of the
STATE TEMPERANCE CONVENTION OF .GEORGIA;
held at
EATONTON
on the
23rd and 24th November, ISU3.
PENFIELD:
printed by benj. bratttli
1844.
MINUTES, &c.
Eatonton, Nov. 23d, 1843.
According to appointment, delegates from various
Temperance Societies met at 11 o'clock, at the Union
Church. Rev. Billington M. Sanders was called to the
Chair pro. tem. and J. i\I. Ashurst and E. C. Lawrence
requested to act as Secretaries, for the organization of
the Convention.
After prayer by Rev. W. A. Florence, the delegates
were called on for reports.
The following gentlemen were reported as the dele¬
gates from the Richmond County Washingionian T. A.
Society.—Samuel 1'. Chapman, L. D. Lallerstadt, Jas.
T. Hook, Hawkins Huff, and G. A. Ingraham.
From the Morgan County Temperance Society.—C.
P. B. Martin, John T. McNeil, W. G. Ballard, A. A.
Overton, A. Atkinson and Thos. Nelson.
From the Washingtonian Society at Crawfonlville.—
Rev. John YV. Wilson, Wm. H. Chapman, John W.
Reynolds, L. L. Andrews, Wm. B. Reynolds and W.
A. Wilson.
Lick Creek Society, Putnam county.—Wm. D. Ter¬
rell, James W. Mappin and John T. Blount.
Fort Valley Temperance Society.—J)r. J. G. Cheeves,
A. H. Slappy, Esq. and Col. A. D. Hendriek.
Bethel Total Abstinence Society, Newton county,
was represented by a letter.
Talbot County Washingtonian Society.—Elijah
Worthen, Young Edwards and J. C. Godwin, Esq.
Mountain Creek Temperance Society.—Col. John
White, C. Kenon and M. D. J. Heard, Esq.
Jackson Temperance Society, Butts county.—Rev.
W. A. Florence and A. Cargile.
3
Savannah Washingtonian Temperance Society sent
up a letter.
Clopton's Mill Temperance Society.—P. II. Mullins,
T. J. Williams, D. R. Andrews, John H. Clark and B.
W. Clark.
Fair Play Washingtonian Society, Morgan county.—
Wm. H. Ponder, Calvin Street, R. A. Prior and Elijah
Mattox.
Holmesville Total Abstinence Society.—W. B. Jour-
dan and Francis S. Hearn, jr.
Liberty Chapel T. A. Temp. Society.—James Tin-
ley and Hiram T. Mann.
Forsyth T. A. Society.—Rev. Daniel Holiday, H.
II. Tucker and E. W. Todd.
Penfield Washingtonian Society.—Rev. B. M. San¬
ders, E. C. Lawrence, Benj. Brantly and T. G. Macon.
Greenesboro' Washingtonian T. A. Society.—Rev.
P. H. Mell and Vincent Sanford.
Philadelphia Wash. Society, Putnam county.—W.
Turner, Esq., A. D. Gatewood, John T. Adams, Brad-
ly Slaughter and F. D. Ross.
Eatonton T. A. Society.—George C. Mason, II. T.
Shear, D. R. Adams, H. M. Tripp, Joel Branhani, B.
W. Sanford, Wm. A. Thornton, Anderson Comer, Rev.
Miles Greene, J. A. Wingfield, Albert Jones, John
Hndson, S, Fuller, jr., John M Ashurst and Gabriel R.
Thomas.
Temperance Society Rehoboth, Monroe county.—
Rev. Hiram Phinazee, Wm. N, Fambrough and Pierce
Wynn.
Jones County Temperance Society.—Rev. J. H.
Campbell.
Walton County Wash. Society.—James Brewer.
DeKalb County Wash. Society—James Diamond
and J. B. Breedlove.
Twiggs County T. A. Society.-—B. F. Tharpe, C.
J. Easom and Dr. Townson.
4
Social Circle Wash. T. Society, Walton County.—
Rev, T. U. Wilks.
Monticello Wash. Society.—Samual Plummer and
Samuel Dent Varner.
