r COL. GEORGE WASHINGTON FLOWERS MEMORIAL COLLECTION TRINITY COLLEGE LIBRARY DURHAM, N.C. Established by the family of COL. GEORGE WASHINGTON FLOWERS Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2017 with funding from Duke University Libraries https://archive.org/details/temperancevolume01amer THE 6 <> TEMPERANCE VOLUME; ^ ^ ^ EUpUCING SEVENTEEN TRACTS OP THE AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY. PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY, NO. 150 NASSAU-STREET, NEW-YORK. D. Fanthatr, Printer. .^4 I \ u \ ^ \ Jfu . / ^ «^ p « n g,)' A i'/'i INTRODUCTION. It is believed that many will be gratified to possess the stand- ard Temperance Tracts published by the American Tract So- ciety, in this neat and substantial form ; whether regard be had to their own reading, occasional reference, loaning, or selecting from them Tracts for general distribution. Intelligent readers wilt bear in mind, that the freedom of the press is a price put into their hands, not only to gel wisdom, but to impart it to others and to all; and that, as he who locks up the treasures of the Gospel in his own breast, and makes no efforts to impart them, is but a sorry Christian ; so he who exults in his own escape from the poison of ardent spirit, but does nothing generously to rescue others, is not the consistent friend of man. The Temperance Reform is a glorious era in our history, and in the history of the world; yet it is to be considered as but just commenced. Millions are still suffering and exposed to ruin from the effects of ardent spirit, and millions more are coming on, to be alike exposed and ruined for both worlds, should the friends of Temperance relax their efforts. Under these impressions the following Tracts, and the great cause they advocate, are com- mended anew to an enlightened public and the smiles of be- nignant Heaven. , I sirv ' , r : a; 'v , •, ’ ‘ t - . ' i(|P' - ■' - V • , >.:-.; • .. If • 'i-j ■CONTENTS. Ko. of Tract. "'25. Effects of Ardent Spirit on the body and mind. -ir2. A Plantation in Ruins, or History of Peter and John Hay. 125. The Traffic in Ardent Spirit. 159. The Rewards of Drunkenness. 176. The Well-conducted Farm 221. Address on the Effects of Ardent Spirits. 233. Appeal to American Youth on Temperance. . 239. Alarm to Distillers and their Allies. 240. Putnam and the Wolf. .... 242. Argument against the Manufacture of Ardent Spirit . 244. Address to Young Men of the United States. 247. Who slew all these ? . . . . 249. Eflfects of Intemperance on the intellectual, moral, and physical powers. . 270. Scripture Argument for Temperance. . 2S8. Four Reasons against the Use of Alcoholic Liquors, ...... 300. Debates of Conscience with a Distiller, a Whole- Dr. Rush. Dr. Edwards; Dr. Edwards. I. Kittredge. A. Dickinson. . B. Dickinson. . J. Marsh. Prof. Hitchcock. Bp. M’llvaiae. . Dr. Sewall. A. Dickinson. Dr. Gridley. sale Dealer, and a Retailer. Pres’t Humphrey. 176089 NO, 25 , THE EFFECTS OF ARDEiXT SPIRITS UPON THE HVISAH BOEV ASTB MXHD. BY BKNJAMIN RUSH, M. D. By ardent spirits, I mean those liquors only which are obtained by distillation from fermented substances of any kind. To their effects upon the bodies and minds of men, the following inquiry shall he exclusively confined. Eer-^ ir.ented liquors contain so little spirit, and that so intimately combined with other matters, that they can seldom be drunk- en in sufficient quantities to produce intoxication and its sub- sequent effects without exciting a disrelish to their taste, or pain, from their distending the stomach. They are, more- over, when taken in a moderate quantity, generally innocent, and often have a friendly influence upon health and life. The effects of ardent spirits divide themselves into such as are of a prompt, and such as are of a chronic nature. The former discover themselves in drunkenness ; and the latter, in a numerous train of diseases and vices of the body and mind. 1 . I shall begin by briefly describing their prompt or im- mediate effects, in a fit of drunkenness. This odious disease (for by that name it should be called) appears with more or less of the following symptoms, and most commonly in the order in which I shall enumerate them. 1. Unusual garrulity 2. Unusual silence. C. Captiousness, and a disposition to quarrel. 2 THE EFFECTS OF ARDENT SPIRITS [2S2 4. Uncommon good humor, and an insipid simpering, or laugh. 5. Profane swearing and cursing. 6. A disclosure of their own or other people’s secrets 7. A rude disposition to tell those persons in company, whom they know, their faults. 8. Certain immodest actions. I am sorry to say th s sign of the first stage of drunkenness sometimes appears in women, who, when sober are uniformly remarkable for chaste and decent manners. 9. A clipping of words. 10. Fighting ; a black eye, or a swelled nose, often mark this grade of drunkenness. 11. Certain extravagant acts which indicate a temporary fit of madness. These are singing, hallooing, roaring, imita- ting the noises of brute animals, jumping, tearing off clothes, dancing naked, breaking glasses and china, and dashing other articles of household furniture upon the ground or floor. After a while the paroxysm of drunkenness is com- pletely formed. The face now becomes flushed, the eyes project, and are somewhat watery, winking is less frequent than is natural ; the under lip is protruded — the head inclines a little to one shoulder — the Jaw falls — belchings and hickup take place — the limbs totter — the whole body staggers. The unfortunate subject of this history next falls on his seat — he looks around him with a vacant countenance, and mutters inarticulate sounds to himself^ — he attempts to rise and walk : in this attempt he falls upon his side, from which he gradu- ally turns upon his back : he now closes his eyes and falls into a profound sleep, frequently attended with snoring, and profuse sweats, and sometimes with such a relaxation of the muscles which confine the bladder and the lower boweb, as to produce a symptom which delicacy farbids me to men- tion. In this condition he often lies fiom ten, twelve, and twenty-four hours, to two, three, four, and five days, an ob- ject of pity and disgust to his family and friends. His re- covery from this fit of intoxication is marked with several peculiar appearances. He opens his eyes and closes them again — he gapes and stretches his limbs — he then coughs and pukes — his voice is hoarse — he rises with difficulty, and staggers to a chair — his eyes resemble balls of fire — his hands tremble — he loathes the sight of food — he calls for a glass 283] UPON THE HUMAN BODY AND MIND. 3 of spirits to compose liis stomach — now and then he emits a deep-fetched sigli, or groan, from a transient twinge of conscience; but he more frequently scolds, and curses every thing around him. In this state of languor and stu- pidity he remains for two or three days before he is able to resume his former habits of business and conver- sation. Pythagoras, we are told, maintained that the souls of men after death expiated the crimes committed by them in this world by animating certain brute animals ; and that the souls of those animals, in their turns, entered into men, and carried with them all their peculiar qualities and vices. This doctrine of one of the wisest and best of the Greek philoso- phers, was probably intended only to convey a lively idea of the changes which are induced in the body and mind of man by a fit of drunkenness. In folly, it causes him to re- semble a calf — in stupidity, an ass — in roaring, a mad bull — in quarrelling and fighting, a dog — in cruelty, a tiger — in fetor, a skunk — in filthiness, a hog — and in obscenity, a he-goat. It belongs to the history of drunkenness to remark, that its paroxj’sms occur, like the paroxysms of many diseases, at certain periods, and after longer or shorter intervals. They often begin with annual, and gradually increase in their frequency, until they appear in quarterly, monthly, weekly, and quotidian, or dail}' periods. Finally they afford scarce- ly any marks of remission either during the day or the night. There was a citizen of Philadelphia, many years ago, in whom drunkenness appeared in this protracted form. In speaking of him to one of his neighbors, I said, “ Does he not somc/imes get drunk 1” “You mean,” said his neigh- bor, “ is he not sometimes sober V' It is further remarkable, that drunkenness resembles cer- tain hereditary, family, and contagious diseases. I have once known it to descend from a father to four out of five of his children. I have seen three, and once four brothers, who were born of sober ancestors, affected by it ; and I have heard of its spreading through a whole family composed of members not originally related to each other. These facts are important, and should not be overlooked by pa- rents, in deciding upon the matrimonial connexions of their children. 4 THK EFFECTS OF AUDE;NT SPIRITS [284 II. 1 jCt US next attend to llie chronic effects of ardent spirits upon the body and mind. In the body tliey dispose to every form of acute disease ; they moreover excile fevers in persons predisposed to tliem from otiier causes. This has been remarked in all the yellow fevers which have visit- ed the cities of the United States. Hard drinkers seldom escape, and rarely recover from them. The following dis- eases are the usual consequences of the habitual use of ar- dent spirits, viz. 1. A decay of appetite, sickness at stomach, and a puking of bile, or a discharge of a frothy and viscid phlegm, by hawking, in the morning. 2. Obstructions of the liver. The fable of Prometheus, on whose liver a vulture was said to prey constantly as a punishment for his stealing lire from heaven, was intended to illustrate the painful effects of ardent spirits upon that organ of the body. 3. Jaundice, and dropsy of the belly and limbs, and finally of every cavity in the body. A swelling in the feet and legs is so characteristic a mark of habits of intemperance, that the merchants in Charleston, I have been told, cease to trust the planters of South Carolina as soon as they per- ceive it. They very naturally conclude industrt' and virtue to be extinct in that man, in whom that symptom of disease has been produced by the intemperate use of distilled spirits. 4. Hoarseness, and a husky cough, which often terminate in consumption, and sometimes in an acute and fatal disease of the lungs. 5. Diabetes, that is, a frequent and weakening discha.''ge of pale or sweetish urine. 6. Redness, and eruptions on different parts of the bod^'. They generally begin on the nose, and after graduallv ex- tending all over the face, sometimes descend to the limbs in the form of leprosy. They have been called “ Rum buds,” when they appear in the face. In persons who have occa- sionally survived these effects of ardent spirits on the skin, the face after a while becomes bloated, and its redness is succeeded by a death-like paleness. Thus, the same fire which produces a red colour in iron, when urged to a more intense degree, produces what has been called a white heat. 7. A fetid breath, composed of every thing that is oflen- sive in putrid animal matter. UPON THE HUMAN BODY AND MIND. 5 8. Frequent and disgusting belcliings. Dr. Haller relates the case of a notorious drunkard having been suddenly de- stroyed in consequence of the vapour discharged from his stomach by belching, accidentally taking fire by coming in contact with the flame of a candle. 9. Epilepsy. 10. Gout, in all its various forms of swelled limbs, colic, pals}’’, and apoplexy. 11. Lastly, madness. The late Dr. Waters, while he acted as house pupil and apothecary of the Pennsylvania Hospital, assured me, that in one-third of the patients con- fined by this terrible disease, it had been induced by ardent spirits. Most of the diseases which have been enumerated are of a mortal nature. They are more certainly induced, and ter- minate more speedily in death, when spirits are taken in such quantities, and at such times, as to produce frequent intoxication ; but it may serve to remove an error with which some intemperate people console themselves, to remark, that ardent spirits often bring on fatal diseases without pro- ducing d) unkenness. I have known man}' persons destroyed by them who were never completely intoxicated during the whole course of their lives. The solitary instances of lon- gevity which are now and then met with in hard drinkers, no more disprove the deadly effects of ardent spirits than the solitary instances of recoveries from apparent death by drowning, prove that (here is no danger to life from a hu- man body lying an hour or two under water. The body, after its death, from the use of distilled spirits, exhibits, by dissection, certain appearances which are of a peculiar nature. The fibres of the stomach and bowels are contracted — abscesses, gangrene, and schirri are found in the viscera. The bronchial vessels are contracted — (he blood-vessels and tendons in many parts of the body are more or less ossified, and even the hair of the head pos- sesses a crispness which renders it less valuable to wig- makers than the hair of sober people. Not less destructive are the effects of ardent spirits upon the human mind. They impair the memory, debilitate the understanding, and pervert the moral faculties. It was pro bably from observing these effects of intemperance in drink ing upon the mind, that a law was formerly passed in Spain Vol. N 6 THE EFFECTS OF ARDENT SPIRITS [28G which excluded drunkards from being witnesses in a court of justice. But the demoralizing effects of distilled spirits do not stop here. They produce not only falsehood, but fraud, theft, uncleanliness, and murder. Like the demoniac mentioned in the New Testament, their name is “ Legion,” for they convey into the soul a host of vices and crimes. A more affecting spectacle cannot be exhibited than a person into whom this infernal spirit, generated by habits of intemperance, has entered : it is more or less affecting, according to the station the person fills in a family, or in society, who is possessed by it. Is he a husband 1 How deep the anguish which rends the bosom of his wife ! Is she a wife I Who can measure the shame and aversion which she excites in her husband I Is he the father, or is she the mother of a family of children! See their averted looks from their parent, and their blushing looks at each other ! Is he a magistrate? or has he been chosen to fill a high and respectable station in the councils of his country r What humiliating fears of corruption in the administration of the laws, and of the subversion of public order and happiness, appear in the countenances of all who see him ! Is he a minister of the Gospel ? Here language fails me. If angels weep — it is at such a sight. In pointing out the evils produced by ardent spirits, let us not pass by their effects upon the estates of the persons who are addicted to them. Are they inhabitants of cities.^ Behold ! their houses stripped graduall}' of their furniture, and pawned, or sold by a constable, to pay tavern debts. See ! their names upon record in the dockets of every court, and whole pages of newspapers filled with advertisements of their estates for public sale. Are they inhabitants of coun- try places ? Behold ! their houses with shattered windows — their barns with leaky roofs — their gardens overrun with weeds — their fields with broken fences — their hogs without yokes — their sheep without wool — their cattle and horses without fat — and their children, filthy and half clad, without manners, principles and morals. This picture of agricultu- ral wretchedness is seldom of long duration. The farms and property thus neglected and depreciated are seized and sold for the benefit of a group of creditors. The chil- dren that were born with the prospect of inheriting them are bound out to service in the neighborhood ; while their 287] UPON THE HUBIAN BODY AND MIND. 7 parents, tlie unworthy authors of their misfortunes, ramble into new and distant settlements, alternately fed on their way by the hand of charity, or a little casual labor. Thus we see poverty and miserj', crimes and infamy, diseases and death, are all the natural and usual conse- quences of the intemperate use of ardent spirits. I have classed death among the consequences of hard diinking. But it is not death from the immediate hand of the Deity, nor from any of the instruments of it which v/ere created by him : it is death from suicide. Yes — thou poor degraded creature who art daily lifting the poisoned bowl to thy lips — cease to avoid the unhallowed ground in which the self-murderer is interred, and wonder no longer t.hat the sun should shine, and the rain fall, and the grass look green upon his grave. Thou art perpetrating, graduallv, by the use of ardent spirits, what he has efi'ected suddenly by opium or a halter. Considering how many circumstances from surprise, or derangement, may palliate his guilt, or that (unlike yours) it was not preceded and accompanied by any other crime, it is probable his condemnation will be less than yours at the day of judgment. I shall now take notice of the occasions and circumstances which are supposed to render liie use of ardent spirits ne- cessary, and endeavor to show that the arguments in favor of their use in such cases, are founded in error, and that in each of them ardent spirits, instead of affording strength to the body, increase the evils they are intended to relieve. 1 . They are said to be necessar}' in very cold weather. This is far from being true, for the temporary warmth they produce is always succeeded by a greater disposition in the body to be affected by cold. Warm dresses, a plentiful meal just before exposure to the cold, and eating occasionally a little gingerbread, or any other cordial food, is a much more durable method of preserving the heat of the body in cold weather. 2. They are said to be necessary in very warm weather. Experience proves that they increase instead of lessening the effects of heat upon the body, and thereby dispose to diseases of all kinds. Even in the warm climate of the West Indies, Dr. Bell asserts this to be true. “ Rum,” says this author, “ whether used habitually, moderately, or in exces- sive quantities in the West Indies, always diminishes the 8 THE EFFECTS OF ARDENT SPIRITS, &c. Strength of the body, and renders men more susceptible of disease, and unfit for any service in which vigor or activity is required.”* As well might we throw oil into a house, the roof of which was on fire, in order to prevent the flames from extending to its inside, as pour ardent spirits into the stomach to lessen the effects of a hot sun upon the skin. 3. Nor do ardent spirits lessen the effects of hard labor upon the body. Look at the horse, with every muscle of liis body swelled from morning till night in the plough, or a team ; does he make signs for a draught of toddy, or a glass of spirits, to enable him to cleave the ground, or to climb a hill.^ No — he requires nothing but cool water and substan- tial food. There is no nourishment in ardent spirits. The strength they |noduce in labor is of a transient nature, and is always followed by a sense of weakness and fatigue. * See his “ Inquiry into the causes which produce, and the means of preventing diseases, among British othcers, soldiers, and others, in the \Vest Indies.” WANGEK FRC31 ARDENT SPIRITS. Lvery man is in danger of becoming a drunkard who is in the habit of drinking ardent spirits — 1. When he is warm. 2. When he is cold. 3. Wlien he is wet. 4. When he is dry. 5. When he is dull. 6. When he is lively. 7. When he travels. 8. When he is at home. 9. When he is in company. 10. Wlien he is alone. 11. When he is at work. 12. When he is idle. 13. Before meals. 14. After meals. 15. When he gets up. 16. When he goes to bed. 17. On holidays. 18. On public occasions. 19. On any day; or, 20. On any occasion. END. mo4 112 HISTORY OF FETEB. AND JOHN HAY. " Like one distracted, poor Mrs. Hay rushed to the fire to save her husband.”— See po^-e 10. PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, ASD SOLD AT THEIR DEPOSITORY, NO. 150 NA9SAU-STREET, NEAR THE CITY-HALL, NEW-YORK! AND BY AGENTS OF THE SOCIETY, ITS BRANCHES, AND AUXILIARIES, IN THE PRINCIPAL CITIES AND TOWNS IN THE UNITED STATES. PETER AND JOHN HAY. Peter and John Hay were brothers. John remained single, but Peter v/as married, and had become the father of a little son. Their prospects in life were highly' prom- ising. By wisely improving the fruits of their father's la- bours, they were growing rich ; and by freely i.mparting of their riches in acts of hospitality, they had rendered themselves very dear to all their neighbours. John, the younger and single brother, lived with his father : but Peter and his wife, with their liitle son, lived by them- selves. For convenience sake they had chosen different houses to live in, yet it might well be said of them that they lived together; for their houses were not farther apart than just served for a pleasant walk, -which was al- most every day indulged, either by the old gentleman go- ing over to see and play with his little grandson, or by his mother fondly carrying the child over to prattle with his grandfather. Shaded by the I'ustling trees, and fanned by every breeze of summer, their liouses stood on the gi-ace- ful ridge that bounds on the north the great valley' of the Congaree, wmile below, far stretching to the river, lay their fruitful fiebls, covered over with bursting pods of cotton, white as the driven snow ; and on either side, a wilderness of corn, with lusty shocks, gratefully pointing to heaven. The silver flood that embosomed their planta- tion was stored with fish and wild fowl of many a savoury sort. Their numerous herds poured them forth milk in foaming pailsfull, while, from the flowers that perfumed both held and forest, the ever busy bees supplied them yearly with hives of honey-comb. O J avoured family 1 the reader is ready to exclaim ; thrice favoured^ whose lines are cast in such pleasant places' Sure they will improve the bounties of their God, and secure to themselves a felicity proportionate to such opportunities. Doubtless each morn, mild as it opens, will attest their waking joys ; and every' day, bright as it rolls PETER AND JOHN HAY. 3 231 j along, will mark their cheerful toils ; crowning with grat- itude each mercy of the present life, and looking forward with hope to the better blessings of the next. Such was the result to have been hoped for, and such, indeed, to have been expected, by all who beheld their distinguished lot. But alas! what avails it to put good into the hands of those who know not its worth ? Wisdom to understand our benefits, and gratitude to adore the Benefactor, — these are the only essentials of happiness. But, alas! Peter and John Play possessed not these essentials ; “ Knowledofe, to them, her ample page, Rich with the spoils of time, had ne’er displayed.” They considered not the many gloomy regions of the earth bound in eternal ice and snow. How then could they enjoy their own favoured clime, where nature crowns the copious year with fruits and golden grain ? And still less did they consider Him, the Great Author of all, whom, in all his wondrous works, to contemplate, with ever admiring, ever adoring delight, constitutes our only heaven upon earth. For lack of this, what wonder they should have turned to the garbage of the world ! And disappointed there of true pleasure, what wonder they should have seized the false pleasures of the intoxicating Clip ! Great was the grief of their neighbours, when they be- held these young men yielding themselves up the slaves of intemperance, and, for so ignoble a vice, tarnishing the lustre of their long respected names. But greater still the grief of their aged father. Lovely in his eyes had shone the cheeks of his beys, all reddened over with the roses of youth. To see those dear cheeks inflamed, though with hut an innocent fever, had often wrung his heart; then, oh! how passing the bitterness of death, to see them swollen and ghastly red with infla- ming liquors. Divorced from the world by his gray hairs, he had wisely confined himself to the society of his chil- dren, fondly hoping in their aft'ections to forget the world’s neglect ; in their bloom to see his youth renewed ; and in their virtues, his own name immortalized. Ah ! who but a parent can conceive his grief, when he saw those dear- 4 PETER ANn JOHN HAY. L232 est hopes of nature all blasted for ever ! With cheeks bathed in tears, he sat in the silence of his silver locks, ^oing (loivn in sorrow to his grave. But there \vas one whose grief w’as far more pungent still. 1 mean the young wife of Mr. Peter Hay. Wedded to her husband by the tenderest ties of love, and therefore •• tremblingly alive” to his interest and honour, the first time she saw her husband deformed by intemperance, she turned pale with terror. Her fears, however, at first were soothed with hope. But when she found that, in spite of all her tears and all his own promises, he still continued, time after time, to come home stupified and staggering with drink, she yielded herself up to despair. Like a young widow by her husband’s grave, she often sat by his bedside, deeply revolving her early blasted hopes, and the sad change that had passed in her late happy fam- ily. Till of late he had always returned from Court, with looks brightened with the double joy of conscious integ- rity nod love ; till of late, with her little son in her hand, sire hail ahvavs flown to welcome his return, and accom- pany him to the parlour. There, leaning on his bosom, with her boy in her lap, she was wont to listen, delighted, to his sprightly voice, as he related the pleasant occurren- ces of the day. But now, alas ! those happy scenes are no more. Now, whenever he comes home, it is in a reeling gait, and his face is marked with the sullen iVown of conscious guilt. Returning from court one night, rather more disguised than usual, he had not strength to gain the door, but trip- ping at the last step, he fell forward sprawling into the piaz/.a. His little son was not yet put to bed, though the hour was late, hut stood, heavy-eyed and nodding, at the knees ot' his mother, who, with an aching heart, was sitting up, waiting for her husband’s return. Hearing the noise of his heavy fall, and suspecting what it was, she cried out, “ Oh ! mj God /” and snatching a catidle, ran to the door. Her little son followed. On reaching the door, she beheld a spectacle too |)aint'ul to he presented before the fancy of the reader — What then was it for the eyes of an aiTectioQ' ate wife ' 233 ] PETKR AND JOHN HAY b The next morning, red faced and snoring like an apo- jdectic patient, he lay till late. Poor Mrs. Hay, pale and dee[)!y sighing, le/t her sleepless bed, and leading her lit- tle son by the ha-nd, waliced downstairs, sad and silent, to the parlour. Tiie child had not yet learned to know the cause of this change, but he felt that the present morning Avas not joyful like the past, and he wept. The breakfast -table was set, spread with snow-white fiiaper, and covered with a set of purest china, and tea-pots and sugar dishes of solid silver. On the marble hearth, before a lire of hickory, glittered acotfee-pot of the same precious metal, waiting the reception of the family. But nothing could divert the settled melancholy of poor Mrs. H.ay. With her child at her knees, and her fore- head leaning on the back of the chair, like a statue, dumb ^vith grief, she sat regardless of all but her own hapless lot — her husband’s sore disgrace, and the ruin impendent over herself and child. Often, as borne along the stream of mournful thought, she would deeply groan and heave, the most piercing sighs; then, stooping down to her little son, s-he would kiss him and press him to her bosom, wa- tering* his chcckc with hei Ip.jxrS. About twelve o’clock, her husband came down stairs, and in sullen silence entered the parlour ; but, oh! how changed liom the temperate and elegant Mr. Hay, of a few months ago ! Whoever saw him then, bright in the pure robes of innocence and joy, without adoring the charm of virtue ? Who could see him now, long bearded, with red eyes and carbuncled face, but must lift the pity- ing eye, and sighingly exclaim, “ Jllas ! my brother Poor Mrs. Hay ! She marked the woful change, and wept. The child ran and stretched his little arms to his father, who took him up and kissed him. “O Pa!” said the lisping angel, with his arms around his neck, “ you don’t know how I did cry for you last night. Pa.” “ Cry for me, my baby, what made you cry for me ?” “ O Pa, 1 did cry for you because you were so sick. Pa ; what did make you so sick. Pa ?” He could make no answer to his son, but, deeply blush- ing and confused, looked up to his w'ife. 6 PETER AND JOHN lUY. [234 The words of the child, with the guilty looks of her husband, overcame her; with eyes rolling in tears, she gave him one melting look, and suddenly turning aside her face, burst into a loud cry. Hearing the cries of his mother, the child slipped from his father’s lap, and running to her knees, joined his art- less cries with hers. The scene was too much for poor Mr. Hay ; pale and silent with anguish, he got up and went to the door, and there, as he wiped the trickling tears from his face, a thousand and a thousand times did he wish he was dead. Her tears flowed afresh. Moved by her cries, he went and sat dowm by her side, and embraced her. But alas ! it was not that fond and hearty embrace iii which conscious innocence is wont to clasp its beloved object. It was the sad approach of guilt to innocence; constrained and shy. With her face still turned away, she continued to weep. He entreated her to Le composed, assuring her that this was the last time ; for that he would never give her cause of sorrow any more. She turned towards him, and throw- ing her arms around his neck, with her cheek on his bosom, bathed with tears, cried aloud, Ob, my husband ! Don’t promise so any more. How often have you promised me so before ; and yet you go on to break my heart. You wish you were dead ; Oh ! it is 7 who should wish to die ; and were it not for my child, glad should I be to die this very night. Yes, but for the pain of leaving him a poor or- phan, gladly would I lie down and part with all my sorrows this night in the grave.” At this, he tenderly embraced and kissed her, repeat- ing his assurances that he would never, never more, her cause of grief. “ Besides,” continued he, “ I am the person that ought to weep, and not you. 1 am the one that has played the fool, and disgraced myself ; but you, in- nocent and good as you are, what cause have you of grief?” “ Oh, said she, eagerly looking at him, how little do you know of my heart ! 