Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1879-02-13
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LOyaltO Law.

n. Y. Observer.
When Mr.. Curtis, in his eloquent eu-
logy on Bryant, spoke of loyalty to lao as
one of the glories of American citizen
ship, there was an instant response of ap-
plause from the audience, as though the
right words had been uttered, and the /
characteristic feature of the American /
people had been revealed.
It is the weakness, not the strength of
our country, this ideal observance of law I
We, as a people, elf-governing, make
good laws, but we do not obey them nor
enforce them, except so far as they suit |
the views of the masses. Take an exam
pie.
We have wise, salutary and benefi-
cent law to punish gambling. To pre-
| vent any misrepresentation as to the mean
ing of the word, the law defines the term
to mean any lottery or rattle to dispose of
money and goods of any kind. Loyalty to
| lasg would require the Cardinal, Vicar
General, priests and people of the Roman
Catholic Church, the District-Attorney,
Grand Jury, the police, the citizens, to
obey this law, and to enforce it upon all 4
vioIaters. IF the law is enacted by
the people for public good, the duty of
loyaIeitizens is to obey and enforce it.
This duty is shared by every man from
the Governor to the deputy-sheriff.
What is the fact? The highest digni-
tary of the Church of Rome looks on and
beholds the LAW trampled on in the
midst of his own sanctuary. Where re-
ligion invokes the favor of God upon the
| government, and brings its highest sane
tions to enforce the duty of men to obey
the statutes made for their welfare, even
where the lao is, in the presence of ten
thousand protesting Christians, hoOted
at and disregarded.
There is an altar on which it is pro-
posed to offer sacrifice to Him who can
not look upon sin with favor, and who
will not hold the sinner guiltless; but the
first sacrifice ever offered in the great
cathedral is a months public, fragrant,
impudent, unblushing, persistent, unim-
peded defiance of the laws of the State of
: New York.
We have officers to administer law,
sworn to be faithful and vigilant, paid
by the people for nothing else but to sup-
port the law, and not an officer, judge,
) juror, attorney, or police, lifted finger
or spoke a word, official or unofficial, in
support of the statute in this case made
) and provided.
This is our American Loyalty to Lao.
We might give many more examples; the
city is dotted all over with gambling
S houses, illegal grog-shops, and places of
evil, which decent regard to law would
q close at once and forever. But there is
no loyalty to lao that shows itself in an
honest, patriotic determination to make
the law available for the protection OF
the citizen against the worst enemies OF
!. society.
: So with the laws for protection of the
rights of citizens to enjoy quiet Sunday,
. In every State of the Union these whole
some laws are made, not as religious re
quirements, but as the right of the people
who, in the majority, wish to have one
/ day in seven for the duties of religion
The laws are made for the people, by thu
: people, and loyalty to lGao would enforce
them. Theatres, concerts, shops, stores,
l- groggeries, by the thousand in this anc
d other cities, are run as free ly on Sunda!
as any other day, and there is no publ,
r sentiment or private force that can bring
y the law to bear upon the offenders. This
is as true of New York as of New Orleans
of Philadelphia or of Cincinnati.
, The simple truth is that loyalty to 9as
a goes no further as an active power thar
to make us obedient to such laws a
!, guard our property and lives. We ar
d jealous of our personal rights and will de
fend them with legal and even physics
e. force. But for law as law, for law tha
is seeks to restrain the liberty of another
re so that he may not do injury to himsel
and to that abstraction called society, tn
IS people do not care straw. Hence tn
< supreme Indifference of Christian cit
" zens TO all violations of laws for the pre-
vention of gambling and intemperanct
- and for the observance of Sunday. A
20 each man claims the right of spendin
a. his money and his time as he pleases, t
gamble, to drink, to buy and sell on Sur
day, to keep or to visit a place
- amusement, the American idea of libert
=, is to let him do, as he will, so long as h
= does not interfere with others. Th
rights of man are so erudely understoo
by the people, that the attempt to enforc
a restraining laws is regarded by many 9
as an outrage on the libe,ty of the citize1
sa A thief who steals a dollar is punishe
with the appreciation of all, but the keepe
n of theatre, or dance-house, or bee
tie garden, all illegal if unlicensed, is not +,
n, I garded with disfavOr by the constitute
- authorities.
These are obvious examples of our 10y
atty to law. We might go up from thes,
,ss perhaps the lower forms of disregard, an
+ find in the political corruption and swine
~ lings by private parties, by legislator
III and executive officers, the evidence tn;
or what we, as people, lack more than an,
- thing else is reverence for law. We wal
- a public conscience. Not in regard
"a the sins only which have been specifi
a. ally mentioned now, though these are tt
ed sins which. generate nearly all the vfcC
- of the times. But we, as people, repu
on lican, self-governing, need to be educ
as ted into sense of the majesty of th
H. power called Lao; the embodiment of tt
~ will of an intelligent State for the equ
h protection of all its citizens; and if v
~, can see also in it the will of God, IL
al deeper should be our reverence.
lis CITY Ru1ned.