The Ohio organ, of the temperance reform., March 18, 1853, Page 66, Image 2

About The Ohio organ, of the temperance reform. (Cincinnati, [Ohio]) 1853-1854

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"TIIE"OIII00RGAN0r'TIIE--TEMPi;RAlSXirTlEF0RMr
CG "
lingering years; of loathsome, peacej
destroying life, were closed y a death
compared with wmca my .nuau. .
U enviabl I; And then fay, U the
Liquor-Traffic does not every year
repeat, ,t:uuiuyu yt J
the catastrophe Af UhaRichjuond
Theatre! J J- V , -
You, People of Virginia, by one
word, can put an end to the annual
repetition of that aggravated, and
heart-rending tragedy I M ill younot
. gpeak that word T """""
In relation theT duty 6f Govern
ment, and how this duty has been re-
, cognized by the law-making power of
Virginia, the addrcts says ( ' h
It is the great duty of Society, to
protect itself and its people ; against
wrong and evil ; whether coming by
violence, or fraud, or pernicious and
corrupting allurements. This is a chief
end nay, it is The End for which
Society and Governments are formed.
Society, or the State, through its Le
gislature, Bhonld protect its citizens
ngainst whatever threatens their lives,
property, morals, peace, or happiness.
No sane man ever deemed such a
protecting law " invasire of individual
right, or freedom;" beciuse no. sane1
man ever deemed Freedom to be the
right of doing mischief with impunity.
Your Code teems with Instances of
such legislation : forbidding practices
of which none, nor all put together,
are a thousandth part so destructive to
health, property, moralsj; peace, hap
piness, and life, as the LiquorTraffic
is.;' .. "
An amiable and excellent Lawyer
a husband and a father in 1 809, was
killed in a duel. Our Legislature im
mediately passed the stringent law,
not only declaring it murder to kill in
a duel, but making whoever should
send, accept, or carry a challenge, in
capable of holding office ; and re
quiring from every man elected to
any office, an oath that he had not vio
lated thai law, and would not violate it
while he should hold the office. ,',
I affirm without hazard of just con
tradiction, that for every Virginian as
much loved and respected as that Law
yer, who has fallen in a duel, more than
a thousand such have died of strong
drink,, made and sold for lucre !
Again In 1838, a young; man hav
ing killed another with a pocket pistol,
in a conflict which the slayer had
sought and was prepared for though
a jury acquitted him your excited
Legislature forbade any person, under
severe penalties, to keep or carry
about him a pistol, dirk, or other such
weapon j hidden from common observ
ation. Because he might, perhaps, in
a passion, shoot or stab somebody. It
may be doubted, if the practice of car
rying concealed weapons has caused,
in this Commonwealth, since its foun
dation, five, or even three deaths per
annum. 1
To import, print, sell, publish, or
distribute any book or other thing con
taining obscene language, or any print,
figure, fir description manifestly tending
toeorruft the morals of youth; or to in
troduce into any family or place of edu
cation u e. a school, or ta buy, or
have in possession any such thing for
for sale; exhibition, or circulation, or
with inttnt to introduce it into any fam
ily or, place of education; is punishable
by a jar's imprisonment, and a fine
of 500j Va. Code, p. 740, 11
' To establish or conduct any Lottery,
or sell any Lottory-ticketJ is totally
prohibited" by the New Constitution
of Virgiaia ; and is made severely
punjshatle by an act of 1852. Ses
sion iAcit. 84, 2.
If any of you set up or promote a
lottery or raffle, or knowingly permit
it in any fmse under his control or
permit tale there of any lottery ic
kel, &c.,' or permit anything tobe raffled
for there, or won by dice or other game
ot chance he is punishable by a fief
of '1,000.7 Ci le, p. 744, 11. f J
And by I fine of S i 00 if he sell, Ifr
have in possession foi sale, any lottery
ticket, or share of one. Same p..
All money and things of fvalue,
cuawn or proposed to be drawn by at)
inhabitant of this State, or received by
him as owner of a lottery-ticket, are
forfeited Jo the CotMnonykallh U:
745, 715.
'"Dthef forms of gaming are holless
stringently prohibited :
' "If any of you keep or exhibit cer
tain sorts of gaming-tables though it
be in his own private dwelling or par-,
lor, or dining-room," for the! mere
amusement of his family or guests,
or permit them to be kept or exhibited
on any premises thatjoti occupy-
act as door-keeper, or watch, for such
faro-bank or table or hinder or delay
the lawful arrest of the keepef or exJ
hibitor, or the seizure of; the table,
bank, or money; the pentalty may!
be imprisonment for a year, and a fine
of $1,000. p. 743, 1, 2, 3. . .. .
