reflect on that glorious day which gave our nation birth. Then a little band of patriots met and pledged their "lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honors" in the cause of liberty, and for the salvation of their country. This little band thus having pledged themselves, and being bound together by the strong, unyielding cords of patriotic love, withstood and repelled too, the concentrated forces of the then most powerful nation on earth. The world struck dumb with wonder, viewed in astonishment, the unequal conflict. It saw a mere handful of men without money, without soldiers, without arms, without munitions of war, without shoes, often without clothes, and sometimes without bread, Davidlike fearlessly marching out to meet this Goliah of the nations. Its admiration was boundless, when it beheld the giant power of England give way, the rod of oppression broken, the divine right of kings to fix the yoke of bondage on the necks of their subjects ridiculed, the British lion that could roar defiance to all beside, humbly suing for terms of capitulation from the American eagle.

And all these wonders resulted from the united pledge of a few men resolved to live free or die. The admiring world looked on till she who had long sat queen of the nations, resigned, almost voluntarily, her seat of honor, to the new-born republic. And then it began to

practise the useful lessons taught by its new mistress and to imitate her paragon examples.

These men might, as individuals, have felt all that abhorrence to tyranny and slavery which they did feel in their united capacity. But had they never united in the glorious cause of liberty, they could not have shaken to its very base, the British throne. Had no union of effort taken place among them, the banner of liberty could not have been raised on our shores, as a beacon to direct the nations of the earth in their political course. They have taught us that a pledged union, yes a pledge to which they themselves dared to affix their signatures before the world, and under the very frown and lash of tyranny, is every thing in the promotion of a good cause. They signed an instrument in which they pledged their lives, their fortunes, their honor, for the sake of others. And shall we refuse to sign an instrument in which we pledge ourselves to abstain entirely as long as we choose, from the use of ardent spirits. When we see that union of effort against any evil, is its destruction; shall we refuse to unite against that worst of all evils, the use of ardent spirits? When we see those who placed their feet on the threshold of the temple of liberty, and on its door-posts wrote in characters of blood, "It shall never be resigned," unhesitatingly subscribing a pledge; shall we re

fuse to sign a pledge, lest we should abridge our liberty? We all love liberty. We are enraptured at the very sound. Sooner than resign this invaluable patrimony handed down to us by those glorious worthies, the heroes of the revolution, we will suffer our right arms to be torn from our shoulders, our hearts to be torn from our bodies, the cords of affection which bind us to those whom we value much more than life, to be broken by the unfeeling rudeness of the oppressor. No, we all love liberty too well ever to resign it. We have a right, if we choose, to subscribe a pledge of entire abstinence. To do right is every American's birthright privilege. And wo be to the man or to the nation that would attempt to deprive us of it! We have liberty. Let us exercise our liberty, and unite all our energies in opposition to that fell tyrant distilled liquor, now prowling through our country, ready to rivet the chains of the most fatal bondage, upon all upon whom it can lay its despotic hand. Should any one into whose heart the love of gain has stolen, attempt to persuade us to become this monster's slaves, let us reject the thought with a noble indignation. Let us use all our influence to prevent it from throwing its enchanting spell around our fellow-creatures. When none shall be chained by its charm, then we shall all be truly free.

The standard of true liberty will then be our country's boast. America will then be the birthplace of genius, the cradle of liberty, the joy of the brave, the terror of tyrants, the home of the free, the pride of the world. Banish ardent spirits from our country, and soon she will rise to the very heavens in point of wealth, and happiness, and glory. But if we harbor in our bosom, this demon of death, a century will not have rolled its years around, before America, will cease to be the home of the exile, the refuge of the oppressed. He who in other nations wears the manacle and the fetter, but whose heart is free as air, will weep tears of blood, when he learns that America, through the influence of rum, has fallen before the despot's frown. When he looks upon his babes growing up in slavery and no American freedom to throw its mantle of comfort round them, his heart will bleed in untold agony. He feels that liberty is more precious than gold, than worlds, than life itself. But America, if ardent spirits as a drink, be not banished, from our land, will soon cease to unfurl the banner of freedom in view of the admiring nations; and thus to cheer the stranger, encourage the champion in liberty's cause, and strike with dismay, whoever loves the chains of bondage. Union of effort laid the corner-stone of American liberty. Union of effort is the ce

ment of its temple. Union of effort prevents it from crumbling to the dust. Union of effort can stay, at once, that destroying flood which ardent spirits are rolling over our land. Their desolating evil is great; it is extensive; it is alarming. This is enough to arouse the energies of freemen to unite against it. It is an evil; and because it is an evil, we ought to prevent it if possibleIf possible, did I say? To do this most effectually, nothing is necessary, but for all sober men to pledge themselves to entire abstinence, and adhere to that pledge. To the complete success of the temperance reformation, union of effort is indispensible. Let us then as one man unite in this glorious cause. Let us use our liberty to keep ourselves and our children free from the galling, degrading chains of intemperance. Let it no longer be said by foreigners, "the Americans are a nation of drunkards." We can prevent it by all uniting in the principle of entire abstinence.

VII. Of System.

Those who unite in the temperance reformation, must, to be successful, pursue steadily, a well-digested, regular system in their operations. Prudence and judgment should characterize their every plan. The object which they propose to accomplish, the entire disuse of intoxi