Cherokee phoenix, and Indians' advocate. [volume], July 08, 1829, Image 1

About Cherokee phoenix, and Indians' advocate. [volume] (New Echota [Ga.]) 1829-1834

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vwexhx* ASPijtpiaj apyocate.
vol-. 11.
PRINTED WEEKLY BY
JOHN F. WHEELER,
At $2 50 if "paid in advance, $3 in six
iiionths, or $3 50 if paid at the end of the
year.
To subscribers who can read only the
Cherokee langjage the price will b/$2,00
in a lvance, or $2,50 to be paid within the
year.
Every subscription will be considered as
♦ontinvied unless subscribers give notice to
the cantrary before the commencement of a
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and becoming responsible for the payment,
sba'l receive a seventh gratis.
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ty-five cents per square for the first inser
tion, an'' thirty-seven and a half cents for
each continuance; longer oiles in propor
tion.
icy All letters addressed to the Editor,
post paid, will receive due attention.
AGENTS FOR 'I HE CHEROKEE
PHCENIX.
The following persons are authorized to
receive subscriptions and payments for the
Cherokee Phuenix.
Messrs. Pbirce &. Williams, No. 20
Market St. Boston, Mass.
George M. Tracy, Agent ofthe A. B.
C. F. M. New York.
.Rev. A. V). Eddy, Canandaigua, N. Y.
Thomas Hastings, Utica, N. Y.
Pot.lard & Converse, Richmond, Va.
Rev. J-ames Campbell, Beaufort, S. C.
William MoCltrie Reid, Charleston,
5. C.
Col. GEour.r. Smith, Statesville, W. T.
Willum M. Combs, Nashville, Ten.
Rev. Bennet Roberts, Powal Me.
Mr. Thos. R. Gold, (an itinerant Gen
tleman.)
tleman.)
Jeremiah Acsttl, Mobil-, Ala.
Rev. Cyfftis Kingsbury, Mavhew, Choc
taw Nation.
taw .Nation.
Capt. William Robertson, Aiigu-ta,
Georgia.
Col. James Turk, Bfllfonte, Ala
lNTSMP23Fi.ilNGE
CONFESSIONS OF A PRISONER.
The following confessions, of a
prisoner in one of our State peniten
tiaries, present some interesting facts
in relation to the insidious progress of
the vi e of intemperance; and the
power of a vicious habit against the
remonstrances of reason and con
science. They are contained iu a com.
muiiication addressed soree Months
since, to the General A«~ en t of the
American Temrr 0 rnnce Society. The
unhappy a-'Vhor discloses his own his
tory vv;th much apparent faithfulness.
In '.'lie course of a private note, he
frankly remarks, "certainly I do not
%vrite now for fame, and have endea
voured to dwell more briefly upon the
'favourable than the unfavourable parts
spfrny unhappy story."
Jour. of Humanity.
Sir, —I address you from the solita
ry cell of a penitentiary prison. The
specific crime alleged against me is
forgery; but the cause of my present
condition, and of all the calamities
which have attended my devious
career of life, is the inebriating bowl.
Nearly four years have passed since
I entered these drearv walls, and
more than three others remain for
me to spend here? An offended God
in wrath remembered mercy. The
morning bitters, the drams of the day
or of the night, have not reached me.
Eyes that were once inflamed have
acquired their native clearness; trem
bling limbs have resumed their wont
ed functions; internal fevers and burn
ings, are quenched. Ruined, de
graded, and wretched as mv condition
iuav seem, it is very possible, that
when the sealed book shall be opened,
PRINTED UNDER THE PATRONAGE, AND FOR THE RENEFIT OF THE CHEROKEE NATION, AND DEVOTED TO '1
written upon the walls of the city,and
find its way to every tap-room iii the
nation. I find myself surrounded with
more than fire hundred beings, in the
same condition with myself. The at
mosphere I breathe is agitated with
sighs and groans; and my individual
calamity seems lost in the Wretched
ness that surrounds mil. Where shall
we look for the source of all this
misery? Let the keeper's docket
tell. Theft, forgery, burglary, bes
tiality,, rape, murder; every species
of crime, at the name of which the
soul recoils, appears in the. black
catalogue. These are specific ac-
the law can lix its hold. But the vice
which leads to every other, eludes
the grasp of the law.
