Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-04-25
New-EpxIsndizing virginia.

dence is not only first in rank Of the
virtues, political and moral, but she is
the director, the regulator, the standard
Of them all" Accepting this as true,
| would like. if it be not too late, to
ask our friends Of the "dry" brigade
if they have consulted that prime virtue
in the course they are pursuing; If
they have stopped to think what will
be the probable consequences OF forcing
upon yirginians policy imported from
New England if, indeed, they honestly
think themselves capable of taking in
the probable consequences?
A certain amount Of experience and
early training is necessary to success
in all pursuits. Expert horsemanship
is so common that some city men and
almost all city women seem to think
it comes by nature, whereas If man
has never mounted horse until he has
reached the age Of forty he can never
learn the art Of riding, still less become
master Of a riding-school. If this be
true Of so simple physical accomplish
ment, how much truer must it be OF .
political, moral, or intellectual profess
sion? And yet we see elderly men
who have been consecrated from youth
to calling which has claimed years of
patient and prayerful labor and study,
q calling which, in its Protestant form,
is known to be exclusive, quitting that
calling for the moment and rushing
with wild and reckless feryor into the
agitation of disturbing political ques-
ton men whose kingdom is not Of
this world seeking to use the powers Of
this world to attain political end. For
whether they will have it so or not,
prohibition Is political question, whose
consideration involves the contempla-
ton of consequences that cannot be ig-
nored by any prudent men nor foreseen
by any but politician.
Again Is it prudent to engraft
upon Virginia a policy whose wisdom
is at least disputed in New England,
the parent Of the idea? Is it adapted
to the genius Of our people? In the
year 1867 a venerable and wise and
pious friend Of mine, now gone to his
reward, said to me, in discussing the
then condition Of things, that more to
r be regretted than all the other evils OF
subiugation was the corruption Of our
holy religion that he knew was sure to
follow by the introduction Of Yankee
ideas. And what is this but Yankee
idea?
From the earliest settlement Of the
continent our ideas and Yankee ideas
have been in contrast. From the time
the May that fatal and per-
fdious bark" landed at Plymouth
Puritanism has sought to regulate con-
duct by its own construction of the
Bible expressed in legislation, With
what result! In Connecticut, the State
which begins By saying man should
not kiss bis wife on Sunday, l2l per
cent. Of the marriages end in divorce
which implies not less than double the
amount Of marital inidelity. Massa'
chusetts, the centre Of moral ideas,
the cradle. of abolition, the dry
nurse Of teetotsllism, was engaged
in selling rum to African
, slaye-traders UP to the time Of the war,
and prohibition " Maine drinks all
the whskey she wants. The religion
Of such people is Of sort that must
necessarily result from the introduction
Of morals drawn from the State and
enforced by repression. 1t is perfectly
natural it should be so. For whatever
they mean. when people who say my
kingdom is not Of this world" require
this world to enforce the precepts and
duties of their kingdom, then by inevi-
table logic they admit that their king
dom is failure. And the men "Of
this world " will not be slow to detect
the admission.
The people may not be very acute To-
cicians; but when they see ministers
exchange the pulpit for the hustiDgs
and convert the sacred desk into a
worldly ros;rum they Wiu draw infer
ences unf.yorable to the truth Of the
Gospel, or to the sincerity Of the men
who have vowed to know nothing save
Jesus Christ and Him crucified all
erroneous Of course but it must injure
religion when the secular arm is called
in. not to punish crime, but enforce yir-
tue. Blind indeed is the man who can
not see that. But are our reverend
friends consistent in warning exclusive
" upon this one sin as if it were the
grestest-to say nothing Of fashion,
that complex sin which now aftiIcts So
ciety and openly defes the entire clergy
everywhere? | think, and many agree
with me, that a more prevalent sin than
intemperance is avarice, or, as the
Bible indefinitely calls it, extortiou, or
covetousness, or usury, CHASING 1t
along with drunkenness and ordering
accommodation for both sins. But
though there is this Bible command
against it. and law Of the land as well,
and in some denominations law OF
the Church also, yet men who dis
pise these laws Of God aud man are
received into the Church and kept in
it, and ministers dare not turn them
out; the offence is ignored; | know it
by experience and observation (; the
public know it.
The esgerness Of the good people to
create a fresh offense is met by the in.
quiry, "Wby do that when sins Of
equal guilt are condoned every day."
In reply we are told, and truly, tina.
public opinion disregards the interdic'
and forbids punishment or enforcement.
But will it not also forbid the en-
force ment Of this law, and is it prudent
legislation to pass laws that public
opinion will not execute:
We are told that these ministers arr
all good and virtuous men. l do no.
deny it in the least. As far Is my per,
sonsl acquaintance goes | bear willin.
testimony to the fact that, with one OIL
two exceptions, they are oil good man
But the very excellence Of their chsrac
ters increases their power for harm.
can never forget the language with
which the late Charles O'Connor char
acterized Horace Greedy, then recently
deceased, as among the ablest, mos