HONORARY MEMBERS. Hon. Reuben H. Walworth, Albany, New York, Chancellor of the State of New York, and President of the New York State Temperance Society. Rev. Justin Edwards, D. D., Andover, Massachusetts. From the station in which they are placed, the Committee of the British and Foreign Temperance Society see a vast field for useful labor spread around, and extending before them. They have the enlivening hope, founded on successful experiment, of increasing the comforts of their fellow-countrymen,-of essentially assisting, upon a wide scale, the great manufacturing and commercial interests of this nation,-of giving an animating impulse to the prosperity of our vast colonies throughout the world,—and of promoting human happiness among all civilized nations. In the Excise district, which comprehends Belfast, the consumption of whiskey, during the six months ending July 5, 1831, was less than that of the corresponding six months of last year by forty-five thousand gallons; being a diminution of more than one-third of the whole. The consumption of whiskey, in all Ireland, during the six months ending July 5, 1831, was less than that of the same six months of 1830 by 721,564 gallons. In Scotland, the consumption of British spirits has uniformly increased till the present year. The Temperance Societies of that country comprise 43,000 members, and the consumption of British spirits for the six months ending July 5, 1831, fall short of that for the same six months of 1830, by 513,697 gallons. (British and Foreign Temperance Herald.) D. (P. 8.) Facts, condensed from the first Annual Report of the Maryland State Temperance Society, March, 1832. The Warden of the Baltimore jail states that there were 2,322 persons committed to jail in the year ending November, 1831. Of these, 424 were in a state of actual intoxication when received, and in his opinion eight out of ten of the whole number were intemperate. In Prince George's county (Md.) 144 persons, who have made themselves paupers and pensioners by intemperance, are supported by a direct tax upon the people, of $2,943. In Annapolis, the capital of the State, $6,770 is paid by the people to support paupers and pensioners, made such by intemperance. This is about sixty per cent. more than is paid for the support of primary schools in the county. In Hartford county the annual expense of the poor is $2,343, at least three-fourths of which is caused by intemperance. One hundred thousand gallons of distilled liquors, averaging 6 gallons to each inhabitant, are consumed yearly in that county. In the city of Annapolis, in the year 1828, the number of deaths among the males over 18 years of age was 18. Of these, nine died from intemperance; precisely one half.-In 1829, out of 32 deaths of the same class, eight, or one fourth of the whole, died from intemperance. In 1830, nearly one-fifth of the deaths among this class of persons were from the same cause. The average proportion of deaths from this cause is at the rate of one in every 329 of the whole population. In Hartford county, the pensioners have increased since the year 1800 from 25 in number to 80, and the licenses to sell liquors from 31 to 96, although during this period the population has remained almost stationary. In Anne Arundel county, the paupers have increased since April, 1828, twenty times more than the population. The increased demands for and consumption of intoxicating drinks are twenty times greater than the increase of population. Out of 992 adults, admitted in one year into the Baltimore alms-house, 944 were known to be drunkards. The expense of supporting drunkard paupers costs the city an annual tax of $21,709 28. The retailers pay $8,438 99 for the privilege of making these drunkards; in addition to which, the county pay $13,438 99 for the support of them. E. (P. 14.) Nor is the conviction of the utility of Temperance Societies, and that it is the duty of all to unite in them, confined to the great and good merely in this country, where they originated. At the second Anniversary of the British and Foreign Temperance Society, held in London, May 22, 1832, the Bishop of London (the Patron of the Society) addressed the Meeting to the following effect:-"Ladies and Gentlemen, I have found it' impossible to decline complying with the request made to me to take the chair on the present occasion, on account of my regard for the high interests of humanity, morality, and religion, which I feel are greatly promoted by the object which this Society has in view. The only objection in the semblance of reason that I have heard made against the Society, is, that it is inconsistent with man's obligations, to bind himself down by a declaration that he will do that which he is already bound to do by his Christian belief. But I own that I cannot see the force of that objection;-those who are actuated by Christian motives can have no objection to do that to which Christian motives already dispose them. But if they are not so disposed, and if they can be induced to enter into an association of this kind, so much good will be achieved. For if you can bring a man to do that which in itself is good, even from a sense of his own temporal advantage, he may, after he has been some time in the practice of that good, be induced to act from higher motives. A man who is a member of this Society will forbear the use of ardent spirits from the motives which induced him to become a member; but in the course of time, as he becomes impressed with regular habits, as he perceives the pure sources from which those habits flow in others, he will learn to draw his motives from the same sources, and, from being temperate in one respect, he will gradually acquire a power over his inclinations, which will lead him to become temperate in all things. Any one who has observed the state of society must have remarked the great deterioration which, during the last twenty years, has taken place in the moral condition of the poor in this Country. I do not say that the poor are to be blamed so much as those who have had opportunities of urging them to a different course by the influence of their advice and example. Now, whatever may be the cause of the evil which we have to lament, prevention will be a much more effectual mode of rooting it out than punishment. That is the principle on which this Society acts, and I own, considering that most humane and charitable object, it is with feelings of no ordinary satisfaction that I see before me so many persons of all ranks, classes, and, I may add opinions, united for the purpose of setting this great and useful example to the poor, by which one of their worst vices may be prevented. To myself, and I may add, to all those around me, the becoming members of this Society is no sacrifice, but its utility to the poor is no less on that account; they