National Republican., 1886-09-16
Coercion ImmOra1.


Not law but reason and public sentiment
restrain us from vice; government does not
aid but binders temperance; church,
society, or virtue loses It's moral vitality
when taken under the wing Of civil law;
the sense Of responsibility alone gives hal-
ance, strength, aud develops noble quail.
ties. A girl whose virtue is guarded in
French convent has no real virtue; her
friends, by watching her aud refusing to
leave her alone with man, tell us, m r.
plainly than words can, how she has been
ruined by being denied her liberty. The
use OF brute force to secure obedience shows
immature development. A man will pay
bis gambling debts, for which he has re.
ceived nothing, In preference to his grocery
bills, for which he has received food for his
family, tecause the gambling debts cannot
be collected by law; brokers pay their stock
gambling debts because they are debts of
honor. The utter weakness OF law when IL
conflicts with the instinct OF liberty isappar-
ent whenever the right TO do what We
please with ourselves and our own Is In
vaded. III articles are innocent In them
selves, are serviceable in any way, dealers
are not responsible for misuse purchasers
may make OF them. II man has a legal
right TO swallow alcohol, he has the right
TO buy IL, aud the dealer has the right TO
sell II. Alcohol is very harmless and
useful thing until IL Is taken into the human
stomach. II government attacks my right
to drink rum must defend that right, not
my right to chew tobacco; If II attacks my
right to preach Uuiversalism must defend
that right, not my wife's right TO wear
corsets. The legal maxim, "Lo the willing
there Ia no oflense,n is a logical corally OF
the doctrine OF personal liberty. or ten
glasses OF spirits, nine are drank by men
who have as good right 10 drink whisky as
] have to drink coffee; / may think rumis
bad for them, as they may think coffee is
bad for me, but both of us must have the
liberty OF choice. 1t is the talk OF fool to
say that nine sane men shall not be per-
mitted to manage their own eating aud
drinking because one man may hurt himself
One is under no obligation TO take an-
others word or yield to his authority In a
matter vital to himself. lie cannot, II he
would, safely rely on the opinions OF other
men because they do not agree; certain
actions are held right and practlced by
millions OF men; other men, In other CON
ditiops, hold these actions wrong. The
question OF virtue or vice Is one of degree,
varying infinitely In different individuals
In this endless variety Of opinion what man
or body OF men has the right to say; "We
have tried this experiment and determined
every question involved In IT. We have
determined II, not only for ourselves, but
Tor all othersY' The men who say this are
either shameless tyrants and impostors,
rho UOuid stop the progress Of kn0Dlctige
and usurp absolute control over the minds
and bodies Of their fellow men, aud are
therefore to be resisted unto death, or they
are themselves too ignorant of their own
weaknesses, and Of their true relation TO
ether men, to be entitled to any other con-
slderation than sheer pity or contempt
None but knaves or blOckheads make such
assumptions. The natural right OF each
individual to defend his own person and
property against an aggrcssor, and to 20 to
the assistance and defense of another in
vaded, is a right without which men could
not exist on earth. Grimes are Justly pun
ishable, but not vices; In liquor selling there
is no invasion Of persons or property, and
therefore no crime. If person possessed
Of reasonable discretion, aud not deceived
by fraud, consents to practice the grossest
vice, and thereby brings upon himself the
greatest moral, physical, or pecuniary
su1erlngs or losses, he caunot show that he
has been legally wronged. To have carnal
knowledge Of woman, against her tVil, Is
the highest crime, next to murder, that can
be committed against her. But to have
carnal knowledge of her With her consent,
invades no one, and hence is no crime, but
may be vice. The laws OF Massachu setts
make ten gears the age at which female
child is supposed to have discretion enough
to part with her virtue. But the same laws
hold that no person, man or woman, OF any
age, or any degree Of wisdom or experience,
has discretion enough to be trusted to buy
end drink glass OF spirits, on his or her
own Judgment Drunkenness does not
come from groggeres, but from morbid
appetite; we have attributed TO groggeries
an Importance in this wretched vice which
does not belong to them. The main fact is
the existence Of the appetite which coercive
devices inflame rather than removable
Louis, IN " Prohibition a Failure"
NEW and interesting facts In the lives of sen.
ators are now first recorded in our senatorial"