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THE WASHINGTONIAN:
AUGUSTA, OCTOBER lg, 1842.
Washington Total Jlbsiinfnce Pledge.
We, whose names are hereunto annexed, desirous
of forming a Society for our mutual benefit ,
and to guard against a pernicious practice ,
which is injurious to our health, standing and
families, do pledge ourselves as Gentlemen,
not to drink any
gpiritous or Malt Liquors, Wine or Cider.
List of Agents for the Washingtonian.
■Has-uS*
Dolohntga —C. B. Leitner.
Covington—C. Pace.
Decatur— L. Willard.
Mhene— E L. Newton.
Marietta— Jamca F. Cooper.
Columbus —R. Boyd.
SanderniUe—A. G. Ware.
Social Circle —J. L. Grealism.
Lincolnton —Henry J. Lang.
CrawfordvilU —Hev. John W. Wilson.
Warrenton —Ellphalet Hale.
Culbreath’s— Rev. C. Collins.
Sparta —N. C. Sayre.
McDonough —Wm. L. Gordon.
CaitviUe— Rev. Mr. Howard.
Arrangements for the Celebration ot the
Anniversary of the Washington Total
Abstinence Society of Richmond County.
The Committee, to whom was assigned the
duty of making arrangements for the celebralion
of the Anniversary of our Society, on the 31st
instant,
report:
That they have procured the Presbyterian
Church; and have engaged the valuable services
of John Richards, Esq. to prepare music suitable
for the occasion- John Milledgc.Esq. has kind
ly consented to favor the Society with an Address;
when it is expected Richard P. Taylor, Esq. will
also be present and address the Society. The
Pews right and left of the centre aisle will be re
served solely for the ladies, a large number of
whom we hope will honor us with their attend
ance. We would recommend the following
Order of Exercises.
Music.
Prater .
Reading op thf. Annual Report.
Music.
Address bv Col. John Mu.ledge.
Music.
Address by Richard P. Taylor, Esq.
Music.
As it is highly probable that the exercises will
continue to so late an hour that the time tor the
election of our officers'would he limited, wo re
commend that the election be deferred until our
regular meeting, on Friday evening, 4th Novem
ber, 1842.
All which is respectfully submitted.
J. G. DUNLAP, t
H. HUFF, > Committee.
G. A. INGRAHAM,)
'Stand aside andtlet Old Richmond speak!’
The first Monday in this month was n day big
with fate, to both political parties in this county
—their whole strength was rallied at the ballot
box, and instead of the loud, bacchanalian shout,
which formerly announced the trio of voters led
by some prominent member of the party to which
they were attatchcd, cooly and deliberately exer
cised that greatest of privileges, the right of suf
frage, as it should ever be done by men worthy of
the title of freemen—in their sober senses. Ne
ver, since our time in old Richmond County—
(and we have spent our days from youth to man
hood in it, and witnessed some “Georgia Scenes”
—some ‘Bob Stallons’ and ‘Bill Durham’ ‘cavor
tings'— ‘ round about the Courthouse,’ on the
day of election,)—have we witnessed as peacea
ble an election, as on the first Monday of Octo
«ber, 1842. Long will it be remembered by the
friends oi Temperance and good order.
The “Bloody 600dth” of Richmond County,
(who have been misrepresented in several Euro
pean newspapers, as a‘ body of six hundred men!
somewhere in North America, notoriousfor their
desperate character at elections'!) composed of
men who are the bone and sinew of our happy
country—men who, in the language of Marshall,
could fell hundreds of their country’s foes, did
occasion require—marched in procession, in un
broken phalanx, to deposite their votes Tor the
man of their choice. Men worthy of the name
of Washingt. njans and Moral Reformers.-
Reader, the mass of that body of voters, are true
friends to mankind, the friends of liberty, peace
and good order—members of the Washington
Total Abstinence Society, who are pledged to
abstain from drinking a poison which is injurious !
to themselves anil ruinous to their country.
