The Yazoo City weekly Whig. (Yazoo City, Miss.) 18??-1855, 1853-03-25

AA0a' ~ give ICHSn anu lcTNeHcy W mucl
of our liquors, pot ashes, oil of almonds AMI
oil of vitriol are added; also, spirits of nitre
nitrous acid, oil of norwood, oil Of am
bergris, essential oil. oil of juniper, oil o
bitter almonds, coculus indicus, opium, nu1
vomica, and extract of poppies-with many
other fraudulent compounds not to be men
toned. Now, with all these, more or less
your sons, brothers, husbands, neighbors
slaves, and fellow-cihzens, are duped. de.
frauded, debauched, poisoned and slain!
And yet, black and baleful as is the God
provoking sin of putting the bottle to our
neighbours mouth" the practice is licensed
and protected by law, and the retailers Of
the poisons are made priyiledged, and,
may say, a princely class. None drive SO
large business upon SO small capital; no
other class get rich as easy or more fire.
quently; no other class of tolerated dealers
are allowed to take the hard earned money
of the populace without some equivalent
being given for it.
Penal enactments burden our statute
books, and many Of them having special re-
ference to the crimes committed by your
slave population. Yet those very pages pro-
vide for the ready furnishing of those per-
sons with the most potent stimulus to deeds
of wickednass. True, licensed Liquories
are not designed for negroes, but the license
system SO works that they get any quaint
ties of ardent spirits they wish. The col
ored people are everywhere diseased, pol
luted and destroyed by rum. Faithful SER
wants are rendered worthless-trusty and
honored slaves cease to be regarded worthy
of confidence, many of them are utterly
ruined and not few die of mania potu. If
the statistics of the evils resulting to that
class alone could be made known, they
would fill all right-minded men with sur
prise. grief and indi gnation! If Europe or
the Free States were to inAinct as great an
evil upon our slaves for one year only, as is
visited for years upon them by the sale to
them of vile whiskey by our citizens, it
would arouse the whole South to arms and
revenge Yes, the tried and victorious chiv-
airy of Mississippians would avenge the out
rage and degradation without delay. But
the evil has stolen upon us by degrees
Twilight has darkened into deeper shade,
and the noon Of darkness succeeded SO grad
ually that we are startled by the thick and
palpable gloom. lis commences has sub
dued the Nervousness of its visage. Saturn
is said to have devoured his own children.
Does not State follow the shocking exam
pie when she authorizes large and power
full class of her citizens, by virtue of per-
NIT, license, for $50 many pieces OF silver"
to poison, impoverish and ruin-ruin body
and soul for time and eternity-her sons and
sires? Her children of promise, of genius,
attainment and fame has she slaughtered
with her own deadly weapon by hundreds,
and still the work goes on. And though
her standing army of licensed retailers are
the efficient agents of her woes, her wrongs,
widowhood, orphanage and bloodshed--
though they fill our jails and penitentiary.
and gorge the grave with drunkards-they
are screened from all blame by the power
full agis of law.
A druggist or physician who may chance
to give strychnine for quinine, is arrested,
tried. perchance convicted and
sentenced as fellon. Or if man shall
poison stream, or well. he is dragged be-
fore magistrate as an infamous offender,
and charged with an attempt to destroy life.
The T1ppLERY is known to KILL. Death is
in the bottle. Poison is in the glass. It's
as deadly is the bullet or the blade. War
has slain thousands tens of thousands.
Yet, let the officer see a liquor mixer sell a
glass of death to customer, and let him
put forth his hand to arrest hint is stay
ed by his shield, the license. In this case
might is right, for the law says, in effect
"For SO much gold we license thee,''
$50 says our law, ga draught to SELL"
That bows the strong. enslaves the free,
And opens wide the gates of hell;
For public good requires that some,
Since many die, should live by rum"
Is this just, is il humane? is it becoming
a Christian State? Is it consistent? We
suppress Bank paper lotteries-fx powder
depots out of town to secure life and pro-
perty-prevent citizens from building with
combustible materials regulate tanyards.
soap factories, tallow chandleries. dye-hous-
es, lime pits. and the sale of firearms and
powder to negroes and Indians, By law. to
nravent men from iniurino the health. life,