Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1872-01-17
The Tragedr and Its MeanIng.

Herald comments upon the assassin
tlon of Col. Jas. Fisk, jr., and thinks
the tragedy does teach and should
teach great lesson to the American
people, who have been swiftly drift
ing out into an ocean of chaos and
ruin. 1t says:
Generations will read with varied
feelings of the strange, romantic life
of "the Prince of Erie, and, in clos
ing the chapter which records 1t, we
have this thought :-"What shall We
say of the society which developed
'the Prince of Erie,-what of the gen.
Grafton which made his death possi-
BILE % Every age and every peoI Il find
themselves reflected in the men they
give and the deeds they do. We
speak of the revolutionary Duke Of
Orleans but he was the offspring of
his time, its luxury, its extravaganza,
its defiance of law and religion and
Gods ordinances. What was George
Prince ofWales, the first gentleman of
Europe, but the concentrated dandy
ism and extravaganza Ofan era Of folly
and fashion Aaron Burr was the
outgrowth of that loose morality
which came with the s'ieial upheaval
that succeeded our Revolution. Rob
espierre was the man of his time and
his race. He was possible to a mad
dened people, wild with thirsting for
the blood Of kings. He was impOssi-
BILE to the calmer and more practical
men. whose leader was Bonaparte.
Degenerate France expressed itself in
Louis Napoleon and his gang Of ad-
venturers-De Morny and Fleury and
st. Arnaud and the reckless gam
blers with the wealth and glory Of the
richest and most renowned nation Of
Europe. Regenerate Germany Is
seen in the manly genius Of Bismarck,
the honesty and valOr OF Kaiser Will
liam.
The Prince of Erie was representa-
tive. DO we know what we have
been doing, and whittier we have been
drifting these later years ? This is q
volcanic period, and the lava stili rolls
over US, The war was a great upheaY-
81. The work Of a century has been
undone in a day. Old customs, tradi-
tlens, constitutional rights, respect
for property and law have been over
thrown as easily as POmpeii and Her
culaneum. The slave power, which
was imperial ten years ago, Is now
despised and offensive. King Cotton
has been dethroned and his Kingdom
given to serfs. The invincible Tam
many has been dashed in pieces, as
with potter's sherd. The democrat
ic party which made Jackson irresist-
ible Is now as helpless as Napoleon's
army retreating before the COssacks.
The Pontiff of the venerable Catholic
Church has been driven from the
Quirinal, and a usurping King sits in
the palace OF the successors Of st,
Peter and the Vicegerent Of Christ.
Napoleon, whose frOwn made Europe
tremble, Is q harmless exile among
the trees and garden walks Of Chisel-
hurst. Still the volcano burns.
Kings sit upon rocking thrones.
Society is like the mas Of molten f1re.
Men war upon the Church and State
nay, even upon saeraments ssneu=
fed by centuries of reverence. We
are told that there is no God that
Christ is a fiction ; that marriage IS
bondage that none shall live in mar
riage, and that in the general over
throw the hearth and home and fami-
ly itself must perish,
In this age Of ehaOs-.this heaylng,
age-an things are possible.
The life of this Prince Of Erie-his
sad, tragic, sudden death-whatever
we may call it-are natural phenome-
ma. Let US look to it and apply the
lesson which is written upon this
davis chronicle in such terrible bloody
letters. Society needs . general puri
fication. The war did its share, but
more remains TO be done. The Pyr-
amid's spoke to Napoleon with the
lessons Of forty centuries. Shall this
republic hope to have forty oentd-
ries'i Of existence? =? See what Rome
didin her three hundred years OF re-
life. The memory Of that
epoch is ever present. 1t gives US
Brutus. We are about to close the
first century of our nations life.
What have we given to tbs world ?
What lesson have we taught ? How
much have we contributed to the COM
fort and happiness Of mankind Z In
our pride we may say that If Rome
gave 1.-THE world Brutus, America has
given it Warrington II is only our
pride that speaks. Rome passed
from Brutus to Heliogsbulus and Ne
70 in four centuries. We have pass
ed from Washington to this poor
Prince of Erie, But Rome did more.
She developed Caesar and made
Christ's teachings possible Even
Kings pay tribute to that splendor,
when Russia crowns her Car and
Germany her Kaiser, and adore the
Jew who paid tribute to Ii
berias, America has not reached
such a consHmmation, nor are we on
the way to 1t. i
Let us therefore bury this dead
man with all honor to the good that
was in him. why" said Mrs.
Stowe "did you love this horrible
Lord Byron, when you knew Of his
fUllies and crimes ?'f Because, my
DEAR said Lady Byron, there was
the angel in him. There was this |
in the Prince OF Erie : but his life, |
his death, and the social chaos which I
found expression In their impress up |
On ali were grave and immediate re-
Chaos seems to have |
triumphed, but is it not time the tri-
lrnph should end Is it not time that |
and order and tradition |
and religion and moral law should |
begin to reign
. ,e,4 -. ,,,,. q. a a ra.sad I