We desire only to give a sketch of the good or
der, as witnessed at the polls on that day. We
attribute the cause to the advancement of Tem
perance, since the formation of the Washington
ian Society among us. And we are glad to in
form the friends of this glorious Reform abroad,
that not only our county, but the whole State of
Georgia, arc fast rallying to the call of their coun
try. Temperance Societies are springing up in
almost every village and town, and their advocates
enlist in the cause with ardor.
Proceedings of the Washington Total Ab
stinence Society of Augusta.
Unitarian Church, Oct. 7,1812.
The Society met this evening, according to
adjournment, and was opened in the usual man
ner, with prayer, by Mr. James Godby. The
minutes of the previous meeting were then read
and approved.
James S. Hook, Esq. then arose and addressed
the meeting in a chaste, eloquent and impressive
manner—His arguments for the cause were con
clusive—his appeals to the young and old were
happily conceived, and delivered in a manner
well calculated to make a deep and lasting im
pression on all present.
Mr. L. D. Lallerstedt, then followed in a very
pretty and forcible address, giving very general
satisfaction.
Several other short addresses were made by
other friends of the Cause; and, at the request of
a member of the society, a piece, published in the
Washingionian, styled the “ Drunkard's Bible,”
was read by the Secretary.
1 he meeting then adjournal to meet on next
Friday night, in this place.
WM. HAINES, Jr. Sec’ry.
[Extract of a letter from a subscriber in Marietta.]
Temperance and Court Week.
Marietta, Ga. Tuesday Night, >
Sept. 27th, 1842. \
Our Society mot pursuant to adjournment, in
the Methodist Church. The favor of God was
imploral. Messrs. Peeples, Millner and Alex
andria, then addressed the audience, in a very
able and appropriate manner. It was an inter
esting meeting. After the debate had subsided,
the pledge was announced ready for accessions,
when ten signed.
Thursday night, Sept. 29. The Society and
a large concourse of citizens, met in the Presby
terian Church. Prayer was offered to God, by
Rev. Mr. Ballding. Thajneeting was then ad
dressed by tile same gentlemen, as before, in
their usual eloquent and enforcing manner. At
the close, Col. Night made a few appropriate re
marks, as touching criminal cases at the Bar;
b ivc subscribed to the Pledge, thereby declared
themselves enemies to the worst of all enemies—
Alcohol.
I approve the plan as adopted at our term of
Court—Let those men of talent and oratory take
the field, in good earnest, and the great struggle,
as in the Revolutionary campaign, will soon end.
Washingtonians! * what thou doest, do quickly.’
Come forward, with all your might—roll on that
ball, until it rolls down the contents of the last
goblet, and presses the demon Alcohol info non
entity.
Yours, &c. J. M. C. S.
The following is an extract of a letter from a
friend, dated,
Clarksville, Ga. October 9th, 1842.
“We have had a complete revolution here.—
Mr. Richard P, Taylor lectured three nights,
commencing the 26th ult., and I cannot in this
letter tell you all the good he has done in so short
a time, suffice to say, that many r try hard cases
have been reformed—some of them, who had not
seen a sober day in years before Mr. Tay
lor came here, now are doing well, and are
very firm, although many temptations arc thrown
in their way. At our public election, on Mon
day last, there was but two drunken men in
town, and they were from a distance, and by
night they had left our town, and every thing
was quiet. Heretofore, on the nights of an elec
tion, the drunkards (and there were many of
them) were lying about in the streets all night,
and disturbing the citizens, &c. Some of the
reformed, who before spent what little they earn
ed in liquor, are now' carrying home to their fami
lies their earnings daily, in Bacon, Flour. &c. •
and to show, further, what good it has done,
some of the above reformed, who have not been
seen in church in ten or twelve year.-, now attend
church regularly, and in good clothing, in place
of their old and patched rags.
