Greene, and thence for the North. In conclusion I would state, that, with the exception of that part of the narrative relating to Andre, I believe the beautiful story of Champe as told by Lee to be strictly true, and impregnable from attacks from any quarter. I would also say, that no one has a more exalted regard for the virtue and patriotism of the late Col. McLane than I have. He may be said literally to have fought our battles, as he was in the affair of the Great Bridge, which opened the ball of the Revolution in Virginia, and was at the battle of York which closed it. It may also be proper to state that there was an unpleasant question of rank between Col. McLane and Gen. Lee, which, I am told, induced the former to throw up his commission and retire from the regular army.

Charlotte.

H. B. G.

THE TEMPERANCE REFORM.

[We have to thank a worthy and intelligent correspondent for the following memoir of the Temperance Reform in our State, which, brief and necessarily imperfect as it is, may serve to give our readers such a general idea of this important and interesting movement as we deem most proper for our pages.]

Notwithstanding the great and alarming extent to which the vice of intemperance had prevailed in our State, no concerted effort was made to arrest its progress amongst us until the year 1826. It is true that as early as some time. in 1800, a shrewd Methodist, named Micajah Pendleton, in the county of Amherst, had drawn up and carried about a written pledge to abstain from ardent spirits; and had obtained some signatures to his paper. But no society was organized; no stated meetings were held; no

public addresses delivered; no measures taken to collect or to publish facts about the countless ills which had flowed from strong drink. At length, however, in October 1826, a few months after the American Temperance Society had been formed in New England, and, it is said, "before any similar institution was known to exist, by those who originated this," a few persons met in (harlotte, organized what they called "The Virginia Temperance Society," and adopted a constitution to which eleven persons subscribed their names. These eleven, who are worth naming as pioneers in a movement which was destined to enlist warm attachments, or to excite bitter hostilities, were Abner W. Clopton, Eli Ball, Elisha Collins, Reuben Chaney, John A. Davidson, Jeremiah B. Jeter, John W. Kelly, Bryan W. Lester, William Sharp, Daniel Williams, and Daniel Witt. Of these, Messrs. Clopton, Ball, ollins, Jeter, and Witt, were Baptist preachers. Mr. Clopton died in the spring of 1833, after having, by his numerous addresses and effective zeal, caused the new reformation to take root in many parts of Virginia; so that he may as justly be said to have planted it here, as St. Augustin has been held to have planted Christianity in Britain.

Soon after the first meeting in Charlotte, various neighborhoods in the State saw local societies arise, constructed on the same general plan; with the pledge of mere temperance, and this, for the most part, in the use only of ardent spirits. Few minds had then thought of wine, beer, cider, and other fermented drinks, as embodying either immediate harm or remote danger.

There is no exact information as to the number of these Temperance societies in Virginia, at any stage of the movement. It appears, however, that of rather more than a thousand in the whole Union, at the close of 1829, forty two were reported as in our State, based on the principle

of abstinence from ardent spirits. By that time, nearly all had adopted this principle.

We well remember the first emotions which the commencing reform excited; if emotion is not too strong a term for the mingled apathy, derision, and contempt, with which the movement was received. The prevailing thought among that decided minority of Virginians who bestowed a thought upon it, was, that the agitation was fanatical, and Utopian. Its movers were supposed greatly to exaggerate the evils, and greatly to overrate the proposed remedy. Even most professors of religion, of all denominations, shared the apathy, or the contempt. The newspapers, political and religious, kept a profound silence about a thing of so little moment. The politicians, and even the statesmen of Virginia,-the lawyers, except a few of little note,-the physicians, and men who stood high for learning and abilities in all walks of life,-looked coldly, or looked not at all, upon the attempted reformation. We recollect, indeed, only one or two men conspicuous for intelligence (out of the pulpit) who, before 1830, dissented from the general opinion.*

Before the end of 1831, however, great changes of opinion occurred. By public addresses, by reports of committees publickly read, or by books, and tracts diligently circulated, showing by well supported statistics, the enormous dimensions of the evils warred against, and the efficacy of the proposed remedy; strong and wide impres

* Major David Watson, of Louisa county, expressed a strong approval of united resolutions of abstinence, and of the associated efforts against what he deemed an enormous mischief.

Major W. was a writer in Wirt's Old Bachelor-was an elected member of the Virginia Convention of 1829, but was prevented by ill health from sitting there-and died in 1831. He is mentioned with praise in one of Mr. Wirt's lately pubhshed letters. See Kennedy's Life of Wirt.

sions were made on the public mind, which greatly furthered the reform. The progress of it was now a leading topic of general conversation. Two persons could hardly talk together without some reference to the Temperance Society for censure or for praise. It was now unusual in many neighborhoods, to offer the bottle to a guest. There was also a sensible decrease of drunkenness. Many drunkards, by abstaining altogether, (even though they belonged to societies pledged only to moderation,) were reclaimed. A much larger number, it is believed, were kept from becoming drunkards, by avoiding what now stood manifest as the sole passway to drunkenness-moderate drinking. The absurdity of the mere temperance pledge was now clear to almost every one. Increasing numbers became convinced that Dr. Johnson's remark was truethat "Abstinence is as easy as moderation is difficult." Besides, where was the boundary line between Temperance and Intemperance?

In 1830 and 1831, most of those enlisted in the reformation were persuaded, that there was great inconsistency and want of wisdom in leaving out fermented liquors from the pledge. Chemical analysis, they said, proved that Madeira, Port, and some other wines, had 23 or 25 per cent of alcohol; fully half as much as ordinary whiskey; while the weaker sorts, and cider, beer, &c., contained from 6 to 15, or 18 per cent; as much as toddy, mintjulap, and many other good drinks confessedly intoxicating. This was the case even when no adulteration was practised; but the wines commonly sold were strengthened by large infusions of brandy, and polluted by unwholesome drugs to give them flavor and pungency. They had thus more mischief in them than ardent spirits had. The poor, too, who could not afford to drink wine, exclaimed against the unfairness of requiring them to give

up their humble beverage, whiskey, while their wealthier associates indulged themselves freely in costly wine. These considerations prevailed so far, that most societies now included wine in their pledges; though they could not yet proscribe other liquors, and were obliged to spare the favorite cider.

In 1831, the new reformation received a fresh impulse by tidings from Europe, that it was also spreading in that region. So early as 1829, Temperance Societies were formed in Ireland, and Scotland, with above 14,000 members. The example was followed in England, by still greater numbers; and on the continent, by many more. British writers uttered the highest eulogies of the movement, and its American. originators. One called it "a great discovery" that "temperate drinkers are the chief agents in promoting and perpetuating drunkenness:" and said that the "discoverer of this great truth had done more for the world than he who enriched it with the knowledge of a new continent." Another said" that Temperance Societies had truly made America the new world." These praises from a different hemisphere gratified the national pride of our reformers; and heightened their confidence in the merits, and ultimate success, of their enterprise. How great, thought they, must be the lustre of this cause, when the mere reflection of its radiance back across the ocean, is so resplendent!

In supporting this Reform, the Baptists far outwent all other religious denominations in Virginia, till 1831: and, among the Baptists, a much larger proportion of preachers than of laymen. Methodists, when urged to sign a pledge, said that their church was itself a sufficient Temperance Society, and quoted Wesley's prohibition of spirituous liquors. But the inefficacy of that restraint was now glaring even to themselves, and the scandals which were brought upon