The weekly Lancaster gazette. (Lancaster, Ohio) 1852-1855, 1853-09-22
From The cincinnsti Gazette.

passioh-wiih ! hurrah. The result is, we
become snccessively Infatuated upon every
topic which excites us at all. lnIemper-
ance, gambling, slavery, concubinage, pros
Ititution, area Of freedom, popery, non-inter-
%yention, and every other i'll, real or imagi-
nary, must all be Temedied or eradicatec by
a turmoil Of excitement. which shall "cnt
up the evil monster by the roots and once
Tor ALL" But the evil in each case happens
to have a root rs monsirous as itseif-as
.deep-seated as human nature, and as vide
spread as that atmosphere which sustains
human life. All these evils are hut The de-
velopments OF that nature which God has
been pleased to create in US. The heart Is
the root of all these evils. And unless
Moderen Radical R%eformers can prevail
upon our Maker to r~e-organize their Instl-
tuition Of Mankind, they never candy humtn
means, destroy any evil at its root except
by making the universal human heart cease
its pulsations.
This general remark is only Intended for
those enthusiasts who believe that they, By
their schemes, can wholly destroy this 'vil OF
iniemperance, or any other popular or gen
eral vice. But there are others more mode
rate In their views and purposes, who, see
ing and feeling that this is o great eyii, are
willing 10 labor even to limit or restrain IT.
To such alone-for the others are lmpassion-
ed fanatics, who scout all consideration OIL
the practicable or possible, and upon .
Therefore, all reasoning OF sober suggestion
is lost-I wish to offer a lew practical dlifi-
%culties in the way Of The enactment and
substantially useful execution Of the Maine
Liquor Law, or any other law OF the same
import.
presuppose that such readers will agree
with me that unless the law can, 10 some es-
sential degree, be carried into execution, il
were better not TO enactit il. II is a general
and great evil OF our age and country, to
pass laws which are notobseryed by the peO-
pie, nor enforced by the public authorities.
Such dead letter legislation demoFalizes a
Republic. 1t a%ssoils it IN its weakest and
most vital point. License is but the ex-
IRENE of Liberty. A disregard of its own
laws is the fatal tendency Of a Republic.
Every law, consequently. which is far in adj
vance of public opinion or public virtue,
however pure its purposes may be, becomes
itself a deadly evil by extending and con-
frming this most dangerous habit of con-
temning the solemn edicts of the law-ma-
king power.
Nor Is this the only misfortune Of such
! legislation. If the law be too radical OF
stringent for execution, il establishes M
impunity for the very crimes which it de-
sires to suppress. Citizens, sherif!s, Jurors
and Judges, oil being individual men, ant
having sympathies with individual men, ant
not with an abstraction, mankind or postcri-
ty, never did and never can, in behalf of any
virtue or general public good, punish an Of
fender who stands before them, by penalties
incommensurate with the degree Of theil
, own criminolity, or with the penalties which
ire affixed to the commission Of other ant
perhaps equal offences. Do you desire in
siancesl Perhaps no other Legislature OF
earth ever offered as many as Ohio. But
> specimen shull suffice. The gambling Ac
Of 1886 (Greene's, the gamblers law,) hal
! the Penitentiary in every clause. 1t is 4
\ dead letter on the State Book. No, alas
It ia one of the most vital and efficient spir
, its that ever assumed the form Of law, Blu
o il lives only for evil. It fires 80 high above
o the heads Of offenders, that they cooIly laugl
al its %vollies. 1t is an act for the cncour
agement Of gambling and gamblers, to ever,
n intent and purpose, 1t is indeed the "gam
n bler's law"-the gamblers own law, On,
Il Only tUt RuHlUICI . luWs DluNC lc CuuCt
!, nent - only seven years-so greutly ha
y that crime increased among us, that 1t hu
d been deliberately asserted. that more none.
g had been los, at gaming than in the Who'll
preceding life of the State. And 80 it j
and ever must be, with our laws agains
e fornication, adultery, houses ofilL-fame, an
every other vice or crime against whic
popular or legislative virtue becomes 8
tempestuously impatient and indignant a
c to over-shoot the mark, in her hasty zeal t
d demolish 1t.
Another reason Of this lamentable result
Is that violence Of passion, whether in
y good or bad cause, must Of necessity be shoI
: lived, and followed by its e,ulsion ofapathy
In this vacuum, the enemy may, watchfu
= and resolute, resume it's last ground. Th
! ~virtuous guardiau-angel meanwhile sleep,
: or lies listlessly painting from its recent eS
+ elements and e~xertions. Whatever ma
h be the cause Of this effect, il is presume
. that all sensible aud sober minded men mus
admit its truth.
The present question ia then--must VIZ
y with almost insane zeal, endeavor to add al
other excessively incorporate Temperance
law. to this saddening list Of demorulizin
Q Legislative e%nactmeptsl give my own req
sons for opposing the present crusade an
|, its purpose, more briefly than | have mad
these preliminary suggestions. have u
specious arguments in favor of the moralit
q of dram-drinking, nor Of the respectnbilit
d of the business Of distilllng or selling sue
physical and moral p~oisons. Nothing whic
the exclusive philanthropists, of the stun
e or pulpit, can say in abhorrance Of either Q
both, can exceed my own calm, but earnet
/. desire, to see the whole institution Of Grinh
q ing, treating, or being treated, publicly G
privately, singly, in pairs, or assemble,
Z swept from the face of the earth. TO mi
. Except putting smoke from a round littl
stick, called u "cignr," or nibbling a blac
!, bit OF most nauseous weed, not tor food, b,
, to spit out again, called "chewing," or In
a sorting in the n%oetrils, which God gave fc
a breathing through, small pihches Of a pc
o culiar powder or dust, called "snufing,'
nothing on the earth seems SO irrational IN
Q silly for humOn beings to do habitually, q
this dram-drinking, in all lie forms aud phu
SEES. do not, Of course cite these uses {
= tobacco us equally demoralizlng as the us
Of ardent spirits. i mentioned them for tw
reasons. The one was, to classify both hab
It's as a silly perversion Of the natural taste
and misunderstanding, mt for breath
y eating, not for food, and drinking, not I
k. qnench thirst. The other wus, to cautio
the over hopeful reformers OF this are. b
suggesting now many vices there we're
eradicate or reform, and how weak and sen
? sual a race OF animals they have undertake,