Athens Wash. T. A. Society.—Thomas W. W. Cobb,
Esq., W. Nichols, John H. Newton, Dr. Henry Hull,
Wm. Flint, Jos. Carlton.
Monroe Wash. Society, Walton County.—James
Brewer.
On motion of Dr. Hiram P. Shaw, it was Resolved
unanimously, that the Rev. B. M. Sanders be appoint¬
ed President of this Convention. Before taking the
Chair, the Rev. gentleman made a few appropriate and
interesting remarks.
On motion of Mr. Campbell, J. M. Ashurst and E.
C. Lawrence were appointed to act as Secretaiies by ac¬
clamation.
By resolution, the friends of Temperance present who
were not delegates, were invited to aid in the delibera¬
tions of the Convention.
On motion, a Committee of seven, consisting of J. M.
Ashurst, J. H. Campbell, Hiram Phinazee, Hiram P.
Shaw, A. A. Overton, James T. Hook and James Tin-
ley, were appointed to report upon the subject of Tem¬
perance publications.
On motion, a Committee consisting of J. H. Camp¬
bell, L. D. Lallerstadt, L. L. Wittich, H. H. Tucker and
Wm. Turner, were appointed to report business for the
action of the Convention.
Convention adjourned to meet at o'clock P. M.
Half past 2 o'clock, P. M.
Convention met according to adjournment.
Some communications were then read from the dele¬
gates of the different Societies.
The Committee on business made a report which was
received.
o
On motion, Resolved, That a Committee of five be
appointed to address the citizens of the State upon Tem¬
perance. The President appointed J. H. Wingfield, P.
H. Mell, L. L. Wittich, Wm. Flint and L, D. Laller-
stadt.
The Society adjourned business till 9 o'clock, to-mof-
row morning, with an appointment to meet at early can¬
dle light to hear addresses ; at which time, Mr. Wittich,
Mr. Phinazee, Dr. Joel Branham and Mr. Flint address¬
ed the Convention. The speeches were eloquent and
appropriate to the occasion, abounding with wit, humor
and sound argument. Aftei which, 11 females and 2
males took the pledge,
Friday Morning.—The Convention met pursuant to
adjournment. Prayer by Rev. Mr. Wilks.
The Committee on business made a further report,
which was received.
Read a communication from the Monticello Colei
Water Association.
Took up the unfinished business of yesterday in re¬
lation to the report of the Business Commtttee.
Mi. Hudson offered the following as a substitute for
one resolution of the Committee :
Resolved, That this Convention do not propose to
further the cause of Temperance by any other means
than that of moral suasion—which was adopted.
Adopted the following resolutions from the report of
the Committee on Business :
Resolved, That the Convention recommend the hold¬
ing of large Temperance meetings by the union of dif-
lerent Societies, (of different counties, if need be,) to¬
gether with Temperance barbecues, when practicable,
for the pur pose of bringing together and addressing such
as are usually indifferent to the Temperance movement.
Resolved, That a Committee ot one from each coun¬
ty in the State be appointed, whose duty it shall be to
6
procure statistical accounts of the various Societies in
their respective counties, and forward them to the Tem¬
perance Banner and Augusta Washingtonian.
Resolved, That the officers of this body retain their
offices during the year, that the Convention meet annu¬
ally at such time and place as shall be deemed pioper,
and that it consist of delegates from all Temperance So¬
cieties in the (State who think proper to send them, and
that it be called the State Temperance Convention of
Georgia.
Read the report of the Committee on Publications,
which was received. After a lengthy discussion, the
Committee was allowed to withdraw the report.
The following resolution was offered by Mr. Adams,
and adopted:
Resolved, That the Convention recommend to the
friends of Temperance the patronage of the Temper¬
ance Banner and Augusta Washingtonian, and that each
of the members of this Convention subscribe to one or
both of these papers.
Adjourned to 2 o'clock.
Met pursuant to adjournment.
The President addressed a few remarks to the Con¬
vention upon the importance of Temperance in all
things—in business deliberations as well as indulgence
of appetite.
