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 The Intellectual Torch 
 
 Developing a Plan for the Universal Dissemination of 
 
 Knowledge and Virtue by Means of 
 
 Free Public Libraries 
 
 By 
 Jesse Torrey, Jun. 
 
 The Librarian's Series 
 
 Edited by 
 John Cotton Dana and Henry W . Kent 
 
 Number three 
 
 Published by 
 
 The Elm Tree Press Woodstock Vermont 
 1912
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 One late forenoon in the winter of 1 8 1 5, the 4th of December 
 to be exact, a young man walked through the streets of Wash- 
 ington toward the place where Congress was about to assemble. 
 Comely in appearance, still in his twenties, and brisk in his 
 walk, his usually observant manner seemed a bit dulled by preoc- 
 cupation. Perhaps his thoughts were of the Congressional session 
 he was about to witness, a privilege which he had long coveted 
 and anticipated. Possibly they were of the recent war with Eng- 
 land, plain evidence of which lay ahead on his path down Penn- 
 sylvania Avenue, in the Capitol, burnt and ruined by the British the 
 preceding year. Such is the egotism of young manhood, however, 
 even amidst attractive and interesting surroundings, it is far more 
 likely that he was considering again his favorite project, his " new 
 idea," to which he fondly desired to call the attention of Congress- 
 men and Legislators. Partly conceived fifteen years before and 
 shortly afterward worked out in actual practice, temporarily laid 
 aside while he secured his professional education, a few months 
 previous he had resolved to devote himself to it anew. He had 
 even called upon President Madison and secured his approbation 
 of his plan. Now, in Washington, he had been devoting himself 
 to writing for the newspapers, and he may have been this morning 
 planning the little volume, almost ready for the printer, of these 
 newspaper contributions which he intended to issue under the 
 imposing pseudonym, "Discipulus Libertatis atque Humanitatis." 
 
 At any rate his thoughts were pleasant, but suddenly diverted. 
 He writes thus in a later work, " The Portraiture of Domestic 
 Slavery". " My agreeable reverie was suddenly interrupted by 
 
 917834
 
 IV THE INTELLECTUAL TORCH 
 
 the voice of a stammering boy who exclaimed ' There goes the 
 Ge-Ge-orgy-men with a drove o* niggers chain'd together two 
 and two. 1 ' What's that ? ' said I, ' I must see, 1 and, going to the 
 door, I just had a distant glimpse of a light covered waggon fol- 
 lowed by a procession of men, women and children resembling 
 that of a funeral." 
 
 The immaturity of the man, despite his impressive projects 
 for the betterment of his fellow-citizens, is well illustrated in the 
 next sentences. " I followed them hastily ; and as I approached 
 so near as to discover that they were bound together in pairs, 
 some with ropes, and some with iron chains, ( which I had hitherto 
 seen used only for restraining beasts), the involuntary successive 
 heavings of my bosom became irrepressible. This was, with me, 
 an affection perfectly peculiar to itself, which never having before 
 experienced, gave me some surprise. I have since heard an intelli- 
 gent gentleman, from Scotland, describe a similar symptom. He 
 affirmed, that on his arrival upon the coast of the United States ( in 
 Chesapeake Bay,) his first view of the slaves brought his heart 
 into his throat. Overtaking the caravan, just opposite to the old 
 capitol, I inquired of one of the drivers ( of whom there were 
 two ) ' What part of the country they were taking all these 
 people to ? ' ' To Georgia ' he replied. ' Have you not ' said I, 
 1 enough such people in that country yet ? ' ' Not quite enough ' 
 he said. I found myself incapable of saying more, and was com- 
 pelled to avert my eyes immediately from the heart-rending scene ! 
 
 " With these mournful spectra, flitting in succession before me, 
 and the black procession still in view, the pleasant anticipations 
 which I had been indulging but fifteen minutes previous, became 
 totally reversed. Returning pensive toward my lodgings, and 
 passing by the capitol, I thought, 'Alas poor Africa, thy cup 
 is the essence of bitterness ! This solitary magnificent temple, ded- 
 icated to liberty, opens its portals to all other nations but thee, 
 and bids their sons drink freely of the cup of freedom and
 
 INTRODUCTION V 
 
 happiness; but when thy unoffending, enslaved sons, clank their 
 blood-smeared chains under its towers, it sneers at their calamity, 
 and mocks their lamentations with the echo of contempt ! ' To 
 return from this lengthy excursion, I must acknowledge (how- 
 ever ludicrous it may seem to those who are hardened to such 
 things by repetition,) that the tragedy of a company of men, 
 women and children, pinioned and bound together with chains 
 and ropes, without accusation of crime, and driven as beasts of 
 the harness, through the metropolis of that country, of which I 
 had hitherto indulged both pleasure and pride, in the conscious- 
 ness of being a native citizen, and, of having commenced my 
 life coevally with its constitutional organization ; occurring at the 
 precise hour of the convocation of the guardians of its liberties ; 
 produced a new era in my sensations. Disinclination, as well 
 as the delay incurred, prevented my visit to the congressional 
 hall on that day. And I devoted several succeeding days to the 
 purpose of delineating on paper, a faithful copy of the impressions 
 and sentiments which involuntarily pervaded my full heart and 
 agitated mind." 
 
 In this sudden diversion of his thoughts and its results is wel 
 portrayed Jesse Torrey. 
 
 For this young man, the writer of the description epitomized 
 and quoted here, was Jesse Torrey, author of the pamphlet 
 herein reprinted, anti-slavery agitator, advocate of popular edu- 
 cation, total abstinence pioneer, projector of free libraries, now 
 forgotten and neglected. As the result of the scenes he had 
 just witnessed, his absorption in other schemes was temporarily 
 but entirely dissipated. Journeys to Delaware and Pennsylvania, 
 appeals to the public, and even legal proceedings followed, all 
 in the interest of slaves and finally came the publication of the 
 work just mentioned and entitled : 
 
 " A portraiture of domestic slavery in the United States : with 
 reflections on the practicability of restoring the moral rights of
 
 VI THE INTELLECTUAL TORCH 
 
 the slave, without impairing the legal privileges of the possessor ; 
 and a project of a colonial asylum for free persons of colour : 
 including memoirs of facts on the interior traffic in slaves, and on 
 kidnapping. 
 
 Illustrated with engravings. By Jesse Torrey, Jun., Physician. 
 Phila. 1817." 
 
 This work of Torrey's seems to have been, up to recent years, 
 the only one which rescued his name from utter oblivion. 
 Extensive search of biographical, historical and genealogical 
 works hardly reveals even his name. Students of slavery now 
 and again refer to the work just mentioned as interesting and 
 noteworthy, but say nothing of the man. In September, 1 898, 
 Mr. F. J. Teggart of Stanford University called attention in a 
 letter to the Nation, to the fact that Torrey published other works, 
 noting especially his interest in libraries as evidenced in " The 
 Intellectual Torch ; " but Mr. Teggart's interest seems to have 
 ended therewith, and his letter not to have attracted especial 
 notice. In 1 909 the writer of this introduction noted in a second 
 hand catalog the following entry : 
 
 " The Intellectual Torch ; developing an original, economical 
 and expeditious plan for the universal dissemination of Knowledge 
 and Virtue by means of Free Public Libraries, etc. By Dr. Jesse 
 Torrey, 1 2 mo., orig. wrappers, pp. 36. Ballston Spa, 1817." 
 
 To anyone watching for Librariana, especially concerning the 
 United States, this promised a treasure, but the fact that the 
 bookseller's entry was made in the very shadow of one of the 
 great libraries of the country, made it seem likely that the order for 
 the pamphlet would meet with the response, familiar and funereal 
 in sound to bookbuyers, " Sold." But such was not the case. 
 The pamphlet arrived and arousing the interest of the editors of 
 the Librarian's Series is reprinted herewith. In its matter it speaks 
 for itself when the date of its publication is considered. That its 
 author deserves some notice and memory by American librarians,
 
 INTRODUCTION VII 
 
 at least more than he has received, seems also self-evident. The 
 history of the movement for free libraries in America remains to 
 be written and quite properly so. History can hardly be written 
 until it is fully made and the passing of time gives vision for its 
 writing. Fifty years will more than cover the period usually as- 
 signed hitherto to this movement. But beginnings, foreshadow- 
 ings, should be noted while they may still be traced : and here 
 is a man establishing a century ago, a " free library and reading 
 society," whose name is never mentioned in biographical 
 dictionary, library history or even in the conversation of 
 librarians ! 
 
 What follows hereafter concerning Jesse Torrey's life, his 
 plans, hopes and actions has been gleaned almost entirely from 
 autobiographical remarks and sentences scattered thro his works. 
 Gaps in the record remain to be filled and statements to be ab- 
 solutely verified. He was a man of many and varying interests, 
 invariably considered by him from the point of view of the public 
 good. Whatever future investigators may discover or say of 
 him, it would now seem that his chief point of interest is fore- 
 shadowed in his own saying : 
 
 " I consider myself the first projector of free libraries ; and I 
 believe this method of disseminating information universally, to be 
 as great an improvement upon the ordinary mode of conducting 
 libraries, as the Lancasterian scheme is upon the common way 
 of elementary instruction. I cannot conceive any way that gov- 
 ernments, or wealthy philanthropists, can apply their surplus funds 
 to greater advantage, in preventing vice, poverty and misery, 
 and promoting virtue, prosperity, and happiness in society, than 
 by furnishing every town or parish with a well selected moral 
 and philosophical library, either at prime cost or gratuitously." 
 
 ( Extract from Torrey's letter to President John Adams, dated 
 New Lebanon, 1 8 Jan., 1 820 ; printed in his " Herald of 
 Knowledge," Washington, 1 822, page 2 1 .)
 
 LIFE OF JESSE TORREY 
 
 Jesse Torrey seems to have been born near New Lebanon, 
 Columbia County, N. Y., on May 25th, 1 787. The statement 
 is made thus advisedly, because no complete record has been 
 found. He continually makes statements, however, the dates of 
 which are ascertainable, qualifying them with such expressions 
 as " at the age of seventeen years " etc., so that it is clear from 
 them that his birth year was 1 787. Coupling this with a phrase 
 in his " Portraiture of slavery," where he says that he is conscious 
 of " being a native citizen and of having commenced my life 
 coevally with its constitutional organization, occurring at the pre- 
 cise hour of the convocation of the guardians of its liberties," a 
 phrase that can only refer to the meeting of the Federal Con- 
 vention which assembled May 25th, 1 787, it seems fairly 
 conclusive also that this is the exact date of his birth. An old 
 gambrel roofed house in which his family lived for a time, still 
 stands on West Street of what is now called Lebanon Springs. 
 His father, Jesse Torrey, Senior, probably came to New 
 Lebanon, from Lebanon, Conn. He served in the Revolutionary 
 War and Jesse Torrey, Jr., alludes with some feeling to his 
 services as of great courage and ending in entire loss of health. 
 Royal Torrey, brother of Jesse Torrey, Junior, also served in the 
 War of 1812. From his earliest years Torrey seems to have 
 been devoted to books and reading, indeed his application to 
 study brought illness. In later years his constant effort was to 
 encourage the reading and use of books by other youths, but 
 he on one occasion tempers his advice thus : " After having
 
 Silhouette of Jesse Torrey, copy of the original in 
 the possession of Rev. Joseph Hooper, of Durham, 
 Connnecticut, who lent the same to Mr. Virgin for 
 reproduction here
 
 INTRODUCTION IX 
 
 endeavored to demonstrate to our youth the advantages of knowl- 
 edge and mental improvement, I should consider myself guilty of 
 a neglect of duty, to omit cautioning them against excessive read- 
 ing and study; which is but little less pernicious to health, than 
 other kinds of intemperance. Never more than eight hours daily, 
 should be habitually devoted to study, or any inactive employment; 
 nor less than three in active exercise, either at labour, riding, walk- 
 ing, or active but moderate recreation. 
 
 " Having, myself, been severely injured by intense, unremitted 
 study, as well as by excessive exertions, my sentiments are the 
 result of experience, of the pernicious effects of both. It would, 
 undoubtedly, promote the literary progress, as well as the health 
 of students of academies, colleges, etc., to require them to labour 
 two or three hours, daily, either on a farm, in a garden, or 
 mechanical workshop." ( Herald of Knowledge, p. 30.) 
 
 His " insatiable appetite for reading," led him far afield ; his 
 published works are so replete with quotations as often to make 
 it difficult to distinguish his own sentiments from those of the author 
 quoted, and the range of his choice is unlimited. Homer, Seneca, 
 Horace, Addison, Burns, Sterne, Goldsmith, Cowper, and among 
 Americans, Barlow, Jefferson, Rush, Franklin, Weems, all of 
 these he cites by quotation or title. Here are some of the titles 
 he mentions as having read before reaching the age of fourteen : 
 " The Beauties of History, or Examples of Virtue and Vice, 
 taken from real life, two volumes by L. M. Stretch, Burton's 
 Lectures, Knox's Essays, Goldsmith's Essays, The Spectator, 
 History of Sanford and Merlon, Seneca's Morals, Plutarch's 
 Lives, Rollin's Ancient History." The extent and variety of this 
 reading was in some degree due to the kindness of an unnamed 
 lawyer whom he mentions in The Intellectual Torch as inviting 
 him " to make as much use of his excellent library " as he wished. 
 Another friend, Dr. Moses Younglove, whom he also mentions 
 in The Torch, gave him further encouragement and aid in
 
 X THE INTELLECTUAL TORCH 
 
 securing books and became his confidant regarding the project 
 of establishing free libraries. 
 
