectually, for more than half a century ; and its
fruits have been manifested in the living wretchedness, and in the
dying agonies of more than a million of men. Notwithstanding all
such restraints and preventions, the evil constantly increased, till it
had well nigh proved our ruin. The other answer is, the licensing
of sin is not the way to prevent or restrain it, but it is the way to
sanction and perpetuate it ; by declaring to the community that, if
practised legally, it is right ; and thu^ preventing the efficacy of
truth ajid facts in producing the conviction that it is wrong.

But says one, " By saying that none except respectable men
shall sell ardent spirit, and they only in limited numbers, we do
not say that for them to sell it, is right. Would a law which should
forbid men to ride liorseback, upon worldly business, on the Sab-
bath, be saying, or would it imply, that for them to journey on that
day for such a purpose on foot would be right ?" Suppose it would
not ; but suppose also that legislators should go farther, and make
a law, that as many as the public good should require, and should
pay a dollar, should have a legal right to travel in tliat way, on
worldly business, on the Sabbath ; and that certain men should be
appointed actually to license a number in every neighborhood for
that purpose, and should license them, notwithstanding aU reasons
and remonstrances against it ; would it not be saying, and by the
' whole weight of legislation, in opposition to truth, that it is morally
right for those men to travel as the law prescribes ? or else, diat
legal right and moral right are in this case, in opposition ? And
would it not be declaring also, in opposition to truth, that the
public good requires this ? and thus tend to increase the difficulties,
by moral means, of convincing men that it is wicked ? Who can
doubt but that it would operate, and from the nature of the case

293] SIXTH REPORT. — 1833. 67

must operate ia this raanDer ? So with the laws that sanction and
approbate the traffic in ardent spirit, and imply that the public good ^
requires it* They teach a falsehood ; not in time past understood
and designed by legislators, but on that account, none the less false.
Nor did their ignorance, and that of th^ community in those days
of darkness, hinder its desolaUng effects.

" The law," says Judge Piatt, " which licenses the sale of ardent
spirits, is an impediment to the Temperance Reformation. When-
ever public opinion and the moral sense of our community shall be
so far corrected and matured as to regard them in their true light,
and when the public safety shall be thought to require it, dramshops
will be indictable, at common law, as public nuisances,^^

Suppose a law should be enacted providing that none should
counterfeit the public coin, or be authorised to pass counterfeit
money, in small quantities, except men of a certain character ; and
that no more of them should be permitted to do this, than certain
other men, who might, or might not be interested in its circulation,
should judge would be for the public good 5 and that they should
not be autliorised to pass it to drunkards, as it might injure them,
would it not be saying, that for those men to do it, as the law pre-
scribes, is right ? Would it not present a mighty barrier in the
way of convincing them, by moral means, that it is wrong ? And
suppose, in some rare cases, the license should be withheld frbm
those who had passed it to drunkards, would that prevent the mis-
chief? Apply this principle to any other vice. And that it does
apply with all its force to the traffic in ardent spirit as a drink,
which tends only to injure mankind, is most manifest.

But says another, li you do not license men of conscience to sell
it, men 01 no conscience, in such great numbers, will sell it, that
the evil will be overwhelming. But it is not necessaiy to license
counterfeiters to prevent the community from beiqg deluged with
base coin. It is not necessary to license gamblers, or swindlers^ in
order to prevent the community from being overwhelmed with their
mischief. No more is it needful to license men to sell ardent spirit.
If wicked men, in opposition to the influence of moral means, will
prosecute a wicked business^ which corrupts our youth, wastes our
property, and endangers our lives; the community, in this free coun-
try, this land of liberty, have the power and the right, without
licensing iniquity, to defend themselves from its evils. This opens
the door 9 and the ardy door, which truth and duty ever open for
legislation vAth regard to sin ; not to license and sanction it, but
to defend the community from its mischiefs ; and in such am^anner
as is best adapted to deter the vmked from transgression, and
promote as far as practicable iheir good and the good of the conh
muntty. And this is the change in legislation with regard to the
gin of trafficking in ardent spirit, which the cause of temperance, of

68 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETT. f294

patriotism, of virtue, and of God, now imperiously demands. Treat
this vice, as other vices are treated, and there will be no difficulty
in branding it with infamy.

Let legislators, chosen by the people and respectable in society,
license any sin, and it tends to shield that sin from public odium ;
and to perpetuate it, by presenting for it a legal justification. " He
that justifieth ihe wicked, and he that condemneth the just ; even
they both are an abomination to the Lord."

Let all sanctioning by law of this abominable traffic be forever
abandoned ; and if the rising indignation of a deeply injured, and
long suffering community does not sweep it away, and men are
still found base enough to continue to scatter the estates of their
neighbors, to fill our almshouses with paupers and our penitentiaries
with convicts, to make wives more than widows, and children doubly
orphans ; to decoy our yoiith, and sink them to a premature and
an ignominious grave^ — the people, if they choose, by the arm of
legislation can undertake the holy, righteous, and indispensable
work of ^elf defence. And as all political power is in their hands,
it will be found to be a work which is practicable. The wisdom
of legislators chosen without the aid of ardent spirit, and the pa-
triotism of statesmen who do not use it, or rely upon it for sup-
port; but who rely on the righteousness of their cause, the good
sense and virtue of their constituents, and the gracious aid of their
God, will be abundantly sufficient to the exigency of the case. If
necessary to protect our property, our chikfren and our lives, and
there is no other, or no better way to do it, how perfectly easy,
and how perfectly just, whenever the people generally shall desire
it, to indict at common law the keeping of a grogshop as a public
nuisance ; or to provide by statute that those who make paupers
shall support them ; and those who excite others to commit crimes
shall themselves be treated as' criminals. And in ihe necessary,
the magnanimous, the glorious work of legal self defence from an
evil, which, in defiance of public sentiment, of reason, religion, hu-
manity, and of God, would roll over earth a deluge of fire, and
annihilate the hopes of the world, legislators may expect, in pro-
portion as the subject is understood, the united and cordial support
of all good men.

The point to be decided, to be decided by legislators of these
United States, to be decided for all coming posterity, for the world,
and for eternity, is.

Shall the sale of ardent spirit as a dtink be treated in legisla-
iion, as a virtue, or a vice f Shall it be licensed, sanctioned by
law, and perpetuated to roll its all pervading curses onward inter-
minably ? Or shall it be treated, as it is in truth, a sin ? And if
there shall in future, be men base enough to continue to commit
it, shall the community, in self defence, by wise and wholesome

295] SIXTH REPORT. — 1833. 69

legislation, as far as practicable and expedient, shield themselves
rrom its evils ; and if these evils must, through the wickedness of
men, continue to exist, let them fall as leniently as the public safety
will permit, alone on the heads of their authors ?*

On the decision of this question, to a great extent, hangs the
endless destiny of countless millions. In England, Ireland, and
Scotland ; Sweden, Denmark, and Russia ; Germany, India, and
China ; Africa, and the islands of the sea, men are now awaking
from the slumber of ages, and on this subject are following our ex-
ample. They look to us, ask for inforniation, acknowledge their
obligations to our priority, and cheer us onward. Their voice seems
to rise as on the wings of the wind, and to cry from the four quar-
ters of the earth. Ye who were blessed with the power, and heart
to be free, and to commence the world's emancipation, stop not, or
falter till it is finished. Aid not by example, or business, or laws^
what you labor to remove. Sanction not, by legislation, the con-
tinuance of the burden under which creation has so long groaned,
and which she is now agonizing to tlirow off. Cheer her, and
help her ; or at least let her have the full benefit of her own efforts,
the efforts of her friends, and the aid of her Grod ; and through the
grace of Him that worketh ail in all, His people shall b^ free, eter-
nally free : and the glory shall be given to Him, to whom it is all
due, forever.

* In 1773, it was represented to the Legislature of MassachnsettSy that spixil,
distilled through leaden pipes, was unwholesome, and biirtfal. A law was there-
fore passed that no person should use such pipes, and no artificer make them for the
porpose of being used in distilling, under penalty of one hundred pounds. Assay
masters were appointed, who were put under oath, to examine, and prove to the
best of their ahilities, all pipes that were used in distilling, and if any one was found
to contain alloy of lead, or base metal, they were to give notice to the distiller, who
was forbidden to use it afterwards, under penalty of one hundred pounds. (Mass.
Laws. Vol. II. p. 1001. Boston Ed. 1807.)

Why might they not use leaden pipes, if they were cheaper than others, and by
using them they would make more money ? Because they were injurious to health,
and endangered men's lives. They were therefore forbidden to use them under
penalty of one hundred pounds. But what was the injury done to health, and what
the loss of human life, by the use of leaden pipes, compared with that occasioned
by the sale of ardent spurit ? And shall legislators forbid the one, and license the
other ? Can they continue, afler the poisonous nature and destructive effects of
ardent spirit are known, to license the sale of it without great guilt ? If they da
continue to do it, will they not, at the diving tribunal, and ought they not at the bai
3f public opinion, to be held responsible for its effects ?

Let the people, who hat% long been eufiering its destructiye effects^ jadge.

APPEJTDIX.

A. (P. 7.)

Extracts from the Speech of GerRit Smith, Es^.

Ailer spending a few minutes upon other and preliminary top-
ics, Mr. Smith proceeded to say, that he was aware, that the
American Temperance Society, on account of its censures of the
manufacturer and vender of ardent spirit, had been chained with
a departure from its original object, and a violation of its consti-
tution. He admitted, that a grand object within the scope of the
constitution and labors of the Society, is that of bringing our fel-
low men to refrain from drinking ardent spirit; but he did not see
why in addition to the direct efforts made for the accomplishment
of this object, we might not also seek to remove the hinderances
to this accomplishment. Now, the manufacture and sale of ar-
dent spirit constitute confessedly a very great hinderance to the
work of inducing our fellow men to quit the drinking of it; and
this hinderance the Society very naturally and reasonably labors
to remove. Could a Society, that should require its members to
abstain from purchasing lottery tickets, be expected to preserve
silence on the subject of lottery offices? Could a Society, formed
to discountenance gambling at cards or billiards, be expected to
look with unconcern on the allurements of gambling houses ? No
more can a Society, formed to dissuade men from drinking ardent
spirit, look with indifference on the attractions and snares of the
rum shop. As, in the one case, the lottery office and the gam-
bling house irresistibly invite thousands to purchase tickets, and
to stake their money at cards or billiards, who, but for their sight
of these resorts, would never have fallen into this folly; so is it
in the other, that men drink ardent spirit, because of the inviting
facilities for getting it, and so is it, that whilst these facilities ex-
ist, our direct efforts to promote total abstinence will be measur-
ably, if not fatally counteracted by them. Such views we must
certainly admit to be just, unless we deny ,what the bible and our
hearts and our observation teach us about the power of tempta-
tion. # ' * #

One view of this Business, and on which its advocates lay great
stress, is, that it employs a great amount of labor, and forms no
inconsiderable item in the industry of the nation. It is true, that
it does so. But, instead of crediting the business with any thing
tm this account, we bring up its employment of ten thousands of
our citizens as a strong argtiment against it; for their employ-

301] SIXTH REPOBT. 1833. APPENDIX. 76

ment is upon an object utterly valueless. I am aware, that the
notion is somewhat prevalent among'st us, (I believe we are in-
debted to European political economists for it), that the employ-
ment of labor by government or by wealthy individuals, even if
it be upon an object absolutely worthless, is nevertheless a praise-
worthy liberality and of general benefit. The doctrine, in my
view, is unsound at all times and every where. But, even if it
could be sustained in its application to one of the densely peopled
states of Europe, how plainly inapplicable is it to our own coun-
try, where population is sparse, and the demand for labor for
useful bbjects great and incessant. But, if we cannot spare la-
bor for objects, our only objection to which is that they are use-
less, how can we justify its diversion to objects not only perfectly
useless, but as pernicious as useless ? — ^And it is surely too late
to deny that this character belongs to the distillation and sale of
ardent spirit. The proposition, that the thousands of farmers and
manufacturers and venders in our country, who are engaged in
ministering to the filthy appetite of the drinkers of ardent spirit^
should relinquish their^ business, and employ their time and cap-
ital in bringing common stones from the Rocky mountains to scat-
ter over the Union, could, as easily as their present business, be
defended by the political economist. And to go a step farther^
and to bring into view the pernicious properties as well as the
worthlessness of ardent spirit; if these persons were to bring
loads of venomous serpents, instead of stones, to scatter over our
whole land, they could be justified as easily for such strange
work, as they can be for their present business; and to extend
the parallel still further — if each of these serpents were armed
with mortal stings, as well for the soul as for the body, then would
such strange work still more closely resemble their present busi-
ness. # * *

There is one consider atiQn, which shows conclusively, that
this business of making and selling ardent spirit does not aug-
ment the wealth of the nation. We not only drink nearly all we
manufacture, but we buy largely of other nations to answer the
demands of our rum thirst. If we manufactured spirit for other
nations, as we grow tobacco for them, worthless as- are both the
poisons, and clearly as they both should be, and yet will be, on
every Christian's list of contraband goods; we might, perhaps,
in that case, find the business more profitable; but we drink them
ourselves; and therefore whatever is gained from the business by
any individuals amongst us is gained from the pockets of their
countrymen. The vender, who sells to his rum drinking neigh-
bor a gallon of spirit, gets, it may be, his profit of a shilling; but
that shilling and the whole residue of the cost are so much loss
to his neighbor. Would that this covered the whole loss of the
unhappy man, who drinks it! That one gallon, it may be, drowns
his soul in perdition! * * *

As things now are, every nine sober men in this nation are bur-

76 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETY. [302

dened with the partial or entire maintenance of a drunkard; for
every tenth man is a drunkard ; and drunkard and pauper, as we
know, are well nigh interchangeable ter^)s. And n6t only are
the sober Charged with the maintenance of the drunkard, but their
contributions to public objects are greatly increased by the gen-
eral inability of the drunkard to contribute to them. For in-
stance, are there churches, school-houses, colleges, academies,
roads, bridges to be built? ministers of the gospel and school
teachers to be supported ? taxes to be paid ? then the nine have
to represent, and to pay for, the ten. * *« *

All admit, that a dense population is very important, if not in*
deed indispensable, to the success of manufactures. How great-
ly, therefore, would this interest suffer in our country by the loss
of one tenth or one twentieth of our families? But this loss has
virtufilly taken place. Drunkenness ha& disabled, has struck
down, this proj)ortion of our families; and, instead of contribut-
ing to our national industry, they are heavy drawbacks on it.
Now the magic, that would convert our 300,000 drunken men
into 300,000 sober men, would do more for the wealth, not to
speak of the other valuable interests of our country — would ex-
ert more powerful and happier influences upon all the sources of
our economical as well as moral prosperity — than the imagina-
tion can conceive. Total abstinence is this magic. Banish ar-
dent spirit from the land, and this mighty and blessed change is
wrought.

But the farmer says — " I could not get as high prices for my
corn and rye, if the distilleries, that are now my best market for
them, were broken up;" and a present and definite gain out-
weighs in his mind the indirect and more distant, and therefore
but partially credited losses, which he suflTers by distilleries. But
this present and definite gain is unreal. Break up the distille-
ries; let the traffic in ardent spirit cease; and no small propor-
tion of the money, now expended for the poison, would go into
the farmer's pocket, in exchange for his bread stufls, meats,
butter, cheese, &c. # * *

There is one stubborn fact opposed to the supposition, that the
manufacture of whiskey increases the prices of grain. In no
state in the Union has the Temperance Reformation been carried
to a greater extent than in New York. A very large proportion
of the distilleries in it have been abandoned. Thousands of her
citizens have relinquished the sale of ardent Qpirit. Nearly half
a million of her citizens have conscientiously sealed up their lips
against the deadly drink; and yet the prices of coarse grains
within her limits have not fallen. So far from their having fallen,
they have been higher during the last five years, or period of the
Temperance Reformation, than they had been during any equal
period in the last quarter ofa century, if we except the five years
immediately following 1812, and comprising the time of our sec-
ond v/ar with Great-Britain. To how large an extent should the

303J SIXTH REPORT. 1833. APPENDIX. 77

farmers of New- York ascribe their present unexampled thrift to
the Temperance Reformation | * * *

Among the reasons, by which Mr. S; urged the dealers in ar-
dent spirit to discontinue their business, is the fact, that a very
large proportion of all who engage in this business, not to speak
of its frequently ruinous consequences to their children, become
poor and drunken in it. Mr. S. said, that it was carefully ascer-
tained a year or two since, that in the country town in which he
resided, there had been, during the twenty-two previous years,
exclusive of those remaining in the traffic, twenty-nine dealers
in ardent spirit; that five of them had discontinued the business,
without material loss or gain in it ; that twenty of the remaii^der
were ^till living, but were all poor and drunken; and that the
other four had all died drunken and poor. Here, said Mr. S.
we have a specimen of the legitimate effects of this business, on
those who engage in it. Here we see a business for which
Heaven has no smiles.

But say the distillers — '* We can't afford to give up our distil-
leries. They are our living — the living of our ^milies — and we
must not be urged to abandon them." We reply to them,
" Trust God. Betake yourselves to innocent occupations, and
you will find your bread and water made sure in them." The
men of Ephesus, who got their living by practising curious arts,
are an example of self-denial to the distiller. When they felt the
hand of God upon their consciences, they brought their books
together, and burned them before all men; atnd this too, notwith-
standing they cost fitly thousand pieces of silver. Reading in
the Books of Chronicles recently, said Mr. S., I met with an an-
swer made to one who was distrustful of Providence, which I
think is most happily applicable to them, who hesitate to quit the
rum traffic. Amaziah, one of the kings of Judah, had '* hired an
hundred thousand mighty men of valor out of Israel, for an hun-
dred talents of silver. But there came a man of God to him,
saying, O King, let not the army of Israel go with thee; for the
Lord is not with Israel. God will make thee fall before the ene-
my. And Amaziah said to the man of God, but what shall we
do for the hundred talents, which I have given to the army of
Israel ? And the man of God answered — * The Lord is able to
give thee much more than this.' So say we to him, whose con-
fidence for the support of his family still lingers on his distillery
— " The Lord is able to give thee much more than this." It
ueed not be added, that Amaziah was blessed in his obedience.
To the farmer and manufacturer and vender, who feel that they
cannot afford to withdraw from the body and soul destroying
business, in which they are engaged, we have this conclusive
remark to make — *' Whatever else you can afford or cannot af-
ford to do, there is one thing certainly, that neither you nor any
other accountable beings can afford to do: You cannot afford to
do wrong." * *^ *

78 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETY. 1 304

The general remark, that a people are no better than their
laws, is a just one; for not only are their laws expressive of their
moral sense, but they react upon it with a strong influence. The
instances are without number, where good men have pursued a
business in all good conscience, from which their virtuous sensi-
bilities would have shrunk away instantly, had not that business,
essentially unjust and wicked, been commended to them by the
sanction of the laws. How lamentably was the moral sense of
Christendom blunted by the legalised traffic in human flesh!
But the laws <;ame at last to denounce the traffic; and how great-
ly did they help to recover that sense to a healthy tone. We of
this age look upon the slave trade as fit for pirates only; — and
why so? — mainly because the laws declare it piracy. But for
this, how small comparatively would be our abhorrence of this
trade ! Now, the people of this country still look with a partial
eye on the rum traffic. But, let the laws brand it, and our chil-
dren will look upon it with an abhorrence, rivalling that with
which we regard the slave trade.

Our laws are guilty of a gross inconsistency in upholding the
rum traffic, and, at the same time, suppressing less evils. This
mconsistency is to be ascribed to the strong delusions wrought
upon the public mind by the custom of rum drinking. Compare,
for instance, the very differeht treatment; which horse racing
and the rum traffic receive at the hands of our laws. The one is
very extensively interdicted, whilst the other is licensed and pro-
tected; and all must admit, that, compared with the rum traffic,
horse racing is venial and harmless. Indeed, it is rum, that
clothes the race course, and the lottery, and the gambling house,
and the theatre, with their most horrid features; and, but for this
grand aliment of our public vices, they would all greatly lan-
guish, and soon die. Extend the comparison to lotteries. The
laws are fast Suppressing them, whilst they leave the rum trade
to flourish; and who will pretend, that the evil of lotteries is as
wide spread and as malignant as that of rum shops! Mark, too,
the further inconsistency of the laws on this subject — the further
evidence of their partiality for rum sellers. Whilst they punish
drunkards, by posting them, by depriving them of their property
and otherwise, they encourage and protect the men who make
these drunkards. Now why may not they, who get up lotteries
and sell tickets; and they, who get up the race and introduce
their horses, claim a like indulgence from the laws; and that if
punishment must be visited on their business, it should fall on
those who purchase the tickets, and those who go to witness the
race? Why this diffierence? Why, in the lottery business, visit
the punishment on the seller, and in the rum business on the
buyer? The general delusion, produced by the custom of rum
drinking, can alone account for the diffierence. To this same
delusion must we ascribe the ludicrous and mad conduct of the
authorities in some of our villages and cities, during the pesti*

305] SIXTH REPORT. 1833. APPENDIX, 79

lence the last year. They would hurry in their fright to ahate
as nuisances the business of the poor butcher on the one hand,
and that of the innocent dealer in hides on the other. They
were full of anxiety about these rills of danger; but they thought
not of the big stream of cholera and death, which the sacred and
inviolable grocery, that stood between them, was still suffered to
pour out day and night.

How strange it is, that the selfish interests of men do not rise
up against the rum traffic, and put it down forever. I will use
language here, which I have used elsewhere. ** In reference to
the taxes with which the making and vending of ardent spirit load
the community, how unfair towards others is the occupation of
the maker and vender of it! A town, for instance, contains one
hundred drunkards. The profit of making these drunkards is en-
joyed by some half a dozen persons; but the burden of these
drunkards rests upon the whole town. Now I ask, whether
there would be one law in the statute book more righteous than
that, which should require those who have the profit of making
our drunkards, to be burdened with the support of then??"

The statements and opinions of that distinguished jurist and
philanthropist, Jonas Platt, on any of the subjects discussed in
the preceding Address, must command great respect. Judge
Piatt, in his excellent Address delivered on the 26th of February
last, before the Temperance Society of the county of Clinton,
IV. Y. uses the following language: —

** It is a lamentable fact, that upon a careful estiniate, it is
found, that of the tavern-keepers and retailers of ardent spirits
in this State, during the last forty years, more than two-thirds
have become drunkards, and reduced their families to poverty
and wretchedness. Still, that class of men oppose temperance
societies with blind infatuation! Let us redouble our efforts by
kind entreaty and friendly admonition, to save them from their
own worst enemies, theniselves.

'* I respectfully submit for public consideration, the propriety of
repealing our statute for taxing and licensing the retailing of ar-
dent spirit. By fair construction, such license and tax legalise
the traffic, (so far as the authority of our legislature extends),
and a plausible excuse is afforded to those who now pay a pre-
mium for such legislative sanction. This law is an impediment
to the Temperance Reformation. Public opinion would be
brought to bear with much greater force, against the practice of
retailing this poison, if dram-shops were lefl unlicensed and un-
sanctioned by any statute regulations whatever.

" In a pecuniary view, the tax on such retailers is a policy,

which is'-' ' penny wise, and pound foolish,' for it is obvious that

the increased public burdens which they occasion, are a hundred

fold greater than the amount of the tax.

** An agent, (Mr. Rodney), who was sent by our government

80 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETY. [306

^ a few years ago, to ascertain the political condition and prospects
of one of the new republics in Spanish America, states in his re-
port, that the sale of indulgences, or licenses to commit .particu-
lar specified sins, under ecclesiastical authority, was one of the
principal sources of revenue in that mock-republic. The prices
were of course graduated according to the degrees of criminality
in the act so licensed. No wonder, that with such notions of
morality, and with such views of political economy, our neigh-
bors in the southern hemisphere have succeeded so illy in the es-
tablishment of republican governments. Whether the tax and
license under our government, for committing the sin of keeping
a poisonous dram-shop, bears any analogy to the policy of that
southern republic, I submit to the serious consideration of my
fellow citizens."

StAstance of an Address delivered at the sixth anniversary of the
Jhnerican Temperance Society in Jfew York, May 7, 1833, hy
Wilbur Fisk, D.D. President of the Wesleyan University, Mid-
dletoton. Conn.

It is less difficult to convince the retailer, who has regard to
moral principle, of his participation in the guilt of intemperance,
than the manufacturer and wholesale dealer. The former is per-
sonally and constantly conversant with the evils of intoxication.
As the glass or the bottle passes from his hand, it goes directly
into the hand of him who is ruined thereby — the retailer sees the
fires that burn like Sodom, in the countenance of his customer —
fires which he has contributed to kindle, and the appropriate ali-
ment of which, he is constantly furnishing. Supported by such
arguments, an appeal to the retailer, not wholly lost to moral
feeling, must have an effect. It is on this account, doubtless, that
so many more retailers than wholesale dealers, in proportion to
their respective numbers, have abandoned the traffic. And yet
in every possible correct moral estimate of the subject, the whole-
sale dealer stands in precisely the same relation to these evils,
with the retailer. And of this, if he will look at the arguments
in the case, he may be convinced. Let him remember, that
every gallon, which passes through his hands, is destined to assist
in forming the appetite of some moderate drinker, or burn out the
vitals of some miserable wretch, whose appetite is already formed
— ^that the hogsheads of rum that float in his vessels, or lie upon
his wharves or in his stores, are the seeds of future diseases and
crimes — ^that they go forth to spread a physical and moral miasma
over the land, and will become the murderers of fathers and of
mothers, of wives and of children, scattering a mildew over the
field of promise, and a blight upon the bud of hope — let him, I
say, remember this, and if his moral sense is not blunted, will it
not be pained ?

. Suppose, sir, that a dealer in this article, should be informed
that there was a gallon in one of his tierces which, if suffered to

307] SIXTH REPORT. — -1833. APPENDIX. 81

go out into the hands of the retailer, would give the finishing
touch to the formation of an appetite, which would lead some de-
luded wretch to ruin; or that it would excite to the murder of a
wife or a child, — crimes which are often committed through the
delirium of intoxication, — would not a Conscientious man empty
that gallon upon the wharf, or cast it into the ocean ? Nay, if
he could not distinguish the murderer's portion from the mass,
would he not lose his whole stock before he would, in this way,
become accessary to murder ? If this same merchant can be
convinced, that his stock, united with those of other importers and
manufacturers, is directly carrying on this work of death all over
the land — that it becomes both the occasion and inst'i^ment of thirty
thousand suicides annually — that it occasions, probably, the death
of twice that number, by increasing the malignity of diseases
which, but for ardent spirits, would not have proved mortal — that
it annually becomes the occasion and exciting cause of more than
one hundred thousand civil crimes in these United States, besides
all its other innumerable social, moral, and political evils; if he
could be convinced of this, and be induced to fix his attention on
these considerations, for but even a few moments, would he not
be constrained to renounce the traffic, as criminal in the sight of
God, and treasonable against the best interests of man ? # * *

I. The dealer is favorable to the common use of ardent spirits,
and knowingly takes measures to secure their consumption.

But he knows also, that their common use is invariably followed
bj intemperance. Therefore,

The dealer is, on the whole, favorable to intemperance, and
knowingly takes measures to produce it.

Permit me to invite the dealer to suspend all irritation of feel-
ing at the seeming uncharitableness of the charge, and to enter
with me into a candid investigation of the argument. If it cannot
be sustained^ he will, in defiance of this argument, go clear ; but
if it can be supported, he must give up his claim to moral princi-
ple, or give up his traffic.

I say, then, the dealer favors the use of ardent spirits, and
takes measures to secure their consumption. His act of selling
proves this. The liquors, set out for show in decanters upon his
counter or on his shelves, — the words brandy, rum, gin, Irish
WHISKEY, &c., written upon his casks, or upon his sign at the
door, all most clearly show this. This also is shown by his pub-
lic advertisements; for these are proofs that he wishes to sell:
nay, he manufactures or buys for that very purpose. But if he
wshes to sell, he wishes the consumption; for he well knows,
the moment the consumption ceases, the market is at an end. If
he does not wish for a vent for his liquors through the channels
of consumption, by which alone he can have a market, let hiin
advertise in a little different form from his usual advertisements.
I would suggest a form something like the following:—

" A. B. having increased his stock in trade, by a late purchase

82 . AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETY. [308

of choice liquors, consisting of Jamaica rum, French brandy,
Holland gin, &c» hereby respectfully and earnestly recommejids
to all his former customers and others, to refrain from any farther
purchase of intoxicating liquors, as he is fully convinced that the
use of these liquors is most pernicious, and leads to numerous
and complicated evils."

I suppose our rum-advertising newspapers would insert such
an advertisement for their usual price. And in this way, not only
would our merchants and others, who do not ivish to sell, be saved
the pain of numerous applications, but they will also serve the
cause of temperance, by a word of caution to a portion of the
community who most need it, and who, perhaps, would never read
anything on the subject in any other form. Does the dealer
hesitate to advertise in this way.^ Then it is because he wishes
to sell. But he says, perhaps, this would place him in a ridiculous
light before the public. It would indeed; but no more ridiculous
than he makes himself when he says he does not wish to sell, and
yet buys, advertises, &c. for that very purpose.

But, perhaps, the vender will say, he does not ivish to sell, but
he is obliged to deal some in this article, in order to keep his
trade good in other articles; for unless his customers, can obtain
their spirits of him^ they will go elsewhere for other things. On
this account, therefore, he keeps a little, but does not offer it un-
til asked for, nor advertise it on his sign, or in the public prints.
This is encouragingj for it shows that conscience is at work, and
will probably carry the question in favor of correct principle be-
fore long. But to be plain with such a dealer, we must say, that
however we respect the workings of moral principle, which has
led him to this expedient, he has, it is believed, done very little
yet to ease his conscience. His plea, reduced to plain and con-
cise English, is simply this: " I would not sell ardent spirits if I
could make as much money by refraining!" How far money-
making will justify him, in a business which he himself acknow-
ledges to be of pernicious tendency, I leave, for the present, to
he settled by the decisions of his conscience, which seems to be
disturbecl already; and pass to notice some other expedients for
evading ^he force of our^ argument.

The dealer may tell us, perhaps, that a wish to sell does not
imply a wish for the consumption of ardent spirits. That it is no
concern of his what becomes of them after they pass out of his
hands and he gets his pay. Now it is well known that the sale
implies the use, and when we know that two or more things are
inseparably connected, it is perfectly absurd to say, we will have
the one, and yet we do not, on the ichole, desire the other. Though
we may not desire the other^ in itself considered, yet on the whole
we do desire it, whenever we determine at any rate to have its in-
separable attendant — as then there can be no market, and of
course no sale, without the consumption, — so a determination to
sell, necessarily involves an approbation of the use.

309] SIXTH REPORT. 1833. APPENDIX. 83

But the dealer may hope to avoid the responsibility of intem-
|)erance still, by saying, that, though he does desire the use of
ardent spirits, he does not thereby favor drunkenness, for he does
not wish to furnish any for the drunkard; and if he could have
his will, the drunkard should not be furnished with it at all. But,
in the first place, it is well known, if the traffic is generally sanc-
tioned, the drunkard will have it. According to the principles of
human society, it is impossible to carry into operation one law for
the' drunkard, and another for the temperate: and, farther, if a
man will sell, and it is practicable to make a distinction in the
purchasers, it should, by every consideration of public good, be
the other way. He who would sell with the least injury to com-
munity, should sell only to the drunkard and drunken. To
sell to these, is' only to give the finisiiing stroke for the destruc-
tion of those already in ruins; but to sell to the temperate, is to
take measures to lead the respectable and useful to profligacy
and ruin. If it would shock the feelings of the dealer to present
another cup to him who is now reeling, and by which, he who is
clamorous and troublesome, and perhaps dangerous, is put to sleep,
how much more ought it to shock his feelings, to present the cup
to a respectable and intelligent citizen, by which he may become
a drunkard.

But we will hear all that the dealer can urge for himself He
tells us again, that though he may be considered favorable to the
use of intoxicating liquors, yiet the conclusion is not just^ that
*' he is favorable to intemperance, and tjiat he knowingly takes
measures to produce it." For he does not wish any man to be-
come intemperate, and it greatly afflicts him to know* that any
one ruins himself in this way. He does not sell for the pwyose
of producing drunkenness, and therefore he is not responsible.

But, for what purpose does he sell ? For the gain, undoubtedly.
And does he not sell with the certain knowledge, that drunken-
ness will follow.^ He knows that the use of intoxicating li^mors,
which is implied in the sale, always was, and doubtless always
v/ill be, followed by intemperance. Here let us refer to a prin-
ciple already laid down — ^that where two things are known to be
inseparable, whoever takes measures to introduce the one, does,
by that very course, favor the introduction of the other. He does
not desire the other, in itself considered, but he actually prefers
the introduction of both, rather than forego that which is the direct
object of his desire. In the case before us, the dealer does not
directly, and /or its own sake, desire drunkenness, but he desires
the gains of the traffic, and he will sooner aid in introducing in-
temperance and all its woes, than forego these gains. The ques-
tion then comes to this: — Is a man free from responsibility, for a
known wrong done by himself, on the ground that he did the act,
not for the sake of the wrong, but in view of his own personal
advantage.^ Or, in other words, to make the case still plainer^
is it, or is it not, a moral offence to injure another for a reward,

S4 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETY, [310

when the injurious act was not done on account of ill-will to the
injured person, but solely for the sake of the reward! A child
would be casuist enough to solve this question. Apply it to some
cases in point. In the well-known murder of Mr. White, of Sa-
lem, Mass., the murderer had no malice against the murdered
victim of his cupidity, he only wanted the thousand dollars that
was offered him for the deed. Was he mnocent ? Judas had no
wish to take the life of his Master, he doubtless hoped he would
escape, though he should be betrayed into the hands of his ene-
mies— at any rate, the betrayer wanted the thirty pieces of silver.
Was Judas justified? If not, how shall the plea of justification
be available, on a similar ground, in the case before us? In one
respect, indeed, the case of Judas appears less unfavorable than
that of those engaged in the rum trade. Judas had very good
ground to hope, that his Master, as he had done before, would
convey himself away by miraculous power, and thus he himself
would get the bribe, and no evil would ensue. But no such hope
can encourage the heart of the dealer in intoxicating liquors. He
knows, when he pockets the gains, that it is the price of blood.
As the destructive poison leaves his store, he understands its
destiny and the fatal result. He needs no second sight, no su-
pernatural spirit of prophecy, to predict, that, through this traffic,
a thousand masters will be betrayed, that the teacrecj obligations
of religion will be violated in uncounted instances; that it will
turn men to demons, and excite them to obscenity, and blasphe-
my, and murder; that it will lay trains for the circulation of the
cholera and other diseases to spread over the land, and riot upon
human life: — that it will fill the air with groans, cover the earth
with blood, and plunge thousands of souls into the pit of wo. All
this he knows, and yet because he does not sell for the sake of
these evils^ but only does it for the sake of the gain, he hopes to
free himself from responsibility. Alas! how easy does the heart
that ** loves the wages of unrighteousness," impose upon itself.
But, there is still another way by which the dealer endeavors to
exculpate himself. He tells you that intemperance is not a ne-
cesaanj result of the sale and consequent use of intoxicating liquors.
Many use them without injury, and others might if they would.
The responsibility, therefore, it is maintained, belongs exclu-
sively to each individual agent, who thus voluntarily becomes
ensnared and ruined.

In order to test a question of morals, in any specific case, it
sometimes becomes necessary to see what general principle of
morality is involved in that case, and then decide the question in
view of this general principle — otherwise, our prejudices, and the
peculiar circumstances of the case, may mislead our judgments.
Th6 general principle in the case before us, must be this: — No
man is accountable for becoming the occasion of another's 'sin,
because the sinner, a« a free agent, might have refrained froni
the sinful act if he would. Now, will this principle bear? Let

311 j SIXTH REPORT. — 1833. — -APPENDIX. S5

US try it. Here is a man who keeps a store of books and prints^
of most pernicious moral tendency-^-got up, however, in a most
fascinating style, and by their wit and elegance directly calcu-*
lated to captivate and ensnare. the minds of the young. Upon the
principle laid down, this man is not responsible for the mischief
he does, tiiough scores of youths are drawn in and ruined. He
may plead, they are free moral agents — it is not necessary they
should be corrupted — if they would only do as they might, they
might improve their taste and their style, and experience no in-
jury. Would this satisfy the parent, whose child had been tuined
by th"ese pernicious books ? But is the bookseller worse than the
riim-^seller ? Are bad books more demoralizing and ruinous than
intoxicating liquors? Let facts decide. Indeed the principle
ofntorality involved in this plea of the dealer, is as wide from the
morality of the Gospel, as the poles from each other. The Gos-
pel not only requires that we should not put ** a stumbHng-block
or an occasion to fall, in our brother's way," but demands, that,
as far as in us lies, we should remove from his path the stumb-
ling-blocks that another has placed before him. •* He that
knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin." * * *
But to settle this question for ever, with all believers of the
Bible, our Saviour has told us expressly, that though "it must
needs be that offences come," yet ** wo to that man, by whom the
ofl^ence cometh." Such is the weakness of moral principle in
man, and such the strength of depravity, that we cannot expect
but that men will stumble and fall. There is a kind of necessity
in the case — that is, it is the natural result, and what might be
expected, especially if occa^ixtn is given; therefore, ** Wo unto
that man hy whom the offence cometh,^^ Will the dealer stand up in
the face of this denunciation, and claim that he is not guilty, be-
cause the transgressor in any individual case, was a free agent^
and acted on his own responsibility? He is to blame, it is true,
for stumbling — ^but the man who placed the stumbling-block in his
way, is also verily guilty. In short, there is no case* in which a
man will be justified in doing what he is Well assured will pr6v0
injurious to anothpr, except where the general tendency of what
is done, is known to be advantageous on Ihe whole. " Preaching
the Gospel, for instance, becomes an occasion of aggravated guilt
to those who reject it. But the Gospel, on the whole, is known
to be advantageous, and therefore it should be preached, not-
withstanding, in some instances, it becomes ** a savor of death.*'
So governments founded on the popular will, may often be the
occasion of popular tumults and party strife, yet those govern-
ments should be sustained, because they are, on the whole ad-
vantageous. But here, and in all similar cases, the ntorality of
favoring or o|>posing these institlitions, is tested entirely irrie-
spective of the agency and responsibility of those who make these
an occasion of injury to themselves, and purely on the ground of
the general tendency of these institutions, in their influence upon

8G AMEBIC AN TEMPERANCE SOCIETY. [312

iiuman nature as %t is, and not as k ought to be. Thi$ is a test
of moral action which must be conceded to, by every man of
common understanding, and of an ingenuous mind — he cannot
get rid of it. Let us apply it then, to the rum trade. Is this a
business that works well in practice ? Are its general tendencies
good.'* We have just heard clearly demonstrated, the pernicious
influence of this trade upon national wealth,* and it might be as
clearly demonstrated that it leads to bankruptcy in national mor-
als— that it is ruinous to political integrity, to bodily health, to
social and domestic enjoyment — in short, we inay say, that this
trade, in its general bearings upon community, " is evil, and only
evil, and that continually,^' In this point of view, it has not a sin-
gle redeeming feature — in its whole aspect it is dark and threat-
ening— in its entire operation, it is most calamitous.

Having examined the premises and conclusion in the argument
laid down, and having patiently heard all the arguments the
de^er can urge in his own defence, we come, it is believed, fairly
to the conclusion, — ** That all who continue in the traffic of ar-
dent spirits, stand in an intimate and criminal relation to all the
evils of intemperance, and, on moral principles, must be held
responsible for those evils." * * *

II. So long as men, laying any just claim to morality and re-
spectability, maintain the right to sell ardent spirits, it will be
considered respectable and moral to use them.

But it has been seen already, that so long as the use continues,
intemperance will continue. Therefore —

For these men to maintain the right of traffic, is to throw them-
selves most effectually in direct opposition to the cause of tem-
perance.

If this argument is sustained, it will follow of course, that the
dealers in this article, are the men chiefly responsible for the contin-
uance of the evils of intemperance, not only because they furnish
the occasions of these evils, as was seen in the former argument,
but also, because they stand directly in the way of those benevo-
lent efforts, that might otherwise remove them. There are evi-
dently two parties in this business, the consumecs and the agents.
The agents are made up of the manufacturers, and those who, in
the way of trade, facilitate the distribution. Now to those who
profess to be moral, in both of these parties, we say. You all
share in the guilt of drunkenness, — the agent, because, though he
does not drink himself, yet he furnishes others with the. means of
intoxication — ^^the moderate drinker, because, though he does not
get intoxicated himself, he encourages others in a course which,
in numerous instances, as he well knows, results in intemperance.
So far both are responsible, and neither can shift his share of the
guilt on to the other — and neither party can accomplish the de-
sired reform alone, unaided by the co-operation of the^ other. On

* Speech of GeiTit Smith, Esq.

31 3J SIXTH RFPORT. 1833. Afl'ENEnX. 87

this ground, therefore, we might safely rest the argument, thAt
those concerned in this traffic, are effectually opposing the tem-
perance reformation.

But the argument bears with stronger force against the dealers,
than against those who merely set the example of the use. The
dealer acts a more prominent and a more important part — hia
influence in respect to the use, is more extended and more irre-
sistible ; and hence his example and character mil take the lead in
giving a character to this whole business. So long then as it is
counted moral and reputable to furnish ardent spirits for the mar-
ket, so long it will be considered moral and reputable to buy and
to use them. These agents therefore, in the manufacture and
distribution are effectually screening the use of intoxicating liquors
from the brand of immorality and infamy. * * *

But it is said, ** If I do not sell, others will, and therefore for
me to refrain, will only be to give place to another, who will ex-
ercise the same influence that I do in the traffic, and hence there
will be no gain to the cause of temperance." Answer: You
know not that another will sell in your place, if you renounce the
traffic: or if this should happen, your influence iathis matter may
have a great influence upon your former customers, and will no
doubt give additional strekigth to' the temperance cause, in yout
circle of acquaintances; and at any rate, the new trader, that, in
this business, becomes your substitute, will not exert the same
influence that you do, unless, like yourself, he have a reputation
for morality and respectability; and if he have, my argument is for
him as well as for you, and it is expected he will feel its force,
and refrain also from the traffic. ''But it is urged that if all
respectable and virtuous men give up the traffic, it will be worse
for the community than it rfow is, as the business will then be man-
aged by unprincipled men, and of course in a way much more
destructive to the interests of the people." This is the ground
on which some dealers have thought it not only allowable, but
even obligatory upon them, to continue this trade. I have heard ,
such men say, they felt it their duty in order to keep the business
out of the hands of bad men! !' It seems that this traffic is such a
blood-hound of destruction to our race, that the leash should be
held by the pure moralist, who will let him on or call him off,
*' according to lato.^^ He is at any rate, a beast of prey, whose
appropriate work is to riot in human blood; but then, in the
hands of the moralist, he destroys fewer it may be, and these in a
more decent style i * * *

Let us glance at this excuse in another point of view. It has
already been intimated, that every specifk rule of morality, is
resolvable into some general principle. What is the general
principle, on which the excuse for this traffic is predicated? It is
this — whenever there is sufficient ground for believing, that a given
injury loill be done to the community by somebody, it then ceases to he
a moral wrong for any one to inflict that injury. Now, I grant that

88 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETY. [314

this is a most extraordinary moral maxim or principle, but if the
right to sell ardent spirits is maintained,' on the ground that some-
body will sell, then this must be the rule which applies in the
case — a rule which, to be discarded, ** needs but to be seen."
How does this rule correspond with the morality of our Saviour,
especially in that passage already quoted; *' It must needs be
that offences come, but wo unto that man by whom the offence
Cometh." Here the principle is most explicitly reprobated. The
dealer fells us he sells, and becomes an occasion of offence or
stumbling to others, because it must needs be, from the known na-
ture and practices of man, that such occasions will be given by
somebody — and therefore he shall add nothing to the miseries of
the world if he should be the medium of the offence. But, sir, let
him look at the denunciation, let it ring in his ears, and sink
down into his soul — -Wo unto that man by whom the offence cometh.
In concluding the argument, I will examine one other way of
getting rid of this responsibility — it is by division and subdivision,
until it is annihilated. We have all heard of the infinite divisi-
bility of matter, but never of its possible annihilation by the pro-
cess. Our experimenters in moral philosophy however, have
discovered that by dividing up moral obligation, to some indefinite
extent, the whole becomes annihilated. The reasoning runs thus
' — ** My individual sales will not sensibly affect the great whole of
community; and if Li9hx>uld abandon the trafRc, and no one should
assume it in my stead, tbis would produce no sensible change in
pie consumption and consequent evils, therefore my responsibility
is nothing." That is, to translate this language into plain Eng-
lish— *' I can do but little either way, therefore my responsibility
in the case is nothing — no considerable part of the whole work
can possibly belong to me, therefore I am not obliged to do the
part that does belong to me ! " — Who does not see that this is as
bad morality, as it is logic? It is by such reasoning, that certain
proverbs have gained currency, such as — ** What is every body^s
business, is no body's" — '* Public bodies have no soul nor con-
science." The truth is, however, what is every body's business
is every body's — and if public bodies have no conscience nor goul,
they ought to have, and each is obligated to bring his share to the
public conscience ; and if he have a correct individual conscience,
he will do it. He who numbers our hairs, and counts the atoms
of the universe, will, in making out the final retribution, find no
difficulty in assigning to each his proper proportion. Not a par-
ticle of this obligation is lost; for public obligation is made up of
individual obligation, and duties in common must be discharged
by individual agency. Hence each individual is as much obli-
gated to exert his single agency, as if the whole work was his.
Whatever others may do or not do, his own individual account
vill not be affected thereby; and whatever may be the event of
the common cause, he stands or falls by his own acts. And will
uny one ^ say his part of the responsibility is so small, that he is

315] SIXTH REPORT, 1833.— APPENDIX. ' 89

^^'illing to meet it, fearless of the consequences? Alas ! the man
that says this, knows not what he says. Is there a dealer who
would be willing to read the history of his own sales, in their
direct results and collateral bearings: such a history would pierce
his soul, and terrify his imagination with dark and horrid images.
The moral infection that has been engendered, by his sales alone,
would darken the air around him. He would hear the sighs of
the aged parent, whose profligate son had brought down his gray
hairs with sorrow to the grave. He would encounter the impre-
cations of the more than a widowed wife, who, in secret places,
pleads with the Judge of all the earth to avenge her wrongs — ^he
would hear the sobbings of the more than orphan child — he would
hear the groans of the pit — the waitings of the damned. Who
could endure this scene? A faint description of it sickens the
heart.

The merchant is in the habit of calculating his loss and gain,
with great exactness, and the balance sheet will convince him ot
his profit or loss. I will leave it to him, to calculate the credit
side of his traffic, in dollars and cents — but let me show him as
definitely as possible, his indebtedness on the score of moral obli-
gation. There are probably not far 'from sixty thousand dealers
in ardent spirits, in the United States — and perhaps three hun-
dred and seventy-five thousand drunkards. This would give to
each dealer an average dividend of six and a fraction. But the
generations of drunkards are short, and a veteran dealer outlives
two or three generations of these unhappy and short-lived men.
Hence, each dealer, on an average, who follows the business
through life, may have been instrumental of making from twelve
to twenty drunkards, and of bringing them to an untimely grave.
These have friends and families that are made wretched — they
spread around them a moral pestilence — they blaspheme and fight
and murder — and for all these evils, as well as for the direct ruin
of the drunkards themselves, the dealer, according to the forego-
ing arguments, must be held morally responsible. And will he
risk or fearlessly meet these responsibilities? What has he to
balance this amount of debt ? All that he can show is the hun-
dreds of thousands that he has put into his coffers, by the traffic.
But will money cancel moral guilt, or discharge from moral obli-
gation? What pecuniary consideration would induce a man to
share with this whole nation, the guilt of ruining one man ? But
to feel the lashings of a guilty conscience, and to hear the denun-
ciations of a righteous Judge, for the accumulated guilt of an in-
dividual agency, in the ruin of so many — in such a judgment who
can stand? Let the dealer strike the balance, and if he finds that
hitherto he has been doing a bad business, let him abandon it for*
ever.

8» 23*

90 -> AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETT. [316

B. (P. 28.)

In a law of Massachusetts, passed March 23, 1833, it is de-
clared that any person who shall, in violation of the law, sell a
lottery ticket, or knowingly suffer one to be sold in any building,
owned or rented by him within the Commonwealth, he shall for-
feit and pay a sum not less than one hundred, nor more than two
thousand dollars ; and that if any one after conviction shall repeat
the offence, he shall be sentenced for every subsequent offence to
labor in the house of correction, or in the common jail, for a term
of time not less than three months, nor more than twelve months.
And it is also declared, that any person who shall make, sell, or
offer for sale any fictitious lottery tickets or part of a ticket,
knowing it to be fictitious, he shall be punished by imprisonment
or .confinement to labor in the State prison for a term of time not
less than one year, nor more than three years.

The above statute is founded on the true principle of legisla-
tion with regard to sin; not to license it, but to defend the com-
munity from its evils. And are not the evils of selling ardent
spirit, as a drink, a greater nuisance to the community than the
evils of lottery gambling ? And is it a less sin for legislators to
license the one, than it is to license the other? And do they not
by licensing either, manifestly corrupt and injure the community ?

It was judged at one time, that liquor distilled through leaden
pipes was injurious to the health of the community. A law was
therefore passed by the legislature of Massachusetts, that no per-
son should distil, or draw off ardent spirit or strong liquors
through leaden pipes, under penalty of one hundred pounds; and
that no artificer should make any pipe or lead for distilling, of
bad pe^vter, or any mixture of lead, under penalty of one hundred
pounds.

But was the injury to the health of the community, occasioned
by leaden pipes, to be compared with the injury occasioned by
ardent spirit? and yet legislators forbid the one under a penalty
of a hundred pounds, and license the other. Had leaden pipes,
like ardent spirit, caused over wide regions of country more than
one in five of all the deaths among men; and in the United States
killed thirty thousand persons in a year, well might it have been
forbidden ; or, in the language of a distinguished jurist, * * the sin of
keepihg a poi^oncfU8 dramshop, ^^ been indicted at common \ecW, as a
public nuisance^ Of all the public nuisances that now exist, pro-
bably none are more destructive to mankind, than the sale of c^r-
deni spirit.

SIT] SIXTH scpoBT. — 1833. — MPntmtx. 91

C. (P. 31.).

Pursuant to the invitation of the American Terapeiance So-
ciety, delegates appointed by various Temperance Societies in the
United States^ to the number of four hundred, and from twenty-
one States, assembled in Convention at the Hall of Independence
in Phifadelphia, on the 24th day of May, 1833,/' to consider the
best means of extending, by a general difius^ion of information,
and the exertion of a kind ahd persuasive moral influence, the
prineiple of abstinence from the use of ardent spirit, throughout
our country." . - -«

The Convention was organized by the appointment of the fol-
lowing officers, viz:

President, Reuben H. Walworth, of the State of New York.

Viffs Presidenta; Bxfhe.rts Vaux, of Pennsylvania; John Tappan,
of Massachusetts; Timothy Pitkin, of Connecticut; Peter D.
Vroom, of New-Jersey; Willard Hall, of Delaware; John C,
Herbert, of Maryland j Joseph Lumpkin, of Georgia; Wm.
McDowell, of South Carolina. ' '

Secretaries, Mark Doolittle, of Massachusetts; John Marshy
of Connecticut; John Wheelwright, of New-York; 'Lyndon A.
Smith, of New- Jersey; Isaac S. Loyd, of Pennsylvania; Judge
Darling, of Pennsylvania;- R. Breckenridgiej of Maryland;
Daniel W. -Lathrop, of Ohio. -

The Convention was opened with prayer by Dr. , !^rantley of
Pennsylvania. The Circular of the American Temperance So-
ciety, calling the Convention, and setting forth the object for
which it had assembled, was then* read.

The room occupied by the Convention, not being sufficiently
large to accommodate its members, it was, on motion,

Resolved, That Matthew Newkirk, James Gray^ and Robert
£arp, be a committee to procure a more suitable place, and re-
port to the Convention.

Resohed, That alt committees be appointed by the President.

Resolved, Hhnt a committee be appointed.' whose duty it shall
be to prepare and digest business fori the Convention^ and report
such subjects as in their opinion ought to occupy its attention.

Resolved; That said committee consist of seven.

Whereupon the following gentlemen were appointed.

Justin £dwards, of Massachusetts; Amos Twitchell, of N.
Hampshire j Charles Griswold, of Connecticut ; Edward C. Del-
avan, of New-York; Gerrit Smith, of New-York; Hugh Max-
well, of New York; S. K.-Talmadge, of Georgia.

ii^Ao/vedl, That ell motions be committed to writing, and sub
mitted to the Standing Committee, without discussion.

Resohed, That members of Congressional and State Legisla-
tive Temperance societies, be invited to sit as honorary members
€»f the Convention.

92 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETT. [318

Resolved, Thut the deliberations of this body be each day
opened with prayer.

The Standing Committee reported the following resolutions,
which, after amendment, were adopted.

Resolved, That the Convention meet each day during. its ses-
sion, at 9 o'clock, A. M., adjourn at 1 o'clock, P. M., and as-
semble again at half past 3, P. M.

The committee to provide a place for the meetings of the Con-
vention, reported that they had obtained the dth Presbyterian
church, in Arch, above Tenth -street, whereupon it was

Resolved, That when this Convention adjourn, it adjourn to
meet at this place, whence it shall move in procession, headed by
its officers, to the pl)9-ce designated by the committee.

On motion, adjourned.

^^iemoan.

The Convention organized at the appomted hour, and in pur-
suance of the resolution adopted at the former session, proceeded
to the 5th Presbyterian church.

The following resolutions, reported by the Standing Committee,
were then considered, and adopted.

Resolved, That no member of the Convention be allowed to
occupy more than ten minutes, in the remarks he may make be-
fore the Contention at any one time, and that he shall not -be al-
lowed to speak more than twice on any subject or question, with-
out in either case obtaining the unanimous consent of the Con-
vention.

Resolved, That notice be given in the churches and newspapers
iof Philadelphia, that a temperance meeting will be held in this
city next Monday evening, at half past 7 o'clock, for the general
attendance of the citizens and others.

The Standing Committee reported the following resolutions,
which were severally considered, and adopted.

I. Resolved, That in our judgment it is the duty of all men to
abstain from the use of ardent spirit, and from the traffic in it (^)

II. Resolved, That it is in our view expedient, that all who are
acquainted with this subject, unite with temperance societies. (^)

III. Resolved, That we regard with peculiar satisfaction, the
formation of the American Congressional Temperance Society,
and express our decided conviction that, should similar societies
lie formed by the Legislatures of each State, they would greatly
benefit our country and the world. (')

IV. Resolved, That the regulations adopted by the national
government, for disco uriEiging the use of ardent spirit in the army
and navy of the United States, evince the wisdom of the rulers
of the people, and their paternal care over the individuals em-
ployed in their service. (*)

y . Resolved, That the abolition of the . practice of furnishing
merchant vessels with ardent spirit, or employing men who drink
it to navigate them, would greatly promote the interests of the
country. (^)

319] SIXTH REPOBT.— 1833.— APPENDIX. 9S

VI. Resolved, That temperance societies in all mechanical and
manufacturing establishments, while they would promote the pe-
cuniary interests of all concerned in them, would also in various
ways, promote the good of the public. (^)

VII. Resolved, That the formation of a temperance society in
each ward of every city, and in each district of every county and
town in the United States, would tend powerfully to complete
and to perpetuate the temperance reformation. (^)

VIII. Resolved, That each State society be requested to take
the direction of the temperance cause within its own limits, and to
employ one or more permanent agents, to visit periodically every
part of the State, and to devote their whole time and strength to
the promotion of this work. (')

IX. Resolved, That each family in the United States be re-
quested to furnish themselves with some temperance publication. (')

X. Resolved, That the increase of temperance groceries, pub-
lic houses and steam boats, in which ardent spirit is not fur-
nished, is highly auspicious to the interests of our country; and
that the friends of human happiness, by encouraging such estab-
lishments in all suitable ways, till they shall become universal,
will perform an important service to mankind. (*®)

XI. Resolved, That it be earnestly recommended to all emi-
grants who contemplate removing in a body from foreign coun-
tries to the United States, and also, to those who contemplate
removing from one part of our own country to another, before
their removal, or on their passage, to form themselves into a
temperance society, ( * * )

On motion, adjourned.

May 25th, The Convention met at the stated hour, and was
opened with prayer by Dr. Hewitt of Connecticut.

Th^ minutes of the preceding day were read and approved.

On motion.

Resolved, That the secretaries have power to make such ver-
bal alterations in the minutes and resolutions, 'as will best ex-
press their meaning.

The consideration of the remaining resolutions reported by the
standing committee at the former session, was then resumed, and
the following were adopted.

XII. Resolved, That temperance societies and the friends of
temperance throughout the country, be requested to hold simul-
taneous meetings, on the last Tuesday in February, 1834, to
review what has been done during the past year; to consider
wM remains to be done, and to take such measures as may be
suitable, by the universal diffusion of information, and by kind
moral influence, to extend and perpetuate, the principles and the
blessings of temperance over our land. (**)

XIII. Resolved, That a correspondence be opened with na-
tional temperance societies and friends of temperance in other
countries, for the purpose of procuring, as far as practicable,

94 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETY. ^329

meetings at the saone time, for the same purpose, throughout the
world.(»)

XIV. Resolved, That it he recommended to temperance soci-
eties and friends of temperance of 6Tery description, to obtain as
full and accurate statistics as possible, and embody them for the
benefit of the community, in the amnual reports, and communicate
them at the simultaneous meetings V especially on the following
points, viz.

What is the population ?

What number belong to temperante societies?

How many have been added to them the past year?

How many have renounced the traffic ?

How many groceries and how many taverns In which afdent
spirit isnbt i^old?

How many continue to sell, and what <}Uantity is now used?

How inany drunkards have been reformed ?

How many are now drunkards?

How many distilleries have been stopped, and how many are
novi^ in operation?

How many deaths is there reason to believe were caused by
intemperance ?

What proportion of pauperism and of crime, are occaibioned by
strong drink?

How inany criminals were convicted -the past year, who'driiik
no ardent spirit, and how many who do drink it? (*'*)

XV. Resahedi That as the sole object of the American
Temperance Society, and those numerous 'State and^ other tem*
perance societies, which have been formed" in accordaiiee with it
throughout" odr coilntry,— ^e^ver has bee^, is now, and £vbr
OUGHT to be, the promotion of temperance, to this object ai^onb
all their efibrts ought to be invariably and perseveringly direct-
ed. (")

XVI. R&fohed," *That as the question has arisen among the
friends of temperance and agricultural improvement, what shall
be done with surplus grains, provided they are not converted in-
to ardent spirit, tllefHends ofhiiman improvements are requested
to investigate this subject, and to present the results to the pub-
lic through the medium of the press. (")

XVII. Resolved, That the prompt and xinited testimony of
many ph3rt$icians, to the^huitful nature and destructive tendency
of ardent spirit, has been a powerful auxiliary to tHe temperance
cause; and should that respectable and influential class of our
citizens all exert their influence to induce tlie whole community
to abstain from the use of it, they would render themselves still
more eminently useful. (")

XVIII. Resolved, That the medical profession be requested to
inquire whether substitutes for alcohol may not be found, and its
use be dispensed with in medical practice^ and to give the results
of their investigation to the public. (")

121] SIXTH REPORT. 1833. APPENDIX. ' 95

XIX. Resolvedy That editors of papers and other periodicals,
who from time to time publish information on the subject of tem-
perance, are rendering important service to the cause; and should
ull editors adopt and pursue a similar course, they will render
themselves the benefactors of mankind. (^')

XX. Resolved, That the associations of young men have been
powerful auxiliaries to the temperance cause, and should ail
the young men in the United States, and especially in the literary
institutions, unite in temperance societies, they would render
themselves benefactors to our country and the world. {^)

XXI. Resolved, That the influence of the female sex, in favor
of the temperance cause, has had a highly salutary effect upon
all classes in the community, and especially upon those who are
the hope of future generations, the children and youth; and that
should the influence to which they are so justly entitled, be
unitedly and universally exerted in favor of this " cause, they
would do much to perfect and to perpetuate the moral renovation
of the whole human family. {**)

XXII. Resolved, That it is expedient that the friends of tem-
perance in all countries, unite their counsels and their efforts, to
extend the principles of temperance throughout the world. (")

XXIII. Resolved, That the fundamental and highly salutary
inflaence, which the promotion of the cause of temperance must
have on the purity and permanence of civil institutions, demands
for it the countenance and active co-operation of every real pa-
triot. («')

XXI V. Resolved, That the influence of temperance on the
intellectual elevation, the moral character, the social happiness,
and the future prospects of mankind, is such as ought to obtain
for it the cordial approbation, and the united, vigorous and perse-
vering eflbrts of all the philanthropic and humane of every class,
age, sex, and country. (**)

On motion, adjourned to Monday 27th.

May Qlih, At the stated hour the Convention met, and was
opened with prayer by Christian Keener, of Maryland.

The minutes of the preceding day were read and approved.

Nicholas Devereaux, of New- York, was appointed a member
of the Standing Committee, in the room of Hugh Maxwell, who
had left the city.

The Standing Committee reported that the meeting this evening
will be addressed by

G. S. Hillard of Massachusetts, Thos. P. Hunt of North
Carolina, Thos. H. Stockton of Maryland, Joseph Lumpkin of
Georgia, and Nathaniel Hewitt of Connecticut.

The following resolution, reported by the Committee, was
adopted.

Whereas, It has been announced that Henry T. Newman, a del-
egate to this body from the British and Foreign Temperance So-

96 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETT. [332

piety, has arrived ' in this country, and expected to be at this
meeting, but is providentially prevented, therefore,

XXV. Resolved, That we cordially reciprocate the fraternal
kindness manifested by the Brittsli and Foreign Temperance So-
ciety, in the appointment of the above mentioned delegate, and
express our earnest desire and hope, that the mutual confidence
now subsisting between temperance societies in this and other
countries, may be perpetuated and increased, till intemperance
and its evils shall have ceased, and temperance, with all its at-
tendant blessings, shall universally prevail. (^)

The President then informed the Convention that Stephen
Van Rensselaer, of the State of New- York, had offered to defray
the expense of publishing 100,000 copies of the proceedings of the
Convention, for gratuitous distribution; whereupon it wasunani'
mously

Resolved, Thtft the thanks of this Convention be presented to
Stephen Van Rensselaer, of the city of Albany, for his liberality
in proposing to defray the expense of distributing 100,000 copies
of the proceedings' of this Convention.

Resolved, That the President and Vice-Presidents be a Com-
mittee to communicate to Stephen Van Rensselaer the foregoing
resolution.

The Standing Committee then reported the following resolutioDy
which was adopted.

XXVI. Resolved, That the formation within six years, of more
than 6,000 temperance societies, embracing more than a'million
of members; the relinquishment of the manufacture of ardent
spirit, by more than 2,000 distilleries, and of the sale of it by
more than 5,000 merchants; the banishment of the poison from
the United States army, and (pa great extent from the navy;
the sailing of more than 700 vessels, in which ardent :spirit is not
used; the hitherto unparalleled exhibition of more than 5,000
drunkards, within five years, ceasing to use intoxicating drinks,
and becoming, as all drunkards if they take this course will, so-
ber men, and many of^ them highly respectable and useful men;
and the uniform and universal progress of ihe temperance refor-
mation, whenever and wherever suitable means have been used
for its advancement, are, it is believed, facts which call loudly for
fervent gratitude to the Author of all good, and for united and
persevering efibrts on the part of its friends, to extend univer-
sally and perpetuate the temperance cause.

A resolution, reported by the Standing Committee, on the sub-
ject of a general union, which was laid on the. table at a former
session, was now taken up; and on motion.

Resolved, That it be referred to a committee, consisting of one
member from each State represented in this body. — Whereupon
the following were appointed that committee, with instructions
to report to this Convention.

Joseph C. Lovejoy, Maine; E. P. Walton, Vermont; Eli

323] SIXTH REPOBT. 1833.— APPENDIX. 97

Ives, Conneotieut; Johh< Wheelwright, New- York; Isaac S.
Loyd, Pennsylvania; Christian Keener, Maryland; Ephraim
Addoms, yirginia; Isaac W. Waddell,S. Carolina; R. H. Ball,
Kentucky; Robert H. Chapman, Tennessee; N. M. Welles,
Indiana; E. C. Trowbridge, Michigan; Andrew Rankin, New-
Hampshire ; Mark Doolittle, Massachusetts ; Frederick A. Far-
ley, Rhode Island; John McLean, New- Jersey; Thomas
J. Higgin's, 'Delaware; Wm. R. Collier, .'District- Columbia;
Thomas Pi 'Hunt, North Carolina; S. K. Talmadge, Georgia;
J. Seward, Ohio; Peter Donan, Missouri; Enoch Kinsbury, Il-
linois; Wm. T. Brantley, Alabama.

The Standing Committee reported a resolution which was- under
discussion . to the hour of adjournment, when, on motion, the
Convention adjourned.

Afternoon.

The Convention met at the stated hour, a^> again took up the
resolution which was before it at the former session, which was
adopted as follows:

XXVII. Resolved^ That in the opinion of this Cony.ention, the
traffic iu ardent spirit as a drink, and- the use of it as such, are
morally wrong, and ought to be abandoned throughout the
werldw ('^)

The committee to whom w%lb referred the resoluticm on the
subject of a general union, reported that they had unanimously
agreed to recommend the adoption of the resolution as reported
by the Standing Committee, W'hich was under consideration, when
on motion the Convention adjourned to meet at the Hall- of the
Musical Fund Society, this evening at a quarter before 8 o'clock,
in order to lay before the public, who have been invited to as-
semble there,- some -history of the progress of the temperance
cause.

Evening,

The Convention assembled at the time and .place appointed,
when

G. S. Hillard of Massachusetts, Th6's. P. Hunt of North Car-
olina, Tho's. H. Stockton of M^Lryland, and -^Nathaniel Hewitt
of Connect icut, presented to a very large and attentive audience
that had assembled, a brief but impressive history of the tempe-
rance cause, together with an exposition bf the^ principles upon
which it is established.

After an appeal to the large and interesting circle of ladies
who were present,' by Retiben H. Walwotth, President of the
Convention, setting forth the power and extent of < female influ-
ence, the meeting proceeded to business.

The Standing^CommitMfe reported -that they had no farther mat-
ter to lay before the Convention ; whereupon it was

Resolveij That the committee be now discharged. •

Resolved, That the thanks of the Convention be presented te
9 24

98 AMEBICAN TEMPERANCG SOCIETT^ [324

the Standing Committee for the faithful and prompt discharge of
the duties intrusted to them by the Convention.

Resolved, That the thanks of the Convention be presented to its
President, Reuben H. Walworth, for the dignified, impartial
and very acceptable manner, in which he has presided over its
deliberations. * '

The President then expressed his grateful sense of this ac-
knowledgment on the part of the Convention, and his satisfac-
tion in having presided over its deliberations, when he withdrew.

Roberts Vaux of Pennsylvania, one of the Vice-Presidents,
then took the chair.

The resolution reported by the Standing Committee, and ap-
proved by the Committee from each state, was then taken up, and
afler amendment, was adopted as follows:

XXVIII. Resolved, That the Officers of the American Tem-
perance Society, and of the several State societies, are hereby
requested to act as a United States Temperance Society; to
hold mutual consultations and to take all suitable measures to
carry into effect the objects of this Convention; to embody pub-
lic sentiment, and by the universal diffusion of information and
the exertion of kind moral influence, to extend the principles
and blessings of the temperance reformation throughout our
country and throughout the world.

On motion.

Resolved, That the vital interests and complete success of the
temperance cause demand that in all the efforts of the friends of
that cause against the use of ardent spirit, no substitute except
pure water be recommeTided as a drink.

On motion,

Resolved, That the thanks of this Convention be presented to
the Select and Common Council of the city of Philadelphia, for
their kindness and liberality in granting to it the use of the Hall
of Independence.

On motion.

Resolved, That the thanks of the Convention be presented to
the trustees and congregation of the 5th Presbyterian Church,
for the use of their house during the sitting of the Convention.

On motion,

Resolved, That the thanks of the Convention' be presented to
the Vice-Presidents and Secretaries for the faithful dischaige of
I'heir duties.

Having disposed of the various subjects that had been pre-
sented with great harmony and unanimity of feeling, with an
earnest desire for the guidance of God, and a confident reliance
en Him to bless their efforts in the advancement of the cause, to
strengthen and animate them to renewed and persevering exer-
tion, until the principles of temperance shall prevail in every land,
and its attendant blessings be enjoyed by all the nations of the
earthy the Convention adjourned atne die^.

325] SIXTH rU^ort.-^1833. — APPiRsmx. /99

Reasons for complying vdWi the Resolniions offered by the Committee

and adopted hy the Convention,

(^) 1. Temperance requires it. As temperance is the moderate
and proper use of things beneficial, and is abstinence from things
hurtful, and ardent spirit is one of the hurtful things, temperance
with regard to this, is abstinence,

2. The drinking of ardent spirit will form intemperate appe-
tites; and if intemperate appetites are formed, they will, in manj
cases, be gratified. Of course, while the drinking of ardent spirk
is continued, intemperance can never be prevented.

3. By the selling of ardent spirit, men teach that it is right te
buy and drink it ; a doctrine which is false, and to many is fataL

4. All men would be better without the use of ardent spirit ; of
course to drink it, or to furnish it to be drunk by others, is sin.

(^) 1. Because without it men will not receive so much ben^
fit from their example.

2. Temperance Societies have been one of the principal means
of promoting the Temperance Reformation.

3. Should all persons join them, and act consistently, intem-
perance to a great extent would cease.

(^) 1. The example of legislators has great influence in tiie
community.

2. It would have a highly salutary influence on legislation.

3. It would tend to promote the purity of elections, and thus !•
extend and perpetuate the blessings of free institutions.

(*) 1. They would tend to promote the health and comfort of
the men.

2. To promote obedience to orders, and thus to lessen tlM
number and severity of punishments.

3. To prevent an enormous waste of human life.

(') 1. It would promote the health and comfort of seamen.

2. It would promote the pecuniary interest of all concerned.

3. It would prevent many ship-wrecks, and the loss of many
lives.

(^) 1. It would promote the intellectual elevation, the moral
improvement, and the social happiness of the workmen.

2. It would improve the quality of their work.

3. When they go from one establishment to another, a certifi-
cate of their being worthy members of a Temperance Society
would be a ready passport to biisiness and an important safeguard
to employers.

(^) 1. It would tend to bring the subject before the whole
community.

2. It would greatly increase the number and activity of ita
friends.

3. It would reform many who are now drunkards.

(*) 1. It is the most ready way to awaken universal atten-
tion; and to secure ever-growing interest and effort in the cause,
2. It is highly economical as to men and money.

100 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETY; [326

3. It is essential to that thorough and systematic effort which
tends to the most complete and speedy triumph of this cause.

(^) 1. Information is essential to wise, efticient and permanent
action.

2. It would increase especially among the young, a spirit of
reading.

3. It would, to a great extent, give to each part of the country
the benefit of the experience of all other parts, and thus render
the efforts of all more eminently useful.

(*^) 1 . It would lessen the danger of youth and remove one of
the most powerful incentives to intemperance.

2. It would prevent a great amount of pauperism and crime.

3. It would greatly promote the temperance, safety, and com-
fort of travellers.

(^^) 1. It will lessen the dangers of their journey.

2. It will lessen their exposure from a change of climate, and
from their settlement among strangers.

3. It will render them a greater blessing to the people among
whom they may dwell.

(*^) 1. It will awaken new interest and lead to a great in-
crease of effort.

2. It will be a convenient time for annual meetings, and will
lead a much greater number of people to attend them.

3. It will lead to a more general development of facts; and
spread more extensively the knowledge of them.

(^^) 1. It is an object of common and universal concern;
in which the friends of humanity of every sect, denomination
and country may unite.

2. It will tend to increase their information, their efforts and
their success.

3. It will tend to unite good men of all countries in all good
things.

(f^) 1. It will awaken more general attention, and develope
much valuable information.

2. It will greatly increase the interest and the usefulness of
the simultaneous meetings.

3. It will lead to a more thorough investigation, and to a moro
universal extension of a knowledge of facts.

(^^) 1. It will unite a greater numiber, and lead, to more
general efforts for the promotion of the cause.

2. It will render their efforts^ more efficient, and more suc-
cessful.

3. Without perseverance, the , work cannot be completed, or
the benefits obtained be permanently secured.

('^) 1. It will show that the distillation of grain is a violation
of the true principles of political economy ; and a great loss to
the pecuniary interests of the country.

2. It will show, that it is a loss to the grain-growers them-
selves; and tends to the injury and ruin of their children.

327] SIXTH REPORT.-^1833. — APPENDIX. 101

3. That to encourage distillation is to be accessory to enor-
mous injustice toward the community.

(^^) 1. From the nature of their profession, their opinions
on this subject must have great weight with the community.

2. They enjoy peculinr facilities for acquiring inforniation on
this subject, and circulating the truth.

3. Their example will have a powerful influence on gentlemen
in the other professions, and in all the higher walks of life.

(^^) 1. The prescription of ardent spirit as a mcdicin<B,
has often been the means of forming intemperate, appetites, and
of leading to drunkenness and ruin.

2. Many eminent physicians now entirely dispense with it, in
medical practice, and in their view not'only without detriment, but
to peculiar advantage.

3. Could it consistently be dispensed with in medical practice
universally, a powerful cause of intemperance would be removed.

{^^) 1. The press is one of the chief instruments of com-
municating information, and forming public sentiment.

2. tt can speak to multitudes that can be addressed in no other
way. -

3. By the promotion of temperance, it will aid essentially all
patriotic, humane, aftd benevolent eflTorts.

(*") 1 . To no class is the Temperance Reformation of more
importance than to young men.

^. No class have greater means, or more ability to promote it.

3. The character of young men will soon form the character of
the country.

(^^) 1. It will save multitudes of their own sex from unut-
terable wretchedness, and from a premature grave.

2. It will save vast multitudes of children from becoming
doubly orphans.

3. It will exert an all pervading and highly salutary influence
on youth, and on all classes in the community.

(**) 1. It will increase their interest in the cause, and of
course will increase their efforts.

2. It will tend to remove prejudices not only on this, but 6n
other subjects, and to promote mutual goodwill among men.

3. It will render the efforts of all to do good more eminently
and extensively useful.

(**) 1 . It tends to prevent that luxury and vice which are the
bane of civil institutions.

2. It tends to promote industry, economy, and obedience to the
laws.

3. It tends to promote universal intelligence and virtue.

{**) 1. Without temperance, all efforts to do good must in a
great measure fail.

2. With union and perseverance the cause will be triumphant.

3. It will tend to hasten the time when all shall know and

obey the Lord.

^ 9 ♦ 24*

IQSt AMEBICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETY. [328

C*) 1. His blessing has been the cause of all past success,

2. On account of the intimate and fundamental connection be-
tween this cause, -and all the great interests of men.

3. Without an ; acknowledgment of the divine favor, and
vnited and persevering efforts, we cannot expect a continuance
•f the divine blessing; or have any rational . prospect of future
success.

{") 1. It inculcates falsehood.
3. It perpetuates intemperance.

3. It promotes pauperism and crime.

4. It diminishes the wealth of the nation. . .

5. It increases the public burdens.

6. It impairs the health of the people.;

7. It deteriorates their intellect.

8. It corrupts the public morals.

9. It shortens many lives.

10. It ruins many souls. — Of course it:i& a business which is
unjust toward men, and offensive to God.

Extracts of a letter from a distinguished gentleman in the City
of Washington, dated July 24„ 1833.

''The Convention has evidently done goed. It has given a
fresh impetus to the cause. At no period have the great princi-
ples of temperance moved forward with such string- and steady
steps as for the last six months; and this is truoj not metely of
this or that town, or city, or section, but of our whole country.
I perceive, wherever I go, and with whatever company I am
called to associate, that the fashion oC^ drinking is rapidly de-
clining; and that the traffic in ardent spirit, is becoming a crime.
Vothing is wanting but a bold^ manly and steady perseverance
cf the friends of temperance, to eradicate, utterly eradicate the
naanufacture, sale and use of ardent spirit' from our. land. The
united testimony of the heads of the different <departments of the
Government, the members of Congress, the mail contractors,
and various other persons who resort to Washington from differ-
ent parts of the United -States, to traj;isact business^ all concur
in sustaining this declaration."

Especially may we hope that this wilKbe the case, should the
resolutions of the Convention be complied with throughout the
country. ■- The Commit^e^ would therefore earnestly recommend
them, and the reasons annexed to them, to the attjsoition of their fel-
k>w citizens throughout the commuAMy.^ I^ejt every man do his duty,
especially the young men of our country, and the Temperance
Reformation will be triunoiphant, its blessings extend to. all peo-
ple, and be perpetuated tp. all ages.

329] SIXTH REPORT. 1833, APPENDIX. 10^

D. (P. 33.)

ConatUution, ^c. of the ^mericatn Cangrension^l Temperance

Society.
As the use of Ardent Spirit is not only unnecessary^ but inju-
rious, as it tends to pauperism, crime, and wretchedness ; to
hinder the efficacy of all means for the ititollectual and moral
benefit of society, and also to endanger the purity and perma-
nence of our free institutions; and as one of the best means for
counteracting its deleterious effects, is the influence of United Ex'
ample, Therefore, we, members of Congress, and others, rtcogniz'
ing the princMe of abstinence from the use of Ardent Spirit, and
from the traffic in it, as the basts of our Union, do hereby agree to
form ourselves into a society, and for this purpose adopt the fol-
lowing Constitution, viz:

Article 1. This Society shall b^ called The American Congres^
9\onal Temperance Society,

Article 2. The object of this Society shall b^, by example, and
by kind" moral influence, ^td jdiscountenance the use of Ardent
Spirit, and the traffic in it, throughout the community.

Article 3. Members . of Coihgress, and all who have been mem-
bers of Congress, office^s^pf the United States Government, civil
and military, and breads of departments, who practically adopt
the great principle oftl^is Society, may, by signing the Constitu-
tion, becomq jnembers;^ and any former member of Qongress, or
other pers(OQ entitled tp membership, may be admitted, on ad-
dressing to the Secr<e?tary of this Society a letter, expressive of
his desire tp be cpitf idered a member.

Article 4. The offi,c^s of the Soiciety shall be a President,
Vice Presidents, Secretary, Treasurer an4 Auditor; who shall
be chosen annually, and who shall perform the duties usually
^signed to such officers; and who shall contii^ue in office until
others are electe^

Article 5. The, Society shall annually appoint five persons,
who, together wiih the officers of the Society, shall constitute an
executive committee; three of whom sha.ll form a quorum, and
i^ho shall from tijine to time take such measures, as shall be
adapted to render.^ ^his, Society most, extensively useful to the
country. ....

Article 6. There, shall be an annual meeting at sji^Qh time du-
ring the session qf Congress, as the committee may appoint;
aod the presi<)jent, and in his absence one of the vice presidents,
at the request of the committee, may at any time call a special
meeting of thp Society.

Article 7. The constitution may be altered by a recommenda-
tion of the executive committee, and a vote of two thirds of the
members present at any annual meeting.

104 AMERICAN TEMPEtlANCE SOCIETY. [336

Afler the adoption of the Constitution, the officers of the Soci-
ety were chosen, as follows:

President, Hon. Lewis Cass, Secretary of War.

Vice Presidents, Hon. Samuel Bell, New Hampshire; Hon.
Gideon Tomlinson, Connecticut; Hon. John Reed, Massachu-
«etts; Hon. Lewis Condict, New Jersey; Hon. William Wilkins,
Pennsylvania; Hon. Thomas Ewing, Ohio; Hon. Felix Grundy,
Tennessee; Hon. John Tipton, Indiana; Hon. Daniel Wardwell,
Jfew York; Hon. James M. Wayne, Georgia.

Secretary, Hon. Walter Lowrie, Secretary of U. S. Senate.

Treasurer, Hon. E. Whittlesey, Ohio.

Auditor, Hon. W. W. Elsworth, Connecticut.

Executive Qymmittee, Hon, Theo. Frelinghuysen, New Jersey;
Hon. Arnold Naudian, Delaware; Hon. John Blair, Tennessee;
Hon. George N. Briggs, Massachusetts; Hon. Elutheros Cook,
Ohio.

E. (P. 60.)

Reduction of Taxes.

The population of , N.H. at the last census was less than

1200. Three rum stores and ttoo rum taverns in town, together with
the more private traffic of individuals, were loading the conununity
with an annual tax of nine thousand dollars, to pay for intoxicating
liquors, besides the incalculable evils of drinking the poison.
Their temperance reform commenced about 1827. First annual
Report of their society exhibited a diminution of this tax to the
amount of $6,000 ; the second reduced it $2,600, leaving only
^500 as the expense of spirits sold in the town.

At this time, they have three stores and one tavern, free from
fhis i^trong drink, and not a licensed house in town. It is estimated,
that the cost of ardent spirits, as at present used by the town,
does not exceed the rate of $100 by the year. It is believed
Ihat nine-tenths of the population drink no ardent spirits.

The Congregational Church, now consisting of 200 members,
las more than doubled since this reform commenced. Now they
actually pay for preaching at home, double in cash, to what they
paid mostly in produce before. Ten years ago, their benevolent
eontributioos for a year were less than twelve dollars. They pay
the present year, more than one thousand dollars in cash for
various benevolent objects, besides large subscriptions raised for
payment hereafter. The Church are unanimously pledged against
every form of using ardent spirits as drink, and none so using
il are ever to be admitted.

The Methodist Church in town, consisting of nearly 100 raen>-
bers, are said to be practising on the same plan.

331] SIXTH REPORT. 1833. APPENDIX. 105

P. (P. 60.)

Extract of a letter from a merchant in Alabama, showing the
benefits to merchants, and others, from the abandoning of the use
and sale of ardent spirits.

"About twelve years ago, I connected myself in business with
a country merchant residing in the middle part of South Alabama,
and soon after settled my family at the same place. We kept a
general assortment of goods ; our customers were generally of
the class called ** first settlers," or ** pioneers," enterprising
men, with young but numerous families, who, being poor, and
seeing but little prospect of bettering their fortunes in the land of
their nativity, had the courage to attempt their improvement by
removing to, and settling in, a new country. These people were
industrious and liberal, but sadly addicted to the use of spirituous
liquors. They were kind to each other and to strangers. If a
stranger asked for a glass of water, it was their custom to ofier
whiskey with it ; and the head of a family, although unable to
pay for the land he occupied, would apologise with seeming mor-
tification, if he was unable to ofier his visiting neighbor a glass
of grog.

it is the business of a country merchant to supply the wants of
his customers ; and to graduate his purchases to their wants,
requires some experience, and much observation, upon which
depends, in some degree, the success of his business.

In 1824, we had been four years in business, and it required
about that period, 100 barrels of whiskey, with a large quantity
of American and English rum, and American and French brandies,
for one year's demand.

In 1825," nearly the same,

1826, 75 barrels whiskey, &c.

1827, 40 **

1828, 25 '' "

1829, 10 " '' and 2 pipes brandy.

