Text: Washington Poe, “An Oration before the Union Temperance Society,” Georgia Messenger (Macon, GA), July 19, 1832, vol. X, no. 2, p. 2, cols. 1-6

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ORATION.

 

 

ORATION, delivered by WASHINGTON POE, Esq. at Washington Academy, Bibb county, before the “Union Temperance Society,” and a numerous audience of other citizens, July 4th 1832.

FELLOW CITIZENS,

And Gentlemen of the

“Union Temperance Society.”

The occasion upon which we are convened is one of no ordinary character. We have assembled on this, the birth day of our Liberties not to detail the perils and hardships, the sufferings and deaths which our forefathers endured in order to secure to us, their posterity, the inestimable blessing of civil, and religions liberty: nor to recount the glorious achievements which they, as a band of patriots, accomplished in that unequal, and deadly struggle that tried mens souls. But we have come together in the spirit of soberness, and of truth, to interchange opinions, and adopt resolutions in order that we may the more effectually banish from this favored land, that mortal tyrant INTEMPERANCE, which like the fabled Vampyre is sucking the life blood of this slumbering people, and prostrating, and debasing the physical, moral, and intellectual energies of this whole nation.

Nor will this eventful day (set apart as sacred to liberty) upon which, our forefathers proclaimed to an astonished world that they would no longer tamely submit to a tyrant's yoke, be considered as misapplied, or dishonored by being devoted to observances like these, when we remember, that this vice, when considered as a national evil, had its origin in those times of toil, famine, and exposure which were endured by those heroes who achieved our independence. And although our civil freedom was the result of their labors — nevertheless when we cast the eye of retrospection through the vista of time which has elapsed since that eventful period, and survey the long catalogue of victims offered up to the idol. Intemperance, by those who took part in that mighty snuggle, we are almost induced to inquire whether this nation has been benefitted by obtaining a blessing, attended by so dreadful a curse. Under this view of the case, however, can it be denied that this day, of all the days of the year is most fit, and appropriate to be thus devoted.

History informs us that ardent Spirits was discovered by a Mahomedan alchemist in his researches after a universal solvent by which to extract gold from its hidden recesses; and it was used for no other purpose until about the middle of the 11th century, when a Spanish physician conceived the erroneous idea that it was beneficial in the treatment of diseases; and it was not until several centuries after that it was adopted as a common beverage. Distilled spirit began to be prepared in quantities on the continent of Europe in the commencement of the 16th century, and was first introduced into England in the latter part of that century; and in the comparatively short period which has since elapsed, its consumption has in that kingdom amounted to 40,000,000 of gallons per annum. To such a shameful degree of profligacy did the habit of drinking ardent spirits reduce the community in England, that according to one of her highly gifted, and accurate historians, the retailers did not scruple to set up painted signs, inviting passengers to drink, stating that they could be drunk for the trifling expense of a penny, be made dead drunk for two pence, and straw to lie upon for nothing. Several statutes have been enacted in that kingdom annexing penalties to the crime of drunkenness; and several States in this Union have followed the example. But such is the secret nature, and so numerous are the degrees of this crime, that it will ever evade the vigilance of the judge, and prove that the arm of the law is powerless when directed to this end.

The wisdom of such legislation has in our day been questioned, and the wisest and soundest statesmen of this age have admitted that it is idle and visionary, to prescribe such laws, whilst public opinion stands in opposition to their pro visions. It is like enacting statutes to advance the cause of religion, when the influences of religion should first control the public mind, and tints act upon the lawgiver himself.

Under this conviction, & feelingly alive at the extent to which Intemperance had advanced in this country, and seriously impressed at the dread ful ravages that this vice had made, and was with increasing vigor making among this favored people, certain benevolent individuals conceived the design of counteracting this evil by means of regularly constituted societies, the fundamental principle of which should tic to inculcate a total abstinence from the use of ardent Spirits; and in pursuance to this design (after usual preliminary movements) on the 13th of February 1826, convened at Boston and formed the American Society for the promotion of Temperance. A special agent was (so soon as the necessary fund could be raised for his support) appointed whose business it was to form auxiliary societies in every part of the country. Such is the origin of this great and laudable undertaking, which has, (although yet in its infancy) done more to ameliorate the condition of man, than any thing, since the merciful dispensation of the Almighty, to our fallen race. The American Revolution with its glorious results, when considered in relation to their effect in exalting the character, and advancing the happiness of our species, are as a feather in the balance, when compared with this sublime undertaking. That liberty which was secured to us by our Revolution, relieved us, only from physical oppression; and although a tyrant's yoke had been actually fastened on our necks, yet our minds would have been free to act as our inclinations might dictate: but the fetters which the tyrant intemperance fabricates, and binds, enchain not only the body, but the mind. Its torments are felt not only in time, but also throughout the endless ages of eternity.

