The Executive Committee of the New-York State Temperance Society, in presenting to the PARENT INSTITUTION its Fourth Annual Report, respectfully submits the following SUMMARY OF RESULTS. I. Number of Auxiliaries in the State of New-York.-Including the State Society, fifteen hundred and thirty-eight temperance societies have been reported. Many more are known to exist from which no report has been received. II. Present number of Members.-This by actual enumeration amounts to two hundred and thirty-one thousand and seventy-four; but here also it is proper to remark, that the number actually pledged to total abstinence greatly exceeds the sum arrived at by enumeration, as in some societies great increase has taken place since the reports were sent in, and from others complete returns have never been made. Increase in the year, sixty thousand eight hundred and four. III. Temperance Stores and Taverns.-By these we understand those stores and taverns where the absence of spirituous liquors is the result and effect of the temperance reform. thousand two hundred and two of these have been reported. One IV. Distilleries discontinued.-These amount to one hundred and thirty-one; a great part, but we think not all, of these have been discontinued in the course of the past year. [New York State Report.] The General Association of Massachusetts, composed of the great body of Evangelical Congregational Ministers in that State, say, "The Temperance Reformation has made rapid advances. In some associations, the number of pledges has, during the year, been more than doubled. In others there is not an individual licensed to sell strong drink, and in the most, if not all, the number of licences has been greatly diminished. Many of our churches have become temperance churches. They admit none to their fellowship, who do not avow the principle of total abstinence from both the consumption and the traffic. And some of them have, by special vote, made the traffic in every form a disciplinable offence." They also passed unanimously the following resolution, viz.. "As the traffic in ardent spirit, as a drink, is not only unnecessary but injurious to the social, civil, and religious interests of men, therefore the laws which sanction that traffic by licensing men to pursue it, are, in the judgment of this association, morally wrong; and ought to be so modified, that instead of licensing the sin, and thus sanctioning its continuance, they will only, as far as practicable and expedient, defend the community from its evils." (9) OF THE AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETY, PRESENTED AT THE MEETING IN BOSTON, MAY, 1832. This Report is a periodical, and contains five sheets. The postage under 100 miles is 73 cents; and over 100 miles, 12 cents. BOSTON: AARON RUSSELL, 5 CORNHILL; AND PERKINS & MARVIN, 114 WASHINGTON STREET. NEW YORK: JOHN P. HAVEN, 148 NASSAU STREET.-PHILADELPHIA: FRENCH & PERKINS, 159 CHESTNUT STREET. LIBRARY. The Committee of the American Temperance Society would suggest, that donations of Books and Pamphlets, for the purpose of forming a Library, for the use of the Committee in the discharge of their appropriate duties, will be highly acceptable. All medical works, especially those on the nature and effects of stimulants, narcotics, and all other poisons, and all works on the benefits of temperance, and the best means of extending and perpetuating it, will essentially promote the great and benevolent object in which the Committee are engaged. The Executive Committee of the American Temperance Society wish to obtain answers to the following inquiries, viz. 1. How many churches, within the bounds of your Association, Presbytery, or Conference, have in them no members who traffic in ardent spirit? 2. What proportion of the whole population abstain from the use of it? 3 How many, during the past year, have been admitted to the churches? 4. How many of them were from that class who had adopted the plan of abstinence from the use of ardent spirit? Clerks of Ecclesiastical bodies, or any other persons, who will give information on the above-mentioned topics, will oblige the Committee, and perform an important service to the community. Testimony of old Men.... Report re-published in Great Britain. Lord Chancellor's Declaration• •. Formation of the British and Foreign Temperance Society... Effect of Strong Drink in producing the Cholera.. Guilt of those who sell Ardent Spirit... Comparison with the Slave Trade.. Connection with Burking... Chancellor Walworth's Opinion.. ..... ......... ............... ......... Meeting at Washington. .................. Wirt's Testimony. Resolutions and Address of American Temperance Society.. ........... ............... Beecher's Address to the Young Men of Boston. Judge Daggett's Declaration... Opinion of Judge Cranch...... Injustice of the Traffic in Ardent Spirit. The Rum-selling Church Member... 19 22 23 Venders of Ardent Spirit in the City of Washington Confession of a Retailer....... Wives murdered by their Husbands. Children murdered by their Fathers.. ........ Commodore Biddle's Letter.. Letter from an Officer in the Army. Demoralizing Effect of the Traffic in Ardent Spirit. ... ........ .............. ... ............... Connection between Temperance and Religion... .......... The Fourth and Fifth Reprts of the American Temperance Society may be had, in any quantity, wholesale or retail, of Aaron Russell, No. 5 Cornhill, Boston; or, John P. Haven, No. 148 Nassau Street, New-York. These publications, which are stereotyped, and contain about 120 pages each, are coastructed, not on the plan of being inerely annual, or temporary Reports, but on the plan of being permanent documents, exhibiting principles and facts, which, till the use of ardent spirit as a drink has ceased, will be as important to the welfare of the community as they are now. Had the Society the means, they would give to these publications a gratuitous and universal circulation; that every child in the United States might become acquainted with the nature and effects of ardent spirit; and with the benefits which, should the use of it as a drink be discontinued, would result to our country and the world. But as they have not the means of doing this, the books are sold at 25 cents single, $2.25 by the dozen, and $16.67 by the hundred. Temperance Societies, friends of Temperance, and all benevolent individuals are requested to give to these documents a universal circulation. The avails will be devoted to the promotion of the cause of Temperance throughout the United States. All persons friendly to the cause of Temperance are requested to use their influence to put a copy of these Reports into every family in the country. |