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zufion become hopelessly extinct, and its very
inline be lost to posterity, the blessings which it
h is already conferred upon rejoicing thousands of
our race is so much clear gain to the stock ol human
happiness. Men as well as institutions may die
in the midst of usefulness, but their influence dies
not with them. The world’s greatest model of
humanity, the beloved T 1 ashington had to close
his earthly career, but while he lived he laid the
foundation of a political superstructure which
shall command the admiration of all future ages,
and gave currency to principles which are at this
hour disturbing the repose of kings, and shaking
the thrones of Europe. So, should our honored
Order sink to rise no more, it has already made
an impress upon national character never to be
erased, it has put in motion a train of moral levers
whose force is even now felt across the continent.
Sth. “Itis a good thing but excuse me , I fear pub
lic sentiment will not sustain you .” Public sentiment!
alas! alas! public sentiment is too often the
drivelling minion of public passion and public ap
petite. It struck the blow of crucifixion at the
world’s Redeemer, and kindled the fires of mar
tyrdom around the holiest of his saints. It is the
heavenly task of the noble minded and the pure,
to essay the correction of public sentiment when
its tendency is deteriorating to public virtue, to
attempt the infusion of a healthier tone ol moral
feeling, and risking fame and fortune, if need be,
calmly abide the issue, enjoying a universe of re
ward in the, “ mcnc sibi conscia recti ” which allies
the human to angelic nature. Many professed
friends of our cause bow to us, it is true, a gra
cious “ God speed,” but then selfishly turn away
and covertly treat their condescending benevo
lence to a sparkling glass, or cringingly court the
suffrage of the dram seller and his satellites in
the next political campaign, by pleading their
-ij;i com liztdl course upon the temperance ques
tion. It might be ungenerous to suppose that
there are not some whose motives for withholding
their aid in the performance of what they are
pleased to denominate “a good thing,” are less
questionable, These wary defenders of our cause
vho carefully shun the badge and banner, and yet
boast of bringing others to our ranks, often re
mind me of a notable Irish worthy, whose ac
quaintance I formed in the chap-books of my boy
hood, the celebrated Faddy from Cork , a butter
milk hero from the land of potatoes. Now Paddy
was a soldier, every inch of him, for he shouldered
a rusty fire-lock, and bobbed a white cockade, and
} addy boasted of his country too. A warm
hearted and excitable soul he was, and so sensi
tive under affronts that he never could look upon
the face of an enemy with satisfaction. Indeed
such was his heroic antipathy to the sight that it
amounted to disgust whenever that enemy ap
proached. Nay, on some occasions his indigna
tion became so uncontrolable, especially if he
caught the glimpse of pointed steel or snuffed the
odor of gun-powder , that he actually resented it
hv wheeling to the right-about, and widening the
distance between them as fast as Irish brogans
could measure it. On a certain occasion how
ever, battle came on. The ranks took the field,
balls were flying, swords were clashing, and men
were falling. Paddy, chagrined and disgusted
beyond measure, soon hurried from the scene
an i safely ensconced himself behind a neighbor
ing shanty, where he squatted and peeped, and
m quianitnously muttered “ vengeance,” until the
battle subsided and the enemy retired, leaving
iheir dead upon the ground. His heroism now
shone hi all its ardor. He rallied out to thecrim
ron field—saw an officer stretched in his blood,
and wielding his lusty sabre with powerful valor,
continued, by repeated strokes, to hack ofF a
1 >g from his body, and bore it in triumph back to
the camp. “ Sae there me harties, what a bould
sovvlgm- can do,” roared our hero as he brandished
tie bleeding limb. “Why Paddy,” cried one of
is mess-mates, “ why didn’t ye do his wark for
him at oust —why didn’t ye whack of his head?”
“ Arrau ! what’s the worth while namin aboot
that, now ?” fretted Pat, “ his head was off before,
1,0 spat})cenF Now he whose love for our cause,
or whose ambition for its honors, is content to be
< haraeterized by Paddy’s Icg-conqucrivg courage,
is privileged to exult in the prospect of Paddy’s
immortality.