Permit me here to remark upon an error on this subject into which the community generally have fallen, viz. that the sole object of Temperance Societies is to reclaim the drunkard, and to snatch from the jaws of the grave, and the doom of lost spirits, men who have prostrated them selves to the lowest depths of degradation by the habit of intemperance. Under this erroneous impression they observe, when solicited to take part in the advancement of this cause, — We are not intemperate — we can use God's blessing with out abusing it, and consequently we are not fit members of an association like this. Never was there a view more erroneous; never was there a misconception more fatal to the advancement of a benevolent undertaking. The wise, and good men who originated this system of mercy, anti whose memories will be embalmed in the hearts of future generations, when the names of Cromwell, and Bonaparte shall have been forgotten — knew too well the omnipotence of this tyrant, to entertain even a hope, (by the use of human means) to release from his thraldom any, upon whose soul his shackles had been fastened. No! these are not the agents, these are not the coworkers they have chosen in an undertaking requiring so much activity, so much consistency, and so much self denial in order to secure a successful result. The reformation of the drunkard is an accidental benefit, it is not the direct and primary intention of these institutions: — Many it is admitted have, by this means been reformed, and thus transformed from the monster into the man. [column 2:] But the direct design of Temperance Societies is, to preserve the temperate, to provide a retreat for the rising generation; and to erect a wall of defence round those who remain uncontaminated by the soul and body, destroying influence of this habit. Further more, the doors of these societies are not open to the drunkard, so far from being invited, they are in all well regulated societies excluded by positive resolution from a participation in this great, noble, and ennobling undertaking. The influence of a good example is the force by which these societies operate, they preach by example, not precept. Have you never heard the drunkard inveigh with the tongue of an angel against the ruinous consequences of drunkness, and solemnly resolve forever to abandon it; and have you not beheld him with the next breath quaff down the contents of the poisoned cup?

Nor is it by the example of the profligate drunkard that intemperance is uphold and advanced. No! his example if it exercise any influence, exerts one favorable to the cause of temperance; for who can behold the confirmed sot wallowing in the mire and dirt of inebriation, without experiencing feelings of horror and disgust. Who can contemplate the man, that in the spring tide of life, bid fair to he an honor to his country, and a credit to his fiends; now that he has arrived at years of ripened manhood, abandoning himself to intemperance, and evincing to the world that all his bright expectations, all his fair prospects have been blighted by this mortal enemy, to every thing that is fair in promise, or valuable in prospect — without, at least secretly offering tip the sincere and heartfelt prayer for preservation from a doom so degrading? Yes! the drunkard stands in the full view of the community, a living beacon to warn others of the rock upon which he was wrecked, and speaks in a language louder than thunder, and as solemn as the grave — beware!

But it is from the example of those who are denominated temperate drinkers, that the cause of temperance receives its most fatal wounds. It is by the example of those who say they can use God's blessings without abusing them, that the intemperate are upheld, and that this vice is perpetuated in our land. Do you ask for the proof? If so, you have witnesses to its truth in all around you. I pat the question to each, and every individual in tins assembly — would you make use of ardent spirits as a beverage, if it were considered disrespectful and disgraceful to do so by the community in which you live ? If you by using this poisonous liquor, become the subject of remark and avoidance by your friends and neighbors, would you continue to use it? I pause not for your reply — the answer is too evident: No! you would shun it as the deadly Upas, you would avoid it as the pestilence. Must it not then he conceded that it is by the countenance of the temperate drinker alone, that intemperance is perpetuated, and that so many whose suns have risen in splendor, have sat in gloom; that so many of our youth, once the hope of their country, have descended into the drunkard's grave unhonored, and but for their vices unknown?

