had diminished 13,435,614 gallons, the population had increased about three millions. And at the same time the decrease of home-made spirits had been more than that of the imported article, as distilleries had diminished in a greater proportion.

But while there had been this diminution in the quantity of ardent spirits, the use of wine had been increased. In 1826 the importation of wines was 3,436,460 gallons, leaving for home consumption 2,749,460 gallons. In 1836 the importation of wines was 7,583,578 gallons, and the home consumption 7,178,398 gallons. The number of gallons of wine imported and consumed, from 1822 to 1829 inclusive, was 19,126,862; from 1830 to 1837 inclusive, 38,894,430-a gain of 19,767,568 gallons of wines, against a diminution of 13,435,614 gallons of distilled spirits imported and consumed.

At first sight it would seem that no progress had been made in the practical results of the temperance enterprise. But when it is remembered that the population of the country had increased nearly one fourth, and the number of distilleries in our land had greatly diminished, (4,000 distilleries having been stopped,) it will be apparent that a great advance had really been made. Besides, the principle of total abstinence from fermented liquors was not generally adopted until about 1836.

No men are more entitled to be heard in regard to the results of the temperance enterprise at this date than the Executive Committee of the American Temperance Union. In their report in 1839 they say:

Continual progress has been made in almost every section of the country, and every employment, in the work of purification. Few families of character and respectability now offer to their guests the more virulent intoxicating drinks; and, to a very wide extent, the use of the milder and comparatively harmless is now, at the dinner-table or the social circle, unknown, where, but a short time ago, they were viewed as indispensable to health or reputable standing. But few churches of an evangelical character have, for a considerable period, admitted those to their communion who manufacture, vend, or habitually use spirituous liquors.

The committee feel justified in saying, that on farms, in manufactories, in workshops, in our merchant-vessels, fishing-craft, whalers, in the army,

and in the churches of Christ, the demon has scarce a place to nestle; and that while many a miserable drunkard has been reformed and restored to his family and to God, at least 100,000 of our population are now sober men who, without the temperance effort, would have been common drunkards. The fatal delusions by which fathers, husbands, sons, and brothers are still brought to ruin, and once happy families writhe amid the most heart-rending agonies, are now chiefly in tippling houses, dram-shops, taverns, splendid hotels; in the navy, in steam-boats, at public dinners and evening parties; at treats, at elections and political meetings; at gatherings about judicial tribunals; at the seats of State Legislatures and (peculiarly humiliating) of the National Congress. And even these are fast yielding up the long-possessed but cruel right of making earth a hell.

The tippling-house and tavern-bar system is tottering to its base. Treats at election and treats after election, the wine party made by the governor of a State, or a member of a State or a National Legislature, are frowned upon by enlightened freemen, and viewed as unworthy the rulers and lawgivers of a great republic.

The practice of health-drinking has ceased in the high circles of Europe; and where it is continued here it is often boldly met with a response in a glass of water, rebuking the man who pledges, and showing the folly of wishing another's health while taking that into his mouth which "steals away the brains," and may destroy the soul.

And yet there are deep shades upon the picture. Intemperance still fearfully abounded, and the committee say in the same report:

Notwithstanding all that has been done, a third part of the male adult population in many places are swept by strong drink into the grave. The more virulent the poison the more mad are men upon their idols. A stranger coming to many of our cities attending our police courts and examining our penitentiaries, almshouses, and hospitals, filled with the victims of strong drink, would say that nothing had been done for temperance. To our disgrace and terror, deeds of the greatest atrocity are constantly committed by drunken men and drunken women. Crime treads on crime, and blood touches blood. Even the official returns of Massachusetts, a State pre-eminent in industry, morality, and good order, for 1838, show that the number of paupers produced by intemperance was 8,080, taxing her for their support $170,000; and that five sixths of the 4,000 in her penitentiaries were habitually intemperate. The angel of temperance has swept over our land and purified our mountain-tops, but left our valleys full of dead men's bones and rottenness.

A considerable advance was made upon this condition of things during the next twelve years, ending with 1850.

The work of reformation which had been so marked between 1826 and 1840 continued to go forward from 1840 to about 1855 or 1858. The principle of total abstinence, which had been quite generally accepted by the temperance societies as early as 1836 to 1838, and which was very extensively carried out into the various communities, received a fresh and more powerful indorsement from the Washingtonian reformation, from the Sons of Temperance, from Dr. Sewall's demonstrative plates, and the testimonies of other eminent physicians.

The use of alcoholic spirits, even wine, was very extensively discontinued at public dinners and on other special occasions. The new and magnificent Delevan House, in Albany, was opened on temperance principles, and many other hotels also discontinued the furnishing of intoxicating liquors to guests. The President of the United States opened his house at Washington without intoxicating drinks. At the inauguration of Hon. Edward Everett, as President of Harvard College, in 1846, six

hundred distinguished citizens of Massachusetts, and the elité of New England, sat down to dinner without any kind of alcoholic liquors. More than three fifths of all the undergraduates of Yale College took the pledge of total abstinence. In a great entertainment given in Boston, in 1849, to the National Medical Convention, where more than six hundred physicians were present, not a drop of intoxicating liquor was provided. At the annual meeting of the New York Medical Society, total abstinence was fully sustained by the most distinguished physicians.

Drunkenness was still, however, the characteristic sin of large numbers, and its ravages were appalling. In the State of New York there were committed to the prisons, in 1849, 36,610 persons, who committed the crimes for which they were arrested under the influence of intoxicating liquors; and of the poor in the poor-houses, two thirds, or 69,260, were pronounced in the Assembly document paupers from intemperance. In Massachusetts 3,341 persons were committed to prison for crimes perpetrated under the influence of strong drink. In the city of New York there were 4,425 licensed liquor sellers, 750 selling without license, and 3,896 selling on the Sabbath. In Philadelphia there were admitted to the almshouse, in 1849, 2,325 persons who were intoxicated when received. In the Mayor's court there were 5,987 cases of drunkenness and disorderly conduct. Such was the long procession of paupers and criminals, made such by alcohol, which was yearly passing in review, after all that had been done.

But how much more serious would have been the exhibit had there been no reform from the dark, low state of 18001825. Thousands on thousands had been reclaimed; hundreds of thousands had been prevented from pursuing the drunkard's path, and suffering its terrible woes; and the moral aspects of society had incalculably improved.

During the forty years from 1810 to 1850, there was a very great reduction in the average quantity of intoxicating liquors consumed in the country. The consumption of distilled spirits,

including those imported and those manufactured in the United States, and also foreign wines, (the exports of each kind being deducted,) was as follows:

The above figures have been carefully computed from data selected from official sources, except those for 1823, which are given on the authority of the "Boston Recorder," and for

1830, on the authority of the Old American Cyclopedia for that year. They show a decrease of nearly one half on the average, in the consumption of alcoholic liquors, from 1810 to 1850, and one third as much drank in 1850 as in 1823.

Including all kinds of intoxicants, (beer, ale, etc., with the stronger liquors,) and the gain was from 8 1-2 gallons per capita in 1810 to 4 1-10 gallons in 1850.

A decrease of one half in the average consumption of all kinds of intoxicants in the country was a great gain.

Governor Briggs is reported to have said before he died, that the Temperance Reformation had been worth one hundred millions of dollars to Massachusetts alone.