“On the night after Mr. Taylor left here,
(29th ult.) we met and organized a Society, un
der the name of the Washington Total Absti
nence Society of Habersham County, and to
hold weekly meetings.—Our first meeting was
held last night, and a great crowd attended, when
several persons came up and signed the pledge.
We have already 131 members, and, as Ire
marked before, some of them ha v e been as great
drunkards as any in the State; and although we
have done well, we hope still to do better, as we
arc all committee men: and ladies and all up and
doing.
“ The following are thcoflicers of our Society,
viz:—E. S. Barclay, President ; Thompson Allan
and A. G. Perryman, Vice-Presidents; Lewis
I Levy, Recording Secretary; Rev. FT. Havcrstick,
| Corresponding Secretary; John T. Carter, Trea
surer—Standing Committee, John W. H Un
derwood, A. G. Pitner, Walter Turnbull, Wm.
Woodward,John W. Martin, J. T. Edmondson,
A. P. Phillips, Wm, C. Hitch and W. T. Tram
mell/’
For the Washingtonian.
The Committee ofthe Washington Total Ab
stinence Society, appointed to prepare an Address
l to the Citizens of DcKalb County, on the subject
of total abstinence from the use of intoxicating
liquors, report the following
ADDRESS:
Fellow-Citizens : —Our public and private,
social, political and religious interests, are so
1 dentified with yours, that whatever injures you,
injures us—whatever benefits you, benefits also
ourselves.
Our aim is briefly to set forth the principles and
designs of our society. First: It is not for politi
, cal effect —does not design to unite Church and
i State—interferes with no religious society—
i teaches no religious doctrines—requires no tests
of membership—takes away no man’s liberty—
has no connection with any society in or out of
the state; but is the Total Abstinence Society of
DcKalb County. The names of members are
reported only to our own society. Since we have
in our society, Baptists, Methodists and Presby
terians, as well as men of no religious creed, how
can we advance the interests of any one denomi
nation above others!
Or can we make political capital for any party,
! since wc have both Whigs and Democrats, coin-
I bined for this one purpose, lone and solitary—
i to promote the cause of total abstinence from the
\ use of intoxicating liquors 1 Nothing moro—
-1 nothing less. Do you say, that wc may change
our object, and that you cannot trust us 1 Wc
ask, were you to invite your neighbors to assist
you in raising your house, or in rolling logs, and
they should answer, your ostensible purpose is a
good one, but when you have convened us, you
may change your object, and form a “poney
; club” or a band of traitors,—wo will not help you.
"Wouldyou feel complimented by their remark'?
Yet it contains as much good sense as your ob
jection to our society.
Upon whom rests the responsibility cf the #c
valence of inebriety ? Does it all fall on the
inebriates themselves? Certainly not; but its
i full share rests on the part of the com
t munity, who, with the moderate drinkers, contri
bute their full share to the |onc of public senti
ment which favors the use of intoxicating liquors.
The Committee cannot notice, in this short
address, all the objections to our pledge; but none
have yet been presented sufficient to induce in
us repentance for the step we have taken. Ma
ny of our personal friends, who hon'cstly opposed
us at first, are now friends to our cause.
We express our grateful acknowledgments to
those professed Christians who have espoused our
cause, and have taken the inebriate by the hand
and strengthened his resolution of reformation.
Yet some professed Christians spurn the thought
of associating with reformed inebriates. Suffer
the inquiry: Would you reject a candidate for
church-membership, merely because he had been
i a great sinner? Would you say that he could
never be worthy of your notice, however thorough
his reformation ? Does not your conduct, in re
j jecting the claims of the inebriate, savor a little
1 ofthe spiritjof the Pharisee :--“God, I thank thee
that I am not as other men are or even as
this publican.” “ Stand by thyself, come rot
1 near to me; for lam holier than thou ?”
