An appropriate agricultural discourse was delivered after a hymn and a prayer. It was so good that I regret not having room for it all.

"The next thing which I mention,” said the orator, "as having a bearing upon the farming interest, and affecting its respectability, though of course unfavourably, is the use of ardent spirits. Something, indeed, has been done of late to awaken public sentiment with regard to it; but there is no subject on which a deep-toned remonstrance is more needed. On this subject I must state facts, with regard to which, for the credit of this town, for the credit of this county, and of this country, I would gladly be silent. The general correctness of my statement cannot be questioned. How much ardent spirits do you suppose, gentlemen, is purchased annually at the different stores in this town? Do you suppose there are twelve hogsheads? Do you suppose there are twenty? Gentlemen, there are thirty! and this is rather below than above the truth. These, upon an average, contain 120 gallons, making 3600 gallons consumed in this town in one year, or more than 24 gallons for every man, woman, and child. None of this is sold for less than 50 cents a-gallon; and if we put it at an average of 62 cents, it will be very low. If we average it at that, the amount paid by this town for ardent spirits, is 2250 dollars.

"If now, to the expense of all this, we add that of pauperism, produced by intemperance,—and probably nine-tenths of it is thus produced,-and that of the various lingering diseases which not only an excessive, but a moderate use of this stimulus induces, there is no calculating the expense or misery which it occasions. But the expense, enormous as it is, and probably, for this county, not less than 100,000 dollars a-year, we would not regard. Let our people be poor, comparatively, we care not for it; but let them retain their integrity and their virtue; let them keep themselves clear from this abominable sin against God and against man."

This appeal is sufficiently energetic, and, of course, would have roused my attention to the subject, had I not already been much struck with the extent of the baneful practice alluded to. In all other countries with which I have any acquaintance, the use of ardent spirits is confined almost exclusively to the vulgar; and though, undoubtedly, the evil it causes may be severe enough, it certainly is not, upon the whole, any where so conspicuous as in the United States.

In the course of the journey, such ample means of judging of these effects lay on every hand, that I speak of them with great confidence, when I say,

that a deeper curse never afflicted any nation. The evil is manifested in almost every walk of life, contaminates all it touches, and at last finds its consummation in the alms-house, the penitentiary, or the insane institution; so that, while it threatens to sap the foundation of every thing good in America-political and domestic-it may truly be said to be worse than the yellow fever, or the negro slavery, because apparently more irremediable. Dram-drinking has been quaintly called the natural child, and the boon companion of democracy ; and is probably not less hurtful to health-of body, than that system of government appears to be to the intellectual powers of the mind.

Fortunately, however, the sober-minded part of the American population, who are fully alive to the enormity of this growing and frightful evil, are making great efforts to check its progress. At the same time I must confess, that as yet I have not heard in conversation, nor seen in print, nor observed any thing myself in passing through the country, which promises the least alleviation to this grievous mischief, of which the origin and continuance, I suspect, lie somewhat deeper than any American is willing to carry his probe. The habit, according to my view of the matter, is interwoven in the very structure of that political society which

the Americans not only defend, but uphold as the very wisest that has ever been devised, or ever put in practice, for the good of mankind. At present, however, my object is to deal chiefly with the fact, though I may remark in passing, that in a country where all effective power is placed—not indirectly and for a time, but directly, universally, and permanently—in the hands of the lowest and most numerous class of the community, the characteristic habits of that class must of necessity predominate, in spite of every conceivable device recommended and adopted by the wise and the good men of the nation.

That I am not overstating the facts of this case, will be seen from the following extracts from the First Report of the "American Society for the Promotion of Temperance," established at Boston on the 10th of January, 1826.

"The evils arising from an improper use of intoxicating liquors, have become so extensive and desolating, as to call for the immediate, vigorous, and persevering efforts of every philanthropist, patriot, and Christian. The number of lives annually destroyed by this vice in our own country is thought to be more than thirty thousand; and the number of persons who are diseased, distressed, and impoverished by it, to be more than two hun

dred thousand; many of them are not only useless, but a burden and a nuisance to society.

"These liquors, it is calculated, cost the inhabitants of this country annually, more than forty millions of dollars; and the pauperism occasioned by an improper use of them, (taking the commonwealth of Massachusetts as an example,) costs them upwards of twelve millions of dollars." (P. 8.)

The Society is in hopes, that by "some system of instruction and action, a change may be brought about in public sentiment and practice in regard to the use of intoxicating liquors; and thus an end be put to that wide-spreading intemperance which has already caused such desolation in every part of our country, and which threatens destruction to the best interests of this growing and mighty Republic." (P. 4.)

The same Report contains many very curious extracts from official and other documents, all bearing more or less testimony to the enormity of this evil, but which are too long to extract. The following paragraphs, however, are so remarkable in themselves, independently of their connexion with this subject, that I think it right to give them a place without abridgement.

"The number of paupers received into the alms-house at Philadelphia