9th. “Itis a secret society .” To this stale and
obselote charge, it may be sufficient to reply that
the good sense of mankind has long since decided
that secresy is often indispensable to the happiness
of individuals, the peace of family circles, and the
prosperity of the purest association. When the
<■ and object for which organization has been af
fected, is not only unconcealed , but proclaimed up
on the house-tops, and commands the respect, if
not the applause of an unprejudiced public ; no
man has a right to demand all that transpires at
private meetings, when plans are to be arranged
and mutual confidence strengthened,in order to
facilitate the accomplishments of their ostensible
ends. As well may an officious intermeddler de
mand admission into the sanctum of the domes
tic chamber, when patental love is privately and
prudently administering counsel or correction to
- wayward child, and when denied the privilege of
teasting his eyes upon the scene, clamor forthwith,
agamst the -privacy of family discipline, and petition
bn i dissolution ol family ties. Such obiectors, to
carry out their views, should tfrrest the baliffat his
u ana reveal the legal secrets of the grand-ju
’ y fount ; usurp the janitors key, and disband from
secret session, the grave senators of the nation ;
and break up at one blow, all the literary societies
of Colleges and Universities, which have lived
and flourished for successive centuries, and, which
vet constitute some of the most power!ul stimule
tor the development ol mind, found in our public
Institutes; their past success, and present use
fulness being mainly dependent upon the very
principle of social secrecy.
10th. Our Regalia is objectionable . And why
should itbe? Insignia in various forms but with
similar intentions, have been common to every
age and country. They are only designed to be
brief but expressive indications to t lie natural eye
of the great principles ot our Order. Intended,
first, strikingly to recall to the timid and the wa
vering at each successive meeting in the Division
room the obligations of the “ pledge,” and secondly ,
to constitute, on all public occasions, ar. open con
firmation of our avowed purpose, and commit
us afresh to the interests it involves, feymbols
are daily seen, and often without surprise and
without rebuke by those who censure us, in the
crosier, the gown the surplice,fund the black dress
of the clergy, and in the broad brimmed hat and
crescent-breasted cons of a portion ol the laity ;
in the glaring costumes of city firemen, the gay
uniform of the army and the navy, and even in
the glorious flag of our country , bearing aloft the
golden plumes of the imperial eagle, surmounted
by her canopy of stars. The whole form of Jew
ish worship, too, was symbolic. The embroidered
Ephod of the High Priest, with its gold, and pur
ple, and blue, and crimson—his shoulder knot and
pectoral, his bells and his pomegranates, were all
beautifully expressive and important in their day.
Let it not be urged that these forms and symbols
have been long since abolished, and that a refer
ence to such examples therefore, is entirely irrel
evant. It is enough for us to know that they were
once not only innocent and appropriate but ot Di
vine appointment, and indispensible to the execution
of the Divine plans. Moreover, some of these
ancient badges of the Israelitish nation, designa
ted by Heaven itself, were banded down for suc
cessive generations, and recognised and worn by
the Savior himself. Read the following record in
tha Pentateuch, Numbers 15th chap. 37th to 41st
verse inclusive : “ And the Lord spake unto Mo
ses saying, (3S) Speak unto the children of Israel
and bid them that they make them fringes in the
borders of their garments, throughout their genera
tions, and that they put upon the fringe of the bor
ders a riband of blue ; (39) And it shall be unto
you forafringe that you may look upon it, and re
member all the commandments of the Lord to do
them, &c.”* Here we have one of the character
istic colors and fabrics adopted by our Order (v. e.
blue riband) and for the same specific end, viz :
“ that they may look upon it and remember ” the du
ties to which they are pledged. Now mark the
tenaciousness with which that injunction was ob
served for centuries afterwards, and its faithful
display upon the “hem, us Christ's garment”
touched by the afflicted woman reported by St.