1 w'as young when I married you ; was called handsome, and thought rich ; what then could have induced me to make you my husband, but afl'ection ? How then, without distraction, can I see the dishonour that you are bringing upon yourself, and also the certain rum of myself and your jioor unoffending child ?” — 235 ] rETER ANI> JOHN HAY. “ O no ! my dear,” rejoined he, interrupting her, “that I deny. I agree I do dishonour myself, and am truly asham- ed of it; hut as to bringing ruin upon you and our dear child, that’s all out of the question; I shall keep clear enough of that.” “ Oh, my dear husband,” replied she, “I pray you, don’t flatter yourself any more with that hope. It is a tiital, fatal hope, that has ruined thousands, and will, I fear, ruin you anti 3mur family too. How hard is it for a man to thrive with all his industry and wits about him ! Then how can it be done by one who is stupified and palsied by hard drink ? You know that after a single night of intemperance you are sick for several days, ai unfit for business ; and even when you return to it again, „is not with that delight which jmu formerly manifested in it. And it makes me mourn, to think what a sad change has taken place in you in that respect. Formerly you seemed never happy but at home. Myself and 3mur little son, with your plantation and the improvement of it, seemed to make all your paradise. It appeared as though you wanted nothing more. Your looks bespoke the most perfect contentment and cheer- fulness. And, O how often and how heartily did I thank God, that, while so many other husbands were not satis- fied with their wives, you were so well satisfied with me ; that while so many other husbands ivere constantly run- ning to taverns and company for pleasure, 3'ou appeared to look for pleasure no where but in me and your little family. But now, lilas! that for which 1 so often pitied others, is come upon me also. You seem never to be happy with us now. When you stay at home, it seems only to be that you may get well of 3"our sickness ; and as soon as you are well again, you appear w’retched at home. Your vivacity is gone. Contentment has left 3'our countenance. You sit silent, or mope about, as if you wanted something you Sannot find at home. And then you order your horse, and go away, leaving me here, Avith my little son, to solitude and distraction. Oh, how can I bear to drag out life, weeping, and broken-hearted as I have been, ever since you took to this fatal course ! Oh, when I look back to the happy days so lately past ; w'hen I think how enviable above all Avomen Avas mj" lot ; 8 PETER AND JOHN HAY. [236 my dear husband, young, handsome, and affectionate ; my estate ample, and still becoming more so by bis virtues, and my little son daily growing up the sweet atid smiling image of his father! This, but a few short months ago, was my prospect ; all bright with honour and happiness. But, oh ! where is it now ? All overcast and darkened for ever ! 1 have no comfort, no hope in any thing around me. If I look at you, my heart bleeds ; your face is bloat- ed, your eyes are red, your whole air melancholy and sad. If 1 lock at my son, it sets my heart a bleeding, he is so changed; he never plays now as he did. You, who once so delighted in him, have forsaken him. 1 am alws 3'8 w’eeping. He feels himself a poor forlorn child, and often comes and stands at my knees, and cries as it he would break his heart. And indeed, ^vere he to smile and laugh, he ivould make me weep to think what evils are coming upon him. 1 see gamblers and sharpers crowding around }'ou ; pressing yo\i to drink, getting you tipsy, winning your money, and then taking your notes. I never look at you riding away from the house, but 1 feel a deadly' sick- ness at heart ; I feel a sad foreboding that 1 shall never see y'ou again. A thousand times a day do 1 see you killed by your horse, or drowned in the deep waters, or dying of some of those deaths by which men in their cups gene- rally' perish. Then I see the creditors coming to tear ev- ery thing from us, selling all over our heads, and turning my poor boy and myself out of house and home, to starve or beg. Oh I why was 1 ever born ; Or why did I not die before I ever came to see such woful days as these !” Here she burst into piercing cries. Her husband, poor wretch ! in the mean time stood looking on, sobbing, and promising great amendments. For a lew days he kept his promise ; which sprung a fresh dawn of hope in the bosom of this excellent woman. But, alas I all his promised' reformation was but as the morning dew before the burning sun. At the very' next court he was ensnared by a pack of gambler's, who get- ting him tipsy, won his money, horse, saddle, bridle, and great coat ! Some short time afterwards, on his way from Charleston, where it rvas understood he had received a sum of money', he was decoyed by' the same gang of sharp- 237] TETER AND JOHN HAY. 9 crs, who got him drunk, and won eight hundred dollars of liim. In this way he would no douht have broken his wife’s heart, and beggared his boy, had not God in his providence prevented it, by suddenly taking him away, and also his brother John ; and in a manner which, 1 pray God, may strike terror in the hearts of all who read this awful story. Their fields near the river, as I have said, brought forth plenteously, insomuch that, like the man in the Gos- pel, they began to be at a loss where “ lo hestorv their fruits, and their goodsd’’ I know not that they pulled down their old barns, but it is certain they built a large new barn, in one end of which they finished an apartment for their overseer. In tliis apartment they found their de- struction. Fearing to get drunk at home, and yet so en- slaved to strong drink tliat tliey could not live without it, they came to the resolution to keep a jug ot’ l um in their barn. On a cold and very windy morrdng in Hlarch, they went down, at an early hour, to the barn; and, using the cold as a [)lea for a dram, they wont on drui/uning it, and dramining it,’’’’ till they got perfectly drunk, and fell down witl'.out sense or motion on the tloor. In this aovful moment the building took fire 1 owing, as was said, to the carelessness of an old negro woman, who had hobbled that morning with her pipe in her moutli into the barn, which contained a large quantity of hackled Iienq). The first thing that struck the attention of the negroes at work in the fields, as also of old Mr. Hay and his excellent daugh- ter-in-law, was a {irodigious smoke issuing in black vol- umes from the barn. Instantly, from all parts of the plan- tation, there was a violent runiung together of the fam- ily, white and black, to save the barn. But all, alas! too slow ; for scarcely had they got half ^vay, before they be- lield the tlames bursting out from all sides of the building, with a noise like thunder. Though aghast with horror and despair, they still continued lo run as fast as they could cowards the dreadful contlagration, and there, around the raging element, amidst mingled shrieks and screams, noth- ing was to be heard but, “ Where is young masters “ Oh, jny children! wy children I'' — Aly htishand ! Oh, nnj hus- band “ Oh, Pu / Pa I Pa Vol. 4. L 10 PETER AND JOHN HAY. [238 Presently they were presented with a spectacle almost too shocking to relate. Through the red billowy fiamesj which, driven by the fury of the wind, had now complete- ly encircled the apartment, and burst open the door, they distinctly beheld these wretched brothers lying dead- drunk and helpless on the floor, and the fire rapidly seiz- ing on every thing around them. Like one distracted, poor Mrs. Hay rushed to the fire to save her husband. But the forbidding flames, with scorching blast on her face, struck her back, senseless and suffocated, to the ground. The negroes, too, roused to the utmost by their strong sympathies, made many daring efforts to save their young masters, but in vain ; for after getting miserably scorch- ed, they were compelled to give them up; and, with bleeding hearts, to behold the flames kindling upon them. Built of combustible materials, the barn was quickly re- duced to ashes, which being speedily swept away by the violence of the wind, left the hapless pair lying side by side, pale, chalky skeletons on the whitened earth. Thus ends this most affecting narrative. How applica- ble are the words of the inspired Apostle to the wretch- ed and awful case of these miserable men, “ The end of these things is death !” The vice that destroyed them is one especially suited to the design of him “ who, like a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour.” By it, the understanding is blinded, and the conscience bribed, or ” seared as with a hot iron.” Even the com- mon affections of nature are deadened, and often utterly destroyed ; so that, in not a few instances, men, and wo- men too, have sunk even below brutality, and have lost all feeling and concern for their dearest relations and tender offspring ! Ah! how many have set out on the journey of life with delightful prospects before them, who yet have been caught in this snare of the infernal fowler, out of which so few escape I O ! who can con- ceive of the many dreadful consequences of drunkenness, both temporal and eternal ! It has destroyed the health, 239] PKTER AND JOHN HAY. 11 and beggared the families, and ruined the souls of thou- sands. Reader, are you a temperate drinker ? If so, remem- ber, that whenever you apply the glass to your lips, you are forming an unnatural appetite, which, by a law of your nature, will increase the more it is cherished, and threatens to destroy you. Your only safety is in total abstinence from all intoxicating drinks. Receive the above affecting narrative as a friendly caution ! Reflect on the awful condition of those who, by the insidious progress of this sin, have blasted every fair prospect for this life, and plunged themselves into a miserable eter- nity. Go to the Lord Jesus Christ for strength to resist this and every temptation. Commit your soul and all your ways to him. Hear his tender expostulations : “ Seek^e the Lord, while he may be found, call ye upon him, while he is near.” “ Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts ; and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” “ If thou art wise, thou shalt he luise for thyself; hut if thou scornest, thou alone shalt hear it.'’ MEDICATED DRINKS. In one of the northern towns in the state of New-York considerable excitement has been occasioned by a recent development on the part of a spirit merchant, which has given the cause of temperance a new impulse, and shown to moderate drinkers, and to drunkards, that “ There may be in the cup a spider steeped and if the abhorred ingredient be not presented to the eye, a man may drink and drink again, and go from year to year with the poison rankling in his veins, unconscious of the cause which unnerves his limbs, and pollutes all 2 12 PETER AND JOHN HAY. [240 his springs of happiness. Tlie merchant alluded to ob- served, that after selling out a cask of spirit there re- mained several gallons of foul, unsightly sediment, which on examination was found to consist of various drugs, some that could be distinguished and some that could not, but all judged unfit for the use of human beings. These vile compounds had been infused in the liquor to ' give to a spurious article the appearance of genuineness. Such are the elfects of a traffic founded in a dishonest and ungenerous disregard to the best interests of the community — a traffic whose object, end, and aim, are the aggrandizement of self, at whatever cost to the welfare of others ! Did moderate drinkers and drunkards know bow often what they drink is not what it is called, but a horrible rni.xture of noxious ingredients, would they swallow these medicated draughts with the same reckless indifference th^t they now do ? Investigations are going forward, which it is hoped will expose the system of frauds and adulterations, bring to light the receits for the fabrica- tion of high-priced liquors, and the numberless abuses inseparable from a traffic in its nature immoral. When this development shall take place the moderate drinker, the drunkard, and the community at large, will have a better opportunity to judge of the nature of the traffic against which we feel it our duty to lift up a warning voice. Against a traffic so destructive of life, so fatal to happiness, so blighting in its influence on national and individual prosperity, our duty to our Maker, to out- raged humanity, and to the cause we advocate, compels, us to array ourselves, determined on an opposition which shall be unending while the evil exists in our land. Temperance Recorder. sro. i&B. ON THE TRAFFIC IN ARDENT SPIRIT. Ardent spirit is composed of alcohol and water, in nearly equal proportions. Alcohol is composed of hydro- gen, carbon, and oxygen, in the proportion of about 14, 52, and 34 parts to the hundred. It is, in its nature, as manifested by its effects, a poison. When taken in any quantity it disturbs healthy action in the human system, and in large doses suddenly destroys life. It resembles opium in its nature, and arsenic in its effects. And though when mixed with water, as in ardent spirit, its evils are somewhat modified, they are by no means prevented. Ardent spirit is an enemy to the human constitution, and cannot be used as a drink without injury. Its ultimate tendency invariably is, to produce weakness, not strength; sickness, not health ; death, not life. Consequently, to use it is an immorality. It is a viola- tion of the will of God, and a sin in magnitude equal to all the evils, temporal and eternal, which flow from it. Nor can the furnishing of ardent spirit for the use of others be accounted a less sin, inasmuch as this tends to pro- duce 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 may justly be regarded as an immoral man ; and for the following rea- sons, viz. Ardent spirit, as a drink, is not needful. All men lived without it, and all the business of the world was con- ducted without 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. o traffic IN' ARDENT SPIRIT. [35S 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 to con- tinue 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 3 'ears, ceased to use it, and thej' 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 ren- der it certain, should the experiment be fairly made, that this would be the case with all. Of course, ardent spirit, as a drink, is not useful. 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 dan- gerous appetite which, by gratification, like the desire for sinning, in the man who sins, tends continuallj' to in- crease. No man can form this appetite without increas- ing his danger of dying a drunkard, and exerting an in- fluence which tends to perpetuate drunkenness, and all its abominations, to the end of the world. Its very for- mation therefore is a violation of the will of God. It is, in its nature, an immorality, and sprinofs from an inor- dinate desire of a kind or degree of bodih" enjoj'ment — animal gratification, which God has shown to be incon- sistent with his glorv', 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 bodilj- enjoj-ment which infinite wisdom and goodness have prescribed as the utmost that can be possessed consistently with a person’s highest happiness and use- fulness, the glorv' of his Maker, and the good of the uni- verse. That person collets more animal enjoj'ment ; to obtain it he forms a new appetite, and in doing this he rebels against God. That desire for increased animal enjovanent from which rebellion springs, is sin, and all the evils which follow in its train are only so main' voices bj- which Jehovah declares “ the wa\' of transgressors TRAPFIC IN ARDENT SPIRIT. 3 359] is liarcl. ’ The person who has formed an appetite for ardent spirit, and feels uneasy if he does not gratify it, has violated the divine arrangement, disregarded the divine will, and if he understands the nature of what he has done, and approves of it, and continues in it, it will ruin him. He will show that there is one thing in which he will not have God to reign over him. And should he keep the whole law, and yet continue knowingly, habit- ually, wilfully, and perseveringly to ohend in that one point, he will perish. Then, and then only, according to the Bible, can any man be saved, when he has re- spect to all the known will of God, and is disposed to be governed by it. He must carry out into practice, with regard to the body and the soul, “ not my will, but thine be done.” His grand object must be to know the will of God, and when he knows it, to be governed by it, and with regard to all things. This, the man who is not con- tented with tliat portion of animal enjoyment whicli the proper gratification of the appetites and passions which God has given him will aiTord, 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 for ever to ruin them. This is an aggravated immorality, and the men who continue to do it are im- moral 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 Avhich 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 pau- pers, and prosecute the crimes which ardent spirit occa- sions, is, to those who pay the money, utterly lost. All the diminution of profitable labor which it occasions. 4 TRAFFIC IN ARDENT SPIRIT. [360 through improvidence, idleness, dissipation, intempe- rance, sickness, insanity, 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 enormous and wicked waste of property, those who traffic in the article are knowingly accessory. A portion of what is thus lost by others, they obtain themselves ; but without rendering to others any valua- ble 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 another respect ; it burdens the community Avith 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 intg^ his own pocket, while the burthens are thrown upon the commu- nity. This is palpably unjust, and utterlj^ immoral. Of 1969 paupers in different alms-houses in the United States, 1790, according to the testimony of the overseers of the poor, Avere made such by spiritous liquor. And of 17G4 criminals in different prisons, more than 1300 Avere either intemperate men, or Avere under the poAver of intoxicating liquor Avhen tlie crimes for which they Avere imprisoned Avere committed. And of 44 murders, according to the testimony of those Avho prosecuted or conducted the defence of the murderers, or witnessed their trials, 43 Avere committed by intemperate men, or upon intemperate men, or those aa'Iio at the time of the murder were under the poAver of strong drink. The Hon. Felix Grundy, United States senator from Tennessee, after thirty years extensive practice as a law- yer, gives it as his opinion that four-fifths of all the crimes committed in the United States can be traced to intemperance. A similar proportion is stated, from the highest authority, to result from the same cause in Great Britain. And Avhen it is considered that more than 200 murders are committed, and more than 100,000 crimes TRAFFIC IN ARDENT SPIRIT. 5 361] are prosecuted in the United States in a year, and that such a vast proportion of them are occasioned b)' 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 crime, as to commit them himself; and as really unjust wrongfully to take another’s property with his consent, as without it. And though it might not be de- sirable to have such a law, yet no 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 should, with those who commit them, bear all the evils. And so long as this is not the case they will be guilty, according to the divine law, of defrauding, as well as tempting and corrupting their fel- low men. And though such crimes cannot be prose- cuted, and justice be awarded in human courts, their 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, crimi- nals, and will be viewed and treated as such for ever. There is another view in which the traffic in ardent spirit is manifestly highly immoral. It exposes the chil- dren of those who use it, in an eminent degree, to dissi- pation and crime. Of 690 children prosecuted and im- prisoned for crimes, more than 400 were from intempe- rate families. Thus the venders of this liquor exert an influence which tends strongly to ruin not only those who use it, but their children; to render tliem more than four times as liable to idleness, profligacy, and 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 6 TRAFFIC IN ARDENT SPIRIT, [362 exposing for sale one of the chief causes of this ruin, to tempt tliem in the way to death. If he who takes money from others without an equivalent, or wickedly destroys properly, is an immoral man, what is he who destroys character ; w ho corrupts the children and youth, and exerts an influence to extend and perpetuate immorality and crime through future generations? This every ven- der 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 violator of the will of God. 3. Ardent spirit impairs, and often destroys reason. Of 781 maniacs in difi’erent insane hospitals, 392, accord- ing to the testimony 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 opportunities for ob- servation with regard to this malady, have stated, that probably from one half to three-fourths . of the cases of insanity, 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 a few' hours after death who died in a fit of intoxication: and from the lateral ventricles of the brain he took a fluid dis- tinctly visible to tlie smell as wdiiskey ; and w'hen he applied a candle to it in a spoon it took fire and burnt blue ; “ the lambent blue flame,” he says, “ characte- ristic of the poison, playing on the surface of the spocn 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 transmit- ted from generation to generation ; occasioning a dimi- nution of size, strength, and energy ; a feebleness of vision, a feebleness and imbecility of purpose, an obtuse- ness of intellect, a depravation of moral taste, a prema- ture old age, and a general deterioration of the wdiole character. This is the case in every country, and in every age. TRAFFIC IN ARDENT SPIRIT. 7 •363] Instances arc known where the first cliildren of a family who were born when their parents were tempe- rate, have been healthy, intelligent, and active; while the last children, ivho were born after the parents had become intemperate, were dwarfish and idiotic, A medi- cal gentleman writes, “ I have no doubt that a disposi- tion to nervous 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 intemperance in the parents seemed to be marked by a corresponding 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 industrious, but spends all he can earn in strong drink. The third is dwarfish in body and mind, and, to use his own lan- guage, “ a poor miserable remnant of a man.” In another famil)’- of daughters, the first is a smart, active girl, with an intelligent well-balanced mind ; the others are afflicted with different degrees of mental weak- ness and imbecility, and the youngest is an idiot. Ano- ther medical gentleman states, that the first child of a family, who was born when the habits of the mother was 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 apparently 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 sons and three daughters, are now in the drunkard’s grave, and the only surviving child is rapidly follotving after, in the same way, to the same dismal end. The best authorities attribute one half the madness, three-fourths of the pauperism, and four-fifths of the crimes and wretchedness in Great Britain to the use o strong drink. 4. Ardent spirit increases the number, frequeucv, and 2 * 8 TRAFFIC IN ARDENT SPIRIT. [364 violence of diseases, and tends to bring those who use it to a premature grave. In Portsmouth, New-Hampshire, of about 7,500 people, twenty-one persons were killed by it in a year. In Salem, Massachusetts, of 181 deaths, twenty were occasioned in the same way. Of ninety- one adults who died in New-Haven, Connecticut, 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 oc- casioned by it in previous years. Iji New-Brunswick, New-Jersey, of sixty-seven adult deaths in one year, more than one-third were caused by intoxicating liquor. In Philadelphia, of 4,292 deaths, 700 were, wi the opinion of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, caused in the same way. The physicians of Annapolis, Maryland, state, that of thirty-two persons, male and female, who died in 1828, above eighteen years of age, ten, or nearly one third, died of diseases occasioned by intemperance ; 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 maladies, we feel justified in expressing the belief, that were the use of distilled liquors entirely dis- continued, the number of deaths among the male adults would be diminished at least one half.” Says an eminent physician, “ Since our people gene- rally 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 all the people of the United States cease to use it, that nearly half the sickness of the country would cease.” Says another, after forty years extensive pract ce, “ Half the men every year who die of fevers might recover had they not been in the habit of using ardent s, irit. 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 re- moved the difficulty, and the man been well. And many a man who was never intoxicated, when visited with a fever, miglit be raised up as well as not, were it not for that state of the system which daily moderate drinking 365] TRAFFIC IN ARDENT SPIRIT. 9 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 reason- ing, as applicable here, “ that tlie 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, Samuel Emlcn, M. D. “ All use of ar- dent spirits (/. 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, premature 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 spiritous liquors. Dr. Harris states, that the moderate use of spiritous 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 com- bined influence of all other evils. Dr. Cheyne, of Dublin, Ireland, after thirty years prac- tice 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 rvould 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, it 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 mor- tality, it was found that every person who had died was in the habit of using ardent spirit. The quantity used was afterward diminished more than nine-tenths, and the inhabitants became remarkably healthy. VoL. 4 Q 2 10 TRAFFIC IN ARDENT SPIRIT. [366 A gentleman of great respectability from the south, states, that those who fall victims to southern climes, are almost invariably addicted to the free use of ardent spirit. Dr. Mosely, after a long residence in the West Indies, declares, “ that persons who drink nothing but cold water, or make it their principal drink, are but little aflected by tropical climates ; that they undergo the great- est 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 into a house, the roof of which is on fire, in order to prevent the flames from extending to the inside, as to pour ardent spirits into the stomach to prevent the effect of a hot sun upon the skin.” Of seventy-seven persons found dead in diflerent re- gions of country, sixty-seven, according to the coroner’s inquests, were occasioned by strong drink. Nine-tenths of those who die suddenly after 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 fatigue, or exposure to the sun, or disease, which a man who uses no ardent spirit will bear without incon- venience or danger, wdll often kill those who use it. Their liability to sickness and to death is often increased ten fohl. And to all these evils, those who continue to traffic in it, after all the light which God in his provi- dence has thrown upon the subject, are knowingly ac- cessor}'. Whether they deal in it by wholesale or retail, by the cargo or the glass, they are, in their influence, drunkard-makers. So are also those who furnish the materials; those who advertise the liquors, and thus pro- mote 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 groce- ries of spirit dealers rather than of others, for the pur- pose of saving to the amount which the sale of ardent spirit enables such men, without loss, to undersell their neighbors. These are all accessory to the making of drunkards, and as such will be held to answer at the dii .ne tribunal. So are those men who employ their 367] TRAFFIC IN ARDENT SPIRIT. ll shipping in transporting the liquors, or are in any way knowingly aiding and abetting in perpetuating their use as a drink in the community. Four-fifths of those who are swept away by that direful malady the cholera, are such as have been addicted to the use of intoxicating drink. Dr. Bronson, of Albany, who lately spent some time in Canada, and whose profes- sional character and standing give great weight to his opinions, says, “ Intemperance of any species, but par- ticularly intemperance in the use of distilled 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 f^urnish the most productive cause of cholera, and not be guilty of blood? not manifest a reck- lessness of character which will brand the mark of vice and infamy on their foreheads ?” “ Drunkards and tip- plers,” he adds, “ have been searched out with such un- erring certainty as to show that the arrows of death have not been dealt out with indiscrimination. An in- describable 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 spirit.” 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 be asked who are the victims of this disease ? I an- swer, the intemperate it invariably cuts off.” In Mon- treal, after 1200 had been attacked, a Montreal paper states, that “ not a drunkard who has been attacked 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 12 TRAFFIC IN ARDENT SPIRIT. [368 dissipation, killed as many people in the same time as even the cholera itself, that pestilence which has spread sackcloth 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 Pdontreal, 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 eflect. 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 stomach, or for the purpose of drowning their apprehensions, but they did it at their peril.” Says the London Morning Herald, after stating that the cholera fastens its deadly grasp upon this class of men, “ The same prefeience for the intemperate and uncleanly has characterized the cholera every where. Intemperance is a qualification which it never overlooks. Often has it passed harmless over a wide population of temperate country people, and poured down, as an over- flowing scourge, upon the drunkards of some distant town.” Says another English publication, “ All expe- rience, both in Great Britain and elsewhere, has proved that those ■who have been addicted to drinking spiritous liquors, and indulging in irregular habits, have been the greatest sufferers from cholera. In some towns the drunkards are all dead. Rammohim Fingee, the famous Indian doctor, says, with regard to India, that people who do not take opium, or spirits, do not take this dis- order even when they are ivith those who have it. Mon- sieur Huber, who saw 2,160 persons perish in twenty- 369] TRAFFIC IN ARDENT SPIRIT. 