FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT.

THE Executive Committee of the American Temperance Society, having been permitted, through the kindness of the Lord, to continue their labors in his service, would, as a testimony to his goodness, present their Fourth Report.

In the evils which this Society aims to remove, the connection between error in principle, and immorality in practice, is strikingly exhibited. Less than three hundred years ago,* the error began to prevail in Great Britain, that ardent spirit, as an article of luxury or diet, or as an aid to labor, is useful. The cause of this error was, the deceptive feelings of those who used it. Being, in its nature, a mocker, it deceived them. By disturbing healthy action and inducing disease, it created an unnatural thirst; the gratification of which, like the gratification of the desire of sinning in the man who sins, causes it to increase; and the end is death.

The consequence has been, as stated by a writer in Scotland, and as illustrated by facts, "There is reason to believe, that intemperance has cost that country more lives, demoralized more persons, broken more hearts, beggared more families, and sent more souls to perdition, than all other vices put together."

This fatal error, that ardent spirit is for men in health useful, did not prevail generally among the mass of people in this country, till after the American Revolution. In that mighty struggle which gave birth to a nation, and in the numerous hardships and dangers to which the soldiers were exposed, they were furnished, by the government, with a portion of this poison, under the fatal delusion that it would do them good. The consequence was, as, under similar circumstances, it ever must be, the diseased appetite which this poison creates, was formed by great numbers; was carried out by them, at the close of the war, into the community; and was extended through the country.

At the close of the first half century of our national existence, this diseased appetite had become so prevalent as to demand, annually, for its gratification, more than sixty million gallons of liquid fire. And while it cost the consumers more than thirty million

Appendix, A.

dollars, it caused more than three fourths of all the pauperism, crimes, and wretchedness of the community. It also greatly increased the number, frequency, and violence of diseases; and, according to the testimony of the most intelligent and judicious physicians, occasioned annually the loss of more than thirty thousand lives. The loss of property, occasioned by the consumption of ardent spirit, amounted, in forty years, to a greater sum than the value of all the houses and lands in the United States, forty years ago. The use of it caused a destruction-and, there is reason to fear, for both worlds-of more than half a million of men.

Though no exact account had been taken in this country, it was known that it had destroyed the reason of a great portion of all the maniacs in the land; and had lessened the reason, as well as weakened the bodies, blunted the moral susceptibilities, and hardened the hearts of all who had freely used it.

Of seven hundred and eighty-one maniacs in two hospitals in Great Britain, three hundred and ninety-two were made such by intemperance.* And had the inquiry been as carefully made in this country, the result might have been substantially the same. The free use of this stimulant had, in many cases, caused a predisposition to insanity, not only in those who used it, but in their children, and children's children. A tendency to this disease, and many others occasioned by strong drink, had become hereditary, and was transmitted from generation to generation. A diminution of size and stature, a decrease of bodily and mental strength, a feebleness of vision, and a premature old age, told of a disease that had seized on the vitals, and was consuming the energies of life. The use of this liquid was causing a general deterioration of body and mind, and was threatening to roll its curses, in broader and deeper streams, over all future generations.

Yet, notwithstanding this, such was the nature of this poison, and such its power to deceive those who used it, that the opinion was almost universal, that the use of it was salutary, and to laboring men needful.

Trotter, who had as good an opportunity and was as well able to judge as any man, had indeed said, "That of all the evils of human life, no cause of disease had so wide a range, or so large a share, as the use of spirituous liquors; and that more than half of all the sudden deaths were occasioned by them;"-and Aitman had declared, "That art never made so fatal a present to mankind as the invention of distilling them."

Willan had said, "That the use of these liquors, in large cities, produced more diseases than confined air, unwholesome exhalations, and the combined influence of all other evils;"—and Paris,

* APPENDIX, B.

"That the art of distillation must be regarded as the greatest curse ever inflicted on human nature; and that ardent spirits produce more than half of all chronical diseases."

Darwin had testified, "That when chronical diseases arise from the use of ardent spirit, they are liable to become hereditary, even to the third generation; and if the cause is continued, to increase till the family becomes extinct."

Frank had declared, "That the use of these liquors ought to be entirely dispensed with, on account of their tendency, even when taken in small doses, to induce disease, premature old age, and death;" and Cheyne had stigmatized them, as being "most like opium in their nature and operation, and most like arsenic in their deleterious and poisonous effects."

Mosely had said, from his own observation, having resided in the West Indies, "That persons who drink nothing but cold water, or make it their principal drink, are but little affected by tropical climates; that they undergo the greatest fatigue without inconvenience, and are not so subject as others to dangerous diseases;"-and Bell, "That rum, when used even moderately, always diminishes the strength, renders men more susceptible of disease, and unfits them for any service in which vigor and activity are required; and that we might as well throw oil into a house, the roof of which was on fire, in order to prevent the flames from extending to the inside, as to pour ardent spirits into the stomach, to lessen the effect of a hot sun upon the skin.”

Munro had declared, "That a man had no more need of ardent spirit than a cow, or a horse;"—and Kirk, "That fifteen out of twenty cases of liver complaint were occasioned by the use of it; and that men who had always been considered temperate had, by using it, shortened life more than twenty years." He had also given it as his opinion, that the regular and respectable use of this poison kills more men than drunkenness itself. Barkhausen had testified, "That he had known persons affected even with delirium tremens, who had never been intoxicated in their whole lives."

