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AUGUSTA WASHINGTONIAN. vw - w ' vw\w» vwvwvi\v%>\ W %w\wiwv\wuw\ww»\vw\vw\ w\\v\v' w\\M^^ Mv^MV|> . l^I . wxnuaui © ®l?si s&mUp swi • t® &smms&uw 9 iJgiri&mlUimi?sl k « Vol. IL] - - £{ir S^.iJhuifjtonttiu “WILL BS PUBLISHUD EVERY SATURDAY MOR.YIXO, BY JAMES MsGAFEERTY, At the low price of one dollar pf r annum, for a liin'rie subicriber. f ve dollars for a club of j B!X, or ten dollars for a club of twelve sub- I scribera —payment, in advance. All Oo n nuoicalions, by mail, aililresseil to the publisher, must be post paid to receive atten i tion. By the rules of the Post-Offi :e Depart ment, Post misters may frank subscription miney for Newspap -rs. Advertisements) will b ■ inserted at the follow ing re.iuce.J rates:—For one square, not <tc ceedino twelve lines. 50 cents for the first insertion, and twenty-five cents for each enn tinumce, if published weekly, if semi-monthly 37J ; and if monthly 43| cents, tor each con tinuance. Yearly advertisers 10 per ct. discount. Dec at-r, Ga. July 12th, 1843. Editors Washingtonian : We enclose for publication the Oration pro nounced by \V. H. Dabney, Esq. i n the 4th inst.; it being the first anniversary of the Decatur To tal Abstinence Society. The committee deem it unnecessary to detail the minor proceedings and arrangements of the day, all of which are matters of course, and con sequent accompaniments of ail like celebrations. The Presbyterian Church was crowded to overflowing. Two original p'.eces were sung by 1 the Choir. The insignia of the banner is a huoe pitcher, wi»h the inscription “ Cold Water," surmounted with the motto “ Hold fast that which is good." The committee subjoin the answer of Mr. Dabney, to their note. Df.catck, July 7th, 1843. Gentlemen —ln compliance with the request contained in your nofp ot the 4t‘i instant, I place in your hands a copy of the address which 1 de livered upon that occasion before the Temperance Society at this place. W.Vr. H. DABNEY. Messrs. Wm. Ezzard, John W. Fowler, Levi Willard, 1.. C. Simpson, R. M. Brown, T. B. George—Ex. ComimtUe. AD DUES'*. Fei.low.Citize.ys Since wc first cleared our intention to separate flwin the mother country, sixty-seven yeftts have gone by, attended with the various vicissitudes of peace and war—of prosperity and adversity, through which every infant community seems doomed to pass. Like the ship that is tossed hy the winds and waves, we have been disturbed by foreign foes and do mestic discontent. But as the course of the vessel is smooth and rapid after the violence of the storm is passed, so is our history marked by an unexampled degree of national and individual prosperity. The dense forest, beneath the deep and solemn shade of which the Indian was accustomed to roam, has been felled by tiie axo of the woodman, and the shrill war-whoop that affrighted tho inhabit ants of the wood, has been superseded by the merry song of the ploughman. Bv the hand of industry the wilderness has been made to blossom as tho rose, and the murmur of the stream as it went dan cing on it 3 way amid rocks and shoals, has been hushed in the noise of machine ry. Upon the bosoms of the many ma je-itic rivers that adorn and beautify the country, the sails of commerce have been unfurled, and are now wafting to distant climes the products of a highly fertile! soil. By the spirit of enterprise, hills and mountains have been levelled, and the chain almost completed by which nature seem 3 to have intended to connect the extremes of the country. Upon the ruins of the wigwam institutions of learning j have been erected, and the muses now. dwell amid the roaring cataracts, sighing groves and murmuring cascades, where once the untutored Indian was accustom ed to commune with the great Spirit.' By the control which has been acquired over one of the subtlest agents, distance has been almost overcome, and the moun tains brought into familiar intercourse with the sea-board. The grand and pic turesque scenery of the country has been graphically delineated by the pen of ge nius, and the hidden beauties of nature brought to light by the marching eye of philosophy. The rich marble that lay concealed beneath the surface of the ground has been extracted, and had im parted to it an almost living beauty by the chisel of the artist. The portals of knowledge having been thrown open alike to the rich and the poor, the character of agricultural and mechanical pursuits has been elevated, and they now receive at tention as interesting fields for scientific research and investigation. The absurd doctrines that fetter tiie energies of the mass of the people in the old world find ing no place in our institutions, every