13 five clays in one town in Russia, says, “ It is a most re- markable 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 IVew-York, states, that of 204 cases of cholera in the Park hospital, there were only six temperate persons, and that those had recovered ; while 122 of the others, when he wrote,- had died, and that the facts were similar in all the other hospitals. In Albany, New-York, a careful examination was made by respectable gentlemen into the cases of those who died of the cholera in that city in 1832, over sixteen years of age. The result was examined in detail by nine physicians, members of the medical staff attached to the Board of Health in that city — (all who belong to it, ex- cept two, who were at that time absent) — and published at their request under the signature of the Chancellor of the State, and the five distinguished gentlemen who com- pose the Executive Committee of the New-York State Temperance Society, and is as follows : Number of deaths, 366; viz. intemperate, 140; free drinkers, 55; moderate drinkers, mostly habitual, 131 ; strictly tem- perate, who drank no ardent spirit, 5; members of Tern perance societies, 2; and when it is recollected that of more than 5,000 members of Temperance societies in the city of Albany, only 2, not one in 2,500, fell by this disease, while it cut off more than one in 50 of the in- habitants of that city, we cannot but feel that men who furnish ardent spirit as a drink for their fellow-men, are manifestly inviting the ravages, and preparing the vic- tims of this fatal malady, and of numerous other mortal diseases ; 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 in- crease the danger, extend the ravages, and augment and perpetuate the malignancy of the cholera, and multiply upon the community numerous other mortal diseases ? 14 TRAFFIC IN ARDENT SPIRIT. [370 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 population of our cities, ren- ders our business stagnant, and exposes our sons and our daughters to premature and sudden death? So manifestly is this the case, that the Board of Health of the city of Washington, on the approach of the cholera, declared the vending of ardent spirit, in any quantity, to be a nuisance ; and as such ordered that it be discontinued for the space of ninety days. This was done in self- defence, 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 con- fined to the time when the cholera is raging. By the statement of the physicians in Annapolis, IMa- ryland, 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 use of ardent spirit. And to those results, all who make it, sell it, or use it, 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 developments of Providence, manifestly immoral men? men who, for the sake of money, will knowingly be instrumental in corrupting the character, increasing the 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 community to make drunkards of sober men than it is to kill drunkards ? Ask that 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 TRAFFIC IN ARDENT SPIRIT. 15 371] sober, kind, and affectionate father a drunkard, and thus blasted all their hopes, and turned their home, sweet home, into the emblem of hell ; or the man who, after they had suffered for years the anguish, the indescribable anguish of the drunkard’s children, and seen their heart- broken mother in danger of an untimely 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 maybe 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 accessary to the bringing of these evils upon you, must be a notoriously wicked man? 5. Ardent spirit destroys the soul. Facts in great numbers are now before the public, which show conclusively that the use of ardent spirit tends strongly to hinder the moral and spiritual illumina- tion and purification of men ; and thus to prevent their salvation, and bring upon them the horrors of the second death. A disease more dreadful than the cholera, or any other that kills the body merely, is raging, and is universal, threatening the endless death of the soul. A remedy is provided all sufficient, and infinitely efficacious ; but the use of ardent spirit aggravates the disease, and with mil- lions and millions prevents the application of the remedy and its efiect. It appears from the Fifth Report of the American Temperance Society, that more than four times as many, in proportion to the number, over wide regions of coun- try, during the preceding year, have apparently 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 atte’A- tion to religion which followed the adoption of the plan of abstinence from the use of strong drink, remark, that 16 TRAFFIC IN ARDENT SPIRIT. [372 when this course is taken, the greatest enemy to the work of the Holy Spirit on the minds and hearts of men, ap- pears 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 within that time become hope- fully pious, who did not belong to Temperance societies, have since joined them. In numerons places, where only a minority of the people abstained from the use of ardent spirit, nine-tenths of those, who have of late professed the religion of Christ, have been from that minority. This is occasioned in various ways. The use of ardent spirit keeps many away from the house of God, and thus prevents them from coming under the sound of the Gos- pel. 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 purifying power. Even if they come to the light, and it shines upon them, it shines upon darkness, and the darkness does not comprehend 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 spiritous liquor upon the minds and hearts of men. The latter tends directly and powerfully to coun- teract the former. It tends to make men feel in a man- ner which Jesus Christ hates, rich spiritually, increased in goods, and in need of nothing ; while it tends for ever to prevent them from feeling, as sinners must feel, to buy of him gold tried in the fire, that they ma3'be rich. Those who use it, therefore, are taking the direct course to de- stroy- their OAvn souls ; and those who furnish it are taking the course to destroy the souls of their fellow-men. In one towm, more than twenty times as many, in pro- portion to the number, professed the religion of Christ during the past j-ear ; and in another towm more than thirty times as many of those %vho 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, StS] TRAFFIC IN ARDENT SPIRIT. 17 they were all from the same class. What then are those men doing who furnish it, but taking the course which is adapted to keep men stupid in sin till they sink into the agonies of the second death! And is not this an im- morality of a high and aggravated description! and one which ought to mark every man who understands its nature and effects, and yet continues to live in it, as a no- toriously immoral roan! What though he does not live in other immoralities — is not this enough! Suppose he should manufacture poisonous miasma, and cause the cholera in our dwellings ; sell, knowingly, the cause of disease, and increase more than one-lifth over wide re- gions 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 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 remorse. Am I not then a murderer? worse than a murderer ? as much worse as the soul is better than the body ! If ardent spirits were nothing worse than a deadly poison — if they did not ex- cite and inflame all the evil passions — if they did not (Mm that heavenly 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 harm- less. 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 difference 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 for spirits, but with creating that unnatural appetite ; not only with supplying the drunkard with the fuel of his vices, but with making the drunkard. “ In reference to the taxes with which the making and 18 TRAFFIC IN ARDENT SPIRIT. [374 vending of spirits loads the community, how unfair to- ward others is the occupation of the maker and vender of them ! A town, for instance, 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. We do not suggest that there should be such a law ; but we ask whether there would be one law in the whole statute book more righteous than that rvhich should require those who have the profit of making our drunkards to be burdened with the support of them.” Multitudes who once cherished the fond anticipation of happiness in this life, and that to come, there is reason to believe are now wailing beyond the reach of hope, through the influence of ardent spirit ; and multitudes more, if men continue to furnish it as a drink, especially sober men, will go down to weep and wail with them to endless ages. “ But,” says one, “ the traffic in ardent spirit is a law- ful business ; it is approbated by law, and is therefore right.” But the keeping of gambling houses is, in some cases, approbated by human law. Is that therefore right ? The keeping of brothels is, in some cases, approbated by law. Is that therefore right? Is it human law that is the standard of morality and religion? IVIay not a man be a notoriously wicked man, and yet not violate human law ? The question is, is it right ? Does it accord 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 not, the word of God forbids it ; and if a man who has the means of understanding its nature and effects continues 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 so many other things.” If you could not, then you are forbidden by the word of God to sell so many other things. And if you continue to make money 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 TRAFFIC IN ARDENT SRIRIT. 19 3 ? 5 ] throne of his excellent glory cries, “ Turn ye, turn ye frorn tliis evil way^; for why will ye diel” “ If I should turn from it I could not support my family.” This is not true ; at least no one has a rigTit 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, trust- ing in God, and has found that his family is not supported, .fehovah declares, that such as seek the Lord, and are governed by his will, shall not want any good thing. And till men have made the experiment of obeying hii.'i in. all things, and found that they' cannot support their families, they have no right to say that it is necessary for them to sell ardent spirit. And if they' do say this, it is a libel on the divine character and government. There is no truth in it. He who feeds the sparrow and clothes the lilh', will, if’they do right, provide for them and their families; and there is no shadow of necessity, in order to obtain support, for them to carry on a busi- ness which destroys their fellow-men. “ But others will do it, if I do not.” Others will send out tlieir vessels, steal the black man, and sell him and his children into perpetual bondage, if you do not. Others ■will steal, rob, and commit murder, if y'ou 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, like them. You will here be partaker of their guilt, and hereafter of their plagues. Every friend therefore to you, to your Maker, or the eternal interests of men, vrill, if acquainted with this subject, say to you. As you value the favor of God, and would escape his righteous and eternal indignation, re- nounce this work of death ; for he that soweth death, shall also reap death. “ But our fathers imported, manufactured, and sold ardent spirit, and were they not good men? Have not they gone to heaven?” Men who professed to be good once had a multiplicity' of wives, and have not some of them too gone to heaven? Men who 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 will of God with regard to these subjects, continue to do such things now, and yet go to heaven? The prin- 20 TRAFFIC IN ARDENT SPIRIT. [376 ciple whicli applies in this case, and wliich makes the diiference between those who did such things once, and tliose who^^continue to do them now, is that to which JeSus Christ referred 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 v/hich God may have winked at have gone by, and he now comraandeth all men to whom his will is made known to repent. Your fathers, Avhen 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 crime in the land — that it deprived many of reason — greatly increased the number and severity of diseases, and brought down such multitudes to an un- timely grave. The facts had not then been collected and published. They did not know that it tended se 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 sin with as little guilt as did your fathers. The fac's, which are the voice of God in his providence, and manifest his will, are now before the world. By th.cm he has come and spoken to you. And if you continue, under these cir- cumstances, to violate his will, you will have no clqak, no covering, ho excuse for your sin. And though sen- tence against this evil work is not executed at orce, judgment, if you continue, will not linger, nor will dam- nation slumber. The accessory and the principal, in the commission of crime, are both guilty. Both by human laws are con- demned. The principle applies to the law of God; and not only drunkards, but drunkard-makers — not only mur- derers, but those who excite others to commit murder, and furnish them with the known cause of their evil deeds, will, if they understand what they do, and continue thus to rebel against God, be shut out of heaven. Among 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 3/7] TRAFFIC IN ARDENT SPIRIT. 21 connive at any tiling 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 punished. 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 exe- cute this law, as they were when God was the Magis- trate, yet the reason of the law remains. It is founded in justice, and is eternal. To the pauperism, crime, sich ness, insanity, and death, temporal and eternal, which ardent spirit occasions, those who knowingly furnish the materials, those who manufacture, and those who sell it, are all accessory, and as such will be held responsible 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 they did not know that it caused such a vast por- tion of the vice and wretchedness of the community, 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 who 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 disposed 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 years, and which of course is not needful. 2. It is the selling of that which was not generally used by the people of this country for more than a hun- dred years after the country was settled, and which by 22 TRAFriC IN ARDENT SPIRIT. [378 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 experiment, the best evidence in the world, 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 make it certain, that should the experiment be fairly made, this ivoukl 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 by men in health cannot be taken without deranging healthy action, and inducing more or less disease, both of body and mind ; which is, when taken in any quantity, positively hurtful; and which is of course forbidden by the word of God. 4. It is the selling of that which tends to form an un- natural, and a very dangerous and destructive appetite: which, by gratification, like the desire of sinning in the man who sins, tends continually to increase, and ivhich thus exposes all who form it to come to a premature grave. 5. It is the selling of that wliicli causes a great por- tion of all the pauperism in our land; and ihus'for the benefit of a few (those who sell) brings an enormous tax on the whole community. Is this fair? Is it just? Is it not exposing our children and youth to become drunk- ards? And is it not inflicting great evils on society ? 6. It is the selling of that which excites to a great portion of all 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 socia-l, 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 continued, will form intemperate appetites, which, if formed, will be gratihed, and thus will perpetuate intem- perance, and all its abominations, to the end of the world. 8. It is the selling of that which makes wives widows, and children 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 prepares multitudes for the prison, for the gallows, and for hell. TIIAFFIC TN ARDFNT SPIRIT. 23 379] 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 tvho were never intoxicated, and never condemned to suffer the penalty of the civil law, to an untimely grave. 10. It is the selling of that which tends to lessen the health, the reason, and the usefulness, to diminish the comfort, and shorten the lives of all who habitually use it. 11. It is the selling of that which darkens the under- standing, sears the conscience, pollutes the affections, and debases all the powers of man. 12. It is the selling of that which weakens the power of motives to do right, and increases the power of mo- tives to do wrong, and is thus sliown to be in its effects hostile to the moral government of God, as w^ell as to the temporal and eternal interests of men ; which excites men to rebel against him, and to injure and destroy one another. And, as 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, til!, notwithstanding all the kindness of Jehovah, their case shall become hopeless. 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 inhabitants of tins town or city, he will, for the sake of getting their money, make pau- pers, and send them to the alms-house, and thus oblige ibe whole communitv to support them and their families; that so many others ne 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 so many more to the state pri- son, and so many to the gallows; that so many he will visit with sore and distressing diseases ; and in so many cases diseases which W'ould have been comparatively harmless, he will by his poison render fatal ; that in so many cases he will deprive persons of reason, and in so 3 24 TRAFFIC IX ARDENT SPIRIT. [3S0 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, wall bring them to a pre- mature grave; that in so many cases he will prevent 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 instru- mental in producing this ruin; and suppose 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 wretch- edness 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 hnve it ; this is my business, I was brought up to it. And if I should not follow it I must change mj' 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 w'ould they think of him ? what would all the world think of him? what ought they to think of him? And is it any worse for a man to tell the people beforehand honestly w'hat he will do, if they buy and use his poison, than it is to go on and do it? And w’hat if they are not aware of the mischief which he is doing them, and he can accomplish it through their own perverted and vo- luntary agency? Is it not equally abominable, if he hnows it, and does not cease from producing 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 exerting a strong and fatal influence againsl it ; and that TRAFFIC IN ARDENT SPIRIT. 25 381] 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 seen the misery, heard the oaths, witnessed the crimes, and known the wretchedness and deaths which they have occasioned, and perhaps have spoken of it, and deplored it among one another ; man)^ 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 on the subject, and never besought them to give up their work of death. An individual lately con- versed with one of his professed Christian brethren who •was engaged in this traffic, and told him not only that he was ruining for botli worlds many of his fellow-men, but that his Christian brethren viewed his business as inconsistent with his profession, and tending to counter- act all efforts for the salvation of men; and the man, after frankly acknosvledging that it was wrong, said that this was the first time that any of them had conversed with him on the subject. This may be the case with other churches; and wliilc it is, the vffiole church is con- niving at the evil, and ihe whole church is guilty. Every brother, in such a case, is bound, on his own account, to converse with him who is thus aiding the powers of darkness, and opposing the kingdom of .lesus 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 Christ, that he will cease to be an offence to his brethren, and a stumbling block to the world, over which such multitudes fail to the pit of wo. And till the church, the whole church, do their duty on this subject, they cannot be freed from the guilt of conniving 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 those who make it a business to carry on this notoriously immoral traffic, they will greatly VoL. 4 26 TRAFFIC IN ARDENT SPIRIT- [3S2 increase their guilt, and ripen for the awful displeasure of their God. And unless members of the church shall cease to teach, by their business, that fatal error that it is right for men to buy and use ardent spirit as a drink, the evil will never be eradicated, intemperance whll never cease, and the day of millennial 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 manner as is adapted to banish intemperance, and all its abomina- tions from the earth, and to cause temperance, and all its attendant benefits, universally to prevail. And if minis- ters of the Gospel, and members of Christian churches, do not connive at the sin of furnishing this poison as a drink for their fellow-men ; and men who, in opposition to truth and duty, continue to be engaged in this destruc- tive employment, are viewed and treated as wicked men; the work w’hich the Lord hath commenced and carried forward with a rapidity, and to an extent hitherto unexam- pled in the history of the world, will continue to move onw^ard 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, — 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 w'ill, greatly dishonor Him. You exert an influence which tends directly and strongly to ruin, for both worlds, yo-ur fellow-men. Should you take a quantity of that poisonous liquid into your closet, present it before the Lord ; confess to him its nature and effects, spread out before him what it has done and what it will do, and attempt to ask him to bless you in extending its influ- ence; it would, unless your conscience is already seared as wdth a hot iron, appear to you like blasphemy. You could no more do it than you could take the instruments of gambling and attempt to ask God to bless you in ex- tending them through the community. And w'hy not, if it is a lawful business? Why not ask God to increase it, and make you an instrument in extending it over the country, and perpetuating it to all future generations. Even the worldly and profane man, when he hears about professing Christians offering prayer to God that he 383] TRAFFIC IN ARDENT SPIRIT. 27 would bless them in the manufacture or sale of ardent spirit, involuntarily shrinks back and says, “ That is too bad.” He can see that it is an abomination. And if it is too bad for a professed Christian to pray about it, is it not too bad for him to practise it? If you continue, under all the light which God in his providence has furnished with regard to its hurtful nature and destructive effects, to furnish ardent spirit as a drink for your fellow-men, you will run the fearful hazard of losing your soul, and you will exert an influence which powerfully tends to destroy the souls of your fellow-men. Every time you furnish it you are rendering it less likely that they will be illuminated, sanctified, and saved, and more likely that they will continue in sin and go down to the cham- bers of death. It is always worse for a church member to do an im- moral act, and teach an immoral sentiment, than for an immoral man, because it does greater mischief. And this is understood, and often adverted to by the immoral themselves. Even drunkards are now stating it to their fellow drunkards, that church members are not better than they. And to prove it, are quoting the fact, that although they are not drunkards, and perhaps do not get drunk, they, for the sake of money, carry on the business of making drunkards. And are not the men and their business of the same character? “ The dea- con,” says a drunkard, “ will not use ardent spirit him- self; he says ‘ It is poison !’ But for six cents he will sell it to me. And though he will not furnish it to his own children, for he says, ‘ It will ruin them,’ yet he will furnish it to mine. And there is my neighbor, who was once as sober as the deacon him«elf, 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 sober 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. 28 TRAFFIC IN ARDENT SPIRIT. [3S4 Is this writing upon their 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 poison which, when used even mode- rately, tends to harden the heart, to sear the conscience, to blind the understanding, to pollute the alfecticns, to ■weaken, and derange, and debase the whole man, and to lessen the prospect of his eternal life, it is the indispen- sible duty of each person to renounce it. And he can- not refuse to do this without becoming, if acquainted with this subject, knowingly accessory to the temporal and eternal ruin of his fellow-men. And what will it profit him to gain even the whole world by that wdiich 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 wdtness its consequence in joy or sorrow to endless being. Ima- gine yourself now, where you soon will be, on your death-bed. And imagine that you have a full view of the property w'hich you have caused to be wasted, or which you have gained without furnishing any valuable equiva- lent ; of the health which you have destroyed, and the characters which you have demoralized ; of the wives that you have made widows, and the children that you have made orphans ; of all the lives that you have short- ened, 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. AVhat will it profit you though you have gained more money than you otherwise tvould ; when you have left it all far behind in that w'orld 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 endless ages; finding for ever that as a man soweth so must he reap, and that if he has sowed death he must reap death? Do not any longer assist in destroying men, nor expose j’ourself and your children to be destroyed. Do good, and good only, to all as you have opportunity, and good shall come unto you. THE No. 159, REWARDS OF DRUNKENNESS. you will be. If you seek to prevent your friends raising you in the world, be a Drunkard i for that will defeat all their efforts. If you would effectually counteract your own attempts to do well, be a Drunkard ; and you will not be disappointed. If you wish to repel the endeavors of the whole human race to raise you to character, credit, and prosperity, be a Drunkard ; and you will most assuredly triumph. If you are determined to be poor, be a Drunkard ; and you will soon be ragged and pennyless. If you would wish to starve your family, be a Drunkard ; for that will consume the means of their support. If you would be imposed on by knaves, be a Drunkard ; for that will make their task easy. Vol. 6, B 2 REWARDS OF DRUNKENNESS. [22 If you would wish to be robbed, be a Drunkard; which will enable the thief to do it with more safety. If you would wish to blunt your senses, be a Drunkard ; and you will soon be more stupid than an ass. If you would become a fool, be a Drunkard ; and you v/ill soon lose your understanding. If you wish to unfit yourself for rational intercourse, be a Drunkard ; for that will accomplish your purpose. If you are resolved to kill yourself, be a Drunkard ; that being a sure mode of destruction. If you would expose both your folly and secrets, be a Drunkard ; and they will soon be made known. If you think you are too strong, be a Drunkard ; and v'ou will soon be subdued by so powerful an enemy. If you would get rid of your money without knowing how, be a Drunkard ; and it will vanish insensibly. If you would have no resource when past labor but a workhouse, be a Drunkard; and jmu will be unable to pro- vide any. If you are determined to expel all comfon from your house, be a Drunkard ; and you will soon do it effectually. If you would be always under strong suspicion, be a Drunkard ; for, little as you think it, all agree that those who steal from themselves and families will rob others. If you would be reduced to the necessity of shunning your creditors, be a Drunkard; and you will soon have reason to prefer the by-paths to the public streets. If you would be a dead weight on the community, and “ cumber the ground,” be a Drunkard ; for that will render you useless, helpless, burthensome, and expensive. If you would be a nuisance, be a Drunkard ; for the ap- proach of a Drunkard is like that of a dunghill. If you would be hated by your family and friends, be a Drunkard ; and you will soon be more than disagreeable. If you would be a pest to society, be a Drunkard ; and you will be avoided as infectious. If you do not wish to have your faults reformed, continue to be a Drunkard ; and you will not care for good advice. If you would smash windows, break the peace, get your bones broken, tumble under carts and horses, and be locked up in watch-houses, be a Drunkard ; and it will be strange if you do not succeed, 23 ] REWARDS OF DRUNKENNESS. 3 If you wish all your prospects in life to be clouded, be a Drunkard ; and they will soon be dark enough. If you w'ould destroy your body, be a Drunkard ; as drunkenness is the mother of disease. If you mean to ruin your soul, be a Drunkard ; that you may be excluded from heaven. Finally, if you are determined to be utterly destroyed, in estate, body, and soul, be a Drunkard ; and you will soon know that it is impossible to adopt a more effectual means to accomplish your — END. “ All the crimes on earth,” says Lord Bacon, “ do not de- stroy so many of the human race, nor alienate so much fro- perty as drunkenness” Drunkenness expels reason — drowns the memory — de- faces beauty — diminishes strength — inflames the blood — causes internal, external, and incurable wounds — is a witch to the senses, a devil to the soul, a thief to the purse — the beggar’s companion, the wife’s wo, and children’s sorrow — makes a strong man weak, and a wise man a fool. He is worse than a beast, and is a self-murderer, who drinks to others’ good health, and robs himself of his own. He is worse than a beast, for no animal will desigaiedly intoxicate itself; but a drunkard swallows his liquor, well knowing the condition to which it rvill reduce him, and that these draughts will deprive him of the use of his reason, and render him worse than a beast. By the effects of liquor his evil passions and tempers are freed from restraint ; and, while in a state of intoxication, he commits actions which, when sober, he would have shuddered to have thought of Many an evil deed has been done, many a murder has been committed, when those who did these things were intoxicated. Tremble, then, if ever you taste the intoxicating draught. Reflect, before you put the cup to your lips. Remember that you are forming a hSbit which will lead on to the com- mission of every crime to which the propensities of your nature, rendered violent by indulgence, can urge you. Be- fore you are aware, you may find yourself awaking from a fit of intoxication^uilty of offences against the laws of your country whichi^l draw down just vengeance upon your head ; abhorrjPg yourself, and an abhorrence in the sight of heaven. 