Document 7A: "Woman and Temperance. Great Female Demonstration," New York Times, Sept. 2, 1853, p. 1.

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WOMAN AND TEMPERANCE

    The Whole World's Temperance Convention assembled at Metropolitan Hall, at 10 o'clock yesterday morning.

    The house was fairly occupied--not to make a pun. There were probably a thousand persons present, and they were very attentive. The parquette [?] was nearly all occupied, and the first circle received a thin sprinkling. The second circle presented a vacancy. The proceedings were very orderly; speakers and hearers appeared to be in the best of humor, and there were pleasant indications of strong-mindedness. The ladies were particularly sunny and handsome--better even in personal appearance than we recollect to have seen on any of these occasions in the tender infancy of the Women's movement. The peculiarity of the Convention, its orderly character, the evident interest which it excited, and the good-humor of everybody concerned in it, made up a very agreeable sort of meeting. The proceedings were in full blast during the entire morning, ceased in the afternoon, and were resumed in the evening.

    The sessions will probably continue for-two or three days. Possibly the business will be concluded this afternoon.

    The Convention was called to order by Rev. T. W. HIGGINSON, of Massachusetts. Temporary officers were elected, as follows:

   Chairman--Dr. ELEAZER PARMLY.

   Secretary--Miss SUSAN B. ANTHONY.

    The following persons were constituted a Committee on the Permanent Organization:

    JOS. A. DUGDALE, E. A. SNOW, SYDNEY PIERCE. Mrs. M. W. JOHNSON, Mrs. PAULINA W. DAVIS, of Rhode Island, and Messrs. CLARK and SCHOLES.

    The Committee having retired for the purpose of deliberation, the Chairman called upon C. C. BURLEIGH, with the remarkable hair, "to entertain the Convention in the absence of the Committee."

    Mr. BURLEIGH made a characteristic speech, vehemently denouncing Alcohol, its use, its sale, and manufacture.

    The Committee on Nominations returned, and reported the names of the following persons, male and female, as Permanent Officers. They were unanimously elected, and assumed their respective positions, as per programme:

   President--Rev. THOMAS W. HIGGINSON, of Massachusetts.

   Vice Presidents--Rev. John Pierpont, Massachusetts; G. J. H. Nichols, Vt.; P. T. Barnum, Ct.; Horace Greeley, N. Y.; Asa Fairbanks, R. I.; Lucretia Mott, Penn.; Catherine M. Severance, Ohio; H. W. Glazier, Mich.; Frances D. Gage, Mo.; S. M. Booth, Wis.; H. S. Tilton, Miss.; O. C. Wheeler, Cal.; T. Goldsmith, Canada; W. H. Ashurst, England.

   Secretaries--Susan B. Anthony, C. B. Le Baron, New York; C. M. Burleigh, Penn.; D. H. Vaughan, R. I.; Mary Jackson, England.

    Mr. HIGGINSON, the President, made his opening speech. He said:

    I need hardly say I deem it a high honor to preside over a Convention like this, whether I consider the circumstances under which it was first called, or the great audience I now see before me. It is unusual, the first morning's session of a Convention which is to last two days, to see so many earnest faces in attendance as there are now present. I have no doubt but what I shall have little occasion to enforce the customary rules of order; you are all disposed, I am sure, to keep order yourselves. I have heard, since I came into this Hall, some expressions from those who do not understand us or our purpose, upon which I will say one word. Let it be understood, once for all, what this Convention is; this is not a Woman's Rights Convention--it is simply a Convention is which Woman is not wronged--and that is enough. [Applause] It is what it aims to be, in spirit, if not in numbers--a whole World's Convention; it claims to be so, and it rightly claims it, because its spirit is what ought to be the spirit of the whole world in carrying on a Temperance movement; a spirit which knows no limitation of sect or sex --a spirit which knows no limitation of station or color-- which knows no limitation except that between those who earnestly desire to prosecute the Temperance movement, and that of those who would stand in its way perhaps because "they know not what they do." In this sense it is a World's Convention, because it is world-wide in its spirit; and in no other as sect do I regard it when I stand here. I am glad to see that it is a Convention composed of a due and satisfactory proportion of women as well as men: and that for a plain reason--because it is to be a Temperance Convention, and we must have women here to take part in our deliberations. It was said by some, after we came out from the preliminary meeting which led to the call for this World's Convention, "How could you, who love the Temperance cause, risk it by coming out from that meeting, one-sided though it be?" Our answer is--because we did not desire to risk the Temperance cause by staying in [applause]; because we knew that by staying in was to risk it, by cutting off one-half the human race, whose energies and whose feelings, hearts, heads, and hands, must of operate in this great movement. We thought that an attempt to carry on the Temperance movement, without a full and equal cooperation of women, would be like the boy who tried to row himself in a boat with but one oar. He reasoned that if one side went forward, the other ought also; so the consequence was he kept rowing round and round about in the East River, for a whole day, without making any progress. [Laughter]

