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I Yol. II No. 32.]
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From the Temperance (Penfield) Banner.
ADDRESS
TO THE CITIZENS OF GEORGIA.
The Committee appointed by the Ealonton Con
vention, to Address the Citizens of the State on
the subject of Temperance, submit the folloit
ing:
It is a fact beyond dispute, that morali
ty is the very essence of civil liberty
| under free institutions. The reason is
I simply because, that under such institution
■ all power proceeds either directly or indi-
I rectiy from the people. If, therefore, the:
I people arc generally moral, they will al
| ways exercise the [rowers and privilege?
| which they enjoy with a disinterested
-1 ness of patriotism only equal to the un-
I hesitating promptitude of their obedience
I to the laws.
On the contrary, it is equally a fact, a?
I fully verified by the history of the past.
I as it is striking to the common sense of
[ every reflecting mind, that a loose mor-
I ality, by a law as unvarying and invaria
[ hie as the law of gravitation, must result
[ in the decline and final destruction of
| republican institutions.
If these tacts are admitted, what, let
us inquire, is the moral condition of our
■country? It is to us a matter of gravest
I import and deserving our most serious
| consideration. From one end of the
country to the other, we have heard of
| nothing so much for the past few years,
| ws the mobs, the riots, the thefts, the tnur-
I ders, and every thing, in a word, which
' could indicate the general immorality and
corruption of our people. The press has
been so crowded with the shocking de
tails of crime, that we can hardly take up
x newspaper which does not contain an
account of some new outbreak against
law and good order, or some tale yet un
told of theft or bloodshed. Never was
there a period in the history of our gov
ernment, say our statesmen, so fraught
with corruption as is the present. Hence
proceeds the gloom which settles and
gathers thick and heavily over all their
speculations concerning the future.
In addition to these facts, are not the
disorders consequent upon the recent
j monetary depression fresh in the recollec
j tionofusall? Was there ever a plainer
| demonstration than was then afforded of
the inefficiency of mere parchment re
strictions when unsustained by the salu
tary restraints of a sound morality ? Re
sistance to the peaceful administration of
justice, was in many places openly dis
cussed, and too often successfully carried
out. There was hence a general feeling
of insecurity, and a felt uneasiness and
anxiety among all law-abiding men, as to
the course of those who seemed disposed
to set aside the supremacy of the laws.
Suck is and has been the moral condi
tion of our country. We presume not to
trace the causes which have combined to
1 produce such a state of things; vet it may
not be unimportant to notice among ma
| nv others, one or two facts which most
certainly exist, and which will operate as
I an aggravation of the present evils in
time to come.
According then to the best estimates
; "’hich have been made, our population
doubles itself every 23£ years. We have
i now a population of seventeen millions.
If the immorality of the country is enough
I to excite the alarm of the patriot now,
what may we expect in the next 23£
I our population will be 34
[ millions ? What in the next half century,
when we shall number 68 millions of‘in-'
i habitants. The causes which operate to
! demoralize our people now, besides being
vastly multiplied in number, will act with
much more power. The people will be
collected in greater masses throughout
the country, and whatever is inflamma
tory of passion and prejudice will be the
more easily enkindled and spread withj
the greater rapidity.
AUGUSTA, GA. SATURDAY, JANUARY 13, 1844.
1 The collection of large numbers of per
sons together, has always been found to
favor the growth and development of our
worst passions. The same man is alto
gether a different creature under the dif
ferent circumstances of solitude and soci
ety. In the one case, he is more apt to
yield to the suggest ions of his reason and
the disinterested goodness of his heart.
In the other, he is the creature of an un
thinking, unreasoning impulse : And thus,
it is, that in the calmness of solitary re
flection, we are often surprised, when we
recur to our association with a crowd,
and recall the iudiscreetness of our re
marks, or the heedless Impetuosity of ourj
actions. Under these various circum
stances, men are not unlike the electric
fluid, which, in its general diffusion over
the earth, gives calm and repose and sun
shine to the world, but concentrated it
seems to loose the lnw of its being, and to
follow no other law hut that of death and
destruction to every thing within the
sphere of its influence.
