On the effect of the use of ardent spirits upon the health and morals of the community.

To the EDITOR of THE PHILANTHROPIST.

EVERY thing calculated to assist in stemming the torrent of vice, claims in a peculiar manner the attentive consideration of the Philanthropist; and I am inclined to think, that if any person of common feelings could see the hundredth part of the misery which the poorer classes bring upon themselves by the use of ardent spirits, he would be struck with horror, and deem it his duty to do all in his power to remedy an evil which is perhaps one of the most fruitful sources of crime.

The insertion of the following letter, which was first published in The Times newspaper, and which treats the subject in a masterly manner, will oblige

A CONSTANT READER.

To the Editor of the Times.

SIR-It is with pleasure that I noticed the following observa, tion in your paper of yesterday :-"The gradual substitution of ar "dent spirits for that of home-brewed beer among the common

people, is one which, we doubt not, would furnish matter for most "interesting reflection both in politics and morals." Most gladly, Sir, if I considered that you intended to pursue this subject, would I leave it in your hands; but I have thought it possible that, in the pressure of foreign matter and parliamentary intelligence, you may not resume it. It is indeed a question pregnant with importance, as perhaps involving in it nothing less than a change in the national character, and probably affecting, in its ultimate consequences, no meaner interests than the stability of the Government and the existence of the Nation. I am aware that those of your readers who may never have considered this subject, will very probably be startled by so alarming a proposition: but when I reflect upon the magnitude of the evil in question, and its progressive increase, I am neither disposed to withdraw it nor to qualify its force. Taking your own remark as the text of the observations with which I mean to trouble you, I will divide those observations, first, into the evil as affecting the morals, and, secondly, as affecting the politics of the country; only taking the liberty, as you will see, of reversing the order which you have adopted. And, first, I apprehend that the use of ardent spirits has a direct tendency to inflame the passions, and to induce contempt and disregard for divine and human laws. Every man who considers for an instant the movements of his own mind, and the temptations of our common nature, will not require to be convinced

that his passions, far from requiring any excitement to evil, require constant watchfulness and control; and that, even with all the aids supplied by religious principle, by superior education, and by the sense of shame, the course of honest and virtuous action is after all rather a perpetual trouble than a decided conquest; and that whatever has the effect of sensualizing the mind, only enslaves and debases it in the same degree; so that even a wise Heathen could say, Latiùs regnes, avidum domando Spiritum, quàm si Libyam remotis Gadibus jungas, et uterque Pœnus

Serviat uni.

HOR.

Now, if the mastery of the passions was the honour of the more enlightened Heathens, and if self-denial is the essential character and chief glory of Christianity; if to live above the brute is attainable even by those in a state of nature, and is absolutely indispensable amongst all who enjoy the superior light of revelation; what shall we think of those, as a question of morals, who, under such a dispensation as ours, are virtually disavowing the first principles even of natural religion, and of course disgracing in an infinite degree their baptismal profession, as members of a Christian community? Is it possible that even the most infatuated of those persons who are habitually indulging in such a vice as dram-drinking, can pretend that their passions are under their own government? or, rather, Are they not conscious that the love and pursuit of unhallowed pleasure, in one or other, perhaps in many, of its modifications is a necessary consequence of such a habit ? When the man is thus con

tent to loose the rein upon his passions, or rather to let go his hold, it must also be evident that, in addition to this defiance of the divine law, he will, if his circumstances are low, lie under constant temptation to violate the property and to injure the interests of his neighbour-whatever may be the risk he incurs, still his vices must be supplied; there is a daily demand made by them, which he must find the means of meeting; and if he cannot do it from his own stock, he will tax the industry and the substance of another, rather than deny the cravings of his appetite. Let a reference to our Criminal Courts supply a commentary upon this remark. I will venture to assert, from some experience upon the subject, that there are few criminals who stand at the bar of the Old Bailey who are not drinkers of drams, while by far the greater number of the offences with which they are charged can be shown to have been committed under the influence of intoxication. Another consequence of dram-drinking is the peculiar hardness of heart which it induces. The finer feelings are invariably blunted by it, and in many instances completely extinguished. The natural affections are frequently suspended, and as often destroyed by it; and such are the obduracy and selfishness which are excited by this habit, that the tender charities and social endearments of life become mere words and sounds. Men desert the wives whom they once loved, and who have never forfeited their claim to kindness and

protection; while women are rendered regardless of their own children, and are content to deny them the bread which they need, rather than forgo their own indulgence of this hateful vice. Let Parochial Officers and the visitants of the poor be asked, what it is that clothes whole families in rags, and aggravates the evils of poverty to an extent of which few perhaps in the higher walks of life have any idea, and they will find no difficulty in solving the question; they will tell you that to be poor, is comparative bliss, where drams have not yet found admission; but that poverty, with drinking in its train, is the consummation of human misery. But this is is not all, nor perhaps the worst:-not only is the heart rendered callous, but the mind is brutalized; and there can be no doubt that, in many cases, the excessive use of ardent spirits has had the effect of producing an unnatural ferocity of character, and operated as a stimulus to the commission of crimes of the most atrocious kind: not only does this vice affect the bodily health, (as will hereafter be shown) but, like Richard's deformity, it makes crook the mind to answer it.'

It may be right to consider here the physical difference between the drunkenness produced by spirits and that produced by malt liquor. In the case of beer, the person who is under its influence is rendered progressively heavy, stupid, and senseless; but his very inactivity and helplessness are the pledges of another's security. In the case of spirits, however, there is a manifest difference in the mode of their operation. They inflame the blood, irritate the passions, and act as a powerful stimulus upon the whole frame. Except when taken in very inmoderate quantities, they do not stupify and besot the faculties, but rather excite them to keener action, and put their unhappy victims upon daring such new and destructive exploits as would hardly have entered into their minds at another time; much less have been entertained there. This is a distinction which it will be well to keep in mind. Let the cases of some of the worst murders which have been before the public be considered: a few only shall be mentioned, but did space allow a variety might be noticed.