1830, 5 '• *' 2 '* **

1831, 5 *' *' 1 «c cc

And there is another fact, as remarkable as the decrease of the
consumption of spirituous liquors in that neighborhood, as shown
in our purchase and sales above. The increase of the consump-
tion of other things, as shown by our sales of the articles, was nearly
as rapid. But the most interesting fact of all is the extraordinary
change in the circumstances of this same population. From the
period of giving up the use of spirituous liquors, these people began
to save something from the proceedi? of the little crops ; and partly
with these savings, and partly from aid given by a gentleman of
some monied capital who resided near, they have purchased the
land they previously settled upon, and are now generally indepen-
dent planters, making from five to fiily bales of cotton each family,

106 AMEBICAN TElfPERANCE SO€IETT. [332

besides an abundance of bread stuffs, and almost every variety of
vegetables, by means of which, with their ample stocks of cattle,
hogs, sheep, and poultry, they are enabled to live in great com-
fort. Now, instead of offering the stranger whiskey, and the hos-
pitality of their miserable cabins, they receive him in their com-
fortable houses, and in place of the shelf formerly to be seen in
their cabins decorated with jugs and black bottles, he finds shelves,
or book cases stored with books ; instead of ragged children, fine
rosy cheeked girls and boys, neatly dressed, and ready to converse
with him upon the subject of schools, agriculture, the cotton
market, &c.

Speaking of rosy cheeks, reminds me of another fact. — We
kept medicines, with our other wares, and our sales in that de-
partment, for the last six years, decreased every year. [JV. F.
tSmerican.]

uiS.

G. (P. 53.)

Extracts from a letter of the Rev. Mr. Spaulding, dated
Lahaina, Island of Maui, (one of the Sandwich Islands) October,
1832.

This Island has 35,000 souls, and is without a temperance
society 1 This fact may not be generally known in America,
but is really so. There is no temperance society on Maui ; but if
any man is detected in buying, selling, or manufacturing ardent
spirits, he is forthwith put into the^/brf, sentenced to make public
road, or otherwise fined according to law. About four years ago,
a tahu was proclaimed by the Governor of this Island upon the
use of ardent spirits. Soon after, a native who had a barrel of
rum in his possession, acting as agent for a man on Hawii, ven-
tured to sell one bottle, and was fined $150, to be paid in sandal
wood, and he immediately collected it. Another native under-
took to sell a bottle, and was fined $75. A third man, a foreigner,
was detected in selling it to ships, and was banished to another
island, during the season of shipping. About one year since, a
foreign resident in Lahaina was suspected of selling ardent spirits
to the sailors. His house and premises were immediately
searched without finding it. Some time after, it was ascertained
that he had one keg concealed in a hogshead of coal, in his
blacksmith's shop. The same individual has been since suspect-
ed; but if he sells it at all, it is with closed doors, and probably
under promises of secrecy. A short time since, a schooner
engaged in merchant service, arrived from Honolulu with rum
on board. A native ventured to purchase a little to sell again to
the seamen. Soon its exhilarating effects were discovered by
the quarrelling of some sailors, and in less than twenty-four hours
from the arrival of the schooner, the native was in hia proper
place, i. e. in the fort. About the same time, a foreigner, about

333] SIXTH REPORT. 1833. APPENDIX. 107

to establish himself at Lahaina, was detected with four bottles of
rum, and for certain reasons, I do not know that he told what^ he
went immediately on board a whale ship, and left the place. It is
Mr. Richards' opinion that not one gallon has been drunk by all
the inhabitants of this Island the past year. We have no evi-
dence that ardent spirits are now sold at this place, consequently
all is comparatively quiet; and more than this, we have some evi-
dence that the spirit of the Lord is with us. — We are much
encouraged, and the more encouraged from the fact that we have no
ardent spirits to contend toUh.

H. (P. 65.)

[Facts showing the evils resulting from the use of Intoxicating
Uquors, reported to the CatskUl Temperance Socteiy, Feb, 26,
1833.]

In the village of Catskill, N. Y. whose population cannot at this
time vary much from twenty-two hundred, the efforts for the
suppression of intemperance have produced the most happy re-
sults. Eight merchants, who were formerly engaged, and many
of them extensively so, in the traffic in ardent spirits^, have from
principle abandoned the trjaffic. A large proportion of the best
families in the village have discontinued the use of ardent spirit
as a drink altogether. More than seven hundred individuals,
that is, about one third of all the inhabitants, have adopted the
pledge of total abstinence, and joined the temperance society.
The sentiment is rapidly gaining ground, that it is the duty of all
entirely to abstain from the use of an article, which has done
more than any thing else to overspread the civilized world with
crime and lamentation and wo.

But notwithstanding this, the use of intoxicating liquors, and
all the fearful evils connected with it, still exist to an alarming
extent. In the month of December last an investigation was made
in relation to this subject, by a number of gentlemen who are well
acquainted with the village, and distinguished for intelligence and
integrity. As the result of their investigation, it appears that
there were at that time in the village thirty-eight persons en-
gaged in selling intoxicating liquors as a drink — that is one
dealer in every fifty-eight of the inhabitants, and nearly one in
every thirty-nine of those who aire not members of this society.
In some of the places where intoxicating liquors are sold, there
are perfect schools of vice. Impious sneers and oaths and blas^
phemies are continually to be heard there. The friends of good
order are made a hissing and a byword. The laws of morality
and even the rules of decency are treated with contempt. The
holy sabbath is trampled undier foot, audits sacred hours are de-
voted to unusual dissipation and wickedness. The intoxicating
bowl is made an introduction to other vices, that are sweeping

108 AMsmcAN Temperance 9ocicTY» [334

•
away every vestige of good principle, and cutting off every pros-
pect of a reformation.

There were at that time in the village one hundred and thirty
habitual drunkards — that is, one in every seventeen of the whole
population, and one in every eleven of tho$e who are not mem-
bers of this society. Many of these . are heads of families who
might have beenjin easy and honorable circumstances. But
their habits have placed them in circumstances of an opposite
character. In many instances their children are suffering with
cold and hunger, their wives are sinking in despair.

There are three hundred more in the village who are publicly
known to be drinkers of ardent spirits. Of this number many
are occasional drunkards, many more free drinkers, and the res-
idue such as in the language of former times would have been
called temperate drinkers. A portion of this three hundred are
young men, who but for intoxicating drinks would be young men
of high hopes and fair prospects. But their friends are beginning
to tremble for their safety, and unless their habits can be changed,
and that speedily, their ruin is certain.

In all tlien tliere are in the village besides those who drink
privately, four hundred and thirty who are either drunkards or
advancing to that condition — ^that is, two in every seven, of those
who are not members of this society.

If the wliole county of Greene Contains the same proportion ot
drunkards as the village of Catskill, there are in the county sev-
enteen hundred habitual drunkards, and four thousand more who
are travellihg in the way whicii leads to habitual drunkenness.

The amount paid by the consumers of intoxicating liquors to
the venders ih the village of Catskill, supposing ieach vender to
receive or* an average only one dollar and a half per day, which
is probably below the truth, would be 20,80S dollars annually. If
the county pay in the same proportion for its whole population as
the village of Catskill, the amount annually expended by the con-
sumers of intoxicating liquors in the county, would be 283,704
dollars. This sum would furnish 700 families with more than
^400 apiece for their support.

If we add to this sum the value of time spent in drinking and
drunkenness, and in indolence and ill health resulting from
drunkenness, together with losses from mismanagement and
otherwise, resulting fVom the same cause, the anniount tirould pro-
bably be more than doubled. But in estimatinjg the losses which
individuals sustain in consequence of intoxicating liq^uors, we
should not forget the peace of miifd, and character and influence
which they sacrifice. We should not lose sight of thb sufferings
and agonies of their families and friends. There is still another
light in which it is important to count the cost of strong drink.
TheSovereign of the Universe has declared that drunkards shall
not inherit the kingdom of Heaven. Who then can estimate the
losses sustained by those that have been slain by intemperance?

335] SIXTH REPORT. — 1833. — APPENDIX. 109

Who can calculate the risks incurred by those that are now rush-
ing on to the drunkard's grave ?

But great as are the evils already exhiBiled, the influence of
intoxicating liquors in the production of crime and pauperism and
public taxes, is no less alarming. The following facts in relation
to this point are not stated on conjecture or vague report. In
support of them the Committee have, in their possession j direct
testimony derived from the most authentic sources, which they
could produce ifnecessary. Where the testimony is not fuU, the
nature of it is stated.

During a period of seven years, terminating last December,
nearly three hundred individuals were at different times, confined
in the Jail of Greene County for crimes. All of this number, Ex-
cept three, were intemperate, whether those three were so or not,
is doubtful. During the same period about sixty individuals were
imprisoned in the same jail for debt, who were unable to pro-
cure bail for the limits. AH of this number, without exception^
were intemperate. ~ If then there had been no intoxicating li-
quors in use, the county might have been free from the burden
of supporting its jail.

Of those who have received aid at the Greene County Poor-
house during the last three years, about one fifth are children
under the age of sixteen years. Of the adults, about three eights
are males, and the remaining five eights females. At least seven
eights of the children are made paupers by the intemperance of
their parents, and as great a proportion of the adult males are
made so by their own intemperance; about three fifths of the
adult females are' intemperate, and one fifth are hiade paupers by
the intemperance of those on whom they were dependent, so that
not more than one fifth even of the females were made paupers
by any other cause than intemperance.

The number that have received aid from the county, either at
the Poor-house or oiit of it in the several towns during each of the
last three years, has varied between 300 and 400 annually. At
least seven eights of the whole number were made paupers by in-
temperance.

But for intoxicating liquors, therefore, any public provisibn^ for
the support of the poor in this coiinty would scarcely have been
necessary. It is believed that the supplies now furnished for
drunkard^ and their families by private charity, would be far more
than sufficient for the wants of all those who are not ihade pau-
pers by intemperance. These supplies too would have been
cheerfully furnished in every case of need, if intemperance had
not frozen up the charities of the benevolent.

The jail expenses for criminals, including the repairs of the
jail, have cost the county annually for the last seven jears. the
average sum of 850 dollars, making for the seven years $o960:
All of this, according to the statement above, except per paps «
trifling item which is doubtful, is chargeable to intoxicating li-
qwors.

10 ^^

110 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETY. [336

To this should be added the charg^es of magistrates and other
officers, for arresting and examining criminals, together with all
the charges attending their trial. These charges cannot all be
determined with perfect accuracy. A number of gentlemen
made an investigation in relation to them for one year. A num-
ber of the largest items they ascertained precisely, and had some
facilities for forming an estimate of nearly all the rest. As the
result of their investigation, they were convinced that the amount
for that year could not have been leSs than 1500 dollars. It may
have been more. In this estimate nothing was allowed for the
time and expenses of jurors and witnesses attending on criminal
trials, nor for any other services not paid for out of the county
treasury.

The expenses of the county for the support of the poor during
each of the last three years haye been as follows —

I„ 1830 I ^' -^-<» ;;; \t seTe^lTownJ'S \ ^'^'^^

$16695,80

The gentleman who furnished this statement had not the bills
of expenditures in the several towns, in 183S, before him at the
time the statement was made. But being extensively acquainted
with the subject, he believed they must amount to the sum stated,
viz. $1900.

The whole expense of the poor then for the last three years is
16,695 dollars. The Committee have already given their reasons
for believins that no part of this expense would have been in-
curred by the county, had there been no intemperance. But
without relying on probabilities, it has been proved, that at least
seven eights of this, that is 14,608 dollars, is directly chargeable
to intoxicating liquors. Seven eights of the charge for the poor in
1832, is 5,796 dollars.

According to the facts and estimates already exhibited, intoxi-
cating liquors imposed upon the county in 1832, a tax for
The average amount of Jail expenses . . $850
Other expenses for intemperate criminals 1500

Seven eights of the expenses for the poor 5796

Additional expenses to Collectors, Treasurer, &c.
for raising the above sums .... 488

Whole amount $8,634.

The whole amount raised by tax for defraying all the county
imd town expenses for 1832, including between $1000 and $2000
extraordinary, occasioned by the cholera, is only $16,205,66.
Intoxicating liquors therefore were the immediate cause of more
than one half of the burden imposed upon evc^ry man who paid
taxes in the county for last year.

337] SIXTH REPORT.— *1 833. — ^APPENDIX. Ill

The tax upon good morals should also be taken into the ae*
count. Drunkards are not the only individuals whose moral pu-
rity is destroyed by intoxicating liquors. These individuals are
dispersed through every neighborhood in the county, scattering
pollution and moral death wherever they go. Every youth, and
almost every child is brought within their influence, and conse-
qaently liable to be tainted by their example.

We see then, from unquestionable facts, that intoxicating drink
causes almost, if not quite all of our criminals, at least seven
eights of our paupers, and more than half of our taxes. — It is
ruining our youth as well as those of maturer years. It is cor-
rupting the public morals, resisting the progress of religion, and
filling the land with infidelity and atheism.

A question now arises. Is it right to partake of a beverage
which is poisoning the sources of private happiness and national
prosperity ? Is it right in any way to encourage or sanction the
use of such a beverage?. Should some foreign monarch slay
30,000 inhabitants of the United States every year, should he
double the amount of our public -taxes, should he corrupt the
morals of our country, and resist the progress of our religion^
and threaten the destruction of our government, would it be right
for this nation to continue a friendly intercourse with him.^
Would any one plead that he might possibly afibrd us aid in some
time of distress, and therefore it was best to remain on terms of
intimacy and friendship with him? No; millions of voices would
exclaim with indignation, not for a moment. Come what will^
we abandon forever that cruel tyrant. His friendship is death.
Whoever favors him shall be branded as a traitor, and spurned
from society. But all these evils, with a host of others of the
most aggravated character, are brought upon us by intoxicating
liquors.

Again, a question . arises in view of the facts which we have
detailed. la it morally right any longer to grant licenses for the
sale of ardent spirits? Ought we, by our town and village au-
thorities, any longer to sell licenses for opening the fountains of
sin, and pouring forth rivers of pollution and death upon the
community ? Is it right thus to sanction the use of an article
which has produced nearly all of our criminals, and seven eights
of our paupers and more than half of our* taxes? Is it good
economy, is it wisdom to do so ?

In conclusion, the facts which hdye been presented, warrant
us in saying, that every one who; has a family to educate, or
taxes to pay, or a country to love, or a 'God to serve, is directly
interested in having all intoxicating liquors banished from the
land.

Orrin Day, \ /Francis Sayre,

Rev. I. N. Wyckopp, / Executive \ O. L. Kirtlanjl
Rev. T. M. Smith, > < E. B. Day,

Rev. J. DowLiNG, I Committee, i T. F. Romeyn .

C C. HOAQLAND, M.D. / \

112 AMEBICAN TUHPERANGE SOCIETT. [338

The Executive Committee of the New-Tork State Temperance
Society, in presenting to the Parent Institution its Fourth
Annual Report, respectfuUj submits the following subimart of

RESULTS.

I. ^fUmber cf Auxiliaries tn the StaU of JVew-Forfc. — Including
the State Society, ^een hundred and thirty^e^ht temperance so-
cieties hare been reported. Many more are known to exist from
which no report has been received.

II. Present number of Members. -^This by actual enumeration
amounts to two hundrea and thhiy-one thousand and seventy-four;
but here also it is proper to remark, that the number actually
fledged to total abstinence greatly exceeds the sum arrived at by
enumeration, as in some societies great increase has taken place
since the reports were sent in, and from others complete returns
have never been made. Increase in the year, sixty thousand eight
hundred and four,

III. Temperance Stores and Taverns. — By these we under-
stand those stores and taverns where the absence of spirituous
liquors is the result and effect of the temperance reform. One
thousand two hundred and two of these have been reported.

IV. Distilleries discontinued. — These amount to one hundred
and thirty-one; a great part, but we think not aU, of these have
been discontinued in the course of the past vear.

[J^fewtork Ste^e Report.']

The General Association of Massachusetts, composed of the
great body of Evangelical Congregational Ministers in that State,
say, '' The Temperance Reformation has made rapid advances.
In some associations, the number of pledges has, during th«
year, been more than doubled. In others there is not an indi-
vidual licensed to sell strong drink, and in the most, if not all, the
number of licenses has been greatly diminished. Many of our
churches have become temperance churches. They admit none
to their fellowship, who do not avow the principle of total absti-
nence from both the consumption and the traffic. And some of
them have, by special vote, made the traffic in every form a
disciplinable offence."

They also passed unanimously the following resolution, viz.

''As the traffic in ardent spirit, as a drink, is not only unne-
cessary but injurious to the social, civil, and religious interests of
men, therefore the laws which sanction that traffic by licensing
men to pursue it, are, in the judgment of this association, mor--
ally iorong; and ought to be so modified, that instead of licensing
the sin, and thus sanctioning its continuance, they will only, as
far as practicable and expedient, defend the community from its
evils. ^'

SEVENTH REPORT

OF THS

AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETY.

The present age is marked with strong and auspicious peculiar- /
ities. One of tiiem is, increasmg numbers of people are disposed f
to inquirej with regard to every moral principle and practice, " Is ^
it right ? " It is less satisfactory now, than in former times, that a ,
thing is pleasant merely ; that it is popular, has been practised a
iuttg time, by respectable men, or even by good men. The
question is, and with numbers increasing continually, " Is it ,
ri^t?" ^ .

Another auspicious indication of the present time, is, the stand- .
ard of right and wrong, with increasing numbers, is the Bible.
This has, by good men, long been acknowledged in theory, as the
only sufficient and perfect moral standard. But they are now,
more than ever before, applying it to practice. Not only are they
laboring with new vigor to send it to all nations, and convey a
knowledge of its contents to all hearts ; but they are appealing to
it, as the criterion of thought and action ; and are endeavormg,
with new diligence, to bring every soul, under its all-controlling
power.

It is not so decisive, as it once was, that a thing is legal,
according to human statute ; or honorable in human society ; but
the question is, does it accord with the will of God as revealed ,
in the Bible .^ To the law, and the testimony ; if they speak not
according to this word, increasing numbers conclude, there is no
light in them. Nor do they confine the supervision of the Bible,
as much as they once did, to sul^ects that are purely religious.
They are extending it to all the afiairs of life. Business, amuse-
ments, legislation, every thing in which men are engaged, they feel
bound to prosecute in accordance with the Bible ; and whether
they eat, or drink, or whatever they do, to do all in obedience to
its dictates. Other things as the standard of feeling and conduct,
are in tbeur influence over men, diminishing ; and the Bible is
rising, and rising, toward that state, in which it shall appear to aU|
that the Lord hath magnified his word above all his name.

Another momentous indication of the present time, and one
which takes hold with a mighty grasp on the destinies of men, is,

I 25*

2 AMEKICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETT. [340

the number is increasing who feel conscience-bound daily to listen
to the Bible as the voice of God, speaking to them ; and with
fervent supplication for the teaching of his Spirit, that they may
understand his will 2, and who, when they do understand it, are not
afraid, or ashamed to do it.

The number is rapidly increasing, who when they learn that
the Bible condemns a practice, will renounce it ; and who, when
they learn that it requires an action, will attempt, with the spirit
which the Bible inculcates, to perform it, whether other men do
this or not ; and who will leave the consequences to the divine
disposal.

There is a deeper and more pervading conviction, than ever
before, of individual personal responsibility directly to God ; bind-
ing each one, in all situaticms, for the character and tendency of
his actions, to the retributions of eternity. Efforts to do good
are not so much confined as they once were, to ways only which
have the sanction of general example ; or that are deemed by the
great body of men, to be respectable. It is less necessary now,
dian it once was, for a good man to see a great multitude ahead,
before he thinks it expedient for him to do right ; or attempt, by
sound argument, and kind persuasion, to induce others to do
right.

The consequence is, it is becoming more and more common,
if a man wishes to have good done, to do it himself; if a man
wishes to have a little good done, to do that ; and if he wishes to
have great good done, to do that ; and to do it now. There is
less disposition than; formerly to depend on other people, and to
put off present duty to future time. Men are not so much afraid
as they once were, or ashamed, if needful, to go in the path of
duty, alone y and, whether others do it or not, attempt to do good
as they have opportunity to all men ; expecting that their labor
will not be in vain in the Lord. The feeblest and most obscure
do not now despair of exerting influence that shall be felt by all
people, to all ages.

And men are less satisfied now, than they once were, with clip-
ping off the twigs or lopping off the branches ; they are more
disposed to go to the root, sm(j[ in order to make die fi^t good, to
make the tree good. They have learned that they cannot stop the
stream, without drying up the fountain. They go more than for-
merly to principles, in their application to practice ; and to
remove the effects, undertake to remove the cause.

The consequence is, efforts to do good, are more successful
than ever before.. Thev take a wider range ; ei^ert a more per-
vading influence $ and' tne same Timount of effort accomplishes
vastly greater results. And the more men do the wiKof God, the
more plain ik will is ; and the blessings of obeying it, are more

3411 SEVENTH REPORT. — 1834. 3

obvious and abundant^ And as that will is made known, it com-
mends itself more strongly than ever before to the conscience ;
the blessings of obeying it attract greater attention, and the num-
bers who are moved by it to mighty deeds of kindness, are increas-
ing, with a rapidity and to an extent never before known. Thus
acting and reacting, '^ light and love,'* the grand means of universal
moral renovation, are moving onward from conquering to conquer ;
inspiring with new hope, cheering with new expectations, and
exciting all who are governed by them, to higher and holier efforts,
that the will of God may be done on earth as it is done in heaven.

A sti'iking development of these principles has been made in the
Temperance Reformation. A vicious practice had obtained, had
received the sanction of legislation, and the support of the example
of nearly the whole Christian world. But it was followed, as its
natural and necessary result, by loss of property, character, life
and soul, to an extent which must fill every person who compre-
hends it, with amazement. And the question was started, no
doubt, by the spirit of God, " Is it right," to continue a practice
which produces such results ; and which, if continued, will perpet-
uate and increase them to all future ages ? The Bible was exam-
ined, and providences observed ; divine teaching was sought,
and the conviction was fastened on the mind, that the practice
was not right ; and that to prevent the evils which it produced,
men must cease to perpetuate the cause.

And for the purpose of making known to them, especially to
our own countrymen, the reasons why they should do this, the
American Temperance Society was formed. Its object, is, by
the diffusion pf information and the exertion of kind moral influ-
ence, to attempt, with the divine blessing, to produce such a
change of sentiment and practice with regard to intoxicating drink,
chat intemperance shall cease, and temperance, with all its attend-
ant benefits to the body and the soul, shall universally prevail.

Temperance^ in view of those xoho formed this Society^ is the
moderate and proper use of things beneficial ; and abstinence from
things hurtful. Ardent spirit, being in its nature, as manifested
by its effects, a poison ; and of course, one of the hurtful tb'ngs,
and in this country, the grand means of intoxication, their object
required them to abstain from the drinking, and from the furnish-
iog of it ; and to endeavor, by all suitable means, to induce the
whole community to do the same.

This object they have steadily pursued. And to give to moral
influence the^ highest and best effect, they have attempted to
embody, in voluntary associations, all, who practice on the above
principle, and are willing to unite in them; The plan has received
the smile of Ueciven. It has been viewed with favor by the good,
aod has accomplished j^eat results^

4 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETT. [343

At our last Annual Meeting, there had been formed in the
United States 21 State Temperance Societies; and in smaller
districts, it was supposed, more than 5000 other Temperance
Societies, embodying on the plan of abstinence from the drinking
of ardent spirit and from the traffic in it, more than 1 ,000,000
members. More than 2000 men had ceased to make it; and
more than 6000 -had ceased to sell it. They believed that the
business was wicked, and they applied this belief to their practice.
More than 5000 men who once were drunkards, had within five
years ceased to use intoxicating drink; and were, as all men who
pursue this coui-se will be, sober men. Many of them had become
highly respectable and useful, and not a few truly pious men.

More than 700 vessels were afloat on the ocean, in which ar-
dent spirit was not used; and multitudes of all ages, in all kinds
of lawful business, and in every variety of condition, bad found by
experience, that they were in all respects better without the use
of It. Facts had proved that it is a nuisance^ unspeakably injuri-
ous to mankind. Numerous Medical Associations had condemned
the drinking of it, as a violation of the laws of life; and various
Ecclesiastical bodies of different denominations, embracing more
than 5000 ministers of the Gospel and more tl)an 6000 Christian
Churches, had expressed it as their solemn and deliberate convic-
tioin,that the traffic in ardent spirit to be used as a drink, is moraDy
wrong ; and that it ought to be abandoned throughout the world.
In this state of things we commenced the labors of the pdst year.

The United States Temperance Convention that had been in-
vited by this Society to meet in Philadelphia, assembled in that
city on the 24th of May. It was composed of more than 400
delegates, and from 21 States. Seldom has a body of men
assembled of greater weight of character, and of higher and better
influence in the country. They continued in session three days,
and passed with great unanimity about.thirty resolutions, expressive
ef then: views on various points of this momentous subject.

The- resolution which excited the greatest interest^ and which
led to the longest and most animated debate, was that, which ex-
pressed the sentiment, that the traffic in ardent spirit, to be used
as a drink, is morally wrong; and ought to be'universally abandoned.
This sentiment had before been expressed not only by the Eccle-
siastical bodies above reforedto,^ but by the American Congressional
Temperance Meeting, at the Capitol in Washington; and numerous
other meetings;' and the traffic had been treated as immoral in
various ways in difJerent parts of the country.

It was to be expected therefore, that this point would' occupy
the attention of the United States Temperance Convention. Many
were anxious to know, what the Physicians, the Jurists, and the
Statesmen, who were collected fit'om- all- parts of. the country oa

3431 SETENTH REPORT. — 1834. 5

that occasion thought upon this subject. If thej viewed the
nature of ardent spirit to be such, that the traffic in it, to be used
as a drink, is necessarily immoral, and as such ought to be aban-
doned, it was obvious that the subject demanded universal attention.
When the question came up, therefore, it excited great interest.
Soine expressed doubts; not so much, however, whether the traffic
is immoral, as whether it would be useful for the Convention to
say so. But as the discussion proceeded, and the manifest and
enormous immorality of the traffic was exhibited, this number
lessened. They not only saw that it is an immorality, but that
it was a duty which they owed to God, to themselves, and to
society, to express their deep and solemn conviction of this truth,
and to publish it, as extensively as possible, for the benefit of man-
kind. And seldom has any act of a public body, designed to
operate by moral influence, been hailed with greater gladness, or
promised to do greater good. Passed as it was, after long and
full discussion, in a Body composed of men of all professions and
employments, and of all Christian denominations, and political
parties, and from all parts of the country; and in accordance with
the fundamental truth which the American Temperance Society
and various other bodies of men, had been propagating for years,
its influence was felt throughout the land* Numbers who had not
before done it, were now led to examine the subject in the light
of the moral law; and the more extensive the examination the more
deep and general has been the conviction, that the sentiment ex-
pressed by the Convention is eternal truth, the belief of which,
is of infinite importance; and diat it ought to be published with its
evidence and proclaimed throughout the world. Had the Conven-
tion done nothing else, but, after examination, express their con-
viction on this point, they had done a deed which would have
marked them as* benefactors of their country, and been remem-
bered with gradtude by the friends of humanity to the end of time.
The immorality of this traffic, is what renders it certain, that it
will be discontinued. And the knowledge of its immorality, uni-
versally communicated, is to be the means, under providence,
of accomplishing this result. And no one thing has a greater ten-
dency to this, than the publication of the views of wise and good
men.

On the 18th of September a State Temperance Convention
was held at Worcester in Massachusetts. More than 500 dele-
gates were present, and from all parts of the Commonwealth.
Distinguished gendemen of all professions were members, and the
Governor of the Commonwealth was President of the Convention.
This body also, after careful attention to tiiis subject, expressed
their conviction of the immorality of this traffic, and that they
ought, by the combined power of opinion and example, to pro-

6 AMERICAK TEMPEfiANCE SOCIfiTT. [344

mote its universal abandonment. Since that time numerous in-
dividuals in the Commonwealth have renounced the traffic; licenses
for the sale of spirit have been refused in many towns; about
10,000 persons embodied in Ward Temperance Societies in Bos-
ton, and great numbers in other parts of the State.

There are now in Boston, 6 Hotels and 20 Groceries in
which spirit is not ^old. In the county of Suffolk, the number
of licenses has been reduced from 613 to 314. In Hampshire
County, the number of grog-shops has been reduced from 83, to
8. In Plymouth and Bristol Counties and in numerous towns no
licenses are given; and in many of them ardent spirit is not sold.
In some of those towns, however, men who love the poison, have

sent for it to Boston. From one place Esq. was accustomed to

CO with his waggon, and the drinker^ to send by him, each one
his bottle. On his return, which was generally found convenient
to be in the evening, he left a jug at this place and a jug at that,

&c. On his return one evening, while he was in at Mr. 's and

his waggon at the door, some one took charge of a part of its

contents. When Esq. came out, a bottle was gone. The

next morning Capt. was missing. Inquiry was made, but

no one could tell what had become of him. A number of days
after, he was found in tlie woods, dead; with the bottle at his side
about half emptied. The cases are numerous among the drinkers
of the poison, where the end is death. And the conviction is
rapidly extending among all classes, that the traffic in it, to be used
as a drink, is a manifest violation of the great principles of morality,
and utterly forbidden by the Word of God.

On the 18th of November a similar Convention was held at
Utica in New York; and on the 3d of December in Middletown
in Connecticut. Both of these Conventions, after mature deliber-
ation, expressed the same conviction with the others. The
Editor of the American Quarterly Observer, remarks, " Of the
New York Convention, General Jacob Morris, a venerable revo-
lutionary patriot was President. The number of members was
about 250. A series of resolutions was passed, the most impor-
tant of which was the one, declaring the traffic in ardent spirit to
be an immorality. Upon this resolution, there were only 14 votes
in the negative. No individual, however, dissented from the
position, that the traffic is immoral, but it was thought to be inex-
pedient, by a few persons, to declare it to be so. At the Coi^-
necticut Convention, attended by 130 delegates, the same resolu-
tion was passed unanimously. All things in this country are mani-
festly tending to one result; the classing of the use of ardent spirits^
and the traffic in them, as a violation of the m^oral Uiw; a crime,
equally injurious to men and displeasing to God."

0»i the iSth of December a State Temperance Convention

345] SEVENTH REPORT. — 1834. 7

was held at Columbus in Ohio. The Governor of the state, who
IS President of the State Temperance Society, was one of the
Committee who invited the meeting, and was President of the
Convention. This Convention dso expressed their conviction of
the immorality of the traffic in ardent spirit, and the duty of its
universal abandonment. A Legislative Temperance Society was
formed, shortly after, in that state; and measures were taken by the
State Society, by means of agents and the press, to extend infor-
mation, and form Temperance Societies throughout the state.

On the 25th of December a similar Convention was held at
Jackson in Mississippi; and on the 7th of January at Frankfort in
Kentucky. At both these meetings they expressed unanimously
their conviction of the immorality of the traffic in ardent spirit;
and in Mississippi they recommended that in the formation of all
new Temperance Societies, they should agree to abstain from the
drinking not only of ardent spirit, but also of wine. In Kentucky
a Legislative Temperance Society was formed, and the members
agree to abstain from the drinking of both ardent spirit and wbe,
and also from the traffic in them. The Governor of the state
was appointed the President, and the Lieutenant Governor, who
is President of the Senate, was appointed one of the Vice Presi-
dents.

Numerous and striking details were given, by physicians, of the
destructive effects of ardent spirit, during the prevalence of the
Cholera in that state. In some way an impression had been
made upon a portion of the people, that the drinking of this poison
would operate as a preventive, or cure of this disease. Aldiough
in direct contradiction to the whole history of the Cholera from its
commencem«it, in its progress through all countries up to that time,
yet falling in, as it did, with the natural current of human deprav-
ity, at a time when men were ready to resort to almost any thing,
from which they hoped for security, or relief, it had seriously
obstructed the progress of the Temperance Reformation, and in
the judgment of the physicians had occasioned many deaths. A
committee of distinguished physicians was therefore appointed to
investigate this subject, and publish the facts for the information
of the community. And it is hoped, should the disease return,
that its fatal effects will not again be increased, and its horrors
augmented, by the means which are used to prevent them. The
delusion is now fast vanishing, and several thousands were added
to the Temperance Societies the last year. Nothing appears to be
wanting, but the wise and efficient labors of an active permanent
agent, to render the cause, with the divine blessing, triumphant
throu^out that state. This is needful in every state of the Union.
And it is earnestly recommended to the friends of Temperance in
each state, to procure such an agent, and provide such means for bis

3 AMEAICAN TEHPERilRCfi SOCIETY. [346

support that he may devote his whole time and strength to this
object. Such a course would be most highly economical, both as
to men and money. One thousand dollars expended in this way,
annually, in each state, would probably be the means of saving to
eaeh, a million dollars a year ; and multitudes of other blessings
which no wealth can purchase, the loss of which will bring many
to a premature grave and a miserable eternity.

It may justly be doubted, whether the same means can in any
other way do greater good to mankind. Not only would the
direct influence of such labors be highly beneficial, but they would
tend to render all other benevolent efforts mnch more successful.
This course has been adopted in many states, and nothing would
be more auspicious to human welfare, than to have it become
universal.

On the 15th of January, a State Temperance Convention was
held in Vermont ; on the 5th of February in Maine, and on the
12th in New Jersey ; and on the 19th of the same month, a Con*
vention' of Cities was held in the city of New York. Each of
these Conventions, like the others above mentioned, was numer-
ously attended, and at each, the resolution was passed, that the
traffic in ardent spirit, to be used as a drink, is an immorality; and
ought to be universally abandoned. On the last Tuesday hi Feb-
ruary, simultaneous Temperance Meetings were held in various
cities, towns, and villages, through this and other countries- In
some cases, the first part of the day was observed as a season of
united thanksgiving for the success of this cause, and of united
prayer for the blessing of the Lord ever to attend it. In the
afternoon reports were read, and addresses were delivered on the
occasion. Mu-jh good was done^ and a new impulse given exten-
sively to the cause. This manner of annually spending the last
Tuesday in February, appears to the Committee to be highly
proper, and well adapted to be extensively useful ; and they would
eamesdy recommend that it be universally adopted. In many
cases it will be a convenient time for the annual meeting of Legis-
lative, or State Temperance Societies ; and in all cases, meetings
on that day, will, it is believed, tend greatly to promote the cause.

On that day, the American Congressional Temperance Society
held its first anniversary in the Capitol at Washington. In the
absence of the President, HoBorable Lewis Cass, Secretary of
War, on account of official duties, the chair was taken by the
Hon. William Wilkins, Senator from Pennsylvania, one of the Vice
Presidents. The meeting was opened with prayer, by Rev.
Thomas H. Stockton, of the Protestant Methodist Church, and
Chaplain of Congress. The Hon. Walter Lowrie, Secretary of
die Senate, and Secretary of the Society, read the Annual Report,
which was adopted.

34t] SEVEKTH REPORT.— 1834. 9

Resolutions were then offered, by the Hon. Benjamin P. But-
ler, Attorney-General of the United States ; the Hon. William
Hendricks, Senator from Indiana ; the Hon- William L. Pinck-
ney, Member of Congress from South Carolina ; the Hon. George
GrennelJ, Member of Congress from Massachusetts ; the Hon.
Arnold Naudain, Senator from Delaware ; the Hon. Daniel
Wardwell Member of Congress from New York ; the Hon.
Samuel Bell, Senator from New Hampshire ; the Hon. Harmon
Denny. Member of Congress from Pennsylvania ; ttie Corres-
ponding Secretary of the American Temperance Society ; the
Hon. Felix Grundy, Senator from Tennessee ; the Hon. George
N. Briggs, Member of Congress from Massachusetts ; the Hon*
Theodore Preelinghuysen, Senator from New Jersey ; and the
Hon. Elisha Whitdesey, Member of Congress from Ohio.

Addresses were made by Messrs. Butler, Hendricks, Pinck-
ney, Wardwell, Grundy, and Preelinghuysen. Others would
have spoken, had the time permitted. ' x^lthough the weather was
unpleasant, the spacious Hall of the House of Representatives was
filled f and till a late hour, the audience, by their profound atten-
tion, manifested the deep interest which they took in the subject.*

The resolutions and the addresses have since been printed in
an octavo pamphlet of forty pages, and circulated extensively
through the country, f It is hoped that it may be sent with a copy
of the Constitution, to every person living, who has been a Men*^
ber of Congress, or of any branch of the National Govertt-
ment, and that all may be invited to join the Society. Should a
sinailar course be taken by each Legislative Temperance Society,
and all who have been members of the National or State Govern-
ments, and who have retired from public life, enrol their names ss
members of the American Congressional Temperance Society,
or some State Legislative Temperance Society, they might become
eminently benefactors of their country and the world. A list of
their names, increasing annually by the accession of all new tem-
perate Legislators, might be kept ; to be a bright example to d!
the youth of our country, and a powerful means of leading them
onward to virtue, usefulness and glory. It would be an interest-
ing item in the future page of our country's history to have the
names of her renowned sons, who, in the days of her danger,
were enrolled in the bright consteDation, who embodied their ex-
ample and influence as temperate men, for the intellectual elevation,
die mora] purity, the social happiness and the eternal good of their
fellow men. The influence which such a course would have on
the purky and permanence of our free institutions demands the
attentiott of every true patriotv

*Ap|»endixA. tAppendUB.

CO AMERICAN TEMPERANCE 80CIET7. [349

A 'copy of the Constitution of the Legislative Temperance
Society of Kentucky was handed to one of her legislators, with a
request that he would sign it. He looked at it, and said, ^^ It is a
good thing. We have a Temperance Society in my district. It is
composed of men of all parties, and they agree not to vote for
any man of any party, who, at elections, either directly or indi-
rectly, furnishes ardent spirit. During the last election none was
furnished. Had that course been adopted five years ago, it would
have saved me a thousand dollars." Should it be universally
adopted, it would save millions from being devoted to that most
detestable species of bribery. It would save also many elect(»rs
and not a few legislators from tlie drunkard's grave. Instances
are known, in which thousands of dollars have been expended by
an individual and his friends at a single election. But let all join
the Temperance Society, and act according to its principles, and
this abomination will cease. The first glance of a corrected pub-
lic sentiment will wither and consume it. Much has already been
done. And a change of views, especially among the higher and
more influential classes, as to the duty and utility of joining Tem-
perance Societies, is rapidly increasing.

A distinguished gentleman from Washington writes, " The late
amniversary of the Congressional Temperance Society, has given
a fresh and powerful impulse to the cause throughout the whole
land. Under the sanction of such authority, thousands of hearts
and hands will rally to the work, that otherwise would have remain-
ed unmoved. Every day I rmxk in the various classes of society,
from the highest departments of the General Government to the
lowest mechanic and laborer, the strong irresistible influence of
the Temperance Reformation. Public opinion of the virtuous
and intelligent every where frowns on the traffic and manufacture,
as weU as on the use of spirituous liquors ; and I no longer doubt,
that this land is destined, under the influence of the persevering
eflbits of the friends of virtue, to be freed from the vice of intem-
perance."

A Member of Congress from Pennsylvania writes, " I had the
honor, a few days ago, of receiving the Sixth Annual Report of the
American Temperance Society ; for which, please to receive, and
tender to your Society, my warmest thanks. I have read the doc-
ument with much interest and pleasure. I am free to confess tbax
until about a year since I felt rather opposed to the exertions of
the Temperance Associations. I considered them in the light of
a chimerical speculative concern, and calculated to draw improper
lines of demarkation in society. But I am free to acknowlec^,
that I have very much changed my opinion concerning thera. I
am now satisfied that no institution is calculated to do as much
good with the same me^ns ; and that if ev«* any institution could

34d] SEVENTH REPORT. 1834. H

be said to have its origin with Him who is the great source of
all goodneiss, it is that one,"

A gendeman from Virginia states, that, in his opinion, no Socie-
ties which have ever been formed, have, with the same means, in
the same time, done so much for the good of mankind ; that all
must acknowledge, that they have produced a most beneficial and
astonishing change ; and that if the friends of the object shall per-
severe, they will be instrumental in banishing intemperance from
our land. Nor is this impression confined to our own country. A
gentleman from England writes, " I offer to your country my sin-
cere congratulations, and the humble testimony of my delighted
admiration, on the signal, wonc|erful, and most beatifying success
of this great plan of national reformation ; and which even at this
present time, to say nothing of what will be done in years to come,
is a more glorious achievement than that which effected your
political independence. It is, at once, far more difficult and far
more honorable for a people to tlirow off the yoke of their vices
than that of their oppressors ; and there seems to me nothing
impossible in the career of either moral or political greatness, to
that country, which, by one grand co-operative effort, can, by the
blessing of God, deliver itself, as yours is now doing, from the
curse of intemperance.

** In the triumphs of your Temperance Societies, I see that
which makes me almost tremble as an Englishman, but which fills
me with hope, and gladness, and praise, as a man and a Christian.
You are reading lessons to all nations, and to all coming ages ; and
unless other nations are wise enough to profit by the instruction
you are thus furnishing, they will, in the end, find to their cost,
that you are among them, as Samson in the midst of his foes ;
while should" your people ever abandon this cause and return to
their former habits, other nations wiD look after you as Samson
was seen by his foes, when he wantonly sacrificed to their wily
agent, the mysterious lock of his strength. For the sake of the
world, my dear sir, and all future generations of mankind, I
beseech you to go on in this splendid course of national virtue.
I have patriotism enough to wish this laurel h^d been plucked by
my own country ; but since this is not granted to tw, I rejoice
that it is yours : it is a precious one ; preserve it from fading by
no relaxation of zeal in the cause, and deem not the honor com-
plete, till the world shall talk of the United States, as a land with-
out a still, and without a drinker of ardent spirit.

" If you ever arrive at this elevation of moral greatness, your
example must and mil be felt in the worid. Self-preservation, if
nothing else, will drive other nations into imitation of your exam-
ple. In this, as in other instances, you are raised up by the Ruler
of the Universe, to be a model to the civilized and uncivilized

12 AMEfilC^N TEMPERANCE SaCIETT. [-350

world. Experiments are carried oh at this moment, upon your
territory, the results of which are to be felt to the end of time. If I
could think it right to envy any one, I should envy you Americans,
in reference to several things which are connected with your inter-
nal history. You are to prove whether religion can exist and
extend without the aid of establishments. You are to prove whether
the church of Christ has piety and liberality enough to propagate
itself in a field where it has nothing to hinder its spread but
the lukewarmness of its members, and the ordinary depravity
of the human race. I trust you will not disappoint the expecta-
tions which are pendent upon your conduct. Property, talent,
influence, energy, time, must all be put in requisitioa for the work
to which you are called. The Temperance Cause must be the
pioneer of the whole confederacy : it will help your other institu-
tions, and that in innumerable ways. The American who does
not become ^ member of this institution, is blind to one of the
brightest glories, and insensible to one of the most precious hopes
of his country.'*

On the 4th of March a State Temperance Convention was
held at Harrisburg, in Pennsylvania. Here also a deep con-
viction of the immorality of the traffic in ardent spirit was express-
ed by many ; and the subject was earnestly commended to the
consideration of all the Temperance Societies in the State. A
Legislative Temperance Society was also formed, and measures
taken to quicken and extend Temperance operations throughout
that important part of our country.

A Convention has also been held, and a State Temperance
Society formed in Missouri. And should Temperance and its
kindred virtues universally prevail, blessings mighty as her rivers
and exhaustless as her soil, would break forth upon her people,
and flow down in ever-growing richness and variety to all future
ages. Alabama and Louisiana are now the only States in which State
Temperance Societies have not been formed ; and philanthropic
men are making efforts to procure the formation of one in each
of those States.*

In May, a State Temperance Convention was held at Dover,
in Delaware. Here, also, as in other similar bodies, a resolu-
tion was passed, that, in the judgment of the Convention, the
traffic in ardent spirit, is an immorality, and ought to be univer-
sally abandoned. Thus has this sentiment been expressed by
bodies embracing more than five thousand ministers of the gospel,
and six thousand Christian churches ; by the American Congres-
sional Temperance Meeting, by the United States Temperance
Copvpntion, by ten State Temperance Conventions, and numer-
ous other bodies and classes of men, in various ways and places^
throughout the land.

** In Alalumu sucb a Society has been foriped.

351] SEVENTH REPORT. — 1834. 13

And when we cotisider that these bodies were composed of
men of all professions and employments, of all Christian denom-
inations', and political parties ; many of them, venerable for age,
for wisdom and experience, as well as for humane and benevolent
^orts ; and who had held, or were then holding, some of the
highest and most responsible offices in the gift of the people ; and
that after full deliberation the sentiment was expressed with great
unanimity,- and in many cases without a dissenting voice ; that th)e
publication of it lias been hailed with gladness, been echoed
extensively through the press, and met the cordial response of the
friends of humanity, we cannot but conclude that the public mind
will settle down upon the truth, that the traffic in ardent spirit, to be
used as a drink, is immoral ; a violation of the law of God, and
as such ought to be, and, so far as men obey Him, will be univer-
sally abandoned.

This, the Committee view witli unspeakable interest. It is a
sore pledge of certain and universal triumph. The truth that the
traffic is wicked, strikes the evil at the root; and with a blow so
strong and deep, that it will inevitably destroy it. The reception
of this truth, and its publication by the wise and good, with cor-
responding action, is the sure harbinger of Him, who is Lord over
all, and who is Coming to consume this evil with the breath of his
mouth, and to destroy it with the brightness of his appearing.
And while the Committee look to the prevalence of this truth, as
the sure means of exterminating this abomination, they also look
to it as the only effectual means.

Some think that it can be removed by representing it as inexpe-
dient, or unprofitable merely ; or unfashionable and disreputable;*
and confining the motives for its removal to things of time only,
without representing it, as they acknowledge it is in truth, an
immorality, a violation of the moral law, and binding the perpe-
trators of it, according . to their deeds, to the retribution of eter-
nity. But Leviathan is not so tamed. Such arrows he esteemeth
as stubble, and laugheth at the shaking of such spears. That it ig
inexpedient and unprofitable ; that it is fast becoming unfashion-
able, and is now to a high degree disgraceful, as well as injurious
and highly unju3t towards the community, are all truths, truths of
importance, which may be, and ought to be used, and to be pressed
on the public attention.

Yet if the traffic is not also wicked, a violation of the law of
Grod, and by hira forbidden, if the friends of temperance do not
befieve this truth and publish it with its evidence to all people,
vain are all expectations that it will ever be exterminated. There
is no force but that which from the throne of God fastens on the
conscience, and binds man according to deeds, irrevocably to an
eternal retribution^ that is strong enough to say to this ocean of>
2 26*

14 AMERICAIf TEMPERANCE SOCIETY. [352

death, "Hitherto shalt thou come, but no farther; and here let
thy violence be stayed." And while this sentiment ought to be
expressed, as it ought ever to be held, with great kindness^ so it
ought to be expressed, vnth great plainness ; and in such a
manner as is best adapted to produce universally, the deepest con-
viction, and the most active and persevering efforts.

And while the Committee behold this trul;h rising and extending
its influence, inspiring so many hearts, employing so many tongues,
and through the medium of the press going onward, as on the
wings of the wind, from conquering to conquer, they cannot but feel
under new obligations to the Author of all good, and .be inspired
with new hope, that the world's emancipation from this foulest of
curses is approaching.

More than 7000 Temperance Societies have already been
formed in the United States, embracing, it is supposed, more
than 1,250,000 members. These ^persons, who are of all ages
from 12 to 90 years, of all varieties of condition, profession, and
employment, know by experience that ardent spirit is needless ;
and multitudes of them know that it is hurtful, .and that men are in
all respects better without it. Of course it is wicked to drink it,
or to furnish it to be drunk by others. And the conviction of this
truth is rapidly extending among all classes of people. More
than 3000 distilleries have been stopped ; and more than 7000
merchants have ceased to sell the poison. Yet there are some,
who wish the use of it to be continued, and who strive to believe
according to their wishes, who assert that such statements as the
above are not true ; and that there is as much spirit drunk now as

ever. < Mr. C- , a large brandy merchant in New York, lately

met an active friend of Temperance, and said to him, *' Why are
you publishing such accounts about people giving up the use of
spirit ? there is no truth in them ; there is as much drunk now as
there ever was." "I have got, "•said Mr. C , "a com-

Elete answer to that, and one that will convince you, that what you
ave said is not true. You know, Mr. F— ^ — " (a man fanious for
the accumulation of property,) " do n't you .?'' " Yes. " " Well, I

met him yesterday on this very 9|V)t, and he said to me, Mr. C

What are you doing ? Why do you publish such accounts about
ardent spirit ?" "I told him, to ihduce people not to drink it."
*' Well," said he, "you are ruining my busmess. I used to seD
forty thousand dollars worth of copper for stills to tl)e people of
Connecticut in a year ; and now I don 't sell five himdred.
You are ruining me." And that, Mr. — — , is the answer to what
you have said. " A diminution of thirty-nine thousand five hundred
dollars worth of copper for stills, in a single state, in a year, does
not look much like there being as much ardent spirit made as
ever. And if it is not made m as great quantities, it is not drunk.

363] SEVENTH REPOIIT.— 1834. 15

" I met a number of stills," said Mr* , of Connecticut,

" pn their way to the brass-foundery, to be melted down for
andirons, &c." Thus implements of deatli are converted into
implements of utility.

More than 1000 vessels are now afloat oft the ocean in which
ardent spirit is not used. And though they visit every clime and
at all seasons, and many of them actually go round the globe, the
men who navigate them are in all respects better than when they
used it. So manifest and great has been the increase of safety to
property and life, that an Insurance Company in Boston has
agreed to return five per cent, on the premium of every vessel
which has been navigated without the use of spirit. This is done
for the purpose of pecuniary gain. And facts abundantly prove
that ninety-five per cent, of the premium on vessels in which
none of the men. use intoxicating drink, would be much more
profitable to the underwriters than one hundred per cent, on ves-
sels in which they use it.

A gentleman in one ot our seaports who has had great oppor-
tunities for observation, and has paid special attention to this sub-
ject, writes, — " I am happy to see a movement in the Insurance
Offices in your city. Let them generally offer a premium for
temperance ships, and it will be of immense pecuniary advantage
to all concerned. I have been a Notary Public, and the only one*
in this port, for fourteen years, and have had to extend Protests
for many wrecked vessels, and caa with truth say, that in more
than a moiety of the cases^ the disaster would not have happened
if no rum had been on board.

" Insurers can afford to return twenty-five per cent, of the pre-
mium, if the vessel insured could be navigated without ardent
spirits. The restriction, to be effectual, should obtain in port as^
well as at sea ; for many of the disasters which have happened
immediately after leaving port, were caused by the liquor drank
on shore, and before it had lost its influence. You will recollect
the case of Captain Lawrence, during the last war. Our country's
escutcheon would not have been stained by that defeat, if ardent
spirit had not assisted the Lion and the Unicorn.

*' They ought in the commencement to say to the owners of
the vessels — we shall discount from the premium twenty-five per
cent, of the amount, if your application shall contain a stipulatioa
that no ardent spirit shall be drunk by the master and men, either
in or out of port.

" A vessel left this port during the last month (February), and
was lost a few hours after she sailed. She had four experienced
seamen on board, and three of them were good pilots, Everjr
man was a confirmed drunkard, and the vessel was lost wholly \n
consequence of rum !"

16 AMERICAK TEMPERANCE SOCIETY. [354

The use of spirituous liquor bjr oScers and men has long been
among the chief causes of shipwreck. Should Insurance Offices
generaUjr discriminate between temperance ships and others, it
would be a source of great pecuniary profit ; and should own^s
of vessels employ ncMie who use the poison, to navigate them,
they would save, annually, an immense amount of property, and
multitudes of valuable lives. This subject is exciting increased
attention not only in this country, but in Europe.

Baring, Brothers, & Co. of London, wrote to their agent in
Amsterdffln, to know why he had not obtained Slights. His
reply was, that there were American vessels, commanded by
Temperance Captains, taking freight ; and while they remain, none
offer to other ships.

'^ A meeting was lately requested by the British Consul at his
office, of the owners and accents of vessels chiefly eneaeed in the
transmit of steerage passeog^ from Liverpool an/sel^, in order
to consider the most efficacious means of lessening the evils and
disasters which have increased so alarmingly of late to passenger
vessels — four ships having been wrecked on the Jersey coast near
the city during the present year, while the loss of vessels bound to
Quebec, and of lives, has been truly appalling. In one sentiment
all concurred, viz. that the use of ardent spirits was the chief
cause of many evils connected with the passenger trade, and that
the total prohibition of spirits on board such vessels, would, more
than any other measure, secure safety and comfort— to which
might be added, a quick passage.

The Consul expressed his thanks to the gentlemen for their
attendance and ready disposition to come into the measure of
alone employing vessels for the conveyance of passengers^ on board
. of which no spirituous liquors shall be permitted to be used^ and
assured them that he would by the next packet make a representa-
tion to his Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonies, who takes
so lively an interest in affording protection and comfort to Emi-
grants proceeding to the Canadas, so that the government agents
appointed at the several ports of embarcation might co-operate, in
order to encourage those vessels which come into the salutar}'
regulation. "—(JV. F. Obs.)

The same principle applies to stage-coaches, steamboats, rail-
cars, and all means of public conveyance. The men who drink
spirit, and act under its mfluence, can never safely be trusted with
the property and lives of men. And as the pubfic sensibility has
of late been so often and so grossly outraged as to call loudly for
legislative inteference, it is hoped, that those who may be
called officially to consider this subject, will not overlook these
4icts.

The Directors of the Boston and Worceifeter Railroad have

355] SEVENTH BBPORT. — 1834. 17

voted not to employ any roan who even uses ardent spirit. A
number of stage proprietors have done the same. The stock-
holdei's of the Connecticut river and the Hartford steamboat com-
panies, have requested the directors not to allow any ardent spirit
to be kept for sale or use on board their boats. And in many steam-
boats in various parts of the country it is not furnished. And it is
hoped that the time is not distant, when no man under the influ-
ence of the drunkard's poison, will be thought fit to be intrusted
with any place of responsibility in the country.

More than 10,000 drunkards have, within five years, ceased to
use any intoxicating drink. And when sober men all set the
example, and treat drunkards kindly, it has been found compara-
tively easy to induce them to follow it. More than thirty such
cases have occurred in a population of less than 3000 souls.*
Let there be the same number in proportion to the population,
throughout the United States, and it would make more than
130,000. The salvation of drunkards firom this fell destroyer, is
evidently in the hands of sober men. And if they will take the
course pursued by those who have already been so successful, in
less than five years, they will achieve a victory such as creation
never saw : save 130,000 drunkards firom this double death, and
preserve from falling into it 130,000 more. Let them cease to
sell the poison, cease to use it, and go, with love in their hearts,
and kindness on their tongues, to those who are now twice dead,
and well nigh buried, and it will cause them to live. Their life
or death is in the hands of sober men. The idea that the kind
bounties of Providence can be converted into the drunkard's
poison, drunkard-making be carried on, and drunkenness perpet--
uated, by drunkards only, is absurd. It never has been, and it
never will be done. They have not the intelligence, the pecuniary
ability, the foresight, the method, the diligence, and persevering
activity in wickedness, which the prosecution of such a vile
business requires. Should they attempt it, they would find them-
selves prostrated ; and should diey continue it, it would kill them.
It actually kills a great portion even of those, who, when they
enter it, are sober ; and it destroys more than twice as many, in
proportion, of their children. What then could drunkards do with
it alone ? Should all the drunkards in the world combine to carry
it on, it would only destroy them so much the quicker ; and
should no sober man touch it, they could have no successors, and
the whole mischief would cease. But they will not attempt to
prosecute it. It is a business too mean, and too degrading, even
for drunkards to prosecute alone. Let all sober men abandon it,
and most of the drunkards will abandon it, and those who will not,

* Appendix C.

18 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETY. [356

must soon die, and the last remnant of drunkenness will die with
them. It is thus capable of perfect demonstration, that drunkenness
can be perpetuated only by sober men. The Committee would,
therefore, put it to the conscience of every sober man, Can you,
without guilt, enormous guilt, aid in perpetuating that current
which is bearing on its bosom hundreds of thousands in the United
States, toward interminable wo ? and which is enticing, in every
generation, from the peaceful shores of sobriety and comfort, hun-
dreds of thousands more, to be borne onward upon the same fiery
stream, towards the same eternal doom ? No, you cannot do it,
without tremendous guilt. And if you continue to be knowingly
accessory to the drunkard's vice and ruin, you must expect, in
righteous retribution, to be partakers of the drunkard's woes. And
you will expose your children, to have your iniquities visited on
them, from generation to generation.

A rum-seller in Massachusetts was visited by the wife of one of
his custoniers, who besought him not to sell the poison to her
husband. It made him so cruel to her and her children, that she
could not endure it. But he let her know that if her husband
wanted rum, he should have it. She went awav to mourn in
silence, and to try to guard her children against the direful influence
of him, who, for money, was killing their father. He coitinued
to sell. His customers, from time to time, became drunkards.
Their estates fell into his hands. He became a rich man. At
length he died ; and went as poor to judgment, as if he had gained
nothing by destroying his neighbors. His sons inherited his es-
tate. They moved into the Western country. The eldest open-
ed a store, and prosecuted the business of his father. He soon,
like his father's customers, became a drunkard, and sunk into an
ignominious grave. His brother took his place, and prosecuted
his business. He too became a drunkard, and was shortly with
his brother, in the dmnkard's grave. The third and only remain-
ing son took the property and prosecuted the business. And
when our Secretary, the last winter, passed that way, he was a
drunkard, staggering about the streets. And as the father wit-
nesses his iniquities visited upon his children, and beholds them
coming in such a rapid succession to mingle with those, whom his,
and their business have ruined, in the place prepared for them,
does he not feel, that should the way of destroying others, appear
even right unto a man, the end thereof is the way of death. ^' It
is found," says Judge Piatt, 'Mhat of the tavern keepers and
retailers of ardent spirit in the State of New York during the last
forty years, more than two-thirds have become drunkards, and
reduced their families to poverty and wretchedness. Let us re-
double our efforts, by kind entreaty and friendly admonition, to
save them from their own worst enemies, themselves,'' And can

357] SEVENTH REPORT. — 1834. 19

a business which destroys, and there is reason to fear for botJi
worlds, so many of those who prosecute it, and often reduces
their families to wretchedness, and makes drunkards of their chil-
dren, be continued, without tremendous guilt ? And when we
look at the multitudes of others who are ruined by it, and; witness
its tendency for ever to ruin all who come under its influence, and
to perpetuate its destructive effects, to all future generations, the
guilt of it rises to an overwhelming magnitude.

And this guilt with its odium, the public sentiment, under the
guidance of truth, is fastening more and more where it belongs,
on the men who continue to prosecute the business which perpet-
uates the evil. This is evident from the voice of the press, and
from the manner in which that voice is responded to, by the com- .
munity.

Says the able and eloquent author of Temperance Tales,
160,000 copies of whose writings have, within a few months, been
caDed for by the public, and who by his efforts on this subject is
becoming a benefactor of his race, " The respectability of those,
who denoimce the traffic, as immoral, entitles their opinions,
publicly and formally delivered before tlie world, to the most care-
ful consideration of the whole human family. The purity of their
motives is beyond suspicion. The universality of their character
is obvious : they come from all quarters of the world, and ky
aside, as they approach this great conmion field of philanthropy,
the discriminating badges of their various professions, and political
opinions, and religious creeds. However unable to, agree, upon
other matters, they heartily concur in the opinion, and they solemn-
ly pronounce that opinion, that the use of ardent spirit as a

DRINK AND THE TRAFFIC THEREIN ARE MORALLY WRONG, AND
OUGHT TO BE ABANDONED THROUGH THE WORLD. ThlS Opin^

ion has been repeated again and again ; by the Congressional Con-
reotion ; — ^by the great Convention, at Philadelphia, from all the
States ; — ^by the highly respectable Convention at Worcester ; —
by the New York State Convention, at Utica ; — and more recently,
by the Convention in the State of Connecticut ; and since, by all
the other Conventions, aforementioned. Many of the most eminent
ineo^ of this and other countries, have been forward to promulgate
and sustain this formal declaration. The reasons, on which it
rests, have been scattered abroad upon the earth, like the leaves
of the trees. They have fallen upon every dwelling, like the
drops of rain. Journals, magazines, circulars, reports, tracts,
tales, full of information and interesting narrative, have been dis-
tributed with an unsparing hand.

^' What then, in the shape of an argument, do the venders of
spirituous liquors propose, in justification of their continued traf-
fic ? — Absolutely nothing. — For a time, it was undoubtedly be-

90 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETT. [358

fieved by many, that the temperance reform would pass away, like
a vapor. Under this belief, the voice of worldly wisdom whis-
pered to the venders, that their strength lay in silence and perfect
inaction. The continual accession of strength, to the side of
Temperance, and the daily diminishing demand for the drunkard's
beverage, began, at last, to impair that belief- — Indications of
restlessness were occasionally exhibited. ^ ^t a large and re-
spectable meeting of the grocers in the dty of Boston^ it was
unanimously resohed^ that they looked^ with deep regret^ upon the
proceedings of the self-styled friends of temperance.' Nothing
could be more natural, than that a body of men, who sold ardent
spirit, should look with regret upon the efforts of those, who were
combining to persuade the world not to drink it any more. But
the friends of temperance were not likely to be diverted from a
course, upon which the Father of Mercy might be supposed to
vouchsafe a smile of approbation, because 'the venders of strong
drink looked upon that very course, through the dust of self-
interest, with ' deep regret*' "

Says the same writer in another place, " What is the drunk-
ardV death ? Is it a natun^, or an accidental death } It is obvi-
ously not a natural death. The drunkard dies, and upon a careful
examination after death, the skilful physician, the highest authority
oo such a point in a court of law, declares without hesitation that
his death was occasioned by spirituous liquor. Can such a death
be denominated accidental ^ The acts of the dram-seller who sells,
and of the drunkard who drinks the alcohol, are voluntary acts ; and
the proof, clear and incontestible, that life is shortened and death
produced by the use of it, are as universally known and appreciat-
ed, as that death is produced by arsenic. Here, then, is the will
and the knowledge ; the will to do the act, with a full knowledge
of its probable effects. Such can neither be an accidental death,
nor a natural death. Can it be possible that when a drunkard dies
of hard drinking, somebody is guilty of murder ? — ^If a man, says
Hawkins, in his pleas of the Crown, does an act of which the

Erobable consequence may be, and eventually is, death, such
illing may be murder, though no murder be primarily intended.
And when the dram-seller does such an act, of which the proba-
ble consequence may be, and eventually is, death, such killing may
be murder, though no murder may be primarily intended." But
though we do not call such killing murder, and though it be not
prosecuted as such in human courts, when we consider the numer-
ous murders and other deaths to which the traffic in spirit leads, it
is perfectly evident that the gains of that traffic are the price of
blood ; and as such, will be viewed and treated at the judgment day.
Says the editor of the Religious Magazine,
" AH the useful and honest employments of life produce value.

359] SEVENTH REPORT.— ^1834. 21

They produce it, either by bringing a useful article from the
ground, or by changing the form of the raw material to a more
useful, or, in other words, a more valuable one, in a manufactory,
or by adding to its value by change of place^ in commerce. In
all cases the individual creates value, either by producing the arti-
cle in which he deals, or by altering its form or its place. Now a
portion only of this value, comes to him; tlie other portion goes
to others, whom he supplies, as an inducement for them to deal
with him. So that for all the value he produces for hims^, he
must, on the average, produce an equal amount for others.

For example, a carpenter builds a store in a country village,
and receives for it a thousand dollars; and of this we will suppose
that two hundred and fifty dollars is his clear gain. Now the
transaction is not a profitable one to him alone. The trader, who
contracts with him, finds the contract of pecuniary advantage to
himself, or he would not make it. By putting a portion of his
property — -the thousand dollars — ^into the form of a store, he has
added to its value to him, or he would not have incurred the risk
and responsibility of doing it. And probably it was as much for
his advantage to employ the carpenter, as it was for the carpenter
to be employed.

We say probably as much, because sometimes in transactions
of this nature, the advantage may lie mainly on one side; but gen^
rally in bargains among men, the advantage will be mutual and
equal, and the man who makes ten dollars for himselC in any boni-
est and useful calling, enables die man he deals with to make ten
dollars tx)o.

There is another view we may take of making money in fair and
honorable ways. Suppose a physician goes to reside in a town,
and in tbe course of thirty years he lays by, in the honest practice
of his profession, ten thousand dollars. This money rpay, strictly
speaking, be considered a certificate from the community of the
amount of good he has done to others during his residence there.
In fact, we may imagine that upon one coin is inscribed, ' This
certifies that the bearer saved a child from death in a fever;' on
another, ' This piece of money is a token of the relief and com-
fort which medical skill procured for an aged man in his last days, '
&c. For it is very evident that if the physician understood
his profession, and was faithful in the practice of it, for every fee
he must have rendered an equivalent of useful service to a family,
either in saving life, or assuaging and mitigating suffering. The
^eater the amount, then, of property he has accumulated by fair
and honorable means, the greater is the evidence of the good he
has done.

There is a very common but most groundless impression, that
when a man makes his fortune among a people, he gets the money

22 AME&ICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETT. [360

out of them, as the phrase is; whereas, it is, as we have shown,
in all fair and honest business, just the reverse; he does just as
much good to the community as he does to himself. The whole-
sale dealer, who clears ten thousand doUars a year by importation,
enables a hundred retailers to clear, in all, an equal sum, by retail-
ing his cargoes; and the retailers, in turn, by exchanging the
foreign conmiodity for the farmer's products, enable the thousand
iaroiers to clear a like sum, though it may <;ome to them not in
cash, but in the means of comfort and enjoyment.

These remarks, however, will apply only to the production and
exchange of articles which really contribute to the emoyment or
comforts of life, and to services which are really useml in dimin-
ishing the sufferings or adding to the happiness of mankind.

There are, however, kinds of business, in which a man does
make his money out of the commuhit}% He takes away from
others just as much as he makes himself. For instance, if he man-
ufactures and sells a worthless article, he takes the money of his
purchasers, and they receive no equivalent. If a manufacturer of
counterfeit money gives a counterfeit bill in exchange for a cer-
tain commodity, it i^ plain that he actually steals that commodity.
He really makes money out of the community.

The counterfeit dealer has, however, diis thing in his favor,
which some people have not, viz. that what he leaves in the hand
of his customers, as the fictitious representative of what he takes
away from them, does no hurt. They carry the counterfeit bill a
few days in their pockets until they find its worthlessness,* and
then they simply lay it aside. It does not bite them, nor poison
them. It does not destroy their health, and shorten their days: it
does not beggar their children, nor break their wives' biearts, nor
ruin their souls.

In regard, however, to the man who takes his neighbor's prop-
erty, and in exchange for it gives him rum, we fear we cannot go
by halves, in speakbg of either aspect of the transaction. In £e
first place, he receives his neighbor's money wholly without an
equivalent. The rum has no value to him whatever. It is worth-
less, and wholly worthless, so that the seller takes the money of
another without making any return. This is dishonest — not legal-
ly so, we admit, but really so in the eye of God.

But this is not the worst of it. The article which is put into
the miserable victim's hand, to induce him to give up^Us money,
is not merely worthless-^it is destructive. Its direct, well known,
universal, and inevitable tendency is, to kill; — to kill soul and
body. AH he wants is his customer's three cents! He does not
wish to kill him. He only gives him what kills him, because that
is the only way to get his three cents. He does not wish to de-
stroy the man for the very sake of destroying him. He does not

361] SETENTH REPORT. — 1834. 23

(lesii^e^ on its own account, to rub his character, and take away
his pro))erty, and break his wife's heart, and beggar and starve his
children. No; his object is only to get the man's money, and he
does these things, because that seems to him the shortest way to
secure his three cents. All the money he makes, is worse than
taken dishonestly. It is the price of blood! Every dollar he re-
ceives, instead of being a certificate of the amount of good he has
done, is a certificate of the misery and rub he has spread around
him. His coin should be bscribed, ' This certifies that the
bearer has made a man beat his wife.' 'This half dollar is a
raemorial of four nights of wretchedness, which were given to a
whole family in exchange for it. ' ' This bag of money certifies,
that the possessor has sent two of his nfeighbors to the jail, and
their wives and children to the poorhouse.' What money for a
man to hold in his coffers! It is the price or blood!"

This sentiment is abundantly supported by facts. In the bill
of mortality of the city of New York, it is stated, that seventy-six
were killed by intemperance the last year. And, says an energetic
writer, in a document presented to the Common Council by the
City Temperance Society, ". To this number how many ought to
be added of the thirty suicides, how many of the hundred dying
of apoplexy, how many of the sixty-nine of casualty, how many
of the twelve hundred and fifty-one of consumption, how many of
the five hundred and ten of convulsions, how many of the three
hundred and five of dropsy in the head, how many of the one
hundred and fourteen drowned, how many of the two hundred
and forty-nine of peripneumony, might be properly added to the
Kst of intemperate, can only be known at the great day, when all
secrets will be revealed. It is believed that one-fourth at least of
the enumerated lists might be charged to btemperance ; but sup-
pose one-sixth of the numbers mentioned in the specified lists
was added to the seventy-six returned intemperate, the matter
would stand thus : two thousand eight hundred and twenty-eight
in the enumerated list, one-sixth of which is four hundred and
seventy-one, add the seventy-six^ and the number is five hundred
and forty-seven expiring of a licensed poison. Awful thought !
they are all adults, and most of them men, and the heads of fami-
lies ! Look at five hundred shipwrecked, no, rumwrecked, fami-
lies, the heads of which are. dead, leaving, on an average, a wife
and four children, making two thousand and five hundred sur-
vivors, heirs of shame and sorrow !"

And when we recollect that the College of Physicians in Phil-
adelphia, after a careful examination, have given it as their opin-
ion that seven hundred deaths were opcasioned by intemperance,
in that city, in a year ; and tlie physicians of Annapolis have given
it as their opbion, that half the men over eighteen years of age^

24 AMERICAN TEMPERANCfi SOCIETY. [362

who died in one year in that city were killed in the same way, that
more than half the men who for years have died in other places,
were known to be drunkards, who can doubt but that five hundred
and fortv-seven is far less than the number who have been annu-
ally killed by it, in the city of New York. An equal number in
proportion to the population, with those who, in the judgment of
the physicians, were killed by intemperance in rhiladelphia,
would be in New York more than eight hundred, and in the
United States more than fifty-six thousand. Surely then the gains
of the traffic, which produces such destruction, is the price of blood.

Nor are these men screened from the guilt of blood, by the
plea, that they do not intend to kill, but only to make - money.
There is no evidence that even Judas, in betraying his master,
intended to kill ; but only to make money. But when death fol-
lowed, and he in remorse cast down the money, those who took
It up said, " It is the price of blood.** And with the knowledge
which those have who traffic in this poison, or which they might
have, how much more is their gain, the price of blood. Were
dl those whose lives have been shortened by it, within the last
thirty years, to arise from their graves, they would make an army
of more than a million of men. And can those who prosecute
a business of such results, when inquisition is made for blood, be
screened by the plea, that they did not intend to kill, they only
wished -for money ?

When the owner of the ox which was wont to push, did not
keep him in, but let him go out, though he did not mtend to kill,
but only wished for money, yet if he did kill, "the ox," said
Jehovah, "shall be stoned and the owner put to death." . (Ex.
xxi. 29.) Admit the correctness of this decision, of the Judge of
the earth, and who can avoid the conclusion, that he who continues
the business of sending out the means of d^atb, or when owned
by him, permitting it to go out, will, by Jehovah, be condemned.
Every conscience enlightened, condemns him now, and, without a
change, that condemnation will be eternal.

A publication has been issued by the Revival Tract Society,
firom the pen of A. W. Ives, M. D., New York, entitled, " A Dia-
logue between a Dealer in Ardent Spirits and his Conscience;"
which has also, during the past year, had an extensive circulation.
The following is a specimen of its contents.

** Conscience, — How is it possible that you do not see this
traffic to be sinful ? Violence, brutal licentiousness, the basest
crimes, poverty, misery and death in their most frightful forms flow
directly from the use of ardent spirit — ^nay more than all these,
there is nothing else which so effectually shields the heart against
the operations of the Holy Spirit, or paralyses the gracious affec-
tions.

363] SEVENTH REPORT. — 1834. 25

DBokr. — The morality of this traffic, I conceive to depend
entirely upon circumstances. It may be wrong for one man to
continue it — to another it is right because it would be ruin for
him to abandon it. Now among my own Christian friends, there
is one whose whole property is merged in a firm engaged in the
commission business; their consignments consist chiefly in West
India produce, a portion of which is rum. Those from whom
they receive it, care nothing about the temperance reformation,
and would immediately transfer their whole business to other con-
signees, if these should refuse to receive and sell their rum.
Moreover, it so happens that my friend is the only religious man
in the concern, and whatever he may wish to do, his partners will
not hazard their whole business by refusing to sell the spirit which
their neighbors will sell if they do not. Thus situated, is it the
duty of a man to give up a respectable and profitable connection?
I know another house tliat advanced large sums to West India
planters before the temperance reformation began, and stipulated
to receive their produce; that is, rum, sugar aiid molasses, and
reimburse themselves by the sale of it. A large proportion ot
their debt is still due, and their obligation still binding. Now
would it be right for that concern to violate their contract, and
thereby bring ruin upon themselves, and perhaps upon many of
their creditors, by refusing to receive and sell the rum?

CoTwctencc— Cases like these I have not failed to consider.
They present difficulties, so long as one is trying to serve both
God and mammon. But, let a dealer in ardent spirit, even in the
pecuh'ar circumstances you have related, exercise the decision of
character which becomes him as a man of business, and all em-
barrassment will be removed. If he comes to the determination
to be influenced by mere worldly expediency ^ and to set aside the
higher motive of religious obligation, he will continue his business.
He will regard it as the best policy, because it promotes his tem-
poral interest; and this is, in his estimation, paramount to his
obligation to God, to his fellow man, and to his own soul. If
occasionally he is disquieted, it will be but for a moment, for he
will evade the truth, so as to make himself believe, that while
pursuing his worldly interest, he is doing his duty. On the other
hand, if he sincerely desires to be governed by a rule of righteous-
ness, if the path of duty is obscure, he will look for light to the
precepts of the gospel; and then instead of doubting- whether his
business is sinful, because the Bible does not literally forbid the
sale of rum, he will look at the spirit of the Christian religion.
And whenever a man does this honestly, he will deduce from
almost every page of that sacred volume, a principle as clear and
as imperative as a *thus saith the Lord,' — ^a principle, which
bmds hini by an everiasting obligation^ not to bjure his neighbcNr;
3 27*

36 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETT. [364

not to be an offence to him; not to partake of his sins. When he
finds himself engaged in a sinful traffic, in vam may avarice plead
that he was involved in it ignorantly, and that to forsake It will be
disastrous to his fortune; in vain may ambition plead that his influ-
ence will be impaired, or hypocrisy press the claims of charity
and religion; the Christian will reply, ^I have nothing to do with
such consequences. When Ood reveals to me his will, I must
obey it.' When the young man in the gospel was commanded
to sell all his goods and follow Christ, no doubt he might have
pleaded, with plausible casuistry, the innocent and useful employ-
ment of his money, the benefit of his liberality, and the salutary
bduence of his example. Can the dealers in ardent spirit whose
cases you have mentioned, do as much? And why have they less
reason to fear that they too will be sent away from the presence
of their Master, sorrowing? He laid down his life for them^ and
what is the sacrifice they are called to make for Aim, even in
these most trying cases? Is it greater than our own patriot fathers
made for the freedom of their country? *They did not hesitate to
pledge 'their lives, their fortunes, and their honor.' Nor did
they shrink from their obligation; and does the professing Chris-
tian pledge less when he. enters into covenant with God? And
what if one of those revolutionary heroes should have furnished
arms and ammunition for the enemy, because his partner happened
to be a tory, or because he had stock on hand, and could not
otherwise dispose of it profitably; or because he had contracted
for a large quantity of these articles in France before the war
began, and could not possibly land them in this country, or oth-
erwise dispose of them, than to sell them to British ships of war
that were blockadmg our coasts? What would have been tliougbt
of the hero's patriotism? He would have been stigmatized and
punished as a traitor. And is a rum-dealing Christian doing less
for the enemies of religion? Is he less faithless to the King of
kings?

Deal. — I acknowledge this subject is embarrassed with difficul-
ties, but it is a morbid conscience that sees and feels them to be
all upon one side. Shall I deprive myself of the influence which
I now have in society and in the church, by abandoning my busi-
ness and voluntarily becoming a poor man ? Shall my children
be cut off from the means of education, of a comfortable support,
and the expectations of a respectable standing in the conununity ?
Will it be no injury to the cause of religion, that I shall be obliged
to withdraw my subscription from the bible, missionary, and tract,
and education societies ? Others will continue the traffic if I do
not ; and if abuses result firom it, I am not answerable for them.

Con.— 'These, ipdeed, are plausible reasons for persisting in a
sinful employment, and the roan of the world who is laying up his

365] SEVENTH REPORT 1834. 27

treasures here, may dvyell upon them with complacency. The
thought recurs, and presses itself upon me, — I am a professing
Christian, and ' if I loye not my brother I abide ia death. ' If 1
seek not his salvation, I can have no hope of my own. How
♦hen can I sustain my influence in society, and in the church, at
the expense of the temperance, wealth, comfort, happiness and
respectability, of perhaps thousands of my fellow beings ; . nay, at
the expense of the salvation of their immortal souls ? Shall my
children be educated, and hundreds and thousands of others
thereby be reduced to ignorance and poverty and ignominy ? . Can
the cause of religion be supported by making drunkards, and
thieves, and robbers, and widows, and orphans, and paupers ?
W^hat, though there be those who grow rich by gathering the
wages of iniquity, and who fatten upon the. blood of their fellow
men ; whose hearts are unmoved by the bitter cries of the widow
and the fatherless, and who see nothing in the death-bed . of des-
pair to move their commiseration ; I am a Christian— and can I
have feelings and bterests in common with such meii ? How can
, the Christian talk of aiding the cause of religion by the gains of a
traffic, which, but for the long-suffering and omnipotent grace of
God, would ere this have driven religion, sorrowing, from>the earth.
What poison, like intemperance, ever entered the very heart of
tlie church, was diffused through every portion of her, and trans-
mitted a loathsome plague, from one generation to anotlier ?: Has
not the church sickened and groaned, from year to. year, and from
age to age, in consequence of this evil ? Have not her children
apostatised and fled from their mother's bosom and their father's
house, and become vagabonds and wanderers in the earth ? And
for what, and why should / participate in perpetuating an evil upon
the earth, so destructive to the temporal and etei-nal happiness of
my fellow men, and sip offensive to the God of Heavea .^ Let
those who vnll, continue in this trafiicy I dare not be a partaker in
their sins.

Deal, — I foresee that we shall be obliged to wind up our busi-
ness ; that whether right or wrong I shall never be permitted to
pursue it peaceably. I have already been sulnected. to. more
trouble than I would have borne, had it not been for an imperative
sense of duty to the church and to my family. It is not an easy
matter for one, situated as I am^ to change or abandon a business
that yields him a comfortable support, when he. will be obliged in
consequence of.it, to change the style of his living, and perhaps
absolutely to reduce his faoiily to poverty. I will consent, how-
ever, not to increase my stock, but to contract my business and
take measures to , dispose of the concern. as, soon as I can do it
advantageously.

Con. — And pray, do you distrust the power, wisdom, or the

28 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETY. [366

faithfulness of God, that you so reluctantly rely upon his kind
providence in taking care of you, while you are yielding obedience
to an obvious duty ? Are you not making gold your hope, and
saying to the fine gold. Thou art my confidence ? If God grants
your request, in this worldly expediency, be assured he will send
leanness into your soul. It is a compromise with the mammon of
unrighteousness, unworthy of the character and inconsistent with
the faith of a Christian. I have no feai* of seeing what the
Psahnist never saw, ' the righteous forsaken nor his seed beggiog
bread ;' and instead of insulting the Most High, by virtually pro-
claiming my independence of him, I will confidently and cheer-
fully commit my all into his hands, with the resolution of Job,
tliat 'though he slay me, yet will I trust in him-.' If the traffic
you are engaged in be sinful, it will never be more so than it is
to-day ; and to continue it in the clear light of this truth, is not
merely delaying repentance, it is presumptuously tempting God ;
and I am afiraid, that while you are winding up your business, he
will take away your soul."

A similar publication has been issued by the American Tract
Society, from the pen of Rev. Heman Humphrey, D. D., Pres-
ident of Amherst College, entitled, '' Debates ofConscience with a
Distiller, a wholesale Dealer, and a Grocer. " The following is the
close of the debate with the distiller :

'^ Conscience — But I cannot close this interview till I have related
one of the dreams to which I just alluded. It was only last night
that I suffered, in this way, more than tongue can tell. The whole
terrific vision is written in letters of fire upon the tablet of my
memory ; and I feel it all the while burning deeper and deeper.

I thought I stood by a great river of melted lava, and while I
was wondering from what mountain or vast abyss it came, sud-
denly the field of my vision was extended to the distance of sev-
eral huncked miles, and I perceived that, instead of springing fi'om
a single source, this rolling torrent of fire was fed by numerous
tributary streams, and these again by smaller rivulets. And what
do you think I heard and beheld, as I stood petrified with aston-
ishment and horror ! There were hundreds of poor wretches
struggling and just sinking in the merciless flood. As I contem-
plated the scene still more attentively, the confused noise of
boisterous and profane merriment, mingled with loud shrieks of
despair, saluted my ears. The hair of my head stood up — and
looking this way and that way, I beheld crowds of men, women
and children, thronging down to the very margin of the river —
some bowing down to slake their thirst with the consuming liquid,
and others convulsively striving to hold them back. Some I saw
actually pushing their neighbors headlong from the treacherous
bank, and others encouraging them to plunge in,. by holding up the

367] SEVENTH REPORT. — 1834. 29

fiery temptation to their view. To ensure a sufficient depth of
the river, so that destruction might be made doubly sure, I saw a
great number of men, and some whom I knew to be members of
the church, laboriously turning their respective contributions of
the glowing and hissing liquid, into the main channel. This was
more than I could bear. I was in perfect torture. But when I
expostulated with those who were nearest to the place where I
stood, they coolly answered. This is the way in which we get our
living !

But what shocked me more than all the rest, and curdled every
drop of blood in my veins, was the sight which I had of this very
distillery pouring out its tributary stream of fire ! And 0, it
distracts, it maddens me to think of it. There you yourself stood
feeding the torrent which had already swallowed up some of your
own family, and threatened every moment to sweep you away '
This last circumstance brought me from the bed, by one convul-
sive bound, into the middle of the room ; and I awoke in an agony
which I verily believe I could not have sustained another
moment. ,

Dis. — I will feed the torrent no longer. The fires of my dis-
tillery shall be put out. From this day, from this hour, I renounce
the manufacture of ardent spirits for ever."

The following is a part of the debates between Conscience
and the wholesale Dealer :

" Con, — 0, when I think of what you are doing to destroy the
bodies and souls of men, I cannot rest. It terrifies me at all hours
of the night. Often and often when I am just losing myself in
sleep, I am startled by the most frightful groans and uneartfily
imprecations, coming out of these hogsheads. And then, those
long processions of rough made coffins, and beggared families,
which I dream of, from nightfall till daybreak, they keep me all
the while in a cold sweat, and I can no longer endure them.

Deal. — Neither can I. Something must be done. You have
been out of your head more than half the time for this six months.
I have tried all the ordinary remedies upon you without the least
effect. Indeed every new remedy seems only to aggravate the
disease. Oh, what would not I give for the discovery of some
anodyne which would lay these horrible phantasms. The case
would be infinitely less trying, if I could sometimes persuade you,
for a night or ; two, to let me occupy a different apartment from
yourself ; and when your spasms come on, one might as well try
to sleep with embers in his bosom, as where you are.

Con. — Would it mend the matter at all, if, mstead of sometimes
dreaming, I were to be always wide awake ?

