Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1858-07-16
After due reflection we are not able to per-

hiVci uuc ItntCllOn We nOl dDNc W ptT-
ceive that we need tho rebuke which the
Burlington Times attempted to administer to
us on Saturday. The Free Press has never
considered itself specially commissioned to
engineer the prohbitory law nor to chron-
icle its operations in Burlington or elsewhere.
Neither have its editors been ofiicious in
connection with the execution of that or any
other law, in general or in any particular
case. The proper officials to whom that
matter is intrusted are, and have been, fortu-
nately, such as to need no prompting to
their duty from us certainly, and they will
testify that we have approached no nearer to
an interference with their duties, than an
occasional expression of the appreciation
(Which we share with other law-abiding
citizens,) of their efforts to sustain the
supremacy of the law, and the order and
welfare of the town. AS to the parading''
of liquor cases, the fact is that we have been
wont simply to give the facts as furnished
us by the officers, and commonly in the very
words of the minutes handed us by them.
But what I'VE had made special effort to
obtain reports of liquor cases?
There are cases, in the course of the exc
cution of this as of other laws,-a of young
offender for instance, the bruiting of whose
first step in crime may tend to harden, rather
than reclaim him-wherc the Withholding
of the facts from the public is a duty. Such
cases we are always ready to consider, and take
the kindest course in reference to them. But
as general rule, publicity is, as we believe,
an assistant to justice. Why else are the
Courts of Justice always open to the public
and to the press? This, we are inclined to
suppose, is particularly true as to the pro-
hibitory law, and the extreme sensitivcness of
the rum-sellers and their patrons upon the
subject, only goes to confirm the supposition.
We have reason to believe that the efficiency
of the law in our community has been in no
wise impaired by our course in this matter,
and on the other hand that the prompt, judi
cious and firm execution of the law in this,
on many accounts the most difficult place in
the State to enforce it in, and the wide pub
licity given to the fact through our columns,
have had very beneficial influence abroad,
and have increased a respect for the law, and
helped its enforcement in other portions of
the State. For these reasons and not from
personal animosity, in any case,-in some
cases, indeed, at the expense of personal
iriendship--we have published violations of
the liquor law, as we have of other laws.
But we suspect that if our liquor items had
been confined solely to the seizures of fire-wa-
ter from Irish shanties, the Times would
have found little to complain of. 1t is be-
cause we have ventured to allude to the case
OF the keeper Of what has been the principal
hotel of the place, that we are taken up
by that paper. Now as to that, the Times
may be particularly sure that earring except
ional cases, such as we have alluded toy if we
publish any we shall publish all the liquor
cases brought to our knowledge. We cannot
see in the fact that man joins his fellow
citizens in giving literally to public objects
any valid reason why he should be
allowed to violate the prohlbitory law with
impunity.--or to replace the money in his
pocket from the profits of ~ h--- I"J
,,rvn III all days the interests of good order
and morality in the community require it to
be closed. We have not as yet in Burlng-
ton reached the Generalization of the larger
cities, where money and position often make
all the difference between punishment and
IMMUNITY in crime and the time is distant
we trust, when a step will b, taken towards
such condition, by permitting othcrwis,
respectable offenders among us to slip
through the mcshes Of any law, merely be-
cause of their responsibility. At any rate
we shall cndeavor not to lose our own self
respect, and the respect Of honest men, by |
winking at such cases.
As to the particular notice which called |
out the structures of the Times, we kno,c there
was no spirit fvindictiveness in our remarks, |
and with some familiarity in the use of Ian
guagc, and "the rules of good neighborhood'
we are unable to see any thing "taunting'' or
"coarse' in any of our expressions or allu-
sons. We mentioned, in plain ordinary
terms, some considerations which give mpor-
lance to the case, as reported to US, and that
was all, The Times is, of course, entitled to
its belief that Mr.. Drew 50 is not the man to
defy the law" Whether that is SO, is
question of fact which will be determined by
the trial-and to that we leave it.
There is another point of the Times arti-
Gle, which is too significant to pass without
Its closing words are as follows
And it is likely to occur to thinking people that
there may be some radical deficiency in a sump-
tuary law, that so often awakens the spirit of all
Those who remember the violent opposition
of the Editor of the Times to the prohibitory
law, at the time its first enactment, and to
the principle of prohibition, will not be at Il
loss to understand what are the radical de-
fciencies" which he discovers in the law. lie
has returned to Vern ont to find the prohib-
tory law no longer an experiment, but cs-
tablishcd as the policy of the State, and COM
mended to the favor Of the people by the
Of its effects, wherever it has
been fairly and firmly administered. But
from the remark above quoted we are
obliged to infer that his disfayor towards it
remains substantially unchanged, however al
tered his manner Of opposing it may be,
The 1nes ought 10 know that the prohib-
tory law is by no means Sumptuary
aw," and it might be more charitable than
10 ascribe the spirit of all uncharitable-
ness" to those who simply desire to see the