 Younglove, an eminent citizen among the early settlers of 
 Columbia County, and a skillful physician for his time, was 
 plainly a man of wealth and culture. It may well have been that 
 Torrey thought of him as one of the philanthropists whose aid 
 he hoped for. During his acquaintance with him at any rate, 
 there developed in Torrey 's mind the scheme he was about to 
 put into actual practice, and which would give him his greatest 
 claim to the interest of posterity. Its growth is traced in the 
 pamphlet reprinted in this volume ; but in another work of 
 Torrey's, " The Herald of Knowledge ; or An Address to the 
 Citizens of the United States proposing a New System of National 
 Instruction," Washington, 1 822, so many more details are given 
 of the early development of his idea than are related in 
 " The Torch," that they seem worthy of incorporation here : 
 " the suggestion occurred, that governments, associations, or 
 wealthy individuals, might promote if not accomplish that object 
 ( the extension of useful reading ) by establishing in cities, towns, 
 villages and parishes, Free Circulating Libraries, to be equally 
 accessible to all classes of the community, including, particularly, 
 the rising generation of both sexes, over ten or twelve years of age. 
 
 " Deeply impressed with the importance of this mode of placing 
 knowledge within reach of every member of society, whether 
 rich or poor, and wishing to demonstrate the practicability and 
 utility of the project, by experiment, I applied to Dr. Moses 
 Younglove, of Hudson, to aid me in establishing a free juvenile 
 library in my own neighbourhood. This gentleman had previously 
 resided in New Lebanon, and had already shown a friendship 
 towards me by accommodating my taste for reading. But he en- 
 deavoured to dissuade me from attempting to execute my project, 
 and to convince me that it would not be in my power to divert 
 the attention of youth from their former favourite amusements, to
 
 INTRODUCTION XI 
 
 books, and that my perseverance would terminate in ' chagrin* 
 My confidence, however, in a contrary result was not shaken in 
 the least. I was much chagrined to see a scheme, which I 
 firmly believed would ultimately emancipate the human race 
 from the slavery of body and mind, thus discouraged at the 
 outset. I then directed my endeavours to the institution of a 
 juvenile library society, under the denomination of ' The Juvenile 
 Society for the Acquisition of Knowledge, 1 and commenced a 
 subscription of money and books, leaving the amount optional 
 with the contributor. After calling on almost every house in the 
 parish, during the winter evenings in the year 1 803 and 4, I 
 finally succeeded in obtaining a considerable number of books 
 ( some of which were lent ) and about twelve dollars in cash, 
 with which I purchased as many volumes of books in the city 
 of Albany. The amount generally subscribed ( except for 
 books) was from twenty-five to fifty cents. On the 12th of 
 March, 1 804, the library was opened, free for the equal use of 
 every youth, of either sex, from twelve to twenty-one years of 
 age, on signing the constitution ; but they generally subscribed 
 from twelve and a half cents to one dollar. As there is seldom 
 a youth in that district of country that has not been taught the 
 art of reading, the acceptance of the privilege was unanimous, 
 and its effects evidently beneficial.* 
 
 " The success of the institution was equal to my expectations ; 
 and several months after its commencement, Dr. Younglove, 
 having heard of the progress of it, wrote letters to me on the 
 subject, and sent at different times, a considerable number of 
 books, and offered his assistance. The following is a copy of 
 one of his letters : 
 
 * A general taste for reading was excited among the youth of both sexes, 
 which they will probably retain through life. A few years ago, 1 met with 
 an intelligent, respectable young man, in a different part of the country, who 
 assured me that he should always feel under obligations to me for the benefits 
 he received from that library ; recollecting, he said, that I had invited him to 
 commence leading it as soon as he was twelve years of age.
 
 XII THE INTELLECTUAL TORCH 
 
 Hudson, 1 9th September, 1804 
 SIR: 
 
 I have now received your letter of the 1 6th inst. in answer 
 to mine of an anterior date, in which, through mistake, I referred 
 to books I put out for you when your father was here, and which 
 I now recollect were never sent ; among them were two Chinese 
 volumes ( Chinese Traveller ). Therefore, I desire you to take 
 the first from Mr. T *s, and I will send you the second. 
 Among the few books I then put out for your library, were 
 several volumes of J. J. Rousseau, but considering that he in- 
 culcates a preference of savage ignorance to mental refinement, 
 I believe they had better not be sent, as ill-suiting your laudable 
 plan of useful instruction to youth. Other small tracts, one or 
 two of which I thought to send, I am inclined to think you have 
 already. On the whole, when convenient, send me a list of your 
 books, that I may know how to assist you, by sending or recom- 
 mending to you such as I think yet wanting. 
 
 I am gratified to find your endeavours promising of utility, so 
 far beyond what I anticipated when you first consulted me ; for 
 considering your youth and inexperience, I then feared your 
 sagacity would be insufficient ; but I must now do you the justice 
 to acknowledge the contrary result. 
 
 From your friend, 
 
 M. Younglove " 
 
 With this extract and the facts given in the reprint in the 
 following pages, our knowledge of the New Lebanon Library 
 ends. That it continued to exist for some years, that it numbered 
 its readers at least by the hundreds, and produced beneficial 
 results in individual cases is evident. Before tracing Torrey's 
 further library activities and life, however, it seems worth while 
 to bring together and emphasize several points in his library ideals. 
 
 First of all, libraries must be free. Time and again he insists
 
 INTRODUCTION XIII 
 
 upon this point in his various works. Funds might be collected 
 through the subscriptions of friends and pledges of members, as 
 they were at New Lebanon, but " indigence " was not to keep 
 readers away. At New Lebanon he expressly says, " many 
 were admitted who contributed nothing." For the carrying on 
 of his plan in the future, he desired and believed in securing 
 government aid, local or national. With a clear eye he saw 
 plainly that a liquor tax would be largely remunerative and raise 
 funds from a source capable of bearing taxation, and such 
 measures he continually advocated. 
 
 Secondly, there must be libraries for all without distinction 
 of age, sex, or condition. His emphasis is at first laid upon their 
 advantages to youth. The New Lebanon organization was a 
 distinctly juvenile one, ages 1 2 to 2 1 , but in his later works as 
 his conception of the library grows, provision is plainly made for 
 persons over twenty-one, and he advocates libraries for 
 such special classes as the inmates of public and charitable in- 
 stitutions, apprentices, the farming population and even the 
 slaves. 
 
 Of the ten years of Torrey's life following his establishment of 
 the New Lebanon Library, little is known. Under the influence, 
 perhaps, of his friend and adviser, Dr. Younglove, he secured a 
 medical education, and his name appears on the title-page of 
 several of his works as Jesse Torrey, Jun., Physician. He ac- 
 tively followed his profession for a time at least in Pittsfield, 
 Mass., forming a " Medical co-partnership" there on December 
 first, 1814, with one Amasa Ford. The partnership, of which 
 a rather extraordinary advertisement appeared in the Pittsfield 
 Sun during December, 1814, was dissolved soon afterward, on 
 May 23, 1 8 1 5, by mutual consent. His only recorded medical 
 publication is a work upon contagious diseases with the following 
 title ; " A dissertation on the causes, preventions and remedies 
 of plague, yellow fever, cholera, dysentery, and other pestilential,
 
 XIV THE INTELLECTUAL TORCH 
 
 epidemic or contagious diseases . . . Containing outlines of a new, 
 uniform, physiological system of medical science and practice, 
 predicated upon the known laws of nature and chemical affinity. 11 
 Phila., J. Grigg, 1832. 
 
 Whether wearied at this time, 1815, with the practice of 
 medicine or roused in some way to a recollection of his earlier 
 intention to foster the establishment of libraries, it is impossible to 
 say. At any rate he resolved now, in so many words, to " com- 
 mence " exertions for the general establishment of free libraries. 
 With this thought in mind, probably preparing his n Intellectual 
 Torch " en route, he travelled through Pennsylvania, Maryland 
 and Virginia, availing himself of his stay in Virginia to visit 
 President Madison at his home and present the project to him, 
 and finally located in Washington in the fall of the year. Madison 
 expressed his " decided approbation of the plan, and particular- 
 ised some of the benefits which he thought would result from it." * 
 Addressing letters to various statesmen and governors, Torrey 
 began writing for the newspapers, notably the National Intelli- 
 gencer of Washington. His efforts were attracting attention, 
 and he had ready for the press the small volume of reprinted 
 newspaper articles on this and other subjects, entitled the " In- 
 tellectual Flambeau " when the incident occurred described in 
 the beginning of this introduction. The sight of manacled slaves 
 on the streets of the Capital roused in him intense indignation 
 and sympathy, and drove from his mind, for some months, all 
 thought of libraries and popular education. Taking measures to 
 provide for the distribution by mail of the Flambeau, which ap- 
 peared in February, 1816, he devoted himself at once to the 
 composition of a new work on the evils of slavery.* 
 
 This book, his " Portraiture of Domestic Slavery," appeared 
 at Philadelphia in the early winter of 1 8 1 6- 1 7. It is the longest 
 and in many respects the most consistent, well-planned work 
 
 * Herald of Knowledge, p. 1 2.
 
 INTRODUCTION XV 
 
 which Torrey wrote. He did not seek or anticipate immediate 
 abolition of slavery. For the present he desired humane treat- 
 ment of the bondmen, and urged their owners to be " guardians, 
 patrons, benefactors and neighbours " to them ; in the future he 
 advocated gradual redemption by governmental purchase. He 
 was especially moved by the wrongs suffered by slaves who had 
 been freed and afterwards kidnapped into slavery again, brought 
 legal suits himself to secure the restitution of their liberty and 
 aided in raising subscriptions to defray the legal expenses of the 
 trials. In recognition of his efforts, the Pennsylvania Society for 
 the Abolition of Slavery and the Relief of Free Negroes unlaw- 
 fully held in bondage, voted him a formal letter of thanks in 
 August, 1816. A second edition of the " Portraiture," published 
 in 1 8 1 8 at Ballston Spa, N. Y., was a smaller work with much 
 less matter, and does not contain the curious and interesting 
 plates " designed and published by Jesse Torrey," engraved by 
 Goodman, Piggot, Rider and Lawson, which have made the 
 first edition a book sought for by collectors not interested in 
 slavery or Torrey. In 1 822 there was published in London 
 what may be regarded as a third edition. Under the title 
 " American Slave Trade," it was edited with a preface by 
 William Cobbett, the English politician, and publicist, who 
 probably read the original work and may have met its author 
 during the years 181 7 to 1819, which he spent in America. 
 
 After the first publication of the " Portraiture," Torrey returned 
 to his library project. As he narrates in the " Torch," he ad- 
 dressed a sketch of his plan to Roberts Vaux of Philadelphia, 
 on June 4, 1817. That the suggestion bore fruit in school libraries, 
 and directly influenced the establishment in Philadelphia in 
 1 820 of the Apprentices' Free Library, an institution which is 
 still in existence and doing good work, is evidenced by the fol- 
 lowing letter from Vaux to Torrey, which does not appear in 
 the "Torch:"
 
 XVI THE INTELLECTUAL TORCH 
 
 Philadelphia, 1st Mo. 21, 1822 
 " Respected Friend: 
 
 In reply to thy letter of the 7th inst. I feel no hesitation in 
 saying, that my mind was directed to the consideration of pro- 
 moting the establishment of libraries for young persons, by thy 
 publications on that subject. The utility of the small libraries, 
 attached to some of our Lancasterian free schools in the city and 
 liberties of Philadelphia, as well as the benefits which flow from 
 the Apprentices* Library, deserve emphatic remarks ; whilst it is 
 but justice to thyself to acknowledge, that the institution of the 
 first is the result of thy suggestions, and perhaps the last estab- 
 lishment might not have been undertaken if the advantages of 
 the original experiment had not been shown. 
 Respectfully, 
 
 Dr. Torrey Roberts Vaux." 
 
 On August 6, 1817, Torrey signed the preface of the 
 Intellectual Torch. It was presumably published at once, as its 
 title-page is dated 1817. Inasmuch as it is reprinted here 
 verbatim, and space has already been given to consideration of 
 itsjnost important contents, Torrey's plans for the establishment 
 of free libraries, it does not need further treatment now, excep 
 on one point. The natural question arises, on reading the title- 
 page, why reprint the second edition ? This edition has been 
 used because no first has been found. Diligent search and in- 
 quiry have failed to locate it, and it seems doubtful if it exists, 
 under this title, at least. One suggestion seems possible, 
 especially from the similarity in titles. Torrey may have regarded 
 the " Flambeau," which he published pseudonymously, as the 
 first issue of the Torch. Some of the material of the Flambeau 
 is used in the Torch : much is omitted, so much as to cast doubt 
 on this last hypothesis. What the author had in mind in writing 
 " Second edition " cannot now be stated with certainty.
 
 INTRODUCTION XVII 
 
 Incidental to the circulation of the Torch in various places, 
 (in 1822, five years later, the author stated he had circulated 
 about eight thousand memorials for the establishment of libraries 
 in the Torch and Moral Instructor combined),* Torrey takes 
 occasion later to object to the limitations of library organizations 
 founded only for apprentices. His pamphlet had been distri- 
 buted very generously in Boston during the winter of 1817-18; 
 in 1 820 was founded the Mechanics Apprentices Library there, 
 whether in consequence of any suggestion contained in the Torch 
 or not, he does not know. In 1 822 he writes of this Library : 
 " I hope, however, that the discriminative appellation of ' Ap- 
 prentices' Library ' will be superseded by some title more 
 indicative of relief to the intellectual wants of numerous other 
 classes of the rising generation of both sexes. ... I can perceive 
 no sufficient reason tor any classification of libraries for youth, 
 other than opening them on different days or hours for the de- 
 livery of books to the two sexes. The Conversations on 
 Chemistry and Natural Philosophy, The Spectator, Thomp- 
 son's Seasons, drc., are equally interesting to either sex; and 
 there is no danger that young ladies will trespass on the claims of 
 apprentices to the use of works on architecture and mechanics. ll t 
 Few of our early founders of libraries were so thoughtful of 
 women as possible readers, or admitted so unqualifiedly their ex- 
 istence ! He proceeds : " If there must be any preference to 
 either sex, in the extension of mental improvement, let it be to 
 the female. Instruction is reproductive, ad infinitum ; and the 
 domestic station of females gives them the best opportunity of 
 transmitting virtuous sentiments to future generations." 
 