    Previous to NEAL DOW putting the Temperance ball in motion, in the direction of his celebrated law, the initiative had been taken by a woman of Portland, who entered a groggery and emptied the rum jugs from which her husband had been drawing his daily poison. So Maine affords some information of the assistance rendered to the furtherance of the cause by our sisters. We know at least the claims of woman: we know that if man is the father of the Temperance movement, woman is its bounteous and beautiful mother, and without her it would be motherless, and consequently unborn to this day. We know, then, where we stand--our being here--our action--our equal recognition of the rights of woman to speak, settle that question. Now let us leave it behind; let the dead past bury its dead; let us say nothing of those from whom we differ in this movement--let it be an honest difference --let us go on and do our work. Our work today is to help the movement on--to remember those in bonds, bound in chains stronger and more galling than iron, and that human laws can put around them, because they are the chains of their own degraded passions and ruined natures. Let us aid those fallen ones if they can yet be aided. No statistics can touch their condition. We know a few dry facts--but what of it? We know that every day in some part of this wide world there has been a murder, the result of intemperance, because we know from statistics that the number of murders annually from that cause, it as great as the number of days in the year. And hence the probability that a murder will be committed in some part of the country, to-day, from intemperance. The statistics of suicides exhibit the same state of things: and so may imagine that some wretched inebriate has taken his life under the influence of alcoholic poison, this very day. We know, too, that there are at least 50,000 women in the United States, the victims of intemperance, and for them we need to work. But what are all those statistics but the merest and driest skeleton of the living and terrible fact? These are the units--the tens--the hundreds--the mere dry figures. To find the extent of the evil with which we have to contend, you must multiply every individual case into hundreds and thousands, and that into centuries, and that into all the relations of father mother, brother and sister; and when you have conceived all this, the long catalogue of wretchedness is only begun. It is not in my power to find language to exhibit the awful evils of intemperance: I will not try it. It is in our power, however, to do something to help along a movement as benevolent as this, assisting not a class, but everyone in the community. It helps the citizen by diminishing his taxation--it helps the parent by diminishing the temptation of his son--and it helps the man and the woman by diminishing their temptations. I call on you to act and speak while here, in such a manner, in such a spirit of noble earnestness, with such an energy of will and tenderness of heart, that the poorest wretch who lingers by night in some dark polluted corner of those Five Points, many feel blessed and a little uplifted towards purity again, by the action which takes place in this Convention I call on you to act in such a manner that all the noble spirits of the earth will act with you, whether they realize the cooperation. I call upon you to act in such a manner, that all the wretched of the earth shall, in some degree, rejoice as though they came within the wide range of your charities and the gentle influence of your heroic zeal. This is what I have asked of you, and in this spirit I have accepted the office you have imposed upon me and in that spirit I will endeavor to discharge the duties appertaining to it. [Applause]

    A bouquet merchant,--an elderly, pleasantish Quaker, well known to all Broadway promenaders and opera-goers,--here made his appearance, with smiling countenance, proffering tempting baskets of his commodities. He ascended the stage without warning of his intention, solemnly deposited two baskets of handsomely arranged flowers, and jumping nervously up, ejaculated: "I am dead set agin rumselling!" He added that he was in the habit of disposing of his flowers at the hotels and in public places, and he wanted to make a votive offering on the shrine of Temperance,--thereupon depositing his baskets-full.

    The President thanked him, and the house laughed.

    The President deemed it proper to call upon Rev. THOMAS GOLDSMITH, of Canada, to open the meeting with prayer.

    The Prayer was offered.

    Mr. HORACE GREELEY moved the appointment of a Business Committee of five.

    Carried.

    The Committee was appointed as follows: HORACE GREELEY, of New-York; C. C. SHOLES, of Wisconsin; LUCY STONE, of Massachusetts; C. C. BURLEIGH, of Connecticut; HARRIET K. HUNT of Massachusetts.

    The Committee retired to the room on the right of the stage, to deliberate.

    Mr. WHITNEY, of Massachusetts, moved the appointment of a Committee on Credentials.

    The CHAIRMAN said that according to the terms of the Call of the Convention, he must rule that credentials were unnecessary. All persons sympathizing with the objects of the meeting, were entitled to take part in its deliberations. However, a list of members was desirable, and he thought the idea of a Committee a very good one.

    Mr. OLIVER JOHNSON, of the Anti Slavery Standard, thought a complete list of of all the men and women present, with their Post-Office address, should be prepared. It struck him the work would well repay the labor it would cost.

    The mover of the resolution thought it a good notion, and accepted the amendment.

    The Committee on Credentials and the Roll was accordingly appointed as follows:

    D. S. Whitney, of Mass; Oliver Johnson, of New-York; and C. B. Le Baron, of New-York.

    Mr. JOHNSON could not command the time, and declined. He proposed that the Committee should be further enlarged.

    A VOICE--I move that that gentleman be added to the Committee!

    CHAIRMAN--He was appointed on the Committee, Sir! He declines.

    The Voice was silent.

    It was finally settled that the number of one dozen constitute the Committee.

    The following parties were then appointed to act on the Committee:

    D. S. Whitney, Mass.; C. B. LeBaron, New-York; C. M. Burleigh, Conn.; D. C. Bloomer, New-York; Edward Webb, Delaware; Mrs. L. N. Fowler, New-York; E. W. Capron, Mass.; Dr. Wellington, New-York; J. P. Hutchins, Conn; H. M. Rhodes, New-York; W. G. Hubbard, Illinois; Mrs. Vaughan, Ohio.

    The Chairman said the Business Committee would be out for a few minutes, and in the mean-time, he had a suggestion to make, and he proposed to tell a story first. It was to the effect that a young lady somewhere Down East had conceived the idea that the Maine Law had something to do with music. The reason was this. Her father, a distiller, had promised her a present of a new piano when the Maine Law passed, and the piano had never come. She thought it must have something to do with music, and that was all she knew about it.

    The audience having duly laughed at this sally, the Chairman suggested that as music was eminently appropriate for Temperance demonstrations, the "Amphion Glee Club" should be invited to step up and exercise their vocal talent.

    The "Amphions" accordingly turned out in full force, three gentlemen and one lady--or rather one lady and three gentlemen--and ranged themselves upon the platform. The audience remained very intent.

    The spokesman of the "Amphions" made a small preliminary speech. It was well known that the world-renowned HUTCHINSONS sang "The Good Time Coming." By your permission we will sing you the "Dawn of the Good Time Coming." Upon which there was great applause, and the song was duly given. It was a hopeful lay. It spoke of the best of times to come.

    "Truth and error now are fighting,
Truth soon will win the field."

    And added this:

    "We can work as well as others,
And there's work enough to do."

    The President then introduced Rev. Miss ANTOINETTE L. BROWN, the Pastoress of a Unitarian Church at South Butler, N. Y. Rev. Miss BROWN is well known as an enthusiastic advocate of Temperance and Woman's Rights, to both of which branches of Social Reform she has lent the weight of her clerical character at various public meetings in this City.

    Miss BROWN said:

    A Whole World's Temperance Convention! There is room on our platform for everyone. Every man may come here, and speak in his own tongue, wherein he was born, in behalf of one of the most needed reforms ever launched upon the ocean of events. It is more than a World's Temperance Convention,-- it is for the world and the rest of mankind. There is a good time a-coming, friends, wait a little longer--the dawn may be here, but the sun is not yet up in the meridian. Milk for babies, but the strong meat after. Temperance and Woman's Rights, chopped up together, would probably prove an amalgamation quite nauseating to many modern reformers, even to those who would find either quite palatable, when served up alone. Hash is an old-fashioned beverage (?) used at old-fashioned banquets. We are not to whisper of talking Temperance to the world through our delegates. No, even that right has been disputed in the Brick Chapel.

