The Literary echo, and Pawcatuck advertiser. [volume] (Westerly, R.I.) 1851-1854, 1852-07-22

Amtempcr0mce VS.. He8thc n1Sm.
To the Editors of the Literary Echo;- &c.,.
Being at the celebration, on Monday
last, at Watch Hill, the associations
gathering around us on that day were of
the most pleasing kind. After walk
with some friends on the pebbly shore,
returning to the house We found our
selves sitting alone on one extremity of
the verandah looking over the placid
water of Pawcatuck Bay towards the
shores of Connecticut, and the heartfelt
wish ascended to Heaven that ere long
the inhabitants of that sister and adjoin-
ing State, might rejoice with us as We
were assembled to rejoice over the VIC
tory, We, of Rhode Island, had achieved.
While thus meditating, the following
train Of tn ught occurred 10 our mind,
deeply impressed as we were with the
importance Of the measure we were now
to try. On returning home the subject
of our thought was committed to paper
and if you do not fear that the dull and
prosy though nevertheless, most impor-
tant consideration it embraces will weary
the patience Of your readers, we will give
it you:
In reviewing the evils which have re-
suited from the use of intoxicating
liquors We know that intemporance oc-
casions an enormous waste of human
life. This sacrifice is not an evil which
necessarily results from hcathenism, but
has often been found in connection with
it. There is no reason, to believe, that
the average duration Of existence among
the idolaters of ancient Egypt, Greece,
and Rome was ever materially shortened
by their superstition, while it must be
admitted thst Duridism and modern
Hindooism, as well as the false religions
of the South Sea Islanders and of other
idolaters, have been fatal to the longev-
ity of many of the human race. Let it,
however, be conceded, that the Moloch
Of Heathenism has been glutted with
human blood, that its affairs bave been
stained with the gore of many human
victim, that Juggernaut is still permitted
to roll his murderous car over the
crushed and mangled bodies of our fel-
low men, that the plains of India are
white with the bleached bones of the
victims of its idolatry, in short that I" the
dark places of the earth are full of the
habitations of cruelty" still intoxicating
drink is occasioning greater waste Of
human life, in one year, than We have
any reason to believe has ever been oc-
ca ioned in the same space Of time, by
the aggregate idolatries of the known
world.
What are few widows inundated on
the funeral pile, or buried alive in the
graves of their dead husbands What
are few infants strangled in the Islands
of the Pacific, or thrown into the Ganpes
by their own parents : What are few
aged and helpless beings left to perish
by the banks of some sacred stream } or
what are few miserable devotees who
have consigned themselves to violent
or lingering death for the purpose of
securing the favor of their gods compar-
ed with the tens of thousands, who, year
after year, offer themselves as victims on
the altar of the Moloch of Intemperance ,
1t has often been asserted, and never
denied, that from forty to fifty thousands
perish annually as acknowledged drunk
ards. So Unsuitable are the demands of