Rush had maintained, "That men in all kinds of business would be better without the use of spirituous liquors; and that there are but one or two cases in which they can be used without essential injury;"-and Chapman, "That the evils of using them are so great, that the emptying of Pandora's box was but the type of what has been experienced by the diffusion of these liquors among the human species!"

Others had given a similar testimony, and denounced the use of them altogether, except in case of necessity. But, with many who professed to adopt this rule, the difficulty was, the necessity, in their estimation, came every day. The consequence was, they and their children did not become drunkards, they raised no

if

barrier to that tide of drunkenness which was sweeping through the land.

Judge Hale, after twenty years' observation and experience, had declared, "That if all the murders, and manslaughters, and burglaries, and robberies, and riots, and tumults, the adulteries, fornications, rapes, and other great enormities, which had been committed within that time, were divided into five parts, four of them would be found to have been the result of intemperance."

The Sheriff of London and Middlesex had said, "That the evil which lies at the root of all other evils, is that, especially, of drinking ardent spirit; that he had long been in the habit of hearing criminals refer all their misery to this, so that he had ceased to ask the cause of their ruin, so universally was it effected by spirituous liquors." And Mr. Poinder, in an examination before the Committee of the House of Commons, had testified, "That from facts, that had fallen under his own observation, he was persuaded that, in all trials for murder, with very few, if any exceptions, it would appear, on investigation, that the criminal had, in the first instance, delivered up his mind to the brutalizing effects of spirituous liquors." And similar was the testimony from others.

John Wesley had declared, and published to the world, “That the men who traffic in ardent spirit, and sell to all who will buy, are poisoners general; that they murder his majesty's subjects by wholesale; neither does their eye pity or spare. And what," said he, "is their gain? Is it not the blood of these men? Who would envy their large estates, and sumptuous palaces? A curse is in the midst of them. The curse of God is on their gardens, their walks, their groves; a fire that burns to the nethermost hell. Blood, blood, is there; the foundation, the floor, the walls, the roof, are stained with blood. And canst thou hope, O man of blood, though thou art clothed in scarlet, and fine linen, and farest sumptuously every day, canst thou hope to deliver down the fields of blood to the third generation? Not so there is a God in heaven; therefore thy name shall be rooted out. Like as those whom thou hast destroyed, both body and soul, thy memorial shall perish with thee."

The Friends had prohibited their members from engaging in the traffic in ardent spirit, and discountenanced the use of it as an immorality.

Yet such was the power of ardent spirit to blind the understanding, sear the conscience, and harden the heart, that, notwithstanding these, and other similar testimonies from physicians, jurists and divines, many were engaged in the traffic; some who professed to be Christians, who had covenanted to do good, and good only, as they had opportunity, to all, were making, and, for the sake of gain, were furnishing to all who would purchase, that which tended to ruin them, and their children after them, for both worlds. And so de

ceived were the community, that it was generally thought to be. proper. It was licensed by the government, and sanctioned by Christian churches. Some who were officers in these churches, and who profess to be ministers of the gospel, were actively engaged in furnishing that which tended, with its whole influence, to prevent the progress of the gospel, and to perpetuate spiritual death to all future generations.

But a great change has been commenced; and one which, in the rapidity and extent of its progress, has no parallel in the history of man. Already is it spoken of, by the wise and the good in this and other countries, as one of the wonders of the world.

"The great discovery," says a European writer, "has at length come forth like the light of a new day, that the temperate members of society are the chief agents in promoting and perpetuating drunkenness. On whose mind this great truth first rose, is not known. Whoever he was, whether humble or great, peace to his memory. He has done more for the world than he who enriched it with the knowledge of a new continent; and posterity, to the remotest generation, shall walk in the light which he has thrown around them. Had it not been for him, Americans and Europeans inight have continued to countenance the moderate ordinary use of a substance, whose most moderate ordinary use is temptation and danger; and, amidst a flood of prejudice and temptation, urged onward by themselves, they would have made rules against drunkenness, like ropes of sand, to be burst and buried by the coming wave. Temperance Societies," he says, "have not only made America truly the new world, but in a few months they have produced an unparalleled change in many districts of the United Kingdom."

And says another writer, "Temperance Societies have arisen on our darkness like the cheering star of hope. They now flash across our Eastern hemisphere with the bright and beauteous radiance of the bow of promise."

And says another writer, "It would be an act of ingratitude, towards our American friends, were we in any degree to throw into the shade the obligations under which we lie to them for having originated this noble cause. If the names of Washington and others are deservedly dear to them for their struggles in the cause of freedom, there are other names which will descend to the latest posterity, as the deliverers of their country from a thraldom more dreadful by far than that of any foreign yoke."

"The American Temperance Society," says a writer of our own country, "has accomplished more good than any other ever formed, in the same space of time. The precipice over which we were falling has been described, the alarm has been sounded, and we are not lost. Heaven has decreed that we shall not be lost. God bas said to America, as he did of old to ancient Sodom, 'I will save