From a town in Connecticut a gentleman states, "We succeeded in forming a large Temperance Society. Several of the drunkards ceased to use spirituous liquors. They appeared like new men, and, oh! their families appeared to be in a new world. The change was wonderful. But they have, almost all, gone back. And we cannot help it, so long as one of our deacons will sell rum. They say, If it is not wrong for the deacon to sell it, it is not wrong for us to buy it. He thinks that a little does good, and so do we.' And thus they go down to ruin. And, oh! their families, their wretched families!-but we cannot help them, so long as the deacon will sell rum.'

No; if deacons, and church members, and sober men, will continue, for the sake of money, to sell rum, and make drunkards, and thus become their tempters and destroyers, good men, and the friends of humanity, cannot help it. Nor can they, but to a small extent, furnish relief to their wretched families. Though they go with an angel's kindness and with an angel's freeness pour it out upon them the deacon, or the church member, or some other retailer of pauperism, crime, sickness, insanity and death, for 25 cents will throw that whole family, for days, into all the agonies, the heart-rending, heart-breaking agonies, of having a drunken and an infuriated maniac for a husband and a father. Yes, for 25 cents, he will hear the scream of the children, and see them run away and hide, and hear the groans of her who cannot get away; and though she comes, when the storm is over, and beseeches him, with tears, not to sell her husband the madman's poison, for she and her children—and her tongue falters as she says children— cannot endure it; yet, for 25 cents, he will sell it yet again and again, till, as was the case in one instance, the husband and the father went home from the deacon's store, and, under the influence of what the deacon had given him, murdered his wife. She will never again beseech him, for her children's sake, and the Savior's sake, not to sell her husband rum. No; she will not complain, nor will she beseech him any more. But his own children may do both. One of them, on hearing of this murder, and the circumstances, said, "Father, do you not think, that, in the day of judgment, you will have to answer for that murder?" And must not conscience, when awakened, echo, " Murder !-Murder!" Why? Did he murder that woman? No; but he gave her husband that which excited him to do it; when he knew, from the testimony of judges and jurists, that it caused more than three fourths of all the murders in the United States. And why did he do it? For noney. How much? A sum so great that a man could not withstand it? No; for less than 25 cents. Yes, for less than 25 cents those children were made orphans; and their father, when our agent passed through that part of the country, was in prison to be

tried for his life, for murdering their mother. And all his excuse was, he was excited to do it by what he received from the deacon No wonder his child should beseech him to give up the traffic, and warn him, with tears, that, if he did not do it, he would be, al the day of judgment, stained with the guilt of blood.

It is an established principle of law, for the violation of which men have been hanged, that the accessory and the principal, in the commission of crime, are both guilty. If this principle is correct, and applies to divine as well as human law, and the drunkard cannot enter heaven, what will be the condition of hin who is accessory to the making of drunkards? who furnishes the materials, and, for the sake of gain, sends them out, to all who will purchase them, when he knows the nature and effects of this employment? Can he enter heaven?

The Committee do not ask these questions concerning those who were engaged in this traffic when its nature and effects were not known, and when it was supposed to be consistent with the Christian religion; but only concerning those, who, since its nature and consequences are known, and known to be ruinous to the temporal and eternal interests of men, still continue it. And they do not make such inquiries concerning them, but with the kindest feelings, both toward them and the community.

But when it is known that more than two murders in a week, upon an average, are committed in the United States, through the influence of ardent spirit, and that more than 500 persons in a week are killed by the use of it, they cannot but present this subject, kindly and plainly, to the consideration of all sober men.

Said a man, who, in those days of ignorance which have now gone by, was engaged in this traffic, "I have no more doubt that I have killed a hundred men, than if I had taken a gun and shot them, and saw every one of them fall dead at my feet."

Said another merchant, as he read a temperance tract, which our Secretary handed him, and the tears rolled plentifully down his cheeks," I never thought of it. I have been selling ardent spirit for many years. I don't know about this making drunkards. I am pretty much like the hearers of Paul, almost persuaded;" meaning that he was almost persuaded to abandon the traffic as an immoral, and a wicked, destructive business. He went to a temperance meeting-the first he had ever attended-and then to another; and said he, "It is now settled. I will never purchase any more ardent spirit to sell. I could make several hundred dollars a year by the sale of it; but what would that be? Should I continue to scatter the estates of my neighbors, make wives widows, and children orphans, I should expect my own children would become orphans, and their wives be widows, as God visits the iniquities of the fathers upon the children to the third and

fourth generation.* If you will take some money, and send me a parcel of those little books-I know all the merchants for a hundred miles up the river-they have, many of them, purchased their rum of me, I will take a journey, and get them to give up the traffic." The little books have been sent to him, and the result of his labors eternity will disclose. As he was returning from the temperance meeting, he met one of his old customers, who had come nearly a hundred miles to purchase goods, of which rum had always formed a part. And he said to him, who had also been at the temperance meeting, "What do you think of it?" "What!" said he; "I think that the man who will continue to sell rum, is worse than a drunkard. The drunkard kills himself, and ruins his family; but the man who sells rum, makes drunkards by hundreds. And though I intended, when I left home, to buy it, I have concluded to purchase the rest of my goods, and leave the rum behind." And why should he not leave it behind? Is it not certain that the injury which the use of it would occasion to others, would be greater than the benefit of the avails to him? And has any one a right to benefit himself by the destruction of his fellow men?

There is a great principle of the divine government, which is brought to view in the Scriptures, and which applies strongly to this case. If an Israelite had a beast which was dangerous, but the owner did not know it, and that beast killed a man, the beast, by divine direction, must be slain; his flesh must not be eaten; the owner must lose the whole, as a testimony to the sacredness of human life; and as a warning to all, not to do any thing, or connive at any thing, which should tend to destroy it. But as the owner did not know that his beast was dangerous, he was not otherwise to be punished.