Prayer by Rev. Mr. Branham.
On motion, it was Resolved, That a Committee of
five be appointed to select a suitable place for holding
the next session of this body.
Committee appointed under the above resolution : H.
H. Tucker, Kev. J. H. Campbell, James Diamond, Col.
John White, David R. Adams. The Committee retired
a few moments and reported Forsyth, in Monroe coun¬
ty, Ga., as the place of holding the next Temperance
Convention.
7
On motion, it was therefore Resolved, That a Tem¬
perance Convention be held in said place on Thursday,
the 21st of November, 1844.
Resolved, That a Committee of nine be appointed to
select an Orator to deliver an address to the Slate Tem¬
perance Convention at its next meeting in Forsyth.
Committee—H. Jtl. Tucker, Rev. J. H. Campbell,
J. A. Wingfield, W. A. Florence, James Diamond, Rev.
Hiram Phinazee, Robert A. Prior, Rev. D. Kelsey,
Augustus Cargile.
On motion of the Rev. J. H. Campbell, Revolved,
That our thanks are due to Almighty God for the past
success and brightening prospects of the Temperance
cause.
On motion of Rev. Mr. Florence, Resolved, That
we hereby tender our grateful acknowledgments to the
citizens of Eatonton for the kind hospitality extended to
the membeis of the Convention.
The President then withdrew for a few moments and
the Rev. J, II. Campbell was called to the Chair in his
stead, when on motion of Dr. Shaw, it was unanimous¬
ly Resolved, That the thanks of this Convention be
tendered to the Rev. Mr. Sanders for the able and im¬
partial manner in which he has presided over its deliber¬
ations.
On motion of Mr. Cargile, it was Resolved, That
the thanks of the Convention be tendered to the Secre¬
taries for the manner in which they have discharged the
duties of their office.
On motion of Mr. Turner, it was Resolved, That
each delegate present, as well as any friend so disposed,
be requested to contribute fifty cents to constitute a fund
to be employed under the direction of the President and
Secretaries in publishing the proceedings and address of
the Convention in pamphlet form.
Resolved, That the Temperance Banner and Augus¬
ta Washingtonian be requested to publish the proceed-
8
ings of this Convention, together with the Address
hereafter to be made, and that we also extend this invi¬
tation to the different Miscellaneous, Religious, Agricul¬
tural and Political papers in the State.
Convention then adjourned to early candle light.
Friday Evening, 7 o'clock.
Convention met pursuant to adjournment. Heard
several interesting addresses; after which the pledge
was proposed, and 15 signatures obtained—13 females
and 5 males.
In obedience to a resolution previously adopted, the
President returned the thanks of this Convention to the
Almighty in a most fervent and eloquent prayer.
After which, on motion, the Convention adjourned
sine die.
B. M. SANDERS, President.
E. C. Lawrence, } 0 .
T Ttyr » >- -Secretaries.
J no. M. Ashurst, 3
ADDRESS TO THE CITIZENS OF GEORGIA.
It is a fact beyond dispute, that morality is the very
essence of civil liberty under free institutions. The
reason is simply because, that under such institution
all power proceeds either directly or indirectly from
the people. If, therefore, the people are generally
moral, they will al ways exercise the powers and priv¬
ileges which they enjoy with a disinterestedness of
patriotism only equal to the unhesitating promptitude
of their obedience to the laws.
On the contrary, it is equally a fact, as fully veri¬
fied by the history of the past, as it is striking to the
9
common sense of every reflecting mind, that a loose
morality, by a law as unvarying and invariable as the
law of gravitation, must result in the decline and final
destruction of republican institutions.
If these facts are admitted, what, let us inquire, is
the moral condition of our country? It is to us a mat¬
ter of gravest import and deserving our most serious
consideration. From one end of the country to the
other, we have heard of nothing so much for the past
few years as the mobs, the riots, the thefts, the mur¬
ders, and every thing, in a word, which could indicate
the general immorality and corruption of our people.
