widows, and twenty-five hundred orphans-and listen to the story of their wrongs, and sufferings during the progress of their husbands and fathers from moderate drinking to the drunkard's grave-inquire into and ascertain the forlorn and unhap py condition of many of them, and you will find HERE, a mother and her children remaining together, and barely subsisting upon her hard earned pittance-and there, a family dispersed, and the children deprived of a mother's care, a mother's attention, and of even a mother's love, by being deprived of a mother's presence.*Remember, as some of you may, the earnest, and urgent, and oft-repeated entreaties, of some of these sufferers; entreaties made impressive, as one would suppose, by a woman's tears, and sighs, and groans-entreaties to withhold from the husband that article, which it was foreseen would cause all this suffering.t Recollect the two hundred husbands and wives, whom you have had an efficient agency in separating-see their families broken up, and observe the unhappy consequences. Recollect the seven hundred deaths annually, in this State, caused by your aid in furnishing the poison that produced them--and observe the distress and anguish, which these bereavements-and the reproach attached to the manner in which they have been produced, have brought upon their widows and children!and are you still willing to retain your agency in producing so much evil?! Rum-seller! Do you need more to influence your determination to abandon a traffic, so prolific of human misery? Contrast the good effects of the Temperance Reform with the evil effects of the fruits of your traffic, intemperance. Recollect that more than one million of dollars is now withdrawn, in the State, annually, from an appropriation to a use that was productive of human misery, that may now be annually appropriated in aid of human happiness. Ask the eight hundred who have been reclaimed from the sins and sufferings of intemperance, and restored to that innocence and happiness which are procured by a total abstinence from distilled spirits, to describe the competency, the comfort, and the consoling prospect of still farther improvement in their circumstances, which they are now enjoying-and remember, that this prospect of a continuance to them, of better days, is only made doubtful by your obstinate perseverance in furnishing to him who is at present reclaimed, the temptation again to sin, and again to expose himself to suffering, and renew the suffering of others. There are thousands of persons in this State, who are now temperate, whom the Temperance Reform has saved from becoming drunkards. There are thousands of families in which no distilled spirits are drank, and which are comparatively comfortable and happy, that the Temperance Reform has saved the mortification, disgrace and misery of a drunken husband or son. There are thousands of children saved from the contaminating influence of drunken parents; and tens of thousands saved from an influence, at home and abroad, that would have exposed them to intemperate habits. There have been many saved from the commission of crimes, and a consequent punishment and disgrace. Many cases of Delirium Tremens, or the "horrors," and of insanity, and premature deaths have been avoided. All this, Rum-seller, and Rum-drinker! has been effected without your aid, and in spite of your opposition. You have persevered in your opposition, directly and indirectly, notwithstanding that complaints against you have been made, and loudly proclaimed and reiterated -you have attempted to justify your conduct by certain reasons assigned--these reasons by way of excuse, have been heard, examined, replied to, refuted, and condemned; and you still persevere. The noble and disinterested example of the five hundred or more in this State, who have relinquished the sale of distilled spirits, the remaining venders have suffered to have no other influence upon them than to animate their hopes, and increase their diligence in endeavoring to obtain an additional gain to themselves-meanly attempting to appropriate for their own emolument, what had been generously given up and sacrificed by others, for the public good. Is this fair-is this honorable-is this patriotic? Can you justify it to your consciences-to your country-or to your God? Rum-seller, and Rum-drinker! You are charged with aiding in the perpetuation of one of the most pernicious vices among men-you have seen, and you have heard of many of its calamitous effects. You must be sufficiently aware of the extent of the mischief it is calculated to produce, and has occasioned-and yet, that vice is principally sustained by you, and upon you, knowing its tendency, and having the power to dry up the fountain from whence it flows, must rest the * See a case mentioned by the Secretary of East Machias Temp. Society; and many such exist. † Appendix O. Appendix P. responsibility in regard to its future consequences!! Is it not a fearfully weighty responsibility?* If you regard your own personal safety, and the safety of those intimately connected with you,-if you regard a fair reputation, and a good name, if you regard the affectionate esteem, and the cordial good will of the respectable, the virtuous, and the good,-if you regard the respectability, the welfare, and the happiness of mankind,-if you regard the interest and prosperity of your country, and love and fear your GoD, and are disposed to obey his command to "love thy neighbor,"-you must-you will, without delay, desist, and abstain "from all concern with ardent spirits as an article of refreshment, entertainment or traffic.” SAMUEL M. POND, Corresponding Secretary. A. (Page 7) TEMPERANCE SOCIETY, When organized? No. male members? No. female members? When the annual meeting? How often does Society meet? Are meetings well attended? Quantity of ardent spirit sold in town in 1827 and 1831 ? No. taverns? How many taverners sell no ardent spirit ? No. licensed retailers? No. licensed to sell to be drank in shops? Are the laws regulating licenses observed? Proportion by intemperance? No. intemperate males? No. intemperate females? No. intemperate heads of families? Annual expense of paupers ? Proportion from intemperance? No. debtors and criminals committed to prison? Proportion of them intemperate ? No. of insane caused by