But if it had been testified to the owner, that the beast was dangerous, and he did not keep him in, but suffered him to go abroad, and he killed a man, both the beast and his owner were, by God's direction, to be put to death. The man was held responsible for the mischief which the beast might do.

Although we are not required, or permitted, now, to execute this law, as they were when God himself was Judge, yet the reason of this law remains. It is founded in justice, is eternal, and the spirit of it will be enforced at the divine tribunal.

There was a time when the dangerous and destructive qualities of ardent spirits were not generally known to the owners. Though they killed hundreds and thousands, the owners would not, by the above rule, be held responsible. But now they are known. Physicians of the first eminence, and in great numbers, with a unanimity almost unparalleled, have testified that ardent spirit is dangerous and destructive; that men in health cannot use it without injury;

• APPENDIX, M.

that it induces and aggravates disease, impairs reason, and shortens life, and that multitudes are killed by it every year.

*

Jurists, too, of distinguished character, and judges, in great numbers, have testified, that this liquor occasions a great majority of all the crimes which are committed. One says, "Of eleven nurders committed, all, except one, were occasioned by strong drink." Another says, "Of eleven murders committed, all were occasioned by intemperance." Another says, "Of twenty murders examined by me, all were occasioned by spirituous liquors." And another says, "Of more than two hundred murders committed in the United States in a year, nearly all have their origin in drinking."

These facts, and many others, which might be multiplied to an almost indefinite extent, are now known; and they are known to the owners of ardent spirit. It is known, too, that hundreds of thousands have ceased to use this liquor, and that their health and comfort, and those of their families, have been greatly improved; that the amount and severity of sickness have lessened, and the number of paupers, crimes and deaths been diminished. It is known that, while men continue to use this liquor, intemperance can never be prevented, and its evils never be done away. It is known, too, that it tends, when used even moderately, to hinder the efficacy of the gospel and prevent the salvation of men, and thus to ruin them, not for time only, but for eternity. All this is known, and known to the owners of ardent spirit. And if they, notwithstanding this, not only suffer it to go abroad, but sell it to all who will buy; send it out, and spread it through the community; let them know, let it be told, and let it echo through creation, that they, by Jehovah, will be held responsible, at his tribunal, for its effects. To the pauperism, crimes, and wretchedness, the sickness, insanity, and deaths, which it occasions, and to the ruin, temporal and eternal, they are knowingly and voluntarily accessory. And of all the obstructions which the friends of temperance now meet with, which stand in the way, and hinder the progress of that mighty movement which God has awakened, and which takes hold on the destinies of unborn millions for eternity, these men,—yes, the men who traffic in ardent spirit,-present the greatest.

And if this movement is ever to stop, and that deluge of fire again roll, unobstructed, through the length and breadth of this land, scorching and withering, consuming and annihilating, all that is fair, and lovely, and excellent, and glorious in possession and in prospect, these men the men who continue to traffic in ardent spirit-are to bear a vast and ever-growing portion of the odium, the guilt, and the retribution, of this tremendous ruin. They not only sin themselves, but they tempt others to sin. They stand at the fountain of death, and open streams which may roll onwards, after they are dead, and sweep multitudes to the world of wo.

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But we do not believe, and we shall not admit, till we behold it, that this mighty movement, which God has commenced, and hitherto carried forward with a rapidity, and to an extent, altogether unexampled in the history of man, and which is now spoken of, in both hemispheres, as one of the wonders of the world, is ever to stop, till the use of ardent spirit, and the traffic in it, as an article of luxury or diet, is abandoned by every good man in our country. We cannot believe, that any good man, or any man that expects to render an account for the influence which he exerts on the world, when he sees what he is doing, will consent, for the sake of money, to be actively instrumental in destroying the bodies and souls of men. We cannot believe that, for the sake of money, good men will consent, when they know what they do, to deal out the cause of pauperisin and crime, sickness, insanity and death; to raise a barrier against the influences of the Holy Spirit, and help the great adversary to people the world of wo. Even should human

governments continue to license such a business, we cannot believe that good men, or any men who regard the welfare of their fellow men, will continue to consent to take out such a license, or to use it, for all the wealth of the world. That light and love which have already led more than 1,000,000 to give up the use of ardent spirit, and more than 3000, who were engaged in the traffic, to renounce it, will, we trust, if kindly, universally and perseveringly diffused, and attended, as they have been, by the mighty power of Him who worketh all in all, lead all good men to do the same.

More than 1000 distilleries have already been stopped; and the owners of many would not again open them for the wealth of creation. In one town, in which were 16 of these fountains of death, there are now but 3; and those, it is believed, furnish a less quantity of the poison, destroy a less number of lives, and ruin fewer souls than they did when the whole were in operation. One brass-founder states, that he has bought 30 stills, and sold but one In many towns, this destroyer is not even sold. Among more than 100,000 people, none, except keepers of public houses, have license to sell it; and from more than 100 public houses it is excluded. The owners will not consent, for the sake of money, to poison even the traveler; and he finds, often to his amazement, that he can be received cheerfully, treated politely, and refreshed abundantly, by those who furnish nothing adapted to destroy him. And why, should these and similar facts be made known to all, and the Holy Spirit incline them to do their duty, may we not expect this to be the case, throughout our land, and throughout the world.

Many churches, now, do not believe that any man among thein, while he continues, for the sake of money, to ruin his fellow men, by furnishing them with ardent spirit, can give credible evidence that he is a good man. And why, should the true light continue to