six to ten thousand gallons. It will answer the argument I intend to
draw from it, to state the annual quantity in this town to be six
thousand gallons, although short of the truth. This would be three
gallons to every inhabitant, or twenty-one gallons to every legal voter.
The cost of this liquid, at the low price of fifty cents per gallon,
will be three thousand dollars, which will pay all your town, county,
and state taxes three years, and is as much as it costs you to support
and maintain all your privileges, civil, religious, and literary. In one
hundred years you would drink up all the town in ardent spirits; or it
would cost just such a town as this, with all your farms, stock, and
personal property, to furnish the inhabitants with ardent spirits, at
the present rate of drinking, only one hundred years. But should the
town continue to drink as they now do for fifty years, and in the mean
time suffer the cost of the spirits to accumulate by simple interest
only, the whole town, at the end of the term, could not pay their rum
bills. It can be no consolation that all other towns would be alike
insolvent.
But this is not all. Add to this sum the loss of time and the waste of
property occasioned by it, independent of its cost, and it swells the
amount to a monstrous size. Here you have an account of the cost of
ardent spirits, calculated within bounds. At present there is a great
complaint about the pressure of the times, and the complaint is
doubtless well-founded. "Hard times" is in every body's mouth; but if
you had for the last year only abstained from the use of ardent spirits,
you would now have been independent and easy in your circumstances.
Three thousand dollars, which you have paid for them, divided among you,
would pay all the debts you are called upon to pay. I do not mean that
no one wants more than his proportion of this sum, but there are some
who want none of it, and who would circulate it, by loan or otherwise,
among those who do want it, and it would relieve the whole town from the
distress they are now in.
If this town had an income that would pay all its taxes, you would
consider it a matter of great joy and congratulation. But if it had an
income that would discharge all its taxes, and each man, instead of
paying, should receive the amount he now pays, you would consider your
situation highly prosperous and enviable. Discontinue the use of ardent
spirits, and you have it. Use none, and your situation, as a town, will
be as good, yea, far better than if you had an income of three thousand
dollars yearly, to be divided among its inhabitants.
If we carry this calculation farther, we shall find, on the principle
adopted, that there are in the state of New Hampshire 2,441 common
drunkards, and 3,663 intemperate, or occasional drunkards--in the whole,
6,104; and that the state consumes 732,483 gallons of ardent spirits
annually, which cost, at 50 cents a gallon, $366,241. In the United
States, there would be 96,379 common, and 240,949 common and occasional
drunkards; and the country would consume annually 28,913,887 gallons of
ardent spirits, which cost, at 50 cents per gallon, $14,456,943--as much
as it costs to support the whole system of our national government, with
all that is laid out in improvements, roads, canals, pensions, etc.,
etc., and is more than one-half of the whole revenue of the Union for
the last year. It must be remembered that this calculation embraces only
the quantity and cost of the spirits, and is on the supposition that
this town consumes only 6,000 gallons, at 50 cents per gallon, and is a
fair criterion for the state and nation. As it regards this state, it
would be safe nearly to double the quantity, and to treble the cost of
the spirits; and as it regards the nation, it would be safe to double
all my calculations. In the United States, the quantity of ardent
spirits yearly consumed, may be fairly estimated at 60,000,000 gallons,
the cost at $30,000,000, and the number of drunkards, of both kinds, at
480,000.
But we all know, and it is common to remark, that the cost of the
article is comparatively nothing; that it hardly makes an item in the
calculation of pernicious consequences resulting from the consumption of
ardent spirits. Were we to embrace the usual concomitants, and estimate
the value of time lost, the amount of property wasted, of disease
produced, and of crime committed, where ardent spirits are the only
cause, it would transcend our conceptions, and the imagination would be
lost in the contemplation. The number of drunkards in the United States
would make an army as large as that with which Bonaparte marched into
Russia; and would be sufficient to defend the United States from the
combined force of all Europe. Convert our drunkards into good soldiers,
and one-tenth of them would redeem Greece from the Turks. Convert them
into apostles, and they would Christianize the world. And what are they
now? Strike them from existence, and who would feel the loss? Yes,
strike them from existence, and the United States would be benefited by
the blow.
