Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1817-10-10

desart for conscience sake, is the asylum of
that outcast multitude whom even the vices of
Europe cannot tolerate. Looking as we ought
TO do on the earth as merely great field of
moral experiment Oh our rude and infected ma
lures, the most curious of all its experiments
seems TO have been delegated to this latest of
all the nations, and before this century closes,
she may have decided for all the future, whe-
Their great masses of mankind are capable Of
rurihcation by enforcement from the place of
old crime, or whether the manliness and ho-
nor, the religious purity, and the moral strict
ness Which her first iiustr ious eyiles bequeath
ed 10 America,are not to sicken and perish in
the uoxious aud heated atmosphere breathcd
round them from the huge corruption of Eu-
rope; whether she is to be looked Oh as offer.
Ing in her land of loneliness and Iabour, the
sure school for the recovery OF the original vir-
tues, or the stern place of detention and expnl-
sion for the mind which must he separated
from society; whether she Is to be the lazaret
or tue dungeon. To such a people, an examin.
alton into the more glarng excuses CT private
lite may have the interest which belongs TO
controversy perpetuaily influencing practice.
In England the interest may have passed away
from that which makes the fear and hope,
the eager inquiry, or the stern admonition OF
men in a more unsettled state OF manners
Among MS, Gaming has run the r.aunt.ope OF
ten thousand reasoners; IL is beyond all novel;
ty OF attack: ii I.as taken refuge in the higher
orders. 1t has thus at once saved the public
eye from the savage aspect that startles us In
the vice of the lower ranks, and II has risen
out OF the ordinary province ofpublic reproof !;
for the great business of the moralist is with
the guilt of the multitude. But beyond the At
lantic, the orator who exposes the guilt OF a
seductive and Mountaineering habit, might he
at once rendering a solemn service TO the
country, and entering into province made
for the noblest and most productive displays Of
genius and feeling. Mr.. Ogilvie's discourse
touched more slightly on the public offence of
gaming than on its misery to the gamester, his
uncertainty of possession, his perturbation be.
tore, his remorse after, the palpable tendency
OF the vice to degrade the mind, by setting up
gold as its simple object upon earth, the per-
version of the whole man from the servicea
bic member OF society into its habitual curse,
tue terror of his life who has but one idol, and
sees this idol in perpetual jeopardy on the cast
OF die, or sees that the only way TO make
chance secure is to make himself u villain
DIR. OSilvie here narrated a short story, which,
by his striking manner, excited strong inter-
est He had heard il from the person in whose
presence the scene occurred. The person
had been travelling IN the Southern States, and
had gone TO rest in principal inn. party
were playing below. He was reused by the
hasty coming into his bedchamber of one of
the gamblers, whom he recognized AS a veteran
player and notorious for success. This man
flung himself Oh sofa, and unknpwing that
he had a hearer, burst ont in passion of self
reproach. His violence and execration APP
preached to agony. The door opened cauti.
ousy some time after, and low voice said,
Sir, the gentlemen are drunk enough now,
where are The loaded dice" The selftorment-
er sprung from his couch, poured out a torrent
of rage on the tempter, threatened his life, if
ever he came near him with this alluSion to his
desperate career, and flung him from the
room. Mr.. Ogilvie concluded the evening
with REGULATIONS. 1.-The Elegy on an unfortu-
nate Lady" was connected with vigorous
censure OIL it's approval OF suicide. The battle
Of Clan Apins, in the Lady of the Lake, contrast
ed with CamPbell's Hohenlinden, gave the
ground work for remarkably ingenious in
curry into the superior advantages arising TO
the descriher of former warfare from the ma
ture of former discipline and arms. He was
frequently cheered, and his announcement of
an Grafton on the general principles of public
speaking was followed by along and animated
applause.