I
The increased and increasing facilities
of communication by means of the steam
car, are bringing the most distant parts ot
. the country into the same neighborhood.
. The vices of the large cities will thus
, spread through the country, and the mor
als of the people must certainly deterio
rate.
It then appears, that we are grossly
j immoral now', with a certain prospect,
from causes now in operation of becom
ing w'orse in time to come. Arc these
, facts, or are they hot? If they are, it
must be admitted, that our country may
Jhe ruined by her vices. In the lax moral
' tty of our people we have a foe arrayed
I against us, more to be feared for its mini*
Jbers, more insatiable in its hostility, and
more insidious in its attacks, than the
whole army against which we battled for
[•our independence. Against the latter
though against the most powerful odds,
we have fought victoriously. Who cun
. -ay that we Shall he equally victorious
[ over the more formidable enemy, which
, is now silently, yet not the less certainly,
, sapping the foundations of American lib
p erty ? The noble oak which has been
torn, and wrung, and riven by the light
nings of heaven, has sometimes flourished
j!on* green and unwithered in its glory, as
j J if in defiance of the thunders of the tem
j pest; yet, after all, it has fallen beneath
the attack of an unseen enemy at its
) heart. God grant that such may not be
, the type of our destiny ; hut victorious in
t arms, that we may also he able to control
and to conquer our passions.
$ Are you not prepared, then, fellovv-citi
. zens, to aid in the moral reformation of
t|your country? Are you not prepared to
. wage a war of extermination with the
| moral corruption of our people. Let us
• then attack the enemy in the very cita
ded of its strength. Let us rase that to
• its foundation, and the victory is ours.
( That citadel is Intemperance. Hence
. issue the legions of evils, which under
rjdifferent names are constantly sallying
[lforth upon society, leaving nought but
.1 famine and universal desolation to mark
. the track of their invasion.
We cannot present a more condensed
f view, or a more graphic description of the
■ evils of intemperance than one which has
l|been given by a writer in the State of
' Ohio. We gladly substitute it in the
ij place of any thing from ourselves, and
> ask lor it a careful and thoughtful ncru-
I sal.
“And yet its march of ruin is onward
■ still. It reaches abroad to others, invades
i the family and social circle, and spreads
iwo and sorrow all around; it cuts down
■ youth in its vigor, manhood in its strength,
and age in its weakness; it breaks the
father’s heart, bereaves the doting moth
> er, extinguishes natural affection, erases
iconjugal love, blots out filial attachment,
iblights parental hope, and brings down
mourning age with sorrow to the grave.
;It produces weakness, not strength ; sick
ness, not health; death, not life. It
| makes wives widows; children orphans :
fathers fiends, and all of them paupers and
beggars. It hails fevers, feeds rheuma
tism, nurses gout, welcomes epidemic,
| imparts pestilence, and embraces con
sumption. It covers the land with idle
ness, poverty, disease and crime; it fills
jour jails, supplies our alms-houses, and
idemands our asylums; it engenders con
troversies, fosters quarrels, and cherishes
iriots; it contemns law,spurns order, and
loves mobs; it crowds your penitentia
ries, and furnishes victims for your scaf
folds ; it is the life-blood of the gambler,
[the aliment of the counterfeiter, the prop
!of- the highwayman, and the support of
the midnight incendiary; it countenan- ;
ces the liar, respects the thief, and es- I
teems the blasphemer; it violates obliga- <
tions, reverences fraud, and honors info- <
my ; it defames l>enevolence, hates love. <
scorns virtue and slanders innocence; it I
incites the fatherto butcher his offspring, <
helps the husband to massacre his wife. :
and aids the child to grind his parricidal <
axe; it burns up man, consumes woman, I
detests life, curses God, and despises i
Heaven; it suborns witnesses, nurses
perjury, defiles the jury box, and stains
the judicial ermine; it disqualifies voters,
corrupts elections, pollutes our institu
jt’ons, and endangers our government; it
degrades the citizen, debases the legisla
tor, dishonors the statesman, and disarms
■ the patriot; it brings shame, not honor;
■ terror, not safety; despair, not hope;
: misery, not happiness. And now, as with
> the malevolence of a fiend, it calmly sur
i veys its frightful desolations,and insatiate
' with havoc, it poisons felicity, kills peace,
| ruins morals, blights confidence, slays
- reputation, and wipes out national honor,
, I then curses the world and laughs at its |
I ruin. It is stated, too, upon the highest'
| and most unquestionable authority, that
s not less than a half a million of drunk
. ards have existed at any one time in the
. United States for the last twenty years.
