The New York herald., 1867-02-19

posed the frst Of that series or agrarian laws.
"each one Of which formed an epoch In the his
tory of Roman liberty" was in some respects
an antetype of the modern French Girondlsts.
He was doubted by his countrymen on both
sides. After his second appointment as Consul
he proposed bis agrarian law, provoked the
anger of the patricians, was deserted by the
plebeians and was executed. His fate shows
that there was no middle course to be pursued
between the factions by which the common
wealth was sundered.
.'he sad and thrilling story of Virginia was
made tae pretext for plebeian revolt and
secessio u on account of the refusal of the pa
tricians to correct the defects and oppressive
features Of t,Ne Twelve Tables. The question
Of Trebonius, a tribune. care our tribunes to
be patricians or patricians' slaves ~ was at
length settled by >slecting from the plebeians
four out OF six tribun 'es, and the promises Of
popular leaders were b eginning to be fulfilled
nearly century after We secession to tho
Sacred Hill. The patricians continued to be
divided into two parties, the moderate and the
extreme, represented at later period, the one
by Camillus, and The other by Nautilus. "a pop
ular man !" that is, supporter Nof the pie
beians, and particularly of the poor piebeians.
Camillus was checkmated by the res stance OF
the tribunes, and when again appoin. ted Dc
tator himself extended the olive brancLN to his
opponents and built q temple to the Go ddess
Of Concord. Ere long the truce expires ana
oppression reigns again. A young plebei Sn
debtor escapes from the iendish creditors ~
whom he had given himself in place of his
father, and, like the old centurion OF
former age, exposes his wretchedness to the
people. This excites an insurrection which
leads to the abolition Of Imprisonment for debt,
and, as Livy says, TO "a second beginning OF
freedom" Afterwards, during the golden age
of Rome, there. prevailed tendency on the
part OF the higher faction of the patricians and
the lower class OF the plebeians to coalesce, for
the sake, on both sides, of obtaining greater
superiority over the moderate party. The best
patricans and most eminent plebeians were
then combined with all the middle classes into
great popular party. aN
The whole history Of the Roman Common
wealth offers no more splendid examples OF
popular men" than the sons in whom Corneiia
exultcd as the mother of the Gracchi. Tiberius
Gracious had imbibed the liberal opinions
which he was accustomed to hear expressed
by his father and his fathers distinguished
guests. Those old Roman Girondists were at
first his abettors, as well az connsellors, in his
scheme for modifying privileges which they al
saw had become dangerous y the State. Bat
not few Of fhsm shrank beSk - soon a fhsy
became apprshsnsive tiat 10 urging the cialns
of the cpmnonalty TO ; aiyisian of Tho p.biic
domain their yeang friend wss &ipssf bsiag
hurried oa too SAst to drew say cause sflae
him to advantage. But even II be had wished
himself to retrace his steps, "the cause was no
longer under his control, since he had made n
the public property of his partisans" Afterhs
had been struck down by one Of bis colleagues
and killed by another and his memory had
been blackened with q monstrous charge vIof
having aspired to the tyranny, the people never
theless could not be deferred from the protects
which he promulgated, and his opponents
dared not repeal the agrarian law, which now
wentby his name. His brother, Caius Grscchus,
continued the great work bequeathed 70
him by Tiberius until he likewise persisted
in the cause of the people. "He sowed," ssys
the historian, "the seeds Of war of hundred
years." Sixty years later than the passage u
the law which took the name Of Tiberlus, Cesar
himself Inherited the popularity Of the Graocm
by bringing forward with all the weight oe -
official position as consul, aud successfully, .
new agrarian law. All are familiar with fbe
care he took to retain amid his subsequsne
enormous accumulation Of powers the claims
Of an avowed champion Of the people. At his
funeral Antony told the people =
You ell did sse that on tho LspercaI
thrice presented him kingy crown. ~.
Which be did thrice refuse.
The eloquent voice Of Cicero was not listened
to amid the din of fierce contending factions.
His counsels were at once too moderate and
too undecided. His was the fatal reward Of all
waverers in troublous times. The Same in
exorable law governs ancient and modern
revolutions The strong and bold, as we'll -
the tImid and feeble, must yield to.the popular
pressure or fall beneath it. aft
The history Of the last hundred years OF the
Roman Commonwealth il largely the history Of
. contest between pstricians and plebeians,
which lasted until the great Roman oligarchy
was broken down and the herd Of paupers and
slaves was yoked to the triumphal car or
military despotism. In England the long
struggle between King and Parliament, which
cost Charles the First his head, was ended by
the revolution OF 1000. In the French revolu4
ton, which beheaded Louis the olxsss-.h the
Girondists had to give way to the Jacobins.
The recent constitutional reforms conceded
by the Emperor Napoleon the Third show that
in France the revolutionary conflict has not
yet been finally decided. In England the cry
for reform is but the signal for a renewal Of
the old conflict between the privileges of On
oIinarchu and fba rinhfa nf tho. ,,onr,la II, fho