Literary cadet and Rhode-Island statesman. [volume] (Providence, R.I.) 1827-1829, 1827-04-28
LITERARY CADET.
PaovIOENcE. SATURDAY, APRIL %.


INTEMpERANcE.-wi the last fortnight
our citizens, such as pay any attention to the
outpOurings Of e.ery vagrant Preacher who
may happen to come among us, and who can
spell his own name when Il is written for him
by his neighbour, have been awakened to
sense Of the awful situation Of The town and
have Just learned from travelling Suppress
sor" Of intemperance, that we are, the whole
Of us, on the way to perdiiion, and constantly
IN the habit of pouring down our throats the
Liquids Of He'll" The pious gentleman,
who has thus awakened us to a sense of our
situation, has been assisted in his laudlble vo-
I cation, by man of temperate habits, but
who nevertheless drinks as much "Gin as is
necessary" according 10 the rules Of the So
ciety; and the people of Providence, are now
told, that the gentleman Vagrant, and the
gentleman resident, are about to make radi-
cal reformation and the press, already terms
with their united eiio..s, and pious declama-
tions, against the vice Of intepperance, to
which, say the brace of " !Suppressors, our
citizens are VIGOROUSLY addicted. Whatever
we have said, or whatever We may say on the
subject of the exertons of the gentleman who
has travelled among US. and who has with all
that impudensc for which gentlemen of his
vocation are proverbal, told us that we are all
drunkards, il, and will be uttered, in defence
! Iof ba ,.b, cfa tbn
people who are as moral as any other on
this side of the grave, and who arc too often
and too cas- ly imposed upon, by the designing
wanderer, who, with his pIritanical cant and
hypocrtical whining, Processes to be deeply
interested in the welfare of the people,
and TO live but to serve them! The sghngs
and doleful tales Of these creatures are often
listened to; they frequently succeed in accom-
plishing their ends, and that effected, they
laugh in their sleeves at our credulify. and then
sally upon the world, in pursuit of more ad-
ventures, seek whom they may dcvour.
Intcmperance is vice, the existence of
which, all who are not lost to themselves, and
abandoned by the God of Mercies, must sin
cercly dcplore and all who take any int er-
est in the welfare Of mankind, should exert
themselves to cut of the career of the HYDRA
he,dcd monster! Bat ir this can be done,
there are but two ways by which il can he ac-
complisbed; by gentle persuasion, calm and
dispassonatc advice, and by legislation; and
We venture to say, that all of the efforts ofthe
societies which have already been established,
will not be productive of any good 1t is in
vain that you attempt to drire men from vice;
ana however vicious they may be, the moment
you attempt to force them to quit their sins of
commission and omission, that moment you
drive them still deeper into the labyrin,hs of
guilt. The thirsty and half exhauste1 OK, if
dricen 10 the pool, will sooner die than par
take of its waters, but if you lead him to the
fountain, he will sip down the cooling liquid
to his hearts content, and refresh himself with
the in'igoratng beverage.
To the course pursued by the reverend foe to
ardent spirits, we are opposed, immediately,
and completely, nor shall we be deferred from
a full and unequivo.al expression of our sent-
tiinents, by the snoers of those, who, whilst in
the closet, drink till the very hairs drop
from their heads, and who, when the fumes
of their pota,ions have been evaporated and
expunged from the SYSTEM make tremendous
outcry about the ravages of intomperance, and
warn the people to shrink back from the Bac-
chanalian Fount.
The project Of our reverend visitor, and his
very abstemious compeer, is well understood by
this community;-it is the last scheme invented
to spunge the country, and to gull the natives;
it Is project, conceived by hypocrisy and
listened to by crodulity; and if it should sue
ceed, some forty or fifty pious vagrants are to
be supported in incidence, at the expense of
the frugal, temperate and industrious.
Human ingenuity has already been exhaust
ed by those pretended friends to religion and
morality, who get up foreign missions and rag
bag societies, and through them draw the last
farthing from the widow and the fatherless,
and as the public have been sufficiently bored
and are not wiling to be imposed upon by
band of mpos;ors any longer, rs a last resort,
TO carry their schemes into operation, Socie-
ty has been got up by one individual of whom
the public knew nothing, for the suppression
Of intemperance, into the Golfers Of which our
loose change is to be drawn, to support
tribe of indolent and wandering vagrants.
1t is little singular, that the good people