Matthew (9th ch. 20th v.) and called by the evan
gelist Luke, still more exactly in accordance with
the language of Moses “ the border of his gar
ment.” (Luke, Sth ch. 44th v.) Nor is this vague
conjecture. The be-t commentators regard it as
the Divinely constituted emblem recorded in Num
bers, and designed “ for ail the generations” of
the Jews. It is true that since the great anti-type
has come, former symbols and ceremonies having
done their work, are no more needed, but in the
new dispensation new doctrines are to be recognized,
and therefore Christ has consecrated the use of
other appropriate S3 r mbols by which they shall be
kept vividly before the mind. What are the car
dinal ordinances of the Christian church i e Bap
tism and the Eucharist but such lively and expres
sive emblems, designed to obtain in the Christian
church until her militant shall be lost in her trium
phal glory. Lastly, in the magnificent visions of
the Apocalypse, the exalted condition of the
Heavenly Hierarchy and the saints of God is
shown by symbolical representation . Angels “clothed
in pure and white linen, and having their breasts
girded with golden girdles,” indicating their holi
ness and their [strength ; and saints “ clothed with
white robes, and palms in their hands,” evidence
of purity and triumph, were among the “ signs
seen in Heaven ” by the inspired exile of Pat
mos. Now if such symbolic exhibitions are al
lowable in ‘reference to the state of the heavenly
inhabitants, surely they cannot be criminal when
employed to illustrate and promote virtue and
peace upon earth,
See Rev. 7th ch. 9th v. and 13th ch. Ist and
Gth v.
But we have already 1 overgone our intended
limits and must therefore forbear.
Brethren of the Order: —l bail you today in
your pretentionless career of glory, with the full
soul of a pledged brother, and with the grateful
wisdom of an American citizen. And in this pub
lic act of spontaneous congratulation, I feel that
I am but feebly anticipating the loud plaudits
which, in after years shall follow in the wake of
your memories, “ like the sound of many waters.”
Multitudes disenthralled from the galling vassal
age of a tyranous vice : with happy mothers, re
joicing wives and exulting children, shall favor
with their blessings the progress of your cause,
and pour at your feet the tribute of undying grati
tude. The age is just ahead when these bright
medallions and expressive rosettes, honored by
* The author has taken the liberty to italicise n tew words
in the above quotation when reduced to print.
years and consecrated by charity, shall be classed
among the tenderest relics which a reformed and
sober posterity shall press to their bosoms in re
membrance of their ancestors. Nay, more, a na
tion waits to honor your toils, and do justice to
your claims; and unborn millions will incincture
your name with the fadeless evergreens of an
enviable immortality. But to meet this high meed
of heroic virtue, and secure a second indepen
dence to your liberated country, ever remember
the political maxim of a great civilian, i e “eter
nal vigilance is the price of freedom.”
We have entered the field fora co-minus strug
gle with a practiced and powerful foe, the terror
and the scourge of nations. Long, too long, has
the rapacious Hydra preyed upon the beauty and
strength of the land. At length, in this age of
wonders, an American Hercules has been roused
to the chase. The foul foot prints of the Ler
rean beast, are traced in tears and blood and lie
is now hunted in hot haste through city, town and
country with quenchless zeal and deadly resolve,
while ten thousand Jolaus’s are present, and
pledged to sear each bleeding neck, and hail the
final blow with the earth stirring trumpet note —
“ The Monster dies* The world’s deliverance ap
proaches. The day of its moral redemption
draws nigh. The signs of the times proclaim the
future glory of the Temperance reformation, and
now, even now we hail the opening era —the morn
ing twilight of its millenial reign. Then “ pledge
brothers pledge” over this sparkling beverage
distilled from the crystal alembics of your own
granite mountains, andlimpidly bubbling from its
deep channeled home in your native soil, let us
freshlv pledge undying fidelity to the cause we love. ■ —
And with a loftier patriotism and holier purpose
than moved the young Carthagenean Hannibal,
as he kneeled around the altars of his country’s
Gods, let us vow implacable and eternal hate to the
deadly demon, of the distillery. The evening shades
of a closing half century are gathering fast about
us, and our countrymen still fall by thousands.—
We have much yet to do before our triumph is
complete. But a mission of mercy stirs our blood
and the tokens of Heaven, like the air-hung cups
of Constantine, bid us on to conquer. Then
awake my pledge-bound brotherhood, awake to
the midnight roar of the boisterous bar-room—to
the plaintive cries of tattered childhood begging
for bread over a drunken and prostrate father’s
form—to the sighs and tears of heart-broken wo
man, as she keeps her lonely vigils over a fireless
hearth and a dying babe, and ever and anon pales
and trembles under the yell and the tread of a sav
age sot, just reeling to his home from his nightly
debauch, who, in earlier and happier years, won
her virgin heart, and vowed unchanging love and
protection at the alter of his God.
