Cooper's Clarksburg register. [volume] (Clarksburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1851-1861, 1852-05-05
From Tho pomooratio Review.


Tho Maine Liquor Law.
Intemperance is an evil; but for free
government to violate. for any cause, the
plainest, most vital and fundamental prin,
eiples of civil liberty, is also an evil, and
one with which the frat may not at all be
compared, -
A majority of the people of Maine, not
liking. themselves, to drink, have forbidden
the minority to do so. Our down-east
friends have discovered, that the old the
DRY of the fall of man, and the true plan
OF his redemption, was gross error
According to them the way of it was
thus when the first pair bit the first APP
pie, they sucked its juice, and thereby ac-
quirsd relish for cider, which, transmit
ted to their progeny, became a taste for
wine, and finally, in later times and cold
Nr climates, grew, into thirst for down
right rum. This. they say, is original sim
the veritable, original article specified IN
Genesis, And the deduction they draw
10 that the salvation of the race is to be
found neither in sacramental wine nor
sprinkled water, butin stringent anti.liquor
laws, and internal applications of the bap-
tismal fluid [; q plan which, to their minds,
loses not whit of ito tplausibility from
having been never SO much as dreamed
Of by the leaders, prophets and judges of
Israel, the Saviour and his apostles, the
bishops, priests, and deacons of the church,
all of whom came eating and drinking
and, Of course all signally failed. '1-
This new sect, pursuing theiridea with
the zeal common toall such propagandists,
and urging their measures through thou
sands of affiliated organizations, whose
special business it has been to disseminate
fallacies, which, however unsound, it has
been no ones particular vocation to rcfute
and polite enough to scorn none of the
lobbying, "log-rolling" and electioneer-
ing intrigue, have succeeded at length, in
one state, to get their theory of morals
and dieties actualized in the form of a sta
tute law, which, though it does not hon
estly and boldly prohibit buying or drink.
ing, puts its penalty upon selling or keeping
to sell, =" AOggiug the demon of intemper-
Ance" round the rum barrel, as it were, in
the fashion of the most noted despot of the
season, who, not venturing to prohibit the
use of printing presses, makes it penal to
sell them except for special uses, And
now, flushed with this success, the same
sort Of means and meanness are being put
in play to extend this law into some other
states.
We claim to be free people. and are
accustomed to find the sanction for the
continuance of our liberties, not in the
chance goodwill or unguided discretion Of
our rules, but in those fundamental prin-
ciples which ever commonwealth in the
the confederacy has adopted, as well for
the enlightenment of legislator as the pro-
lection of the undelegated or unprescrip-
tible rights of the citizen. But really such
doings as this admonish us that those
principles arc not comprehensive, or else
are q miSerably insufficient shield against
the strong arm of y rampant majority, and
render short explanation of the meaning
offree principles not at all impertinent
1t is to be hoped that the greater num-
Der of our people will accuse us of utter.
ing self.evident proposition, when we
say, that free government is something
more than deSpotsm administered by a
benevolent despot--something more than
an equal government, for there may be
equality in slavery. A state can be call
ed free only while the power of the rulers
restrained, and their jugdment controll-
ed, by certain we'll, understood, constantly
referred TO, and inviolably kept principles;
broad enough for all circumstances. and
superior to all expediency guarantyng
to the citizen that freedom which, coming
from any other source, is accidental and
precarious, and unworthy the acceptance
Of an intelligent people.
And what is freedom The only def
milton which does not define away all
meaning is, that il is the absence Of all re.
itrHint, The right to make laws results
solely from necessity. "The best govern
ment is that which governs least" And
since even the most arbitrary rulers usu-
ally permit all such actions as they con-
eeive to be right, we aver that the only
criterion for knowing how far govern.
ment is free, is the extent to which BAL
actions are allowed, and that civil liberty
may be termed the constitutional right tc
do wrong. What is the freedom Of the
press, but the power to publish wicked
pernicions doctrines 2-or the freedom oil
speech, but the power to speak them p
What is religious freedom, but the power
to follow false worship--freedom of To-
comotion but the power to go to the wrong
places--freedom of occupation but the
power to chose the wrong trade? And
yet the proposition remains true, that the
right to do wrong in all these, as well as
many other respects as possible, is the
essential condition ofall true development
real happiness and healthful progress.
Let it not, however, DO thought impor-
tant. that n very wide definition Of civil
liberty need be laid down, in order to show
the grossness of Maine liquor law
There are few governments, even of those
tho most arbitrary in their constitution
which do not recognize principles will
which such legislation as this is utterly