The press has been so crowded with the shocking de¬
tails of crime, that we can hardly take up a newspaper
which does not contain an account of some new out¬
break against law and good order, or some tale yet
untold of theft or bloodshed. Never was there a
period in the history of our government, say our
statesmen, so fraught with corruption as is the present.
Hence proceeds the gloom which settles and gathers
thick and heavily^over all their speculations concern¬
ing the future.
In addition to these facts, are not the disorders con¬
sequent upon the recent monetary depression fresh
in the recollection of us all? Was there ever a plainer
demonstration than was then afforded, of the ineffi¬
ciency of mere parchment restrictions when unsus-
tained by the salutary restraints of a sound morality?
Resistance to the peaceful administration of justice,
was in many places openly discussed, and too often
10
successfully carried out. There was hence a general
feeling of insecurity, and a felt uneasiness and anxiety
among all law-abiding men, as to the course of those
who seemed disposed to set aside the supremacy of
the laws.
Such is and has been the moral condition of our
country. We presume not to trace the causes which
have combined to produce such a state of things; yet it
may not be unimportant to notice, among many others,
one or two facts which most certainly exist, and which
will operate as an aggravation of the present evils in
time to come.
According then to the best estimates which have
been made, our population doubles itself every 23^
years. We have now a population of seventeen mil¬
lions. If the immorality of the country is enough to
excite the alarm of the patriot now, what may we ex¬
pect in the next 23i years, when our population will
be 34 millions'? What in the next half century, when
we shall number 68 millions of inhabitants. The
causes which operate to demoralise our people note,
besides being vastly multiplied in number, will act
with much more power. The people will be collect¬
ed in greater masses throughout the country, and
whatever is inflammatory of passion and prejudice
will be the more easily enkindled and spread with
the greater rapidity.
The collection of large numbers of persons together
has always been found to favor the growth and devel¬
opment of our worst passions. The'Same man is al-
11
together a different creature unuer the different cir¬
cumstances of solitude and society. In the one case,
he is more apt to yield to the suggestions of his reason
and the disinterested goodness of his heait. In the
other, he is the creature of an unthinking, unreasoning
impulse: And thus it is, that in the calmness of solita¬
ry reflection, we are often surprised, when we recur
to our association with a crowd, and recall the indis-
creetness of our remarks, or the heedless impetuosity
of our actions. Under these various circumstances,
men are not unlike the electric fluid, which, in its
general diffusion over the earth, gives calm and re¬
pose and sunshine to the world,' but concentrated it
seems to loose the law of its being, and to follow no
other law but that of death and destruction to every
thing within the sphere of its influence.
The increased and increasing facilities of communi¬
cation by means of the steam car, are bringing the
most distant parts of the country into the same neigh¬
borhood. The vices of the large cities will thus
spread through the country, and the moralsofthe peo¬
ple must certainly deteriorate.
It then appears, that we are grossly immoral now,
with a certain prospect, from causes now in operation,
of becoming worse in time to come. Are these facts,
or are they not? If they are, it must be admitted,
that our country may be ruined by her vices. In the
lax morality of our people we have a foe arrayed
against us, more to be feared for its numbers, more
insatiable in its hostility, and more insidious in its
12
tacks, than the whole army against which we battled
for our independence. Against the latter, though
against the most powerfttl odds, we have fought vic¬
toriously. Who can say that we shall be equally
victorious over the more formidable enemy, which is
now silently, yet not the less certainly, sapping the
foundations of American liberty? The noble oak
which has been torn, and wrong, and riven by the
lightnings of heaven, has sometimes flourished on,
green and unwithered in its glory, as if in defiance
of the thunders of the tempest; yet, after all, it has
fallen beneath the attack of an unseen enemy at its
heart. God grant that such may not be the type of
our destiny; but victorious in arms, that we may also
be able to control and to conquer our passions.
Are yoa not prepared, then, fellow-citizens, to aid
in the moral reformation of your country? Are you
not prepared to wage a war of extermination with
the moral corruption of our people. Let us then at¬
tack the enemy in the very citadel of its strength.—
Let us rase that to its foundation, and the victory
is ours. That citadel is Intemperance, Hence issue
the legions of evils, which under different names are
constantly sallying forth upon society, leaving nought
but famine and universal desolation to mark the track
of their invasion.