3 * 4 REWARDS OF DRUNKENNESS. [24 Drunkenness, persisted in, will assuredly destroy your soul, and consign you to everlasting misery. Hear what the word of God declares. “ Awake, ye drunkards, and weepP Joel, 1 : 5. “ Who hath wo ? who hath sorrow ? who hath contention ? who hath wounds without cause ? They that tarry long at the wine, they that go to 'seek mixed wine. Took not thou upon the wine — at the last it biteth like a serpent, and sting- eth like an adder." Prov. 23 : 29-32. “ Wo unto them that rise up in the morning, that they may follow strong drink, that continue until night, till wine inflame them!" Isaiah, 5 ; 11. “ Wo unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink." Isaiah, 5 : 22. “ The works of the flesh are manifest, which are these : uncleanness, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like ; of the which I tell you, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." Gal. 5 ; 19, 21. These are awful declarations, and they will certainly be fulfilled upon him who continues to delight in drunkenness ; he cannot enjoy the love of God, he' will not he received into heaven. Separate yourself, then, utterly from this ensnaring sin. “Touch not; taste not; handle not.” In ENTIRE AB- STINENCE is your only safety. This persevered in, j'ou shall never fall. Wherever and however the temptation is presented, “ avoid it — turn from it, and pass away.” Turn also from every sin. “ Commit your way unto the Lord,” and he will “ direct your paths.” A glorious provision is made for your salvation, through the aton^g blood of Christ. “ God so loved the world, that he gave his only-hegotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John, 3 : 16. Commit your soul and your all to him. He will guide you through life, en- able you to vanquish every foe, and crown you with vic- tory in heaven. PRINTED FOR T AMERICAN TRACT SOClEl No. 150 Nassau-street. New-York. No. 176, THE WELL-CONDUCTED FARM. Mr. B — — , a respectable farmer in Massachusetts, came, a number of years ago, into the possession of a farm of about 600 acres. On this farm he employed eight or ten men. These men were in the habit, and had been for years, of taking each a portion of ardent spirit, when they la- bored, every day. They had grown up in the practice of taking it, and the idea was fixed in their minds that they could not do without. It was the common opinion in the place, that, for laboring men, who had to work hard, some ardent spirit was necessary. Mr. B for a time follow- ed the common practice, and furnished his men with a portion of spirit daily. But, after much attentive obser- vation, and mature reflection, he became deeply impress- ed with the conviction that the practice was not only useless, but hurtful. He became convinced that it tends Vol. 5. H 2 2 THE WELL-CONDUCTED FARM. [174 to lead men to intemperance ; to undermine their consti- tutions ; and to sow the seeds of death, temporal and eter- nal. And he felt that he could not be justified in conti- nuing to cultivate his farm by means of a practice which was ruining the bodies and souls of his fellow men. He therefore called his men together, and told them, in a kind and faithful manner, his feelings. He told them that he was perfectly satisfied that the practice of taking ardent spirits was not onl}' needless, but hurtful — that it tended to weaken and destroy both the body and mind ; and that he could not, consistently w'ith his duty, be instrumental in continuing a practice which he had no doubt tended to de- stroy them both for this world aud the world to come. He therefore, from that time, should furnish them M'ith no ar- dent spirits. One of them said that lie could not work without it; aud if he did not furnish them with it, he v.'ould not stay with him. “ Very well,” said Mr. B , “ hand me your bill, and be off." The man replied, that he presumed all the others would leave him. very well, ’said Mr. B ,’ten them, any of them who choose to leave — all of them, if they choose to go, to hand in their bills, and they shall have their money to-night. If they stay, however, they shall have nourishing food and drink, at any time, and in any abundance which they wish ; and at the close of the year each one shall have twelve dollars, that is, one dollar a mouth, in addition to his wages. But I shall furnish no spirits of any kind, neither shall I have it taken by men in my employment. I had rather my farm would grow up to weeds, than be cultivated by means of so pernicious a practice as that of taking ardeut spirits. However, none of the men left, except that one. And when he saw that all the others concluded to stay, lie came back, and said, that as the others concluded to stay and do without rum, he believed that he could, and he should be glad to stav too, if Mr. B had no objection. But he told him, no ; he did not wish him to stay ; he would make of him an example, and he must go. So he departed. The rest went to work, and he furnished them with no spirits from that time through the season. Yet his work, he said, was done “ ivith less trouble, in a better manner, and in better sea- son, than ever before.” Some of his men, however, he 176] THE WELL-CONDUCTED FARM. 3 found, when they went abroad, did take ardent spirits. They sometimes procured it at the tavern, or a store ; and in some instances took it secretly, while on his farm. The evil, therefore, although greatly lessened, was not entire- ly done away. When he came to hire men again, he let it be known that he did not wisli to hire any man who was not willing to abstain entirely, and at all times, from the use of ardent spirits. His neighbours told him that he could not hire men on those conditions ; that men could not be found who would do without rum, especially in haying and har- vesting. Well, he said, then he would not hire them at all. His farm should grow up to weeds. As to cultivating it by the help of rum, he would not. By allowing men in his employment, and for whose conduct he was in a mea- sure responsible, to take ardent spirits, he should be lend- ing his influence to continue a practice, or he should at least be conniving at a practice, which was “ destroying more lives, making more mothers widows, and children orphans, than famine, pestilence, and sword : a practice which was destroying by thousands, and tens of thousands, not only the bodies but the souls of men, rendering them, and their children after them, wretched for this v/orld, and the world to come. No,” said he, “ I will clear my hands of this enormous guilt. I will not by practice en- courage, or by silence, or having men in my employment who take ardent spirits, connive at this deadly evil.” However, he found no difficulty in hiring men, and of the best kind. And when his neighbours saw, that by giving one dollar a month more than others, he could hire as many men as he pleased, they gave up that objection. But they said, it was bad policy ; for the men would not do so much work, and he would in the end be a loser. But he told them that, although they might not at first do quite so much, he presumed that they would in the end do more. But if they should not, only let them do, said he, what they easily can, and I shall be satisfied. My Ma- ker does not require of me any more than I can do without rum, (for he used no ardent spirits himself,) and I shall require no more of them. His men w’ent to w'ork. And his business prospered exceedingly. His men were re- markably uniform in their temper and deportment ; still and peaceable. 4 THE WELL-CONDUCTED FARM. [176 He found them every day alike, and he could always safely trust them. What he. expected to have done, he found wax done, in good season and in the best manner. His men never made so few mistakes, had so few disputes among themselves ; they never injured and destroyed so few tools, found so little fault with their manner of liHng, or were on the whole so pleasant to one another, and lo their employer. The men appeared, more than ever be- fore, like brethren of the same family, satisfied with their business, contented, and happy. At the close of the year, one of them came to ?rmy thus testifies ; “ But, above all, let every one who values his health, avoid drinking spirits when heated ; that is adding fuel to the fire, and is apt to pro- duce the most dangerous inflammatory complaints.” “ IN'ot a more dangerous error exists, than the notion that the ha- bitual use of spirituous liquors prevents the effects of cold. On the contrary, the truth is, that those who drink most frequently of them are soonest affected by severe w'eather. The daily use of these liquors tends greatly to emaciate and waste the strength of the body,” &c. The Roman soldiers marched with a weight of armour upon them which a modern soldier can hardly stand under ; and they conquered the world. Yet they drank nothing stronger than vinegar and W’ater. “ I have worn out two armies in two wars,” sa3’’s the Dr. Jackson mentioned above, “ by the aids of temperance and hard work, and probably could wear out another before my period of old age arrives. I eat no animal food, drink no wine or malt liquor, or spirits of any kind ; 1 wear no flan- nel, and neither regard wind nor rain, heat nor cold, when business is in the way.” Those men in Europe who are trained for boxing-matches would require spirits if they were necessary for giving bodily strength and health, since the object of this training is to produce the most perfect health and the greatest possible strength. But ardent spirits are not used b^' them at all — and even wine is scarcely allowed. In protracted watching by the bed of sickness, food and intervals of rest are the only real securities against disease and weakness. Spirits peculiarly expose a man to receive the disease, if it be contagious, and if not, the\" wear out the strength sooner than it would otherwise fail. The most exposed and trying situations in life, then, need not the aid of ardent spirits ; nay, thet' are in such cases decidedly injurious. They are not, therefore, necessart', but injurious for men in all other situations. The distiller must, therefore, give up the necessity of using them in the community as a reason for continuing their manufacture. 215] ARGUMENT AGAINST ARDENT SPIRITS. 7 But spirits, it may be said, do certainly inspire a man with much additional strength. Yes: and physicians tell us how. It is by exciting the nervous system, and thus call- ing into more vigorous action the strength that God has given the constitution to enable it to resist heat, cold, and disease. If this strength do not previously exist in the sys- tem, spirits can never bestow it ; for they do not afford the least nourishment, as food does. They merely call into ac- tion the stock of strength which food has already implanted in the body. Hence the debility and weakness which always succeed their use when the excitement has passed by. Hence, too, it follows, that spirits can never give any addi- tional permanent strength to the body. But this is not all ; for physicians infer from this state- ment, that the use of spirits, even in moderate quantities, tends prematurely to exhaust and wear out the system. It urges on the powers of life faster than health requires, and thus wears them out sooner, by a useless waste of strength and spirits. True, a moderate drinker may not notice any striking bad effects upon his health, from this cause, for many years ; nay, the excitement it produces may remove, for the time being, many uncomfortable feelings which he experiences, and which arc the early warnings that nature gives him that she is oppressed, for the secret poison is at work within ; and if such a man is attacked by a fever, or other acute disease, physicians know that he is by no means as likely to recover as the water drinker ; because the spi- rits have partially exhausted the secret strength of his con- stitution, all of which is now wanted to resist the disease. Let every man who indulges in the use of spirits ponder well on the declaration of a Committee of one of the most enlightened Medical Societies in our land. “ Beyond com- parison greater is the risk of life, undergone in nearly all diseases of whatever description, when they occur in those unfortunate men who ha\ e been pi-eviously disordered by these poisons.” Such men, too, it may be added, are much more liable to the attacks of disease than those who totally abstain from alcohol. In both these ways, therefore, the use of spirits, even in the greatest moderation, tends to shorten life. Distillers of ardent spirits ' I entreat you think seriously of these things as you tend the fires under your boilers. AKGUMENT AGAINST ARDENT SPIRITS. [216 Farmers ! as you drive your load of cider or rye to the dis- tillery, meditate upon them, I beseech you. You have here tlie opinions and advice of the most able and impartial phy- sicians in this country and in Europe. True, you may find here and there one, of little or no reputation and learning, who, either because he tliinks it for his interest, or is attach- ed to ardent spirits himself, will oppose such views of the subject. But no physician of distinction and good mo- ral character would dare, at this day, to come out pub- licly in opposition to the principles above advanced, sanc- tioned as they are by the united testimony of science and experience. O, shut not your ears against tliis pow-. erful voice. In the third place I would expostulate with these men as a friend to my country. Can it be that they are acquainted with the extent of the mischiefs which our country already suffers from intemperance 1 Do they know that fifty -six millions of gallons of ardent spirits are annually consumed in the United States, or more than four and an half gallons to each inhabitant ; and that about forty-four millions of this quantity are prepared in the distilleries of our own ountry ? that ten millions of gallons are distilled from mo- lasses, and more than nine million bushels of rye are used for this purpose ? Do they know that these forty-four mil- lions of gallons, as retailed, must cost the community not less than $22,000,000 ; that they render from two hundred to three hundred thousand of our citizens intemperate ; that in consequence of this intemperance the country sustains an annual loss, in the productive labor of these drunkards, of not far from $30,000,000 ; and a loss of more than 25,000 lives, from her middle aged citizens, who are thus cut off prematurely ? That two-thirds of the pauperism in the country, costing from $6,000,000 to $6,000,000, and two-thirds of the crime among us, perpetrated by an army of eighty or ninet}’^ thousand wretches, result from the same cause ; and that from forty to fifty thousand of the cases of imprisonment for debt annually, are imputed to the same cause ? that the pecuniary losses proceeding from the carelessness and rashness of intemperate sailors, servants, and agents, are immense ; and that the degradation of mind, the bodily and mental sufferings of drunkards and their fa- milies. and the corruption of morals pnd manners, are alto- 9 217 ] ARGUMENT AGAINST ARDENT SPIRITS. gether beyond the reach of calculation to estimate, and of words to express.* Can it be that these men have ever soberly looked for- ward to see what must be the ultimate effects, upon our free and beloved country, of this hydra- headed evil, unless it be arrested 1 Can tliey be aware that, judging by the past proportion of deaths from intemperance in the most regular and moral parts of the land, one third of the six million adults now living will die from the same cause? Do they know how the intemperate entail hereditary dis- eases and a thirst for ardent spirits upon their descendants, and how rapidl}^ therefore, the bodily vigor of our citi- zens is giving way before their deadly influence ? And can they doubt that vigor of mind will decay in the same pro- portion? Corruption of manners and morals too, how ra- pidl}'^ it will spread under the operation of this poison 1 Nor can religions principle stand long before the overwhelm- ing inundation : and just in the degree in which alcoholic liquors are used, will the Sabbath, and the institutions of re- ligion, and the Bible, be neglected and trodden under foot. And when the morality, and religion, and the conscience of the majority of our nation are gone, what but a miracle can save our liberties from ruin? Corrupt the majority, and what security is there in popular elections? Corrupt the majority, and you have collected together the explosive ma- terials that need only the touch of some demagogues torch to scatter the fair temple of our independence upon tlie winds of heaven. But admitting that this picture is not overdrawn, yet the distiller and the furnisher of materials may perhaps say, that all this does not particularly concern them. The}' are not intemperate, they force no man to drink, or even to buy their spirits : nay, they generally refuse to sell to the in- lemperate. The intemperate are the persons to whom these expostulations should be addressed. As for the distiller and the farmer, who manufacture the poison, they are following a lawful calling, and have a right to the honest proceeds of their business. * In order to obtain the result in this paragraph, the well established estimates that have often been made concerning tlie cost and evils of ardent spirits in our country, have been reduced about one fourth or fifth part, to make allowance for the amount imported from abroad. 10 ARGUMENT AGAINST ARDENT SPIRITS. [216 The principle then, which I understand you to advocate, is this : that provided your employment be not contrary to the laws of the state, you are under no obligation to inquire particularly as to its influence upon the public happiness after the products of your labor get out of your own hands. If this be a correct principle for your guidance, it is certain- ly a correct one for others. Let us apply it to the intem- perate man. I expostulate with him on the destructive influence of his habits upon his country. “ But have I not a right,” says he, “ to use my own property in such a way as 1 choose, provided I do not violate the laws of the land 1 If I may not employ a portion of my money in purchasing spirits, neither have you a right to lay out yours for a car- riage, or for painting your house, or for any thing else which some of your neighbors may regtu'd as unnecessary. I buy no more spirits than my health and comfort require ; and I have as good a right to judge of the quantity, as you have in respect to the needless articles of dress and furni- ture which you procure.” I urge the man who keeps a licensed gambling house to abandon a pursuit that is ruining his country. “ But I am not violating the laws,” he replies, “nor compelling any man to gamble and drink to excess in my house. The whole responsibility, therefore, rests upon those who do it.” Expostulate with them. “ I have a right to my earnings.” You see where this principle leads. Is it one that a true patriot ought to adopt ? No : he alone is a true patriot who is ready to abandon every pursuit that is injuring his coun- try, however profitable it ma}^ be to himself, and however tolerated by the civil law. Nor I would not attempt to ex- tenuate the guilt of the intemperate man, nor of the mer- chant who sells him spirits : but I do say, that if those who distill, and those who furnish the materials, were to abandon the business altogether, it would almost put an end to intemperance in the land. For only a- small proportion of the spirits used is imported ; and its price must always continue so high that but few could afford to be drunkards were the domestic manufacture to cease. You have it in your power, then, to put a stop to this most dreadful national evil, and thus to save our liberties and all that is dear to us from ruin. Your fathers noured out their blood, like water. 219] ARGUMENT AGAINST ARDENT SPIRITS. 11 to purchase our independence, and to build up a bulwark around our rights. But the ten thousand distilleries which you ply are so many fiery batteries, pouring forth their forty-four million discharges every year, to level that bul- wark in the dust. All Europe combined against us in war could not do us half as much injury as your distilleries are doing every year. Oh, abandon them — tear them down — melt your boilers in the furnace — give your grain and mo- lasses to the poor, or to the fowls of heaven — make fuel of your fruit trees, rather than destroy your country. Some may say that if they cease to manufacture spirits others will take up the business, and carry it on as exten- sively as they do. And since, therefore, the country will gain nothing by their discontinuance of distillation, they may as well have the profit of it as others. But what course of wickedness will not such reasoning justify ? An highwayman robs you, or an assassin invades your dwelling at midnight and slaughters your wife and children. Now would you think them justified, should they plead that they knew of others about to commit the same outrages, and, therefore they thought their commission of these deeds was not wrong, since they needed the avails of the robbery and murder as much as any body? A man could pursue the slave trade year after year on this principle, with no up- braidings of conscience, if he only suspected that the busi- ness would be carried on were he to stop. And a traitor might sell his country for gold, could he only ascertain that some one else was about to do it, and yet be exonerated from blame, if this principle be proper to act upon. Oh, how can any decent man plead a moment for a principle that leads to such monstrous results ! Some will say, however, that they sell the spirits which they manufacture only to those whom they know to be tem- perate, and therefore they are not accessary to the intem- perance in the land; for they are not accountable for the sins of those who sell spirits to improper persons. You supply them only to the temperate ! The greater the blame and the guilt : for you are thus training up a new set of drunkards to take the place of those whom death will soon remove out of the way. Were you to sell only to the intemperate, you would do comparatively little injury to the community. For you would only hasten those out of 12 ARGUMENT AGAINST ARDENT SPIRITS. [220 the way, who are a nuisance, and prevent the education of others to fill their places. But let not any man think that no blame attaches to himself because the poison goes into other hands before it is administered. A man is to blame for any evil to his fellow men which he could prevent. Now, by stopping all the distilleries in the land, you could prevent men from becoming drunkards. The very head and front oi' the offending, therefore, lies with you. It is as idle for you to attempt to cast all the guilt upon others, in this way, as it was for Pilate, when he ^deavored to fix the blood of Christ upon the people by washing his hands before them and declaring himself innocent, and then going back to his judgment seat and passing sentence of death upon him. Good man ! He did not touch a hair of the Savior’s head. It was the cruel soldiers who executed his orders, that, ac- cording to this plea, were alone guilty ! Some distillers will probably say that they cannot sup- })ort themselves and families if they abandon this business : and some farmers will say, if we cannot sell our cider and rye to the distillers, the products of our orchards must all be lost, and rye is the only article which we can raise upon our farms with any profit. And if I were not to purchase these articles, saj's the distiller, their price must be so low that no farmer could afford to raise them. Thus to reduce a large class of the 3 'eomanry of our countiy — its very sinews — to poverty, would be a greater evil than even the intemperance that is so common. Is it indeed true that in this free and happy countiy an industrious, temperate, and economical man, cannot find any employment by which he can support himself and family in a comfortable manner without manufacturing poison and selling it to his countrymen I In other words, cannot he live without destroying them 1 Is land so scarce, or so eaten up with tithes and taxes, that he cannot thence derive subsistence unless he converts its products into monev at the expense of others’ comfort, reputation, and life Is everv honest calling so crowded, or so unproductive, that eveiw avenue is closed 1 Have the men who make this plea tried, even for a single year, to live without the manufac- ture of spirits'? It ma}' be, indeed, that for a time thev will find other pursuits less productive than this. And is not this, after all the true reason why they shrink from the 221] ARGUMENT AGAINST ARDENT SPIRITS. 13 sacrifice ? But if superior profits be a sufficient reason for continuing distillation, it is a reason that will justify the rob- ber, the thief, and every other depredator upon the rights of others. But how does it appear that the stoppage of all the distil- leries in the land will reduce the price of cider and rye? Their operation has produced a great demand for these ar- ticles, and that demand has thrown into the market an im- mense supply ; the consequence is, that the prices are re- duced as low as the articles can be afforded, at a veiff mode- rate profit, and the great complaint now among farmers is, that they are so low. Let the distilleries cease to exist, and the special demand for these articles will cease ; and conse- quently the market will not be glutted with them, because no extra efforts will be made to raise them : the result will probably be, that in a very short time their price will be very nearly or quite as high as it now is. But even if we suppose the worst, that the distiller and some farmers should be reduced to absolute beggary by the cessation of this manufacture ; no reasonable, or patriotic, or Christian man can for a moment regard this as a reason why he should continue in any business that is productive of immense mischief to his country. Is it not better that he and his family should come to want than that hundreds of thousands should be ruined, soul and bodjq for time and eternit3''? If he has a right to derive his subsistence from the ruin of others, then others, as the thief, the swindler, and the robber, have a right to obtain their subsistence from his ruin. In the fourth place, I appeal to these men as a neighbor and a parent, and in behalf of the drunkard's wife and children. When Providence cast our lot in the same neighborhood I considered, and doubtless \'ou thought the same, that a re- gard to our mutual welfare bound us to do eveqv thing in our power to make the communitv in which we lived intelli- gent, virtuous, and happj’; and to avoid every thing that would mar its peace, degradje its character, or stain its puri- ty. My complaint is, that by the manufacture of ardent spirits you have violated these obligations. The facilities for obtaining spirits, and the temptations to their use and abuse, have been thus so multiplied, and brought so near, that verj' many w!io were once kind neighbors and valua- Vol. 8. “ K2 14 ARGUMENT AGAINST ARDENT SPIRITS. [222 ble members of society are ruined, or in difterent stages of the path to ruin. One has got as far as an occasional visit to the grog-shop and the bar-room : another is rarely seen there ; but the wretched condition of his house, barn, and farm, his impatience of confinement at home, and his many foolish bargains, tell me, in language not to be mis- taUen, that the worm which is preying upon the root of bis prosperity is the worm of the still. The frequent visits of the Sherill to the house of another neighbor, whose family is healrti}’ and industrious ; his bitter complaints of the hardness of the times ; his constant efforts to borrow money to prevent executions from being levied ; the mortgaging of his farm to the bank ; his pimpled face, and bloated body, and dry backing cough, are painful testimonies of his fami- liarity with the products of the distillery. It is distressing to look around upon our once happy neighborhood, (did you ever do it 1 ) and to see what havoc your manufactory of spirits has made upon the peace, property, reputation, in- telligence, moralit}’ and good order of the community. Ao wasting sickness; no foreign or domestic war; no prema- ture frost ; no drought, blasting, or mildew ; nor any othei visitation of God; no, not all of them combined have been the tenth part as fatal to our prosperitt' and happiness as this one self-inllicted curse. And this curse we should never have felt bad not some of you put into operation your dis- tilleries, and others fed tliem with the products of your farms : I mean, such would have been the liappy effect Had the manufacture of spirits ceased in our land before these evils had followed : and I am now supposing that some one in every town and neighborhood throughout the land, whei e there is a distillery, is addressing the same language to those who conduct it as I am addressing to \'ou. We make a united and earnest appeal to you, in view of the ruin that rises around us, that you would stop the work of destruc- tion and strengthen the things that remain, which arc ready to die. You stand at the fountain head of that fieri' stream which is spreading volcanic desolation over the land. Oh ! shut up the sluices before every verdant spot is buried be- neath the inundation. But to come again into our own neighborhood : I have a family of beloved children growing up in the vicinity of your distillery ; and when I recollect that every fortieth 15 223] ARGUMENT AGAINST ARDENT SPIRITS. individual among us is a drunkard, and that about every third person above the age of twenty dies prematurely through intemperance, I cannot but feel a deep anxiety lest my boys should be found at length among the number. True, one of the earliest lessons I teach them is total abstinence ; and I try to excite in their minds a disgust toward every species of alcoholic mixture. But they go to one of my neighbors and hear him telling of the whiskey and cider brandy that have been produced upon his farm, and they see him mixing and circulating the bowl among his laborers, his visiters, and even his own children ; and it is offered al- so to mine, accompanied with some jeer against cold water societies. They see the huge accumulations of cider and rye at the distillery, and mark the glee of the men who con- duct its operations, and of those who come to fill their bar- rel or keg with spirits. They go also to the store in the vicinity, and see one after another filling