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[155]

Less germane to the purpose of the Genius was the nullification debate between Hayne and Webster in the Senate; but Garrison could not resist printing those portions of Webster's famous reply which have become classic in American political and patriotic oratory. To the various moral and philanthropic questions in which he felt deep interest,—temperance, peace, the treatment of the Indians, imprisonment for debt, and the discountenancing of lotteries,—he made frequent reference. He found two temperance addresses which had been sent him for notice ‘too cold, too didactic, too speculative, to create a stirring sensation in the reader, or to rouse a slumbering community to a just apprehension of its danger,’ and he defined his own method of dealing with the subject:

‘We, who are somewhat impetuous in our disposition, and1 singular in our notions of reform,—who are so uncharitable as to make no distinction between men engaged in one common traffic, which shall excuse the destroyer of thousands, and heap contumely on the murderer of a dozen—we demand that the whole truth be told, on all occasions, whether it impeaches this man's reputation or injures that man's pursuit; whether it induces persecution, or occasions a breach of private friendship. If the atmosphere around us is thick and contagious, must it not be purified by thunder, and lightning, and storms? If we would destroy the withering influences of the poisonous Upas, must we not tear it up by the roots? We are not content with seeing proofs multiplied that temperance is better than ebriation, that a drunkard is a wretch without hope and beyond rescue, that rum costs money, that “moderate drinking is the downhill road to intemperance.” No—we go to the fountain-head of the evil. If it be injurious, or criminal, or dangerous, or disreputable to drink ardent spirits, it is far more so to vend, or distil, or import this liquid fire. ‘Woe unto him who putteth the cup to his neighbor's lips’—who increases his wealth at the expense of the bodies and souls of men—who takes away the bread of the poor, and devours the earnings of industry—who scatters his poison through the veins and arteries of community, till even the grave is burdened with his victims! Against him must the artillery of public indignation be brought to bear; and the decree ’

1 G. U. E., Oct. 2, 1829, p. 30.

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