Louisiana capitolian. (Baton Rouge, La.) 1879-1881, 1881-05-28

must help us. Our State, our country,
the world, should and will be the better
for their and our lab0rs.
The Pike Donation to the Library.
Mr.. Pike has conferred an obligation
not only upon the Institution, but upon
all the citizens of Baton Rouge and Of
the neutrality-suspicious., by donating to
the University Library number of
volumes ofbound journals, dating back
as far rs 1922.
The collection is one Of far more than
local, it is of national interest 1t pre-.
sents to our gaze panorama of the pro-
gress of the United States, from the Pre-
sidency Of James Monroe to within ten
years of the present time. 1t is not a
dry chronicle of events, it has all the gay
coloring, all the variety, which a dry
historic record has not. 1t presents us
with true picture Of the society Of by
gone days, it marks the progress, the
giant-strided progress, Of this remarka-
bic country, and teaches us to look upon
the shifts and changes in the principles
of eminent statesmen with more than
leniency, tor such records as those now
upon our shelves, show clearly how
principles, accepted as fundamental,
immutable and eternal, can after the
lapse of but few years, ''vanish like
the baseless fabric Of. vision," before
that ror popuH which we are in the habit
of terming, correctly or not, toe del.
Isit not interesting to read in the Loui-
siana Advertiser of June 18th, 1924, that,
"At a meeting of the friends OF Gen. An
drew Jackson convened by public notice
at Dawes ball room on the evening of
the 9Th instant, N. Girod, in the Chair,
and Alf. Hennen, Secretary. it was
Resolved, That we wish to testify our
gratitude to Gen. Andrew Jackson, for
his unparalleled services rendered to
Louisiana, and to the Nation, by uni
ting in his election to the Presidential
Chair, and that it is the deliberate con-
viction of this meeting that the great
public services of Gen. Jackson, both as
statesman and soldier, his undertaking
adherence to Republican principles
through all the vicissitudes Of his life,
his transcendent talents, his undeniable
patriotism, and his unsullied virtues,
eutitle him to the first Office in the gift
of the American people"
Among the signers of these resolutions
is to be remarked the name of J. B.
Wilt, Sr.
In view of the great change that has
taken place in public sentiment during
the last twenty-five or thirty years, of
the events which caused the late war,
of the personal character of Presidential
candidates and of the obsequious honors
paid to royal perSonages visiting the
United States, it is not little amusing,
ave. and instructive to read the follow
ing from the same paper, dated July
4th, 1924: "On this anniversary of the
declaration Of our Independence, about
forty gentlemen sat down to an excel
lent dinner at Elkin's Hotel, after which
the following toasts were drunk:
"May the sun of Liberty which rose on
that day to dispel the darkness that en-
veloped an oppressed yet virtuous people
continue to shine until the nations of
the world shall be lighted to freedom
and glory.
"The United States. Their collected
strength achieved their liberties, their
collected wisdom decreed their Union,
may their collected vengeance, light on the
man who shall mediate their dissolution ;"
"Washingtou! Deep and silent shall
be our sorrows for uhen shall ne see his
like again !"
"The Confederated Tyrants OF Europe,
wholly ignorant, wholly devoid of holi
ness, we look upon them as a holy set Of
scoundrels i"
"The next President! In despoticIgov-
ernments the rulers claim is founded
upon birth, in ours, 1t rests upon the
peoples will and is al,rays bestoced on
rirtue or merit w
1t is scarcely necessary to say that
American politicians have made great
progress since that day, and have long
since ceased to regard high position in
the Republic as the reward of such quail
itications as rirtue on merit.
The editor of cur daily papers. sitting
in his saRctum and preparing for publ
cation the details of events happening
but a few hours previous. in Pekin, st.
Il n Il