We cannot present a more condensed view, or a
more graphic description of the evils of intemperance
than one which has been given by a writer in the State
of Ohio. We gladly substitute itin the place of any
13
thing from ourselves, and ask for it a careful and
thoughtful perusal:
"And yet its march of ruin is onward still. It reaches
abroad to others, invades the family and social circle, and
spreads wo and sorrow all around; it cuts down youth in its
vigor, manhood in its strength, and age in its weakness; it
breaks the father's heart, bereaves the doting mother, extin¬
guishes natural affection, erases conjugal love, blols out filial
attachment, blights parental hope, and brings down mourn¬
ing age with sorrow to the grave. It produces weakness, not
strength; sickness, not health; death, not life. It makes
wives widows; children orphans; fathers fiends, and all of
them paupers and beggars. It hails fevers, feeds rheumatism,
nurses gout, welcomes epidemic, imparts pestilence, and em¬
braces consumption. It covers the land with idleness, pov¬
erty, disease and crime; it fills our jails, supplies our alms¬
houses, and demands our asylumns; it engenders controver¬
sies, fosters quarrels, and cherishes riots; it contemns law,
spurns order, and loves mobs; it crowds your penitentiaries,
and furnishes victims for your scaffolds; it is the life-blood of
the gambler, the aliment of the counterfeiter, the prop of the
highwayman, and the support of the midnight incendiary; it
countenances the liar, respects the thief, and esteems the
blasphemer; it violates obligations, reverences fraud, and
honors infamy; it defames benevolence, hates love, scorns vir¬
tue and slanders innocence; it incites the father to butcher
his offspring, helps the husband to massacre his wife, and
aids the child to grind his parricidal axe; it burns up man,
consumes woman, detests life, curses God, and despises
Heaven; it suborns witnesses, nurses perjury, defiles the jury
box, and stains the judicial ermine; it disqualifies voters, cor¬
rupts elections, pollutes our institutions, and endangers our
government; it degrades the citizen, debases the legislator,
dishonors the statesman, and disarms the patriot; it brings
shame, not honor; terror, not safety; despair, not hope; mise¬
ry, not happiness. And now, as with the malevolence of a
fiend, it calmly surveys its frightful desolations, and insatiate
with havoc, it poisons felicity, kills peace, ruins morals,
blights confidence, slays reputation, and wipes out national
honor, then curses the world and laughs at its rum. It is
6tated, too, upon the highest and most unquestionable authori-
14
ty, that not less than a half a million of drunkards have ex¬
isted at any one time in the United States for the last twenty
years. That one million and a half have died since the ac¬
knowledgment of our independence; that at least a quarter
of a million in the same time have been put to death by
murder and manslaughter from drunkenness; another quarter
of a million have been executed for murder and sentenced to
public prisons; making in all, the appalling1 number of two
millions since we have been a free people."
If, therefore, the evils which have been enumerated
in the foregoing extract, do naturally result from in¬
temperance, is it surprising that we hear and read so
much of the immorality and corruption of our people,
when it is considered, too, that intemperance, the
great cause of causes, numbers so many among its
votaries? Ought not, then,, every patriot to engage
in the effort which is now making to remove intem¬
perance, this dreadful enemy of our peace, our hap¬
piness, and our liberties, from the land. Are we
worthy of the noble heritage of our rights and our
liberties, if we make no effort to preserve them? Yet
after all, it is to be feared that there are hundreds
amongst us who—because we have not yet been de¬
stroyed by our vices—either cannot or will not see
any danger, unless they see the red coat of the British
soldier or hear the booming of a British gun. They
do not seem to consider that we can suffer harm ex¬
cept from the artillery, the infantry and the cavalry
of some foreign foe. To such persons we would say,
if you will give the 'go-by' to the teachings of reason f
go and consult the history of the Republics which are
now no more. You will find, if we mistake not, that.
in every instance, the insidious, the ever-active, the
15
destructive enemy of their own vices had enslaved
tb em, long before they ever yielded submission to any
foreign power. That already conquered by their
own excesses, an invading army had nothing to do
but take possession of their territory. It is at once
our glory and our danger, that all power emanates
from the people. Our glory, because we are the
authors and preservers of our own rights. We do
not take them as a boon from any man or set of men.
