The Washingtonian., 1845-07-12
COM M q NICATIoMs. 8.
Reported for the Washingtonian.
ADDRESS ON TEMPERANCE.
BY EDWARD A. DUNsCoMB.

BY EDWARD A. DUNsCoMB.
De,vered before the Freemens yiglant Total Abs,i-
nence Society of Washington, June 10, lS45.
(Concluded)
HAVING shown that the sale of intoxicating
liquors is the cause, in great measure, Of
crime and taxation, further assert, that il is
opposed 10 the education Of the people.
So long as the poor have no source of en-
ioyment, no taste for reading, for knowledge,
they fall easy victims to intemperance. In
the cold bleak storms of winter they collect
around the grocery fire, and by cultivating
their wretched taste, they lose all desire for
education, and their habits become bad, and
their tastes vicious. He who sells them the
liquor has no desire that they should become
enlightened, for then they would see clearly
how much they threw away, both here, and
perhaps hereafter This Republic depends
upon the virtue of her people for its indepen.
dence-upon their adherence to good princi-
pies, for safety. If the people become debased,
the spirit of liberty is gone, and the greatest
soon govern those who have the name, but
not the principles, of liberty.
Industry will vanish, ambition will be
broken, and the people, slaves to vices which
follow in the train of intoxicating liquors, be
bid off, like Republic of DID, to the highest
bidder. He who loves the wine and brandy
bottle, can never have taste for reading, for
knowledge, or for improvement. Welded to
his idol, he would give up the very country Of
his birth for one glass of his favorite drink. If
the thousands of laboring men, who have gone
to an untimely grave, could speak, they would
saw that its use debased their minds, and rem
dered them totally Indifferent to every appeal
to their patriotism.
How long can nation of drunkards be free?
How long will education shed its genial in
fuence over the land, if her deadiest foe is
cherished and sustained by the working men of
the nalion? Are they insensible to the influence
they WELD? Do they not know that one who
drinks cannot make good magistrate, safe
legislator, vrluous citizen, an honest man
Does not the history of the past speak in
trumpet tones TO their souls; and while point
ing to the wrecks upon the ocean of lie, i'm.
pore them to arouse from their slumbers, or
the last home of the oppressed will sink by her
own hand, and perish by her own abject folly.
The palladium Of liberty in this western world
is The halot-bcx; how can its purity be pre-
served, and votes given for high stations with
judgment, when the people are slaves to an
accursed vice!
Education cannot flourish, in all It's beauty.
while The people, forgetting the comforts of
home, and the blessings they enjoy, prefer the
fumes of grocery to the endearments of a
home-the occasional glass TO the privileges
of education. The vender of liquor will allure
them from duty, the rich will get their labor
for nothing, and the demagogue will tell them
how to vote, because they have sacrificed their
independence at the shrine of a debasing ap-
petite, and their minds are bound to ignorance.
Think you, then, with the means Of i'm
provemen, in knowledge possessed by all, the
sale of intoxicating liquor could flourish, if the
people availed themselves Of the privileges
they enjoy How long would the trade and
traffic Of arden, spirits last, if the people, with
one voice, demanded its overthrow? He who
sells knows, that if the sunlight of education
streams upon the path Of his victim, he is free
The grocery would have no charm, the dis
tilery would crumble into dust, and idleness
and crime, now stalking forth unmasked, would
shrink into obscurity. True liberty would per-
wade the land, the fires upon the altar of do
mes.ic affections would be rekindled, and the
cottage Of the poor would be lightened by the
smile Of benevolence, and vocal with the ac-
cents of praise.
Again the sale Of liquor destroys the eff
cacy of the golden rule; Do unto others
even We would that others should do unto
you," fell from the lips Of Him, whose noble
ness and merits redeemed the world. How
can such rule be practsed, while intempe-
rance and the sale of liquor lasts? How can
love, virtue, forbearance, and every thing
which dignifes human or divine nature, be
felt, while evil passions are constantly excited
by their use? The efficacy Of the rule is gone
-selfshness takes the place the antagonist of
love prevails, and the heart and soul, steeled
to the impulses Of feeling, delights in cruelty
4