ied in
public and private, and subjected to the shame and embarrassment
arising from these attacks on their character, as law-abiding
citizens and legal subjects of Her Majesty.

"There is a limit beyond which self-constituted conservers of
public morals must not go; and good men should not be brutally
attacked in public by agents of the Alliance on the strength of
the admissions of a fellow, who, if he tells the truth, is one of
the meanest rascals that ever cumbered the earth. I refer to the
fellow Kelly, Mr. Smith's self-confessed assailant.

"I offer nothing in defence of lawbreakers, nor would I, if I
could, do aught to mitigate in the least degree the punishment
that may be meted out to the person who wantonly assaults a
peaceable citizen, but candor and strict impartiality force me to
refuse to accept as truth all the rubbish of tergiversation with
which this agitated Smith case has been surrounded by the
intemperate zeal of professed temperance men. I believe in
temperance, and if those who knowingly violate the law against
the sale of intoxicants are brought to judgment and punishment,
they get but what they deserve, and all good men will applaud the
vindication of the majesty of the law. But we are scripturally
enjoined to be 'temperate in all things.' This applies as well to
words as to the use of stimulants, and the grossly unfair attacks
on men's characters by certain of the Alliance emphasize the
necessity for a strong curb on that unruly member, the tongue,
which has brought many a good man and worthy cause into grave
disrepute, and made them enemies where otherwise they might have
had friends.

"This whole Smith business has a 'cheap John' flavor, which makes
careful men view it askance. Who witnessed the assault on Smith?
Nobody. He tells of being struck three times on the head with a
piece of lead pipe, weighing some four pounds, and has in
evidence the terrible weapon. Did his person bear evidence of the
murderous assault? No. All who saw him in the early morning
following the alleged assault were surprised that he bore no
marks of the terrible struggle for life through which he claimed
to have passed. Why, one blow from such a weapon as he exhibits
would have crushed his head as if it were an egg shell, yet he