And in the exercise of virtue directed by an enlight¬
ened view of our best interests, we shall perpetuate
a free government to the latest generation. Our dan¬
ger, because the people may become corrupted.—
They may cease to exercise their powers in accord¬
ance with the dictates of a virtuous and enlightened
patriotism; until yielding only to the impulsive mad¬
ness of passion and the prejudices of ignorance, every
measure that is corrupt, may find its sanction in law—
every man who is ambitious may establish his honor
by elevation. The legislation of the country neces¬
sarily partaking of the capricious passions which direct
it, the rights of the people may become unstable and
fluctuating; until passing from one stage to another,
civil war may finally ensue, and ihe people at last
find themselves writhing under the yoke of the most
galling despotism.
Among the evils of intemperance, we have barely
noticed its tendency to corrupt the purity of elections.
We will here add, that in this respect it is a most
dangerous engine in the hands of the demagogue.—
16
By the power which it gives him, the government is
practically subverted; for the powers of the people
are transferred from them to those who have a mind,
to impose upon them. The government no longer
becomes the government of the many, but the govern¬
ment of the few. The demagogue may thus, through
the agency of intemperance, carry whatever he
pleases. If he has any selfish object to attain, be it
merely his own elevation, or, what is worse, to filch
by legislative spoliation, the hard earnings of his more
honest and industrious neighbors, he may successfully
employ this engine in its attainment.—Who has not
seen hundreds of our fellow-citizens the veriest slaves
of those who would treat at elections; thus ignobly
parting with their rights of suffrage, the most glorious
right of American freeman. Whatever may have
been our past offences upon this subject, whether they
have been to treat or be treated, let us not perpetuate
an evil which may be such a powerful instrument in
the hands of bad men. Let us look with suspicion
upon men who, wanting the courage to covimand our
suffrages by their merits, would insidiously steal them
by liquor. Let us watch all candidates, particularly
on our days of election. If they offer to treat us then
we are bound to suspect them, however plausible the
pretexts of their kindness. And so suspecting them,
we are bound to feel the deep, the stinging insult,,
which is implied in the attempt to control the dearest
right of an American freeman by the bottle. From
nothing let us turn so indignantly away. Nothing?
17
should so stir up the resentment of every man who
rejoices in his freedom. Whatever becomes corrupt¬
ed, let us preserve the purity of the ballot-box.—
Whatever sacrifices we make, let us never sacrifice
that right which makes us free, and which indepen¬
dently maintained will keep us so.
If intemperance produces so much evil, temperance
on the other hand, will produce a correspondinga-
jnountof good. Temperance is the mother of industry,
industry is itself the parent of a host of virtues.—
Temperance strengthens the bonds of society; it loves
order and respects the laws; it promotes education;
it cherishes the social feelings, and thus alleviates the
burdens and the sorrows of life by the charm which
it diffuses over all its various relations. It keeps men
alive to their rights, and confers the ability to main¬
tain them. It weakens the motives to do wrong, and
strengthens the motives to do right. It makes men
good citizens, good husbands, and good fathers. It
helps the poor man to wealth, and secures the fRfe1-
sessions of the rich. It regards obligation and speeds
us forward in the discharge of duty. In a word^it
preserves the due subordination of the passions and
the supremacy of reason; evolving all that is good
and which will make us happy,—suppressing all that
is bad and which will make us unhappy.
It is our duty, then, fellow-citizens, to promote tbe
cause of Temperance. We owe it to ourselves," rJB«
our families, and to society. We owe it, above evetyf
thing,, to the government under which we live, and
i£f
which can only be sustained by the virtue and mor¬
ality of its citizens.