Deal, — ^Ah, there 's the grand difficulty. For I find that when
you do wake up, you are more troublesome than ever. Then you
3*

so AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETY. [368

are always harping upon my being a professor of religion, and
bringing up some texts of Scripture, which might as well be let
alone, and which you would not ring in my ears, if you had any
regard to my peace, or even your own. More than fifty times,
within a month, have you quoted, ' By their fruits ye shall know
them, ' In fact, so uncharitable hkve you grown of late, that from
the drift of some of your admonitions, a stranger would thmk m6
but little, if any, better than a murderer. And all because some
vagabond or other may possibly happen to shorten his days by
drinking of a little of the identical spirit which passes throu^ my
hands.

Con.^-You do me bare justice when you say, that I have often
reproved you, and more earnestly of late than I formerly did.
But my remonsti^ces have always been between you and me
alone. If I have charged you with the guilt of hurrying men to
the gfiave^and to hell, by this vile traffic, it has not been upon the
house-top. I cannot, it is true, help knowing how it grieves your
brethren, gratifies the enemies of religion, and excites the scorn
of drunkards themselves, to see your wharf covered with the fiery
element ; but I speak only m your own ear. To yourself I have
wished to prove a faithful monitor, though I have sad mis-
givings, at times, even with regard to that. You will bear me
witness, however, that I have sometimes trembled exceedingly,
for fear that I should b6 compelled, at last, to carry the matter up
by indictment to the tribunal of Eternal Justice.

To avoid this dreadful necessity, let me once more reason the
case with y'ou in few words. You know perfectly well that ardent
spirit kills its tens of thousands in the United States every year,
and there is no more room to doubt that many of thesie lives are
destroyed by the very liquor which you sell, llian if you saw them
staggering under it into the drunkard's grave. How then can you
possibly throw off blood-guiltiness, with the light which you now
6^yoy ^ ^^ faithfulness to your soul, and to Him whose vicege-
rent I am, I cannot say less than this, especially if you persist any
longer in the horrible traffic.

Deal, — ^Pardon me, my dear Conscience, if under the excite-
ment of the moment I complained of your honest and continued
importunity. Be assured, there is no friend in the world, with
whom I am so desirous of maintaining a good understanding as
with yourself. And for your relief and satisfaction, I now give
you my solemn pledge, that I will close up this branch of my
business as soon as possible. Indeed, I have commenced the
process already. My last consignments are less, by more than
one half, than those of the preceding year ; and I intend that,
when another year comes about, my books shall speak still more
decidedly in my favor.

369] SEVENTH REPORT. — 1834. 31

Con. — These resolutions would be perfectly satisfactory, if
they were in the present tense. But if it was wrong to sell five
hundred casks last year, how can it be right to sell two hundred
this year, and one hundred next ? If it is criminal to poison forty
men at one time, how can it be innocent to poison twenty at
another ? If you may not throw a hundred fire brands into the
city, how will you prove that you mgy throw one ?

Deal. — ^Very true, very true — but let us wave this poiat for
the present. It afiects me very strangely.

Con. — How long, then, will it take to dry up this fountain of
death !

DeaL — Do n't call it so, I beseech you ; but I intend to be
entirely out of the busmess in two or three years, at farthest.

Con. — Two or three years ! Can you, then, after all that has
passed between us, persist two or three years longer in a contra-
band traffic ? I verily thought, that when we had that long con-
ference two or three months ago, you resolved to close the con-
cern at once : and that, when we parted, I had as good as your
promise, that you would. Surely you cannot so soon have
forgotten it.

Deal. — No ; I remember that interview but too well -^ for I
never was so imhappy in my life. I did almost resolve, and more
than half promise, as you sjty. But after I had time to get a little
composed, I thought you had pushed matters rather too far ; and
that I could convince you of it, at a plroper time. I see, however,
that the attempt would be fruitless. But, as I am anxious for a
compromise, let me ask whether, if I give away all the profits of
this branch of my business to the Bible Society, and other reli-
gious institutions, till I can close it up, you will not be satisfied I

Con.— Let nae see. Five hundred dollars, or one hundred
dollars, earned to promote the cause of religion by selling poison !
By killing husbands, and fathers, and brothers, and torturing poor
women and children ! It smells of blood — ^and can God possibly
accept of such an offering ?

Deal. — So then, it seems, I must stop the sale at once, or
entirely forfeit what little charity you have left.

Con. — You must. Delay is death — death to the consumer at
least ; and how can you flatter yoursejlf that it will not prove your
own eternal death ? My convictions are decisive, and be assured,
I deal thus plainly because I love you, and cannot bear to become
your everlastmg tormentor. "

The following is the close of the debate between Conscience
and the Retailer.

" Retailer — ^Ah, I see what you are aiming at ; and really, it is
too mucli for any honest man, and still more for any Christian to
hear. You know it is a long time since I have pretended to answer

32 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETT. [370

half your captious questions. There 's no use in it. It only
leads on to others still more impertinent and puzzling. If I am
the hundredth part of that factor of Satan which you would make
me, I ought to be dealt with and cast out of the church at once ;
and why do n't my good brethren see to it ?

Con.-^That 's a hard question, which they, perhiaps, Better
know how to answer than I do.

Ret, — But have you forgotten, my good Conscience, that in
retailing spirit, I am under the immediate eye and sanction of the
laws ? Mine is no contraband traffic, as you very w^ell know. I
hold a license from the rulers and fathers of the state, and have
paid my money for it into the public treasury. Why do they
continue to grant and sell licenses, if it is wrong lor me to sell rum ?

Con, — Another hard question, which I leave them to answer
as best they can. It is said, however, that public bodies have no
soul, and if they have no soul, it is difficult to see bow they can
have any conscience ; and if not, what should hinder them from
selling licenses ! But suppose the civil authorities should offisr to
sell you a license to keep a gambling house, or a brothel, would
you purchase such a license, and present it as a salvo to your
conscience ?

Ret, — I teU you once more, there is nd use in trying to answer
your questions ; for say what I will, you' have the art of turning
every thing against me. It was not always so, as you must very
distinctly remember. Formerly I could retail hogshead after
hogshead of all kinds of spirits, and you slept as quietly as a child.
But since you began tp read these Reports and Tracts about
drinking, and to attend Temperance meetings, I have scarcely had
an hour's peace of my life. I feared that something like this
would be the effect upon your nervous temperament, when you
began ; and you may recollect that I strongly objected to your
troubling yourself with these new speculations. It now grieves
me to think that I ever yielded to your importunity ; and beware
that you do not push me to extremities in this matter, for I have
about come to the resolution that I will have no more of these
mischievous pamphlets, either about my store or tavern ; and that
your temperance agents may declaim to the winds and waDs, if
they please.

Con, — I am amazed at your blindness aiid obstinacy. It is
now from three to five years since I began to speak (though in a
kind of indistinct underr-tone at first) agaiirst this bloody traffic. I
have reasoned, I have remonstrated, and latterly I have threatened
and implored with increasing earn«^stness. At times you have
listened, and been convinced that the course you are pursuing, in
this day of light, is infamous, and utterly incbiisistent \vith a
Christian profession. But before your cdtivictions and resolutions

371] SEVENTH REPORT. — 1834. 33

have time to ripen into action, the love of money legains the
ascendency ; and thus have you gone on resolving and relapsing,
and re-resolving : one hour at the preparatory lecture, and the
next unloading whiskey at your door ; one moment mourning over
the prevalence of intemperance, and the next arranging your
decanters to entice the simple — one day partaking of the cup of
the Lord at his table, and the next, offering the cup of devils to
your neighbors — one day singing,

*' All that i have and all I am,
I consecrate to Thee ; '

and the next, for the sake of a little gain^ sacrificing your char-
acter, and polluting all you can. induce to drink ! 0, how can I
hold my "peace ? How can I let you alone ? If you will persistj
your blood, and the blood of those whom you thus entice and
destroy,' be upon your own head. Whether you will hear, or
whether you will forbear, I shall not cease to remonstrate ; and
when I can do no more to reclaim you, I will sit down at your

gte, in the bitterness of despair, and cry Murder! Murder f I,
URDER!!!

Ret. — {Pale and trembling.) Go thy way for this time j when
I have a convenient season I will call for thee."

Such are the sentiments inculcated by the press on this moment-
ous subject. More than 4,500,000 copies of various publications^
containing similar views, have been issued the past year, by the
New York' State Temperance Society, and vast numbers by other
Temperance Societies and individuals in various parts of the coun-
try. The eagerness with which they are sought, while they
inculcate, with the greatest plainness and power, the gross immoral-
ity and enormous wickedness^ of the traffic in sffdent spirit, shows
that this truth commends itself to the conscience, and is producing
permanent setded conviction in the minds of sober men through*
out the nation. And it moves them to a course of efforts which
they are resolved, if the Lord will, never to relinquish, till the
traffic is exterminated throughout the globe. This may appear
to some to be visionary. But the truth, attended by the power
of the God of truth, is mighty, and will prevail. Already its in-
fluence on this subject, is extending throughout the w^orld.

Numbers in England, Ireland, and Scotland, and throughout the
Provinces of that kingdom, have denounced the traffic in ardent
spirit, as immoral; and more than 1 50,000 have joineid their Tem*
perance Societies. And though they meet with some peculiar dif-
ficulties in that kingdom, yet facts demonstrate that perseverance in
proper efforts, will, with the Divine blessing, overcome diem, and
>he cause there, as well as here, universally triumph.

From Sweden a few years ago we received an a|)plic<(tion fof

34 XMimiCAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETT. [372

the Constitufion of the American Temperance Society and a copy
of all the Temperance publications which had been printed in the
United States. They were furnished, and numerous Temperance
associations have been formed in that kingdom. They have also
established a periodical, which is published in the Capital, once in
two weeks, called. The Stockholm Temperance Herald.
The Crown Prince has lately presided at a Temperance meeting
in that city, and openly proclaimed himself the Patron of Tempe-
rance Societies. He has also issued his proclamation, and called
the attention of all classes to the subject.

A few months ago we received from that country an interesting
document, entitled, "Temperance and Political Economy,
DISCUSSED WITH REFERENCE TO SwEDEN*," addressed to the
Representatives of the Swedish nation, at the next Diet. It is a
closely printed octavo of 216 pages; and shows with great clear-
ness not only the importance, but the necessity of llie Temperance
Reform to the prosperity, if not to the existence of the Swedish
nation. In a population of about 3,000,000, the author states
that they have 170,000 distilleries; and consume annually
60,104,570 canns (45,078,427 gallons) of distilled liquor; at an
expense to the consumers of 62,177,636 Rix dollars, (about
$65,000 000.)

"This quantity and this value," says the writer, " passes an-
nually down Swedish throats, of a drink, of which the first Physi-
cians and Physiologists of all countries, declare, that it contains
not a single particle of nutritious substance."

Well he may, as he does, urge on the government of his coun-
try, in order to escape national ruin, the necessity of Temperance
Societies, and upon all his countrymen the duty of joining them.
" The principle of Christian charity," he says, "makes it the duty
of every man who loves his neighbor, to abstain from ardent spirit.
Nothing else without this, will save multitudes from perdition.
Whzi shall we say of our country, that country whose inhabitants
were once distinguished for their industry, prudence, temperance,
morality, and noble Christian spirit? That country has now be-
come a by-word among the nations, and a subject of scorn, as
branded with the appellation of the country of drunkenness. " He
then, with all the ardor of a patriot and philanthropist, urges the
subject on the immediate attention of the Government, and all
classes of the people as of vital importance to all the great interests
of the nation. And if they are not lost to all seiise of duty, interest,
and safety, his exhibitions must, we think, make a deep and abiding
impression. To arouse and animate them, he points, as do patriots
and philanthropists of other countries, to the example and efforts
of America; and in view of wliat we have done, endeavors to
persuade them to engage m the same blessed cause.

373] SEVENTH REPORT. — 1834. 36

It has often impressed the minds of your Committee, and ought,
ne thiak, to impress the minds of aU members of this Society and
friends of this cause, that we are engaged in. a work which is of
vital importance not only to o(V country, but to all nations; and
increasing numbers in all countries, as they become acquainted with
this subject, begin to view it in the same momentous light.

From Dorpot, the seat of the first University in Russia, a gen-
tleman writes, and expresses the deep interest which they there
begin to feel on the subject of translating into the Esthonian lan-
guage, Temperance tracts. " Intemperance, " he says, "is the
great curse of all the people of the North. The provinces are
full of distilleries and the destruction of property, and soul, is very
great." He had just finished the translation of a Temperance tract
of the Berlin Society in Prussia, and was about to translate the
Essay of our countryman, the Rev. Prof. Hitchcock, on the sin
of making and vending ardent spirit, with which he expressed him-
self greatly pleased.

He then proceeds to urge strongly, that, to which some in this
country, in view of the Committee, without any good reason, have
been opposed; viz. that every Temperance tract should be " a
preacher of righteousness;" and urge men to be temperate, by
motives drawn, not merely from time, but also fi-om eternity; that the
guilt, as well as the folly of intemperance as a violation of die IHnne
iaw ; and that in view of a judgment to come, men should be en-
treated on this subject, as well as others, '' to be. reconciled to God. "

This view, the Committee have no doubt, is fundamental.
Every reformation from sin and death, to be successful, must be
prosecuted in the spirit of the gospel ; by motives drawn from
the cross of Christ, and with reference to eternity. Nothing else
takes hold of the moral nature of man, with a grasp strong enough
to control it. And this is peculiarly the case widi regard to the
Temperance reformation. No general and strongly marked prog-
ress was made on this subject, till it was taken up and prosecuted
in this manner. And none will continue to be made, after this
manner of prosecuting it shall cease. The light of the know-
ledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, is the only
light powerful enough to dispel the darkness; and the love of God
in the gift of his own Son to redeem men frotn all iniquity, is the
only motive strong enough to lead them to forsake it. It is so in
tliis country. It is so in England. It is so in Russia. It is so
every where. Hence the anxiety which the philanthropist feels, that
Clirist should be the soul of every Temperance tract. He must
be the soul of every Temperance effort, that will be generally and
permanently successful. And the more men become enlightened,
and his love reigns in their hearts, the deeper will be this convic-
tion in the minds of all who labor in this cause.

36 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETY. [31'4

"We never made any headway," says a gentleman in Great
Britain, " in the abolition of the slave trade and of slavery, till it
was taken up by religious men, prosecuted as a concern of the
soul, with reference to eternity, and by motives drawn from the
cross of Christ." Here is the grand instrument of our world's
renovation.

« This remedy did wisdom find,

To heal diseases of the mind."

" Out lusts its wondrous power controls

And calms the rage of angry souls."

Prom Madras, a gentleman writes, requesting that all the Tem*
perance publications may be sent to him. Another gentleman,
from Calcutta, gives a very interesting account of a Temperance
meeting in that city. Inf Burmah, Malacca, and in China, the
cause is excitbg increased attention ; numbers are feeling more
deeply its importance, especially in its connection with the spread
of the gospel, and are making new efforts to extend it.

From Ceylon, Dr. Scudder writes, " One of the most inter-
esting circumstances that has transpired has been the annual meet-
ing of our Native Temperance Society. The meeting was held
iq the Church. Cassenathun, the President of the Society, was
seated on a mat in front of the pulpit. T. W. Coe, die Secre-
tary, was seated at his left. The most respectable part of the
heathen were^n his right side ; the speakers at the meeting and
others, on the left. The meeting was opened by the Secretary's
readmg several verses of the Scriptures ; and after a few remarks
he read the Report. From this it appears, that about three hun-
dred and eighty perscMis have enrolled their names as members of the
Society. Many appalling facts were mentioned by several of the
speakers. Good effects have already appeared from the meeting.
A very respectable man, an officer of the government, who was
present, after returning home, ordered that no more toddy* should
be drawn from a tree which stood m his garden. Another officer
of the government who was present, went the next morning to
the market in Changane, and ordered those who had brought tod-
dy there for sale, to take it away ; and never again make their
appearance there with it."

From South Africa, Dr. Phillips writes, " The Governor and
his lady, and a few others at the head of our Society, and the
Hottentots agree in thinking that Infant Schools and Temperance
Societies, are most excellent things. At our Missionary Stations
we have found Temperance Societies to be what a person at one
of our stations called them, John the Baptist*^ They are sent to

* A species of intoxicating drink, drawn from the Cocoa Nut Tree : and also
from the Palmiia Tree.

375] SEVENTH REPORT. — 1834. 37

prepare the way of the Lord. Our Missionaries have found thenx
to be the most valuable auxiliaries in promoting the cause of God,
we ever had in Africa. We have Temperance Societies at each
of our stations ; and I believe that there are very few of our peo-
ple who do not conform to their rules. At the new settlement of
Kat river we have fourteen hundred members belonging to the
Temperance Society in that district. I shall, if possible, get you
a copy of the speeches ©f the Hottentots at our last anniversary
meeting of the Temperance Society in that place ; which will
give you a better idea of the benefits which the Temperance So^
ciety has conferred on that place, than any thing I can say."

Temperance Societies have also been formed, and have accom-
plished great good in N'ew Holland. And it is interesting to wit-
ness the correct views on this subject, which' are thus early
embraced and propagated in that part of the world. A publica-
tion from that country states, " That Societies have at various
times been formed in Scotland and other places, the object of
which, was, to prevent excess in the use of ardent spirits, not to
exclude them ; bvt that they have universally come to nothing.
They proved themselves to be unsound in principle, and therefore
could not stand. They did not set out with the incontrovertible
truth, that ardent spirit is a poison^ to both body and soul. That
it is a poison to the body, and a poison not of a very inactive
kind, we have abundant proof in this colony where it produces
numerous diseases, and destroys the inhabitants of Hobartstown
so rapidly that they do not, on an average, live to more than
the age of twenty-three years ; while the prisoners at Macquarrie
Harbor, who are excluded from the use of spirit, live, on an ave-
rage, to thirty-five years, notwithstanding the privations they
undergo in being limited to salt provisions. That spirit is a
poison to the soid, any person that uses it and attends to the state
of his own mind may readily ascertain. He will find that after
having taken but a single glass, his moral perceptions of right and
wrong are beclouded, and his moral powers of resisting tempta-
tions diminished. Sin no longer appears so sinful as it did ; and,
having weakened the powers of resistance, he runs the more rap-
idly into it."

Happy would it be, if these truths, proclaimed so forcibly from
New. Holland, should carry conviction to all in America. The
principle here adverted to, that ardent spirit is a poison^ to the
l>ody and the soul, and of course that it is wicked to drink it,
IS fundamental; and all efforts to stay its desolations, that over-
look this principle, or set it aside, or proceed as if it were
true, must ever prove abortive. No wonder then, tliat
one glass a day Societies^ that were formed in Scotland
other places^ Societies based, not professedly, but really
4 28*

38 AMERICAN tempe;rance societt. [^6

on the pnnciple of only sinning moderately, came to nought.
Such societies must ever come to nought. They overlook the
principle, the fundamental principle, of letting alone iniquity,
before it is meddled with. The fact that ardent spirit is a poison
to the body, shows the reason why it has killed, over wide regions
of country, more than one in five of the men who have drunk it ;
and why it has annually proved the means of death to more than
thirty thousand of our citizehs. And the fact that it is a poison to
the soul, shows tlie reason, why, of ninety-five thousand crimes
committed in Great Britain, more than seventy thousand were
committed under the influence of liquor; and of one hundred and
twenty-five thousand, committed in the United States, more than
ninety thousand were committed under the influence of the same
cause. These, and multitudes of similar facts, show the reason
why the trafiic in it, to be used as a drink, is, and of necessity
ever must be, a violation of the law of God ; an immorality^ of
a peculiarly aggravated description ; and, as such, ought, forth-
with, to be universally abandoned. And it calls for devout grati-
tude to the Author of all good, that this truth is embraced and
proclaimed by rapidly increasing numbers, not only in this coun-
try, but on the opposite side Qf the globe.

Among the prmcipal means of producing this conviction, have
been the Reports of our Society. Wherever they have gone,
and been read, they have produced extensively this conviction
upon the minds of sober and intelligent men. Many have arisen
from the perusal of them, with an impression never before made,
and never to be effaced, that 'the drinking of ardent spirit, and
especially the traffic in it, are a stn, peculiarly offensive to God,
and destructive to the temporal and eternal interests of men.
They were designed for this purpose ; and the evidence is con-
stantly accumulating, that could their circulation and perusal be
universal, they would, through the Divine kindness, produce their
intended effect.

As the first three were out of print, and were often sought for,
the Committee in their Fourth Report gave a history of the for-
mation of this Society, and of the Temperance Reformation, from
its commencement. They also gave a condensed view of the
prominent facts contained in all the other Reports. In that Re-
port they also proved and illusti;ated the truths that ardent spirit is
^ poison^ the drinking of which is not needful or useful, to man;
that its use, as a drink, is a viplation of the laws of health and of
life ; that it induces and aggravates . disease, impairs and often
destroys reason ; that it demoralizes the character, shortens roaay
lives, and ruins many souls. Of course, that the^drinking of it is
an immorality. That Report was constructed, not on the plaij of
being a temporary document, detailing only tenaporary and

377] SEVENTH REPORT. — 1834. 39

local operations, but on the plan of being, the first of a series
of permanent documents; embodying the great principles involv-
ed in the Temperance Reformation, the facts by which they are
iDustrated; the reasons why this work of kindness should receive
the support of all good men; and the benefits, which, should this
be the case, would result to our country and the world. It was
stereotyped, and has passed through numerous editions in this,
and other countries. It has apparently done much, and could it
be universally circulated would do much more, to hasten the time
when drunkenness shall cease, and the blessings of Temperance
universally prevail.

The Fifth Report was constructed on the same plan, and was
designed to be a continuation of the series, and was paged accor-
dingly. In this Report it was shown that the traffic in ardent
spirit, to be used as a drink, is also, an immorality; and the reasons
were pointed out, why this, as well as the drinking of it, ought to
be universally abandoned. This was also stereotyped, has passed
through several editions in this country, been reprinted in Eng-
land, and copies of it been sent to most parts of the world.

In the Sixth Report, which was designed to be the third in the
permanent series, and was stereotyped and paged accordingly, it
was shown, that the making, or continuing of laws, to authorise
the traffic in ardent spirit, by licensing men to pursue it, is also
an ioimorality. As the drinking of it is immoral, and tlie furnish-
ing of it iqomoral, it follows of course, that the making or continu-
ing of laws to authorise this trafiic, by licensing men to pursue it, and
thus throwing over it the shield of legislative sanction, is also immor-
al and ought to be abandoned. It was shown in that Report, that
men have no moral right, even in a state of nature, to traffic in ar-
dent spirit, or to authorise others to do it; and that they cannot do
either, without violating the law of God ; that they do not, and that
they cannot acquire such a right by entering into society, and form-
ing civil governments. It was shown that such traffic is' inconsis-
tent with Temperance; a violation of the first principles of political
economy; tends to impair the health; derange the intellect, and
corrupt the morals of the community. Of course, that it is a 5in,
the sanction of which, by making or continuing laws to license
men to pursue it, is necessarily wrong. And not only were these
truths proved, but the principles in the nature of man, and the
government of God were illustrated, and the reasons exhibited
why the abovementioned evils ever have resulted, and while it is
continued ever must result, from that nefarious traffic. The con-
clusion was that those who understand this subject, and yet are
instrumental in making, or continuing laws which sanction this
traffic, by licensing men to pursue it, will at the Divine tribunal,
and ought, at the bar of public opinion, to be held responsible for
their effects*

40 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETY. [378

But to tins view there were two objections. The first was,
"That the sale of ardent spirit should be licensed in order to
restrain and prevent it." To this it was answered, "that the
licensing of it for half u century had not restrained and prevented
it;' but that under such license, it had continued to increase, until
it had weUnigh proved our rum. It was also stated that the
licensing of sin is never the way to prevent or restrain it; but is
the way always to sanction and perpetuate it. It tea<ihes the doc-
trine, that if practised according to law, it is right, a doctrme
which is false and fatal. It tends to prevent the efficacy of
truth and of facts in producing the conviction that, whether
legal or illegal, according to human statute, it is nevertheless
wicked. And, of course, the laws which license it are wicked
laws."

The other objection was, " That if legislators do not license
men of conscience to sell ardent spirit, men of no conscience, m
such' great numbers, will sell it, that the evil will be overwhelm-
ing." To this it was answered, "That it is not necessary to
license counterfeiters, to prevent the community from being del-
uged with base coin. It is not necessary to license gamblers, or
swindlers, in order to prevent the community from being over
whelmed with their mischief. No more is it needful to license men
to sell ardent spu-it. If wicked men, in opposition to the influence
of moral means, will prosecute a wicked business, which corrupts
our youtlf, wastes our property and endangers our lives; the com-
munity, in this free country, diis land of liberty, have the power
and the right, without licensing iniquity, to defend themselves from
its evils. This opens the doovj and the only door^ which truth and
duty ever dp€n for legislation loith regard to sin; not to license
and sanction it^ but to defend the community from its mischiefs;
and in such a manner as is best adapted to deter the wicked from
transgression^' and promote as far as practicable their good and
fliC good of the community. And this is the change in legislation
with regard to the sin of trafficking in ardent spirit, which the cause
of temperance', of patriotism, of virtue and of God, now imperiously
demands. Treat this vice, as other vices are treated, and there
will be no difficulty in branding it with infamy.

Let legislators, chosen by the people and respectable in society,
license any sin, and it tends to shield that sin from public odium;
and to perpetuate it, by presenting for it a legal justification. ' He
that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just; even
they both are in abomination to the Lord.*

Let all sanctioning by law of this abominable traffic be for ever
abandoned;^ and if the rising indignation of a deeply injured, and
loflg suffering cbmmunity does not sweep it away, and men are
stilFfound base' enough to continue to seatter the estates of their

379] SEVENTH REPORT. — 1834. 41

neighbors, to fill our almshouses wiih paupers and our penitentiaries
with convicts, to make wives more than widows, and children doubly
orphans; to decoy our youth, and sink them to a premature and
an ignominious grave, — the people, if they choose, by the arm of
legislation can undertake the holy, righteous, and indispensable
work of self defence. And as all political power is in their hands,
it will be found to be a work which is practicable. The wisdom
of legislators chosen without the aid of ardent spirit, and the pat-
riotism of statesmen who do not use it, or rely upon it for sup-
port; but who rely on the righteousness of dieir cause, the good
sense and virtue of their constituents, and the gracious aid of their
God, will be abundantly sufficient to the exigency of the case. If
necessary to protect our property, our cliildren, and our lives, and
there is no other, or no better way to do it, how perfecdy easy,
and how perfecdy just, whenever the people generally shall desire
it, to indict at common law the keeping of a grog-shop as a public
nuisance; or to provide by statute that those who make paupers
shall support them; and those who excite others to commit crimes
shall themselves be treated a§ criminals. And in the necessary,
the magnanimous, the glorious work of legal self defence from an
evil, which, in defiance of public* sentiment, of reason, religion,
humanity, and of God, wotdd roll over earth a deluge of fire, and
annihilate the hopes of the world, legislators may expect, in pro-
portion as the subject is understood, the united and cordial sup-
port of all good men.

The point to be decided, to be decided by legislators of these
United States, to be decided for all coming posterity, for the
world, and for eternity, is. Shall the sale oj^irdent spirit as a
drink be treated in legislation^ as a virtue, or a vice9 Shall it
be licensed, sanctioned by law, and perpetuated to roll its all-per-
vading curses onward interminably? Or, shall it be treated, as it
IS in truth, a sin9 And if there shall, in future, be men base
enough to continue to commit it, shall the community, in self de-
fence, by wise and wholesome legislation, as far as practicable and
expedient, shield themselves from its evils; and if these evils
must, through the wickedness of men, continue to exist, let them
fall, as leniently as the public safety will permit, alone on the heads
of their authors? "

This Report has also been stereotyped and paged as a continu-
ation of the permanent series. Twenty-five thousand copies of the
wliole, or parts of it, have been printed, and nearly all put in cir-
culation; making of the three last Reports and pai*ts of them
which have been printed in this country, about 325,000 copies.
A copy of the last Report has befen put into the hands of each
member of Congress, and a copy of that part of it on the immoral-
ity of the License Laws, into the hands of each member of sev-
4*

42 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETT. [380

eral of the State Legislatures. It has also' been sent to numerous
gentlemen of distinction in this and other countries.

As it proceeded one step farther than eidier of the former Re-
ports, and so far as the Committee know, farther than any previous
publication on this subject ; and not only called in question the
morality, but, in view of the Committee, proved conclusively,
the decided and strongly marked immorality of a part of legisla-
tion, which has long received extensive sanction and support, the
Committee were anxious to have it receive the careful examina-
tion of a number of distinguished physicians, and divines, jurists
and statesmen; and to obtain from them an expression of their
views on the subject. They therefore sent a copy of it to a ouno-
ber of them in dmerent parts of the country, with the two following
inquiries, viz.

"I. Are the principles exhibited in this Report in your view
correct, and the arguments sound?

"II. What would probably be the effect on the great interests
of the community, should the people generally, and legislators,
choose to have sJl legislation on this subject conformed to those
prmciples?"

The following are extracts from answers which have been
received :

From the Hon. Samuel Fletcher, of New Hampshire. — " I
have read that portion of the Report to which you referred, and
have examined it with the more care, because your questions seem
to imply that objections, from sources entitled to consideration,
have been made against ' the principles and arguments' therein
advanced. And after much reflection on the subject, both before
and since I read the Report, I have come to the conclusion that,
in my judgment, ' the principles exhibited are correct, and the
arguments by which they are supported are sound ' and incon-
trovertible. And that 'should the people generally, and the
legislators, choose to have all legislation conformed to these prin-
ciples, the effect upon the social, civil, and reh'gious interests of
the community,' would be at once, and extensively benign, and
productive of public peace and individual happiness. If any
objections are sustained by good and valid reasons, I have not
been able to discover those reasons.

" And here I might, perhaps most properly, close my reply ;
but had I more leisure, I would, in justice to my views of the
great importance of the subject, and to render my humble support
to the American Temperance Society in their noble and arduous
enterprise, present some of the reasons which have produced in
my mind the conclusion above stated. But at present I can do
little more than to express my full concurrence in the reasonings
and conclusions of the Committee in their Report. The whole

381] SEVENTH REPORT. — 1834. 43

question, I think, is there stated and discussed with great ability
and candor ; and although the unqualified de^claration, that ' all
legislation relating to the sale of ardent spirit is sinful,' imy seem
bold and startling to the mind which has contemplated the subject
as clothed with the sanction and authority of law, and justified by
long established custom ; yet I doubt, not that the ^ame mind,
rdieved from the influence of prejudi<;e, will accord its entire
approbation of the proposition."

From the Rev. Francis Wayland, D. D., President of Brown
University, Providence, Rhode Island. — '' Your letter of Nov.
1 1 5 requesting my views respecting the principles and arguments
of the American Temperance Society, on the subject of laws for
the licensing of spirituous liquors ; and also respecting the general
adoption of those principles by legislators, is before me. I
embrace the earliest opportunity to return you an answer. I
believe the arguments on this subject, presented in the last Report
of the Society, to be sound, and the conclusions to which diey
lead correct. "

After stating a course of thinking somewhat difi^erent fi*om. that
mentioned in the Report, by which his own mind had been led to
the same result, he adds,

'^ Now to all this, I know of but two objections that can be urged.

I. It may be said that the grocer's property is his own, and he
has a right to use it in any manner he pleases. 1. Now this is
manifestly false. A grocer has precisely ihe same right in his
property as any other man, and he has no more. He has no
right to employ his property in the slave trade, nor in' the pur-
chase and sale of counterfeit money, nor in the manufacture of
false keys. All this every one sees. It is not then true of him
or any one else, that he has a right to use bis property as he
pleases. 2. His right in his property is the same as that of any
other man ; it is the right of using it for the promotion of his own
happiness in any manner he chooses, provided he do not so use it
as to diminish the innocent happiness of his neighbor and of the
community. Now, as the traffic in ardent spirits does diminish
that happiness, he has no right to use it in this manner.

II. Again, it may be said, that this traffic is necessary for the
purposes of revenue. This objection carries its refutation along
with it, since it has been abundantly and repeatedly proved that
the public expenditure in the cost pf pauperism and crime arising
from drunkenness, is ten-fold greater, than. the income which under
any possible circumstances can a(:crue..fix>m the traffic in ardent
spirits.

I therefore think the prohibition of the traffic in ardent spirits
a fit subject for legislative enactment, and I believe that the most
happy results would flow firom such prohibition."

44 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETY. [S82

Prom the Hon. Mark Doolittle, of Massachusetts.-^" With
pleasure do I comply with your request in expressing to you my
views relative to the principles and the arguments contained in the
sixth Report of the American Temperance Society, bearing on the
laws authorising the traffic in ardent spirits as a drink ; and the
effects upon the interests of the community, should legislators
and the people generally conform to these principles. This sub-
ject has been discussed and deliberately acted upon during the
last year, by the National Convention at Philadelphia, and by con-
ventions in Massachusetts and New York, &c., and the prmciples
expressed in the Report adopted by each of those highly respect-
able bodies, and from a careful review of this subject, the reasoning
which brings the mind to these conclusions, appears so direct and
conclusive that no room is left for doubts— there are no abstract or
unsettled principles in the case, on which the mind can linger in
suspense.

The position taken in the Report, is, that laws authorising
the traffic in ardent spirits as a drink are morally wrong. In what-
ever aspect this subject is viewed — by whatever course of reason-
ing we are guided m our inquiries, we are brought to the same
conclusion. The seal of everlasting reprobation and abhorrence
upon this traffic is, that it has no redeeming qualifications — ^it never
has done men any good, and from the nature of the case, it never
can.

Is ther6 any other article which the community would sustain
for a single day as the object of commerce among men, that should
produce precisely the same effects upon the community that
ardent spirits produce ? Can the imagination encircle within its
scope an employment for men, the direct effect of which is to
destroy the physical, the intellectual and moral powers of men ;
spreading disease, poverty, misery and death through the commu
nity, that is not morally wrong ? If this traffic is morally wrong,
it is the duty of individuals to discontinue it, and of government to
withhold from it its sanctions. Government is instituted for the
common good. Every subject of that government has a right to
claim from it protection and security against the violation of his
rights. The direct and inseparable consequence of this traffic, is,
to violate the most sacred rights ; to sunder the bondfs of society,
and bury in everlasting forgetfulness the duties which the dearest
relations in life impose. There is not a tie which binds man to
his fellow man, that has escaped its direful touch. The questi(Ni
arises, what ought legislators to do on this subject ? I answer,
place the article on the contraband list, and make the traffic in it
penal, as deadly to the best interests of men. I would gravely
ask, are not the evils arising from the traffic in ardent spirits as
dangerous and destructive to the community as those Uiat arise

383] SEVENTH REPORT. — 1834. 46

from the traffic in lottery tickets ? Nay, are they not much more
so ? There was a time when the traffic in lotteries was sanc-
tioned by Christian legislators — none appeared to question such
enactments in their moral tendency — ^but their effects were found
to be pernicious, and penalties have been substituted for licenses,
for those who carry on the trade.

By a careful examination of the laws authorising lotteries, they
were foimd to induce idleness, dissipation of mind and morals, and
crime, and a neglect and violation of the relative duties of life.
These laws had the argument of revenue for their support. The
fallacy of this, as well as all others for their support are now seen,
and the whole system by common consent is abandoned.

The system of revenue which impairis the health, the peace,
the domestic and social comforts, the means of usefulness, the
physical and moral energies of a people, is a revenue of death.
To that people, nothing can be gamed by spreading such pesti-
lence through the land. Why is not a government bound to pro-
tect its subjects against unwholesome drinks as well as against
unwholesome food ? If one sells unwholesome food^ he suffers
the penalty of the law. If he sells unwholesome drinky a dollar
to the government atones for the wide-spread ruin which it pro-
duces. By what authority does a government make such a
grant ; and barter the health and the lives of their subjects for
revenue ? Is it granted by the statutes of Heaven to earthly gov-
ernments ? Or, have the men of this world clothed their feUows
with the high prerogative ? Does the money paid as revenue
Tary the naoral character of the law ? or sanctify its influences on
the community ? It is exceedingly difficult to discover, how
revenue^ when it was derived to the government, can act as a
purifier. And if it does not, the law, when divested of this
imposing attire, stands thus : Be it enacted, that whosoever will,
may sell and dispose of to. whomsoever he pleases, a deadly
poison, and by his trade consign thirty or forty thousand men,
women, and children annually in the United States, to their graves.
With a full view of all the dread realities of his traffic, while he is
so promptly executing the laws, doubting, during the whole pro-
cess, as he would have us think, whether there is any thing morally
wrong in all this. Morally w^rong — ^there is a cruelty in this
traffic, and in its legal sanctions — it is a refinement on cannibal
cruelty — ^a sacrifice to fires more deadly to body and soul, than
were ever kindled at the fiineral pile of Pagans."

From the Rev. Wilbur Fisk, D. D., President of the Wes-
leyan University, Middletown, Connecticut. — "I have read and
fully approve of the sentiments advanced in the Sixth Annual
Keport of the American Temperance Society, on the subject of
legalizing die traffic in ardent spirits. The arguments in opposi-
tion to ifae license system are unanswerable.

4Q kWEtitCAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETT. (384

With respect to the ^probable effects upon the great interests
of the community,* if the principles there advanced should be
acted upon, I am decidedly of the opinion that they would be
good ; nay, that this, and this only will remove a serious obstruc-
tion to the advancement of the temperance cause.

I think the course proposed in the Report should be adopted,
relying upon the God of justice to sanction, by his providence,
what his righteousness requires at pur hands."

From Gerrit Smith, Esq., New York. — " I have attentively
read the whole of the Sixth Report of the American Temperance
Society, and can say, from the bottom of ray hea^t, that the whole
of it is good. You ask, ' whether the principles and arguments
are sound,' in that part to which you particularly refer me ?
They are sound — ^they are irresistible. And they will prevail,
unless some new causes arise to lessen the intelligence and to
blunt the moral sense of the American people. If the traffic in
ardent spirit is immoral, then of necessity are the laws which
authorise the traffic, immoral. And if the laws are immoral, then
must we be immoral, if we do not protest against them. We are
the subjects of a republican government. It is fairly inferred,
that under such a government, every voter has a share in making
the laws. We are responsible for the character of the laws.
The license laws should be repealed, because they are an awful
snare to the consciences of many. Unwise and sinful as it is for
them to do so, it is nevertheless true, that many persons graduate
their morals by the laws of the land, instead of the laws of God.
How careful should this consideration make us to suffer nothing
to have a place in our statute book, the natural tendency of which,
is, to induce men to sin. But what powerful persuasives to sin
are the license laws ? How idle to hope that all engaged m
the traffic will abandon it, while these laws remain unrepealed.
Many will cherish this self justification under the shield of the
laws ; and whose arm will be strong enough to send the shafts of
copviction into the consciejce through such a shield ? And if this
shield be broad and thick enough to shield the vender of ardent
spirit, it must be to shield the maker and the drinker of it. And
thus the laws aid in perpetuating these evils. But it is said, that
the laws themselves intimate the immorality of the traffic, by for-
bidding any to engage in it, unless they will pay a sum of money.
But if the laws are to be credited with any thing on account of
this note of remonstrance, on the other hand, they are guil^ of
teaching the dangerous doctrme that absolution from sin can be
purchased with money ; and that for a few dollars a man may,
with impunity, murder the bodies and souls of men.''

From Edward C Delevan, Esq., Chairman of the Executive
Committee of the New York State Temperance Society. — "The

385] SEVENTH REPORT. — 1834. 47

Sixth Report of the American Temperance Society makes a most
iavorable and powerful impression. It is viewed by our friends,
as the most interesting and weighty document which your Society
has ever published, and it is doing immense good.''

From the Hon. George Sullivan, Attorney General of the State
of New Hampshire. — ^" I have read with particular attention that
part of the Report of the American Temperance Society, to which
you referred in your letter. The principles contained in it, are,
in my opinion, correct ; and are supported by arguments the
most solid and convincing.

The right of the legislature of any State to allow its citizea^t
to trade in ardent spirits, may well be questioned ; to do this is,
in my view, morally wrong. Experience has clearly proved, that
tlie necessary tendency of intemperance is to produce idleness,
poverty, and crime ; and it is apparent, that so long as the legis-
lature shall tolerate such a traffic, intemperance will exist. Every
' member of the legislature of a State should consider what a weight
of responsibility rests on him. If he vote in favor of a law per-
mitting i traffic in ardent spirits, although he may abstain from the
use of them himself, and may, at times, declaim against intemper-
ance, he destroys entirely the influence of his example, and renders
ineffectual every thing he can urge against that vice. The man,
who, as a legislator, places himself on the side .of intemperance,
can never, as a private individual, act efficiently against it.

If the legislature of a State permit, by law, a traffic, which
produces poverty with all its sufferings ; which corrupts the mor-
als, and destroys the health and lives of thousands of the commu-
nity, they defeat the great and important end for which government
was established.

If they, whose right it is to make laws, should act in confor-
mity to the principles referred to, the effects upon the social,
civil, and religious interests of the community would, in my view,
be salutary and happy."

From the Hon. Joseph Henry Lumpkin, of Georgia. — ^^ I have
bestowed much thought on the pamphlet which accompanied your
letter of the 28th February. My deliberate opinion is, that the
principles contained in it are correct, and the arguments by which
they are supported, sound. I entertain no doubt but that the
laws which authorise the ' traffic in ardent spirits as a drink, by
licensing men to pursue it, are morally wrong. '

The grounds hitherto occupied in defence of these laws, are,
mostly, abandoned. Conscientious and respectable men still insist,
that their object and tendency are, to restrain and not to encourage
the sale and use of spirit. Now, I am not familiar with the legis-
lation of other States on this subject, but from observation I am
well satisfied, that the paltry sum of five dollars paid in this State

48 AMERICAN TEMPERAHCE SOCIETT. [386

for licenses to retail spirituous liquors, has never deterred one
individual from engaging in the traffic.

With the light now diffused, legislators will have to advance,
or else retrace their steps and repeal the many unwholesome provis-
ions already enacted to prevent offences against the public police,
health, and'morality. A physician or surgeon wilfully endeavor-
ing to spread the small pox ; a butcher selling the flesh of diseased
animals, or a baker unwholesome bread, are severally liable to
be indicted and punished. Indeed, aH nuisances which tend to
annoy the community, or injure the health of the citizens in
general, or which tend to corrupt the manners and morab of the
people, subject their authors to severe penalties. I repeat it, these
salutary enactments must be blotted from the statute-book, or
an additional clause must be adopted to include the vender of
^'distilled damnation,' who fills his neighborhood with ^lamenta-
tion, mourning, and woe,' by supplying every femily with that
whicb'but seldom enriches him, and niakes them poor, and miser-
able •and wicked.

But, sir, not only must our criminal code be reformed, if we
would mabtain consistency. Our civil jurisprudence must like-
wise be rectified.

No contract is valid unless founded on a good or valuabk
. consideration. Wanting this ingredient, it is styled a nude-pact ;
on which no suit or action can be brought. Let our law-makers
' discard forthwith this doctrme as a legal absurdity, however vene-
rable for its wisdom and antiquity, or direct our judicial tribunals,
to consider and determine, that all contracts for die sale of ardent
spirits come within its purpose and meaning.

Georgia has taken one step to conect this fundamental evil
and error. She has expelled the poigon from the seat of. her
University,' and tested in two counties^ the authority to grant or
refuse licenses. In one of them (Liberty), with a population of
between seven and eight thousand souls, not one drop can be
purchased."

From John C, Young, President -of Centre College, Danville,
Kentucky.-^'' Every principle in the Report is correct, every
argument sounds and the conclusion irresistibly established, that
laws authorising the sale of ardent? spirits as a drink, are morally
wrong and injurious to society. The persevering dissemination
of such principles and arguments wiU, in time, bring the public
mind to regard the licensing of this traffic as a thing no more to be
tolerated thsai the licensing of gambling houses.

Question 2d. Answer. It would require many pages to give
a full answer to this question, as its effect would be to abolish the
use of ardent spirits as a drink, and thus free the community from
the ie2:jf>n j;ir« !xie«;!jsa to which this use has given birth. Though

387] SEVENTH REPORT. 1834. 49

the prohibition of gambling-tables does not entirely root out gamb-
ling, the prohibition of the sale of ardent spirits would entirely
prevent their use ; for the temptation of the unlawful gains would be
small in the latter case, compared with what it now is in the
former; dnd detection would be inevitable in the latter case,
while it is difficult in the former, as the very breath of the dram-
drinker would lodge mformation against his haunt, while the
gambler bears about with him no traces of the den which he
frequents."

From the Rev. Heman Humphrey, D. D., President of
Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts. — '' I have read your
Sixth Report, from p. 44, to p. 69, attentively, and with great
satisfaction. The principles there laid down, rest, as I fully
believe, upon the basis of eternal truth — of love to God and
universal good will to men ; and the arguments by which these
principles are enforced, cannot be answered nor shaken. It is as
plain to me as the sun in a clear summer sky, that the license
laws of our country constitute one of the main pillars, on which
the stupendous fabric of intemperance now rests. Take away
this support, and I do not see how its tottering walls could stand
before the heavy artillery by which they are assailed, for a single
year. But how can they ever be ovenhrown, so long as they are
sustained at every angle, by the strong buttresses of — shall I say
Christian legislation ! As matters now stand, thousands will
commit their consciences for s&fe keeping to the statute books.
They will insist upon it, that a traffic, which the laws of twenty-
four enlightened states countenance and protect, cannot be wrong.
And so long as the monster intemperance has a body-guard, of
three or four thousand grave and disciplined legislators to defend
him, how can the friends of humanity, of morality and religion,
follow up the work which they have so auspiciously begun ^ and
rid the land of his carcass ? Ah, how complacently he sits within
the lines, upon his throne of human skeletons, quaffing blood and
tears, and delighting his ear with the agonies that burst from ten
thousand breaking hearts, every moment of every day and every
night in the year !

The time is but just gone by, when it was necessary to go into
a long and labored argument to prove, that the making and vend-
ing of ardent spirit is an immorality ; and that all the license laws,
are in their spirit and effects, at war with High Heaven — T^u
sluiU not kilL But I do hope, that in almost every section
of our country, ' the darkness is now past. ' Who will say, that
it would be right to plant and cultivate the deadly upas in every
town, and village, and hamlet in the land, and to encourage the
work of death by legal enactments ? Who would not be horror-
struck, if seventy-five, op a hundred thousand men in these United
5 29*

&0 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCiETT. [388

States were to go into the business of importing, and raising, and
selling fiery flying serpents : and what epithet would be applied to
such legislation, were every State government to license this great
army of destroyers for the public good t And yet were all the
serpents and beasts of prey upon the face of the earth to be let
loose upon our people, they would not be half so destructive of
life and happiness, as are the fires of the distillery, and the trade
in its concocted poisons."

From the Hon. Theodore Freliughuysen, United States'
Senator from New Jersey. — " I have read with great satisfactioa
the Sixth Annual Report of yourSociety : and especially that por-
tion of it between pages 44, and 69, on the immorality of author-
ising by law, the traffic in ardent spirit, as a drink. It is almost
unnecessary to say, how fully and heartily I concur, in the views
and>principles, that are therein so ably sustained. If the use of
ardent spirits be wrong, it seems to be a result, of inevitable
deduction, that the traffic in it is, at least equally so. And hence,
while many have ridiculed, I have always honored, the conduct
of those persons, who, under honest convictions of the evils of
intemperance, have renounced all connection and termis with
ardent spirits, broken in the head of the cask^ and poured out the
destructive poison on the ground. This was a noble tribute to
principle, that would not hesitate between the cold calculations of
avarice, and the high claims of duty, and the peace of a pure
conscience. How can a just mind engage in a commerce, all
the details of which are fruitful of evil ?

The use of ardent spirit is attended by peculiar, circum-
stances. It is not an ordinary and harmless beverage, as to which)
every man may be safely trusted, with his own keeping. But it
is an insidious and dangerous practice, that gradually fpnns an
artificial and depraved appetite. It deranges and inflames the
whole organic system of the body, aggravates instead of allaying
thirst, and creates an inward cravmg, that has, in some cases,
seemed to me like the gnawings of despair.

And worse still. This habit relaxes the hold of good prm-
ciples, by impairing the moral sense. A man's self-respect, falb
among its first victims. These sad results are confined to no
class or condition. The strong men and the feeble, are equally
exposed to its ravages. The truth is, (and every grave-yard
proves it) the man who habitually drinks ardent spirit, no matter
how temperately^ has cause to tremble ; for his danger is not only
real, but imminent.

To a subject, therefore, of such peculiar and dreadful energy,
reaching so far, and assailing so many interests, we must apply
peculiar remedies. It is mere tampering with temptation, to
come short of positive, decided, and uncompromising opposition.

389 j SEVENTH REPOJKT — 1834. 51

We must not orAv resist, we must drive it. To stand on the
defensive merely, is to aid in its triumph.

The" second inquiry which you have proposed, presents one
of the most interesting questions of public duty. The ground
taken in your Report, is, beyond all serious controversy, among the
clearest and soundest conclusions of right reason : ' "^hat the laws
which authorise the traffic in ardent spirit as a drink, by licensing
men to pursue it, are morally wrong. '

Lawmakers are, of all men, bound to seek the public good.
So broad is this duty, that they are under peculiar obligations to
consecrate the influence of a pure and personal example, to the
promotion of the general welfare. But first of all, should their
legislaHon be pure; not only preventive of evil, but persuasive to
good. No raan^ fit to represent a free people, will deny these
propositiobs. Then what can we urge in excuse for the counte-
nance, given to the use of ardent spirit, on almost every statute
Iwok ? On one page, you will read of heavy penalties denounced
against drunkenness, riots, and public disorders ; and the next
chapter, authorises the retail of the very poison, which all admit,
brings on these outbreaking transgressions. Who can recon-
cile these, glaring contradictions ? It is time, every reflecting mind
exclaims ; it Is high time to emancipate ourselves from these
humiliating practices. The use of ardent spirit has introduced a
course of reasoning and conduct, that libels human nature. Wh6
can dwell upon it without feelings of shame, that we should have
gravely provided by public law, that if men tdll pay for the mis-
chievous faculty, they may set up a tavern, and sell as much rum
as they please, short of drunkenness ; may scatter firebrands and
death all around them ; beguile unwary youth, and poison the very
fountains of moral purity ; and inflict an amount of injury on the
vital interests of the community, that neither time nor law can
repair.

I rejoice, my dear sir, that you are endeavoring to bring this
subject before the scrutiny of public men. You cannot fail, in a
purpose so fraught with benefits. We owe it to our history-^to
our free institutions, and above all, we owe it to Him, whose
benignant providence has so richly blessed us, that we purify our
Ws. And if men will engage in this destructive traffic, if they
will stoop to degrade their reason and reap the wages of iniquity,
let them no longer have the law-hook as a pillow ; nor quiet con-
science by the opiate of a court license,

I am persuaded, that the course of past legislation has greatly
increased the evil of which we complain. How could it be other-
wise ? Men can hardly avoid lookipg up to the halls of legislation
for standards of duty 5 they expect to find models there, that may
be safely followed ; and when these high places have deliberately

52 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETY. [390

sanctioned the use of ardent spirits, when under legal regulations.
the conclusion has been natural and prompt, that when it was
clothed in these legal forms, it was not only excusable, but lawful
Men would not take time to question the moral power of a legis-
lature to make that right, which God declares to be wrong. The
lamented fact has been, they did not wish to believe in any detect
of power, they loved to have it so, and accordingly reposed on the
plausible authority of a positive statute.

I trust and pray, that light will very soon become strong
enough to expose all these delusions, and that by your laudable
efforts and the blessing of God, our public men, our state and
national legislatures, with the whole body of our people, will
s^ddress to this subject, the just and deep rejQection that it deserves ;
and will, with heart and hand, by one combined and blessed
effort, shake off, for ever, the bondage under which our land has
groaned."

From the Hon. David Daggett, Chief Justice of the State of
Connecticut. — " You requested me to read the Report of the
Committee from page 44 to 69, and to give an opinion whether
' the principles there exhibited are correct, and the arguments by
which they are supported, sound. ' — On this question I cannot enter-
tain a doubt. The argument appears to me irresistible. To make or
sell ardent spirit, for common use, is as wicked as to make or sell
poisons for the same purpose. It being admitted that the use of
this article is destructive to health, reputation and property, (and
the proof of this fact is overwhelming,) it follows, conclusively, that
those who make it and sell it, sin, with a high hand, against God,
and the highest interests of their fellow men. The blood of mur-
dered souls and bodies will be required at their hands.

Your second inquiry is, ' What, in my view, would be the ef-
fects upon the social, civil and religious interests of the community,
should the people generally^ and legislators^ choose to have all
legislation conformed to those principles.' Beyond a doubt, the
effect would be most salutary upon all those 'interests.' Pre-
eminently would this be the effect in this our American Republic;
fpr it is now true, as it always has been, and always will be, that
virtue is essential to a republican government. Those who care
nothing for ^ly thing but office and its emoluments and honors,
may ridicule this idea, render it unpopular and destroy its efficacy,
but they should recollect that it will remain a truths and that those
nations who discard it, or who do not recognise it as a cardinal
principle, will feel and realize its loss in the destruction of all the
vital interests of society. I will only add, that, in my view, the
great source of intemperance is to be found in grog-shops and tip-
ling-houses, those ' outer chambers of hell.' When public opinion
shall place those who furnish the means of this destructive vico.

391] SEVENTH REPORT. 1834. 53

on a le^el ^vith thieves and counterfeiters, tlien, and not till theUf
may we expect to see our land purged from this abomination.

Accept, sir, for yourself, and your associates, ray ardent wishes
and fervent prayers for your success in the cause of humanity,
morality and religion, in which you are engaged."

From the Hon. John Cotton Smith, former Governor of the
State of Connecticut. — " To your first question I readily answer,
that, in my view, the principles assumed by the Committee, are
sustained by arguments which must carry conviction to every un-
prejudiced mind — by a course of reasoning, in short, which is
alike eloquent and unanswerable.

The second question is not so easily answered, and yet is
attended with no intrinsic difficulty. I am decidedly of opinion,
that all laws for lic^ensing and regulating the sde of ardent spirit
ought to be instantly repealed. First, because if intended as a
source of revenue, they are manifestly immoral. Secondly, if
considered as sumptuary laws which by their operation are designed
to restrain the sale and consumption of that al'ticle, they are wholly
inefficient; indeed, I fully concur with the Committee in the belief
that these acts, by legalizing, do actually increase the traffic and
the consumption.

Although public opinion, in relation to this great object, may
not be perfectly matured, I apprehend it is sufficiently so to give
effect to the remedial provisions of the common law, whenever
the licensing system shall be abolished. That there are prin-
ciples in the common law of the land, precisely adapted to the
ease, both of the distiller and the vender, and remedies commen-
surate with the evils they occasion, is well known to every
Jurist. Show, what is now rendered indisputable, the injurious
effects of these trades upon life and healthy and the common law
stands prepared to administer at once the desired relief. And hap-
pily for us its principles and its remedies are uniform throughout
all the States of the Union, unless restrained or modified by posi-
tive legislation. Let informing officers, then, and courts and
juries do their duty, and tlie day of redemption from the sorest
curse of the civilized world cannot be distant. One thing is cer-
tain, if the officers of justice shall neglect or refuse to enforce the
provisions of the common law, neither would they be persuaded
to execute any legislative enactments of a prohibitory nature which
the wit or the wisdom of man could devise — ^nay, it would evince
such a state of public sentiment as that we might expect nothing
less than a renewal of the licensing system with protective provis-
ions annexed. But I look confidently for a better state of things;
accordingly I should rejoice to see, 1 . The licensing acts repeal-
ed. 2. A fair experiment, made of the strength of the common
law, as applicable to this case."
5*

54 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIEtT. [393

Concerning this Report, the editor of the London Soldier's and
Watermen's Magazine remarks — " We took up the Sixth Report
of the American Temperance Society, (just reprinted by the
British and Foreign Temperance Society,) with a lively remem-
brance of the pleasure which we derived from the perusal of the
former, and our expectations have been, if possible, more than
realized by the contents of this most admirably written produc-
tion. We had proposed to^ ourselves one or two brief extracts,
but as we read, paragraph after paragraph appeared, each more strik-
ing than the rest, until we gave up all hopes of rendering any jus-
tice to its great merits. Our readers must purchase it and judge for
themselves (the price is only one shilling.) It should be in the
hands of every man in the country. Our legislators should read,
mark, learn, and inwardly digestit ; it is worth all the parliamentary
returns in the world. Our magistrates and rulers should study
every page. Our ministers, deacons, and teachers, — oh! when
will they do justice to this important subject? This document
should be placed in the hands of every mmister in the country, then
there would be no lack of active and efficient helpers to the cause
in every part of the country. Our distillers and spirit-venders —
where is the man who can read these thrilling, these heart-search-
ing appeals, and continue an agent in the foul and fatal traffic?
We would urge upon all from the highest to the lowest, to aid in the
circulation of this Report to the utmost of their power; and assured
we are that it will prove one of the most powerful aids to the cause
of Temperance Societies which has ever appeared in this country.
England is not yet awake to the subject; so completely have igno-
rance and prejudice, on this matter, fettered aU classes of the
community, that they hug with the most tenacious embrace the
viper which has filled with its deadly poison every corner of the
land. They want rousing by a mighty and united effi)rt; and the
blessing of the Almighty, so eminendy bestowed on the endeavors
of our American, brethren, will cheer us in the arduous but inter-
esting work. Certainly we have never received a more convinc-
ing and persuasive advocate and auxiliaiy than this excellent ^ Sixth
Report of the American Temperance Society.' "

ouch is a specimen of the views of the most sober and intelli-
gent men of various professions and employments throughout this
and other countries. And such, it is manifest, as light increases,
and truth operates, is fast becoming the sentiment of all. In the
language of the writer already referred to, "All things are mani-
festly tending to one result — ^the classing of the use of ardent
spirits, and the traffic in them, as a violation of the moral law, a
crime, equally injurious to man, and displeasing to God." As
the use of it is immoral, it is impossible to avoid the conclusion
that the traffic in it is also immoral, and as much more wicked

S93] SEVENTH REPORT.— 1834. 65

tlian the use, as it may be attended with more light, and b^ pro-
ductive of greater mischief. And as the traffic in it is immoral,
it is impossible on any just principles to avoid the conclusion, that
the laws which authorise and sanction the traffic, by licensing men
to pursue it, and thus teach to the community, that it is right,
are also immoral. These are all parts of one whole, and must
stand or fall together. They are, one and all, manifestly and highly
immoral. And it must be the prayer of every benevolent person
acquainted with this subject, that they may be viewed and treated
as such throughout the worlds Then, and not till then, will the
cause of Temperance be triumphant. And the Committee would
spare no pains, by the use of suitable means, in dependence on
God, to hasten, as much as possible, this glorious consummation.

And in the prosecution of this work they are not insensible, nor
would they overlook the fact, that some persons still contend, that
the Bible does not forbid the drinking of ardent spirit ; nor the
traffic in it to be used as a drink; nor the niaking and continuing
of laws to authorise this traffic, by licensing men to pursue it.
And as this traffic is authorised by law, and many, otherwise re-
spectable men, have been engaged in it, they contend that it ought
not to be declared to be immoraL

Toward such persons, the Comniittee would feel and manifest
nothing but kindness, while they feel bound to express their deep
and solemn conviction, that they are under a woful mistake. And
they would labor to convince them of it, and to induce them to
renounce it ; for they have no doubt that it is a mighty barrier to
the progress of the Temperance Reformation, and is annually de-
stroying multitudes of their fellow men. They would, therefore,
earnestly request the attention of all such persons to the following
considerations.

56 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETt; [394

THE TRAFFIC IN ARDENT SPIRIT,

TO BE USED AS A DRINK, IS A VIOLATION OF THE LAW dF GODj

AND IS AN IMMORALITY.

But it is said, the civil law allows it; therefore it is not an iramo-
rality. That this traffic is licensed by the civil law, is admitted. But
this neither makes it moral, or proves that it is so. The law itself
may be immoral. It has often been the case with laws. Of this,
Jehovah complained, Isa. x. i. 2. " Wo unto them that decree
unrighteous decrees — that take away the richt from the poor of
my people, that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob
the fatherless." No decrees, probably, or laws, have ever made
so many wives widows, and children fatherless and' wretched,
as those which decreed that men might sell ardent spirit; and none
ever made such mighty havoc with the character and souls of men.
Immoral acts, are not less really immoral because the laws allow
tfaem; nor the laws less immoral, because they exist in Christian
lands. The laws, in some cases, license gambling houses, and in
other cases, brothels. They license even the slave trade, and
the selling of indulgences for the commission of sin. But are
not those practices immoral? And are not the laws which license
them, immoral.'^ And are not those immoralities more aggravated,
from the fact that they exist, or have existed, in Christian lands?
Morality is accordance with law; immorality is contrariety to law;
not always to^ hyman law, but the divine law. The standard of
morality, or immorality, is not human law. That, like man, may
be wrong. But it is the divine law. What accords with that, is
moral; and what is against it, or opposed to it, is immoral. And
it is not b the power of man, by legislation, or in any other way,
to make it otherwise than immoral.

It is not, therefore, correct, to say that a practice which is con-
trary tQ the divine law, is not an immorality, because human laws
allow it; or that it is an immorality whe^ prosecuted by one
person who has light on the subject, and knows it to be contrary
to the divine law, and not an immorality when practised by a man
that does not know this. The morality or immorality of an ae-
tion does not depend on the lights or knowledge which a person
may have^ but on its accordance with^ or contrariety to^ the divine
law. The guilt pf the person, or his liableness to pnnishment, in
practising an immorality is varied by the light which he has, or
which, if he used proper means, he might have on the subject;
but not the immorality of the practice itself. That depends solely
npon this, whether it is, or is not in accordance with the divine

396J SEVENTH REPOttT. — 1334. 67

law. The standard of morality, or immorality, does not vary
with the conviction and opinions of men, but is fixed and unchang-
able as the law of God. Morality is accordance with that law,
and immorality contrariety to tliat law. The killing of infants by
mothers, in heathen lands, is an immorality, and ought to be
universally abandoned 5 though some mothers do not know this
truth. Their guilt may vary according to the knowledge which
they have, or might have; but the immorality of the practice,
which is measured by another standard, remains unchanged.

So when it is declared that the traffic in ardent spirit, to oe used
as a drink, is an immorality, the meaning is, that it is contrary to
the divine law; a practice which that law forbids and condemns.
Of course it ought to be abandoned. The guiU qf the men who
prosecute tliis traffic; their liability to punishment may depend
somewhat upon the light which they have, or might have on the
subject; but not the immorality, as compared with the divine law,
of the traffic itself.

And the object of proclaiming that the traffic is immoral, and of
showing that it is immoral, is to lead those who doubt) or disbe-
lieve, to examine the evidence of this truth; and to lead them, if
practicable, to abandon the immorality, and thus escapie its awful
retribution, and prevent its destructive effiscts upon their fellow
men. Their disbelief does not change the nature of the practice,
nor does it lessen the ruin which it produces to others.

But it is said, " you did not, a few years ago, think the traffic to
be contrary to the divine law. And how comes it to pass, that it
is contrary to the divine law, now? Has the divine law, that
unerring standard of morality, changed ; so that things which once
were not immoral, now are immoral? Is the divine law improv-
ed?" We answer, no. But our understanding of it may be im-
proved; so that what was immoral, though we did not see it, may
now be seen in its true light. That poligamy was once not seen
to be contrary to the divine law, does not prove that it was not so ;
any more than the fact, that the licensing of gambling houses, is,
by some, not believed to be contrary to the divine law, now
proves that it is not so.

For a practice to be contrary to the divine law, and of course,
immoral, is one thing; and for it to be believed, or known to be
contrary to the divine law, is quite another thing. The belief or
disbelief of a rtisui concerning any moral practice, does not
change its nature. One does not depend on the other. The fact
that the slave trade was once not thought to be immoral, does not
prove that it wa§ npt so; or that the practice of nations, founded
upon clearer and better views, in denouncing it as piracy is not right.

When men thought the traffic in ardent spirit was in accordance
with the divine kw, they thought that the drinking of it was useful,

58 AMCAICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETY. [39&

and of course proper. This is now known to be false. All, even
apparent, foundation for the former opinion, therefore, is by facts
swept away. Of course all foundation even for the supposed
propriety of licensing the traffic, is swept away with it. The
fact that men, in times past, did not con<^ider the traffic as contra-
ry to the divine law, instead of proving tiiat it was not contrary to
it, only proves that they were under a gross delusion; which de-
lusion has been sweeping its millions down to death.

" But the Bible," it is said, ''does not forbid this traffic."

That the Bible does not. mention it byname, and say in so nnany
words, it is wicked, is admitted. And as ardent spirit was not
known till hundreds of years after the Bible was written, there is
a good reason why it should not mention it. But it does not fol-
low from this, that the Bible does not forbid the drinking of it,
and the traffic in it, and the making of laws to license this traffic.
Nor does it follow that they are not all immoralities. What does
the Bible say, by name, about gambling? about killing a man with
a pistol? The words are not once named in the whole book. But
it does not follow, even if some men do hot know it, that they
are not both gross immoralities, and both forbidden.

The killing of children with poison, by heathen mothers, or
drunken fathers, is forbidden in the Bible; though it does not say
in those words exactly, that such a father or mother shall not
poison a child. Still it is an immorality, and it is forbidden. And
should human laws allow it, and license men to do it; and even if
it never had been known by some, to be wrong, till now, still it
would rem£un a truth, that it always was wrong, contrary to the
Bible, — was always forbidden, and was always' an immorality.

The Bible is not constructed on the plan of mentioning every
practice by name, and saying in so many words, it is right, or
wrong; but on die plan of revealing certain great principles of
right and wrong, by which every practice in which men ever did,
or ever will engage, may be tried; and be seen to be right or
wrong. The proper question is not, does the Bible mention this,
or that thing by name; but do the principles of the Bible approve,
or condemn it? When the nature of the thing is seen in the light
of its effects, is it found to accord with those principles, or to
violate them? If it is found to violate them, it is forbidden. It
is an immorsdity, and ought to be abandoned. And as certainly
as the Bible shall govern men, it will be abandoned throughout the
earth.

What then are the facts with regard to the traffic m ardent spirit,
to be uised as a drink? What is the nature of this traffic, as man-
ifested by its effects? Does it accord with the principles of the
Bible, or does it violate them? This is the question to determine
its morality, or immorality. And it is the only question. What

397] 8EV£NTH REPORT. — 1834. 69

then are che principles of the Bible, by which this traffic is to be
tried?

One of them is in Matthew vi. 13. '' Lead us not into tempta-
tion, but deliver us from evil." This is a principle so important,
that the Saviour of men, who was willing, for their goocf, even to
die, would have them in their supplications and conduct, daily
regard it. Does the traffic in ardent spirit, to be used as a drink,
tend to lead men into temptation; and give to temptation peculiar
power to overcome them, so that they fall by it jnto sin, when
they otherwise would not fall? And is this its natural tendency?
If it is, the Bible forbids it; and to pursue it, is manifestly an
immorality. What then are the facts?

I. With regard to the sin of idleness, that prolific parent of
sins; does the drinking of ardent spirit tend to make men idle?

From a careful investigation of Almshouses in various states
in difierent parts of the country, it is found that of all the persons
who, by idleness and improvidence, have been reduced -to pover-
ty, from two-thirds to seven-eighths were intemperate ; and that
more thab nineteen-twentieths drank ardent spirit. More than ten
times as many in proportion to the number are reduced by idle-
ness and dissipation to poverty, from those who drink ardent
spirit, as from those who do not drink it. Hence it is certain
that it leads them into temptation, and instead of delivering them
from evil, or having any tendency to do it, it exposes them the more
to evil, and gives to that evil peculiar power to overcome and
destroy them. The traffic in it is thus palpably at variance with
the law of God, and opposed to his will as revealed in the Bible,
It is an immorality.

Of 253 paupers in the county of Oneida, New York, 246 were
made such by ardent spirit. Of 1 134 in the county of Baltimore,
Maryland, 1059 were made paupers in the same way. Of 3000
admitted to the Almshouse in Salem, Mass., the superintend-
ent, who is as well able to judge as any other man, states that, in
his opinion, 2900 were brought there by intemperance. Of 572
men in the Almshouse in New York, the superintendent states,,
that therfe are not 20 that can be called sober men; and that of
601 women, he doubts whether 60 of them can be called sober.
95 drtmkards were committed to the Penitentiary in Boston in a
single month.

Of 1969 paupers in different Almshouses, 1790, according
to the testimony of the Overseers of the Poor, were brought there
by spirituous liquor; and of 4969, in different Almshouses, 4690
were brought there in the same way. And very few individuals
are found in any Almshouse, but what have been in the habit of
using strong drink. It has been the grand cause of pauperism
tliroughout the United States.

60 AMERICAN TEMPEAANCE SOCIETT. [398

Let the traffic in it cease, and nearly the whole of the pauper-
ism of the United States will cease with it. Husbands and fathers,
now more than dead, would, in great numbers be restored to their
more than widowed wives, and their doubly orphan children. It
is then an tmmora%.

H. Look at it in another light, as increasing the power of
temptation to the commission of crime. What are the facts ? Pour
times as many crimes are committed in places in which it is sold,
as in places in which it is not sold. And in a number of cases
after the sale of it has been abandoned, and the use of it has ceas-
ed, the criminal docket has been cleared^ and the jails become
comparatively empty. It increases then the power of temptation
to crime, and is thus a palpable violation of the revealed will of
God.

In the county of Schenectady, N. Y., 145 persons were
committed to prison in one year. The sheriff classes them as
follows : temperate 16 ; doubtful 22 ; intemperate 107. But all
of them, it appears, were in the habit of drinking spirit. And an
old respectable inhabitant of the county, who was present at the
examination, states, that while he approves of the caution of tlie
sheriff In making the classification, he does not believe that a single
person was committed during the year, who was strictly temperate.

In the same county, there were assisted as paupers, 117;
classed by the overseer, as follows : not from intemperance 3 ;
doubtful 20 ; obviously from intemperance 94.

Prom the 26th Nov. to the 25th Dec. 1833, 114 persons
were, for various crimes, committed to the Albany jail, — 82 of
whom are stated, by the intelligent deputy-sheriff, to be intem-
perate,^— 14 of the remaining 32 were known to be free drinkers
of ardent spirit. The remaining 18 were doubtful cases, having
come from a distance, and having had time to become sober
before reaching the jail. But from the nature of their crimes,
assaults and battery, whipping their wives, and abusing their child-
ren, litde doubt can be entertained as to the exciting cause. The
whole number of committals during the year ending 19th Dec,
was 1216. During the year there has been more than one
hundred cases of delirium tremens, and a considerable number of
diem females. The indefatigable police justice states that there
is hardly a case of committal without rum being the exciting
cause. Here, let us turn bur attention to the Almshouse. In
one year the superintendent states, that 633 persons have been
received there. He classes them as follows : SIX HUNDRED
AND SIXTEEN brought there directly or mdirectly by rum ;
one an insane person ; seventeen others being sent firom remote
towns in the county could not be ascertained to a certainty, but the
cause of this poverty can hardly be doubted. Two hundred and

399] SEVENTH REPORT. 1834. 61

ninety-seven persons were in the Almshouse when the present
incumbent took charge, so that NINE HUNDRED AND
THIRTY have been relieved at the public expense during the
year, — these added to the commitments to the jail, make TWO
THOUSAND ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-SIX in
Jail and Poor-house during the year, — about one to every fourteen
of the whole population ! ! !

Of 643 who were committed to the House of Correction in
Boston, in one year, 453 were drunkards. And the keeper states,
that intemperance is almost the sole cause of commitmeiits, and
that he does not believe, there were ten among the whole^ who
were not intempercUe.

An examination ha^ lately been made, by the Secretary of the
Prison Discipline Society, of the Institutions in the city for the
support of paupers and the punishment of criminals. The resiilt
shows that the prosecution and support of the intemperate has
cost the city, within the last ten years, about ^ 500,000. One
person has been committed to the House of Industry twenty^two
times. Others have been committed ten, twelve, and fifteen
times each. Fifty persons have been committed three hundred
and twenty-one times; upon an average, more than six times each.
Of these forty-five were drunkards.

The following facts have been published by the Council of the
State Temperance Society :

"Plain Facts, showing over five hundred thousand dollars j
paid in Taxes for the Support of Pauperism, Vice, and Crime, in
Boston, for ten years, from April, 1824, to April, 1834, obtained
from official sources.

Criminal Jail. — 9936 commitmeiits in ten years, at an expense
of ^20,797 49, as taken from the records.

Debtors^ Jail. — 9306 commitments for debt in ten years, at an
expense of $137,921 44, estimating the cost to creditor and
debtor, including the costs of suit, citation of creditor, expense of,
bail, fee of turnkey, price of board, loss of time (at fifty cents per
day), and fee for oath, for ten years.

House of Correction. — 5611 cases of conviction, and sentence
to the House of Correction in ten years, at an expense of
$78,251 25.

House of Industry. — ^7588 admitted to the House of Industry
ia ten years, iit an expense above their earnings, $194,087 67.

Grand total of expenses for these four institutions, $431,057 86
for ten years. Add to the foregoing the expense of out-door
poor, furnished by the City Auditor, viz. $131,370 92, and we
have the enormous sum of $562,428 77 ! and of cases, 32,441 ,
which averages over $50,000 expenditure per annum for Pau"
T^rism^ Vice and Crinie^ every year for the last ten years, in the
6 30*

62 AMERICAN TEMPERANCt: SOCIEtlT. [400

City of Boston. We leave out of the estimate other institutions
rendered necessary from the siame cause, and the interest on the
capital invested in Jail, House of Correction, and other insti-
tutions.

Fellow-Citizens, — ^Why this expenditure of over one half a
million of dollars ? Let the Judges of our Courts, the Sheriff and
other offices of our Prison^ the Superintendents of our House of
hutustry^ and House of Correction^ with their Directors and
Overseers, and their Physician^ be heard in their answer to the
following questions, recently proposed to each separate depart-
ment of the Institutions referred to, as they gave it, independent
of others :

What is the cause of these commitments 9

^ In regard to the Criminal Jail, I am induced to believe that
more than half of the prisoners have been in the habit of indulging
in the excessive use of ardent spirits, and probably more than half
the commitments were caused by intemperance.

JSoston^ Jlpril 10, 1834. Stephen Badlam.'

Mr. Badlam held the office of jailer in Boston more than thir-
teen years.

' Of those tjommitted to the criminal department of our jail, I
have no doubt that more than three-quarters are hard drinkers, and
considerably more than half confirmed drunkards.

Boston^ Jlpril 9, 1834. Joshua Flint, Physician.'

^ I believe that about three-fourths of the criminals, and that
about half of the debtors, in all our jails, are addicted to intem-
perance. C. P. Sumner.

jipnZ 24, 1834.'

Mr. Sumner has been the Sheriff of Suffi)lk county about seven
years,

' House of Correction^ South Boston, April 7, 1834.

Since my first appointment as Assistant Master of the House
of Correction on the Glh of June, 1823, all the prisoners have
been under my immediate observation.

Of those committed by the Police Court, which are as 3083,
to 228, nineteen out of twenty have delirium tremens. Of those
committed by the Municipal Court, which are as 228 to 3083, I
cannot judge from their appearance, as they are sometimes con-
fined in jail before trial. But, from careful inquiry and investiga-
tion, and many of them having been conmiitted previously for
intemperance, I feel no hesitation in stating (with very slight
exception) , that all who have been sentenced here for the various
crimes and offences against the peace, originated fi*om intern*
perance in the use of ardent spirits.

Charles Robbins, Ma^er of House of Cor.'

Overseers of the
House of
Correction,

401] SEVENTH REPOET. — 1S34. 63

Mr. Robbins has held the office of Master since June, 1833.
Before that time, for ten years, he was Assistant Master.

* The Overseers of the House of Correction of the city of
Boston, having been requested to make a statement of their opin-
bn, — ^how far the habit of intemperate drinking has been instru-
mental in producing the crimes for which the mmates of that
house have been sentenced to confinement, have used their best
judgment in the consideration of this interesting question, and
bave come to the result by an average of their individual opinions,
that siBven-eighths of all the sentences of imprisonments were*
occasioned more or less directly by the vice of mtemperance.

Luther Faulkner,

Daniel Hastings,

William T. Andrews,

George Darracott,

Billings Briggs,
Boston^ April 28, 1834.'

^ I certify that of the many persons who have been subjects of
criminal punishment within the Municipal Court of the city of
Boston, since I have been judge of the same, three-fourtli^, al
least, have reason to impute their disgrace and ruin to the intem-
perate use of ardent spirits. P. 0* Thatcher.

Boston, April 15, 1834.'

Hon. P. O. Thatcher has been Judge of the Municipal Court
since May, 1823.

* I have been a Justice of the Police Court for the city of
Boston from its establishment to the present time, twelve years,
and am of opinion that three-quarters of the criminal conduct
complained of in that Court, is to be attributed to the use of
intoxicating liquor. William Simmons.

Boston, April 17, 1834.'

^ I concur in the foregoing opinion.

John Gray Rogers, One of the Just* of P. C

Boston, April 17, 1834.

' During the short time which I have acted as a Justice of the
Police Court, I have seen and heard enough to satisfy me that
the above statement Is substantially correct.

Boston, April 17, 1834. James C. Merrill.

What is the principal cause of all Ms crime V
^ Having been an officer of the Massachusetts State Prison since
June, 1828, I should not doubt that three-fourths of all the con-
victs committed to this institution, from the city of Boston, were
persons who had been in the habitual practice of using ardent
spirits to excess ; and, from the appearance of the men, on their

$4 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETY. [402

reception, it is probable that seven-eighths of those received were
of the same character. Charles Lincoln,

Warden of the Mass. State Prison,*

What is the great cause of this amount of Pauperism, and
txpense for its support ?

* Tlie whole number of inmates of the House of Industry,
or Almshouse at South Boston during the year 1833, was 1273,
of whom 930 were adults, and 343 children.

Of the adults, there have been intemperate, 670 ; supposed to
be temperate, principally insane, idiotic and disabled, 101 ;
unknown, probably a majority of them intemperate, 159.

Of the 343 children, there are known to have had intemperate

Earents, 257 ; and of the remaining 86, not twenty are known to
ave been the offspring of temperate fathers and mothers.

This statement, concerning the proportion of intemperate in the
House, was made to the Secretary of State, in 1833. Since
that period, I have ascertained that three of the 101 supposed to
be temperate, were drunkards. And I have no doubt that at least
three iourths of the 159, whose former habits are returned as
unknown, have been drunkards.

Artemas Simonds, Superintendant.
House of Industry, April 8, 1834.'

Of 119 commitments, the last year, to the State Prison in
Charlestown, Massachusetts, it appears that 100, at least, were
occasioned by intemperance. And the 15 recommitments, were
all occasioned in the same way. Of 120 in the State Prison at
Wethersfield, Connecticut, more than 90 were intemperate. Of
647 in tlie State Prison at Auburn, New York, 467 were deci-
dedly ihtemperate ; and of 134 in the State Prison at Columbus,
Ohio, only 36 even pretended to be temperate men. And nearly
all, in all the above cases, when at liberty, drank ardent spirit
freely; and in a great portion of the cases, persons not classed
among the intemperate, committed the crimes for which they were
imprisoned, when under the influence of intoxicating drink. From
two-thirds, to four-fifths of all the crimes committed, appear to be
occasioned by the use of intoxicating liquor. It leads men into
temptation. It gives to temptation a peculiarly destructive power;
and multitudes are ruined, when they otherwise would not be. The
fui\iishing of it, is of course a sin, and forbidden by the Word of
God. ' Of 44 persons found dead, the Coroner's inquest is, that
38 of them came to tht^ir death by intoxicating drink. And of 44
cases of murder, investigated by three attorneys, 43 of them were
committe.d either by intemperate persons,, or by persons, or upon
^rsons, >imder the influence of liquor.*

* Appendix D.

403] SEVENTH REPORT. — 1834. 65

Look ai It in another light, as increasing the temptation to
drunkenness, and giving to that temptation peculiar power. What
are the facts with regard to this ? More than ten times as many
of those in the United States, who drink ardent spirit, become
drunkards, as of those who do not drink it. It is indeed the grand
cause of prevailing drunkenness, throug;hout the country. And is
drunkenness forbidden ; and yet the furnishing of the natural., the
known and the principal cause of drunkenness, not forbidden ? Is
drunkenness an immorality; and yet the prosecution of a business
which increases more than four-fold the number of drunkards, not
an immorality? Will drtTnkards be shut out of heaven and drunk-
ard-makers not be condemned ? As drunkenness is an immo-
rality; continuing to furnish the natural, the known cause of it, is
also an immorality. It increases the power of temptation, and
makes men more wicked, and more wretched, than they other-
wise would be. It is of course a violation of a great principle of
the Bible, an immorality, which is forbidden by the word of God.

III. Another principle of the Bible, is, " Thou shalt not kill.**
(Ex. XX. 13.)

It does not say, thou shalt not kill with a knife, a pistol, or a
halter ; nor does it say thou shalt not kill with opium or arsenic ;
nor does it say thou shalt not kill in an instant, or a day, or with
malice prepense, or a real intention, at the time, to kill; or for
the sake of making money. But it lays down the broad principle,
and throws around that inestimable treasure, human life, the mighty
rampart of divine command, " Thou shalt not kill." This com-
mand utterly forbids the taking away of human life, by any means^
in any case, except for good reasons; reasons, in view of which,
the Bible justifies and requires the act.

If a man throw a stumbling-block into the highway for the pur-
pose of sport, or to save himself the trouble of removing it, when
he has reason to believe that it will endanger human life, and a
man is killed by it, he violates this command. If a man let loose
a beast which he knows is wont to kill, and it does kill, he violates
this command; and in such a manner, that Jehovah, in righteous-
ness, when judging among men, commanded that such a man should
be put to death. We are not required to execute that law npw.
But the reason of the law remains. It is founded in justice, and
its principle will be carried into execution at the Great Day.

If a man pursue a business, or do an act, the natural or
probable consequences of which are death, and it produces death,
he violates this command. It is an immoral business, or act, and
is forbidden by the word of God.

What then are the natural ^and probable consequences, of sell-
ing ardent spirit-, to be used as a drink ? Does it tend to kill i
And does it really kill.'^ What are the facts .^ In the judgment of
6*

AMERICAN TEMPERAircS SOCICTT, [404

Ae most eminent mid sober physicians, the highest evidence in
fuch cases, and that which is relied on, in courts of justice, the
fiiets are, that ardent spirit is not suited for a drink, and cannot be
used as such without injury; that it is a poison^ which naturally
tends to kill; and actually does kill a great portion of all who dnA
kf (See V. Report Am. Temp. Soc. pp. 79, 93, 94, 95, &c.)

As a specimen of the opinion of medical men, take the follow-
ing examples, viz.

The testimony of 75 Physicians in Boston, Massachusetts^ —
*' Men in health are never benefitted by the use of ardent spirit;
on the contrary, the use of it is a frequent cause of disease and
death; and often renders such diseases as arise from other causes,
■aore difficult of cure and more fatal in their termination."

The testimony of forty-five Physicians of Cincinnati, Ohio. —
^^ Ardent spirit is not only unnecessary, but absolutely injurious
IB a healthful state of the system; it produces many^ and aggra-
vates most of the diseases to which the human frame is liable — it
is equally poisonous with arsenic, operating sometimes more sIow'
ly, but with equal certainty." Such is die opinion of thegr^
iody of Physicians in the United States.

The testimony of Physicians in England, which was presented
to the British Parliament.