It may perhaps he asked by those who have not inquired into the extent to which this vice has carried its ravages. Why so much alarm? Why so great, and public a movement upon a subject which seems only to interest individuals. Shall the attention of a whole nation be engaged shall all its talent be enlisted, and all its benevolence devoted to the end that individuals should be induced to abandon the use of ardent spirits? Before these inquiries are answered, it may not j he unprofitable to inquire into the statistics of Intemperance, and learn to what extent this habit has proceeded, and contemplate the consequences of this baneful practice.

The Honorable Judge Crunch an accurate and candid reporter of principles and facts has estimated the loss in the United States, from the use of ardent spirits at 94,425,000 dollars per annum; this includes losses on the ocean, by sickness, and in other ways — but all the result of the use of ardent spirits. This would in thirty years amount to more than the value of all the houses, lands, and slaves in the United States; thus presenting to the world the degrading, and awful spectacle of a people loosing by the use of strong drink more than the value of their whole country.

If we can rely upon the testimony afforded by judges and jurists we are authorized in saying that at least three fourths of all the crimes committed in the United States are occasioned by the use of ardent spirits. One says — of eleven murders tried by me, all except one were occasioned by strong drink. Another says — of eleven murders tried by me all were occasioned by intemperance. Another, of twenty murders prosecuted by me, all were occasioned by spirituous liquors — and another says — of more than 100 murders committed in the United States in a year, nearly all have their origin in drinking. Judge Hale hath, after long experience, and observation declared — That if all the murders, and man slaughters, and burglaries, and robberies, and riots, and tumults, and other great enormities, which had been committed in his time were divided into five parts, four of them would he found to have been the result of Intemperance. Agreeably to a memorandum kept by the Rev. Dr. Cathcart of York Pennsylvania — it appears that one hundred and nine murders were committed in the United States in the year 1831. Some of these were of the most appalling kind, such as parents by their children, children by their parents — husbands by their wives, and wives by their husbands. A large proportion of them are regarded as the consequences of the intemperate use of ardent spirits. And from his short experience in matters of this kind, the individual who addresses you can and his testimony in corroboration of the above statements, by asset ting that in the judicial district in which we reside, in more thin nine cases out of ten, the perpetration of crimes who are arraigned to answer at the bar of justice, are addicted to the intemperate use of ardent spirits. It occasions almost all the pauperism, and wretchedness known in our land; and according to testimony of the ablest, and most intelligent physicians, it annually destroys in the United States 30,000 lives.

Trotter who had as fair an opportunity, and was as able to judge as any man hath said — That of all the evils of human life no cause of disease bail so wide a range, or so large a share as the use of spirituous liquors — and that more than half of all the sudden deaths were occasioned by them. Frank hath declared; That the use of these liquors ought to be entirely dispensed with, on account of their tendency, (even when taken in small quantities) to induce disease; premature old age, and death. And Bell — That ruin, when used even moderately always diminishes the strength, renders men more susceptible of disease, and unfits them for any service, in which vigor, and activity are required — and that we might as well throw oil into a house, the roof of which was on fire, in order to prevent the flames front extending to the inside, as to pour ardent spirits into the stomach to lessen the effect of a hot sun upon the skin. Kirk, hath asserted it as his opinion, that the regular and respectable use of this poison kills more men than drunkenness itself. Dr. Rush hath maintained — that men in all kinks of business would he better without the use of spirituous liquors; and that there are but one or two uses in which they can be used without essential injury.

With these facts presented to our view, can it be a matter of astonishment that so much zeal is manifested by the friends of Temperance in order [column 3:] to stay the ravages of this destroyer. Were it proclaimed to us that an invader had landed on our shores, and that the merciless savages were crossing our borders spreading death, and destruction throughout our land; we should have less to apprehend from the sword of the invader, and the scalping knife of the savage, then from the poisoned fountains which are open day and night in the midst of us, and to which youth, and old age, the virtuous, and the vicious resort in crowds to drink down liquid fire. Examine the history of modern warefare, and make your estimate with reference to a given amount of population, and it will be found that the number of lives thus sacrificed bears but a small proportion to that annually offered up at the shrine of intemperance.