Up to the time of the origin of the Temperance
reform, America had been called a nation of drunk¬
ards by some of the States of Europe. The charge
could not then be denied, for the drinking class of our
citizens constituted no small part of our whole popu¬
lation. Since that time, the cause of Temperance has
progressed with a rapidity far beyond the calculation
of its warmest friends. Hundreds and thousands and
millions have enlisted under its banners. America,
once taunted with the drunkenness of her population,
has been the first to set about the correction of the
evil; and Europe, animated by a noble emulation of
her success, now acknowledges by her reformed mil¬
lions, the worthy example of once drunken America.
How should the thought swell the bosom of every
American patriot, when he reflects, that if we were
first to be called a nation of drunkards, we were also
first to set the example of sobriety. There is some¬
thing about this which we may fairly trace to the* good
old blood of the revolution, it savors much of the
spirit of those great men, who, convinced of their er¬
rors, always deemed it nobler to retrieve them, than
persist obstinately in their defence.
To America belongs the honor of giving the exam¬
ple of a free people and free institutions to the world.
Her example was felt in the honest but ill-fated at¬
tempt of France, to establish similar institutions upon
the ruins of her fallen throne. It spread thence
throughout the nations of Europe. And although
none of them have as yet adopted her form of Govern-
ment, yet, the spirit of liberty is still increasing among
their people to such an extent, as to leave very little
doubt that there is a gradual and an irresistible ten¬
dency of all the governments of Europe to the equal
rights and privileges of our own glorious republic.—
But if America had stopt here, if she had been con¬
tent with the achievements of her illustrious founders^
her work, though confessedly great, had been but half
done; Greece and Rome had flourished and with the
decline of virtue they had fallen. France, infuriated
under a sense of the most galling oppression, had
thrown off the chains of feudal vassalage, and upon
the ruins of her ancient institutions had founded a
Government which was to confer equal rights upon
all; yet, unprepared for the transition, and maddened
with the enjoyment of a liberty which before had ex¬
isted only in the dreams of her Poetry or in the wild
abstractions of her Philosophy, her passions had risen
into the storm, under the violence of which, her liber¬
ties had been prostrated. Such too had been the fate
of our South American neighbors.
The conclusion, therefore, of the friends of the insti¬
tutions of Europe, had been that such too must and
will be the fate of Republican America. But thanks
to the enlightened patriotism of those who could see in
immorality and vice, the deadliest enemies to our in¬
stitutions, our country has been aroused to a sense of
its danger, and not content with the mere possession
■30
of free institutions, we are now showing to the world
that we know how to preserve them.
In our Temperance Societies we have the guaranty
of an enlighted and a virtuous population for genera¬
tions to come. Thus shall our liberties be preserved;
for, with such a population, our laws will be planned
in wisdom, administered with impartiality, and carri¬
ed most faithfully into execution.
May we not contemplate, with proud satisfaction,
the contrast between America and all of the Repub¬
lics of the past. They perished from the excesses of a
looss morality. Such cannot be her fate if we suc¬
ceed, as we confidently believe we will. in the efforts
which we are now making for our moral improve¬
ment. But if such reflections may inspire us with
pride, may we not feel prouder when we reflect that
we are fast shutting the mouths of our transatlantic
enemies when they point to "drunken America," and
argue from her excesses that her days will soon be
numbered—and that she too, will perish as have the
Republics which have gone before her.
What an impulse shall we give the cause of free¬
dom throughout the civilized world. How triumphant¬
ly shall the friend# of liberty appeal to our example
in all time to come. It was a great work to plant our
Institutiens. It is no less a work to preserve them.
The former was the work of our fathers—the latter is
ours. Let us see to it that we have equal success. Pos¬
terity shall then award us equal honor.
