Daily Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1861-1862, 1861-12-07
CAN GAMBLING BE SUPPRESSED.

| To the Editor of The Wig:
The prominence given to the above subject at this
time by the authori and the press OF this city, will
furnish trust sufficient excuse for the further intr-
sion upon the attention of the public and especially
upon the attention Of the Legislature, of sundry sug
gestons upon it, That gambling a vice of no ordin.
ary magnitude professional gamblers themselves do not
pretend deny that it should be promptly utterly and
eternay suppressed will be universally admitted. That
its suppression however is a moral legal and literal i'm
possibility, is equally nsusceptibls of dispute.
In no age of the world has gambling ever had pub
lie advocate lacked private voaries From time i'm.
memorial it has been among the nabobs Of every land
the magnates Of every realm popular pasttime. It,
origin ia hosry with age. Before the flood Chance was
a God at whose altar millions worshipped, and millions
throng his temples today. Read the 23i 24:h 25th
and 26h verses OF the first chapter of the Acts and
you will fud that when Brsabls aud Matthias
found that they rival aspirants for q vacant
apostleshp. that they resolved to gamble for
il, and that Matthias it. and from that day
to this there has been gradually growing propensity
among to subnii matters alike Of opinion and Of
ftelipg to the arbtrSmnt of chance and as long as
"grass grows aud water flows" it will forever be-
That this conclusion is correct will furnish two rea
sons either of which will be found unauswerable First
It's popularity in high circles. Henry Clay and s s. Prem
tiss in their day aud generation nveterate gam
bl,rs, so Charles James Fox and Richard Brinsey
Sheridan, and among the who occupy the relation.
ship this ags they did to theirs in social and political
prominence you will fnd those who are equally as fond
of cards aud human nature is the same to-day that it
was two hundred years ago, when the mighty bard Of
Avon made Brutus say:
"The uame of Cassius hoDors this corruption.
And chastisement doth therefore hide its head"
0ne of the prerogavss Of fame Is impuuity for small
viees and all vices small when the cuprt is socially
popular and intellectually great Ministers may preach
against gambling essayiss write against il; orators
thunder against i; poets sing against il mothers pray
against IT, and law makers legislao against il but unite
all Of these vast resources of muiorm power and then
throw in the gates of He'll and altogether they never
can prevail against it. Hhsn aud ohsre Was comblno
evsr pal doom Who did it, and how did they do t?-
If could be done at ALL of cOurse could be dobe oly
by law Law is said to be the perfection OF human r,a
SON. whereas gambling s the legitimate offspring of p,s-
sc, and when and vherc did reason ever successuly
cope With passion? II may be said that there is high
or law known public opinion, formidable in the
suppression Of vices than the statute law admit
the potency Of public opinion but public opinion is more
emphaticaly expressed by the conduct than by the lam
gusge Of men, and unfortunately public opinion as thus
emphaticaly declared is overwhelmingly in favor OF
gambling.
"Tis true, It's pity, pity It's, 'tis true"
The second which stands In opsn opposition To-
the suppression of gambling is the aspect in which law
inhbitiOg it ia regarded by the masses They feel that
their money is their own and tha. they have the SINE
natural andOught to have the same legal right, to In
vest It as they please is accorded BY the law the
tobiccO cotton cslco gambler; for they say, the
that sptcuAtes u cotton, tobacco calico, any
thing else Is stalking his money at risk upon chance
and is, to all intents and purposes, literally gambler
and the only answer which can be given to this srgu