moment. Had he been attacked with a club, or with stones, the argument would have been unanswerable, and I should feel myself compelled to give up the defense in despair. But surely I need not tell you, gentlemen, how wide is the difference between sticks or stones, and double-triggered loaded rifles cocked at your breast.' The effect of this terrific image, exhibited in this great orator's peerless manner, cannot be described. I dare not attempt. to delineate the paroxysm of emotion which it excited in every heart. The result of the whole was, that the prisoner was acquitted; with the perfect approbation, I believe, of the numerous assembly who attended the trial.

What was it that gave such transcendent force to the eloquence of Henry? His reasoning powers were good: but they have been equaled, and more than equaled, by those of many other men. His imagination was exceedingly quick, and commanded all the stores of nature as materials for illustrating his subject. His voice and delivery were inexpressibly happy. But his most irresistible charm was the vivid feeling of his cause with which he spoke. Such feeling infallibly communicates itself to the breast of the hearer.

He staggers up to the desk, and, with a countenance in which resolution and the comic leer of intemperance are blended, he seizes the pen and "signs away his liberty."-but gains his freedom;-freedom from the tyranny of a vile habit freedom to his wife and little ones, from the abuse of a drunken husband and father.

ACHIEVEMENTS

OF THE

AMERICAN TEMPERANCE REFORMERS.

A HISTORICAL SKETCH.

"WHAT WILL YOU TAKE TO DRINK?" united to a significant toss of the head, and an unmistakable angular glance from the eye toward well filled decanters; was a question and an action of almost universal occurrence in every house in our land, within the memory of many whose heads have not even yet become gray.

And then came the step up to the sideboard; the passing of the sugarbowl and the water pitcher; the cranch and the whirl of the toddy stick in the tumbler; the decanting of the stimulant; the pause of anticipation as the glass was held momentarily in the hand; succeeded by the raising of the same to the lips, with the usual accompaniments of crooked elbow, thrown back head, open mouth-all ending by the final smack of satisfaction, as the empty goblet was laid down to make its moist, round mark on the tray.

The imbibing of alcoholic liquids was then general among the American people. They were considered a necessity of life; a certain panacea for all ills; a crowning sheaf to all blessings: good in sickness and in health; good in summer to dispel the heat, and in winter to dispel the cold; good to help on work, and more than good to help on a frolic. So good were they considered that their attributed merits were fixed by pleasant names. The first dram of the morning was an "eye-opener;" duly followed by the "eleven o'clocker," and the "four o'clocker;" while the very last was a "night-cap;" after which as one laid himself in sheets, he was supposed to drink no more that day, unless, indeed, he was unexpectedly called up at night, when, of course, he prudently fortified himself against taking cold. Don't imagine that these were all the drinks of the day-by no means. The decanter stood ready at all times on the sideboard; if a friend had called, he had been welcomed by "the social glass;" if one had departed, a pleasant journey was tendered in "a flowing bumper" if a bargain had been made, it was rounded by a liquid "clincher;" if a wedding had come off, a long and prosperous life" was drank to the happy pair; if a funeral had ensued, then alcoholic mixtures were a source of "consolation in affliction." Drinking all the way from the cradle to the grave, seemed the grand rule. Dinah, the black nurse, as she swaddled the new-born infant, took her dram; and Uncle Bob, the aged gray-haired sexton, with the weak and watery eyes, and bent, rheumatic body, soon as he had thrown the

last spade full of earth upon the little mound over the remains of a fellowmortal, turned to the neighboring bush, on which hung his green baize jacket, for a swig at the bottle; after which he gathered up his tools, and slowly, and painfully hobbled homeward, to attend to his duties to the living. Everybody, even Congressmen, drank; and, what is queer, no one can fix the precise date at which they left off. The deacon drank, and it is said the parson, that good old man, after finishing a round of social visits, not unfrequently returned to his own dwelling, so "mellowed" by the soothing influences of the "cordial" welcomes of his parishioners, as to really feel that this was not such a very bad world after all.

Before we enter upon the subject of this article, we wish to preface it with a few facts upon Alcohol.

Alcohol, as extracted from fermented liquor, was unknown to the world until about the year 1000. When this process was first accomplished in Arabia, no person knew what this product of distillation was; nor was there any language that had for it even a name. They however called it Alcohol; and that is now the chemical name in every country. This word had previously been used in Arabia as the name of a fine powder, which the ladies used to give a brilliance to their complexions. Alcohol was soon ascertained to be a poison, and no one then thought of using it as a drink. About the year 1230, it began to be used in the south of Europe, as a medicine, and from thence, its use gradually extended, for that purpose, over various parts of the civilized world. Judging from its immediate effects, it was thought to increase life; and was denominated aqua vitæ, water of life. Theoricus, not long after, wrote a treatise upon its wonderful curative power; in which he says, "It sloweth age, it strengtheneth youth, it helpeth digestion, it cutteth flegme, it abandoneth melancholie, it relisheth the heart, it lighteneth the mind, it quickeneth the spirits, it cureth the hydropsia, it healeth the strangurie, it pounceth the stone, it expelleth gravell, it puffeth away ventositie, it keepeth and preserveth the head from whirling, the eyes from dazzling, the tong from lisping, the mouth from snaffling, the teeth from chattering, and the throat from rattling; it keepeth the weasan from stiffling, the stomach from wambling, and the heart from swelling; it keepeth the hands from shivering, the sinews from shrinking, the veins from crumbling, the bones from aching, and the marrow from soaking."

Such were supposed to be its wonderful virtues; and many began to think they could not live without it. Ulstadius, another writer, ascribes to it this most singular praise; he says, “It will burn, being kindled." And this he considers as demonstrative of its peculiar excellence. It was not therefore strange, with such views of its power as a medicine, that men should begin to conclude that it must also do good in health, especially when they were peculiarly exposed, and under severe labor; nor that they should introduce the use of it for the purpose of preventing, as well as curing diseases. This was the case, particularly in the mines in Hungary; and afterward, in 1581, it was introduced by the English as a kind of cordial for their soldiers, while engaged in war in the Netherlands, and finally spread, as a common beverage, among all nations.

No nation ever adopted its use without its producing an untold amount