their jugs with the same article. No\v these neighbors who thus distill, and vend, and drink whiskey and brandy, my children are taught to respect ; and how is it possible that the}' should not feel that their father is too rigid in his requirements, and hence be tempted to taste, and tasting, to love, and loving, to be destroyed by the poison. Oh, is there no guilt in thus spreading a snare for my children ? Should they fall, will none of their blood be upon your heads Shall not the en- treaties of a parent be felt by those who are themselves pa- rents, and whose days may yet be rendered intolerable by the cruelty of drunken children 1 I would invite the manufacturer of spirits, and the farmer who supplies the materials, to go around with me among the people in the vicinity of the distillery, that they may have some nearer views of the miseries produced by their em- ployment. Let us stop for a moment at this tavern. Myself. You seem, landlord, to be quite full of business to-day. What is the occasion? Landlord. Neighbors X and Y have their case tried here to-day before Esquire Z ; and you know that these matters cannot go on well with dry throats. Myself What is the point in dispute between your neighbors ? Landlord. Something about swapping a horse, 1 believe ; but it is my opinion that both of them hardly knew wliat 16 ARGUMENT AGAINST ARDENT SPIRITS. [224 they were about, when they made the exchange. It was last town meeting day, and I recollect that both of them called quite frequently at my bar that day. They are none of your cold water folks, I assure you. Myself. Are these court days generally profitable to you, landlord? Landlord. Better even than a town meeting; for those who come on such occasions have no qualms of conscience jbout drinking, if they have occasion, I assure you. But on town meeting days some of the pale-faced temperance men are always about to frighten away honest people. Myself. Do not these court occasions often lay the foun- dation for other courts ? Landlord. Oh, very frequently : but so much the better, you know, for my business ; and so I must not complain. Let us next call at Mr. A’s, who has so fine a farm and orchard, and every means, one would think, of indepen- dence and happiness. But hark ! there is a family dialogue going on between farmer A, his wife, and son. Son. What ! boozy so early, mother: and father too, and quarreling as usual, I perceive. O, I wish our orchard were all burnt down, and the distillery too ; rather than live in such a bedlam. Mother. But do you not like a little yourself, son, when eleven o’clock comes ? Father. Aye, and at four, and some bitters in the morning. We are old you must remember son, and require more to warm us and support nature than you do. Son. If you would drink only moderately, as I do, I would not complain. For I am not one of your cold water scare- crows I assure you. But to have you drink half the time, is v/hat vexes me. What a fine picture is here, my neighbors, for the men to look at who expect to reform the world by moderate drink- ing, without adopting the principle of total abstinence. But look at the sherifi' yonder, pointing about neighbor B’s house, from which he seems to be excluded. ) Sheriff. You are too late gentlemen — all the property is attached for twice its value Rum, bad bargains and negli- gence, have done the business with poor B. But I pity his wife and children most : for they have struggled hard to prevent it. 17 225] ARGUMENT AGAINST ARDENT SPIRITS. Distiller. Is every thing gone ? The fellow owed me two hundred dollars. Myself. For whiskey, I suppose. Distiller. He was formerly a partner in my still, you re- collect. Yonder comes from the store the mechanic, neighbor D. Well neighbor D, how do the times go with you now 1 D. Was there ever such a scarcity of money. When the rich are failing all around, how can a poor mechanic stand it. Myself. What have you, friend D, bound up so carefully in your handkerchief? D. Aye, you belong to the cold water society I believe. But I do know that a little now and then does me good. Myself. I should suppose that, shut up as you are in your shop most of the time, you could not be much exposed to lieat or cold, or great fatigue, and therefore would hardly need spirits. D. Well, but I have a weak and cold stomach, and often feel so faint and sick that I must either take an emetic or a glass of spirits. But the latter cures all my bad feelings. Myself. Ah, friend D, I fear the times will prove too hard for you. But why do you try to conceal your jug when you go to the store for whiskey 1 D. Why — why — it is more convenient to carry it tied up in this way. Let us stop next at this skeleton of a house, which you know used to look so tidy before its owner became intempe- rate. Oh, was misery ever more perfectly personified than in his wife and children, whom you see through the doors and window-frames ! And there lies the wretch himself, dead drunk. Myself. Pray, madam, do these children attend school ? Wife. Ah, sir, I am ashamed to say it, they have not de- cent clothes. But it was not always as you see it to-day. When we were first married our prospects were good ; and by industry and economy our little farm supported us, and we made some headway. But — [turning toward the farmer) yet I would not hurt any one’s feelings. Farmer. Tell your story madam. Wife. Well, sir, you recollect that five years ago your 18 ARGUMENT AGAINST ARDENT SPIRITS. [226 orchard produced abundantly, and you proposed to my hus- band to assist you in making the cider, and getting it to the distillery, and to take his pay in brandy. He did so, and soon a barrel of the poison, which he could not sell, was de- posited in our cellar. Oh, what a winter followed ! 1 have known no peace or comfort since, nor shall I, till I find them in the grave. Were it not for these poor naked children, I could wish to rest there soon. But oh, what will become of them ? Oh, sir, can you think it strange if all these things should come into my mind every time you and I sit down together at the same communion-table ? We must not return home without calling at the next miserable hovel, where the widow of a drunkard, with half a dozen ragged squalid children, is dragging out a miserable existence. Hark ! she is reading the Bible. Did you hear that stifled groan, as she read in that holy book : Be not de- ceived : neither fornicators^ nor idolaters, nor drunkards, shall inherit the kingdom of God. Myself. 1 believe I have not seen you, madam, since the death of your husband. I hope you find support. Widow. Oh, sir, resignation is easy if we feel a confidence or even a feeble hope, that our friends who are taken away will escape the agonies of a second death. But how can we hope against the express declarations of the word of God. Distiller. And yet, madam, your husband had many ex- cellent qualities. Widow. And he would still have lived to bless me and the world by their exhibition, had it not been for your distillery. Distiller. I have no idea of sitting in judgment upon our departed friends, and sending them to hell because they had a few failings. Widow. Ah, Sir, if my husband has gone there, it was your distillery that sent him. Before that was built no man was more kind, temperate, and happy. But you persuaded him to labor there, and paid him in whiskey, and it ruined him, and ruined us all. Look at me — look at these children, without food, without raiment, without fire, without friends, except their Friend in heaven. I do not ask t’ou to bestow upon us any articles for the supply of our temporal neces- sities ; but look at us, and be entreated to tear down youi 227 ] ARGUMENT AGAINST ARDENT SPIRITS. 19 distillery, so that you may not multiply upon you the exe- crations of the widow and the orphan, wrung from them by the extremity of their sufferings. Gentlemen, let me exhort you to take such a tour of ob- servation as tins once a month. Oh, I entreat every one in the land, who has any concern in the manufacture of ar- dent spirits, to do the same ; and ere long, I am persuaded, you would either abandon every claim to humanity, or abandon for ever your pernicious employment. la the fifth place I advise and forewarn these men as their personal friend. If you distill ardent spirits, or furnish the materials, you must use them yourselves and allow of their use in your families ; otherwise your inconsistency, not to say dishonesty, would subject you to universal contempt. Now, to have your children familiar with the sling, the toddy, and the flip, as they grow up ! Is here no danger that the temptation will prove too strong for them } Can a man take fire in his bosom and his clothes not be burned ? Can one go upon hot coals and his feet not be burned! And what com- pensation for the intemperance of a wife, or a child, would be the highest profits of an orchard, a field of rye, or a dis- tillery ? Oh, to be a drunkard is to destro}" the soul as well as the body : and what shall a man give in exchange for his soul ? And are you yourselves in no danger of intempe- rance, plied as you are by so many allurements } Look around you and see how many strong men, how many of the wise, the moral, the amiable, and the apparently pious, have fallen before the fascinations of this prince of ser- pents. And are you safe who stand even within the reach of his forky tongue, and lay the bait for his victims, and lure them into his jaws by tasting of it yourselves ? Oh, the history of distillers and temperate drinkers, in their last days, furnishes an awful warning for you. But there is another danger before you, of which, as a faithful friend, I wish to forewarn you. I see a dark storm gathering over your heads. You cannot be ignorant of the mighty movement that is making in our land on the subject of temperance. You must have felt the heavy concussion, and heard the rolling thunder. The religious, the moral, the patriotic, the learned and tlie ivise, as intemperance nas been developing its huge and hateful features more and 20 ARGUMENT AGAINST ARDENT SPIRITS [228 more, have been aroused to effort ; they have closed to- gether in a firm phalanx ; and as they move on with the standard of total abstinence waving before them, the great, and the good, and the valiant of every name, are swelling their ranks. The cry is waxing louder and louder, “ Where are the strong holds of the monster ; point out to us the fountains that supply his insatiable thirst, and who it is that feeds them ; and who it is that opens the enormous flood-gates 1 and thither we will march, and against such men will we point our heaviest artillery.” And to this cry there is an answer more and more distinctly breaking out ; “ To the distilleries — to the distilleries.” My friends, wait not till this storm of public indignation bursts upon you, nor fancy that you can face it. Oh, no ! it will be a steady, fiery blast, that will bear you down ; and you will find that none but the dregs of the community will be left with you to sustain you. You will be left with the drunkards, to be distinguished from them only as their abettors and support- ers ; and from you will every virtuous and patriotic man turn away in disgust, as enemies to himself, his children, and his country. Think not that all this is imagination: look up and you will see the cloud blackening, and the lightning beginning to play, and hear the thunder roaring. But it is not yet too late to escape from the fury of the storm. Finally, I would entreat these men as a Christian. Some of them profess a personal and experimental knowledge of vital Christianity, and are members of the visible church. What ! can it be that a real Christian should, at this day, be concerned in the manufacture of ardent spirits for general use ? When I think of the light that now illuminates every man’s path on this subject so clearly, and think how the hor- rors of intemperance must flash in his face at every step, I confess I feel disposed indignantly to reply — no — this man cannot be a Christian. But then I recollect David, the adulterer ; Peter, the denier of his master, profaneh" curs- ing and swearing; and John Newton, a genuine convert to Christianity, yet for a long time violating every dictate of conscience and of right ; and I check my hasty judgement, and leave the secret character of the manufacturer of ardent spirits to a higher and more impartial tribunal. But if such a man be really a Christian, that is, if he doreall}' love God supremely and his neighbor as himself, in what a state of 229] ARGUMENT AGAINST ARDENT SPIRITS. 21 awful alienation and stupidity must he be living ! Remaining in such a state, that is, while persevering in so unchristian an employment, he can certainly have no evidence himself, nor afford any evidence to others, of possessing a Christian character. I would not apply these remarks in their unqualified se- verity to every professor of religion who supplies the dis- tillery with materials, or who vends or uses wine or ardent spirits; for we shall find some of this description who real- ly suppose that, instead of being condemned for such con- duct in the Bible, they are rather supported by some parts of it : they not only find Christ converting water into wine at a marriage, and Paul directing Timothy to use a lit- tle wine for his health, but that, in one case, the Jews had liberty to convert a certain tithe into money, and bring it to Jerusalem, and bestow it for what their soul lusted after, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or strong drink, and they were to eat there before the Lord their God, and rejoice, they and their household. Deut. 14 : 26. But before any one settles down into a conclusion that this passage war- rants the use of wine and ardent spirits, in our age and coun- try, let him consider that there may have been, as there doubtless were, peculiar reasons, under the Levitical dispen- sation, for permitting the Jews to partake of what their soul desired, before the Lord, which would not apply to mankind generally ; as was the case in respect to several othei things. But not to urge this point, I would say further, that the fact that Judea was a wine country, that is, a country where the grape for the manufacture of wine was easily and abundantly raised, puts a different aspect upon this per- mission. In our country the apple takes the place of the grape, and our cider is almost precisely equivalent to the wine of Judea : because there the apple does not flourish, and here the grape cannot be extensively cultivated. To use wine in wine countries, therefore, is essentially the same thing as to use cider in cider countries: and it does not ap- pear that the one, in such cases, is much more productive of intemperance than the other. The fact is, the wines used in countries where they are manufactured, contain but little more than half as much alcohol as most of the wine sold in this country, where, as a very respectable authority states, “ for every gallon of pure wine which is sold there is per- 22 ARGUMENT AGAINST ARDENT SPIRITS. [230 haps a pipe or fifty times the quantity of that which is adul- terated, and in various manners sophisticated — the whole without exception, the source of a thousand disorders, and in many instances an active poison, imperfectly disguised.’’ But after all, I am not obliged in this place to prove that God has forbidden the use of wine, though Jed into this di- gression from the desire to correct a general misapprelien- sion of the Scriptures on this subject: for the inquiry now relates to ardent spirits. And what shall we say concerning the permission, above pointed out, for the Jews to use strong drink ? I say it was merely a permission to use wine : for the strong drink several times mentioned in the Bible was in fact nothing more than a particular kind of wine, made of dates and various sorts of seeds and roots, and called strong drink, merely to distinguish it from the wine made from grapes. Nor is there any evidence that it was in fact any stronger, in its intoxicating qualities than common wine. The truth is, ardent spirits were not known until many cen- turies after Christ : not until the art of distillation was dis- covered, which was not certainly earlier than the dark ages. Not a word, therefore, is said in the Bible concerning ardent spirits. All its powerful descriptions of drunkenness, and awful denunciations against it, w’ere founded upon the abuse men made of wine. How much louder its notes of remon- strance and terror would have risen, had distillation thus early taught men how to concentrate the poison, may be imagined by the reader. After these statements, I trust none of those whom I ad- dress will any longer resort to the Bible for proofs of a divine permission to manufacture or use ardent spirits. But do the principles of the Bible condemn such use and manufacture ? What do you think of the golden rule of doing unto others as we would they should do unto us? Should you suppose your neighbors were conducting tow’ard you according to this rule were they unnecessarily to pursue such a business, or to set such an example, as would inevitabl)' lead any of your children or friends into confirmed drunkenness? If not, then how can you, consistently with this rule, distill, use, or furnish materials for the manufacture of ardent spirits, when you thereby, directly or indirectly, render intemperate from two hundred thousand to three hundred thousand of your fellow 231] ARGUMENT AGAINST ARDENT SPIRITS. 23 citizens, and every year also, raise up new recruits enough to supply the dreadful ravages which death makes in this army? This you are certainly doing: for were your dis- tilleries to stop, and you to stop drinking, few would become drunkards, from want of the means. How would you like to have your neighbors one after another break down your fences, and turn their cattle into your corn-fields, cut down your fruit and ornamental trees, set your house or barn on fire, and threaten you with po- verty and slavery? If you would not have your neighbor do thus to you, provided he had the power, then how can you, by preparing the food for intemperance, subject the proper- ty, the peace, the morality, the religion, and the liberties of your country to those dangers and fearful depredations which you are now inflicting upon her? How would you like to have your neighbors directly or indirectly, but unnecessarily, cause the premature death of every fortieth of your children and friends, and of one in three of those above the age of twenty ? I know you would not that they should do thus to you, and yet your manufac- ture of spirits causes the premature death of^^^five hundred of your fellow citizens every week: in other words, about that number die every week through the intemperance pro- duced by your distilleries. Again : 1 ask the men whom I am addressing how they reconcile their manufacture and sale of spirits with another command of the Bible? Woe unto him that giveth his neigh- bor drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunk- en also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness. True, this applies most emphatically to the retailer of spirits; but what could the retailer do if there were no distillery ; and what could the distiller do if the farmer withheld the ma- terials ? All these men are engaged, directly or indirectly, in giving their neighbors drink ; and though it may pass through many hands before, it reaches all their mouths, yet where must the burden of the guilt rest, if not upon those who stand at the head of the series, and first convert the ar- ticles, which God has given to nourish and sustain life, into active poison for its destruction; and then, for the sake of a paltry pecuniary profit, send it round amongst their neigh- bors, accompanied with all the plagues that issued from the fabled Pandora’s box } 7 * 24 ARGUMENT AGAINST ARDENT SPIRITS. [232 Finally, let me ask these men how the business of pre- paring ardent spirits for the community appears to them when they think most seriously of another world? In the hours of sober reflection, on the Sabbath, during sea- sons of devotion, when sickness overtakes you, and death seems near, or you stand by the dying bed of some one of your family or neighbors ; at such seasons can you look back upon this pursuit with pleasure ? If conscience then tells you that this business ought to be given up, oh remem- ber, that conscience is an honest and faithful friend at such times, and that, as this pursuit then appears to you, so will it appear whfn you come actually to die. Test this busi- ness, I beseech you, by bringing it in imagination to the scrutiny of your dying hour. Whether it be lawful or un- lawful, certain it is that it sends five hundred drunkards in- to eternity every week ; and you have the express testi- mony of the Bible, that no drunkard shall inherit the king- dom of God. As the Bible is true, then, are not the manu- facturers of ardent spirits in our land the means of sending five hundred souls to hell every week ! Tell me, my friends, how will this awful truth appear to you on the bed of death? And how does it appear when you look forward to the final judgment, and realize that you must meet there fifty or an hundred, or five hundred times five hundred drunkards, made such through your instrumentality, for one, or two, or ten years, and must there justify yourselves for this in- strumentality, or go away with them into perdition, covered with their blood and followed by their execrations ! Oh, my friends, these are realities; and they are near. Do you begin to doubt whether you are in the path of dut\'? Listen, I beseech you, to the first whispers of the faithful monitor in your bosom. By the reasonings of philosophy ; by the testimony of physicians ; by the expostulations of j'our bleeding country ; by the tears, the rags, and the wretchedness of three hun- dred thousand drunkards, with their wiv'es and children ; by the warnings of personal friendship ; and by the sanctions of the divine law, the solemnities of death and the judg- ment, and the groans of ten thousand drunkards, rising from the pit, I entreat you, abandon at once and for ever, this most unrighteous employment ; and save yourselves from the eternal agonies of conscience, the execrations of mil- lions, and the wrath of Omnipotence. ISO. 244. ADDRESS TO THE YOVISG OF THE UNITED STATESp ON TEMPEHAl^CE. \VRITTEN BY REV. C. P. m’ILVAINE, D. D. IN BEHALF OF THE NEW-YORK YOUNG MEn’s TEMPERANCE SOCIETY. In addressing the Young Men of the United States in regard to the great enterprise of promoting the universal prevalence of Temperance, we are not aware that any time need be occupied in apology. Our motives cannot be mis- taken. The magnitude of the cause, and the importance of that co-operation in its behalf which this address is de- signed to promote, will vindicate the propriety of its re- spectful call upon the attention of those by whom it shall ever be received. It is presumed that every reader is already aware of the extensive and energetic movements at present advancing in our country in behalf of Temperance. That an unprece- dented interest in this work has been recently excited, and is still rapidly strengthening in thousands of districts ; that talent, wisdom, experience, learning, and influence are now enlisted in its service, with a measure of zeal and harmony far surpassing what was ever witnessed before in such a cause ; that great things have already been accomplished ; that much greater are near at hand; and that the whole victory will be eventually won, if the temperate portion of society are not wanting to their solemn duty, must have deen seen already by those living along the main channels Yob 8, I, 2 ADDRESS TO THE YOUNG MEN OF [238 of public thought and feeling. Elevated, as we now are, upon a high tide of general interest and zeal ; a tide which may either go on increasing its flood till it has washed clean the very mountain tops, and drowned intemperance in its last den ; or else subside, and leave the land infected with a plague, the more malignant and incurable from the dead remains of a partial inundation ; it has become a question of universal application, which those who are now at the outset of their influence in society should especially con- sider, “What can we do, and what ought we to do in this cause?” For the settlement of this question we invite you to a brief view of the whole ground on which temperance measures are now proceeding. It cannot be denied that our country is most horribly scourged by intemperance. In the strong language of Scripture, it groaneth and travaileth in pain, to be delivered from the bondage of this corruption. Our country is free ! with a great price obtained we this freedom. We feel as if all the force of Europe could not get it from our embrace. Our shores would shake into the depth of the sea the in- vader who should presume to seek it. One solitary citi- zen — led away into captivity — scourged — chained by a foreign enemy, would rouse the oldest nerve in the land to indignant complaint, and league the whole nation in loud demand for redress. And yet it cannot be denied {hat our country is enslaved. Yes, we are groaning under a most desolating bondage. The land is trodden down under its polluting foot. Our families are continually dishonored, ravaged, and bereaved; thousands annually slain, and hun- dreds of thousands carried away into a loathsome slavery, to be ground to powder under its burdens, or broken upon the wheel of its tortures. Wiiat are the statistics of this traf- fic? Ask the records of mad-houses, and they will answer, that one-third of all their wretched inmates were sent there by Intemperance. Ask the keepers of our prisons, and they will testify that, with scarcely an exception, their hor- rible population is from the schools of Intemperance. Ask the history of the 200,000 paupers now burdening the hands of public charity, and you will find that two-thirds of them have been the victims, directly or indirectly-, of 3 239] THE UNITED STATES, ON TEMPEHANCE. Intemperance. Inquire at the gates of deatli, and you will learn that no less than 30,000 souls are annually passed for the judgment-bar of God, driven there by Intemperance. How many slaves are at present among us I We ask not of slaves to man, but to Intemperance, in comparison with whose bondage the yoke of the tyrant is freedom. They are estimated at 480,000 ! And what does the nation pay for the honor and happiness of this whole system of ruin 1 Five times as much, every year, as for the annual support of its whole system of government. These are truths — so often published — so widely sanctioned — so generally received, and so little doubted, that we need not detail the particulars by which they are made out. What then is the whole amount of guilt and of wo which they exhibit? Ask Him “ itnto whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid." Ask Eternity ! The biographer of Napoleon, speaking of the loss sus- tained by England on the field of Waterloo, says: “Fif- teen thousand men killed and wounded, threw half Britain into mourning. It required all the glory and all the solid advantages of that day to reconcile the mind to the high price at which it was purchased.” But what mourning would fill all Britain if every year should behold another Water- loo? But what does every year repeat in our peaceful land ? Ours is a carnage not exhibited only once in a single field, but going on continually, in every town and hamlet. Every eye sees its woes, every ear catches its groans. The wounded are too numerous to count. Who is not wounded by the intemperance of this nation ? But of the dead, we count, year by year, more than double the number that filled half Britain with mourning. Ah ! could we behold the many thousands whom our destroyer annually delivers over unto death, collected together upon one field of slaugh- ter, for one funeral, and one deep and wide burial-place; could we behold a full assemblage of all the parents, wi- dows, children, friends, whose hearts have been torn bj' their death, surrounding that awful grave, and loading the winds with tales of wo, the whole land would cry out at the spec- tacle. It would require something more than “ all the glory," and “ all the solid advantages" of Intemperance, 4 ADDRESS TO THE YOUNG MEN OF [240 “ to reconcile the mind to the high price at which they were purchased.’’’' But enough is known of the intemperance of this coun- try to render it undeniable by the most ignorant inhabitant, that a horrible scourge is indeed upon us. Another assertion is equally unquestionable. The time has come when a great effort must be made to exterminate this unequalled destroyer. It was high time this was done when the first drunkard entered eternity to receive the award of Him who has declared that no drunkard shall enter the kingdom of God. The demand for this effort has been growing in the peremptory tone of its call, as “ the over- flowing scourge” has passed with constantly extending sweep through the land. But a strange apathy has prevailed among us. As if the whole nation had been drinking the cup of delusion, we saw the enemy coming’ in like a flood, and we lifted up scarcely a straw against him. As if the magicians of Egypt had prevailed over us by their enchantments, we beheld our waters of refreshment turned into blood, and a destroying sword passing through till “ there was a great cry” in the land, for there was scarcely “ a house where there was not one dead and still our hearts were harden- ed, and we would not let go the great sin for which these plagues were brought upon us. It seems as if some foul demon had taken his seat upon the breast of the nation, and was holding us down with the dead weight of a horrid nightmare, while he laughed at our calamity, and mocked at our fear — when our fear came .as desolation, and our destruction as a whirlwind. Shall this state continue 1 Is not the desolation advancing? Have not facilities of in- temperance — temptations to intemperance — examples to sanction intemperance, been fast increasing ever since this plague began ? Without some effectual effort, is it not certain they will continue to increase, till intemperate men and their abettors will form the public opinion and conse- quently the public conscience and the public law of this land — till intemperance shall become like Leviathan of old, “ king over all the children of pride,” whose breath kin- dleth coals, and a “ flame goeth out of his mouth ?” Then 5 241 ] THE UNITED STATES, ON TEMPERANCE. what will effort of man avail ? “ Canst thou draw out Le- viathan with a hook ? His heart is as firm as a stone, yea, as hard as a piece of the nether millstone ; he drinketh up a river, and hasteth not. When he raiseth up himself the mighty are afraid.” It is too late to put off any longer the effort for deliver- ance. It is granted by the common sense, and urged by the common interest ; every feeling of humanity and every consideration of religion enforces the belief that the time has come when a great onset is imperiously demanded to drive out intemperance from the land. This, to be great, must he universal. The whole coun- try is enslaved; and the whole country must rise up at once, like an armed man, and determine to be free. Of what lasting avail would it be for one section of territory, here and there, to clear itself, while the surrounding re- gions should remain under the curse 1 The temperance re- formation has no quarantine to fence out the infected. Geographical boundaries are no barriers against contagion. Rivers and mountains are easily crossed by corrupting ex- ample. Ardent spirits, like all other fluids, perpetually seek their level. In vain does the farmer eradicate from his fields the last vestige of the noisome thistle, while the neighboring grounds are given up to its dominion, and every wind scatters the seed where it listeth. The effort against intemperance, to be effective, must be universal. Here, then, are three important points which we may safely assume as entirely unquestionable : — that our coun- try is horribly scourged by Intemperance; that the time has come when a great effort is demanded for the expulsion of this evil; and that no effort can be effectual without being uni- versal. Hence is deduced, undeniably, the conclusion that it is the duty, and the solemn duty of the people in every part of this country, to rise up at once, and act vigorously and unitedly in the furtherance of whatever measures are best calculated to promote reformation. Here the question occurs ; what can be done 1 How can 6 ADDRESS TO THE YOUNG MEN OP [242 this wo he arrested 1 The answer is plain. Nothing can be done, but in one of the three following ways. You must either suffer people to drink immoderately ; or you must endeavor to promote moderation in drinking; or you must try to persuade them to drink none at all. One of these plans must be adopted. Which shall we choose ? The first is condemned already. What say we to the se- cond ? It has unquestionably the sanction of high and an- cient ancestry. It is precisely the plan on which intempe- rance has been wrestled with ever since it was first disco- vered that “ wine is a mocker,” and that “ strong drink is raging.” But hence comes its condemnation. Its long use is its death-witness. Were it new, we might hope some- thing from its adoption. But it is old enough to have been tried to the uttermost. The wisdom, the energy', the be- nevolence of centuries have made the best of it. The attempt to keep down intemperance by endeavoring to per- suade people to indulge only moderately in strong diink, has been the world’s favorite for ages ; while every age has wondered that the vice increased so rapidly. At last we have been awakened to a fair estimate of the success of the plan. And what is it ? So far from its having shown the least tendency to exterminate the evil, it is the mother of all its abominations. All who have attained the stature of full-grown intemperance were once children in this nurse- ry — sucking at the breasts of this parent. All the “ men of strength to mingle strong drink,” who are now full graduates in the vice, and “ masters in the arts” of drunk- enness, began their education and served their apprentice- ship under the discipline of moderate drinking. All that have learned to lie down in the streets, and carry terror into their families, and whom intemperance has conducted to the penitentiary and the mad-house, may look back to this as the beginning of their course — the author of their destiny. No man ever set out to use strong drink with the expectation of becoming eventually a drunkard. No man ever became a drunkard without having at first assured himself that he could keep a safe rein upon every disposi- tion that might endanger his strict sobriety. “ I am in no danger while I only take a little," is the first principle in the doctrine of Intemperance. It is high time it were dis- 7 243 ] THE UNITED STATES, ON TEMPERANCE. carded. It has deluged the land with vice, and sunk the population into debasement. The same results will ensue again, just in proportion as the moderate use of ardent spi- rits continues to be encouraged. Let the multitude conti- nue to drink a little, and still our hundreds of thousands will annual!