branch of national and individual inter est has been favored with a success une qualled in the annals of the past. A consideration, therefore, of tho causes from which have resulted such happy ef fects, and of the means by which they may be perpetuated, cannot fail to awa ken emotions suited to the occasion upon which we have assembled. To look back through the vista of the past, and observe the trials and difficul ties through which the country has pass ed, its rapid progress seems less indebted to human effort than to an agency divine. To escape from an atmosphere poisoned by the spirit of persecution, our pilgrim fathers left their ancestral halls, and braved the dangers of the deep lo find a home in the forest of the new world.— Here, in the wild woods, they sought re fuge from the corruptions of the old world, and exposed themselves to dangers and difficulties, in order to enjoy the privi lege of worshipping God according to the ’ dictates of their own consciences. In the rights and privilege claimed by the I first settlers, we discover the germ of the . free and liberal principles that character ised at a later period the contest between the Colonies and the Crown of England. > The British government becoming jeal , ous of the increasing prosperity and growing importance of the Colonies, en , ileavored by arbitrary legislation topara -1 lyze the energies of an active and enter prising people, and to subdue the bold and . daring spirit that had driven the savage to his hiding place. But the minds of the people being pervaded by a spirit of t liberty, as irrepressible and elastic as the ■ air they breathed, they girded on their - armor and determined to resist the first j • approach of tyranny. Being untrained I to the art of war, and having an enemy superior in number and discipline to con- j 1 tend with, the success of the Colonies ! • seems more atlributable to the justice of (heir cause than to physical strength. Since tho termination of that memora ble struggle Which resulted in the triumph of liberal principles, our progress has not 1 been without interruption. Party spirit, . that bane of all free institutions, has well. I nigh defeated tho successful operation I of a political system which is without a parallel in the annals of the past. But 1 the saving spirit which seems to have 1 attended us as a tutilarv divinity calmed the raging passions and caused sober re flection to triumph over blinded zeal. 'Phe tendency of republican institutions to develope the social, physical and intel i lectual energies of man, is not onh ex emplified in the progress of our own country, hut in tho prosperity ihat has marked the history of other nations. Far back in the history of the past, we discov cr nations rising, under the influence of liberal principles, to greatness and glory. As the vegetable kingdom is refreshed ! and enlivened by the evening dew—so ! are the social, physical and intellectual energies of man quickened by the influ ence of mild and liberal institutions. Like an extensive waste, the world, under the operation of the absurd doc trine that man was created for govern ment, and not government for man, of fers not an object to engage the evo or cheer the heart. As darkness is conse | quent upon the going down of tho sun— i so is slavery, the most abject, the result ; of tho false notion that kings sit upon their thrones by virtue of rights divine. On looking into the history of the past, it is only when a community blessed with Iree and liberal institutions is observed, j that man i 3 seen in his true character. Fettered by the chains of despotism, he exhibits only such feelings and inclina tions as belong to the brute ; but being j excited to enterprise and activity bv the ! influence of liberal principles, he bounds from earth to heaven, and finds out the laws that govern in their courses distant worlds. More withering, by far, than despotism, is the influence of alcohol upon the phys ical and intellectual energies of man. As the eagle, deprived of its wing-feath ers, is prevented from an escape into the atmosphere, so is the mind of man bound to earth by the influence of alcohol.—lt disorders the imagination, makes dull the perception, and weakens the judgment: indeed, it deranges and enfeebles the ac tion of that cluster of faculties, the heal thy exercise of which throws such a halo around the character of man. By its : withering influence, the light that shone; 1 from the seven hills upon which rested j 1 the mightiest empire of olden times was extinguished,and “ darkness covered the 1 land, and gross darkness tho people. 