Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1853-10-26
AN APPEAL
TO the People Of North Carolina

~ ACACSbGCo COkllp O-
sing the State Temperance Convention, as
sembled in this city 10y the appointment of
primary meetings in the several Counties,
for the purpose Of collaborating upont the most
feasible and efficient plan Of co cooperation and
effort, for the promotion of the great cause of
Temperament our State, feel that they ought
not to separate, without laying before you
an exhibit of the principles which they pro-
pose shall govern the future action of Tenn
perance men, and the plan cooperation deem
ed most proper to ultimate success.
Intemperance, arising from the use of in
toxicating liquors, is not a thing of yesterday,
E tbat We ON ne sidcs sp daF Face gp fPst if fsu Ana GSSel hays YFs
blight and curse. Upon it, God has long fix
ed his mark, deep and inerasable. Still it's
current has been onward, swelling out and
on, until it has become an ocean, almost
without a bottom or Il shore.
In our own time, and in our own country,
perhaps, it's ravages have been most fearful
and destructive. Now, when intelligence
spreads her light rs by a flash when the
messengers of truth scatter their seeds upon
all lands here, where liberty was Graded
and rocked to manhood, the fierce Demon
proudly sets up his empire, and -sways his
sceptre. Nor has our honest Old State es-
capped his pestilential touch. Here, his with
ering breath has spread desolation anddeath,
from the sea-board to the mountains. But,
we rejoice, amid the melancholy monuments
Of the ruin which has followed in his track,
that a brighter day is dawning.
Figures cannotc compute, and eternity must
reveal, the amount Of good donebyth friends
of Temperance in this State, within u few
years. Public sentiment, through their agen-
cy, is becoming observation-disclosures is q re-
proach-the inebriate a %by-word, and the
filthy groggery and its keeper. are secuted.
No one pleads for intemperance or the dram
shop. And yet, in spite of all that has been
accomplished, much yet remains to be done.
Go where you may, the banners of TEN
perance are set up, and yet, hard by, the
HYDRA lifts his head in defiance, and assures
his abettors of the certainty of his triumph,
because sheltered under the strong land Of
, the law. The result is, the tide of intemper
ance still sweeps on, checked-dammed up
it is true, but ever and anon, it overfows ev
cry barrier.
The popular will in a government like ours
G is omnipotent for good or for evil. Hence
: in all attempts at reform, the moral sense o
the people must he brought up to a proper
! standard. We have said, that the publ,
sentiment of our State was becoming purer
i Would to Heaven that its application wa
e universal. Strange as it may sound, Their
are many honest, well-meaning men, VIII
i still plead for the use of Intoxicating liquo
as a bcveragc-as benefcial-as a good crea
ture Of Providence. Many there are, VIII
denounce the grog-shop as 4 nuisance, We
advocate the more respectable wholesale !
quor-store-the bar-room and the coffee
, house. And pray, what better the wholesal
dealer than the retailer, or the vender OF |
IL 1uors in bar room, than the grog-shop keef
err? The one sends men to poverty, to 2ri
" on, to the grave, to hell, by the wholesale, an
he is a gentleman. The other sends thel
w there, by the gill, and he is q vagrant. Th
one allures the unsuspecting youth to til
borders of the whirlpool, by his sparklin,
IL delicious liquors the other draws him i
% and engulphs him, by his less temptingwhi
n key! And yet one is a decent member
=. society-the other a worthless drone. o col
sistency thou art a jewel.
The couutenance thus given to the agel
II cies of Intemperance, form a great barrier
p" the success of the cause of reform. But
! the saleof Alcohol, both by wholesale and r
- tail, more than to all other causes, do we a
. tribute the widespread rayages of intempe
IN ance. The license law as it stands upon OF
~ statute book, is the fulcrum upon which Il
lever of our great enemy rests, to overtul
bo the fair fabric Of Temperance, which v
have been rearing. 1t stands there as
plague-spot upon our escut;heon-a meme
IF to of unwise and reckless legislation. T
ct, whole tribe of acts which go to license erin
he in our code Of laws, is a remnant of the da
ed ages-a system of peddling indulgences f
iu- the commission of crime and v%illainy, u
ice worthy of a free, ~virtuous and enlighten
w. people. The General Assembly might
we'll rantindulgences for poisoning and MI
all dering our people, by any other mode, as
Gu licensing the liquor traffic. The end may
to moro quickly, but not more surely gained.