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farm or labor, exclusive of what is required for customary family expenses. Hence, if mathematical computation tells the truth, this unfortunate man, together with his family, so far as any or all are incapable of labor, within one, two, four, eight or sixteen years according to the case, are inevitably pushed into a situation that demands the compassion and charity of the public and of his more prudent neighbors. It is an ancient and established truth, that a stitch in time saves nine, although but litthe heeded, and that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. General knowledge is the only infallible remedy for this moral pestilence. To American Sages, therefore,

The aggriev'd Genius of America appeals ;

To apply the soVEREIGN BALM, and relieve those ills.

A statement has been communicated to me, from an authentic source, that one of our most distinguished statesmen, having been a candidate for a seat in one of our State Legislatures, disdained to dishonor himself and his country, by purchasing the suffrages of his fellow citizens, with distilled spirits; the consequence of which obstinacy was, that an ignorant grog-seller, who could nei ther read nor write his name, not being over nice about honor, by distributing whiskey profusely amongst the e lectors, obtained the appointment. With much pain I have also lately learned the following alarming fact, from credible authority: A philanthropic member of the Legislative Council of one of the capital cities of the United States, clearly recognising the calamitous consequences, proceeding from the existence of the great number of tippling shops, sanctioned by the public authorities, in vain exerted his efforts for a reduction of the number of these whirlpools of destruction and woe, for two years, when, being discouraged, he withdrew from that employment with chagrin. One of the members was so in

*This method of quickening the senses of American citizens to an understanding of their interests, has been successfully practised for many years in several of the states, by candidates for seats in Congress And yet we pompously and justly too, style ourselves the most enlightened, virtuous, free and happy nation on earth.

genuous as to acknowledge, that the reason why he could not unite with him in effecting that object was, that he obtáinéd his living by selling distilled spirits to the retail. ers by the barrel, and that the retailers got their living by selling it to others in smaller quantities! On hearing this, I exclaimed, " if there be a city in the United States, the public agents of which are governed in their proceedings by such motives, then the Lord have mercy on that city.

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The dawn of this day had not commenced, when the preceding thoughts and facts glanced thro' my mind in instantaneous succession..

As the sun began to ascend and diffuse its golden radiance over the American hemisphere; while I alternately beheld this majestic agent of the Creator, and the venerable walls of the last and only solitary castle,* in which the persecuted Genius of Liberty is permitted to dwell throughout this vast Globe, the following ejaculation sprang spontaneously from my melted heart: "God of the Universe, enlighten my soul with the fire of thy spirit;-permit me to be the humble organ through which a spark thereof may be transmitted to the souls of men in the United States of America, that a bright flame may be thereby kindled in their minds, that shall display clearly to their senses, a view of the fatal and inextricable vortex into which they are gradually and unwarily plunging themselves and their posterity !". I then rielded to an irresistable impulse, which enjoined it on me to devote the preceding day to the execution of this es-say, which, if it prove the means of protecting a single innocent female, and her babes from the venomous jaws of the most cruel hydra that is permitted to enter our dwellings and receive our voluntary embraces and cordial hospitalities; to me, it will afford a superior compensation to that of possessing all the diamonds of all the Monarchs of Europe.

NOTE-Having written the above essay, while at the City of Washington in 1815, it was published originally in the National Intelligencer.

* The Capital of the United States,

PHENOMENON

Of extracting the greatest Good from the worst Evil.

I shall employ this opportunity to announce to the cit izens of the United States my determination to circulate, as extensively as possible, throughout the country, memorials to the Congress, and also to the state Legisla tures, praying that sufficient funds may be raised, by a liberal system of duties on ARDENT SPIRITS, for the universal establishment of FREE LANCASTRI. AN SCHOOLS, AND FREE PUBLIC LIBRARIES.

Spirituous liquors ought to be answerable for the mischiefs which they produce.