It was proved of Williams, who committed the murders at Ratcliffe-highway, that he was drinking abundantly of the strongest species of gin (vulgarly called Sampson) both before and after the nights preceding those murders. Nicholson, the murderer of Mr. Bonnar, was proved to have been of mild and decent demeanour when he had not had liquor, but altogether different when he had : and for this vice he had quitted his former place. He had been drinking spirits before the murder-drank them repeatedly on his road to town, and was in a state of intoxication from spirits when he was apprehended. The two last unhappy men who paid the forfeit of their lives for destroying the females or whom they professed attachment, had both been drinking spirits before the commission of those crimes, and were addicted to the same vice to the last. It were endless to multiply instances in corroboration of this fact; but if any more were necessary, we need only turn our eye to Ireland; and there we shall find abundant proof, that, whatever might have been the remote cause of the mischief, still that ardent spirits have been in almost every in

stance of atrocity the great proximate exciting cause. Nay, we may look still nearer home, and we shall find that the ravages of this great instigator of crime are not confined to London and its vicinity, but that it has travelled into the country; and in displacing the comparatively innoxious beverage of our villages, has served among other causes (of which however it was not itself the least) to explain the outrages and disasters of Nottingham and the North.

Thus much may suffice for the moral part of the question. I come now to the political, on which it is the less necessary to enlarge, because I apprehend that, if this vice can once be established to be decidedly immoral in itself, and the fertile source of public and private evil, it follows as a necessary consequence, that no wise or good government should tolerate its continuance, much less consent to derive from its existence a considerable portion of its support. I believe it will be readily admitted, that the increase of population and the health and strength of the people are of the utmost importance to any well organized government.

Now not to observe that dram-drinking is of itself unfriendly to the increase of the species, it is certain that, the offspring of dramdrinkers are generally diminutive in size, of squalid and sickly consti tutions, and indeed hardly to be considered as endued with the ordinary portion of vitality-with regard to adults, there can be little doubt that this vice slays more than the sword, and tends, perhaps, above every other, to derange the animal œconomy, to weaken the nerves, to destroy the digestive powers, to obstruct the secretions, and in fact to shorten the life. The stomach is thus kept up in a state of constant excitement, and, by the frequent applications of an artificial stimulus, at length loses its tone, and refuses to perform its functions; the appetite is palled and vitiated; the greater organs of the body, such as particularly the liver and the lungs, are disturbed in their offices, and often become the subjects of incurable disease-depression of spirits is almost an inseparable attendant on this vice, and madness not unfrequently brings up the rear of the woes which stalk in its train.—In every instance, the unhappy victim is, from want of oxygen in the blood, exposed to peculiar danger from all attacks of fever and inflammatory disease; while paralysis in some, premature old age in most, and a miserable existence in all, may be further noticed as so many beacons against the danger of this infatuating vice. I am aware, however, that there are many who will think that too strong a picture has been here drawn of the moral and political evils of dram-drinking; while others, who may even be disposed to assent to the truth of what has been advanced, will feel as easy upon the subject as before; and, while their country lies as it were bleeding on the ground, instead of stooping like the good Samaritan to her relief, will with the Levite pass by on the other side." To those who are disposed to doubt of the nature, the extent, and the probable issue of this national evil, I would only say, Investigate the subject for yourselves. I do not ask or expect that you should adopt my sentiments, except so far as they

are capable of proof; but I feel assured that the longest and most serious examination which you can bestow upon the subject will conduct you to the same or similar conclusions,

To those whose indifference and apathy on a subject of this description only served to remind us of the ancient inquiry, “Am I my brother's keeper?" I would say, Is it nothing to you that divine and human laws are set at defiance by so large a portion of your fellow creatures; that the moral and physical devastation of the human species is proceeding upon so large a scale, that the sum of human misery is increased in so great a ratio? Or, if no public and patriotic motives may be likely to operate, I would ask, Has not every individual a personal and private interest in the suppression of such an evil?-are we not all concerned in the preservation of honesty and sobriety in those about us? and is it of no consequence that our servants and dependants should lose the restraints of conscience, and become the slaves of their passions?

It may however be said by others, After all this reasoning, the revenue cannot relinquish the advantages of this tax-the Government must be supported. This argument has always appeared to me to be of about as much weight as the following:--"The State is in want of money: let us therefore inoculate our subjects with the plague, and then lay a tax upon coffins."

No doubt a very considerable revenue might be produced in this way; but what man among us is not shocked by the bare mention of such a proposition? And yet what is a moderate tax upon ardent liquors, in effect, but the practical application of this principle, only in a different form? Surely, while it can be shown that morality is better than money, and national honesty above a system of finance, it becomes the bounden duty of every wise statesman, to see that, in providing for the temporal advantages of a people, he do not hazard the transformation of the national character and the extinction of public virtue.

There can be little doubt, Sir, that the parliament will have many great and arduous duties to perform by Europe and the public at large; but if it be true that charity should begin at home, I can hardly conceive a subject more worthy of the attention of the most able and enlightened of its members than that upon which you have now sounded an alarm. Let the representatives of the country, ever alive as they are to its best interests, fairly look this evil in the face; for it is not by determining to look another way any longer that we can hope to escape it.

If some remedy be not supplied, our high-sounding professions of national morality are only so many words. We may educate our people, and even put the Bible into their hands; but if we are at the same time to administer to their vilest passions, and afford every facility for their indulgence; if we are as a nation to legalize depravity by