Spirit of the age., 1853-05-25
FOR THE SPIRIT OF THE AGE.
MY POSITION.

The great question of moral reform which
has so long agitated the minds of the people, |
has at last taken a new and important aspect. |
Looking upon the blasted hopes and ruined
prospects which that stream of liquid fire
causes that flow from the twenty eight hun
dred distileries which North Carolina owns,
her people, in their capacity as the sovereigns
Of the land. petitioned the last Legislature to
prohibit entirely the sale ef Intoxicating IL
quor, or so to restrain 1t as not to permit it
TO be sold except by the consent Of ma or
ity Of the people within five miles of the place
where said liquor is to be sold. This just
and republican request, signed by Twelve
Thousand Freemen Of North Carolina, was
not only refused but treated with contempt
and disregard, and even its advocates bran
ded with the ignobe epithet of " fanatics"
Thas we see, that the politicians who are elec-
ted by, and are responsible to the people, did
not only disregard their will, but heaped a.
busive epithets uoon their patriotic and phil
anthropic heads. They know full we'll, that
their unholy cause was advanced, and they
themselves aggrandized to the political sta
tions to which they aspired, by this ignoble
and Internal traRicin human blood and crime ;
and loving their own popularity and them
selves, better than right and their country's
good, hence we were treated not as sovereigns,
but as servants
We clearly perceive, then, that the Legis-
lature is the wrong place to go for redress
of grievances, especially fits own popularl-
tv is to be injured by granting the redress -
What, then, are we to do ? | answer emphat-
ically, 90 to the people whence ali power is
derived III this beautiful system ofrepublcan
government under which we live. Tell them
the enormous amount of taxes which this
traffic uniustly entails upon them, the demor-
alizing influences which it exerts, the number
of iails, penitentiares, mad-hoHses and asy-
lums which it erects, the large number of
unhappy and unfortunate persons who Occu-
py desoate abodes, the long train of broken
! hearted widows and helpless orphans of which
| it is the author, the number of wretehed be-
/ ings that it annually brings down to a drunk
ards dishonored grave and drunkards un-
relenting hell, together with the vast respon-
sibility which rests upon them as the sover.
eigns of the land, who indirectly cause such
a state of things, by electing demaGogues to
the Legislature who arc afraid of injuring
themselves and their immaculate Party. Oh
sovereigns of North Carolina, how long viii
you close your eyes to mighty truth, which
has been presented to you In Protean forms
and cry Party Ptrtg !! PARTY y! Part,
spirit has risen to such height, that lik
the fell spirit of Abolitionism, it seeks it
own rather than its country's good.
A prohibitory law is an object of para
! mount Importance, in comparison with whicl
the principles of any party dwindle into ut
ter insigniGcance. Let us, then, come to tn
, support of this great measure, regardless O
, party and party ties. For what was part
= formed, and for what did we join our party
Simply for the good of our country. II
then, our party should cease, or refuse to ac
vocate a measure which we deem to be {
: more importance than all party principle
j, combined, why should we not cease to suE
= port that party, so long as it refuses to adv(
;, cate that measure, and support those, an
" those alone, who have the moral courage an
= the patriotism to espouse it. | conceive 1T
!, be my bounden duty, as we'll as the duty
!! every citizen of North Carolina, (every inc
: of whose soil love,) to take position
4 favor of this MEASURE, if we intend to +
!" deem our beloved State from the infamoI
u thraldom of ignoble rumdom. We see
great luminary in the west raising itself
- bove tho lofty peaks Of the Blue Ridge; ar
10 looking toward the Atlantic, we beho
y tAere too, tho same bright star of hol
~ rejecting its brilliant light through the di
Le mist of moral darkness with which it is su
ne rounded. Let US, this year, remove this mis-
2" pave the way through which, in the ne,
ne this moral light is to shine with It's geni
a. rays of increased brilliancy. In order to