The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1917-07-30

The platform is. in part. as follows:
The members OF the Westmoreland
Davis Club of Norfolk, Va, believing
That eternal vigilance is the price Of
liberty and that in these days of
rapid changes no good citizen will
lose sight of the fundamental prin-
-~efF}es on which is based not only his
own liberty, but the. liberty of his
fp~refstflsrs and Of ali English speak
ing people, view with alarm the prop
osition embodied In the platform Of
the Anti-saloon League of Virginia
that the constitution of Virginia
should he so altered as to make every
citizen n his property subject to be
searched at the arbitrary within and
VIII of any police officer or other Of
ncer of the law, without a warrant
OF any sort, for the mere purpose Of
discovering whether he has in his DOS
session any ardent spirits.
We remember that In the period of
English history from 1852 to 1865, IT
was the custom Of the English gov
eminent to issue general warrants for
searching private houses for the dis
covery and seizure of books and pa
pers that might be used to convict
their owner of the charge OF libel.
John Wilkes. having been the subject
~ ~ '|tA ~ lIIB lkIlL
on the part Of the government. and
Lord Camden, chief justice of Eng
land, held such a search to be illegal,
and as has since been said by the
supreme court of the United States:
Ills great judgment on that occasion
"a considered as one of the landmarks
of English liberty. 1t was welcomed
and ~applauded by the lovers of liberty
IN the colonies as we'll as in the moth
err country. 1t is regarded as one of
ne permanent monuments of the
Hrltish constitution and is quoted AZ
such by the English authorities ON
mat subject set down to the present
time Indeed. the freedom OF the
press was born in this decision against
arbitrary searches, and the supreme
court or the United States further
said OF this opinion of Lord Cam
den:
The principles laid down in this
oRnion affect the very essence 81
constitutional liberty and security,
They reach farther than the concrete
FORM oil the case Their before the
court. with its adventurous circum-
stances: the apply to all iuvasions on
the part of the government and ITS
employees of the sanctity of a mans
home and the ~privacies of life. II
is not the breaking of his doors. and
the rumaging of his drawers. that
constitutes the essence Of the offence.
but 1t is the invasion OF his In
defeasihle right of personal security
personal liberty and private ~property
where that right has never been
forfeited by his conviction of some
public o~fence--it is the invasion. OF
this sacred right which underlies and
constitutes the essence Of Lord Cam
denis judgment"
We remember further that the
practice had obtained in the colonies
underline rule of issuing writs to tht
revenue officers, empowering them In
their discretion to search SUSPECTED
places for smuggled goods, and thai
James Otis, one Of the creates ex-
ponents of American liberty, pro.
nounced that practice: The wors,
Instrument of arbitrary power. the
most destructive Of English liberty
and the fundamental principles OF
law, that ever was found in an Eng.
fish law book since It placed 'ths
liberty OF every mar in the hands OF
every petty officer" And Otis said
this In 1851 In a famous debate In
Boston. of which Jo/i Adams said:
Then and there was the irst scene
Of the 1rst act Of opposition to the
arbitrary claims OF Great Britain.
Than and there the child Of independ.
ence was bora