 In 1819 appeared Torrey's " Moral Instructor and Guide to 
 Virtue and Happiness." Both this and the " Pleasing Companion 
 for Little Girls and Boys " published in 1 824 were practically 
 
 * Herald of Knowledge, p. 1 5. 
 t Herald of Knowledge, p. 1 1 .
 
 XVlll THE INTELLECTUAL TORCH 
 
 schoolbooks and naturally were his works which secured widest 
 circulation. The Moral Instructor reached a second edition in 
 the same year as its first, November, 1819, and by 1826 was 
 in its tenth edition. It was, as its full title indicates, a collection of 
 readings, original and selected, on ethical subjects without refer- 
 ence to religion. Some matter is inserted from the Torch relating 
 to libraries and intemperance, and in an appendix appears 
 again the Constitution of the New Lebanon Library Society. 
 Later editions are rather extensively altered from the first, not 
 in character, but in quantity. 
 
 As already stated, the Moral Instructor was intended for 
 school use ; it is advertised as " The New American School 
 Book " ; in connection with it, then, may well be mentioned 
 Torrey's other works of this nature. The Pleasing Companion, 
 copyrighted in 1 824, by 1 835 had reached its twenty-fifth edition, 
 and was still being published as late as 1 844. It is a collection 
 of fables, poetry, stories from Maria Edgeworth, Sanford and 
 Merton, etc. ; and designed " for use in primary schools and 
 domestic nurseries." One work mentioned by Allibone as by 
 Torrey and quoted thus ; " First Book ( Primer ) " has not been 
 traced. The title may refer to the next mentioned work. The 
 last of his school text-books to appear was the n Familiar Spelling 
 Book, being a new practical system for teaching English pro- 
 nunciation and spelling with greater despatch and less fatigue to 
 both instructor and pupil than by the usual method," published 
 at Philadelphia in 1 826, but copyrighted in 1 825. The volume 
 contains reading lessons also, in one of which, a dialogue entitled 
 " The Quilting Party," Torrey ingeniously introduces descriptions 
 of his other works, The Pleasing Companion and The Moral 
 Instructor. The praise of the latter comes from the eldest boy 
 of the company, by name Benjamin Franklin. This widely read 
 young person of twelve years, after having acquired and perused 
 "Thirty or, forty volumes of voyages" with which he was
 
 INTRODUCTION XIX 
 
 " particularly pleased," says that he has " just finished reading one 
 of the best books I have ever read . . . The Moral Instructor and 
 Guide to Virtue. My father bought it for me about a month 
 ago. It has a great deal of good advice in it about doing right, 
 and behaving well. Not many children can understand much 
 of it, till they are nearly as old as I am, but I will give you a 
 short account of what it contains, hoping it will give you an in- 
 clination to read it yourselves, as soon as you are old enough." 
 Benjamin then proceeds to entertain his playmates with a two 
 page analysis of its contents closing thus : " And finally it con- 
 tains a constitution and plan for free libraries for youth ; so that 
 all can have books to read, that wish." The rest of the children 
 whose precocity is the less explainable since they rejoice in such 
 names as Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, John Adams and 
 Emma Willard, speak of other books. 
 
 One wonders in noticing their names, if Torrey could have 
 known Emma Willard. She had opened her famous school in 
 Troy, for girls, in 1 82 1 , five years previous to the publication 
 of this book, having been teaching in other places with steadily 
 growing fame for fifteen years. Several of the girls join in 
 the symposium, the last of whom most conveniently has " just 
 finished " Torrey's other work, A Pleasing Companion for Boys 
 and Girls. She too likes this " better than any other book that I 
 ever read," analyses it at a length of two pages and expresses the 
 hope in closing that they will " all soon have a Pleasing Com- 
 panion of their own." 
 
 Were these books, intended for school use and likely, if sold 
 at all, to sell in large numbers, another phase of Torrey's zeal for 
 popular education, or were they mere pot boilers, written and 
 compiled to secure means of livelihood while he spent the greater 
 part of his time in the furtherance of his more ambitious scheme 
 for free public libraries ? It would be difficult to say, were it not 
 for the evidence afforded by the preface and introduction to the
 
 XX THE INTELLECTUAL TORCH 
 
 volumes. Having read these one can hardly doubt Torrey's 
 absolute sincerity in their publication or desire to smooth and 
 make interesting the path of teacher and pupil alike. 
 
 Despite the time which he must have expended in their pre- 
 paration his labors for library growth continued. In 1 820 he 
 resolves anew to " persevere in the cause of libraries and knowl- 
 edge," writes ex-President John Adams on the subject, and visits 
 New York City to make " preparatory arrangements for the estab- 
 lishment of a free juvenile library " for all youth over ten years of 
 age.* It was only a coincidence, perhaps, that in this very year, 
 the General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen of New York 
 City founded its Apprentices' Library ; but it would seem that 
 Jesse Torrey is entitled to some credit for his share in the gen- 
 eral agitation which produced the foundation. 
 
 Two years passed, and in 1 822 Torrey published his last 
 appeal so far as we now know, to the public on behalf of 
 libraries. From the Herald of Knowledge, extensive quotation 
 has already been made and no detailed description need be 
 given. It contains the sanest, maturest presentation of the cause 
 nearest his heart. The Torch, by priority of publication and its 
 fuller exhibition of Torrey's personality, deserved and is given 
 herewith its reprinting, but the Herald abundantly deserves re- 
 production as well, and is apparently rarer than the Torch. 
 
 From this time on, the known details of Torrey's life, aside 
 from dates of publication, become few. Various editions of earlier 
 works appeared but whether revised by the author or publisher 
 is often uncertain. In 1 824 appeared the Pleasing Companion ; 
 in 1826 the Familiar Spelling Book, both already described; 
 then after a blank of six years appears his Dissertation on the 
 Plague, indicating a suddenly revived interest in his profession. 
 One other work remains, not previously alluded to here, and of 
 a character entirely different from those already described. 
 
 * Herald of Knowledge, p. 2 1 -2.
 
 INTRODUCTION XXI 
 
 Early in the investigation of the life of Torrey a tradition was 
 found that he had at one time edited, written or compiled a sort 
 of periodical called " The National Library." No one had seen 
 the work, no one could produce it, but the tradition persisted. 
 Again a bookseller's catalog, on this occasion, of an auction, 
 intervened and brought his work to light. Through the zeal of 
 the librarian of the American Antiquarian Society, they are now 
 the possessors of a few numbers of the " National Library," con- 
 ducted by Jesse Torrey, Jr. A fortnightly of sixteen pages an 
 issue, octavo in size, the National Library and Advocate of 
 Civil and Religious Liberty or Universal Repository of Useful 
 Knowledge, to give it its full title, was published in Philadel- 
 phia by J. H. Sleeper. Its first issue appears to have been in June, 
 1833; the Antiquarian Society file, incomplete, begins with 
 August 28th of that year, which is volume one, number six. It 
 lived till the end of the year, and then appears a similar paper in ar- 
 rangement and matter, but with a new tide, " The Impartial 
 Examiner," Phila., Jan. I, 1834, Volume one, No. I, and this 
 announcement for the patrons of the National Library : " Dr. 
 Jesse Torrey, Jr., having withdrawn from the editorial depart- 
 ment of the National Library, a few individuals of liberal minds 
 in this city have concluded to superintend the editorial depart- 
 ment, and as the late editor . . . may at some future time renew 
 his periodical through the means of another publisher, we have 
 concluded an alteration of the title would be proper." As 
 might be judged from this announcement, the contents of both 
 papers are extremely " liberal ". By far the greater part of the 
 material is religious and controversial ; attacks, often violent, upon 
 Methodists, Baptists, Episcopalians and other churches are made. 
 Nearly all the articles are signed with pseudonyms or initials. 
 Hence, it is difficult to tell how much share Torrey had in pro- 
 ducing the paper's contents. It is significant that with his leaving 
 it, the name should have been changed. Except for the title,
 
 XXII THE INTELLECTUAL TORCH 
 
 the word n library " does not occur in its pages. With the dis- 
 appearance of the National Library as a title, there vanished 
 from sight also the man whose chief interest in life had been 
 the securing of libraries for the people. Where he died, or 
 when, we do not know. 
 
 Edward Harmon Virgin 
 New York 
 September, 1912.
 
 THE PORTRAIT OF JESSE TORREY, JR. 
 
 The portrait of Torrey reproduced in this reprint seems to 
 have been separately engraved and inserted at will in his various 
 works. Copies of the Intellectual Flambeau, Moral Instructor, 
 first and second editions, and the second edition of the Portraiture 
 have been noted in various libraries as containing portraits. 
 
 As an engraving and the joint work of Goodman and Piggott 
 who cut the plate, it is fairly rare, their work together occurring 
 very seldom. Both engravers were well known in their day, 
 and served as apprentices together before forming their partner- 
 ship in Philadelphia. In addition to their signature, " Goodman 
 & Piggott, Sc.", the cut is also signed " Ra. Peale, Del.", pre- 
 sumably Raphael Peale. Judged from this portrait, the engraving 
 in the Portraiture, entitled " The Author noting down the narra- 
 tives of several free-born people of colour who had been 
 kidnapped," is a very good likeness. There is also in existence 
 a silhouette of Torrey, a reproduction of which is included in this 
 volume. 
 
 E. H. V.
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF TORREY'S 
 WORKS AND EDITIONS. 
 
 Copies 
 located 
 
 1816 Intellectual Flambeau. Wash. 1 6 mo. 5 
 
 1817 Portraiture of Slavery. Phila. 8 vo. 
 
 Copyrighted Jan. 25 14 
 
 1817 Intellectual Torch. Ed. 2. Ballston Spa. 
 
 1 2 mo. Preface dated Aug. 6 6 
 
 1818 Portraiture of Slavery. Ed. 2. Ballston 
 
 Spa. 1 2 mo. 7 
 
 1819 Moral Instructor. [Ed.l.] Ballston Spa. 
 
 12 mo. 1 
 1819 Moral Instructor. Ed. 2. Albany. 12 
 
 mo. November 4 
 
 1 822 Herald of Knowledge. Wash. 1 2 mo. 3 
 1 822 American Slave Trade. ( New ed. of 
 
 Portraiture) Lond. 12 mo. 4 
 
 1 823 Moral Instructor. Ed. 3. Wash. 1 2 mo. 1 
 
 1 824 Moral Instructor. Ed. 4. Phila. 1 2 mo. 2 
 
 1824 Pleasing Companion [Ed. 1. Phila.] 
 
 Copyright date given in later No copy 
 
 edition as March 24, 1 824. located 
 
 1825 Moral Instructor. Ed. 5 No copy located but 
 
 quoted by Teggart 
 
 1 826 Familiar Spelling Book. Phila. 1 2 mo. 1 
 1 826 Moral Instructor. Ed. 1 0. Phila. 1 2 mo. 1
 
 XVlll THE INTELLECTUAL TORCH 
 
 1830 Pleasing Companion. Ed. 2. N. Y., 
 
 12 mo. 1 
 
 1 832 Dissertation on plague. Phila. 8 vo. 3 
 
 1833 National Library. Phila. 8 vo. 1 
 1836 Pleasing Companion. Ed. 25. Phila. 
 
 12 mo. 1 
 
 1 844 Pleasing Companion. Phila. 1 2 mo. 2 
 
 UNTRACED 
 " First Book ( Primer ) " Quoted thus only by Allibone. 
 
 All of Torrey's works were published under his name except 
 the first, The Intellectual Flambeau. This is said on its title 
 page to be by " Discipulus Libertatis atque Humanitatis. "
 
 The Intellectual Torch
 
 THE 
 
 INTELLECTUAL TORCH; 
 
 DEVELOPING AN ORIGINAL, ECONOMICAL AND 
 EXPEDITIOUS PLAN FOR THE 
 
 UNIVERSAL DISSEMINATION 
 
 OF 
 
 KNOWLEDGE AND VIRTUE; 
 
 BY MEANS OF 
 
 FREE PUBLIC LIBRARIES. 
 
 INCLUDING ESSAYS ON 
 
 THE USE OF DISTILLED SPIRITS. 
 
 By Doctor JESSE TORRE Y, Jun. 
 
 Founder of the Free Juvenile Library, established at New Lebanon, in the 
 
 year 1804; and Author of "A Portraiture of Domestic 
 
 Slavery in the United States," &c. 
 
 SECOND EDITION, REVISED BY THE AUTHOR; 
 
 Selections being omitted and original matter added. 
 
 BALLSTON SPA : 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR. 
 J. COMSTOCK, PRINTER. 
 
 Reprinted with an Introduction 
 
 The Elm Tree Press Woodstock Vermont 
 
 1912
 
 THE 
 
 INTELLECTUAL TORCH. 
 
 ' 'Man 's general ignorance, old as the flood, 
 For ages on ages has steep 'd him in blood. 
 
 NOWLEDGE is essentially necessary to the well-being 
 1 v and happiness of every member of the human family, 
 whether male or female, rich or poor. 
 
 To ignorance may be traced, the origin of most of the vices, 
 crimes, errors and follies that distract and destroy mankind. It is 
 the mother of misery: a mazy labyrinth of perpetual night. 
 Knowledge, on the contrary, is a torch perpetually flaming, 
 which enables its possessor, to see clearly and understand every 
 thing that surrounds him. It affords certain consolation, in all 
 cases of difficulty and danger. Besides the intellectual pleasure, 
 derived from the possession of knowledge, which far exceeds 
 that of animal sensuality, the well informed man, (mechanic, 
 farmer, or of whatever profession) being acquainted with the laws 
 of nature with moral and physical causes and effects, is capable 
 of providing, generally with certainty, for the prosperity and 
 security of himself and his family. 
 