}' drink to death. It is settled, therefore, that to encourage moderate drinking is not the plan on which the temperance reformation can be successfully prosecuted. The faithful experiment of generation after generation, de- cides that it must be abandoned. A cloud of witnesses, illustrating its consequences in all the tender mercies of a drunkard’s portion, demand that it should be abandoned. Its full time is come. Long enough have we refused to open our eyes to the evident deceitfuliress of its pretensions. At last the country is awaking, and begins to realize the emptiness of this dream. Let it go as a dream, and only be remembered that we may wonder how it deceived, and lament how it injured us. But, if this be discarded, what plan of reformation re- mains ? If nothing is to be expected from endeavoring to promote a moderate use of ardent spirits, and stillness from an immoderate use, what can be donel There is but one possible answer. Persuade people to use none at all. Total abstinence is the only plan on which reformation can be hoped for. We are shut up to this. We have tried the consequences of encouraging people to venture but mode- rately into the atmosphere of infection ; and we are now convinced that it was the very plan to feed its strength and extend its ravages. We are forced to the conclusion, that, to arrest the pestilence, we must starve it. All the healthy must abstain from its neighborhood. All those who are now temperate must give up the use of the means of in- temperance. The deliverance of this land from its pre- sent degradation, and from the increasing woes attendant on this vice, depends altogether upon the extent to which the principle of total abstinence shall be adopted by our citizens. But suppose this principle universally adopted, would it clear the country of intemperance.^ Evidently it is the 8 ADDRESS TO THE YOUNG MEN OF [244 only — but is it the effectual remedy ? Most certainly, if all temperate persons would disuse ardent spirits, they could not cease to be temperate. Many a drunkard, under the powerful check of their omnipresent reproof, would be so- bered. His companions would totter, one after another, to their graves. A few years would see them buried, and the land relinquished to the temperate. Then what would be the security against a new inroad of the exterminated vice? Why public opinion would stand guard at every avenue by which it could come in. Consider the operation of this in- fluence. Why is it now so easy to entice a young man into the haunts of drunkenness! Because public opinion favors the use of the very means of his ruin. He may drink habitually, and fasten upon himself the appetite of drink, till he becomes enchained and feels himself a slave ; but if he has never fallen into manifest intoxication, he has forfeited no character in public opinion. All this is a direct result of the fact, that those considered as temperate peo- ple set the example, and patronise the snare of moderate drinking. But suppose them to take the ground proposed, and bear down with the whole force of their example and influence on the side of entire abstinence, would they not create an immense force of public opinion against the least use of ardent spirits ? How then could a temperate man ever become a drunkard ! He has not yet contracted the desire for ardent spirits: and how will he contract it? Will he risk his character ; fly in the face of public feeling and opinion ; despise all the warnings in the history of in- temperance, to get at the use, and put himself under the torture of that for which, as yet, he has no disposition? Only post a wakeful public sentiment at the little opening of moderate drinking, and the whole highway to the drunk- ard’s ruin will be closed up. All its present travellers will soon pass away, while none will be entering to keep up the character of the road. Most assuredly, then, the reforma- tion of the land is in the power of public opinion. It is equally certain, that public opinion will accomplish nothing but by setting its influence directly in opposition to any indulgence in strong drink. And it is just as plain, that in order to accomplish this, the temperate part of the popula- tion must create a power of example by setting out upon 9 245] THE UNITED STATES, ON TEMPERANCE. the firm and open ground of total abstinence. In propor- tion, then, as the temperate throughout the country shall come up to this ground, will the redemption of our en- slaved republic be accomplished. Thus have we arrived at the last refuge of this cause. Abstain entirely, is the grand principle of life — to be writ- ten upon the sacred standard of all temperance movements, and under which the contending host may be as sure of victory as if, like Constantine, they saw inscribed with a sunbeam upon the cloud in hoc signo vinces* But such being the eminent importance of total abstinence, it deserves to be presented in detail. We begin, therefore, with the position, that Entire abstinence from Ardent Spirits is essential to per- sonal security. Such is the insidious operation of strong drink upon all the barriers we may set up against excess ; so secretly does it steal upon the taste, excite the appetite, disorganise the nervous system, and undermine the deepest resolutions of him who imagines himself in perfect security ; so numerous and awful have been its victories over every barrier, and every species of mental and bodily constitu- tion, that we may lay it down as an assertion, which none who know the annals of intemperance will dispute, that no individual who permits himself to use ardent spirits mode- rately has any valid security that he will not become a vic- tim to its power. We know the remarks which instantly mount to the lips of many at the sight of such an assertion, “ Surely the little we take can never hurt us. Look around and see how many have done the same, and continued the habit to the end of life, without having ever been betrayed into drunkenness.” We do look around, and are constrain- ed to remark how many have seemed to live temperately to the end, who, if the reality were known, would be quoted as warnings against the insidiousness of the poison instead of examples of the security with which it may be used in moderation. They were never delirious ; but were they never fevered 1 Fever is often fatal, without delirium. Ah! Vol. 8. Under this standard you shall conquer. L2 10 ADDRESS TO THE YOUNG MEN OP [246 did every disease with which human beings are fevered, and swollen, and slain, receive a candid name ; were every gravestone inscribed with a true memorial, as well of the life, as the death of him at whose head it stands ; could every consumption, and dropsy, and liver complaint, dis- close its secret history ; did every shaking nerve, and pal- sied stomach, and aching temple, and burning brain, and ruptured blood-vessel, relate how it began, and grew, and triumphed, we should hear, indeed, of many who died in consumption, or dropsy, and other diseases, without any impulse toward the grave from the use of strong drink ; but of how many, never regarded as intemperate, should we learn that the real, though slow and silent cause of their death was drink. They lingered long, and their malady was called a disease of the lungs ; or they fell suddenly, and it was a case of apoplexy ; or they were greatly swol- len, and it was considered dropsy ; they lost their powers of digestion, and were said to be troubled with dyspepsy ; every vital function refused its natural action, and the poor victim was treated for a liver complaint. But why ? what produced the disease 1 Alcohol ! They were poison- ed ! They died of the intemperate use of ardent spirits, however moderately they may have had the credit of in- dulging in them. But again, we look at the world, and, while we cannot acknowledge that any have habitually indulged in even a moderate use of ardent spirits without receiving some inju- ry, (for alcohol must hurt a healthy man in some w'ay or other,) we do acknowledge that many have thus indulged with no very perceptible injury. They have continued sober. But so it must be acknowledged, that many have breathed the air and mingled with the victims of a pesti- lence, without being infected ; or stood amidst the carnage of battle, without receiving a wound. But were they in no danger 1 Because they came off unhurt, shall we be willing to rush into the streets of an infected city, or join the conflict of charging battalions i 247] THE UNITED STATES, ON TEMPERANCE. 1 1 alted station, eminent talents, great attainments, excellent feelings, and heavy responsibilities, are any security, might, with more than usual reason, have flattered themselves with the assurance of safety : men of all professions, of strong nerves, and numerous resolutions and precautions, at last reduced to a level with the brutes ; and this spectacle forces the conviction that entire abstinence is the only security against final ruin. Had you a tree in your gardens, the fruit of which should be discovered to have inflicted disease as often as the prudent use of ardent spirits has resulted in the sorrows of intemperance, that tree would be rooted up. Its fruit would be entitled poison. The neighborhood would be afraid of it. Children would be taught to beware of so much as venturing to try how it tastes. Again : The total disuse of ardent spirits, on the part of parents, is the only plan of safety in bringing up their chil- dren. How many are the parents whose lives are cursed with children, who, were it not that “ no drunkard hath any inheritance in the kingdom of God,” they would be reliev- ed to hear were dead ! But how were those children ruined? “ / by those corrupting companions: by that vile dram- shop,''' the parents would answer. But what first inclined their way to that house of seduction ? By what avenue did evil associates first effect a lodgment in those children’s hearts? How many parents must turn and look at home for an answer ! They have not been intemperate ; but while the tastes and habits of their children were forming, they used to drink moderately of ardent spirits. The decanter containing it had an honorable place on the sideboard and on the table. It was treated respectfully, as a fountain of strength to the feeble, of refreshment to the weary ; and as perfectly safe when used in moderation. To offer it to a friend, was a debt of hospitality. Thus the whole weight of parental example was employed in impressing those chil- dren with a favorable idea of the pleasure, the benefit, and the security, (not to speak of the necessity,) of the use of ardent spirits. Thus the parents presented the decanter of strong drink to their children, with a recommendation as forcible as if every day they had encircled it with a chaplet of roses, and pronounced an oration in its praise. And 12 ADDRESS TO THE YOUNG MEN OF [248 what consequences were to be expected! Children who revere their parents will honor what their parents delight to honor. It was not to be supposed that those children would do else than imitate the high example before them. Most naturally would they try the taste, and emulate to acquire a fondness for strong drink. They would think it sheer folly to be afraid of what their parents used. In a little while the flavor would become grateful. They would learn to think of it, ask for it, contrive ways of ob- taining it, and be very accessible to the snares of those who used it to excess. Thus easily would they slide into the pit. And thus the history of the decline, and fall, and death of multitudes must commence, not at the dram-shop, but at the tables of parents ; not with describing the influ- ence of seductive companions, but with a lamentation over the examples of inconsiderate parents, who furnished those companions with their strongest argument, and wreathed their cup of death with a garland of honor. Such consequences must be looked for wherever parental example is expected to be held in reverence among chil- dren. A father may venture to the brink of a precipice, and stand without giddiness upon the margin of the torrent that rushes by and plunges into a deep abyss ; but will he trust his child to occupy the same position! But if the child see him there, is there no danger that when the pa- rent’s eye is away he too will venture, and go and play upon the frightful verge, and be amused with the bubbles as they dance along the side of the cataract, and at last be- come giddy, and drawn in with the rush of the tide ! Entire abstinence from the drink of drunkards is the parents’ only plan in training up their children. Again: The total disuse of ardent spirits is essential to the beneficial influence of the example of the temperate upon society at large. However novel the assertion to some, it can be easily shown that the example of all who use ardent spirits, ex- cept as they use prescribed medicine, is in the scale of in- 249] THE UNITED STATES, ON TEMPERANCE. 13 temperance. As far as its influence extends, it helps di- rectly to fill up the ranks of the intemperate, and annually to launch a multitude of impenitent souls into a hopeless eternity. Can this be true 1 Suppose all tlie rising gene- ration, in imitation of their elders, should commence the moderate use of strong drink. They are thus attracted into the current of the stream which is setting silently, smoothly, powerfully, toward the roaring whirlpool. But now they are urged by those whose example they have thus far followed, to go no farther. “ Beware ! (they cry) the tide is strong ; do like us ; drop the anchor, ply the oar.” Ah ! but now their influence fails. It was strong enough to persuade the thoughtless into danger ; but now it is per- fectly impotent to keep them from ruin. They have none of the strength or prudence by which others have been ena- bled to keep their place. They have no anchor to drop ; nor skill at the oar. They yield, and go down, and perish. But where must we look for the prime cause of this de- struction] To those whose example enticed them into the way — the example of prudent drinkers. Such, unquestiona- bly, was the influence by which a great portion of those now intemperate were first drawn into the snares of death. It is not, as many suppose, the odious example of those al- ready under the dominion of intemperate habits, by which others are seduced : the operation of such disgusting pre- cedents is rather on the side of entire abstinence from the means of their debasement. But it is to the honor given the degrading cup, by those who can drink without what is considered excess, that we must ascribe, in a great degree, the first seduction of all who receive the ultimate wages of intemperance. Again : Entire abstinence from strong drink should be the rule of all ; because, to one in health it never does good ; but, on the contrary, it always of its very nature does harm. We know the general idea, that hard labor, and cold weather, and a hot sun demand its use ; that a little to stimulate the appetite, and a little to help digestion, and a little to com- pose us to sleep, and a little to refresh us when fatigued, and a little to enliven us when depressed, is very useful, if not necessary. And we know hov/ soon so many little 14 ADDRESS TO THE YOUNG MEN OF [2o0 , matters make a great amount. AVe have often been called to “ behold bow great a matter a little fire kiiidleth.’’ A more unfounded idea never was adopted, than that a man in health can need such medicine. Is there any nourish- ment in drinking alcohol 'I About as much as in eating fire. But why should not the opinions of physicians suffice on this point ? If we take their advice as to what will cure us when sick, why not also as to what will injure us when well ? The first medical men throughout the land do not more perfectly agree, that to breathe a foul atmosphere is pernicious, than that the use of strong drink, in any quan- tity, is hurtful. Abstain entirely, is their loud and reiterated ; advice. Many of them will even maintain that it can easily and profitably be dispensed with in medicine. But how speaks experience on this head I AVho works the longest under the sun of August, or stands the firmest against the winter, or abides the safest amidst abounding disease, or arrives last at the infirmities of old age ? The ' experiment of total abstinence has been fairly tried in thousands of cases by those who once imagined they must drink a little every day ; and invariably have they borne a grateful testimony to its happy effects upon the health of their bodies and the peace of their minds. Farms are tilled, harvests gathered, ships built ; companies of militia parade, associations of firemen labor, fishermen stand their expo- sure, the student trims his lamp, the hungry eat their bread, and the weary take their rest, with no debt of thanks to the aid of the distillery. AVe say no more upon the plan of entire abstinence. But we will mention four reasons which should embolden any friend of temperance in urging it upon others. 1st. It is extremely simple. All can comprehend, all can execute it. It requires no labor ; costs no stud\'; con- sumes no time. 2d. It contains no coercion. Its whole force is that of 25i] THE UNITED STATES, ON TEMPERANCE. 1.5 reason. The influence of laws and of nragistrates it does not embrace. No man can complain of a trespass upon liis liberty, when we would persuade him to escape tlie drunkard’s slavery by not tasting the drunkard’s cup. 3d. In this cure there is no pain. It is recommended to whom? — the temperate; to those who, having formed no strong attacliment to ardent spirit, can feel no great self- denial in renouncing its use. 4th. In this remedy there is no expense. To those who complain of other works of usefulness because of their cost, this is without blame. To drink no spirits, will cost no mone}'. But what will it save 1 It will save the majority of the poorer class of the population, in most of our towns, one half their annual rent. It will empty all our alms- houses and hospitals of two-thirds their inhabitants, and support the remainder. Yes, such is the tax which the consumption of ardent spirits annually levies upon this na- tion, that the simple disuse of strong drink throughout the land, would save in one year the value of at least five times the whole national revenue. It is too late to say that a general adoption of the great principle of total abstinenca is too much to be hoped for. A few years ago, who would not have been considered al- most deranged had he predicted what has already been ac- complished in this cause ? Great things, wonderful things, have already been effected. The enemies of this reforma- tion, whose pecuniary interests set them in opposition, are unable to deny tliis fact. It is felt from the distillery to the dram-shop. It is seen from Maine to the utmost South and West. Every traveller perceives it. Eveiy vender knows it. The whole country wonders at the progress of this cause. It is rapidly and powerfully advancing. One thing., and only one, can prevent its entire success. The frenzy of drunkenness cannot arrest its goings. The hundreds of thousands in the armies of intemperance cannot resist its march. But the temperate can. If backward to come up to the vital principle of this work, they will prevent its accomplishment. But the banner of triumph will wave in 8 16 ADDRESS TO THE YOUNG MEN OF [2o2 peace over all the land, hailed by thousands of grateful cap- tives from the gripe of death, in spite of all the warring of the “ mighty to drink wine if those who abhor intempe- rance, and think they would be willing to make a great sa- crifice to save their children or friends from its blasting curse, will only come up to the little effort of entire absti- nence. This is the surest and shortest way to drain off the river of fire now flowing through the land; It is the mo- derate use of the temperate that keeps open the smoking fountains from which that tide is poured. To young men who have not yet been brought under the dominion of intemperate habits, we address the urgent exhortation of this cause. Consider the immense respon- sibility that devolv'es upon you. It is not too much to say that the question, whether this nation is to be delivered from the yoke of death ; whether the present march of re- formation shall go on till the last hiding-place of this vice shall be subdued ; or else be arrested and turned back with the sorrow of beholding the vaunting triumph, and the em- boldened increase of all the ministers of wo which attend in the train of intemperance, rests ultimately with \ou. You compose the muscle and sinew of this nation. You are to set the example b)' which the next generation is to be influenced. By 3 'our influence its character will be formed. By your stand its position will in a great mea- sure be determined. You are soon to supplant those who have passed the state of life which you noware occupying. Soon the generation that is to grow up under the influence of your example and, instruction, will have reached 3 ‘our place. Thus are you the heart of the nation. Corruption and debasement here must be felt to the extremities of the national body. Temperance here will eventually expell, by its strong pulsations, the last remnant of the burning blood of drunkenness from the system, and carry soberness and health to every member of our political constitution. Are these things so ? Suppose them exaggerations ! Grant that the importance of your vigorous and unanimous co-opera- tion in this work of reformation is unreasonably magnified ; still how much can you do.^ Were our coasts invaded by a powerful enemy, come to ravage our cities ; chain our 253] THE UNITED STATES, ON TEMPERANCE. 17 liberties ; poison our fountains ; burn our harvests, and carry off our youth into perpetual slavery — what could young men do ? To whom would the trump of battle be sounded so effectually ? Who else would feel upon them- selves the chief responsibility for their country’s rescue ? What excuse could they find for supineness and sloth ? Such indeed is the enemy by which the country is already desolated. And now it is to the warm hearts, and the strong hands, and the active energies, and the powerful ex- ample of young men, that the dearest interests of the nation look for deliverance. IToung men, shall we not enlist heartily and unitedly in promoting the extermination of intemperance 1 What ques- tion have we to decide ? Is it a question whether the country is cursed with this plague to a most horrible and alarming extent 1 No. Is it a question whether the pre- sent power and the progressive character of intemperance among us demand an immediate rising up of all the moral force of the nation to subdue it ? No. Is it a question whether the most important part of the strength and success of such an effort depends upon the part in it which the young men in the United States shall take? No. Then what does the spirit of patriotism say to us ? If we love our country ; if we would rise in arms to shake off the hosts of an invader from our shores ; if every heart among us would swell with indignation at the attempt of an inter- na-! power to break in pieces our free constitution, and sub- stitute a government of chains and bayonets ; what does the love of country bid us do, when by universal acknow- ledgment an enemy is now among us whose breath is pes- tilence and whose progress desolation ; an enemy that has already done and is daily doing a more dreadful work against the happiness of the people than all the wars and plagues we have ever suffered. What does the voice of common humanity say to us ? Can we feel for human wo, and not be moved at the spec- tacle of wretchedness and despair which the intemperance of this country presents? Let us imagine the condition of the hundreds of thousands who are now burning with the 18 ADDRESS TO THE YOUNG MEN OF [254 hidden flame, and hastening to utter destruction hy this most pitiless of all vices ; let us embrace in one view the countless woes inflicted by the cruel tempers, the deep disgrace, the hopeless poverty, and the corrupting examples of all these victims, upon wives, children, parents, friends, and the mo- rals of society ; let us stand at the graves of the thirty thousand that annually perish by intemperance, and there be still, and listen to what the voice of humanity speaks. What does the exhortation of religion say to usi What undermines more insidiously every moral principle of the heart ; what palsies so entirely every moral faculty of the soul ; what so sooti and so awfully makes man dead while he liveth ; what spreads through the whole frame-work of society such rottenness, or so effectually opens the door to all those powers of darkness by which the pillars of public order are crumbled and the restraints of religion are mock- ed ; what so universally excludes from the death-bed of a sinner the consolations of the Gospel, or writes upon his grave such a sentence of despair, as intemperance? Behold the immense crowd of its victims ! Where are they not seen? Read in the book of God that declaration, “ nor thieves, nor drunkards, shall inherit the kingdom of God then listen to what the exhortation of Christian benevolence speaks to us. Is it asked, what can young men do? We can do this one thing at least. Tie can continue temperate. What if every one of us, now free from the appetite of strong drink, should hold on to our liberty; how vrould the ranks of intemperance, which death is continually wasting, be filled up ? But how shall we continue temperate ? iVot by using the means of destruction. Not by a moderate indulgence in the cup of seduction. Not by beginning v/here all those began who have since ended in ruin. But by entire abstinence from strong drink. Let us renounce en- tirely what cannot profit us, what forms no important item in our comforts, what may bring us, as it has brought such multitudes as strong as we, to the mire and dirt of drunk- enness. But we can do something more. We can contribute the influence of our example to help bring into disrepute the use 255] THE UNITED STATES, ON TEMPERANCE. 