ped, and more than seven thousand persons who dealt in spirits have declined the trade. Upwards of one thousand vessels have abandoned their use. And, most marvellous of all! it is said that above ten thousand drunkards have been reclaimed from intoxication ;" and he adds, "I really know of no one circumstance in the history of this people, or of any people, so exhilirating as this. It discovers that power of selfgovernment, which is the leading element of all national greatness, in an unexampled degree.” Now here is a remarkable instance of a traveller taking for granted that what is reported to him is the truth. The worthy clergyman, himself evidently without guile, fully believed a statement which was absurd, from the simple fact that only one side of the balance sheet had been presented.

That 7,000 Temperance Societies have been formed is true. That 3,000 distilleries have stopped from principle may also be true; but the Temperance Society Reports take no notice

of the many which have been set up in their stead by those who felt no compunction at selling spirits. Equally true it may be that 7,000 dealers in spirits have ceased to sell them;

but, if they have have taken it up.

declined the trade, others

That the crews of many vessels have abandoned the use of spirituous liquors is also the fact, and that is the greatest benefit which has resulted from the efforts of the Temperance Society; but I believe the number to be greatly magnified. That 10,000 drunkards have been reclaimed-that is, that they have signed papers and taken the oath-may be true; but how many have fallen away from their good resolutions, and become more intemperate than before, is not recorded; nor how many who, previously careless of liquor, have, out of pure opposition, and in defiance of the Society, actually become drunkards, is also unknown. In this Society, as in the Abolition Society, they have canvassed for legislative enactments, and have succeeded in obtaining them. The legisla

ture of Massachusetts, which State is the stronghold of the Society, passed an act last year, by which it prohibited the selling of spirits in a smaller quantity than fifteen gallons, intending thereby to do away with the means of dramdrinking at the groceries, as they are termed; a clause, however, permitted apothecaries to retail smaller quantities, and the consequence was that all the grog-shops commenced taking out apothecaries' licences. That being stopped, the striped pig was resorted to: that is to say, a man charged people the value of a glass of liquor to see a striped pig, which peculiarity was exhibited as a sight, and, when in the house, the visitors were offered a glass of spirits for nothing. But this act of the legislature has given great offence, and the State of Massachusetts is now divided into two very strange political parties, to wit, the topers and the teetotallers. It is asserted that, in the political contest which is to take place, the topers will be victorious; and if so, it will be satisfactorily

proved that, in the very enlightened moral State of Massachusetts, the pattern of the Union, there are more intemperate than sober men.

In this dispute between sobriety and inebriety the clergy have not been idle: some denouncing alcohol from the pulpit; some, on the other hand, denouncing the Temperance Societies as not being Christians. Among the latter the Bishop of Vermont has led the van. In one of his works, "The Primitive Church," he asserts that

"The Temperance Society is not based upon religious, but worldly principles.

"That it opposes vice and attempts to establish virtue in a manner which is not in accordance with the word of God," &c. &c.

His argument is briefly this:-The Scriptures forbid drunkenness. If the people will not do right in obedience to the word of God, but only from the fear of public opinion, they shew more respect to man than God.

The counter argument is :-The Bible pro

hibits many other crimes, such as murder, theft, &c.; but if there were not punishments or these offences agreed upon by society, the fear of God would not prevent these crimes from being committed.

That in the United States public opinion has more influence than religion I believe to be the case; and that in all countries present punishment is more considered than future is, I fear, equally true. But I do not pretend to decide the question, which has occasioned great animosities, and on some occasions, I am informed, the dismissal of clergymen from their churches.

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The tee-totalers have carried their tenets to a length which threatens to invade the rites of the church, for a portion of them, calling themselves the Total Abstinence Society, will not use any wine which has alcohol in it in taking the sacrament, and as there is no wine without a portion of alcohol, they have invented a harmless mixture, which they call wine. Unfortunately, many of these temperance societies, in their zeal,