    Miss BROWN then went on to speak of the interest which woman had in the enactment of a law similar to the Maine law, to check the dreadful savages which Intemperance was effecting in our midst. Owing either to not being distinctly heard in consequence of the extent of the hall, an involved expression of ideas, or our obtuseness in comprehending much of her discourse--and we do not know to which to attribute it--we can give no more than a synopsis of Rev. Miss BROWN'S remarks. The fair speaker went on to say--I feel here this morning like John the Baptist, preparing the way for those who are to come after me, and the latchets of whose shoes I am unworthy to tie. Those who will come after me, will take up the question in its length and breadth. Words gushing up from the heart will be spoken; and all those who hear, to a certain extent, must needs feel they will know how to sway the hearts, influence the intellects, and stir up the minds of all of you on this great subject. I hardly know how to leave out saying something about the other Convention; but yet since the dead are to bury the dead, I will leave the matter, simply saying that if the other Convention have nothing to say on the matter, yet may their thoughts be troubled and their consciences burdened until the day of repentance.

    "Oh, wad some power she giftie gie us
To see ourselves as women see us."

[Loud laughter and applause.]

    And it would from many blunders free them. A few words in regard to Temperance. The rattlesnake is the father of rattlesnakes--the crocodile begets crocodiles; and so the drunkard is the parent of drunkards "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?" Then, can the child of the drunkard, that caricature of humanity--half madman and half brutes--go untainted? There is One who can give him a new heart, and a high and holy purpose of soul. But is there any one to give him a new physical organization? --is there any balm in Gilead to soothe his heavy pulses, full of the drunkard's blood that courses with scorching labor through his entire system? Who is there to caution him against plucking the forbidden fruits of self-indulgence? God help the poor child of the drunkard-- temptation lying at every point along his road of life. Here are a group of children, and Christ said, "Of such is the kingdom of heaven." Look now into its dim little face; it would be fair enough if there were only a soul-life flush upon it: but it is almost a blank vacuity. You read there the impress of a gross nature, notwithstanding all that baby innocence. Yes, you see the shadow on that face reflected from the past, and prophetic of the future. God of Justice!--must there be, every hour, thousands of such children born in our land! Such children --and they are to be seen on all sides--are miniature types of human brutality, and, so sure as the cup of temptation is not taken from before them, the fate of their fathers will be theirs. And has the law nothing to answer for in all this?--may "good men" be allowed to sign their names to the traffic--to sanction intemperance, and make the world be talking of "the moral character" of themselves and of the rum sellers! Good moral character! As well talk of the "good moral character" of the thief, the murderer and the libertine, as the "good moral character" of the patrons of alcohol, that genuine oil of licentiousness. The deliberate corruptor of youth is far worse than the one led astray. There are certain artists who know how to paint invisible pictures--they are colorless until brought into the glare of the noonday sun, or exposed to the warmth of the fire, when every hue and tone is brought out with a vivid distinctness. So do the fires of alcohol approach the soul and bring out the legible tracery of sin which has lain unrevealed forever. Men are creating this flame, and they are industriously engaged in fanning it with their legal bellows. There is no excuse for the drunkard, much less is there for the tempter to drunkenness. He has taken the trade of Satan into his own hands, and he will receive the reward of his father, with usury. But the sun throws a golden bridle around the angry cloud which is struggling to obscure its beams; and so with the moral sun-shine, it fringes the character of those who are dark enough else, and if it were not for this we would have no hope of the Maine Law at some future day. Hope is the anchor of the soul; it drops its line into the future, and it holds us steady as we float upon the troubled waters of the present. Shall the heart trust in the nobility of humanity, and shall the trust in this prove a mocking delusion? We will not believe it. There have been bad laws and bad statutes before this--they have been coined out of human selfishness, and out of fiendish malignity. And yet penitent human tears have washed them away; human love has substituted something better in its stead. There is thick darkness yet, but the light is gathering strength and power, and the voice of God is whispering everywhere around, "Take courage and be strong, for the course of your race is onward and upward. [Loud applause]

    HORACE GREELEY, the Chairman of the Business Committee, then came forward and said:

    The Committee have instructed me to report a series of resolutions, which we intend to cover, as nearly as possible, the ground of Temperance, faith and action. I do not know but that some of them may be supposed to cover a little more than the ground, yet I trust they will commend themselves, in the main, to your understandings and consciences. The Report and Resolutions are as follows:

    1. Resolved, That the cause of Total Abstinence from all that may intoxicate--whether considered with regard to the magnitude and virulence of the evils it combats, to the good it has already achieved, to the work which it has still to do, or to the power of the selfish interests and depraved appetites which it combats and must vanquish-- deserves the warmest sympathy, and the most active, devoted support, of every servant of God--every lover of humanity.

    2. Resolved, That it especially behooves the Christian Church, in all its divisions and denominations, as also every other religious organization, to cooperate with all its might in the great work of Temperance Reform, by the diffusion of light and truth with regard to the and effects of alcoholic liquors, by the enforcement of total abstinence as a part of its imperative discipline and by the restraining of all whom it may influence, all who recognize its authority, from any participation in the guilty gains of the Liquor Traffic.

    3. Resolved, That the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages, in view of the moral certainty that they will be need, nine times in ten, to the injury, if not the ruin, of their consumers, is an immoral and destructive business, is which so one, who recognizes the obligation of Love to God and Man, can henceforth engage without guilt; and we do most earnestly entreat those involved in it to ponder well their steps, and ask themselves this question: "Is the business of a distiller, a brewer, a rum seller, one wherein I ought to be willing to live and content to die?"

    4. Resolved, That the State should be everywhere, and to the extent of its ability, a guardian of the weak, a protector of the assailed, an admonisher of the beguiled and tempted, among its citizens or subjects; that it should ever revere and conform to the divinity prescribed supplication, "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver as from evil:" and that there is no position toward the Liquor traffic which it can consistently and worthy maintain but that of declared and uncompromising hostility.

