K  we  would,  however,  trace  the
influence  of  the  pernicious  efi'ects  of
dram-drinking  in  destroying  a  whole
race  of  men,  we  must  look  for  it  in  the
rava^s  which  it  has  made  among
the  North  American  Indians,  who,
when  they  lived  upon  the  produce
of  the  chase,  were  morally  and  phy-
sically some  of  the  finest  specimens
of  creation,  but  who  became  reduced
to  a  degree  of  demoralisation  and  phy-
sical deterioration,  such  as  has  never
before  been  observed  in  the  human
species,  by  the  introduction  of  ardent
spirits  among  them.  These  were  the
means  employed  by  Europeans  of
robbing  them  of  their  lands,  of  their
homes,  of  their  clothing,  of  their
subsistence,  and  of  rendering  them
subject  and  tributary  to  them ;  and
they  proved  most  efleotual  in  their
operation.*

We  need  not,  however,  travel  so
far  to  seek  for  information  as  to  the
curse  which  is  entailed  upon  society
by  the  abuse  of  spirits.  Our  manu-
facturing towns  anbrd  us  too  fright-
ful examples  of  its  effects,  where  we
have  eviaence  of  the  suckling  lulled
to  sleep  by  it,  the  cravings  of  the
youth  appeased  by  it,  and  the  host  of
pains,  and  aches,  and  bodily  infirmi-
ties of  age,  seeking  temporary  relief
in  the  obuvion  which  it  creates.  The
pale,  hageard,  and  ghastly  forms
ivhich  s^k  before  us  are  living
evidences  of  its  horrors.  We  must
do  homage  to  a  man,  or  to  a  set  of
men,  who  labour,  by  every  means  in
their  power,  to  arrest  the  progress  of


the  eriL  liNieh  mtut  be  looked  upon
as  real  blessings  to  society;  but  we
think  that  zeal  may  carry  them  too
l&r,  and  that  ridicule  and  obloquy
may  eventually  oome  upon  their  en-
deavours, by  a  too  general  appli-
cation, and  a  too  sweepinff  prohibi-
tion of  all  those  means  which  have
been  provided  for  the  comfort  and
well-being  of  society  when  confined
within  proper  limits.