But it may he contended by some that public opinion is already arrayed against this vice. If there be such an individual in this assembly, we beg leave respectfully to dissent from the truth of such statement; and to assert that although by means of temperance associations, the public mind has been much disabused upon this subject, nevertheless public opinion is not yet arrayed against intemperance. It is admitted that abject drunkenness is by a large proportion of this, and almost every community, (especially those in which temperance societies have been formed) reprobated. But in the language of an elegant writer I would ask — ‘is there no intemperance without intoxication? is there no deadly fever without delirium?’ Have you not seen many, and known of more who have fallen victims to the effects of fever, whose reason up to the hour of dissolution has remained sound and unimpaired? And if we admit the testimony of eminent physicians, there have been instances of that most direful of all maladies, delirium tremens, in individuals who have never been known to he intoxicated, but who, up to that period have been denominated temperate men. No! intemperance is not generally reproduced in this, or any other community at least in this portion of our country; but on the contrary, it is countenanced, and frequently encouraged, and that too by individuals who hold themselves up as the friends of sobriety, and morality. We are informed by those whose whole lives have been devoted to the acquisition of such knowledge, that no man in health can use any quantity of ardent spirits without essential injury. What then becomes of your temperate drinkers; in what class shall we arrange the man whose decanters constitute a prominent part of his domestic furniture: and who so soon as he rises from bed in the morning resorts thereto, and quaffs down a sufficient quantity of their contents to prostrate a novice in this baneful habit. By what name shall we designate that individual, who not only in the morning drinks, but at noon repeats this slow poison, and what epithet shall we adopt in speaking of him who not only when he rises, and at noon, but but [[sic]] when he retires to bed resorts to this receptacle of all abominations, this cup replete with all kinds of disease, degradation, and death.

We are aware that it will be contended by many, that intemperance, in the forms just described, has been handed down by their fathers, and that some of them at least did not fill drunkards graves. It must be admitted that there is no greater evidence of filial piety, obedience, and love, than a willingness in the child to imitate the virtues, and he guided by the precepts of the parent. But can this habit though handed down to us by our fathers, when viewed in the moral light which we enjoy, he deemed by us as worthy of imitation? Or rather can we continue this habit without positive guilt, while on every hand, we behold its direful consequences, and from every quarter, hear the solemn warnings sounding in our ears. — Behold the drunkards [[drunkard's]] end ! He too like you, began his fatal career by temperate drinking — but saving him now, his sensibilities blunted, his moral sense corrupted, his reason dethroned; he stands alone, a bloated, squalid, loathsome spectacle; his social attributes are gone. — devoid of instinct he sinks beneath the level of the brute: the world presents no green spot to him; his star of hope has set forever; no kind, devoted family collects to welcome his return, if such he once could claim, that group collects no more; its members scattered, driven from the domestic roof, now seek protection from an unfeeling world.

But to return — the situation which our predecessors occupied, and that in which we are placed are essentially different — they did not possess the knowledge on this subject that we have received; they did not enjoy the light which beams on us. The principles which form the basis of institutions like the one we this day commemorate, were in their day locked up among the secrets of undiscovered things. Had they been placed in our situation, they would doubtless (with that zeal, and energy with which they were characterized) have devoted themselves to the suppression of this vice. Rely not therefore up on this ground as a defence for the continuance of a habit so destructive in its consequences.

It may he asked by those who are willing to devote themselves to the suppression of this great, and increasing evil, how they are to proceed in order to secure a successful result, will it not require more time, and money than can be afford ed by the people generally? We answer no! Money, nor time is required; all that is needed to destroy this monster, and banish this tyrant from our land is the use of your names, accompanied by a resolution neither to taste, nor touch the unclean thing; and to enforce the same practice on others wherever opportunity offers. Let this resolution he formed by every temper ate mail in our country, and the work will be accomplished, the tyrant will he dethroned and although some abject adherents may remain, nevertheless when they behold such an array of opposition, when they hear the general burst of indignation which will go forth against them, and their servile practices — they will slink into the caves, and dark places of the earth to hide themselves from an indignant people — and either seek some region more congenial to their vices, or in despair become their own executioners.

