The Manchester Examiner. — 1848-04-15 (Manchester, Greater Manchester, England)

WILLIAM JAY.  . _ The CHAIRMAN then expressed his satisfaction in the holding of such a meeting. It would have the effect, he believed, of wiping away the stigma which had attached to the cause of total abstinence on both sides of the Tweed. His heart was and had been in this cause for many a year. He claimed their indulgence while he occupied the post of chairman.  Mr. WALTER SCOTT, of Airedale College, then rose to move the first resolution, and made a few observations in support of it. He knew the conference did not want any information from him on the subject of total abstinence. It was the happiness of many of them that they did not know from experience the miseries of the drinking system. His own habit had been just to take such a quantity as he thought was useful to him. He had now, however, for ten years been a total abstainer, and consequently he had the means to enable him to compare his experience previous to and *since his. giving up the use of intoxicating drinks, and it was his decided opinion that he had never .derived any advantage whatever from their moderate use. In many instawos he believed their use had been positively injurious to Linn. Their use might be considered perhaps somewhat cheering, when at the time a man was entertaining a friend; but there always came after that sinking and depression, which more than counterbalanced any previous advantage or temporary elevation of spirits. As regarded bodily health and -mental power, he would say, from experience, that the moderate use of alcoholic drinks was not beneficial, but otherwise. Be was quite agreed in the opinion he had heard expressed by the chairman, that it would be less injurious to a man to be thoroughly intoxicated once a month and a total abstainer for the remainder, than to be every day, to a certain extent, partaking of intoxicating liquors. The speaker then referred to the alienation and declension from religion which the system of indulging in intoxicating drinks produced in many who had had a religious education. No practice was more degrading to human nature, and introduced more moral degradation and misery into society, than that to which the use of intoxicating e liquors had given rise. It was the fruitful source of murder, robbery, impurity, and violence, in all its forms. It had been calculated that we might conclude that nine-tenths of the crimes which debase society bad been owing to this practice. Three-fourths of the prostitution, and the same proportion of the insanity of the country, were owing to the same cause. These facts called on all the friends of humanity to make efforts for the extinction of the evil. Drunkenness had well been described as the putting of an enemy into one's mouth to steal away the brains. It deprived man of the reason which placed him above the animal creation, deprived him of those rational faculties which enabled-man to soar to heaven, and to rise to the viesiof the glories of the Divine Being, and so made the knowledge of his character bear an influence on the heart. It reduced men to the state of idiots and demoniacs, every glass helping to drag the victim into the hands of his enemies; and when the victory over him was complete, he was deprived of the use of his faculties, robbed of his character, his property, and his peace of conscience; and, unless the grace of God interfered in his behalf, robbed also of his eternal happiness. In every sense the system was one of the greatest enemies of human nature. (Great applause.) Mr. Scott moved, "That the raischiefs and the miseries arising from the use of intoxicating liquors are of such appalling magnitude, as to call for all the efforts of the friends of humanity for their extinction."—Mr. HARRIS seconded the motion. Mr.