Physicians of Bradford. — ^^ In our opinion nothing would tend so
much to the health of the community as tlie entire disuse of ardent
spirit ; which we consider as one of the most productive causes
of disease and immorality."

Physicians of Cheltenham, England. — ^^ Ardent spirit, as an
ardcle of diet, has not the property of preventing the accession
of any romplaint, but may be considered as the principal source
of numerous and formidable diseases, and the principal cause of
the poverty, disease and crime wliich abound in the country."

Physicians of Dublin, Ireland. — " In our opinion nothing would
lond so much to improve the health of the community as the en-
iire disuse of ardent spirit. "

Physicians of Etlinburgh, Scotland. — " The entire disuse of
svdent spirit, would powerfully contribute to improve the health ^
and comfort of the community."

Physicians of Leith, Scotland.—" Ardent spirits, in any form
are highly prejudicial to health — they contain no nutritive qual-
i^,^ on tlie contrary, the daily use of them often gives rise to
j^sease, and leads to poverty, misery and death."

Similar testimony has been given, the past year, by several thou-
sands of physicians, both in this country, and in Europe. Similar
testimony had been given by numerous physicians before, and the
truth of it had been exemplified by the bills of mortality throughout
tbe world.

406] SEVENTH AEPOIIT. — 1834. 67

Can any one doubt then, but that ardent spirit tends to kill, and
that it actually does kill? Can it be, as testified by the most emi^-
nent physicians, a poison^ the drinkinff of which is not only need-
less, but hurtful ; a principal cause of disease and death, and not
kill? And can raen carry on the business of furnishing it, and
not break the comniand, " Thou shalt not kill?" It is impossible.
A physician from the State of New York, writes, that he has
Kved more than forty years in a town, which, at the last census^
contained less than 5,400 inhabitants; that the whole number of
deatfis, of adult males, from December, 1829 to January, 1834,
was 25; that 16 of them were drunkards; and two of the other nine
were young men, who were suddenly killed.^ The average age
of the drunkards was 44| and they lived after they became
drunkards 1 1|^ years. The average age of the seven who died a
natural death was 74f years.* Here is a difference between the
life of the sober and the drunken, of about 30 years. Dr. Cheyne
of Dublin, after more than 20 years extensive practice, has given
it as his opinion, that, let 10 young men begin at 21 years of age,
to use but one glass of ardent spirit, of two oz. a day, and nevet
increase the quantity, such are its poisonous qualities, 9 Out of 10
will. upon an average, shorten life more than ten years. But let
us take only half of this, and two-thirds of the other number.
Suppose that moderate drinking shortens life upon an average,' five
years, and drunkenness 20; that we have only five moderate
drinkers to one drunkard, and that there are 300,000 drunkards
in the United States, it would cut off in the course of 30 years
40,000,000 years of human life. This would be equal to the
loss of 20 years of human life for 2,000,000 men. Who can avoid
the conclusion, that the traffic in ardent spirit, to be used as a
drink, tends to kill, and that it does kiU, and is, of conrse, a pal-
pable violation of the law df God?

But it is said, it is not the traffic in ardent spirit which kills, or
that makes men idle, and vicious; but it is the drinking of it. .
The immorality attaches only to that, not to the selling of it. But
does not the selling minister to the drinking? and does it not teach
that the drinking is right? and thus tend to perpetuate and increase
It? And is not the promotion of immorality, immoral? The
perpetuating, and increasing of vice, vicious?

As well may the traitor, who furnishes arms and ammunition to
the enemy in time of war, say, that it is not the furnishing of arms
to the enemy that does the mischief; it is only the using of thera.
Of course, the crime df treason attaches only to thatr But would
this save him from the gallows?

Others might say, thit it is not the making of firearms for

* The Committee of the New York State Temperance Society saj that they
are acquainted with this mm, and Touch for tl^ correctness of hia statement

W AMEKICAIV TEMPEHANCE SOCIETT. [406

ibe enemy, or the selling of them by wholesale, but that it is
dealing tbem out by retail, that does the mischief; of course, if
the crime of treason is to be extended to any thing beside the use,
it should be confined to the retailing of firearms to the enemy.
But would this save them? Is not the making of firearms for the
enemy, the transporting of them to him, the leasing of store-
houses in which to keep them, and the selling of them, by ^sholt'
mle^ as well as retail, dl treason ? The common sense of man-
kind has decided this question. If the use of them is wrong, th^
making and furnishing of them, to be used, is also wrong.

Is not the maker of counterfeit money, the wholesale dealer,
and the retailer, as really guilty, as the man, who, to appease his
kunger, or quench his thirst, or to provide for bis family, passes
« fitde of it. Shall the last be sent to the State Prison, and the
others, because they were a little farther back from the result of
the mischief, escape.^ Counterfeitors, perhaps, might so decide;
and traitors conclude that none but such as actually engage in bat-
tle, should be hung; but would this decision be sustained by rea-
flKHi, common sense, or the Bible .^ No. The decision of justice,
is, " the perpetrator of crime and the accessory to it," are both
giiilty. As the drinking of ardent spirit tends to kill, and does
kill; the making of it to be drunk, the furnishing of it by
wholesale or retail; and the leasing of stores, in which to deal
•t out, are aU a violation of the taw of Grod ; and as such, will at
his tribunal, and ought at the bar of public opinion, to be con-
demned. So, also, ought the laws which sanction this traffic, by
licensing men to pursue it. They legalize a business, which, from
beginning to end, tends, even when pursued according to law, to
shorten human life, and is thus in its nature, a manifest violation
of the command, " Thou shalt not kill." Nor will the fact that
a man has a license from the magistrate, screen him in the final
day. The very law which gave the license, was itself unlawful;
mid such a law as no man, rightly understanding this subject, could
be instrumental in making, or continuing, without a violation
<^ the law of God. Nor can any man t^e advantage of that
unlawful law, and be inlstrumental to the premature death of his
fellow men, without great guilt.

IV. Another great principle of the Qible, isi, " Whatsoever
ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them."
(Mat. vii. 12.) Treat them as, under a change of effcumstui-
ces, you ought to wish that they should treat you.

1. If the furnishing of ardent spirit, to be u^ed as a drink, tends
to bring upon ttic men that drink it, or upon their families, evils
which the seller would not like to have come on himself, or his^
family, then the Bible forbids it. And the great question to de-»
termine its morality, or immorality, is, does it tend to bring upon

407] s&VfiNtQ ttEFORT. — 1834. 69

the drinkef) or his family, evils that the seller ought not to wish to
have come 6n his family? To determine this, let him suppose
that every intemperate appetite, which the spirit that he sells
forms, and every instance in which it leads to drunkenness and *
ruin, should be in himself, his own family and his nearest and
dearest friends. And that all the misery and wretchedness, the
bb'ghting of hope and prospect, the sickness, the poverty, the
crime, the shortening of human life, the despair, and the destruc-
tioQ, should be among them. Can there be any doubt that it would
be, what he ought not to wish to have come upon them? If it
would, the Bible forbids him for the sake of money, or any other
reason, to prosecute a business which t^ids to bring it upon others.
And if he, with the facts before him, does this, it is at the peril
of his soul.

And to set the matter for ever at rest, let him suppose that some
man to whom he sells, should, under the influence of the liquor,
come into his family, and for a day or two, each we^k, take the
direction, and do as he now does in his own family; turn them
out, naked, and barefoot, occasionally, amidst the damps and
storms of night, and of winter, would it be such treatment as he
ought to wish to have come upon his family? If not, the Bible
forbids him to be accessory to the bringing of it upon other families.

Does he say, that he does not sell to drunkards ; that that would
be enormously wicked, and that he sells only to sober men ? 'Let
him then suppose that one of those sober young men, to whom he
sells, and who will form an intemperate appetite and die a drunk-
s*d, is his only son. Ought he to wish that his son should come
to such an end ? Even supposing that the man who makes him a
drunkard does it according to law, and does not, after he becomes
a drunkard, continue to sell to him, but turns him over to some
other man, who is wicked enough to seAl to drunkards till they
die ; does that help the matter ? Will he not look upon the man
who made him a drunkard, as guilty as the man that killed him?

Which does the greatest mischief to the community, the man
who kills drunkards, or the man who turns sober men into drunk-
ards ; and thus prepares them, as fast as drunkards are removed,
to step forward and fill their places, and roll the horrors of drunk-
eaness onward fi'om generation to generation ?

Here is a countiy that has in it 300,000 drunkards. One class
of merchants sell to them^ and thus upon an average, kilt about
that number in ten years. Had these drunkards no successors,
drunkenness would soon cease. The man who sells to them,
would remove the whole, and if no new drunkards were made, the
land would be free. But there is aiiother class <^ merchants wJio
sell to sober men ; and as fast as one generation of drunkards is
removed, they raise up another. Thus while selling poison to

• 0 AMEIltCAN TEMP^ERANCE SOCIETY. [406

drunkards kiUs them, and would in a short time remove drunken-
ness from the land ; selling it to sober men perpetuates drunken-
ness ; and while it is continued, cuts ofFtlie possibility, that it can
ever be removed. It causes the fire of human passion^ vice, and
wickedness, to bum with an intensity, and to blaze with a fierce-
ness that never can be quenched. Which, then, does the greatest
mischief to the community ?

The Philadelphia Medical Society, as before mentioned, ap-
pointed a Committee to investigate the effect of intemperance on
human life in that city. After careful inquiry, they reported that
in their opinion, out of 4292 deaths, 700, at least, or more than
one in seven of the whole number, were occasioned, directly or
indirectly, by strong drink. Suppose that these deaths had been
occasioned by the use of poisoned flour, which some of the mer-
chants had sold ; and after cateful investigation by the medical
society, the fact is published to the world. Would it not be an
immorality to continue to sell that flour .^ Even if they should
not sell it to any that were already poisoned ? Would it not be a
violation of the command, "Thou shalt not kill ?" Or would it
be enough to say, that it is not the selling of the flour that does
the mischief, especially if sold by wholesale, but only the eating
of it ; or at most, the retailing ?

Would not the selling of that flour in any way, to be eaten,
tend to kill f and to bring upon the wives and the children of the
men who should eat it, evils, that the sellers ought not to wish to
have come on their wives, and their children ? Suppose some of
them should say, " We never sell to men who are poisoned
to death already, or who are so poisoned that they cannot attend
to business ; especially enough to pay us for what tiiey buy. We
sell only to the healthy. And when we perceive that a man begins
to stagger, .or lose his reason, we instantly stop ; and let others
who are willing to take the amazing responsibility of killing men,
do the rest. Therefore, our business is not immoral." Is it
therefore not immoral ? If a man is to be killed by twenty blows,
is he only guilty who strikes the last ; or he dnly, who hastens
death a few hours sooner, than his feUow would have done it ?

Suppose those merchants Should change and sell this poisoned
flour to those only, who are poisoned already, even to death ;
how 'long would it be before all the sick would be removed, and
none remain but the healthy ? But ah, some sell to the healdiy,
and thus, the diseased and the dying never cease.

Let sellers of the drunkard's poison, sell to none but drunkards,
and the last of them will soon be removed, and the spectacle of
an immortal being, — ^who might bear the imaeo) and shine for ever
in the presence of his Maker ,-^poUuted, delxised, md ruined by
drunkenness, will never again be seen.

4091 SEVENTH REPORT. — 1834. 71

But the crime, of most peculiar ai^gravation, when measured bj
the mischief which is done to the community, is, some men will
sell to the sober. And these often are sober men ; of course
their example has greater weidit. The pure unvitiated appetite,
wiiich God has given for useful nourishment^ they by the drunk-
ard's poison, pervert ; which perversion is, by the laws of nature,
like the letting out of great waters. The only way to prevent its
mischief, is, that which is required by the first principles of
morality and religion, ^' the letting it alone before it is meddled
with." Every step from this point, is a step in the way of trans-
gressicm ; the tendency of which, growing greater and greater,
the farther you proceed, is, like that of every sin, toward eternal
death.

2. There is another light in which this traffic may be viewed, as
iishonest; and that not merely on account of the enormous frauds
that are often practised in it, but on account of the nature of the
business itself. Honesty requires that a valuable equivalent should
be furnished for money which is received. But the trafficker in
ardent spirit renders no such equivalent. He gives to the buyers
that which is not only absolutely worthless, but positively hurtful ;
and is thus, in principle, guilty of gross dishones^. It is doing,
ia this respect, directly contrary to what he ought to wish that
others should do to him.

3. It is unjust towards the community.

Not only does it increase the sickness and the deaths, but by
mcreasing the pauperism ^uid crimes, and public expenditures, it
adds greatly to the pecuniary burdens of every people among
vhom it is continued. It increases the taxes for the support of
pauperism, and the prosecution of crimes, above what they other-
wise would be, as we have seen, more than four-fold. This b
palpably unjust. No man has a right to carry on a business,
which, for die profit of a few, burdens the many. Justice forbids
it. Here is a county which has in it 1000 paupei^ ; 750 of them
were made such by drinking. The profit of making these paii-
pers^ is enjoyed by a few ; the burden of supporting them comes
on the whole conmiuni^. This is unjust. It is a violation not
only of the principles of morality, but of equal rights and common
honesty. No man can pursue it, and not injure his fellow men.
Instead therefore of infringing the rights of the sellers, when
the community complain of their business, and wish the civil law
to refrain from obliging^he public to hear its burdens, as the sellers
pretend, the sellers are constandy trampling on the rights of the
community, and unjusdy burdening the public with taxes to sup«
port the paupers and prosecute the criminals that the sellers make.
Of this, every conmiiuiity has just cause to complain. It is
injustice and oppression, under the cover of law. And of such

72 AMERICA7Y TEMPERANCE SOCIETT. [410

laws, as well as of such traffic, they have just cause to continue
for ever to complain. And for their removal and abandonment)
they have just cause by all suitable means to continue to labor, till
their efforts are successful, and the nuisance is done away.

'V. Another great principle of the Bible, is, *' Abstain from
fleshly lusts which war against the soul. "^-(1 Pet. ii. 11,) Id
the fleshly lust&, from which men are here commanded^ to abstain,
are included those bodily gratifications which tend to injure the
soul. With regard to such gratifications, the command is not,
indulge in them moderately, prudently, but abstain from them
Abstinence,' entire^ in such cases, is the only moral course.

If the gratification which ardent spirit occasions, and to obtain
which, men so often drink it, tends to injure the soul, then the
Bible forbids it. And the only question is, does it tend to injure
the soul ? What are the facts ? Can it tend, as we have seen that
it does, to lead men into temptation, and give to that temptation
peculiar and fatal efficacy to overcome and destroy them, and not
injure the soul } Can it increase fourfold the prospect of their
becoming idle, vicious, or drunken, and not injure the soul?
Can it tend, as we have seen that it does, with such a mighty
power to increase their diseases, and to shorten their lives, and
not tend to injure the soul ? Can it bring such mighty evils on
others, and be so obviously dishonest and unjust toward their fellow
men, and not tend to injure their own souls ? No ; the thing is
impossible. It is one of those fleshly lusts, from which God com-
mands men, all men, every where, at all times, to abstain. — (See
Sixth Report of American Temperance Society, p. 67 and 58.)
And not only does it injure the soul by increasing its wickedness, but
by counteracting the efficacy of the gospel, and all the means of
pace, and thus rendering it less likely that that wickedness will ever
be removed. It tends powerfully to hinder the illumination and pu-
rification of the soul ; and thus to prevent its salvation. Facts have
set this matter at rest. Where a part of the people have abstained
from ardent spirit, and a part continued to drink it, ten times as
many, in proportion to the number, have appeared to embrace
^ the gospel, and have professed publicly their faith in the Saviour,
' from one class as from the other. — ^( See Fourth Report of Ameri-
can Temperance Society p. 51 and 81. — Fifth Report do. p. 38,
83, and 98. — also. Sixth Report do. p. 16, 57, &c.)

It tends then to injure the soul ; and as such, it is forbidden, by
the God of heaven. As the salvation of the soul is the greatest
of all blessings, that which tends most to hinder this, is among the
greatest of evils. Of all the practices of m^n, few have a greater
tendency to do this, than that of using ardent spirit. This results
not merely from the great and increasing quantity that may be
taken, but from the kind of the liquor itself. A quantity that does

411 J SEVENTH REPORT. 1834. 73

not deprive a man of reason, or speech, or pov^er of motion,
and attention to business, may nevertheless prevent the effect of
divine truth, and keep hira in a state of liardness of heart, and
blindness of mind through life ; when he might, were it not for
this, be illuminated, purified, and saved. The effect of ardent
spirit on the mind, from beginning to end, is in direct opposition
to the effect of the Holy Ghost. One tends with a powerful and
fatal efficacy to hinder the other. Hence the fact, that when men
wish to promote error in principle, or immorality in practice ; to
lead others to abandon the truth, or to make money upon their
vices, nothing is more common, or more successful, than to fur-
nish them with ardent spirit, and induce them, if practicable, to
drink it. Error and delusion, immorality and wickedness, of
almost every description, other things being equal, prevail most in
those places in which men are most accustomed to* the drinking
of ardent spirit. And if they can generally perpetuate this practice,
vice will be triumphant in spite of all efforts to check, or con-
trol it* In illustration of the above, we invite the attention of all,
to the following facts.

A number of years ago, Christians in various ' countries, began
with greater zeal and fidelity than before, in ^obedience to the
command of Christ, to extend his gospel to all people. He
crowned their efforts with success. Multitudes renounced idola-
try, and professed their faith in the Redeemer. The illuminating
and puri^ing influence of the gospel in the promotion of literature,
science, and civilization, with all their attendant blessings, was
felt thronghout whole nations. The wilderness began to bud and
blossom as the rose, and the desert places to become vocal with
the praises of God. ^

Among those, thus highly favored, and who had literally been
brought out of darkness into marvellous light, were the inhabit-
ants of some of the South Sea Islands. Christians of Great
Brltain^ were the first to carry them the gospel, and for a number
of years- they rejoiced in the signal manifestations of divine favor.
Churches were gathered ; schools opened ; printing presses estab-
lished, and information was eagerly sought, and extensively circu-
lated ; vice; frowned upon by public opinion, was abashed; and
the prospect continued to brighten, that Christianity and civiliza-
tion, and learnings with all dieir inestimable benefits for the present
and future life, would shortly be extended over all that part of the
world.

But some men from- this country, ^nd from Great Britain, for

the purpose of tjounteracting the efficacy of the gospel, and draw-

ing men back again to their- vices, or for purposes of gain, or both>

introduced among them quantities of ardent spirit* They opened

7 31*

74 AllBRICAN TEMPERANCE 80CIETT. [412

numerous grog-sbops, and induced the natives to engage, not onljr
in drinking, but in the traffic. The result wtH be seen by the
following letter from the Secretaries of the British and Foreign
Temperance Society, to the Corresponding Secretary of the
American Temperance Society.

" British nnd Foreign Temperance Society^ >
^Idine Chambers, Jan. 2lst, 1834. 5
Hev. and dear sir, — The subject upon which we venture
now to take the liberty of addressing you will perhaps be best
introduced by at once transcribing a letter we have recently
received from the Secretary of ' the London Missionary Society;'
and we trust its contents will plead our apology for calling your
attention to the distressing facts which it discloses.

^JtKssion House, Austin Friars, I6th Dec. 1833.

Sir, — ^You will doubtless have seen from some of the publica-
tions of the London Missionary Society, the demoralization pro-
duced at some of the Islands of the South Seas, by the increased
use of ardent spirits ; large quantities of which has been imported
by our countrymen, and Americans, &c., and hawked about the
settlements, as well as sold in barrels. Recent accounts from the
Islands are, in reference to this subject, most discouraging. Our
brethren state, that the besetting sin of Tahiti at present is drunk-
enness— ^that it had produced the greatest mischief in the churches,
and had in some ports prevailed to such an extent, that in one of
the churches, the administration of the Ordinance of the Lord's
Supper had been discontinued ; and when speaking of the effects
of increased intemperance, and of the war on Tahiti, one of the
missionaries observes, " I have seen more wickedness witlun the
last two weeks than in eighteen years before."

The arrival of these tidings has, as you will naturally suppose,
plunged the Directors in the deepest distress. The use of those
deleterious articles, appears to have been greatly augmented, by
foreigners of different nations having established a number of grog-
shops among them for retailing spirits, and by the Chiefs having
been induced to become traffickers in rum.

The extent and disastrous operation of this inmioral habit, has
led the Directors fo devise and apply the most suitable remedies,
and among many others, they have instructed me to bring the
niatter under the notice of your committee, with a request that
they would correspond with the American Temperance Society
for the purpose of adopting the most effectual measures for dimin-
ishing the use of ardent spirits among American seamen, and pre-
venting its importation to the South Sea Islands : and also that
they would direct their best efforts to the promotion of temperance

413J SEVENTH REPORT. — 1834. 75

among British sailors, especially among those employed in the
Pacific.

I am, my dear sir, .your faithful friend and servant, ^

J. Arundel, Home Secretary.

N. E. Sloper, Esq., Secretary of the British
and Foreign Temperance Society.**

Such, dear sir, are the circumstances of the case which it is
our painful duty to bring under your notice. It would have been
far more grateful to our feelings had it been in our power to have
congratulated you, that the gigantic efforts you have been putting
forth on behalf of the temperance cause had done as much for the
seamen, who visit the countries in question, as it has by the bless-
ing of God for tens of thousands on your favored continent.

We had foadly hoped this was in some happy measure the
ease, and when the melancholy statements referredto in the accom-
panying communications reached us, we scarcely knew whether
tlie feeling of surprise or alarm most prevailed.

In our reply to the Directors we have indeed hinted that there
is perhaps yet a source of consolation , arising from the reflection
that these very facts which we all so much deplore, may be the
proof of the prosperity of the cause in your country, tlie effect of
which may have been that the dealers in these poisonous drugs,,
beaten out of their own market, have been driven into other parts
to find purchasers for them.

But after all it is a humiliating consideration that our cause has
made so Uttle progress and that the work of God should have
been thus marred. Well may those of us on either side of the
Adantic who have been privileged to do any thing towards pro-
moting the Temperance Reformation exclaim, ' that our hands are
this day weakened.'

Were we writing to Christian brethren less zealous than those
we have the pleasure to address, we might fear that our co-opera-
tion in the good work, would not be cordially welcomed ; but
assured as we are that its prosperity lies near your hearts, we are
emboldened thus to write. Ybu will — ^we know you will — allow
us the honor of being workers together vrith you. We are
indeed p^fuUy aware how feeble -are all the efforts we can bring
to bear upon a system, which might well laugh to scorn our
attempts to check its progress, did the success of those exertions
depend on our own strength and ^sdom ; but our encouragement
is this, that He whose cause we trust and believe it is, is greater
than all those who are against uS) and that his name is often mag-
nified by the meanness of the instruments by which his mighty
purposes are brought to pass.

76 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETY. [414

If He be pleased to command success, ' the weak shall be as
David, and David as the Angel of God.'

We are, Rev. and dear sir, yours very respectfully,

N. E., Sloper, 1

John W. Ramsbotham, i Secretaries."
Thomas Hartley, [

John Capper, J

The same subject is referred to in the following communication
from the Secretary of the London Missionary Society, to one of
the Secretaries of the American Board of Commissioners for
Foreign Missions, and by him transmitted to the Corresponding
Secretary of the American Temperance Society.

" London, Dec. 16th, 1833.
My DEAR SIR, — My last to you, dated October 12th, inform-
ing you' of the appointment of two of our brethren to the southeast
cluster of the Marquesas, and assuring you of the satisfaction it
would afford the Directors to hear that you had commenced Mis-
sionaiy operations in the northwest cluster of the same group,
was, I hope, duly received. In my previous letter dated Sept.
3d, in that part which referred to the South Sea Islands, I
informed you that our brethren gave us very affecting accounts
of the demoralization prbduced by the increased use of ardent
spirits ; large quantities of which had been imported by our coun-
trymen and yours, and hawked about the settlements, as well as
spld in barrels, and that, as it had proved a source of profit
able barter to the principal chiefs, it was not so much discounte-
nanced as formerly. Recent accounts from the Islands, are in
reference to this subject, even more discouraging than those pre-
viously received. Oor brethren state that the besetting sin in
Tahiti at present is drunkenness ; that it had produced the greatest
mischief, in the churches, and had in some parts prevailed to such
an extent that in one of the churches the administration of the
ordinance of the Lord's Supper had been discontinued ; and when
speaking of the effects of increased intemperance and the war in
Tahiti, one of the missionaries observes, ' I have seen more wick-
edness within the last two weeks, than in eighteen years before.'
The arrival of these tidings has, as you will naturally suppose,
occasioned the Directors the deepest distress. They have com-
municated the same to the supporters of the Society in the Mis-
sionary Chronicle for the month of November, and believe they
have shared in the sympathy and prayers of the Christian public
at large. The use of the deleterious drugs already referred to,
appears to have been greatly increased by foreigners of different
nations having established a number of grog-shops on shore for
retailing spirits, and by the chiefs having been induced to becofne
traffickers in rum. The extent and disastrous operation of thi?

415] SEVENTH REPORT.— rl834. 77

immoral habit has led the Directors to endeavor by mature delib-
eration, with special prayer for divine guidance, to devise and
apply, without delay, the most effectual remedies. With this
view they have written most fully and urgently to the missionaries,
recommending the formation and extension of Temperance Soci-
etins, and have sent selections of the most approved works on the
subject, which the friends of the temperance cause in England have
published, for translation into the native language. They have
also opened a correspondence with the British and Foreign Tem-
perance Society, for the purpose of promoting Temperance among
seamen, and with the Britisn and Foreign Seamens' Society, with
a view to direct the attention of that Society, especially to the
moral improvement of seamen visiting the Pacific, They further
purpose writing to the chiefs of the Islands, to bring the subject
in a suitable manner under their consideration.

We are encouraged, by the conviction that as the evils of the
use of ardent spirits are more fully manifested, good men of everj
country wiD unite in promoting their exclusion from all civilized
and Christian society, and individuals, who from motives of sordid
interest shall persevere in cherishing and promoting among par-
tially enlightened and civilized tribes, a habit so destructive of
whatever is commendable, so detrimental to all intellectual and
social improvement, so prolific of crime, — ^and, excepting in cases
of extraordinary prevention, so inevitably ruinous, shall be found
only among the most debased and worthless portions of society. .

We feel persuaded you will cordially sympathize in our feelings
of deep distress on account of the evils that prevail in our mis-
sionary stations, and cheerfiJly aid us by every means in your
power in effecting their diminution and removal. And as our
brethren inform us that a large proportion of the spirits used at
Tahiti, &c. is conveyed in American ships, some from Boston;
that it is chiefly what is termed New England rum, that is import-
ed to the islands, and that in some vessels it comprises a consid-
erable part of the cargo taken for barter with the people, I am
instructed by the Directors of the London Missionary Society to
request, which I do with the most entire confidence, that you will
favor them with your Christian co-operation ; and use your best
endeavors to prevent, to the utmost practicable extent, the contin-
ance of the evil.

The most effectual means of securing an object so desirable
will more readily occur to yourselves, than to them. Whether by
a correspondence with the American Temperance Society, or by
ttsing your influence with owners and masters of vessels visiting
the islands to induce a greater number of them to forego the gain
that might be secured by the traffic in an article of absolute inu-
tility, and scarcely less pernicious, morally, than arsenic would be
7*

78 AMERICAN TEMPERAl^CE SOCIETY. [410

physically, or by any other means it shaD appear to you that it can
be best accomplished; we rest assured from the vigorous efforts
the religious portion of the community in America, has already
made, and the impulse in favor of temperance which you have
given to your own country and ours, that we may rely on your
cordial and sincere assistance.

I am, my dear sir, on behalf of the Directors, faithfully and
affectionately yours,

(Signed) W. Ellis, Foreign Secretary.^'

Such are the effects of ardent spirit in counteracting the efficacy
of the gospel, and in destroying the souls of men* Can there be
a doubt then, but that the principles of Christianity, and even of
humanity, utterly forbid the traffic in it?

At their first meeting after the reception of the above, the Com-
mittee of tl^e American Temperance Society passed the following
Resolutions, viz.

1. Resolvedy That the communications from the Secretary of
the London Missionary Society, and from the Secretaries of the
British and Foreign Temperance Society, be published for the
information and consideration of the American community.

2. Resolved^ That we deeply sympathize with our brethren in
the South Sea Islands, and in Great Britain, in view of the dis-
tresses, which, through the agency of some of our countrymen,
have been brought upon them; and deplore the calamities which
that agency has inflicted, by obstructing in those islands the pro-
gress of the gospel, demoralizing the character of their inhabit-
ants, and destroying, in vast numbers, the lives and souls of men.

3. Resolved^ That it be, and hereby is respectfully suggested
to those persons who are engaged in transporting ardent spirit to
the South Sea Islands, or in any way connected with the traffic in
It, to be used as a drink, by the unevangelized, or partially civil-
ized nations and tribes of men, whether the injury which they are
doing to their fellow men, in ministering to their vices, multiply-
ing their diseases, shortening their lives, and endangering their
souls, is not greater than the benefits, which from the prosecution
of this traffic can result to themselves; and whether the principles
of morality, the motives of humanity, and even of self-respect,
ought not to induce them, in view of its evils, entirely to abstain
from it.

4. Resolved^ That it be, and hereby is, respectfully suggested
to all ministers of the gospel, all officers and members of Ameri-
can Churches, whether in view of the poisonous nature and de-
structive effects of ardent spirit, it is not their duty, not only to
abstain from the drinking of it, and the traffic in it themselves, but
to increase their exertion^ till the like abstinence shall become
universal.

417] SEVENTH REPORT. — 1834^ 79

5. Resolvedj That it be, and hereby is^ respectfully suggested
to the consideration of the churches of our Lord Jesus Christ,
whether the principles of the Chnstian religion and the precepts of
the Saviour, do not forbid the continuance of a practice or the
pron)otion of a business so manifestly immoral, and so awfully de-
structive, as that of furnishing ardent spirit, as a drink, for their
fellow men ; and whether in their associated as well as in their
mdividual capacity, they are not bound to make strenuous and
persevering efforts to promote its speedy and universal abandon-
ment.

6. Resolved^ That it be, and hereby is, respectfully suggested
to all Christian legislators, whether an immorality so stronglymark-
ed and so highly injurious to the social, civil and religious interests
of men in all ages, and all countries, as the traffic in ardent spirit,
ought ever to be licensed; or its continuance in any way to re-
ceive the sanction of Christian legislation.

7. Resolved^ That editors of papers and periodicals, friend-
ly to the cause of Temperance, throughout the United States, be,
and hereby are, respectfully requested to insert the above resolves
and the letters referred to, in their publications.

John Tappan,
Georqe Odiorne,
Heman Lincoln,
Justin Edwards,
Enoch Hale, Jr.

Exc. Corn.
Am. Temp. Soc

The Pastoral Association of Massachusetts, at their meeting in
Boston, May 28, 1834, passed the following Resolutions, viz.

1 . Resolved^ That we hear with deep regret that some of our
countrymen are engaged in exporting ardent spirit to the Soudi
Sea Islands, and in selling it to be used as drmk; thereby increas-
ing the diseases, demoralizing the character, shortening the lives,
and endangering the souls, of the inhabitants of that part of the
world.

2. Resolved J That we deeply sympathize with our brethren ki
those islands, and in Great Britain, in view of the distresses which
these events have brought upon them, and especially in view of the
hindrance which they have occasioned to the progress of the gos-
pel, and to the promotion of civilization, and Christianity.

3. Resolved^ That, as ardent spirit is a poisoHj the drinking of
which is highly injurious to the bodies and minds of men; as it
tends to prevent their intellectual elevation, their social improve-
ment, and their etenial salvation, the traffic m ky to be used as a
drink, and especially the exporting or furnishing of it to the un-
civilized and partiallv civilized nations and tribes of men, is, in our
view, a gross violation of the revealed wiU of God, — an tmmo-

80 AMERICAN TEMI^eRANCE SOCIETIT^ f419

rdtityy which ought to be reprobated, and abandoned throughout
Ae world.

4. Resolved^ That we wiD cheerfully co-operate with the friends
of humanity, by the diffusion of information, the exertion of kind
moral influence, and in all suitable ways, to cause a practice so
irianifestly immoral, so disgraceful to our country, and destructive
to our fellow men, universally to cease.

5. Resolved^ That it be, and it hereby is, respectfully and
earnestly suggested to the consideration of all pastors and church-
es, whether the continuance of this traffic, by members of the
church, is not manifestly a violation of the laws of Christ; wheth-
er it does not tend to prevent the success of the gospel, and
especia^^y among the heathen; and whether suitable and effectual
measures ought not to be taken to remove an evil so offensive to
God, and so hurtful to men, from the Christian church.

6. Resolved^ That it be, and it hereby is, respectfully and earn-
estly suggested to the consideration of all legislators, whether the
perpetuating of this traffic, by licensing men to pursue it, is not a
violation of the great principles of morality, as well as of political
economy; and whether, if the continuance of legislation on this
subject is required by the public good, it ought not to be, on the
ground of defending the community from the evils of the traffic,
and not on the ground of licensing it.

Warren Pay, Moderator.
George W. Blagden, Secretary.

Similar Resolutions have beien passed by the General Associa-
tions of Massachusetts and Connecticut, and by the General
Conference of Maine ; bodies embracing more than 500 ministers
of the gospel, and more than 600 churches.

With reference to the same subject, the General Assembly of
the Presbyterian Church in the United States, at their meeting in
Philadelphia, June 2, 1834, passed the following Resolutions, viz.

. 1. Resolved^ That we deeply sympathize with our brethren in
the South Sea Islands, and in Great Britain, in view of the dis-
tress which through the agency of some of our countrymen, have
been brought upon them, and deplore the calamities which that
agency has orcasioned, by obstructing in those islands, the progress
of the gospel, demoralizing the character, and destroying the lives
and souls of men.

2. Resolved^ That the practice of sedditig out ardent spirit, to
be used as a drink by the unevangelized, and partially civilized
Rations and tribes of men, is in our view a violatibn of the prin-
ciples and precepts of the Christian religion, and ought to be
abandoned throughout the world.

3. Resolvedy That the traffic in ardent spirit, to be used as a

419J SfiVENTH REPORT. — 1834. 8l

drink by any people, is in our judgment morally wrong, and

OUGHT TO BE VIEWED AS SUCH, BT THE CHURCHES OF JeSUS

Christ universally.

In view of the information referred to in the above Resolutions,
t^ie editor of the Boston Recorder remarks, — '' It needs no com-
ments, but will call forth the deep sympathy of all the friends of
Temperance and of Religion in our land, towards the unfortunate
tribes to whom it relates. Will not merchants in our highly favored
land, who call themselves Christians, forbear at length to send
liquid poison to the other side of the globe, when they are ac-
quainted with the mischief it is doing? Surely if they will not,
' They know not what they do;' and the silver thus accumulated,
^will eat like canker,' and cause them and their posterity bitter
lamentation when entering upon that state to which we are all, has-
tening, and ' where the wicked cease from troubling. ' That it is
connected with such doings, is a disgrace to American enterprise,
which all, who are in any way engaged in business in that part of
the world, ought, to be the most anxious to wipe off. If it is an
honor that our shipping visits every sea and every shore, it is
INFAMY thus to scatter, wherever it touches, the seeds of crime
and disease and wretchedness and death. Who are the guilty men.^
Who is willing to be known as a participator in this bu3iness.^ "

In view of the same, the editor of the New York Observer
remarks, — " For many years the Society Islands have been quot-
ed in Europe and America as a fine specimen of the happy effects
of Christian missions in elevating the character and improving the
condition of a heathen nation. With the blessing of God on the
labors of the missionaries, the people had abandoned then: bloody
superstitions, and were advancing rapidly in religion and civili25a-
tion. But, alas! the demons who deal in rum have alighted on
their shores, and all is again one ei^tended 3cene of morad desola-
tion. No man, we think, can read the above without feeling that
the men who send rum from this country, to be sold in the Society
Islands, deserve to be ranked with the most depraved of their
species." And as the nature and tendency of rum is the same,
every where, may not this be said of those who understand this
subject, and yet continue to traffic in ardent spirit to be used as a
drink, in other countries? Are they not taking a course wliich is
adapted to destroy the bodies and souls of men.'^

The editor of die Christian Watchman remarks, — " Our Chris-
tian friends will be grieved on reading the above; and this grief
will be the more painful, when they reflect that merchants and
traders, bearing the name of Christian, are the guilty agents in
spreading this wickedness. The intelligence that ardent spirits are
introduced into these Islands by Americans, and by British subjects,
is humiliating. We most sincerely hope, that traders in the poi»-

62 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETY. [420

on of ardent spirits, will desist from this traffic immediately, wit-
nessing as they do, that it spreads sin and death wherever its
influence extends. "

And the editor of Zion's Herald remarks, — " It is painful dius
to see the labors of devoted missionaries, for a series of years,
blasted by the introduction and sale of that fiery liquid, which now
seems to be rolling round the globe, laying waste all that is fair
and lovely.

Will merchants in our highly favored land, who call them-
selves Christians, not forbear to send liquid poison to the other
side of the globe, when they hear of the havoc it is making?
Surely, if they will continue this traffic, they know not what they
do, and the silver thus acquired ' will eat like a canker, ' and cause
them and their posterity bitter lamentations, when entering upon
that state to which we are all hastening — ' where the wicked cease
from troubling. ' It is a foul blot upon the American name, that
such things are done. Let us know who are the guilty authors
of it, that the innocent may not suffer with those who deserve and
will receive our execration."

Similar sentiments of abhorrence of these destroyers of all that
is excellent, and lovely, and glorious; and of deep regret at the
▼ice, degradation and ruin, which they have occasioned, have
been expressed by numerous other editors, individuals, and bodies
of men. The evils are such as might well make angels weep.
Not only are the hopes and efforts of benevolence for the pro-
motion of happiness in tliis world blasted, but destruction from the
presence of the Lord and the glory of his power, there is reason
to fear, will in many cases be the woful result. And such are the
known and legitimate fruits of this poison in every country, in
which it is used; and especially among the unevangelized and par-
tially civilized nations and tribes of men. This it is which has
caused the American Indian to melt away before the white man
like the dew before the rising sun. And this it is, which has hin-
dered the efficacy of the gospel, and caused vice and wickedness,
desolation and death, wherever it has been used, in every country,
and among all people, throughout the world. Its constant, invari-
able tendency, is, to increase human wickedness^ and to counteract
all the merciful designs of Jehovah, and the benevolent efforts of
his people, for the salvation of men. The gratification which it
occasions wars with a mighty force against the soul, and from it
God commands men to abstain.

VI. Another principle of the Bible, is, " As we have, therefore,
opportunity, letus do good unto all men." (Gal. vi. 10.) A man has
n6 moral right, natural or acquired, to prosecute any business that
does not tend to do good to his fellow men. If the traffic in ardent
spirit, to be used as a drink, does not tend to do good to man-

421] SEVENTH REPORT. — 1834. 83

kind, aiid especially if it tends to do evil, a man iias no moral right
to pursue it. The question, then, is, Does it tend to do good?
What are the facts ? They are such as have been mentioned ;
and may be summed up under the following heads, viz.

1. Ardent spirit, as a drink, is not needful or useful.

2. It is higlijy injurious to the body and the mind.

3. It tends to form intemperate appetites and to lead to drunk-
enness and ruin. /

4. It multiplies the/incentives to evil, and gives to them pecu*
liar power over the qiind.

5. It greatly increases the amount of pauperism and crime, and
thus augments the pecuniary burdens of the community.

6. In the above, and in various other ways, it causes an immense
loss of property.

7. It increases the number and severity of diseases, and tends
powerfully to obstruct their removal.

8. It shortens many lives.

9. It ruins many souls.

10. If continued, it will tend to perpetuate these evils, and to
increase them, to all future ages.

Instead of doing good, therefore, it does evil, and nothing but
evil. To all these tremendous and overwhelming calamities, there
is no countervailing benefit. And while the cause of them is con-
tinued, they never can be prevented. The Bible then forbids it.

" Whether, therefore, ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do
aU to the glory of God," is another principle of the Bible, which
the traffic in ardent spirit manifesdy violates. Numerous others
might be mentioned. It violates all those principles which require
men to honor God or do good to mankind; it is manifestly hostile
to both; and no principle of religion, morality, or humanity, will
justify its continuance.

Even were it true, as some have erroneously supposed, that the
evils result, not from drinking a moderate quantity, but from great
excess in quantit}^ still, it would be wicked to drink it, or to traf-
fic in it, because it is now proved by millions of facts, that men
are better without it. And as the drinking of a small quantity,
tends to the drinking of a larger quantity; to the formation of in-
temperate appetites and habits, and to all their evils, it is manifest-
ly wicked to drink it, even in moderate quantities, or to furnish it.
But the supposition is not true. And as such is the nature of
this liquor that its effects are injurious in all quantities, there is no
light in w^hich it can be viewed, in which the use of it, or the
traffic in it, to be used as a drink, is not manifestly an immorality,
and an immorality as aggravated as the mischiefs which it tends to
produce.

But, says one, " A thing is not immoral which is viewed as re-

84 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETY. [422

spectable, or in which men, deemed respectable in the ccmmimity,
are engaged."

Then you have only to make immorality respectable, and it
ceases to be immorality. The selling of indulgences for the
commission of sin, was once viewed by some people as respecta-
ble; and it is still practised in some places, and sanctioned by the
government as a respectable employment. (See Sixth Report
Am. Temp. Soc, pp. 79 and 80.) But is it not sinful? Or does it
lose its sinful character, because men deemed respectable, are en-
gaged in it? Men deemed respectable were engaged in the cru-
cifixion of the Saviour, and it has sometimes been thought to be
respectable to put his friends to death? But was it not an immo-
rality? The character of actions does not change with the opinions
of men. If actions are immoral when execrated, they are immor-
al when praised. And there may be in this case, greater reason
than in the other, to declare them to be immoral. The very fact
of their being deemed respectable, and practised by respectable
men, instead of being a reason why they should not be denounc-
ed as immoral, may be a powerful reason why they should be. It
may be impossible to change public sentiment, or for good men to
do their duty, if they do not denounce such practices as immorali-
ties ; and immoralities, which, if understood and persevered b,
will bring upon their perpetrators, the wrath of the Most High.

"But it is not right," says another, "to denounce men.*'
The drinking of ardent spirit is not a man; the traffic in it is not
a man. There is nothing of the attributes, or that deserves the
appellation of a man, about either. They are practices, which
(rod, in his word and providence, for wise aud good reasons, we
have no doubt, by evidence greater than in a case of life or
death, would satisfy any impartial court in Christendom, has
shown to be wicked. Fidelity to him requires his people, in
words and in deeds, to treat them as such. If sins may not be
declared to be sins, because men practise them, they can never
be called by their right name; and will never be treated according
to their read character. They must be spoken of as sins^ if you
would lead the community to view and treat them as such. And
if any man who practises those sins, thinks that so saying, we
condemn him, he must renounce them. That is the proper way
to escape condemnation. It is the only way. While to forbear
to declare sins, to be sins, is the way to perpetuate them.

Nor is there any thing, as the objection would insinuate,
immodest, or unkind in declaring an immorality so strongly marked,
as the traffic in ardent spirit, in the plainest and strongest manner,
to be an immorality. It is only speaking the truth in love, con-
cerning a practice in which some are engaged, which is endanger-
ing tlieir souls, and the souls of their fellow men.

423] SEVENTH REPORT. — 1834. 85

Is it not proper, kindly and plainly, to say that gambling is an
immorality ? But what mischief does that do, compared with the
traffic in ardent spirit ? Is it not proper to say that counterfeiting
the public coin, and theft, are immoralities ? But what mischief
does either, or do both of them do to the community, compared
with the mischiefs produced by the sale and drinking of ardent
spirit ? Says an eloquent advocate of the temperance cause,* — '"^ If
the truth press hard upon the heart of a fellow man ; if a fact fall
like a thunderbolt upon his head, he is not to be offended toith me.
Did / make the truth, or the fact ? Have / led him to do the
act, which gives to truth all its cutting power ? or, have I made
him the author of the fact ; the mere statement of which is as the
bursting of thunder upon his ear ? Has not he performed the
action, which gives to truth its sword of double edge ? and has
not himself been guilty of the fact, the very hearing of which is
as the pouncing of a vulture upon his vitals 9 Should he not be
angry vnth himself and at once enter upon the way of reforma-
tion ? And, if the little I can say, produces such a commotion in
his soul, how will he stand the exhibition of the great day, the
light of the judgment ? If, the truth I tell, raises such a storm in
his bosom ; if he quail before the glow-worm light shed around
him by a fellow man, if his conscience is roused to frenzy, and
all the plausible and false reasonings must be seized upon to give
him temporary quiet, how will such a man stand before the bar of
inefiable light, and truth, and rectitude ? Let him tremble now,
while he reflects what God is, and before what judgment seat
he will soon be summoned, when the summons must and will be
heard and obeyed.'^

*' Well," it is said, "I have no objection to its being spoken
of as an immorality by individuals, but why should it be done by
public bodies ?" Because public bodies have influence, and
the greater the number of those who unite in condemning a prac-
tice that is wicked, the greater the effect. It is so on all oUier sub-
jects, and the friends of this cause have judged that it would be
so on this. Hence the reason, why the American Congressional
Temperance meeting, the United State?' Temperance Convention,
ten State, Temperance Conventions, numerous State and County
Temperance Societies, and various other bodies of men of all
professions and employments, and from all parts of our country,
and multitudes in other countries, have united in declaring to the
world their deep and solemn conviction, that the traffic in ardent
spirit, to be used as a drink, is an immorality, and ou^t to be
abandoned throughout the world. Nor have they stopped with
an expression of their opinion. They have in various ways given

* Professor Dewey.

8 32*

86 AMEEICAK TEMPERAIfCE SOCIETY. [424

to tbe worid the reasons of that opiiuon ; and tacts demonstrate
that these reasons commend themselves powerfuDj to tlie con-
science, and move strongly upon tbe heart. Thej are adapted to
do this. And should they, by all the friends of temperance, be
tmiversally communicated, and enforced by a consistent example,
they would go on from conquenng to conquer. Founded as th^
are in truth, they take hold on the moral nature of man ; point
him, as an immortal being, to a world of unerring retribution, and
to a time when tbe universe shall witness concermng each mdi-
vidual, that as he hath sown, so shall he also reap. And thougL
uttered by the breath of feeble dying men, yet coming as they do
from the hearts of thousands, and as the echo of that voice that
spake and it was done ; stamped on the flying page, and scattered
as by tbe wings of the wind, they have caught the eye and reached
the heart of thousands, whose lips uttered " Glory to God in the
highest, good will to men;" but whose hands scattered fire-brands,
arrows, and death. Many fountains that poured forth their
scorching poison have since ceased to flow ; and deserts long
scathed with their burning contents, have become like gardens of
the Lord. Joy and gladness have been found in them ; thanks-
giving, and the voice of melody. Men in great numbers have
ceased to prey upon their fellow men ; or to live supremely for
themselves ; and in glorifying God, and doing good, have shown
the character, begun the business, and enjoyed foretastes of the
bliss of heaven.

Should the traffic in ardent spirit, to be used as a drink, be
universally viewed and treated, as it has been shown, by the word
and providence of God, to be in truth, an immorality^ and as such
be abandoned, it would do much to hasten the time, when this
should be the case with all men throughout the earth.

The means under Providence of universally accomplishing this
result, is, the universal dissemination of the reasons why this should
be done, with earnest desire and fervent prayer for the blessings
of the Holy Spirit, to render them successful. That this may be
done, these reasons, the Committee of the American Temperance
Society have embodied in this, and their three last Reports.
These Reports, as before stated, are stereotyped and paged
continuously, for the purpose of making a volume, exhibiting the
great principles and facts on this subject, and adapted to universal
circulation. And before closing this Report, which is to com-
plete the volume, on the wickedness of using or trafficking in
ardent spirit as a drink, they would briefly address four classes
of men, viz : Moderate drinkers ; men who furnish

THEM WITH ARDENT SPIRIT; MINISTERS OF THE GOSPEL, AND
MEMBERS OF CHRISTIAN CHURCHES.

435] SBTENTH R£P0RT.-<-1834,; 87

ADDRESS.

•

I. To M.OD.EHATE DRii^KERs. ]3y tbese w£ meaQ men who
drink ardent spirit, but who do not get intoxicated.

Fellow Citizens — ^You are a class of persons like those
with whom the drinking of ardent spirit commenced ; and to
whom it was designed, by sober men, to be confined. Their
object in its introduction, as a drink, was Qot to inake drunkards,
but to benefit sober mea. But such is the nature of this, liquor,
and such the character of men, that if they drink it, it v^rill injure
them, and in many cases, lead to drunkenness and ruin. Obser-
vation, and the experience of 250 years, have proved this.

Of course it must be wicked to drink it, unless it is needful or
usefiil. But the great body of all intelligent physicians who have
examiaed this subject, testify that it is neither. And the experi-
ence of millions of men, show that their testimony is true. And
it is also proved by the experience of all who haye given it a fajr
trial, that men of al] ages, and in all kind3^ of lawful business, are
better without the use of ardent spirit, than with it. More than a
miUion of meu have made the experiment Of course^ the point
is settled. Men are better without it. It is, then, wicked for you
to drink it. Because by drinking it, you teaqh the doctrine that it
is needful, or useful^ or innocent ; no one of which is true. You
perpetuate a practice, which, if perpetuated,, will form, and perpet-
uate, and increase mtemperate appetites, and^lead multitudes down
to death. And you do this, without any good reason, and against
all good reasons. And if this. does not appear so to you, it is
because you drink spirit, and while you qontinue to drink it, you
will be under its deluding pov/cr. Being in its na^re a mocker,
it will deceive you. The fact that you think it does you good^
shows that you are deceived. It is one of, those things which
make men call evil, good, and good, evil ; and to do it often with
great confidence. But it is wicked to be; thps deceived; and
especially amidst all the light which Gody iaHs Word, and by his
providence, has furnished, is it wicked ,to perpetuate that decep-
tion, and be the means of extending and p^petuating its influence
over others. We entreat you, therefore,-fpr your own sake, and
for the sake of others^ that you would renounce the drinking of
ardent spirit for ever.

There is another reason why we most earnestly entreat you to
do this* You are instrumental in perpetuating the traffic in ardent
spirit. It would not be in the power of all the drunkards in the
world to perpetuate this traffic, if it were not for the moderate
drinkers. There would be hardly a man in the community foolish
enough to continue it for drunkards only, after all sober men have

88 AMERICAN TEMPEEANCE SOCIETY. [436

reDOUDced the drinkiog of it. And if a man should do it, drunk-
ards only would not long make profitable customers ; and the man
who should fiimish spirits to them, and thus perpetuate their
abominations, would be esteemed by the community as among the
most guilty of the whole. Sellers of this poisod^ often declare
that they would not keep it a day, for drunkards merely. But they
have some sober, respectable customers that want it ; and they keep
it for them. This is the case with the great body of sober rum-
sellers. For this reason we most earnestly entreat you to
renoimce for ever the drinking of it. If you do not, you are loaded
with the amazing, the overwhelming responsibility of perpetuatmg
that awiiilly immoral traffic, and its abominations. It is a respon-
sibility, which, if you continue, you will, to all eternity, wish that
you had thrown off, or nei^er assumed. As fi*iends to you, to
your children, and to the community, we entreat you ; as firiends
to the Saviour and the eternal interests of men, we entreat you for
their sakes, for your own sake, and for His sake, to renounce
the drinking of ardent spirit. And unless your experience shall
be alt(^ether different fi'om that of 1,500,000 others who have
renounced it, you will have reason to bless God, and thank
diose who induced you to take this course, for ever and ever.

II. To THOSE WHO FURNISH ARDENT SPIRIT TO ITODERATE
DRINKERS.

The ardent spirit which you sell is composed of alcohol and
water. Alcohol is comj!»osed of hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen, in
the proportion of about 14, 52, and 34 parts to the hundred ; and
is, as all chemists and physicians know, a poison. When taken
in small quantities, it disturbs healthy action, produces an unnat-
ural excitement, and causes more or less disease ; and when taken
in large quantities, or in smaller quantities habituaDy, destroys
human life. According to the testimony of the most eminent
physicians, and those best acquainted with this subject, more than
30,000 persons have been killed by it, in the United States, in a
year. And those who have drunk it, have generally had their
lives much shortened. It has also been the cause of a great por-
tion of the diseases with which our countrymen have been afSicted;
and has often rendered those diseases which have arisen from
other causes more fatal than they otherwise would have been. It
has also occasioned, as you know, a great portion of all the pau-
perism, crimes, and wretchedness which have prevailed. It has
hindered men from becoming righteous, and rendered them much
more wicked. It has greatly obstructed the progress of the gospel,
and all means for human salvation ; and been instrumental, there is
reason to believe, in the ruin of many souls. While the traffic in it
is continued, these evils will be perpetuated ; and you will be held
accountable to God for being instrumental in producing them.

427J SEVENTH REPORT. — 1834. 89

It is now known that the drinking of ardent spirit is not need-
ful, or useful ; and that men in health, under all circumstances, are
better without it. Facts prove this. Of course, it is manifestly
wicked to drink it. Yet by selling it you teach the doctrine, that
the drinking of it is right. This doctrine is false, and to multi-
tudes, it is fata]. You cannot, in view of the facts, without great
guilt and danger, contbue to teach this doctrine. It is teaching
a falsehood.

By furnishing ardent spirit to moderate drinkers, you help to
form intemperate appetites, and to perpetuate intemperance. If
none were sold except to drunkards, they would all soon be dead;
and if no other drunkards were made, drunkenness would cease.
But by selling it to moderate drinkers, as fast as one generation
of drunkards are killed, another is prepared to fill their places ;
and then another, and another ; and so drunkenness is perpetuated.
The men who sell to moderate drinkers, are therefore accessory
to all these evils ; and are in fact mstrumental in producing and
perpetuating them. This is wicked. We entreat you, therefore,
not to do it. It will, in the end, injure you. It will endanger
your salvation, and will destroy many of your fellow men.

You also, by increasing the pauperism and crimes, greatly
increase the pecuniary turdens of the community. The taxes bf
the people for the support of paupers and the prosecution of
criminals, are through your instrumentality greatly augmented.
This is positively unjust. You have no moral right for your own
individual profit, even if it were profitable, to carry on a business
which thus tends to injure the public. It is a violation of one of
the first principles of common law, and is forbidden by the Bible;
and if you were not shielded by an unjust statute, you would be
liable to indictment at common law, for perpetuating a nuisance.
Many a man has been indicted, and convicted, and condemned,
for causing a nuisance that did not do to' the community half the
mischief which is done by your business.

But do you say, that as you have a license^ and are thus shielded
by human statute from legal prosecution, you are therefore shielded
from guilt ? This is by no means the case. The law which
licenses you to carry on this immoral business, is itself, an immoral
Ijw. It was passed while men were under the delusion of sup-
posing that ardent spirit, if taken moderately, is beneficial. This
is now known to be false. Of course all the supposed foundation
for licensing the traffic in it, has vanished. Had the facts always
been known on this subject, which are known now, and men been
disposed to do right, it never would have been licensed. And the
licensing of it ought not now to be continued. And while it h
continijed, it does not justify, in a moral point of view, any one in
taking out a license,— or in selling spirft, if he has one. As the
8*

90 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETT. [426

thing is in itself wrong, no human statute, and no license of men
can make it right ; or secure any one, acquainted with the subject,
if he continues in it, from the withering indignation of the Almighty.

It is not honest. You do not furnish to the moderate drinker
any thing of real value for his money. He had better be without
it. And should he, after paying for the spirit, turn it on the
ground, it would be better for him than it is to drink it. It does
bim real injury. Do you say that you are not answerable for
that injury, if he chooses to drink it ? But if you know, as by
doing youi duty might know, that it is to him an injury, you are
answerable. You have no moral right to take Iiis money for that
which you know, or might know, will only iiyure him ; much less
have you a right to teach by business, as you do, the falsehood,
that it will benefit him. And if you continue to do this, you will,
by the Divine Beings by ygur own conscience, and by an enlight-
ened community, be condemned.

There is another view in which you are doing an inmiense
injury to mankind. You are aiding in perpetuating a practice
which will greatly expose the children and youth to pursue a
coulrse, that will blast their characters, destroy their usefulness,
and ruin their souls.

Who' gave you, and who can give you a mord right to pursue a
business which increases four-fold the exposure of our children and
youth to become drunkards, and be ruined ? a business that tends
to demoralize their character, to increase their diseases, to shorten
their lives,^ and destroy their souk ? Who gave you, or who can give
you, a moral ri^tlo increase the pauperism and crimes, the pecu-
niary burdens and the wretchedness of the community ? to aid in
perpetuating a custom, that, if continued, will perpetuate intemper-
ance, and roll its desolating curses over future generations ? Who
gave you, or who can give you a moral right to obstruct the
progress of the gospel, and hinder the gracious reign of the
Redeemer over the minds and hearts of men ; and thus to
counteract his tiiercifiil designs for their spiritual fllumination and
eternal salvation from sin and death, and theb restoration to the
purity and blessedness, the light and glory of heaven ? No one
has given, you this right'— and no one can do it. There is no
such moral right for any creature in the universe. You are acting
in this business against all moral right. And when the community,
long and grossly injured, complain, — ^instead of infringing your
rights, you, while you continue, are constantly trampUng on theirs.
You are doing injuries, not only which you have no moral right
to do, but which no legislator has any moral right to license you
to do. It is a business which moral right forbids.

And if you continue to pursue it, you do it in violation of that
moral obligation which binds you, as an intelligent, accountable

429] SEVENTH REPORT.—- 1834. 91

agent, to glorify God, and to do g6od, mxd good only, as you have
opportunity, to all men; and which will hold you responsible, to.
an endless retribution, according to your works.

And now, when the public mind is settling down upon the con-
clusion that the traffic in ardent spirit, to be used as a drink, is
immoral;''^ and the question is to be decided whether it is, or is not
to be continued; and you are to be one by whom the decision is
to be made, and made too not merely for time but for eternity,
we beseech you, most kindly, and most earnestly beseech you^
each one who has been engaged in the business of furnishing
ardent spirit to moderate drinkersj without delay to renounce it.
Cease any longer to do evil. Do good, and good only, to all, as
you have opportunity, and thereby, good shall come unto you.
That great deep into which so many have plunged never to rise,
will be dried up, and a way be opened for blessings, in rich
variety and abundance.-to^ flow down upon men, to all luture ages.

III. To Ministers of the Gospel, of every name, and
IN every country.

With great respect, and with an affectionate regard to your
high and sacred office, we address you. We view you as ap-
pointed by the God of Heaven to proclaim his will to men. That
will is made known in his Word, and his works. These, as we
fully beliefve, and deeply feel, both show with great clearness,
that the use of ardent spirit, and the traffic in it, to be used as a
drink, are morally wrong; a violation of the divine law. Millions
are now groaning, and have long groaned under the effects of this
violation; a sad memento to aH ages, that " the way of transgres-
sors is hard."

We are, therefore, exceedingly desirous, as we have no doubt
that the eternal destiny of multitudes of our fellow men will be
deeply affected by it, that not only a part, as is now the case, a
large part, but that the whole of your number should abstain from
the drinking of this poison, and from the traffic in it; and should
also not oiily be convinced, but should show by your preaching and
practice, that you are convinced, that both are a violation of the
will of God; and that regard to Him, to themselves, and the com-
munity, require that all men should abstain from them. For this
purpose we most respectfully request you to exarrtme thoroughly
the Reports of the American Temperance Society, and such
other documents as have been published on this subject, with fer-
vent prayer daily, for the guidance and blessings of the Holy
Spirit. And especially do we entreat you, each one, to cease
entirely from the drinlung of the poison, yourself; 4br if you do

•Appendix E.

92 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIEtT. [430

not, it will tend powerfully to counteract the influence of the
Heavenly Messenger, and of the most conclusive reasons. Men
must, on this sfuhject, cease to do evil, or they will not be likely
tofeel a practical conviction of their obligation to do well. The
mocker has power, often, when men are only under its moderate
influence, to prevent the effect, even of demonstration itself. And if
men continue to tamper with it, only moderately, especially Chris-
tian men, and most of all, ministers of the (jrospel, we cannot
expect that they will ever view it and treat it in a proper manner.

But total abstinence from the use of it, and all connection with
the traflic in it; examination and the teaching of the Holy Spirit,
obtained by hearty desire, fervent prayer, and consistent conduct,
have convinced thousands, that to drink it or traffic in it is sinful.
A similar course would, as we believe, convince aU. And the
benefits, which such a conviction, with correspondent preachiug
and practice, would produce, no tongue can tell. It might be in-
strumental in saving vast multitudes from perdition.

A most excellent and respectable Doctor of Divinity was led
to look at this subject in the light of the principles and facts ex-
hibited in our Reports. " It is," said he, " one of the greatest
and most momentous subjects in the world. I never viewed it in
that light before; I will not drink any more brandy." Here we
have a reason why he had never viewed it in that light before. He
had drunk a little brandy — a very moderate quantity after preach-
ing; and tad been, of course, to a great degree, blind to its na-
ture and eflfects, long after many of his brethren, who drank none^
had clearly seen them. He now resolved to break off, and
renounce the poison. He uttered this resolution. It was heard
by a magistrate, who said, "I am glad to hear it. Doctor. It
is a resolution more important, perhaps, than you are aware of.

I was conversing, last week, with Major , who you know is

killing himself by drinking brandy. I told him that if he did not
break off, entirely, he would soon be a dead man. I pointed him
to his family, and entreated him to give up drinking. He heard
me very patiently." "But," said he, " there is good Doctor

," mentioning the name of this very minister, "he drinks

nrandy ; and if he drinks it, why may not I ? " Here was a
drunkard going down to death, who must give up his brandy or
perish; and yet shielded, in his own estimation, from guilt in con-
tinuing to drink it, because that good Doctor of Divinity drank
it. How many other drunkards have been in the same condition,
the light of eternity will disclose. And that light too will show
how great a share of the guilt of their min, must eternally attach
to ministers of the Gospel. Nor is this all. It is indeed but a
very small part of the mischief. Many a moderate drinker,
shielded from the convictions of truth and the reproofs of con-

431 J . SEVENTH REPORT. — 1834. 93

science, by the example of ministers, will continue to drink, and
their hopes be blasted for ever. And many a youth, too,, will
adopt the habit of drinking, become a drunkard, and go down to
death.

A father, conversing with his own son, who had become a
drunkard, told him that he must break off the use of spirit, en*
Hrelyj or he would certainly die. The son did not deny this
truth. '^ But," said he, ^'you drink spirit. And if you drink
it, why may not I? " The father, or the minister who means to
continue to drink, might answer, " Because you drink too much.
I do not take, or do not mean to take, any more than does me good. *'
And the drunkard might answer, ^' No don't I. I am as much
opposed to drinkmg too much^ as you are. But a little, you
think, does good, and so do I. That is all I mean to take." And
so he goes down to death. Who must judge how much makes
him feel better, if not the man himself ?

Deacon , after hearbg from his minister, a powerful ser-
mon against drunkards, said, ^^ It is abominable to drink as many
men do. To take a little," said he, as he was stirring up his
glass, during the intermission, ^^ I think does a man good; but to
drink so much as some men do, is abominable. They ought to be
preached against.^' What would such a man do, whether deacon
or minister, in reclaiming drunkards? Nothing. Who does not
know, that drunkards must break off entirely^ or it cannot be ex-
pected that they will ever be reclaimed? And what can the doc-
trine, taught bv precept or example, that a little does g^od, do
towards reclaiming them? Nothmg. It makes drunkards, and
perpetuates drunkenness. If deacons and ministers drink, the
church members and parishioners will drink. Each one will
judge, in his own case, how much does him good ; drunken-
ness will continue, and it will continue to plunge its victims into
hopeless death.

We again beseech you, therefore, to read, with deep attention,
our Reports; and especially those parts of them which show, the
fatal effects of even a little ardent spirit^ in counteracting the
efficacy of the Gospel^ grieving away the Holy Ghost^ and ruin-
ing the souU of men. And as it is proved that even a little, is,
and from its nature ever must be, injurious; and that multitudes, if
they take a litde, will be led to take much, we put it to your con-
sciences, in the fear and love of God, whether it is not your duty,
^our indispensable duty, to abstain from it entirely. You cannot,
m your high and responsible station, teach the fatal heresy, that it
IS right to drink ardent spirit, and not do infinite mischief.

" If even meat make my brothe^r to offend," said a great ex-
emplar of Christian mmisters, '' I will eat none while the world
standeth." Ho^ much less, then, would he take poison^ After

94 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETY. [4S3

It bad been shown, by the most conclusive evidence, to be poison;
and proved by the experience of millions, that men are in all respects
better without it; and that it cannot be taken without leading mul-
titudes to ruin? How certain is it, that he would not, under such
circumstasGes, take any while the world standeth. Apostolic in
principle, and millennial in effects, will be the efforts of Christen-
dom, when all her ministers and deacons and church members,
shall be governed in all things, by the same high and holy motives.

Tours, Reverend and respected Sirs, is the privilege, the honor,
and, as we most solemnly believe, the duty of setting this high and
holy example. As captains of the Lord's hosts, and pioneers
in the emancipation of the world, you are bound to lead m those
measures which are to fill it with light, purity and love. But,
ah, should the light which is in yon, be darkness, that darkness
will be very great; and the consequences, to multitudes, will be
overwhelmingly dreadful.

But we hope and expect better things, though we thus speaic.
We cannot but hope and expect, that you will take such a course
as not only to be convinced that the dnnking of ardent spirit, and
the traffic in it,, to be used as a drink, are morally wrong, but that
you will feel it to be your duty, by preaching, and practice, to
show this to your people. And if the truth on this subject is

Eroclaimed from the pulpit, in demonstration of the Spirit, it will
e embraced by the churches. And by walkihg in the truth, they
will be sanctified by it, and they will become free from the guilt,
under which they have long groaned, of being accessory to the
perpetuating of mtemperance. They will find the way of truth
to be a way of pleasantness, and a path of peace. And that
mighty obstruction to the efficacy of the gospel, bemg removed,
and the Gospel proclaimed with the Holy Ghost sent down from
Heaven, Ziou will arise and shine, her light being come, and the
glory of the Lord will rest upon her.

lY. To THE Members of the Churches of Christ, of

EVERT DENOMINATION THROUGHOUT THE WORLD, WO WOuId

also address a few words.

.The church, m its character and object, is but one. It was
estabUsbed by the Qod of Heaven, to be on earth, the pillar and
ground of his truth. Its mwnbers Were designed, by their prin-
ciples, profession and practice, to be the means of extending the
knowledge of his truth to all people, and perpetuating it to all
a^es. If what is shown in his word and his works, to be truth, is
viewed and treated as such by them, it will be by others. Thus its
mfluence will be extended and perpetuated. They are the divine-
ly appointed instruments for producing such effects. And although
weak and insufficient in themselves, throu^ him they are mighty*

433] SEVKNTrt REPORT. — 1834, 95

even to the piiilkig down of ihi* sirciig(?st lK)lds of shi and Satan,
And to the reariag upon their ruins ihe king;iom ar.d llirone of the
Redeemer.

If, on the other hand, they view and treat as m'^ral, what €rcd
has ^hown to he immoral, it wil', under tiie full blaze cf revela-
liod, uKd amidst all the spIeii<!ors of Providence, be viewed and
trodieJ as moral by others. The world will grof)e in darkness ;
and men go down in sin^ to hopeless death. Wi^iout liie exam-
ples of members of the church, we ttave not the divinely appoint-
ed instmnientiiljty^ for reclaiming the world; and vain will be our
efforts to do it. Heuce, the irapc.rtanre, and even the necessity,
if they would comply with the wiH of their Lord, of acting y each
OQe, in accordance with his truth. It is not enough for them to
have in theory, or profession merely, a scriptural creed; nor is k
enough that they should have a minister who in speculation, or
the inculcation of doctrine, should preach ac<:ording to it. He
must show them also, from the word and providence of God,
what pmcticts are allowed, and what are condemned ; and they
must treat them accordingly. Nor is it enough that the princi-
ples of the Bible should govern them in their devotions, and re-
ligious duties merely; they must govern them in their eating and
drinking, in their buying and selling, in all the business, and in all
the concerns of life.

And as the buying and selling of ardient spirit, to be used as
a drink, are manifestly immoral, and have been shown to be im-
moral ; we earnestly beseech all members of churches, of aD
denominations, and in all parts of the world, to treat them as im-
flioral. If they do not, they are not, on this subject, the pillar
or ground of the truth; but of error; and are instrumental in up-
holding, extending, and perpetuating that error, with all its destruc-
tive consequences to the character, happiness and prospects pf
men.

And the fact that some church members are now speaking and
acting as if the traffic in ardent spirit, to be t^sed as a drink, is
moral ; or not, as it is in truth, manifestly immoral, is one of the
greatest hindrances to the triumphs of temperance ; and one of the
most operative and powerful causes of perpetuating intemperance.
While members of churches continue this course, they act against
the great object for which the churcb was established ; for which
the Saviour died ; for which the Gospel is preached, and all the
means of grace were appointed. They oppose the reign of the
Redeemer over the minds and hearts of men ; and exert a mighty
influence to render sinning and suffering eternal.

We renewedly beseech each, and every one of them, therefore,
to abstain entirely from the drinking of this poison, and from the
furnishing of it, in any way, to be drunk; and do all in his power,

96 AMERICAN TEMPERANCi: ^Ott^Tt. [434

by the dissemination of information, and by the exertion of a kind
persevering moral influence, to extend and perpetuate this course
throughout the world.

To you, Beloved Brethren, in so doing, we look, as the means,
and to God as the cause, with sure hope and unwavering expecta-
tion of this mighty destroyer, this aggravated immorality, this foul
abomination, and deep disgrace, being for ever done away.

The temperance reformation, which has scattered the darkness
and broken the slumber of ages, and is now travelling in the great-
ness of mercy over the length and breadth of the world, was begun
by the influence of the Bible. It was undertaken in prayer, and
ior the purpose of delivering souls from sin and death. It was to
remove that mighty obstruction to the efl5cacy of the Redeemer's
kindness, which, while continued, will keep millions in spiritual
bondage; and to open the way for the speedy and universal
triumphs of his grace. This it is, we believe, which has led Hira
to favor it, and by his mighty power to croWn it so extensively
with his blessing. And this it is, which inspires us with the 'con-
tiriually growing expectation, that if his friends do their duty, it
will never stop, till drunkenness has ceased from under heaven.

To friends of Christ and of n)an, therefore, of every name and
in every place, we would say, brethren, go forward. Be strong
In the Lord, and in the power of his might. Take unto your-
selves the whole armor of God. Pray with all prayer ahd suppli-
cation in the spirit, and watch thereunto with all perseverance.
Be not weary in well doing. In due time ye shall reap abund-
antly, if ye faint not. And to Him who is the author and finisher
of all good works, and who is able and willing to do exceeding
abundantly above all that we ask, or think, according to the riches
of his grace ; and to his continued benediction, we would devoudy
commend this great concern ; saying in humility, faith, and action,
"Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto
their children. And let the beauty of the Lord our G6d be upon
us ; and establish thou the work of our hands upon us ; yea, the
work of our hands, establish thou it.***

* It was expected, when the above Report was written^, that this, together
with the Appeadijc, would form the close of the first volume of Permanent
Temperance Documents. But it has since been thought best, to ac^d another
Report, '* On the nature of Alcohol, the manner in which ;t causes death, and
the utility, a^ illustrated by examples, of abstinence from the use of it ;*' to
which we would invite the special attention of the reader.

APPENDIX.

A. (P. 9.)

At the iiist annual mecUng of the American Congressional Temperanoa
Sueiety at the Capitol in Washington, February 25th, 1634, the gentlemen
vfaufle names are mentioned, offered the following resolutions, which were
idopted.

Hon.. Benjamin F. Butler, Attornei^ General of the United States.

i?efo/vc^, That Temperance Associations, formed on the plan of entire absti-
nence from the drinking and furnishing of ardent spirit, in vjeW of the evils they
are designed to suppress and to prevent \ tlie means by which thev propose to
effect Jiis end ; the good already accomjplished \ and the benencent results
which may be expected from their future triumphs, deserve to be ranked among
tlie most useful and glorious institutions of the age, and are emii^ntly entitled
to the active support of every patriot and philanthropist.

Hon. William Hendricks, Senator from Indiana.

Resoltedf That we view with lively interest the formation of Legislative
Temperance Societies, and hope tliat the time is not distant, when such a
Society will be formed, and will number among its members all Legislators, in
each Stale throughout the Union.

Hon. Henry L. Pinckney , Member of Congress from South Carolina.

Resolved, That the abolition of the use of ardent spirit in the Army, is hi^!y
auspicious to the great interests of our countrv ; and that its abolition through-
out the Navy, while it would increase the health, the respectability and the
happiness of the seamen, would also tend greatly to strengthen the arm of
national defence.

Hon. George Grennell, Jr., Member of Congress from Massachusetts.

Resdved, That literary men, and men in puolic life are under peculiar obK-
nitions bo promote the cause of Temperance, and that it be recommended that
Temperance Societies be formed in all literary and scientific institutions
throughout the country.

Hon. Arnold Naudain, Senator from Delaware.

Resolved, That the abandonment of the sale and use of ardent spirit m
steamboats, public houses and groceries, is highly conducive to the public good;
and that the friends of human liappiness, by encoura^ng, in all suitable ways^
such estabii^ments as have adopted this course, will perform an important
service to the community.

Hon. Daniel Wardwell, Member of Congress from New York.

Resolved f That as the universal diffusion of knowledge and virtue is essential
to the purity and permanence of free institutions, we recommend to all friends
of their country, to supply themselves with some Temperance publication; and
in all suitable ways to spread the knowledge of the facts on this important
aubject, as extensively as possible.

Hon. Samuel Bell, Senator from New Hampshire.

Retolvedt That essential aid has been given to the cause of Temperadce, hj
the united example and energetic action of young men ; and should it enlist ia
its favor the whole of that interesting class of our fellow citizens, its blessings
would be e.xtended not only throughout our land, but we might hope, through-
out the earth,

Hon. Harmer Denny, Member of Cong^'ess from Pennsylvania.

Resolved, That the adoption of the principle of abstinence from the use of
tfdent spirit, by the .superintendents of manufactories and public works ; the
proprietors of railroads, steamboats, stages, &c. with regard to all in their
employment, while it would increase the valoe of their services, would add
greatly to their comfort, as well as to the convenience and safetjr of the public.

33*

441] SEVElfTH REPORT* 1834. APPENDIX. 103

Dr, Edwards, Corresponding Secretary of the American Tenapetanee Societj.

Resolvedy That the efiect of American example ^nd effort, in the promotion
of Temperance in foreign coutUries, ought to inspire us with a high sense of our
obligations to the Aalhor of all good yMoA enonnwuge us to make new, and ever
growing exertions to become stilt more eminently benefactors, not only of oar
own country y but of the toorld.

Hon. Felix Grundy, Senator firom TennesiKe.
' Resolvedf That the practice of not usine ardent spirits^ at the eelebration of
the 4th of July , the great day of American liberty , is traly republicAn ; and tends
to prevent that corruption of pubUc morals, which is the deadliest §oe to the
prosperity of our country.

Hon. Ueorge N. Briggs, Member of Oongresa hota Massachusetts. ^

Resolved, That the influence of Temperance on the intellectual improvement,.
the moral purity, the social enjoyment, the civil prospects, and the eternal
destinies of man, is such as ought to secure for it the united example and the
active, perseveriiig exertion of all the Christian and patrioti»,. the phila nriiropic
anil humane throughout the World.

Hon. Theodore Firelinghuysen, Senator from New Jersey.

itesolvedj That Uie inmience of wovMit, inessential to th& trimnpls of every
great and good catise ; and should thiit inftuence which God has graciously
given her, be universally,, and perseveringly exerted in favcNr of the Teinperanoe
refonnation, its triumphs would be certam and complete^ and its blessinss.
while richly enjoyed by herself, and those whom she ktvesy wooLd b« cxten£d
to all people, and perpetuated to all agea.

B. (P. 9.)

^ Extwaettfrom <&* 4idvt99 of Hon, B§»jfinmn F^ BmOsr^

The gr&at objectaof the Temperance reform are so patriotic, bene>ofeBft
useful, and the leading means by which they are proposed to be eflfeoted, so
^ust in themse.lves, tliat I feel no appreliension as to the ultimafte result. Bat to
ensure a speedy growth, and an abundant barvecrt. even to the seeds of truths
they must ever be scattered by the hand of love. To every laborer in this field
tof duty, I would therefore, say, in the language of inspired wisdton» — ^ Let not
KERCT and TRUTH forsahc tliee : binid them abovC thy neck : write them upon
the table of thine heart; so shah thon find favor vokdgood susetss in the sight
4>f God and man t "

And now, sir, in view of all that has been said, I 8i:^nut it to the eoli^tensd
iudffments of those who hear me, whether the Temperance AssoeiatioBs, in
the language of this resolution, do not "' deserve to be ranked among^ the most
useful and glorious institutions of the age .'" X¥hether they do not really
deserve the approbation — the active support— of every lover of his coiintry and
his kind .'* If there be any present, who hxve iwA, yet given to this effort their
approbation and sa|^rt, let me respectfisUy coi^ure them, by att the ties that
bind them to this blessed laixi— -by all the endearments that eneirde the
domestic hearth — by all they possess, or love, or hope for — no longer tp give to
folly, vice, and crime, the sopport of their example. If they do not see it to be
their duty to enrol themselves vMidy, onder our banners, let them at least
abandon the use of spirituous liquors, and cease hereafter to furnish them to
others, or to eucouraffe those who are engaged in doing- so. Methinks, to everr
reflecting and benev^nt mind, this little self-denial — I will not digniiV it wttL
the name of sacrifice — thi^ little self-denial would be but tlie merest trine, when
pat in competition with tlie good which even a 5»{eiit emmple of obstinenoe, may
effect. Think, sir, of the blessings you confer, when you save hot ons man from
the drunkard*s life, the drunkard's death, and the drunkard's retribution ! Yo«i
raise from the degradation to which it would otherwise have sunk, and yoo
restore to its appropriate rank in the scale of being, an imnlorial mind — An <

104 ^ AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SPCIETT. ^ [442

tion of the Deitjr ' It may be he is a son — and then joa give new life to the parents
whose ffray haifs would else ^' have been brought down VIrith sorrow to the
grave ! * t)r he is a husband — lind ttien you impart hope and happiness to the
deserted female, who, in tlie confidence of youthful love united her destiny with
lus! Or he is a father — and then the little band whom you have rescued from
aHticipated orphanage, ^ill rise up ^d call you blessed ! Or he may unite in
hiinself all these relations, and then you open in numerous hearts, new and
unlooked for sources of delight! Or to some one or all of them, he may add
the gifls of senium and the accomplishments of learning — he may have been
endowed with powers of the highest order, and ere he gave way to brutal
tppetite, he may have adorned tlie sacied desk, the senate or the bar ; and then
you replace a fallen luminary in its native suhere, and you diffuse, tJirough an
extended system, light, and life, and joy ! But our aim is not to save one, nor
fifly, but thousands and tens of thousands, from the drunkard's fate ! To save
our friends, our brethren, and ourselves, our children, and our children's
children, our country and the world ! Shall we not, one and all — henceforth and
for ever — deem it, not mejelv a duty, but happiness and honor, to be fellow
laborers in a work, so benevolent and sublime ?

Extract from the Address of the Hon. Hersry L. Pincknfy.
Sir, what has been the cause of the yice and crime — the mutiny and insub»
ordination — the tumults and desertions — the disgraces and punishments — that
have occurred in the American army or the nav^ ? They may be traced,
unquestionably, to the great error of thejffovemment, m having encouraged, if not
in having actually produted, habits of intoxication among those, in whom, it
was not only its true policy, but its positive duty, to inculcate principles of tem-
perance, subordination, and decorum. I have understood, however, and I have
learnt it with yery great pleasure, that the practice of paying our soldiers with
ardent spirits has been, within the last year, very extensively, if not thoroughly,
reformed. For this valuable improvement, in that branch of tlie public service,
we are indebted to the distinguished ol$cer, Mr. Cass, who is now at the head
of the war department. Sir, he deserves, and should receive, the thanks of the
army and of the country for having conceived and executed this important
reformation : and it is a source of great gratification to me, that whilst in him
we have an able and efficient advocate of Temperance, so in the amiable and
estimable gentleman, Mr. Butler, who now holds the office of Attorney General,
we . have an ardent and enlisrhtened supporter of all those great enterprises
which have for their object the moral and religious renovation of society. I
have understood, alsO) tliat the abolition of the use of ardent spirits in tlie army
has met with tlie cordial approbation and concurrence of both officers and men :
that, as regards the latter, it has effected a decided improvement in their pharac-
ters and conduct : that misbehavior and indeccMrum now occur but seldom, com-
paratively speaking, and that the crime of desertion is alnoost totally unknown.
And if such have been the happy effects of this valuable improvement as
nnx6a the army, "why has it not been extended to the Navy ^ Why is the us*
oflntoxicating liquors still required^ hy law, in those who bear oi;r flag upon the
moantain wi^ve 'i Why does such a law still disgrace our statute book ? Why
ihonld not the Stecretary of the Navy be authorised by Congress to imitate, in
his department, and to the same extent, the reform that has been effected in the
military branch.^ Ip there any thing in the naval, more than in the rnilitary
tervice, that renders the ose of ardent spirits necessary or expedient.' Certainly
this will noi be pretended. Experiments haye been made of the Temperance
plan, and on very long voyages too, and have succeeded admirably well, and to
the perfect satis&ction of both officers and men. Numerous merchant vessels
now navigate the ocean on thte principle of Temperance, and experience has

E roved that it contributes unspeakably, not only to the harmony and good order,
at to the Bonttve healthiness and comfort and efficiency of the crews. Why
then shoula it not be established in the navy ?

Let the experiment only be made in the navy, and we shall soon be amply
rewarded for haying made it, not only in the success of the effort itself, but m
the gratitude and approhation of the seamen. Let ns then endeayoc, by the
sdoption of the rescdntian befme yo«, to attmet the alte;fttioa of Congress to. this

443] scTCHTii REfairt.— 1834.— APi'eNDfr. 106

subject. Let us hope that the department may be atfthorised by law to Miiah
the distribution of ardent spirittf in tile Nary. Vf hat pos^ble objection east Con-'
gress hare' to |rratifying, in tltia particruTar, the rea£K>nabfe wishes of a very large
portion of our citizenff P ^hy , when Temperance is ^ing on so tyftkmpbantly
on land — spreading its benign and mtflioratrng inffnence tSwttgh aS our towns
and Ytllcges — and particnlarfy when it has been introduced, mra has 00 faappilr
succeeded in onr army — why should the practice of piyin)gnieR with tfaatwlkcb
destroys their chanusters, their bodies and their souls, be stiH continued in the
Navy.^ Why should our seamen still be made itftemperate by law t Why^
when erery other chss is rt^rming and imaroving, shorad i&^stil^ be tempted
and encouraged to ebriety and vice ? Is it the policy of the goTemment to
make them drunkdrds T Ot have they done any thin^ to deserrto that tbey
should stin be paid with poison, whilst all other pnbhc serrant» are paid in
money, or in wholesome and nutritious Ibod ? Hav^ tliey no characteis to lose ^
No principles worth improying ? Or no feeKnga or mottvea which an eBrlight"
enea government should cultivate .^ Above all, have they no fiimilies to provide
for, — or no Souls to sav« ? Sir, it i» high time thia foo) stain weir eiaaed ffo»
the esevieheon of our Navy,

C» (P. 17.)