But are there not some who although they may escape the drunkard's grave yet must hereafter receive the drunkard's curse? And with what arguments shall we address those who not only do not enlist themselves on the side of temperance, but who by the distillation, and vending of ardent spirits, use the most direct means to counteract the progress, and success of this cause Shall we remind such men of the influence of this habit in producing idleness, disease, and poverty? Shall we estimate the tax thus imposed upon the country — and enumerate the families thus annually beggared? No! we are aware such arguments would he unavailing. But we will repeal in the hearing of such individuals this alarming truth — that there are annually 30,000 of our citizens destroyed by means of this poison. And we will make inquisition for their destroyers and call upon the still houses, and dram shops for an answer. Will they reply that such was not their intention. But was not this liquor concocted to he drank, and was it not sold to the heal thy. and robust — and has it not been certified by those qualified to judge, that ardent spirits can not be used by men in health without essential injury? Suppose an individual furious with anger, and with an evident intention to commit violence, sought a deadly weapon which you possessed, and von delivered it to him, and which he in the same instant of time buried in the breast of his antagonist. Would you stand guiltless? Upon a parity of reasoning a proportion of the blood of those 30,000 that fell victims to intemperance [column 4:] in our country during the last year now stains the skirts of all the distillers, and venders who were then engaged in this deadly traffic throughout our land. But we advance one step farther and inquire into the drunkard's doom beyond the grave; and we are authorized by Holy Writ to proclaim that no drunkard shall enter in to the kingdom of Heaven: and a woe is pronounced against every one who gives to his neighbor strong drink. “And has not God connected with all lawful avocations the wellfare of the life that now is, and of that which is to come? And can we lawfully unmass property by a course of trade which fills the land with beggars, and widows, and orphans, and crimes? which peoples the grave yard with premature mortality, and the world of woe with the victims of despair? Could all the forms of evil produced ill the land by in temperance come upon us in one horrid array, it would appal the nation, and put an end to the trafic [[traffic]] in ardent spirits. If in every dwelling built by blood the stone from the wall could utter all the cries which the bloody traffic extorts, and the beam out of the timber could echo them hack, who would build such a house? And who would dwell in it? What if in every part of the dwelling, from the cellar upward, throughout all the halls, and chambers, babblings, and contentions, and voices, and groans, and shrieks, and wailings were heard day and night? What if the cold blood oozed out, and stood in drops upon the walls, and by preternatural art, all the ghastly skulls, and bones of the victims destroyed by intemperance should stand upon the walls in horrid sculpture within, and without the building — who would rear such a building? What if at eventide, and at midnight, the airy forms of men destroyed by intemperance were dimly seen haunting the distilleries, and stores, where they received their banc — following the track of the ship engaged in the commerce — walking upon the waves — flitting athwart the deck — sitting upon the rigging — and sending up from the hold, within, and from tide waves without groans, and loud laments, and wailings! Who would attend such stores? Who would labour in such distilleries? Who would navigate such ships?

Oh! were the sky over our heads one great whispering gallery, bringing down about us all the lamentation, and woe which intemperance creates, and the firm earth one sonorous medium of sound, bringing up around us, from beneath, the wailings of the and mined, whom the commerce in ardent spirits had sent thither; these tremendous realities, assailing our sense, would invigorate our conscience, and give decision to our purpose of reformation. But these evils are as real as if the stove did cry out of the wall, and the beam answered it; as real, as if, day and night wailings were heard in every part of the dwelling, and blood, and skeletons were seen upon every wall; as real as if the ghostly forms of departed victims flitted about the ship as she passed over the billows, and showed themselves nightly about stores, and distilleries, and with unearthly voices screamed in our ears with loud lament. They are as real as if the sky over our heads collected and brought down about us alt the notes of sorrow in the land; and the firm earth should open a passage for the wailings of despair to come up from beneath.”*

Under this alarming view of the case, can you for the sake of ill gotten wealth consent to live under the burden occasioned by a consciousness of having been instrumental in destroying for both worlds the lives of an indefinite number of your fellow beings? The Almighty we are taught will sometimes wink at ignorance — but you have now no such plea, the light of knowledge has beamed upon your minds, and you stand without the shadow of excuse. Awake then from your lethargy, and resolve this day that whatever you may have heretofore done, for the future you will he found arrayed among the friends of Temperance, and by your example, and the influence you may he able to exert over others, support, and foster this benevolent cause.