 Confucius, the ancient Chinese Philanthropist, who dissem- 
 inated virtue and happiness over a vast Empire, and is there 
 venerated as a messenger from God, to this day, says, " Human
 
 nature came to us from Heaven pure and perfect ; but in process 
 of time, ignorance, the passions and evil examples have corrupted 
 it. All consists in restoring it to its primitive beauty ; and to be 
 perfect we must ascend to that point from which we have fallen. 
 Obey Heaven and follow the orders of him who governs it. 
 Love your neighbor as yourself." --" Bad as the times are I 
 shall do all I can to recall men to virtue ; for in virtue are all 
 things." 
 
 While our generous Legislatures are imitating the policy of 
 European Monarchies, by making liberal appropriations for en- 
 lightening the few, by the endowment of Colleges and Univer- 
 sities, would not the many ( who, in this country, supply their 
 legislators with power as well as money ) cordially cherish a 
 policy, calculated, at the same time, to diffuse a small portion of 
 the accumulated treasures of intellectual light of the present era, 
 amongst themselves and their own children.* 
 
 Joseph Lancaster has discovered a method, which gives in- 
 calculable facility to the universal dissemination of the preliminary 
 rudiments of science ; and is rapidly gaining general assent in the 
 United States. But the education of youth should not cease with 
 the expiration of their attendance on public schools. The chasm 
 between this period and that of their corporeal maturity, contains 
 many stumbling blocks and dangerous snares. The art of reading, 
 without books to read, is to the mind, as is a set of good teeth to 
 the body, without food to masticate ; they will alike suffer the 
 evils of disease, decay, and eventual ruin. 
 
 The printing press is the main engine, and books are the rapid 
 
 * The late enthusiastic Champion of the rights of man, Samuel Adams, in 
 a letter to his venerable friend, John Adams, exerting his utmost eloquence to 
 convince him of the superiority of the representative system of legislation, ex- 
 claims " In order to secure the perpetuation of our excellent form of govern- 
 ment to future generations, let Divines and Philosophers, Statesmen and Patriots, 
 unite their endeavors to renovate the age, by impressing the minds of the people 
 with the importance of educating their little Boys and Girls,* &c.
 
 vehicles for the general distribution of knowledge. Yet notwith- 
 standing the prodigious difference between the cost of books 
 within the last 400 years, and the whole anterior space of 
 time, but few comparatively can meet the expense of private 
 libraries. Computing the leisure of every youth to be two hours 
 daily from the age of ten to twenty-one years, independent of 
 the requisite time for labor, sleep, eating, recreation, &c. and it 
 is sufficient for reading a library of seven hundred volumes 
 duodecimo, of 300 pages each. This only season for laying the 
 foundation of a virtuous and happy life, to the greatest portion of 
 mankind, is totally lost. It is only necessary to offer knowledge 
 to the voluntary acceptance of youth, in a proper manner, to 
 produce an ardent appetite for it. 
 
 Intellectual cultivation is the basis of virtue and happiness. As 
 mental improvement advances, vice and crimes recede. That 
 desirable happy era, when the spirit of peace and benevolence 
 shall pervade all the nations which inhabit the earth, when both 
 national and personal slavery shall be annihilated ; when nations 
 and individuals shall cease to hunt and destroy each other's lives 
 and property ; when the science and implements of human 
 preservation and felicity, shall be substituted for those of slaughter 
 and woe ; will commence, precisely at the moment when the 
 rays of useful knowledge and wisdom, shall have been extended 
 to the whole human family. By useful knowledge, I mean, not 
 only an acquaintance with valuable arts and sciences, but also an 
 understanding of our various moral and religious duties, in relation 
 to our creator, to our neighbor, and to ourselves. By wisdom, I 
 mean that kind of sagacity, which influences us to regulate our 
 passions and conduct, in conformity to the precepts of know- 
 ledge, reason and religion. Until an approach towards such a 
 state of things, is effected, the names of peace, liberty, and 
 security, on this earth, will differ but little from an Ignis fatuus, 
 either to monarchs or their vassals. At present, violence bears
 
 universal and imperial sway ; and ignorance is the magic spell 
 which sustains its sceptre. This dense mist which enshrouds 
 nearly the whole human race, can be penetrated and removed, 
 with much greater certainty and facility, by the mild but invincible 
 rays of intellectual light, than by opposing violence with violence, 
 and evil to evil. The countryman in /Esop's Fables, was induced 
 to throw off his cloak, by the gentle but melting rays of the physical 
 sun, after the wind had exerted its fury in vain. What a bound- 
 less empire of glory and unalloyed bliss, might the monarchs and 
 governments of the different nations, and all possessors of wealth 
 attain, by causing their numerous subjects and brethren, per- 
 petually encompassed by the snares of ignorance, vice, and 
 oppression, to be instructed ; thereby elevating poor degraded 
 afflicted human nature, to that scale of dignity in the creation, 
 which was evidently assigned to it by the supreme parent of the 
 universe. In our country, particularly, instruction ought to be 
 universal. For virtue only can sustain and perpetuate our political 
 organization. " With knowledge and virtue the united efforts of 
 ignorance and tyranny may be defied." ( Miller, governor of 
 North Carolina.) " In a government where all may aspire, to the 
 highest offices in the state, it is essential that education should be 
 placed within the reach of all. Without intelligence, self 
 government, our dearest privilege cannot be exercised. " 
 ( Nicholas, governor of Virginia.) " Without knowledge, the 
 blessings of liberty cannot be fully enjoyed or long preserved." 
 ( President Madison.) 
 
 General Washington, in his valedictory address to the people 
 of the United States, says, " Promote then, as objects of primary 
 importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge, 
 in proportion as the structure of the government gives force to 
 public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be 
 enlightened." 
 
 But it has been questioned whether our constitution authorises 
 
 A2
 
 the adoption of measures for the diffusion of knowledge and 
 science. If our constitution does not now authorise measures 
 which are likely to produce the greatest possible benefit to the 
 country, and security to its liberties, it ought without delay to be 
 so amended that it should. 
 
 Let American Legislators, both national and sectional, perform 
 their duty to their country, and its posterity ; and to mankind, by 
 listening to the wise counsels of many conspicuous living sages, 
 and pursue without hesitation the inestimable "parting advice" 
 of George Washington, Benjamin Rush, Samuel Adams, and 
 other departed friends and patrons of man ; and establish public 
 schools, and judiciously selected free public circulating libraries, 
 in every part of the Republic. And as all men are vitally interested 
 in the universal dissemination of knowledge and virtue, let all 
 classes combine their influence and means, in aiding the cause of 
 human happiness. 
 
 n Postpone, O ye Sages all meaner debates 
 Convinced that 'tis light, must establish our states ; 
 Dispense and diffuse it gild empire like day, 
 Convinced that with freemen full knowledge is sway ! " 
 " 'Tis ignorance mainly binds people in chains, 
 'Tis this too the empire of Folly maintains! 
 Vice shrinks from instruction like Ghost from the light : 
 And Despots shun noon-tide and covet the night." 
 
 The discovery of the art of printing and of manufacturing 
 paper, gives us a vast ascendency over our ancestors in the pro- 
 pagation of knowledge. Dr. Darwin very properly, and very 
 elegantly, calls the " PRINTING PRESS" the most useful of 
 modern inventions ; the capacious reservoir of human knowledge, 
 whose branching streams diffuse sciences, arts and morality, 
 through all nations and ages."
 
 8 
 
 Let us suppose Confucius, Socrates and Seneca, were per- 
 mitted to resume the possession of their former bodies and estates ; 
 and remain on the earth for five years. Would they not be 
 transported with ecstacy, on beholding a paper-mill and a printing 
 press. And yet would they not weep with regret and wonder, 
 to find how few of the inhabitants even of civilized and appar- 
 ently enlightened portions of the earth, are in possession of the 
 inestimable moral precepts which they had, with so much labor 
 and solicitude, prepared and bequeathed to mankind ? Seneca 
 possessed an immense quantity of wealth. Would he not seize the 
 opportunity with rapturous avidity, and invite his two benevolent 
 colleagues to share with him the happiness, of enlisting, with his 
 treasures, every paper-mill, printing press, type-maker and printer, 
 that they could find, and devote the five years, totally, to the 
 propagation of their wisdom to the remotest regions of the 
 Globe. 
 
 " It is a truth which cannot be too strongly impressed, that of 
 all our exertions for the benefit of our fellow creatures, the 
 education of the poor is the most efficacious." [A/o/r.] 
 
 Finally, that ignorance is generally the radical source of vice 
 and poverty, with their consequent train of complicated calamities ; 
 and that intelligence generally produces results directly the reverse, 
 are truths no longer problematical. Facts have shown their claims 
 to the consideration of the legislator and the moralist. It now 
 only remains to ascertain the most expeditious, economical, and 
 practicable method, by which the universal diffusion of useful 
 knowledge can be accomplished. 
 
 In the early period of my youth, a gentleman of the law, who 
 resided in the vicinity of my father's house, at New-Lebanon, 
 ( N. Y.) kindly invited me to make as much use of his excellent 
 library as I wished, observing that he was pleased to see young 
 persons attached to reading, and glad to encourage them in the im- 
 provement of their minds. I accepted the privilege with gratitude,
 
 and improved it with persevering assiduity, as far as my leisure 
 permitted, for several years. I also purchased shares in two public 
 social libraries. At the age of 1 7 years, convinced of the ines- 
 timable benefits of reading useful books, I anxiously desired that 
 they might, if possible, be extended to the great mass of the human 
 family ; and endeavored to discover some effective plan for this 
 purpose. Indigence, which in most nations involves the majority, 
 appeared to present the greatest obstacle. Hence the suggestion 
 occurred that governments, or associations of individuals, might 
 promote the object, by establishing in various districts, free cir- 
 culating libraries, to be equally accessible to all classes and sexes 
 without discrimination. With a view to confirm the practicability 
 of the project, as well as to benefit the youth of the vicinity, I 
 commenced a subscription of money and books, for the establish- 
 ment of a free juvenile library.* The association consisted of the 
 youth of both sexes, from the age of 1 2 to 2 1 years, under the 
 title of " The juvenile society for the acquisition of knowledge." 
 As there is seldom a youth in that district of country, that has 
 not been taught the art of reading, the acceptance of the privilege 
 was unanimous, and its effects evidently salutary. The society 
 and library continued to accumulate for several years. The per- 
 manency of the institution has, however, been since interrupted 
 by the frequent rotation of the office of librarian, and by the 
 difficulty of enforcing a compliance, with the bye laws. These 
 inconveniences might be avoided by locating the libraries 
 
 * Dr. Moses Younglove, of the city of Hudson, patronized the library by a 
 donation of about a dozen volumes of books, and addressed to me an encour- 
 aging letter, dated at Hudson, 19th September, 1804, which he concludes 
 thus: 
 
 11 1 am much gratified to find your endeavors promising of utility, so far be- 
 yond what 1 anticipated when you first consulted me ; for considering your 
 youth and inexperience, I then feared your sagacity would be insufficient, but 
 I must do you the justice to acknowledge the contrary result. 
 * From your friend, 
 
 " M. YOUNGLOVE."
 
 10 
 
 permanently in school-houses or academies, or in the care of some 
 civil magistrate, and by having the bye laws confirmed by the 
 legislature. The choice of suitable books to be purchased or 
 admitted in donations, ought to be decided by a competent com- 
 mittee. Well selected free public libraries, it is believed, would 
 form a very important auxiliary of public instruction, in all our 
 schools, academies, hospitals, alms houses, cantonments, bride- 
 wells, gaols, state prisons, penitentiaries, work houses, &c. &c. 
 
 The utility of this method of promoting moral improvement 
 might be rendered doubly extensive if governments, or societies 
 were to procure the execution, upon a large scale, of several of 
 the most essential books on the conduct of life, and furnish them 
 to all free library companies, at prime cost. 
 
 Having been at the city of Philadelphia at the time the " Penn- 
 sylvania society for promoting public Economy," was instituted I 
 communicated a sketch of the above plan, in a letter dated the 
 4th June, 1817, to Roberts Vaux, Esq. one of the members of 
 the Common Council of the city, who was the chairman of a 
 committee, appointed by the society, on public schools. He in- 
 formed me that the committee considered the idea new and valu- 
 able, and had instructed him to introduce it in his report of a system 
 of public education which it was contemplated to adopt. He said 
 they considered the plan particularly adapted for the benefit of 
 numerous apprentices, who are prevented, during several years of 
 their service, from attending public schools, by their occupa- 
 tions. 
 
 Having formerly published a small volume of anonymous 
 Essays under the title of the "Intellectual Flambeau, " treating 
 principally on morals and the diffusion of knowledge, (from which, 
 part of the materials of this pamphlet is derived,) the following 
 letters were addressed to me, which, as they contribute to eluci- 
 date the subjects now under consideration, I think useful to 
 insert.
 
 11 
 
 From Samuel L. Mitchell, L. L. D. &c. 
 
 New York, June 12th, 1816. 
 Sir, 
 
 The mail brought me, a short time since, a copy of your Intel- 
 lectual Flambeau. I find thereby that you have exerted your 
 mind zealously and long in favor of beneficence and knowledge. 
 It is agreeable to see your detached essays and fugitive pieces col- 
 lected into a book. It was fine saying, " gather up the fragments 
 that none be lost." 
 
