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GENTLEMEN, -
I am an inhabitant of your town. I am a drunkard: and, therefore, I am ashamed to give you my name. Were I a reformed drunkard, I should not be ashamed to couple my name with my character. There is no class of men, that I honor more than I do reformed drunkards: and would that I were enrolled with those of my townsmen, who have manfully and successfully struggled to escape from the grasp of the mighty Rum giant. Ask me to pronounce the most honored names in the land: and I pass over the renowned conquerors of the British, to tell you of such men as Hawkins and Dwight, and Pollard and Wright, who have conquered the far more powerful foe, that had first conquered them. Ask me for the most praise-worthy names in the town of Smithfield; and I pass over the rich and the learned, to speak of Uriah Farmer, Michael M. Clark, Ambrose Johnson, Joel Trumbull, Joel Kelly, Henry Devan, Preston Armour, Timothy Marquizee, Hezekiah Culver, John Shaver, Samuel Johnston and others, who have come up triumphantly from the mire of dissipation to the Rock of Temperance.
I say again, that I am a drunkard - a drunkard yet. Nevertheless, I long to escape from my inexpressible misery and deep disgrace. In a word, I long to be a reformed drunkard. The tears upon my wife's pillow show how she longs for this change in me; and the warmest desire in the hearts of my poor, ragged, hungry children is, that their father may become a sober man. But there are two fatal enemies in my way; - one is that respectable class of men, called "temperate drinkers," and the other is dram-selling. While my sober and respectable neighbors drink intoxicating liquor - while such an example combines its allurements with the strong temptation of the bowl, how can I resist that temptation? My self-respect, or rather my foolish pride, holds me back from admitting, that it is unsafe for me to drink what others drink. And then, how can I reform myself, while two of the three Innkeepers of Smithfield sell drams? When, last Spring, the Board of Excise of this town refused to grant dram-selling licenses, my heart leaped for joy. I said to my God, "the declaration, that the drunkard cannot inherit the kingdom of God, shall no longer apply to me." I said to my wife, "dry up your tears - your husband is henceforth a sober man." I said to my children, "the reproach, that your father died a drunkard, shall be no part of your inheritance." But I soon learned how great was my mistake, and how premature was my exultation. Habit soon led me to the places, where I had, for many years, drank the drunkard's drink: and, to my great surprise; and I confess, the great joy of my master appetite, I found that drink still there. I had vowed to indulge in it no more. But there were both drunkards and drinkards in the bar-rooms; and the maddening indulgence was going on, all around me. What is more, the bar-keepers pressed upon me the bewitching glass, and offered it to me, even "without money and without price." You do do not wonder, that, in such circumstances, I drank, and drank deep. You do not wonder, that, throughout the season, I have continued to frequent these bar-rooms. You do not wonder, that, when, at the late election, I saw others drinking and getting drunk at Mr. Woodworth's and Mr. Harvey's, I also should drink and get drunk.
I have frankly told you of the two obstacles in the way of my reformation - temperate drinkers and dram-selling. The latter, if I am correctly informed, it is in your power to remove. It devolves on you to complain of Mr. Harvey's and Mr. Woodworth's violation of law, and to get them fined, for every complaint you establish before the magistrate, twenty-five dollars. They would of course, soon cease from practising this violation, if you should discharge your plain, official duty, and make it cost them what it ought, to continue the violation. I am aware, that should you be thus faithful to the laws and to your oaths to obey them, Mr. Woodworth and Mr. Harvey would complain, that you were invading their rights. But what better right have they than Daniel Dickey, or Gerrit Smith, to sell drams? The law allows no person this right, unless the Board of
Excise grant it to him - and the laws allow the Board of Excise full discretion to grant or refuse the right. Mr. Woodworth and Mr. Harvey are both open violators of the laws. Will you restrain them; or will you add to their violation of the laws, your violation of your oaths?
I ask you, then, in the name of the laws of the State, and in the name of the laws of God - I ask you in behalf of your own honor and happiness - I ask you for my sake, and the sake of my broken-hearted family - do not suffer men to sell drams in the town of Smithfield, unless the legal right to do so shall have been given to them. I ask you, further, in the name of more than forty other Smithfield drunkards - for remember, that of the more than sixty drunken voters, that there were in this town, last Spring, not twenty have been reformed.
Finally, do not throw this communication aside, because it comes from a drunkard. I am not drunk, while I write it. I have risen from my bed a sober man. That I shall visit a dram-selling place to-day, and return at night to abuse my family - is what I could not be made to believe, if I had not so often overthrown the resolutions of a sober morning by a drunken day. But should I be drunk before night-fall, who will have less right to rebuke the indulgence of my giant appetite than you, who wink at the continuance of the most powerful temptation to it? Remove that temptation, my friends. Exert also your influence to induce the relinquishment of the dangerous and pernicious habit of temperate drinking; and my word for it, the remaining drunkards of Smithfield will be speedily reclaimed, and their children and children's children will bless the memory of Jacob Spencer and Emerson Brown.
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SMITHFIELD, November 13, 1841.
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