Inflamed eyes, bloated visage, pal
sied limbs, sickness, poverty, or even
death, are not the things which give
to this vice its most appalling aspect
It unnerves the soul more fearfully
than it does the body. It gradually
destroys the moral sensibilities of the
heartland rouses (ne violent passions
of our depraved nature. It mars the
soft and .rpfinei emotions of the soul,
like the hideous trail of the serpent
ovsr tfyg brightest blossoms of Eden.
If the pillow be sometimes the place of
serious thought, the libation of the
morning obliterates th'e salutary les
son. One draught calls for a second,
the second still more louldly for the
third, another for another, until every
other sentiment and feeling is lost in
the insatiable cry—"give, give." Such
was once my condition. I saw indeed
that destruction was before me, and
still approached, with accelerated
pace, the horrid gulf. When a child,
! I once saw a bird charmed by the
sparkling eyes of a serpent, and ap
proaching near the reptile which lurk-
Ed for its destruction. When, from
pity, I destroyed the enchanter, and
set the fluttering captive free, hew
little did I think that I should ever be
enchanted—that the frightful pit of
perdition should yawn before me, and
yet that I should voluntarily rush with
open eyes, toward the abyss. An
overruling Providence interposed, and
my career of vice was arrested by
the arm of civil authority.
The destiny wbich denied me the
accustomed stimulus, was, .at the
first, inexpressibly painful; the separ
ation from the bottle seemed like the
separation of the "joints and marrow."
An artificial and vitiated appetite had
predominated over every other feel
inj; overpowered the entreaties of
friendship, the inductions' of reason,
(lie monitions of conscience. No dis
suasive from my vice ftas effectual,
NEW E CIS OTA, WEDNESDAY
will appear that with me the pris
on was substituted for the tomb;—
that while Intemperance was hurrying
thousands to the gates of death, I was
rescued 'as a brand from the burning.'
If (he graves which intemperance,
this prime minister of Death had peo
pled, should "burSt their marble
jaws," to raise a warning voice to the
living, the church-yards would fear
fully yawn, as by a mighty earth
quake, and the united monitions of all
that is loathsome, appalling or fear
ful, would cry to the votaries of the
cup, in more than human accents, Be
toare!
But though no spirit may rise from
the tombs of the dead, "a warning
vdice may come forth from the dun
geons of the living. And whenever
punishment, whether considered as
the necessary sanction to human laws,
or as the dispensation of an overruling
Providence, —has produced its legiti
mate effect; whenever the pride of
the human heart is humbled under
the mighty hand, of offended heaven,
there will be no hesitation in stating
the causes which led to infamy and
ruin.
While I could wish to spare the
feeling of the connexions of my fami
ly; for myself I should be willing that
the story of one, whose earthly hopes
intemperance had blasted, should be
ons. uiion the perpetrators of which
whether drawn from that which is
lesirable in life, or from what is re
xignant in the prospect of vagabond
legradation and premature death.—
rleaven had not sufficient charms tc
'llure me, nor Hell sufficient terrors
o a tyrant who never said, enough,
3ut In imprisonment, the manacles
vhich bound my body set my spirit
ree. The unnatural cravings of (he
t"mach gradually subsided with the
iisuse of spirit.
In the haunts of dissipation, the
nind may be banished from itself:
Hit in the cell of a prison, why can
ivoid rtvolviii" in his mind the variety
if causes which conspired to rivet his
etters? Who will not inquire—At
vhat period of life did I commence the
construction of this gloomy abode?
fVhen did I lay the first foundation?
Jn what anvil did I forge the bolt:
ibtain materials for the wall ? Througl
vhat means dicl I provide and adap
he various materials of the building
intil, at length, I came forward wit!
lie las ; key-stone to the arch? Wh'
mi I doomed, like the ox, to toil fo
inother? Was I not "born free a
Caesar?', Why, then, have I "sol,
nvself for nought?,' Alas! while
•an trace the source of my presen
vretchedness and ruin to the infatuat
ng effects of ardent spirits, I am coi
itrained to add that it has blasted th
airest hopes.
I entered upon the active scenes <
ife, without friends, patrimony, o
connexions, at the age of sixteen; and
hough the four years immediately i
irecceding were passed in active la- |
)our, yet worlds ol literature and phil
osophy were my companions in th<
ield; and, at that early period, I an
icipated a literary career. Whei
)arental protection was removed, 1
exchanged the axe for the pen. My
irst essays were published in an ob
icure village paper, and I had the
rratification of seeing them rcprinu d
n poptilar journals. At seventeen' I
emoved to one of our Atlantic cities,
ivhero the editorial department of a
Jaily paper was committed tempor
arily to ray <-targe, during the sickness
1,1 iis pi"oj)i'ietoi. There, although
an c-ntire stranger, and almost with
out resources, 1 succeeded in acquir
ing the friendship of some literary
men. Perhaps they were willing to
accept my homage to science, in the
place of profound knowledge. The'
friendship of such men was worth
more than the patronage of the rich.
