New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1849-01-20

Law and Morals.
A recent charge TO jury Of this City by one
Of our Common Pleas Judges, In the case OF
woman indicted for keeping house OF infamous
resort, has been made the theme OF much comment
out of the City THE writer hereof cannot testify
to what has been said m the City, and differences
have been drawn from it more uniavorsble TO the
moral character OF New.York than the truth will
warrant We do not mean 10 deny that this City
10 the scene Of much immortality and wickedness,
bat we do most Indignantly deny that the doc
trjnes put forth by Judge DAILY on the occasion
referred 10 were in accordance with the prevailing
sentiment OF the reputable and conscientious por-
ton Of this community That brothels and gaming
Houses exist here s deploraby true, and Of course
they are frequented they would not continue
~ exist. But certainly large and probably
the larger share Of their support comes from
shroad-from persons who resort hither to indalge
ia vices which they could not perpetrate with i'm
p,nity at home. Here congregste the hapless
victims Of Seduction, but most Of them be
came such elsewhere. and are sent or come hither
10 hide their shame 10 be piecipitated into the
lower abysses Of guilt and misery which yawn
before them. Hitler they are followed by the
moro circumspect libertines from large radius
who find the position Of unnoted strangers in a
great city most favorable 10 the free indulgence Of
their debssed appetites. The vast and rapidly
increa sag facilities OF locomotion in our day have
brought FIVE or six millions Of people within two
days travel Of NewYork and every one who de-
sires it may always have a colorado pretext Of
business for coming here. Hence the painful ex
tent and increase Of dissol1te haunts and centous
orgies among as
But when q Judge on the Bench, engaged in
trying the keeper Of a notorious house Of assigna-
ton under Indictment for her unlawful aud most
pestilent Of lfe feels mpelled TO urge upon
the Jury. as if it gave some color Of mitigation,
that such haunts always have existed, still exist
and ever must exist in cities like ours-as if the
temptation 10 establish and to frequent them were
not the veIj reason for Furnishing their keepers
he maniiests an ignorance Of the grounds Of pun
ishment and an obliquity Of moral perception
which dishonor the sest he occupies and the City
he inhabits. II a crime were of such nature that
nobody would ever be tempted to repeat it, we
think that circumstance might fairly be urged in
bar OF any severe or exemplary punishment there
for but to hold the proneness Of depraved human
ity to any vice an excuse for those who deliber-
atey devote their lives to its extension and facili-
tation making it a source of sfTluence and living
in luxury upon its filthy profits strikes US as
moostrous subversion of equity and sound policy
such as we hope not soon again to be called to
Tebuke.
We know that laxity Of principle with regard
to this particular species Of vicious indulgence is
somewhat rvalent, but for that very reason We
feel the more urgently impeed to demonstrate |
against any subserviency to it the part Of those
clothed with authority. We know that the edu
cation Of our youth is almost wholly neglected on
this point and that in the absence of proper en-
lghtenment with regard to their own physical
natures and moral relations, the grossest errors
and misapprehensons generally prevail among
them, while the passions OF majority are prema
furely developed and inlamed by stimulating food
and drink, want Of proper exercise, vacant hours
icentious books and corruPting associations. Many
know no other reason for abstaining from the Vi
,ious indugences to which they are strongly
empted than the impalpable terrors of some far
III punishment which may he escapedby interme-
date contriton. Few profoundly realize the re-
.ributive energy implanted by Divine wisdom in
the very constitution of every moral and inteli-
gent being, rendering it absolutely impossible that
my vicious indulgence-any qualification of an
appetite in discordance with the law and the end
,f its creation-shoud escape just and necessary
punishment. Hence our streets swarm with the
oathed victims Of lecherous Requirement and per-
idy-hence a large portion of our young men at
lain TO maturity thoroughly corrupted in nind and
body, in thought and deed. the foredoomed VIC
inns Of their own and others vices and already
marked for the dishonored graves to which their
absolute courses will soon consign them.
Such being tho notorious facts, what should be
he bearing Of Legislation and Jurisprudence on
this subject Since the inclination to sexual vice
10 90 common while that to more Aagrant crime is
10 rars-a thousand probably being at some time
or other tempted to sin in this respect where one
has ever felt impelled to burglary or murder
ought not our laws and our courts to respect this
manifest disparity A good General keeps his
eye on the weaker portion Of his ine-he place
the most and best troops where the adversary can |
most easily attack him. Why. then, should not |
rulers devote most care and effort to the repres-
sion OF those sins which most easily beset their
people rather than those which are rarely com
mtted
And yet we find laxity in the Legislature, in
efficiency in the Police and most deplorable Of
all , proAigacy on the Bench Why is it that this
form of vice meets sosmuch favor, while others
are austerely dealt with We can only account
for 1t on the principle which ths Dutch Justice
evolved in dealing with airing OF offenders
arsigned before him one Sth Of July for drunken
ness. After sentencing half dozen to 50 many
days imprisonment or 40 many lashes each for
getting tpsy on Rum, Gin or Brandy respectively |
he came at last to one who proved to have made |
himself oblivious on Punch Hans, says the |
sage Rhadsmanthus, after due ruminstion, i |
fines you just nothing at all IL gets drunk on
Punch myself sometimes
MAssAcHusErTs.-The following is the official
canvass for Consssmcn al the recent Special Election
SECOND DISTRICT