But this is not half. I cannot tell you half the effects of ardent
spirits. And yet ardent spirits are said to be useful and necessary. It
is false! It is nothing but the apology that love of them renders for
their use. There are only two cases in which, Dr. Rush says, they can be
administered without injury, and those are cases of persons like to
perish, and where substitutes may be applied of equal effect. What
rational man would use them, for the sake of these two possible cases?
As well might he introduce rattlesnakes among his children, because
their oil is good in diseases with which they may possibly be afflicted.
The number of persons in the United States who are mentally deranged, I
do not know; probably there are several thousands; and it is
ascertained, that one-third of those confined in the insane hospitals of
Philadelphia and New York, are rendered insane by the use of ardent
spirits. Yes, one-third of the poor, miserable maniacs of our land, are
made such by the use of that which, in the opinion of some, is a very
useful and necessary article, and which they cannot do without. This
article has deprived one-third of the crazy wretches of our land of
their reason--of that which makes them men--of the very image of their
God.
Out of the number of the intemperate in the United States, ten thousand
die annually from the effects of ardent spirits. And what a death! To
live a drunkard is enough; but to die so, and to be ushered into the
presence of your angry Judge, only to hear the sentence, "Depart, thou
drunkard!" Ah! language fails, and I leave it to your imagination to
fill up the horrid picture.
This death happens in various ways. Some are killed instantly; some die
a lingering, gradual death; some commit suicide in fits of intoxication;
and some are actually burnt up.
I read of an intemperate man, a few years since, whose breath caught
fire by coming in contact with a lighted candle, and he was consumed. At
the time, I disbelieved the story, but my reading has since furnished
me with well authenticated cases of a combustion of the human body from
the use of ardent spirits. Trotter mentions ten such cases, and relates
them at length. They are attended with all the proof we require to
believe any event. They are attested by living witnesses, examined by
learned men, and published in the journals of the day without
contradiction. It would be unnecessary to relate the whole, but I will
state one of them, and from this an idea can be formed of the rest. It
is the case "of a woman eighty years of age, exceedingly meagre, who had
drunk nothing but ardent spirits for several years. She was sitting in
her elbow-chair, while her waiting-maid went out of the room for a few
moments. On her return, seeing her mistress on fire, she immediately
gave an alarm; and some people coming to her assistance, one of them
endeavored to extinguish the flames with his hands, _but they adhered to
them as if they had been dipped in brandy or oil on fire_. Water was
brought and thrown on the body in abundance, _yet the fire appeared more
violent, and was not extinguished till the whole body had been
consumed_. The lady was in the same place in which she sat every day,
there was no extraordinary fire, and she had not fallen."[B]
[Footnote B: Trotter on Drunkenness, pp. 78, 79.]
This, with nine other cases, related by the same author, was a
consumption of the body produced by the use of ardent spirits. The
horror of a drunkard's death beggars description. Need I point to yonder
grave, just closed over the remains of one who went from the cup of
excess to almost instant death? You all know it.
But this is not all. One half the poor you support by taxes and
individual charity, are made poor by the use of ardent spirits. This has
been demonstrated by actual inquiry and examination. In the city of New
York, where there are more poor, and where more is done for them than
in any other city of the United States, a committee appointed for the
purpose, ascertained by facts, that more than one half of the city poor
were reduced to poverty by intemperance. This is also the case
throughout the Union. And here permit me to state a case, with which I
am acquainted. I do it with a double object. I do it to show that the
use of ardent spirits produces poverty and distress, and the disuse of
them restores to wealth and comfort.