Fart cfm. Letter from GnKtar ^irn, tmi^ta t4s Chrinm/m tf ^ tsuffHae
OmMidtUe of the A'ev York SUU* Tempcraitee Society^

The foHowing narrative exhibits imptfrtant changes, duct bavef tAen pIjMse in
most of the drunkar<hi, who resided in owr yfSh^, and within twts or three-
miles of it. There are withdn the same Kn^ts- a draen pr fifteen olher persons
who atiH remain intemperate : and, uffless- thvir sober neighborly who have nof
yet subscribed the pledge to total abattnence, hasten to do so, aeod Ur pat away
the snare of their example, there is g^n&at reason to jfear, that a part, if not all,
of these persons, will ffot to their graves and to the judgment seat, in ^ir
present charactet.

No. 1. Upwards of 40 years of age. Was fieqoentlip^ intoxieateit, omtft the
last two or tniee years. Wben so, i*e was apt to be wild and qnijiotic in hi?
conduct, and to intolye htmseH* in difficulties, fronr which he waa not riwaj9
extricated without a considerable loss of money amd time. He beeane qsnter
poor. His larffe family were frevfientiv in need of tile comforts' of lifev He
is now one of tivtr most industrious, thriving and respecGsble fkrmera. Her
is a member of the Temperance Society, and a highly esteemed member ef the
church.

No. 2. Upwards of 30 years of age. Was fbit several yeain very intempe*
rate. When under ihe inffuence of licpior, he oeeasionally exhibited a pn^
pensity to crime, which wellniffh in>yolved him in atter rain. He became
very poor, and neglected to provide for his wife and chil Ansn. Often, when in
his drinking moods, absented himself firom his home for daya together^ wan^
dering about like a maniac. He has been a consistent Member or the Teaqie-
ranee Society, about two^ears. Happily, he dreads eider, as he dteade ram ;
and when, a few weeks since, it was proposed by some of his fetlow laborer*
to have cider brought into the harvest field^ he exclaimed qucfcly :■ ** Not one
drop, not one drop. He feels himself to be ^ a biwnd plucked flom the burn-
ing, and which a single spark maj be sufficient to ignite. He i» now an
industrious, respectable, money-makii^ farmer.

No. 3. About 50 yeara of age. 1%e gnulstionja of moderate driidLingv oT
tippling, and of hard drinking have h^n obserrable in his ease, as in the
c^es or most drunkards. He became exceedingly poor. His very ncBaen>a»
family sufibred for the necessaries of life. Such of^ his cfadidren, as are gfovrn
np, are very ignorant ; and, I beliete, some of them can neither rew nor
write^' Seven or ipight months ago, he subscribed the pledge of tolsi abati-

106 AllClltCAN TfiMPCltAffCE SOCIETr. [444

hen6e $ and, at his owsi aolieitatioti, and with the full consent of those of thenii
who were of sufficient age to ^ve it^ the names of all the members of bis fami-
ly, not excepting the infant child, were added, to the same talismanic instrument,
fie is now cheerful and light-hearted : loves his family, and provides well for
them : and he cannot fail to see, that he is fl^reatly respected bj his neighbors.
An mcident must be related here. The nearest neifirhbor of No. 3. at that timei
Was a dea«on--«nd a respectable good man he is. But, being rather credulous,
the stories about church and state and other bugbears, of which the invention
of artful' demagogues is so prolific, had deterred him from joining the Tempe-
fance Society. No. 3 feeling, as is very natural, a great &sire,to strengthen
the party to which he and his family had recently acceded, and feeling, doubt-
less, that he should be strong in his new faith and steadfast in his sobriety,
somewhat in proportion as the Temperance party should be numerous and
respectable, hurried with the pledge, as soon as the names of his- family were
put to it, to the good. deacon for his name. The application was unquestiona-
bly very tying to the deacon. The conflict of his emotions may well, be im-
ainned. Here stood before him a man, who but yesterday was a drunkard, and
who was now imploring the aid of Uie deacon's name towards confirming the
good resolntiOns whicJi he had jUst been making. Humaniiy-— his religion —
Hot to speak of his ecclesiastical office— urged the deaoon to give his name
promptly V But, on the otlier hand, he may have had some lingering notions,
that this scheme of makinj^ all men sober would, in the event of its complete
ipccess, unite church and state. There was too the pride of opinion and con-
Bistency rising up strongly in his breast ; for even Christians are subject to this
miserable and > wicked pride. He had joined in the common talk against the
society ; had oflen refused to belongs to it ; and, now to give his name, at the
solicitation of a drunkard !-— a deacon to take lessons in ethics from the lips of a
drunkard ! — this was too humiliating! He refused to sign ; but said that they
Were about to get up a Temperance Society in the church he belonged to, and
he would sign there. The church Temperance Society, however, has never
been formed ; and the deacon's influence, in respect to Temperance, remains
where Jestts Christ tells him it should not be.

No. 4. Is about 55 years of age : was for many years a loathsome drunk-
ard ; B(>ent his eamings in filling his whiskey bottle ; and left his family to suf-
fer for clothing, food and medicine. Soriie three years ago the Angel of
Mercy w^as sent to his rescue, and he was reclaimed to soberness and to God,
apparently without the aid of human instrumentalihr. He and other members
of his family soon afler made a public profession of religion, which they have
honored to this day with sober and godly lives. Of course he is a member
of the Temperance Society.

Nd. 5. Upwards of 30 years of age : was intemperate for several years.
Nearly a year ago, he joined the Temperance Society , iind has been sober and
industrious ever since. Drunkenness kept him very poor : but his family are
now coinfbrtabljr supplied. During his abstinence from ardent spirit, he has
ffequently been in the sanctuary. I very rarely, if ever, saw him there before.
It is said, that he sometimes drinks cider ; and thoine of us, whose abundant
observation on this point assures us, that the reclaimed drunkard, who takes to
cider and strong beer, will by the use of tliese drinks, revive and maintain his
appetite for ardent spirit, and be liable also to intoxication upon these drinks
themselves, are very apprehensive that he will fall.

No. 6. About 30 years of age, and has a family. Some six months ago,
he discontinued the us^ of ardent spirit, and joined the Temperance Society.
Has recently drank to intoxication. Never forsook his evil companions. His
poor deluded father, who is a professor of religion and opposes^the Temperance
reformation, is greatly, perhaps fatally, in the way of the recovery of his son.
I this day had a conversation with the brother of No. 6. He thinks No. 6 will
drink no more ardent spirit.

No. 7. About 40 years of age, and has a fahiily: Has more than a common
education. For many years a loathsome drunkard. I have seen him lying in
the street so drunk, as to be entirely insensible to his condition. Became mii-
enbly poor. About two years since, relinquished the use of ardent spirit, and
loined the Temperance Society and church. With the exception of one week

445] BKYfiNTH REPORT.---^1834.-^'APPCKDIX. J07

m theid two yean, he hu ap|)eaied well the whole time. During that week
he wa« 80 iiupradent and, I may add, so Binful, aa to ffo unneoessanly into that
only house in oar Tillaire, where the poiaon is tended. He drank strong beer
there, until he became intoxicated. It was suspected, that his feUcrar drinkers
ningled spirituous liquor with the beer, that they might, in the fall of the poor
man, have an occasion for exulting over the Temperance cause. His fit of
drunkenness lasted several days ; but when he recovered from it, he manifested
the penitence (^ a child of Ood, and abjured even cider and beer for ever.

No. 8. Is Elder Truman Beeman. I mention his name, because he has
given me liberty to do so : and because the mention of it will, in the many
parts of New England and this state, where he is known, increase the inter-
est in the account I give of him. He is i^ut 73 'years of aee ; and, though
his body is feeble, his superior mind remains perfectly sound. From twenty
to thirty years he was a preacher of the Gospel. A portion of that time, he
resided in Rensselaerville and Katskrll in this slate. He removed to thif
village upwards of twenty yetAn ago. He was fond of liquor then, and
had left the ministry shortly before. Soon he became a drunkard and a
gvnbler ; and the lips which had taught others the way of truth and life,
were now eminently pro&ne and obscene. No other man amongat us baa
ever done half so much to corrupt our youth, as Elder Beeman has done.
His wit and remaikably ready talent at rhyming were his most powerful aux-
iliaries in this work. He became very poor, after having^ possessed ahandsome
property, and, But for the industry and good management . of bis wife, they
would both have suffisred the want of food and clothing. It was observed sev-
eral years ago, that the Elder's habits were improving under the gen^^ral reform-
ation, that was going on amongst us. But never, until a year ago, did he come
to the resohition to abstain entirely and for ever from the use of ardent spirit.
Early in the winter, he attended a Temperance meetings which was addressed
by Mr. Tomer, the agent of the New York State Temperance Society, and
there Joined the Society. From that day to this, he has not tasted the poiaon,
and, 1 believe, that the offer of a world would be insufficient to bribe him to
taste it. Last winter he received from the War Department the welcome news,
that his- name was placed upon the pension list, and that he was entitled to one
hundred and sixty dollars back pay. His old companions now flocked around
him for a treat. They trusted, that the Elder's temperance was not yet firm
enough to withstand so great and sudden prosperity. They had, perhaps, flat-
tered themselves, that his temperance was owing, in a measure, to his inability
to purchase liquor. But they Were disappointed. They found him to be an
incorrigible cold water man. The Elder went to work in paying his debts and
supplpng his family with comforts ; and left his old compuiions to purchase the
whiskey they would have begged from him. I have often visited the old gen-
tleman, within the last year. Not only is he sober y but, it can be said of him,
as it was of Paul : '< Behold he prayeth," This old and exceeding sinner—
this wonderful monument of the patience of God—now sits '*at we feet of
Jesus, clothed and in his right mind." Harmony has taken the place of discord
in his family ; and that aged breast, which, for twenty j^ears, was agitated with
the untold horrors of the drunkard, is now the abode of ^' quietness snd assu-
rance for ever." The Elder's religion is of such a character, that he prefers the
^ble to ail other books, and spends a large share of his time in reading it
His change is well worth all the Temperance eflforts that have been made ia
Peterboro.

No. 9. Upwards of 50 years of age. Has long been an inhabitant of the
town. Has an excellent family. Was for a long time a moderate daily drink-
er-^next a tippler — and ihsace ^ by quUkmarch^tL full. grown drunkard. Lost
his health and respectability, and ceased to increase his property. About two
years since he qait his cups; his health and character are already restored, and
peace and cheerfulness, long banished from it. are now returned to his dwelling.
He has not yet joined the l^mperance Society, though he attends ito meetings.
I saw him angry, the other day. The alarming thought came intio* my mind,
that he had been. drinking cider. I remembered the saying among the Jersey
women, that cider drunkards are crosser hnsbaadsthan.otiier drunkards. I hope,
'liowever, that he does not drink cider.

108 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETT. [446

No. 10. About 50 years old. Has lived in town but a couple of yean. Was
▼erj intemperate when he oame here, and poor. Has a good family. His re-
moral into this Temperance atmosphere was most happy for him; for he had
not been here Ion?, before he joined the Temperance Society. He has contin-
ued ever since his connection with the Society to be a sober and respectable
loaii. He has recently manifested a hope in Christ.

No. 11. An old man. Had been intemperate^ fc« many years. Very poor
Connected himself with the church, two or three years since ; and has been
sober from that time. Demagogues have made him believe, that the Temperance
reformation is but a scheme to iibridee men of their political rights, and there-
fore, (though possibly a lingering and secretly indulgf>d love of rum* has some-
thing to do with it,) he cannot join the Temperance Society.

No. 12. A colored man, about 30 years of age, with a laroily. Was a very
great drunkard, and very poor. For the last tlsree or four years, he has whoUy
abstained fi*om ardent spirit. About a year since he drank freely of cider on a
festival occasion, and probably became somewhat intoxicated. He then resolv-
ed, that he would never again taste of any intoxicating liquor whatever. He is
t lovely Christian of remarkable tenderness of conscience, and of course belongs
to the Temperance Society.

No. 13. An old person. Intemperate for many years. Has been sober for
the last two or three years. Now a member of the church, and probably would
be of the Temperance Society, if a certain near relative would be, on wh<Hn
No. 13 is dependent.

No. 14. About 30 years of age, with a ftmily. Had been intemperate for
several years ; and, therefore, could not preserve his earnings. Some three
years ago, he joined the Temperance Society, and has ever since lived up to
its requirements. He is now an industrious and respectable roaji. Much of
the time during his abstinence from ardent spirit, he has been religiously
minded.

No. 15. About 40 years of ase, with a family. Was a miserable sot, and
veiT poor; For the last three or four years, he has abstained from ardent spirit,
and has, during that time, been a consistent and beloved member of the church
of Christ. I scarcely need add, that such a member of the church is also a
member of the Temperance Society.

No. 16. About 60 years of age. Had been for twenty or thirty years one of
the greatest drunkards in town. Was very poor, and a brute in his family
when drunk. Has trained up several sons to drunkenness. Nearly a year ago
he joined the Temperance Scxsiety, and has remained sober ever since, one oc-
casion perhaps excepted. I fear he drinks cider, and if he does he will probably
soon relapse into drunkenness.

No. 17. About 50 years of age, with a large and intelligent family. Had
been intemperate for many years and became very poor, 'rnree or four years
ago he joined the church and the Temperance Society', and has ever since been
a sober man and a decided Christian.

No. 18. Was a great drunkard, and was very poor. Joined the Temperance
Society a year or two since. Had a long drunken frolic last winter. I know
little about him.

No. 19. Was a great drunkard. Now a member of the Temperance So-
ciety, and a respectable pro^ssor of religion. Has as much fear of cider and
strong beer, as of rum.

No. 20. About 60 years of age, with a family, and poor. I believe he has
not used ardent spirit for months. Was formerly intemperate. I know but
little of him.

No. 21. About 50 years of age, with a l^rge family. Had been intemperate
long enough to waste the considerable property he bad accumulated m the
carfy part of his life. Last winter he bound himself in writing to abstain from
ardent spirit. The person ^ho wrote the instrument, begged him very long
and earnestly to suffer the prohibition to e}(tend to cider also. But the unhappy
man could not consent to it. He laughed at the charge of danger in a drink of
eider. . It turned out, as the writer feared. He made cider his substitute, for
ardent spirit ; and he now drinks ardent spirit perhaps as freely as ever. Many
a heart bleeds for his meek and piout mSfi,

447] SEVENTH REPORT. — 1834. ilPFENDIX. 109

No. 92. About 60 yean of age, with a lalge fiunily. Had kmg been verj
drunken and rery poor. About two years since he relinquished the use ot
mrdent spirit. He was persuaded to attend the election last fall, and some dem-

SagneSj to control his vote, got him to drink. One of his respectable children
d roe that his father had not drank any ardent spirit before for a year. Had
the poor father been a member of the Temperance Society, the tempting glass
and the importunities of the desigmng might not have overcome him. I nope
he does not use ardent spirit now.

No. 23. Seventy years of age, with a familv. Had lonpr been a very great
drunkard. Now abstains from ardent spirit. But it is said drinks to intoxica-
tion of cider, which a professor of religion is ignorant or unprincipled enough
to sell him. Has not joined the Temperance Society. One of his neighbors,
who has great influence over him, talks much of church and state.

No. 24. Lives a Uttle out of the territory, to which 1 have confined my ex-
aminations. Was a great drunkard— but has been, for some time, a consistent
member of the Temperance Society.

No. 25. Lives near No. 24. Was quite intemperate. Has recently joined
the TenDperance Society,, and appears very well.

No. 2d. Was a drunkard, until the last three or four years. From that time,
until his death, nearly a year ago, was a sober man and interesting Christian.
He was about 60 years old, at his death. The cry that is often raised to justify
our neglect of the drunkard, and to discourage our efforts for his recovery is,
that the reformed drunkard will go back. That cry is signally rebuked and
fidsified in the case of No. 26 ; for instead of going iackf he has gone to
Heaven.

No. 27. About 45 yean of age, with a family. Was very poor and drunken.
1 am informed, that lie has abstained entirely from ardent spirit, for the last
■even or eight months, and is pious.

No. 28. About forty years of age, with a family. Was very poor and drunk-
en. For the last two years, has been a n^spectable and faithful member of
the Temperanee Society. Is now so afraid of ardent spirit, that some months
ago, when in great bodily pain, he refused camphor, because it was dissolved
in it.

No. 29. About 40 years old, with a family and poor. Had been intemperate
for years. Has leoently promised to abstain from all intoxicating liquors, and
I hope soon to see him in the Temperance Society.

No. 30. Upwards of 30 years of age, with a family, and was poor. Had
been intempenle for several years : but, for the last year or two, he has been a
zealous and faithful member of the Temperance Society. He is now a sober,
pious, industrious and money-making man.

No. 31. About 60 years of age. Had lonc' been intemperate and poor.
Lives at a distance from this place. Visited his friends here last winter, and got
caught in the Temperance trap. Returned home a sober man, and, to the great
joy of his numerous and very worthy family, has remained so ever since. It is
liud, that his old drinking companions tried very hard to get him ba^k into the
mm ranks. He is industrious in proselyting his drunken neighbors to Tem
perance. Of course he belongs to the Temperance Society.

No^ 32. About 40 years of age. This is a very remarkable instance. He
fives .a number of miles from this place, but is to remove to this neighborhood
in two or three weeks. Seven or eight months since, he came to me, Tate in the
evening, for the single purpose, as he avowed, of subscribing his name to the
Temperance Pledge. He was very drunk. I sought hard to put him ofF. But
he would subscribe the pledge. He seemed to feel that this, and nothing short
of this, would save him. Rather to rid myself of his importunity, than iu the
hope of benefitting him, I wrote the pledge for him to sivni He took the pen,
fell upon his knees, and signed it ; and immediately afler on^red an audible prayer
of ten minute's length. Strange to say, he has never tasted spiritaons liquor
since. He is now very industrious, and very ambitious to be a man of respecta-
bility and property. His remaining affection for his amiable and pious wife
seemed to be his strongest motive for signing the pledge and entering upon the
redemption of his character. Let the unhappy wife of the drunkard so demean
herself towards her wretched partner, as to keep alive hi* love of her. In some

IIO AMERICAN TE>MP£RANe& SOCIETY. [448

hea7en>favored moment, that lore may impel him to successful efforts to escape
from his bondage.

No. 33. About forty years of age. Had long been a drunkard. His family
frequently needed the comforU of ufe. Nearly a year ago, he resolved on total
abstinence from ardent spirit, and ha^ been a sober industrhjus man, ever since.
He has not yet joined the Temperance Society, but probably will soon join it.
I believe he wiuics to make a tnorough trial of his constancy to his new princi-
ples, before be joins the Society. In this, he is in a common error. He needs,
and 80 docs every drunkard, who is striving to reform himself, the help of a
connection with the Temperance Society to keep him from falling.

No. 34. Abb'ut 55 years of age, with a family. Had been intemperate fbr
many years. About rour years ago he joined the Temperance Society, and has
been a perfectly sober man ever since. Never, however, until the last winter,
did he resolve to give up cider. It was much feared by some of his friendsi
that his use of cider would bring him back to rum.

No. 35. About 90 years of age. Well educated. Was a very great drunk-
ard, and was very poor. Two or three years ago he joined the church, and ever
since he has been a sober, pious and useful man. He i^moved into a neighbor-
ing town soon afler he made a profession of religion.

No. 36. Very drunken and poor. Has recently joined the Temperance
Society. Does well thus far. But I cannot yet form an opinion how he will
hold out.

No. 37. Similar to No. 36 in all respects.

No. 1^. Upwards of 50 years of age : had long been a drunkard : became
pious two or three years since, and joined the church. Last winter some of his
nim drinking neighbors got him to drink, until he was intoxicated. When he
became sober, he was very penitent, and hastened to join the Temperance So-
ciety. Previously, he felt too strongr to need the help of a connexion with it.
1 can now confidently say of him, tnat he is a sober man and a Christian.

This list would be far longer than it How is, should I add to it the names of
all those persons, within the same territory, who, but fbr the Temperance re-
formation, would, in all probability, have become drunkards, ere this time. Num-
bers of my most respectable neighbors had already drunk ardent spirit so long
as to contract a decided appetite fbr it.

The most important fact established by the foregoing narrative is the con-
nection between the Temperance Reformation and me work of the Holy Spirit.
^,1 might venture the remark, that innumerable instances in our country,
similar to some in this narrative, establish the fact, that the Temperance Refomm-
tfon is itself the toork of the Holy ^rit. Well has the Reformatiuri beeti called
the John Baptist of the Gospel. For, in thousands of in&tances, it has prepar-
ed the way for the Saviour to take possessioA of tlie sinner's heart. Such con-
versions to God, as are recorded in this narrative, whilst tliey illustrate His
forbearance, greatly encourage the individual, who enters into the work of
reforming tlie drunkard, wim the hope, that he may be instrumental in
saving «a soul from dearh," as well as drying tip^e fullest and bitterest
fountains of temporal misery.

Were there space for it in this communication, I might advert to several
other facts edtablished by the foregoing narrative; and especially to the one,
that the drinking of ardent spirit induces poverty. But I pass from this to say
iomcthing about our process for reforming the drunkard.

Benevmence is the soul of this process, as it is emphatically of the whole
Temperance enterprise : and if any are laboring to promote that enterprise from
motives at all inferior to the love of their fellow men, they are at best but feeble
helpers of oar noble cause. Those of my neighbors, who have undertaken, in
reliance on God, the work of reformings drunkards, do not feel and act towards
^hese wretched beings, as they once dS. They have learnt highly prized les-
sons on this subject in the mat school of Temperance Aeform. Formerly,
they despised the drunkard. Now they pity him. Now they feel, that no class
of men are entitled to draw so largely on their compassion, as drunkards ate ;
and especially do they feel this, when they consider now much they have them-
selves 4one to make drunkards. For who of us can in truth say, that he has
done nothing towards continuing that rum-drinking custom in our coantrji

449]

SEVENTH &EPOET.-^.1834. — APPENPIX. Ill

whence \m,ve oome dl our drunkards ? Formerly, they repulsed the drunkard
from their doors ; neglected his sufibrings ; and wherever they met him, mani-
fested their obntempt and abhorrence of him. Now, they are kind to him,
furnish him with employment : ase tender of his feelings, and attentive to his
wants. The drunkard's self-despair arises, in a great measure, from the con-
viction, that he is an outcast from the public respect and sympathy. Of thin
we have been aware in our efibrta to reform him ; and we have sought to show
him, that, as to ourselves at least, this conviction shall henceforth be ffroundless
We have taken great pains to persuade him that we are his friends, and that
every improvement in his habits, however slight, would proportionably and
promptly elevate him in our esteem. We have also cheerfully consented to prac-
tise every self-denial, by which we could gain his conDdenoe : for in no way
can you so surely win men's hearts to you, as by subniittinff to obvious self-
denial, for their sake. It was not because of his self-deniaf, but it was not'
Vfitkatanding this endearing virtue, that the ^eat Pattern of self-denial
was crucif&d. Whilst inculcating the doctrine, that the drunkard, to be
thoroughly reformed, must relinquish wine, cider, and malt liquors, a^ well
as ardent spirit, we have seen and submitted to the necessity of giving dp these
drinks ourselves. The drunkard is affected by this self-demal for his sake ; and
he straightway opens his heart to those who practise it. But should we, whilst
insisting on his disuse of these drinks, indiuge in them ourselves, he would
despise our. inconsistency and selfishness : and we should only make the mat-
ter worse, by attempting to justify ourselves in saying to him : " these drinks
are safe for us who are sober ; but you, who have lost vour self-control, are not
to be trusted with them." Much as tlie drunkard's self-respect is impaired, be
cannot brook a distinction so offensive as this.

The self-denial, that prompted the god-like Howard to visit and explore the
vilest and most repulsive scenes on earth, ^* to take the guage and dimensions
of human miserv,*' in its most loathsome and aggravated forms, must actuate
him, who woula befriend and save the drunkara. His regard for the drunk-
ard's welfare must be stronger than his disgust towards his loathsome vice;
and he must .toil for his rescue unweariedly. Even as the man of God fixes
his weeping eyes on an impenitent neighbor, and resolves in the holy benevo-
lence of his heart, that he will devote himself to the salvation of that neigh-
bor ; so must the friend of Temperance single out the drunkard ; employ upon
his recovery the fruitful ingenuity, that a good man ever has in a good cause ;
visit him frequently; exhort him ^' in season and out of season;" wrestle with
God for him ; entreat others to be kind to him, as well in tlieir example, as in
their words ; and he must finally resolve never to give over the labor, whilst
his unhappy fellow being remains the slave of the bowl.

I recollect having said to you, a couple of years since, that the Temperance
Reforcnation was worth all it had cost, if it were only for its having developed
and exercised, in composition and public speaking, so much of the talent of
the youngv men in humble life in this country, i would now add, that the
Reformation is worth ail it cost, had it accomplished no other good than that of
teaching thousands of professors of religion, that they have little self-denial,
and of course little of Christ in them. The Temperance Reformation has
shown, that many a professor of this self-den ving religion, would ra^er cling
to his glass, than throw it away to save a soul.

D. (P. 64.)

Exiraeisfrom the Report of Q. Chipmak, Es^., who wisited all the MmshauMtt

and JailSf in the State i^J^ew- York.

To Aristarcub CbAmpiok, Esq. — ^Dear sir: I am now prepared to make an
exhibit of the result of an examination, which your liberalitv, with the blessing
of God, has enabled me to undertake and accomplish, to wKich I have devoted
nine month's time, and in which I have travelled more than four thonsaiui Suft
hundied miles.

U2 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE ^ ftOCIETT. [450

Notwithatanding 1 have shown beyond the power of contradiction that more
than three-fourths of the ordinary tax is absorbed by the support of the poor, and
the administration of criminal justice — that more than three-fourths of the pauper-^
ism IS occasioned by intemperance, and more than five-sixths of those committed^
on criminal charges are intemperate, yet the greatest obstacle in our way is the
pecuniary interest of a few indiYiduals — tliat of manufacturers, and venders. If
the tax-payers will submit to this, we might, looking upon it as a mere matter
of pecaniary profit or loss, stand by and laugh at Uieir folly : but when we
reflect that tlie business of the manufacturer and vender involves the tempoiul
happiness of thousands, as well as their eternal interests, this subject assumes an
iofinitely more serious aspect. In no poor-house that I have visited have I failed
of finding the wife or the widow, and the children of the drunkard. In one poor-
hoQse, as my certificate will show, of one hundred and ninety persons relieved
there the past year, were ninetekn wives of drunken husbandsytaid seventy-
one children of drunken fathers. In almost every jail were husbands confined
for whippiiig their wives, or for otherwise abusing their families. In one nine, . ^
in another fourteen, in another sixteen, had been in prison for this offence tke '
last year : in another three out of the four who were then in prison were confined^ \
for whipping their wives. But when we refiect that but a very small proportion -
of these brutes in human shape are thus punished, the amount of misery and -
domestic suffering, arising from this source, exceeds the powers of the human;
mind to compute ; and yet the sale of that which causes all this is-Jiot only
tolerated but is authorised by law.

You, sir, with every friend of his country, and especially, every friend to the
religion of our Saviour, cannot but be pained at the bare recital of these facts ^
yet you, and all that are engaged in the temperance reformation, may have the
pleasing reflection that you are laboring to eradicate these evils, and that air
your labors and sacrifices in this cause nave thus far been crowned with a
measur« of success so far beyond your most sanguine anticipations, as to de-
monstrate that the cause of Temperance is under the special protection of Him,
who can, and wiU cause it ultimately to gain a complete and glorious triumph.

T^ following toiU shoto the present condition of Temperance operations through^

out that State.

The Executive Committee of the New York State Temperance Society
respectfully submit to the Parent Institution the following nummary i^renc/te,
by the blessing of Providence consequent upon the efforts of the Society in
that state, during the sixth year of its operations.

60S Towns and Cities have reported lo52 organized societies. Ill towns have
not sent in tlieir reports, all of which have one or more societies ; but the com--
mittee estimate them each to contain one organization, which added, makes the
town and city associations amount to 1763. The organization of the 10,000
school districts in the state is rapidly progressing : from the tenor of the reports,
the committee calculate that at least 1000 of^ these minute associations are
already formed. So that the committee feel safe in calculating 2500 as the
number of associations, larffe and small, in the state of New York, for the pro-
motion of temperance. Toe actual number of pledged members in the GQ9
towns reported, amounts to 3!iM,427^-averaging about 460 to each. Estimating
the towns that have failed to report, at only one-half of those that have, would
give the present Temperance strength, in pledged members, 340,107.

The actual* increase during the past year, in tlie towns reported, amounts to
91.642 : add the increase in towns not reported, and the committee estimate the
whole increase of members fbr the past year, to be at least 100,000.

Fourteen hundredi and seventy-two persons have been reported a» having
abandoned the sale of ardent spirits during the year, in their taverns or stores :
many towns, in their reports, state that all have abandoned the traffic ; and
nombers not beinff given, they cannot be estimated. In the towns reported,
2874 persons still continue to bring on their neigliborhood taxes, beggary ana
death, by dealing out ardent spirit for gain.

The subscription to tlie Temperance Recorder in the various counties in the
state, amounts to 97,924— in the whole Union, over 200,000.

In view of the foregoing rssjalts, the committee thank C^mI, and take couimge.

461] SEVENTH REPORT. — 1834.— APPENDIX. 113

They liaye some things te dbcouraffe^ but more to encourage ; and it is their
intention, shouM their lires be spared, to address themselves to their labors with
lenewed diligence and zeal, with a solemn conviction of dut^ to (jrod and man,
and with the hope that they may receive the assistance, the influence, and the
prayers of all good men, and the continued countenance of Grod Almighty,
witnont which their efforts would be powerless.

In behalf of the Kxecutive Ck>mmittee,

EDWARD C. DELAYAN, Chairman.

Albany, July 88th, 1834.

E. (P. 91.)

Pursuant to a call from the American Temperance Society, as recommended
Ij the National Temperance Convention, held at Philadelphia, May 24, 1833,
a meeting of officers and delegates from the State Societies, throughout the
United States, assembled for the purpose of forming a general Temperance
Union.

Dr. S. Agnew, of Pennsylvania, was called to the chair, and John Marsh and
I. 8. 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 Uie meeting. The committee, afler having retired,
leported the following members as officers for the present meeting of the
Union:

STEPHEN VAN RENSSELAER, of N. Y., President.

Samuel Agrew, of Penn. ")

William Jav, of New York, J

G. B. Perry, of Massachusetts, > Vice Prendents.

Richard Bo YL8TON, of N. H. I

(. YRtJv Yale, of Connecticut, J

John Marsh, of Pennsylvania, *1

Isaac S. Lord, of do. Iq,^**«-«*-.

Harrison Gray, of Massachusetts, r'^^^rteg,

Thomas Brainard, of Ohio, J

The committee iarther reported a series of resolutions^ which were adopted,
•a follows :

1. Resolved. That the officers of the Ameriean Temperance Society, and of
each of the State Temperance Societies, in their associated capacity, be denom-
inated, Tiie United States' Temperance Union.

2. Resolved J That the object of this Union shall be, by the diffusion of infor-
mation, and the exertion or kind mora) influence, to promote the cause of Tem-
perance throughout the United States.

3. Resotvedy That Isaac S. Loyd, Matthew Newkirk, and Isaac Collins of
Bmnsylvania, John Tappan, of Massachusetts, Edward C. Delavan, and
8am»3l Ward, of New York, and Christian Keener, of Maryland, be a com-
mittee to carry into effect, by all suitable means, the objects of this Union ; and
Hhat they continue in office till othera aiv appointed.

4. Riiolvedf That the above mentioned commmittee call another meeting of
tins Union at snch time and place as they may judge proper.

5. Resolvedj That the Corresponding Secretaries of all State Societies be, ex-
offieio,. members of this committee.

6. As it is proved by the united testimony of thousands of medical men, and
»y a great number of facts, that ardent spint is a notion, the drinking of which
w not only needless, but hcrrtful, as it necessarily tends to form intemperate
appetites and habits, and while the use of it as a drink is continued, intemper-
ance can never be done away ; as it causes a great portion of the crimes, wretch-
edness and pauperism in the community ; increases greatly the number, severity
and fatal termination of diseases ; tends to wes&en and derange the intellect ;

10*

U4 iHEBtCAN TElll>eftANCt: SOCIfiTT. [452

pollute the afl^tions ; harden the heart and corrupt the morals ; as it deprires
many of reason, and still more of its healthful and salutary exercise, and orings
down multitudes annually to an untimely ^rave ; as it tends to produce in the
children of many who drink, a predisposition to intemperance, insani^ and
various bodily and mental diseases j to cause a diminution of strength, a feeble-
ness of vision, a fickleness of purpose and a premature old age, and to produce
to all future generations a general deterioration of physical and moral character ;
as it tends to promote vice and wickedness, to counteract the efficacy of the
gospel, and of all means for the intellectal elevation, the moral purity, the social
happiness, and the eternal good of mankind, and is, without any counteracting
benefits, in all its influence and effects evil, only evil, and that continually ; as
its use is a manifest violation of the laws of health, oriife and of God, and if
continued, will perpetuate intemperance and its innumerable evils, to all future
generations, ana extend its destructive effects over multitudes, we fear, to
eternity : therefore,

Resoivedj That for the benefit of the community; and especially the young, it
be published and circulated as extensively as practicable, that, in the iudgment
of this body, afler deliberate and careful attention to this subject, me use of
ardent spirUy as a drinkj is moraUy vjrongf and ought to be universally aban-
doned : and that we unite with the thousands of physicians and the hundreds
of thousands of philantliropic men, in this and other countries, in expressing
the sentiment that the entire disuse of it as a drinkj would tend powerfully to
promote the health, the virtue and the happiness of the community.

7. As the traJfiAi in ardemt spirit ^ to be used as a drink, minbters to the use of
it, and teaches the erroneous and destructive sentiment, that such use is right,
and tlius tends to produce and to perpetuate the above mentioned evils ; as it
also tends by increasing pauperism and crime, to augment the taxes of the
people, as well as to diminish their health, corrupt their morals and shorten
cheir lives, and is thi^ manifestly unjust as well as injurious towards the com-
munity, being contrary to all just views of liberty, as well as a violation of the
fundamental maxim of common law, " so use your own as not to injure the

Sublic ;'* that for the benefit of a few, (spirit dealers), the many should be bur-
ened, therefore.
Resolved^ That the traffic in ardent spirit as a drvnk^ is, in our view, moraUy
torongy and ought to he universally ahanaoned.

8. As the traffic is now upheld bv the sanction of legislation, and that legis-
lation by teaching to community the eiror, that the use of ardent spirit as a
drink, and the traffic in it as such, are right, tends to perpetuate the above
mentioned evils, and to hinder the truth from producing the universal convic-
tion that the drinking of ardent spirit and the traffic in it are morally wrong,
therefore,

Resolved, That it be respectfully suggested to all friends of humanity, whether
the laws which authorise the traffic m distilled liquors as a drink, by licensing
men to pursue it, are not morally wrong, and whether they ought not to be so
modified, that Uie evil should be no longer licensed, or its continuance receive
the sanction of legislative support.

9. As what is morally wrong is never politically right, or expedient, or
useful, but is always on the whole, detrimental to the community, therefore it
is respectfully suggested whether it ought ever to be licensed, and whether
all legislation in regard to it, if legislation is required bv the public good and the
Toice of the people, ought not to be, not on the ground of licensing the sin, but
only in the wisest and oest wav, of defending the community from its evils.

1(X As the practice of drinking spirit is perpetuated, not principally firora
regard to the gratification and to obtain the money of drunkards, but of mod-
erate drinkers, and from their ranks alone the recruits are to be taken, for all
the drunken armies Uiat are to be raised, to all future generations, and as no
other men can keep up a custom which shall perpetuate intemperance and its
abominations except themselves ; therefore,

Resolved, That in view of the innumerable evils which they may remove,
and the infinite benefits which they may confer on the comrnunity, they hereby
are respectfully, and kindly, and earnestly requested to permit the intemperanoe
of our counti^ to cease.

34*

4531 tEy£NTH KEPOKT. — 1334. — ^ilPPENDIX. 11&

11. The morality or inmionlity of luniig ardeDt ftpirit as a drink, is, in oar
▼iew, the grand point on which the defeat or tiiamph of the temperance cause
depends. If it is thought to be morally right to drink ardent spirit, and to traffic
in it, both will probably be continued, intemperate appetites will be formed, and
dmokenness with its evils will be perpetoaled ; but jf it is morally wrong, and
the evidence of this truth is universally, kindly, and perseveringly exhibited
m words and in deeds, by all the friends of truth ; and attended as in that cose
we may expect it will be, by the influences of the spirit of truth, it will univer-
aally prevail; theieibre,

Raolvedf That all persons who do not drink or famish ardent spirit, and yet
do not believe either to be immoral, be, and they hereby are reqiKsted to exara-
ine the subject in the light of all the facts which are developed, and of all the
consequences of drinking ardent spiril, and see if they have not heretofore been
mistaken ; and if they should be convinced that the practice is immoral, that
they be requested to use all suitable means to spread universally the evidence
of this truth throughout our land.

12. As it is a maxim of common law as well as of conmion sense and of the
Bible, that the accessory and the principal in crime are both gnil^, and as the
men who furnbh grain and other materials for the distillation of ardent spirit
to be used as a drink, and the men who rent tenements for grog-shops to be
occupied in the sale of it, are manifestly accessory to the perpetuating of the
drinking c£ it and its evils ; therefore,

Resolvedf That they be, and hereby are respectfully requested to conmder
whether their practice in the above mentioned particulars is not inconsistent
with moral duty, and injurious in its consequences to mankind; and whether
an enlightened regard to the public good, as well as to the great principles of
morality and the Christian religion, do not require that those practices should be
universally abandoned.

13. As the expression of the views of enlightened, judicious and philanthropic
men, especially of those who, from their profession and employment, have
peculiar opportunities to form a correct judgment on the subject, has deservedly
great weight with the conmiunity, and as more than 3,0U0 physicians have
given it as their settled conviction, that ardent spirit as a drink is not needful
or useful ; that, on the other hand it is exceedingly hurtful, being a frequent
cause of disease and death, and oflen rendering diseases that arise from other
causes more difficult of cure and more fatal in their termination, and that the
entire disuse of it would greatly promote the health, the virtue and comfort of
the communitv ; therefore.

Resolved, Tnat all physicians in the United States, be, and they hereby
are respectfully requested to examine this subject, and give the result of their
inquiries with regard to the nature of ardent spirit, in its effects on the human
irpstem to the public ; and to state explicitiy, whether in their view the entire
msuse of it as a beverage^ would not promote the welfare of mankind.

14. As knowledge and virtue are essential to the welfare of mankind, and the
dissemination of truth is one of the principal means of doing good, and espe
eially in this cause, whose grand instrumentality is the univerwil diffusion of
information, and the exertion of kind moral influence ; therefore,

Resolved, That we view with great pleasure, the rapid increase of temperance
publications, and would earnestfy recommend it to the friends of temperance in
each state, to take efiectual measures to put a copy of some such publication
statedly, into every family that will receive it throughout the country.

15. As the living voice is one of the principal means of operating on the
public mind, and many persons can be influenced only by this means, and as
great good has already been accomplbhed by means of living agents; visiting
•11 parts of a county, or a state ; therefore.

Resolved, That it be, and hereby is respectfully and earnestly recommended
to the friends of temperance to employ one or more such agents permanently in
•ach state.

^^16. As young men are the hope of our country, and as the course which they
may take with regard to temperance, will have a momehtous bearing not onlj
•n their own character and happiness, but on their Influence upon the world
uid as the cause of temperance has already been essentially promoted by this

116 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE BOCIETT. [454

interestiiig and efficient class of our citizens ; and should all young men giye
to this cause their united and persevering support, it \trould soon be universidly
triumphant; therefore,

Resolved, That every ^oung man in the United States, in view of the benefits
which hia example and mfluence may conier, be requested to give to this cause
hifl prompt, energetic and unremitted support.

17. As the elevation and worth of woman, and the extent and power of her
mfluence, are sure indications of the state of society ; and as according to this
standard oiur countrymen are under special obligations to the Author of all
good, and are bound to be peculiarly grateful for the bright manifestations of his
fiLTor; and as the cause ot temperance in common will all other good causes,
has greatly multiplied and extended it blessings, through the instrumentality
of woman's example and efforts; and should that example and effort be general,
united and persevering in the promotion of this cause, so intimately connected
with her own comfort and prospects, and that of those whom she most tenderly
loves, and for whom she most cheerfully sacrifices and labors, it would surely pre-
vail, become universal, and its blessinmi be extended to all future time ; thereK>re,

Resolved, That the females of the United States, in view of the powei^l and
ulutary influence which they mav exert over all classes in the community, and
especially over the young ; and the inuneasurable blessings which they may be
instrumental in comerring upon all future generations and for both worlds, be,
and they hereby are, most respectfully and earnestly requested, universally in
all suitable ways to give to this cause their united and persevering efforts.

Afler the organization of the Union, the foregoing resolutions were adopted
with great unanimity, as expressing the deliberate and solemn convictions of its
meml^rs. We subjoin the following remarks as explanatory of the temperance
organization in America. This organization consists of the American Temper-
ance Society, twenty-three State Temperance Societies, and more than seven
Humsand associations in counties and smaller districts of country.

The American Temperance Society, is composed of a number of known and
influential friends of temperance in various parts of the United States. Its
object is, by the diffusion of information, and the exertion of kind moral influ-
ence, to extend the principles and blessings of temperance throughout the
world. In the prosecution of this object, it does not intend to unite all friends
of temperance in the United States in that society, but to procure the formation
of a state society in each state, a county society in each county, and local asso-
ciations in cities, towns, villages and districts in all parts of the country. Each
of the state societies takes the general supervision of temperance operations
throughout the state. The county societies, as far as they please, are auxiliary
to these, and superintend operations in the county. Local associations in cities,
towns, &c., when they choose to be, render themselves auxiliary to the county
societies, but regulate their own movements and efforts according to their own
views of necessity and expediency, and with direct reference to their own wants
and ability. Each society is independent of all others, except so far as each
may choose for mutual benefit, and for the public good to become united ; no
one society having power to dictate to another, or to control its operations.
£ach seeks the same object, but no one is obliged to pursue any but its owb
course to attain that object.

The United States' Temperance Union consists of the officers of the American
Temperance Society, and of each of the State Temperance Societies, or of a
delegation equal to their number, appointed by them.

Enough has been done to show that the principles adopted are correct^ and
the means used efficacious. Let them be universally and perseveringly applied,
and with the divine blessing, the object will be accomplished. Abstinence from
the use of that which intoxicates, while it will tend to promote the bodily and
spiritual, the temporal and eternal good of mankind, will also cause drunken-
ness to cease from the earth. Sobriety, with its attendant blessings, will
beeome universal, and the time be hastened, when the will of God shaH be
done on earth as it is done in heaven.

60 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE lOCIETT [514

M80LUTION8 ADOPTED BT THE NEW TORK STATE TEMPERAIVCE SOCISTr,
AT THEIR SEMI-AKNUAIi MEETING, JULT 9, 1835.

L Resolved, That the following preamble and resolution adopted by the American Teai.
pmnee Society meet our cordial approbation : viz.

** As it haa been proved by the experience of tboasands in the United States, of allclasies
«f persons, and in all kinds of lawnil business, ttiat abstinence from the use of all kinds of
intoxicating liquor as a drink, is not only safe but salutary, and as this is the only course in
Wlileb tt can be rationally expected that intemperate persons will ever be permanent^
nibnned, and as the example and kind moral iafluence of the temperate is the grand means
of leading the intemperate to adopt and pursue a course so essential to their present and
ftiture good ; therefore,

KesoTved, That the more extensively this course is adopted bv all classes in the commu-
nity, and especially by all members of temperance societies, the more rapid will be the
prMfess of the temperance reformation, and the more certain the prospect that drunkenness
and its evils will cease."

U. That wherever temperance societies have been formed, on the principle of abstinence
from the use of ardent spirit, and yet drunkenness is continued from the use of other intox-
icating drinks, it is, in our view, proper and expedient that there should be a pledge, signed
by such as are disposed, that shall include abstinence from the ose, as a beverage, m all
intoxicating liquor ; and the more generally this course ia adopted the more compMte will
be the triumphs of the temperance cause.

3. That the rapid increase of temperance societies on the plan of abstinence from the use,
as a beverage, of all intoxicating liquor, manifests the deep hold which the cause haa taken
open the hearts of philanthropists, and affords increasing evidence that it will not be relin-
quished till, through the divine blessing, its triumphs shall be complete and universal.

4. That the promptness and unanimity with which increasing numbers of young men are
adopting the plan of abstinence from all intoxicating liquor, is an exhibition which ought
greatly to cheer the hearts of their iktbers : and is an example which, if universally followed
by the youth of the United States, would not only save multitudes from drunkenness and
ruin, but would tend to make that interesting class of our citizens, beyond any generation
that has gone before them, the benefactors of our country and of the world.

5. That the formation of such societies among children and youth, whose parents and
guardians are willing to have them unite in these societies, would, in our view, tend not
only to promote their own highest benefit, but to render them more eminently useital to
mankind.

6. That the union with such societies by the older and more Influential classes in the
community would be an example which would have a most salutary influence on the young,
and would tend strongly to induce them to set out in life in the way they should go, and
when they should become old not to depart from it.

7. That the importing and exporting, the manufacturing and vending, or in any way
frirnishing intoxicating liquor to be U8ed as a common drtnJk, are in our view injurious to the
communirjr, tend powerfully to hinder the progress of the temperance reformation, and the
efllcacy of all means for the intellectual elevation, the moral purity, the social happmess and
the eternal good of men, and ought therefore to be uhiversally abaindoned.

8. That the furnishing of materials for the making of intoxicating liquor, and tlie renting
of buildings to be occupied for the sale of it, to be used as an ordinary beverage, are in oar
view inconsistent with the good of society and ought for ever to cease.

9. That the practice of Insurance Companies, in insuring temperance vessels at a leas

Ereroium than others, tends greatly not only to promote the cause of temperance, but to
icrease the safety of property, and to promote the health, virtue and happiness of aeamen,
and the preservation of human life.

10. That the licensing of the sale of intoxicating liquor, to be used as a common drink,
and thus throwing over this immorality the shield of legislative sanction and auppoit, and
teaching to the community the erroneous and destructive doctrine, that its continuance is
required by the public good, when the facta.show that the public good utterly forbida it. Is in
our view inconsistent with the good of society, and ought not to be continued.

11. That shoif^ld the sale of intoxicating liquor, to be used as a drink, and its manifold
evils to society be continued, and should the public good and the voice of the people requite
the continuance of legislation with regard to it ; the object of such legislation ought to be,
instead of licensins the sin, to defend the community from its evils.

13. That the universal diflflision of information, with regard to the nature and eflbcts of
intoxicating liquor, and with regard to the benefits of abstaining from the use of it, and an
•xhibition of those benefits by the united, consistent and persevering exsmple and kfaid
moral influence of patriots, philanthropists and Christians, may in our view be expected,
trader the continued smiles of a benignant and gracious Providence, to increase and extend
the temperance reformation, till its triumphs shall be complete, and its blessings become
permanent and universal.

13. That the plan of the American Temperance Society, for embodying the facta on this
momentous subject in a permanent volume^ and furnishing a copy of it for each profeasloBsl
man, le^slator, secreUrv of a temperance society, school teacher, and youth in all puUis
seminaries of the United States, &c., also for sending copies of it to each missionary of aB
ienominations who have gone, or may go to the heathen, and also to distinguisiied and
philanthropic men in all parts of the world, with a letter briefly stating what haa been done
in this and other countries, the benefits which have already resulted from the temperance
mformatlon, and the blessings which, should it become universal, would result to the world,
and inviting a prompt and universal co-operation, meets with our cordial approbation : and
that we will asaist in carrying a jrian so finugbt with blessings to mankind, into osoentiM

EIGHTH REPORf

OF TBS

AMERICAN TEMPEBAirCE SOCIETY.

Ever since man turned away from God, as the source of
enjoyment, and from his service as the means of obtaining it, he
has been prone to seek it in some improper bodily or mental
gratification. And no kind has perhaps been more deadly in its
influence upon him, especially as a rational, accountable, and
immortal being, than that which results from the drinking of in-
toxicating liquor.

That intoxicating principle, which has, in this country, been
the chief cause of drunkenness, is not the product of creation ;
nor is it the result of any living process in nature. The animal
kingdom, in all its vast variety of existence, and modes of opera-
tion, saith, " It is not in me;" and the vegetable kingdom responds,
" It is not in me." It cannot be found, and it does not exist,
among all the living works of God. Those substances, however,
which contain, or which will produce sugar, after they are dead,
and have become subject to those laws which, then^ operate on
inanimate matter, in the bcipient stages of decomposition, under-
go a process, which chemists call, vinous fermentation. By this
process a new substance is formed, called Alcohol. This is the
means of intoxication. It is composed of hydrogen, carbon, and
oxygen in the proportion of 13,04 ; 52,17; and 34,7d parts to
a hundred ; and is in its nature, as manifested by its effects, an
excefedingly subtle and diffusive poison. The elements, by the
combination of which this is formed, existed before ; but the
substance, which this combination forms, did not before exist. It
is an entirely new substance, and is altogether different in its
nature and effects, from what existed before. It was formed, not
by the process which operates in the formation of living matter, but
by that which operates on a certain kind of matter, only after it is
dead. And the substance which is thus formed is as really dif-
ferent, in its nature and effects, from every thing which existed
before, as the poisonous miasma is different from the fruits, or the
vegetables, from the decomposition and decay of which it springs.
It is as really different, as sickness is different from health ; or
drunkenness is different from sobriety. Hence it no more fol«

3 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETT [450

lows, because fruits and grains are proper for man, that therrfore
Alcohol, which the f(^mentation of these substances produces, is
proper, than it follows, because thos^ .substances are proper, diat
therefore poisonous miasma is proper. One is formed by a living
process ; the other by a process which operates, only auer death.
And they are as re^ly different, as life is different from death.
Because one is good, it does not follow that the other is good ;
and to conclude that it is, is as really unphilosophical, as it would
be to conclude, that because potatoes are good as an article of
diet, that therefore the manure Out of which they grew, is good
for the same purpose. But one does not follow from the other.
There is no such connection between tbem as to lay the foun-
dation for any such conclusion.

We are the more particular on this point, because there is much
error in the public mind, with re^d to it. Many suppose that
there is some portion of Alcohol in all vegetable substances ; at
least m all, whose fermentation, after death, will produce it. But
this is an entire mistake. Not a living vegetable under heaven, so
far as has yet been discovered, contains a particle of it. It does
not exist m any living substance. It is formed only by vinous
fermentation. After it is formed, it can be extracted from fer-
mented liquors, in three ways. One is, to place the liquor under
a receiver, and exhaust the air ; when the Alcohol, bemg lighter
and more volatile than the other parts, at a temperature of about
70 degrees, will rise ; and may thus be obtained.

Another way, is, to precipita,te the mucilaginous parts, the acid
and the coloring matter, by means of the subacetate, or sugar of
lead ; and then to take off the water that remains, by means of
the sub-cai'bonate of potassa, or pearlashes ; when the Alcohol will
remain.

Another way is by the application of heat, as in common dlstil-
*lation. The art of distillation has been said, by some, to have
been known in China, at a period much earlier than we have any
authentic evidence of its having been known in other parts of the
world.* But there is no proof that Alcohol was ever extracted
from fermented liquor, till about eight or nine hundred years ago.
When this was first done in Ai*abia, no person knew what this
product of distillation was ; nor was there any language that had
for it even a name. They however made a name. They called
it Alcohol ; and that is the chemical name, in every country, to
this day. Alcohol in the language of that country, was a fine im-
palpable powder, with which the women used to paint their faces,
tor the purpose of increasing their beauty ; and in order to appear
to bey what they reaJUy were not. And if any, under the influence

* See Morefaead on inebriating Hqaora, p. 107, &o.

457] EIGHTH RBPORT. — 1835. 3

of this intoxicating poison, really tlK)ught,,tfaat they were more
beautiful than they were when sober, and under the influence of
that only, which God made as a beverage for -man, they were
deceived. But they were not more really deceived, than have
been the thousands and millions, who, under the idea of being
benefited by the drinking of Alcohol, have since lived and died
under its power. It is in its nature, in a high degree, " a mocker ;"
and, it is also " raging." Whosoever is '' deceived thereby," as
every man is, who thmks that as a beverage, it does him good, ^' is
not wise."

It was however soon ascertained to be a poison ; and it does
not appear, that any one, who understood its nature, even thought
diat the time would ever come, when any people would think of
using it; as a drinks Arnoldus de YiUa, a physician in the south
of Europe, who lived in the thirteenth century, is, so far as is
known, the first writer whose opinion is on record, who recom-
mends in any case the use of it even a^ a medicine. Under his
influence, however, and that of his disciple, Raymond Lully, who
was born at Majorca, in 1234, its medicinal use extended north-
ward, and spread over various parts of Europe. Judging from
its immediate efiects, it was thought to increase life ; and was
deiiominated, aqua vitse, water of life. This was what its friends
pretended it to be ; and what, while under its mfluence, and
deluded by its efifects, multitudes, down to this day, have thought
it to be. Whereas if named according to its nature and conse-
quences, it should have been, aqua mortis, et damnationis; water
of death, and damnation. Yet, so powerful was its influence to
deceive men, and to make them call evil good, and good evil,^
that Theoricus, as stated m Holinsheds Chroniciles, published in
the sixteenth century, wrote a treatise upon its wonderfuDy sana-
tive power ; in which he says, " It sloweth age, it strengtheneth
youth, it helpeth digestion, it cuttetli flegme, it abandoneth mel-
ancholic, it relisheth the heart, it li^teneth the mind. It quick-
eneth the spirits, it cureth the hydropsia, it healeth the strangurie,
it pounceth the stone, it expelleth gravell, it puffeth away ven-
tositie, it keepeth and preserveth the head from whirling, the
eyes from dazzling, the tong fi'om lisping, the mouth fit)m snaf-
fling, the teeth from chattering, and the throat fi-om rattling ; it
keepeth the weasan from stiffling, the stomach from wambling,
and the heart from swelling ; — ^ft keepeth the hands fix)m shiv-
ering, the sinews from shritiking, the veins from crumbling, the
bones from aching, and the marrow from soaking." Such were
supposed to be its wonderful virtues ; and many began to think
that they could not livie without it.

Ulstadius, another writer, ascribes to it ibis most singular praise ;
he say^, ^^ It will bvm^ being kindled." And this he considers,
as demonstration of 4ts peculiar excellence.

4 AMERICAN TBMPBKANCB SO^IETT. [458

It was not therefore strai^, with sooh views of its power as t
medicine, thai men should hegin to conclude that it must also do
good in healthy especially when they were peculiarly exposed, and
under severe labor ; nor that they should introduce the use of it
fer the purpose of preventing, as well as curing diseases. Th'g
was the case, particularly in the mines in Hungaiy ; and afterwards,
fa 1561, it was introduced, by the English, as a kind of cordal
foi" their soldiers, while engaged in war in the Netherlands.

It was also introduced as a drink into Ireland and various other
places k What was the consequence of this ? The same which
ever has been, wad while the \^orld stands, ever must be, the conse-
quence in every country, of thus usmg it, deluneuj DELUSION,
as to its nature and effects. Men cannot come under the power
of this mocker, and not be mocked. Another effect was, and,
while it is used, ever must be, it created a tendency to perpetuate
that use of it ; and also to increase the quantity used. Hence
says a British writer, speaking of their introducing it into the amiy
in 1581, ^'From this liMe cloud, no bigger than a man's hand,
has been evolved that mighty mass which is now suspended over
our country; and which, is pouring its fiery streams through all
the currents of public and domestic intercourse." The people
of that country, have since drunk 40,000,000 gallons of distilled
spirit, besides vast quantities of fermented spirit, in a year. And
says one of their Medical writers, ^^ The disease occasioned by it
has been by far more destructive than any plague that ever raged
in Christendom ; more malignant than any other epidemic pesti-
lence, that ever desolated our suffering race ; whether in the shape
. of the burning and contagious typhus, the loathsome and mortal
small pox, the cholera of the east, or the yel)ow fever of the west ;
a disease by far more loathsqme, infectious and destructive, than
all of them put together, with all their dread array of suffering and
death, united in one ghastly assemblage of horrific and appalling
misery." And although it did not become a common drink, with
the people of the United States, till within less than one hundred
years, they have since, drunk in a year, more than 60,000,000
gallons ; and the people of some other countries have drunk, in
proportion to their numbers, ihore than twice that quantity.

No nation has ever adopted the use of it without its producing
aintilar effects ; nor without its proving to be, one of the most
fnutful causes of all their woes. Yet while evil after evil has
rolled in upon them like the waves of the sea, they, under die
vain, delusive idea, that ti^y were pomoting their own benefit,
iiaVe contmued, till within a few years, constantly to increase the
cause. Here is a delusion, one of the most entire, extended, aid
fiirtal, with which sm, or Satan, has, in atiy form, ever cursed the
worM. And when diis delusion is exhibited, undor the life-givrng
power of Him who causes light to shme out of darknesa» laen

459] EIGHTH REPORT. — 1885. 5

awake &om it, as from a dream; and as the truth is exemplified
in practice, they say with amazement, " Why have we never
seen this before?" The answer to this question, is, " If God
had not showed it to us, we should not have seen it now."

Yet there are reasons for that delusion; reasons why men
th.nk that this poison, taken in some form or degree, does them
good ; and of course, why after they have begun, they continue
to take it ; and also reasons why they continue to mcrease the
quantity. Some of these reasons are the following, viz-
Such is the nature of Alcohol, that its first efiect on the human
system is a quickening of action ; animation, e:x.citement. This,
by a fundamental law of our nature, is a source of pleasure. This
present pleasure, men mistake (or real good. It also arouses for a
moment the reserved and dormant energies of the system, which
are not needed, and were not designed for ordinary healthful ac-
tion, but were intended to be kept for special emergencies ; and
which cannot be drawn out and used, on ordinaiy occasions,
without necessarily fshortening human life. This awakening of
dormant energy, men mistake for an increase of real, permanent
strength. But on both these points they are entirely mbtaken.
As well might they conclude that because sin, sometimes gives
present pleasure, that therefore it is a source of real good ; or
because the delirium of a ^ever, sometimes arouses into action
dormant energies,-r-and the man who before had hardly life
enough to raise a hand, for a moment, puts on the energy almost
of a giant, that therefore disease and delirium are a source of
permanent strength, as to draw any such conclusion concembg
Alcohol. The fruit which God, on pain of death, had forbidden
promised, and the eating of it may have giv^en, present pleas^e.
But the man who thinks that it was, or that sin is, in any ease,
the mefflfis of real good, is entirely mistaken. He calls evil
good, under the delusion, which the practice of evil occasions.
The falling into a river, and the immediate danger, of drowning of
an infant child, or its exposure to be consumed in a house on fire,
may awaken the dormant energies of a delicate and affectionate
mother, and arouse for a moment the strength almost of Hercules
for its rescijie. But the man, ^r the woman, who thinks, judging
from the immediate effects,, that such scenes increase real, per-
manent strength, is mistaken. Whatever the present appearance
or reality may be, the consequence is, weakness, not strength ;
sickness, not health ; death, and not life. So with sin, in all
cases ; its end is bitterness and death. So with Alcohol. What-
ever the present appearance or reality, ^' at the last, it biteth like
a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. -'

Yet as it gives present pleasure, and appears sometimes to
iDcrease strength, a nK>tive is hereby created to drink it,

< ilMERiGAN TKMPEllATVCE BOCIETT. [460

It sometimes also appesrs to remove trouUe, and this is tnotb-
er motive to take it. A man's wife, in the state of New York,
mas seized with the cholcsra, and he was in trouble. She died ;
and he drank Aicohd. Under its influence, he took her by the
liahr of her head, and in high glee, dragged her body across the
iloor, and tumbled it into the coffin. It seemed to remove trou-
ble, and even under the most trymg circumstances, to occasion
tnhrth. But the miith of the wicked is short ; and the end of
that mirth is heaviness. Yet, as the mirth is real^ and is occa-
sioned by Alcohol, it presents a motive to drink it. And thou-
ands do drink it on this accounts

It sometimes also seems to remove even poverty ; and to in-
crease riches, and other desirable thbgs. A poor man in Massa-
chusetts who was not a drunkard, but was in the habit of daity
using spirit, greatly to his own injury, and that of his family, was
entreated by a rich neighbor, to renounce the practice. He bad
tone it himself, and found great benefit, and he wished his neigh
oor to do it. But the poor man gave this as a reason why they
did not think alike on this subject. '^You," said he, ^^are a
rich man, and of course have no need of taking it. You are
rich enough, and you feel rich enough, without it. But I am a
poor man ; and nobody likes always to feel poor ; and when a
man has taken a little, he feels five hundred dollars richer^ than
he did before." But is be any richer.^ Is his family any richer?
Or is it all delusion.^ Delusion-; but no more real than the men
experience in other cases, who, because it gives them present
pleasure, think it does them real good. It gave to this man for a
moment the pleasure of feeling that he was rich, when he was not
rich ; the pleasure of being deceived ; and this is its nature. It
gives to men the pleasure and profit of deception. For this
reason, it has often been furnished at public sales of property for
the purpose of leading those who might attend, and would partake
of it, to feel more rich than they really were ; and to give more
for property, than it was worth.

A respectable lavryer in the neighborhood of Boston was about
to sell the wood which was standing upon a certain piece of ground.
He knew that ardent spirit is poison, and of course that it is
kicked for men to drink it, or to furnish it to be drunk by otb-
ers ; and although it had been the custom, on such occasions, to
furnish it, he told the vendue-master, not to furnish any ; but in
its stead, to furnish nourishing food. The vendueHnaster cox>-
9ented to follow his directions, but, t^d he, ^^I am very sorry,
you will lose a great deal of money. I know how it works ; and
you may depend upon it, that after men have been (h*inldng, the
trees look a great deal larger than they did before^" But are they
any larger.' Men may dso, sometimes, seem to see two tar mocv

461] EIGHTH RePORT.--^1335. 7

tiees, where b^ore they drank the poisoa, they ipould see but
<Mi£w But are th^e aoy mxxe trees dian there were before?
Yet as there seem to be more, or they seem to be larger, md meia
who furnish the poison, get at the time more money, it presents
to them a powerful temptation to commit the sin of Airnishing it.

A number of gentlemen in the State of New York, assemrbled
to consult upon the worth of certain parcels of land, which were
to be ofiered at public sale. After due consideration, they con-
cluded unanimously, that the lands were pot worth over a ceitain
sum, and that they would not sell for more. At the time ap-
pointed, they attended the sale. No one offered more than what
was considered, by men, when they were not poisoned, to be the
worth of the property. The owner would not sell it at that
price. He invited the men to his house, and gave them Alcohol
and water, sweetened and prepared in such a manner as to be
palatable. After partaking of it they repaired again to the sale,
and one of those very men, who is now a highly respectable man,
felt so much richer than he did before, the property appeared to
be so much more valuable, and it appeared to him so much more
important that he should have it, that he bid, and actually gave
more than four times as much as he, or any other man, when not
poisoned^ thought the land to he worth, or was willing to give for it.
The- above account the writer of this, had from the man himself.
A vendue-master in Connecticut, in giving an account of such
cases, said, " I have often, in this way, gotten more than ten times
the worth of the spirits. which I furnished." Horse-jockeys, gam-
blers, thieves, highway-robbers, and murderers often furnish Alco-
hol for this purpose. Men are now carrying it in great quantities,
to different parts of our country, to the Indians on our borders, and
to various portions of the heathen world, for the express purpose
of deceiving those who drink it, and thus by deception and fraud,
obtaining their money. Such are some of the reasons why men
drii^ it, and why they furnish it, to be drunk by others. The
one class experience a temporary pleasure, or a seeming increase
of some desirable tiling, and the other class obtain, or hope to
obtain, more money. But botii the money and the pleasure, or
other supposed benefits, are, in these cases, obtained by a viokh
Hon of the laics and mil of God; and although real, and thus
operate as motives, are nevertheless forbidden^ and of course
must be hurtful^ and short.

Let us now look a moment at some of the reasons why men
who begin to drink Alcohol, not only continue to drink it, but
continue also to increase the quantity.

The system, by this poison, having been over-excited, becomes
deranged; and having been over- worked, without any new strength
communicated, it is of course weaheoed, and therefore seen Jfla^;

8 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETY. [463

becomes tired, and is exhausted. Now, according to another
fundamental law, there is pain, languor, and inexpressible uneasi-
ness spread through the system, as suSetm^ nature, under the awful
abuse which has been practised upon her, cries out for help. A
man cannot thus chafe, irritate and exhaust his system, and not
afterwards feel uneasiness, any more than he can put his hand into
the fire, and not feel pain. He violates a law established by God;
and must find the way of transgressors to be hard. Hence arise
two motives to drink again. Ope is, to obtain the past pleasure,
and the other is, to remove the present pain. But as the system
IS unstrung and pardy worn out, and is also lower down than it
was before, the same quantity will not, the next time, raise it up
so high; nor cause the wearied organs to move so briskly. Of
course it will not fully -answer the purpose; wiU not give so much
present pleasure, or produce so much effect, as before. Hence
the motive to increase the quantity; and for the same reason, in
future, to increase it more, and still more. As every repetition
increases the difficulty, and also throws new obstacles in the way
of its removal, the temptation to increase the quanti^, grows
stronger and stronger. The natural Kfe of the system constantly
iliminishes, and of course in order to seem to live, what there is,
must be more and more highly roused, till, m one half, one quar-
ter, or one eighth of the proper time, the whole is exhausted, and
the man sinks prematurely to the grave.

There is another principle which tends also strongly to the
same result. The more any man partakes of this unnatural, for-
bidden, and guilty pleasure, which Alcohol occasions, the less
susceptible he becomes of the natural and innocent pleasures, oc-
casioned by the use of nourishing food and. drbk; by the view
and contemplation of the works of creation and Providence; by
the exercise of the social affections, and the discharge of the va-
rious duties of life. It disinclines the mind to look at God, and
incapacitates it, not only for the spiritual, but also for the nat-
ural pleasures, which his works and ways are adapted to afford.
Hence a person under its power becomes more and more desti-
tute of all enjoyment, except that of this mocker. Like Phara-
oh's lean kind, it devours all other kinds; and as to enjoyment,
becomes to the man, more and more, all in all. And however
much he may have, he remains still unsatisfied; nor is his leanness
or craving abated. And while its immediate influence becomes to
turn more and more his only enjoyment, the absence of that, and
the experience of its ulHmate effects, becomes increasingly the
sum and substance of his woes. And thus, by the allurement of
his sole pleasure on the one hand, and the terrors of awful wretch-
edness on the other, he is ui^ed on to death. Of all the expe-
dients winch Satan has ever devised to increase the descent and

403] EIGHTH RBPaRT. — 1834. 9

Telocity of a noan, on his course toward perdition^ and augmetit
the difficulty of his retiu-n, the drinking oi Alcohol is among the
chief. And though the taking it, may seem right unto a man,
who is under its power^ " the end thereof is the way of death "

From the above, it is evident, that the deranged and exhausted
state of the system, from which the uneasiness, when not under
the excitement of Alcohol, springs, and which causes the hanker-
ing or thirst after the poison, is not a natural state; nor is that
appetite a natural appetite. God never gave it, nor is it the fruit
of obedience to him; biit it is always formed, by a violation of his
laws. Hence another reason, why this course, like every other
course of sinning, is downward; and the farther a man proceeds
in it the steeper it becomes, the swifter bis progress, and the more
difficult his return. It is the way of disobedience (q God; of
course the way of death. Such are some of the reasons why
men who begin to drink Alcohol, and receive from it nothing but
injury, nevertheless, not only contmue to drink it, but to drink it
in greater and greater quantity.

Let us now consider how it causes death. Alcohol is a sub-
stance which is in its nature unfit for the purposes of nutrition.
It is not in the power of the animal economy to decompose it,
and change it into blood, or flesh, or bones, or any thing by which
the human body is, or can be nourished, strengthened, and sup-
ported* When taken into the stomach, it is sucked up by absorb-
ent vessels, and carried into the blood; and with that is circulated
through the whole system, and to a certain extent, is then thrown
off again. But it is Alcohol when taken, it is Alcohol in the
stomach, it is Alcohol in the arteries, and veins, and heart, and
lungs, and brain, and among all the nerves, and tissues, and fibres
of the Avliole body, and it is Alcohol, when, after having pervaded
and passed through the whole system, it is thrown off again. Give
it even to a dog, and take the blood from his foot, and distil it, and
you have Alcohol, the same which the dog drank. No, not that
which he drank; for a dog knows too much to drink it; the same
which, in opposition to his knowledge of good and evil, or. the
instijictive sense which God gave him, and drunkenness had not
perverted, you forced upon him. Not even the sense of a dog
will permit him to take it, ^nor can the powerful stomach of a dog
digest it. Much less can that of a man. Take the blood from
the arm, the foot, or the head, pf the man who drinks it, and distil
that blood, and you have Alcohol. You may take it from the brain,
strong enough, on the application of fire, in an instant to blaze.
(See Permanent Temperance Documents, pc 302.) Not a blood
vessel however minute, not a thread of the smallest nerve in the
whole animal machinery, escapes its influence. It enters the
•igaas of the nursing mother, which {H*epare the delicate food lor

10 XMERICAK TBMPKKAlfCX SOCIETY. [464

the sustenence and growth c( her chfld. It b taken into the dr-
culatioos and passes through the whde system of the ddd; haring
tlirougb its whole course produced not only on the moth^, bat
ako on the child, the appropriate efkcts of the drunkard's pdsoo.
This is a reason, why^, after the mother has taken it, the babe
although before restless, sleeps all ni^t like a drunkard; and a
reason also, why such chQdren, if they live, oken have au appetite
for spirit, and are so much more likely, than other children, to
become drunkards. This is a reason, ako, why, when the parents
have been in the habit of freely taking it, their children are so
much smaller, and less healthy than other chfldren; have less keen-
ness and strength of eye-sight; firmness of nerve, or abili^ of
body and mind to withstand the attacks of disease, and the vicis-
situdes of climates, and seasons; and also a reason why they have
less inclination and less talent for great bodily, and mental achieve-
ments; By the operation of laws, wluch no man can repeal, or
withstand, the iniquities of the fathers are thus naturally visited
upon the children, from generation to generation.

Nor is the increased liability to drunkenness, or diminution of
size, and strength of body and mind, the only evils. There is also
a greatly increased liability to insanity, and various other diseases.
The records of insanity throughout the world show that Alcohol
has been, in all countries where it has been used, one of the chief
causes of this disease. It penetrates, pervades, and hardens the
brain. (See Permanent Temperance Documents, p. 64, 69,
202, &c.) The san^e may be said with regard to a great number
and variety of other formidable and fatal diseases. (See Do.
p. 203, 405.) From the fact Aat it is not suitable, as an article
of diet, it follows of course that it must be hurtful, and that it b
wicked to drink it, or to furnish it to be drunk by others. All the
organs of the body, have as much labor to perform, as is consistent
with permanently healthful action, when they have nothing to dis--
pose of, but suitable food and drink. God designed that they
should all in that case be diligent in business; and in the struc-
ture of the human body, he has given them as much work as they
can perform in the proper disposal of suitable diet, and yet remain
' perfnanently healthy, and preserve life to the longest time. And
if you withhold from them a suitable portion of that which is
nourishing, and thus lessen their strength, or load them with that
which is not nourishing, uid thus increase their labor, you neces-
sarily produce premature decay and death.

In the taking of Alcohol, you do both of these. Ton ultimate-
ly lessen the nourishment, and you increase the labor of the
system. Nor is this all; but, by this poison, you deteriorate the
quality of the nourishment which the system does receive. Amidst
uie busde, excitement, and irritation, which Alcohol occaskxis,

465] KIOHTH EBPOKT.— -1835. 11

the Qi^ans cannot furnish nourishment, pure and healthful as thej
otherwise would. And thus by a threefold process, you workout
destruction.

Were the human body transparent and the operations of its
organs in sustaining life, visible, every man might see that nature
itself J or rather, God by the operations of his providence in sus-
taining life, teaches that the (kinking of Alcohol is wicked, and
cannot be continued by a man without hastening his death.

The receptacle for food is the stomach and intestines. From
these after being changed, 6rst into chyme, and then into chyle, it
is tsken up by absorbent vessels and carried into the blood, and
conveyed to the right side of die heart. From that it is sent to
the lungs; and by coming into.contact with the air, and taking out
of it, what it needs, in order, with what it has, to nourish the
body, it is sent back again to the left side of the heart. From
that, it is sent in arteries, or tubes, which God . has prepared, for
that purpose to all parts of the body, for the purpose of carrying
the nourishment which it contains, and which each part needs to
its proper place. Along on the lines of these tubes, or canals,
through which the blood, with its treasure flows, God has provid-
ed a vast multitude of litde oi^ans, or waiters, whose office is,
each one to take out of the blood, as it comes along, that kind
and quantity of nourishment which it needs for its own support,
and also for the support of that part of die body which is com-
mitted to its care. And although exceedingly minute and delicate,
they are endowed by their Creator, with the wonderful power of
doing this, and also of abstaining from, or expelling and throwing
back into the common mass, what is unsuitable, or what they do
not want, to be carried to some other place, where it may be need-
ed; or if it is not needed any where, and is good for nothing, to
be thrown out of the body as a tiuisance. And strange as it may
seem, they are endowed with a power of doing this, with a pi*e-
cision, and an accuracy, and a perpetuity also, which led God
himself to say of them, " very good." And had they not been
deranged by sin, they might, as a demonstration of the truth of
his declaration, have operated, like their Author, in perfection,
untired, for ever.

For instance, the organs placed at the end of the fingers, when
the blood comes there, take out of it what they need for their sup-'
port, and also what is needed to make finger nails; while they wiH
cautiously abstain from, or repel that which will only make hair,
and let it go on to the head. And the organs on the head, care-
folly take out that which they need for their support, and also
that which will make hair, or, in common language, cause it to
grow. While they will cautiously abstain from taking that which
IS good for nothing, except to make eye-balb; and let it go to the

;B AMEEICAK TBXrBEAlfCS tOOIETT. [466

ejres, Iknd wiH ev6a help it on. And the orgai[i9, about the ejt
Will lake diat and work it up kto eyes^ or cause them to grow.
And so throughout the whole. And there is, among aU the
minions and millions of these workers, day and night, all dili-
gent in business, or rather bad they not been invaded and assault-
ed by sin, or something like it, there would have been, the most
entire and everlasting harmony. And there is also the most deli-
cate and wonderful sympadiy. If one member suffer, all the
members instinctively suffer with it; and if one member rejoices,
all the members rejoice with it.

And when the blood has gotten out to the extremities and been
•to all parts of the system and left its treasures along on the way, as
they were needed, for, freely it has received and freely it ^ves,
then there is another set of tubes, or channels which God has
opened and prepared to take the blood, and with it, what was not
needed, or was good for nothing, or had been used till it was worn
out, back to the right side of the heart. From this it is sent
again with its load to the lungs for the purpose, by expiration, of
throwing off What is not needed, and what, if retained, would only
be a burden and do mischief ; and also, by inspiration, of taking
in a new store, and setting out again on its journey round the sys-
tem. And to give it good speed, the heart, like a steam-engine,
worked, not by fires which men can kindle, but by the breath of
the Almighty, keeps constantly moving, day and night, summer
and winter, through storms and sunshines, sickness and health, till
it has landed the immortal passenger, according to his conduct
on the voyage, in an eternal heaven, or hell.

Then there is another set of organs^ too minute, and too nu-
merous for any man to number, whose office is, to take up re-
fuse matter, and which if retained would be hurtful, and throw it
without the body. What other organs reject, and thus show to
be a nuisance, these organs seize upon ; and in the least possible
time, expel from the system. By domg this, they prevent sick-
ness and death.

From the manner in which these various organs, guided, in
a healthy state, by the instinctive power of their Author, treat
any substances which are taken into the system, and also from the
manner in which, as they do their office, these substances treat
&em, and through them the rest of the body, we may leam the
nature of those substances, and also the will of God with regard
to the use of them. This is the way in which nature, or to
speak more properly, God, by his providence, gives instruction,
and makes known his will.

What then is the manner in which these various organs, guided
by God, treat Alcohol? First with regard to those cnrgans whose
business is, to select and deposit ia proper places, a suitable

467] EIGHTH KSPQar.^— 183§. 13

kind and quantity of nourishment, for the growth and support of
the system; how do they treat Alcohol? Do they take it up, and
use it, for die purpose of making flesh, or bones, or any thing
by which the body is nourished, beautified, and supported? No;
they all with one consent instinctively, and instantly reject it. It
goes to one class, and they reject it; to another, and they reject
it; and then to another, and another, and so on, but they all reject
it; and will not, if they can prevent it, suffer, it even to stop. , No
one will embrace it, or look at it as a friend; but all view it as an
enemy, and treat its coming as a hostile invasion. Nor do they
merely let it alone, but they fight against it. This increases their
labor, and they soon languish. Nor does this enemy let them alone,
or merely fail to benefit them. It fights against them, and thus
draws them offfrom their proper work, or goads them on unmer-
cifully, till they become frantic. Having to labor amidst the fire
and the fumes of an irritating and poisonous enemy, the organs be-
come themselves irritated and chafed; their sensibilites are blunted,
and they do their work badly. Then the parts of the system which
are dependent on those orgaQS, and suffer, through their derange-
ment, begin to complain of those organs, and they, provoked^
retort back again. The harmony is destroyed; the kindness of
the system annihilated, confiision ensues, and every evil work. In
their frenzy they bite and devour one another, and are thus con-
sumed one of another. While the common enemy, is chased on
from organ to organ, marking his jcourse with irregularity of action,
and disturbance of Amotion, and if he cannot be expelled, will
produce certain death. And how is it with the other kind of
organs, that mighty host, whose business is, to watch for enemies,
and drive them out — to clear off nuisances, and expel poison.
How do they treat Alcohol? Do they let it alone, and suffer it
to remain? No, they would be traitors, should they do that. But
they are not traitors, nor cowards. — They seize upon it, and as
speedily, and thoroughly as possible exclude it.. And if another
recruit comes along, they treat that in the same way, and another,
and another. It is a war of extermination ; to continue, if the
enemy continues to invade, as long as life lasts. But mark, this
is all so much extra labor ; and labor too, of a most disagreeable
and exhausting kind, with a subde and deadly foe, and in a peco-
liarly poisonous atmosphere, which that foe creates. And yet thef
had as much work as they could possibly do, consistently with
permanently healthful action, to cope with only natural fisli. com-
mon enemies. And when this artificial one comes, they are soon
crippled^ and exhausted; they cease to operate; or they do their
ordinary work, badly. Their food becomes unwholesome, and
they grow sickly. Their recuits fafl, enemies multiply, and take
strong holds, and keep possession; the t^ritory is more and

14 AMERYCAK TKUFBEANCt SOCIETY. [4#8

tnare imracted) tiB the whole is conquered, and death and destnictioo
•triumph oyer all. And this destruction is often accomplished, ten;
twenty, and sometimes fifty years sooner than even sin or Satan^
without Alcohol, would accomplish it. And the poor soul is not
permitted to stay out its probation on earthy by half a century.

Facts justify the ccxiclusion, that Alcohol has within the last
thirty years, cut off, in the United States more than thirty million
years of human probation, and uaiiered more than a million of
souls, imcalled^ and in violation of the command, ^' thou shalt not
kill," into the presence of their Maker. (See Permanent Doc-
uments Am. Temp. Soc. pp. 28, 203, 206, 405, &c.)

The process by which this is done, is simple, and certain. All
the organs of the human body haire as much work to do, as is
•consistent with permanently healthful action, and with the longest
contmuance of human life, when men take nothing but suitable
food and drink. And if, in addition to this, you take Alcohol,
and thus throw upon them the additional labor of rejecting and
throwing off the poison, and at the same time, as by the taking
of. it you certainly will, weaken and exhaust their energies, yea
necessarily shorten their durati<H], and commit suicide as r^ly
as if you did it with arsenic, a pistol, or a halter. It also greatly
increases the violence of diseases which arise from other causes,
and often produces death, in cases in which, had not Alcohol been
used, a cure might have been easily and speedily effected.

Nor is this all. There is another set of organs, whose office,
is, to furnish sensibility to the human system. For this purpose
they are spread over the surface of the whole body, and in such
vast numbers and variety, that you cannot stick into the skin, the
point even of the finest needle, and not strike some of them, and
thus occasion pain. They seem to form the link between the
body and the mind, and to be the medium thi'ough which each
reciprocaUy, and instantly acts upon the other. Of course what-
ever affects them, affects not only the body but also the soul, and
the mfluence which one has upon the other.

Their seat is the brain. From this they derive excitement, and
power to communicate, it to all parts of the system. And in or-
der to iumish this excitement, the brain must itself be excited.
And what it needs for this purpose, is tibat, and that only, which
ts furnished by arterial blood, when men take nothing but suita-
ble food, ffiid drink, exercise, test, and sleep. For this excite-
ment it eagerly waits, and this it joyfully receives; and chee^^fuQy,
with the rapidity almost of lightning, communicates te every
-part, spreading a glow of animation, and making even exist^ice,
especial^ amidst l^ie exuberance of divine kinckess, a som'ce of
constant and exquisite delight. But as it stands waitii^ to receive,
"wai instantly end joyfully to cocBaHmicate^ the bread and ibe

«B| EiaHTH M»(mr.-r-l6a5. tS

ttiik of Heaven, you tl^ow in Alcohol, and thus iMfiftd of bceadv
gkre k serpents ; instead of millt, scorpions ; and they go. liissing
and darting their serpent, scorpion-like influence through the whole
man ; body and soul ; turning hisbands into demons, and fiithers
into fiends ; causing them, as it were, to be bom of the devil, and
regenerated for damnation. (See Per. Temp. Documents, p.
140, 142, &c.)

Did it destroy only the body, the evil would be comparatively
nothing, but the seat of its mischief, is the soul. It cuts off its
probation. And this, if done wittingly, involves the soul in tre-
mendous guilt. Nor does it merely shorten its probation, h
enfeebles its powers, corrupts its character, and aggravates all its
moral diseases. It also tends to counteract all the means of divine
appointment for their removal, and thus to fix the soul in perma-*
nent, unending death. Not that it tends to annihilate its existence;
but it tends to annihilate its excellence ; to annihilate its blessed*
ness, to smnihilate its hopes ; to fix it in a state of unutterable and
eternal anguish ; and make endless existence, an endless curse ;
and bring upon the soul, in the language of the Bible, ^^ the
second death."

This it does m two ways, by increasing the wickedness of the
soul, and by preventing its removal. In proof of its increasing
the wickedness of the soul, we have only to advert to the fact,
that vastly more who drink it, in proportion to the number, be-
come drunkards, than of those who do not drink it ; and thus form
a character, which God declares shall not inherit his kingdom.
Vastly more, also, neglect known duties, and commit known sins,
and crimes, of the one class, than of the other. (See Permanent
Temp. Documents, pp. 41, 42, 200, 289, 397, &c.)

In Seneca County, in the State of New York, containing in
1834, 3,651 families, and 20,868 individuals, 768 persons who
drank it, were drunkards ; thus carrying the mark, should they
continue in that course, of death eternal on their foreheads. In
seven towns in Yates County, in the same State, containing 3,332
families, there were 694 drunkards ; and in five towns in Cayuga
County, containing 1,254 families, there were 242 drunkards,
about one to twenty three of the peculation. While m all these
counties, and indeed throughout the whole State, of those who
did not drink it, scarcely a dninksffd, comparatively, could be
found.