That one million and a half have died
- since the acknowledgment of our inde
, pendence; that at least a quarter of a
. million in the same time have been put to
> death by murder and manslaughter from
I drunkenness; another quarter of a mil
r lion have been executed lor murder and
. sentenced to public prisons; making in
} all, the appalling number of two millions
. since wc have been a free people.”
I If, therefore, the evils which have been
“ enumerated in the following extract, do
naturally result from intemperance, is it
; surprising that we hear and read so much
■I of the^mmorality and corruption of our
1 people, when it is considered, too, that
■ intemperance, the great cause of causes.
1 numbers so many among its votaries?
• Ought not. then, every patriot to engage
• in the effort which is now making to rc
-1 move intemperance, this dreadful enemy
■ of our peace, our happiness, and our lib
' erties, from the land. Are we worthy
' of the noble heritage ofour rights and our
liberties, if we make no effort to preserve
' them? Yet after all, it is to he feared
s that there are hundreds amongst us who
‘ —because we have not yet been destroy.
1 ed by our vices—either cannot or will
I not see any danger, unless they see the
redcoat of the British soldier or hear the
- booming of a British gun. They do not
f seem to consider that we can suffer harm
3 except from the artillery, the infantry
i and the cavalry of some foreign foe. To
s such persons we would say, if you will
- give the ‘go-by’ to the teachings of rea
-3 son, go and consult the history of the Re
. publics which are now no more. You
3 will find, if we mistake not, that in every
r instance, the insidious, the ever active.
I the destructive enemy of their own vices
t had enslaved them, long before they ever
i yielded submision to any foreign power.
That already conquered by their own ex
] cesses, an invading army had nothing to
j do but take possession of their territory,
s It is at once our glory and our danger,
f that all power emanates from the people.
. because we are the authors
1 and preservers ofour own rights. We do
. not take them as a boon from anv man or
set of men. And in the exercise of vir
] tue directed by an enlightened view of
3 our best interests, we shall perpetuate a
3 free government to the latest generation,
j Our danger, because the people may bc
t come corrupted. They may cease to ex
. ercise their powers in accordance with
. the dictates of a virtuous and enlightened
j patriotism ; until yielding only to theim
( pulsive madness of passion and the preju
i dices of ignorance, every measure that is
corrupt, may find its sanction in law—
. every man who is ambitious mnv estab
lish his honor by elevation. The legisla
tion of the country necessarily partaking
of the capricious passions which direct it.
the rights of the people may become un
stable and fluctuating; until passing from
one stage to another, civil war may final
ly ensue, and the people at last find thern
; selves writhing under the yoke of the most
galling despotism.