 It is a peculiar feature of our social condition in the Fredish 
 dominions, that information is so generally spread among the peo- 
 ple. There is another trait of character, of no less importance, 
 the disposition to do what is right. The theory of those articles 
 of our political constitutions, is derived from the consideration that 
 our citizens, in the exercise of the elective franchise, are wise to 
 understand, and virtuous to do, their duty. And while this state 
 continues, we shall be the happiest nation on earth. But a being 
 possessed of knowledge without virtue is a terrible creature, and 
 comes up to my definition of a devil. 
 
 You have done well to oppose the torrent of distilled spirits 
 that is overwhelming the land, and threatening ruin to its human 
 inhabitants. The breaking of the levee at New-Orleans, or the 
 dykes in Holland, is not half so dreadful or destructive to the 
 prospects of the proprietors respectively, as the breach of the 
 barriers of temperance by whiskey and rum. They are the tor- 
 ment and poison of the moral world. Great indeed will be the 
 merit of him who can apply an effectual antidote. In the distri- 
 bution of praise in this world, sufficient credit is not given to the 
 author of Mahomedan religion for having forbidden the use of 
 vinous liquors. But the effects of ardent spirits are by no means 
 confined to the moral world. They extend to the physical part
 
 12 
 
 of man's constitution, and cause palsies, apoplexies, dropsies, 
 drunkenness, madness, and a number of other woes. 
 
 Go on and be not weary in well doing. Be not discouraged ; 
 but continue to render yourself happy in endeavors to better the 
 condition of your fellow-creatures. 
 
 Accept the assurance of my esteem and regard. 
 
 SAMUEL L. MITCHILL. 
 
 /. Torrey, Jun. Esq. 
 
 From Isaac Briggs, of the Society of Friends. 
 
 Wilmington, Del. 6 mo. 12, 1816. 
 Esteemed Friend, 
 
 With pleasure and approbation I have read thy little book 
 entitled, " The Intellectual Flambeau ; " and if this declaration 
 from me be deemed by the author of any importance, it is freely 
 at his service. 
 
 It has long been my settled opinion that knowledge diffused 
 among the people, is the best foundation for civil liberty and 
 happiness ; and the more extensively it is diffused, the broader and 
 more firm is the foundation, and the more glorious the super- 
 structure. 
 
 To perpetuate the blessing of liberty, let the education of youth 
 be considered an important and honorable employment let those 
 who have plenty assist, gratis, those who have but little let our 
 youth be taught by precept and example, that in using our reason- 
 ing powers, truth is the only legitimate object, and that candor 
 is always due to an opponent in argument. 
 
 Thus a soil may be prepared in the youthful mind, from which 
 will readily spring useful knowledge and the sweet charities of 
 society and envy, malice, hatred and party-spirit would have 
 little or no room to grow.
 
 13 
 
 Collections of useful and instructive books in different neigh- 
 borhoods would, in my opinion, powerfully promote all these 
 valuable ends. A very light contribution from the purses of the 
 rich and honorable would, in every neighborhood, without 
 expense to the poorer classes, place much useful knowledge within 
 their reach, and even invite them to partake of it. The scheme 
 appears to me fully worthy of an experiment, fairly made ; and 
 I am glad to find that my friend, the author of the Intellectual 
 Flambeau, has devoted some of his time and talents to objects 
 so interesting. 
 
 ISAAC BRIGGS. 
 Dr. Jesse Torrey, Jan. 
 
 From Simon Snider, Gov. of the state of Pennsylvania. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 Ignorance is the dark but broad foundation, upon which the 
 tyrants of the bodies and souls of men erect their thrones. The 
 general diffusion of knowledge is on the other hand the most 
 efficient means of destroying the power of moral and political 
 despotism. Few of mankind comparatively speaking, have the 
 means of procuring and still fewer have the requisite leisure to 
 study and digest extensive systems of ethics or politics. Small 
 tracts are best suited for the perusal of the generality of mankind. 
 Your little volume entitled " The Intellectual Flambeau " appears 
 to me well calculated to diffuse impressively, correct knowledge 
 on the subject of morals, and the political rights of man. Much 
 light on those interesting subjects, is condensed into a small com- 
 pass, and is within the reach of almost every man, however 
 limited his means or his leisure. Persevere in your laudable work, 
 and may your success equal your wishes, assured that you will 
 reap that reward which results from a consciousness of having
 
 14 
 
 endeavored to promote the present and future happiness of your 
 fellow men. 
 
 Accept assurances of 
 
 personal regard from 
 
 SIMON SNYDER. 
 Dr. Jesse Torrey, Jun. 
 
 Harrisburg, 8th Not). 1816. 
 
 From N. B. Boileau, Secretary of the state of Pennsylvania. 
 
 Harrisburg, Nov. 8th, 1816. 
 Sir, 
 
 I cordially agree with the sentiments expressed by the gover- 
 nor, and join with him wishing your success may be equal to your 
 philanthropic desire that your little book may have its due 
 effect in correcting the habits of intemperance the too pre- 
 dominant and prevailing vice of the present day and that you 
 may enjoy the high satisfaction which springs from an approving 
 heart, and from the evidence that your labor has not been in 
 vain. 
 
 With best wishes for your personal welfare 
 your ob't. ser't. 
 
 N. B. BOILEAU. 
 Dr. Jesse Torrey, Jun. 
 
 A SERIOUS ADDRESS, 
 
 To the Rising Generation of the United States. 
 
 Eminently Favored Youth, 
 
 ^CONTEMPLATE calmly and attentively, the sacred 
 \^J legacy which soon must be committed to your charge, in 
 trust for your successors and eventually for the whole human 
 
 B
 
 15 
 
 race ! You constitute the only insulated A rrarat, on which the 
 Olive Branch of Peace, and the " glad tidings " of Freedom 
 and Happiness, can be deposited and preserved to a groaning 
 World, drowned in tears ! ! Prove yourselves, then, deserving 
 of the exalted office which Providence has assigned you. To do 
 this, it is indispensable that you cultivate your understandings, 
 and store them with the golden treasures of knowledge, philoso- 
 phy and wisdom. Where these abide Tyranny cannot exist 
 no more than darkness in the midst of sun beams. Know also 
 that these will preserve you, infallibly, from a species of slavery, 
 much more odious and destructive to human happiness, than the 
 most barbarous political despotism that exists, 
 
 Of ignorance, vice, and all the ven'mous passions ; 
 Of intemperance, crimes, and a host of idle fashions. 
 
 Virtue and wisdom are the offspring of knowledge ; and 
 " human happiness, says Seneca, is founded upon wisdom and 
 virtue." And further, that " philosophy gives us a veneration for 
 God, a charity for our neighbor ; teaches us our duty to Heaven, 
 and exhorts to an agreement one with another ; it arms us against 
 all difficulties ; it prompts us to relieve the prisoner, the infirm, the 
 necessitous ; it is the health of the mind ; shines with an original 
 light ; makes us happy and immortal. In poverty it gives us riches 
 or such a state of mind as makes them superfluous." 
 
 My young friends remember that you possess within yourselves, 
 the innate germ of wisdom, virtue, happiness the spirit of God 
 in your hearts, constantly pleading for your own welfare. You 
 have only to listen to this friendly monitor, and feed the sacred 
 spark with the light of instruction and wisdom. 
 
 " Wisdom, says Seneca, instructs us in the way of nature ; to 
 live happily ; teaches us what things are good, what evil, that no 
 man can be happy, but he that needs no other happiness but
 
 16 
 
 what he has within himself ; no man to be great or powerful, 
 that is not master of himself. That this is the felicity of human 
 life ; a felicity that can neither be corrupted or extinguished. 
 Nay, says he, so powerful is virtue, and so gracious is Providence, 
 that every man has a light set up within himself for a guide, 
 which we do all of us both see and acknowledge, though we do 
 not pursue it.* That a good man is happy within himself, and 
 independent upon fortune : kind to his friend ; temperate to his 
 enemy : religiously Just ; indefatigably laborious, &c. That there 
 is not a duty to which Providence has not annexed a blessing. " 
 
 Finally, without taking up the discussion of future rewards and 
 punishments, I must declare my conviction that in our present 
 stage of temporal existence, every deviation from the path of 
 rectitude and duty, is as certainly punished with its appropriate 
 penalty, as that pain is the inevitable consequence of thrusting 
 our hands into fire, and indicates an equal deficiency of wisdom 
 and common sense. 
 
 Therefore exert yourselves without delay, to secure the means 
 of enlightening your understandings with instruction. For this 
 purpose form yourselves into societies in your respective neighbor- 
 hoods, and establish free libraries, by means of subscriptions, and 
 contributions of books. 
 
 " Take fast hold of instruction ; let her not go ; keep her ; for 
 she is thy life." 
 
 [SOLOMON.] 
 
 I am not inclined to advise you to restrain yourselves from a 
 rational indulgence in innocent athletic amusements, but fail not, 
 if you prefer genuine happiness to misery and repentance, to de- 
 vote the most of your evenings and leisure hours to mental im- 
 provement and reading. Read the life of the celebrated Franklin 
 
 * * I know the right, and I approve it too ; 
 Condemn the wrong, and yet the wrong pursue. 11 
 
 POPE.
 
 17 
 
 and follow his advice. But beware of the Syren snares of 
 NOVELS. Is not a beautiful garden, in a state of living verdure, 
 and notice bloom both more entertaining and instructive, than a 
 heap of counterfeit artificial flowers made of paper, yielding fruits 
 the most pernicious ? 
 
 Let your library commence with the following books ; making 
 about 20 volumes. A contribution of 25 cents each from 100 
 persons would probably defray the cost of the whole of them. 
 The youth, not already trained to depravity, that can read merely 
 these few books, without being fascinated with the pleasures of 
 science, wisdom, benevolence, and moral rectitude, must be a 
 prodigy of stupidity and worthlessness. 
 
 The Looking Glass for the Mind, The Newtonian System 
 of Philosophy Explained, Burton's Lectures to Young Ladies, 
 Lady's Library, Mavor's Abridgement of Natural History, His- 
 torical Grammar, Blair's Grammar of Chemistry, Joyce's Scien- 
 tific Dialogues, Seneca's Morals, Translation of Xenophon's 
 Socrates, Priestly's Considerations for the use of Young Men, 
 Baron Knigge's Practical Philosophy of Social Life, or the Art 
 of Conversing with Men, Beauties of History, History of Sanford 
 and Merton, Universal Geography, &c. 
 
 While in health, taste not a single drop of distilled spirit, for 
 except as a remedy for some diseases, it is a positive poison to 
 man or any other animal ; this important fact is demonstrated, not 
 only by chemical analysis, which proves that in the process of 
 fermentation the material of spirit imbibes from the atmosphere 
 a substance, called oxygen, the internal application of which is 
 well known to be noxious to animal life ; but also by its effects 
 upon brute animals, some kinds of which it kills* instantaneously, 
 and impedes the growth of others ! 
 
 * An individual who was formerly addicted to the use of distilled spirits, 
 stated that he compelled a fowl to swallow a table spoonful of rum, which 
 produced immediate death I
 
 18 
 
 Accept, beloved youth, these counsels of your sincere friend. 
 Heed them with fidelity ; and peace, contentment, good will, 
 and gladness shall be the companions of your lives. 
 
 TO PHILANTHROPISTS. 
 
 In the hope that the impulse of a disposition "to do good," 
 may influence, some magistrate, physician, tutor, preacher, 
 attorney, private citizen, or generous youth, in every district in 
 which these sheets may be circulated ; to volunteer his exertions 
 for the institution of a free library, and reading society, I have 
 procured for publication, a correct copy of the Constitution 
 originally adopted by the Juvenile Library Society at New- 
 Lebanon. It was composed by the writer of these pages, at the 
 age of 1 7 years. The language or plan can be varied as may 
 be found expedient. 
 
 THE CONSTITUTION 
 
 Of the New Lebanon Juvenile Society for the Acquisition of 
 Knowledge. 
 
 New-Lebanon, March 12, 1804. 
 
 WHEREAS we the youth of New-Lebanon, are fully 
 convinced that it is indispensably necessary for our hap- 
 piness and welfare, that we cultivate our understandings, improve 
 our morals, and acquire useful knowledge while we are young, 
 and while our minds are susceptible of improvement. And there- 
 fore we do hereby agree to associate, and form ourselves into a 
 Society, for the purpose of establishing a Library, improving our 
 minds and acquiring useful Knowledge. And we do agree 
 ordain and determine:
 
 19 
 
 1 . That this Society shall meet together every first Monday 
 in March, and choose from among themselves, a President, 
 Librarian, Secretary, and a committee of five, who shall transact 
 the business of the Society and continue in office until others 
 are duly elected. 
 
 2. The President, or in his absence the Librarian and three 
 others of the committee, shall form a board competent to transact 
 all business of the Society ; or in the absence of the President 
 and Librarian, four of the committee, who shall choose a chair- 
 man for the present meeting. 
 
 3. It shall be the duty of the President to preside at the 
 meetings and superintend the concerns of the Society ; and to 
 give advice as to the purchase of suitable books, &c. 
 
 4. It shall be the business of the Librarian to keep the books 
 carefully that belong to this Society, and write on each of them, 
 that it belongs to " The Library of the New-Lebanon Juvenile 
 Society for the Acquisition of Knowledge ; " to receive all con- 
 tributions of money or books that may be made by the friends 
 of knowledge and virtue for the encouragement and benefit of 
 the Society ; to receive all books that may be lent to the Society : 
 to keep a separate catalogue of them, and an account of the 
 fines received upon them, which shall be paid to the owners of 
 the books ; to collect fines and money subscribed, which money 
 he shall lay out for books and such other articles as he shall deem 
 necessary to promote the interest of the Society ; to keep a record 
 of the books drawn, and an account, of receipts and expenditures, 
 and to keep all the papers and writings belonging to this Society. 
 
