n society; a vice, too, so odious in its
nature, so injurious in its consequences, and attended with so many
circumstances of suffering, mortification, and disgrace, that it seems
difficult to understand how it should ever have become a prevalent evil
among mankind; and more especially how it should have come down to us
from the early periods of society, gaining strength, and power, and
influence, in its descent. That such is the fact, requires no proof. Its
devastating effects are but too obvious. In these latter times, more
especially, it has swept over our land with the rapidity and power of a
tempest, bearing down every thing in its course. Not content with
rioting in the haunts of ignorance and vice, it has passed through our
consecrated groves, has entered our most sacred enclosures: and O, how
many men of genius and of letters have fallen before it; how many lofty
intellects have been shattered and laid in ruins by its power; how many
a warm and philanthropic heart has been chilled by its icy touch! It has
left no retreat unvisited; it has alike invaded our public and private
assemblies, our political and social circles, our courts of justice and
halls of legislation. It has stalked within the very walls of our
capitol, and there left the stain of its polluting touch on our national
glory. It has leaped over the pale of the church, and even reached up
its sacrilegious arm to the pulpit and dragged down some of its richest
ornaments. It has revelled equally on the spoils of the palace and the
cottage, and has seized its victims, with an unsparing grasp, from every
class of society; the private citizen and public functionary, the high
and the low, the rich and the poor, the enlightened and the ignorant:
and where is there a family among us so happy as not to have wept over
some of its members, who have fallen by the hand of this ruthless
destroyer?

As a nation, intemperance has corrupted our morals, impaired our
intellect, and enfeebled our physical strength. Indeed, in whatever
light we view it, whether as an individual, a social, or national evil,
as affecting our personal independence and happiness, our national
wealth and industry; as reducing our power of naval and military
defence, as enfeebling the intellectual energies of the nation, and
undermining the health of our fellow-citizens; as sinking the patriotism
and valor of the nation, as increasing paupers, poverty, and taxation,
as sapping the foundation o