Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1850-10-11
WHO HINDER THE TEMPERANCE
CAUSE?


says, the rich and the fashionable-,he men Of
property, and the .sladies and gentlemen' Of
our land. If the tide Of intemperance returns
upon US, it will be because of the influence Of
these who are set on a hill by reason of their
wealth, or social position, and whose bad ex-
} ample is Invested of its odiOusness, by the cut
glass, silver, gold, purple aud fine linen in
which it is set.
Too many rich people seem to think the pos
session of wealth gives them a right to self in
diligence. They have no cultivated taste to
crafty, excepting such as are reached through
the palate and SO they insist upon showing
their superiority to the vulgar herd, by feeding
on rich viands, and drinking choice and costly
wines.
They seem Dot TO be aware, that they are
accountable to the same laws of health and life,
that other men must obey. They will not be-
lleve that alcohol is the same deleterious poison
when disguised in the juice of the grape, in Ma
deria wine, or Cogniac brandy, that it is in ci-
der, brandy or mean whiskey. They seem not
to suspect, that a man is just as much degraded
just as guilty of sin against himself, society and
God, when he has made himself wholly or par
tally drunk, though he may lie upon velvet So
fas, or hiccough and vomit upon down beds,
under silk curtains, as he is when rolling in a
gutter, or snoring in a pig stye. The OdiOus.
ness, hlthiness, wickedness Of intemperance, in
and o fitself, they do not appreciate. And SO
they persist in using those beverages, which,
under various DISCUSSES, contain the same dele
FERROUS properties that make men drunkards,
reduce them to utter Indebtedness, OF drive
them to destruction.
Aye, and very many Of those who are now OBJ
jects Of disgust and l%uaIhing, as they skulk a.
bout in their rags and filth, commenced their
downward career in the abodes of wealth drank
their first inebriaiing draughts out of cut glass,
and slept their first drunken sleep on a velvet
sofa or a bed of down.
And yet the rich, too many of them, persist
in an indulgence, which has proved to the last
degree fatal to one tenth part ofaIl who yield to
it in the least, and very injurious in various
"oyS5 mttSh larger piOpOIuOn.
People in moderate circumstances, enid
ding interest" and many Of the poor have long
since shown themselves ready to embrace the
principle of Total Abstinence" and to adhere
toit. AT one time the cause seemed to be ma
king a progress, that promised triumph-But
there have been certain limits, which it has
never passed. The very rich and the very
poor have withs'ood all appeals and with a
few honorable exceptions have chung to their
cups. In this, as in some other, respects, we
have seen that extremes meet.
No man can be utterly insignificant, wholly
without influence. But the influence of the
poor, ragged, filthy, drunken sot, Keeling about
the streets, or brawling in his miserable howell.
IS rather to deter men from, than to invite them
to the use Of intoxicating drinks. 1t is the ex-
ample of the rich, the fashionable, the gay, who
gid the goblet, from which the poison is drank,
who can garnish the sepulchre, in which they
are burying reason, sensibiiity, all the kindly
affections, their self-Tespect, and honor-it is
they, who make the excess of the table so invi-
ting, by covering it with every luxury that is
tempting to the appetite, and stimulate to indul-
gence by appeals to the senses and concen-
trate their rotations by the utlerance Of impo-
sing sentiments it is they, whose influence is
misleading the young and unwary to destruc-
ton. And it is just to charge this great wick
edness home upon them.
The leading vices of every age, and every
community, shelter themselves behind the ex-
ample of the great, the exalted. In our coun-
try, at this time, wealth is the principal basis
of social distinction. The wealthy are looked
up to with respect, because of their possessions.
So long, therefore, as they insist upon the use
of intoxicating drink, as one of the privileges of
The rich, SO long will their influence promote
intenperance.
Moreover, the rich are they whose money
carries on the manufacture of the various liquors
in which alcohol is found. Many Of the rich
have become SO by the rum traffic and they
sustain the smaller dealers in their horrid bust
ness. The rich are they who fit up the gorge
Gus saloons, and erect ''gin palaces" and build
splendid hotels, 10 be the nurseries of the mis-
cry and crime that flow from the use of iDtox-
icating drinks. Unless therefore, the spirit of
this reform shall reach this class Of the commu-
nifty, the labors of the friends oftemperance will
never cease the good cause will not be trium-
Iphant.
We are grati6ed to learn that the Ladies'
have applied for and received a Charter for
a Grand Union in North Carolina, and that
it is to be organized in this City, during next
week.
An Application for Union No. 6. has been
forwarded. TO be located Mt New Carbon