We

"From a report of an association in Portland, called the Moral Society, it appears that out of 85 persons subject to the public charity in that place, 71 had become so from their intemperance, and that out of 118 supplied at their own houses by the town, more than half are of that description. The expences of the town in its charities exceed 6000 dollars, and more than two thirds of that sum went to support such persons as were made poor by their vices. Of consequence, 7000 persons are taxed 4000 dollars by the vices of their neighbors. From these well known facts the report proceeds to calculate almost half a million of dollars paid in the same way in this state only, and if in the same proportion in the United States, the whole amount must be millions. all enquire what can be done. We cannot take away personal liberty. We cannot prohibit spirituous liquors. We cannot punish persons not convicted of any breach of the laws. We cannot distinguish in the business of life, because the rich are sometimes as blame-worthy as their less wealthy neighbors. We can say that when any persons are committed to the public charity, they shall be properly guarded against temptations. That their hab its shall be considered, and all restraints which can consist with health, shall be laid. We might hope that some laws of education and life might obtain. But as no love of fame, no great talents, or public trusts, can be said to have been sufficient to prevent men and nations from the guilt and the sbame of intemperance we have a right in

the administration of charity to regard not only the health and hopes of the sufferers, but the safety and the economy of civil society.".

The report of the Moral Society exhibits the ravages of intemperance on property. The following lines, which I cut out of one of the Philadelphia newspapers a year ago, depict its barbarous inroads upon domestic felicity; in comparison with which money is “trash."

DISSIPATION.

NOT the jaws of Charybdis nor the hoarse rocks in Scylla,
Not all the fell dangers that lurk in the deep,
Not the earthquake's deep yawn, nor the volcano's lava,
Not the pestilence's breath, or the hurricane's sweep;

Not all the dread monsters that live thro' creation
Have caused such destruction, such mis'ry and woe,
As from that arch pest of mankind, Dissipation,
Through the civilized world incessantly flow.

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'Tis a vortex insatiate on whose giddy bosom
The victim is whirl'd till his senses are gone,
Till, lost to all shame and the dictates of reason,
He lends not one effort to ever return.

Ah! view on its surface the ruins of genius,

The wreck of a scholar, the christian and friend!
The learning, the wit, the graces that charm'd us,
In the mind-drowning bowl meet a premature end.

Ah! hear, drown'd in tears, the disconsolate mother,
Lament the lost state of a favorite son,

Hear the wife and the child, the sister and brother
Mourn a husband, a father, a brother undone.

One of the principal funnels to the insatiable vortex of intemperance is the generally prevailing popular error, that the temperate use of ardent spirits is innocent and even healthful and necessary. I was chilled with surprise and almost with despair, to hear several of the chosen guardians of our national welfare, standing in their places in the House of Representatives, proclaim their sentiments that" distilled spirits had become one of the necessaries of life, that the farmer could not do without it in his agricultural labors, and that to impose heavy taxes on

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it would be oppressive to industry.”* But I was much gratified however, to see that a majority, (though a very small one) were of a different opinion. It was strongly urged by one gentleman that whiskey is an important article of manufacture; that it adds to the wealth of this nation, and ought to be encouraged by our government. The eye that cannot perceive that the reverse is the fact must be both morally and politically blind. For a community to permit or encourage the importation or manufacture of distilled spirits, for the sake of the revenue derived therefrom, is precisely the same policy as it would be to institute premiums for the construction of daggers to stab its own vitals with.

When

Extract from Darwin's Zoonomia Sec. 30. the expediency of laying a further tax on the distillation of spirituous liquors from grain was canvassed before the House of Commons some years ago, it was said of the distillers, with great truth, “they take the BREAD from the people and convert it into POISON!" Yet is this manufac tory of disease permitted to continue, as appears by its paying into the treasury above l. 900,000,† near a million of money annually. And thus, under the names of Rum, Brandy, Gin, Whiskey, usquebaugh, wine, cyder, beer, and porter, alcohol is become the bane of the Christian world, as opium of the Mahometan.

Evoe parce, Liber,

Parce, gravi metuende thyrso !-HOR."

O from grievous sting of Bacchus' fatal dart,
Be preserv'd-defend yourself with all your art!

But it is almost as useless to expostulate with veterans in the ranks of Bacchus, as with those who are confident that they are under the power of witchcraft. This fact is well illustrated by the reply of a boozy tipler to a Quaker of Baltimore, who informed me that he was rep

"Let not be said ardent spirits have become necessary from habit in harvest, and in other seasons of uncommon and hard labor. The habit is a bad one, and may be easily broken. Let but half a dozen farmers combine in a neighborhood to allow higher wages to their laborers, &c."-DR. RUSH. The farmers in one of the counties of Pennsylvania have lately adopted public resolutions to suppress the use of distilled spirits amongst their laborers, at all seasons.

† About 4,000,000 dollars.

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