Litchfield enquirer., 1836-12-22

inc harbineer of needfhl reform. 1t passed
 from inc orator be0Dre popular assembly
 info general belief. Those who adopt it aS q uracfical principle soon become, ,unc0nscious fv perhaps, indifferent to the empire of law in relation to those interests which have always been, and must always be the subjects of le. gal provision and protection, or become the sport of the multitude.
 OfalI propositions made up of about equal
 proportions of truth and falsehood, this IS the
 most insidious in it's nature, and the most ger
 eterious in its influence. The men wno tnI.H .n
 for the multitude, and think this sentlmen ;o1 '"
 be true, and useful, mean by puDnc OP1n,U' ,oa
 the united judgment of a colnmuS; ,n .S;Uk for
 tion; while the mass ot men "n to inc small themselves limit it's application 10 Ine s sna.'
 cono,,anies which congregate together lor d.
 "'T 'TLS bPvs who disturb public worship ana
 :, S,LS.b and the rabble who rlSe up to
 t'le o'.. f.ea, discussion, know no law except
 Plcven. on;nion and do not often pause to
 :,,S,,;re, whether their opinion Will clash Wlth
 .hdt of the more respectable portion ot the
 oooo',nImitv. onn, With these classes the senti-
 ',,art in question is the watchword for acts of
 daring and recklessness. It waves in capi- taIs on the standard of every mob. A mob redresscs grievances at once, not waiting the tardy movements of the courts of justice.- They pilfer, burn, destroy, because public opinion is law, and that opinion for the time being is with them. The sentiment abets I.ynching. How could men claiming to be christians ever sanction and participate in such lawleSs manner an outrageous cru sade against the rights and persons of fellow if they did not believe that they and their compeers were the public, and their. united opinion the law, competent to arraign, and execute without legal trial, and in defiance ofearth and heaven?
 The sentiment is preventing the execution # wholesome laws. It operates to produce and by diminishing those who re charged with the execution of the laws l is reiterated in public speeches and circu- ated by reporters without qualification las gone forth to render multitudes forgetful # existing laws, and to divest them if remem- ,ered of all authority in their estimation.- t has brought law and its execution into dis epute. Men of principle. elected by the uffrages of the people to civil offices, decline aking the prescribed oath, because through deference to public opinion, hey regard it impracticable to keep their ,atRs. If such is the influence of the reign f public opinion over law, it is time to aban- lon the sentiment which clothes 1t with at- ributes foreign to it's nature, and affirm what , true in reality, that public opinion is one hing in one place, and another thing in an- ther place at the same time-that it is one hing at one time and under some circum- Eances, and another thing at another time nd under other circumstances thing not | ,ell defined, and not understood alike by a. y great numbers; while the law is we'll de- med and may be we'll understood, and is one nd the same thing so long as it continues in orce.-Haryord Watchman.