19 of ardent spirits for any purposes but those of medicine. If any of us are confident tliat we could go on in the moderate, without ever coming to the immoderate use of strong drink, we know that the deliverance of the country from its pre- sent curse is utterly hopeless while ardent spirit is in the hands of the people. It must be banished. Public opi- nion must set it aside. Young men must contribute to form that opinion. It cannot be formed without the total ab- stinence of the temperate. Let us not dare to stand in its way. But we can do something more. We have an influence which, in a variety of ways, we may use in the community to diminish the temptations which, wherever we look, are presented to the unwary to entice them to intemperance. We can employ the influence of example, of opinion, and of persuasion, to drive out of fashion and into disrepute, the common but ensnaring practice of evincing hospitality by the display of strong drink, and of testifying friendship and good will over the glass. We can contribute much powerful co-operation in the effort to make the use of ar- dent spirits, for the ordinary purposes of drink so unbe- coming the character of temperate people, that he who wishes to have his reputation for temperance unsuspected will either renounce the dangerous cup, or wait till no eye but that of God can see him taste it. We can do much, in union with those of more age and more established in- fluence, to create a public feeling against the licensing of those innumerable houses of corruption where seduction into the miseries of drunkenness is the trade of their keep- ers, and the means of destruction are vended so low, and offered so attractively, that the poorest may purchase his death, and the strongest may be persuaded to do so. These horrible abodes of iniquity not only facilitate the daily ine- briation of the veteran drunkard, but they encourage, and kindle, and nourish, and confirm the incipient appetite of the novice, and put forth the first influence in that system of persuasion by which the sober are ultimately subdued and levelled to the degradation of wretches, from whose loathsomeness they once turned away in disgust. Why are these instruments of cruelty permitted 1 Not because the 20 ADDRESS TO THE YOUNG MEN, &c. [•256 authorities will not refuse to license them. Public opinion is the conscience of those authorities. Let the opinions and feelings of that portion of the community where the strength and patronage of society reside, be once enlisted in opposition to such houses, and the evil will be remedied; the morals of society will not be insulted, nor the happiness of families endangered at every step by the agents and means and attractions of intemperance. Young men have much to do, and are capable of doing a great work in cre- ating such a public opinion. In order to exert ourselves with the best effect in the promotion of the several objects in this great cause to which young men should apply themselves, let us associate ourselves into Temperance Societies. We know the impor- tance of associated exertions. We have often seen how a few instruments, severally weak, have become mighty when united. Every work, whether for evil or benevolent purposes, has felt the life, and spur, and power of co-ope- ration. The whole progress of the temperance reformation, thus far, is owing to the influence of societies ; to the coming together of the temperate, and the union of their resolutions, examples, and exertions, under the articles of temperance societies. Thus examples have been brought out, set upon a hill, and made secure. Thus the weak have been strength- ened ; the wavering confirmed ; the irresolute emboldened. Thus public attention has been awakened, public feeling interested, and public sentiment turned and brought to bear. Thus works have been performed, information distributed, agencies employed, and a thousand instruments set in mo- tion which no industry of individual unassociated action could have reached. Let temperance societies be multipli- ed. Every new association is a new battery against the strong hold of the enemy, and gives a new impulse to the hearts of those who have already joined the conflict. Let us arise, and be diligent, and be united ; and may the God of mercy bless our work. END. ]^ 0 . 2 ^ 7 . WHO SliEW AEE THESE! AN AUTHENTIC NARRATIVE. About twenty years ago Mr. and Mrs. decent and respectable people, removed witli a family of children from the country to a neighboring town, where tiiey purchased a small house and lot, and lived very comfortabh'. Tiieir family, liowever, increasing to five boys, they removed to the shore, the town being situated on a river, and in addition .to their former means of obtaining a living, erected a sign and provided “ entertainment” for such as chose to call on them. They were temperate people, accounted honest, and sent their children to the most resiiectable school in the place. In a short time it was perceived that they too frequently partook of the “entertainment,” as it is called, which thcv jirovided for their customers. The habit of daily measuring the poison to others, induced them to taste for themselves; their house was not as respectable as formerly ; restraints were removed; and although they were not drunkards, tlicy bore evidently the first symptoms of the working of the deadly drug which they fearlessly handled. If the Tempe- rance Reformation had been at that time commenced, they might have been warned of their danger, and saved from ruin; but nothing arrested their progress in the path of the destroyer. Their children, who used to be clad with garments which denoted a mother’s industry, soon began to bear marks ol neglect, and were by degrees withdrawn from the school — their parents, because of hard limes, not being able to sup- port them there. They consequently lounged about, be- came acquainted with the customers at the bar, and learned their evil habits, especially that of drinking. The deadly venom appeared to spread with more than common rapidity in the veins of that miserable couple, and they were shortly incapable of keeping even the wretched, disgraceful establishment, which had been the means of working their ruin. ^ Vol.8. 2 WHO Sr.EW ALL THESE ? [286 They had commenced it to become rich ; but at the end of a few years it had reduced tl’.ein to povert}', wretched indeed. Tliey had lost t!>eir respectability, tlieir honesty, and their property, wiiicli had been mortgaged for rum; tlieir children were become vagabonds, and their house a receptacle of vice. Of all their five sons, not one escaped tlie infection; they and their. miserable parents wallowed in the rnire together. Jn consequence of the dreadful excess to which she had abandoned herself, the imagination of Mrs. became disordered, and conjured up horrible visions. She fancied herself bound with a belt of brass, to which was attached a chain held by the great enemy of souls, who had indeed enchained her with this most dire and cflectual of all his spells. She would cross the room with the raj/idiU’ of lightning, screaming that he was winding up the chain, and she must go, she could not stop. She was afraid to pass her own threshold, and fancied she heard unnarthly voices, and saw sjiirits black and hideous all around her. “ There they sit,” she would say, “ J ,” “ M ,” (mentioning the names of all her children,) “ there they sit grinning at me and telling me 1 sent them to hell ; they are on the beams and in the corners, and wherever I go.” The writer of this has often witnessed her desperate strug- gles; has seen her, when a gleam of reason came over her mind, weep in bitterness over her ruin and misery ; has heard her confessions of deeds of villainy committed under her roof ; and has heard also her solemn vows to refrain from that which wrought all this ntisery and sin ; but after ail this, has seen her — “ seek it yet again.” All the arguments which religion can ofl'er were set before her, and she often felt, or appeared to feel, their force, and resolved: — but the deadly wave seemed to have retired to gather new force, and again swept over her and prostrated her lower than ‘ the beasts that perish.’ There can be no more eftectual barrier against the voice of conscience, the powerful cords of natural aflectio.n, and the strivings of the blessed Spirit of God, than the use of ardent spirit. Her husband had made himself literally a beast; his ap- pearance was scarcely human; bloated, discoloured, totter- ing, uttering curses, and sometimes threatening her life. Her constitution, after a while, gave way, and she sank in WHO SLEW ALL THESE? 3 287] death, snoring out the few last days of her existence in a state of stupor, covered with rags and filth. Her husband had so benunabed every feeling of humanity by his excess, that he seemed very little affected 6y her death ; and to one who reminded him of their former respectability, and spoke of the wretched state to which they were reduced, urging him powerfully, over the dead body of the self-murdered wife, nov3 to desist, he replied stupidly, that there is an eleventh hour. Four or five years have elapsed, and he is still in the same state of beastly degradation — his property entirely gone, and he occasionally earning a few cents, with which to purchase the deadly drug which is consuming his vitals, and rendering him stupid and dead to every motive that can be urged for reformation. Two of the sons of this unhappy man have gone down to the chambers of death in an awful manner. Another, in an a.Tray occasioned by intoxication, received such an injury in the head, that his intellect has suffered, and he is subject to fits of partial derangement. The other two are very in- temperate; one of them apparently lost to all sense of shame. The circumstances attending the death of one of these young men were extraordinary. He had become subject to fits in consequence of his intemperate life ; and his wife fol- lowing the same course, they were obliged to give up keep- ing public house, and he maintained himself by fishing. He frequently stopped colored people and others who wnie advertised as runaways, and obtained a reward for returning them to their masters. He was brutally cruel in his treat- ment of those who thus fell into his hands, and on one oc- casion, having apprehended a j'oung colored man on suspi- cion of his being a runaway, he abused him, and confined him a night in his house. The man declared the name of his master, and that he had permission to go from home. He however determined on returning him, hoping to obtain a reward. The next morning he and one of his companions took him in a small fishing boat to his master, who confirmed he man’s story, and sent them away disappointed. The wind died away when they were a short distance from the sluH'e, and they cast- anchor to wait for the tide. It was a cold day in February : they had no fire ; but the sun shining 8 * 4 WHO SLEW ALL THESE? [288 upon them, they seated themselves at each end of the boat in silence. The attention of his companion was-directed towards him by the sound of a heavy plunge ; and he saw him just falling over the side of the boat into the water, llg ran forwards, but too late to save him : there was no struggle, no scream, but he sank like lead into the mighty waters. He must have fallen in a fit His affrighted com - panion returned as quickly as he could, and the following day search was made for his body, which was found swollen and disfigured, and laid in the grave. His brother, the youngest of the five, had not reached his twentieth year, but had given himself up to the influence of the vice which has proved the destruction of his family, until he also was subject to fits. Not many months ago he was seized with one, being then intoxicated ; he w’as recovered by the slanders by, and crawled to a small sloop lying partly on the shore for repairs : he laid himself down there, and was found, ten minutes afterward dead, with his head partly under water. It was supposed that another fit had seized him, and that in his struggle he had fallen and sufibcated. This is a melancholy history, but a true one. Many cir- cumstances rendering it more striking are suppressed, as some of the parties are living. The old man, but a short time ago, w’as warned again, and the question put to him, “What are the benefits of this practice?’’ “It fattens grave-yards,"' he replied, wdth a distorted countenance and a horrid laugh. Yes, such are the dire results of intemperance; and of intemperance not born with one, but brought on by a tem- jierate use of ardent spirit. These facts are well known. They are published with the hope of their proving a restraint to some one who, trusting in the strength of principle, may occasionally taste this destructive poison. “ Look not upon the wine when it is red, when it givelli his color in the cup, when it moveth itself aright : at the last it biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an adder.” PUBLISHED BY THE AMEHICAN TRACT SOCIETY, And sold at their Depository, No. 150 Nassau-street, near the City Hall, New-York; and by Agents of the Society, its branches,. and Auxiliaries, in the principal cities and towns in the United Statt ". ZVO. 249 ADDRESS ON THE SFFSSOTS OF IZffTFXMF£Ril.MCIE ON THE INTELLECTUAL, MORAL, AND PHYSICAL POWERS. ORIGINALLY DELIVERED BEFORE THE WASHINGTON CITY TEMPE- RANCE SOCIETY, BY THOMAS SEWALL, M. D. Professor of Anatomy and Physiology in the Columbian College. We are convened, my fellow-citizens, to attend the first anniversary of a Society for the promotion of Tempe- rance ; an institution which, in accordance with the spirit of the times, has been established through our land by the almost united voice of the nation, and this for the sup- pression of one of the most alarming evils that ever in- I'ested human society ; a vice, too, so odious in its nature, so injurious in its consequences, and attended with so many circumstances of suffering, mortification, and disgrace, that it seems difficult to understand how it should ever have be come a prevalent evil among mankind ; and more especially how it should have come down to us from the early periods of societ}', gaining strength, and power, and influence, in its descent. That such is the fact, requires no proof. Its de- vastating effects are but too obvious. In these latter times more especially, it has swept over our land with the rapidity and power of a tempest, bearing down every thing in its course. Not content with rioting in the haunts of ignorance and vice, it has passed through our consecrated groves, has entered our most sacred enclosures: and oh! how many men of genius and of letters have fallen before it! how many lofty intellects have been shattered and laid in ruins by its power! how many a warm and philanthropic lieart 2 DR. SEWALl’s address. [322 has been chilled by its icy touch ! It has left no retreat un- visited ; it has alike invaded our public and private assem- blies, our political and social circles, our courts ol' justice and halls of legislation. It has stalked within the very walls of our Capitol, and there left the stain of its polluting toucli on our national glory. It has leaped over the pale of the Church, and even reached up its sacrilegious arm to t!ie pulpit and dragged down some of its richest ornaments. It has revelled equally on the spoils of the palace and the cottage, and has seized its victims, with an unsparing grasp, from every class of society; the private citizen and public functionary, the high and the low, the rich and the poor, the enlightened and the ignorant : and where is there a family among us so happy as not to have wept over some of its members, who have fallen by the hand of this ruthless de- stroyer ■? As a nation, intemperance has corrupted our morals, im- paired our intellect, and enfeebled our physical strength. Indeed, in whatever light we view it, whether as an indivi- dual, a social, or national evil, as afl'ecting our personal in- dependence and happiness, our national wealth and in- dustry; as reducing our power of naval and military de- fence, as enfeebling the intellectual energies of the nation, and undermining the health of our fellow-citizens ; as sinking the patriotism and valor of the nation, as in- creasing paupers, poverty and taxation, as sapping the foun- dation of our moral and religious institutions, or as introdu- cing disorder, distress and ruin into families and societv'; it calls to us, in a voice of thunder, to awake from our slum- bers, to seize every weapon, and wield ever}" power which God and nature have placed within our reach, to protect ourselves and our fellow-citizens from its ravages. But the occasion will not permit me to dwell on the ge- neral effects of intemperance, nor to trace the history of its causes. I shall, therefore, confine myself more particularly to a consideration of its influence on the individual: its ef- fects on the moral, intellectual and ])hysical constitution of man — not the primary effect of ardent spirit as displayed in a fit of intoxication ; it is the more insidious, permanent and fatal effects of intemperance, as exemplified in the case of the habitual dram-drinker, to which I wish to call your attention. 323] DR. sewall’s address 3 I. The effects of ardent spirit on the moral powers. It is perhaps difficult to determine in what way intemperance first manifests its influence on the moral powers, so va- riously does it affect different individuals. Were I to speak from my own observation, I should say that it first appears in an alienation of those kind and tender sympathies which bind a man to his family and friends; those lively sensibili- ties which enable him to participate in the joys and sor- rows of those around him. “ The social affections lose their fulness and tenderness, the conscience its power, the heart its sensibility, till all that was once lovely, and rendered him the joy and the idol of his friends, retires,” and leaves him to the dominion of the appetites and passions of the brute. “ Religious enjoyment, if he ever possessed any, declines as the emotions excited by ardent spirit arise.’ He loses, by degrees, his regard to truth and to the fulfilment of his engagements — he forgets the Sabbath and the house of worship, and lounges upon his bed, or lingers at the tavern. He lays aside his Bible — his family devotion is not heard, and his closet no longer listens to the silent whispers of prayer. He at length becomes irritable, peevish, and pro- fane ; and is finally lost to every thing that respects decorum in appearance, or virtue in principle ; and it is lamentable to mark the steps of that process by which the virtuous and elevated man sinks to ruin. II. Its effects on the intellectual powers. Here the in- fluence of intemperance is marked and decisive. The in- ebriate first loses his vivacity and natural acuteness of per- ception. His judgment becomes clouded and impaired in its strength, the memory also enfeebled and sometimes quite obliterated. The mind is wandering and vacant, and incapa- ble of intense or steady application to any one subject. This state is usually accompanied by an unmeaning stare or fixedness of countenance quite peculiar to the drunkard. The imagination and the will, if not enfeebled, acquire a morbid sensibility, from which they are thrown into a state of violent excitement from the slightest causes : hence the inebriate sheds floods of tears over the pictures of his own fancy. I have often seen him, and especially on his re- covery from a fit of intoxication, weep and laugh alternately over the same scene. The will, too, acquires an omnipo- tent ascendency over him, and is the only monitor to which 4 DR. SEWALL’s address. [324 he yields obedience. The appeals of conscience, the claims of domestic happiness, of wives and children, of patriotism and of virtue, are not heard. The difl'erent powers of the mind having thus lost their natural relation to each other, the healthy balance being de- stroyed, the intellect is no longer fit for Intense application, or successful effort — and although the inebriate ma}', and sometimes does, astonish, by the wildness of his fancy and the poignancy of his wit, yet in nine cases out of ten he fails, and there is never any confidence to be reposed in him. There have been a few who, from peculiarity of constitu- tion, or some other cause, have continued to'perform intel- lectual labor for many years, while slaves to ardent spirits ; but in no instance has the vigor of the intellect or its ability to labor been increased by indulgence : and where there is one who has been able to struggle on under the habits of intemperance, there are thousands who have perished in the experiment, and some among the most powerful minds that the world ever produced. On the other hand, we shall find, by looking over the biography of the great men of every age, that those who have possessed the clearest and most powerful minds, neither drank spirits nor indulged in the pleasures of the table. Sir Isaac Newton, John Locke, Dr. Franklin, John Wesley, Sir William Jones, John Fletcher, and President Edwards, furnish a striking illus- tration of this truth. One of the secrets by which these men produced such astonishing results, were enabled to per- form so much intellectual labor, and of so high a grade, and to arrive at old age in the enjoyment of health, was a rigid course of abstinence. But I hasten to consider more particularly, III. Its effects on the p/iysicaZ^JOteers. In view of this part of the subject, the attention of the critical observer is arrested by a series of circumstances, alike disgusting and melancholy. 1. The odor of the breath of the drunkard furnishes the earliest indication by which the habitual use of ardent spirit becomes known. This is occasioned by the exhala- tion of the alcoholic principle from the bronchial vessels and air-cells of the lungs — not of pure spirit, as taken into the stomach, but of spirit which has been absorbed, has mingled with the blood, and has been subjected to the ac- 325] DB. sewall’s address. S tion of the different organs of the body ; and not containing any principle which contributes to the nourishment or reno- vation of the system, is cast out with the other excretions, as poisonous and hurtful; and this peculiar odor does not arise from the accidental or occasional use of spirit ; it marks only the habitual dram-drinker — the one who indul- ges daily in his potation ; and although its density varies in some degree with the kind of spirit consumed, the habits and constitution of the individual, yet it bears generally a close relation to the degree of intemperance. These obser- vations are confirmed by some experiments made on living animals by the celebrated French physiologist, Magendie. He ascertained that diluted alcohol, a solution of camphor, and some other odorous substances, when subjected to the absorbing power of the veins, are taken up by them, and after mingling with the blood, pass off by the pulmonary exhalants. Even phosphorus injected into the crural vein of a dog, he found to pass ofi’ in a few moments from the nostrils of the animal in a dense white vapor, which he ascertained to be phosphoric acid. Cases have occurred, in which the breath of the drunkard has become so highly charged with alcohol as to render it actually inflammable by the touch of a taper.. One individual in particular is mentioned, who often amused his comrades by passing his breath through a small tube, and setting it on fire as it is- sued from it. It appears, also, that this has been the source of that combustion of the body of the drunkard which has been denominated spontaneous ; many well authenticated cases of which are on record, 2. The perspirable matter which passes off from the skin becomes charged with the odor of alcohol in the drunkard, and is so far changed in some cases as to furnish evidence of the kind of spirit drank. I have met with two instances, says Dr. McNish, the one in a claret, and the other in a port drinker; in which the moisture that exhaled from their bodies had a ruddy complexion, similar to the wine on which they had committed their debauch. 3. The whole system soon bears marks of debility and decay. The voluntary muscles lose their power, and cease to act under the control of the will ; and hence all the movements become awkward, exhibiting the appearance of stiffness in the joints. The positions of the body, also, are 6 DR. SEWALL’s address. [326 tottering and infirm, and the step loses its elasticity and vigor. The muscles, and especially those of the face and lips, are often affected with a convulsive twitching, whicli produces the involuntary winking of the eye, and quivering of the lip, so characteristic of the intemperate. Indeed, all the mo- tions seem unnatural and forced, as if restrained by some power within. The extremities are at length seized with a tremor, which is more strongly marked after recovery from a fit of intoxication. The lips lose their significant expres- sion, and become sensual — the complexion assumes a sickly leaden hue, or is changed to an unhealthy, fiery redness, and is covered with red streaks and blotches. The eye be- comes watery, tender, and inflamed, and loses its intelligence and its fire. These symptoms, together with a certain oede- matous appearance about the eye, bloating of the whole bodj', with a diy, feverish skin, seldom fail to mark the habitual dram-drinker ; and they go on increasing and increasing, till the intelligence and dignity of the man is lost in the tame- ness and sensuality of the brute. But these eflects, which are external and obvious, are only the ‘‘signals which nature holds out, and waves in to- ken of internal distress;” for all the time the inebriate has been pouring down his daily drauglit and making merry over the cup, morbid changes have been going on within ; and though these are unseen, and it may be, unsuspected, they are fatal, irretrievable. A few of the most important of these changes I shall now describe; 4. The s/omac/i and its functions. This is the great organ of digestion. It is the chief instrument by which food is prepared to nourish, sustain and renovate the different tis- sues of the body, to carry on the various functions, and to supply the waste which continually takes place in the sys- tem. It is not strange, therefore, that the habitual applica- tion to the oi'gan of any agent, calculated to derange its functions, or change its organization, should be follow'ed by symptoms so various and extensive, and by consequences so fatal. The use of ardent spirit produces both these ef- fects; it deranges the functions of the stomach, and if per- sisted in, seldom fails to change its organic structure. The inebriate first loses his appetite, and becomes thirsty and feverish; he vomits in the morning, and is afl'ected with spasmodic pains in the region of the stomach. He is often 337] DR. SEWALl’s address. 7 seized with permanent dyspepsia, and either wastes away by degrees, or dies suddenly of a fit of cramp in the stomach. On examining tlie stomach after deatl), it is generaliy found irritated, and approaching a state of inflammation, with its vessels enlarged, and filled with black blood ; and particu- larly those of the mucous coat, which gives to the internal surface of the stomach the appearance of purple or reddish streaks, resembling the livid patches seen on the face of the drunkard. The coats of the stomach become greatly thickened and corrugated, and so firmly united as to form one inseparable mass. In this state, the walls of the organ are sometimes increased in thickness to the extent of ten or twelve lines, and are sometimes found also in a scirrhous or cancerous condition. The following case occurred in my practice several years since: A middle-aged gentleman, of wealth and standing, had long been accustomed to mingle in the convivial circle, and though by no means a drunkard, had indulged at times in the use of his old cogniac, with an unsparing hand. He was at length seized with pain in the region of the stomach, and a vomiting of his food an hour or two after eating. In about eighteen months ho died in a state of extreme ema- ciatien. On opening the body after death, the walls of the whole of the right extremity of the stomach were found in a scir- rhous and cancerous condition, and thickened to the extent of about two inches. The cavity of the organ was so far obliterated as scarcely to admit the passage of a probe from the left to the right extremity, and the opening which re- mained was so unequal and irregular as to render it evident that but little of the nourishment he had received could have passed the lower orifice of the stomach for many months. I have never dissected the stomach of a drunkard, in which the organ did not manifest some remarkable deviation from its healthy condition. But the derangement of the stomach is not limited to the function of nutrition merely. This organ is closely united to every other organ, and to each individual tissue of the body, by its sympathetic rela- tions. When the stomach, therefore, becomes diseased, other parts suffer with it. The functions of the brain, the heart, the lungs, and the liver become disordered ; the secre- 8 DR. sewall’s address. [328 tions are altered, and all the operations of the animal econo- my are more or less affected. 5. The liver and its functions. Alcohol, in every form and proportion, has long been known to exert a strong and speedy influence on this organ, when used internally’. A- ware of this fact, the poultry-dealers of England are in tlie habit of mixing a quantity of spirit with the food of their fowls, in order to increase the size of the liver ; so that they may be enabled to supply to the epicure a greater abundance of that part of the animal, which he regards as the most delicious. The influence of spirit on the liver is exerted in two ways: First, the impression made upon the mucous coat of the stomach is extended to the liver by sympathy : the second mode of action is through the medium of the circulation, and by the immediate action of the alcoholic principle on the liver itself, as it passes through the organ, mingling with the blood. In whichsoever of these ways it operates, its first effect is to increase tlie action of the liver, and sometimes to such a degree as to produce inflammation. Its secretion becomes changed from a bright yellow to a green or black, and from a thin fluid to a substance resembling tar in its consistence. There soon follows also an enlargement of the liver and a change in its organic structure. I liave met with several cases in which the liver has become enlarged from intemperance, so as to occupy a greater part of the cavity of the abdomen, and weighing from eight to twelve pounds, wlien it should have weighed not more than four or five. The liver sometimes, however, even when it manifests great morbid change in its organic structure, is rather dimi- nished than increased in its volume. This was the case in the person of the celebrated stage-actor, George Frederick Cook, who died a few y^ears since in the city of New-York. This extraordinary man was long distinguished for the pro- fligacy of his life, as well as for the native vigor of his mind and body. At the time of his death the body’ was opened by' Dr. Hosack, who found that the liver did not exceed its usual dimensions, but was astonishingly hard, of a lighter color than natural, and that its texture was so dense as to make considerable resistance to the knife. The blood-ves- sels, which in a healthy condition are extremely numerous and large, were in this case nearly obliterated, evincing that DR. SEWALl’s address. 