    5. Resolved. That the fundamental, undeniable, scientifically demonstrated fact that Alcohol is a poison, of itself suffice to prove that it ought not to be presented in such forms and combinations as will tend to disguise its character and blind the uninformed to its baleful potency; but should always be sent forth from the drug-stores and the chemical laboratory, where alone it should be sold, either pure and undiluted, or in such combinations as do not disguise its deadly properties, and do not tempt a depraved appetite or a reckless desire for novel sensations; for, since Satan is only perilous to the peace and happiness of Eden when disguised, it is a crime to assist him in disguising himself.

    6. Resolved, That we impeach the use of fermented or alcoholic wine in the solemn celebration of the Eucharist as a profane and impious desecration; since that which poisons and destroys men can be no true symbol of that which purifies, restores and saves; and we challenge the current assumption that wine devoid of alcohol is unattainable, in a country where the grape grows so profusely, and in an age when the resources of chemistry are so abundant as in ours, as founded in the grossest ignorance, the most indolent heedlessness, or the most flagrant dishonesty.

    7. Resolved, That while all well-directed efforts to reclaim the unfortunate victims of Intemperance to virtue, self-respect, usefulness and happiness, should receive our ready and ardent cooperation, it is, nevertheless a truth not to be concealed that DRUNKENNESS IS A CRIME-- that so father, husband, or son--no mother, wife, or daughter--has any moral right to be a drunkard; and that they who are such are deserving of sympathy only in common with the libertine, harlot, gambler, thief, burglar, robber and assassin.

    8. Resolved, That ample experience has demonstrated what the prescience of sages and philanthropists long ago affirmed, that all wise effort for the removal of evils should begin at the root and deal with causes rather than effects; and that to attempt the eradication of Intemperance without objecting to the License system or opposing the legal protection of the Rum Traffic, would be as shallow and absurd as to attempt the destruction of a living tree by pruning off some of its outermost branches.

    9. Resolved, That Human Laws should in all things be based upon and conform to the sovereign Law of God, assumed up in those Divine injunctions, "Love God with all thy heart, and thy neighbor as thyself," and "Do unto others as ye would that others should do unto you;" and therefore the licensing of men to sell intoxicating beverages is irreconcilably at war with any just idea of the nature, functions, and ends of Government, as well as with that Higher Law which bids us "Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them."

    10. Resolved That The Maine Law, so called, is superior to all preceding enactments respecting the Liquor Traffic, in that it consistently and explicitly forbids all traffic in intoxicating beverages as such, makes the rum-seller's liquor and implements of trade conclusive evidence of a guilty intent to sell, instead of requiring specific proof of a particular, positive act of sale, confiscates and destroys those implements, like those of the gambler and counterfeiter, authorizes prompt and efficient searches of suspected premises on oath or information that the Liquor Traffic is probably prosecuted there, and places generally in the hands of Temperance men the means of thoroughly breaking up and suppressing the work of death wherever they faithfully and fearlessly do their duly; and we most earnestly entreat our brethren in every State and country to spare no effort to procure the general enactment of this law, so modified and improved, according to the dictates of experience, as to render it a most efficient terror to evil-doers, and a mortal blow to the Liquor Traffic.

    11. Resolved, That the cry, "The Maine Law is ineffectual," is raised entirely by those who never desired, or at least never tried, to have it otherwise; while we have abundant evidence, in the and alarm of our adversaries, as well as in the direct testimony of our friends, that the Law does work a gratifying diminution of the Liquor Traffic, even where public sentiment and public officers prove unfaithful to the duty of giving the lawful force, and thus stopping the desolating traffic altogether.

    12. Resolved, That we do most earnestly entreat our fellow citizens, friendly to the Temperance cause, in voting for law-makers, to subordinate all partisan or other considerations, to the securing of Legislatures that will enact, uphold, and from time to time improve Laws of Prohibition,--regarding that as of infinitely greater consequence than anything else likely to be affected by the manner in which their votes are this year cast.

    13. Resolved, That the present exigencies of the Temperance cause imperatively demand the immediate and rapid multiplication of Temperance Tracts, more elaborate Essays, and Charts illustrating the effects of Alcohol on the Human System; and we therefore call upon our Publishers, Booksellers and Periodical Agents to issue or purchase such tracts, essays and charts in infinite variety and limitless abundance, pledging ourselves to promote their circulation by every means within our power.

    14. Resolved, That in the prosecution of the Temperance Reform we are determined to know no distinction of Creed, Caste or sex--of section, party or condition-- but to fraternize thoroughly, and act cordially with all who in heart and life, by word and deed, prove themselves worthy and earnest champions of Total Abstinence.

    15. Resolved, That we respectfully and affectionately exhort all who receive as truth the sentiments expressed in these Resolves, to live and labor in consistency therewith, and to lose no time in forming and perfecting organizations calculated to insure efficiency to their efforts and triumph to their cause.

    The next speaker was Mr. HORACE GREELEY, of the New-York Tribune. He made a long speech, sensible and to the point. He said:

    I propose, Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, friends of Temperance, with your permission, to make some remarks, mainly directed to the ninth resolution. I hear men say almost every day, in this rum-sodden City, that you should not enact the Maine Law, because you cannot enforce such law. Now, suppose that were true,--suppose that we, in this rum-sodden City, would not be able to enforce the Maine Liquor Law, would that be a fair reason for not enacting it? Suppose we were accustomed to practice infanticide, would that be a sound reason for enacting no law against it? I do not, therefore, admit that if it were true that the rum traffic could not be modified by the Maine Law, that it would be a valid reason for not enacting the Maine Law. I do not ask what laws are in accordance with public sentiment, and what laws people choose to obey; but the stand-point upon which laws have should be placed, is that of eternal and intrinsic right. Is the act right that it should be lawful--then it is lawful in the eye of God, and should be in the eye of the State. Is the act wrong, destructive, corrupting and demoralizing, then it is in the eye of God and in the eye of the State, to be considered as an unlawful act, and the State should so declare it. Now, then, if the rum traffic is a corrupting and debasing traffic--as who doubts or who disputes, that is reason enough why the State should condemn it. Here we have in this town 6,000 licensed grog-shops--how many unlicensed I cannot tell, but the police may probably inform me upon that subject. [Laughter] But I shrink from the duty, if it be a duty of picking out the unlicensed rum--hops, when I am not allowed to do anything with the 6,000 licensed rum-holes where murders, theft, drunkenness and burglary, constantly take place under the license of the law. [Applause.] Why should I go ferreting them out, for there is no possible distinction between the licensed and unlicensed? Why should I go ferreting out and hunting down some poor widow who keeps an unlicensed grog-shop, and cannot raise $10 to pay for a license? Why should I ferret out some foreigner who cannot procure a license, because he has not lived here sufficiently long to be naturalized? On what moral ground can I hunt up these poor wretches, and make them stop selling, when I know that, by so doing, I am simply putting more money into the pockets of the 6,000 licensed sellers, better off, more thrifty, and more comfortable --rum-sellers who have a license in their pockets and who thrust their license in my face, and defy all efforts for suppression? [Loud applause.] Give us the Maine Law, and I pledge you that we will organize, and do what we can to put down the liquor traffic here. [applause.] We will get the sign-boards off the grog-shop doors--we will take the labeled bottles with their colored poisons from the windows, if we can only get the liquor out of the back dens of the grog-shops. [Applause] We will keep liquor from tempting and alluring the poor wretch who finds it so convenient in his path, and who is kept drunk simply because the State lays tire temptation everywhere in his way, and he is too frail and too weak not to stumble over it. [Applause.] We will labor for Temperance here--we will labor to put down the rum-traffic, and if the friends of Temperance in this portion of the State will influence the members of the Legislature who will be elected next Fall, we may do something: but we can do very little here in a community where one-fourth of the voters are this day making money, or hope to make money, by the rum-traffic. We can do very little here where the great commercial interest which controls public opinion by controlling the press, is everywhere linked in chairs of guilty amity and guilty connection with the liquor-traffic. We can do very little here towards electing members, though we will do what we can, who will vote to put down the rum traffic; but give us law upon our side, and you will see fewer drunkards in our streets, and fewer shops on all our corners. So much we will do, if we cannot do everything. I propose rather to speak to the abstract than the practical question. What is the fact with regard to the proper relation between law and public sentiment? Ought law to conform to public sentiment, or ought law to be based upon essential righteousness, and then challenge public sentiment to act in conformity therewith? I hold that the uses of law are not simply restrictions in a physical sense: but a higher, a nobler, a more universal, and a better use of law is that of perpetual admonition. The sword set before the gate of the garden, to turn this way and that way, did not do its duty by directly cutting and backing the flesh of those who came there, but as a mark that a higher power than theirs had forbidden people to pass. So now, then, if we had laws in every respect that conformed to righteousness, we should have a moral influence constantly exerted to bring public sentiment and public action in conformity therewith. Take, for instance, the rum traffic. There are 1,000 men every year entering into that traffic, in this City, and taking the place of those who have gone away forever. Still, the men who are coming up to take their places do not care. The men who have chances before them to get a living a little easier by selling rum than by planning boards, are every day called upon to make choice. "Shall I buy up this rum hole?" say they. "Can I not get my living easier by selling rum than by making bread?" But there is no man so stupid, so blind, so brutalized by rum that he would not rather get his living by a respectable vocation--one which the law honors, and the State protects--then by one which is under the ban of the law, and which makes him an outlaw and an outcast in society. Then I say, if the law were enacted today, although it should never come into existence here, the fact of such a law being in existence would be one of moral influence, tending to dissuade men from the liquor traffic, and good men, moral men, and ignorant men, a little corrupted, would be warned and admonished by the fact that the law forbade that traffic. We would then have fewer rum-sellers, and they would more generally be that class who alone ought to sell rum: that is, the men who have no moral principle, and no qualms of conscience whatever; and there then would be admonition upon the victims of the traffic, for liquor would not be sold so openly and conspicuously as it is now. It would be an admonition to the tippler, to the man beginning to drink, taking his social glass how and then. That man would say, "I must look to my steps." He would be brought to a pause. He would see that the place where he had been in the habit of visiting was closed; that the grog-shop had given way to a respectable grocery, and he would be compelled to ask. "What is the meaning of all this?" "Why is the rum shop, for blazing in the light of day, shut up?" And the answer would be, because the law condemns them. Then comes the question--Why does the law condemn them? Because they are to my injury, to corrupt and ruin me. Thus admonished, he would be warned and saved, and tens of thousands would be admonished, warned, and saved. Today there are thousands of men learning to be drunkards from fatuity--from want of employment--from an overplus of time, and from the necessity of finding rest as they walked our streets-- those stony, sultry streets--seeking employment, from one street to another, and compelled to sit down and rest. Where shall they sit down? Why, there is no welcome but the grog-shop, and no man so glad to see them as the rum-seller. Hence there is no class so intemperate in New-York as the idle class; and one of the great evils of a strike for labor among us is, that it tends to render those who strike more likely to be intemperate than they were before. If we were to have the Maine Law here, those corner grocery-stores must go down,--and that would save thousands, who now fled there the most convenient, the most accessible, end the most inviting places of resort, when they must sit down somewhere.

    The President announced that several letters had been received from different persons invited to participate in the deliberations of the Convention, which he would at this stage of the proceeding read. The first, from NEAL DOW, Esq., was as follows:

                                                                PORTLAND, Friday, Aug. 26, 1853.

    DEAR SIR: Your note of the 24th is just received, on my return from the East, where I have been on a Temperance tour.

    I wish I felt myself entirely at liberty to comply with your invitation, but as it is, I do not see any way clear to do so. Having been absent from my family and private affairs so much, and being engaged to go to Pennsylvania soon, I wish to remain at home for a few weeks at least. * * * *

    I see neither the wisdom or expediency of excluding women from Temperance Conventions; their earnest, equal and powerful cooperation I earnestly desire.

    Truly, yours,

NEAL DOW

    The second letter introduced was from Hon. S. P. CHASE:

STEUBENVILLE, O., Sunday, Aug. 28, 1853.

