The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1855-01-17

law be passed. II cannot be executed This objection
would come with better grace from those who
have spent years In honest endeavors to put
end to this ruinous and destructive traffic.
Il is rather to be presumed that those who have thus
beloved that the proposed bin, should it become law
could not be executed and that existing laws they
would join its friends and urge its passage; and that
thus we should the friends and opponents OF the
measure meeting upon common ground, though with
opposite motives veng with each other in zeal for the
If such law cannot be enforced II viii not be because
the people are not prepared for IT. Their united voice.
nn only now and then arrns mote coming Up asnsr
leaves no room for doubt Nor will it be because the
public good does not require IT, Security to person and
property relief from taxation the good order OF
society the highest interests of humanity all demand it.
Why then, cannot IL be enforced? Wherever II has
in Of its vital provisions 1t has demonstrated
It's power to accomplish what other law ever framed
upon the subject has While some deiectiyey drawn
courts the great ideas Of prohibition search seizure
and destruction of liquor have not been assaed by any
able lawyer has put himself upon the records Of any
court against the right and power of government to
a. IL Of
of Jurisprudence known the internal police of States
and no Samson has yet been found strong enough to
Time viii not permit your committee to review
al the objections urged against prohibition upon
and selected the 9Ss
is applicable to any. Others, like sumptuary laws'
-qnt tam dctions-o the sacredness OF the domi-
Gill;" &C., upon which the changes have been often
rung are generally introduced also, and must each
contribute its part to make that something called in
LAWYERS phrase, when he has bad case in hand, "a
That the sale OF intoxicating liquors. as well as all
other practices the tendency of is to endanger the
may and ought to be- legsated against and prohibited
to the extent that human government consisten
prohibit vice, hardly admits OF intelligent doubt Such
has been the united testimony OF of the most emil
nent citizens.
Said Justice Grier, on an occasion, after quoting
the familiar maxim, Salus populi suprema les-''aii
laws for the restraint or punishment of crime,
for the preservation of the public peace health
AND morals are from their very nature Of primary
ence They for the preservation Of life and liberty,
and necessarily compel all laws on subjects of secondary
Importance which relate only to property convenience
Esion.
Said the Hon. Geo. Sullivan, of New Hampshire, on
one right of the Legislature of any State
to allow its citizens to trade in ardent spirits may well
be questioned To do is in my view, morally wrong.
If the Legislature of State permits, by law, traffic
which produces poverty with all its suerings which
corrupts the morals and destroys the health and lives
of thousands in the community, they defeat the great
and important end for which government estab-
lished.U
Said the Hon Mark Doolittle, of Mass "The seal Of
everlasting reprobaton and adherence upon this traffic
is, that it has redeeming qualification It has
done man any good and from the nature of the it
Said the Hon. Mr. Davis, of the same State, in the
celebrated OF Massachusetts, New Hampshire and
Island xo, IN the United States Supreme
the ndiscrimnate traffic in wines and spirits and 1t
to that If health MORALS usefulness and re.
Ie% naous foe the
would be crimipally guilty in wholly disregarding
matter Of such obvious importance"
Hon. Mr.. Burke of New Hampshire, the oc-
cason, said NEARLY the whole civilized world now
comedies that the traffic in intoxicating liquors is
stands condemned by the great Moral Judge OF the Uni
verse; whose purity cannot countenance such manifest
a thee
contemplated, and the more its horrd effects become
visible"
Said Chief Justice Daggett-'It being admitted that
the of this article is destructive health reputa
ton and property it follows conclusively that they
and the highest interests Of their fellow menH
Said the Hon. Mr. Frolinghuysen-''We owe II to
history to our free institutions, and above all to Him
whose benignant providence has richly blessed u.s.
that purify our laws If will engage in this
destructive traffic, they viii stoop to degrade their
reason, and reap the wages of inquity, let them
longer have the law book for pillow quiet their
conscience by the opiate of a court license
Lord Chesterfield in the British Parliament hun
years ago, uttered upon this subject the ever
morable sentiment from the time, the place
and the person BY whom it was uttered: The number
of the disters said he, s'shoud be no argument in
their favor heard that law against theft was re
peaed delayed because thieves numerous these
liquors delicious that people tempted to their
ruin them from the fatal draughts by
bursting the walls that contain them Let crush at
once these artists in human slaughter who have
ciled their to sickness and crime and have
cannot be resisted"
many years ago. when reviewing this subject in the
light o, his clear intellectual and moral vision: "The
time will come when rejecting men viii as soon be
caught poisoning their neighbours wells dealing out
TO them intoxicating liquors beverage
Your Committee might quote at any length similar
opinions OF eminent jurist, and statesmen all pointing
to the great idea of prohibitory legislation as the
right and highest duty Of civil government Such le-
gisation in the opinion of your Committee would now
r. vii uatiO
bright jewel the brow OF beauty, II not that
ayarice has been long welded to appetite that their
Your Committee submit tie bill they have prepared with
much difidence. They aware that all human laws
higher law which is above all laws, because perfect
frame perfect law They aware, too that its
imperfections viewed through the colored medium of
sefnerest, will be magnied and distorted If possible
into hideous spectral FORMS TO stalk the State and terri
fly the people Yet they nfdeny believe that should
the biil they submit become law 1t would prove eff
fectua in suppressng by much the larger proportion
the traffic in intoxicating liquor.
They have called to their aid the experience OF the
past and some of the ablest in legal ability an wisest
in practical knowledge. Nor have they been unmindfu
of the opinions of the opponents of prohibition These
they have recsived and carefully iphed and in the
light of all have sought to frame bill not unnecessa
ry stringent in its provisions and yet sufficiently TO
secure obedience and accomplish the great end in view
To aim at less than this would be folly to seek more
tyranny.
From the bill as drawn those who intend to observe
the law have nothing to fear those who do not much
II contains principles Of law. On the contrary
II based upon familiar ones, extensively applied In
legislation and which date their history anterior to all
statutes.
Only two principles enter largely into IT. These form
lis basis and pervade Its entire framework They are
first prohibition with its EXCEPTIONS and second search
with its attendants seizure forfeiture and destruction
These embodied, and all else lie the bill Is mere detail so
arranged to form simple and direct plan for carry
ing them out.
The ordinary modes Of procedure are made applicable
to the extent they be- atty with somewhat
summary proceeding Two processes are authorized;
one for the arrest Of person violating the act the
other for searching for and sezng any liquor kept in
violation OF uny provision thereof Neither can issue
except oath establishing probable cause the
required in all other criminal cases. The person
arrested and property SEIZED brought into court
and trial thereupon Is had differing In respects from
the ordinary mode except the preliminary examination
Is waived; either party having right TO adjournments
for reasonable time to prepare for trial If trial by