Yet so far from being immoral, they are indispensable to the existence
of 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, &tc. 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 an 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