A gentleman in the city of New York, who carried on ship-building on an
extensive scale, and employed a great number of hands daily, and paid
them all in the same manner, and nearly to the same amount, was struck
with the difference in their situations. A few, and only a few, were
able, from their wages, to support their families; but these were out of
debt, and independent in their circumstances. They always had money on
hand, and frequently suffered their wages to lie in the hands of their
employer. The rest were poor and harassed, the former easy and
comfortable in their circumstances, and he resolved, if possible, to
ascertain the cause of the difference. On inquiry and examination, he
found that those of them who were above-board used no ardent spirits,
while the others were in the constant and daily use of them. He
satisfied himself that this use of ardent spirits was the only cause of
the difference in their condition. He determined, if he could, to
prevail upon them all to abstain altogether from their use. On a
thorough and parental representation of the case to them, he succeeded,
and they all agreed to make use of none for a year. At the end of the
year they were all, to a man, out of debt, had supported their families
in better condition, had done more work, destroyed fewer tools, and were
hearty and robust, and enjoyed better health.
This fact speaks volumes, and needs no comment. Adopt the same practice
in this town, and the result will be the same. "What, drink none?" Yes,
I say, drink none--one gallon for this town is just four quarts too
much. In addition to the miseries of debt and poverty which they entail
upon a community, they are the parent of one half the diseases that
prevail, and one half the crimes that are committed. It is ardent
spirits that fill our poor-houses and our jails; it is ardent spirits
that fill our penitentiaries, our mad-houses, and our state prisons; and
it is ardent spirits that furnish victims for the gallows. They are the
greatest curse that God ever inflicted on the world, and may well be
called the seven vials of his wrath. They are more destructive in their
consequences than war, plague, pestilence, or famine; yea, than all
combined. They are slow in their march, but sure in their grasp. They
seize not only the natural, but the moral man. They consign the body to
the tomb, and the soul to hell.
While on earth, the victim of intemperance is as stupid as an ass, as
ferocious as a tiger, as savage as a bear, as poisonous as the asp, as
filthy as the swine, as fetid as a goat, and as malignant as a fiend. No
matter what may be the original materials of the man; his figure may
possess every grace of the sculptor; his mind may be imbued with every
art and science; he may be fit to command at the head of armies, to sway
a Roman senate, to wield the destinies of nations; his heart may be the
seat of every virtue; but ardent spirits will strip him of the whole,
and convert him into a demon. Need I tell how? Need I point out the
change that ebriety produces in the moral and social affections? Need I
present the sword red with a brother's blood? It was in a drunken revel
that the infuriate Alexander slew his best friend and most beloved
companion Clytus. And it was in a drunken revel that he proclaimed
himself a god, and died.
"But have not ardent spirits one good quality, one redeeming virtue?"
None. I say, none. There is nothing, not even the shadow of a virtue, to
rescue them from universal and everlasting execration.
"But they are good as a medicine." No, not as a medicine. There is no
physician, that does not love them, that needs them in his practice.
There is no disease that they cure or relieve, that cannot be cured or
relieved without them. They add to no man's health; they save no man's
life.[C]
[Footnote C: The writer is aware that spirits or alcohol are
necessary in some preparations of the chemist and apothecary.
But it is the use of them as drinks which he is combating, and
which, he is assured by respectable physicians, are not only
unnecessary, but hurtful, in sickness and in health. Were they
to exist only in the apothecary's shop in the state of
alcohol, it would be all that the world needs of them. Some
physicians, nevertheless, may think them useful in two or
three cases or conditions of the body; but it is apprehended,
that if they should discontinue the use of them altogether,
except in certain tinctures, etc., they would be as successful
as they now are. They are often used where they would not be,
if they were not the most common thing that could be found.]
It is impossible to name a single good thing that they do. Give them to
the divine; do they add to his piety, to his zeal, to his faithfulness,
to his love of God or man? No; they destroy them all. Give them to the
physician; do they increase his skill, his power to discriminate amid
the symptoms of disease, his judgment to apply the appropriate remedies,
his kind and affectionate solicitude? Nay, verily, they destroy them
all. Give them to the legal advocate; do they increase his knowledge,
his perception to discover the points of his case, his readiness to
apply the evidence, his ability to persuade a court and jury? No; they
destroy them all. Give them to the mechanic; do they assist his
ingenuity, his judgment, or his taste? No; they destroy them all. Give
them to the laborer; do they add to his strength? Do they enable him to
bear fatigue, to endure heat and cold? Can he do more work, or do it
better? No; they are the ruin of the whole. They reduce his strength,
weaken his frame, make him more susceptible to heat and cold,
disorganize his whole system, and unfit him for labor.
