Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-04-04
THE TEMPERANCE CRUSADE.
Some of Its Salient Features.
The Wane of the Great Emotional Fu-
rOre-Why it Failed TO Accomplish
the Purpose of the Crusaders.


From the ST Louis Republican, April .
That the temperance crusade is rapidly
on the wane. and will soon cease TO OCCUPY
the place even of "a nine days wonder" is
an undeniable fact-a fact, too, which.
while it may disappoint some, should sur
prise no one who has given the subject a
moments intelligent and impartial
thought. To speak the plain truth in plain
words, nothing but the season of the wear
prevented this movement from being a clear
case of s'midsummer madness" Ii origi-
mated in what we conceive to be two grave
errors, which it is almost as difficult to ex-
case as TO understand. First, that it is
possible TO break up the traffic in and con,
sumption of Intoxicating liquors as lonr ss
mans stomach and conscience r,main
what they now are. Second, that che snir-
itual exercise called prayer, can five con-
slider its divine origin-be an, more effica-
cious in public than in pri,. ate.
The injury inflicted f>y the Improper use
of intoxicating liquo..s is too self-evident to
require a word of confirmation or comment:
but looking at lat use in the light of ex-
perlence anu cOmm0n-sense. is il not the
height OF oily to suppose it can be utterly
suppres 5ed, either by moral suaSion or un-
1rlen.1ly legislation? Men have drunk more
th;-n they ought to ever since the world be
san, and we are compelled to believe they
viii continue to do SO as long as the world
stands. In those races which are sunk to
The lowest depths of barbarism, as well as
those where civilization has touched the
very tOpmost point, the vinous appetite is
found, and with ii the means of gratifica-
tiOn. No other instinct-eXcept those of
selfpreseyation and the propagation of
AZ 70 haa Il .n-f,
~ imbedded in the constitution of
man, regarding him collectively and
not as an individual. The evil resulting
the0efrom is no more apparent now than
1t was two thousand years ago. In
the literature of Greece and Rome, penned
centuries before Christ was born, may be
read as sharp denominations of the vice of
drunkenness and as eloquent apOStrOphes
TO Temperance as ever dropped from the
lips OF Father Mathew, or mingled with
the eXhOrtatiOns of DiO Lewis. The sageS
and philosophers of those days saw as
plainly and felt as keenly as the good men
and women of our own, but tempering
their zeal with discretion they never at
tempted to annihilate what reason told
them was bevOnd the reach OF human
power. Like the many other irTemediable
eTilS which afflicted them as well as us.
they were forced to accept and endure it
at the same time doing all they could to
control it. What can we DO more? There
are persons who crave these stimulants,
and who will have them at any cost and al
all hazards. And Just so long rs the de-
mand exists the supply must be forhcom-
ing. Moreover, it is absolutely certain that
the more prohibitions there are thrown
around the vending and drinking of ardent
spirits, the stronger will be the desire for
them and the greater the efforts to obtain
them. Stolen fruit is proverbially sweet, |
and many man has walked mile for
glass of whisky sold in Z dark cellar, who |
would not have discovered his thirst had |
the extract of corn been in an open bar |
room on the next corner. Prohibition and |
suppression, no matter what shape they |
assume, always have failed and always will |
fail-at least until human nature under |
goes a radical and permanent revolution. |
All that Is left us is to make the best of |
what we cannot help, and endeavOr by pre- |
cept ard example to teach the propriety and /
necessity of self-reStraint. Beyond this we |
may not 90, and beyond this We have no |
right to 90.
The only original feature of the crusade |
now fastening to its close, is the introduc- /
tiOl of prayer amOngthe outdoor exercises.
We presume that the Christian people who /
have taken part in these exercises would /
be shocked if they thought their action |
was argument against their own faith /
in PRAYER. Yet it is nothing less. If there /
is an efficacy in the petitions Ito the Su-
preme Being, they will avail as much when |
Offered in the church. as in the closet or in |
the middle Of a crowded street, or among
the rabble IF a dram shop. The great
Hearer and Answerer of PRAYER does not
surely need such incongrUOuS surroundings
as these to induce Him to bend a listening
ear and return favorable response to His
Suppliant children. Yet sincerely relIgi-
Gus men and women have deemed it their
duty to thus draw together the sacred and
the prOfane, and literally drag
the novelty Of this strange method
lasted, some short-liyed reformatiOns were
accomplished; but as soon as it ceased to be
a novelty it ceased to have any effect, ex-
cept 10 arouse the vile passions and unlooSe
the viler tongues of the mob. We do not
question the perfect purity of purpose of the
crusaders, vet we fear they have done more
harm than good. There ought to be some
shadow of sanctity hedging about, rs it
We're the domain of pTayer-but they have
unwItungly helped to destroy il. There
ought to be an abiding confidence in the
power of prayer-but the lame aud impO-
tent conclusion Of the movement in which
praye Is the main element, has. in the es-
tim iti0n Of the community at large, seri-
Ousy undermined that confidence. The
only consolation to be derived from the !
serio-,Omical eXhibiti1n of the past few
weeks, is the probability that their aclnow-
leds"d failure will prevent a repetition of
them.