Among the evils of intemperance, we
have barely noticed its tendency to cor
rupt the purity of elections. We will
here add, that in this respect it is a most
dangerous engine in the hands of the
demagogue. By the power which it
gives him, the government is practically
subverted ; for the powers of the people
are transferred from them to those who
have a mind to impose upon them. The
government no longer becomes the gov
ernment of the many, hut the government
ot the few. The demagogue may thus,
through the agency of intemperance,
carry whatever he pleases. If he has any
selfish object to attain, be it merely his;
own elevation, or, what is worse, to filch
by legislative spoliation, the hard earn- 1
ings of his more honest and industrious)
neighbors, ho may successfully employ j
this engine in its attainment. Who hasj
not seen hundreds of our fellow-citizens!
ihe veriest slaves of those who would!
treat at elections; thus ignobly parting 1
with their rights of suffrage, the most
"lorious right of American freeman.—
Whatever may have been our past offen
ces upon this subject, whether they have
been to treat or be treated, let us not per
petuate an evil which may he such a pow
erful instrument in the hands of bad men.
Let us look with suspicion upon men who,
wanting the courage to command our
suffrages by their merits, would insidious
ly steal them by liquor. Let us watch all
candidates, particularly on our days of
election. If they offer to treat us then
we are hound to suspect them, however
plausible the pretexts of their kindness.
And so suspecting them, we are bound to
feel the deep, the stinging insult, which is
implied in the attempt to control the
dearest right of an American freeman by
the bottle. From nothing let us turn so
indignantly away. Nothing should so
stir up the resentment of every man who
rejoices in his freedom. Whatever be
comes corrupted, let us preserve the puri.
ty of the ballot-box. Whatever sacrifi
ces we make, let us never sacrifice that
right which makes us free, and which in
dependently maintained will keep us so.
If intemperance produces so much evil,
temperance on the other hand will pro
duce a corresponding amount of good.—
Temperance is the mother of industry.
Industry is itself the parent of a host of
virtues. Temperance strengthens the
bonds of society ; it loves order and res
pccts the laws; it promotes education ;it
cherishes the social feelings, and thus al
leviates the burdens and the sorrows of
life by the charm which it diffuses over
all the various relations. It keeps men
alive to their rights, and confers the abil
ity to maintain them. It weakens the
motives to do wrong and strengthens the
motives to do right. It makes men good
citizens, good husbands, and good fathers.
It helps the poor man to wealth and se
cures the possessions of the rich. It re
gards obligation and speeds us forward in
the discharge of duty. In a word, it pre
serves the clue subordination of the pas
! sions and the supremacy of reason; evol
ving all thatisgood and which will make
us happy, suppressing all that is had and
which will make us unhappy.
It is our duty, then, fellow citizens, to
promote the cause of Temperance. We
owe it to ourselves, to our families, and to
; society. We owe it, above every thing,
to the government under which we live,
and which can only he sustained by the
. virtue and morality of its citizens,
i Up to the time of the origin of the Tem
perance reform, America had been called
, a nation of drunkards by some of the
States of Europe. The charge could
; not then be denied, for the drinking class
i of our citizens constituted no small part
of our whole population. Since that
time, the cause of Temperance has pro
gressed with a rapidity far beyond the
calculation of its warmest friends. Hun
dreds and thousands find millions have en
listed under its banners. America, once
taunted with the drunkenness of her pop
ulation, has been the first to set about the
correction of the evil; and Europe, ani
mated by a noble emulation of her suc
cess, now acknowledges by her reformed
millions, the worthy example of once
drunken Amorim. T-Tnw shnnlrl tho
thought swell the bosom of every Ameri
can patriot, when he reflects, that if we
were first to be called a nation of drunk
ards, we were also first to set the example
of sobriety. There is something about
this which we may fairly trace to the good
old blood of the revolution. It savors
much of the spirit of those great men, who,
convinced of their errors, always deemed
it nobler to retrieve them, than persist
obstinately in their defence.
To America belongs the honor of giv
ing the example of a free people and free
institutions to the world. Her example
was felt in the honest but ill-fated attempt
of France, to establish similar institu
tions upon the mins of her fallen throne.
