The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1876-02-02
from the Boston Advertiser OF Monday.J
Lega,ized Robbery-By the Rev. ID. O.

/ tic NV ~ ". nktdIs, Ol JaE1DTtupp.
preached at the Park.Street church last eve.
ming, undcr the auspices ofthe Young Mems
| Christian Association, upon " LOCALIZED Rob-
berry," There were, said the speaker, in
every Christian community two standards by
which the acts OF each citizen were mea-
sured-the moral and the legal standard.
The moral tested the motives the legal
tested the actions. The moral was the ex-
| preston Of The Divine will as revealed TO the
soul. including in its bebests an obligation
| upon our part to obey God aud carry out
The golden rule in our mutual relations to
each other. The legal standard was the ex.
preston Of the principle Of the community or
nation. The moral was the unwritten law
Of the heart attested by the written revealed
word as related to our personal obligations
to God and man. The legal was the law OF
| the statute book. The moral standard was
never altered TO suit the VACCINATIONS of the
community, while the legal varied with pub
lie opinion. The purer the morality Of the
State the more nearly would the legal har-
monte with the ethical or moral. If the
community was perfectly obedieut to the
moral then there would be DO necessity for
any legal statutes, as the legal standard was
| inferior to the moral. Vicious men might be
recognized as virtuous under the civil code
cious men had their part in fashioning that
code. Our civil statutes had been written by
| imperfect, fallibe men, and it by no means
| followed that because those men were not
Condemned by AVS Of their own msking that
| they were therefore without reproach. Law
was the handmade Of morality, but when the
notion Of morality was limited by that Of
| law, morality and law would soon perish to-
| getber. Interested parties too often had a
share iu making our laws, as was witnessed
| by the revelations Of the C'eiit- Mobilier
Even our legislators were not supposed to
| be free from personal intcres.s, and bribery
took advantage Of the fact. Lobbyists
crowded our legislatures to bencst certain
class against all others, and that was the WY
in which many Of our laws were made.
| Lobbyists, in behalf CT our railroads, banks,
and great corporations, were not the only
ones who would seitishly shape our laws in
their own interests. The king of the legis.
ators was the railroad system. The dis
graceful scenes at Washington-the buying,
selling, and trading Of notes upon ques'
tons touching the nations lifc-Ner
facts upon which was based the assertion
that it was not sale to trust alone in the
legal standard. The same reasons operat
| ny against right and justice in The framing Of
our laws had their weight glinst their eX-
ecutiOn. There were pure laws upon our
statute. books which were treated with con-
tempt, and broken every day. The law pro
hiDiting evil was not executed. II bribcs
were poWerless In defeating the expression
of strict justice in our civil s'a'u'CS, they
were often powerful in defeating justice As
expressed in the statutes, whose expressions
no brides were able to defeat. Ia cases Of
L IL
ofler found hand-in-haDd with the thieves.
We had laws against gambling, and yet
under the guard Of the police We might Gu
ter every gambling-house in Boston. Great
moneye1 powers had laid their hands upon
the bar Of justice, but hardly upon this
earth could there be found more inspiritng
scene than when the judge, in his love of
honor, defeated every foul machnation and
sent every conspirator away in shame. The
law was good if u man used it lawfully; but
there was higher tribunal than that OF az
earthly, upright, pure judge-it was our own
conscience. We needed the acutest minds
to traverse the field of law in order to give
counsel as TO the varying Of tbe legal stand
ard: but should we rest contcntcd by ap.
pcalipg to the scale of uRequa weights
The standard of truth and justice
could 90 more be changed thaa coud the
unchangiDg God. II our lawmakers self
lisbly tempered with the weights, should we
trust the scales! Business, as carried on To-
dav. said n mans word was not worth Il
farlhpg, and yet mans word ought to be
stronger than his name on paper. 1t was
one of the sad truths that members Of the
same church, who sat at Ch1iSrS table to-
pelher, were seldom sure Of business trans
action until the papers were passed. The
highwayman who pundered his victim was
q robber, but another man, respected in so.
ciety. under cover Of the law, defrauded
his neighbor OF thousands, and because
1t was legally done he held his position
as before. That transaction was legaliZed
robbery. A moral wrong, committed law
lessly or lawfully, was moral wrong still,
and should be recognized as such. The law
was good if a man used it lawfully, or in a
WAY morally right, but never otherwise. 1t
was common transaction for one to deed
| bis property 10 his wife. which, if right 10
| certain cases, was too Cftea trcSplSsed upon.
Just before an impending failure men fire.
ouently transferred portion Of their pro-
perty to save ia simple act OF theft from
| their creditors. Had the transfer been made
| before there was a single creditor, the case
might have been different.
| The tendency to get into debt during the
| last fifteen years was alarming. Men bor-
rowed in order 10 carry on business, and if
we were TO trust the results, it was poor in-
yestmcnt for The lender. Towns he'll their
meetings aud voted 10 construct 4 railroad or
build u schooI-hou-e, and borrowed the
| money. Cities did the same. Churches
voted to build houses Of worship, and did
! like every other rganZation-moriga"e the
| building for the amount above vi hat they had
| raised. We were in a stale Of bondage in
| deed. 1t was from such Il bondage that
the doctrine Of lepudialion and imitation
had sprung. The repioach suggested
| by bankruptcy was seemingly lightcned
each year. 1t had few terrors for
many businessmen. Because sympathy
was extended to those who availed
themselves Of the law necessary for their re.
| lief, dishonest men bad entered the same
process and avall.d themselves of that same
sympathy. The baukrupt-to-be placed bis
property mostly out OF his hands legally, and
| then toek up with the legal process, and
when his affairs were settled be Was con-
ra!ulatcd upon the result. Corporations
paid their dividends and doubled salaries,
while the owners certificate Of stock WAS
only so much waste paper. Creditors com.
planned, while the bankrupt, in his own legal
right, lived on US before. One could legally
carry on business until bis assets covered
only five cents On every dollar Of lilbili-
ties. Was it right 10 trust the legal stand
ard rather than the moral? The man
who was caught thieying few dollars
was sent to prison, but one who knowingly
took the hard.earned money of the poor
| ,-ilo hot of