These, these are the scenes that arouse the soul
of goodness, and fire the zeal of philanthropy
for works of mercy’ and love. Millions hail us on
and voices from Heaven and earth, pour loud en
couragements upon the ear of our lengthning files.
From the North and South, East and West, in these
United States, the shouts of 4500 Divisions roll
upon the breeze, and cheer us on to the rescue.
From the frozen peaks of Main, to the sun-lit
capital of the Montazumas ; from the long exten
ded line of Atlantic coast, to the wide-waving
prarics of the west, one fourth of a million of the
purest and best in the land, now kneel to the shrine
of the Wine-God and drink only the sparkling
nectar of the mountains. Let the inebriate world
beware then; the cold-water floods are rising:
the fountains of the great deep are broken up,
*• and the windows of Heaven are opened.” No
earthly power can stay the sweep of the rolling
Waters, until the ruinous rum-furnaces —the alco
holic volcanoes of the land, whose belching cra
ters have for centuries past, vomited fire and
death upon the surronding plains, shall all be en
gulphed in the boundless seas. Vainly shall these
moral iEtnas attempt to make battle with the deep,
and fire contend with flood for mastery. The
deluge grows, and soon their lurid thrones shall
profoundly quake, as revolutionary waves, asleep
for centuries at their feet, overleap their bulwarks
and ascend their heights, to quench in endless
gloom their dismal flames. But far, far aloft upon
the wide, wide, waters, floats our noble ark
spanned by the resplendent bow of Heaven.
Nor helm nor compass steers the steady prow;
Supernal wisdom guides its bold career,
For Temperance rides upon the bridled seas
Encircled by the pinions of her God.
And now, brethren of tqejuvilled and ensigned
host, sprung by the inspiration of this generous
theme, who, O! who can consent to abandon his
“ high position among the sons of men,” and bar
ter the trophies of the past, the triumphs of the
present, and the glories of the future,'for the in
ternal hell of a swinish debauch, and the blood
shot inheritance of an infamous immortality ?
None, surely none. I hear from this vast concourse but
one deep, loud indignant response: — “Never, no, never ,
pledged and redeemed once, we stand pledged and re
deemed forever .” Then at the close of another
Temperance year and another festival hour, with
the heavens in brightness above, and the earth in
smiles below; allow a devoted brother to bid you
a warm farewell, and a hearty God-speed upon
your broad and widening way. This vigorous
faith, without the gift of seer or sybil, ventures to
link your glorious destiny with the triumphal car
of the world’s Redeemer, and the onward spread
* A portion of tho motto upon the beautiful banner of the
Andrew Division of the S. of TANARUS., Oxford No. 3.
of your manly virtues shall but herald the
dor of his noon-tide reign. Then, away • I
to your fields of toil, proclaim your 1
mission of peace, until the wretched and iliq I
ined you seek, shall be found, blessed and I
until, before the admiring gaze of the iIUw ’
and disenthralled nations, the last crazy cask !’• ‘
be heaved from its earthen dungeon into the fp
uing light of day, and a ransomed world ]
shout the long, loud jubilee of freedom, over it'*
neral blaze.
A Fli! END OF TII E~FA MfLy I
SAVANNAH. SATURDAY. J ANUARY K;, ’ I
CALIFORNIA.
The following is extracted from a letter received last Wf f ! I
from California, and which we were not able to publish in,
last issue. The letter is from a gentleman well known in th
city, and his statements may be relied upon.
SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 13,1849.
