traffic, the direct cause of almost all the drunkenness and crime of the land. His opinions on this subject were well matured, and were expressed with great strength, and do demand the attention of every legis lator in our land. If you have room, I wish you would give them a place in your memoir. I could give you several expressions of them, but one embodies them all-a letter to Rev. Dr. Edwards, in 1834, relating to the Sixth Annual Report of the American Temperance Society, in which the system of license was ably discussed. In that letter he said,

"I have read with great satisfaction the Sixth Annual Report of your society, and especially that portion of it between pages 44 and 69, on the immorality of authorizing by law the traffic in ardent spirit as a drink. It is almost unnecessary to say how fully and heartily I concur in the views and principles that are therein so ably sustained. If the use of ardent spirits be wrong, it seems to be a result of inevitable deduction that the traffic in it is at least equally so. And hence, while many have ridiculed, I have always honored the conduct of those persons who, under honest convictions of the evils of intemperance, have renounced all connection and terms with ardent spirits, broken in the head of the cask, and poured out the destructive poison on the ground. This was a noble tribute to principle that would not hesitate between the cold calculations of avarice, and the high claims of duty, and the peace of a pure conscience. How can a just mind engage in a commerce all the details of which are fruitful of evil?

"The use of ardent spirit is attended by peculiar circumstances. It is not an ordinary and harmless beverage, as to which every man may be safely trusted with his own keeping, but it is an insidious and dangerous practice, that gradually forms an artificial and depraved appetite. It deranges and inflames the whole organic system of the body, aggravates instead

of allaying thirst, and creates an inward craving that has, in some cases, seemed to me like the gnawings of despair.

"And, worse still, this habit relaxes the hold of good principles by impairing the moral sense. A man's self-respect falls among its first victims. These sad results are confined to no class or condition. The strong men and the feeble are equally exposed to its ravages. The truth is (and every grave-yard proves it), the man who habitually drinks ardent spirit, no matter how temperately, has cause to tremble, for his danger is not only real, but imminent.

"To a subject, therefore, of such peculiar and dreadful energy, reaching so far and assailing so many interests, we must apply peculiar remedies. It is mere tampering with temptation to come short of positive, decided, and uncompromising opposition. We must not only resist, we must drive it. To stand on the defensive merely is to aid in its triumph.

"The second inquiry which you have proposed presents one of the most interesting questions of public duty. The ground taken in your report is, beyond all serious controversy, among the clearest and soundest conclusions of right reason: "That the laws which authorize the traffic in ardent spirit as a drink, by licensing men to pursue it, are morally wrong."

"Law-makers are, of all men, bound to seek the public good. So broad is this duty, that they are under peculiar obligations to consecrate the influence of a pure and personal example to the promotion of the general welfare; but, first of all, should their legislation be pure; not only preventive of evil, but persuasive to good. No man fit to represent a free people will deny these propositions. Then what can we urge in excuse for the countenance given to the use of ardent spirit on almost every statute-book? On one page you will read of heavy penalties denounced against drunkenness, riots, and public disorders, and

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the next chapter authorizes the retail of the very poison which, all admit, brings on these outbreaking transgressions. Who can reconcile these glaring contradictions? It is time, every reflecting mind exclaims, it is high time to emancipate ourselves from these humiliating practices. The use of ardent spirit has introduced a course of reasoning and conduct that libels human nature. Who can dwell upon it without feelings of shame, that we should have gravely provided, by public law, that if men will pay for the mischievous faculty, they may set up a tavern, and sell as much rum as they please, short of drunkenness may scatter firebrands and death all around them; beguile unwary youth, and poison the very fountains of moral purity, and inflict an amount of injury on the vital interests of the community that neither time nor law can repair.

;

"I rejoice, my dear sir, that you are endeavoring to bring this subject before the scrutiny of public men. You can not fail in a purpose so fraught with benefits. We owe it to our history, to our free institutions, and, above all, we owe it to Him whose benignant providence has so richly blessed us, that we purify our laws. And if men will engage in this destructive traffic-if they will stoop to degrade their reason and reap the wages of iniquity, let them no longer have the law-book as a pillow, nor quiet conscience by the opiate of a court license.

"I am persuaded that the course of past legislation has greatly increased the evil of which we complain. How could it be otherwise? Men can hardly avoid looking up to the halls of legislation for standards of duty; they expect to find models there that may be safely followed; and when these high places have deliberately sanctioned the use of ardent spirits when under legal regulations, the conclusion has been natural and prompt that, when it was clothed in these legal forms, it was not only excusable, but lawful. Men

would not take time to question the moral power of a Legislature to make that right which God declares to be wrong. The lamented fact has been, they did not wish to believe in any defect of power; they loved to have it so, and accordingly reposed on the plausible authority of a positive statute.

"I trust and pray that light will very soon become strong enough to expose all these delusions, and that, by your laudable efforts and the blessing of God, our public men, our state and national Legislatures, with the whole body of our people, will address to this subject the just and deep reflection that it deserves, and will, with heart and hand, by one combined and blessed effort, shake off forever the bondage under which our land has groaned.'

"On the adoption of the Prohibitory Law by Maine and other New England states in 1851, 1854, and 1855, he made an address before the New Jersey State Society at New Brunswick, endorsing the whole, and commending it most warmly to his fellow-citizens. The impression was most happy. But his most fervent prayer was that the ministry and the churches of our land might clear themselves from all participation of guilt in the existence and spread of intemperance, both for their own sake, and that the greatest hinderance to the conversion of sinners, the spread of the Gospel, and the evangelization of the world might speedily be removed.

"We all, sir, have reason to bless God that we have had a Frelinghuysen among us; that he has been associated with us; that he has taught us how to bear scoffings and revilings, how to breast opposition, how to persevere amid trials and disappointments, and how to cast all our care upon Him who careth for us, and will finally cause His people to triumph in every place to His own glory.

"Fearing I have written you too long a letter, yet having much more to say, I am yours respectfully, "JOHN MARSH, Cor. Sec. A. T. U."

CHAPTER XIII.

THE CLOSING SCENE.

Origin of his Sickness.-Fear of Death.-Fear overcome.-Profound Humility. Submission.-Temptations.-Remembrances.—Interview with Dr. Campbell.-Advice to a Youth.-Desire to Depart. -The peaceful End.

He

DURING the greater part of his life Mr. Frelinghuysen enjoyed good health. In the latter portion of it his constitution became impaired, and constant care was required to keep him in working condition. felt especially the need of exercise in the open air, and this he was accustomed to take with great regularity. But the weather during the winter of 1861-62 was unfavorable for this purpose, especially to a man of his years. There were frequent falls of snow; and although no large quantity fell at any one time, yet there was enough to cover the ground, and when, after partially thawing, it froze, the roads and paths were coated with ice, and the walking became very unsafe. Mr. Frelinghuysen was thus cut off from his usual and necessary outdoor rambles, and, in consequence, the general tone of his system was lowered. About this time the proclamation of President Lincoln was issued, recommending the people to meet in their usual places of public assemblage on the anniversary of Washington's birthday, and attend the reading of the Farewell Address of the Father of his Country. The second Reformed Protestant Dutch Church in New Bruns