Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1854-09-06
SRPY'EE&BGR s.
Legislation and its enemia.


In every section of the Country there are
to be found a few leading men, who are ma.
king themselves VIGOROUSLY conspicuous in
their uncompromising opposition to i~nterfer-
ence with tho liquor traffic, and whenever
they meet witha nearer, they make a labored
effort to convince him that to do so is unjust
and ty%rannical. This is not to be wondered
at for it would be contrary to their code Of
ethics to give their approval to any measure
that would contribute to tho moral elevation
Of their fellow men. The digusting larva,
iattening upon the corruption of fostering
putridity, would not that the surgeon with a
detergent should wash them away with their
own offensive element to perish and to die ::
and men WHO go into high places by foster
ing the baser passions Of wicked citizens. are
not to be expected to r~elinquish their infa-
nous lever, or to advocate any measure that
has a tendency to elevate these men above
the degraded level in which they move. To
hew down the moral bulwark hat God has
wisely thrown around man for his protection
against the insidious wiles Of the arch tempt-
er, they have found is a surer wav 10 com.
pass their subtle ends, than to strive to raise
n prostituted humanity to a higher kRa more
. noble grade and whatever thwartS their de-
sign in this is too 4" fnnatical," :" puritanical"
and "tyrannical' to secure their approving
nod. Let society be brutalized, let Godlike
intellect be shattered and go dwelling into
the dark mazes Of screeching idiocy, let all
the finer feelings Of the heart be blasted and
dethroned, that brute force may sway it's scep-
tire over the flaming passions; yea, let a death
less Immortality be damned without one ray
OF hope, it is all just and equitable with them.
Money-gold-and political honor is their
dumb god, and to this they bow the suppli-
ant knee and do a most unholy reverence!
What is legislation against the traffic in
intoxicating liquors as u beverage, that il
should be contemplated by these strict con.
structionists with such an Overlooking abom,
ination and fear? No more, no less than
an Act, saying to the citizen, you shall not
enrich yourselfby perpetrating a moral wrong
and spreading among your fellowmen a so
cial evil. 1t compek the trader to abandon,
at the peril Of a fine and Imprisonment, a
tralHc which Shonor, virtue. justice and a
wounded humanity cry out against, but which
%ayaricc, and that alone, sanctions n traffic
pursued with the full knowledge that man is
thereby debased, women and children made
to undergo houd-like t%ortures, jails and pau.
per asylums crowded with hopeless inmates
and unjust taxes imposed upoH bthe sober
we'll meaning citizen. It is proposed to sup.
press this traffic, because, unlike any other
traffic, the benefits accrue to the vender alone
while it ever visits n curse upon the consu
mer. The principle is just and protective
it abrogatcs no mans rights, it is only to ar
rest a business which cannot be followed
without n sacrifice of social interest to indi
vidual gain. Iii based upon the same great
principle upon which scores of our whole.
some laws Of prevention are founded. and en-
forced, against which no clamorous procla.
nations are set forth, or resistance threatened
or couuciled nor would there be to this spe
cial law, had not the Infamous interest al
which its strong bludgeon strikes, grown t.
be a Herculean Of immense power for evil
and capable, from the amplitude of its dam
ming treasury Of blood money, to abundantly
reward its defenders.
This principle, then, is RTuGT The Di
vine Statute, the human l~aw-humanity-
religion all declare in thunder tones that it i
RIGHT and no one, unless influenced b,
the love Of gold, appetite, or party ~triumphs
will raise a voice against it. But there ar
yet among us the tribe of %Iscariot, who's
palms burn for the " thirty pieces" who's
souls are walled about and pent up in til
corrupt confines of party aggrandizemen
and whose only heaven is q fat Office, an
they are they that stand before, and atteml
to turn back from whence it came, the grei
tide Of popular indignation swelling up fro
the depths Of the public soul. Beware, tn
tide is not the ripple ola schoolboy's pebble