And to you Gentlemen of this society, permit me to address a few brief remarks. It is to our own beloved country that the honor belongs, of having originated this system of benevolence; its principles, like those of our government have already exerted an influence across the atlantic [[Atlantic]], and the philanthropists of Europe are now ardently engaged in disseminating those principles, and giving a wider range to their influence. We have thus far done much, very much in this great undertaking, and its principles are beginning to be understood, and its effects felt by almost every citizen in this enlightened country. But the danger to be apprehended, and the error most cautiously to he avoided, is a too great disposition in man to consider an undertaking accomplished so soon as any good results are experienced, or any beneficial effects discovered. Deem not this work accomplished whilst one individual remains without the pale of your society, who can by any force of argument, or any power of persuasion he induced to take part with you in support of this cause. Although much has been done, yet more remains to be accomplished, — prejudices must tic overcome, and suspicions re moved ; and this is to be effected not by a reserved and exclusive demeanor towards those labouring under such delusions, but by liberal, candid and familiar discussion, and more especially by arraying facts, and examples in support of the immense benefit thus to be derived.

But the most formidable antagonist to the success of this cause, will ever be found in the temperate drinker, improperly so called. Such individuals will even deceive themselves, by nominally, (and if possible, without a conciousness of a contrary feeling) holding themselves up as the well-wishers to such institutions, while at the same time they are making use of the most formidable means to sap, and undermine their foundations. This they will accomplish by frequenting the haunts of intemperance, and entering in to the profligate and the licentious ribaldry of the drunkard — thus giving tho sanction of their countenance to this vice, (and by this means) inquiring the cause of morality and sobriety, more seriously than by indulging in the most beastly intoxication.

If there be such an individual in this assembly allow me most affectionately to admonish him. of his danger, and inform him that he is never secure in escaping the drunkard's grave, so long as he keeps the drunkard's company, or drinks the drunkard's cup. Imagine to yourself that one gifted with the power of prophecy, were to arise in the midst of this assembly, and audibly proclaim that you (stating your name,) should proceed from one degree of indulgence to another, until on the 4th of July, 1850, (having previously become an outcast, and a beggar) in a state of beastly drunkenness should expire in a ditch, and the fowls of the air should devour your loathsome remains. Would you not sink into a state of utter despair? and would not your first inquiry be, have I no power to avoid the destroyer? Is my doom irreversible? Although no prophet shall here arise to pronounce your doom; nevertheless it requires not the gift of prophecy to inform every one who regularly indulges in the use of this intoxicating liquor, that he is in danger of such an end. The man whose bloated remains were found yesterday in a ditch, was once as temperate a drinker as you now are; and had he then been informed that such would be his mournful end, would have been as insensible and incredulous as yourself: but mark his career; he commenced by moderately using strong drink, and that not at stated periods, but only on unusual [column 5:] occasions; his next step is so drink only when invited, he then provides it for his family, the society of the regular drinker becomes agreeable, and his company is sought, — and now when absent from his boon companion, he solaces himself for such privation by resorting to that which so immediately will gladden his heart, and revive his drooping spirits. Excitement is the main spring that sets in motion the body and mind of man; and that pursuit which is attended with most excitement is generally the most interesting. We delight in the history of battles, and seiges, in the rise and fall of empires, not because we are pleased with the recital of human suffering, or the subjugation of whole nations, abstractly considered, but by imagination we welcome actors in the scene — and our sympathies are thus excited by the sufferings of our fellow men. This is moral excitement. But the excitement produced by ardent spirits is of a two fold character, moral and physical. The body at first is invigorated, and the mind becomes more active; this to the novice in intemperance is a source of delight: — his mind seems endowed with no natural power, pleasing to himself, and at first giving pleasure to all around him. But he stops not here, the stimulant that has occasioned this unusual buoyancy of mind and body, being artificial, must be replenished, and the oftener resorted to, the greater becomes the demand, until from the weekly resort the individual is driven to apply daily, hourly, and even oftener to the cup of abominations. The principle of natural excitement is thus destroyed, and he is compelled to exist upon the artificial alone, which like the fabled Syren, although it charm and fascinate at first, yet at last it assumes the scorpion's sting, whose venom enters into the inmost soul. — The individual whose career we had but half traced, has now become a slave to this excitement; and his mind and body both continually cry out for drink. It has now become a disease; he feels it, and knows his danger; he resolves to reforms; but although his will is good, yet the moral strength is wanting. He drinks deeper, and becomes more enfeebled, until at last ardent spirit will not excite, but only stupifies him. His case is now hopeless, and like one affected with a contagious disease, his nearest friends abandon him to his fate.

