New Orleans Republican., 1871-03-26


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Mr.. yoax 6te6it mn ~ 51sns = ~
an adnitted asfAsaiv son svssy abjsct|
about which he chooses 70 declare him
self, is given as testimony that The people
are demoralized and weakened by
being deprived s0f an ownership
in the land. Thus, England and
Ireland are suffering from many po-l
htical and social Ills which might be
cured If the coil Was parceled ont ana
the people raised to the dignity Of small
proprietora France is pointed 70 as An
example. When the great estates were
broken up in 1859. the land was divided
among 1--WE OF six millions Of famaies'
and from that day 10 this there has been
continual growth Of prosperity and .
constant disinclination to go to war.
Wealth increased and comforts accumu-
lated. This is what Mr.. Mills considers
the elevation of the human race.
In 1914 the people Of France were not
old enough in the freeAolA business 70
appreciate this landed endowment as they
did in 1870. Foxty thousand boys. COM
paratively speaking. held Blucher in check,
and almost stopped the advance on Paris.
In 1871 France could barely muster fifteen
hundred thousand men when she ought
to put in the field 1--WE millions Of soldiers.
The South, with barely eight millions of
white people. counted almost as many
men in her armies ~ the empire did
Was this delay OF absence of her men an
evidence of decentralization on the part of
France? And if il was. what had the
division of the lands and the creation of
comfort to do with producing this demo-
ralization? Yet the South was much more
evenly parcelled out into small farms than
France, and there was also greater degree
Of independence. The North, too. sent
greater armies into the field than France,
speaking comparatively as relates to popu-
lation. and Jet her landed estate was
even more uniformly divided than it was
in the South.
So it will be seen that Mr.. Mills pro-
position falls to tie ground It will not
hold water N any sense. If he accepts
the enervation and military weakness Of
France as greatness that is desirable be-
cause it shrinks from wars, then he must
denounce as vain and foolish the strength
that manifested itself in the United States.
If he~dheres to his argument that di-
vision Of the land elevates the people, how
can he reconcile the demoralization Of
France with the stalwart energy and ac-
tivity Of America? Both distribute their
lands among the people, and if this is the
secret of success then the empire should
have been stronger than the republic, be-
cause it was more populous and almost as
agrarian.
There is something besides these landed
questions that rests at the bottom Of ma
tionAl greatness. In fact, there is an in
teresting question to be settled as to what
this thing called national greatness is. Is
it muscle, mind or money? By arriving
at the answer to this question, We get at
the secret of Mr.. Mills suggestion. He
prefers England as she b rolling in wealth,
to England as she was under the warlke
monarchs, poorer in money, but aggres-
sive in politics. And the only improve
ments which he suggests are those that
propose greater creature comforts at home.
and greater disinclination in the people
to engage in war.
But what do we come to if the strength
and endurance of the soldier is eliminated
from the human family? Will MIR. Mill
answer this question? When men cease
to fight they sink into dissipation. Whsn
the world fails to grow soldiers it raises
up coxcombs. Look at Paris. In 1898 a
girl would not have ventured into society
under fifteen or eighteen years of age, and
the youth of France went to school or
played hooky until they were twenty.
Now, the miss Of FIVE fiddles with her fan
and frizzes her hair, while the boy of ten
can lead his father through the mysteries
of the .ardin Mabile, where the demi-
monde sometimes dance half naked. Is
this the result Of subdividing the soil ?
Take the back counties of England, where
the patriarchal acres yet acknowledge
their ancient masters, and these things
are unknown. Now, which does
Mr.. Mill consider the highest
and civilization-the mode
that enervates France or the mode
that prevails in England. If peace and
luxury ara the ends of life, we may get
one answer. If natural troubles and ply
,ical groweth to overcome them are our
greatest blessings, because they teach us
happiness by contrasts of sunshine and
shadow, then We may get another. But
N no event will it be correct if the phil
,sopher replies that the chain and COM
pass of the surveyor are the evidences of
human greatness. ALI systems fail, and
he argument that is good in France loses
is force in Germany. Perhaps tits the
mixture of races. Perhaps it is the eli
natic law. National sentiment is de-
'troyed by fusing nationalities. National
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