    GENTLEMEN: Your note, inviting me, in behalf the Committee of Arrangements of the Whole World Temperance Convention, to be present at that Convention, has been forwarded to me from Cincinnati. My absence from home, and the constant engagements of my journey through the State, must be my excuse for delaying my reply.

    I regret that it is impossible for me to accept the invitation which you have so kindly tendered me, and I deem a very high honor. The great cause which Convention assembles to promote has all my sympathies and certainly, in the advancement of that cause, I admit no distinction which would exclude from active participation, in labors and counsels for its promotion any of those whom God has gifted with intelligence, humanity, and disposition, to share them, and who are perhaps above others, interested in their results.

    In great haste, yours truly,

S.P. CHASE

    R. T. TRALL, Esq., Chairman; C. B. LE BARON, &c., &c.

    The following, from Hon. HORACE MANN, next read to the Convention:

WEST NEWTON, Saturday, May 21, 1853

    DEAR SIR: I have read the full debate, as reported, your meeting, and I assure you, my sympathies are you.

    * * * * I have a strong impulse to accept your invitation and should do so at once, were I sure I could the requisite time. But I have said a good deal my say, in letters which have been published, and lectures on Intemperance, and I am necessarily to have a very laborious summer. I do not, therefore, dare to do anything more than promise conditionally--that is, such a way that I shall not be held accountable for a breach of engagement if I should fail to come. I have already spoken two evenings in New-York on Temperance.

Yours, very truly.

HORACE MANN

    Rev. T. W. Higginson.

    The fourth letter was from JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL. It read as follows:

CAMBRIDGE, (Mass.) Wednesday, Aug. 31, 1853

    MY DEAR SIR--It will be out of my power to attend the World's Convention. I can only declare that I sympathize heartily with any movement that shall promote Temperance, or shall elevate man or woman, socially or morally. The How must be left to the care of individual experience. Yours, truly,

J. R. LOWELL

    The following extract from a letter receive from JAMES HAUGHTON, of Dublin, was read to Convention:

    "In regard to the Temperance Convention, I find self in entire agreement with you, and I wish I send you over a body of Irish sympathizers. * * * There is one well-known female advocate of Teetotalism in Ireland. Mrs. CARLISLE, now an aged lady of over 70 years, I should say; she has labored long and well, I never heard that she was considered out of her sphere when addressing public assemblies. I have heard her frequently; but she is known better in England than Ireland. Several years ago, in London, I heard two (soldiers' wives, I think.) acceptably address a large public meeting on Temperance. * * *

    I am not able to send you any expression of feeling on this subject from Temperance Societies in this country because the subject has not come before them, a partly because we have few organized associations. The wealthy classes in society take little part in the movement, so that our operations consist chiefly in addressing small bodies, who are associated in what we call "Benefit and Mortality Societies," composed of workingmen.  Many of these Societies consist of Teetotalers.

    Yours truly,

JAMES HAUGHTON

    Mrs. MARY JACKSON was then introduced to the audience, and said:

    DEAR FRIENDS: I feel very glad to feel myself among you. I would observe, however, previous to making any observation upon the great question for which you are convened, that I feel at present rather in the position of a learner than a teacher. I have come over all the way across the Atlantic, almost simply to tell you that I am one of you. [Applause.] The principles of true sobriety embodied in that absence of every description of intoxicating drink, is one which I dearly love. In my estimation it stands second to none, save and except that one which is calculated in its application to renew the soul and fit the sinner for Heaven [Applause] I have been a tee-totaller for some twenty years. Something has already been said in reference to female labor in the old country, and from what was said, it led me to think that it would convey an impression that it was straightforward work, and that there was nothing that might be deemed opposition. This is not exactly so, dear friends. When I first entered the field, I had to encounter an amount of opposition from certain quarters. I remember well, that a peevish old Tory Editor used to avail himself of every opportunity of holding up your humble servant to ridicule, in his newspaper, and by way of ridicule he affixed a handle to my name, and called me the "Rev. Mrs. JACKSON." [Laughter] He seemed to have forgotten all about the end of the creation of woman, inasmuch as he attempted to draw a line and set out her work. And what do you think he told me was my work? Why, he very wittily told me to stop at home and mend my husband's stockings. [Loud laughter] I felt highly amused, and my reply was, "With all the pleasure imaginable, for I mend my husband's stockings, and knit him new ones." I thought this idea a very strange one, especially from the editor of a newspaper. He must have forgotten the end of woman's creation. God presented woman to man and said: "She shall be a helpmate to thee." I suppose you all knew the definition of the term "helpmate." It means a "proper help"--a help in accordance with the of a man as a human being--as a social, intellectual being. By-the -bye, if that, definition be true, then it strikes as that the more noble the cause woman proves herself capable of assisting man in carrying out, the better she answers the end of her creation, and the greater glory she brings to that God who created her. [Loud applause.] The opposition that I had to encounter never gave me five minutes' ; and why? I always used to think of the Savior, when he said: If they refuse you admittance into one city, turn away and visit another. When I heard of this movement here, I wanted to come and see and hear for myself, and, in the order of Providence, here I am among you as I have already said, happy to find myself in this position. In reference to men and women co-operating in this matter to benefit society, an anecdote occurs to me, which I think applicable. It refers to an individual in Scotland, who was, as they term it, "daft."-- that is, rather short in intellect, you know. [Laughter.] This reason took a whim into his head to enter the pulpit of a minister previous to the time of his coming to preach. When the clergy man entered, and saw his pulpit thus occupied, he stood amazed, and looked up, expecting that the crazy man would come down. Instead, however, of doing go, he addressed him in the following manner: "Come awa', Sir--come awa'; it will take us both to manage them, for they are a stiff-necked generation." [Loud laughter and applause] Now, thus I thought in reference to the Maine Law--for it will take all our combined efforts to succeed, for they are a "stiff-necked generation." I love the Temperance principle. When I think of its vast import--when it strikes my mind, I believe it had its origin in Heaven. I cannot believe that my and your Heavenly Father, who made this beautiful planet upon which you and I dwell, and who gave the best gift of Heaven, could afford to redeem the inhabitants of this planet, and look on with indifference throughout the length and breadth of the world, view the savages that Intemperance has committed, and stand an idle spectator. [Applause] My mind has been impressed that He, seeing this state of things, has taken the matter under his cognizance, and has devised means to set it in operation. The very simplicity of the means adds to its grandeur. When we look and see what our principles have accomplished, it cheers as in reference to the future; and I cannot entertain a shadow of a doubt as to our ultimate success. [Loud applause.]

