The tri-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1866-1868, 1867-03-02
TIE TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT.

Specch of Hon. Henry Whson, rresA'
dent of the Congressional temperance
Society.
The following is the eloquent address
delivered by Senator Wilson at the
GREAT Temperance meeting held last Sun
day evening in the hall Of Represents
tives. 1t will be read with much inter
est by many who were unable to gain
admission to the crowded hall, as well
as by Others who did not attend, and
of those who heard it, many have e1-
pressed a desire to see it in print, which
we take pleasure ill gratifying:
LADIES AND GENTLEMAN: Several
members of the Senate and House OF
Representatives, mindful OF the meas
ureless evils and sorrows OF lntemPeT
ance. have formed society in which
we have pledged each to the other, and
all to country and to God, to put from us
forever the fatal cup of intoxication. APP
plause. On this holy Sabbath evening
the society has summoned members OF
the Confessional temperance organlza-
ton. and the people ofthe national cap
ital to meet in this chamber OF the rep
rcsentatives of the people publicly to
sommit ourselves, to the full extent OF
all we arc and all we hope to be, to the
hallowed cause Of temperance. In the
name of the society 1 bid welcome here
to-nicht to these members of Congress,
these societies, and this people that
crowd this chamber and throng these
galleries. 1 bid you, one and all, well
come on this occasion, which we hum
bly trust, in the providence of Almigh-
ty God, will contribute something to-
ward arresting the multitudinous evils
of drunkenness that in this age are
sweeping over the land. Applause
The great work upon which this So
ciety has entered is personal re:
form-a social warfare. Its battles will
be bloodless, its victories will be tear
less: but the contest is fearful one, for
it is struggle with the vitiated appe-
tites of our fallen nature-appetltes that
have left sears deeply flrrowed on the
face of humanity. In all the ages, among
all tho nations, drunkenness has con-
quered the mightiest intellects, the
bravest hearts, and the noblest natures.
Soldiers who have led their conquer
ing legions over fields ofvictory, states
men who have swayed the destinies of
nations, philosophers who have stamp
ed the impress of their genius upon the
ages, orators who have held listening
Scnates in rapt admiration, scholars
who have laid under contribution the
vast domains of matter and of mind,
have been the victims Of intemperance.
[Applause.]
1t is estimated that in our own coun-
try, in this age of light and of knowl-
edge, in this land with fifty thousand
churches and fifty thousand ministers
of the living God, we have an army of
five hundred thousand drunkards; that
fifty thousand of this army annually
sink into drunkard's graves that its
ranks are kept filled by drafts upon the
vast reserves ofmoderate drinkers. An |
army of half a million drunkards in
Christian America! Every annual Cir
cult of the sun fifty thousand new-made |
drunkards' graves The perishing ranks |
Of drunkenness recruited and crowded |
by merciless drafts upon the manhood |
ofthe nation How fearful is the thought! |
How appalling the spectacle! Look at
that army as it staggers on to annihila-
ton. You see no mighty columns Of
heroes marching on with radiant ban
ncrs, glad music, and Offering steel to
victory and to glory; but multitude
nous tlrong; broken, disordered, spirit
less, tramping on to their doom, with
the cries of fathers, mothers, brothers,
sisters, wives, children ringing in their
ears. All ages and conditions are
there-youth prematurely blighted;
manhood broken, hopeless age bending |
beneath the burdens of nameless sor-
rows the generous, the noble, men of |
heart, of mind, and of soul, struggling |
in the grasp of drunkenness like giants
in chains; but their feet ever glide on
ward and downward. God pity that
throng of scared, perishing, vanishing
humanity. Applause.]
1t is our purpose, ladies and gentle
men, to hold ourselves back from this
great army of standardization this
vast throng of moderate drinkers, upon
whom drunkenness makes its annual
drafts. 1t is our purpose, too with the
smile of God, to rescue the perishing
drunkard and save the moderate drink
er. We indulge the hope that this
Congressional Society, by the blessing
of Almighty God, will contribute some
thing to this holy purpose, to rescue
the fallen and save the falling. Let US,
gentlemen of this society, which we
trust will long continue to enroll among
its members the representatives of the
people as they shall come hither in the
years to come, be true to our plightcd
faith to each other, and to our vows to
our God. Applause Let US ever re-
member that strength comes from striv-
ing; that in striving to rescue our fall
en- brothers, and to save our falling
brothers from impending ruin, we may
keep our own steps from gliding down
wards. Ever watching, and ever striv-
ing, when ife's labors are done, our
bodies may return to our mother earth
unscared, and our spirits to God who
gave them, unstained by drunkenness.
Applause.
The MULE MARKEr.-The Paris