0 AMINO & GAMBLING. 



The licensing system in Europe proceed*} oh the 

 principle that the virtuous and w ell -disposed porUou 

 of (he emmmmily is not afU rtccJ by it. Would this 

 argument not likewise apply to gaming? 



fifty \ears have elapsed »iiiee Penang via* settled* 

 imd It? qiuce Singapore was occupied bv the JJniish; 

 yet gaining is on the increase. The frequent meet- 

 ings of huge parties of men in barricadoed honsett, or 

 in rot ued ipots, for the purpose of gaming with dice, 

 in defiance of the police, Where the Litter have not 

 been bnl>ed 3 adds fuel to the p.w- ; nn, while it mani- 

 festly fosters still more illegal combinations atfcctiug 

 both the life and property of the peaceful and indus- 

 it ious subject. Ai such orgies, daily and nightly 

 held in town and country, there it* no one to temper 

 the ferocity of the freuzied gambler, or check the 

 fearlessness of the inveigled novice. Stolen property 

 circulates w ithout quostiou; native servant in Govern- 

 ment ofSces, private servants, soldiers, sadors, nay con* 

 vicis, may here congregate with th'- professed burglar. 

 The easily-duped pennant ,t he deejdy •skilled Chinese, &, 

 the fiery Malayan trader, from *l» Celebes and .other 

 eastern iskouls, may meet here ftQt vicious feHowahip. 



In fMirupoan sueitties, a high degree of civiliza- 

 tion serves to gloss over, and to so (ten down, the 

 gambling propensity to a more ma uage able and Urn 

 hurtful shape than could be here obtained. There 

 tno, the danger to coin muni lies is not every where 

 tijual; for it depcmUs on the temperament, the habits 

 and education, of the individual nation which iudid.'jfe* 

 tbe passion. .Where the stiletto and the kri* are ever 

 ready to second a pronetass to sudden, deeds, of blood, 

 die danger is don filed. Where too, omcealifi*!)t IB 

 necessarily resorted to, the victim of the P<* table is 

 not restrained by the nuance of tho^ who mjujit 

 dissuade hitq. 