    Friend GRAZIER, from Michigan, then presented himself, and said:

    BROTHERS AND SISTERS: Temperance men and women: It is not my expectation to detain you but a very short time. The cause for which we have met is a great and good one, and I hope we shall all make our mark. I have labored in the heat of the day, and have borne some burden, but from age shall not bear it long. My heart's desire is, to promote the cause of Temperance in all things. [Applause.] Temperance and moderation should guide us in all we fake in band to do. I come from a Western State, and probably most of you know how things have turned there, and, so far as they have turned out in the State of Michigan, have given a handsome majority to the Temperance cause; and we expect when the day and the hour shall arrive for it to take effect, that it will take effect. We hope this will be done without any trouble: nevertheless, we are expecting to put the law into practice. While I stand upon my feet I will allude to the past. I was once a citizen of this great City; but for the last nineteen years, however, I have been separated from you so that I am a stranger among strangers. But I have never regretted removing from this City, for I have labored not only in the cause of Temperance, but set a sober and honest example to my neighbors in these things. But, friends, there is one thing which Michigan has not done, which no other State can beast of; and that is, we have never strangled a man between the heavens and the earth. [Loud applause] The Statute Book of the State of Michigan is unstained and without spot. [Applause] I mention this because it is more or less connected with intemperance. The speaker went on to narrate his experiences. He had seen at one time of his life a dram-drinker; but he thanked God that he had seen the error of ways; and he wished to impress upon the audience--more particularly the younger portion--that if they in the least regarded their temporal or spiritual welfare, they must totally abstain from all intoxicating drinks.

    The Amphions having favored the audience with a song, the meeting on motion adjourned till 7½ o'clock P. M.

    The evening session commenced at 7½ o'clock. The Hall was well filled, probably five hundred more people being present than at the morning meeting. As usual, the larger share of the audience were ladies. The gentlemen mingled meekly in female society upon the stage. Among the parties on the platform were LUCY STONE, Mrs. DAVIS, Mr. GREELEY, Mr. BARNUM, and a considerable number of hoary-headed, venerable men, who made no display.

    The proceedings of the evening comprised speeches from Rev. THOMAS GOLDSMITH, P. T. BARNUM, and Miss LUCY STONE.

    The lady Secretaries took up their position at the Reporters' table, where they were received with marked distinction.

    The CHAIR first introduced

    Rev. THOMAS GOLDSMITH, of Canada West: He said the manner in which he had been introduced would preclude the necessity of analogy. He was but a rustic from Canada, and he could not be expected to utter flowers of rhetoric. He should rather attend to the securing of the foundation, than to rise high, until the foundation had been well laid. He should not point to degraded humanity, blighted hopes, everywhere, before our gaze, though this might have a tendency to awaken attention; and this for the reason that immediate suffering, in all cases, does not demonstrate an evil as a direct cause of that suffering. Medicine may be nauseous, but its effect may be desirable. When pain is actually inflicted upon a person in mental and physical health, it must arise from an almost irremediable evil. The injury resulting from the traffic in intoxicating beverages, may not be considered conclusive as to the necessity of prohibiting the sale of those beverages. We must fall back upon a right. If the question be, Has a man a right to get drunk? we are compelled to answer that he has, as we consider by the standard of custom. But if he ask if it is right, we must answer that it is not. There is no grand test to which we can submit questions of morality or immorality. The heathen mother considers it legally right to cast her infant into the river; the heathen to cast himself under the car of Juggernaut. We cannot say that it is illegal. But is it morally right? So with the Temperance movement Is it morally right for the drunkard to debase himself and to injure his family? She speaker proceeded to discuss this point at length. He referred, for statistics, to Canada. While they had a Queen upon the throne of England, there was little hear of any neglect of the rights of woman. This much was by way of parenthesis, he added. He returned to the discussion of law. He had a downright objection to the use of the term "use" itself. He adduced medical testimony to show that a man would die as soon, or sooner, on alcohol alone, as upon cold water only, deprived of food.

    HORACE GREELEY here entered the hall. The people, his admirers, began to cheer.

    The speaker, pausing, made a conge to his audience, remarking that the cheer was one that he did not often get! [Laughter].

    He added some remarks on the statistical results of rum investigations in Canada, showing that alcohol occasions an indefinite amount of pauperism, lunacy, and crime. He begged "the pardon of the congregation" for consuming so much of their time, and would take his seat.

    The CHAIRMAN next introduced, as a good friend of the cause,

    Mr. PHINEAS T. BARNUM--He said: I met a friend, who informed me that were a great many "isms" up here, and there were two classes of people present who had no right to be here. He wished to test this. In the first place, this was a World's Convention, and if there were any here who were not in the world, they ought to be kicked out. [Laughter] And he wished every lady and gentleman who could lay their hand upon their heart and say they had never suffered from the effects of Intemperance, either in person or in the actions of others, their friends,--if there were any such, he wanted them to rise up, and he would have their portraits. He did not believe that there was any man, woman or child in the universe who could honestly say they had never suffered in any way from the effect of intemperance. He passed jokes upon himself as a "showman." He did not want so much opposition. He did not want so many showmen. [Laughter] We all came to speak upon a subject in which as all have a deep interest. We know that intemperance presses hardest upon the innocent--the women and children. They suffer mere than any other class, and for Heaven's, why should we not suffer them to tell their story. He looked at the question, again in a financial point of view. The amount of money expended for rum is $150,000,000 a year in which, placed at interest, in thirty years would suffice to purchase every a 10 of land, and every sort of property to the Union. Thus, you see, we swallow down the whole Union once in thirty years. Temperance men are obliged to pay taxes to pay the expenses arising from intemperance. Is it right? it is not right! And, therefore, because it is a universal evil, and there is no reason on earth why every man and woman should not lift his and her voice against the alcohol, containing person in three ways, stimulant and narcotic. It is the same with the rum and brandy and whisky; or under the more euphonious titles of "mint julep" and "gin cocktail" The effects of green tea he traced out. The ladies sometimes go on a spree; they don't call it a spree; they go to a tea party; they get garrulous; their tongues go little tattle; and you would think that the ship that brought over the tea, brought the Chinese language with it.  There are three ways in which liquor affect people. They pass through the stages of the nervine, the stimulant and the narcotic. The ladies at their tea-parties, experience the effects of the nervine. The drunkard passes through all the stages and when he gets to the narcotic, he gets into the gutter, and lies there. His comrades come along, lift up their hands in amazement, and exclaim, "How very extraordinary that a man can't tell when he has got enough!" They don't know that they themselves are drunk; they may not know it; they may not have got through the narcotic, but they are drunk, nevertheless. If we could but we see ourselves as others see us, what a difference it would make.

