The Litchfield County post., 1827-05-10
ESSAY ON INTERFERENCE.

9tFstFWSstp
 ELY of BIfaiO county, ". Y.
 Temperance was an eminent virtue m the character of those heroic men who laId the foundation of our country's greatness. Their examples, like their laws, were Sal- utary. Christianity and knQwledge were the pillars on which they endeavored ts erect the mighty fabric of great empire. These they guarded with veStal care. Without these a Republic cannot long ex- ist, and nothing sooner or more effectually undermines their foundation than intem- perance. Where this foe finds unressted admission into any country, its destruction is approaching rapidly, and intestine divis-, ion or external concussion will scarcely be needed to complete its ruin.
 That untiring watchfulnesS against this enemy of all that is desirable in an individ- ual or community, which characterized the first ages of our country, has gradually re- faxed, till almost every vestage is ettaced, And even the wholesome regulations they enisin, are rendered, by prevailing cus- toms, and public opinion, little more tn an. a dead letter. A comparison between the present and the earlier ages of our coun- try as to the temperance of its inhabitants, affords melancholy contrast. Then the introduction into town of '' whole bar rel of spirits" reused the people and the magistrates. Now the importation of hundreds of cargoes and the domestic dis tillations ofabout million of barrels, ,caus- es no alarm. Twenty years ago there were in this country thirty thousand dis tilleries.* If they have since multiplied in ratio equal to the increase of popula- ton, which supposition is probably short of the fact, there are now at least fifteen hundred thousand of these sources of mis- cry and death. The aggregate quantity of spurious liquors used annually in this country is about forty millions of gallons, one fifth of which is imported.t Such vast consumption of ardent liquors cannot but effect the national health. For they create disease and diminish sensoral pow ert or muscular energy. And children u- sually inherit at least in a measure the mal adies and diseases of their parents. The offspring of feeble and enervated parents do not possess the robust health and cor- porial vigor of those descended from pa- rents who are temperate and healthy. How often do we hear the remark that young persons of the present age are not so ath letic and healthy as their forefathers, 1 be- live the truth of this observation is gener- ally, credited. l have never known any attempt to disprove-it. A gentleman of accurate observation, of excellent sense, institutions, who had enjoyed distinguish ed opportunities for judging, informed the writer that those from country where the | the high duties on distilled spirits nearly 1 prohibited the use of them to vast major ity of its population were capable of per- forming more labour on public work 1 where they were employed; and could longer endure muscular exertion than the Americans associated with them. We are compelled to admit this general fact, how ever humbling it may be to our national pride. If the youth of the present age have as much strength and health and as fair prospect of longevity as their ances- tors, let the fact be shown, and let others with ourselves have the satisfaction of be- lieving it. If otherwise, let the cause which is producing deterioration of the public health be ascertained and removed. That cause is MATHEMATICIAN twelve hundred thousand barrels of ardent spirits be drank every year without inJurlng the nations health It is impossible. Such an unnatual use of inebriating liquors must impair public health as well as public mor- als. Such thoughtless and ruinous pro- fusion must inevitably induce not only a dimunition of national health, but ope- rate on multitudes as remote or proxim- ate cause of premature death. It has been ascertaned from the registers of tho friends, that, as a consequence of their temperance one half of those that are born live at the l age of forty-seven years whereas Dr. Pierce tells us that the general population of London die under the age of three years.'s "The number oflives annually destroyed by this vice in our country is thought to be more than ten thousand, and the number ofpersons who are diseased, distressed and impovished by it to be mores than two hundred thousand" "One half tho male population of the United States are supposed by sound and accurate judges to die from disease induced by spurious liquors and this alarming state of things is increasingly
 That our country appears to be pros- porous is beyond doubt. But many tree a.D. L