We have thus far considered Intemperance with reference to its effects upon individuals, and private communities, but are we not authorised , in extending our view? and in doing so, can we not discern its baleful influence not only on individuals, and private communities, but upon the sacred institutions of our country? — Does not the history of that great, and glorious nation, whose poetry, and eloquence have dazzled whilst they instructed us, and whose prowess in arms has been surpassed by no nation on earth, — teach us this salutary lesson, that luxury and effeminacy will paralyze the best institutions, and open a door to the entrance of tyranny so wide, that no human effort can prevent its encroachments. — The luxury of the Roman nation consisted not in the extravagancy of her citizens, the costliness of her shows, and the magnificence of her palaces alone; but ill the excesses of the table, and her bacchanalian indulgences, producing a State of morals indicated by scenes of lewdness and debauchery, the details of which no one possessed of one feeling of delicacy could peruse without sensations of the most unqualified disgust. That proud and independant nation,who having by her military discipline, her capacity to endure fatigue and hardship, and above all, her high sense of the value of freedom, not only drove hack the armies if the foreign invader, but extended her conquesls so far as to be denominated the mis tress of the world: After having accomplished all this, and in effecting it enduring without a murmur the scorching heat of the torrid, and the chilling cold of the frigid zones — by the withering influence of luxury, and excess, became the willing dupes of the designing and ambitious, and tamely submitted to the yoke of tyranny.

In a government like our own where all power resides in the people, and in which those who govern, and legislate, do so by the will and per mission of their constituents, — it will ever he found that the representatives of the people not only maintain the political principles, but like wise personate the moral character of the majority they represent. Show ine a profligate, and intemperate representative, and I will guide you to a licentious and drunken community. It can not be otherwise, the one follows the other as certainly as the effect follows the cause. In such a government, where the highest offices of honor and profit are open to every citizen, and where the high and low, the rich and poor, the wise and ignorant, the virtuous, and vicious, have an equal share in the appointment of our rulers and law-givers: — from what cause should we apprehend mote clanger to the welfare of our country, and the purity of her institutions, than the abandonment of her citizens to the habit of drunkenness.

The influence of ardent spirits upon the minds, the bodies, and the morals of men, is too well understood to need repetition. Suffice it to say it will derange the soundest intellect, unnerve the sturdiest frame, and corrupt the purest morals. By means of it the ambitious and corrupt demagogue can thwart the wisest measures for the advancement of the common weal; and thus too frequently place himself in stations of honor, or profit for the discharge of which he possesses no intellectual or moral qualification. The purity of our institutions is by this means prostituted. the character of our country is degraded, and those stations which once were practically high and honorable, and sought for by the worthiest of our citizens, now remain so in theory alone. And should that evil day ever arrive, when ambition with her train of furies shall arise to subvert the fair and simple structure of our government, and erect the gorgeous palaces of despotism upon its ruins, the monster Intemperance, will be seen leading the van, with the sword in one hand, and the firebrand in the other, spreading destruction and desolation through out the edifice.

I cannot close this address without adverting to that salutary provision in the constitution of your society, in which the members pledge themselves not to support any candidate for office, who at tempts to secure its election by means of ardent spirits. Adhere to this resolution with the tenacity which its importance merits: it is the very palladium of your society, the evil (to counteract which your society was formed) has received great strength and encouragement from the in temperate political strifes that have for many years pervaded our State. Every means was resorted to in order to secure success; — ardent spirits flowed in burning streams throughout the land, and drunkenness and debauchery stalked abroad with unblushing front. But the virtue and patriotism of our country have at last arisen in their might, and proclaimed to the tyrant, thus far shall thou go, and no farther. It depends upon you, and your fellow laborers in this great work whether our virtue anti patriotism shall he vindicated. All that is required of you is to persevere in this laudable undertaking ; the applause of the great will attend you, the prayers of the good will be offered in your behalf, and the blessing of the Almighty will crown such efforts with success.

——♦——

Washington Academy, July 4th, 1832.

SIR: — We have been requested by the Union Temperance Society, to express their thanks to you for the very eloquent and able address, delivered [column 6:] by you this day before them, and elicit a copy of it for publication.

WASHINGTON POE, Esq.

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Gentlemen: — Your note of the 4th instant is before me; in reply thereto, you will accept my thanks for the very flattering manner you have been pleased to receive my address — and I herewith send a copy thereof to be used as you may deem best calculated to advance the cause of Temperance.

To Messers. SAMUEL B. HUNTER, and B. HILL

[[Footnotes]]

[The following footnote appears at the bottom of column 4:]

*Beecher on Intemperance