It opened a wider sphere of action,
and, at twenty three, having visited
Euiope, I found myself the proprie
tor of an ample fortune, exclusively
the production of the pen. But be
fore this period the seeds of destruc
tion had been sown, and they now be
gan to take root. Shortly after en
tering the city of , I a'ttached my
self to several clubs of wits, "free
and easy" associations; but I soon
found that a convivial evening dtew
heavily upon the morning of the suc
ceeding day. At length the morning
bitter was called for, to chase away
the ennui arising from the midnight
debouch. This impaired the relish
for breakfast. Coffee became insi
pid—appetite for fotfd diminished.
a rejoinder at eleven, and a surrejoin
der at one. And it was not until 1
frequently found myself in a state of
intoxication, and some of my friend*
began to whisper, "this i 3 the road tc
ruin," that I first suspected myself oi
being reprehensibly infeniperate. J
had completely entered the camp oi
the ene.ny, before I discovered the
presence of danger. Every effort tc
retrace my steps proved vain; the
only avenue of escape was barred as
by a giant,—by burnings and cravings,
insatiable as the grave. Every fit ol
infeinpt -e operated upon iny con
stitution .. ith more than ordinal)
force; it led to distracting frenzy, aiu
extravagant excesses. My friend;
THE CAUSE OF INDIANS E. tCDDIRCTT, EBiTCfc.
JULY 8, 1829.
Sj Coil Id weep; and yet I wanted reso
lution to dash the fatal poison Iron
:l my lips. Unwilling lo blast every
- prospect, in a ci y still dear to nty re"
j collection, I removed to another, 1111
s der the vain hope that a change- oi
I place might lead to a chaiige oi' hab
i j F rom that period to the commence
ment of my present imprisonment, in
1824, an interval of eleven years, I
have floated over the surface of the
world, without any settled purpose ot
lilrf, and there is scarce a section, in
two empires, in which I have no!
temporarily resided. My rescources
were .soon exhausted, and I found the
tk-oessity of adopting some means for
a livelihood. I have been the pre
ceptor ol a school in fifteen different
villages and neighbourhoods; have
conducted the editorial department ol
eight different newspapers, to three
of which my name was attached; and
have worked as a mechanical printer
in thirty or forty different offices.
But so completely had the desire of
spirituous liquor acquired the ascen
dancy, that the earnings of a month
„• were not unfrequently squandered' in
s a week; and it was never till my
( ] pockets were emptied, that I left the
f tavern, or the grocery, in quest of
t employment. But 311 empty purse
. was the least of all the evils occa
1- sioned by this besetting end besotting
s sin. The same stimulants which
heated the blood, and iiiflnmcd the
f animal spirits, overpowered reason;
!> while the leet tottered, the arms ,
j trembled, and the tongue faltered, j
t 'soul was in the wildest frenzv.
. Three times I have been led to ex- 1
cesses whit h fell within the cogniz- <
, j ance of.munit ipial law; and impris- i
onment followed; twice fcr a few ;
1 days, and once for a little more than (
! a year. a
j 1 he details of n y unhappy course 1
would lill volume s. I will merely s
mention two or three additional inci- c
, dents. p
| Oiiefflhe instant es of imprison- ''
I mdnt which I have a I ready mentioned, ( '
I WflS at Salem, Washington County, 1
j N. Y., for a transactional Whitehall, s
where 1 had been the actual though "
not the ucmnial editor of the Whitehall
Emporium. 1 left the prison penny
less; and Stevenson. Secretary of the
W ashington County Bible Society, and
i one of the proprietors of the Salem
| Post, received me into his office for
" a few days, for the charitable pur
pose of repairing my exhausted funds
J At my departure he cautioned me
j with much tenderness, to guard a-
I gainst '-the sin wfiicli so easily beset
me," and requested me to read the
- Scriptures, pla>. ing at (he same time, a
I copy of the New Testament in my
hand. I did not leave Salein before
my money was squandered at fhe tav
l ern; and that f might indulge the sin
j ful propensity to the utte; most, I sold
the book, which was given me for a
very different purpose, to an inn-keep
er, and received the quid pro quo
from the bar. I cannot but view
this as the blackest action of itiy
wicked life. I should do injustice to
i.'yself, if 1 did not add, that the first
moment of reflection, when the mad
dening influence of ardent spirit sub
sided, myj soul shuddered at the
thought that 1 had been base enough
to convert the generous feelings that
would have reclaimed me, into the
means of a further sinful indulgence;
and'perhaps the purchaser, who was
aware of all (he circumstances, was
little less guilty (ban myself. Agaii
destitute, I wandered as F could to
Troy, where my necessities were
supplied by a literary gentleman, res
ident at that place.
