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 discretion 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. Sec. 3 An act imposing taxes for the support of government, and
c. 2. Sec. 10.

1814. Dec. c. 1. Sec. 3. 1814. Feb. c. 1. Sec. 3. 1818. c. 1. Sec. 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 L2000 for a
grammar school.

1789. c. 68. For Randolph Academy, L1000.

1789. c. 73. For Fauquier Academy, L500. c. 74. For the Fredericksburg
Academy, L4000.

1790. c. 46. For the Transylvania Seminary, L500. For the Southampton
Academy, L300.

1796. c. 82. For the New London Academy.

1803. c. 49. For the Fredericksburg Charity School. c" 50. For finishing
the Strasburg Seminary. c. 58. For William and Mary College. c. 62. For
the Bannister Academy.c. 79. For the Belfield Academy. c. 82. For the
Petersburg Academy.

1804. c. 40. Fo