194 



more, and yet no one acquainted with them can 3ay in candor that they 

 need a temperance refonnation. 



It would seem that the habitual use of their native and unadultera- 

 ted wines creates a distaste for strong drink, and really serves to preserve 

 them from tliat dreadful passion, which desolates other countries, and 

 against which, in our country, we feel constrained to form associations 

 and enact laws. 



Now, contrast the Scotch with the Italians. The Scotch, as a peo- 

 ple, are far removed from superstition ; as a people, they are well edu- 

 cated, and' they are accounted remarkably virtuous and religious ; and 

 yet intemperance prevails among them to an alarming extent. But the 

 Scotch use strong drinks — they quafif the mountain dew; a very poet- 

 ical name for whiskey, but this does not prevent very unpoetical ef- 

 fects. 



My observations in other wine-growing districts — in France, in Switr 

 zerland, and upon the Rhine, coiTCsponds with my observatioas in Italy. 

 I have not visited Spain and Portugal, but I have conversed with trav- 

 elers, who, by extensive travel and long residence, have made them- 

 selves familiar with the habits of the people of these countries. Their 

 testimony is uniform. These countries produce large quantities of 

 wine, and the inhabitants habitually use wine ; but whatever may be 

 their vices or degi-adation in other respects, they are a temperate people, 

 and intoxication is not one of then' vices.* If these are facts — and I, 

 for one, cannot doubt them — then the conclusion is forced u})on us 

 that the wine growing countries are the only really temperate coun- 

 tries. 



I have laid before you the facts ; they are facts which demand seri- 

 ous examination and reflection ; and if the conclusion above stated be 

 a just one, then the agiiculturiste of our country are called upon to in- 

 troduce a cultivation which shall provide a natural and genial substi- 

 tute for strong drinks, and thus sweep intemperance from the land. Pro- 

 hibit the distillery, prohibit the sale of alcohol, and of alchohc mix- 

 tures, falsely called wine ; but let our hills be covered with vines, and 

 let that pm-e, simple wine be used, wliich not intoxicateth, but which 

 " cheereth God and man." 



•Mr. Brace in his book on Hungary gives a similar account of the temperance of the Hun- 

 garians, with whom their native wine is a oommou drink. 



