Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1841-1853, 1850-02-14
For The State Sentinel.
The License Law.

Messrs. ChaPraahs q SPann The question of
voting s'Lcense" 'No License" at the next
election. is again before the people Some advo-
eating the granting of licenses. advocate the OPP
posile side. aid wish TO answer, hastily, an argu
ment or two that occasionally hear urged.
J.. II is said that it is 'new thing" these
sumPtGcry uGiions, attempting TO compel the peo-
pie to take thought to what they shall eat and
what they shall drink and wherewhal they shall be
cothedi" | deny this Without going back TO the
history of tbe-goycrnmenis of antiquity and of mod
ern Europe for examples, will content myself with
a simple reference to that of our puritan pilgrim
fathers, and will take those laws denominated, pal,
excellence the "blue laws of Connecticut" quote
from De Tocqueve. He is speaking of the laws of
1850, just exactly two hundred years ego.
"The chief Of the legislators, in this body Of
of penal laws, ,was the maintenance of orderly
duct and good mofals in the community; they con-
stantly invaded the d0msn of conscience, and there
was scarcely sin which they did not subject to
magisterial censure. The reader is aware Of the
rigor with which these laws punished rape and adu-
terry; intercourse between unmarried persons was
likewise severely repressed. The Judge was en-
powered TO inflict pecuniary penalty whipping,
or marriage, on the msdemeanants; and if The re-
cords of The old courts of New Haven may be be-
eved, prosecutions of this kind not infrequent
u
1860, infcting a fine aud a reprmand young
woman who accused of using improper language,
and of allowing herself to be kissed. The code of
1850 abounds IN preventive measures. 1t punishes
dleness and drunkenness with severity. lnnkeepers
are forbidden to furnish than certain quantity
of liquor to each consumer and simple lying, when-
1t may be injurious, is checked by fine fog
gng. In other places the legislator. entirely forget
ting the gres principles Of rel gious toleratUn which
be had himself upheld in Europe renders attendance
on divine service compulsory and far as to visit
with severe punishment, and even with death, the
Christians who chose to worship God according to a
ritual differing from his Sometimes indeed,
the zeal Of his enacments induces him to descend
the most frivolous particulars; thus a law is TO be
found in the cpde-wtich .SSohibi,s the Of
tobacco. Il must forgotten that these fanasti
cal and rexaiious laws not imposed by author-
ty, but that they freely voted by ali the p-fsons
interested. and that the manners of the community
more austere and puriianical than
the laws. In 1919 solemn association was formed
in Boston to check the worldly luxury Of long hair"
Thus we see that in this country il has been two
hundred years. at least. since laws of this character
have been passed and BY just much less of liquor
as is now drank than there otherwise would be; and
by just much more moral the people
than they otherwise would have been may we, in
part. certainly, give credit these stringent egis-
laiive enactmenIs"
J g. 1t is said that the leaders Of the temperance
organization design 10 form political party and
thereby ride into power and that, hence, selshness
Is mixed up with their philanthropy. / ad1.it all
this but what of it Is not every man entitled to
the rewards that success may give in good cause
and has be not right to be selfish enough to look
to these well to the other results Do not the
leaders of the democrats ride into power by the means
Of the partyl Do not those Of the wings do the
same! Did not The abolitionsts to do the
same And did not the anti-masons
! 3. 1t is said that weekly leciured in q
most Jealous manner, and in a style bullying and
dcistoria by the editor # the "Family Visitor, -
and that he afford do ii-he can afford a. be
Jealous for salary of $500 year, with, perhaps,
the profit Of paper, and travelling expenses, and
the pleasure Of travelling to boot. Now what of all
this Is not the aborer worthy of his hire and is
not every mans style of writing his own. and dis
tinguislied by pccuIiarities You no doubt have
; heard the onccdoe, "poor pay, poor preach" Now
if in the important work Of saving souls, a mans
zeal needs to be little fired by good SALARY, the
: hope of one surely in work Of temporal re-
formation. we cannot complain Of such a stmulan nj
being applied NO LICENSE.
O-The brief correspondence, sufficiently explained
by the Slate Journal, between Governors Wright ant
Crittenden, aud which copy in this paper, will b,
read with interest The sentiments expressed by both
relative the vexatious question Of slavery, and th
threats of Disunion which have been uttered by pas