"But there are some men," say you, "who use ardent spirits, and who get
along very well." Admitted. They endure it. So there are some men who
get along very well with poor health and feeble constitutions. Are poor
health and feeble constitutions, therefore, no evils? Is the prosperity
of such to be attributed to them? As much as is that of the former to
the use of ardent spirits. Was ever a man made rich by the use of ardent
spirits? Never; but millions have been made beggars by it.
Yet some say, they _feel better_ by drinking ardent spirits. Let us
examine this excuse. It is nothing but an excuse, and he who loves rum
and is ashamed to own it, says he feels better to drink it. Let us
inquire how. Are they conducive to health? On this subject let the
physician decide. One, as great as this country has produced, Dr. Rush,
says that the habitual use of ardent spirits usually produces the
following diseases: A loss of appetite, sickness at the stomach,
obstruction of the liver, jaundice and dropsy, hoarseness and a husky
cough, which often ends in consumption, diabetes, redness and eruptions
of the skin, a fetid breath, frequent and disgusting belchings,
epilepsy, gout, and madness. This is the train of diseases produced by
the use of ardent spirits, and the usual, natural, and legitimate
consequences of their use. And now, I ask, can that which, of its own
nature, produces these diseases, make a man feel better? Reason might
answer; and were she on her throne, uninfluenced and unbiassed by the
love of ardent spirits, she would unequivocally answer, No. And we find
that those who say they feel better to drink ardent spirits, are those
who are in health, but love rum, and it gratifies their appetite, and
this is what they mean by feeling better.
I will examine for a moment the effect, the immediate effect of ardent
spirits upon the man. I will take a man in health, and give him a glass
of ardent spirits. The effect is, to produce mental derangement and
false notions and conceptions. But one glass will not have much effect.
I will give him another, and, if he loves rum, he feels better; another,
and he feels better; another, better yet. By this time he has got to
feel pretty well; quite happy. He has no fear or shame. He can curse,
and swear, and break things. "He is fit for treason, stratagems, and
spoils." He fears no consequences, and can accomplish impossibilities.
If he is a cripple, he fancies he can dance like a satyr; if he is slow
and unwieldy, he can run like a hart; if he is weak and feeble in
strength, he can lift like Samson, and fight like Hercules; if he is
poor and pennyless, he is rich as Croesus on his throne, and has money
to lend. This is all a correct representation. It is what happens
universally with the drunkard. I know one man who is intemperate, who is
poor, and never known to have five dollars at a time, who, when he is
intoxicated, has often, and does usually, offer to lend me a thousand
dollars. Poor, miserable, and deluded man! But he feels well; he is one
of those who feel better to drink. He is mentally deranged; his
imagination is disordered. He fancies bliss, and felicity, and plenty,
and abundance, which do not exist; and he awakes to misery, and poverty,
and shame, and contempt. Yet this is the exact feeling of all those who
feel better to drink spirits. He who drinks but a glass, has not the
same degree, but precisely the same kind of feeling with the one I have
described.
And this is all--this is all that rum does to make a man feel better. If
his wife and children are starving, he feels it not. He feels better. If
his affairs are going to ruin, or are already plunged into ruin, he is
not sensible to his condition. If his house is on fire, he sings the
maniac's song, and regards it not. He feels better.
Let him who likes this better feeling enjoy it. Enjoy it, did I say? No.
Reclaim him, if possible. Convince him that he labors under a delusion.
Restore him to truth, and to reason; banish the cup from his mouth, and
change the brute into the man.