We therefore invite you, Fellow-citizens to enlist
21
with us in the great work of moral improvement which
is now going on. Let us advance the Temperance
Reform. A broad field is here opened for your pat¬
riotism and your philanthropy. You are called onto
make no sacrifice of principle either in religion or
politics. Our cause stands by itself. It will succeed
upon its own merits. The evils which it is designed
to remove need only to be brought before the atten¬
tion of the people to insure its most distinguished
success. It therefore needs no alliance with any thing-
else, VVe claim it as our own peculiar privilege, that
we unite all parties and all churches in the common
cause of removing the ills of Intemperance. We nei¬
ther ask you to make any sacrifice of health, of repu¬
tation, or honor, or indeed any sacrifice or privation
which would be even as dust in the balance compared
with the real service which you may render your
country.
We only ask you not to drink ardent spirits. That
is easily enough done. You make no sacrifice in that
which will not benefit you, whilst at the same time you
are doing great service to your country. You are
neither .called on to set yourselves up in the oppo¬
sition of distance and coldness and reserve to old.
friends because they drink. -On the contrary, in ac¬
cordance with the dictates of humanity and our own
glorious principles, we would expect your friendship
to catch a warmer glow from the pity excited by the
infirmities of your-friends and your anxiety to reforip
them.
22
We regard the drunkard with pity, not wilh scorn-
We have no other than feelings of the kindest sympa¬
thy for him. Instead of lowering him in his own or
tha public estimation, we would rather go to him, and
in the spirit of the greatest benevolence and terms
of the greatest persuasion, urge him to the aban¬
donment of a set of habits which must result in his
degradation.
We believe, too, that persuasive means are most
effectual in reclaiming the inebriate. We deem all
others unnecessary, and therefore we use no others.
No possible objection can be opposed to our cause
or the means which are used in its advancement. It
proposes to remove a great evil. How? Simply-by
persuading men to abandon it. However determined
a man may be in his opposition to the temperance re¬
form, he cannot be honest with himself if he objects
either to the cause or the means by which it is ad¬
vanced. Will a man hate you when you give him
the best of reasons to believe that you love him 1 It
cannot be.
Called on, therefore, to make no sacrifice what¬
ever—to do nothing which can create bad feelings
between you and your neighbors, yet still enabled to
co-operate in one of the greatest revolutions since the
days of Luther—a revolution rich with blessings and
happiness to our common country and to mankind,
we urge you, fellow citizens, to lay hold without
delay upon your privilege and your duty.
The success of our cause is now past all dispute.
23
Nobody can say aught against it. Every body can
say something for it. The young men throughout
the whole country are coming up to its aid. Go in¬
to any of our villages, and it will be found that, with
very few exceptions, nine-tenths of the young men
are on the side of temperance. The bottle is no long¬
er used to stimulate their mirth in the meetings of
their clubs. Go where you will and you will scarcely
nnd a tavern where spirits are kept. Their manufac¬
ture and importation are annually diminishing. The
voice of the whole country is getting to be against
their use as a beverage. The day, we believe, is not
very far distant when they will cease to be used in
th$it way. What a glorious day for our beloved coun¬
try ! When harmony and peace and love shall rule the
domestic circle; when the tears of early disappoint¬
ment and care shall cease to bedim the cheek of the
too confiding wife, and the silence of midnight shall
no more be broken with her groans; when Intem¬
perance shall no more consume the bread of helpless
and unprotected orphanage; when the cottage of
the poor man ho longer the squalid abode of pining and
want, shall assume the neatness and the eomfort of
thrifty acquisition; when its walls no longer echoing
the mirth of Bachanalian revelry shall resound with
the praises of the living God; when the blessings of
Education shall be within the reach of the hundreds
and thousands who are now enveloped in the darkness
of ignorance; when all of our citizens may qualify
themselves for the discharge of all their duties as the
24-
freemen of a free government; when crime shall be
comparatively unknown, and order, morality; and
obedience to the laws shall universally prevail,—our
work will have been done. Our country no longer
enslaved to immorality and vice, will stand erect
in the glorious beauty of her emancipation. Superior
to the control of her own passions* she shall have re¬
moved every obstacle in the way of her prosperity.
The mind, unfettered in its action except by the most
wholesome restraints, will bring to light the hidden
and undeveloped blessings of a higher civilization
and a purer refinement. Our march will then be on
ward,—ever onward to the high destiny for which omi
•"nstitutious were projected.