New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1855-09-12

nomena Of everyday occurrences. While thus re-
cIining under our vines and our hg trees, rspt In
delicious dream, and believing that the political
millennium had fully commemorate least in this
couutry-fnazims and doctrines, upon which in
other countries the sacrifice has been and still is
justified Of the many 10 the few, have made most
alarming progress among US.
The grand idea upon which the aristocrstical
social system of Great Britain and the class and
special privilege systems of all other aristO-
cIatical communities have been founded is the
doctrine Of vested rights. According to this
doctrine privilege Of any sort enjoyed for
any length of time, creates in those who enjoy
il property" Of which they cannot justly be
deprived. No matter how injurious to the great
body of the community, the enjoyment and per.
petuston of this privilege may be, it is prop
ertv; and as such it is sacred and must be al
lowed to continue forever, or at least to those
Greek cslends in which the few in the enjoy
ment ard exercise of it, will give it up vOlan-
tary sacrifice to the good Of the many.
Such is the ground upon which aristOcratical
privileges have ever been defended against the
assaults of progress, improvement and reform;
and such is precisely the ground upon which so-
day, among US, the two greatest social evils
under which we suffer sre justified, and al 40
tempts for their diminutiOn and removal are re-
risted and opposed.
Does any one point out the crying evils-po-
litcal, economical and mOral-Of the slavehold
ing system, and insist that something ought t,
L a f.r tie: Ita-a an ar
least for restraining in some degree the abso-
lutte dOm.nion of the masters, and, By bestowing
upon the slaves the privilege Of marriage and OF
permanent family ties, providing the first basis
Of social advancement for what constitutes in
s.vssal of the States the larger half of the
entire pOpulatiOn-the man who makes these
seemingly moderate and reasonable demands on
behalf Of humanity, Christianity, snd civilization,
finds himself met and his mouth attempted to
be stopped by the cry: .Sir, these slaves, for
"wh,se benefit you would thus undertake TO
"legislate, are property; and property Is
sacred thing and cannot be touched ~
Does any one recspitulate the enormous and
multiplied evils and abuses, the poverty, sick
ness, sorrow, crimes, degradation, and damnatiOn-
in this world at least if not in the next-that grow
out of the liquor trade, and insist upon dyking out
BY prohbtive laws the overflow Of that fatal in.
undatOn do even the politicians of New-York,
yielding at last like the unjust judge of the para
be if not to conviction of duty, to the persevering
importantly of a suffering community, pass such
prohbitive aw-behOld forthwith some Judge
Brown starts up and breaks out: Liquor is
property the essence of property is its capacity
" of being sold property is sacred, and therefore
" all laws in restraint of liquOr-selling are uncOn
" stitutiOnalr
This talk that slaves property and that liquor
ia property and that therefore both are too sacred
to be touched meddled WITH is in fact only re-
viyal of the old English Tory cry about vested
rights II is but another way of saying that slave
holding and liquor-selling have become vested
rights and as such, however injurious to the COM
munity are too sacred TO be touched or interfered
with by the hand of the LEGISLATOR
And how completely this old English Toryism
has undermined and eaten out our American Dem
ocracy is apparent from this amentable fact, that
il is b. the very journals which claim to be Demo-
cratic par excellence that this old Tory cry about
property is principally raised. In the mouths
however, of these advocates Of Rum and Slavery
the old TOryism Of this cry OF property" is the
least Objectionable thing about it. 1t labors
under the much mere serious objections OF being
false, hypOcrtical, and intended to deceive. Ii is
the cry of stop thief" raised by those who have
just committed a robbery, and who, in hopes of
committing many others raise this cry by way of
saving themselves from immediate arrest Wise fel
lows they these shareholders and these rumselers,
TO set themselves up the champions and advocates
of property Property in this world has three
great enemies 10 contend with force, fraud, aud
the multiplication of unproduotive consumers.
The shareholders may be taken as the incarnation
of the first the liquor sellers as the embodiment of
the last while as to the other that of fraud they
share it about equally between them and these
are the persons who put themselves forward as the
special champions of property
AS 10 these great pending questions of Slavery
and Ram, we are quite willing to give our adj
yersaries odds. We are willing to place these
que stiOns, for the sake Of the argument on the
lowest possible grounds. Make them, if you
please, mere questions Of property; make them,
if you choose, mere questions of the amount OF
money to be made in this City and in the Union
generally. Then, for the sake of the argument,
suppose the manufacture and trade in intoxicst-
ing drinks TO be completely suppressed, and per-
sonal freedom established throughout the Union.
What intelligent man doubts that an amount of
prosperity would necessarily result
from these tvs great reforms-an increase in
production and consumption Of wealth quite
be rnnd ANYTHING which the progress OF this