The improvement, though not a total reform, was very manifest in all departments of life. Men familiar with the courts perceived it. Chief-Justice Parker, of Massachusetts, who had been associated with Dexter and Dane in the presidency of the first temperance society in that State, and who, with others, had "retired from the field in despair," owing to the appalling discouragements attending the work of reform, after a sixweeks' tour, in 1829, through Western Massachusetts, wrote:

A most extraordinary reformation has taken place in regard to the use of spirituous liquors. . . . There is an actual diminution of one half in the sale of spirits. In most cases beer has taken the place of them, and when that cannot be obtained, cider; and where neither, water. In many places the traffic in rum, gin, brandy, etc., formerly a profitable part of the grocer's business, has ceased to be an object, and the bar-rooms of taverns, heretofore a scene of disgusting excess, are comparatively deserted, or visited only for the fountain of ale or beer, which is now the prominent object there.

The Bar of Berkshire county have entered into a compact to promote the cause or temperance by example and otherwise.

The "Religious Herald," published in Richmond, Va., in 1829, stated that a letter had been received in that city from a merchant in New York city, directing the immediate sale of the ardent spirits he had in his consignment, assigning as the reason that, if the public disapprobation of their use increased there, as it did in New York, its value as a commodity must materially decline, for the business in the latter place had already decreased one half. In the same year it was said that, in Lyme, Conn., there were only four thousand gallons sold where, a few years before, ten thousand were sold. In Frankford, Me., only ten hogsheads were sold where formerly there were fifty. In Williamstown, Mass., no distilled liquor could be purchased, except as a medicine. In the same year, from many other places, it was reported that the sale of distilled spirits had declined from one fourth to one half.

The improvement was very perceptible in morals. While some localities, more especially in the newly-settled portions

of the land, afforded but little evidence of moral elevation, yet, looking at the whole country, the period, from 1800 to 1830, was one of considerable improvement in public morals. The great revivals, and the new Christian activities-the Bible, the Tract, the Missionary, and Sunday-school movementswhich then sprung up, and, last of all, the Temperance Reformation, (1826-30,) exerted a very wide and salutary influence. A writer, in 1830, referring to the change which had become apparent, recorded the following testimony:

There is an awakened sensibility on moral subjects. The conscience of the civilized world is undergoing a purification of most auspicious omen. In the United States an inroad has been made upon the dominions of vice such as has not been known since the settlement of the country, nor since the Saxons settled in the British Islands. The voluntary abstinence of one hundred thousand individuals from a deadly poison is prophetic of greater things yet to come.1

At this early period there were some indications of more radical views. On the 5th of November, 1827, the Massachusetts Society held a public meeting in Julian Hall, Boston, Hon. John C. Warren, M.D., president, and John Ware, secretary. The propriety of recommending total abstinence from wine was considered, and a resolution was introduced to the effect that, "Although some arguments might be brought in support of its prohibition, yet, on the whole, it is unreasonable and impolitic; since, although in excess it may be injurious, still it holds out but little comparative temptation to excess, and, by the introduction of some of its milder kinds, it may be made an important instrument in promoting the suppression of intemperance." The resolution was discussed by Dr. L. Boylston Adams, Rev. Wm. E. Channing, D.D., Rev. E. S. Gannett, Hon. Wm. Sturgis, Dr. J. B. Flint, and Rev. Wm. Collier, and then adopted. Hon. Judge Parker, in the letter before alluded to, expressed a similar opinion. He said that "some have discarded the use of

1" American Quarterly Register," 1830-31, p. 27.

wine," which he feared was "carrying the thing too far, and would lead to a revulsion." But he said that those who abstained from it did "not object to it as hurtful, but because its use destroys the power of example with those whom they seek to reform from ardent spirits."

In 1829 and 1830, some Congregational Churches in Connecticut made entire abstinence from ardent spirits a condition of membership. From 1825 to 1828, the opinion gradually obtained ground that the manufacture and sale of ardent spirits was an unjustifiable wrong, and a considerable number of merchants abandoned the traffic for justifiable reasons.

