THE TESTIMONY OF PRESIDENTS.
Here is a copy of a remarkable document, said to have been drafted in 1834 by Edward Cornelius Delevan, founder of the New York State Temperance Society. To this document the author personally secured the signatures of twelve presidents of the United States. Following are the testimony and the names of the presidential signers: Being satisfied from observation and experience, as well as from medical testimony, that ardent spirits as a drink is not only needless, but hurtful, and that the entire disuse of it would tend to promote the health, the virtue, and the happiness of the community, we hereby express our conviction that should the citizens of the United States, and especially the young men, discontinue entirely the use of it, they would not only promote their own personal benefit, but the good of our country and of the world. Zachary Taylor. Andrew Jackson.
Millard Fillmore. James Madison.
Franklin Pierce. John Quincy Adams.
James Buchanan. Martin Van Buren.
Abraham Lincoln. John Tyler.
Andrew Johnson. James K. Polk. It will be noticed that this is not a pledge, but a testimony, and coming from men whose opportunities for observation extended to all classes of men, it bears unusual weight and is entitled to serious consideration.