Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1865-06-01
Bradford 3eporter,
Towanda, Thursday, June l, 1865.
BRUTUs AND HIS INIITATORs.

dency, and has had more imitators, than
that of Junius Marcus Brutus, in assisting
in the assassination of Cesar (Brutus
was really the sole assassin, for had he OPP
posed the conspiracy, this notorious and
infamous crime would not have been COM
mitted) That which has ever given this
bloody deed plausibility and favor, is the
villainous apology Shakespeare in his trag-
edy of Caesar makes for his detestible
crime 1t was not that Brutus "loved
Rome more and Caesar less" that led the
former into this deed of perfidy, but vaunt-
ing and devilish ambition. His whole pub
lie life proves this, and it was famed into
fury by the restless and bold ability of the
no less culpable, and no less aspiring Cass-
ius, his brother-in law From the hour of
Julius Caesars murder until the present
day. he has been denounced as the worst of
tyrants =; and yet, he was the best man in
Rome, in his day and generation, the vain
glorious self laudatons of Cicero to the
contrary notwithstanding.
The proud government of Rome was rent
assunder between rival factions which des-
olated the land, and that made the streets
of the imperial city red with its best blood.
Law was no longer known, and only as one
or the other of the butchers of Roman cit
izens held sway, was there any head in the
wild uproar which reigned. 1t was from
this condition of anarchy that Caesar
raised Rome to be again peaceful and pros
porous. The invaluable services rendered
to the nation in these times Of peril, are
not taken into account when Judgment is
passed on Caesars life and so it is too,
with Napoleon Bonepart.e He raised France
out of the most horrible condition a nation
and society can fall into--there is no record
Of human depravity which surpasses that
of the French nation, Immediately follow
ing the assumption of power on the part Of
Napoleon-and he set up law, order and
religion, where cut-throat vagabonds were
|urlctcd with plumber and blood ; and
when jud gmcnt is passed on the man who
rtjscd the nation out of this pandemonium
of discurd, no account is taken of the i'm
mcnsc service he rendered, not only tC
France, but to the civilized world. He is
abused 10y ignorant scriblers and writers
for not establishing a republic in France, a
thing as impossible as it is to build rail
road to the moon.
In social and civil position, the gang of
consprators who murdered Caesar were
above the infamous villains who murdered
our good President, but only in this. In all
other respects they were as despicable and
murdered their country's and their own
benefactor. For Brutus held high posi-
tion as governor of Macedonia under Ca-
sar's government and in order to further
his political interests, he joined hands with
Pompey, who had slain his father, forget
ting what was due to an hOnored sire, and
himself as his descendent, in his lust for
power. With all his ability-and he is ad-
mitted to have been one of the first intel
lects of Rome--Brutus was unable to sat
isfy his cotemporaries that the assassina-
ton of Caesar was right, yet he labored
hard to this end, in his public speeches, and
he was compelled to fly like a criminal
from his country Then he raised an army
in foreign lands, with which he strove to
subdue his country, and secure the supreme
t,,I hi e bnJ 20; Cd IL,
bring him and this assassin and traitor
has been held up as paragon of republi-
can patriotism, by dull-headed historians
who had not the wit to discover that this
double-criminaPs acts belied his plausible
reasoning, and thereby were led into eyre
gorius blunders in regard to his true char
acter. The man who asserts that Caesar
destroyed the liberties of Rome asserts that
which facts do uot warrant Rome was
one of the most wretched despotism on the
earth when Caesar became its ruler, and it
had been so for years. He took the gov
ernment out of weak, prohigate, corrupt
and vassalating hands, where and when no
human right, either of person or property,
was secure, where whole political parties
were murdered and driven out of the coun-
try, i'll order that the masters might divide
among themselves the property left behind,
only in turn to be murdered and driven out
by another. 1t was this kind of republic
that Caesar subverted by mild rule, and
beneticcnt administration and whether
it was his design to build up republic, or
monarchy, is not really known, for his
enemies slew him before this became man
ifcst. As they could only succeed in their
nefarious and selfish schemes through the
disorders which previously prevailed, they
destroyed him and his government, and it
Is these enemies who gave testimony
against Caesar, and can it be reliable
About as much as that of j Jefferson Davis
and J. Wilkes Booth is worth against
Abraham Lincoln. Not one whit more
1t is the miserable perversions of the facts
Of Roman history and especially the great
poets wonderful candation of Brutus' per
sonal qualities which have magnifcd Cae-
sar into belstly tyrant, and his chief ass