Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1847-02-18
Address
OF THE STATE TEMPERANCE SOCIETY
TO THE FREEMEN OF VERMONT.
4, Hmm (rfi-crs nj Icrunnnk

BY a law of the last session Of the Legislature,
il is provided that the first Tuesday OF March,
town meetings shall be held in every town in this
State, at which the votes Of the Freemen, inscrb-
ed either License No License, shall be received
by the proper authority and if majority OF the
votes returned throughout the entire State shall be
License it shall be the DUTY Of the assistant Judges
Of the several County Courts TO grant license, in
accordance with tho provisions of the act, TO ALL
SUCH PERSONS AS SHALL MAKE APPLICATION THERE.
FoR, and who sustain good moral character"
II the majority Of the votes shall be No License,
the assistant Judges shall have power to grant IL
censes, only for medicinal, chemical and mechani-
cal purposes. to such persons, only, as shall have
been appreciated for such purpose by the civil au-
thority Of the town.
Such is the momentous question, which is soon
10 be submitted to your decision; question Of
deeper and more thrilling interest to the people OF
the State than any other that has come before them
since the adoption Of their constitution. The is.
sue to be made swhelher intoxicating liquors shall
be confined to legitimate and useful purposes, or
shall flow unrestraned, with tide Of desolation,
over the length and breadth Of the State. This is
a subject Of vital Importance to every portion Of
the community, affecting, as it does the civil, so
cal and moral prosperity and happiness of the
people, and the character Of our commonwealth.
In this crisis we deem it appropriate 10 address
TO you some considerations which may tend TO pre-
pare you for right action on this subject, and we
beg you 10 give them your candid attention
That intoxicating drinks are neither necessary
hor useful to persons in health is now generally ad.
mtted. The fact is established beyond doubt by
the testimony Of physicians, and by the experience
Of multitudes, who have discontinued the use OF
them. Nor can it be Denied that they are prolific
OF evil. Their deadly influence is matter Of con.
slant observation, and and varied forms OF
wretchedness, Attributable solely to them daily
brought to our notice. But familiar as you may
be with the sad details OF intemperance, 1t is i'm
possible TO form adequate conception of its
dreadful evils Much less is it possible fully to
portray them. Not only is language inadequate 10
forth their enormty, but the mind itself cannot
grasp the multiplied forms of anguish and distress,
Of which they are the cause.
Consider their effects upon the unhappy subjects
| Of their immediate influence.
Their consume the estate. Besides the enormous
| sums paid for intoxicating drinks include the loss
Of time, the ndispostion and unfiness, for mana
gng business. the impaired strength and the gene
raj want of thrift which they occasion, and the a.
mount, worse than wasted by their use, almost ex-
ceeds computation. In New England village in
the course of forty years, so farms squunder.
ed and alienated from the families which had pos
scssed ;hem from this cause
TAey impair the health. The intoxicating prin
cple is poison it conveys no nourlshment 10 the
body; the stomach rejects il II nlames the nerves
goes into the blood and passes through the system
sometimes wasting and again bloating it, till it set
ties in the brain, and thus, by process more oil
less rapid destroys the functions Of life Such are
the terrible effects of alcoholic drinks, when pure
But we are told, on high medical authority, that the
intoxicating liquors in common use are almost uni
yersally adulterated with active poisons and in
sequence there are but few constitutions, which
possess sufficient energy TO resist the deadly effect
of the habilual use Of them even five years"
They ioeaken, derange and destroy the reason
OfSS0 maniacs in various asyums, 400 owed thei
loss Of reason TO intoxicating drinks. "Intemper
ance said DIR. Woodward in 1871, I" still take
the first rank among the causes of insanity 1t
not only the cause of insanity, but is TOO frequent
the source of other evils which are prolific cause
of the disease. If we could ascertain how man
Of the cases Of III health, Of domestic affection, o
fear of poverty, loss Of property and even religion
depression and melancholy arise from it, the lis
would be appalling, and would be nearly or quit
double what il is" Esquro who is celebra
ted for his researches into the statistics of mad
ness, was Of opinion that intemperance gives rs
to one half of the cases Of insanity in Great Br
tain
They destroy life. In ls45 the coroner of tn
! city of New York held inquess on the bodies Q
GA persons OF these 3-5 died Of intemperanct
Il is estimated, that this cuts of 30, 900 per
sous annually in the United States and 60, 900 i
England And what a DEATH BY how much men
tai and bodily anguish is il often accompanied
They die by their own hand, tormented with sci
\ reproach and covered with inlamy aud disgrace =
Besides the direct victims Of intemperance, mutt
i tudes die OF diseases aggravated by intoxicatin
e liquors, who might otherwise have been restored.
e They unfit men for hedUen. Says the scripture
: "Nor drunkards shall inherit the kingdom Of God,
: Nor are the evils occasioned by intoxicatin
L drinks confined 10 those who use them. No, the
fall with oppressive weight upon their innocent an
unprotected families The impaired earnings
Il the Incorporate husband and father are ofe
Is squandered for drink, while the afiectionate wi
| and helpless children are left TO starve. lie, VIII
d il may be, was once proyident and tender iathe
/. is transformed by alcohol to demon, aud vents h
At passion maddened TO fury, his unoiIending an
at unresistng family. The scenes Of cruelty an
4. outrage, which are frequently enacted under Il
is drunkards roof, are enough 10 shock every sens
k biliiy Of the SOUL and TO rouse every friend of h
nj mainly to energetic effort to stay the desolatir
evil. The drunkard's wife often goes down br
a ken hearted to an unlimely grave his children pa
r. ticipae in their fathers shame, and grow up in
re norance. vice and wretchedness. In one Po
m House in the State of N. York, oui of 100 nmat
= were 10 wives of drunken husbands and IL CHI
lie dren of drunken fathers. Who can estimate Il
nj sulGerngs inflicted on these unhappy victims Of
" temperance before they came 10 this last refuge
ne the wretched.
tn There is, in the present circumstances Of VI
lie mont,a special and alarming evil to be apprehend
from the system of general license, TO which
would call your attention. During the approac