We ask temperate men, who, we have already
remarked, must bear their full share of the blame
tor the prevalence of intemperance, shall a stop
be put to the flood of intemperance in our land ?
Will you throw tbe weight of your influence in
favor of sobriety and morality 1 Who pays the
taxes, and all expenses attendant upon the crime
induced by drunkenness 1 Does not the ex
pense fall most heavily on the temperate part of
the community 1
Your self-interest, your philanthropy, your
patriotism, all require your influence in our be
half.
Wc address what are emphatically called hard
cases. Allow us first to define what we mean by
hard drinking. We mean not only that which
throws a man into the ditch; hot that daily prac
tice of dram-drinkiDg which keeps the subject's
head alwayshot. Wc submit, whether the man.
who drinks his pint or quart a day, but is
never known to stagger or fall, does not more
deserve the appellation of a hard case, than
one. who two or three times aycarfinds himself
in the ditch ?
Experience shows that no one is so far gone
that he cannot reform. We present no new the
ory—no new arguments. It was just as true
twenty years ago. as it is now, that total absti
nence from the use of intoxicating drinks would
produce sobriety; but we have now fifty thousand
reformed inebriates, and expect soon to have one
hundred thousand more, to prove that the system
works well.
The secret of our success lies perhaps in this—
that the reformed relate their experience; and
such experience as sober men never dreamed of,
and which strikes them with horror; but their
experience does not stop with a relation of their
drunken sprees—it shows them in their reformed
characters and standing, with happy families—
themselves also happy.
No eloquence, but the eloquence of truth, is
necessary to convince the drunkard that he is
wrong; indeed, no argument could convince him
that he is right, for he feels that he is wrong.
Wc say to all hard drinkers, join us, keep your
pledge, and you are safe.
Wc anticipate your answer—“ We can livens
temperate without the pledgees with it.” W o
ask, where are your thousand promises made to
yourselves and families? Have you not almost
always broken your private and secret promises ?
—Always saying to yourselves, this shall be my
last spree; no one knows my promise but my
self- this once —1 will neverindulgcagain ?Wc
appeal to your own observation and experience..
Would you not suppose one hundred such pro
mises were broken, where one of our pledge is
viotafed ?
There is no magic, no potent charm in the
pledge; but while human nature remains what
it is, signing the pledge will strengthen the reso
lution, and increase the interest of every one who
signs it.
Try it for yourselves.
To those who style themselves moderate drink
ers, but who may some of them, according to our
definition, be termed hard cases, we say your path
is familiar to some ot us—it bids fair, but leads
astray; it is the road—the only road to drunken
ness. You have now greater inducements to
quit the use of intoxicating drinks, than those
who have taken their last degree. You may rest
assured, that there is nothing sweeter or better in
the bottom of the cup than you have already
tasted. You are not safe in the use of intoxicat
ing drinks, even moderately. Did any moderate
drinker ever intend to become a drunkard? Is
he not the last man to be convinced that he is not
a sober man ? He will own that he has taken,
some” pretty stiflisprees,”butyetis no drunkard.
Moderate drinkers are never safe—never sure
They are all in danger of becoming drunkards.
Do you cite us to men who have all their lives,
for forty or fifty years, been in the daily habit of
using intoxicating liquors, and yet were never
known to be drunk? You own that these are
exceptions ; and you will find these men persons
of active habits. Let them but give up active
business, and how soon docs their moderate
drinking glide into fireside sottishness.
Nor can we close this address without respect
fully noticing our female friends.
Napoleon induced the mothers of France to in
fuse into the minds of their children so great a
thirst for martial honor, that they longed to be
men, that they might enter the battle field and be
crowned with martial glory. What the mothers
of France did for their sons, the mothers of Ame
rica may do for theirs—train them, not to follow
a conqueror, but to make themselves the con
querors of intemperance, at whose shrine thou
sands of victims have been sacrificed.
Did these mothers effect their object on the
parade-ground, or in the battle-field? No, but