, The table or ' faro-bank, and all
money 'staked, or exhibited to allure
persona to bet, may be seized by order
of a court, or warrant of justice ; lite
money shall be forfeited, and the table
and faro-bank burnt p. 742, l.J
If one of you play at such table or
faro-bank ; or play, in a tavern or
other public place, at any game what
ever, except four privileged games, or
a licensed one,' though he bets noth
ing; he may be fined $30, and held
to give surety for his good behavior
for si year; or else be imprisoned three
months. 743, 4. ; , ' :-r
You are forbidden by your laws to
do numberless other things that; it
would seem your clear, natural right to
do because your doing them would,
or might interfere, or lead to interfer
ence, with the right or enjoyments of
others, or with good morals, good pol
icy, or the deceneies of life. , : . I '
You are forbidden ..
To lend your money, or other thing,
at more than six per cent, interest; on
pain of forfeiting double the value
lent. 677, 11; ,Y.
To beat cruelly, or torture any horse
or other beasts-wen your own., 740,!
14. ..1:1,.,.. . "
lo labor on the Sabbath, or employ
your servants, &c.j except ia house
hold Or other work of necessity or
charity. 741 16.
To curse or swear profanely. 740
if ,i .... .. ...;.,!
Knowingly to sell diseased or un
wholesome provisions, whether meat or
drink, without making it known to the
buyer. 741, 1. .,, -..,.";,.,,..
To lend money, or sell or hire any
thing else, on credit, to & college-student,
without his parent's or guar
dian's written permission. 578, 1 ,
and 748, 34. .-! . i
To kill a deer any where east of the
Blue Ridge, during seven months of
of the year; even on your own land',
unless it be your own deer, tamed, and
enclosed in a park. ... 450, 1. !.,-, ,
To haul a seine below the mouth of
any river between the first of June
and first of September. 451, 4.
To take oysters with any instru
ment but common oyster tongs, with a
bar or head not longer than 23 inches.
452, 13. Fine $100.
To take oysters at all for the pur
pose of making lime. ibib. 17.
To export oysters, not pickled or
planted, from the waters of the State,
between the 1st of May and Septem
ber. 452, 14.1 ' ' i!
To shoot at or kill wild fowl during
the night, except from Vie land, of to
do so from a skiff, in three named
counties. 463, 20. ,i i' " '
To do many other things about fish,
fowl, and Other game,' too numerous1
to specify, . See the Code,450,"t 2,
SV.CMi,77."'
lligh penalties, ranging from 60
t. 6Cl dollars attend these prohtbi
ti jus. ; Parts of the proceeding are an
arrest of .the offender, and a seizure
and sale of his boat, skiff, or vessel,
with. Us tackle and appurtenances, to
jpay th0 fin and costs. ' ' jj ' 1 1
One of you cannot inaie a mill-dam
upon his own land, though the stream
rise in that land, without leave of
court; after .i teidlc't of jury" fexpressly
saying that certain injuries to neigh
bors will not result. '""p. 328," &c'.j
Nor when he has built his mill, can
he refuse to grind any grain brought
to be ground in its due turn; nor take
above, one eighth as,, toll. , p. 330,
12.1U i ,1 ih f'JA)
One of you must not inocculate him
self, or another, or suffer himself to
be inocculated, with the small-pox, un
less at a lawful hospital. ' 396 1J
Fine," not exceeding $300,; ;
If he is knowingly infected with any
dangerous infectious disease, or has
lately had it, but has not had his per
son and, clothes perfectly cleansed; he
must not go into the company of any
other who is liable to le infected; and
must retire from A public road or street
on a passenyer's approach, or warn
him of the danger.- ; 397, 6. '
What have been here cited, are but
a few of our Code's enactments, that
restrain individual freedom, for ,thd
public good; in fulfilment of the State's
duty, to be the guardian of her peo-
pie s lives, .interests,, , and happiness.
No more are cited, for fear of need
lessly tiring you. i " .
We have, perhaps, copied more of
this address than the limits of our pa
per would justify,' but we cannot for
bear giving a few of the last para
graphs. It gives a few facts in rela
tion to the people of Virginia, which
furnish food for reflection. It says :
There are in Virginia. 80,000 white
men and women who cannot read or
write. And of thosq who ohn bow
large a proportion read! so poorly,
or so little, as to have almost no
knowledge of History, Politics, the
characters of our public men, or the
merits or faults, of public measures I
The five millions annually spent in
brain-destroying drinks, and the, equal
sum indirectly lost by the ill-thrift
which drinking occasions account
but too well for the 80,000 non-read
ers, and the twice 80,000 whose read
ing wofully fails to fit them for. the
great duties of judging between men.