And now, need any more be said to persuade mankind to abandon the use of
ardent spirits? the appalling facts, in relation to them, are known to
all. Experience and observation teach us that they are the source of
ruin, and misery, and squalid wretchedness, in a thousand shapes. They
are the three-headed monster; they are the Gorgons with their thousand
snakes; their name is Legion. And shall I yet find advocates for their
use? Will this enlightened community yet say, they are useful and
necessary? All those who have used them, and discontinued the use of
them, say they are totally unnecessary and useless. We see that those
who live without them enjoy more happiness and better health than those
who use them--that they live longer lives. But oh, the folly, the
stupidity, and the delusion of rum-drinkers!
But perhaps it may be said, that the effects and consequences that I
have mentioned, result from the abuse, and not from the proper and
moderate use of ardent spirits; and that on many occasions, in small
quantities, they are useful. Let us examine the circumstances and
occasions when they are said to be necessary; and perhaps I cannot do it
better than in the words of another.
"They are said to be necessary in very _cold weather_. This is far from
being true; for the temporary heat they produce is always succeeded by a
greater disposition in the body to be affected by cold. Warm dresses, a
plentiful meal just before exposure to the cold, and eating occasionally
a cracker or any other food, is a much more durable method of preserving
the heat of the body in cold weather." In confirmation of this, the case
of the vessel wrecked off the harbor of Newburyport, a few years since,
may be adduced. On an intensely cold night, when all the men of that
vessel were in danger of freezing to death, the master advised them to
drink no ardent spirits. He told them, if they did, they must surely
freeze. Some took his advice, while others, notwithstanding his most
earnest entreaties, disregarded it. The result was, that of those who
used the spirits, some lost their hands, some their feet, and some
perished; while the rest survived unhurt.
"They are said to be necessary in very _warm weather_. Experience proves
that they increase, instead of lessening the effects of heat upon the
body, and thereby expose it to diseases of all kinds. Even in the warm
climate of the West Indies, Dr. Bell asserts this to be true. Rum, says
this author, whether used habitually, moderately, or in excessive
quantities, always diminishes the strength of the body, and renders man
more susceptible to disease, and unfit for any service in which vigor or
activity is required. As well might we throw oil into a house, the roof
of which was on fire, in order to prevent the flames from extending to
its inside, as pour ardent spirits into the stomach, to lessen the
effects of a hot sun upon the skin." And here permit me to add, that
they are said to be necessary in cold weather to warm, and in warm
weather to cool. The bare statement of the argument on these two points
confounds itself.
"Nor do ardent spirits lessen the effects of _hard labor_ upon the body.
Look at the horse, with every muscle of his body swelled from morning
till night, in a plough or a team. Does he make signs for a glass of
spirits, to enable him to cleave the ground or climb a hill? No; he
requires nothing but cold water and substantial food. There is no
nourishment in ardent spirits. The strength they produce in labor is of
a transient nature, and is always followed by a sense of weakness and
fatigue."[D]
[Footnote D: Dr. Rush.]
Some people, nevertheless, pretend that ardent spirits add to their
strength, and increase their muscular powers; but this is all a
delusion. They think they are strong when they are weak. Rum makes them
boast, and that is all. The truth is, it weakens them in body, but
strengthens them in imagination. Was not one reason why Samson was
forbidden by the angel of God to drink either wine or strong drink, that
he might thus increase and preserve his strength? When you hear a man
telling how strong rum makes him, you may be sure he is weak, both in
body and mind.
There is one other occasion for using ardent spirits, which it will be
proper to examine. They are said to be necessary to keep off the
_contagion_ of disease, and are recommended to attendants upon the sick.
But the united testimony of all physicians proves, that the intemperate
are first attacked by epidemic disorders. This is almost universally the
case in the southern states, and in the West Indies. Experience also
proves that those attendants upon the sick, who refrain from the use of
ardent spirits, escape, while those who use them are swept away. If
facts could convince, the use of ardent spirits would be abolished. But
the love of rum is stronger on the human mind than the truth of Heaven.