intemperance? No. of insane from other causes? Have there been any cases of Delirium Tremens? No. widows whose husbands died by reason of intemperance? No. orphans whose parents died from same cause No. husbands and wives separated by reason of intemperance? No. manufactories and farms carried on without ardent spirit? Amount of highway tax? No. of Temperance papers taken and names of papers? How many retailers have voluntarily abandoned the sale of ardent spirits ? Has your town voted to authorize licenses for selling to be drank in shops? Is there any opposition to your Society? If so, by men of what class and character? To some written circulars were added Are your buildings raised, your vessels built, launched, and navigated, and your highway taxes wrought without ardent spirits? Do your militia officers treat their soldiers on muster days? Is ardent spirit generally offered to visiters, &c. B. (Page 40.) "Office of the New-York State Temperance Society, Nov. 1, 1832. "The Executive Committee having been furnished with a complete statement of the deaths by Cholera in Albany, up to the cessation of the daily reports of the Board of Health, and believing it to be of great importance that the facts exhibited in this statement should be laid before the public, have determined, in order to give the document entire, to issue an extra. It has never been in their power to present so forcible an appeal in favor of Temperance; and from their knowledge of the individuals who collected the facts, and from their personal acquaintance with a great number of the cases, they are enabled unhesitatingly to vouch for the general correctness of the statements.-R. H. WALWORTH, Pres't. N. Y. S. T. Soc. E. C. Delevan, John F. Bacon, John T. Norton, H. Trowbridge, Richard V. DeWitt, A. Campbell, and Joshua N. Burke, Ex. Com." After some remarks of the Executive Committee, and a communication of the Physician who collected the facts, there followed "Án accurate record of deaths by Cholera in the city of Albany, from the commencement to the cessation of the daily reports, in the summer of 1832, omitting all under the age of sixteen years.' This record gave the sex, age, character and habits of 336 individuals of both sexes, who died with the Cholera within the period mentioned.-The following is an abstrast of said record, viz :-" intemperate 140, free drinkers 55, moderate drinkers mostly habitual 131, strictly temperate 5, members of Temperance Societies 2, idiot 1, unknown 2. Total 336. One of the five temperate persons that died was attacked immediately after "eating two pine apples"-another "nearly recovered and relapsed after getting wet." "The supposed cause of attack" of another was "eating stale and soured preserves on the day she was seized"-another neglected the premonitory symptoms. The report was sanctioned by the Medical Staff of Albany, and its publication and circulation recommended by them. It is also a well attested fact, that only two members of Temperance Societies died in Montreal, where there were about 1000 deaths by the Cholera. Monsieur Huber says, that " In Tiflis, (a town in Russia,) containing 20,000 inhabitants, every drunkard has fallen-not one remains." In relation to this subject, it has been pertinently asked, and well said, "What right have men, by selling ardent spirit, to increase the danger, extend the ravages, and augment and perpetuate the malignancy of the Cholera, and multiply upon the community numerous other mortal diseases? Who cannot see that it is a foul, deep, and fatal injury inflicted on society? that it is in a high degree cruel and unjust? that it scatters the population of our cities, renders our business stagnant, and exposes our sons and our daughters to premature and sudden death? And so manifestly is this the case, that the Board of Health of the city of Washington, have declared that the vending of ardent spirit, in any quantity, is a nuisance; and as such ordered to be discontinued for the space of 90 days. This was done in selfdefence, to save the community from the sickness and death which the vending of spirit is adapted to occasion. Nor is this tendency to occasion disease and death, confined to the time when the Cholera is raging.' C. (Pages 49 and 56.) Professor Ware, in his Address before the Cambridge Temperance Society, has the following paragraph: "These persons say, ' We do not use these injurious articles; why is not this enough? Why pledge ourselves to that restraint which we already practice?'1 answer-For the sake of others, for sake of extending the knowledge and influence of your example. There is a large class of men almost persuaded, who think, that, on the whole, it would be better to abandon the cup altogether; who continue to drink habitually, though soberly, (and this encourages the intemperate,) because they are not called to make an immediate decision. Your private example does not urge them to it any more to-day than next year; and they think next year will be more convenient. But when you sign a paper, and pass it to them, they are brought to a decision on the spot. And it is precisely in this way, that thous ands, without a moment's hesitation, have been made practical advocates of the cause. They were advocates at heart before; yet they never might have become such openly, so as to exert a wholesome influence, except they had thus been called on for an immediate decision. In this way, therefore, your written engagement may make your practice known to many, and thus tend to influence many, who never would otherwise have learned what your practice is." D. (Page 58.) Buckfield, July 4, 1833. DEAR SIR: The Executive Committee of the Oxford County Temperance Society, with a view of preparing a Report for their next anniversary, are desirous to obtain all the information of a statistical nature, pertaining to the grand object of the Society, that can be conveniently had. They therefore address to you the following interrogatories, to which they would be happy to receive your answers as soon as may be, addressed to the undersigned, and forwarded by mail or otherwise. It is indispensable that returns be made before the first day of September next, and they may be addressed to the care of Doct. Leander Gage of Waterford, or Levi Whitman, Esq. of Norway. Yours very respectfully, SAMUEL F. BROWN, Sec'y. |