Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1855-03-14

For a long tlmestse subject efas1tampel-
-s.-s--wsEb :. - 80. rTvr-
ngitated the public mind, not only in our
own State, but in every State in the Union
Much has been said pro and con; on the one
side, appetite has been strong, habit has
heen stubborn ignorance has been presump-
tuous, selh.hne-s has been uncompromising,
and avarice has been mighty. Onthe 9TH
er, youth has been active, age has counsel
ed, woman has sorrowed, the child has been
plaintive, philanthropy has wept, societies
have been formed orators have been elo-
queut the press has labored, the pulpit has
exhortd.
After this mighty war, what is the result
None know better than yourselves. You
are from every section of the State You
have been out among he people. Allow
me, therefore, to show the result by quoting
your own language:
"They (you) are not unmindfuI Of the evils of
intemperance aud its demoralisng effects upon the
human family producing in many instances
physical and mental imbeciity. They
cannot close their eyes 60 the painful facts every
whore visible ia social and domestic life; affecting
wtte, Kindred, homc-all that binds man to his fell
low man --desoltting hearths, beggaring children
aud IN its rayages sweeping to an untimely grave
couHtess numbers of the human rnce! !" See End
Paragraph Of your report to the last Legislature
Is the picture oyerdrawn? Then Why
did you overdraw it2 lfit he not overdra y n,
then there is an cvil--name il what you
plelse-there is an evil in thi> favored land
which, not in few, but many instances,
destroys mind and body--blasts social and
Il Ill 4. cul
low man'-' beggars children and sweeps
not few, but countless numbers not sim
ply to tie grave, but, to an 'untimcly
grave.
This evil was the subject of memorials to
the last Legisatuso. More than 5000
think Of it, gentlemen more than 5000
citizens Of the State peitioned the Legisla-
turei Did ever 50 many petition the Leg
islature before upon my bjeet The Leg.
--iisFutore feIt the importance Of 4hC subject
and selected you-remcmbtrth thnre are eteUen
Of you-,elrcled You 10 consider the mat
ter and report. And you-remomber, gen.
tlemen, there are eie0ea Of you--did report.
And it is to that report that | wish TO call
your attention, and the attention of the pub
lie. l have not single remark intended
for either Of you personally. l do not know
you But with that report Of yours
mean Of the whole eleven of yon-l have
much to DO, and OF it | have much to say
Gentlemen, that report of yours is rar
ity. once heard a witness asked 'wha
sort Of a man l.. IL was in his life lime
His answer was queer one, but very dc
scriptive. H. said: Il have understoo
that it takes heap Of sorts Of people
make a world but | think when l.. Il
died, the assortment was broken up
Aud so, in my judgment, if that report
yours should be lost, the assortment Of Stat
papers would be broken up. There wi
not be one like il to be found in the archiv,
Of any people upon the face Of the earlh.-
1t is we'll that there were eleven of you
its production. No one man could ha'
borne il. If the mass Of error aud mschi
therein combined had come from any o
man, the depletion would have been so gre
that all the stimulus in all the ardent spir
in the land could not have sustained or r
vived him. No choleratic attack which b
been reported was half 80 exhausting "
gentlemen, the whole of you must ha
spent yourselves upon it 4: else those who
not, ought to come out over their own 81
natures and say so in order that the pub
ma, know and praise the man of might W
could accomplish such feat. know Il
the EJitor Of he Spirit of the Age sa
that some of you disowned it. But this v
only your modesty, gentlemen. The
port eavesup It's face such signs of mil
iiness, that even a credulous people will
slow to believe that less than eleven proc
cedit. Why, look at it yourselves, gent
men. Does it not require as much pov
to accomplish great errors, as great trutl
IL a report upon 30 great matter bad 5t
so formed as to contain not one single er
in fact, in sentiment, in style, in aim,
premisr, in argument, in conclusion, in
ic; aud had answered public expectation
the full would it not have been infe
that it had been matured in the mutit
Of counsel, or else by giant in intellect
And f this report upon this great matte
so framed as to con ain not one single tr
in fact, in sentiment, in style, in aim
premise, in argument, in conclusion, in
ic; aud has utterly failed to answer the
pectalion Of the public, or of any por
Oft; is it not to be inferred that no
mind could have accomplished SO muc
error? The public have the right TO K
the author or authors Of that report
same right that they have to know who
aud who won the field Of Waterloo.
must know, not only who was coruman
but the part that each subordinate act,
who thunderod the arIilery--who cha
with ihe ca,alry-who led the infant
who made the music-,oho ,cent oUer /
enemy, and ,Oho ran aWayN Who clr
ed the OWLS in the % paragraph-who
ed the constitutional doubt in the 3rd
who solved it in the 4th who in the
9th aud 9Th claims for every man, wh
man can possess without being nuis
who in the 7ih slaDders the gO,ernmer
our fathers; and who 10 the remainder
the qusSaOn.Cf sxpediency--misstatea