Friend Purse :— I received a copy of your paper n f t , lv
days since, and behoving a little information from this g o jj
country maybe of service to your readers, 1 have sent by
mail a copy of the Alta Californian, giving the election returns
from this place, and other important information from the ni
ning districis, which I hope will be acceptable. I arrived here
a few day*s since from the mine*, where I have been located f or
the hist five months digging tho prescious metal, but after s ||
this is the spot for gold digging, and a man with business habits
and a little capital can accumulate a fortune in a short time.
A lot next to the Parker house was offered in Juno last for
$ 10,000, and within the last month was sold for $ 00,000
Lots which were offered in the rear of the city at that time
for five and eight hundred dollars, cannot be bought now for
less than two and three thousand dollars, and so it is with all
real estate. Rents are awful high ; houses which would rent
at home for two or three hundred dollars, bring twenty and
thirty thousand dollars. This seems extravagant, but it is nev
ertheless true, and I can inform you in a few words bow some
of the rents are supported.
1 will take a house called the Arcade, for instance, which
pays $ 60,000 per year rent. The lower portion is an open
bar room and contains about ten gambling tables, where Monte,
Rolette, Sec., is dealt and played, each table paying a rent of
S2O per day; and so it is with all the groceries in this town.—
They are thousands of gamblers, and they are accumulation
fortunes. I know of three connected together who have
bought property to the amount of $500,000, and I candidly
believe their income from games and liquors is S3OOO per
day. Every gambling house has a band or some instruments
playing continually, and it would astonish the good people of
our quiet town to see to wlmt an extent gaming is carried orv
here. Board and lodging is worth $33 per week, and labor
very high. Carpenters and other mechanics 10 to S2O per
day. Laborers on the wharves and in the bay $lO per day :
clerks, of which there is a great number, get $250 per month,
and found, and other labor in proportion.
When 1 arrived here in May there was but very few houses,
and now there are hundreds, and you can judge of the popu
lation by the vote, although I will venture to say not one hnlf
of tho people voted. lam afraid Mr. King will not be a Sena
tor from this country, as the Democratic party are, or have
been making very strenuous exertions against him, and the
people in the mines will not vote, they, like myself, having left
politics at homo, or are engaged at more profitable business.
Lumber is selling at from 3 to S4OO per thousand, and senree
at that. Flour has gone up to $35 perbbl. Pork S4O, and
all other provisions in proportion, lam afraid there will boa
great deal of suffering in the mines, ns the rainy season has
set in, and it is impossible to pack during this time. This
place is one mass of mnd, and it is almost impossible to move
along.
Yours, Sec.
STEAMSHIP GEORGIA.
This magnificent leviathan steamer was to have made her
trial trip at the city of New York on Wednesday last. The
papers speak of her as exceeding everything as yet produced
in that city. She is intended to run iu connection with the
steamor Ohio.
GEORGIA STOCKS.
Wo learn through the Augusta Constitutionalist, that on
Monday last a sale of 115 shares Georgia Rail Road Stock, wns
mndo at s99£ pr. share ; and 50 shares Augusta Manufactur
ing Company, at $lO5.
JOHN C, CALHOUN.
The latest intelligence from Washington states that Mr. Cal
houn, although slowly recovering is still quite sick. The dis
ease under which he labors is said to be Pneumonia; a very
formidable tme for a man of his age and habits.
GEN.CASS,
In delivering his great speech in tho Senate at Washington,
last week, pronounced the Wllmot Proviso unconstitutional,
and took strong grounds against its adoption.
FATHER MATHEW.
This far-famed apostle of Temperance, was expected to Ar
rive in our city last evening, and we doubt not that his sojourn
amongst us although necessarily short, will boa source of gen
eral gratification, ns well as tlie means of accomplishing a great
deal of good.
AMUSEMENTS.
Mr. McAllister gave his second exhibition at the Athenaeum
#*
last evening, to a large and highly delighted audience. Mer.t
is always sure to attract attention if properly managed, and
Mr. M. (who is universally styled the Prince of Magicians)
knows not only how to draw a full house, but, better than all,
sends them home satisfied. Could he not give us an afternoon
exhibition for the benefit of the children.
There is a general law or custom in Germany,
that apprentices, after their services, shall travel
two years before prosecuting their trade as mas
ter workmen. Hence the etymojpgy of the word
journeymen.