Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1855-01-17
EXTRACTS.

The subject Of the revision of our Excise
Laws will demand, aud | doubt not will re-
ceive your serious attention. To the practi-
cal operations of these laws, either their in
herent viciousness, Or in consequence OF their
lax administration, is attributed no small
proportion of the drunkenness which afiicts
our land. Something Of this is undoubtedly
attributable to the non enforcement of our
laws, such as they are; but | will not with
hold my conviction that the laws themselves
are radically defective, and however faith
fully administered, must be held justly res
ponsible for the evils which they foster, and
in many instances create.
If the consequences of intemperance were
confined to it's immediate victims, though
even the State would have an interest at
stake, there might, perhaps, be less occasion
for Legislative action. But such is not the
fact. Every interest of society which it is
the province Of Government to protect, is
Immediately or remotely, involved in these
consequences.
Incompetence deprives the State of the
productive energy of thousands of her citi-
zens, and so far diminishes its wealth, i'm
pedes its enterprise, and initiates against
the common good. It is a fruitful source
of the pauperism which imposes heavy bur-
dens upon industry and capital land It's in
s. AbA AOLpbAAOh ~ lnROoCH -GHOn Us 1
is too obvious to escape your 0bSsrVation.--
If the purely moral aspects which it presents
shall be deemed as not entering within the
scope Of your duties, its r~elation{ 70 taxation,
and It's producing causes, is clearly within
the province of legislation, and demands a
degree of attention corresponding to the
great issues which the relation involves.
The right to legislate in reference to the
traffic in Intoxicating liquors, will not be de-
MED. Our present Excise System is the fruit
of such legislation. 1t has, in the process of
time, undergone many notifications. but its
restrictive element, throughout all these
changes, has been retained, in subServience
to the original purpose of the system, viz:
the prohibition Of the traffic SO far as the
public good may demand aud the c~onstitu-
tional limitations of the law-making power
will permit. All restrictive legislation
contains the germ Of prohibition-is, in fact,
prohibition partially applied so that what
is termed probationary legislation in regard
to the liquor traffic, is only the extension Of
a principle endorsed as sound by successive
Legislatures, and its impartial application to
all. The object proposed by the founders
Of our State, when they incorporated the IL
cense system into it's legislation. has yet been
attained neither has the constitutional pow
err of the Legislature in reference to it, yet
been exhausted. With the utmost desire to
reach right conclusions in relation to this
matter, and to guard against the assumption
Of powers not conferred by our fundamental
law, | have found myself unable to come to
any other result than this-that the legisla-
tive prohibition Of the traffic in Intoxicating
drinks is not only demanded as a measure
Of protection to the health, the property, and
the lives Of our felloW-citizens, but that it i
o1,o J1el;,oE1r ipI;oota1 Nv tbo nofu.a a ',
purpose Of civil government, and clearly
within the limits Of It's constitutional powers
These opinions, difidently entertained at first
have been wrought into convictions by
careful study of the limitations and dutie
of the law-making nower, by judicial decis
ions, which have been had in the severa
States that prohibit the traffic in question
and by the dicta Of the Supreme Court Q
the United States, which cover the Who'll
ground in controversy, and leave little ro0r
for either caYiI or doubt.
That the good results hoped for from tn
legislation recommended, are legitimate to j
several of the New-England States, especia
" Maine and Connecticut, furnish the mos
gratifying evidence. The steady diminutio
Of crime and pauperisin in the States reIe
red to, with a consequent and correspondents
reduction of taxation and the new impul
given 10 dIulUSG all IliOuoll4d d. pulouito W u
Transformation Of those who were once a bu
den upon the State, into producers of wealt
, constitute an argument in favor Of the pole
advocated, which, while it carries c~onyictit
to the statesman, will be no less appreciate
9 by the multitude, unskilled though they m;
> be in casuistry, but also undebased by app
tite and unperverted by interest. Ii an
) thing is to be learned from The example
other States, or to be deduced from our oy
increased experience, it should be made ava
Il able to our use and our legislation, up
y all subjects, should keep pace with our {
~vancing intelligence, always expressing t
highest truth we have received, and reachi
forward to the greatest good attainable.
I know Of no subject that is likely to eli
= your attention, that involves graver and M
= momentous interests, than the one thus p
u sented for your consideration. That it
20 hedged about by difficulties, which dema
= the exercise of great prudence, and tina
~ may not always be easy to reconcile e
IN ficting interests with a nice adjustment
y the scales of justice, | am not disposed
q deny. But, guided by the purpose for VIII
nc Government was ordained, and keep
~ steadily in view the well-being Of socie
which always rests on a moral basis, til
of difficulties will disappear or be overcor
:, and you will be able, I trust, So to per
7SV the details of a Bill as, on the one hand
no secure the suppression of a demorali2
oh traffic. and on the other, to protect persc
we rights and give no just cause of complt
to those whose interests may be affected
'ue the prohibitory legislation which the big
lcn interests of the community demand.
he .-
na- MURFREsBoRo.'-A writer in the Richm
Christian Advocate, who has recently
a visit to Murfreesboro' after an absene
many years, thus speaks of the changes