The Arkansas advocate., 1834-02-28

roine out of this city, l can point mm to ln- liyidlIals of the hardest constitution, the :::.ellect,1al strength and tie hleh- esf reputation, surrounded too wirn ali tiiss E can charm the affections, parents, wives, ! children, men who have even made pro- ! fession of religion, and adorned the church, 1 nav minisiered at the altar, and instructed and doubtless saved others, who have fallen victims to this delusion of moderate use.
 How has this happened It is owing to the insidious -anf fatal influence of the poi son ifself Ii beqets new feeling, fac ulty, if l may so call 1t, entirely novel, be- fore which motives fall poweriess. If any person in this assembly trusts to his own resolution, would beg him to look around upon many of those who are now drunk ards, and look back to what they were ten or fifteen years ago. Did they ret then feel the influence of the same motives to which you now tfust2 And were ihey not as unlikely to become drunkards as you are
 Ire you trusting to the strength fsif fsf Eenr head? When you are old your head will fail. This explains why so many sespec- table men, when they are sixty or seventy years old, all ali once bCCUIne drunka,as. They were habit4al moderate diii,ktefrsiz- And during youth and manhood, they were able to resist ilEis new passion. But CD the breaking up of the system, when they grow oits, they become drunkards, not because they have increased the quantity so much, but because their strength te bear 1t Is so much diminished. \ very distinguished man, who for many years exerted "a wide political influence m this state, and who has within asfew years become q convert to to- tai abstinence, stated tfis to he, ia cosver- sation respecting 'hls owH case. Said he, " Ny friends lamemted over me tllaf atfefI was fifty years old, 1 should all at once fall into such a habit. But they were al miss taken in supposing that had increased the quantity drank. Instead of tbat, ] had diminished it. But Ire reason Hts, l was growing old, and coGld rot bear even he diminished quantity" So say te every man who drinks, sir, if you live to be sixty, 1t IS most likely you will De drufIlsard , there is no safety for any man, but ID total
 abstinence.
 Let me not be understood to say that su-
 ery aetsss who uses ardent spirit vii become
 drunllafd. do not know but some may
 have sud that. But our cause is the cause
 of truth, and can only be injured by over stating its arguments. I only say that 3 certain proportion wifi certainly become drunkards, and the rest will be injured.-- And what ought to alarm every one who is exposed himself, We cannot tell on whom the lot may fall. Suppose 1t were announc- ed in this hall, by an authority which none could resist, that only one in 20 of those before me should die ia more honorable death than that of the d,unkard) on the gibbet. Would not horror thrill every soul here, and every one fly back at the thought
 Yet of every twenty, old or young, who continue to drink, 1t is certain by experi-
 ence, that more than one will be drunk ard. Who HOW is a candidate for the arunk- ards death, for drankard's grave, for the
 drunlsard's sentence at the bar of his Gre ator2 l tell you, every one who uses this article. All who do may not go there.- But unless experience IS an utter lie, our only safety consists in entire abandonment of the use of ardent spirits.
 But the desire of self-preseryation Is on- ly an inferior motive of action. The res- olu,ion refers young men to the higher mo- tiyes of regard for their friends, their coun- try, and the Creator.
 will not stop to call up the feelings of a young man towards his friends, towards the authors of his existence, and those to whom he Is bound in the tender ties of fa- mily. But what more dreadful sight to a parent, than to see young man, fitted to adoYn and bless society by his virtue and usefulness, going down to a premature grave, as a drunkard9 I can conceive of only ofe thing more dreadful. 1t Is, for that parent to reflect that he has himself been the instrument of the ruin over which he motrns. 0 how many parents have had Ito reflect, with bitter anguish, as the cold clods of the valley fell dislnally upon the coffin of their son, that 1t was parents hand which first tendered the fatal cup, and that the habit had been formed and nurtur- cd into strength at the parental board, and fostered by parental examplel l believe that of ali the victims to this dreadful curse, nine out ten first learned to drink by the example or aid of their parents.
 1t becomes young men too, to rernenl- ber their obligations to their country.-- They are bound to give this cause their hearty and jealous cooperation, that they may preserve themselves and their com panions for the service of our common pa- rent and our beloved country. Will not the young nien of New York hear he,. call, when she entreats them not to rush to an Ignominlous grave. .sWho's here sc base he would not love his country!" I call on every one, by the duty he owes that coun try, to abandon the fatal cup. If he alrea- dy likes it, and feels that 1t would be sa- criflce togive it up, it only shows how great bis danger $ already. Ii isa filed ulth