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The Adultery Law

The Adultery Law image
Parent Issue
Day
5
Month
June
Year
1843
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

Jo paper i the State lias yet come ou with .1 tul] justificatinn of í he repeal of th law forbiddinr idultery nnd fornication. Bnt wriler in the Jackson Democrat, who, it wouh seein, ftoni the tenor of his arlicle, was r memb'?r-of the Legislatura, has given the pub lic a ohapter on thal su!joct. After beratinj the Editor of the Grzett?, as "a whining hvpocriie,' on account of wh.it he had publishet resperting it, he enters into the merits of the case tluis: "As lo the propriely or impropriety of the repoal of the statuie referred to, I bayé'ja few words to sTy. It is to be presumetl, - indeed I it was the cae, - '.bat the Lerrislature wriglird well the expediency of acting upon the sectionj illuded to. And it seems that a majority oí' the members arrivcd at ihe conclusión th'it it. w.is for the public good that the r'epèai sliojild take place. It was nrgued in tliii; wii-e- t was belipyéd that the altempl to cure the evil complajaed of, by íegislotive ëriae'tmënts, was mo.-edelelerions {o the public mdrñls, than that should g-o iinpunislied by law. fn otlier words, that the mode pöihtVd out by tl;e Ptalute to cure l!n; evil was worse Ihnn the evil itsejf. It was thoórht that drotfging pnrlies (of buih sexes,) tip beforé public cour's of jus1 ice, where tbá evidoncft iniiPt be detailed m the hearing1 of Inn dreds of spectators, was nonoh morí demorali isiñgOmn thntthejéyil --110:1(1 be ft o the cure oí' a liiffH loned moral public sentirnént. It was believed tbat, like intrniperancc and othei evü?, the remedy u-as lar more poweríul in the hands of the rnor.il and religioua conimnnity tlión in that of 1 líe cxecuto'rs of the law. And I have no doubt that this is the belief of threé fourtlis of the peoplc of our staSe. And I nsic, is it not better that persons guilly of indiscretions, (for it is but an indi;cclion after a!l, ) shoulrl be réformed by morul suasion and "x.'iniple, than that they should be brunded as ffloní, sent to the penitent ary fnr a term of y'eaW, and made mtcas'b of society. No other state in the U:iion, (at most not more than óné other) has ever made the ofFunce criminal by statute. In the New York Legislatura, tneotfempc has severa) times been mndè, but tlie origin dors (just such hvpocritical n.cn as this Mr. Bate.,) have alvvoys met with the rebuke they dfserved. As ro the charge that tlie repeahnq1 of these luws was a "loco foco" measure, it seems almost useless to say any thinü". It is true, tlmt Ihe legislatnre was coniposed almost entirely :f deniocrats; yet, if my recollection serves me, èvery whig wiember present voted or the repeal.ndCf" It nppears that tlie Whig circular respecüng Texas was publised prematurely wilh only 13 names. Eight more have been receivcd, v'.z: Thos. A. Tomlinson, Davtd Bkonsow, Archibald L. Lf.N.v, Thos. V. Williams. Charlks Uudso.n, Tkuman Smitii, Gkoügk N. Biuggs, Stanlkv N. Clark. Two members to whom it was sent have declineJ to sign t on account of eome expvessions in it; wlrle the remainder liave tlius far paid no atteritipn to it. What a prompt, valant set of VVhig defendéis of the Union ! J3v Lhe woy, why wëfe nol llie Pomocratic and Southern members asked lo sign it? (U0 Durinirtho ten ycars preceding the idministration of Gen. Jackson, only 2 banks veré charlered with a capital of #3.000,000. Zuring the ten Btil)séquent years, 236 banks i-ere created vïithi an Oggcegate capital fof 5368,000,000.- Bufa lo Patriot. (t3 The Lake Combination have reduced ih tare from Detroit to BuíTalo to six dollars, 'oo high yct.

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Subjects
Signal of Liberty
Old News