and measures, and parties ; and of
storing the minds of their children
with knowledge. . Ask any of those
80,000, or any of the unnumbered boys
and girls who are growing up to swell
me nosw oi ignorance ana v ice wny
are they so mindless 7 and the true an
swer of nineteen twentieths would be
" Because our fathers could not spare
from the grog-shop the twelve dollars
a year that would have schooled each
of us, and , bought us the needful
books !"' ' ""
Half of those yearly wasted, five
millions, would build a school-house
and, support a very good school., in
every habitable four miles square of
Virginia: and thus by diffusing know!
edge, and virtue, fulfil that precept
wuicu no uemocracy can oisooey. ana
live the momentous precept Push y
AND ENLIGHTEN I HE HEOPLE I ' i : ,
i . ,1 ,
Mr. Bottlebury says if there's any
thing he does utterly loathe, hate, de
test, abhor, it is a grogshop," It robs
a man of his fourpence, his sleep, his
time and his domestic feeling.; If a
man must drink, let him buy his li
quor Dy the gallon and share it with
his wife ; and children.1 ' In this wav
his affections will he centered at home;
besides it looks so verv cost ta see a
kind husband and loving father get
drunk in! the bosom of his family
ug ii DotueDury. - ' 1 V iiu
I l K.One Wide'Awike!
rA large Slate Temperance Conven
tion was recently had in the glorious
Commonwealth ot Maine, many oi
the ablest, men, bota in Church and
State, attended an took an active ar
inthe proceedings. We insert the
able resolutions passed," and mvite at-
tettioH tc( them.
Resolved. That in .tbe Maine. Law.
if faithfullj executed, we have , these
thingB j--We shut' up grog-shop8 ; we
abolish all liquor debts ; we stop, on
private "gain from a public vice ; we
cuard the young and weak from temp
uiuon ; we put me saie oi spines into
responsible hands for lawfu purposes,
and devote its profits to the relief of
public burdens ; and for k these" rea
sons it has our hearty support and our
honest vote.
BesolveS, ..That the benefits whiciv
have already resulted to the people of
this State from the operation of the
Maine Law, are incalculable; the quan
tity of liquors consumed in Maine ia
greatly diminished; poverty, pauper-
ism, suuenng ana crime are very much'
decreased, while , ho legitimate inter
est has been injured by it, nor has anjr
evil consequence resulted from it to
any person""'' -11 ' i -u"
Resolved, . Jlh&i we deny that the
movement by which this law has been
carried and sustained is a fanatical
movement of belongs to a party.
Our party is the people of the State,'
and our law is the embodiment of the
State's common sense, forced upon us
by the experience of twenty years.
Resolved, That in the steady growth
and onward progress of publio senti
ment in pur State for the last twenty
years, and the mighty change wrought
.in popular habits in that time,, we feel;
an assurance ot the ultimate and com
plete triumph of our caqse, ;1 : , ;
Resolved, ;That we regard the traf-
fic in intoxicating, liquors to be used' '
as a drink, as amongst the greatest of
fenses' which any man can commit
against the community; and we pledge,
the .Temperance men of Maine to an
earnest perseverance in the great cause
in which, they are engaged until that
traffic shall be placed by law in the
category of the gravest crimes. ' ,". ,'
Resolved, That the question whether
our Maine Law is in harmony with
our State 1 constitution, is to be deter-;
mined alone by our own Supreme
Court, whose decision is final and con
clusive; that in all eases which have
thus far come before this Court, the
question has been decided in favor of
the law ; that we believe there is no
reason whatever to entertain any fears
of its constitutionality; and we call
upon its friends every where to en-!
gage with renewed zeal and energy
in the great work of its enforcement'
throughput the State.' - - i n
Resolved, That we have no doubt
that it has become a fixed determina-.
tion in the hearts , of , the people of
Maine entirely to extirpate the trafiBo ,
in alcoholic liquors, and close up every
grogshop within our borders ; and if,:
as we do not believe, our constitution
is not all that we nqed for this great,
work, the people have the power, and
the will, and are, fully competent to
make one which shall be the same en
couragement and example to the'c6n-js
stitution makers, that our Maine Law
has been to the law makers of our sis
ter States, and write "Dirigo'' as well:
upon our constitution ',as upon our.
laws. '' ' ., - ...... t,-iA
Resotved, that in the name of Goof
and Humanity, the banns be forbidden'
between Bum and Religion of what-
ever sect, and Rum and ' Politics of.
whatever party; and that an union,)
holy and indissoluble, of affection as i
well as of interest, be proclaimed, be-
tweeri Temperance, Religion and Pol
itics, of every party -and every sect. ' '