man, and every one has a natural right to choose for his pursuit such one of them as he thinks most likely to furnish him subsistence. Almost all these pursuits of chance produce something useful to society. But there are some which produce nothing, and endanger the well-being of the individuals engaged in them, or of others depending on them. Such are games with cards, dice, billiards, &c. And although the pursuit of them is a matter of natural right, yet society, perceiving the irresistible bent of some of its members to pursue them, and the ruin produced by them to the families depending on these individuals, consider it as a case of insanity, quoad hoc, step in to protect the family and the party himself, as in other cases of insanity, infancy, imbecility, &c., and suppress the pursuit altogether, and the natural right of following it. There are some other games of chance, useful on certain occasions, and injurious only when carried beyond their useful bounds. Such are insurances, lotteries, raffles, &c. These they do not suppress, but take their regulation under their own discretion. The insurance of ships on voyages is a vocation of chance, yet useful, and the right to exercise it therefore is left free. So of houses against fire, doubtful debts, the continuance of a particular life, and similar cases. Money is wanting for a useful undertaking, as a school, &c., for which a direct tax would be disapproved. It is raised therefore by a lottery, wherein the tax is laid on the willing only, that is to say, on those who can risk the price of a ticket without sensible injury for the possibility of a higher prize. An article of property, insusceptible of division at all, or not without great diminution of its worth, is sometimes of so large value as that no purchaser can be found while the owner owes debts, has no other means of payment, and his creditors no other chance of obtaining it but by its sale at a full and fair price. The lottery is here a salutary instrument for disposing of it, where many run small risks for the chance of obtaining a high prize. In this way the great estate of the late Colonel Byrd (in 1756) was made competent to pay his debts, which, had the whole been brought into the market at once, would have overdone the demand, would have sold at half or quarter the value, and sacrificed the creditors, half or three-fourths of whom would have lost their debts. This method of selling was formerly very much resorted to, until it was thought to nourish too much a spirit of hazard. The legislature were therefore induced not to suppress it altogether, but to take it under their own special regulation. This they did for the first time by their act of 1769, c. 17, before which time every person exercised the right freely; and since which time, it is made unlawful but when approved and authorized by a special act of the legislature. Since then this right of sale, by way of lottery, has been exercised only under the jurisdiction of the legislature. Let us examine the purposes for which they have allowed it in practice, not looking beyond the date of our independence. 1. It was for a long time an item of the standing revenue of the State. 1813. c. 1, § 3. An act imposing taxes for the support of government, and c. 2, § 10. 1814. Dec. c. 1, § 3. 1814. Feb. c. 1, § 3. 1818. c. 1, § 1. 1819. c. 1. 1820. c. 1. This, then, is a declaration by the nation, that an act was not immoral, of which they were in the habitual use themselves as a part of the regular means of supporting the government; the tax on the vender of tickets was their share of the profits, and if their share was innocent, his could not be criminal. 2. It has been abundantly permitted to raise money by lottery for the purposes of schools; and in this, as in many other cases, the lottery has been permitted to retain a part of the money (generally from ten to fifteen per cent.) for the use to which the lottery has been applied. So that while the adventurers paid one hundred dollars for tickets, they received back eighty-five or ninety dollars only in the form of prizes, the remaining ten or fifteen being the tax levied on them, with their own consent. Examples are, 1784. c. 34. Authorizing the city of Williamsburg to raise £2,000 for a grammar school. 1789. c. 68. For Randolph Academy, £1,000. 1796. c. 82. 1803. c. 49. For the Fredericksburg Academy, £4,000. For the Fredericksburg Charity School. c. 79. For the Belfield Academy. c. 100. For William and Mary College. 1805. c. 24. For the Rumford Academy. 1812. c. 10. For the Literary Fund. To sell the privilege for $30,000 annually, for seven years. 1816. c. 80. For Norfolk Academy, $12,000. Norfolk Female Society, $2,000. 3. The next object of lotteries has been rivers. 1790. c. 46. For a bridge between Gosport and Portsmouth, 1790. c. 46. For a road to Warminster, £200. For cutting a road from Rockfish gap to Scott's and Nicholas's landing, £400. 1796. c. 85. To repair certain roads *The acts not being at hand, the sums allowed are not known. 1803. c. 60. For improving roads to Snigger's and Ashby's gaps. c. 61. For opening a road to Brock's gap. c. 65. c. 71. 1805. c. 5. c. 26. For opening a road from the town of Monroe to For improving the road to Brock's gap. For improving the road to Clarksburg. For opening a road from Monongalia Glades to 1813. c. 44. For opening a road from Thornton's gap. 5. Lotteries for the benefit of counties. 1796. c. 78. To authorize a lottery in the county of Shenandoah. c. 84. To authorize a lottery in the county of Gloucester. 6. Lotteries for the benefit of towns. 1782. c. 31. Richmond, for a bridge over Shockoe, amount not limited. 1789. c. 75. Alexandria, to pave its streets, £1,500. 1790. c. 46. do. do. £5,000. 1796. c. 79. Norfolk, one or more lotteries authorized. c. 81. Petersburg, a lottery authorized. c. 48. Fredericksburg, for improving its main street. 7. Lotteries for religious congregations. 1785. c. 111. Completing a church in Winchester. For rebuilding a church in the parish of Elizabeth 1791. c. 69. For the benefit of the Episcopal society. 1790. c. 46. For building a church in Warminster, £200. in Halifax, £200. in Alexandria, £500. in Petersburg, £750. 8. Lotteries for private societies. 1790. c. 46. For the Amicable Society in Richmond, £1,000. 1791. c. 70. For building a Freemason's Hall in Charlotte, £750. 9. Lotteries for the benefit of private individuals. [To raise money for them.] 1790. c. 46. 1796. c. 80. For the sufferers by fire in the town of Lexington. 1781. c. 6. For completing titles under Byrd's lottery. To erect a paper mill in Staunton, £300. To raise £2,000 for Nathaniel Twining. 1791. c. 73. To raise £4,000 for William Tatham, to enable him to complete his geographical work. To enable to complete a literary work.* We have seen, then, that every vocation in life is subject to the influence of chance; that so far from being rendered immoral by the admixture of that ingredient, were they abandoned on that account, man could no longer subsist; that, among them, every one has a natural right to choose that which he thinks most likely to give him comfortable subsistence; but that while the greater number of these pursuits are productive of something which adds to the necessaries and comforts of life, others again, such as cards, dice, &c., are entirely unproductive, doing good to none, injury to many, yet so easy, and so seducing in practice to men of a certain constitution of mind, that they cannot resist the temptation, be the consequences what they may; that in this case, as in those of insanity, idiocy, infancy, &c., it is the duty of society to take them under its protection, even against their own acts, and to restrain their right of choice of these pursuits, by suppressing them entirely; that there are others, as lotteries particularly, which, although liable to chance also, are useful for many purposes, and are therefore retained and placed under the discretion of the Legislature, to be permitted or refused according to the circumstances of every special case, of which they are to judge; that between the years 1782 and 1820, a space of thirty * I found such an act, but not noting it at the time, I have not been able to find it again. But there is such an one. |