I entered the borough of Easion,
Penn. at another time, on my way
from New York to Harrisburg, at
which latter place I had business, and
where, some years before, I had con
ducted the editorial department of a
news-paper. I was a stranger ii>
Easton, and Satan seemed whiiwr
i might here graiily my luvoute
: .opensity better than at a plate
■ here I had any character at stale.
Having squandered the sm,ill funds
i uien had, SSO, whioli were divided
between the bar and the card table,
i next di\ ested myself of every valu
able article of apparel. Pennyless, a
s ranger, and almost naked, ll>e stom
ach • s still Unsatisfied, and to grat
ify its incessant clamors, as a last re
sort, I joined- a small recruiting |>; i ly,
r n in the pla< e,_ps a private soldier,
under the assumed ncihe qf
from no higher principle tin n tl.it of
converting the six dollars advance in
to rum. We were shortly after treins
ferred to Fort Niagara, wheie I re
mained about a month. But the dis- »
cipline oi'tlie rrii'p could not guard
against the expedients by which I i on
ioned to gratily this faial propensity;
and. in a lit of intemperance, I was
guilty of a violation of discipline, ren/
dered capital by the rules and articles
ol war; tor which I was transferred,
a prisoner, to Sacketts Habour, con.
fined in the gnaid-ioom, and loaded
with irons. Before a court maitiaj*
convened, I contrived, though at the'
hazard of instant dfrath, ts effect my
escape. Overleaping the picket ts
of the cantonment,-1 wandered throi :li
woods and morasses for three days'
without sustenance, in which 1 pro',
gressed about forty miles, until at
length I found a canoe at Alexander
hay, with which I crossed to the I> ; .
ish dominions." Heaven, which h.i-d
ever loaded me with unmerited bless'
nigs, still continued to be merciful.
Although a stranger, and appealing
under'the most unfavourable circum
stances, I experienced, almost af the
tirst house I entered, the kindness and
affection of a brother, and the confi-f
dence of a friend, from a mercantile
gentleman whoste name was Jones,
He was a Christian, and his house
a little Sanctuary in which the love
of God dwelt. He immediately sup.
plied me with decent apparel,' fcr I
had nothing but a soldier's AifigUd
dress, and through his influence; in lesg'
than a week, I was employed at re
spectable wages, to take the charge
of a school in tl.e neighbourhood, for
three months. Here was the first in
stauce in which a moral feeling over-'
powered the strong propensity for the
boitle. It was a christian neighbour- 1
h"°d, my immediate predecessor offi
ciated at the sacred I saw
that indulgence in intemperance woulcf
result in a dismissal, which would
place it out of my power to refund
the advances of my generous benefac
tor. This was a step I dared not
take. I completed the contract,
j with perfect sobriety, and comrnenc.
Ed a new one at an salary,
which was further augmented by su
pernumerary scholars, s;.me of whom
»ere studying I^tin and the higher
branches of education. But my feet
soon began fo stumble. I wept over
the first fit of intemperance, after the
abstinence of four or five month's; and
with prayers and sighs implored the
God of Heaven to save me from the
2tilf which Seemed to yawn before?
me. IVjy case was communicated to
ihe village clergyman, who opened
bis doors for my reception, and treat*
ed mejvith peculiar iieli< aey and ten
derness. But all was in vain. I
could not pass a tavern; and I could
not drink one glass, without following
the enchanting poison with another &
another, till raving frenzy, or beastly ~~
mloxication cnsuod. I iiopjocfcd my
school, and a dismissal followed.
Collecting my earnings and discharg
ing fn>' debts, I proceeded fo Mon."
* real, genteelly habited, and with a'.'
bout sixty dollars.
Here, instead of entering into busw'
siness, 1 passed the time in the low.
est groceries with which that city
ibounds, until I had expended every
penny, and exchanged my- wardrobe
for rags -v-One morning as I awoktf
from a broken and painful sleep, after
excessive intoxication, and faintly
JtfOi A<£.