Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1853-08-31

vitude before it is feared or suspected by the u
unconscious victim. It is what gentlemen b
are pleased to call " moderation" that pro- a
duces nearly all the excess now existing in
the world. Horace, an old Roman Poet, said c
nearly two thousand years ago, that no I
man becomes suddenly vile the course OF E
vice is a progressive downward career" lie !
has also said that s punishment, or the corr s
sequences of vice, though often long delayed {
and lame offoot, is nevertheless sure to over
take the guilty" And this is emphatically
true of that monster vice, Intemperance. 1t j
is not tire excess to which the ruffan yields
himself when he plans his. deeds of horror
it is what is blandly called moderation, that
stimulates to the practice of crime it is the
moderate draught which fires the passions
and excites the brain of the malevolont, which
gives impulse to the vast machinery of vice,
that scatters desolation and misery among
all classes of mankind.
But, with pleasure. we say that through
the instrunentality of the Temperance cause,
hundreds and thousands who had been dis
graced by all the excuses Of drunkenness
and debauchery, have been rescued from the
pit of degradation and reclaimed, permanent
ly reclaimed, to virtue and respectability.-
But Notwithstanding the temperance cause
has accomplished great good and produced
3 abundant fruit in the reformation of the
. world from the bestial habits of intemper-
! ance, vet in the face Of all these facts, there
is to be ounda numerous class, who, promp-
{ ted by evil motives or prejudices, still con-
Time to advance every bindrance and posi-
Y Eble impeachment to the progress of the tenn
perance reformation. And we doubt not
that the greatest barrier against the com
5 plete success of temperance principles and
the final triumph of the cause, is that NOR
dinate love Of "flthy l%ucre," arising from
. the abominable trafsc of ardent spirits
!, This is the cause that keeps up the liquor
e stoEes and grog shops. those dens of pollu-
) ton that disgrace our land. Yet many of
the proprietors of these shops will talk, and
sing, and rant about the freedom of our in
! stitQtio3s. @nG glory la their privileges, who,
at the same time, are dealing out that drug
i that makes men more ahject and enthralled
II than the gallcy-slave that's bound to the oar.
r. these haupts of vice, by fostering the Gus
v tom Of drinking and p~erpetuating the swim
= ish propensity and habit of drunkenness, are
n doing more to destroy the independence Of
9an life and fortune, and arc making more GRIM
ts inals to suffer the penalties of offended laws,
he than all other vices that prevail in our land.
ho These crop shops are the ountain-head
whence iesacs that destructive element that
a. devastates the fairest fields Of moral culture
IN and has spread dcsolation and poverty
nv through our country eausing an amount of
.rIn taxation that has eacnmbered and embar-
G. raised our national prosperity.
We sometimes hear men opposing the tenn
ca peranee cause on account of it's curtailing
70 their liberty and wien they are asked to
nd reform their habits of drinking, or to discon-
ol tinue the nefarious traffic in ardent spirits,
TIE objection offered by them is, that al
trough temperance is a thing well enough
q for others, that they prefer to remain free
$50 to regulate themselves according to their own
noi tastes and desires, without becoming subject
: II to any rules of abstinence for the reason
ion that it would be signing away their liber-
has typ This is the most futile and pitiab'e Of
all the objections THAI is offered by the oppo.
Nv nents Of the temperance cause. For We say
So apG shall undertake to prove, that in a civil
an lied and enlightened state of society, accord
al ing to the nature Of the social compact, NJ
N man has the civil right to retail or vend AL
ner- cohol-the demon that has spread over thi
oc- gay earth of ours the lugubrious vesture o
3trp44 ArdHs6fro1w. IL e aft KNOW that in
sta GGF6aTenS or N7cGU9izGd state of society, me
foul retain the natural liberty of doing as the
reck please, and the law of physical force and Vi
, Of Olence is the only law regarded but who i
must there that has not learned that in a ~ciuilizet
har- state OF society, every citizen and member o
I'M that society is obliged to relinquish a par
vol of that natural Liberty of doing as he pleases
ack- in consideration of the greater advantage
"H~O- -O SSNNN AN taAS L GtIo " - I
.ens ciety and the protection of the civil laws ?
Of why has the legislative power of this Stat
fled declared 1T an act of criminality for any ON
the to furnish to slaves, firearms or other hostil
eht implements ? For the obvious reason tha
emf. the peace and welfare of society would there
ma by be endangered. We know also that j
heir some of the States Of the Union, tie law
west ma&eIt a penal onence Tor a man to use pr'
fame language, with liability to prosecutio
and nunlShmpOt for nvary natl1 puHliclr ~
the tered. And what reason is to be given fo
be of this abrupt interference of the law in curl
i of ing mems mouths as we'll as their actions
Cor The correct conclusion is, that society has r.
e a. garded vicious example as injurious and daI
cries gerOus, and has therefore interposed the n
with cessary restraints TO preserve the public mo
,me- ais, and guard the habits of youth. And v,
We that same order4oGing society has ~sanctio,
most ed grog shops and allowed them to deal OF
eak- with lnfpunity that elixir OF death and dc
idi- ~truction !
been Who, thaG processes republicanism, will d
male ny the power and the implied duty of OF
Fe- government to legislate for the greatest GOO
all of the whole people? Who would be 80 rec
q of less OF the consequences of intempcrance {
ind to maintain that it is not both a case Of e
our pcdiency and the duty of society, to prohib
that corrupting and demoralizing practic
Iahe traffic and sale Of intoxicating liquors
~ ONO NV IiIuG III " yOu hION GlldL III
hich Doasted poHcy OF our government Is, that
,tion protects the interest and promotes the ha
,uar- piness of the governed by so far restraint
les of mans natural liberty, by just and equitab
ebil- laws, as shall result in the highest degree
and civil liberty and produce the greatest amoui
the Of good to society. Civil law, according
g of Blackstone land he is a standard Of high a
truc- thority) is defined to be "a rule of civil co
tie Of duct prescribed 10y the Supreme power in
and State, commanding what is rightand prohi
the iting what is wrong" And if civil law
iyal- prohibitory of the wrong, as we'll as decla
atory of the right, land all law should
c, be SucnJ we thlnK That none can deny that 1T
l not OF E"oSt@ Oe' the province OF our laws to ~
4 the hibit the traffic in Intoxicating liquors. v
lould believe that the ground of our duty and ob
,f in cation consists in the will of God. lie b
given man existence in a world that is mix,
h of with good and with evil. He has ~constitu
and GU AS mte4iigent beings and endued US WI
yea SOn Law which W. V1ou J;cao-n lok.o