The Liberator

TEMPERANCE.

BRUNSWICK. (Me.,) July 15, 1864.

Mr. Editor—The Liberator of July 1st contains an exceedingly spicy and well-written criticism upon the proceedings of the Convention of the Y. M. C. A., recently held in Boston. Respecting the justice of the strictures, and the spirit in which they seem to have been written, I say nothing. It is only in respect to that part of the article in which the subject of temperance is considered, that I wish to be heard. I did hope to see something in reply from such friends of temperance as Gen. Neal Dow or C. A. Stackpole; but, as nothing does appear from either of them, nor any one else, and not wishing to labor under the self-conviction of remaining "at ease in" our temperance "Zion" when the voice of duty calls, I undertake to say a few words in defence (not of the Y. M. C. A., whom I leave to take care of themselves, but) of the principles which I recognize as underlying the temperance movement.

The writer, who subscribes himself NATHAN, says, "A skepticism arises in the mind, whether it is not, after all, the now stale performance of the ass of total abstinence braying about in the skin of the lion virtue of temperance"—"and if the ingenuity of these young men can devise some method of bringing the ale of England and the wine of France—the cheap and wholesome beverages upon which those people thrive so well—within the range of everybody's purse, it will be a work of philanthropic economy worthy of Poor Richard."

I shall spend no time in attempting to show how this might be done. The argument, by implication, is, that it is not done. and that the Y. M. C. A. cannot do it; and as no claim is set up that the ale, porter, lager beer, &c., that we can get, possess the same wholesome properties, I am not bound to admit that they do; and the question arises—Shall we indulge in the gross luxuries of ale, porter, and such wines as we do have, because we cannot get the "ale of England and the wine of France"?

The distillation of ardent spirits is of comparatively recent date, while drunkenness is nearly coeval with the rainbow. As the first man that was born was a murderer, so the first man that became a husbandman and made wine became a drunkard; and, on one occasion, awaking from a drunken slumber—induced by wine as cheap and no doubt as wholesome as "the wine of France"—in the very spirit of unreasoning irritation—which the experience of all subsequent time has proved to be the result of that habit—he cursed the posterity of one of his sons, dooming them to be servants of servants to the posterity of his other sons; a liberty which, doubtless, they were not slow to avail themselves of upon so good authority. And the advocates of human bondage have quoted the authority and the example ever since, in justification of slavery with all its abominations.

The authority, therefore, for slaveholding we find to result from the rage of a drunken man, who, like all drunken men in their anger, could not be satisfied with inflicting punishment upon the guilty, but must extend it to innocent persons. I affirm without hesitation, that it had been better for all concerned had he never tasted of the "cheap and wholesome beverage" made from the fruit of the vine, but had continued to wash down the pottage sodden from the flesh of "every moving thing" that lived in those days, with "conditional draughts of aqua pura from a primitive drinking horn" all the days of his life.

No doubt NATHAN is one of the "lions" of temperance, and "knows just when he has had enough." and when he "has had just enough," and when he ought to leave off drinking these "cheap and wholesome beverages," so as to be and remain within the charmed circle of temperance. Without irony or any figure of speech, I have known many such men in my day, to the most of whom might very properly be addressed the injunction—"Take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to them that are weak." Wherefore if "these cheap and wholesome beverages" make my brother to offend. I will "drink no English ale or French wine "while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend."

It was of wine as good as "the wine of France," of which Solomon said—"Look not upon the wine," &c. "for at the end it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder;" and against which the ancient denunciations of intemperance were chiefly hurled.

Solomon departed from the virtuous ways of his youth, being seduced by women, but in his old age he said, "All is vanity and vexation of spirit." But Noah, after he was six hundred years old, having been most of that time a preacher of righteousness, and divinely directed in almost all things, even to the quality of his food, by one fatal practice became a drunkard, and in this drunkenness fastened the curse of slavery upon a large portion of his race; after which nothing is said of his reformation or his virtues, although he lived some three hundred years or more afterward; a proof sufficient that the wine upon which he was drunken was quite as wholesome as the wine of France. No doubt Noah might have been a "lion" instead of a swine, and before he lost his "sober thinking" have exercised "wit enough to leave off drinking"; but he didn't do it; and thousands of millions after him, who, without God's help, have thought they owned minds strong enough to be temperate without total abstinence, have failed as he did; at the same time expressing the deepest contempt for such as proved too weak to stand against the power of habit, and never believing themselves in danger until they had lost the power of self control.

We can enjoy a "generous diet" and good health without the self-indulgence that "bringeth a snare;" and it is because there is a real self-denying principle in abstaining from these "cheap and wholesome beverages," (and not the Reynard cry of "sour grapes,") which constitutes the virtue of total abstinence.

NATHAN furthermore says—"Perhaps the domains of Zion are co-extensive with the reputed authority of a Son of Temperance pledge, and cease at high-water mark," &c. It appears that indefiniteness is a strong hold and citadel of others, beside the Y. M. C. A.; but, without attempting to define the "domains" or limits of "Zion," I must acknowledge my inability to understand where high-water mark is as indicating the extent of the "reputed authority of a Son of Temperance pledge." Reputed! Reputed by whom? By what class of persons? By outsiders, scoffers, backsliders, and those who become weary in well-doing? As a Son of Temperance, I know of no reputed authority of the pledge, except what reason and conscience plainly teach—i. e., that the pledge means just what the words clearly express, and is to be observed unconditionally, without any equivocation, mental reservation, or self-evasion of its express terms.

D. S. GRANDIN.

P. S. Since writing the above, I have noticed in the Liberator of this day's date a short reply to NATHAN, from the pen of that always ready friend of truth and progress, D. S. WHITNEY, for which he has my thanks.