The first allusion to Sunday-schools as a medium for the instruction of the young in correct temperance principles occurs in the Report of the Massachusetts Temperance Society, in 1828.

Such was the state of temperance sentiment up to 1830. Public attention had been directed almost entirely to the evil of using distilled liquors, on account of their more fiery and destructive properties. But few minds had apprehended any pernicious effects from the use of wine, cider, and beer, and none of the temperance societies excluded them.

At the commencement of the year 1830, "there had been formed, on the plan of abstinence, and reported," more than one thousand societies, embracing more than one hundred thousand members, and located in twenty-four different States; "more than fifty distilleries had been stopped; more than four hundred merchants had renounced the traffic; and more than twelve hundred drunkards had ceased to use the drunkard's drink." An outpouring of the Holy Spirit followed the reform in many places.

CHAPTER II.

GENERAL PROGRESS.

(1830-1840.)

ITHERTO the beginnings of the Temperance Reformation

HTT

have been traced in considerable detail, in order to sketch, as clearly as possible, the patient, anxious struggles and wise, careful thought of the good men who, in the midst of such low moral conditions, were called to pioneer this great movement. We have now reached the point where it widens into broad proportions, extending its influence so rapidly that henceforth we shall content ourselves with more comprehensive statements, except when new phases appear.

In January, 1831, Rev. Dr. Justin Edwards visited the District of Columbia, addressed the members of Congress, at their request, and organized temperance societies embracing more than one thousand members. In September following, Rev. John Marsh, who had been secretary of the Connecticut State Temperance Society, was employed as an agent of the National Society. He visited Maryland, and, the next winter, the city of Washington, where he held meetings in the Capitol. Hon. Lewis Cass presided, and Walter Lowrie, Clerk of the United States Senate, was secretary of the meeting. Hons. Felix Grundy, Senator from Tennessee, Theodore Frelinghuysen, Senator from New Jersey, and others, delivered addresses.

At this time the subject of abolishing the "spirit rations" in the army and navy was seriously agitated. Many important facts bearing upon this subject were brought to the attention of Dr. Edwards, during his visit to Washington, by Hon. Lewis Cass, Secretary of War. It was stated that the number of desertions in the army, on account of ardent spirits, was

about one seventh of the whole number annually. A great majority of the cases of court-martial resulted from the use of ardent spirits. It was plain that something must be done. About ten years previous to this time Hon. Reuben H. Walworth, of New York, had called the attention of the House of Rep resentatives to the demoralizing effect of the whisky ration daily dealt out to the soldiers of the army. But when he ventured to propose a resolution of inquiry into the subject, he was deeply mortified at its rejection by an almost unanimous vote. A short time afterward, encouraged by a few friends of temperance, some of whom were officers of the army, he ventured again to introduce the subject to the House in a modified form. The committee of inquiry was granted, but their action was adverse to his wishes, the majority regarding his project as impracticable and visionary. But at the time of the visit of Dr. Edwards the way was preparing for so salutary a measure, and the organization of temperance societies in Washington, and the influence of the Secretary of War, who had been a life-long temperance man, soon brought the question to a successful issue. On the 2d of November, 1832, an "order" was issued from the War Department to the Army, of which the following is the substance:

1. Hereafter no ardent spirits will be issued to troops of the United States as a component part of a ration, nor shall any commutation therefor be paid to them.

2. No ardent spirits will be introduced into any fort, camp, or garrison of the United States, nor sold by any sutler to the troops. Nor will any permit be granted for the purchase of ardent spirits.

Early in February, 1832, Dr. Edwards again visited Washington, and was cordially welcomed by many members of Congress and others, and, at the special request of members of both Houses, addressed them in the Capitol on the Sabbath, on the subject of temperance. During the subsequent week a Congressional temperance meeting was held in the Hall of Representatives. It was numerously attended by members of Congress, citizens, and strangers, and produced a salutary effect.