The voice of freedom. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1839-1848, 1843-10-26
COM M U NICATION
For the Voice of Freedom.
INTEMPERANCE. No. 2.

eating drinks. We shall endeavor in {
spirit of candor and meeliness, to exhibit
lis want of consistency, and 10 develop
as far as in US is, its entire destitution o.
moral principle: acknowledging, howev
err, ia view of the faults and imperfections
of man, the honesty and sincerity of those
who were employed in its enactment.
The object of law is the good of man.
1t was instituted for the protection Of ha-
man rights. But. whatever may be its
object, however high or sacred its aim it
is very evident that law fails in the ac-
complshment of such pretended purposes.
Instead Of impfoving,or lettering the con-
dilion of man, instead of securing to him
his rig hts, or of protecting either his per-
son or property, it tears asunder his in.
alienable connections, and pounces upon
his rights as the tiger upon his prey.
Among the many laws that have prov
ed themselves scourge to humanity, the
License Law holds 10 ordinary or infer-
or rank. Slavery may boast of her en-
trcnchments, her bars and bolts and gall.
ing chains war with its ten thousand
caIamiies, its s,artling shrieks and dying
groans, all may proclaim legal power;
all possess a legal protection. The Lii
cense Law, that curse upon man, yields
a kindred influence, and is no less the
author of human misery and death. 1t
grants TO certain individuals the right 10
sell and speculate, and get living from
ardent spirits. 1t gives power TO the
yender to impose upon community an ar
tcle of drink, which beggars the people,
and stamps them with inlumy, shame and
disgrace.
If such consequences follow the sale of
intoxicating drinks, aud no reasonable,
intelligent man will deny it for moment
then the law does not answer its purpose,
or the end for which it was designed. -
But, in granting the license to sell alco-
hollc drinks, ii not only defeats its own
object viz: the good of man, out it scatters
the seeds ofvlce and dissipation, and brings
an everlasting reproach upon the world.
Should any doubt the truth OF this express
ion, we have on y TO remark, go to your
poor-houses, prisons, and penilentiaries
learn from that long list of benighted ones.
the work of Lntemperance; work sane
toned AMI sealed by the laws of man; a
work, confirmed AMI approved, by the
same Judicial power that closed the door of
mercy, and barred The bolts Of flte. Yes,
that authority, which has bestowed the
right Of sale, and given to man the high
prarogative of trading and traficking in
human blood, has, with an equa! claim to
justice, or an equal show of consistency,
condemned aud dragged to prison the in
dividual who has been so unfortunate as
TO buy, what the law has permitted to be
sold: thus p1nishing the very effect of a
cause which it has knowingly produced.
Now, | ask, is this right! is this acting
upon any principle of justice whatever?
No: The consequences Of drunkenness
and dissipation, | charge upon the law, so
long as it shall continue 10 sanction the
business of rum-selIing. And, so long as
1t confirms the right of sale, knowing, at
the same time, that men will drink and
destroy their own lives and property;
yea, kill and mutiIate their friends and
neighbors, so long the law has no right 10
visit such oftuces with its relrbutions.-I
But, Oh the contrary, its threatened ven
geance upon another, should fall, as the
author, upon its own deserving head. 1t
has provided the means, and is therefore
responsible for results.
The law. ia licensing the sale ofardent
spirits, confirms their necessity To grant
a permission TO sell, is as much as TO de-
clare their utility A license pre-supposes
the thing sold, Of some use or benefit to
community; therefore blessing instead
of curse.
Now, with the present light uron the |
subject of Temperance, who will contend
the utility Of rum-selling tavern2 Who
will maintain the necessity OF a licensed
{ rum.hole,' as it is termed, the very center
ofiniquity, and citadel ofcorruption? No