Nor is it known, tibat, in those eounties. Alcohol has been more
injurious, in this respect, than it has, upon an average, throughout
the country. And if it has not, we have in the United States,
more than 500,000 drunkards ; all made such, by Alcohol. And
we have, also, 2,000,000 more, who are in the habit of using it ;
nd are thus exposed to fonn the drunkard's chariK^ter; and become

16 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETY. [470

partakers forerer of the drunkards woes. While all who do not
use it, will, continuing this course, from all such dangers be for-
ever safe.

In proof that it leads men to neglect known duty, we need only
advert to the iact that more than threes-fourths of all, in the United
States, who, by sqch negtect, have been reduced to poverty, and
thrown upon the charity of the public for support, have been
brought to that condition, by the use of it. (See Perm. Temp.
Documents, pp. 398, 399, &c.)

G. W. Welch, Esq. Superintendent of the Almshouse in
Albany, N. Y. states, that there were, in 1833, received into the
Almshouse, 634 persons ; viz. not intemperate, 1; doubtful, 17;
intemperate 616. There were also in the house, on the first of
January, 297; making in all, 931. One half that proportion,
throughout the United States, would make more than 200,000.

Mr. Guion, clerk of the Almshouse in New York, states, that
in addition to 5,179 persons supported in the Ahnshouse in that
city, there were relieved and supported out of the Ahnshouse,
19,150 ; making in all, in that city, relieved a€ supported, 24,329 ;
and that three-fourths of this was occasioned by intemperance.
One-fourth of that prop(M*tion, throughout the United States,
would make more than 300,000 ; four-fifths of whose pauperism,
is occasioned by Alcohol.

Mr. Stone, Superintendent . for 8 years, of the Almshouse in
Boston says, ^^ I am of opinion that seven^ighths of the pauper-
ism in this house, is to be attributed to intemperance."

The Superintendent of the Almshouse in Philadelphia states,
that the expense of supporting paupers in^that institution, m 1833,
was $130,000 : and that 90 per cent, of the amount was occa-
sioned by intemperance.

And in proof that it leads men to commit crimes, we need only
advert to tne fact, tliat more than four-fifths of those who commit
them, have been in the habit of acting under its influence. (See
Permanent Temperance Documents, pp. 401, 402, &c.)

In the State of New York there were, in 1833, 9,849 persons
in jail. An equal number, in proportion to the population, would
make in the United States, about 70,000. Nearly the whole of
them drank habitually of this poison, and a great majority of them,
more or less often, even to drunkenness. While from the small-
ness of the number, in any jail, who never drank it, or who had
not done it for two years, previous to their commitments, it would
seem, that were it not for this, jaik would be comparatively need-
less.

^ J. 0. Cole, Esq. Police Justice of Albany, N. Y. states, that
2,500 persons came under hi^ cognizance in a year, and that 96
m a hundred of the offences, were occasioned t^ intemperance^

471] BiMTtt EEfOKT.— I8d$. \f

Mr. Badlam, who was loBg Master of the House of ConreetioQ
in Bostoa, says of its inmates ; ^^ three-fourths werq habitual
drunkardS) and the remainder mostly intemperate^"

Mr. Robbins, Assistant Master says, of 5)611 persons, who
were there confined, " with very slight etxeeptions, all: were in-
temperate."

In the counties of Plymouth, Bristol, and Barnstable, constitut-
mg what is called the ^^ Old Colony," and containing a population
of about one hundted and twenty thousand inhabitants^ no licenses
have been granted for the sale pf ardent spirits, for the last three
years. The prohibition has generally been rigidly enforced, par-
ticularly in New Bedford, Plymouth, and other large towns, where
the sea-faring population, and others who are most subject to the
evil consequences ot the unrestrained -traffic in that pernicious
article, chiefly congregate. So well satisfied have the people of
those counties been with the result of the experiment, tliat public
sentiment in its favor has gained grest strength under its operation;
and at the recent election for county commissioners, fuU boards
were chosen who were avowedly opposed to the granting of
licenses.

At the recent session of the courts m these counties, after a
vacation of three months in one, four in another, and seven in the
other, there were but tteo indictments in the whole of them, and
each of these was for a petty larceny, of Jess than $10 in amount !
and not a single indictment has been found for any i^ravated
offence. — (Worcester Spy,)

And among all the multitudes of idle and vicious persons who
go at large. Sabbath breakers, gamblers, thieves, highway robbers,
and murderers, few, comparatively very few, can be found, who
do not habitually use it. It is the grand instigator, and chosen
companion of vice in every form ; and is thus, by its fruits,
proved to be a mighty agent in working out human perdition.

Nor is this effected merely by the increase of human wicked-^
ness ; but also, to a great extent, by withstanding and preventing
the efficacy of aH means and efforts for its removal. In proof of
this, we need only look at the fact, which is now. abundandy esr
tablished, that more than five times as many, in proportion to the
number of those who do not drink it, become apparently, in the
language of inspiration, '^ partakers of the divine nature, and escape
the corruptions that are in the world through lusts," than of those
who do. And it is weU nigh being setded by facts, that wlier^
the nature of Alcohol is understood, no person, who continues
habitusdly to use it, as a drink, can rationally be expected, even
under aU the means of grace, to be converted to God. (See
Per. Tern. Doc,, pp. 99, 148, &c.) Wha,tever may be the pres-
eat appearance, if men continue hal^timliy t9 drinjk.itj^ their case
2* 3

16 AMERICAN TBMPEltAlTCC tOClETt. [472

18 eomparatirety hopeless. On the other band, when the use of
H is abandoned, and the means of grace enjoyed, the prospect of
their saving efficacy, is increased four-fold. (See Perm. Temp.
Documents, p. 242, &c.)

A gentleman from Tennessee writes, that the formation of a
Temperance Society in his vicinity, was followed by such a revi-
val of religion, as in those parts Was never before known. That
in numerous other places where Temperance Societies were
formed, they were followed by the same glorious results ; and that
in a compass of about three miles, as the result apparently of the
temperance reformation, more than three hundred persons were
hopefully added to the Lord. And so generally has it been fol-
lowed by such results, that it is spoken of in various countries,
and even on opposite sides of the globe, tis ^' John the Baptist,"
preparing the way of the Lord. (See Per. Temp. Documents,
p. 374, &c.)

Whether the reason of this can be philosophically and satisfac-
torily explained, or not, the feet is settled that intoxicating liquor,
tends from beginning to end, to increase human wickedness, and
also to render that wickedness permanent. The men, therefore,
who make it, and the men who furnish it, to be used as a drink,
are by their whole influence in doing this, increasing the vices and
augmenting the woes of mankind. And though some of them
profess to be friends of temperance; and to wish to have it prevail
and become universal, they are taking the very course for ever to
prevent it. As well might a wholesale dealer in counterfeit money,
profess that he wishes to have none but the true coin circulate, as
fbv a man to profess that he wishes to have temperance prevail,
who continues to furnish the most powerful means of counteract-
ing it ; and also of promoting the intemperance which be professes
to wish to have cease.

Alcohol so affects the understanding that moral considerations
are less clearly perceived; tBad it so affects the heart, that moral
obligation is less powerfully felt. — It causes the conscience to
lie more dormant, and the imagination to be more extensively and
deeply polluted, and polluting. It corrupts the veiy source and
springs of moral action, and brings a man peculiarly in all respects,
under the power of the devil. Mental iniquity, from which the
mind, when not poisoned, instinctively recoils, becomes, when it
is, the element of its delicious revel; and crimes from the thought
of which it before started back with abhorrence, it now commits
with greediness. And so perfectly is this known, that, by the
ageixts of him, who was from the begbnbg ^'a murderer," it b
furnished for this very purpose.

A young man in Ireland committed a murder, in March, 1833.
He was afterwards txied at Kilkenny, and pronounced by the jury

473] CIQHTH E£rOET. — 1835. 19

to be guilty. *^ Yes, my Lord," said the prisoner, " I am guilty;"
and pointing to bis mother, a woman of more than eighty years of
age, who 5tood by, he said, " She was the cause of it." She
had agreed beforehand, for the price of the blood of Mr. Lennard,
the man, who, according, to tliat agreement, was to be murdered,
by her son. She watched for the coming of the unfortunate and
unsuspecting man, and when she saw him approaching, she handed
her son the pistol, with which to take his life. But there was not
enough wickedness and hardness in the young man to commit the
deed. He instinctively shrunk back, saying, ^' How can I mur-
der the poor gentleman." His mother handed him the whiskey
bottle, which she had got for the occasion, and said, ^^Take
that." He took it, shot the man, and was hanged. (Br. Par.
Rep. p. 292.) It increases the wickedness of the soul ; and
prepares it to be led captive by the adversary of all good, at
his pleasure. The men, therefore, who numufacture, import,
sell, or in any way furnish it, to be used as a drink, are assist-
ing the old murderer in the work of human destruction.

Another young man who had committed a crime, so horrid that
it was thought to be incredible, was asked by the magistrate in
his examination, how it was possible, that he could conomit such
a criine? He answered, "With the help of whiskey I could
commit twenty such crimes." (Do. p. 299.) It tends to remove
all difficulties, arising from moral considerations, in the way to
hell; and to keep its victim, till his probation closes, from turning
his eye toward the path of life.

A young man, who but just escaped death, from the outrage
and brutality of a number of persons who were under its influ-
ence, who , was indeed supposed to be killed; and was left by
them for dead, m giving his deposition, after his recovery, was
asked by the magistrate, whether they were drunk; he answered,
" No. They were well able to do their business." He was then
asked, whether they had been drinking? He answered, "I won-
der that your honor, a gentleinan of your knowledge, should ask
such a simple question; sure you do not think, that they would
come without preparing themselves." So universally is it now
understood to be a needful preparation for sdl deeds of darkness,
that he woiulered any one should think that they would attempt
such mischief without it. Mr. Poinder, in his testimony before
the British Parliament, states that many criminals assured him
that it was necessary^ before they could commit crimes of pecu-
liar atrocily, to have recourse to this stimulant; and knowing this
to be the fact, they resorted to it beforehand, for no other pur-
pose but io fit themselves. "I could not," said one of them,
" enter your house, in the dead, of night, and take the chance of
your shootbg me in it, or of my being hung when I got out of it,

to AMERICAN TBXPEEANCB lOCIETT. [474

unless I was to get well primed first.'* But when a man is umkr
its influence, he can, so far as wickedness is ccmcemed, do anj
thing, to which his own hesut or Satan maj- tempt him. And
he can, and ordinarily will, withstand, and for erer prevent the
saving efficacy of all the influences which are brought to bear
upon him, to induce him to become a holy man, and to prepare
for the employment and the bliss of heaven. All th^ that use
it, make it, or furnish it, or are accessory to its being used as
a drink, are by this exerting an influence, which tends nu>re
surely and speedily to bring men to hell ; and under which,
there is the most unequivocal and appalling evidence that mul-
titudes are Dow on their way to that place of torment.

To save as many of them as possible, and especialhr to save
others from following their example, extraordinary efiorts have
been made within the last few years, mid the Lord has crowned
them with the most signal success. The object has been, by the
diflusion of information, and the exertion d a kind moral influ-
ence, to persuade men to permit the evil of intemperance to
cease, by ceasing to perpetuate its cause. And as this cause has
been Alcohol, and in the United States, principally in the form
of distilled liquor, 2,000,000 of persons, it is supposed in this
country have already ceased to use it. More than 8,000 Tem-
perance Societies have been formed, embracing, it is thought,
more than 1,500,000 members. Twenty-three of these- socie-
ties, 2ire State societies; and there is now one in every State, with
one exception, throughout the Union. More than 4000 distillenes
have been stopped, and more than 6000 merchants have ceased
to sell ardent spirits, and many of them have ceased to sell any
kind of intoxicating liquor. More than 1200 vessels sail from our
ports, in which it is not used; and more than 12,00Q persons who
were drunkards; and it is supposed more than 200,000 other per-
sons, have ceased to use any intoxicating drink. And the light of
experience proves, that abstinence from the use of all intoxica-
ting liquor, as a beverage, is not only safe but salutary; and that
it is the only course, m which it can be rationally expected, that
drunkenness will ever be done away. A deep and solemn convic-
tion of this truth, as a knowledge of the facts is communicated,
is rapidly extending among the friends of temperance, tlirougbout
the community. And the number who are in practice adopting
this course is constantly and rapidly increasing. In the pledge of
many societies the words ',* ardent spirit," has been changed
for ^'intoxicating liquor;" and most of the societies which have
been formed the past year, especial^ among young men, have
been formed on the plan of abstinence, from tkle use as a bever-
t^e, of all iiitoxicating liquor. Ncm* is the change which has been
cSSscted, confined to thia countiy. In July 1834, vaote tim

475] EIGHTH REPORT. — 1835. 21

150,000 ID Great Britain bad also been embodied in Tempenmce
Societies. The Report of the American Temperance Society,
on the immorality of laws which license the sale of ardent spirk,
had been reprinted in that country, and a copy of it distributed to
all the Members of Parliament. It has since, with the previous
Reports, been circulated extensively throughout the kingdom.
A committee has also been appointed by the House of Com-
mon^, to inquire into the extent, causes, and consequences of
drunkenness; in order to ascertain whether any Legislative meas-
nres can be taken to prevent the continuance and spread of so
great a national evil. This Committee, with power to send for
persons and papers, were in session m6re than twenty days, and
obtained answers from various individuals to more than 4,000
questions. They have also made to Parliament a long and very
able Report; which together with the evidence on which it is
founded, makes an octavo volume of nearly 600 pages, which has
been printed, aind circulated extensively through the country.

The Chairman of that Committee, James Silk Buckingham,
Esq., m a letter dated Sheffield, Jan. 1, 1835, says, "The cause
of Temperance has advanced more rapidly in Britain, within the
last year, than in any ten years preceding. The number of so-
cieties has neafly doubled, and the number of members increased
in a still greater proportion. Above all, the two extremes of
society, the very rich^ and the very poor, have been brought to
think very anxiously on the subject ; though until lately, it has
occupied the attention of the middle classes only." He also
states that he had visited Sheffield, Lincoln, Hull, Boston, Birm-
ingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Greenock, Glasgow, Edinburgh,
Belfast, and Dublin, and delivered Temperance Addresses in
each place. '•^The meetings," he says, "gave a great impulse to.
the circulation of the Parliamentary Reports, and the printed evi-
dence on which it was founded; and the seed thus scattered is
every day producing a rich and an abundant harvest. " In another
letter dated March 2d, 1835, after speaking of his Temperance
Mission, as he calls it, to the above mentioned places, he says,
" In each of them, I held several very numerous and important
meetings; none of them less than 1000, and some of them ex-
ceeding 6000 in number, for the promotion of the Temperance
cause; which is niaking rapid progress in these Islands." He
then says that on the last Tuesday in February, the day appoint-
ed by the American Temperance Society, for simultaneous Tem-
terance meetings, throughout the world, they held a public cde-
ration, of the Anniversary of Temperance Societies, in London.
At the meeting were assembled of both sexes, not less than 1500
people. He opened the meeting, by giving them an account
of bis late journey through England, Scotland, and Ireland^ the

IS AMSaiGAN TEXF«IUS7aB SOCICTT. [4T$

information which he had collected, and the ittupf^fskms which
bad been made, while be had be^ permitted, 09 his journey
personally to address, on the subject of Tempenviee, more than
100,000 individuals. The meeting was then addressed by Tari<
ous other speakers, including officers of the navy, cler^men of
the established church, dissentbg ministers, and a y.oung Eng-^
lishman who had just returned from a residence of seversd years
in the United States. The meeting was continued nearly six
hours, and he says, '^ never was there more order, harmony, and
even enthusiasm, than prevailed throughout the whole period."

In various parts of tliat kingdom also, especially in Lancashire
and vicinity, numerous societies have been formed on tlie plan
of abstinence from the use of all intoxiceMng drink9. The
effects have been numerous, extensive,^ and happy. At Pres-
ton, large and interesting meetings were held for five evenings in
succession, at which the benefits of this course were delineated,
by those who had^ from one to two years made the experiment.
At two of the meetings, the presiding officer was Robert Guest
White, Esq., late sheriff of Dublin, and at two others P. H.
Fleetwood, Esq. — member of Parliament. At the meeting on
the fourth night, one of the speakers, said, '^ Here stands before
you the king of reformed drunkards. I regret that the Temper-
ance Society did not start twenty years sooner; for had I been
€ober, I might have offered myself as candidate for the borough
of Preston ; and been worth i£l 0,000. I now tliank God, that I
stand fast in the liberty with which Temperance hats made me
free." Another rbse and said, '^ I can now go to bed and get
up a sober man, Having made up my mind to sign the pledge,
I met a person from Sheffield, as I went down to the Temper-
ance Hotel, and told him my errand. He invited me to go with
him, and take a bottle of ale. I replied, No; I am determined to
go and sign, and if 100 devils with 100 daggers each, were to op-
pose me, I would press my way against them. I have now friends
on every side. One tradesman has written me from Liverpool,
offering me whatever I may want ; another from Sheffield offered
to supply me with £50 worth of goods, if I would order them.
They had heard that I had joined this glorious cause. I rejoice
in the change, and I trust that I shall stand firm as long as I live."

Another by the name of Johnson, then rose and said, ^' I am
indeed a brand plucked from the fire." He then naentioned that
during the days of his drunkenness, he twice resolved to td^e his
own life; that he once took a razor for that purpose, but was proy-
identially prevented from using it; that he then got a quantity of
laudanum, mixed it with a glass of ale, drank it, and lay dpwn to
<leep, never expecting to open bis eyes again in this world* — But
through the mercy of the jLord| be was presented \ was led ID

47t] >MH¥II Itfif ORT. — 1835. JB

sign tbd p)<N]ge, of UsfUi Bbiimente from all intoxicating fiquor^
has since been sober, has united with a religious society, and^
said he, ^< I hope soon to be able to say 'Johnson owes no mail
any thing.' If you mean to be steady men, take up with religioB^
and stand to the cause Uke men."

Another said, '^ I stand b^re you a person who tvas a drunk-
ard for upwards of 20 years* I drank to that excess, that I could
scarcely hold the glass to my mouth-^I was destroying my health ;
could scarcely eat or sleep, and was reduced so low as to have
hardly a chair, or a bed to lie down upon, and was making every
body miserable around me. I heard of Temperance, and in-
quired what it meant* I was told that they taught men not to get
drunk. I thought it was a grand thing and I would have a do
with it. If it has cured so many, I thought, why not me? It is
now nearly 18 months since I tasted any intoxicating liquor. I
have laid out in my house, and in furniture, above £20. I> never
enjoyed so good a state of health; we have food, raiment, and
contentment ; and every thing comfortable* I go regularly to a
place of worsUp and feel quite satisfied. What! Temperance
Societies done no good.^ If they had accomplished nothing,
more than what they have done for me, tliey would be amply
repaid for their labor. "

Another said, " I appear before you a man who has-been in-
temperate 35 years, and a temperance man, nine months. I was
told I could not stand, but I thought I would ^ry. A man had
better die, than be a drunkard. There is no remedy for the
working classes except to join the lee-total (the Temperance So-
ciety on the plan of abstinence from the use of all intoxicating
drinks.) The. Temperance Union, is the best of all unions. 1
feel a great deal better, since I gave up drinking intoxicating li-
quor; and am ten or fifteen years younger, than I was nine month*
ago. The beer bill, which was said to be a benefit to the work*-
ing classes, was the worst that was ever passed. Seeing there is
so much intemperance and vice, it is time for the magistrate^
nobility, gentry, and all sorts, to join the tee-total."

Another said, " When I go through the streets on Sunday, it
does my soul godd, to meet so many reformed drunkards, well
dressed, and going to their places of public worship. What fools
you are, to cover the landlords' table, while you yourselves musrt
live on potatoes and salt; your children bare-footed, and bare-
headed, your coats out at ihe elbows, dnd your trowsers out at
your knees, as mine used to be. I called the temperance peopte
fools, but after attending a meeting at the Moss school-house, I
found that I was the fool, and that they were Wise men. I signed
the tee-totd, am strong and hearty, can do my work better than
ever, and am deteraibed, to go about preacbii^ Temperance, as
long as I live."

94 " AMERICAN TBMPEEANCB 80CIETT. [478

A&otfaar rose and said, '^ I was a drunkard 2^ years, and I am
sure, if there was any good in drinking I should have fotmd it ;
for I gave it a &ir trial. I now stand before you a rational being,
and I^^e been so for twenty months. My house which was a
house of cursing and swearing, is now a house of prayer. How
can we rest while our neighbors are going down to hell. And
now, since the Temperance cause came into town, if the land-
lords will gato hell, witli a light in their right hand, don't accom-
pany them ; but come with us, and we will do you good.".

Another stated that he had been intoxicated for ten or twelve
days, prevbus to a Temperance meeting, which was held at
Manchester on the 22d of July, 1832. At that meeting he said
to himself, ^' I have spent forty years, and am in this condition,
when I might have been riding in my carriage.'' Three days af-
ter he attended another Temperance meeting, and from that time
abstained from all intoxicating drink. He went thirty miles to
sign the Temperance pledge, and now, said he to the audience,
*' I have come thirty more to tell you of it. If I could carry my
employment from Manchester, I would never go back again, I am
ten years younger than I was, two years ago."

Another said, '^ This is a glorious meeting, we have got col-
liers and parliament men. The king will come next, or if he
don't, we will send for him. — ^I have been a drunkard eight years.
I signed the pledge ten months ago, and was never so comforta-
ble in my life. I first signed the pledge for twelve months, and
when that is up, I will sign it for 999 years. I can now send
my children to school, and go to a place of worship myself. I'll
buy no more caps or bombasin gowns for landladies, but my
own wife shall have them."

Another said, '^ After, five and twenty years of intemperance, I
now stand before you in my proper senses. I drank to such ex-
cess, that I had neither clothes, nor shoes to my feet — but now, I
can appear in my own clothes, instead of giving them to the land-
loirds. Take them your money, and when you have spent it,
they will kick you out of doors. When I signed the pledge,
th^y said, I should not live two months ; but I have now exceed-
ed nine months, and am better than ever. I was generaUy known
by the name of drunken Bob;. but now they call me Temper-
ance Bob ; and I preach up Temperance, and am determined to
do so, wherever I go. My little boy, nine years old^ was brought
up to drink; but now he will not touch any, but says. My fitter
is in the Temperance Society."

Another said, ^' It is now fifteen months since I have tasted
intoxicating liquor, and I hope, whil^ God gives breath, I shall
never taste again. I have always been seeking this sobrieljr, but
I never knew how to find it. I professed to be religious, and I

4791 BfGHTa RCFOHT. — 1835. 36

went on twenty years mixing drinking and religiota together. I
wanted to be sober, and my friends told me to praj; but one word
from jour Advocate set me right. I found that drunkenness is a
physical evil; and the way to avoid being drunk, is never to taste
the liquor that produces drunkenness. I attended the meeting
and said, Put me down to the sweeping measure; nothing else will
reach my case. Nothing but abstinence wiU suit this country;
and every system that does not go on the basis of tee-total, is
quackery. This, like the Whitworth Doctor, is a eure^alL I
never had suth a fifteen months before. I can eat, drink, and
sleep, and serve Grod consistently; and I am determined, sink or
swim, to stick by it. And the most I regret iS| that nobody
started this twenty years ago. *'

Another said, ^^I entered moderation, but I have now been a
tee-totaler one year and one month. I will never preach, mode-
ration, I will preach sound doctrine. I am determined to have
barley in its full bloom, just as Gk)d made and sends it. I will not
have it bled, and scalded, and mashed, and its nose sprit out, like
an urchin. Only take off its rough coat, and I will eat it soul and
body. John Barleycorn is good, but they abuse him, and he
abuses them m return. I wish they could not get carts to cart
about those casks full of murder. And these religious drinkers
are the worst. The scripture says, you should lay down your
lives for the brethren. But these will not lay down a glass of
wine for their brethren. They will not lay down that which is
a source of sickness and death, to promote the health and life c^f
others. I would abstain from any thing. If porridge (and I like
it as well as any thing) sent half as many souls to hell as ale has
done, I would lay down my spoon.^^

Another said, "It is owing to the exertion of the Preston
friends, that I stand here a sober man. You have now in Bolton
600 abstainers, and this is a sufficient reward for your labors. I
knew an individual who received a religious training, entered the
matrimonial state a sober man, by industry and economy he accu-
mulated a capital, and entered upon business under the most
favorable auspices. From taking one glass, he got to two, or
three; and then became a drunkard. All filial afiTection was gone,
and his children dreaded his appearance. He became a most de-
based drunkard, and I remember in one of his last carousals, after
eight days drinking, he was taken up in Deansgate for dead, and
carried into a public house. After some time, life appeared, and
he was carried home. He afterwards felt determined to reform,
or to terminate his existence. He heard of the Temperance
meeting in the Town Hall, on the first of January, 1834, and at*
tended it with his wife. He went to the table, and he — ^no, not
he, but I , (for I was the man) signed the pltdsce; and it has been
3 4 ^

96 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETT. [4S0

kept mviolable, to the present day. It is now my pleasant duty
to tell you of the glorious results. Some said I snould not stand
a month; some gave me three months, but I stand firm to this day.
We have now peace in our family; the children have a true affec-
tion for their father, and I go home with pleasure. For many
years I was troubled with the asthma, but in consequence of
water drinking, I am quite restored. I am now in good health,
hapjpy in my femily, improving in business, and joying a hope
of iuture bliss. I beg of you to come forward and job this glo-
rious Society.'*

Another rose and said, '^ It. is now two years since I laid aside
intoxicating liquor; and I feel stronger than I ever did ui my life.
I first signed for 12 months, but now I have signed for ever, and
for ever. And I am so grateful for the benefits I have received,
that I am determined to spend and be spent in this cause. I have
three brothers, a wife, and a mother, all abstainers. I have been
anxious about my father-in-law; and I got a promise from my wife,
that if he could be brought m, I might have full liberty to go
where I would, preaching Temperance. And thoi^gh he has be^
a drunkard for 35 years, he is now a tee-totaler. The happiness
that temperance bis brought into our &mily, it is impossible to
describe."

Such is a specimen of the exhibition made at their Temperance
meetings. At the close, the chairman, the late sheriff of Dublin,
himseli, signed the pledge of total abstinence firom all intoxicating
drinks, and gave the Society a donation of £ 20.

The third annual meeting of the Preston Temperance Society,
which has since been holden, occupied six successive nights.
The theatre, in which the meetings were held, was crowded to
overflowing; and the Youth's Temperance Society, consisting ot
969 members between 14 and S5 years of age, presented ^ir
first Annual Report. On the third day, a reformed drunkard
arose and said, ^' My dear friends, this is one of the happiest
hours in my life. I am one of those individuals who can tell you
the difference between temperance and intemperance. Another
year has rolled mto eternity, and we appear this night to give an
account of our stewardship. Intoxicating spirit is the greatest
enemy to God and man, whether found in ale, gin, porter, or
wine. If there be any person more than another that has reason
to be grateful to the Temperance Society, it is myself; and I
could detain you till midnight in declaring the blessings which tem-
perance has brought to my family. The seed of abstinence is
sown, and I have no doubt but it will bring forth 500 fold. One

Eublic house I saw shut up to-day, and I hope many others will
ave to follow: if they don't, they will be compelled to it. If
there were any here last night, that were not convinced by Mr.

4811 EiaHTH REPORT. — 1835. 27

Livesey's lecture, they must have heen thick-skulk indeed. Our
greatgrandfathers were deluded, and recommended this article,
though it has ruined so many — stripped them of their coats, waist-
coots, and even their shirts. Tee-tot£d men are never bothered;
iQoderate men are continually bothered, for they never know how to
take their drink. Being sent for to the Castle Inn by a gentleman,
after having refused, I at last went, and being asked to take a glass,
I replied, ^ Don't you know that you are in Preston ?' If I had
been of the half and half class, I should have taken a sly glass. I
remember well,engaging for a new hat not to take more than three
gills a day, and the last time I took my three glasses, the devil
tempted me to take a fourth. I was ^alone, and he said, ' Nobody
will know.' 'No, no, honor bright,' something said within me;
and I jumped up and run out of the public house, and I have
never tasted firom that day to this."

A carpenter then arose and said, '^ This is the first time I ever
addressed an audience like this. Having been twenty years a
drunkard, I think it my duty to make all the reparation I can. I
have no excuse, for I was brought up with good moral and reli-
gious instruction. Biit I was bound to a trade where they were
nearty all drunkards. I got such an appetite for ale that I was
never satisfied unless I was at the al^ house; I loved ale so that I
preferred it to any thmg else. I became an ale house politician,
a drunken reformer, trying to govern the nation, and yet not able
to reform myself. I continued sinning and repenting, and making
and breaking resolution after resolution. I became slighted by
every one, ran into debt, and my children naked. At last I went
to the Cockpit, though I was a coward, and ashamed of others'
noticing me. I signed hioderation, but became, I think, more
immoderate than before. After trying in vain to temper myself,
at last I signed the tee-total, and I qannot make you believe the
pleasure I found. I am now determined never to taste again. Ask
my employers whether I cannot work better; ask my feUow work-
men also; and I am sure I look a great deal better. Nobody
could believe what satisfaction I feel."

Another' rose and said, " You see before you a reclaimed Li-
verpool drunkard. From the age of 14 to 23, 1 sank in the depths
of drunkenness. My father bound me an apprentice to a respect-
able merchant in Liverpool. I soon got acquainted with drunken
companions, and became acquainted with fi'ee and easy societies.
On one occasion, I had £15^ and I went with a comrade for a
glass; I staid three days and nights, and came away with only §s.
in my pocket. I was disowned of my father, and I ran away. At
last, my father, as a punishment, bound me to a 'bricklayer, and
here I was again in the midst of drink. At last I was persuaded
to join the Temperance Society, but it was a Moderation Society ^

S8 AMBEICAK TEMPBEAirCB SOCIBTT. [40jt

iod it threw me further into hdl than evQr. At last, Qbout seven
or eight months since, I joined the tee-total, and never was so
happy in mj life as I liave been from that daj. I have got my
<db!micter back ; my father can now trust, me with the rent book;
I am now in business for myself, and doing well. Though for
some time the rulers of the Welsh Church of Calvinistic Me«
thodists, to which I belong, opposed the tee-total pledge, yet they
are now more favorable. We have formed a society upon the
tee-total principle, and in three weeks we have got 30 names,. I will
stick to tne cause as long as I live; and such is my peace of mind,
that if any person were to ofier me a thousand a year to forsake my
pledge, I woold spurn the offer. I mean to do all I can to benefit
others. There is a young man, an acquaintance of mine, who
spent 1^1500 in three years, and reduced hiitiself to beggary. I

Sioke to him and teased him till at last he has joined, and since
en he has got a situation of $150 a year. My whole course
of life is now changed; I am now getting up my head; and I wish
that tee-total may flourish as long as I live."

A carter then rose and said, ^' Instead of being here, if it had
not been for temperpnce, I m^t have been chained down in the
lockup. I am well known; I liave been a faithful servant to the
landlords for 14 ye^s, and a rctscal to my wife. Now I am as
happy as any man alive; and for these 13 months I have enjoyed
more pleasure than I did in all my life before. I have punished
my family shamefully; my children ^ere all naked; I got money
enough, sometimes £5 a week; but if I had got J£10 a week, and
worked for a hundred years, it would have been.no better. Thank
Ood that temperance ever came to Bamber Bridge! My children
mre not now without clogs, and shirts; with stockings torn up: no,
they are well clothed. I started this morning at 3 o'clock, and
have been a long journey, and I am now as fresh as a lark. I nev-
er was so well in my life, and my house, which was hell, is turned
mto heaven with tee-total. A landlord one day, to whom I had
sold a load of coals, ordered his wife to fetch me up a quart of the
best ale: he filled a glass and held it up to the window. ^^ Did
thou ever see any thing so nicer take hold and drink." I an-
swered, ^'No, I defy thee, Satan;" and then as he could not get
me to drink, he began to praise me for my sobriety. Ah! if you
were to see my house now! we have had 13 months of tee-total,
and we have every thing we want. Thank God, we have pleDty
of beef and puddings. I like coffee and beef: it is a capital thing
to travel on. Come forward, all of you, and join this glorious
cause."

Next rose a spinner, and said, ^^ Drunkards are the greatest
slaves. I began drinking at footings and odier stirs; and though
but a lad, I used to think myself a man. Since I was married, I

485] EIGHTH REP^aRT. — 1835. 29

have been turaed out of house five times. Although I had a wife
and but one child, drinking brought me to the workhouse, and to
breaking stones at the canal side. However, I got to spinning
again; and was turned off again. I ran away to Manchester, and
left my wife and two children, both of theni sick. Solomon say$,
''Who hath wo? who hath wounds without cause? They that
tarry long at the wine!" I had many a time black eyes, and arms,
and shins, all through drinking. At last I came to Preston, and
found two of my brothers tee-totalers. I was led with seeing
them to think about it, and on Whit-Tuesday I entered. Plenty
of debts coming against me, and law upon law, ay, wheel bar-
rows full of law, but I thought the Lord is sufficient to bring me
through. I have begun to pay something towards my old debts«
Jack is here after all, and thank God that ever I got on the Tem-

Eerance Ship. I have signed for life. Am but 25/ years of age;
ut if I Uve 25 hundred years, I mean never to drink again.
We are three brothers of us; and we have not only joined
Temperance; but we also sail on the gospel ship; we all go to the
chapel, and we are making our way to Canaan's happy shore. The
Lord of heaven help you to come and join tl^ tee«total, and stick
to it."

Another spinner then rose and said, ''I was a drunkard 11
years, but I signed the tee-total, and have kept it eleven months, a
fortnight and one day. 1 used to get drunk at footings and room*
mgs; 'and I followed on drinking and carousing. I 'listed for a
soldier, and was bought ojS* again. I continued drinking, fre-
quently lost my work, with my clothes, in the pop-shop. I hired
into the militia, but I got enough of soldiering. This way I car-
ried on till 11 months and a fortnight since, when I signed the tee-^
total; and from that time I never enjoyed so much happiness in
all my life. I am now respected and in good credit, and I cad
serve God as I ought to do. If you will ask my wife, she will
tell you. [Here a pleasant voice from the boxes was heard, which
excited rapturous applause, something to the following effect:
*' Yes, thou has plenty of credit now; thou has not so many at-
torney's letters as thou used to have; and I like thee better than
ever I did."] Come forward and sign; do as I have done. I am
now happy for this world, and am hoping for life eternal. "

Such was a specimen of the addresses from this class of speakers
at those meetings. And it was stated by respectable gendemen,
that the last, was the sixth assizes, at which there had not been a
single case of felony from Preston. With such facts before him,
who can doubt, as to the course of safety, interest, and duty? Let
men cease to use that which intoxicates, and while health, virtue,
and happiness will be greatly promoted, drunkenness and all its
evils will be universally, and lor ever, done away. More thaa

so AMERICAN T£MB£RAI7CC SOCIETY. [484

twelve millions of drunkards would become sober men, and more
than fifty millions, who are now on the way to drunkenness, would
escape that awful doom.

The Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee, in his Address
at Liverpool, stated that he bad himself sailed to the East and the
West, in hot weather, and in cold, and that he never found any
benefit firom that enervating, disorganizing, and destructive poison;
which, wherever it fojund an entrance, was always sure to be pro-
ductive of mischief. He afterwards became a land traveller. He
had passed through Egypt, and Palestine, and Mesopotamia, and
Arabia; and afterwards settled in India, where he lived six years.
In the course of these journeys, he passed twice to India, and
back again by land; and travelled not less than 30,000 miles. He
visited the cities of Cairo, Damascus, Aleppo, Ispahan, &c., —
and in his tours, had seen, it was supposed, more than 3,000,000
people. Of course he had had a very extensive opportunity to
witness the different habits of men; and he had never known
them to be in any respect^ benefited by the use of strong drink.
Nor had he ever known any people who had adopted the use of it,
among whom it had^iot be4a, i7proportion to tkt use, detrimeo-
tal. He also stated, that the finest race of men he had ever seen,
were a tribe residing on the Himalaya Mountains in India. They
came down to Calcutta as •ithletaey to show their skill in wres-
tling, boxing, throwing the quoit, and other athletic exercises.
They were pitted agtunst British grenadiers and sailors, the strong-
est that could be found. The result was, that one of these men
was more than a match, for any three that could be brought against
them; and tliey had never tasted any drink, from their iifancy
upwards, stronger than milk, or water. He had himself travelled
from Diabekir to Bagdad, a distance of 800 miles on horseback,
in ten days; with the thermometer ranging fi-om 100 at sunrise,
to 125 degrees in the afternoon; without injury, and without any
drink, but water. During his arduous labors in Parliament, and
during lus recent tour of 2,400 miles, in the course of which, he
had lectured six nights in the week, in towns fi-equently 80 or 100
miles apart, he had tasted nothing but water, and yet those who
heard him, one night, would perceive no essential difference in
him should he continue a similar course for six months together.
(Preston Temp. Advocate.)

At a general Conference of Deputies from the various Tem-
perance societies in Lancashire, and the adjoinbg counties, held
at Manchester, Sept., 24, 1834, it was, after discussion and delib-
eration, unanimously '' Resolved, That it is expedient, in the pres-
ent state of this country, for the purpose of united and efficient
exertions, that the societies in this, and the adjoining Counties,
adopt a pledgQ of total ab^tiaQQce froq) aU it^xkcOing U^fuon."

485J EIGHTH REPORT. — 1835. 31

The experiment, so far as it has been adopted, has succeeded to
admiration^ and should it become universal, it would cause dr^ink-
enness, and with it the greatest cause of pauperism, crimes, and
wretchedness to cease. It would also prepare the way for the in-
tellectual and moral elevation of the whole community; and in all
respects, promote the highest good of the country. — They have
abo established a monthly publication called the Preston Tem-
perance Advocate, which urges stroi^ly the adoption of the doc-
trine of abstinence, from the use, as a drink, of all intoxicating
liquors.

The following is an Address from thirty Mechanics, who were
drunkards, to the drunkards and tipplers of Oreat Britain.

« TIPPLERS, DRUNKARDS, AND BACKSUDERS!

Friends ! — ^You are miserable and wretched, both in body, soul
and circumstances; your families and friends are suffering through
your folly; you have no peace here, and can have no peace here-
after; and all this proceeds from the delusive, maddening habit of
drinkmg intoxicatmg liquors. You are told that these liquors do
you good. It is Q fahehood^ invented and propagated for the
purpose of getting your money. Judge of the good they have
done, by the effects which they have produced upon yourselves
and others. Oh! shun the public house as you would do a
plasiue, and the company of drunkards as you would a gang of
robbers.

Friends! — We were once drunkards, and most of us were in
the same wretched condition as yourselves; but being reclaimed^
we are anxious for you to enjoy the same liberty and blessings
which we enjoy. We are now happy; our wives are comfort-
able; our children are provided for; we are better in health, bet-
ter in circumstances; we have peace of mind; and no tongue can
tell the comfort we have enjoyed since we became consistent
members of the Temperance Society. Ale and strong drink have
slain more than war or pestilence; and while we refuse ho kind of
food or drink which God hath sent, we abstain from all diluted
poison, manufactured to ruin mankind, and to rob our country of its
greatness. We have seen our delusion^ and we now drink nei-
ther aUy tptne, gin^ rum nor brandy^ nor any kind of intoonca-
ting liquor. There is no safety for you nor us hut in giving it
up entirely. Come forward, then, ye tipplers, drunkards and
backsliders! attend our meetings, and be resolved to cast off the
fetters of intemperance; and once and for ever determine to b$
free.

JOHN BHXINGTON, weaker.
JOHN BRAt>E, Joiner.
RICHARD BRAT, fishmoiiMr.
ROBERT CATON, ■pinaer.
WILLIAM CATON, spiiuier.

WILLIAM GREGORY, tailcnr.
GEORGE GREGSON, plMterer.
JOHN GREG90N, mechanic.
WILLIAM HOWARTH, siwr.
ROBERT JOLLY, Mwyer.

AMERICAN TEMPERANCE 80CIETT.

[486

WILLIAM MOSS, mechanic.
MARK MYERS, Bhoeniaker.
H. NEWTON, mole-catcher.
T. OSBALDESTON, moulder.
ROBERT PARKER, moulder.
WILLIAM PARKINSON, cldgger.
JOSEPH RICHARDSON, shoemaker.
RICHARD RHODES, weaver.
JAMES RYAN, spinner.
RICHARD SHACKELTON, spinner.
BAMUEL 8MALLEY, spbmer.

JOSEPH SMIRK, moulder.
JAMES SMITH, sptnner.
GEORGE STEAD, broker.
THOMAS SWINDLEHURST, roller

ker.

RANDAL SWINDLEHURST, medumkL
JOHN THORNHILI^ cabinet-mako-.
RICHARD TURNER, plasterar.
JOSEPH YATES, shopkeeper.
WILLIAM YATES, weaver.

PsBSTOM, Dbc. 2r, 18S4."

A gentleman from Liverpool writes, "thousands are turning
their attention to the subject, that never troubled themselves be-
fore about it. Light and knowledge are spreading far and wide.
Tracts, Addresses, Recorders, Reports, both American and Eng-
lish, are circidating through the countiy. Temperance Societies
are springing up in every town and village. Men of talent, learn-
ing and independence, are devoting their time, their talents,
and their money, to the cause. Mr. Buckingham, M. P. is trav-
elling through the country, lecturing to muhitudes, arousing the
people to a sense of their danger from the inroads of the enemy,
(the Bloated Monster.) Conscientious men, who are dealing in
spirituous liquors, are beginning to feel uneasy, wishing they were
not in the busmess, don't know what to do. The business is be-
coming more and more disreputable. Diana is tottering on her
f)edestal, and I trust ere long she will fall, and great will be the
all thereof. England shall be delivered ; God is for it, who shall
fight against It, and prevail.^ Let infidels scoff, let the profane
sneer, and swear, and rave, and let his companion, the drunkard,
put his shoulder to the pedestal of the idol, God will mock at
their puny efforts; down she must come, and beneath the ruins,
cover with shame and confusion the persevering upholders of the
Idol, a system which is a source of crime, of misery, poverty
and death, temporal and eternal. Down must come the greatest
machine the enemy of souls has at work, in this our world, for
transforming men to devils, and hurling them to perdition, into
outer darkness, into eternal night, where the smoke of their tor-
ment ascends for ever and for ever, and where there is fruitless
weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth."

In Sweden also the cause continues to prosper; and it has begun
to excite attention and to lead to action, in Denmark and Finland.
Frorti the latter country a gentleman writes, "The effects of
drinking brandy are horrible; and not only with the vulgar, but
also with the people of rank ; and not with hearers only, but even
with priests. In such, Satan reigns supreme; and from this result
innumerable spiritualy as well as temporal evils. As for the
temporal, poverty is the inseparable companion of the drunkard.
He makes himself, his wife, and his children beggars and vaga-
bonds As to spiritual things, such a man is the slave of Satan.

(

487] EI&HTH REPORT.^— 1835. 33

E^ery thing which has been attributed to our nature in the Holy
Scriptures, may justly be attributed to him. (See Oal. v. 19*-^
21.) The evil consequences of this sin are innumerable. May
God, who knows our miserable state, in some way grant us aid."
Some publications have been sent to him pointing out the easy
and certain cure of all these evils, by simply ceasing to perpetu-
ate their cause. And it is to be hoped that the time is not distant,
when the application so easy and efBcacious, shall be as life from
the dead, to all the nortWn nations of Eui'ope.

From Russia a gentleman writes, that these publications have
already been translated into three languages, the Russ, the Estho-
nian, and the Finnish; and that they are circulated, through that
vast Empire; and even to the borders of Persia and China. He
adds, ^' How wonderful that the first tracts, on that dreadful vice
of intemperance, should have been published in this country, in
three languages, and circulated, chiefly through the instrumentality
of American Christians. And how delightful to observe the
sameness of effect every where produced, where this all-impor-
taot subject is brought to the attention of the reflecting part of the
community. By the communications which I herewith send you,
you will see how the. monster Intemperance is viewed and dreaded
uaiversally, as the destroyer of the hopes of man. And how
remarkable it is, that the exertions of the American Temperance
Society, should have been the means, under Ood, of arousing
Christians, in every part of the world, to a sense of their duty on
this deeply interesting subject. You will see how rapid has been
the sale of our edition of "The Advantages of Drunkenness;"
and we are now preparing a larger tract, in which the subject
will be brought home to every family."

And he says, " I never knew a Russian peasant, or poor man,
refuse a tract. I never knew one to ridicule or speak contemp-
tuously of religion. Every where in the country, tracts are re-
ceived and read with avidity, and from all quarters we hear that
much good is done by them."

And the gentleman above referred to from Finland, writes, con-
cerning the tracts on drunkenness, which had been distributed
in that country, " Wives read them to their husbands, and ehit-
dren read them to their parents; and many have derived benefit
from them. The Finnish traots, I trust, will do great good
here."

Nor are the efiects confined to Europe. Prom Chunar in In-
dia, the Cohducter of Ordnance m that place, writes, "Soonjas
I received the tracts on Temperance, I was not easy till we had
formed a society here; and I set about it immediately. I went
to the chaplain of the station, and presented him with some
tracts. He read them, and the effect was, that in a short tinie

84 AMEEICAH TEMPEEAHCB SOCIETT. [488

afterwards, he ordered his senrants to take all his spiiituoos fi-
quors, and pour them .into the flood. This he saw done, and
Chen joined the society. And we are now in a flourishing state,
as a Temperance Society. I have sent tracts to all parts of
Bengal, where I have friends residing, and I do hope that manj
Societies will be formed."

From Burraah, a gentleman writes, '^ Every man, woman, and
diild should wage unceasing war with aU inioxieaiing drink. It
is surprising that we were so long in league with this disgusting and
hatefiJ poison. How many it has reduced to nakedness and hun-
ger; how many it has entombed in an early grave; and how many
it has brought to the lowest hell. When I think of the lying,
stealing, fighting, robbing, murdering, and all the endless crimes
that follow in its train, I am astonished that we were so long bHnd.
The Pagan makes an idol and worships it. He calls his wife and
she worships it, and then his children, and they worship it. All

f pronounce it good. Your fether did so, and you must. Tour
ather was stupid and mad, and you must be so too. So vfith liquor.
The drinking father reels to the grave, and the drinking son fol-
lows. Foob tread on the heels of fools, drunkenness shakes
hands with drunkenness, and death and hell open wide their arms,
greedy for their prey. He who drinks little is a madman, and
ha who drinks much, a demoniac. Let every person who Igves
sobriety, honesty, or virtue, peace at home, or peace abroad, a
clear conscience in life, or consolation in death, come out openhr
on the side of total abgtinence. This is the only wise or safe
course. I look upon him who encourages intemperance, as the
vilest of the vile. He stabs innocent children, and sends the
grief-stricken wife and mother to the grave. He turns orphans
naked and hungry into the street, while he digs the grave of
their father. The wolf is his sister, and the tiger his father. He
fattens upon the carcasses of his fellows. Oh, when shaD the
spell be broken, and the delusion wholly cease!"

From Batoe, off the West coast of Sumatra, a gendeman
writes.

^^ My heart is sick unto death, with seeing the glass filled and
emptied before breakfast, with breakfast, at eleven o'clock, before
dinner, with dinner, and continually after, till bedtime. Wher-
ever I have been in India, wine is placed on the table in the
morning; when the table is cleared away, the decanter stand
of strong drink makes its appearance. With the dinner, wine
and strong drink are abundant ; and after dinner, again the stroi^
stuff. ^ It was formerly so pernicious at Padang, that it obtamed
the Malay name of Pakoe, (a nail) because the people said it
drove one more nail into their coffins. It was pakoe with a
Tengance."

489] CIORTH REPORT. — 1835. 85

But he adds> ^^ The influence of the American Temperance
Society has been felt here. It has made the old monster sin,
tremble on his throne, even in this distant foreign land. There
is a state of interest waked up that ought to be cherished ; and a
spark kindled that ought to be fanned to a flame. I dined, and
spent some time with his Excellency the Governor Greneral; and
almost all the time I could spare from my own business, was em^
ployed by him in making inquiries concerning the Temperance
movements in the United States: thus placing this great move-
ment in the Western hemisphere, before all other objects. In
every place where I have not introduced the subject, the people
have done it. Our Temperance Ships, and Temperance Cap-
tains and Supercargoes, have done wonders. They would be
astonished themselves to see how a litde seed of exampley sown
by the way side, has taken root, and promises to bear fruit with
the luxuriousness of an equinoctial plant.

The spirit which laid the foundation of the majestic superstruc-
ture which is so fast rising in the new world, to the admiration
of the old, was not merely a spirit of patriotism^ but a sister in the
same family of the other great benevolent institutions, which are
so many suns in your Western hemisphere. It was based on
philanthropy. The cause in which it is enlisted, is the renovation
of morahj and the elevation of the human mind^ not only in Amer*
iea^ but wherever it is enslaved. It had its origin m the United
States, but it must not have its end, till it has circumnavigated and
blessed the entire world. And now what can the American Tem-
perance Society do for India? It must flood the country with
printed documents. They are cheap as dirt in America, compar-
ed with their price in this part of the world ; and there, they come
from the warmth of feeling hearts and speaking pens. Ships are
coming here continually, and they can bring any quantity. If no
one else ofiers as an agent, send them to me ; and I will send
them to every civil, military, and missionary station, and to every
commercial place ih which are men, who can read the English lan-
guage. They are needed for the high and the low, the rich and
the poor, the learned and the ignorant; but most of all for the/of^
mer classes. We want the whole system and its blessed effects,
spread out before the people. They are anxious to know what it
is, and how it is. I would advise that a splendidly bound set of aH
the Society's publications, be sent to his Excellency the Gov-
ernor of Batavia. If the Society have not funds to supply the
wants of a bleeding, suffering world, will not some mdividuals dk>
it? If not gratuitously, let them be sent for sale. But I am cobp*
fidem that when the wants are known, I shall have a supply."

From Alexandria in Egypt, one of our countrymen writes,
*'A few days ago, I gave a copy of the Reports of the American

AMEEICAN TBMPBKAKCB 800IETT. [490

Temperance Society to our consul, and finding last night that
ihey had interested him and his family, I furnished them thb
morning with another set, and with some tracts for this city and
Cairo. His lady bad long been an advocate for Temperance, and
Was now inspirited with new zeal. She determined that all her
countrymen who would, should have an opportunity to read the
Reports at Alexandria; and not only so, but that in Cairo also,
diey should be furnished with tliem. At the latter place, are a
large number of English mechanics, in the Pasha's manufactories,
under a respectable director of their own nation. Many of them
fall into lamentable habits of intemperance, and thus sacrifice their
health and their life. She subsequently went to Cairo, on a visit
to her son, the American agent there, and procured the ready
approbation of this director, to the circulation of the Temperance
publications among his men. So deeply did the principles of
Temperance, ultimately take root in her own family, that her hus*
band poured out all his stores of ardent spirit, and thus cleared
his house of the poison. It was not a litde gratifying to us to
see our worthy national agent, enter so promptly into what, I
trust may be called soon, if not now, our national spirit. These
with similar facts that might be named, seemed to us like the first
glimmering of early dawn upon the long spiritual night of Egypt."

Similar are the testimonies of inteUigent, reflecting men, from
various parts of the world. They all unite in two tUngs; First,
that wherever intoxicating liquor is used as a drink, it is one of
the greatest and deadliest foes to the social, civil, and religious
interests of men:

Second, that wherever the truth with regard to the nature and
effects of such liquor, as illustrated by facts, has been made
known, and the benefits of abstaining from it been enforced, on
the part, of the fi*iends of Temperance, by a united mid consistent
example, the efiect has been surprisingly extensive and beneficial.
Such has been the change of mental and moral habits, where ab-
stinence from the use of this liquor has prevailed, that not cxily
has drunkenness ceased, but health, virtue, and happiness, have
been greatly promoted ; and all means for the promotion of the

?pod of man have been crowned with greatly augmented success,
t has been like the purifying of the pestilential atmosphere of a
great country, on the health of the population. The old plan of
(^erating on this subject, while men continued to make, to sell,
and to use the cause of intoxication, and labored only to remove
its effects, was, as unphilosophical, and as absurd, as it would be,
to manufacture, sell, and use poisonous miasma, and bend all our
efforts, not to prevent the Cholera, but only if possible to cure
U, after it had, by the wickedness of men, occurred; or for the

491] EIGHTH REPaRT. — 1835. 37

Government to license the dissemination of the cause, and then
to employ physicians, to try to remove the effects.

But the present plan, which has burst like a new sun upon the
world, is, not to generate the cause. Instead of making it the
great object, to remove the evil after it has been committed, or,
while continuing the cause, to prevent only its effects, the plan is,
not to commit the evil ; but to let mischief alone, before it is
meddled with. Then its effects will have no existence. Let
this become universal, and drunkenness, and all its abominations
will, of course, for ever cease. The cessation of the cause, will
necessarily be followed by the cessation of its efiects; and their
cessation will be the cessation, and to an untold extent, of innu-
merable other evils, and the production of good, pure, unn^3:edy
immeasurable good, under the influences of the means of grace
and of the Holy Spirit, to an extent which can hardly be con-
ceived; and to multitudes, which no man can number.

The grand means, under Providence, of accomplishing this
infinitely glorious result, is, it is believed, the universal disse^mina-
tion in all countries, and among all classes of people, of a know-
ledge of the facts, with regard to the nature and effects of intoxi-
cating drink. These facts the American Temperance Society,
and other Temperance societies and friends of Temperance have
for seven years been collecting ; and parts of them, have > from
year to year been published for the information of the community.
The facts and reasonings hitherto published, have related princi-
pally to the use of Alcohol in the form of distilled spirit^ as that
has been one of the chief causes of drunk;enn^s in the United
States. But the same principles and results will apply, other
things being equal, to the use of intoxicating liquor, of every kind,
in proportion to the quantity of Alcohol which it contains, and its
power to produce intoxication.

The benefits, m all countries, from the spread of information, so
far as it has been extended, has surpassed the most sanguine ex-
pectations; and has inspired strong confidence, that could the
knowledge of the facts be universally communicated, and attend-
ed, as we have resison to expect that it would be, with the illumi-
nating and purifying agency of the Holy Qhost, millions of the
present generation may be saved from the drunkard's grave ; and
the drunkenness of all future generations, be prevented.

The American Temperance Society have therefore resolved to
embody these facts in a volume under the title of "Permanent
Temperance Documents;" and in reliance on divine aid, and
the assistance of the friends of humanity, to furnish a copy of it,
as far as practicable, for -each preacher cf the Gospel, physician,
lawyer, legislator, and secretary of a Teraperqnqe Society ;
an4 also for each youpg man in aU public seroinariest of leamingi
4.

38 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETT. [492

and for each school teacher throughout the United States. The
object is, to furnish the principles and facts for all those classes of
persons who may be expected to communicate, most extensively,
the knowledge of them to the whole community ; and especially
to the young.

It is also proposed to make extracts from the above volume, of
the most interesting parts, and put them into a smsdler form, to be
called, " The Temperance Manual, designed particularly for
all the young men of the United States. Depositories will be
opened in the principal places throughout the country, from which
the population may be most conveniently supplied. The friends
of Temperance in many of the towns, counties, and States, it is
hoped, will either print it, or supply diemselves, at cost; and the
avails will be appropriated to the gratuitous and more extensive
dissemmation of the work.

It is also proposed that each family of emigrants which has, or
may come into the country, should be supplied with a copy; and
that a number of copies should be furnished for each missionary
of all denominations, and in all parts of the world.

It is also proposed to send a copy, to a number of distinguish-
ed, and philanthropic individuals, in all countries ; accompanied
with a letter, briefly stating what has already been done on this
subject, and suggesting some of the prominent benefits, temporal
and eternal, which, should men cease to drink intoxicating liquor,
would result to the human race, and inviting a prompt and univer-
sal cooperation.

Thus by the press, and by the living voice, the truth on this
subject, with suitable activity and perseverance, may become uni-
versally known; and so far as known, it will, with tlie divino
blessing, commend itself to every man's conscience in the sight
of God. And although it may not at once, be so extensively
circulated, and so powerful in its influence, as to save from per-
dition every drunkard, or to save from becoming a drunkard, eve-
ry sober man, yet the number of this class, af "light and love"
are extended and produce their appropriate effects, will, as we
may hope, continue to lessen and to lessen, till the last drunkard
shidl draw his last breath, and not a name, nor a footstep, nor a
trace, nor a shadow of drunkenness, shall again be found on
the globe.

Then shall great voices be heard in heaven saying, Alleluia;
lor the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth. Peace shall flow as
a river, and righteousness as the waves of the sea. Joy and
gladness shall swell eveiy heart, and to the Author and Finisher
«f all good shall arise, as a cloud o( incense, from the whole
earth, thanksgiving and the voice of melody.

""■ 'rs'-

Exptrtti.

""•"V

11 ile^,4i2

»9 3,bT0,M«

S,4OT.T10
S,714,0W

i,«i,e»i

tai fenoented

LLq™.

45. Vln de Gmvfr.lSA4

. Cidw, MgtiM

Da. (Eiiinbiiii) e.a»

APPENDIX-

EttraeUfrom a Prize Essay, by Reuben D. Mnssey, M. D. Professor of AnaUm
and Surgery f Darhnouth CoUege, JV*. H.; President of the Jfew HampMre Med-
ical Society; and FelUno of the American Academy of Sciences, ^. |^.

For the above mentioned Eflsay, was awarded a Premium of three hundred
dollars. Among the distinguiahed gentlemen, of a Committee by whom the
award was made, were John C. Warren, M. D. Professor of Anatomy and Sax
gery, Harvard University, Boston ; Thomas Sewall, M. D. Professor of Anato
my and Physiology, Columbian College, Washington, D. C. ; Parker Cleave-
land, M. D. Pro^ssor of Chemistry and Materia Medica, Bowdoin College,
Maine ; and Benjamin Silliman, M. D. Professor of Chemistry, Tale College.
New Haven, Conn. The professional and official character of the above namea
gentleaien, will give great weight to their opinion. The following extracts aie
published ^r the purpose of directing the attention of Medical men, and espe-
cially students of Medicine, to this momentous subject ; and with the hope that
all improper use of a substance, which has been so exceedingly destructive to the
human family, may be universally done away.

" Is there any condition ef the system in health or iiseasCf in which the use if
ardent spirit is indispensable, and for which there is not an adequate substitute f

Op the effects of alcohol as "a beverage in health, there ought to be but one
opinion. The whole history of spirit drinking, whether simple, or combined
with the different ingredients existing in fermented or brewed liauors, affords
abundant proof of its being uncongenial with the most natural ana heaJthy ac-
tion of the bodily organs. How wide from the truth is the notion that spirit
aids the stomach in me process of digestion.

Dr. Beddoes observed, that 'animals to whom he had given spirits along with
their food, had di^sted nearly one half less than other like animals to whom
none had been given.* Under the habitual use of spirit, the daily dose may
ffive a temporary alleviation to the irritated nerves of the stomach already en-
feebled, but instead of conferring tone or vigor to that organ, it only serves to
perpetuate its disease or debility.

In the case of St. Martin, a young man into whose stomach through, the side,
a large opening was left after the healing of a severe wound, Dr. Beaumont fre-
quently observed diseased appearances;— ^s, red or purple spots upon the lining
membrane of the stomach, from some of which exuded small drops of grumous
blood ; — aphthous or cankery patches upon the same membrane ; * the gastric
fluids mixed with a large proportion of ropy mucus, and muco-purulent matter
slightly tinged with bl(x>d, resembling the discharge ^om the bowels in some ca-
ses of dysentery.' It is worthy of remark that these beginnings of disease were
not always accompanied with external signs or symptoms ordisorder. When
of considerable standing, however, these appearances were occasionally observed
to be attended with * an uneasy sensation and tenderness at the pit of*^ the stom-
ach, and some dizziness and dimness and yellowness of vision on stooping down
and rising a^gain,' also, with a brown coat upon the tongue, and a slight sallow-
ness of the countenance.

' Improper indulgence in eating and drinking," says Dr. Beaumont, ' has been
the most commun precursor of these diseased conditions of the coats of the stom-
ach. The free use of ardent spirits, wine, beer, or any intoxicating liquor, when
continued for some days, has invariably produced these morbid changes.'

In evidence of the directly poisonous influence of alcoholic drinks upon the
constitution, is the fact, that men long accustomed to their daily use may be ta-
ken off suddenly and entirely from them, not only without impairing the health,

496] EIGHTH REPORT.— 1835.— APPENDIX. 41

bat with a certainty of improving it. In the summer of 1829, Mr. Powers, a^nt
and keeper of tlie Penitentiary at Auburn, N. Y. declared, that during several
years' residence in that institution, he hdd never known an individual whose
health had not been benefited by the total abstraction of spirit and every other
stimulant drink and narcotic from his diet. This testimony is very important,
inasmuch as a large proportion of the whole number of convicts when admitted
to that establishment are drinkers of alcoholic liquors, from tippling to beastly
drunkenness. ' These drinkers,' said Mr. P. ^ are generally very uneasy and ner-
vous, and sometimes greatly distressed for ten or fifteen days after being put
upon water as their exclusive beverage ; but afler that period they have a good
appetite, increase in fiesh,and become healthy.* A considerable number are an-
ually received and discharged ; the average number remaining in the peniten-
tiary, was six hundred. I nav^ never seen so large a congreg^ation of men so
heaitliy looking as these convicts, when they came into the chapel on Sabbath
morninff to hear a sermon from their chaplain. Some of these men. were sixty
years 3d when admitted, and were confirmed drunkards. The evidence fur-
nished by all our state prisons, where similar discipline is practised, is of the
same character.

A wealthy farmer in Sullivan county. New Hampshire, had been in the habit
of drinking spirit for a number of years, and during the haying season he often
used it freely. With more than ordinary activity oTmind and a vigorous bodily
constitution, he attained the age of seventy five years ; much broken down and
decayed however, under occasional attacks of ^out, which he called rheuma-
tism. At this period he broke off suddeni v and wholly from the use of spirit ;
and within two years, that is, at the age otseveaty-sevenj he was so much re-
cruited as to appear several years younger, and he assured me that in the last
two haying seasons he had accomplished more personal labor than in any other
two haying seasons for the last ten or twelve years. He expressed himself in
the most oecisive and energetic manner ^hen remarking upon the effects, in his
own case, of total abstinence from spirituous drinks; he had not only not been
iniared, but had been an unspeakable gainer by the change. This case, anH
otiiers like it, show the futility of the opmion that it is unsafe for persons of any
age suddenly to break off the habit of spirit drinking, and that those advanced
in life should either not attempt to discontinue it, or should do it in the most
cautious and gradual manner. The truth is, that the effects, whether immedi-
ate or remote, of alcohol, whenever they are so distinct as to be estimated, are
alwavs those of an unnatural, unhealthy, or poisonous agent; and soon after
the daily poison is withdrawn, the vital powers, relieved from their oppression,
rally, the organs act with more freedom and regularity, and the whole machin-
ery of life exhibits something like a renovatipn.

Spirit has been erroneously supposed to afford a protective influence against
the effects of severe cold. A sea captain of Boston, Massachusetts, informed me
that in a memorable cold Friday in the year 1816, he was on a homeward pas-
Ba^ off our coast not far from the latitude of Boston. Much ice made upon the
ship, and every persod on board was more or less frozen, excepting two individ-
uals, and they were the only two who drank no spirit.

^ In 1619, uie crew of a Danish ship of sixty men, well supplied with provis-
ions and ardent spirit, attempted to pass the winter in Hudson's bay ; but ji/%y-
eigfu of them died before spring. An English crew of twenty-tioo men, however,
destitute of ardent spirit and obliged to be almost constantly exposed to the cold,
wintered in the same bay, and only two of them died. Eight Englishmen did
the same in like circumstances, and all returned to England. And four Runsians,
left without spirit or provisions in Spitzbergen, lived there six years and after
wards returned home. Facts of this nature might be multiplied to any extent.

So far, also, from guarding the animal fabric against the depressing apd irri-
tating effects of heat, spirit tends to produce inflammatdry diseases. A distin-
guished medical officer, Marshall, who was subjected to great exertion i^d ex-
posure in a tropical climate, observes, * I have always found that the strongest
liquors were the most enervating ; and this in whatever (quantity they weye con-
sumed : for the daily use of spirits is an evil which retains its pernicioup char-
acter through all its gradations ; indulged in at all, it can produce nothi|ig bet-
ter than a dilated or mitigated kind of mischief.'
4#

42 AMERICAN Temperance: ^aciETr. [496

Those ships' crews who now yisit hot and sickly climates withoat spirit, haye
an average of sickness and moitality strikingly less than those who continue the
use of it as formerly. * The Brig Ulobe, Captain Moore,' says the anniyersaiy
Report of the Pennsylvania Temperance Society for 1831, * has lately returned
from a voyage to the Pacific Ocean. She had on board a crew often persons,
and was absent neairiy eighteen months. She was, daring the voyage, in al>
most all the climates of the world ; had not one person sick on board, and
brought the crew all back orderly and obedient, All these advantages Captain
Moore attributes, in a great measure, to the absence of spirituous liquors. Theic
was not one drop used m all that time ; indeed there was none on board the ves-
sel.'

To a place among preventives of disease, spirituous drinks can present but the
most feeble claims. If, under occasional drinking during the period of alcoholic
excitement, a temporary resistance may be given to those morbid influences
which bring acute disease, be it occasional or epidemic, that excitement, by the
immutable laws of vital action, is necessarily followed by a state of relaxation,
depression, or collapse, in which the power of resistance is weakened, and this
too in proportion to the previous excitement. In order therefore to obtain &om
alcoholic stimulus any thing like a protective influence against the exciting
causes of disease, the exposure to these causes must be pericMical, precisely cor-
responding^with tiie stage of artificial excitation. If, however, such accuracy of
adjustment between the powers of vital resistance artificially excited, and the
onhealthy agencies which tend to produce disease be wholly impracticable, then
the danger must be increased by resorting under any circumstances to spirit as a
preservative ; and if not, other articles would do as well.

The best protection against disease is derived from a natural, healthy, unflac-
tuating state of vital action, sustained by plain articles of nutriment taken at reg-
ular intervals, uninfluenced by any innutritions stimulus which operates upon
the whole nervous power. The habitual drinking of ardent spirit creates a mul-
titude of chronic or subacute organic irritations and derangements, upon which
acute disease is most easily, nay, oflen necessarily ingrafted; hence tipplers and
drunkards, exposed to the exciting causes of inflammatory, epidemic, and con-
tagious diseases, are liable to an attack, and when attacked having the vital
powers unnecessarily wasted, they die in larger numbers. These results are
witnessed in e^Hdemic pleurisies; lung fevers, the severe forms of influenza,
pestilential fevers, and cholera.

Most appalling evidence is afforded by the history of this last disease, of the
pernicious influence of intoxicating liquors in preparing the human constitution
for its attack. In India, Ramohun Fingee, a native physician, declares that
* people who do not take spirits or opium do not catch the disorder, even when
they are with those who have it.' In the army under the command of the Mar*
quis of Hastings in India, consisting o£ eighteen tliousand men, more than half of
the men died in the first twelve days ; the free use of intoxicating liquors in a
hot climate will assist in explaining this extraordinary mortality.

In China, according to Dr. Reiche, * the disease selected its victims from among
such of the |>eop!e as live in filth and intemperance.'

Mr. Huber, who saw 2160 perish in twenty-five days in one town in Russia^
says, * It is a most remarkable circumstance, that persons given to drilling have
been swept away like flies. In Tiflis, containing 20,000 inhabitants, etery drunk'
ard has fallen ! all are dead — not one remains.*

A physician of Warsaw says, 'that the disease spared all those who led regu-
lar lives, and resided in healthy situations ; whereas they whose constitution*
had been broken down by excess and dissipation, were invariably attacked. Out
of one hundred individuals destroyed by cholera, it was proved that ninety had
been addicted to the free use of ardent spirits.

In Paris, of the 30,000 persons destroyed by cholera, it is said that a^ great pro-
portion were intemperate or profligate.

It has been computed that ' five-sixths of all who have fallen by thi& dispwr
in England, were taken from the ranks of the intemperate and dissolute.'

Dr. Hhinelander, who visited Montreal during the prevalence of cholera therv
m the summer of 1832, says, ' that the victims of the disease are the intempermU
—it invariably cuts them off ' In that city, after there had been twdve hmmdni

497]

EIGHTH REPORT. — 1835.— APPENDIX. 48

cases of the malady, a Montreal journal stateti, that * not a drunkard who has
been attacked has recoyered ; and almost all the irictims have been at least mod-
erate drinkers.'

Dr. Sewall of Washin^n city, while on a visit to the cholera hospitals in
the city of New York, the same season, writes to a friend, that * of 204 cases ^f
cholera in the Park Hosoital, there Were only six temperate persons, and that
those hod recovered; while 122 of the others, when he wrote, had died;' and
that the facts were ' similar in all the other hospitals.'

In Albany, the same seaaon, cholera prevailed for several weeks, attended
with a severe mortality; and it is a remarkable fact, that daring its whole period,
it is not known that more than two individuals, out of the five thousand mem-
bers of Temperance Societies in that city, became its victims, while of the
twenty -one thousand of the rest of the population, the number of deaths of
persons over sixteen years of age, was three hundred and thirty -four.

Water is the natural and proper drink of man. Indeed it is the grand bevf«
rage of organized nature. It enters largely into the composition of the blood,
and juices of animals and plants ; forms an important ingredient in their organiz-
ed structures, and bears a fixed and unalterable relation to their whole vital econ-
omy. It was the only beverage of the human family in their primeval state.

In that garden, where grew ' every tree pleasant to the sight and ffood fbr
food,' producing all the richness and variety of ' fruit and flower' which an om-
nipotent and afi-bountiful Creator could adapt to the relish of his senses, and
the exigencies of his entire organization, it cannot for a moment be doubted
that man Was in a condition the best suited to secure to him the uninterrupted,
as welt as the highest and best exercise and enjoyment, of his physical, mental,
and moral powers. His drink was water. A river flowed from Paradise. From
the moment that river began to * water the garden,' till the present, no human
invention has equalled this simple beverage; and all the attempts to improve it
by the admixture of other substances, whether alcoholic, narcotic, or aromatic,
have not only ^led, but have served to deteriorate or poison it, and render it
less healthful and safe.

Water is as well adapted to man's natural appetite, as to the physical wants of
his organs. A natural thirst, and the pleasure derived from its gratification,
were given us to secure to the vital machinery the supply of liquid necessary to
its healthy movements. When this natural thirst occurs, no drink tastes so
good, and in tmth none is so good as water ; none possesses adaptations so exact
to the vital necessities of the organs. So long as a fresh supply of liquid is not
needed, so long there is not the least relish for water ; it oners no temptation,
while its addition to the circulating fluids would be useless, or hurtful.

Thu topic has been most ably discussed by Dr. Oliver, as follows : — 'The
waste of the fluid parts of our bodies requires the use of drink to tepair it, and
we derive a sensible gratification from quenching our thirst. What use do we
make of this fact ? Why, to try if we cannot find something that we shall take
pleasure in drinking, whether we are thirsty or not ; and in this search mankind
have been remarkably successful. To such a degree indeed have we succeeded
in varying and increasing a pleasure which was designed by nature merely as
an incentive to quench our thirst, that to quench thirst is become one of the last
things that people drink for. It is seldom indeed that people in health have
any natural thirst, except perhaps afler exercise, or labor in a hot day. Under
all other circumstances, we anticipate the sensation by drinking before it comes
on, so as but seldom to enjoy the natural and healthful gratification of drinking
becaase we are thirsty. Who has not observed the extreme satisfactidn which
children derive from quenching their thirst with pure water, and who that has
perverted his appetite for drink, by stimulating his palate with bitter beer, sour
cider, rum and water, and other brewagfes of human invention, but would be a

gainer even on the score of mere animal gratification, without any reference to
ealth, if he bould bring back his vitiated taste to the simple relish of nature.
Children drink because they are dry. Grown people drink, whether dry or not;
because they have discovered a way of making drinking pleasant. Uhildren
drink water because this is a beverage of Nature s own brewing, which she has
iB&de for the purpose of quenching a natural thixst. Grown people drink any

44 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETT. [498

tfain(( bat water, because this flaid is intended to quench onjy a natural thirst,
aod natural thirst is a thing which they seldom feel.

'One of the evils, though not the only or the greatest one, of perverting the
natural appetite of thirst, is, that it leaves us without a guide to direct us when
we need drink, and when we do not. There is no danger, it is true, that this
want will mislead us into drinking to« little ; the danger is, that we shall be
betrayed into drinking too much, i. e. when nature does not require it ; and
such no doubt is frequently the case. If a man is fond of some particular drink
(and most people I believe have their favorite liquor,) he will be tenroted to take
it when he does not really need it This consideration points out the wisdom
of nature in providing for us a beverage which has nothing to tempt us to drink,
except when we are really thirsty. At all other times, water is ejther perfectly
indimerent, or it is disagreeable to us ', but when we labor under thirst, i. e.
when nature requires drink, nothing is so delicious to a pure, unadulterated
taste. While we adhere to this simple beverage we shall be sure tq have an
unerring prompter to remind us when we really require drink } and we shall be
in no danger of being tempted to drink when nature requires it not. But the
moment we depart from pure water, we lose this inestimable guide, and are left,
not to the real mstincts of nature, but to an artificial taste in deciding on actions
intimately connected with health and long life. What is more common than
for a man to take a glass of beer, or cider, or wine, or rum and water, not be-
cause he is thirsty, and realljr needs drink, but becaiise opportunity makes it
convenient, and he thinks it will taste well. And Uiis is true, not only of fer-
mented or distilled liquors, which are directly injurious in other modes, but in a
less degree, of any addition made to pure water to make it more palatable. Let
me not be misunderstood. I am far from insinuating that lemonade, and milk
and water, are hurtful drinks. Far from it But I say, that in using even these
mild and healthful beverages we lose one important advantage we should derive
from the use of pure water alone. If they are more palatable to us than water
(and otherwise we should have no motive to use them,) we shall be tempted to
take them oflener, and in greater quantities than is required by nature, and may
thus unoonscipusly do ourselves an injury. It is rare for a person to drink a
glass of water when he is not thirsty, merely for the pleasure of drinking ; and
as thirst is the natural guide, if he dirinks when not thirsty, he takes more fluid
than nature points out as proper ; and so far violates one of her obvious laws.
But it may be asked if any injury can result from drinking more than nature
absolutely requires. Not perhaps in particular instances, but the habit of drink-
ing more, may undoubtedly be injurious. It is a sufficient answer to all these
qiuestions to say that our Creator knows best. Under the guidance of the in-
stincts he has implanted in us with regard to the use of drink, we are ordinarily
safe. But as soon as we leave thes^, and place ourselves under the direction of
our own educated appetites, we are constantly liable to be led into danger. It
is certainly hurtful to drink habitually more than was intended by nature, be-
cause it imposes upon the constitution the task of removing the excess ; or else
it is retained in the system, and there may lead to dropsy, or some other of the
consequences of plethora, or redundance of fluids in the system.'

Dr. Cullen, formerly a distinguished professor of Medicine at Edinburgh,
afler speakibg of the general use of water, both by man and the brute creation,
remarks, — * Simple water is, without any addition, the proper drink of man-
kind.'

Dr. Gregory, the successor of Cullen, in his Corispectiis Medicinte Theoreticss,
says, that * pure spring water, when fresh and cold, is the most wholesome drink,
and the most grateful to those who are thirsty, whether they be sick or well ; it
quenches thirst, cools the body, dilates, aiid thereby obtunds acrimony — often
promotes sweat, expels noxious matters, resists putrefaction, aids digestion, and,
w fine, strengthens the stomach.'

Dr. James Johnson, an eminent physician now residing in London, remarks
upon water as follows : ' There can be no question that water is the best and the
only drink which nature has designed for man ; and there is as little doubt but
that every person might, gradually, or even pretty quickly, accustom himself to
this aqueous beverage. 'The water drinker glides tranquilly through life without

199]

EIGHTH REPORT. — 1836. — APPENDIX. 45

much exhilaration, or deprettiion, and escapes many diseases to which he would
otherwise be subject. The wine drinker experiences short but vivid periods of
rapture, and long intervals of gloom ; he is also more subject to disease. The
balance of enjoyment then, turns decidedly in favor of the water drinker, leav-
ing out his temporal prosperity and future anticipations; and the nearer we
keep to his regimen, the happier we shall be.'

How congenial is this flmu to the human organization, adapted as it is to its
necessities under every variety of constitutibn, and vicissitude of climate, from
the equator to the artic circles. Dr. Mitchel, in reference to facts already quoted,
and otliers like them, respecting ships' crews wintering in icy regions, says, *that
in all the frequent attempts to sustain the intense cold of winter in the arctic re-
gions, particularljr in Hudson's Bav, Greenland, and Spitsbergen, those crews
or companies which had been well supplied with provisions and liquors, and
enabled thereby to indulge ii^ indolence and free drinking, have generally per-
ished ; while at the same time the greatest number of survivors have been uni-
formly found among those who were accidentally thrown upon the inhospitable
shores, destitute of food and spirituous liquors, compelled to maintain an inces-
sant struggle against' the rigors of the climate in procuring food, and obliged to
use water alone as drink.'

In hot climates, too, water is the only safe drink. Dr. Mosely, on tropical dis-
eases, uses the following language : ' I aver, from my own knowledge and cus-
tom, as well as from the custom and observations of others, that those who drink
nothing but water, or make it their principal drink, are but little aiiected by the
climate, and can undergo the greatest fatigue without inconvenience.'
^ The Arabs of the desert are among the most hardy of the human race, endti-
ring the greatest fatigue and exposure under a burning sun, and their habitual
drink is water.

The effects of water drinking in a burning climate are well marked in the fol-
lowing account, given by Mr., afterwards Sir James M'Gregor, of the inarch ia
Egypt of a division of the British army sent from Hindustan to aid the main 9r-
my in opposing the French under Napoleon. ' After crossing the Great Desert
in July 1801, from a difficulty in procuring carriage, no ardent spirit was issued
to the troops in upper Egypt. At this time there was much duty of fatigue,
which, for want of followers, was done by the soldiers themselves ; the otiier du-
ties were severe upon them ; they were frequently exercised, and were much in
the sun ; the heat was excessive : in the soldiers' tents in the middle of tiie day
the mercury in the thermometer of Fahrenheit stood at from 114 degrees to 118
degrees, but at no time was the Indian army so healthy.'

Dr. Johnson, from whom an opinion on tne superiority of water to wine as a
beverage, has already been given, remarks, in his Tropical Hygiene, that * it
might appear very reasonable that in a climate where ennui reigns triumphant,
and an unaccountable languor pervades both mind and body, we should cheer
our drooping spirits with the mirth-stirring bowl; a precept which Hafiz has re-
peatedly enjoined. But Hafiz, though an excellent poet, and, like his predeoes^
sor. Homer, a votary of Bacchus, was not much of a physician ; and without
doubt his *^ liquid nioy," as he calls it, is one of the worst of all prescriptions for
a *^ pensive heart." I remember a gentleman at Prince of Wales Islancf, CMr. S.)
some years ago, who was remarkable for his convivial talents, and flow or spirits.
Hie mrst time I happened to be in a large company with him, I attributed his an-
imation and hilarity to the wine, and expected to see them flag, as is usual,
when the first effects of the bottle were past off ; but I was surprised to find them
maintain a uniform level, after many younger heroes had bowed to the rosy god.
I now contrived to get near him and enter into a conversation, when he disclosed
the secret, by assuring me he had drunk nothing but water for many years in
India : that in consequence his health was excellent — his spirits free — -his mental
firculties unclouded, although far advanced on time's list; m short, that he could
conscientiously recommend the " antediluvian" beverage, as he termed it, to
every one that sojourned in a tropical climate.'

Facts and opinions, corresponding with the foregoing, from physicians and
others, might be cited to a much greater extent, but it is deemed unnecessary.
Not only at the present day, but in times gone by, knd even far back up to the
remote periods of regular medicine, eminent physicians have commended water

46 AMERICAN TEMPERANCF SOCIETT. [500

M the best, or u the only proper and healthful beverage for man. Anions them
may be mentioned Parr, Cheyne, Arbuthnot, Sydenham, Haller, Stam, Van
Swieten, Boerhaavei Hoffmann, and even Celsus, Galen, and Hippocrates. These
were like so many meteors shooting here and there amid the darkness which
for ages hung over men's minjds ; but upon this darkness a broad light has at
len^ broken, which, it is believed, is a sure presage of ' perfect day. The ex
penment has been made on a faurge scale, and many thousands of witnesses in
our country may now be referred to for an opinion furnished by their own per-
sonal experience, on the effects of water as tne habitual and only drink. Mul-
titudes of farmers, mechanics, manufacturers, sea-fiiring, and professional men,
give tbeir voice in its favor.

Of 186 whaling vessels belonging to New Bedford, Massachusetts, 168 furnish
no spirits for their crews;- and the uniform opinion of the owners and captains
of these, as well as of merchant vessels in different poits, as furnished to the
executive committee of the New York State Temperance Society is, that the
use of intoxicating drinks for sea-faring men in any climate, and under any
circumstances, are not necessary, but injurious; and they assert that observation
and experience prove that sailors are more healthy, more orderly, and perforiz)
their duty altogether better without these liquors. Vide^ * Testimony of Amer-
ican merchants and sea captains.' — Atnerican Quarterly Temperance Magazifu
fir Jiugusty 1834.

So fully impressed are commercial men with the belief that disasters at sea are
very oflen connected with the use of intoxicating drinks, that an insurance
eompany in Boston, and more recently all the marine insurance cempanies in
New York, in all amounting to ten, have engaged to return five per cent on
the premium of every vessel navigated without spirit.

At a meeting ef the board of underwriters, held at the office of the American
Insurance Company, in the city of New York, on the second of October, 1834,
it was

Resolvedj That the different marine insurance companies in the city of New
York will allow a deduction of five per cent, on 'the net premiums wnich may
be taken after this date on all vessels, and on vessels together with their outfits,
if on whaling and sealing voyages, terminating without loss, provided the master
and mate make affidavit, after the termination of the risk, tliat no ardent spirits
had been drunk on board the vessel by the officers and crew during the voyage
or term for wbich the vessel or outfits were insured.

Willi iM Neilson, President.

Walter R. Jones, Secretary of the Board.'

Vide, American Quarterly Temperance Magazine for November, 1834.

As a vehicle for medicinal agents, alcohol has held a distinguished place. An
extensive list of tincturesy or spirituous infusions of vegetable articles, and of
alcoholic solutions of mineral substances, is still found in our dispensatories.
In a highly scientific work of this kind, lately published in this country, there
aregiven the methods of preparing about one hundred and fifty tinctures !

The tonic barks, and roots, and woods, impart more or less their medicinal
properties to distilled spirit ; and thus imparted, these properties are preserved
for a considerable length of time, df these preparations, however, it may be
observed, that the spirit often so modifies the impression made upon the stom-
ach, brain, or blood vessels, as to prevent their being given in doses sufficient
for the objects intended. This is the case in certain forms of gastric and intes-
tinal irritation, accompanied with an unnatural irritability, not only of the gan-
glionic nerves, but of those belonging to the cerebro-spinaJ s^stemT Cases not
unfrequently occur where the decoction or toalery infusion of the Peruvian bark
is altogether preferable to the tincture ; and perhaps there is never a case in
which some preparation of quinia, as the sulphate for example, is not decidedly
better for the patient than any alcoholic infusion of the bark.

The spirituous preparations of opium are iii many, if not in all cases, inferior
to the black drop. 'The stomach has been known, in a state of great irritability
after excessive vomiting, to retain the black drop, or one of the salts of mor
phia, when the tincture of opium was perseveringly rejected.