1 For near a thousand succeeding years ' the world slumbered in ignorance and 1 superstition, and not an influence opera- < AUGUSTA, GA. SATURDAY, JULY 22, 1843. - » ted upon the soul of man, save a desire to gratify immediate wants. This long night of intellectual darkness in the his tory of man, resulted from the effeminacy produced in Roman character by the ex cessive use of wine. Man’s energies, during this period, being bound up by the chains of despotism, industry languished and knowledge and learning disappeared, leaving him a fit companion far the beast of the forest. But as the soul of the mariner, whose bark has been tossed to and fro’ by the winds w.. ves on a dark and stormy night, is cheered by the faint twilight that precedes the rising of the sun, so is the heart of the philanthropist gladdened by the dawning of the doc trines in the beginning of the sixteenth century, that were to dissipate the thick mist of ignorance and error, and to raise man to his proper place in the scale of existence. The invention of the art of printing, and the revival of letters which had previously taken place, constituted powerful auxiliaries to the success of doc trines with which was identified the fu tore interest and happiness of mankind. The only weapons used by Luther and his associates in propagating the doc trines for which they contended, were reason and persuasion. But ignorance having recourse to the sword, as had ever been its custom, markedhts progress with ruin and desolation. The reformation constitutes an interesting period in the world’s history: It ii the source to which may be traced at interesting con test between liberal jmd enlightened principles on the one hand, and ignorance and error on the other. An active spirit of enquiry having becni awakened in the minds of the people, kings and priests used their utmost endeavors to suppress | it, lest it might result in an overthrow of | established systems, Consequent upon j which would take place a diminution of regal and ecclesiastical authority. But i a perception of the evil tendencies of civil j and religious despotism, together with a; proper notion of their unhealthy influ. enccupon individual happiness and pros perity, having been aw akened in the j minds of the oppressed of Europe, they J braved the dangers of the sword and ter. rors of the inquisition. Indeed, from the j clash of swords and tortures of the rack, j were evolved inanifestfitions of a spirit] as uncontrolable as the electric fluid. Though death and sorrow followed in the wake of the convulsions that were consequent upon the struggle that theu commenced between ignorance and error, and liberal principles, yet the latter in every contest gained a vantage ground from which was derived increased strength and vigor. As the stream that winds its way beneath the surface of the ground, occasionally rising to view and then disappearing, increasing in size and velocity as onward it flows, until it dis charges itself into the broad ocean—so had liheral principles been gradually gaining ground, until their final triumpn in the United States. Upon thoerouch ingof the lion of England at the feetofi the American eagle, liberal principles as-1 sUmed a position defensive, instead ofj aggressive. They have now to defend and protect themselves against the insidi- i otis attacks of tyranny and despotism, i Their only comrade is virtue, and their only weapon intelligence. But their enemies, tyranny and despotism, call to ' their assistance vice and immorality— and in order to give courage to their as. sociates and point to their weapons, they exhort to intemperance. The use of ar tificial stimulants is coeval with the exist ence of civil society, and the evil> to which they give rise, are coeval with their use. The art of extracting wine from the grape in countries where the vine flourished, ranks among the earliest discoveries of the human mind ; and in countries not favorable to the growth of the vine, such was the fertility of man’s genius, as to discern means by which stimulating liquids could be obtained from other products. Such was the high re pute of wine among the ancients, and their fondness for it, that they appropria ted to it a tutelar divinity, in whose ser vice drunkenness constituted the chief < exercise. The baleful effects resulting 1 from the use of wine having been observ- j ed by Mahomet, he forbade it to his fol lowers ; and such was the care of the ancient Carthagenians for the public morals, and their fear lest they might be undermined by the influence of wine, i that they were accustomed to exhibit in the public streets a drunken slave in i order to inspire the minds of the youth with disgust and contempt for the vice. Indeed, in the better days of the Roman i empire, such