will see by it the interest which their richer neighbors take in their welfare, and that alone will have a powerful effect upon their conduct. It would be idle of me to point out to such a Meeting as that I now address, what the general effects of intoxication are, and how, in almost every case, it is the fruitful parent of other crimes. The only thing which such a Meeting as this may require to know is, not the nature nor evil effects of the vice, but the frightful extent to which it prevails. It appears from official statements, that there were taken before the magistrate, within a year, more than 30,000 persons, for being in a state of intoxication; and when we consider that this is in the metropolis alone, and that we may fairly say that it includes a part only, and not the whole of those who indulge in this disgusting vice, what a frightful picture does it draw of the extent to which that vice is carried! But this is not all. We have it, on the authority of the magistrates in the different districts of the country, that most, if not all of the offences, for which committals have taken place, have had their origin in drunkenness. It appears, that there were, last year, 95,000 committals in England and Wales, for various offences, and from estimates which have been made of the extent of crime, and its causes, four-fifths of the amount of crime may be traced to habits of drinking to excess; and from similar calculations which have been made, it has, and I think not unfairly, been inferred, that three-fourths of the beggary, and pauperism in the kingdom, may be traced to the same source. It has also been ascertained with tolerable accuracy, that that most terrible of all visitations, insanity, may, in half the cases in which it prevails, be ascribed to the effect of drunkenness. Of 490 patients that were confined in the Lunatic Hospital at Liverpool, it has been shown that 257 had brought that fearful malady upon themselves by drinking. I need not say, that a voluntary intemperance, carried to the excess we sometimes see it, is a temporary insanity. Can it then be surprising, that a habit of excess should bring about a total privation of reason? We have it stated, on the authority of one of the papers, that more than 300 persons were brought, in five nights, to the Thames police-office, in a state of gross intoxication: and in another we find, that, in four weeks, more than 4,000 persons were brought to the different police-stations drunk; and it is a fact which we should not lose sight of, and which ought to show that all classes are interested in forwarding the objects of this Society, that the whole of those parties found in that disgraceful state, were not persons in the lower ranks of society, but, on the contrary, many of them were persons apparently moving in respectable stations. This is further proved by the fact, that the money found upon those persons, amounted, in the whole, to £627. Now this state of things being admitted, and deplored, as it must be by every good and humane man, and true lover of his country, is it not the duty of all such to endeavor to stem the tide of iniquity? We do not say that this may be done by the work of man, but it is not above us, if the Spirit of God be with us. We have seen the good effects with which such a Society may be attended, from what has taken place on the continent of America. The great effort to which I have alluded, was made; Temperance Societies were established, and extended rapidly through the country, and that it has pleased Almighty God to bless their labors may be seen from the statement which I now hold in my hand, containing an account of the quantity of distilled spirit imported into that country in the years 1824 to 1830, inclusive. In the year 1824 it amounted to 5,285,000 gallo s. "This statement was taken from the Journal of Commerce (New York paper), and the American journalist remarked, that this extraordinary diminution was not to be accounted for by the increased manufacture of spirits in America, for that by the domestic returns, it appeared that there had been a falling off in the amount of the quantity of the latter within the last four years. Now, surely, what they do in America we may do in England by the same means. We have thus an encouragement to make the attempt, and the hope that, with God's blessing, we may be the means of putting an end to this horrid vice. It was not my intention, Ladies and Gentlemen, when I rose, to occupy your time at so much length; but I feel so strong an interest (and indeed it must be so felt by every man of Christian feeling), that I have without intending it, been led beyond what I had proposed to address to you. The object of the Society is most important in every point of view: its means are simple. Indeed, that very simplicity has been a cause why many affect to treat the Society with disdain; but let them, before they condemn it, make the trial. Let them enrol themselves as members; let them act together with one impulse. The stone will gather as it rolls; the tide will flow on, carrying health and fertility as it spreads, until the whole land shall be cultivated, and produce a general and fruitful harvest. Another subject connected with excessive drinking is, the fearful desecration of the Lord's day, of which it is, in many cases, the parent and the offspring. It is not necessary for me to point out to this Meeting the increased number of those places where deleterious liquors are sold, or the various inducements which are held out to make them the resort of thousands; these are, unfortunately, matters too well known to all. How far it may be necessary to call on the legislature for increased powers to the civil magistrate, in order to restrain this evil, this is not the place for us to consider. Whatever may be the duties imposed upon others elsewhere, our duties, as members of this Society, are plain and simple. We here go forth upon the highway, and call upon all to come and enrol themselves amongst our numbers: we court the aid of every individual, of every rank, and of every class in society, because the more general the example which we propose to set, the more powerful will be its influence. "I trust, Ladies and Gentlemen, that I have said enough to persuade you, if indeed persuasion could be necessary; and if I have not, others who will follow me will urge with much greater force upon you that it is your duty, as men and as Christians, to do all in your power to forward the objects of a Society which, whether viewed in the moral, social, or religious effects likely to result from it, has so many powerful claims on your support. There may be some, perhaps, who think that a Society of this kind is intended to trench upon the comforts or restrict the innocent indulgences of the poor. It has no such object. It ad |