XX. Temperance
William Wertenbaker, who, as we have seen, became
almost as fanatical in his advocacy of prohibition as
General Cocke himself, writing to the latter in 1842,
informed him that as many as one hundred and fifty
citizens of Charlottesville had underwritten the pledge;
and that there was a popular demand there for a library
of books relating to temperance. Cocke was asked to
supply a list of the best. Not satisfied with the harvest
among the hitherto incorrigible drinkers in town, Wertenbaker
suspended on the walls of the proctor's room
a placard containing the oath of abstinence, with room
reserved for signatures; but only sixteen of the young
men were thus lured into the fold. During the previous
year, a meeting of the professors and students had been
held to organize a society. At least four of the instructors
had then joined; but there were several who, in
spite of temperate habits, were not ready to go so far.
"It was vain to endeavor to convince a person who takes
a glass of wine or ale for dinner regularly," remarked
Wertenbaker, who had these delinquents in view, "that,
in doing so, he commits a moral wrong, but if he can
be prevailed upon to abandon the practice, it will not
be long before he may be made to conform." On the
occasion of the meeting, Professor William B. Rogers
delivered an address remarkable for his characteristic
eloquence. A complete set of officers, with the exception
of the treasurer, was chosen from among the students.
The proctor was empowered to take charge of
the funds. W.P. Munford was elected president, and
among the vice presidents were J.J. Bullitt, of Kentucky,
and Edward J. Willis, of Virginia.
Rogers had formed a sanguine opinion of the prospects
of the association. "I deem this the happiest
movement for the University that has ever been made,"
he wrote his brother Henry in February, 1842, "and
I have no doubt that a large proportion of the students,
if not all, will eventually join. If so, we shall have no
further riots, or other serious violations of law, and our
places will be infinitely more desirable than they have
ever been. Besides, the effect on the community of such
a society being known to exist here will dissipate the
unjust prejudice which exists against us, and I look for
a large increase in numbers. I know that ninety-nine
hundredths of our troubles spring from drink."
In June, he was able to delight Cocke with the news
that the society, though it embraced "not a handful at
the commencement, had now enrolled more than one
hundred members." "By the influence of example, and
the moral weight of numbers," he added, "it has created
a wholesome public opinion in the University, which
controls the habits of nearly all connected with the institution."
He predicted that, before the end of the
next session, every student would have consented to
become a member; and he urged that the association
should be reorganized just as soon as the session opened.
Cocke was further elated by a letter from Dr. Cabell in
the same strain. "At a bridal party at Judge Tucker's
on October 19, 1842," he wrote, "nine-tenths of the
company refused to take wine and others partook of it
very moderately. I was sorry to see that the ladies were,
with a few exceptions, among the latter." Several days
afterwards, the Temperance Society was reorganized
with an address by Professor Rogers. Thirty-two students
and five professors signed the pledge. By February
24, 1843, seventy-eight signatures had been obtained
within the college precincts; but before the session
closed, a considerable number of the members had
withdrawn.
It was admitted that there were several reasons for
discouragement: (1) no student could be persuaded to
rise to his feet at the meetings and speak in favor of
the cause; and (2) many of the most influential young
men in college were actually opposed to the success of
the society. A malicious desire to raise disorder when
its members convened was shown by outsiders, and the
enginery of ridicule and sneers was used by them to bring
the organization into public contempt. The influence
of Professor George Tucker, together with that of his
kinsman, Professor Henry St. George Tucker, was
also turned against the movement; and their hostility
was made all the more powerful by their temperate
habits and conservative opinions. Kraitsir also was inimical;
but his attitude was not unnatural and not unexpected,
as he had been born and reared in one of the
greatest wine-growing countries of the world.
Dr. Cabell, in January, 1844, wrote with bitterness
to Cocke that the county court, in spite of protest, had
recently licensed a low grog-shop a short distance beyond
the precincts; and he acknowledged that the efforts
of the Temperance Society, in other directions,
since the beginning of the session, had been accompanied
by little success. One year later, Wertenbaker regretfully
announced that the total abstinence organization
had not even been revived. It was now thought to be
wisest to abandon the old plan of holding public meetings
for the purpose of listening to set speeches in advocacy
of temperance. Instead, the professors favorable
to the cause were requested to enforce upon the
students of their respective classes, so soon as enrolled,
the urgent propriety of signing the pledge. This change
of policy led only to disappointment. The failure of
the society at this time was attributed to the following
facts: (1) the absence of that direct public sentiment
which the work of an aggressive temperance organization
would have created; (2) the opportunity for constant
indulgence offered to students by Collier's grogshop
in bowshot of the University bounds; (3) the tolerance
which the chairman showed for the disregard of
the ordinances against intoxication; (4) the presidential
election, which caused those who had betted on the successful
candidate to consider it ungenerous to fail to offer
a drink to those who had lost; (5) the influence of
a large body of students from States lying south of Virginia,
who had been in the habit of using liquor with few
restrictions.
"We must never suffer a session to pass," Wertenbaker
wrote in April, 1845, "without an organized society."
Cocke, like himself, was convinced that the
prosperity of temperance lagged at the University because
several of the most respected professors were
what he rather gratuitously stigmatized as "wine bibbers."
He had the Tuckers palpably in mind. In
August, 1845, he congratulated Cabell on the fact that
the chairs of at least two instructors who had expressed
emphatic disbelief in the practicability of prohibition
were so soon to be filled by a couple of the most distinguished
teetotalers of the age. "I confidently hope,"
he added,"that we are upon the eve of a new order of
things." The new instructors were Minor and McGuffey,
the successors of George and Henry St. George
Tucker. Only a few months afterwards, Gough, the
famous temperance advocate, was, at McGuffey's instance,
invited to deliver one of his eloquent exhortations
at the University, and under his influence, seventy
students signed the pledge.
Three very able and earnest professors were now cooperating
to bring about total abstinence in the institution.
These were Minor, McGuffey, and Cabell. By
1849, the organized Sons of Temperance were, with
their powerful assistance, making a sensible impression
upon the habits of the students. In 1856, a temperance
hall, as we have stated, was dedicated, with very imposing
ceremonies. Previously, the Sons had held their
meetings in the room of the moot court. Although in
sympathy with the aims of this association, the Faculty
had, in 1849, refused to permit an address on temperance
to be delivered in the chapel; and they also, in
1855, declined to allow General Samuel Houston to
speak on the same subject in the public hall, which had
now been completed as an apartment in the annex to
the Rotunda. They took this extreme position for the
reason that the use of these public rooms for such a
purpose, however laudable in itself, was not countenanced
by the provisions of the existing ordinances.