    The BOUQUET-SELLER, (redivivus) [?] --"That's it!" [Laughter]

    Mr. BARNUM--If drunkards could only see what fools they make of themselves, there would be very little dram-drinking left. Mr. BARNUM here told his old story of the fellow "Ammi Hubbell." And now, why in the name of common sense should we encourage the sale of this beverage? No man can possibly succeed in business if he is a drunkard. In order to do business, he must have an unclouded brain. Drinking neither prolongs life, health nor happiness; it produces misery, degradation and ruin. Why, then, should it not be stopped? In conclusion Mr. BARNUM spoke of the workings of the Prohibitory-Law, showing how it shuts up the groggeries, readers the prisons and poor houses empty, and produces universal peace and happiness.

    Miss LUCY STONE then presented herself, and when the plaudits which greeted her had subsided, said:

    It is so very difficult to make a sudden transition of feeling from the gay to the grave, or from the grave to the gay, that I feel, after the treat we have had from our friend, (BARNUM) that you may not find so tasteful the sober topics which I intend to speak upon. But after all, as was said by the President, there is a sad side to the picture. We laughed at the picture our friend BARNUM drew, but we should feel the deepest pity and the deepest grief were any of our friends or relatives placed in a similar situation. We are not here in the World's Temperance Convention as earnest men and women, to see in what way we may forward the cause which surely needs so many ; for it is true that the idiocy and lunacy, the murder, and whatever crimes sweep over this broad republic, can be traced to the use of intoxicating drinks more than all things else, it becomes us, then, the World's Convention, to blend our words and our thoughts and our feelings together, and each taking hands, with the other, make ourselves as strong as possible to root out from the land all vestige of the use of intoxicating drinks as a beverage. Our counter has for years been laboring to this end. I remember many years ago, when earnest men and women began to talk upon this subject. At first they talked of their of drinking less rum, then presently of leaving it off altogether; but that kind of devil did not go out with such kind of efforts. But presently man and woman, impelled by the common sense of danger, rose up together, and they joined heartily their efforts to destroy and to root out from the whole community the opportunity to use intoxicating drinks. They tried to legislate about it, and the legislation failed, and the fifteen and twenty-eight and other laws were passed. Then the men and the women and the children all began to work. The mother, sitting by the fireside, took up her little boy and girl upon her knee, and taught them temperance and sent them into the cold water armies, and the young men and women pledged to marry none but temperance people: presently, however, the public begun to relax their efforts, and then came the new effort which has followed that--the effort for the Maine Liquor Law. Everything has been done that could be done. I propose, for my own part, to propose to this Convention, that it shall be utterly impossible for any man or woman, who is a drunkard, ever to sustain any marriage or parental relation. God has planted deeply in the human soul a love of those social ties that bind us to life. We are happier and better for the ties of parent and child, brother and sister, husband and wife, and God has written all this in the human soul. Now, I would say to the man who goes to the wine cup, or where temptation of any king should come to induce him to taste it, and from tasting it to learn so as to love it, and, by loving it, to throw away manhood, and all that is noble in life, for the pleasure of the wine cup,--I would say to this man take it, and alone shall incur the odium that attaches to the drunkard, and never know the relation of husband or of father. Drink the intoxicating cup and you poison your whole being, and enfeeble your mind, and as a drunken man or woman, you shall not be entitled to the marriage relation.  And I would say to the man or woman who is a drunkard, and who has a husband or wife, you shall forfeit the marriage relation. The love that grew up with it first must have gone away, for it is not possible that a woman who in early years gave her heart to the man whom she deemed worthy of it, and finding herself deceived,--it is not possible that her love can linger round the rock that once was to her noble and true. The elements of the character that commanded her love are all gone, and it is wicked that she should be compelled to live on with the lowest of all beasts--a drunken husband. It is not right by law or usage, that he should be allowed to make the ruin which he brings upon himself, attach to others also. A woman thus early married finds herself the wife of a drunkard before her life is spent. He sits by her fireside; and yet is to her an object of loathing, and the children must call him father and be stigmatized as the children of a drunkard. Supposing you were to bring up here on this platform, a man just in his youthful prime, with all the hopes of manhood and future usefulness before him--bring him here, and let some monster stand behind him and by some means introduce into his veins the thirst for intoxicating drink, until he should not have the power to resist it. Give him rum, rum, rum, and he goes from one place of its sale to another, getting it wherever he can, making a wreck of his intellect and a wreck of his means. This man might have walked with BACON and NEWTON if it had not been for that intoxicating draught; and who would not call the man who would take that young man and vaccinate him with drink, a monster, and that the crime of murder was white in comparison with it. It was your son, you would look upon the man that had done the deed as having come relegated from the prince of all the devil to make the greatest wreck that was possible to be made of your house. I know that on this question law and usage and text may be against us, but I ask you fathers and mothers, do you wish that your daughter should be bound for life to the bloated carcass of a drunkard and her children to be the children of a drunkard? But I know when I say that to you, whatever may be text, or law, or custom, I know that stronger than all in your own soul's center is a deep and earnest wish that no such load may ever be laid upon your children.

    After a few remarks from Mr. HORACE GREELEY, the Amphions favored the audience with a song.

    It was then moved, seconded, and carried unanimously, that this Convention hold three sessions to-morrow--at 10 A. M., 4 P. M., and 7½ P. M.

    The Convention, on motion, then adjourned.