501]

EIGHTH REPORT.--e-1835. — APPENDIX. 47

In those cases of excessive irritability of the stomachy accompanied with
spasms of its muscular coat, and also that of the intestines, in which external
anodyne applications are indicated, the warm black drop upon the abdomen, or
the (dry) acetate of morphia applied to a blistered surface, is altogether more
efficient than the tincture of opium. I have repeatedly witnessed a much hap-
pier eifect from the simple acetous solution of opium locallv applied, than froni
the spirituous solutions, in relieving the agonizing pain of phlegmasia dolens.

The medicinal qualities of the tonic and narcotic vegetables may be preserv-
ed without decay in the form of the elegant preparations, which owe their exist-
ence to the perfection in chemical processes invented in our own times; and these
preparations may be employed without alcoholic or any other admixtures which
would serve to modify or impair their effects. The materia medica then would
sustain no loss if alcohol were wholly given up as a vehicle for these classes of
medicines. The same is true of its combination with the active principle of the
Spanish fly* This article yields to water and to vinegar its active properties.
A strong vinegar of flies is a better vesicant than the alcoholic infusion ; and
the chemical extract named cantharidin unites readily with oil as a vehicle, and
in this form may be most conveniently employed for the purpose of making a
blister.

The essential oils, the balsams, and the resins, may unite with, or become dif-
fused in water by the aid of sugar and gum arable, or by the admixture of am-
monia, where this can be done without too far modifying their medicinal effects.

These mixtures, called emulsions, admit of the medicinal article being taken
at any requisite degree of dilution. They are greatly to be preferred to the al-
ooh(wc stations, inasmuch as these last are precipitated in the form of a white
or brown cloud, or in a mass of small globules the moment they are thrown
into water, and are thus less equably diffused in the water than when combined
with it through the medium of sugar, or some other suitable article. Camphor
may be very effectually comminuted and diffused in water by rubbing it with
calcined magnesia, and adding water slowly.* This is a more uniform mixture,
and more convenient for internal exhibition, than can be made by mixing the
spuituous solution with water.

The emulsions then of these articles, as medicines to be taken into the stom-
ach, are decidedly preferable to the alcoholic solutions, or tinctures, as thev are
tailed. If an attempt be made to swallow these tinctures without diluting them,
they are not only found too pungent, or acrid, but they are at once precipitated
by the fluids of the mouth and throat; and when the tincture of guaiacum or
01 tolu is taken, the resinous matter is at once spread out upon the surface of
the tongue and mouth, in the form of an adhesive coating of varnish, which is
dislodged with difficulty.

As a remedy itself, in various forms of disease alcoholic stimulus has long
been regurded with high consideration. In the slight departures from the eaiaa-
ble healthy living actions of the body, marked by exhaustion from fatigue, loss
of blood, hunger, thirst, and exposure to great heat or cold, which approach the
■tate of syncope or fainting, some kind of intoxicating liquor is generally re-
sorted to as if it were the onlv remedy; but in some of these states this kind of
stimulus is not quite safe, and in none of them is it absolutely necessary.

A draught of bland liquid, as simple water, or sweetened water, or milk and
water, or cocoa, or some other simple nutritious substance, as some liquid fari-
naceous preparation, or the pulpy or juicy part of fruits ; or the tea of some
aromatic herb ; or a drop or two of one of the essential oils, as those of the mint
triEe, diffused in water by the aid of sugar, or a small dose of carbonate of am-
monia; or simple ammonia well diluted with water — ^taken, one or more of
them, at a temperature suited to the state of the stomach and of the circulation,
and repeated at proper intervals, will accomplish every good purpose of alcohol-
ic stimulants, and in most cases with less exposure of some o£ tne functions to
undue or dangerous excitation. In the prostration, for example, occasioned by
long exposure to edid, the introduction of a stimulus so exciting and unconge-
nial as distilled spirit into t|ie stomach, makes an impression upon its nerves too
strong and unnatural, and a transition from a state of languor and exhauatioa
to that of activity, too sudden to compprt with an economical expenditure of

** Camplior is aolubla In stroni^ acetic acid.^ — Tumer*s Chemistry,

48 americau tbhpbbakcb socictt. [509

tkeTilal power, tendinijr to create a predupoaition to aoae fivm cf di«Me,if
not speedilj to excite it.

Captain Harding girea hie own experience as foDowa : ' In answer to yoiir
eighth qoeation, I aay, that when I waa in the habit of naing ardent mirite when
wet and &tigaed at aea, on going below to refieah and ahilt myaelf, 1 thoo^t a
UttU toddy waa abaolntely neceaaary to prevent taking cold ; hot now that I am
DMie than fifty yeara old, I can get wet, cold, and &tigned, go below and pnt on
drF clothes, and, if thirsty, take a drink of water, and feel no inconTenienoe
whatever ; so that in this case I answer from actnal experience.

SAMUEL HABDING, naaler, diip Bcnak^ of Bnavwick, Me.*

¥lde Letter to Mr. Delavan, American Quarterly Temperance Magaxine for
Anguat, 1834.

In a complete syncope, or iaintinff fit, cold water dashed apon the head and
hee; ammonia, or some esaential oU, or both, passed into the nostrils, or into
the month and throat, will do more than any preparation of alcohol, towards a
qieedy and efiectnal reanacitation.

Ammonia and the eaaential oils exert an agency dififerent in kind from that
made by alcohd. If in a sense they are difiuMe, their impressions being read-
ily tranamitted from one part to another, they are not intoxicating. They seem
to stimulate the brain only indirectly, perhaps through the medium of a sli^tly
increaaed action of the blood-yesaeb, cauainf, like muscular exertion, a bnder
motion of the blood in the brain ; but they do not make the aame apparently
direct, unnatural, poiaonous, bewildering, and exhanstinf impression upon the
whole power of the brain and nerves, as that which ia derived from aleoholie
stimulua.

In dytpepsy, the alcoholic treatment is now fintnnately almoat nmversally
abandoned. Experience has at length teught physicians that the irritations,
chronic or subacute, of the lining membrane of the alimentanr canal, the capri-
cioua excitements of the nervous system, and the slight but obstinate deviatioBS
from the healthy standard in the circulation, may he more easily and perma-
nently controlled, under the influence of a plain diet, suitable clothing, bathing,
frictions, exercise in the open air, proper hours for sleep, and a light and agree-
Me occupation of the mind, than under the use of any kind of intoxicating
drink, in any manner administered.

In strununu constitutions, and under the local developmento of scrqfidaj ar-
dent spirit was formerly employed. Bui who, at this day, would think of plac-
ing it m competition with tne preparations of iodine, employed at the hospital
or St. Louis in Paris, and ia other places, joined with proper diet, bathing, fric-
tions, exercise, air, &c.?

In the whole range of nervous diseases, alcohol, in any shape, is entitled to
but very limited confidence. It seems to be incapable of doing any thing better
than to cause a transient alleviation, while its ultimate eflfects are pernicious;
wih the exception perhaps of that state of the brain and nerves exemplified iii
traumatic tetanus, which requires a narcotic influence. For this purpose the
combinations of morphia, either internally given, or externally applied, espe-
cially to a blistered surface, are to be preferred. A tonic or sustaining power in
the treatment of this disorder may better be derived from the judicious use, in
addition to the morphia, of some vegetable tonic, as the sulphate of quinia,
joined perhaps with carbonate of ammonia, than from spirituous drinks.

In inflafumations, whether deep-seated or superficial, the vascular andnervooi
irritations are usually observed to be increased by the use of alcoholic liqoon,
sometimes a soothing efiect is seen to follow the application of spirit to aa
inflamed part. But how is this accomplished, if the internal exhibition of it
be pernicious? Without much doubt, by the great abstraction of morbid heat
caused by the rapid evaporation of the spirit from the inflamed part, and by ila
anodyne or stupifying influence, which is ultimately exerted upon the irritated
nerves, unremittingly drenched in it by its persevenng application, llie brain,
at the same time, and the nerves not directly involvea in the inflammatioo,
iMMve but a slight impulse from the spirit so ciroum«cribed in ito application;

6031

EIGHTH REPORT. — 1835. — ^APPENDIX. 49

the morbid impression they maj receive from the medicine being more than
compensated for by the diminution of local heat and irritation.

The persevering local use of alcohol appears to enfeeble, as it might be expec*
ted to do, the vital powers of the part, wmle water may be applied tor any length
of time reqmred by the inflammation, without an undue local exhaustion of
vitality.

In a case of simple fracture of the leg of a boy, several years ago, in which
common spirit diluted with water was locally employed for two or three weeks,
there was m five weeks so slight a union of the fracture that a very small force
broke it down. This e^ct seemed fiiirly to be attributable, chiefly at least, to
the influence of the spirit, in part over and above what resulted from the escape
of heat by evaporation ; especially as the limb was so covered as to prevent toe
sensation of cold, the fragments were kept in undisturbed contact, and the gen-
en^ health was pretty good. A considerable number of surgeons at the present
day prefer simple water to every other lotion for the purpose of moderating ex*
oessive excitement in local inflammation.

In the treatment of gangrene^ intoxicating drinks bear no comparison with
opium or the salts of morphia, carbonate of ammonia, and sulphate of quinia.

To the morbid conditions of the system infeverSf alcohol, as a remedial agent,
is&r finm being well adapted. It bears no comparison with the sulphate of
quinia as an article suited to break up the morbid associations in intermittent and
remittent fevers afier suitable evacuations.

In the apyrexia, or remission of the paroxysm of continued feterj there are
probably but few physicians in our country who have seen a large febrile prac'
tice the last twentv-nve years, who have not had occasion to regret its unfa-
vorable effects. Under the stimulant practice, triuns of morbid symptoms are
oflen aggravated, new centres of irritation established, and which, if not suffi-
cient to destroy the patient, prolong the period of the fever, and frequently cause
relapses, or a lingering and interrupted convalescence. In the occasional states
of depression occurring in continued fever, those internal stimulants should be
preferred, if any be usm, which exhaust the nervous power less than the intoxi-
cating articles. In this connection may be named the carbonate of ammonia,
camphor, and some of the essential oils.

In the collapse and prostration of cholera the spirit pra^ctice is now very gen-
erally acknowledged to have been unfortunate. Indeed it would have been re-
mar&able if an article which so strongly predisposes to this disease as alcoholic
stimulus should have proved to be its l>e8t remedy. The evidence of the mis-
chievous effects of spirituous drinks in cholera is too generally diffused to requiie
its being introduced here in a formal manner. Ice, cold water, or even ice in
small bits, swallowed at short intervals, mav be more relied on for allaying the
deadly nausea of cholera than an v form of intoxicating liquor. For the purposi}
of restoring the strength in the debility which follows acute disease, is alcohol
necessary r

If the fever or inflammation have been early treated with the proper eyacu-
inls, and the progress duly watched, and local determinations prevented or ob-
viated, the debility which remains on the subsidence of the disease is easily re*
moved. The patient may be greatly reduced in strength, but when free nom
disease, his convalescence is rapid under the most simfue treatment. But when
the stimulant plan has been perseveringly pursued with a view to remove the
disease, or the debility subsequent to it, how often if the constitution can resist
the action both of the disease and the medicines, is the patient observed to lin-
ger for weeks, and perhaps months, before his health is re-established ; and how
eften is he subjected to aome new form of disease, either subacute or chronic, or
perhaiMB both in succession ; a cough, or difficult breathing from bronchial or
thoracic irritation or effusion, an en&ebled and irregular action of the alimentive
organs, a swollen limb, dec. In illustration of uese remarks, the following
aketches of actual cases are given, the facts of which may be fully relied on."

Dr. R., 8&t. twenty-five, possessing a good constitution, had, in February 1^06,
a severe typhus fever which riiowed sjrmptoms of crisis on the twentieth dav.
He took, early in the disease, purgative doses containing calomel, and aflerwarcb .
snaU doses at short intervals of the same article, which in ten or twelve days
a ali^t soreness of the mouth ; soon after this, apthiB being observed

6 7

ftO AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETT. [504

in the throet, fatrk and wine were prescribed. The berk however was soon
omitted on account of the ^rreat distress it i^med to have occasioned at the pit
of the stomach, bat the wme was continued. In three or four days aAer toe
■vmptoms of crisis were observed^ a cough arose which was very trou][>lesome
for about a week, but as it subsided a sweilinjr attended with pain and heat
■eiied the whole left lower limb. In eix weeks uom the attack of the fever the
patient beffan by the aid of a staff to hobble out uf his chamber. The swelling
of the linm, however, although bandaging was employed for several weeks, was
never wholly removed ; and from that day to the present, upwards of twenty-
seven years, the leg has exhibited a varicose state of its superficial veins, and
the whole limb including the foot has been larger and less vigorous than the
other, proving that its organization was permanently affected. Before the fever,
and until after the crisis, this limb was, in the estimation of the patient, as sound
in every respect as the other. If in this case the processes of nature had not
been interfered with by an unnatural excitation of the nerves and bloodvessels,
is it probable that any form of local disease would have shown itself simply as
the effect of the fever? One result rather inconvenient to the patient as ne has
often remarked, of the use of wine during his convalescence was the acquisi-
tion of a strong relish for that beverage which he had never before felt, and
which at various periods since it has required some effort properlv to control.

' Mr. F., 8Bt. eighteen, tall, and of fair complexion, havmg I believe always
enjoyed good health, was attacked with continued fever in autumn. He was
bled repeatedly, and took purgatives and antimonials. At the end of the second
week it was thought that ne would bear tonics. Mild articles were resorted to,
and continued about a week. The symptoms remaining nearly the same, sul-
phate of quinia and wine were prescribed. In a few days he had cough and diffi-
cult breathing, with symptoms of effusion in the chest. Auscultation readily
detected a flmd in the right cavity. Blisters and diuretics with active cathartics
were now employed. He was soon relieved, and in about a week his symptoms
were very mucn as when he began to take the wine and quinia, excepting that
the debility was greater. Wine and the sulphate of quinia were again given, and
soon the same ti^in ofsymptoms appeared as before, with an effusion of fluid, in
the left cavity of the chest Under the use of diuretics and blisters, these symp-
toms were removed.

A third time the wine and quinia were resorted to, and the result was a swell-
ing of one of the lower limbs with heat and pain, resembling somewhat the
appearances in phlegmasia dolens. All tonics and stimulants were now laid
aside, and at a time when he was unable to turn himself in bed. A mild diet
was now prescribed, together with ablutions and frictions ; and he very sraduaUy
and uniformly recovered, sd as to have acquired a tolerable degree of i»ealth in
about four months.

In the course of the treatment, valerian, carbonate of soda, carbonate of am-
monia, camphor, serpentaria, and sulphuric acid, were employed. We varied
the combination of the medicines a great many times ; a measure whiqh seemed
to be rendered necessary by sickness at the stomach which invariably followed
each combination in a day or two. At the time when he rejected stimulants,
and infect all medicines, he could retain articles of food.'

Mr. H. el twenty-five, of a fine constitution, had remittent fever. In <me
foil day of his sickness, that is in twenty-feur hours, he took three pinto of
brandy, and in addition, a small pill of opium every two hours, besides a small
dose 01^ sulphate of quinia at the same interval through the niffht. Spirit was
taken freely for several days, although the quantity, aa well as tmtt of the opium
and quinia, cannot be vouched tor. Ttto years after this sickness the patient
had not recovered his health, but was still feeble^ with impaired digestion, and
swollen limbs.

But there are agente of higher importance than alcohol or fermented liquors,
which may safely be exnployed to sustain the sinking powers in feversi and to
restore the lost strength after they have subsided.

Of these, the first to be named iapure air. < I believe/ sajs Mr. James in
his valuable work on inflammation, ' there is no poison more injurious than fenl
air — no restorative more effectual than pure air; and it nms no risk of dis-
ordering the digestive organs, as bark often does, or stimulating the vessels too

506] EIGHTH REPORT. — 1836. — APPENDIX. 61

much, like wine.' The restoratiTe powers of the blbod depend on iti poiitj |
and the puritj of this fluid cannot be secured without pure air ; hence the abso-
lute necessity of the most strict and persevering attention to ventilation and
deanliness.

Another a^ent is waUr. This is the proper beverage when a beverage is
needed. NoUiing is so grateful in the thirst of fever, and nothing so gpod ; and
its febrifuge, as well as tonic or invigorating power, judiciously applied to the
sarface of the bod^ is most striking. Either pure, or impregnated with soap, or
saline substances, it may be used by way of afiusion, ablution, or sponging, at a
temperature warm, cool, or cold, according to circumstances. The successfiil
use of cold water by Dr. Currie applied to the body in ferera is well known.

Dr. Robert Jackson, speaking of the fevers of Jamaica, says, that ' after obvi-
ating particular symptoms of a fiital tendency, it was the principal indication to
support the general powers of life, or to excite the tone and vigor of the system.'
For this purpose he mentions ' cold bathing' as * the most important remedy
In the cure or the fevers of the West Indies.' For the purpose of removing the
prostration and languor accompanying a form of fever prone to attack foreigners
arriving in hot climates, he observes, that ' the principal trust was placed in
warm and cold bathing, which under proper management seldom failed of
answering every expectation completely, or of speedily removing the chief symp-
toms of danger.' lliis gentleman was in the nabit of frequently impregnating
the water strongly with common salt.

Often have 1 witnessed in fite of distressing prostration, joined sometimes
with great irritability of the nerves, both during and aAer the subsidence of the
severity of acute disease, a far more refreshing and invigorating eflfect from
sponging the head,* body and limbs with simple water, or weak warm soap-
flads, foUowed by gentle friction, than fi:om any doses of spirit, wine, or porter,
I have ever seen Mministered. It is a striking remark ox the celebrated Hoff*
man, that if there be in nature a universal remedy, that remedy is water.

Among the means of restoring the strength, one of great value is exercise,
especially in the open air. Indeed there seems to be no adequate substitute for
fhis remedy. Who has not felt ite invi^rating effects .' Dr. Jackson, already
qooted, observed the most happj effecte m the restoration of the bodily powers
reduced by yellow fever, from his patiente, when too weak to raise their heads,
being earned out daily in carte or wa^ns. Passive exercise in the sick chanv*
ber, or the removal from it to an adjoining room on a truckle-bed or chair, may
be made very useful to the sick patient, wnen his strength is too much reduced
to admit of his being carried abroad.

In addition to the common articles of plain, unstimulating food, may be men-
tioned as an important restorative agent, fresh, ripe fruit This, especially if
aeidulo-sacchaxine and juicy, often presente to the stomach precisely the stimu-
lus it .craves, and may be borne when spirit and wine cannot be taiKen without
disturlnng the circulation. The man who shall invent a cheap and easy method
of preservinfir without decay the well ripened, juicy, and pulpy fruito, will be
entitled to the thanks of succeeding generations. Could tne grape, instead of
being manufactured into wine, be carried fiesh and distributed fireely in distant
countries, in place of the intoxicating liquor with which it now supplies them, an
onspeakable amount of health and comfort would result to the human family.

With prescribed attention to ventilation, cleanliness, ablutions, and frictions,
plain, nourishing food, including often fresh fruito, joined with early and perse-
vering exercise, I have known patiente to recover with a rapidity greater than I
remember to have observed from any use whatever of intoxicating drinks and
narcotics.

Under a more perfect acquaintance with the functions of life, and with the
influences exertea upon it by remedial agents, may it not be hoped that the pe-
riod win arrive when not only ardent spirit, but au intoxicating liquors, will be
regarded as not absolutely necessary in the practice of physic or surgery i It
may perhaps be worth remarking, that throughout the wide-spread kii^onis of
animal^ and vegetable nature, not a particle of alcohol in any form or eombin»>
tioB whatever has been found as the effect of a single Uving prooessy but that U

* The hair baviag been pwvtoosly sbsared off.

53 AMBKICAlf TEMPERANCE SOCIETT. [506

ariflet odIj out of the decay, the diesolatioH) and the wreck of organized matter,
or of its ever Taried and wonderful productions ; and is it probable that the b**
neficent author of such a countless multitude of medicinal a|rent8 as exist in the
products of vital action, would have left, to be generated among the results of
dastruetive chemistry, an article essential to the successful treatment even of a
ainf le disease ?

The profession of medicine haa an extensive scope. It looks into the struo'
tuie of animal machinery, it investigates the laws of its vital movements, both
in health and disease, and contemplates a variety of inflaenoes by which its com-
plicated processes are accelerated, retarded, suspended, or destroyed. It learns,
that to the functions of life belongs a standard rate of action, beyond which they
cannot be safely excited or drivaa ; that alcoholic and narcotic stimulants de-
range and connise the healthy movements, exhaust the vital power more than
nature intended, and induce premature decay, and dissolution. This profession
claims the strictest alliance with the cause of humanity ; it cherishes good will,
and proffers substantial blessings to men. It extends its hand not only rto the ex-
hausted, bed'ridden patient, and to the tottering and dejected invalid, but even
to the healthy man, to save him fi'om the pain and suffering which ignorance, or
custom, or recklessness might brinff upon him.

Let physicians then be true to tneir profession. Let them study the duties
they owe to the communities with whom they live and labor. Let. them teach
the means of preserving health, as well as of combating disease } let them show,
as it is in their power to do, that the taking of medicine 4n health in order to pre-
vent disease is most absurd and mischievous ; that the sorest guarantee of health
is a correct regimen, and that the best treatment of acute disease is often very
simple.

Let them explain, as fiir as practicable to those around theni, the mechanism
of their physical organization, and when it can be done, '* knife in hand/' the
work will be easy. Let them expound, so far as known, the beautiful and hai-
monious laws enstamped upon this organization, by which its complicated move-
Tiients and diversified phenomena are sustained ; laws as immutable in their na-
ture, and inflexible in their operation, as those that hold the planetary system
together: ; and like them originating in the same incomprehennble and mighty
mind, which, acting in the strength of its own philanthr<^y and unchajageable-
ness, gave to man a moral code from amidst the smoke and thunders of^Sinai.
No law coming from this high source can be violated with impunity ; and he
who infringes a law of the vital economy, receives, in an injury done to the
machinery of life, the penalty of his transgression with no less certainty than he
who leaps from a tower heedless of gravitation. With all its given power of
accommodation to circumstances, no possible training or education of this ma-
ehinery can change the nature of its primitive adaptations, and make an article
congenial and healthfal, which was originally repulsive and noxious. No hu-
man ingenuity or perseverance can render impure air .as wholesome as that
which is pure, or any form of intoxicating liquor as healthful as water.

So long as alcohol retains a place among sick patients, so long there will be
drunkards ; and who would undertake to estimate the amount of responsibihty
assumed by that physician who prescribes to the enfeebled, dyspeptic patient
the daily internal use of spirit, while at the same time he knows that this simple

Srescription may ultimately ruin his health, make him a vagabond, shorten nis
fb, and cut him off from the hope of heaven. Time was when it was used
only as a medicine, and who will dare to ofier a guaranty that it shall not again
•verSpread the world with disease and death ^
Ardent spirit — already under sentence of public condemnation, and with the
. prospect of undergoing an entire exclusion from the social circle, and the do-
mestic fire-side — still lingers in the sick chamber, the companion and pretended
fHend of its sufferinff inmates. It rests with medical men to say how Ume this
unalterable, unrelenting fee of the human race shall remain secure in this sa>
ored, but usurped retreat. They have the power, and theirs is the duty to per-
ferm the ndighty exorcism. Let the united effort soon be made, and the fiend
be thrust forth from this strong but unnatural alliance and comfMinionship with
men, and cast into that ' outer darkness/ which lies beyond the precincts of
human suffering and human enjoyment.

507] EIGHTH REPOKT. 1835. — ^APPENDIX. 53

7%efoiU(nting Extracts an from a Prize Essay ^ by Harvey LinddUf M. D. Wash'
ingUmy D. C. to lohom a similar prsnUum toas awarded as to ifr, Mussey, and
by the same Committee.

<* EFFECTS OF INEBRIETl ON THE OFFSPRING OF INTEMPERATE PARENTS.

There can be no doabt, for it is as well established as any other fact in medi-
cine, that the temperament, general degree of health, habits, predispositions.
&4i.f of the parent are very apt to descend to the child. And if the health ot
the hither or mother has been impaired by a long course of inebriety, or their
intellectaal power much deteriorated, we may expect to see its lamentable coi^
sequences in the debilitated bodies and enervated minds of their unhappy pro
geny. Probably this effect is more striking, and its results more appalhng,
where the mother is a devotee of this disgusting practice, than if the fatner oi^
ly be in the habit of it. The influence of the mother's liabits over the physical
as well am the moral and intellectual character of the children seems to be of a
more decided nature than that of the father. How doubly awfiil then does tho
guilt of this vice appear when viewed in this two-fold aspect !

In connection with the influence of the mother's habits upon the health and
eonstitution of the child, we cannot too strongly reprobate tne pernicious prao-
(ice, still but too common, of nursing women employing brandy and other alco-
holic stimulants, in order, as is said, to afford them strength to sustain the new
call made up6n them. To say nothing of the danger to the mother herself of \

forming in this way habits of intemperance, is there not great danger of seri- ^

onsly ufectiii^ the health of the child, if not of early instilling into it a taste
for ardent spirits.^ We all know that the milk of the nurse is not a little influ-
enced by the diet and medicines she may use. The infant can be purged by oil
or calomel taken by the nurse : and have we not as much reason to fear that the
employment of such powerful agents as brandy, cordials, &c., may exert an
eaiudly powerful influence upon tne tender and susceptible, and excitable frame
on an mfant^ We have all seen these deleterious influences, when the inten>>
perate habits of the parents have been carried to a very great extent, in the pro-
duction of dropsy of^the brain, imbecility of mind, and a lonff train of physical
and intellectual evils, which perhaps at the time may have oeen attributed to
hereditary predisposition, or to other causes. There cannot be the least excuse
for this indul^nce on Uie part of the nurse, for it is not only altoays useless,
but positively injurious.

Dr. North remarks, that children nursed by intemperate women are peculiar-
ly liable to derangements of the digestive organs, ana convulsive affections; and
that he has seen the latter almost instantly removed by the child being trans-
ferred to a temperate woman.

A suitable and nutritious diet will be amply sufficient to sustain a woman
while nursing, and she may rest assured will be much more conducive to her
own health and that of her tender charge^ than the artificial stimulus of ardent
spirits can possibly be.

DO ALOOHOLIO STIMULANTS CONTRIBUTE TO STRENGTH?

This question has at different times given rise to no littie discussion, but it
seems at last irreversibly decided in me negative. The idea which formerly
prevailed, that alcoholic liquors contribute permanentiy to strength, arose no
doubt from the temporary feelings of excitement and apparent strensrth which
they occasion. But these illusions have long since vanisned before the reason-
ings and observations of a more correct pmlosophy, and a more extended
experience.

The different degrees of debility, which may of course vary flrom the slight-
est degree of exhaustion to almost total prostration, can be relieved by two
methods, the one gradual, the other rapid. The gradual mode consiste in em-
ploying sleep, rest, and food, or in other words accumulating the vital principle :
the rapid mode is by the application of diffusible stimuli, t. e., calling into action

54 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETY. [508

the vital principle which remains ; as in syncope we apply ammonia, or any
other pungent odor, to the nostrils.

Now the question is, which of these modes, the rapid or the gradual, is most
likely to answer the purpose? No one can doubt a moment as to the answer.
The one is tlie order of nature — the other is artificial — the one, although more
dilatory in its operation, is unattended by any unpleasant consequences ; while the
other is sure to be followed by lassitude and depression exactly proportioned to
the amount of excitement and stimulus applied and felt.

In the beautiful and expressive language of another, the stimulant restoraliYes
may be compared to a ' stream which nourishes a plant upon its bank, and caus-
es it to flourish and blossom to the sight, while at the same moment it is unde^
mining it at the root.'

Rest, sleep, and food, are amply sufficient to repair the fiitigue and restore the
exhausted energy of all animated existence — * they are sumcient for the tribe
in the branches of the forest, and for the deer which range below, for 'the flock
on the mountain's side, and for the herd in the pasture of the valley. They are
sufficient for the elephant, for the tiger, and the lion* — but man , poor dehided
man ! not satisfied with nature's ample provision for the restoration of strength,
and the preservation of health, must have recourse to alcoholic stimulants.
The absurdity of such a course is strongly depicted by Milton in speaking of
Samson.

* O madnen ! to think use of strongest wines
And strongest drinks our chief support of health,
When God, with these forbidden, made choice to rear
His mighty champion, strong above compare,-
Whoae driok was only from the liquid brook.*

Who would think of applying the whip or the spur to a jaded. and exhausted
horsei in order to increase his strength, and restore his accustomed vigor.^ Ycft
such a course is not more ridiculous or absurd than that man's who employs
brandy, or rum, or sin to invigorate his enervated stomach when disordered by
improper diet, or long fasting, or excessive fatigue — in both instances, to be
cure, new life and fresh animation, and apparent strength would be imparted,
bat we all know that the horse will eventually yield sooner than if a more mer*
eifiil and rational course had been adopted ; and so it is with the wretched in»>
briate wha relies for aid on the stimulus of ardent spirits.

It is an ^doubted fact that some periods of life can bear the excitement of
alcoholic stimulants with less injury than others. Probably the most iniurious
time of administering spirituous potations is in infancy and early yooth. At
this. tender age the fibres are more susceptible of excitement and irritati<m, the
functions are more easily disordered, aud the foundation may be laid of futuie
disease which may then be incurable. The intellectual and moral facnlties
aeem also at this period peculiarly liable to deterioration ; and we doubt not that
the literarv progress of many a tolented child has been impeded, and his moral
sense deadened by the early administration of stimulating drinks. How much
then is this ridiculous and disgusting practice, which unfortunately is still by
BO means uncommon among the mothers of our country, to be deprecated !

Indeed the absurdity of the notion that the use of alcoholic stimulants con-
tributes to permanent strength is made manifest by daily observation, as well as
all past experience. The lon^ and rapid marches of the ancient Greek and
Roman armies, and the privations and labors they underwent, are much greater
than could be endured by any modem European soldiery ; and yet these men
drank no ardent spirits. Some of the native East India troops in the employ-
ment of the British government possess the same power, and their religious
ideas and customs deny them spirituous liquors. Sir John Moore's army were
f9ttnd to improve in health during their distressinff march to Corunna as soon as
the usual allowance of ardent spirits was unattain3)]e.

It is related by Niger that he forbade the use of wine in his army, wishing
the soldiers to accustom themselves to vinegar mixed with water, in conformity
with the ancient regulation. It may readily be imagined that such a reform
would ffive great oflence to the troops : but Niger was resolute : and some sol-
diets who guarded the frontiers of Egypt, having one day asked him for Boat

609] EieUTU REPORT. — 1836.^— APPE3M1>1X. 55

wine—* What do you say,* replied he to iheni| * you have the Nile, and wine is an»
necessary for you.' Upon another occasion, some of his troops, being conquered
by the Saracens, excused theraselTes upm the plea of weakness owing to this
regulation. * An excellent reason,' said he, 'for your conquerors drink nothing
bat water.'

In what manner different stimulants when taken into the stomach act upon
the system is a question of no little interest to the pathologist and physiologist ;
and yet is one which is still involved in great obscurity. The mode in which ^
these substances act is not perhaps al»olutely incomprehensible, for who will
dare to set bounds to human ingenuity, or to say that there are any laws of niv>
lure so obscure that they may not yet yield to human industry .'

But, however this may be, we are at least certain that the hypotheses which
have hitherto been proposed are far from being satisfactory upon this point.

Some substances when taken into tiie stomach increase the activity and viffbr
of all the organs of the body : this is the case with nourishing food of all kinds;
with tonics, alcohol, opium, <&c. These we would call general stimulants.

There are other substances again which, when taken into the stomach, ii^
crease the activity and vigor of some particular organ of the body, as tartar
emetic, castor oil, &c. These are local stimulants.

Many articles belong to both these classes : but all stimulants necessarily in-
erease action, the effect being proportioned to the nature of the article, to the
qaantity taken, to the frequency of its repetition, and to the circumstances under
which it is employed.

There is a great difference, not only in the manner, but the rapidity with
which different stimulants act. Some produce thei^ effect as soon as taken into
the stomach, while others do not, except after long and frequent repetition. The
former are generally highly diffusible, and their operations transitory — ^the latter
cause more permanent changes, and effect those changes by obscure and almost
imperceptible gradations.

It would seem as if there were a certain amount of activity and of motive
power in the human system which alone is consistent with health, or there is a
particular proportion in the activity of the different parts of the living system
which must be maintained in order to preserve health. When this proportion is
deranged, or this activity suddenly and rapidly increased, disease ancl sicknefs
necessarily follow. All nighly diffusible stimulants are therefore, from the rery
nature of^^ their action, detrimental to health, since this nice proportion — this
delicately adjusted equilibrium, is by their use destroyed. If such stimulants
be used but once, or but seldom repeated, the healthy relation between the action
of the difierent parts of the body may be quickly restored : but if they be used
habitually and frequently, this relation is for ever destroyed, and the health of
tlie wretched victim irrecoverably undermined.

But it does not follow from these principles that stimulants may not be benefi-
cial in disease, because here this relation is already lost, and stimulating articles
may afford the only remedy by which the equilibrium can be restored. We
may therefore lay it down as an incontrovertible axiom, that stimulants are always
injurious in health.

SUBSTITUTES FOR ARDENT SPIRITS IN THE PRACTICE OF MEDICINE.

It cannot have escaped the observation of any reflecting man that the medical
Qse of ardent spirits has frequently been the immediate cause of the formation
of intemperate nabits. Many an individual, who had little constitutional fond-
ness for the inebriating draught, and whose habits were such as seemed pecu-
liarly fitted to preserve him from this fell destroyer, has made wreck of every
earthly prospect by bein^ induced to resort to the use of ardent spirits, for the ra-
lief of perhaps some trivial complaint. The talented, the great, and the learned,
as well as the degraded, the humble, and the ignorant, have thus fallen beneath
the withering touch of this soul-destroying Moloch. In more than one instance
have I seen the able and hitherto faitKful minister of the gospel laboring under
a slif ht attack of dyspepsy, and, by the advice of his medical attendant, drink-
log daily for weeks together a glass of brandy and water until he has graduallj

56 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE BOCIETT. [510

■nd ooemiMioiisl^ formed a ttite, and acquired a leKih for the firtal liquor, which
has increaaed in ttren^rth, and acquired a firmer and firmer gnap upon the eoer^
▼ated mind until it haa obtained complete maaterv — and the wretched rictim faia
made shipwreck of conscience, reputation, frieuoi, etemitT.

There are various other ways auo in which the medical use of ardent spirits
may prove the forerunner or drunkenness. It is a very common practice in
■ome parts of our country for personi to resort to bitter herbs, as wormwood,
gentian, chamomile, &c., steeped in ardent spiriu, fi>r the relief of a slight d»>
gree of dyspepsy, to increase their strength, and give them an appetite. The
whole family partake of this bottle, and resort is regularly had to it three or four
times a day. I defy any one to point out a mode more exactly fitted to oanvert
the most sober and temperate ftmily in the world into sots than this. The regu-
lar, habitual, daily use of brandy ! This is precisely the wav in which all drunk-
ards have been made. They alwajs drink temperately before they drink in-
temperatel^. True, they are all this while taking bitters, and that too perhaps
by the advice of their physician. But does that alter the case ? Are toey not
also drinking ardent spirits ?. And will they not, in all probability, persevere in
their downward career till ruin stares them in the fiuse ? It is self^vident that
such a course is not one whit safer, so far as the morals of the individual axe coi^
oemed, than if so much undiluted brandy had been taken.

Is it not then the solenm duty of every physician, as well of every Christian,
and every patriot, to do all in his power to dispense with an article the use of
which is surrounded and accompanied by such tremendous dangers ? Grant that
in most cases there b little risk of this becoming so fixed a habit that the patient
cannot at any moment lay it aaide — ^grant that most men have sufficient firn»>
ness of mind, and fixedness of purpose to resist, and sunder at their pleasure, the
iron chain of habit — ^yet, if only one individual in an age were sacrificed on the
altar of intemperance by the medicinal use of ardent spirits, would not this of
Itself be a sufficient reason for proscribing and banishing it for ever.'

But it will be asked, how is this risk to be avoided .'if ardent spirits are iie»>
•ssary for the cure of disease, and the preservation of health, shall we not use
fhem ? In reply I have no hesitation in asserting that there is no state of the
system, however exhausted or enfeebled— >no species of malady, however obsti-
nate or un^eldin^;^ — ^no case of disease, however dangerous or appalling, in which
ardent spirit is mdispensably necessary, and in vniich a substitute, perfectly
equal to all the exigencies of the case, cannot easily be found.

Professor Chapman of Philadelphia, in his able work on the materia medics
remarks : —

< It is the sacred duty of every one exercising the jvofession of medicine ts
unite with the moralist, the divine, and the economist, in discouraging the con-
samption of these baneful articles, and as the first step in the scheme of refoF
mation to discountenance the popular notion of their remedial efficacy.*

And I think that every medical man, who will carefully review the whole
ground, will come to the same conclusion.

That stimulant articles are desirable, and even necessary in the practice of
medicine, no one can doubt There are several states of the system in which
this class of remedial a^nts is indispensable. Whenever the system has been
exhausted by lons-contmued disease, or any other cause, and where no fever
exists, tonics and nitters, of various kinds, will do much to restore the lost en-
ergy of the stomach, and to bring back the wonted vigor of the constitution.

Among these stimulantk and tonics ardent spirits have long held a high rank,
and have frequently been resorted to, especially by the vulgar.

It is admitted that there are a few extreme cases in wh£h ardent spirits are
temporarily beneficial : what is contended for is, that there is no case in which
they are indispensablef and in which an adequate atibstUuU cannot ratuUbf ht
fofiuL.

1. In Dyspepsy,

There is perhaps scarcely one disease in the treatment of which the patient

more frequentlv commits mistakes than in this. He feels languid and wretched

his food is badly digested — ^flatulency continually lutfasaes hint— «n uneasy,

511] EIGHTH REPORT. 1835. ^APPEl^DIX. 57

indeflcribable aeiiflation of ofypreasion in the epigastric region, is a constant
companion-Hind to relieve these disagreeable feelings he has been taught by those
around him to resort to the stimulus of bitters and ardent spirits. He perhaps
receives temporary relief, and he is encouraged to proceed — another and another,
and another dose is taken, but the relief becomes more and more transient ; and
in order to obtain even this he is compelled to increase his libations. He will
however verjr soon discover to his sorrow that his disease, instead of being
cured, is continually becoming worse. In short, he has mistaken his remedy —
and this will invariably be the result with every one who endeavors to break up
such a disease by such means.

Dyspeps^ r^uires a very different treatment. Where any thing of a stimu-
lant or tonic character is required, the usual bitters, as Peruvian bark, camomile
flowers, columba, quassia, gentian, &c./or the preparations of steel will be an>'
ply sufficient.

The sulphate of quinine is a most excellent article in cases of languor, debility,
and loss of appetite, and might be employed advantageously much more fi-e-
qoently than it is. There is no bitter, I am inclined to think, in the materia
medica, whose effects a(p so prompt and decided as this — and which gives such
immediate and complete relief in those cases of simple debility which occur so
frequently during our warm summers — and more especially among men of sed^
entary habits^-and females of delicate constitution.

There cannot be the least doubt that great, and sometimes essential injury
has been inflicted on the unhappy dyspeptic by recommending alcohol to
strengthen his digestive powers, ana increase his appetite. So delicate an organ
as the stomach cannot with stSeiy be loaded witii so powerful a stimulus, and
especially when in a state of subacute inflamiqation, as is frequently the case in
djspepsy. Independently therefore of the imminent danger of the patients' be- ,
coming addicted to habite of intemperance, the advice too frequently given, I
am afraid even by physicians, to drink brandy and water cannot be too strongly
deprecated on account of its immediate effects on the system itself.

2. In low Typhoid states of the System.

Where the strength has been exhausted, and a low tyj>hoid state has come on,
i^r a long continued fever, it is a very general impression among the profes*
aion that a stimulus of a different nature from the ordinary tonics and bitters
b required to quiet the irritable and frequent pulse, to clear the black and coated
tongue, and to resuscitate the exhausted energy of the body. In this peculiar
state most medical men have been in the habit of using alcohol very treely in
the form of wine or brandy. But, surelv, when we consider the great number,
aod vast variety of stimulants furnished oy the materia medica, we can hardlv
believe that amongst all these it would not be possible to select an article or arti-
cles which would be proper for almost any form of this disease, and every idio-
syncrasy of constitution. When we consider the great and varied powers of
the Peruvian bark, ammonia, camphor, cayenne pepper, &c. &c., can we doubt
that resort need never be had to ardent spirits where these can be obtained .'
Bat although perhaps there are cases where wine cannot readily be dispensed
with, yet I have no hesitation in asserting that there nev^r tup as an instance
where there was the least necessity for using ardent spirits in any form or shape
whatever. Indeed, the only, or the principal plea for the employment of brandy
or rum in these cases is, that wine sometimes disagrees with the stomach by
taming acid. It is rather a favorite notion with some practitioners that brandy
is less apt to disagree in this respect than wine, but I must say that I have never
found the least difficulty wlfere the wine was of a ^od quality, and the proper
kind had been selected. Sometimes one kind of wine will suit better than an-
other, and some little judgment is required'to select that which is best adapted
to the peculiarities of the constitution and the disease. Should there however
be a case in which wine could not be taken, good porter or ale could still be re-
torted to, and would be more suitable and advantageous than ardent spirits.

I have no hesitation then in repeating that there are no cases of typnoid fever
where ardent spirits are ever desirable, and very few if any in which wine is
ibsolutely indispensable

58 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETT. [512

3. Jis an External Jtpj^icatUmin Cases tf Hemorrhage,

It would be abflard to attempt a labored denial of the importance of ardent
gpirits in this particular case, as probably not one sober medical man in a
hundred would ever think of resorting to them for any such purpose.

4. Mcohdl is frequently given^ in some form or other ^ to infants to remove flatU'

Uncy^ reUetoe pain, make them sleep^ fyc.

This idea has already been discussed in a previous part of our work. I will
only add, that there is not probably a single imaginable state of the infant's sys*
tem in which other articles could not be used with more advantage for these
purposes than ardent spirits.

6u /h cases of sudden emergency in which the vital powers seem extinct, and
the patient is in immediate danger of death — as when large quantities ef
cold water have been drunk.

Where accidents of this kind have taken place nothing is more common than
to see both practitioner and the standers by pouring down brandy or gin into
the stomach of the unhappy victim — not once reflecting that in all probabili^
he has already half a pmt of alcohol in his system, and without which his
alarming situation never would have occurred. Nothing is more certain, than
that in nine cases out of ten, where injury has been suffered from drinking cold
water in warm weather, it takes place in persons of intemperate habits, the
powers of whose system have been prostrated by previous indulgence, and
which have not sufficient energy to hear tiie sudden introduction of a large
quantity of cold water. The dnnking of cold water by persons whose habits
have been previously good, and whose health is perfect, is seldom, if erer, at-
tended by ratal consequences, and indeed generally by nothing more than slight
and transient pain.

Is it not absurd then for us to prescribe, as a remedy, an additional quantity
df the very article which has caused all the mischief.^ Although no doubt stim-
ulants are the proper remedies in cases of this kind, yet there can be as little
doubt that there are other articles much more efficacious and suitable than ar-
dent spirits. Ammonia, cayenne pepper, camphor, laudanum, toother with ex-
ternal applications of mustard, cantharides, turpentine, heat, friction — all can be
employed to much greater advantage than alcohol in any form, and will be am-
ply sufficient for every possible emergency.

Ck To remedy the disagreeable taste and the supposed vi^wrious qualities of bad or
impure water ^ particularly in dtus, and on skip-board.

Although this plea for the use of ardent spirits cannot be sustained by a single
rational argument, yet I have no doubt it has frequently been the means of m-
ducing intemperate habits It is a very common practice in our large cities,
and perhaps still more common on board bur ships, to plead this excuse in justi-
fication of the daily and habitual use of alcoholic liquors. But a moment's con-
sideration would lie su^cient to convince any reflecting man that such a course
is only making the evil greater. If the water be unwholesome, the mixture
with it of brandy, which is itself injurious, cannot render it otherwise ; and tf
the object be. to disfifuise ite disagreeable taste, there is a great variety of other
i^ticles which could be employed quite as effectually for this purpose, and which
are flree from every objection, either on the score of morals or oi health.

7. External applications.

There are so many other things (as tincture of cantharides, spirits of tnrpeii
tine, mustard, &c. &c.) which can be used in this case, that not a word ineed
be wasted on the subject.

513] EIGHTH REPORT. — 1835. — APPENDIX. 59

8. The vulgar cpinion, or rather tokat toas the mdgar opinion a few years sinee, thai
the laboring man requires the stimuUuion of ardent spirits to enable him to pei^
form his arduous duties, and to drfend him against the vicissitudes of our change
abie climate^ is whoUy unfounded.

It would be easy to pro^e this from a philosophical consideration of this sab*-
ject, bat a still more infiillible ^de (ez^rience) puts it beyond all controyersy-.
since the formation of temperance societies it has been found by the ezperienca
of thousands^ ascertained in every possible way too, that those laboring men who
abstain entirely from the use of ardent spirits, can perform more labor, and are
in less danger from the Ticissitudes of our climate than those who use them;— <•
Within the last ten years, thousands of farms have been cultivated, hundreds of
sbips have been navigated, and every variety of manufacture carried on without
a drop of ardent spirits — and the unanimous and decided testimony of the indi-
viduals concerned has been, not only that money has been saved, and morals
promoted, but that lives have been preserved, and health benefited by this ab>
itemiouB course.

On a dispassionate review of this whole subject then, I think it will be ad-
mitted by every candid and reflecting medical man, tliat the use of ardent spirits
in the practice of medicine is never indispensable, and seldom, if ever, even
Qsefril ; and that in this latter case there is a sreat variety of remedies which
are amply sufficient as substitutes. If this be the case, what is the duty of ev-
ery physician in relation to this article, which has spread such misery, desol»-
tionf, and ruin throughout this country and the world ? Shall not physicians who
have always been pre-eminent in the labors of love and the exertions of philaiv
thropy — shall not toey do something for the promotion of the temperance cause
~that greatest and hest of the benevolent enterprises of this benevolent age .'

And m what way can this be done so effectually as bv discouraging the med-
ical use of ardent spirits ^ No one can doubt that sucn use has made many a
drunkard, and filled many a drunkard's grave : and shall we not then relinquish
Its employment, and resort to other articles equally efficacious, and at the same
time perfectly safe ? The apathy which has so long been felt by the medical
profession in relation to this important subject — thanks to the Temperance Soci-
eties and the reforming spirit of the aee — is beginning to disappear, and more
enlarged views of professional duty and professional responsibility are beginning
to be felt.

Already has the seal of reprobation been put on the medicinal use of ardent
spirits by numbers of the most eminent of the medical fiiculty ; and me.y we not
hope that this spirit will spread yet more widely and extensively until every
physician shall be brought under its influence, and shall unite with the patriot
and the Christian in the expulsion firom its last strong hold of this most destruc-
tive of human vices, and direst of human foes P"

« While we are convinced that there is no case in which ardent spirit ia
indispensable, and for which there is not an adequate substitute, we are equally
asBored, that, so long as there is an exception allowed, and men are permitted
to use it as a medicme, so long we shall have invalids and drinkers among us.
Only let our profession take a decided stand upon this point, and intemperance
will soon vanish from our country." (THOllAS SEWALL, M. D.

Pntf^gtor ef Jhutom^ mA Pkffiiologf, ColimbiaM CoOege, WuM»gUnt D, C.)

'* The reservation of the use of alcohol for cases of sickness appears to be of
little importance in a medical way, and if it leads to practical abuses such a
reservation should not be made." (JOHN C. WARREN, M. D.

Pr^99eor </ wf MtMSf mi Sktrgtrf, Baremri Umeermtf, BofU**)

I if

NINTH REPORT

OF THZ

AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETY.

In the previous Reports of the American Temperance Society,
the following truths are proved ; and in various ways, by a great
variety of facts and reasonings illustrated and enforced, viz.

1. Alcohol, the intoxicating ingredient in spirituous liquor, is
not the product of creation, or of any living process in nature.

2. It is the Iruit of vinous fermentation; and is generated by
a process, which takes place in certain vegetable substances after
they are dead.

3. It is not, as a beverage, needful or useful to men, in order
to the enjoyment of the bluest health, the greatest ability for
bodily or mental efibrt, and the longest continuance of life.

4. It is, to the human constitution, a poison; the use of
which, as a beverage, is alwavs hurtful.

5. It produces many, and aggravates most of the diseases to
which the human frame is liable.

6. It tends to render diseases hereditary, and thus to deteri-
orate the human race.

7. It weakens the understanding, stupifies the conscience,
and hardens the heart.

8. It often causes insanity, and produces a predisposition to
that disease in the of&pring o( those who use It.

9. It occasions the loss of a great amount of property.

10. It lessens, and often destroys, social enjoyment ; and
causes a great increase of domestic wretchedness.

11. It weakens the power of motives to do right, and in-
creases the power of molives to do wrong.

12. It causes most of the pauperism, and of the crimes, in
the community.

13. It powerflilly counteracts the efficacy of the gospel; and
of all means for the intellectual elevation, the moral purity, the
personal benefit, and the public usefulness of men.

14. It corrupts the public morals, and debases the public
mind.

15. It endangers the purity and permanence of free insti-*
tutions.

8 AMBBICAR TSKPXKAHCK BOCtXTT. [516

16. It shortens humao life.

17. It tends powerfully to lead men to dishcmor God ; and
forever to destroy tbeir own souk.

18. Abstinence from the use, as a beverage, of intoxicatiDg
liquor, is safe, and salutary.

19. This is proved by the experience of hundreds of thou-
sands, of various ages, con(fitioBS, and employments; who have
adopted the course of abstinence from the use of it.

20. Should all adopt, and perseveringly pursue, a similar
course, drunkenness and its evils would nniversally cease.

21. The gospel and all means for the promotion of the tem-
poral and eternal good of men, there is reason to believe, would
be crowned with greatly augmented success.

22. For men to continue to use it, as a. beverage, to make it
or furnish it to be so used by others, is morally wrong; and
ought, universally, to be discontinued.

23. Especially is it wrong, for professed Christians thus to
use, make, or furnish it ; and more especially still, for officers of
churches, and ministers of the gospel — as the better the charac-
ter, and the greater the influence of those who pursue a wrong
practice, the more extensively it will be imitated, the longer it
will be continued, and the greater the mischief which it will
be likely to do.

Of course it is especially important that all who belong to
either of these classes, and all who are, on any account, respecta-
ble or influential in society, should, without delay, renounce this
practice, themselves, and labor, in all suitable ways, to induce all
others to do the same.

But such is the blinding and hardening power of wrong prac-
tice, upon all who continue in it, that it is difficult in many cases
to convince professors of religion, and even officers of churches
and ministers of the gospel, while in this practice, and wishing
to continue it, that it is wrong ; or to persuade them to renounce
it. Yet, if suitable means are used, in a suitable manner, and
are attended, as we have reason to expect that they will be, by
the influence of the Holy Spirit, this is possible. And facts
Show that this is not only jx)ssible, but highly probable. The
great thing which is wanted, so far as means are concerned, is,
the universal diffiision of the knowledge of the facts, and espe-
cially that knowledge which results from experience.

In every case, so iar as known to the Committee, in which a
fair experiment has been made, the result has been an entire and
strong conviction, not only of the safety, but of the great utility
of abstinence from the use, as a beverage, of all intoxicatiog
liquor. And these cases are so numerous, of such great variety,
and so perfectly uniform and decisive^ that it would seem that

517] KIMf H BXPOBT.-^ISM. 9

they must, if known, produce universal eon?ict!on. Yet, through
want of the means of information, or of due attention to them,
because men hare a real or supposed raonied interest in the sub-
ject, or are, at times, more or less under the power of intoxiciaiting
liquor, many still continue to furnish it, or to use it. And are so
deluded by its effects, as to imagine that it does therp good.
By coming under the power of what Grod bath pronounced to be
" a mocker," they are so mocked as to " call evil good, and good
evil ; to put darkness for light, and light for darkness ; call bitter
things sweet, and sweet things bitter.*' This is the case with
many, otherwise respectable men ; with professors of the Christian
religion ; and, we regret to say, with some officers of Christian
churches, and, in some countries, even with ministers of the
gospel. They go sometimes from the pulpit, to the intoxicating
bowl ; and even "put the bottle to their neighbors' mouths ;"
and thus give the sanction of their influence and example to a
practice, which, so long as it is continued, will tend to perpetuate
intemperance, and spread its horrors over all future genera-
tions.

To convince such persons, and all who may be under the in-
fluence of this delusion, of their error, and lead them to forsake
it, the Committee of the American Temperance Society have
published the principles, reasonings and facts, contained in the
foregoing volume.* And that to these might be added the light
and influence of experience and eiMimple> they sent to a number
of distinguished individuals, the following circular, viz.^-^

" DcAR Sir,*— A number of distinguished literary men, and
others, noted for great and successful effi)rts, have made known
to the Committee of the American Temperance Society, that
they have received special benefit, by entire abstinence mm the
use, as a beveiage, of all intoxicating liquor. Wherever the ex-
periment has been fairly made, the result, among all classes of
persons, so far as is known to the Committee, has been uniformly
and highly salutary. And it is thought, that, shouM the re-
sults of the experience of a few hundred distinguished men in
the various departments of life, be collected, apd, in a perma*
nent form, be put into the hand of each youne man, especially
in all seminaries of learning throughout the United Stales, it
would be of unspeakable service to them, and to the world.
Many of theai imght be saved by it, from a promature gmve,
and the labors of others be xwioted much moie extensiirdy and
higUy useftd.

* Permaiient T«inpnace Doeomenti; » y^uiim of 430 pagM* ocmtuawf
the gre»t principles inyolved in the temperance reformationi and the reaaon-
mgB and ftcta, by wluah thoee pr inciplee an illoftrated and enforce.

4 AMBBICAM TEMP£RAWCE BOGOBTr. [518

Thie Committee have tbenefore determined to address a num-
ber of gentleroeq who are known, or are supposed, to have ab-
stained from the use, as a beverage, of intoxicating liquor, and
ascertain from them the results of their experience on this subject.
And if you, Sir, will be so kind as to give them, as soon as con-
venient, the results of your experience and observation with re-
gard to it, that they may be embodied with the results of the ex-
perience and observation of others, and put intoihe hands of the
youth of our country, and thus extepd their salutary influence to
all future ages, you will greatly oblige the Committee, and, they
believe, perform an important service to miBuikind.

Among other topics on which the Committee wish particularly
for information, are the following: viz.

1. What, in your case, has been the effect of abstinence
from the use of mtoxicating liquor, on health ?.

2. What has been the effect on the capability of making
great and continued efforts of body and mind ?

3. What has been the effect on the feelings, as to cheerful-
ness, uniformity, &c. 7 with any other particulars which may
occur to you as important to be known by the human family.

Hopmg to hear from you as soon as may be convenient, I am,
with great respect, yours, &c.

JUSTIN EDWARDS,

Cor. Sec^ Am. Temp. Soc.

P. S. If other persons of your acquiuntance have been in
the habit of abstaining from the use of the above mentioned
liquor, you will confer a favor by procuring the results of their
experience and observation, to be forwarded to the Com-
mittee*

In answer to the above, numerous communications have been
received, of which the following extracts are specimens.

1. From the Honorable Judge Brewster, of Riga, Monroe
County, New York-

" I have lived for nearly thirty years id this place— ^ave con-
verted a large quantity of wilderness into a fruitfiil field — ^have
employed a large number of men, and have, according to the
custom of the country, consumed a large amount of ardent
spirit' — and observed muph of the deleterious effects resulting
from it to my men. About twelve years ago, I banished the ar-
ticle from my business and premises, and totally refrained from
the use of it myself — and although I used it (what vras then
thought) temperately, I learned by experience, (after I had left
off its use) that it had had a most deleterious effect on me, as well
as on my men. I found my men would sustain cold and beat,

&19] NiiTTH vM^oaLr.-^lSSS. H

storm and fitligue, much better without this stimulus^ than with
it. We felicitated ourselves up6n this discovery. But ahout
two years ago, I coromclnced total abstinence from all intoxicat-
ing drinks ; and I am constrained to believe, that I have expe-
rienced a much more sensible improvement in my bodily and
mental powers than when the reform was bu£ half accomplished.
I am now nearly sixty-two years old ; and find, so far as I am capa-
ble of forming a judgment, that my bodily and mental powers are
better than they were twelve years ago— and that/ar the greater
share of imprclvement has been experienced since I left off the
moderate use of fermented drinks. My health is next to perfect
— which used to experience frequent interruptions. My mind
is clear and perceptive, without much fluctuation — ^my tempera-
ment, which is naturally ardent, has become calm and even.
And 1 hope eternally to bless God that he gave me wisdom and
grace to adopt total abstinence from (ill fermented liquors. And
here allow me, dear sir, to say, that, from experience and obser-
vation, I believe that the use of fermented drinks is one of the
most potent agents in paralyzing the life of active piety, and holy
obedience, in Christians. And should this total abstinence prin-
ciple obtain throughout the evangelical church, I believt^ her
march would be rapid in her way to her millennial glory. Hence
let every Christian and philanthropist do all they can to advance
this man-restoring object."

2. From Colonel Guy Bigelow, of Colchester, Conn.

" In reply to your communication of the 17th of November, I
would state that, till the age of twenty-nine years, I was in the
habit of using intoxicating liquor of almost every kind. For ten
years previous to that time, I was employed during the winter in
school leaching, and summer in laboring on a^ farm, with from
four to eight h^nds ; and, at times, in distilling cider, peaches, &c.
I had the art of rectifying and converting th^m mto old spirits,
French brandy, Holland gin, &;c. I made spice and lemon
brandy, and several kinds of cordials, for family use, and to treai
fi'iends ; and was in the daily habit of drinking them. I supposed
it necessary, especially in haying and harvest time, to enable me
to perform my part, which was equal to that of any one with
whom I labored. Although for several winters during that time,
I abstained wholly from the use of ardent spirit for three or four
months together. In 1814, 1 became satisfied that tjie use of it
was an injury, and came to the determination to abstain from it
entirely. 1 have drunk none since, to my knowledge, except
twice, by mistake ; both tinges it caused a violent head-ache for
several hours^ The effect of abstinence has been, less fatigue
linom labor, less effect from heat, especially in the night ; of course

^^'

6 AMEBICAN TEMPEBAKCE SQCIETT. [S20

I rested better, and was able to perfitrm more \k\xx, but was in
the habit of taking a glass of wine, occasionally.

" In 1824, 1 became satisfied that it was wrong for me to drink
wine. Since that time I have abstained from it, except at the
communion table. I refused to take a glass even at ray own
wedding, which took place in 1827. At the age of fifty, in
August last, I came to the conclusion, that it was expedient to
abstain firom the use of cider. 1 had apples sufficient for twenty-five
or thirty barreb ; but I let the cattle and hogs take them, except
enough for two barrels, which was boiled down fen: apple-sauce.
Since 1824, I have continued to labor summer and winter, and
am satisfied that, in my case, abstinence from all intoodcating
drinky is beneficial to health. I am less afiected by heat and
cold — ^have more uniformity of feeling, and more cheerfulness o
mind."

3. From Mr. Joseph C. Hammond, a respectable agricul-
turalist, of the above mentioned place.

'^ For more than four years past, I have abstained wholly from
the use (as a beverage) of intoxicating drink of every name — ^and
can most cordially say, that, at no former period, have I had such
perfect health, been able to perform the same amount of labor
with so little fatigue ; and as a natural consequence, I have bad
more cheerfulness, contentment, and happiness."

4. From Samuel H» Fox, Esq., a teacher of youth in the
same place.

'^ When in the occasional habit of using intoxicating liquor^, I
was subject much to the head-ache, want of regular appetite, and
of course a general disorganization of the digestive organs. I
have abstained from ardent spirit about eight years — and from
fermented liquors, of all kinds, about three. And the conse-
quences are, a relief from the above difficulties ; and I now enjoy
confirmed and good health. I am enabled to perform much more
labor with less fatigue, than when intoxicating liquors were used
as an auxiliary. I have a much better state of feeling, am less
liable to irritation, and have more cheerfulness of mind.'*

5. From the Honorable Judge Lioomis, of Montpelier,
Vermont.

** Your letter of inquiry, of November last, was received. I
cheerfully answer, that from my youth until over forty-five years
of age, I was in the habit of drinking intoxicating liquor.
Through the mercy of God, I was preserved in the class called
* moderate drinkers,* and supposed, at times at least, that it was
beneficial to me.

6S1] NINTH R£POBT. — 1836. 7

While in tbe use of it, I was frequently troubled with head-
ache, especially in the morning.

For eight or ten years past, I have wholly abstained from the
use of intoxicating liquors ; I find dispensing with the use of theip
has been decidedly beneficial ; and that 1 was entirely wrong in
supposing they did me any good.

The benefits most perceptible to myself, are, almost entire re-
lief from^head-ache ; better rest; more refreshing sleep; greater
peace and tranquility of mind ; more distinctness and satisfactioa
in reflection and meditation.

In addition, I have a consciousness of having seen, and
abandoned, a very dangerous and sinful practice."

6. From the Rev. Henry White, pastor of Allen street
Church, New York.

^* In answer to the Inquiries of your circular^ I can say that I
have received much advantage every way by a perfect adher-
ance to the principle of total abstinence from all intoxicating
liquor. This I have done for several years past — and I have no
doubt but that in my dispeptic condition, which has been of long
standing, the practice is indispensable to a moderate degree of
health ; to any important and protracted mental efforts ; and to
almost the lowest measure of cheerfulness and uniformity of feel-
ing. From the experience that I had, before rigidly adopting
the principle of total abstinence, from the very rare use of wine
and Deer, I am convinced they were a bane to me. I do not
remember ever having used either, without suffering somewhat in
bodily health, and I cannot apply my mind profitably, after taking
even a very small quantity. It is to be presumed that in a per-
son of feeble digestive powers and of nervous debility, the effects
of udng a small quantity of intoxicating hquor are much greater
and more deleterious than in a healthy constitution. But from
extreme cases the tendencies of things may perhaps best be dis-
covered."

7. From Joseph Speed, M. D., of Caroline, Tompkins
County, New York.

"I am a physician, and have been no inattentive observer of
the effects of intoxicating, and other unnatural substances, on the
human system, in producing disease and death.

Where mal-formation does not exist, health is the natural state
of man ; and disease is unnatural, and brought on us, usually,
by our own imprudences.

The usual imprudences are improper food and drink, and a
deficiency of exercise.

8 AHERlCJUr TfiKPS&AKCS SOCIETY. (922

There b nothing in the formation of man, there is nothbg io
his experience,, that shows that nature designed be should use,.p
health, any stimulating substance of any description, that does
not possess nourishment. On the contrary, every thing of the
kind is injurious to health.

Tlie only proper drink for man, in health, is water. No ad-
dition to it can make it more healthy ; no stimulating materials
can be added to it, without an injury to the health.

I am now far advanced in my sixty-third year. In early life
I lived as many thoughtless young men do, to eat, driilk, and be
merry. Few restraints we^e imposed on my appetite by myself,
or by those who had the care of me, until I attended a course of
medical lectures, delivered by Doctor Rush, in 1794. This
great and good man's memory must he dear to every one who
Ivas attended his lectures. The earnestness and solemnity with
which he warned us against the evils of spirit, I can never forget ;
and from that time, I resolved to die a sober man. It is remark-
able. Sir, how little was said against the use of intoxicating drinks
in those days. 1 do not recollect that either of the other Pro-
fessors in the College, said a word on the subject ; and so far as I
can remember, it was rare for a parent to admonish his child
against this deadly evil — nay, he often sweetened it, to make it
more palatable to his taste.

Having determined for myself, to die a sober man, I used in-
toxicating drinks of every kind moderately, as it was called ; and
in consequence of it, I probably had sickness more moderately,
than I otherwise should have had. Knowing, from long obser-
vation, the dreadful evils of intemperance, when our temperance
reformation began, I early and joyfully joined a temperance so-
ciety, and abstained entirely from the use of distilled spirits. It
was not long before I was convinced of the propriety of adopt-
ing the same course with wine, and beer, cider, and all ferment-
ed drinks. It was pleasing to feel, how, step by step, I improv-
ed in health, as I made each successive sacrifice. Encoura^fed
by these beginnings, and knowing that there were other things
injurious! to heahh, which I was practising, I determined to take
a new start in the path of reformation, and successively gave up
the use of strong high-seasoned food of every description — my
tobacco, yes, my tobacco, the idol of my life, which I had used
for nearly fifty years, and without which life seemed a burden :
yes ; that dear, soothing comforter of my life— that vile, filthy,
health-destroying weed, had to go; and, not very long after,
my tea, and my coffee. Yes, my much loved coffee, had to
go, too ; but much as I loved it, our separation produced a pang,
but trifling compared to the loss of my dear, {wominabh, Jilihy
tobacco.

523] NINTH BEPOBT.— 1836. 9

I know, my dear Sir, that some will say^ * Yqu poor, deluded
fanatic ; you }iave deprived yourself of all the comforts of life,
and what have you ^vorth living for?' I have healthy such health
as men never enjoy who do not lead a uniformly temperate life.
For years I have scarcely known what an ache or a pain is ;
and for years 1 liave not had a cold, worth calling a cold.
My appetite is always good. 1 have a great pleasure in eating
whatever is suitable for man to eat, and I have lost all desire
for any thing, but the plain lumrishing food on which I live.
I feel as if I had gone back many years of my life, and have
the ability and disposition to perform much more labor than I
had seven years ago. Here is what \ have, that is worth living
for ; and I will ask those inquirers, in turn, what do they enjoy
that is more worth living for ? Do they eat the luxuries, and fat
things of the eartli ; and drink the fruit of the vine in its fer-
mented and joy -inspiring state? 1 use my plain food, and plain
water, with as much pleasure and grati6cation as they ; for I have
tried both, and speak from experience, and know that their grat-
ifications are often followed by a bitter pang, and that mine are
not. Indeed, so far am I from suffering from my mode of living,
that it has relieved me entirely from the common sufferings of life,
to which improper living exposes us. I used to suffer much from
head-ache, sick stomach, want of appetite, irregularity of the
bowels, restless nights, rheumatic .pain, melancholy feelings, and
a most distressing affection of the heart — a disease of which
organ has become one of the most powerful, and alarming dis-
eases of our land ; and brought on, perhaps, nine times out of
ten, by a deficiency of exercise, and the use of stimulating food
and stimulating drink. Q£ all these I have got cured, by aban-
doning stimulants and improper food.

You ask me, Sir, respecting the experience of others on this
subject. To tell you all the good effects I have known, would
need a volume, and I should not know where to begin. I will,
however, state one case. My neighbor, for whom I had often
prescribed for a bead-ache, which had seriously injured his health,
and which he had had, with only one exception, once a month,
for more than forty years, applied to me, two. or three years ago,
to try again and do something for him ; for he suffered excessive*
ly ; and his looks showed it. In fact his health was seriously de-
dinbg. His attacks lasted him a day or two, and he always had
to sit up one whole night, in his chair — so severe was the pain,
at every attack.

I knew he was fond of rich food, loved coffee diearly, and his
tobacco still more, and used them very freely. I told him, that
I had trifled with him long enough, I would give him no more
madicine, he must cure himself^ and that he must abandon. Ms

10 AMCRICAN TKHPEBANeS SOfCIETT. [S24

coflfee, his tobacco, and all high seasoned food, and live upon
milk and light vegetable diet, and eat meat sparingly, but once a
day. He tried to reason me out of it, as he said he had the
head-ache before he used tobacco, or coSee. I told him, it mat-
tered not ; his situation was serious, and he must follow my ad-
vice. He did so ; left oflf all, and for six months had but one at-
tack of head-ache, and that produced by a day's ride on a
hard trotting horse, to which he had not been used. In fact he
became a new man. He has since returned slightly to his old
living, and tells me he has slight returns of head-aclie.

Here, Sir, is one case, among thousands, of the injurious ef-
fects of stimulants, and here is the simple cure. It matters not
whether the stimulants be, distilled spirit, or fermented liquors ;
they all, without exception, endanger the health of man, produce
diseases of the most fatal kind, and destroy more lives than
sword, pestilence, and famine. And, now. Oh my country, arise
in your might, and cast away those destructive things from your
borders. Ministers of the holy gospel, cease not, day nor night,
to bear your testimony against them. You know not what a
powerful influence some of you exert in favor of alcohol: banbh
it) I beseech you, from all your drinks. You acknowledge that
temperance societies prepare the minds of men for our holy re-
ligion. Let me implore you to throw no stumbling block in
their way. Young men of my country, I am old, and you are
young. To you are committed the destinies c^ our country.
As you value its freedom and happiness, fly to its rescue.
We have brought the ark of temperance in sight of the prom-
ised land, and we will rely on your patriotism, your viilue, and
heroism, to conduct it thither."

8. From Gerrit Smith, Elsq., of Peterboro', New Yoik*

" I thank you for addressing to me a copy of your circular —
but, as my use of intoxrcating liquor, even before the temperance
reformation began, was very limited, my experience furnishes
little of the information you desire. I have, with very slight
interru))tions, enjoyed good health through life — and, in respect
to ' cheerfulness' and * uniformity,' few men can sav more for
their feelings than I can for mine. My only drink K>r the last
tliree years has been cold water ; with the rare exception of a
tumbler of milk. Wine was banished from my house, eight
years ago.'*

9. From Geoi^ge P. Frost, Esq , of Ithaca, New Yofk.

*' In answer to the inquiries made in your circulari which I
have just received : 1st. * What, in your case, has been the eflect
of abstinence from the use of btoxkuttiDg liquofi oo health?*

fia$] xijiiTa j»Pi>»T.— '1836. 11

I ansver; until six yeais ago last January, I indidged occasion-
ally in the use of cider and pearlashes, and beer and wine, the
first of wbid) in particular was irequently recommended and
taken by une to cure the jaundice and sick head-ache, to which I
was very subject— ^he second was recommended, and also occa-
sionally taken, as a very healthy dribk calculated to remove a
watery and sour stomach, with which I was much afflicted ; often
for years throwing off from my stomach in considerable quanti-
ties whatever of food or drink was taken therein ; and was told
by my physician that 1 was to be very short lived, unless I was
careful to eat and drink such things only as would remain on my
stomach. But I sought such articles of food and drink in
vain — ^the third and last was recommended and taken to
strengthen and cheer my drowsy, weak, and aching frame.
But after abstaining entirely from all these, (and for more than
three years prevbus I had abstained from the use of all distilled
spirits) my health gradually improved until July of the same
year, when I threw away my tobacco, and since that time, I have
not chewed, snuffed, nor smoked the filthy weed. From this
lime, ray health daily and permanently improved, and is now
perfectly good. When I first abstained from all the above, my
weight was 123 pounds, and now it is 153 pounds, and my
stomach no more emits from it the food and natural drink taken
therein, but digests it in the most natural and pleasant manner ;
and my jaundice and sick head-ache have left me, and taken up
their abode where they can find more natural food to feed on,
than plain diet and cold water.

As to your second inquiry, * What has been the effect on the
capability of making great and continued efforts of body and
mind?' you may judge when 1 inform you of some of my do-
ings, (though they are all very small), viz: my business by
which 1 obtain my living for myself, and wife, and numerous
family of children, is the manufacturing of saddles, harnesses,
and trunks. The purchasing and cutting out all the stock, and
selling the same when manufactured, (as well as making ma..jy
articles) I do altogether myself; and, during the past year, 1 have
discharged the duties of secretary of the hhaca Temperance So-
ciety, and secretary of the Tompkins County Temperance So-
ciety ; also distributing agent for the county of Tompkins, and
have received and distributed to all the towns in the county,
monthly, 5,300 Temperance Recorders, and all the other tem-

Serance papers and almanacs which have been sent from the
[ew-York State Society, (and they are far from being few), and
in the discharge of these duties have written about five hundred
letters ; have acted as secretary for the Tompkins County Sab-
bath School Union, and secretary of a fire company, in order to

12 AXEBiCAK TmnnuRCS socirrr. [596

escape assault and battery jury siuts, to settle mm qoaneb ; have
superintended a Sabbath school every Sabbath from Api3 to
November, three nules from our village, which I have always
visited on foot ; have acted as treasurer of the Ithaca Educatioii
Society ; have di^harged the duties of Assessor of the Town of
Ithaca, in discharge of which I have visited every tenement and
piece of taxable property in a district of our town inclucfing a
population of 4,000 inhabitants ; discharged the duties of one of
the trustees of the Corporation of the Village of Ithaca; and one
of the street committee and superintendent of bridge building,
&c. fee. ; and also have discharged the duties of tract dbtributor
in a district which I ascertained to contain a population of one
hundred and forty-seven souls, in which were fifty-six professors
of religion, and after I obtained thirty signatures to the total ab-
stinence pledge, there were eighty-five members of temperance
societies, eleven who drank alcohol, thirty-four children between
the age of five and sixteen years, twenty-six of whom attend
Sabbath school. I have also performed nearly all the labor of a
gardener, in cultivating and raising, or growing more than douUe
the vegetables of every kind required for my family's use.
Although all the above are small things, you will perceive that
my lebure moments have been few and far between.

As to your third inquiry, * What has been the effect on the
feelings as to cheerfulness, uniformity, fee.,' I can only say that
my feelings are quite uniform and cheerful, compared to what
they formerly were ; and quite free from hypochondria or the
apprehension of coming to poverty, (for I ever was poor) as is
the case with some of my rich neighbors."

10. From William Ladd, Esq., of Minot, Maine, Secretary
of the American Peace Society.

** I have discontinued the use of ardent spirits for about five
or six years, and the use of all intoxicating drinks for about two
years and a half. My health has been gradually improving evjer
since, and is now perfectly good ; but I cannot say what effect
the abstinence from intoxicating liquors may have had on it
Tlie * eflfect on the capability of making great and continued
efforts of body and mind,' has been decidedly favorable. I can
do nearly double the mental labor which I could formerly do.
I have always been troubled with a superabundant flow of
spirits. I have been able of late, in some measure, to subdue
them. On the whole, my enjoyments, both mental and bodily,
are much increased by abstinence from all that can intoxH
cate."

SSt] mNTH ]IBBOBT.^-lSa& 13

11. From Amasa Walker, Esq., mercbaDti of Boston, Mass.

^'In reply to yours of the 15th instant, I would state, that
it IS now several years since I have entirely abandoned the use
of all kinds of alcoholic drinks. The only use I ever made of
them was such as I supposed my health rendered necessary.
Being of a feeble constitution, and afflicted with dyspepsia, I
believed it essential that I should make use of spirits on particu-
lar occasions ; as, when travelling and exposed to the inclemency
of the weather, or uncommon hardships and fatigues. But since
I have adopted the principle of total abstinence, I find I can
perform the longest joumies, by night and day, on land and
water, in heat and cold, arid yet not suffer any inconvenience
from the want of stimulating drinks. So far from it, that I
know my general health is improved by abstinence, and that I
can make greater efforts of body and mind than formerly.

I am fully satisfied, fit)m my own experience, that all kinds
of intoxicating drinks irritate the organs of digestion, impair the
vital powers, and tend inevitably to indispose the mind for calm,
vigorous, and long continued action, as well as to destroy its
cheerfulness and equanimity.

Tobacco, which I once used habitually, I am now satisfied was
highly injurious, and subtracted greatly from my enjoyment of
life, and from my powers of physical and mental action ; and
hence, I would most earnestly entreat all, especially young men,
to avoid entirely the use, in any form whatever, not only of
all kinds of intoxicating drinks, but also of all narcotic sub-
stances."

1 2. From the Rev. Abraham Wheeler, of Meredith, New
Hampshire.

" Having received your circular, I cheerfully make the follow-
ing statement respecting the temperance system.

I now drink neither ardent spirit, nor any other intoxicating
beverage — not wine, cider, or beer. The effect is, I am uni-
formly well and cheerfur. I enjoy more, even in eating and
drinking, than formerly; am apparently younger, and more
vigorous, than I was ten years ago; and now, at the age of
fifty-six, am about to go into the West, as a young man, to en-
gage in new toils and labors."

13. From the Rev. Henry C. Wright, late Agent of the
American Sunday School Union; and Children's preacher in
Boston.

'^ 1. The efi^t of abstinence on health,
I once kept in my house various kinds of intoxicating drinks—
especially wme, cider and brandy ; and used them occasbnaUy"^

14 IMKBICAN TBKPEBAErCB SOCIETY. [528

wine and-dder often, generally on the Sabbath after preaching.
I also freely used tobacco, smoking it. What was the effect on
my physical nature ? I had a constant sensation of uneasiness at
the itomach ; a constant burning, which used to rise into my
throat; what is commonly called the heart-hum,! had contin-
ually. I was also visited, by turns, with a head-ache that en-
tirely unfitted n\e ipr business. I had frequent turns of diarrhea.
I was afflicted with a perpetual thirst. My sleep generally dis-
turbed and unrefreshing. My food seldom relished, and never
without powerful spices, mustard, pepper, &.c. At the age of
thirty, I used to think that I was getting into a poor way, and
should soon be broken down as to health. I used to wonder
what could be the cause of my pains and troubles. Such I now
know was the efiect of stimulating drinks and substances on my
bodily system.

For seven or eight years I have used for beverage pure cold
tracer, and nothing else; nor. have I used any tobacco in any
form. I have used nothing but cold water at my meals, morn-
ing, noon, or evening ; or at any other time. My uneasiness at
the stomach, the heart-burning, and the tendency to vomit, are
gone. I have had nothing of them for five or six years. My
head never aches, except it is produced by studying late at
night and want of sleep. I relish my food, always having a
good appetite. As to my physical system, I have not a tenth
part so many pains and disorders as I had formerly, and 1 know
It is owin^ to my having abandoned the use of all heating and
exciting orinks, and of tobacco.

2. As to the effect on my capability of making great and
continued efforts of body and mind ?

During the five last years of my life, I have made greater ef-
forts of body and mind than I ever made before. Two of these
five years, I was an Agent of the American Sabbath School
Union — in which I travelled about five thousand miles — preach-
ing and lecturing, upon an average, about once a day during the
whole ; time— frequently riding in an open gig twenty-five and
often thirty miles, after preaching three times in one day. I
have frequently travelled all day, in my open gig, in rain and
snow storms, under burning suns, and in fireezing cold. I never
made so much mental effort, nor so great. I have written more
in the last five years than in any other equal portion of my life.
I can truly say that since I have got my system thoroughly into
a cold water habit, I know not what fatigue is^ Wheceas, ten
years ago, I used to get exhausted easily by mental and bodily
^S^rts. Eight years ago, it would have tired me more to
speak in public half an hour^ than it would now to speak an
hour.

[529 NINTH RErOBT.-^1836. 16

3*^ Effects on the cheer&Iness and unifermity of my feel-
inji;s.

Here I could write a volume. I solemnly believe that
nineteen-twentieths of the fault-findings, the unkindpesses,
the bickerings, the strifes and contentions of domestic and
social life, should be charged directly to narcotic, and in-
toxicating drinks, and substances. The use of tobacco in any
form, of cider, beer, wine or any other intoxicating drink, is
enough to destroy the most cheerful and amiable temper that
God ever made. I do not claim to have received such a temper
from my Maker, but such as I did receive, has in days past been
awfully perverted by stimulants of various kinds. I used to be
subject to fits of deep depression, and great excitement — as I
supposed owing to a peculiar natural temperament. My family
used to call me nervous, when on the high pressure and low
pressure. The world often seemed to be clothed in darkness —
no hope, no friends ; could do nothing ; make no mental or bodily
efforts ; cared not to see any one, or to speak to any one. Them,
suddenly an irrepressible feeling of joy, that would burst over all
bounds. Thus I had my ups and downs — no calmness in my
joys, no uniformity in my social and domestic feelings and habits.
I was often visited with most frightful, horrid, and unimaginable
dreams. My whole intellectual and moral nature was utterly
disordered. ^ I used to wonder, and so did my fiunily, what could
be the matter with me. I now know what was the trouble. It
was the occasional use of stimulating drinks, combined with the
habitual use of that most fihhy and disgusting of all filthy and
disgusting things, tobacco. I lived in a cloud of nauseating, suf-
focating tobacco-smoke. May God forgive me. My wond^ is,
that my family, or my people, over whom I was placed as a
minister of Ghrist, could endure me. My head was deranged,
my heart was deranged, and my body was deranged, and I
thought my family and all the worid around me, was deranged
likewise.

Now, thanks be to God, I am fi-ee. Ever «nce I have got
my system into a cold water habit, I feel like a new man. I
enjoy a uniform calmness and cheerfulness, and contentment in
my heart, to which the drinker of stimulating liquors, and those
who use tobacco, must ever be strangers. I feel that my mind
is now in a state to enjoy intercourse with men and with God. I
know that intoxicating and exciting drinks and substances would
entirely disarrange that state, and unfit me to enjoy such inter-
course. This world uniformly looks cheerful, and' death and
eternity looks pleasant and desurable. I can but give thanks to
God fat leading me back to simple cold water as my only beva:-
age« I think I shall never be fix)led and mocked again by dco-

16 jUfCBiCAM TSKnemurcs tocnrr. {590

liol'tn 107 fcrm, nor bjr tolnooo. I am fiee, and I think I would
rather die than ever again become the slave of these fell de-
atfoyen.

I would add — 4ny fiunilj, having all united with me in the
use of oold water, unite with me in attesting the truth of thb
atatement. Our experience enables us to say much more in
praise of cold water. Be assured we have reason to bless God,
lor cold water"

14. From John Ball, Esq^ merchant, of Boston, Mass.

, *^ About six years since, I gave up the use of ardent spirit ;
about three years since, I relinquished the use of wine and beer ;
and about a year since, I ceased using cider, coffee, and tea. My
usual drink bebg, in winter, warm water and milk, and in sum-
mer, cold water alone— -so that, to sum up all, I neither use ardent
spirits, wine, cider, or any other intoxicatbg drink. I neither
smoke, chew, or snuff toUuHX).

I have traveled much the past winter, which has been re-
markable lor intense cold, and have some days journeyed when
the th^mometer was 8, 12, 14, 18, 20, 22, and once 25 de-
grees below zero, and drank water only; and although exposed
early and late to the intensity of cold, as above named, I was
not fix>zen, neither did I take cold ; while some others with whom
I occasionally traveled, would drink at the taverns tlieir sling,
bitters, &c. &c., I was comfortable, and, did not suffer as-much
as they did ; and am, under the blessing of God, in the enjoy-
ment of perfect health, never knowing what it is (since I ab-
stained from the use of every thing of an intoxicating and ex-
citing nature) to be unwell fi>r five mmutes at a time.

Havbg, sir, experienced such bene6cial results, as above
mentioned, (and my case, I presume, is by no means singular),
I would only say to others, try this same course as an experiment;
and the effect.upon the system will be so manifest, and so good,
that no one will abandon it."

