Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1856-02-06
Legal suasion for the Rumseller

Legal Suasion for the Rumseller. al
We are in favor of a Prohibitory Liquor II
Law. To this it is objected that such a law L
would be an Infringement upon the liberty ?
of the citizens. We propose once more to L
givet cOnclusiS answer to this1 stale ohjec- o Q
ton. Il
There are two kinds of liberty natural !
liberty and civil liberty. Natural liberty is
liberty unrestrained by any law /; power to
do as we please. This, no man in a state of
society can enjoy it is an idle and wicked
abstraction, utterly inconsistent with all gov
eminent, and subversive of society and NOR
ality. Such a liberty as that would require
the abolition of all law, the destruction of
every barrier against vice and even by these
means could not be obtained, since it would
be swallowed up in the vortex of anarchy
and ruin which itself had opened.
The other kind of liberty of which we
speak is civil liberty. This is the only lib
erty practicable or desirable it was for this
our fathers bled and Temperance men are
as deeply interested in its integrity and per
petuity, as any other class of citizens can be.
But it is charged upon them that a Pro
hibitory Law, however it may be guarded,
and adapted to the public protection, would
be an infringement of civil liberty. Let US
see. What is civil liberty? 1t is defined to
be natural liberty, so far restrained as may
be for the public good, and no farther"
Every law is a restraint upon natural lib
erty. The laws which define and defend the
rights of property and the rights of persons
are so many restraints upon natural liberty
Every law which promotes the public vel
fare, is at once an ab~ridgement of natura
liberty, and a bulwark of civil liberty. n
law which would be manifestly for tn
public welfare, can therefore be incompat
: bic with that civil liberty which is dear t
. every free man. The only question there
| fore, is, would it be for the greatest goo
' to the greatest number, to prohibit the trahi
in Intoxicating liquors in North Carolina ?
; Who would be il. ured by such a law \
ursIrcS TO cngde
: in this traffic. Not one in fifty who does el
I gage in it, is in the long run benefited by j
I even ina pecuniary pointof view. On Inc otht
y hand, countup, if you can, the evils of the ira
fc. Sober men made Observation-Disclosures
turned to devils, estates squandered, prison
i and graves and hell peopled with those WI
but for this traffic would have been the be
e and the brightest ornaments of our countr
e and our age; and amid the revelry that fnC
= its stimulant in the bowl, comes up the 10y
deep wall of wives and widows and orphan
the ten thousand victims of this monster tn;
!. bears upon its armed forehead the broad Sc
II of the State of North Carolina !
We beseech the thinking, the patriotic O
l.. ponents of a Prohibitory law, to pause, to r
t. fleet, and to consider well what he means |
/ the term 4" liberty" Does he mean Ana
- chy, the abrogation of all law No. 1
4 means civil liberty and we put to him III
d question, docs not the protection of ciy
y liberty require, not only that no law shall
: enacted against the public good, but also tn
d every thing against Tie public good, shall
lie prohibited ?" Ponder this question well.
n your neighbours mill pond spread malaria al
:, death around, you abate the nuisance
j, his dogs kill your sheep, the law will kill
/ dogs. And all this without any infrine
II ment of civil liberty.
h But it is not your flock that is killed it
to your family, your ~nciShbor, your own Sc
it that is being slowly murdered and damn
TX by this inhuman traffic. And when we pl
pose to abate the nuisance, to extermina
the monster, you cry out liberty is in da
h. ger" Stop, think, and then act with US
be this glorious cause.
n We propose not to legislate in advance
e public sentiment, not TO force a blessing -,
of on an unwilling people. But we hope to
In the day when a well guarded and careful
r, framed Prohibitory law, shall be but the
,e. preston Of that common public sentimt
" which can alone originate it and secure
IS efficient operation.