 5. It shall be the office of the Secretary to write a record of 
 the proceedings and resolutions of the Society. And as this 
 association is formed with a view to diffuse useful knowledge, 
 and promote virtue as extensively as possible, the Secretary shall 
 exhibit on the meeting house of New Lebanon, once in every six 
 months, an advertisement, inviting all the youth of New Lebanon, 
 
 B2
 
 20 
 
 between the age of 1 2 and 2 1 years, to join this Society : and 
 the Librarian is authorised to admit all such youth as members 
 of the Society, on signing these articles ; but no person shall be 
 a member of the Society, who is not between the aforesaid ages. 
 
 6. It shall be the duty of the committee to examine the books 
 returned at each meeting ; and on all books damaged by ill usage, 
 they shall lay such fines as they shall deem just and reasonable : 
 tearing, greasing, dirtying, and turning leaves down to be con- 
 sidered as damages done by ill usage. 
 
 7. The stated monthly meetings of this Society shall be held 
 at the house of the Librarian, on the first Monday in every 
 month in the year, at six o'clock in the afternoon ; when every 
 book before drawn out, shall be returned, in order that they may 
 be inspected and that a new drawing of books may take place. 
 And any member that draws a book and neglects to return it 
 before the stated time aforesaid, shall pay a fine of six cents, and 
 one cent per day thereafter until it is returned ; and if not 
 returned within two months after it was drawn out, the delinquent 
 shall pay for the book at the appraisal of the committee. 
 
 8. Any member that is indebted to the Society for fines or 
 otherwise, and neglects to pay the debt within one month after 
 it becomes due, shall be prohibited the use of the Library until 
 it is paid. 
 
 9. Any member returning a book, before drawn, to the 
 Librarian, before another meeting, may draw any other one found 
 in the library. 
 
 1 0. The members of this Society shall be divided into six 
 classes, alphabetically, according to the first letters of their sir 
 names, the beginning of the alphabet to draw first, the second 
 class to draw next, and so on at the first, meeting ; at the next 
 meeting the first class to draw last, and the second class first, and 
 so on from time to time, by just rotation, each class agreeing 
 among themselves who shall draw first.
 
 21 
 
 1 1 . This Constitution may at any time hereafter be amended 
 or altered if found necessary, by the agreement and consent of 
 two third parts of the members of this Society and not otherwise. 
 
 12. The Librarian may, if he shall see fit, hire out books to 
 persons not members of this Society, at the rate of six cents per 
 week for each book. 
 
 1 3. We do agree to pay to the Librarian, the sums of money 
 or its value in such books as he will accept, set against our 
 names, which money he shall lay out for books for the use of the 
 Society. 
 
 We whose names are subscribed do solemnly engage to con- 
 form ourselves to this Constitution. In witness whereof we have 
 hereunto set our names." 
 
 Q . , 5 JESSE TORREY, Jun. 
 Slgned ' and by 147 others. 
 
 The following form of an instrumnet for subscription, is as 
 nearly similar as I can recollect, to the one which I prepared and 
 circulated among the citizens of New Lebanon, during the 
 winter evenings in 1 803 and 4. The amount generally sub- 
 scribed by each was fifty cents ; some subscribed a dollar and 
 some 25 cents ; others contributed books. The young persons 
 of both sexes, who were possessed of means, also, generally sub- 
 scribed from 1 2 cents to a dollar, on signing the articles of the 
 constitution. But many were admitted who contributed nothing. 
 
 Form of Subscription for Free Libraries. 
 
 The subscribers, impressed with the belief, that the general 
 dissemination of useful knowledge and instruction among the 
 rising generation, would tend to the promotion of virtue and hap- 
 piness, agree to contribute and pay to the amount, or 
 
 its value in useful books, set respectively against our names ; to
 
 22 
 
 be appropriated to the institution of a free circulating library. 
 
 And whenever twelve youth, of either sex, between the age 
 
 of 1 2 and 2 1 years, shall have associated for the purpose of 
 
 mental improvement, the aforesaid is authorised to 
 
 deliver the money or books by us subscribed and paid, to such 
 agent or committee as shall be appointed by the society to re- 
 ceive the same for the above mentioned purpose.. 
 
 ESSAYS 
 
 On the pernicious effects of the habitual intemperate or 
 temperate use of Spirituous Liquors. 
 
 Verily and sincerely is my conviction of the notorious fact, 
 that, independent of all the other infernal marshals that annoy 
 mankind under the banners of Ignorance, the grand head traitress, 
 ( making the brain her AeaJ-quarters ) Intemperance, her com- 
 manding chief, directing a fiery, deathly army of assassins, con- 
 sisting of millions of battalions of half gills, gills, half pints and 
 pints of whiskey, gin, rum, brandy, &c. &c. treacherously and 
 murderously betraying their poisoned arrows, (with a smile and 
 a kiss ) into the sanguem cordis ( heart's blood ) of their dearest 
 lovers and friends ; commits, annually, greater and more irretriev- 
 able depredations on the lives, health, wealth, domestic harmony, 
 virtue and morals, and physical power of the aggregate popula- 
 tion of the republic of the United States, than a numerous 
 hostile army could inflict by a perpetual warfare ! 
 
 A few days after having written the above paragraph, looking 
 over a bundle of old pamphlets, I met with an account of the 
 proceedings of that benevolent association of people generally 
 styled Qyakers, " for promoting the improvement and civilization 
 of the Indian natives." Here I found a speech addressed to the 
 committee of Friends, at Baltimore, by the Indian Chief called 
 the Little Turtle, in 1 802. I consider it a still more superb and
 
 23 
 
 moving specimen of Indian eloquence than that of Logan It 
 is a pathetic sermon or epitaph on thousands of his poisoned 
 brethren ! As short as it is, before I could go through it, I was 
 several times compelled to pause, until I could suppress the 
 sympathetic emotions which it excited, and recover my inter- 
 rupted vision from irresistible suffusions of moisture. Who, that 
 has not a heart of flint and an eye of horn, can view this picture, 
 drawn by an unlettered savage, and then wheel his eye over the 
 frightful portraiture, ( as large, and no less real than life ) which 
 exhibits the present assimilated condition of us civilized white 
 men, with apathy ? Here is the speech : 
 
 "Brothers and friends When our forefathers first met on 
 this island, your red brethren were very numerous. But since the 
 introduction amongst us of what you call spirituous liquors, and 
 what we think may be justly called POISON our numbers are 
 greatly diminished. It has destroyed a great part of your red 
 brethren. 
 
 " My Brothers and Friends We plainly perceive, that you 
 see the very evil which destroys your red brethren ; it is not an evil 
 of our own making ; we have not placed it amongst ourselves ; 
 it is an evil placed amongst us by the white people ; we look to 
 them to remove it out of our country. We tell them brethren 
 fetch us useful things ; bring goods that will clothe us, our women 
 and our children, and not this evil liquor that destroys our reason, 
 that destroys our health, that destroys our lives. But all we can 
 say on this subje<!t is of no service, nor gives relief to your red 
 brethren. 
 
 " My Brothers and Friends I rejoice to find that you agree 
 in opinion with us, and express an anxiety to be, if possible, of 
 service to us in removing this great evil out of our country ; an 
 evil which has had so much room in it, and has destroyed so 
 many of our lives, that it causes our young men to say, " we had 
 better be at war with the white people, this liquor which they
 
 24 
 
 introduce into our country, is more to be feared than the gun and 
 the tomahawk. There are more of us dead since the treaty of 
 Greenville, than we lost by the six years war before. It is all 
 owing to the introduction of this liquor amongst us." 
 
 "Brothers When our young men have been out hunting, 
 and are returning home loaded with skins and furs, on their way, 
 if it happens that they come along where some of this whiskey is 
 deposited, the white man who sells it, tells themtotake a little drink; 
 some of them will say no, I do not want it ; they go on till they 
 come to another house, where they find more of the same kind 
 of drink ; it is there offered again ; they refuse ; and again the 
 third time ; but finally the fourth or fifth time one accepts of it 
 and takes a drink, and getting one, he wants another ; and then 
 a third and fourth, till his senses have left him. After his reason 
 comes back again to him, when he gets up and finds where he 
 is, he asks for his peltry the answer is " you have drank them "- 
 where is my gun ? " It is gone ; " where is my blanket ? " It is 
 gone ; " where is my shirt ? " You have sold it for whiskey I ! " 
 Now, Brothers, figure to yourselves what condition this man must 
 be in. He has a family at home ; a wife and children, who 
 stand in need of the profits of his hunting. What must be their 
 wants, when he himself is even without a shirt ! " 
 
 One of the most prominent advantages of civilization over the 
 savage state, is considered to be the protection of the rights of 
 the social compact and its members, by equitable laws, from 
 aggressions of individuals. Let us inquire whether the habitual 
 drinker of distilled spirits does not, first by anticipation, and 
 eventually in reality, plunder the public treasury ? A rich man, 
 or a poor man, no matter which, (for Intemperance, like its 
 legitimate successor, Death, soon levels all distinctions as to for- 
 tune, and the former does also, in dignity and respectability) 
 and perhaps honest, except his fatal mistake, of being willing 
 to sacrifice his health, life, property, reputation, his wife and
 
 25 
 
 children, together with almost every source of social enjoyment 
 to the heathenish God of stills, swallows daily the worth of a 
 given amount in distilled spirits, exceeding the collateral income 
 of his trade, farm or labor, exclusive of what is required for cus- 
 tomary family expenses. Hence, if mathematical computation 
 tells the truth, this unfortunate man, together with his family, so 
 far as any or all are incapable of labor, within one, two, four, 
 eight or sixteen years according to the case, are inevitably 
 pushed into a situation that demands the compassion and charity 
 of the public and of his more prudent neighbors. It is an ancient 
 and established truth, that a stitch in time saves nine, although 
 but little heeded, and that an ounce of prevention is worth a 
 pound of cure. General knowledge is the only infallible remedy 
 for this moral pestilence. To American Sages, therefore, 
 
 The aggriev'd Genius of America appeals: 
 
 To apply the SOVEREIGN BALM, and relieve those ills. 
 
 A statement has been communicated to me, from an authentic 
 source, that one of our most distinguished statesmen, having 
 been a candidate for a seat in one of our State Legislatures, 
 disdained to dishonor himself and his country, by purchasing 
 the suffrages of his fellow citizens, with distilled spirits ; the con- 
 sequence of which obstinacy was, that an ignorant grog-seller, 
 who could neither read nor write his name, not being over nice 
 about honor, by distributing whiskey profusely amongst the 
 electors, obtained the appointment.* With much pain I have 
 also lately learned the following alarming fact, from credible 
 authority : A philanthropic member of the Legislative Council 
 
 * This method of quickening the senses of American citizens to an under- 
 standing of their interests, has been successfully practised for many years in 
 several of the states, by candidates for seats in Congress. And yet we pom- 
 pously and Justly too, style ourselves the most enlightened, virtuous, free and 
 happy nation on earth.
 
 26 
 
 of one of the capital cities of the United States, clearly recog- 
 nizing the calamitous consequences, proceeding from the exist- 
 ence of the great number of tippling shops, sanctioned by the 
 public authorities, in vain exerted his efforts for a reduction of the 
 number of these whirlpools of destruction and woe, for two years, 
 when, being discouraged, he withdrew from that employment 
 with chagrin. One of the members was so ingenuous as to ac- 
 knowledge, that the reason why he could not unite with him in 
 effecting that object was, that he obtained his living by selling 
 distilled spirits to the retailers by the barrel, and that the retailers 
 got their living by selling it to others in smaller quantities ! On 
 hearing this, I exclaimed, " if there be a city in the United States, 
 the public agents of which are governed in their proceedings by 
 such motives, then the Lord have mercy on that city." 
 
 The dawn of this day had not commenced, when the pre- 
 ceding thoughts and facts glanced thro* my mind in instantaneous 
 succession. 
 
 As the sun began to ascend and diffuse its golden radiance 
 over the American hemisphere ; while I alternately beheld this 
 majestic agent of the Creator, and the venerable walls of the last 
 and only solitary castle,* in which the persecuted Genius of 
 Liberty is permitted to dwell throughout this vast Globe, the 
 following ejaculation sprang spontaneously from my melted 
 heart : " God of the Universe, enlighten my soul with the fire 
 of thy spirit ; permit me to be the humble organ through which 
 a spark thereof may be transmitted to the souls of men in the 
 United States of America, that a bright flame may be thereby 
 kindled in their minds, that shall display clearly to their senses, 
 a view of the fatal and inextricable vortex into which they are 
 gradually and unwarily plunging themselves and their posterity ! " 
 I then yielded to an irresistible impulse, which enjoined it on 
 
 * The Capitol of the United States.
 
 27 
 
 me to devote the preceding day to the execution of this essay, 
 which, if it prove the means of protecting a single innocent 
 female, and her babes from the venomous jaws of the most cruel 
 hydra that is permitted to enter our dwellings and receive our 
 voluntary embraces and cordial hospitalities ; to me, it will afford 
 a superior compensation to that of possessing all the diamonds of 
 all the Monarchs of Europe. 
 
 NOTE. Having written the above essay, while at the City of Wash- 
 ington in 1815, it Was published originally in the National Intelligencer. 
 
 PHENOMENON 
 
 Of extracting the greatest Good from the worst Evil. 
 
 I shall employ this opportunity to announce to the citizens of 
 the United States my determination to circulate, as extensively 
 as possible, throughout the country, memorials to the Congress, 
 and also to the state Legislatures, praying that sufficient funds may 
 be raised, by a liberal system of duties on ARDENT SPIRITS, 
 for the universal establishment of FREE LANCASTRIAN 
 
 SCHOOLS, AND FREE PUBLIC LIBRARIES. 
 
 Spirituous liquors ought to be answerable for the mischiefs 
 which they produce. 
 
