Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1871-11-09

1
& : -z.z * By ]. T. BREsH.
Intemperance is not only a private
sin, but q national SIN. 1t does not
OnIg eject indi yiduals, but the com
munity in general. aud the State at
large. II revels not only in the work
shop, and in the, closet, but, riots in
the legislative halls ofour county,
1t pervades all classes of society from
/ hesleast to the greatest, and has be
come an evil of such giant magnitude
that We scarcely know how to grapple
! With it. ,..-se ''S..e
| It leaves its -wfthering touch upon
lyeyery. branch Of industry, audits whole
! tendency is to cOunteract every instru-
4nentality thatsha for its object the
agood of mankind, and the glory of
It5od. Its. effects upon the religion of
\ his country are most. fHiglltfdL We
have $4,000 churches where the Word
of God is preached every Sabbath,
and I30.O00srnm shops, whose living
| iires of hell are kept up night and day,
10 deaden all religious influences, and
to SOW the seeds of vice, crime, ;gno.
rance and death and Though more
luSAAA OO3OOO CNSL
Sabbath, and the Bible is in almost
every house, yet millions of people
are as ignorant of the true kno wledge
tqf God as the natives in the sjdngles
Of India, or the-sandy wastes Of Africa.
Sabbath schools dot our country from
center to circumference, yet 100000
are without religious instruction. Our
nation is proverbfal for Its benevolent
institutions and its temperance soci-
cites, yet our streets are filled with
beggars, and 100000 immortal beings
ere on a high road tos a drnhkard s
grave, and a drunkard's hell.
School houses and academies are
throughout the length and breadth Of
this land, yet 100000 Of adults can
not pcAa and WF4teA We paysfor all.
charitable purposes. pcluding the
preaching ofthe Gospel, about $780,
600, 600, while we. sexpend ten. times
. that amount for alcoholic drinks
! 100,000.o00 gallons 81 whisky, brandy,
! gin. rum, and vast quantities of ale
and beer, are manufactured every year,
! and millions of bushels 1of grain are
thus consumed, while many thousands
Of women and children in our large
cities are starving for bread.
Three. hundred tnGpsand persons
I are engaged in the sale or tnanpfac-
ture of this poison, and thus spending
those precious moments which were
i given to man for q wiser and better
A1EFpoSk1 What Is the result of this?
Go with me to the State prisons, and
out othl25,000 criminals, 100000 will
tell you that strong drink was the
cause of their ruin. Go to the aims
house, Z andygof the 0,0aO kpaupers
| | cking out q miserable existence be
tween its naked wallis 15O, 900 Willytel
the same story. Learn the sad histo
~ of 600 maniacs, What brought the
greatestl of curses upon them.2 Strong
: drink. Go to the grim messenger ot
$ death, and he EWillgstartle- you with ethS
dreadful intelligence that 60, 900 drunk
ards pass annually at his gates. The
influence the rum traffic eXcrts upor
the public welfare is tremendous, an6
its results most disastrous. Our elec
tions in the large cities are often con
trolled by a rabble that would put tC
:. blush tile conspirators of Cataline il
the dark days of Rome. Thorsand'
E exercise the electlng franchise that
wouldn not merely sell their birtllrigh
i! for mess of pottage, but their soul
to hell for bottle of whisky. Mel
are often elected to office, who4 Whil'
=. making loud professions to loyalty
are with one hand, striving to grasI
the top-most round in The ladder ofpo
Ez sition, and with -the-other reaching
- down to plumber the public. treasury
\ Nearly all nations have been guilt
= Ilof some great crimes, and from TIL
vast proportions which intemperanc
in has. assumed in this country. it ma
m emphatically be called the evil of thi
land. God has always visited the ma
Z tions that transgressed His law, wit
His Judgments, and hurled them i
the dust, and the fate Of the nation
nd that lie buried beneath their ruins ma
IN IN tell our doom. 3 Dolnot speak of OF
md greatness, our power, and our vast IT
G1 ,aY sources. These things hlay only haste
: our end. Where, may I ask, is Egyp
= and Babylon, and Greece, and Rom
to day They are past and gone, an
their greatness and splendor with then
What was the cause of their downfall
What degraded them from the elevate
, position WHICH they once occupied
; Read the mournful answer in that
Rome She Was the mistress of II
world. Her eagles glanced from Il
rising to the setting sun. Her We,
name was .. passport to all the natioi
1 II upon the globe. But she fell when 8
was.t at. the zenith of her power T
ES. Goths, the Huns, and the Vandals
the North, would have Knocked
vain at the gates of Rome, if mo
deadly ,enemy,-her excesses and V
righteousness, had not sucked her We
life blood. .r t4qars y b
tn America might profit by these Il
ON On. sons f.she would, and what shou
ton not be done to save our country {? 7
hopes of the world hang upon our G
perience- of civil government.
country is the home of the opprese
of every cline. We are growing
~ ''77trs power and population, and the pro
American eagle, the adopted embl
Of eur country will soon embrace |