Sword and shield. (Clinton, Miss.) 1885-1888, 1885-02-21

Whisky" and leaning against shell
full Of bottles of "Oid Rye" tina
came out of the same barrel.
Saloons have falleiI and are fallins
all over the State before the popular
vote, and we have not heard Free
dom shrek. But that is probabl,
because freedom of speech is denied
her.
But a New Era has dawned /; tht
myths q our childhood fade away
L is now evident that these prohibi
Aiop histarisns have lef ont III til
glorioas part that whiskg played il
the Revolutionary var. We az.
truly glad that 50 great 4 man Al
Mr.. John Mud has taken this
in hand and Will bring to bear
all his great researches and all his
profound knowledge, and will give
ns the true account of the cause OF
the Revolution.
The scene changes; he now ap-
pears as a prophet. Verify. "Saul
is among the prophets" He says :
"If this law be passed, then free press and
free speech are but mockery ami delasion
and invention after invention and discovery
upon discovery will but add to the force
that crushes the masses down."
Which is to say, unless man be
drunk, he can not say what be wants
to say. This is not the frs. time we
have known men to get drunk to
say what they wanted to, without
being held responsible. Those men
have been censured for their con-
duct, but they were only ahead of
their times; they belong to the New
Era, ''and the world"-whieh is to
say, mayors, justices of the peace =
prosecuted them" We are shock
ed that the freedom of the press
should be restricted. 1t did not
seem to us as if the press was in
danger. We would argue this ques-
ton with Mr.. Mudslinger, but we
have nothing to base our argument
upon. When history is false, how
can we know anything of the future.
However, he shows the moral side
of his character:
"The advocates of prohibition endeavor
TO show the people Of the civilized world
that the citizens of this Republic are not
capable of self-government. They propose
to pass laws which would destroy every
vestige of Constitutional Government and
establish despotism more absolute than
that of Russia or Germany. A legislature
which can pass an act to prohibit the man.
ufacture and sale Of liquor can, by virtue
Of the same power, pass an act prohibiting
the manufacture and sale of any Of the nec-
essaries or comforts of life."
The advocates Of prohibition in
Mississippi claim that Local Option
should be given to the people; that
they shall vote by counties whether
or not whisky shall be sold. If this
is not government by the people,
what is it? We always thought it
was, till the New Era upset every
thing.
Again, any government has the
right to prohibit any commodity
that Injuries the people. People are
SO bound together that what affects
one man affects another. There is
no law for prohibiting dynamite that
does not apply with equal force to
the manufacture and sale of whisky.
This is what We thought, but we
have entered upon New Era.
Now, as to the character of the
men who espouse the cause of pro-
hibition. Gladstone, Premier of
England, is in favor of prohibiting
the sale of liquor, but then he does
not know much about Constitutional
rights. He never wrote an article
for the New Era in his life. Be-
sides that, he is an old man, and
held prominent positions Of trust be-
fore the New Era began, and so he
is most likely in his dotage by now.
We might mention others, but they
would be either young and foolish,
or old and in their dotsge.
In brief sketch like this, We can
not tell all about so remarkable a
man. We trust We have given our
readers q faint outline of his charac-
ter, however.