The freeman. (Parkersburg, W. Va.) 1886-18??, 1888-08-01
THE FEL0N KING.
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
AGAINST KING ALCOHOL.
The Reign of Rum Eloquently Described
nv Gen. Fisk-The Conflict Is Upon Us.
Tho Nations Heart rhrobbing to the
,fusic of Prohibition.

The veteran editor, Henry c. Bowen,
had notable gathering at his famous
Roseland Bark, his country retreat, near
Woodstock, Conn. These meetings have
been held annually, on July 4, since 1870
N, this occasion great political addresses
rrere delivered by his invited guests, who
we're among the most distinguished
s+o+esmen, iurists and men of letters in
America.
The following is asynopsis of the grand
snecch of Gen Fisk-subject: "A New
Federation of Independence"
"Ob, that from every hill top and val
Low from mountain and prsirie city and
hamlet, from lake to gulf and from sea to
coo there might this day arise the united
voice of 60 000, 600 of people in most sol
emn declaration of independence of this
crnel king, whose injuries and uSurpa-
lions threaten the destruction of our free
government. AS did our fathers when
Thew resolved to throw off the absolute
tyranny of bad king, so let us give GER
Tain facts to candid world. This mon
s+er sitting supreme in the politics of
This country, has enacted laws authoriz-
ing him to open in all our towns and
cities slaughter houses of men, women
and children, and of all virtue
He has enacted laws permitting him to
transform men into beasts. He is the
direct cause of nine -tenths of the woes and
sorrows which blight and curse our people.
He hiding his monstrous deformity under
tbe forms Of law, enacted by his own
vassals, over whose heads he cracks the
slave drivers lash in halls of legislation,
maintains at our expense anarmy of mis-
creants who, at the very doors of our
homes and in the shadows of our
sanctuaries, prosecute the work of murder
and death He has despoiled labor, bur
dened property with excessive taxation,
impoverished whole communities, hindered
education, corrupted morals fostered
crimes. aided all classes of vice and wrong,
and plunged his unhappy victims into
shame and degradation. He would have
lis transmit to our children q heritage of
distilleries, breweries, and saloons, and
chain to the weary backs of society in
creasing burdens of paupers, criminals,
idiots and lunatics.
'He seizes and debauches innocent chill
dren tears sons from the arms of sorrow
ing mothers, and bears them away to dis
honored graves. He wrings hot tears
from the eyes Of widows whose husbands
he has sacrificed at the shrine of the
drunkard's Moloch. He sits supreme in
the national congress and makes laws in
the country's capital. He governs courts
of Justice and makes ministers of the
law and legislatures his aackeys. He
silences the preacher in his pulpit and
muzzles the editor at his desk. He wastes,
directly and indirectly, in his revels an
nually more than a thousand millions of
our dollars, and marshals in his Staggcr
ing procession to death and hell a half
million of our people. He rs cold,
heartless, cruel murderer and assassin of
I the deepest dye He counts his victims
by millions. His butcheries go nn daily
I and nightly within sight of the portals of
4 our homes. We can hear the shrieks of
I his victims and the vail of the bereaved.
The time would fail me to tell the
thousandth part of the evils, multiplying
8 anddestructive, that flow out of the in
4 famous liquor traffic, and in all this vast
4 throEg the great evil has no friend. Dear
friends, have we the courage this day to
issue and thereto afix orr signatures in
the pronounced writing of John Hancock,
our new declaration of independence;
and with a firm reliance ON Divine Proyi
dencc pledge our lives and fortune and
sacred honor that from this day hence
forth 10 word or act Of ours may be con
struod into allegiance to this felon king?
He must be driven from his places Of
power and utterly overthrown. The con
fict is upon us It is life and death
struggle Oh, for an uprising of righteous
indignation, for an aroused American
conscience, for patriotic devotion to home
and country like that which gave inspira-
ton and faith to Jonas Parker and his
nelghbors when they redeemed the village
green of Lexington with their blood on
that glorious morning q century and more
ago.
When the old revolution burst into
magnificent blossoms as the shot was fired
That echoed round the world; for an Gu
Aghtcned public opinion, the mightiest
advocate of any question for the com
plned forces OF Christian home, Christian
church and Christian commonwealth in
array against the traffic in theft and muir
DER until it shall be thundered from every
political Sinai, national and state, Thou
SAalt not, and there shall be no legalized
saloon where floats the starry flag of the
ifee Not until then will tho Infamous
H business cease; not Until then will we be
GGenVered from its satanic sorceries.
iemporlzing policies are a failure. I'm
aef all systems Of license regulation or
,aE' the work of ruin and death goes on
-n!flaas OF homes are poisoned, the pros
PeilIy OF the nation is undermined, the
strength Of our race wasted, millions are
hurried to early and dishonored graves,
ana q lurid shadow is cast upon the life
toeyond. The prohibition of the liquor