Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1833-05-31
NATIONAL TEMPERANCE CONVEN-
TON.

PHILADELPHIA, MONDAY AFTERNOON.
The debate ON Mr.. Garrett Smiths resolution
was continued. Dr. Cathcart. of Pennsy lvania,
repeated his objections to the resolution. as modl
fled by the Commute, which he said might do
very veil to the Eastward, but was not suited to
the meridian of Pennsylvania. He himself GER
tainly had not sufficient light to 60 conscien-
would therefore put his voice against It.
Dr. Meigs, of Philadelphia, rose and acknow-
Iedgpd his gratitude to the venerable father who
preC e,led him, for daring to come forward TO up
hold the truth against the ultra zeal manifested
BY gentlemen present. Ii convinced him that he
was right to find DIR. Cathcart leading the way.
This Convention" continued he, ais mot al
body, not an ecclesiastical. or legislative Assem-.
bly Ii has no right to draw lines upon what is
right and wrong. Its business is to persuade the
world to abandon an injurious practice, and there
its business ends. The Convention has no right
10 handy epithe,s-to denounce this man as
seoundrel, thief, or a murjerer-fOr saying
that he continually practices that which is moral
" wrong. He viewed the Convention in the
light Of q nation, which has declared, and wages
war upon formidable enemy, intemperance.-
Nations so situated. do not exhaust their voc abu-
lasv Tor hard names and abusive epithets, which
answer no earthly purpose. They advance stea-
div upon their OBJECT, without weakening them
selves by thro"ing themselves open to the blows
of their opponents Besides. we cannot saw the
American people are an Immoral people. They
are not immoral, and though il might sound like
vain glory in an American TO say so, vet no one
can deny that the American people are vir,uous,
upright, honest, aud euterprising They num-
Der mUre than twelve millions, and he mus, saw
that il looked a little like arrogance for two or
three hundred To denounce the nation as an i'm
moral nation. DR. Mtigs claimed to be no more
than one Of the people; he mingled with every
class of society, and knew the general opinion
as to temperance reform, and Judging from his
own feelings and knowledge OF that opinion, he
thought the resolution calculated to break the
neck Of the cause. 1t would be killed BY 60
verning too much. Gentleman may thiak that
their shoulders are necessary to keep up this re-
form. They are mistaken. 1t rests upon no
mans shoulders, and was created bv no man ~
1t rose from the natural wants and situation of
the country, and he could prove It. The Doctor
then alluded to the poverty Of the country after
the bloody struggle Of the revolution; the disor-
ganlzlng effects OF the French revolution. the
sudden wealth poured into the United States by
the European wars-our consequent luxury, eI.
travasance and dissipation-the check given Tn
these vices by the withdrawal Of their alimeot by
the universal pacihcaton-from which check.
said the Doctor, arose the temperance reform -
1t was in progress years before any one stepped
for ward iu the matter, and it would have gone on
il 10 one had done so. The duty Of the friends
OF temperance is not to interfere with this happy
course Of events They must not drive.
Mr.. Whiting. Of New Haven. wanted no mo-
diication Of the resolution. The Convention
has right to express lite opinions that this traffic
is morally wrong; that drinking is morally wrong.
1t should do so, and make an impression on the
world.
Mr.. Goodill Of New York wasastonished, much
astonished, that any one should question whether
the traffic in ardent spirits is morally wrong