9 329 ] the regular circulation through the liver, had long since ceased ; and tubercles were found throughout the whole substance of the organ. I have met with several cases in the course of my dissec- tions, in which the liver was found smaller than natural, schrivelled, indurated, its blood-vessels diminished in size and number, with the whole of its internal structure more or less changed. In consequence of these morbid changes in the liver, other organs become affected, as the spleen, the pancreas, &c. either by sympathy or in consequence of their dependence on the healthy functions of the liver for the due performance of their own. 6. Of the Brain and its functions. Inflammation and en- gorgement of this organ are frequent consequences of in- temperance, and may take place during a debauch — or may arise some time after, during the stage of debility, from a loss of the healthy balance of action between the different parts of the system. This inflammation is sometimes acute, is marked by furious delirium, and te-rminates fatally in the course of a few days, and sometimes a few hours. At other times it assumes a chronic form, continues much longer, and then frequently results in an efl'usion of serum, or an extrav'asation of blood, and the patient dies in a state of in- sensibility, with all the symptoms of compressed brain. Sometimes the system becomes so saturated with ardent spirit, that there is good reason to believe, the effusions which take place in the cavities of the brain, and elsewhere, are composed, in part at least, of the alcoholic principle. The following case occurred, not long since, in England, and is attested by unquestionable authority. A man was taken up dead in the streets of London, soon after having drank a quart of gin, on a wager. He was carried to the Westminster Hospital, and there dissected. “In the ventricles of the brain was found a considerable quantity of limpid fluid, distinctly impregnated with gin, both to the sense of smell and taste, and even to the test of inflammability. The liquid appeared to the senses of the examining students, as strong as one-third gin, and two- thirds water.” Dr. Armstrong, who has enjoyed very ample opportunity of investigating this subject, speaks of the chronic Inflamma- 10 DU. sewall’s address. [330 tion of the brain and its membranes, as frequently proceed- ing from the free use of strong liquors. It is a fact familiar to every anatomist, that alcohol, even when greatly diluted, has, by its action on the brain after death, the effect of hardening it, as well as most of the tis- sues of the body which contain albumen, and it is common to immerse the brain in ardent spirit for a few daN’s, in order to render it the firmer for dissection. On examining the brain after death of such as have long been accustomed to the free use of ardent spirit, it is said the organ is generally found harder than in temperate per sons. It has no longer that delicate and elastic texture Its arteries become diminished in size, and lose their transpa- rency, while the veins and sinuses are greatly distended and irregularly enlarged. This statement is confirmed by my own dissections, and they seem also to be in full accordance with all the intellectual and physical phenomena displayed in the drunkard, while living. 7. The heart and its functions. It has generally been supposed, that the heart is less frequently affected by in- temperance, than most of the other great vital organs; but, from the history of the cases which have come under ni}' own observation, I am convinced that it seldom escapes dis- ease under the habitual use of ardent spirit. And why should it, since it is thrown almost perpetually into a state of unnatural exertion, the very effect produced b}' the vio- lent agitation of the passions, the influence of which upon this organ is found so injurious I The following case came under my notice, a few winters since. A large athletic man, long accustomed to the use of ardent spirit, on drinking a glass of raw whisket’, dropped instantly dead. On carefully dissecting the bod}-, no ade- quate cause of the sudden cessation of life could be found in any part, except the heart. This organ was free from blood, was hard and firmly contracted, as if affected by spasm. I am convinced that many of those cases of sudden death which take place with intemperate persons, are the re- sult of a spasmodic action of the heart, from sympathy with the stomach, or some other part of the system. The use of ardent spirit, no doubt, promotes also the ossification of the DR. SEWALl’s address. II 33Jj valves of the heart, as well as the developement of other organic affections. 8. The lungs and their functions. Respiration in the ine- briate is generally oppressed and laborious, and especially after eating or violent exercise ; and he is teased with a cough, attended with copious expectoration, and especially after his recovery from a fit of intoxication; and these symptoms go on increasing, and unless arrested in their pro- gress, terminate in consumption. This affection of the lungs is produced in two ways ; first, by the immediate action of the alcoholic principle upon the highly sensible membrane which lines the trachea, bronchial vessels, and air-cells of the lungs, as poured out by the ex- halanls ; and second, by the sympathy which is called into action between the lungs and other organs already in a state of disease, and more especially that of the stomach and liver. I have met with many cases, in the course of my practice, of cough and difficult breathing, which could be relieved only by regulating the functions of the stomacli, and which soon yielded, on the patient ceasing to irritate this organ with ardent spirit. I have found the liver still more frequently the source of this affection ; and on restoring the organ to its healthy condition, by laying aside the use of ardent spirit, all the pulmonary symptoms have subsided. On examining the lungs of the drunkard after death, they are frequently found adhering to the wali-s of tlie chest ; hepatized, or affected with tubercles. But time would fail me, were I to attempt an account of half the patliology of drunkenness. Dyspepsia, Jaundice, Emaciation, Corpulence, Dropsy, Ulcers, Rheumatism,. Gout, Tremors, Palpitation, Hysteria, Epilepsy, Palsy, Letha.rg'y, Apoplexy, Melancholy, Madness, Deliriuin-trcmens, and Pre- mature old age, compose but a small part of the catalogue of diseases produced by ardent spirit. Indeed, there is scarcely a morbid affection to which the human body is liable, that has not, in one way pr another, been produced by it ; there is not a disease but it has aggravated, nor a predisposition to disease, which it has not called into action ; and although its effects are in some degree modified by age and temperament, by habit and occupation, by climate and season of the year, and even by the intoxicating agent itselfj yet, the general and ultimate consequences are the same. 12 DR. SEWALI.’S ADDRESS. [332 But I pass on to notice one state of the system, produced by ardent spirit, too important and interesting to leave unexamined. It is that predisposition to disease and death which so strongly characterizes the drunkard in every situa- tion of life. It is unquestionably true, that many of the surrounding objects in nature are constantly tending to man’s destruc- tion. The excess of heat and cold, humidity and dryness, noxious exhalations from the earth, the floating atoms in tlie atmosphere, the poisonous vapors from decomposed animal and vegetable matter, with many other invisible agents, are exerting their deadly influence; and w’ere it not that every part of his system is endowed with a self-preserving power, a principle of excitability, or in other words, a vital princi- ple, the operations of the economy would cease, and a dis- solution of his organic structure take place. But this princi- ple being implanted in the sj'stem, re-action takes place, and thereby a vigorous contest is maintained with the war- ring elements without, as well as with the principle of decay within. It is thus that man is enabled to endure, from year to 3 'ear, the toils and fatigues of life, the variations of heat and cold, and the vicissitudes of the seasons — that he is enabled to traverse every region of the globe, and to live with, almost equal ease under the equator and in the frozen regions of the north. It is by this power that all his functions ate performed, from the commencement to the close of life. The principle of excitability exists in the highest degree in the infant, and diminishe-3 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 death occasioned by the exhaustion of the principle of excita- bility. In order to prevent the too rapid exhaustion of this principle, nature has especially provided for its restoratioii by establishing a period of sleep. After being awake foi sixteen or eighteen hours, a sensation of fatigue ensues, and all the functions are performed with diminished precision and energy. Locomotion becomes feeble and tottering, the voice harsh, the intellect obtuse and powerless, and all the senses blunted. In this state the individual anxiousl}' re- tires from the light and from the noise and bustle of busi- ness, seeks that position which requires the least eflbrt to 333] DR. SEWALl’s address. 13 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, cir- culation, secretion, and the other functions, go on with di- minished power and activity ; and consequently the wasted excitability is gradually restored. x\fter a repose of six or eight hours, this principle becomes accumulated to its fwll measure and the individual awakes and finds his system invigorated and refreshed. His muscular power is augment- ed, his senses are acute and discriminating, his intellect ac- tive and eager for labor, and all his functions move on with renewed energy. But if the stomach be oppressed by food, or the system excited by stimulating drinks, the sleep, though it may be profound, is never tranquil and refreshing. The system being raised to a state of feverish excite- ment, and its healthy balance disturbed, its exhausted exci- tability is not restored. The individual awakes, but finds himself fatigued rather than invigorated. His muscles are relaxed, his senses obtuse, his intellect impaired, and his whole system disordered ; and it is not till he is again under the influence of food and stimulus that he is fit for the occu- pations of life. And thus he loses the benefits of this wise provision of repose designed for his own preservation. Nothing, probably, tends more powerfully to produce pre- mature old age than disturbed and unrefreshing sleep. It is also true that artificial stimulus, in whatever way applied, tends constantly to exhaust the pri-nciple of exci- tability of the S3^stem, and this in proportion to its intensi- ty, 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, deprives it of its red color, and thereby renders it unfit to stimulate the heart, and other organs through which it circulates ; unfit, also, to supply the materials for the different secretions, and to renovate the different tissues of the body, as well as to sustain the energy of the brain ; offices which it can per- form only while it retains the vermilion color, and other arterial properties. The blood of the drunkard is several shades darker in its color, than that of temperate persons, Vol. 8. P 14 DR. SEWALL’s address. [334 and also coagulates less readily and firmly, and is loaded with serum; appearances which indicate that it has ex- changed its arterial properties for those of the venous blood. This is tlie cause of the livid complexion of the inebriate, which so strongly marks him in the advanced stage of in- temperance. Hence, too, all the functions of his body are sluggish, irregular, and the whole system loses its tone and its energy. If ardent spirit, when taken into the system, exhausts the vital principle of the solids, it destroys the vital principle of the blood also; and if taken in large quantities, produces sudden death ; in which case the blood, as in death produced b}' lightning, by opium, or by violent and long continued exertion, does not coagulate. The principles laid down are plain, and of easy appli- cation to the case before us. The inebriate having, by the habitual use of ardent spirit, exhausted to a greater or lesser extent the principle of ex- citability in the solids, the power of reaction ; and the blood having become incapable of performing its offices also, he is alike predisposed to every disease, and render- ed liable to the inroads of every invading foe. So far, therefore, from protecting the system against disease, in- temperance ever constitutes one of its strongest predi''- posing causes. Superadded to this, whenever disease does lay its grasp upon the drunkard, the powers of life being already en- feebled by the stimulus of ardent spirit, he unexpectedly sinks in the contest, and but too frequently to the mortifica- tion of his physician, and the surprise and grief of his fiiends. Indeed, inebriation so enfeebles the powers of life, so modifies the character of disease, and so changes the operation of medical agents, that unless tlie young physician has studied thoroughly the constitution of the drunkard, he has but partiall}' learned his profession, and is not fit for a practitioner of the present age. These are the true reasons wh\' the drunkard dies so easily, and from such slight causes. A sudden cold, a pleurisy, a fever, a fractured limb, or a slight wound of the skin, is often more than his shattered powers can endure. Even a little excess of exertion, an exposure to heat or cold, a hearty repast or a glass of cold DR, SEWALL’s address. 15 335] water, not iinfrequently extinguishes the small remains of the vita! principle. In the season that hqs Just closed upon us, we have had a melancholy exhibition of the efiects of intemperance in the tragical death of some dozens of 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 almost spontaneous, and some of them took place in less tlian one hour from tlie first symptoms of in- disposition. Some died apparently from a slight excess of fatigue, some from a few hours’ e.xposure to the sun, and some from a small draught of cold water ; causes quite in- adequate to the production of such effects in temperate persons. Thus, fellow-citizens, I have endeavored to delineate the effects of ardent spirit upon man, and more especially to portray its influence on his moral, intellectual, and phy- sical powers. And now let me mention a few things which must be done in order that the evil may be era- dicated. 1. Let us keep in view the objects of this Societ}', and the obligation imposed on us, to wse all proper measures to discourage the use of ardent spirit in the social circle, at public meetings, on the farm, in the mechanic shop, and in all other places. It is not a mere matter of formality that we have put our names to tliis Society’s constitution ; we have pledged ourselves to be bold, active, and persevering in the cause; to proclaim the dangers of intemperance to our fellow-citizens, and to do what we can to arrest its progress. In view of these objects and of this pledge, then, let us, if indeed we have not already done it, banish ardent spirit from our houses at once, tmd for ever, and then we can act with decision and energy, and speak in a tone of authority, and our voice will be heard, if precept be sanctioned by example. 2. Let us use our utmost endeavors to lessen the number, and, if possible, utterly exterminate from among us those establishments which are the chief agents in propagating the evils of intemperance. I refer to those shops which are licensed for retailing ardent spirit. Here is the source of DR. SEWALl’s address. 16 [336 the evil. These are the agents that are sowing among us the seeds of vice, and poverty and wretchedness. How preposterous ! that an enlightened community, pro- fessing the highest regard for morality and religion, making laws for the suppression and punishment of vice, and the promotion of virtue and good order, instituting societies to encourage industry, enlighten the ignorant, reclaim the vi- cious, bring back the wanderer, protect the orphan, feed the hungr}', clothe the naked, bind up the broken-hearted, and restore domestic peace, should, at the same time, create and foster those very means that carry idleness, and igno- rance, and vice, and nakedness, and starvation, and discord into all ranks of society ; that make widows and orphans, that sow the seeds of disease and death among us ; tliat strike, indeed, at the foundation of all that is good and great. You create paupers, and lodge them in your almshouse — orphans, and give them a residence in your asylum — con- victs, and send them to the penitentiaiy. Y’ou seduce men to crime, and then arraign them at the bar of justice — im- mure them in prison. With one hand you thrust the dag- ger to the heart — with the other attempt to assuage the pain it causes. We all remember to have heard, from the lips of our pa- rents, the narration of the fact, that in the early history of our country the tomahawk and scalping-knife were put into the hands of our savage neighbors, by our enemies at war, and that a bounty was awarded for the depredations they committed on the lives of our defenceless fellow-citi- zens. Our feelings were shocked at the recital, and a pre- judice was created, as well to these poor wandering savages, as to the nation that prompted them to the work, which neither time nor education has eradicated. Yet, as merci- less and savage as this practice may appear to us, it was Christian, it was humane, compared with ours : theirs sought only the life-blood, and that of their enemies ; ours seeks the blood of souls, and that of our own citizens, and friends, and neighbors. Their avarice was satiated with a few inches of the scalp, and the death inflicted was often a sudden and easy one; ours produces a death that lingers' and not content with the lives of our fellow-citizens, it rifles their pockets. It revels in rapine and robbery ; it sacks whole towns and villages ; it lays waste fields and vineyards ; it DR. SEWALL’s address. 17 337] riots on domestic peace, and virtue, and happiness; it sets at variance the husband and the wife ; it causes the parent to forsake tlie child, and the child to curse the parent ; it tears asunder the strongest bonds of society ; it severs the ten- derest ties of nature. And who is the author of all this 1 — and where lies the re- sponsibility ? I appeal to my fellow-citizens ! Are not we the authors } — does not the responsibility rest upon us ? — is it not so ? The power emanates from us ; we delegate it to the con- stituted authorities, and we say to them go on, “ cast fire- brands, arrows, and death and let the blood of those that perish “ be on us and on our children.” We put the toma- Iiawk and scalping-knife into the hands of our neighbors, and award to them a bounty. We do more — we share the plun- der. Let us arouse, my fellow-citizens, from our insensi- bility, and redeem our character for consistency, humanity, and benevolence. 3. Let us not confine our views or limit our operations to the narrow boundaries of our own city or district. In- temperance is a common enem}'. It exists eveiy where, and every where is pursuing its victims to destruction ; while, therefore, we are actively engaged uiion the subject in our own city, let us endeavor to do something elsewhere ; and much may be done by spreading through our country cor- rect information on the subject of intemperance. To this end, every newspaper and every press should be put in re- quisition. Circulate through the various avenues suitable Tracts, essays, and other documents, setting forth the causes of intemperance, its evils, and its remedy, together with an account of the cheering progress now making to eradicate it. Do this, and you will find thousands starting up in differ- ent parts of the country, to lend their influence, and give their money in support of your cause; individuals who have hitherto been unconscious of the extent and magnitude of the evil of intemperance; you will find some who have been slumbering upon the very precipice of ruin, rallying round your standard. Indeed we have all been insensible, till the voice of alarm was sounded, and the facts were set in array before us. 4. Appeal to the medical profession of the country, and ask them to correct the false idea which so extensively, I 18 DR. SEWALL’s address. [338 may say almost universally prevails, viz. : that ardent spirit is sometimes necessary in the treatment of disease. This opinion has slain its thousands and its tens of thousands, and multitudes of dram-drinkers daily shelter themselves under its delusive mask. One takes a little to raise his des- ponding spirits, or to drown his sorrow ; another to sharpen his appetite or relieve his dyspepsia ; one to ease his goutv pains, another to supple his stifi'ened limbs or calm his qui- vering muscles. One drinks to overcome the heat, another to ward oft’ the cold ; and all this as a medicine. Appeal, then, to the medical profession, and they will tell you, every independent, honest, sober, intelligent member of it will tell you, that there is no case in which ardent spirit is indis- pensable, and for which there is not an adequate substitute. And it is time the jtrofession should have an opportunity to exonerate itself from the chr.rge under which it has long rested, of making drunkards. But I entreat my professional brethren not to be content with giving a mere assent to this truth. You hold a station in society which gives you a com- manding influence on this subject; and if you will but raise your voice and speak out boldly, you may exert an agency in this matter which will bring down the blessings of un- born millions upon \’our memory. 5. IMuch may be done by guarding the. risi/ty generation from the contagion of intemperance. It is especialh' with the children and t’outli of our land, that we may expect our efforts to be pernvanently useful. Let us, then, guard with [leculiar vigilance the youthful mind, and with all suitable measures, impress it with such sentiments of disgust and horror of the vice of intemperance, as to cause it to shrink from its very approach. Cany the subject into our Infant and Sunda}’’ Schools, and call on the managers and teachers of those institutions, to aid you by the circulation of suitable Tracts, and by such other instructions as may be deemed proper. Let the rising generation be protected but for a i'ew years, and the present race of drunkards will have dis- appeared from among us, and there will be no new recruits to take their place. 6. Let intelligent and efficient agents be sent out into every portion of our countiy, to spread abroad information upon tlie subject of intemperance, to rouse up the people to a sense of their danger, and to form temperance societies ; 339J DK. SEWALl’s address. 19 and let there be such a system of correspondence and co- operation established among these associations as will con- vey information to each, and impart energy and efficiency to the whole. “No great melioration of the human condi- tion was ever achieved without the concurrent effort of numbers ; and no extended and well directed association of moral influence was ever made in vain.” 7. Let all who regard the virtue, the honor, and the patriotism of their countr^^, withold their suffrages from those candidates for office who offer ardent spirit as a bribe to secure their elevation to power. R is derogatory to the liberties of our country, that office can be obtained by such corruption — be held by such a tenure. 8. Let the Ministers of the Gospel, wherever called to labor, exert their influence, by precept and example, in promoting the cause of temperance ; — many of them have already stepped forth, and with a noble boldness have pro- claimed the alarm, and have led on in the work of reforma- tion ; but many timid spirits still linger, and others seem not deeply impressed with the importance of the subject, and with the responsibility of their station. Ye venerated men, you are not only called to stand forth as our moral beacons, and be unto us burning and shining lights; but you are placed as watchmen upon our walls, to announce to us the approach of danger. It is mainly through your example and your labors that religion and virtue are so extensively dis- seminated through our country — that this land is not now a moral waste. You have ever exerted an important influ- ence in society, and have held a high place in the confidence and affections of the people. You are widely spread over the country, and the scene of your personal labors will fur- nish you with frequent opportunities to diffuse information upon the subject of temperance, and to advance its progress. Let me then ask you, one and all, to grant us your active and hearty co-operation. 9. Appeal to the female sex of our country, and ask them to come to your assistance; and if they will consent to steel their hearts against the inebriate, to shut out from their society the man who visits the tippling shop, their in- fluence will be omnipotent And by what power, ye mothers, and wives, and daughters, shall I invoke your aid? Shall I carry you to the house of the drunkard, and point you to 20 DR. SEWALl’s address. [340 his weeping and broken-hearted wife, his sufl'ering and de- graded children, robed in rags, and povert}’, and vice ? Shall I go with you to the almshouse, the orj)han asylum, and to the retreat for the insane, that your sensibility may be roused ? Shall I ask you to accompany me to the peniten- tiary and the prison, that you may there behold the end of intemperance'? Nay, shall I draw back the curtain and dis- close to you the scene of the drunkard’s death-bed 1 No — 1 will not demand of you a task so painful: rather let me remind you that 3 0u5 * . . G, 000, 000 i 2,000 miiuittrs ut • • l,0U0,0OU 500.000 do. beef all- TO . . • 8 000.000 - - y/.ii'OCO do. pork at .1250 . , lOOOO.OC'Oj S»0C0,buu *«;:rbcU of corn at 50 CIS . , 1,500,0001 Total . . . $100,c00,00« 3 ] THE USE OF ALCOHOLIC LIQUORS. 3 development of sugar, to a greater or less degree, will take, place. If removed now from circumstances favorable to its farther fermentation, as is the case with dough for bread* &c. no appreciable quantity of alcohol is created. A fur- ther degree of fermentation however is generative of alco- hol, and if arrested here, the alcohol maintains its decided character; while still another stage presents the acetous state, and the alcoholic property is lost in vinegar. As in our opinion much success to the temperance cause depends upon a right understanding in the community of what al- cohol is, and the manner of its production, for, to contend with an enemy successfully it is important to know his re- treats and hiding places, as well as his more open exhibi- tions. A more simple illustration may not be inappro- priate here. A farmer takes a quantity of apples to the mill in order to convert them into cider. He grinds, then lays them up into a cheese; when pressure is applied and the juice runs into a vat placed to receive it. Here, at this stage of the bu- siness there is no alcohol in the juice. It is now put into casks, and the sweet or sugar stage of fermentation, which, is already begun, soon passes into the vinous or alcoholic stage, as it is called, and alcohol is formed. The prudent farmer at this point, when the juice is done working, or fer- menting, immediately bungs his casks, and does such other things as his skill and experience may suggest to prevent his cider becoming sour, which it will do if the third stage of fermentation is permitted to succeed. Here then he has perfect alcohol, though in small proportions : as perfect as it is in brandy, gin, rum, and whiskey. The same results ensue from subjecting corn, rye, barley, &c. to such pro- cesses as is customary to prepare them for distillation, viz. to such a degree of fermentation as that alcohol is formed. And when the alcohol is formed by fermentation, then it is drawn off by distilling, from its union with the other ma- terials in the fermented mass. Alcohol then is strictly the product of fermentation. It is not and cannot be produced in any other way. To distill, therefore, is only to lead it off from its union with the vegetable mass, and show it naked with all its virulence. I have been the more particular in this explanation, in order to remove those objections which are sometimes raised 10 4 FO0R REASONS AGAINST [4 by well meaning persons against the disuse of alcoholic drinks. “ Your doctrine,” say some, “ must lead to the re- jection of all vegetable substances ; even bread, the staff of life.” Not seeing the distinction, that alcohol is no more resi- dent in vegetable matter without the latter having undergone a definite and precise stage of fermentation, even admitting it to hold, as it does, all the materials for the formation of al- cohol, than that bricks are ready formed and burnt to our hand in the bowels of the earth, because the earth contains all the materials necessary to their formation. Having considered the manner in which alcohol is form- ed, let us examine some of its properties. It contains no- thing that can afford any nourishment to the body, and con- sequently it can impart no strength. When taken in cer- tain quantities, diluted with water, as it must be for com- mon use, its effect is, to arouse the energies of the system, and for awhile the individual feels stronger ; but this ex- citement is always followed by depression and loss of ani- mal and mental vigor. Thus it is a mere provocative to momentary personal effort, without affording any resources to direct or execute. Hence the fallacy of that doctrine held by some, that to accomplish deeds of daring, feats of muscular strength, &c. with success, demands the drinking of spiritous liquors. Were I about to storm an enemy’s battery with no alternative before me but victory or death, I might (principle aside) infuriate my men with the mad- dening influence of ardent spirit, and let them loose upon the charge, as I would a wounded elephant or an enraged tiger. But in attaining an object to which the combined energies of mind and body were requisite, I should never think of the appropriateness of spiritous liquor to aid the effort. But an objector says, “ I certainly feel stronger upon drinking a glass of spirit and water, and can do more work than I can without it.” I can swing a sc3'the with more nerve, or pitch a load of haj^ in less time ; and feel a gene- ral invigoration of mj-^ bodj’^ during the heat of a summers day, after having drank a quantity of grog. How is this ?” We reply; doubtless jmu feel for the moment all that you describe ; but your feeling strength thus suddenh' excite