It spread thence throughout the Rations
[One Dollar a Year.
of Europe. And although none of them
have as yet adopted her form of Govern
ment, yet, the spirit of liberty is still in
creasing among their people to such an
extent, as to leave very little doubt that
there is a gradual and an irresistible ten
dency of all the governments of Europe
:to the equal rights and privileges of our
jown glorious rcjmhlic. But if America
had stopt here, if she had been content
•Kyith the achievements of her illustrious
j founders, her work, though confessedly
•jgreat, hud been hut half done; Greece
■ jand RAme had flourished and with the de
feline of virtue they had fallen. France,
[ infuriated under a Sense of the most gall
-1 >ng oppression, had thrown off the chains
■ of feudal vassalage, and upon the ruins
■ of her ancient institutions had founded a
; Government which was to confer equal
• rights upon all; yet, unprejiared for the
transition, and maddened with the enjoy.
• | menl of a liberty which before had exist
eel only in the dreams of her Poetry or
in the wild abstractions of her Philoso
phy, her passions had risen into the storm,
under the violence of which, her liberties
had been prostrated. Such too had been
the file of our South American neigh
bors. 6
, she conclusion, therefore, of thefrionds
of the institutions of Europe, had been
that such too must and will be the fate of
Republican America. But thanks to the
enlightened patriotism of those who could
see m immortality and vice, the deadliest
enemies to our institutions* our country
has been aroused to a sense of its dan
ger, and not content with the mere pos
session of free institutions, we are now
showing to the world that we know how
to preserve them.
In our Temperance Societies we have
the guaranty ot an enlightened and a vir
tuous population for generations tb come.
Thus shall our liberties be preserved ; for,
with such a population, our laws will be
planned in wisdom, administered with
impartiality, and carried most faithfully
into execution.
May we not contemplate with proud
satisfaction, the contrast between Ame
rica and all of the Republics of the past.
They perished from the excesses of a
loose morality. Such cannot be her fate
if we succeed, as we confidently believe
we will, in the efforts which we arc now
making for our moral improvement. But
if such reflections may inspire us with
pride, may we not feci prouder when we
reflect that we are fast shutting the mouths
of our transatlantic enemies when they
point to ‘-drunken America,” and argue
from her excesses that her days will soon
be numbered—and that she too, will pe
rish as have the Republics which have
gone before her.
What an impulse shall we give the
cause of freedom throughout the civilized
world. How triumphantly shall the
' friends of liberty appeal to our example
in all time to come. It was a great work
I to plant our Institutions. It is no less a
' work to preserve them. The former was
the work of our father—the latter is ours.
Let us see to it that we have equal suc
cess. Posterity shall then award us e
qual honor.
We therefore invite you, fellow-citi
\ zens to enlist with us in the great work
! of moral improvement which is now go
; ing on. Let us advance the Temperance
Reform. A broad field is here opened
for your patriotism and your philanthro
py. You are called on to make no sa
crifice of principle either in religion or
politics.—Our cause stands by itself. It
will succeed upon its own merits. The
evils which it is designed to remove need
only to be brought before the attention
of the people to insure its most distin
guished success. It therefore needs no
alliance with any thing else. We claim
it as our own peculiar privilege that we
unite all parties and ail churches in the
common cause of removing the ilfs of
intemperance. We neither ask you to
make any sacrifice of health, of reputa
tion, or honor, or indeed anv sacrifice or
privation which would be even aldust in
the balance compared with the real ser
vice which you may render your country.
We only ask you not to drink ardent
spirits, i hat is easily enough done. You
make no sacrifice in thal which will not
benefit you , whilst at the same time you
are doing great service to your country.
\ou are neither- called .on to set your
selves up in the opposition ofdistanceand
coldness and reserve to old friends be
cause they drink. On the contrary, in
accordance with the dictates of humani
ty and our own glorious principles, we
(Concluded on the 4 th page.)