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SPECIAL PUBLIC EVILS.

[Part VI.

From England, the system came into this country, and thesecond lottery ever granted by Parliament was authorized in thereign of James I., for carrying on the colonization of Virginia.The effects of the system, too, were early felt in the Easterncolonies; for, in 1699, “the ministers met at Boston” feltthemselves called upon to denounce “ the lottery as a fraud, andits agents as pillagers of the people.” But, notwithstanding thisearly denunciation of the system, it gradually struck deep rootin the soil of this country, and has shot its noxious branches intomany portions of the American Union. Legislative sanction hasbeen given to this fraud, under the various pretences of exca-vating canals, building bridges, endowing colleges, and evenerecting churches. So liable are men, without reflection, to beled astray by the sophism of making the end sanctify the meansby which it is attained.

Every principle of calculation is against the system ; yet thebare 'possibility of obtaining a great sum for a small advance isso strong an inducement with the lower orders of society, andthe ingenuity and profits of the persons whose interest it is toexcite and keep alive in them the spirit of gaming are so great, thatthey will adventure, to their ruin, notwithstanding the results ofcalculation make against them with all the evidence of the light ofnoon-day. For instance, in a modern scheme containing 45,760tickets, there may probably be, besides smaller prizes, twentyprizes of $1000 each, one prize of $5000, and one of $20,000.Now the great majority of adventurers have their eyes fixed onthe high prizes. And what are their chances of obtaining them ?The chance of the holder of a single ticket to obtain one of theprizes of $1000 is shown, by calculation, to be as one to 2080.His chance of drawing the prize of $5000, is as one to 22,880,and his chance of securing the capital prize of $20,000, is inthe ratio of one to the aggregate number of tickets in thescheme, that is, of one to 45,760. How remote the prospectof success in securing any of the high prizes, which appear sodazzling to the eyes of the adventurers. Again, were an indi-

1826. France has just announced her intention to follow the example of Eng-land in abolishing the lottery system. National Gazette, 11th of March, 1837.