was the contempt with I which the vice of drunkenness was view, ed, that the soldiers, as they passed by the unfortunate individual, who in a fit of intoxication suspended himself upon a tree, were accustomed to exclaim, “ there hung 3 a bottle of wine.” The after de generacy in Roman character resulted from the excessive use of wine. Indeed, wine was the canker that consumed the very vitals of the Roman empire. That social and political interest advance in proportion to the progress of liberal prin. ciples, is established by a consideration of the difference that now obtains in the condition of the several nations upon the eastern continent. As the eye is an index to the soul of man—so is the constitution of a country an index to its condition. On looking into the nature of the Eng lish government, we discover a beautiful admixture of monarchy, aristocracy and democracy. Instead of receiving privi leges as a boon from the government, the people assert their rights in the House of Commons, and in default of audience the government is disabled from performing its functions. Hence,, life and energy are given to individual indus try and enterprise, in consequence of which the interest of the country has ad vanced, and now it b England’s boast, that upon her dominions the sun never sits. But in other countries, where the absurdities of the dark ages still prevail, and where the voice of the people is not heard in the council chamber, poverty j and distress mark the condition of the j inhabitants. Nor is the contrast in a moral and intellectual point of view less striking. Upon the seagist isle, the sun of knowledge shines with meridian splen dor, enlarging the capacities of the soul, and furnishing means inexhaustible for their gratification. Science and litera | ture, adorned with the beauties of the ! gospel, havo elevated and ennobled the | character of the people, and given to I England a superiority unrivalled even by ; the golden age of antiquity. In other countries ignorance and superstition still hold dominion over the minds of the peo j pie. The loftiest aspiration ot the soul is to escape the displeasure of an uufeel ing despot: and the noblest thought that j engages tho mind, is the immediate grat ification of the appetite. On looking into the constitution cf our | own country, and considering how near has been its approach to pcrlection, the bosom of every citizen must swell wiih joy and gratitude for the blessing ofhav ing his lot cast in a land so highly favor ed.—lt b a beautiful embodiment of principles, extracted from tho past histo ry of the world, and well suited to the government of a free and intelligent peo ple. In respect to it, it is difficult for the mind to conceive of a material improve rnent that can be made. Under its oper ation, a country of vast extent has rapidly grown in importance, and enjoys a flat tering prospect ofshining as a star of the first magnitude in tho galaxy of nations, ’ere many years shall have gone by. It i becomes, then, a matter of deep concern ! to the American people to preserve it in J its essential principles, and to guard and ! protect it against the approach of that ! numbness and decay to which all human i institutions sec-m to be subject. As the | shore is wasted by the lashing cf the waves, so is the temple of liberty under ' mined by the prevalence of vice and im morality. According to political writers, there arc three original forms of govern ment —monarch} 7 , aristocracy and demo- j cracy—each of which is characterised by ] a separate and distinct feature. In mon-, archy, the sovereignty resides in one! individual, and is more or less despotic,; according to bis nature and disposition. I In aid of the monarch’s will, physical force is not unfrequently employed, and i the administration of the law is not unu sually attended with the sword and the j bayonet,—hence, the necessity of stand*' ing armies. Aristocracy seeks to sustain j itself by the wisdom of its councils; but! democracy depends for its existence, up on the virtue and intelligence of the peo ple. It has been our good lortune to be favored with institutions purely demo cratical. The people, cn masse, consti tutes the source from which emanates all political power—they are the sovereigns of the land, and the officers of govern ment ore dependent upon their wills for the tenures cf their offices. The only means, then, by which poison can be communicated to the vitals of the govern ment, is by first infusing it into the mor als of the people. If tho constitution is wounded by an agent proving faithless to his trust, the elective franchise gives a remedy by which it may be healtd be fore serious consequences