Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 182?-183?, 1832-01-13
BALTIMORE. Dec. Eth Ie3


To The Rev. Um. NeUinS.
My DEAR Sia.-I had hoped that
was about TO escape the prevailing In
fuen@a, but find my health so much
impaired by it, this morning, that it will
not be IN my power to attend the Tenn
perance meeting ofthis evening, as pro-
posed to have done. In this and in all
things. "His will be done, His holy will,
howe'er it cross my own" | Should
have been glad to have been permitted
to bear my humble testimony in the cause
OF Temperance. | have been for more
than forty years close observer of life
and manners, in various parts of the
United States, g. know not the evil that
Will bear moments comparison with
intemperance. 1t is no exaggeration to
say, as has been often said, that this sim
gle cause, has produced more vice, crime,
poverty and wretchedness in every form,
domestic and social, than all the other
ills that scourge us combined. In truth
it Is scarcel y possible to meet with mise
ry in any shape in this country. which
viii not be found on examination to have
proceeded, directly or indirectly, from
the excessive use of ardent spirits.
Want is one of IFS immediate consequent
ccs. The sad spectacle Of starving and
destitute families, and ignorant, half max
ed, vicious children, ought never to be
presented in country like this, where
/ the demand for labour is constant the
! field unlimited, the sources of supply in
eXhaustible; and where there is none 10
make US afraid and it never would be
presented, or very rarely, indeed were it
not for the desolation brought upon fami-
lies by the general use of this deadly poi
son. 1t paralyses The arm, the brain.
the heart. All the best affections, all
the energies OF mind wither under its in
iluencc. The man becomes a maniac
and IS locked up in hospital, or imbrues
his hands in the blood Of his wife and
children, and is sent to the gallows or
doomed to the Penitentiary, or, if he es.
cape these consequences, he becomes a
walking peStiIence on the earth, misera-
bic in himself and loathsome TO all who
behold him.-How often do we see too.
whole families contaminated by the vi
cious example Of the parent-husbands
wives, daughtersand sons, all drunkards
and iuries sometimes wives numbering
their husbands, at others, husbands their
wives, and worst of all, if worse can be in
such groupe of horrors, children MUIR
dering their parents. But below this
grade Of crime, how much is there oil
unseen and untold misery throughout
our otherwise happy land proceeding
from this fatal cause alone. | am per
suaded that five could have a statistical
survey and report Of the unhappy fami-
lies and individuals, with the causes oil
their misery annexed, we should find
nine cases out Of ten, if not in still grea-
ter proportion, resulting from the use Of
ardent spirits alone. With this convic-
ton, which seems TO have become uni.
versal among rejecting men, the apathy
shewn to the continuance Of the evil
can only be ascribed to the circumstance
that the mischief though verbally adj.
mitted, is not seen and leltin all its en-.
ormity. Ifsome fatal plague, of con.
tagious character, were imported into
our country and had commenced its ra.
wages in our cities, we should see the
most prompt and vigorous measures al
once adopted to repress and extinguish
IT, but what are the most fearful plaques
that ever carried death and hayock in
their train through tue eastern countries