15. From Carter Branton, Esq., of Brandon, Virginia.

** Perhaps the experience or observation of a person, in such
a retired and humble sphere of life, as the one I occupy, will be
considered of small value, and have but little weight, as an ex-
ample to others ; it is, therefore, with much diffidence, I am in-
duced to giv$ It you, as an inconsiderable aid in the noble efforts
you are now essaying, in behalf of a reformation, that is vitally

CQunected with all that is dear and valuable with.the existence
of man*

531] NINTH BEPORTr-^1836. 17

TBI ^thin eight or nine years past, when I had lived to be
more than thirty years of age, my daily habit was to use ardent
spirit. Jt was tny daily practice to drink from two to four glasses
of julep, and toddy, and sometimes * spirit and water.' This was
considered a temperate and moderate use of the article. When
in the habit of thus using it, to be surej the quantity was fre-
quently varied. I do not think I ever passed a moment, in
which I was not excited by the spirit used, without head-ache,
drowsiness, heaviness, qualmishness at the stomach, and an apa-
thy to all kinds of business or exertion. My feelings were most
peculiarly uncomfortable, perfectly indescribable, in the morning,
till the system could be' roused and excited. At that time, it
was my conviction, that such a state of health was constitutional,
or inseparably connected with the climate in which I lived. My
health had become precarious; I thought, and so did my physi-
cian, that my constitution was much impaired, and becoming
more and more feeble.

At, or about the period alluded to, I abandoned, altogether,
the use of ardent spirit; solely, however, with the view of ascer-
taining the effects of abstinence from it, on my general health.
Then, if I had heard of, I had not reflected at all, on the great
moral change, that was believed by many to depend on the dis-
use of intoxicating liquors. Twelve months after I had lived
without using ardent spirit, for the purpose of regaining health,
I became convinced, that abstinence was a principle intimately
blended with the best interests of mankind on earth, and on
which his felicity beyond the grave might very much depend.

With the abandonment of the use of ardent spirit, my health
became better, and continued to improve — ^and I can, most
conscientiously assert, from a strict observation of the two pe-
riods, that there is no labor, effort, exercise, or occupation of
the intellect or body, that 1 cannot perform and undergo, bet-
ter, since the use of ardent spirit has been forsaken, than prior
to that period — ^both my mental and physical capacity, possess
an elasticity, and an untiring assiduity, in wbatever they may
be occupied, that I am satisfied they did not when it was my
habit to use intoxicating liquors. If any one can be a judge
of their disposition, I feel certain that mine has paitaken of
its foil share, with the rest of m^ system, of the benefits of
absrinence — for, of all the properties of the heart, none suffers
more, from this foe to the human race, than the disposition,
to be at peace with one's self and all the world. I have per-
sonally witnessed many irascible tempers, rendered placid, and
meek, and cheerful, and robbed of their acerbity, by abstinence
from intoxicating liquors.

18 AiiBSiMir TBMpnukHCS socnrr. [S32

No fifiand to happiness, tod tbe human nee, ean wfcfabold Irani
yoO| their best wishes, in your labon lor this enteiprise, the
greatest and most knportaot, that is oomiecled with the earthly
destinies of man. That ev&y bebg of the present genoratkxiy
couU hecooie solgecls of the reforniation, is greatly to be de-
nred and prayed fat — but the mtoest and sobcitudey of every
friend to the cause, cannot be otherwise than intense, in behalf
of the rinng nce-rwho will, in a few years, occupy the places
of their fiuhers, and be the only actors in the great drama of
life— that they should proscribe, undentandingly, the use of in-
toxicating drinks — that they should eariy be impressed with the
principles, and become accustomed to the habits of abstinence ;
IS an event that would, beyond almost any other, promote not
only their own benefit, but the highest good of the world."

16. From the Rev. Edward Hitchcock, Professor of Chem-
istry, and Natural History, in Amherst College, Mass.

'^ In order that you may rightly understand my case, I ought
to state, that, in consequence of an ignorant disregard of the laws
of hygiene, more than twenty-five years ago my health began to
be seriously afiTected with dyspeptic complaints, which became
more and more aggravated for fifteen years ; chiefly in conse-
quence of tbe absurd prescriptions that I followed. Among
others, so far from being directed to abstain from all alcoholic
drinks, brandy was recommended with dinner,, and wine after
preaching on the Sabbath. From the brandy 1 perceived no
good eflfect, and therefore soon abandoned it : and the wine was
so decidedly and immediately injurious, that I used it a still
shorter time. One recommendation, however, that was given
me fifteen or twenty years ago, was of real service ; viz. to give
up the use of tea and cotke in the morning. For a few months
after doing it, an almost daily head-ache afflicted me. Soon,
however, head-ache and I parted company ; and we have hardly
met since, except of late, in consequence of a severe blow on the
head. Even now we are on poor . terms ; and it threatens to
leave me, if I will not nourish it with some drink more stimulat-
ing than water. I continued in the use of weak tea at night for
several years longer; but at length, I gave up every alcoholic
and narcotic drink, and do not recollect that I have tasted of
them for the last five or six years, except at the communion
table. In these changes, the nearer I came to the use of water
alone for drink, the greater I found to be the advantage, both to
health and happiness. The disuse of snufif, also, I found to be
decidedly beneficial. Ten years ago, my system had become so
much shattered by long abuse, that I was obliged to leave the
ministry. But by simplicity in living, with water only for drink^

S33] NINTH BSPORT. — 1836. 19

aod fiiithfiil attention to exercise, I was ere long enabled to re-
sume intellectual labor. And since that tiinei 1 have generally
been able to accomplish far more, both physically and intellect-
ually, than at any previous period. However small my labors
may seem to those who possess more vigorous constitutions, and
more industrious habits, I have great ^ason to be thankful for
the power to perform them : for they seem to ine to be so
much added to my existence, as the rich fruits of an imper-
fect conformity to the rules of temperance : since my constitu-
tion, ten years ago, appeared to be so nearly worn out that it
seemed scarcely possible it should ever recover from the pros-
tration under which it labored. Precisely how much of these
good efiects of attention to temperance and exercise, 1 am to
impute to disuse of alcoholic and stimulating drinks, I am unable
to say. Yet I am quite sure, that had I continued to use such
drinks, all the other means that I have employed would have
been wholly inefiectuat. The particular benefits, that, in my
case, I think can, in a greater or less degree, be traced to the
use of water only, as a drink, are the following :

1. Freedom from head-aches.

2. Relief from nervous irritation.

3. Freedom from unnatural thirst ; so that now I never
drink more than nature demands ; and when I do drink it is
with great j^elish.

4. Greater equanimity and clearness of mind ; so that I
can pursue study in moderation a much longer time without the
necessity of seasons of relaxation : I mean long seasons of re-
laxation. I should doubt whether, for a single day, I can study
more than when under the influence of stimulants, except so Sai
as improved health operates favorably. But I am not apt under
the aqueous regimen to overwork the mind one day, so as to un-
fit it for exertion the next : and in the long run, 1 doubt not but
the power of making intellectual efforts is much increased. And
the same is true of bodily exertion.

5. I can judge better when nature demands repose. And
I find that in ordinary cases the system chooses for this pur-
pose the early part of the night.

6. More uniformity and buoyancy of the animal spirit. A
cheerful state of mind is the consequence, and a capacity to en-
joy for a much longer time^ and with few drawbacks, the pleasures
of social intercourse. .

7. The power of detefTnining mth greater accuracy the
nature of the religious emotions. So IcHig as the brain is under
the influence of unnatural stimulus, or inactive firom its absence,
the mind cannot well determine its real state on this important
su bject.

90 AMEaiCAN TBHPKIUNCS SOCIETT. [534

A few years ago I was caUed to make a g^l<^ical survey of
the State of Massachusetts, which required about five thousand
miles of travel, in an open wagon, at a rate not greater than
from twenty to thirty miles per day ; and very severe bodily
exertion, in climbing mountains, and in breaking, trimming, and
transporting moi*e than five thousand specimens of rocks and
minerals. I was usually employed from sunrise till ten o'clock
at night, with little interruption ; and I think it was the severest
protracted labor that I ever underwent. Yet, during all my
wanderings, I drank not one drop of alcohol, nor indeed any
kind of stimulating drink, except perhaps from twelve to twenty
cups of weak lea. And I found myself more capable of exer-
tion and fatigue than in former years, when I was in the occa-
sional use of stimulating drinks.

In my early days I labored upon a &rm and made use of al-
coholic drinks, according to general usage. One of my fellow-
laborers, however, havbg been enticed to drink when only six
years old, until he was thoroughly intoxicated, could never after-
wards be persuaded to take another drop of the poison : and
although of less size than myself, I always found him more
than a match for me in mowing, reaping, &Cj, and always bless-
ed with more vigorous health. Up to this day he has adhered
to his resolution not to taste of alcohol ; (even cider he drinks,
only when, it is new,) and the consequence is, that his health
has been always good ; he has prospered in his worldly busi-
ness, and has a large family of children, who, I understand, are
ready, as soon as old enough to understand the subject, to fall
into the ranks of temperance with their father ; and to fight its
battles. It is now forty years since he first enlisted. If any de-
sire to have this statement corroborated, let them call on Mr.
Horatio Hoyt, of Deerfield, and they can learn the whole truth :
for he is the individual to whom I have referred.

In conclusion, I cannot but express the conviction, that
one reason why many temperate men derive but little ap-
parent benefit from the use of water as a drink, and continue
to employ it rather from a sense of duty than from choice,
is because they still continue in the habitual or occasional use
of some mild stimulant mixed with it, either alcoholic or nar-
cotic: and thus by keeping up an appetite for stimulants, they
prevent the system fi'om getting into that natural state in
which it prefers water to every other beverage, and finds that
amply sufficient for recruiting all its energies. At least, this
view of the subject corresponds with my experience, and I bd-
Keve also with the laws of physiology."

535] NINTH lUBPOBT. — 1836« 21

17. From the Rev. John Pierce, D. D., of Brookline, Mass.

''For more tlian a quarter of a century, I have conscientiously
abstained from distilled liquors. In the mean time, I have occa-
sionally taken a little wine, when in company, and one tumbler
of cider at dinner.

At length, thinking this unnecessary, having before me the
example of a beloved fathei", who abjured the uspe of every intox-
icating beverage, after he was eighty, and lived with both bodily
and mental faculties almost wholly unimpaired, till past the age
of ninety-one ; and continually hearing, that the habitual drinkers
of ardent spirits exclaim, * Give us your wine, and we will drink
no more rum,' I resolved to abstain from the use of every thing
which can intoxicate.

This, practice I have continued for more than two years ; and
the experiment has more than answered my most sanguine ex-
pectations.

1. The result is, that my health has been firm and uninter-
rupted. I have not had even a common cold.

2. As to corporeal exertions, though in my sixty-tlJrd year,
I walk ten miles in an afternoon, at the rate of four miles an
hour, without fatigue, and, what is better, without thirst.

Indeed, since I have abjured cider, I often dine without drink-
ing even water, Especially when I have soup or broth.

As to mental eferts, I never feel so well prepared for close
application, as immediately after I have walked ten miles without
drink.

3. Uniforni health of body is almost necessarily accompanied
with cheerfulness of mind. The saddest interruption I find to
the latter, is that, in the use of drinks, I cannot induce more to
^ be as I amJ

That Brookline is not behind the age, in the cause of
temperance, may appear from the following fact, tliat, whereas,
within ten years, there have been five places in the town, where
spirituous liquors were vended, there is not now, to my knowl-
edge, any sold within its precincts.

That you may live to witness a similar result, in every part of
our land, is the sincere prayer of your brother in the temperance
reformation."

18. From Elisha Taylor, Esq., of Schenectady, New York.

'^ When I was five or six years old, I was taken to my father's
''ra«e," by an older brother, and drank spirit until I became so
drunk as to be nearly twenty-four houi-s without knowing any
thiitg. The whole family were alarmed — ^the ne^hboring
physicians called iii| and death was expected to ensue. Thi»

522 AMERICAN TEMP£RAN€E SOCIETY. [536

debauch gave me a decided antipathy to strong drink, which
lasted until after I went to tny apprenticeship, in my sixteenth
year. And it was the jeert and jokes, and being called old
woman, sneaJc, and flunky and such like names by my shop-
mates, which, after some weeks, led me to take a very little
spirits in a great deal of water. During the five years of my
apprenticeship I continued to drink, very frequently, if not
daily. It was the practice of the shop. A few weeks since
I came in company with an apprentice of a later date than
myself, of the same shop, — ^a gentleman of wealth, respecta-
bility and character — a totaler — and we counted up twenty-
one journeymen and apprentices, who bad wrought in that
shop during the period of our two apprenticeships. But two
of these, (except our two selves,) we think are now alive,
one is the lowest of drunkards, the other is occasionally intox-
icated ; and of the seventeen which are believed to be dead,
ten were public drunkards, and the remaining seven used m-
toxicating drinks freely ; and it is known some of them increas-
ed the virulence of disease thereby, and very probably, in this
way, shortened their days. Verily, I am a brand plucked out of
the burning! We all began to drink temperately! and not one
designed ^o be a drunkard! What desolations, for time and
eternity, have been induced by temperate drinking!

It is about fifteen years since I quit the use of distilled spirit
as an ordinary beverage. And this I did, because I wsts ftilly
satisfied that the use of it was doing incalculable mischief,
and I began to feel, more deeply than formerly, that I was
accountable for the whole of the influence I could exert on all
and each of my fellow men. I also found that the extreme
acidity of my stomach, (which I am now fully persuaded was
induced and strengthened, by the use of alcoholic drinks,) was
rendered more distressing by the use of spirits. This particular
complaint has been mitigated and my general health improved
by their disuse. But '^ total abstbence from all that can intox-
icate, as a beverage," has done more still to relieve the acidity
of my stomach and improve my general health. I discontinued
the use of wine and beer, as a beverage, about seven years ago,
not because I then thought they would, or did hurt me, but
because I saw they impaired my influence as a friend and ad-
vocate of the cause of temperance. For the same reasqn, two
years since I quit the use of cider, and all acoholic drinks.
And I can truly say, that total abstinence from all that can
intoxicate, is not only safe, but comfortable. It not only is a
good example to others, especially our own households, but
causes increased health to the system, and equanimity and
cheerfulness of temper^ It tends to promote discretioD and
sound judgment, and increased purity of heart and life.

637] NINTH BEPORT. — 1836. 33

For a few of the last years, I have spent about a fourth of
my time as a voluntary agent to promote the cause pf Temper-
ance, and have become acquainted with the history of a large
number of moderate and immoderate drinkers of alcoholic
beverages, from the light champaigns, to fourth proof brandies.
I have watched the reformation of some dozens of inebriates,
and have been compelled to witness the relapse of many who
had "ran well" for a time. And I say, without any fear of
contradictioq, by any one who has paid attention to the subject,
that the greatest obstacle to the reformation of drunkards, is the
habitual use of win€y beery cider and cordials, by the respec-
table members of community. And in very many, I believe
in most cases, intemperate habits are formed — the love of
alcoholic drinks induced y by the habitual use of these "lighter
beverages." I have not room on this sheet to detail specific
cases in confirmation of the foregoing positions, but will refer
you to the Albany Temperance Recorder of May, 1835, in
which, in an article commencing on the first page, you will find
twenty-seven, all real cases, of the reformed and relapsed,
proving that " the lighter drinks " take the drunkard back
to his intemperance, even when he would reform ; and that
they who mean to stand, must not tamper with the foe. I am
happy to add, to No. 2, there mentioned — that while he
drank his cider, though in lessened quantities, he found the
" vile thirst" unsubdued, and a constant warfare was kept up
in bis throat and stomach, and he, months since, became a
totaUr. The " vile thirst" is gone, and his eyes are well

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 intoocicatCy as a
beverageJ^ The fields of labor, of the few who are exceptions,
are, so far as I can recollect, like the "mountains of Gilboa."
No dews of divine grace distil on them. And more than this,
the drunkard and the young recraits to this army of five hundred
thousand drunkards, ail make a battery of these clergymen,

and say, "Rev. Mr. won't sign your total abstinence

pledge," and " Rev. , D. D. drinks his wine and says

* It is good.' " " If alcohol is good in wine, so it is in whiskey,
and rum." And so these dear brethren, who should be the first
to bar the road to death, and pluck sinners from the burnings, are
really stumbling blocks, over which drankards, and temperate
drinkers, too, stumble into hell. O, if I could arouse these
** watchmen," I would " cry aloud and spare not," until tliey
j^ould put on the "beautiful garments" of self-denial, and

84 AinBiCAir tempc&ancc socictt. [539

come up to the '' help of the Lord/' against the desolatkms and
ruins of drunkenness.

I am under in6nite obligations to Him, who guided me, when
I knew him not, and upheld roe^ while so many have fallen on
my right hand and on my left; and, by His grace, I will labor
in this field, and where His providence may appoint. Poor is
the return I can make. But I will not be unthankfiil for the
<< day of small things." To be humbly grateful for a little, is
the way to get more."

19. From the Hon. David Porter, American Charge d'af-
faires, at Constantinople, Turkey.

" I have received your favor of January 1st, accompanied by
a volume of Reports presented to me in behalf of the Execu-
tive Committee of the American Temperance Society, and
asking for any information I can furnish with regard to the na-
ture and effects of intoxicating substances, used in the countries
I have visited, and my opinion as to the e&cts which would fol-
low the discontinuance of their use.

I beg leave to return through you to the Executive Com-
mittee, my sincere thanks tor the valuable volume they have
presented to tne, which doubtless has done much good in the
world, and promises much more ; and so far as my experience
goes, I can safely declare that I know of no intoxicating sub-
stances whatever, however used, except as a medicine, but what
are injurious to the health and intellect of those who are in the
habit of taking them; and I conceive that the discontinuance
of the use of them throughout the world would be a great
benefit."

20. From the Hon. Joshua Darling, Chairman of the Exec-
utive Committee of the New Hampshire State Temperance
Society.

" In answer to your inquiries, allow me to say, if my experi-
ence can be of any use in promoting the great Temperance
reform, I will overcome all scruples of delicacy on the subject,
and here submit nay narrative to your disposal, to be used as
you think best. I am now sixty years of age. It is about
seven years since I abandoned the use of ardent spirit. About
four years ago, I gave up wine and tobacco ; and for one year
I have used no cider, nor do I permit its use on my farm or in
my family.

From early youth, I bad been accustomed to the constant,
free and unrestramed use of ardent spirit. Whe6 in college,
over forty years ago, most of the students were in the habit of

539] KIHTH KBPOBT.— 16316. fiS

using, and giving to their friends, fit>m iheir oani states, ardent
spirit and wine. As to the quantity drank^ we did not all
conform to the standard of one of our number, who, when
inquired of by President Wheelock, answered, " that the leaist
quantity he could put up with, to prevent the water from
injuring his system, was from two to three pints daily" — but,
with few exceptions, we drank too much for our health, or for
our advancement in the acquisition of knowledge. For thirty
years, after obtaining my degree, I was engaged in trade ; and,
during all that time, I sold the deleterious poison, in large and
small quantities, having both a tavern and a retail license for
that purpose. Is it much to be wondered at, that during
nearly half a century, in which I was in the almost constant
use of intoxicating drinks, and daily furnishing then) for others
for the last thirty years of the time, if the iDkole man became
deeply affected by such a course ? Although in the eye of the
world I may not have been considered a confirmed inebriate,
as I had my seasons of intermission, and .never entirely gave up
business, yet I am constrained to confess, that I was descending
the downhill path to destruction, and when I seriously reflect
on my then situation, it is my deliberate opinion, that, if the
blessed temperance reformation 'had not coqie to my rescue, I
should, like thousands, and tens of thousands of others, who
began as 1 did, by moderate drinking, have found, as they have
done, the same drunkard's grave.

I was constitutionally very nervous, and subject to periodical
returns of depression of spirits, and I am fully persuaded, now,
that this tendency was greatly increased by the use of stimu'-
lants, which so enfeebled my nerves that I could hardly, at
times, write my name, and this, for the time, induced me to give
up corresponding with my friends. But since I have refrained
from ardent spirit, and more especially from all intoxicating
drinks, and the use of that subtle poison, tobacco, my nervous
system has regained more than its wonted tone; my band
writing is ^nw, and equal to that of my younger days.* My
general health is much improved, and I have a more uniform
and constant flow of animal spirits.

My experience has convinced me that the free use of intox-
icating drinks unfits the mind for study, meditation, and reflec-
tion; and incapacitates the subject from performing, properiy,
his duties to himself, or to his Creator.

In addition to all the other blessings which have, in my case,
followed the change in my habits, I have .reason to hope, that
by the grace of God, I have been led to embrace the Saviour,

* And it, truly) ia a fine gpeoioMn of peamaniliip.^-J. E.

AS AMEBUCAM TBttBAAirCS JOCOETT* [540

as oBmA in tfie ga^d. I do, therefera, inoctt earnestly, and
affectionately 9 ^ntieat all persons of every age, and more espe-
cially all students, in every stage of their education, to abstain
entirely from all uUcacicating drinks, and drugs; and to taks
fi>r their motto, what, through divine goodness my entire family
of ten children, have adopted, — 'touch not-r-taste not — ^handle
not' the destroyer of our peace here, and of our hopes hereafter.
To God alone, who is mighty and able to save, by whom my
deUverance has been wrought, through the entire abstinence prin-
ciple, would I render all the praise."

21. From the Hon. Lewis Cass, Secretary of War, Wash-
bgton, D. C«

"I have received your letter, proposing certain inquiries
respecting my experience on the subject of abstinence from
intoxicating liquors. The pressure upon my time is such, that
I can only give you a very brief answer.

I have never tasted ardent spirits, nor have I, at any time,
during life, been in the habit of drinking wine. It is, of course,
almost useless to add, that I know nothing of the effects of
stimulating liquors upon the constitution, except by observing
them in others. I have, perhaps, during a portion of my life,
been as much exposed as most men. Having lived, since
boyhood, in a new country ; having served in tl>e army during
war, and having been led by official duties to traverse almost
all the western region north of the Ohio, and east of the Mis-
sissippi; it is impossible to say what effects would have re-
sulted from the use of stimulating liquors, at periods of great
exposure or fatigue. I can only say that I have done well
enough without them."

22. From the Rev. Alonzo Potter, D. D., Professor of In-
tellectual and Moral Philosophy, in Union. College, Schenectady,
New York.

" I have to acknowledge your letter of the 20th ult., in which
you inquire whether I have received any special benefit from
discontinuing the use of intoxicating liquors, as a beverage. I
answer by stating a fact. During two years which have elapsed
since I discontinued the use of wine and porter, the only intox-
icating substances which I have been accustomed to take, I
have improved materially in. health, and have been able to make
more prolonged efforts both of body and mind. We are not
authorized, from any such fact, to infer that the abstinence and
the improved health, stand to each other in the relation of cause
and effects But when it b found; as I doubt not it will be in

541} NINTH 11S^0RT.-*^1886. H

the course of your inquiiy, that similar experiments by #ther»
have been generally, if not invariably^ followed by the same
results^ the relation will be established, and will merit the deep
regard of all young men.

It may be proper to add, that this change m my habits was
not induced by any hope of promoting my health—*! had rather
cherished the belief that some local infirmity, as well as an ex-
treme general debility, from which I sometimes suffered, might
be partially relieved by the use of good wine, and, in this opin-
ion, I found myself confirmed by the advice of judicious friends,
and physicians. But it was growing more and more evident that
I could not succeed m persuading others to renounce aae kind
of intoxicating liquor, while I continued the habitual and daily
use of another, and that in order to impress upon reformed
inebriates the necessity of total abstinence from aU that could
intoxicate, as the only means of persevering in their new course,
I must add example to precept. And further, that related as I
was, to a large number of interesting young men, the hope oi the
countiy and of the church, it was peculiarly incumbent on me
to exhibit a consistent and blameless example. On these ac-
counts I felt obliged to deviate firom my former practice, but
with the expectation of suffering considerable physical discom-
fort in my own person, and not a little reproach from others.
In both these respects I have been happily disappointed. My
friends have appeared perfectly willing to concede me the en-
joyment of my liberty in this respect, and I have had, since the
expiration of the first few. weeks, almost daily consciousness of
increased health and enjoyment. While I continued to drink
wine, I had repeated attacks of hoarseness and sore throat, which
disabled me ironi the comfortable discharge of my duties as a
minister, and induced me at length to retire from them. Since
October 1833, I have had but one slight attack of this kind;
and there has been no Sunday, on which I could not have of-
ficiated in public with ease. I do not suppose that the disuse
of wine has been the only cause of thb improvement, but I am
persuaded that it has been one of the most powerful. It should
be understood that for some years previous, I had been accus-
tomed to take wine, at dinner, daily, and with as much freedom
as was proper in a olergyman, or in a zealous advocate of the
temperance cause.

In concluding this letter, I cannot refirdn from inserting an
extract firom the private letter of a firiend, which I received a
few days since. The writer is a gentleman of distinguished
opulence and wordi, now conndertbly advanced in life ; and if
I feh at liberty to mention his name, it would secure for his re-
inaitot wherever he b koomt, die most impUeit ^^

^i;( it»[^ r^. i:

98 AWLncsm Tziirauircc socinr. [543

He fltysi 'I don't know but I am likely to become a cold wa-

ter man. The first day of my stay in , I asked for a

bottle of claret ; and was^ to my surprise, told that there was no
wine kept in the house, and that further, none of the boarders
used winc}. At the moment I hesitated, but finally concluded
that as I was situated, it would not be courteous to interrupt
the habits of the house. From this moment I viewed myself
as beginning an experiment on the question of total abstinence.
I have so far persevered, and may be said almost to have be-
come a convert, it being ten weeks since I have confined my-
self to the wine of our first parents. So far, I am satisfied that
my health, which was good before, has improved. My eyes
have» been stronger-— my intellect clearer — and my sleep more
oblivious. Should this experiment result, as I now expect it
will, in an entire relinquishment of this species of indulgence,
it will be a fact of some little notoriety in my history ; for per-
haps there are not many, who, for thirty years past, have taken
more pains and lavished mare expense in procuring exquisite
wines, under the impression that they would cheer not only
myself in the evening of life, but others who had acquired sim-
ilar habits and similar tastes. What a commentary on the plans
and contrivances of poor human wisdom ! Perhaps a death-
bed will be needed, to teach us bow many of our cares and
pains-takings must come to a similar result.' "

23. From the Honorable Walter Lowrie, Secretary of the
United States' Senate, Washington, D. C.

" I have received your circular, in relation to the special ben-
efit to be derived by entire abstinence from the use, as a bever-
age, of all intoxicating liquor.

I can speak from the personal experience of more than five
years ; and without going into detail, I will merely remark, that
that experience is entirely favorable to all the particulars men-
tioned in your circular; — and if it were my last request, to my
best friend, it woiild be, abstain entirely, and at all iimes^ from
the me, as a beverage, of all intoxicating liquor.'-

24. From Edward C. Delavan, Esq., Chairman of the
Executive Committee of the New York Stole Temperance So-
ciety, of Albany, N. Y.

" To your inquiry relative to the effects on my health of the
disuse of intoxicating drinks — ^1 reply briefly, that several years
haye now. elapsed since I have practiced total abstinence, and
during ;that time my health has regularly improved. For more
than twenty years I have been severely afficted with chimic>

543] mNTH BaFoa!T.-^1836. 99

and ra€6t obstinate constipatioB of tbe bowels, and, at times, to a
degvee that almost deprived me of comfort. My physician as-
sured me, that,' from original temperamc^nt, or confirmed habit, or
the combined influence of both, he had no expectation that I
should obtain any thing more than temporary relief by the use of
medicine. But I can now state, and I do it with sincere grati-
tude, that since I have abandoned alcohol, under all its various
disguises, and substituted cold water as my only beverage, I have
been gradually and constantly improving in this particular, and
that I have now scarcely a vestige of the complaint remaining.
During the year past, 1 have sustained greater mental effort,
than at any previous period of my life, yet my health has
steadily improved ; and I recently ascertained that, during the
same time, I had gained in weight nine pounds, seven more
than I ever weighed before. It has often been remarked, (and
as far as my knowledge extends it is true, and I have made
many inquiries to ascertain the fact,) that there are few indi-
viduals, who have arrived at mature age, but have some com-
plaint, or infirmity ; it may be slight, in many cases, but still
the defect is acknowledged. Now it is believed, that the use
of intoxicating drink, even in moderation, will find out, not to
cure, but to aggravate and increase that defect ; and, if used
and persevered in, under the influence of the fatal error that
it is medicinal, there is a high degree of probability that the
overpowering appetite will be formed which nothing can satisfy,
short of the destruction of the whole moral, as well as physical
health of the victim.

As it is now ascertained that three-fourths of all the crime
and pauperism in our land are occasioned by intoxicating drinks ;
it is my honest conviction, that the same proportion of the
calls of physicians, especially in cities, are from the same cause.
1 have remarked a great increase of healthfulness in many
families, that had abandoned all drinks that can intoxicate, and
neariy an entire absence of the physician. Sufiice it to say,
in my own case, the improvement of health I have experienced,
by total abstinence, has amply compensated me for all I may
have done to advance this great and good work in which you,
my dear sir, are so laudably and successfully engaged.

A principal obstacle in the way of convincing persons in the
moderate use of wine of its injurious tendency is, that they
think it does them good, that they would suflfer by giving it up.
But would such persons only make the experiment of entire
abstmence for a few months faithfully, till the system should
have time to recover its natural, and healthful action, inde-
pendent of its accustomed stimulus, and till the appetite pro-
duced by that stimuhis had subsided, I feel assured they would,

so AnRICAN TEMPUUHCB 80CIETT. [544

almost without exception feel, and candidly acknowledge, that
they had been greatly mistaken ; and that their mdividual good,
regardless of the example to others, imperiously required this
self-denial.

That your efforts may continue to be blessed, as a means of

inducing the people of the United States to abandon the use,

as a beverage, of all those drinks that produce intoxication, and

turn to the full fountains of pure water to allay their tliirst, is the

.constant prayer of your affectionate friend."

25. From the Honorable Theodore Frelinghuysen, of New-
ark, New Jersey, late United States' Senator.

" 1 have been favored with your circular, requesting the results
of my experience in the matter of entire abstinence from the
use of intoxicating liquor — and especially as to its effects on
health— on bodily and mental ability, and the feelings of the
mind. I can from personal experience bear decided testimony
to the happiest results, in all these particulars, arising from
entire abstinence. For the last nine years I have wholly
abstained from ardent spirits, and habitually from all fermented
liquors. The last year, which has been the period in which I
have relinquished even the occasional use of wine, 1 have
enjoyed better health, than in either of the nine. And it is
an interesting and grateful fact to me, that protracted and severe
mental efforts can now be bortje without weariness — bodily
exercise and labor are refreshing — and the mind is far more
cheerful, composed and self-possessed, than in the days of
infatuation, when the spirits and wine cup, met us, on every
sideboard, and assailed us at every table."

26. From John T. Norton, Esq., of Farmington, Con.

^' I was in the habit, until about eight years since, of using
moderately, all sorts of intoxicating drinks, mostly, however,
cider, strong beer, and wine. My constitution was originally an
uncommonly good one ; but about twelve years since, it yielded,
under a great pressure of business, exposure, and entire igno-
rance and carelessness in regard to diet. Subsequent experience
has convinced me that even my modei*ate use of intoxicating
drinks, contributed not a little to this resuh. Certain I am, that
these drinks, particularly wine, and porter, or beer, to which I
resorted, by advice of friends and physicians, in order to build
up my debilitated system, only increased the evil, and I became
incapacitated for almost all bodily and mental effort. Traveling
was of little use to me, because I thought the more I was de-
bilitated, the more I required nourishing food ; and I believed

i4S| NINTH BBFOXTt-^1836. 31

that such tonics as wine and strong beer were indispensable to
enable me to retain the little strength that remained.

Thus I continued for about tw^elve months, without any mate-
rial change, when I consulted an eminent physician, in Philadel-
phia, who said, ** Your mind and body need rest — go home, live
on bread and wattr^ until the tone of your stomach is restored ;
avoid anxiety, and exercise moderately every day." Had be
added, "JOmiit nothing but cold water the rent of your days,^'
be might have saved me much bodily sufTering, and added great*
ly to the value of seven or eight yeanS of ihe prime of my lif^.
I returned home, and obeyed his injunctions almost literally, ab-
staining entirely from animal food, and drinking nothing stronger
than very weak tea. In six weeks, 1 had gained flesh and
strength so much as to be capable of attending to business as
usual, and felt authorised to resume, in some measure, my ordi-
nary diet.

I fear I shall be too minute, and will only say, that having
learned the secret of resorting to bf end and water, when nature
would no longer bear to be abused, I regained, and was enabled
to preserve, a tolerable degree of health ; but I considered my
fine constitution as mateiially impaired, and had no expectation
of again enjoying perfect health.

About eight years since, I signed the pledge of total abstinence
from distilled spirits — strong beer I had already learned was in-
jurious to we, and seldom used it. In a year or two more, I
came to the same conclusion in relation to cider. Still I was
under the delusion, that fermented drinks were useful in general,
and only injurious to me, owing to my impaired constitution. I
continued to use wine occasionally at dinner, in company, and
when fatigued — indeed, a day seldom passed, that I did not
drink one or two glasses, taking particular care to procure the
choicest kinds of Madeira, port, pure juice, &tc.

About four years since, I became satisfied that it was all bad
for me, and since that time, with perhaps half a dozen excep-
tions the first two years, I have totally abstained ; and I can truly
say, on reviewing my whole progress, that in proportion as I got
rid of alcohol y I got rid of disease; and during no part of my
life, not even before my constitution began to fail, have I enjoyed
such uniform health of body and mind, as during the last two
years.

In rielation to bodily powers, I am as capable of great and
long continued efforts, as at any period of my life; and in-
deed I suffer less from exposure, seldom having more than
the incipient symptoms of a cold, and recover immediately from
fatigue.

32 AMSBICAN TVaPBRiO^CC SOCISTT. [646

As to mental eflbits — my pursuits have not led me to seTere
exercises of this nature, yet I am conscious that my mind is much
more clear and capable of effort than formerly.

My own experience, as also my observation of others, con-
vinces me that intoxicating drink is an enemy to true cbeeriul-
ness, kindness, and uniformity. I would not, for a moment, be
understood to mean, that any thing but the grace of God^ and a
umt of pardoned sin^ can give true cbeeriulness and peace of
mind; but I fully believe, that intoxicating drink has been a
great disturber of the Christian's cheerfulness, and has often
curdled the warm current of kindness and love, that should
ever flow from a Chrbtian's heart.

My opportunities for observation, have been rather better than
ordinary, having been engaged for twenty-four years, in New
York and Albany, in extensive mercantile and other business,
and having for eight years, been much interested in the temper-
ance cause, and a member of the executive committee of the
New York State Temperance Society, since its first formation ;
and having bad many other advantages, which it is not necessary
to enumerate. ' I will, therefore, as briefly as possible, give
something more of the fmiis of my experience and observa-
tion ; and could, I believe, establish all my positions by facts,
illustrations, and arguments, did the limits of such a communica-
tion allow me.

1. Intoxicating drinks, of every description, are always hurt-
ful to every individual who uses them, as a beverage, 1 know
they were so to myself — hundreds of my friends and acquaint-
ances, who now experience the benefits of abstinence, have told
me that they were always injurious to them — and I have now in
my mind's eye, a large number of individuals, many of whom I
greatly love and esteem, who continue to use intoxicating drinks
temperately, and who are affected, in different degrees to be
sure, but in the same general manner, as I myself was ; and as
all others, who are now free, acknowledge themselves to have
been affected. I have watched closely the effects of intoxicating
drinks, when used the most temperately, in all classes of society ;
the rich and the poor ; the most exalted in rank, intellect, re-
finement, and morals, as well as the more hun^ble ; the merchant
and the mechanic — the employer and the laborer. Whatever
they drink of this nature, whether cider, beer, wine, or brandy,
the same general effects are visible. Alcohol is written legibly
upon all who drink it.

2. The use of intoxicating drinks, lessens the benefit of tak-
ing nourishing food. I am well acquainted with laboring peo-

Ele, both mechanics and farmers, who formerly used cider and
eer temperately, but who now abstain, and who say, they enjoy

547] kutth bepo&t. — 1836. 93

what they eat better, have better health, better temper, better
spirits, than feriuerly, and experience less fatigue from labor.

3. A moderate use of intoxicating drinks, tends to make men
of refined and intellectual character, and Christians too, as well
as men of a different character, impatient of control, restraint, or
opposition, uncharitable, and, in a greater or less degree, to im-
pair their intellectual and moral perceptions. I mean that these
dispositions are indulged, and are more manifest in those who
use these drinks, than they would be if they abstained from
them.

4. Intoxicating drinks, especially cider, beer, and wine, are
exceedingly dangerous to youth, and should be avoided by them,
as they would avoid a deadly serpent. When 1 was not more
than twelve years of age, and subsequently, during a clerkship
in New York and Albany, it was common for me, and also for
my companions, to drink strong beer and wine. Cider and
strong beer were daily furnished at our homes and boarding
houses. On recalling the names of the companions of my youth,
more than half have gone down to premature and dishonored
graves — of the remainder, full half live dishonored lives. The
few that have been spared to any degree of honor and useful-
ness, have reason to bless God, who interposed for them, for they
were equally exposed.

6. Parents and employers, who use intoxicating drinks tem-
perately, contribute to sow the. seeds of intemperance, and to
form a taste for alcoholic stimulants in their children, and the
youth under their care ; and, I fear, in tlie great day of retribu-
tion, many a youth, whose hopes for this life and another have
been destroyed by alcohol, will remind his parent, or employer,
that he first put the cup to his lips.

6. Cider, strong beer, and toine, are at the bottom, they are
the foundation of intemperate drinking. In the country, particu-
larly in New England, cider, rather than water, has been the
common beverage. Until within a few years, I believe I may
safely say, in a majority of the families of New England, the
water pitcher was never placed upon the dinner table ; and I
may add, the mug of cider had its place, on a majority of the
tea and breakfast tables. A love for stimulating drinks was thus
formed, and a supposed necessity for such drinks with food, was
thus created, in youth, and almost in infancy. What wonder
then, that drunkenness has so lamentably prevailed, even in fa-
vored New England ? What wonder, that her sons, as they
emigrated to other regions, where their favorite cider could not
be obtained, should substitute beer, and wine, and brandy ? In
cities, and indeed in many families in the country, children have
been regularly taught, both by precept and example, to drink

34 AMcuoAN TEiimtAircB toc?iETr. [548

wine, to hear its pitises, and to dficuss its qualities. I have my-
self given it to mj children of faur and six years old, and
taught them to dnnl^ healths^ when tbey could scarcely lisp
the word. Those who could not afibrd wine, yielding to
fiishion, and to supposed necessity, and to gratify their early ibrro-
ed tastes, have resorted to beer, or to stronger drinks. Many
lessons are given, it is true, to young children, even in the
nursery, with a piece of sugar immersed in gin, or brandy;
but tlie great school of intemperance, has been taught under
the auspices of cider, beer, and wine ; those drinks, which the
good and the wise have heretofore thought harmless, and in-
deed useful.

I fear 1 have already said moie than was expected from
any one individual, and that I have not confined myself strict-
ly to the objects you had in view. With many wishes and
prayers, for the success of the cause which you have, under
Goo, been so instrumental in promoting, I am yours, with sin-
cere respect and esteem."

27. From the Rev. Orin Fowler, of Fall River, Mass.

" In reply to yours, recently received, I can say, that I have
abstained ibr a number of years, from all ordinary use of all
intoxicating drinks, (which 1 never took lai^ely,) water having
Leen^ for a long time, my only drink. My health b perfectly
sound and tias been so for twemy yeais,, in which time I have
had but few pains and aches, except during a short sickness
some ten years since ; and I feel as youthful and vigorous
(I am forty-four) as when I was twenty-four. I have, ibr
years, and at all seasons, preached, uniformly, three, Jrequently
jour, sermons on the Sabbath, and several others during the
week; besides making more than one thousand pastoral visits,
annually, and attending to much other labor, bodily and men-
tal; and believe that upon my Vfater drinking, regular diei^
and early rising system^ with the divine blessing, I may hope
to be young, vigorous, healthy, for many years yet to come.

If I could reach every ear in the nation, and especiaDy of
every minister, and every student, I would say, drink nothing
but water — no ardent spirits — no intoxicating liquor— -take no
tobacco in any form — ^retire to bed at half-past mne and rise at
four, the year rounds— be regular in your diet, (always exer-
cising half an hour before eating) and you may expect sound
health — capability for great and continual ei&rts ol body and
mind, together with cheerjiilneit, uniformity^ and ^a^ticity.
Such is aiy practice — suet) is my experience.

649] iriKTR BxnMnr«-*--183$*

88. From the Rev. Samuel MiHer, D. D.^ Profess<»r of
Ecclesiastical History ia the Theological Seminary at Princeton,
New Jersey.

** Your communication of November I7th reached me on the
25th, and would hare been acknowledged before, bad not en*
gagements, of the most urgent kind, deprived me of the requi-
site leisure. It gives me peculiar pleasure to comply with
your request in regard to the use of aU intoxicating drinks, be-
cause I verily believe that the well-being of society, and espe-
cially the best interest of the " rising generation, must be con-
sidered as deeply involved in the banishment of such drinks
from habitual use. You request a statement of my own expe-
perience in reference to this matter.

I was never in the habit of using ardent spirits ; and, during
the earlier period of my life, seldom drank wme. Yet my ab-
stinence from it, prior to the forty-third year of my age, cannot
be said to have been either systematical or rigid. In that year I
had a severe fit of illness, in recovering from which, the use of
some sound old wine which was, providentially, within my reach,
was so strikingly beneficial, that my physician advised me to
continue it after my recovery ; and, mdeed, expressed the opin-
ion that I ought to take, at least, one glass, if not two, of good
wine daily, to the end of life. I followed his advice for more
than sixteen years ; I very seldom drank more than one glass,
and never more than two glasses. In this moderate use, I was
almost invariably regular ; and great were the pains to which 1
submitted, from time to time, for obtaining wine of pure and
indubitable qualities, not as a matter of luxury, but of health.

During all this time my health, though not bad, was delicate ;
and toward the latter part of the sixteen years just mentioned,
there was evejy appearance that my constitution was giving
way, and that a premature and feeble old age was creeping
upon me. Still I had no suspicions that wine was hurting me,
and only supposed that, in spite of its benefits, my sedentary
habits were undermining my strength.

More than six years ago, when I was approaching my sixti"
eth year, hearing so much said about the mischiefs of stimulat-
ing drinks, and entering, as I did, with cordial zeal, into the
temperance reformation, I determined to go beyond those
around me, and to abstain not merely from ardent spirits, but
make the experiment, for at least three months, what would be
the efiect ol an immediate and entire abstinence from wine,
and all intoxicating beverage. Accordingly I broke off at once
and from that day to this, have not tasted wine, excepting at
the sacramental table. I have also abstained, during the same
time, from cider, beer, md every species of drink stronger than

81^ AinSBtCAK TdtrnAHC^ SOCISTT. [550

water, and never set any of them on my table, unless tbey are
called for by peculiar circumstances. The experiment had not
proceeded more than a single month, before I became satisfied
that my abstinence was not only distinctly, but very strikingly
beneficial. I was so far fi:om sufifering any injury from the ab-
straction of my accustomed stimulus, that the effect was all the
other way. My appetite was more uniform and healthful ; my
digestion decidedly improved; my strength increased; my
sleep more comfortable ; and all my ipental exercises more
clear, pleasant, and successful. » Instead of awakening in the
morning with parched lips, and with a sense of feverish heat,
such feelings were almost entirely banished ; and instead of that
nervous Irritability which, during my indulgence in wine, was
seldom wholly absent, I am now favored with a state of feeling,
in this respect, very greatly improved. In short, my experi-
ence precluded all doubt, that the entire disuse of all intoxicat-
ing drinks has been connected, in my case, with benefits of the
most signal kind ; with much firmer health than I enjoyed
twenty years ago ; with more cheerful feelings ; with greater
alacrity of mind ; and with a very sensible increase of my capa-
city for labor of every kind. I can never cease to be grateful
that I was led to make this experiment ; and think it is highly
probable that if I had not adopted this course, I should not now
have been in the land of the living.

t have had occasion frequently to observe that some who,
like myself, drink nothing but water, are very liberal in their
use of that element. They drink it often and largely, and es-
pecially m^ke a very free use of it at dinner. This was once
my own habit ; but I became fully convinced that it was not
salutary, at least to me. The truth is, since I have left off the
use of all intoxicating drinks, I seldom experience the sensation
of thirst. Often I do not touch a particle pf any kind of drink
at dinner, and even when I am overtaken with thirst, I find
that, in my case, it is better slaked with a few tea-spoons full
of water, taken slowly, and at several swallows, than by a
whole tumbler full, or double that quantity, as many are accus-
tomed to take — I am very confident that we may take too much,
even of water; and that deluging the stomach even with the
most innocent fluid, tends to interfere with perfect digestion.

I feel a deep interest, my dear sir, in the reception and pre-
valence of these opinions. It would be well for the church and
the world, if our present race of young men, especially those
in our seminaries and colleges, could be prevailed upon to enter
into the spirit and practice of this doctrine. How many brok-
en constitutions ; how many cases of miserable nervous debili-
ty ; how many degraded characters ; how many melancholy

551] NINTH RIIPORT.^1836. 91

wrecks of domestic peace, and of official usefulness, would be
spared, if we could make our beloved young men believe us,
when we speak thus! May the Lord enlighten and counsel
them in his time ! "

29. From William A. Alcott, M. D., of BostcMi, Mass.>
author of the Young Man's Guide, and editor of the Moral
Reformer, Parley's Magazine, &c. &c.

" I was early accustomed to the use of cider, in large quanti-^
ties. Occasionally, too, I drank distilled liquors; almost always,
however, from the, earliest years, with strong doubts of their
utility. The utility, and even necessity of cider, for many
years, at least, 1 never doubted. But water — pure cold water-'—
I never drank in early life, except to cool myself. From the
age of 25 to 30 I began to doubt still more strongly^ the good
effects of distilled spirit. I seldom drauk it except when
exposed in an unusual degree, to cold or wet. At about 28
years of age, I began to abstain entirely, from ardent spirit,
and soon after from cider. At 32 I abandoned all fermented
drinks.

Before I discontinued the use of narcotic, and intoxicating
drinks, I was threatened with consumption ; this tendency still
remains, but is every year diminishing. My general health
has greatly improved. I think my constitution, of both mind
and body, more juvenile than six years ago. For six years
past, all my senses, except hearing, have improved greatly!;
but my hearing remains the same. My taste, and my sight,
are remarkable. As to taste, water, formerly so insipid,
has now a surprising sweetness. I must add, in closing, that
many circumstances in which I have been placed, during the
last six years, have been far less Javorable to health than for-
merly. I was bred tp the farm, till twenty-four years of age,
and accustomed to much exercise in the open air. Siuce tbeiiy
I have, at times greatly neglected air and exercise ; yet I have
performed excessive labors; enough, frequently, for two ordinary
men. I have studied much by night, or rather morning, for i
rise at three or four o'clock, all the year round. I have lost
nothing by my temperance, but have gained immensely ; a spe-
cies of property, too, which worlds of extraordinary stimulants
would not now induce me to part with."

30. From Charles A. Lee, M. D., of New York.

"1 have the pleasure of acknowledging the receipt of a
circular, issued by the American Temperance Society, request-
ing answers to certain questions therein proposed. I cheer-

9B AlCERICAM TEMPSRANCK SOCIETY. [553

fiilly comply with this request ; as I am satisfied, if the expe-
rience of those who have tried the plan of total abstbence from
alcoholic drinks, for a few years past, in our cobntry, were fairiy
spread before the public, it would furnish such a mass of testi-
mony in favor of the system, that the most sceptical would be
bduced to give it a triaJ. It seems indeed very sbgular, that
mankind should ever have adopted the opinion, that such an un-
natural stimulus as alcohol was necessary to man ; or that it could
be used, without such a violation and derangement of the organk^
laws of life, as to be totally incompatible with a state of health.
And it appears no less strange, that it should be necessary to em-
ploy arguments, derived from statistical hcis and personal expe-
rience, to prove the inestimable benefits which flow fix>m a strict
course of temperance. But so it is ; and this belief, to which I
have alluded, is to be ranked among those popular errors, or de-
lusions, which, in different ages, and in all countries, have more
or less extensively prevailed.

When the temperance reformation began, in 1826, it found
me, as it did a large majority of my fellow citizens, addicted to
the moderate use^ so called, of alcoholic liquors. I took brandy
with my dinner, not only as a corrective of the bad qualities of
Our water, but principally to aid digestion ; and fermented drinks,
in conformity to the hospitable laws and regulations of society,
and also to fiimish strength and support under fatigue, and those
other numerous circunistances, which were then supposed to jus-
tify, and even require their use. It is true, I had many misgiv-
ings, as to their utility, but I tjad never duly considered the in-
fluence, which my habits might have upon my physical and in-
tellectual well-being — I had never properly appreciated the im-
portance of this study, so much neglected, and yet so essential to
our welfare, as well as the progress and ultimate triumph of tem-
perance principles. I had then been laboring under confirmed
dyspepsia, since the second year of my college life, 1819, and
had experienced a full proportion of the nameless bodily and
mental horrors of that protean disease. My lungs were so weak,
that I could with difficulty speak aloud ; my nervous system was
deranged and shattered, and my general strength so reduced,
that slight exertion caused much fatigue. I was constantly
troubled with head-ache, and depression of spirits, and an inca-
pacity for mental efibrt. My other symptoms I need not particu-
larize, as they were such as are generally found connected with
this complaint.

As soon as my attention was particularly directed to the ef-
fects of ardent spirits, which was in the year 1827, 1 formed the
resolution of abstaining from their use. I acknowledge, it was
DO sacrifice to do it, as I never had used them but in a moderate

553] NINTH REPORT. — 1836. 39

manner, and as, moreover, I reserved the privilege of drinking
wine, beer, and cider, under the conviction that they Were inno-
cent, and at times, even hecessary. A careful observation of
their efiects, however, soon satisfied me, as in the case of distilled
spirit, that I invariably was injured by their nse, and I therefore
gradually came on to the plan, which ought to have been adopt-
ed at first; viz. total abstinence. I have thus tried alcohol in
most of the forms in which it is used, and under the cucum-
stances in which it has been supposed to be innocent, if not use-
ful, and I can conscientiously say, that, / have never received
any benefit firom it. As a restorative, in case of fatigue, it was
truly "a mocker ;" appearing for a short time to give strength,
but always inducing greater lassitude and debility, when its first
efiect had subsided, and placing the system in that condition, in
which it could not sustain extra exertion, without great exhaus-
tion. After abandoning the use of alcoholic drinks, I found my
general health improved ; my dyspepsia vanished ; my hypo-
chondria and head-ache disappeared ; and my strength much m-
creased. I could not doubt that this beneficial change was
owing to my abstaining from these stimulants, for my habits, with
respect to exercise, diet, &c., were the same as before. I was
^o enabled to apply myself to study, with pleasure and without
head-ache, which I have scarcely been able to do for several
years. When fatigued, which is very seldom, I find a glass
of water, or milk and water, or lemonade, a much better
cordial, than any kind of intcaicating liquor ever was. I can
also bear heat or cold better than formerly, and am not liable to
get sick from exposure, or over-exertion. While under the old
regime^ I had fi'equent attacks of illness, and some of a serious
nature ; but since i have adopted my present course, I have not
found occasion to take a particle of medicine, nor have I been
confined to my bed a single day. And why should we not ex-
pect such beneficial results to flow fix)m abstaining firom even the
moderate use of poison ? It is now proved, by the experiments
of Magendie, and other physiologists, that if alcohol be introduc-
ed into the stomach, in any quantity, it goes directly, unchanged^
into the blood, and unassimilated, is carried to every organ and
every fibre in the system. The unnatural excitement thus occa-'
sioned tends to weaken and derange, and not to strengthen or
nourish ; and if taken in combination with nutritious substances,
it goes far to neutralize their otherwise valuable properties. My
own experience, therefore, as well as observation, fully satisfies
me, that the moderate use, so ccdhdy of alcoholic drinks, tends
directly to debilitate the digestive organs ; to cloud the under-
standing, weaken the memory, unfix the attention, and confose
all the mental operation? ; hissid^ mdueing a host of nervous

40 AMEBICAN TEHPEIUNCE SOCIETT. [554

maladies. The mode of reasoning usually adopted^ of compar-
ing alcohol with food, and then showing that, as the moderate use
of the latter is necessary and useful, so also it must be with the
former, is perfectly delusive and fallacious ; for, as alcohol con-
tains no nutriment, and cannot be assimilated, it is absurd to in-
stitute such a comparison. The fact is, there is no analogy
whatever, between the two substances. . Alcohol may and does
stimulate the nervous system, and thus excite to extraordinary
efforts ; but it can give no real strength ; it can create no phyi-
cal power ; but like the action of the galvanic o^ electric fluid, it
rouses the excitability, while at the same time it exhausts it.

Literary and professional men have labored under a deep delu-
sion on this point. While much excuse is to be found in the
exhausting nature of their pursuits, and other temptations, to
which they are peculiarly exposed, there would seem at present
but slight apology for persisting in a habit, which, according to
the recorded experience of thousands, is fruitful in evils. They
will not claim, that they give either vigor or clearness to mental
operations ; that they communicate nourishment to the body ; or
that they are absolutely necessary, under any of the ordinary
circumstances of life. Why then should they not be given up ?
My judgment fully approves the correctness of the following re-
marks of Dr. Trotter. * My whole experience assures me that
wine is no friend to vigor or activity of mind. It whirls the
fancy beyond the judgment, and leaves the body and soul in a
state of listless indolence and sloth. The man, that on arduous
occasions is to trust to his own judgment, must preserve an equi-
librium of mind, alike proof against contingencies, as internal
passions. He must be prompt in his decisions ; bold in epter-
prise ; fruitful in resources ; patient under expectation ; not elat-
ed with success ; or depressed with disappointment. But if his
spirits are of that standard, as to need a jilip from wine, he will
never conceive or execute any thing magnanimous or grand. In
a survey of my whole acquaintance and friends, I find that water
drinkers possess the most equal tempers, and cheerful dispo-
sitions.'

As a physician, I have been led to believe, /rom pretty exten-
sive observation, that the premature exhaustion induced by the
moderate use of alcoholic drinks, is one of the chief causes of
the frequent failure of health, and serious attacks of disease,
which literary and professional men so often experience. An
intimate friend of mme^ unaccustomed to the habitual use of fer-
mented liquors, was induced to take a single glass of wine after
dinner, for several weeks in succession. He was at length at-
tacked with severe erysipelatous inflammation of the face and
bead, which required very ficee depletion to subdue. He dropped

556] NINTH BKFOBT. — 1836. 41

the use of mtke, and has never had a similar attack. He has
no doubt that the disease was occasioned by the i^ne, acting as
a predisposing cause ; in which opinion I coincided. I could re-
late a great number 6f cases, where there could be no question,
that ill health was induced and continued, by what is generally
termed the moderate use of alcoholic liquors, though the indivia-
uals themselves were perfectly unconscious of it, and probably
would not have thanked a physician for making such a sug-
gestion. But a change in their habits, and a corresponding
change in their health and feelings, have convinced them, that
such was the fact. I might here quote resolutions, passed unani-
mously by various medical societies in our country ; and then add
the weighty authorities of Cheyne, Trotter, Beddoes, Hoffman,
Abercrombie, Astley Cooper, James Johnson, Rush, Hosack,
and a host of other physicians of the first respectability, to prove,
that in physical strength ; in the capability of enduring labor
and fatigue ; and in the vigor and clearness of the intellectual
powers, water drinkers far exceed those who substitute for the
pure element, distilled or fermented liquors. But if there should
still remain a doubt in the minds of any, I see no possible way
of removing it, but by putting the matter to the test of experi-
ment. If a fair trial does not satisfy the individual, that iotal
abstinence is far prefierable to moderate me, then it will be the
first instance which I have ever known, where such a result has
not followed.'*

31. From the Honcwable Judge Hall, of Wilmington, Del.

" In 1803, in my twenty-third year, I removed from Massachu-
setts, and settled in a part of Delaware, reputed unhealthy, and
especially trying to the constitution of strangers. The preserva-
tion of my health became my anxious concern. This circum-
stance has perhaps been the occasion of imparting some accuracj
and discrimination to my experience upon the subject of my
health.

I was advised by physicians of the first standing, to use tem-

ferately spiritous liquor, diluted with water. Under this advice,
commenced this use, and made it a habit. After I had beeo
in this habit many years, under a conviction that it was necessary
to my health, about the year 1820, 1 noticed the article Medi-
cine, b the Edingburgh Encyclopedia. I was startled by this
passage of it.'

* With respect to the stronger wines,^ (Madeira^ Forty Sher-^
ry, Lisbon^ Sicily , Teneriffe, fyc.)y *we concdve that their
habitual use is never necessary, and is generally hurtful — still
less b the employment of distilled spirits to be allowed as an lur^

43 AmmiGAif temperahce society. [556

ticle of diet. Tbeir actioD upon tbe stomachy and Tisc^a, is
decidedly injurious ; while tbeir etBsct upon tbe system in geo-
eral b most uniavorable, and of a nature wbicb tends to under-
mine all tbe powers, mental and corporeal.'

At thb time tbe temperance reformation bad not begun. Tbe
writer of tbis article, in this passage, bad in view simply tbe ac-
tion of a matter of diet upon tbe human system. Tbe article
evinced him to be master of bis subject ; practical as well as
learned. H'ls opinion was obviously formed with care; not a
speculative suggestion, but the instruction of enlightened investi-
gation. It taught me, that what I was daily using, and believed
myself under necessity to continue to use, acted with decided in-
jury upon the stomach and viscera, tbe very seat of health and
life, and with baneful effect upon the mental powers, the impair-
ing of which- is justly ranked as the most dreadful and alarming
of the evils of our present state. Such, however, was the ef-
fect upon my mind of prejudice, arising from the habit I had
contracted by medical advice, that for several years I remained
under the conviction, that the use I made of spirituous liquor,
was beneficial, indeed necessary, to ray health. I supposed,
that this use was peculiarly suited to my constitution ; that I
needed it, and was not liable to the same detriment that would
result to more robust frames and sanguine temperaments. But I
was led into a course of inquiry, observation, and experiment;
and at last, in tbe beginning of May 1827, 1 abandoned the use
of spiritous liquor. During this time, I had made trial of porter,
ale, and strong beer; and I had been convinced, that these
liquors were injurious to me. On abandoning the use of spirit-
uous liquor, in May 1827, as the received doctrine of the time
was, that there must be some substitute, I used wine ; procuring
the kind most approved by physicians, and the purest of that
kind. I began with tbe daily use of two common wine glasses
diluted with an equal quantity of water ; I diminished tbis to one
wine glass, diluted in like manner ; and in about four months,
near the end of August 1027, 1 discontinued the use of wine ;
confining myself, for drink, to water, with the exception of the
customary use of tea and coffee ; and I have since entirely ab-
stained from tbe use, either for medicine or beverage, of all in-
toxicating liquor.

* When I commenced this course of total abstinence, August
1827, the temperance reformation had not reached us. My de-
termination was the result of carefiil and long continued investi-
gation. I had used intoxicating liquors, in the full persuasion,
that tbis use was beneficial, indeed, indispensable to my enjoy-
ment of health. It was only by diligently searching facts, and
j^ringing them together, (facts which> without my attention being

557] NINTH REPORT. — 1836. 43»

strongly directed, I should not have noticed or heeded,) that the
settled state of my mind was l)roken up, so as to admit the light
and influence of truth. I make this remark, to present this sug-
gestion. We do not know the effect of habits It is a ppwer,.
which, while it requires the highest energy to break it, is impal-
pable ; and we can scarcely be roused to exert our^lves against
it. When we contract a habit, with a view to. a particular pur-
pose, we suppose that it answers the purpose, and rest in- this as
a settled point. ^ Our supposition may be directly contrary to>
fact, while the^ habit formed upon this supposition will disqualify
us from apprehending the fact. I have known several go dowa
to premature graves, through the use of what they employed to
sustain life, in the sincere conviction that what was in truth de-
stroying them, was the only means of their preservation. The
danger of this perversion of mind ia not enough regarded. We
see strongly marked cases of this perversion, and conclude, that
the wilfully wrong headed only can be subject to it; but there
are -cases in which it arises unknown, and rests unsuspected,
upon the intelligent, the discerning, the moral ; blast'rag useful-
ness, and leading to much undesigned evil.

I ought to add ; in March, 1827, 1 first made profession of re-^
ligion. I was then brought to contemplate, in juster views than
I had ever taken, the worship of God. I saw something of the
doctrine, "God is a Spirit; and they that worship him, must
worship in spirit and in truth." This worship must be the
sober, pure, genuine work of the heart, in full self-possession »
It is the duly of every one, at all times, to be in a suitable state
to render this worship ; not to be in such a state, if proceeding
from our own act, is an ungrateful and inexcusable sin. A mind
excited by artificial stimulus, is not in this state. Its offering
would be strange fire. I do not mean that any use of intoxicat-
ing liquor would produce the evil here apprehended ; but, for
security against producing it, the use must be so scrupulously and
carefully limited, while the tendency to transgress this limit, or
indeed not to fix at first within the safe bound, is so great, that
no one without urgent cause, should encounter the hazard of
offending. This was among the considerations influencing my
determination. It would not be true nor just to omit it.

In the fall of the year following that in which I entered upon
this course of abstinence, I was sick, of disease common to that
season of the year, and from which 1 had frequently suffered in
previous years. I have not since suffered from it. When I
was convalescent, my physician, a strictly temperate man, ad-
vised me to use wine. I had always before used it in Uke
circumstances. I now refused ; rejecting this advice, because I
had been convinced by practical observation, and what I

44 AMERICAN TEMPSaANCE SOCIETY. [558

deemed just philosophical reasoning, that wine did not possess
the restorative virtue attributed to it. For a short time, two
days or so, I suffered, from exhaustion, unpleasant feelngs, from
which, I believe, wine would have relieved roe. But the care-*
fijd use of nourishing food soon removed them ; and I regained
my usual state of health and strength in less than one half the
time I had ever before done after a similar case of sickness.

When the cholera was in this place, in 1832, many suffered
from peculiar debility. I was among this number. The same
physician advbed me to use wine. I, on the same ground,
again rejected his advice. I am satisfied my course was cor-
rect, justified by experience. In every other particular, I fol-
lowed this physician's advice.

I am now in the ninth year, (and within about four months
of its compledon,) of strict total abstinence from the use, eiiher
far beveragBy or medicine, of all intoxicating liqwrr. I have
noticed my experience, and contrasted it with that of the
twenty-four preceding years, while I temperately used these
liquors. The result of my observation, is —

1. My health is much improved. I never suffered much
from sickness ; I was never dangerously ill ; but I can clearly
perceive, that the use of intoxicating liquor, although temperate,
did impart a feverish tendency to my constitution ; so that what
used to end in fever of three or four days' sickness, requiring ac-
tive medicine, now passes off as a slight indisposition, like a
common cold, scarcely requiring medicine, rarely confining me
to the house, and then not entirely disqualifying me from my
usual employment. There is an elasticity in my constitution,
and I have a command over it, difierent from what was the case
in the former period ; so that I easily throw off symptoms of ap-
proaching disease, that used to terminate in fever ; and I am con-
vinced, that if in 1803 I had adopted the course of entire absti-
nence from intoxicating liquors, with the same care I otherwise
used in respect to my health, I should have escaped nearly all
the sickness with which I have been afflicted.

2. I can endure, without inconvenience, cold, heat, and fa-
tigue. My power for continued bodily labor, and mental exer-
tion, is increased. I feel in a constant state of fitness for
mental exertion. In this respect, comparing my present and
former experience, I believe, that through the use of intoxicating
liquors, though temperate, I sustained a loss of at least the twelfth
part of the working hours of every day ; a rate, according to
which I lost, in the twenty-four years of temperate use of intox-
icating liquor, two years. Yet mine was, in general estimation,
a life of unusual application and industry ; and my loss was not
one third that which commonly happens fiom the like cause.

559] NINTH REPORT.— 1836. 45

This is a point on wliich there is too little consideration, in con-
nection with this subject. The loss and misitnprovement of time I
the neglect or misuse of opportunities ! failing to gain what was
within reach of adequate exertion ! Nothing but the sight, di-
rected and sharpened to look into these things, will ever discern
what immense loss can be suffered, un perceived.

I know particularly three persons, who many years ago aban-
doned the use of intoxicating liquor, and entered upon a course
of total abstinence. The health of all of them was greatly im-
proved ; their life is protracted in old age. In respect to two of
them, whose bodily frames are not robust, tl>eir ability to endure
cold, heat, and fatigue, is remarkable. I am confident, their
course of abstinence has greatly contributed to this. They all
declare, in unqualified terms, the blessing of the course they
have adopted — speaking of it as incalculably beneficial to them.
I noticed, for several years before I entered upon the course of
total abstinence, that those persons who refrained from all ititoxi-
cating liquors, appeared to be always^ in health, not suffering,
like others, from the sickness of the season. I have noticed,,
that eminent physicians, in prescribing diet to invalids, always
interdicted, as part of their prescription, spirituous and other
liquors. 1 have noticed, that persons in the use of common
conversation, when speaking of one who was sick, if they spoke
of his being a very temperate man, always added an expecta-
tion of his recovery ; and that, on the contrary, the fact of a
sick person having been a free liver, was always joined with a
proportionate apprehension of a fatal termination of his disease.
And I have never seen a person, or heard of one, who has
made reasonable trial of a course of entire abstinence from in-
toxicating liquor, who denies that it is attended with great ad-
vantages, or suggests any evil incident to it."

32. From Benjamin Silliman, M. D., LL. D., Professor of
Chemistry, Pharmacy, Mineralogy, and Geology, in Yale Col-
lege, New Haven, Connecticut.

"At about forty-three years of age, I suffered an almost entire
prostration of health, in consequence of excessive labors, and
affliction, from the sickness and death of several of my children.
During several years, in which 1 was sinking, I tried in vain,
under medical direction, th6 most approved forms of stimulus,
joined with the most nutritious and varied diet. When at length,
my powers were almost broken down, I was persuaded by a
friend, to abandon the use of wine and every other alcoholic
stimulus, and to depend upon a small quantity of bread, crack-
ers, rice, and little animal muscle, or other simple kinds of food

46 . AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETY. [560

with water, milk, or other mild diluent drinks, omitting every
thing that contains alcohol. Within a few weeks, my health
began to mend, and, at the end of one year, I was able to re-
turn to arduous duties, demanding constant exertion of both
body and mind. My frame, naturally vigorous and elastic,
gradually recovered its tone, and now, thirteen years after the
p4;riod of my greatest depression, I am able, upon a simple but
common diet, consisting of the most usual articles of food, taken
without anv use of alcoholic stimulus, to perform ^constant labor
in my profession, with much public speaking, and I sustain no
inconvenience, except, the fatigue which sleep removes, as in
tlie case of other healthy persons. I was, from childhood,
constitutionally prone to bleeding at the nose, and sometimes
to an alarming degree. After the recovery of my hedth, I al-
lowed myself to use, with much moderatoin, the best bottled
cider, at dinner only. After abstaining from it, for a few
weeks, on a long journey, (because cider of a good quality
could not be obtained, at the taverns,) my nose bleeding ceased,
and with it the vertigos, and confused and uncomfortable feel-
ings of the head and nerves, by whk^h I had frequently been
troubled. Thinking that cider might have been concerned in
causing these effects I have never returned to its use, and for
nearly three years, since I omitted cider, I have had no serious
recurrence of these afiections.

P. S. In two other cases, within my knowledge, nose
bleeding has ceased by the omission of cider. In one of these,
the bleeding was excessive and dangerous. The individual
last referred to is a very athletic man, of full habit ^and sanguine
temperament/'

33. From the Honorable Robert Guest White, late High
Sheriff of Dublin, Ireland.

'^ Having read in the American Temperance Recorder of No-
vember last, your excellent letter of the 16th of October, as
well as the editor's able remarks thereon, calling upon every
person to affi>rd any information in their power, which may
tend to confirm and permanently establish the [Hinciple of en-
tire abstinence from the use, as a beverage, of all intoxicating
drinks ; I, as an humble, but decided advocate thereof, beg
leave to address you, and to state the result of my experience,
since I was enabled to act upcm this noble and heart-cheering
system.

To bring it into the compass of a letter, I shall commence
by remarking, that, when elected High Sheriff of this City, in
the spring of the year 1818) I was afflicted with an internal

661] NINTH REPORT. — 1836. 47

complaint; and being allowed six months before entering upon
the duties of my office, for the building of a state carriage, pro-
curing horses, servants, liveries, &c., 1 devoted this whole period,
under the care of an eminent physician^ to the recovery of my
health, but regret to state, without any abatement whatever of
the complaint.

In the first month of my official duties, twenty-two persons
were condemned to suffer death ; but strong intercessions having
succeeded with.tlie government, twelve only (including a female)
were executed. And, as a powerful proof of the dreadful ef-
fects of intemperance, the condemned cells (as well as myself,)
witnessed kvert one of these individuals attributing their me-
lancholy end to dmnkenness and bad company.

Happy would it have been for society in general, had the
temperance reformation taken effect at that, or an earlier period.
But civic feasting was then (and indeed is to the present) the
order of the day ; nor had the awful instance referred to, the
least effect upon it ; on the contrary, some who had preceded
me in office, followed those criminals to a premature grave.

But I rejoice to say that, by the municipal bill, at this moment
passing through our bouses of Parliament, the present year will
terminate this profligate expenditure, and drunkenness ; and, I
trust, " the cups that cheer, but not inebriate,*' will be establish-
ed, where the ladies will preside, forming their proportion of the
assembly, and, by their smiles and influence, perfect and per-
petuate the moral renovaton, and physical improvement, of the
human family.

Having, in the year 1834, been summoned to London to at-
tend the parliamentary committee on drunkenness, of which, my
friend, James S. Buckingham, Esq., M. P. for Sheffield, was
chairman, I, for the first time, heard of the Temperance Society
at Preston, and having visited it at the end of August, was pre-
sent at a festival held in the theatre five successive nights. I
bad then the happiness to see and hear numbers of reformed
characters stand forward, and publicly state to crowded audiences,
the poverty and misery they and their families had experienced,
while under the baneful influence of intemperance, and the com-
fort and happiness they subsequently enjoyed as abstainers from
all intoxicating drinks.

Satisfied of the utility of this society, I felt it my bounden
duty (both as a philanthropist and a Christian,) to give it all the
aid in my power, assured that, by the blessing of God, it had
been made the means of reclaiming thousands of drunkards^— of
bringing peace and prosperity to the workingman's home — of in-
ducing parents to send their children to school — ultimately ac-
companying them regularly to their respective places of public

48 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETY. [562

worship ; and, having themselves experienced the benefits of so-
briety, and the blessings of religion, numbers were induced to
go into '' the villages and highways," endeavoring to persuade
Qieir fellows to abstain from all intoxicating drinks, and to look
to Jesus Christ as the only hope for salvation.

I, therefore, became a member of the Society, by signing
" the total abstinence yledge^^ upon the spot ; as correctly
stated in that able, lucid, most interesting, and important docu-
ment, your Eighth Report.*

Permit me here to record my most grateful thanks to the al-
mighty giver of all good, for his great mercy, in preserving me
in abstinence in public, social, and domestic company, as well as
for enabling me to add, that I now enjoy my glass oi water, far
beyond the most expensive wines I had the honor to partake of,
even at his Majesty's, or his Excellency the Lord Lieutenant's
table.

Had the physician I consulted wrote the simple prescription,
M abstain from all intoxicating drinks" and had I then pos-
sessed the moral courage to act agreeably to it, the sixteen years
passed in frequent pain and weakness, might, by the blessing of
a kind providence, been like the last eighteen months, in which
I have had the happiness to enjoy health and strength, the com-
plaint (hemorrhoids) having altogether disappeared.

My temper, naturally irritable, was made more so even by
the small quantity of wine 1 was in the habit of taking, and I
now enjoy a uniformity of health, to which I was then a per-
fect stranger ; and although I have attained the age of fifty-
seven, yet, \Yith gratitude, can truly say, that I feel altogether
stronger, and my appetite much better, than when I removed
from London, to become a resident in Dublin, nearly thirty years
since.

It is, indeed, a most singular fact, that, in every instance
where our principles of abstinence have been fairly acted upon,
the result has been the same, namely, all agreeing, that their
health of body, and peace of mind have been materially benefit-
ed ; and the zeal possessed by thousands of our brave men in
the working classes of society to save their feliow-mortals, by di-
recting them to the path of abstinence, as well as the powerfiil
abilities manifested in publicly addressing them, are equally re-
markable, and no less gratifying.

As to the capability of a " tee-totaler's exertions," permit me
to mention those made by my dear and worthy friend, Mr. Jo-
seph Livesey, of Preston, who, in October last, traveled up-
wards of three hundred miles in six days; in which time, he

*See the Eighth Report of the American Temperance Society, p. 26.

663] NINTH REPORT. — 1836. 4d

attended five evening and one noon temperance meetings, speak-
ing upwards of twa hours at each of them, without feeling the
least inconvenience or fatigue ; and this he is able and willing
to repeat, whenever opportunity offers, or the cause of tem-
perance requires.

Nor would I omit Mr. Buckingham, Capt. Pilkington, and
the celebrated "Author of Wanderings in South America,"
all of whom have long and steadily acted upon our principles,
and are splendid instances of the great advantages of absti-
nence ; as are also some connected with our " British Associa-
tion," did this paper afford space to communicate them.

Writing so much in the first person singular, may, by some^
be construed into egotism ; but allow me to remind them, they
are positive facts, the result of my own experience and obser-
vation, with regard to the nature and efiects of intoxicating
drinks ; which, at the request of a friend, are transmitted to
you, in the hope, that when embodied with those of more ex-
perienced persons, they may prove serviceable to the rising
generation, by impressing upon their minds, that wherever in-
toxicating liquor has been used as a drink, it has been one of
the most powerful and deadly foes to the social, civil, and re-
ligious interests of men ; and where abstinence from the use of
this liquor has prevailed, that health, virtue and happiness have
been greatly promoted, and all the means for the advancement
of the good of mankind, crowned with augmented success.

That the blessing of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
may rest abundantly upon the labors of your excellent society,
as well as upon those of every other, who act upon the princi-
ple of total abstinence from all intoxicating drinks, is the daily
prayer of, dear sir, your faithful friend and brother in the good
cause."

From the Rev. Lfeonard Woods D. D., Professor of Chris-
tian Theology, in the Theological Seminary, Andover, Massa-
chusetts.

^^ Your request that I would communicate to you, the results
of my own experience and observation in regard to the use of
intoxicating drinks, ought to have been attended to long ago.
My experience is substantially like that of many others ; and
the few remarks I have to make are similar in their import, to
those which have often been made by the advocates of the Tem-
perance Reformation. This circumstance, however, shall not
prevent me from speaking with freedom on a subject which is
so interesting to my feelings, and so important to the welfare
of the community.

When I entered on the work of die ministry^ (thirty-eight

60 AMERICAH TEMPCRAVCK 80CIETT. [564

years ago,) it was the geoeral and almost uniFersal practice for
ministers to make a frequeot use of stimulating drinks, espe«
cially on the Sabbatb. Tbey considered this practice an im-
portant means of promoting their health, sustaining them under
fatigue, and increasing the vigor of their constitution. The
generality of physicians approved of this practice ; and of-
ten recommended brandy, wine, gin, etc., as the best reme-
dy for diseases of the stomach and lungs. Every family that
I visited, deemed it an act of kindness, and no more than what
oommon civility required, to offer me wine, or distilled spirit,
and thought it a little strange, if I refused to drink. At funer-
als, the bereaved friends and others were accustomed to use
strong drink before and after going to the burial. At ordina-
tions, councils, and all other meetings of ministers, different
kinds of stimulating drinks were provided ; and there were
but f^w who did not partake of them.

So long as these liquors were regarded as necessary articles
of living, the expense was little thought of. But reflected up
on now, the annual expense of 15, 20, 30, and 40 gallons of
brandy, wine, gin, etc., appears no small matter to ministers
and others, who are possessed of a bare sufficiency for the sup-
port of their families.

The state of things which I have referred to, among men of
my own profession, together with its manifest consequences,
began, early in my ministry, to alarm my fears. I remember
that at a particular period, before the temperance reforma-
tion commenced, I was able to count up nearly forty ministers
of the gospel and none of them at a very great distance, who
were either drunkards, or so far addicted to intemperate drink-
ing, that their reputation and usefulness were greatly injured,
if not utterly ruined. And I could mention an ordination that
took place about twenty years ago, at which, I, myself, was
ashamed and grieved to see two aged ministers literally drunk ;
and a third, indecently excited with strong drink. These dis-
gusting and appalling facts I should wish might be concealed.
But tbey were made public by the guilty persons ; and I have
thought it just and proper to mention them, in order to show
how much we owe to a compassionate God for the great de-
liverance he has wrought.

After I was admitted to the sacred office, I proceeded only
a few years according to common usage, before I began to ab-
stain in part from diatiiled liquor. For, though my health was
almost uniformly good, I was sometimes troubled with the head-
9che and other complaints, which I was led more and more
distinctly to attribute to the use of such liquor. About thirty
years ago, I gave it up wholly, as a common drink, with very
perceptible benefit to my health. The next step, which re-

565] NIITTH ItBFOHT.-^lSSfl. 5t

quired no smal} degree of resolotioii and firnmess, was fo ex*
ciade it from my uimily, and do longer to provide it for labor^
ers or visitants. Still I continued the occasional use of wine^
especially after the labors of the Sabbath, thinking that I must
take something of the kind, to prevent exhaustion and secure
permanent health. But 1 soon found myself as much mistak-
en in this, as in the other case ; for the effect of wine was in
a great measure the same as that of distilled liquor. And be-
ing more and more sensible that I was better without it, and
having a growing conviction that it was unnecessary and inju-
rious, I gave up wine also, first in ordinary cases, and then
wholly.

Both before and after this, I made long trial, in various ways,
of the effect of other fermented liquors, as cider, ale, and por-
ter. And though they were urged upon me by respectable and
pious meu, and though I was able to bear up under the moder-
ate use of them occasionally ; yet the lesson which my own
experience and observation taught me, was the same here as
in the other cases, that is, that all such drinks are bsth unne*
cessary <md hurtful. And I have now for a long time, and with
a most decided improvement of my health, acted on the prin-
ciple of total abstinence from all intoxicating drinks. So that
the pledge unanimously adopted of late by the officers and stu-
dents of the institutions in this place, and so extensively favor-
ed in this country, has required no change in my practice.

I have said, that I abstain from all intoxicating drinks (rom
a fpll conviction, resulting from long experience and careful ob^
servation, that they are unnecessary and hurtful. But had I
not so full a conviction of this, and did I think the use of wine
and other fermented liquors of some real benefit to me, I should
still feel myself under obligations to abstain, on other grounds.
Ever since the American Temperance Society was formed, it
has been evident to me, as I know it has to you, and to all oth-
ers particularly enlisted in the cause, that the use of ferment-
ed liquors, especially wine, by those who have abandoned dis-
tilled liquors, is a hurtful snare to multitudes in the common
walks of life, and a very great hindrance to the progress of re-
formation through the whole community. After the most seri-
ous consideration of the subject, I have therefose been com-
pelled to renounce the optnkm which in common with many
Others, I was once rather inclhied to adopt, and have become
fully persuaded, that the cause of temperance cannot* prevail
and triumph, without the abandonment of fermenUd as well as
distilled liquors. Here then I am brought under the obligation
of the law of love* And on this ground, I should feel it to
be a sacred duty to give up wine and other fermented liquors

ftS AHEEICAN TEMPEBANCE SOCIETY. [556

as a beverage, though it should involve some real loss of advan-
tage to myself. My obligation in this matter is set in a very
clear light by an appeal to the word of Grod. The sacred
writers lay down many general precepts, which evidently in-
volve the principle I have now introduced. But there are two
passages in particular, from the Epistles of Paul, which bear
more directly upon the subject, and which must be regarded as
conclusive, if we are to be bound by his judgment and exam-
ple. The first is, 1 Cor. 8: 13. '^ Wherefore, if meat make
my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world stand-
eth, lest I make my brother to offend." The other is Rom.
14: 21. ^^ It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine,
nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended,
or is made weak." Such was the disposition of the Apostle
Paul, who possessed as much decision, firmness, and indepen-
dance, as any man living, but who had been with Jesus and
learned of him ; such was the Apostle's disposition to yield
and make sacrifices for the good of others. And how can I
refuse to copy such an example ? Finding that my use of wine
or any other intoxicating drinlc would diminish my power to do
good, and might occasion injury to some of my fellow men, I
should feel myself obliged, from regard to the authority of rev-
elation, and from love to God and man, to give it up, even
though the use of it might be a pleasure to my taste, and an ad-
vantage to my health. But as it is^ I can practice that absti-
nence from stimulating drinks, which the good of others de-
mands, not only without loss in regard to heahh or pleasure,
but with great gain as to both.*

I have frequently, and with deep concern, reflected on the
effect of stimulating drinks upon our moral and religious state.
And such is the result of my reflection, that, if I look back to
the time when ministers and Christians generally made use of
such drinks, I am ready to wonder that their spiritual interests
were not totally blasted, and doubtless they would have been
thus blasted, had not God, in great forbearance and mercy,
winked at the times of this ignorance. But with the light now
cast on the subject, it seems to me incredible, that a minister
of the gospel can be in the habit of using any intoxicating li-
quor, though in moderate quantities, without essentially injuring
his own piety, and diminishing the success of his labors. This
view of the subject, which I have taken the liberty to express
very, plainly, is the result of much sober and careful observation
on myself and others, as to the moral influence of the habit
which was once so common. It tends to inflame all thfxt is de-

* In the above remarksi I have no reference to the use of wine, at the Lord*!i
Supper.

567] NINTH BEPORT. — 1836. 53

proved and earthly in a minister j and to extinguish all that is
spiritual and holy. It is poison to the soui, as really as to the
body. Such is ray conviction, and there are hundreds and
thousands who have the same conviction, and will express it
in terms equally strong. Nor is it any matter of imagination
or conjecture with us. We know it just as certainly as any
one, from uniform experience and observation, knows the ef-
fect of opium or arsenic upon the animal system ; and just as
certainly as any Christian knows by experience the effect pro-
duced upon his spiritual state by the commission of sin. We
know it by sorrowful recollection. We know it by what was,
at the time, a reaZ but frequendy a suppressed inward conscious-
ness. And it was this deep consciousness, which always kept
me and most other ministers from drinking any distilled or fer-
mented liquor, just before engaging in any religious service^
public or private.

And now, let us render praise to him, from whom all good
thoughts, wise counsels and useful actions proceed. Thanks
be to God for what his hand has wrought, and for the unlock-
ed for success with which he has crowned the labors of his ser-
vants, who have been enlisted in this cause. For where, my
brother, in all New England, and I was going to say, in the
United States of America, — where now can a true minister of
Christ be found, who keeps up the practice of using strong,
drink ? If unhappily I should find such an one, whether old or
young; I would earnestly beseech that dear brother, by the
mercies of God, to lay aside a practice which thousands of
ministers know assuredly to be a clog to devotion, and a hin-
drance to growth in grace, to spiritual enjoyment, and to min-
isterial success."

Such are specimens of the effects produced upon hundreds of
thousands, of all ages, and in all departments of life, of abstinence
from the use, as a beverage, of all intoxicating liquor. These
specimens might be multiplied to almost any extent, did the cause
require it; but enough, it is believed, have been exhibited, in
connection with the foregoing principles, reasonings, and facts, to
set this matter, in the minds of all candid, unprejudiced persons,
forever at rest. All the information which the committee have
been able to obtain, and all the views, which, after ten years labor,
they are now able to take of this subject, go to confirm the cor-
rectness of the above-mentioned statements. And they cannot but
consider it as now fiilly proved, that intoxicating liquor, as a bev-
erage, is not needful or useful to men ; that it is, indeed, an ene-
my to the human constitution, and, in its effects, hurtful to thQ
body and soul ; that it produces many, and aggravates most, of

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