shall hereafter pay, not less than two hundred and fifty dollars, shall be an honorary Vice President of the Society. ART. V. The Society shall meet annually at such time and place as they shall appoint, and shall choose by ballot a President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, Auditor, an Executive Committee of five members, and such other officers as shall in their opinion be necessary. ART. VI. It shall be the duty of the Society to have a general superintendence of all the concerns of the institution, and of the measures to be pursued for promoting its object. ART. VII. It shall be the duty of the President, or, in his absence, of the Vice President, to preside at all meetings of the Society, and to call special meetings at the request of the Executive Committee. ART. VIII. It shall be the duty of the Executive Committee to carry into effect all votes and orders of the Society, and to take proper measures for obtaining the funds necessary for accomplishing its benevolent designs; to appoint agents in different parts of the country, as shall be judged most conducive to the great object of the Society; to draw orders on the Treasurer for the payment of all monies, which shall be expended in this work of love; to inspect annually the state of the treasury; and in general, to perform all other duties, not inconsistent with this Constitution, which they shall deem necessary for promoting habits of temperance to the greatest extent. Of their proceedings they shall make an annual report to the Society. ART. IX. The Secretary shall be required to devote himself with diligence and fidelity to the business of the Society. And in execution of his office, it shall be his duty, under the direction of the Executive Committee, to make appropriate communications, by pamphlets, correspondence, and personal interviews, to ministers of the Gospel, to physicians, and others, and to consult and cooperate with them for the purpose of guarding those under their influence against the evils of intemperance; to take pains, in all proper mothods, to make a seasonable and salutary impression in relation to this subject, on those who are favoured with a public and refined education, and are destined in various ways to have a leading influence in Society; to make it a serious object to introduce into the publications of the day, essays and addresses on the subject of intoxicating liquors, and to induce teachers and those concerned in the support of schools, to labor diligently to impress the minds of the young with the alarming and dreadful evils to which all are exposed who indulge themselves in the use of strong drink; to make affectionate and earnest addresses to Christian Churches, to parents and guardians, to children, apprentices, and servants, and all other descriptions of persons, and to set clearly before them the effect of spirituous liquors on health, on reputatation, and on all the temporal and eternal interests of men, and to urge them by the most weighty arguments, drawn from the present and the future world, to keep themselves at a distance from this insidious and destructive foe; to do whatever is practicable and expedient towards the forming of voluntary associations for the purpose of promoting the ends of this Society; and in general, to labor, by all suitable means, and in reliance upon the divine blessing, to fix the eyes of persons of both sexes and of all ages and conditions, on the magnitude of the evil which this Society aims to prevent, and on the immeasurable good which it aims to secure, and to produce such a change of public sentiment, and such a renovation of the habits of individuals and the customs of the community, that in the end, temperance with all its attendant blessings may universally prevail. And it is always to be kept in remembrance by the Secretary and by the Executive Committee, and to be adopted as a principle to regulate their measures, that while they are to make use perseveringly of all fit and promising means for the reformation of those who have already, in different degrees, contracted habits of intemperance; the utility of the Institution must chiefly consist in guarding against danger those who are yet uncontami nated by this loathsome and fatal vice. The meeting then proceeded to choose the following gentlemen to commence the proposed Society, according to the 2d Article of the Constitution, viz. REV. DR. WOODS, REV. DR. JENKS, REV. JUSTin Edwards, REV. WARREN FAY, REV. B. B. WISNER, REV. F. WAYLAND, REV. T. MERRITT, HON. MARCUS MORTON, HON. SAMUEL HUBBARD, HON. WILLIAM REED, HON. GEORGE ODIORNE, JOHN TAPPAN, Esq. WILLIAM ROPES, ESQ. DR. JAMES CHAPLIN, and S. V. S. WILDER, Esq. On motion of the HON. HEMAN LINCOLN, the following resolution was then adopted. RESOLVED, That the gentlemen composing this meeting pledge themselves to the AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR THE PROMOTION OF TEMPERANCE, that they will use all their exertions in carrying into effect the benevolent plans of the Society. THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR THE PROMOTION OF TEMPERANCE then held their first meeting, and chose the following officers. HON. MARCUS MORTON, PRESIDENT. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. REV. LEONARD WOODS, D. D. S. V. S. WILDER, Esq. At a subsequent meeting, held March 12, 1826, the Society proceeded to choose eighty four gentlemen, residing in the Northern and Middle States, as additional members. OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. In view of the transactions abovementioned, and in accordance with the Constitution of THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR THE PROMOTION OF TEMPERANCE, the Executive Committee solicit the attention of the Christian community to a few remarks relative to the important subject here presented before them. The evils resulting from an improper use of intoxicating liquors have become so extensive and desolating, as to call for the immediate, vigorous, and persevering efforts of every philanthropist, patriot, and Christian. The number of lives annually destroyed by this vice in our own country is thought to be more than thirty thousand; and the number of persons who are diseased, distressed, and impoverished by it, to be more than two hundred thousand. Many of them are not only useless, but a burden and a nuisance to society. These liquors, it is calculated, cost the inhabitants of this country annually more than forty millions of dollars; and the pauperism occasioned by the improper use of them, (taking the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as an example,) costs them upwards of twelve millions; making an annual expense of more than fifty millions of dollars. Out of ten hundred and sixty one cases of criminal prosecutions in the year 1820, before the Court of Sessions in the city of New York, more than eight hundred are stated to have been connected with intemperance. And so it is in all our principal cities. More than three quarters of the crimes committed in the country are probably occasioned by this hateful vice. And if we add to these the loss of time which it occasions, the loss of business, the loss of improvement, the loss of character, and the loss of happiness for time, and for eternity, the evil swells to an overwhelming magnitude. The guilt and wretchedness resulting from it surpass all finite conception. Scarcely any thing has a more powerful and fatal efficacy to weaken, pollute, and debase the human mind. It palsies every effort for improvement, hin ders the success of the Gospel, and prevents the progress of the kingdom of Christ. It destroys, by hundreds and thousands, both the bodies and souls of men; cutting them off from the possibility of enjoyment, and plunging them into endless darkness and wo. No sooner is a person brought under the power of intoxicating liquors, than he seems to be proof against the influence of all the means of reformation. If at any time the truth gains access to his mind and impresses his heart; by a few draughts of this fatal poison, the impression is almost sure to be effaced. Hence the notorious and alarming fact, that a person addicted to this vice is seldom renewed in the temper of his mind, or even reformed as to his outward character. If a single instance of the kind occurs, it is so uncommon, that it quickly becomes the subject of remark through a neighbourhood, and often over a large extent of country; and for years is mentioned as an extraordinary event. Most persons given to intemperance, proceed from one degree of wickedness to another, till, having been often reproved, and hardened their necks, they bring sudden and remediless destruction upon themselves. And they destroy not only themselves, but a multitude of others. The intemperance of a father has extended to three, four, five, and even to seven of his children. The intemperance of a family has extended its contagion through a neighbourhood, and its baleful effects have been felt by numerous individuals and families. Many persons in all classes of society have been destroyed by this vice; and no one is free from danger. A father has no security that his children will not die drunkards; and no security that the evil will not be extended through them to future generations. And with the continuance of the present feelings and habits of the community, there is no prospect that the evil will be lessened, and no possibility that it will be done away. All persons, especially the young, must continue to be exposed. Dangers meet them in the street; overtake them in business; follow them to their dwellings; attend them in the private interview, and in the social circle, and assail them wherever they go; and without a change in the sentiments and practices of the community, the evil must continue to increase, till the animating prospects of this great and mighty |