annual consumption of ardent spirits, in some of our largest places, has been diminished three fourths; that the government of the United States does not furnish them for the army; and that the prospect is, they will soon be withheld from the navy; that 3,000 drunkards have been reformed; that 3,000 dealers in this poison have given up the traffic; 1,000 distilleries have been stopped; 300,000 have pledged themselves to total abstinence, and more than a million, have ceased to use ardent spirits. Great things have been accomplished; but far greater will be accomplished! A redeeming spirit has gone forth. President Adams the elder, said, some years since, that there were no eight millions of people on the earth, that consumed so much ardent spirit as the people of the United States. Now it is not Utopian to suppose, that President Adams the younger, may live to see twenty millions in this country, who shall surpass all other people on the globe in temperance. The motto, "Try," has been put into practice with effects altogether surpassing the most sanguine expectations.

Though this cause has been so successful, yet it still has opposition to encounter. Discordant voices and murmurs are heard ascending from the earth, like those which went up from the multitude in the camp of Israel. “It is priestcraft," says the infidel. "It is an attempt at a union of church and state," say the mock patriot and the aspiring demagogue. "It is sectarianism," says the suspicious bigot. "It is an encroachment upon my liberty," says the secret lover of rum, and the interested manufacturer and vender of the article. "I'll let them know this is a free country, and I will do as I please!" The timeserver thinks it is carrying things too far; and the easy and indolent think the work goes on well, and their co-operation will not be needed. While not a few self-deceived wish well to the cause as they pretend-hope

it will succeed-lament over the evils of intemperancerejoice at the good that has been accomplished-drink on and sell on still. Such obstacles should never intimidate a reformer in the temperance cause. He should be like a veteran harnessed for the battle-resolved on the extermination of this vice, and not fearing any "lion in the way." Let the temperate cease using it—and the totally abstinent continue to refrain from using it, and one generation will sweep off all the intemperate from the land, and remove the stigma so long cast upon us in the expression, “A nation of drunkards," and the golden age of New England will return. Then let all be excited to engage, heart and hand in this great and good work, to put a stop to intemperate drinking, the worst of plagues, for as this declines or prospers, the nation will rise or fall. The motives for effort are enough to arouse the nation. Let efforts be made to bring about a reform, as it respects the daily use of ardent spirits among laborers. It is a mistaken notion that they are necessary for workmen in their daily business. Let those who labor hard, eat often, and make use of those drinks which nourish the system, while they quench thirst, and they will find themselves better able to undergo the fatigue of the day, than when they neglect so to do and drink ardent spirits, which afford no nourishment. In the better days of our country, even till the Revolution, "strong water," (for so distilled spirits were then called,) was comparatively little used; but our fathers were as active, vigorous and laborious, as the people now are, if not more so. This proves that ardent spirits are not necessary for those who labor. Efforts should be made to promote a complete change in the fashionable vice of giving ardent spirits to friends and visitors at social entertainments. This practice is a fatal complaisance, and is denounced by an inspired pen: "Wo unto him that giveth his neighbor drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, and makest

him drunken also." The use of wine should also be abandoned, as well as that of ardent spirit. So long as the higher classes in society drink the former, the laboring classes will drink the latter. The practice of presenting spirituous liquors at funerals should be discountenanced. How highly improper it is, when paying our last offices of duty and respect to the remains of a deceased fellow mortal, to be thinking and conversing about death, judgment and eternity, over the rum bottle, or when the spirits are raised-not to heaven by the Spirit of God, but by deadly poison. The habit of furnishing exhilarating spirits at vendues, is highly reprehensible, and should be abandoned at once, for it is nothing less than bribery. It is done to lead, and it sometimes does lead, a person to give more for an article, than he would, when free from liquor, and in his sober moments. "Those who rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink, and continue until wine inflame them," should be faithfully warned of their danger. The habit of taking a glass of bitters, or a dram in the morning, is very pernicious. It prepares those addicted to this practice to follow strong drink all the day. Such should be exhorted, (for it may be, that they are not callous to shame, or deaf to entreaty,) to forsake the way which leads down to the chambers of death, and to wage an exterminating warfare with the enemy to their property, morals, happiness, health, body and soul, and to prefer the pure water of life to the bowl of intoxication, and the never-ending felicities of heaven to brutal and short-lived pleasures.

Appendix H.

DISSERTATION IX.

INVOLUNTARY SERVITUDE.

WHATEVER may be the sins, which, at any time, are predominant in the community, the Christian will ever be disposed, not only to acknowledge their prevalence, but to point out, according to his ability and opportunity, their evil nature, tendency and consequences, and also to show the importance of reformation. Of all the sins that have ever obtained among civilized and Christian nations, no one is of a darker dye, or more abhorrent to the feelings of humanity, than that of slavery, or the subjection of one part of the community to the other, without the contract or consent of the party subjected. This subject, which, for the last thirty years, has produced so much interest among the different nations of Europe, and, within a few years past, excited so much attention in this country; and which is so absolutely and intimately connected with the present and future happiness or misery of millions of our race, must be deeply interesting to all who feel a sympathy for the degraded, oppressed and wretched African. And though we may not have been personally concerned in so bloody and horrid a work; yet it is proper, notwithstanding, that we should be enlightened on this subject. Some remarks will

now be made upon African slavery, it is hoped, with truly patriotic and Christian feelings. In the discussion of this subject an attempt will be made to show,

I. That all men are by nature equal and free.

II. That African slavery is unjust, sinful, and infa

mous.

III. That it is impolitic in a civil point of view. And, IV. That all lawful and practicable measures should be adopted to put an end to this detestable crime.

I. It will now be attempted to show, that all men are by nature equal and free. The apostle tells us, that "God hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth." They have then the same Creator-God is their Maker. They have the same nature-all are "made of one blood." They have the same parentage-all are descended from the first human pair. This is agreeable both to tradition and Revelation. Consequently all men are by nature equal and free. This, it would seem, ought to be viewed as an axiom in the science of political government; for nothing can be more evident than that all men have by the very law of their nature an equal right to their lives, liberty and property. These are the birth-right of all mankind.

Upon these principles are founded the constitutions of government in our American Republic. In a declaration of the rights of the inhabitants of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, it is asserted, "All men are born free and equal, and have certain natural, essential and inalienable rights; among which may be reckoned the right of enjoying and defending their lives and liberties; that of acquiring, possessing, and protecting property; in fine, that of seeking and obtaining their safety and happiness." In a declaration by the Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled in 1776 it is declared,