 " From a report of an association in Portland, called the Moral 
 Society, it appears that out of 85 persons subject to the public 
 charity in that place, 7 1 had become so from their intemperance, 
 and that out of 1 1 8 supplied at their own houses by the town, 
 more than half are of that description. The expences of the 
 town in its charities exceed 6000 dollars, and more than two 
 thirds of that sum went to support such persons as were made 
 poor by their vices. Of consequence, 7000 persons are taxed 
 4000 dollars by the vices of their neighbors. From these well 
 known facts the report proceeds to calculate almost a half million
 
 28 
 
 of dollars paid in the same way in this state only, and if in the 
 same proportion in the United States, the whole amount must be 
 millions. We all enquire what can be done. We cannot take 
 away personal liberty. We cannot prohibit spirituous liquors. 
 We cannot punish persons not convicted of any breach of the 
 laws. We cannot distinguish in the business of life, because the rich 
 are sometimes as blame-worthy as their less wealthy neighbors. 
 We can say that when any persons are committed to the 
 public charity, they shall be properly guarded against temptations. 
 That their habits shall be considered, and all restraints which 
 can consist with health, shall be laid. We might hope that some 
 laws of education and life might obtain. But as no love of fame, 
 no great talents, or public trusts, can be said to have been suf- 
 ficient to prevent men and nations from the guilt and the shame 
 of intemperance we have a right in the administration of charity 
 to regard not only the health and hopes of the sufferers, but the 
 safety and the economy of civil society." 
 
 The report of the Moral Society exhibits the ravages of in- 
 temperance on properly. The following lines, which I cut out 
 of one of the Philadelphia newspapers a year ago, depict its 
 barbarous inroads upon domestic felicity ; in comparison with 
 which money is "trash. " 
 
 DISSIPATION. 
 
 Not the jaws of Charybdis nor the hoarse rocks in Scylla, 
 Not all the fell dangers that lurk in the deep. 
 
 Not the earthquake's deep yawn, nor the volcano's lava, 
 Not the pestilence's breath, or the hurricane's sweep ; 
 
 Not all the dread monsters that live thro* creation 
 Have caused such destruction, such mis'ry and woe, 
 
 As from that arch pest of mankind, Dissipation, 
 Through the civilized world incessantly flow.
 
 29 
 
 'Tis a vortex insatiate on whose giddy bosom 
 The victim is whirl'd till his senses are gone, 
 
 Till, lost to all shame and the dictates of reason, 
 He lends not one effort to ever return. 
 
 Ah ! view on its surface the ruins of genius, 
 
 The wreck of a scholar, the christian and friend ! 
 
 The learning, the wit, the graces that charm'd us, 
 In the mind-drowning bowl meet a premature end. 
 
 Ah ! hear, drown'd in tears, the disconsolate mother, 
 Lament the lost state of a favorite son, 
 
 Hear the wife and the child, the sister and brother 
 Mourn a husband, a father, a brother undone. 
 
 One of the principal funnels to the insatiable vortex of in- 
 temperance is the generally prevailing popular error, that the 
 temperate use of ardent spirits is innocent and even healthful and 
 necessary. I was chilled with surprise and almost with despair, 
 to hear several of the chosen guardians of our national welfare, 
 standing in their places in the House of Representatives, pro- 
 claim their sentiments that " distilled spirits had become one of 
 the necessaries of life, that the farmer could not do without it in 
 his agricultural labors, and that to impose heavy taxes on it 
 would be oppressive to industry. " * But I was much gratified 
 however, to see that a majority, ( though a very small one ) were 
 of a different opinion. It was strongly urged by one gentleman 
 that whiskey is an important article of manufacture ; that it adds 
 
 
 * " Let it not be said ardent spirits have become necessary from habit in 
 harvest, and in other seasons of uncommon and hard labor. The habit is a 
 bad one, and may be easily broken. Let but half a dozen farmers combine 
 in a neighborhood to allow higher wages to their laborers, &c." DR. RUSH. 
 The farmers in one of the counties of Pennsylvania have lately adopted 
 public resolutions to suppress the use of distilled spirits amongst their laborers, 
 at all seasons. 
 
 c
 
 30 
 
 to the wealth of this nation, and ought to be encouraged by our 
 government. The eye that cannot perceive that the reverse is 
 the fact must be both morally and politically blind. For a com- 
 munity to permit or encourage the importation or manufacture 
 of distilled spirits, for the sake of the revenue derived therefrom, 
 is precisely the same policy as it would be to institute premiums 
 for the construction of daggers to stab its own vitals with. 
 
 Extract from Darwin's Zoonomia Sec. 30. " When the ex- 
 pediency of laying a further tax on the distillation of spirituous 
 liquors from grain was canvassed before the House of Commons 
 some years ago, it was said of the distillers, with great truth, 
 " they take the BREAD from the people and convert it into 
 POISON ! " Yet is this big manufactory of disease permitted 
 to continue, as appears by its paying into the treasury above 
 /.900,000,t near a million of money annually. And thus, under 
 the names of Rum, Brandy, Gin, Whiskey, usquebaugh, wine, 
 cyder, beer, and porter, alcohol is become the bane of the 
 Christian world, as opium of the Mahometan. 
 
 Evoe ! parce, Liber, 
 
 Parce, gravi metuende thyrso ! HOR." 
 
 O ! from grievous sting of Bacchus* fatal dart, 
 Be preserv'd : defend yourself with all your art ! 
 
 But it is almost as useless to expostulate with veterans in the 
 ranks of Bacchus, as with those who are confident that they are 
 under the power of witchcraft. This fact is well illustrated by 
 the reply of a boozy tipler, to a Quaker of Baltimore, who in- 
 formed me that he was representing to him the terrible conse- 
 quences of intemperance, " I have no doubt, said he, but that 
 
 t About 4,000,000 dollars.
 
 31 
 
 all you say is true, but you might as well sing psalms to a dead 
 horse as to talk to me." Yet let us not forget that these unfor- 
 tunate victims of their own weakness and imprudence are still 
 men; and claim our sympathy and commiseration for their 
 want of discretion. And if warnings and entreaties will not pre- 
 vail, let us resort to more efficacious means for their relief, as 
 well as for the protection of the common interest against the 
 effects of their conduct. Reproachful denunciations, however, 
 are not only useless, but injurious and uncharitable. " We all 
 enquire what can be done ? We cannot take away personal 
 liberty." &c. What is liberty ? Does it permit one individual to 
 deprive another, directly or indirectly of the fruits of his toil and 
 prudence ? What is the difference, except in a criminal point of 
 view, whether my neighbor picks my pocket or places his weep- 
 ing starving wife and children in such a situation, that I must 
 either empty my pocket myself to relieve them, or see them 
 perish ? It is lamentable, as well as astonishing that so few of 
 our citizens have granted this subject its lawful weight either in 
 the scales of policy, morality, physics or religion. Is there an in- 
 dividual who is not now affected, more or less, in some shape 
 or other, from the immense deficit in the national wealth, oc- 
 casioned by the appropriation of 20,000,000 dollars annually 
 during the last twenty years, to a threefold worse purpose than 
 annihilation ? Twice we have bravely resisted and spurned 
 political despotism, and at length we have prostrated our necks 
 under the sceptre of king ALCOHOL. With an incredible in- 
 fatuation we have sacrificed the golden presents of Ceres on the 
 hissing copper altars of crazy Bacchus. Were I allowed the 
 privilege of obliterating the two greatest scourges of mankind, I 
 would select the art of distilling food, and the art of war. I am 
 not disposed to attach any degree of moral turpitude, to manu- 
 facturers or sellers of ardent spirits ; but it does not seem to me 
 that if they would revolve and scrutinize the subject in its real
 
 32 
 
 genuine character, they would not hestitate to renounce an em- 
 ployment which involves in its development, the propagation of 
 so much human misery and wretchedness.* But the nation must 
 take this matter in hand, or nothing essential can be done. 
 
 The safety of the nation is at stake ! Let the question be 
 fairly stated : it is, whether Reason or Alcohol shall predomi- 
 nate ? Or, 
 
 Reason, Virtue, the Lives, 
 Health, Wealth, 
 Morals and Happiness 
 of our citizens ! I 
 
 versus 
 
 Alcohol, Intemperance, 
 Vice, Poverty and 
 Misery, Crimes and Infamy, 
 Disease and Death I ! 
 
 Let the tribunal consist of the inhabitants of the United States, 
 male and female, old and young, of whatever condition, as 
 jurors : and their legislators as judges. Let every one that can 
 speak say yea or nay, and record it with his or her name or 
 mark. We know women and children are not allowed a voice 
 in making laws, but in this case particularly, their fate is seriously 
 concerned, and their voices ought to be listened to, and duly 
 regarded. Let the public will be called forth by meetings and 
 memorials. Let it be ascertained whether the majority prefer 
 self-preservation or self-destruction. Dr. Rush says, " let good 
 
 * A merchant of Virginia by the name of Scholfield, listened to his con- 
 science, and burnt all his distilled liquors publicly on the summit of a mountain. 
 Another in Delaware, beat in the heads of his casks. A respectable French 
 gentleman having purchased an estate at Buffaloe (N. Y.) on which was a 
 distilling establishment, demolished it immediately on taking possession, saying 
 he ' ' had done one good deed.
 
 33 
 
 men of every class unite and besiege the general and state gov- 
 ernments with petitions to limit the number of taverns ; to impose 
 heavy duties upon ardent spirits, &c." 
 
 Another writer who has given a lively picture of the devas- 
 tations of distilled liquors, says, " let men who wish well to their 
 country, unite in petitions to government, to impose still heavier 
 duties upon imported spirits, and our own distillers ; and to reg- 
 ulate taverns and retailers of spirits ; and to secure the property 
 of habitual drunkards, for the benefit of their families." 
 
 There has been " much speaking," much writing, much print- 
 ing, and much preaching, on this subject, and but little benefit 
 seems to result from the whole. It is time to try a little doing. 
 This will accomplish much more than talking. " Therefore who- 
 soever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken 
 him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock." 
 [ JESUS. ] Let our " good men," of whom the number is un- 
 doubtedly great, adopt the beautiful maxim of the late Cotton 
 Mather, author of " Essays to do good, " " that a power and an 
 opportunity to do good, not only gives a right to the doing of it, 
 but makes the doing of it a duty." The inducement for doing 
 good, ought to be further strengthened by the circumstance that 
 it carries with it its own reward ; or as I once heard a public 
 speaker of the Friends' Society elegantly express the sentiment, 
 " that while you are plucking thorns from your neighbor's 
 breast, you are strewing your own path with flowers. " It is in 
 the power of men of affluence to be the most active in effecting 
 a reformation of the public morals, and in point of interest they 
 are also most concerned. 
 
 I have prepared the following forms of memorials, which it is 
 my intention to offer for signature as widely as it may be in my 
 power ; and I do most ardently hope they may be transcribed 
 and presented in every house occupied by human inhabitants, 
 in the United States. Preachers, School-masters, Post masters,
 
 34 
 
 and others to whom it may be convenient and agreeable, are 
 respectfully invited to co-operate in this exceedingly necessary 
 work. Let us not shrink from the task, on account of its mag- 
 nitude, and the fear of its impracticability. And if we even fail 
 to accomplish all that we would, there is still a self satisfaction, 
 and must be some utility, in doing all that we can. 
 
 Memorial of Sundry inhabitants of the United States of 
 America, to the President, Senate, and House of Representa- 
 tives ; praying that laws may be enacted for the suppression 
 of the unnecessary use of spirituous liquors, and for the general 
 diffusion of knowledge. 
 
 Whereas we the subscribers view with deep concern, the 
 alarming and increasing extent of the moral, political and physical 
 calamities produced by the vast consumption of spirituous liquors 
 in our country. The reality of the evil is so conspicuous and 
 palpable, that it would be a waste of ink and paper to delineate 
 its specific features. The abstract principles of liberty, and the 
 relative rights of man, authorise and demand legislative inter- 
 position. The citizen who wantonly destroys his property ; his 
 health ; his mental faculties ; by drinking spirituous liquors ; and 
 thereby thrusts himself or a helpless family upon the public bounty, 
 commits a trespass on the rights of the community. We consider 
 it the duty of government to adopt measures for preventing such 
 aggressions no less than for the security and recovery of ordinary 
 debts. 
 
 And whereas we are fully convinced that the early instruction 
 of the rising generation in the moral duties of life, would con- 
 tribute materially to avert the evils under consideration. We 
 therefore implore and request the government of these United 
 States, to provide for the education of every youth, whose edu- 
 cation is not otherwise provided for, within the jurisdiction 
 thereof. For this purpose, as well as to discourage intemper- 
 ance, we earnestly recommend that a duty of fifty cents per 
 
 C2
 
 35 
 
 gallon be imposed upon all spirituous liquors manufactured with- 
 in the United States ; and one dollar per gallon upon all wines 
 and spirituous liquors which shall be imported : the monies 
 accruing from the duties on domestic liquors, to be appropriated 
 to the establishment of free Lancastrian and common schools, 
 and free circulating libraries, in the respective districts in which 
 the taxes shall be levied and collected : and the duties on 
 imported liquors to be applied to the same purpose, in such 
 manner and place as the wisdom of Congress shall suggest. 
 
 Memorial of the inhabitants of the State of to the 
 
 Governor, and Legislature thereof, praying that effectual laws 
 may be enacted for the suppression of the unnecessary use of 
 spirituous liquors, &c. 
 
 Whereas the subscribers behold with fearful concern, the 
 alarming ravages of spirituous liquors on the health, lives, property, 
 morals and domestic happiness of the people of this State. Self- 
 defence, and the equal rights of man authorise legislative inter- 
 position. 
 
