The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1836-1851, 1850-03-21
Communication.
For the Camden Journal.


Messrs. Editors: AT your request, send you
an article for your journal; and inasmuch as you
have left Inc to select my own subject, have cho-
sen Temperance" and will only premise that it
is one of vast importance, not only from the ends
it has in view, but from the innovations it pro-
poses.
The temperance reformation involves restric-
ton upon the free qualification of some Of those
appetites and desires implanted in man by nature
"a great moral reformation, and change in the
habits Of the people. The ends it has in view are
to absolve man from utemperance; to rid society
of its greatest curSe-drunkenness, and its corse-
quent evils; and TO develope all the cardinal vir-
tues that adorn good and pure man. TO do
this, it proposes as mean the hitherto unheard-
OF eXpedient of total abstinence These are ques-
tons of grave Importance; and if you will loan
me column, we will discuss at least one OF them
1t is not to be deuicd that total abstinence is
restriction upon the use of a beverage heretofore
classed among the choicest blessings of kind
Providence and that it does in some sort interfere
with the free and unrcstrained enjoyment Of that
great Americani<n-liberty. But before we do
as others have done, receive this as an objection of
paramount importance, let us reflect that we live
in state or condition where each one must yield
some portion of his natural liberty for the general
good, and that all the advantages and benefits
which we are now deriving from society and gov
ernment, are the returns we have for the natural
liberty we have so surrendered; and let us also
inquire if the wants of society do not require US to
torego the use Of all intoxicating drinks, that good
order may be maintained within her borders, and
her people be made sober, industrious, and happy.
Men are social beings, and before one individual
can arrogate TO himself the privilege Of enjoying
fully and without any restraint his princvaI natu-
raj liberty, he must cut himself loose from all con-
nection with his fellow-nan, and becoming as one
of the wild beasts of the forest, live dcbarred of
all the benefits of civilization These are all self
evident truths, the bare statement of which is sui-
fcient for my purpose, without argument or illus
tration.
We may state it, then, as principle growing
out of necessity, that is the duty OF man to sur
render to society, for the general as well as his
individual good, as much of his natural liberty as
may be required TO secure good order and the
peace, safety, and happiness Of the people" From
which we may deduce this proposition: that five
can show the use of intoxicating drinks by the
people at large, is an evil calculated TO be preudi
cial 10 the welfare of society, socially, morally, or
politically, by destroying the benefits it should
confer, or rearding in the development and cul-
ture Of morality and religion, or otherwise, it is the
duty of man entirely to abandon their use. The
affirmative of this proposition, think, can be es-
tablished.
Is The use Of intoxicating liquors an eril Of that
magnitude ii is represented? am well aware that
there are some persons who stigmatize total alb
stnence as ultraisn, tanatcisn, &c, and say that
moderate drinking is temperance, and that there
is no evil in taking drink. AS abstract propositions
AIN prepared to admit these two last to be true /;
but am far from doing so when received in con-
nccton with the results that moderate drinking
leads to, and do not hesitate TO say that temper
ance does not consist in the moderate use of aco-'
holic drinks, and that that use is all evil Would
any sane man say that he was temperate who
was in the habi, of drinking small doses Of arse
nic Or other poisonous drug! How, then, can