Press enter after choosing selection

The Temperance Cause

The Temperance Cause image
Parent Issue
Day
27
Month
February
Year
1847
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

We Iiave boen connected in this State wi:h this great enterprize for about fifteen )rears, and have walched itsprogress wi'th much solicitude and interest. Forfour years pa.st, hs fripnds, with much unanimïty, liave looked to the suppression of the troffic by law as the great measure which was neceásary to complete the triumph of the cause. The enactment of a law in accordance with their wibhe,they have obttuncd: but it has fhus far been enforeed only to astnall extent The cause is found, not in the lnck of energy among temperance men to putlhe status e in execution, nor in the provisions of the law iiself, but in the impossibility of gettinga final decisión from the Snpreme Court of this State. A year ago it was said that about 100 cases had been carried tip, from all portions of the State, and more have since been added. We have mi.de sotne enquiry of thoso learned in the law, and cannot ascertair. that any one of ihese cases is nearer a final decisinn than it was a year ago, Hy reason of this delay, the statute is every where sel atfefiar.ee, and grogshops and drunkards multiply. We suppose there is no remedy for this laie of things. The law, the people are told, is " the concentrated wisdom of ages, and the perfection of human reason." - The peop'e wil! therefore patienlly wait two or three years longer for that decisión of the Supreme Court which they ought to have had in thrce months afier the cases ca me before it. We tearn that many rumsellers place their main reliance on the constitutional queslion pending in th IL S. Supreme Court. That,however, as we understand it, wil! only settle the case of imported liquors. The other poinLson which cases have been carried up to the Supreme Court of Michigan are chiefiy technical matters, such as the forms o{ pleading, menner of process, amount and kind of evidence admissible, &c A few decis[ons, on all these poin.ts, we npprehend, ivP.I be final and conclusive. The great thfng we want in this State, (br tfietriümpb of the cause, is the establishment of the SLTREMACY OF THE LAW. Let it once be settled that the statute is nn instrument that can be made to bear erTeciuaUy agaínst Ilegal rumselliug, and ihere will be enough to use it. In most of the Eastèrn States, the enfor cement of the tawagainst Rumselling is the general rule, whiïe its violalion is the exception, Wiih us precisely the reverse is true. A statute against Rumselling, perfect in itseif, and which cannot be evaded, is a!l the legislation that can be reasonably asked for. If the people, with this in their hands, will suffer their vicinilies to be coníinuaüy cursed by the destroying traffic, nothing more can be done for them. In reference to the general progress of the cause, Mr. Emmons, at the Annual MPting, preseuted some statistics to show that in the United State3, asawhole, the amount of ardent spirits used had vastly decreased. The great diminution in the number of dUtilleries, and in the amount of liquors imporJed, proved this. Among a portion of the community there is, indeed, a great amount used. The bar-rooms and grogshops are thronged on mnny occasions, as formcrly. But there is another very large porlion who oever patronize those establishments. - On these, Temperance has had its perfect work. We look for the consummalion of the cause in our State as soon as the validity oí the law forbidding unlicensed sales shall be fully establivhed. The crime will then pe placed on the same footing wilh Horseracing, Gambling, and similar oflences, which are forbidden by statute. y et are tolerate'd in every community, more or lfvs, according lo the taste of the people. When the nuisance becomes insuflerablp, the citizens can unite, and by enforcing the law, put t away. Or if it be asourceof pleasuro to the majority, the law, for the time being, in that community, will be a dead letter. All tliai can be dono by legislation, istomake eíFectual laws against crime and evil. - The question of their enforcernent will be deiermined mainly by the will of the people.

Article

Subjects
Signal of Liberty
Old News