 The citizen who destroys the products of his labor, his health, 
 his mental faculties, by drinking spirituous liquors, and thereby 
 thrusts himself or a helpless family upon the public bounty, com- 
 mits a trespass on the rights of the community. We consider it 
 the duty of government to adopt measures for preventing such 
 aggressions, no less than for the security and recovery of ordinary 
 debts. We therefore implore and request the legislature of this 
 state to enact laws for placing the property of habitual drunkards, 
 in the care of trustees, for the benefit of their families ; to be 
 restored again whenever such mentally diseased persons shall 
 have recovered their reason, and discretion : To restrict the 
 licences for selling distilled spirits by drams, solely to such Inns 
 as shall be considered requisite for the entertainment of travellers : 
 To impose a tax of one cent upon every half gill of distilled
 
 36 
 
 spirits vended by Innkeepers ; and 12 1-2 cents per quart upon 
 all distilled spirits, by whomsoever sold, in quantities exceeding 
 one gill, and less than ten gallons: And to appropriate the 
 monies thence accruing, to the establishment of free Lancastrian 
 and common schools, free circulating libraries ; Alms houses, 
 Asylums and Infirmaries for the benefit of indigent victims of in- 
 temperance ; houses of employment ; and to such other purposes 
 as may be found expedient. 
 
 It is the more indispensable to obtain the sentiments of the 
 people at large, on this momentous national question, in the man- 
 ner here proposed, on account of a prejudice indulged by many, 
 ( legislators in particular, with whom I have frequently discussed 
 the subject,) that legislative restrictions upon the distribution and 
 use of spirituous liquors, would excite disaffection and rebellion. 
 Such is my confidence in a contrary result, even with respect to 
 the captives of Intemperance themselves ; and such my impres- 
 sions of the imperious necessity and duty of combatting the pro- 
 gress of that unmerciful tyrant and murderer ; that I feel willing 
 to devote a large proportion of the subsequent time that my life 
 may be preserved, to the purpose of ascertaining the fact. I am 
 not a fanatic ; but I confess my solicitude and zeal on this sub- 
 ject, approach nearly to enthusiasm. The case surely demands 
 the concurrent enthusiasm and perseverance of all who possess 
 the least sympathy for the sufferings and woes of their fellow-men. 
 And the very sufferers are not so indifferent as has been generally 
 supposed. Many have addressed their supreme Parent, with 
 supplications to rescue and protect them from the fascinating 
 charm, and twining gripe with which that cunning serpent 
 Alcohol inveigles its prey. And they are not wholly averse to 
 coercive means of relief. Several have sought their emanci- 
 pation, in oaths of abstinence for a given term. Some have offered 
 premiums for a remedy to the habit of drinking ; and one
 
 37 
 
 individual of this description, declared to the writer of these essays, 
 that he " wished government would impose a tax upon whiskey 
 of five dollars a gallon, and then he should stop drinking it." 
 On the whole, the probability is, that a more formidable re- 
 sistance to the taxation of spirituous liquors, will spring from the 
 manufacturers, importers and sellers of them, than from the con- 
 sumers. This conclusion is authorised by the fact, that so many 
 fortunes have been acquired by those occupations ; by the 
 acknowledgement of the Aldermen, as narrated in the preceding 
 essays, ( page 26 ) and decisively by the late remonstrance pub- 
 lished by the grocers of the city of New York. So that the 
 business at length resolves itself into this great moral and political 
 problem ; WHETHER THE MAJORITY OF OUR CITIZENS, 
 FROM WHOM ALL POLITICAL AUTHORITY ORIGINATES, 
 SHALL FIND IT TO BE JUSTICE AND CORRECT POLICY, 
 TO GRANT ONE SECTION OF THE COMMUNITY, THE 
 
 PRIVILEGE OF "GETTING THEIR LIVING," OR 
 
 ACCUMULATING ESTATES, THROUGH THE BANK- 
 RUPTCY AND MORAL AND PHYSICAL DESTRUCTION OF 
 ANOTHER MORE NUMEROUS, BUT IMPRUDENT SECTION? 
 
 THE HABITUAL TEMPERATE USE OF SPIR- 
 ITUOUS LIQUORS, A VIOLATION OF 
 MORAL PURITY, AND RELI- 
 GIOUS DUTY. 
 
 So far as it is in our power to understand the designs and 
 laws of our Creator, for the regulation of our conduct, it is both 
 our duty and interest to yield perfect compliance. The preser- 
 vation of health and life, is unquestionably one of our most pal- 
 pable and explicit duties. Every act therefore which impairs 
 our health and diminishes the period of our lives, is a violation
 
 38 
 
 of the express command of God. I shall endeavor to demon- 
 strate by physiological facts, that both these effects are produced 
 more or less, by the application of distilled spirits to the stomach, 
 in whatever quantity. All our food, whether vegetable or animal, 
 is originally derived from the vegetable kingdom. The materials 
 from which vegetables receive their nutriment generally exist in 
 an oxided state. Thus water contains nearly seven eighths of its 
 weight of oxygen ; carbonic acid nearly three fourths, and all 
 decaying vegetable and animal matter is found highly saturated 
 with it. The great process of vegetation appears to consist in 
 decomposing the various substances which supply the rudiments 
 of its food, and in expelling the excess of oxygen, with which 
 they are always combined. The first product of vegetation is 
 sugar, which contains 8 parts hydrogen, 28 carbon, and 64 of 
 oxygen, and being the crudest and most abundant article of food 
 that exists, is probably designed for the support of the gramin- 
 ivorous races of animals ; as the various grasses, including the 
 sugar cane, yield more of it than any other plants. Whether a 
 digression or not, I must here announce the important fact that 
 sugar is an improper and deleterious article of diet for man, and 
 a prolific source of disease, which, if my life is spared, I shall at 
 a future time, attempt to demonstrate both from facts and the 
 physical laws of nature. The second stage towards the perfect- 
 ibility of the nutritive principle, is that of gum or mucilage, which 
 contains only half its quantity of oxygen ; 1 4 parts in a hundred 
 less than sugar. Fecula or starch is a fraction finer, and is the 
 product of those seeds which constitute the principal and prob- 
 ably the most appropriate food for men. Sugar is found in the 
 most common juice or sap of plants and trees, while gum is con- 
 fined chiefly to the bark, root, or heart, and fecula and oil, to the 
 seeds and nuts. Oil is still farther refined, containing 77,243 
 carbon, 13.36 hydrogen, and only 9.427 of oxygen. Gluten 
 the most nutritive substance with which we are acquainted, is
 
 39 
 
 composed according to Accum, entirely of hydrogen, carbon and 
 nitrogen. It is afforded in greater quantity from wheat, than any 
 other vegetable. 
 
 Now in order to obtain alcohol, ( or whiskey,) from any of 
 the seeds used for bread, it is necessary that they should be sub- 
 jected to the recontamination of oxygen, so as to reduce them 
 back to their- crude saccharine state. Then the vinous fermen- 
 tation, imparting still more oxygen, must be applied and continued 
 until those once nutritive milky materials have become sensibly 
 acid or sour. From this loathsome leaven ( or yeast ) of depravity, 
 disease and death, the serpentine alembic, with the aid of the 
 furnace, disgorges a liquid fire, which consumes the health, hap- 
 piness and lives of thousands and millions of unthinking infatuated 
 men. The literal chemical term for this fluid would be the oxide 
 of nutriment : and it is in this state that most poisons exist ; being 
 indebted for their activity to oxygen ; as the oxides of arsenic 
 copper, antimony, lead, silver, quicksilver, &c. The composition 
 of alcohol is as follows: Oxygen 37.85, Carbon 43.65, 
 Hydrogen 24.94, Azote 3.52, Ashes 0.04, -I 100.00. 
 Composed of very inflammable materials, in a disengaged state, 
 and mingled with more than one third of its weight of oxygen, 
 the common vehicle of fire, it commences a kind of smothered 
 combustion instantaneously on its reception unto the stomach ; 
 corrodes the organs of digestion, excites an unnatural heat and 
 violent circulation of the blood ; attended with delirium, and suc- 
 ceeded by a loss of strength, proportioned to the excess of excite- 
 ment produced by the irritating agent. Several other poisons 
 produce similar effects. It is an infallible axiom in the physical 
 organization of man, that every excitement of his vital powers 
 beyond the point to which his Creator has adapted him, which 
 is the uniform effect of alcohol, diminishes his capacity for repeat- 
 ing like motions from like means. Hence it may be safely in- 
 ferred that every dram of spirituous liquors of any description,
 
 40 
 
 is a check upon the capital stock f strength and life, and 
 hastens the approach of the hour of dissolution, in proportion 
 to the indulgence. Each dram increases the appetite for another, 
 and the necessity of an increased quantity, to produce an equal 
 effect, multiplies in a progressive ratio. Thus it follows, unavoid- 
 ably, that the habitual temperate use of ardent spirits is a per- 
 nicious and vicious practice. Besides its consumption of vital 
 power, it will be found an unjustifiable and immoral habit in 
 another point of view. It is a wanton and unnecessary waste of 
 property, which ought to be religiously preserved, even by those 
 who possess it, in ever so great profusion. Dr. Franklin says 
 whoever draws a fish from the sea, draws up a piece of silver. 
 Whoever swallows two gills of distilled spirits daily, annihilates 
 20 ounces of silver a year, or 20 bushels of rye ; for the want 
 of which many of his own posterity may eventually starve to 
 death. In this way, it has been estimated by a late writer that 
 the people of the United States, destroy 33,365,529 dollars 
 annually. Considering this, and the many other useless and 
 superfluous modes of diminishing the common stock of national 
 wealth, there is no reason to be surprised to hear the present 
 universal re-echo of " hard times," " dull times," " scarcity of 
 money," "scarcity and high price of bread corn," "sales by 
 execution," "difficulty of collecting debts," " insolvencies," 
 "pauperism," &c. &c. &c.
 
 41 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 AMERICAN POLITICS. 
 
 The reason why the citizens of the U. States are separated 
 into two great contending political parties, calumniating and pro- 
 voking each other with vollies of corrosive epithets and abuse, is 
 to me inexplicable. Ask every citizen indiscriminately his political 
 creed, and 99 hundredths will give synonymous answers. Both 
 parties cling to the same standard, the federal constitution, and 
 yet reproach each other with the terms federal, democrat, &c. 
 without reflecting on the meaning of either. The word federal 
 signifies nothing more than united, and has no concern with modes 
 or systems of government whatever. The word democracy sig- 
 nifies government by the people, and composes one of the most 
 essential and admirable qualities of our political system. Any 
 other mode of government must originate from usurpation, vio- 
 lence, and oppression. It is very plain that no man is born 
 marked by the Creator above another, " for none comes into the 
 world with a saddle on his back, nor any booted and spurred to 
 ride him." With rare exceptions it is the unanimous political 
 theorem of the citizens of the United States, of both parties, 
 that the people are the only source of legitimate power, and that 
 legislators are only public agents, or servants, dependent on the 
 confidence of their employers for the continuation of their term 
 of service. All claim and assume the title of republican, the 
 literal meaning of which is public affairs, general interest, com- 
 mon good, &c. Whence then all this senseless clamor about 
 Toryism and Democracy, Federalism and Republicanism, British 
 Influence and French Influence, &c. &c. ? Can it spring entirely 
 from pure patriotism on either side ? Does not a great propor- 
 tion of it proceed from self-interested aspirants for office, and 
 publishers of news-papers ? Let every one examine and decide
 
 42 
 
 for himself. In selecting candidates for public trust, beware of 
 the imperious haughty Aristocrat or tyrant, whatever party or 
 title he may assume. Without distinction of party names, let the 
 indispensable qualifications, be integrity, capacity, wisdom, moral 
 rectitude and patriotism. 
 
 But the most lamentable and mischievious prevailing political 
 errors, after all, and which are confined to no specific parly, are 
 the customs of sending to the other side of the globe annually, 
 several millions of silver dollars, to be exchanged for tree leaves, 
 which produce an injury seven fold greater than the cost of them, 
 in promoting the general epidemic of indigestion and nervous 
 complaints ; of sending to Europe several millions more for con- 
 temptible trifles for the gratification of a vain and ridiculous 
 fancy : several millions more to the West Indies for rum, sugar, 
 molasses, coffee, and tobacco, which co-operate in their effects 
 as joint allies with the said shrubbery, first mentioned; of sacrificing 
 20,000,000 more for whiskey the worst commodity of all, in 
 our own country ; and lastly of paying many millions more to the 
 numerous distributors of those various seeds of moral and physical 
 contamination three fourths of whom might otherwise, be em- 
 ployed in augmenting the national wealth, in a variety of use- 
 ful occupations. 
 
 Soon after having finished the foregoing work, the author was 
 presented, by a friend, with the following mournful dirge ; with 
 a request to insert it, if thought appropos to the present subject. 
 
 THE LOVERS OF RUM. 
 
 I've mus'd on the mis'ries of life, 
 
 To find from what quarter they come, 
 
 Whence most of confusion and strife, 
 Alas ! from the Lovers of Rum.
 
 43 
 
 I met with a fair one distress'd ; 
 
 I ask'd from whence her sorrows could come, 
 She replied. " I am sorely oppress'd, 
 
 " My husband's a Lover of Rum." 
 
 I found a poor child in the street, 
 
 Whose limbs by the cold, were all numb, 
 
 No stockings or shoes on his feet, 
 His father's a Lover of Rum. 
 
 I went to collect a small debt, 
 
 The master was absent from home ; 
 
 The sequel I need not relate, 
 The man was a Lover of Rum. 
 
 I met with a pauper in Rags, 
 
 Who ask'd for a trifling sum : 
 I'll tell you the cause why he begs, 
 
 He once was a Lover of Rum. 
 
 I've seen men, from health, wealth and ease, 
 
 Untimely, descend to the tomb, 
 I need not describe their disease, 
 
 Because they were Lovers of Rum. 
 
 Ask prisons, and gallowses all, 
 
 Whence most of their customers come : 
 
 From whence they have most of their calls, 
 They'll tell you, " from Lovers of Rum." 
 
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