result. But if [No. 7. disease first seizes upon the public mor als, and prostrates their energies, death will as surely follow as it does in the tfa ttiral world upon overcoming the energies of the vital organs. Need I illustrate by historical examples ? Go to the plains of Egypt, and while musing among tho ruins, permit your mind to run over tho history of that once mighty and power, hd people, and observe the causes from which havo resulted tho melancholy scenes by which you are surrounded. The public morals, constituting the chief , pillars of the government, of which tho i pyramids that have withstood the rava ges ot time have been considered by some as emblematic, having declined, tho whole fabric tumbled into ruins, and soon their existence as a people expired. Pass from the plains of Egypt to the classic groves of Greece, and holding converse with the mighty spirits that are I there entombed, ask the cause of tho downfall of nations so renowned in histo ry and in song. You will be informed that under a pure state of morals the re ; publics of Greece arose to greatness and glory. But the people having been cor rupted by the introduction of foreign luxu !r}’) they fell a prey to Macedonian con- I quest, and the sun of their existence went down in eternal night. Passing without j further notice than has already been taken j of the cause of the downfall of the Roman ; empire, we are warned by the fate of modern nations that a pure and healthy state of inorals is as essential to the well being of republican institutions, as a pure atmosphere is to the health of man.—- Witness the ephemeral existence of tho Mexican constitution, generally styled the Constitution of ’24, which was char acterised by many free and liberal princi ples. A change of government having taken placo without a corresponding change in the moral and intellectual con dition of the people, the constitution was «hort lived, and recourse was had to a system marked by principles as arbitrary and despotic as the* nature of the present chief officer. To what other cause can wo attribute the failure of the attempts to introduce free principles into the states of South America, than a disregard of the moral and intellectual Qiilture of tho people. Though seed sown by tho hus. bandman amidst thorns and briars, may spring up and flourish for a time, yet, if he neglects to remove the noxious weeds, they will soon wither and die. So re publican institutions, however favorablo they may be to promotion of man's hap piness and prosperity, cannot long exist when vice and ignorance prevail. As the soil needs to bo cultivated in order to yield the harvest, so must the minds and morals of tho people bo cukivated and enlightened in order to perpetuate tho blessings of free institutions. Fired with enthusiasm by the triumph of tho American eagle over the lion of England, the French entered into tho contest for liberal principles, and shook to their centres the despotisms of tho old world. Like an impetuous torrent they boro down for a time all opposition, and filled tho minds of kings and priests with terror and consternation. To dwell upon the scenes of that memorable period in French history, or to consider the 'ten dency of the absurd religious tenets that then prevailed, is not my purpose on tho present occasion—Suffice it to say, that i the minds of the people having been poi | soned by the spirit of infidelity, enthusi ; asm in the cause of liberty soon degen - | crated into licentiousness, and Franco ; seemed to have become “intoxicated with | crime in order to vomit blood.” i Considering the nature of our institu tions, the spirit of the age and our relation to the times in which we live, as has been i well remarked by one, it seems impossible for us to act an obscure part. The eyes lof the world are upon us. The influence 'ofour institutions is being extended to j the uttermost parts of the earth. Mil i lions are rejoicing in the hope cf being liberated from bondage, ’ere many years shall have rolled away, by the spread cf the free and liberal principles that cluer and animate the boserns of our own citi zens. Indeed a crisis has arrived in tho world’s progress. The fate of civil and religious liberty depends upon the success of our institutions. And as the govern ment derives its powers from tire consent of the governed, it is for the people cf the United States to tell to coming genera tions whether or not man is capable of self-government. In the social and po litical as well as in the natural world, the. same causes invariably produce the same effects. As fierce peals of thunder and swift flying clouds give warning of tho coming storm—so is the prevalence of