Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1870-07-13

manic Chambers, and behold great mef
running up and down them in hot haste
as if they intended to throttle the God
dess of Liberty or set the Temple Q
Freedom on fire. But perhaps th'
noblest notion of all was that which IN
lauenced the brethren of Joseph to con
spire against him and without mercy cas-
him into well, as the desire to put ou
of sight every one who possesses the leas
spark Of genius or exhibits a symptom
of generosity in his transactions Will
the world still exists; while the oldest Of
all was the fancy Demos took in the yeal
B. C. 1895 in calling in thunder tones
for that useless, expensive and uncon'
trolable piece of furniture yclept king
To be sure it cannot be said the sons OF
Samuel, like some Of the sons of Sam
and all the sons of Ham, disdained the
touch of filthy lucre or were averse to
brides; but it must be freely confessed
the evils which fell on Demos at that
time, in consequence Of their cringing
love of loyalty, outweighed the good
achieved by the wise and the brave ave.
Indeed Samuel's two books contain a
war record wonderful in its account OF
the numbers slain, of the vast extent OF
property confscated, and Of the curious
pieces of plate carried off by loyal SOL
diers; and exceeds in graphic descrip--
ton the war record of Harpers Weekly,
though it does not present as many pic
lures of poverty nor prisoners, nor a S
counts of commissioned officers who
filled their pockets with other people $
spoons. -A,r
A very fine notion at one time entered
the classic head of the Spartan philoso-
pher Lycurgus to root out the prolific
evils of envy and avarice and luxury by
that much-to-be-desired form of govern
ment called constitutional, by the highly
praised system of an equal division OF
lands, by the free-and-easy method of
using money manufactured out of iron,
and by the lovely and unconventional
and picturesque and harmonious way of
a general dining at a common table; but
the perplexing trouble with the illus
trious reformer was that (like great
many other reformers) he found it easier
to plan his political workshop than to
build it on lasting foundation and keep
its simple machinery in motion. He
soon discovered that while some
parts of his government were re
smooth, others were re-
rough; and hence arose
among the Thebans saying that in
Sparta freeman was most a freeman
and slave most a slave: distinction
not altogether lost sight Of. in these
days of freedom and frolic. I
We must grant, however, that the Spar
tans like some of the settlers of New
had rather queer notions, and
were sometimes extremely whimsical,
always tough and illiterate, although
they claimed to be the most enlightened,
most liberal, and most religious people
on the face of the globe. They never
failed like the Puritans in aftertimes)
to boast of their virtue and simplicity,
while they made the poor helots till their
fields, cook their food, and perform every
mean kind of work without any compen-
sation save kick and a cuff
No one, we hope. is in the least sur
prised at the admirable notion which
influenced the mind of the founder Of
Rome to lead in triumphal way through
the streets of his seven-hilled city old
men dressed in boys garments, with blue
ribands around their necks and q herald
proclaiming before them: Sardians to
be Sold" for this custom of one making
fools of many may still be witnessed on
election days, when party leader BY
peculiar mods and winks indicates that a
number of his eaptiyes are TSardines for
sale" Indeed it may have been this
odd republican practice which caused
the Judeans to look Ipon the Romans
as barbarians, fond of swearing and
staggering, and addicted to drinks Of
very strong favor However that may
have been, no one will have the hardihood
to deny that Brennus was filed with
very high notion of humanity when he
left the Romans without a city, because
his style of fireworks has been followed
up to the present enlightened period,
and caused some men to be lauded as
soft-souled saints who would otherwise
have appeared in the public eye as
hardened sinners. Itwould be tedious
task to enumerate all the high notions Of
tine Romans from the invasion Of Hanni-
bal to the triumvirate of Caesar, Pompey
and Crassus, who like other ilIustrious
statesmen) thought it a capital thing in
their favor to fall out and become bitter
enemies. Enough that Cesar for while
was the conquering hero, defeating every
body, from the Helvetii down to the bat
tie of Munda, a year after which fortunes
tide turned against him and he fell By
the dagger of Brutus, who in turn fell
upon the field at Philippi. CHANGING
over the power and pomp Of those pa
gans one is struck with the similarity of