Herald of the times. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1830-1846, 1832-03-01

of whose example surrounds them with
an atmosphere that spreads a moral
death. Sir, no man ever meant,-no
man ever deliberately determinedto to drink
otherwise than temperately. 1t is this
resolution which has proved the PandO-
ra's box from whence have proceeded all
those baneful consequences which have
filled so many early graves, and spread
wretchedness throughout our land. Go,
ask the drunkard, as he staggers over
dissolution, whether he ever meant to
drink to excess. He will answer, "No
i never intended to drink but temper
ately. l never meant to be drunkard.
A drunkard! ] abhOrred the thought
| resolved to drink temperately: And
here / am, a wretched outcast from hu-
man sympathies Lost to honor and usc-
fulness here and lost, l fear, to heav-
en- and happiness hereafter" Sir, five
could hear the language which issues
from 10000 graves; if we could turn IL
side the veil and listen to the accents
that proceed from the world of retribution; 4;
we should hear but one verdict from the
regions of despair-Ht was the reso-
luton to drink temperately, that hurried
us hither."
Sir, we want standard Of temperate
drinking. We want some Safeguard for
our youth and ourselves. Will the mere
resolution to drink temperately, think
you, prove a sufficient security Is
there any father here, who can die in
peace with no better safeguard for his
sons than the force of such a resolution? !?
Will any man tell me what it means? Is
it to drink one glass, or six glasses, or
twenty glasses! Is it not in effect to
drink whatever quantity our vitiated
taste may desire' This-this, Sir, has
been the fruitful cause of all the woes &
tears, the misery and despair, which
have overspread our land IfI had a
voice of thunder, ! would peal it on the
conscience Of every temperate drinker
Sir, shall look upon it as little less than
miracle, if such a man lives to be sixty,
and dies temperate man. There are
$50 to speak, nine chances to one, that
he dies a drunkard. Should any one
here deem me to have made an extrava-
giant exhibition, let each man make for
himself his own calculation. Let him
sum up the number of all he ever knew,
who have been hurried to the grave by
the effect of ardent spirits, and of all who
though living, are now fast sinking under
its power, and if the result is not a col
umn of testimony, calculated to astonish
the understanding s. to break the heart,
l will surrender the question. 1t is only
few weeks ago, since one Of the
friends of my youth, the fourth in the
same family, went down to the grave,
wretched victim Of intemperanCe. Sir,
what family is there among us, that has
not in some Of its branches, experienced
effects from this source, which caused
the heart to bleed? Ii then there is any
sense of moral oblig alton; if there is here
any heart filed with the love of coun-
y; if there be any sense Of the worth Of
the immortal soul, let US unite to aid this
sacred cause. God has smiled upon it.
1t is on its way to success. 1t wants our
resolution alone. All other evils grow
by neglect. This will decline and die
if we neglect II. Let US inscribe on our
breast this-the dictate of INSPIRATION
"Touch not, taste not, handle not" and
the work will be done-and deliverance
accomplished.