New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-03-20

pled8uut COuHitlOus lnoy atA NV 49,
he was n danger fcr feet Of paving their heads
taken or There is the older story Of MaIsyas. who
dreamed that he had cut the throat OF Dionysius.
"Hs never would hare dreamt Of such thing ny
night,p sagaciousIy observed tho astute monarch
!" if he had not thought Of it by day" and 50 COM
mitted the uniucky dreamer 20 the hands OF tine ex
ecutioner An indiscreet speech about royalty mas
coat many wretch his life. Swifts chapter Ia
"GuIllyer's Travels" satirizlng the unUertafn ana
frivolous provisions Of tho law Of high treason is
masterpiece Grasta, in speech FOR Reform 10 the
irish Honse Of Commons said: 81 dsliks the CRY Of
fear because 1t has been the cry Of fyrants since
the beginning of the world" William GOWN sit
sing in his little bookshop and much nieditanns
after grim fashion upon Political Jnatice said'
"There is no disposition that clings SO Close
to despotism as incessant terror and alarm
The eve OF the tyrant is never closed
With what solid gravity Lord Bacon dis
courses of the sorrows Of kings, Who being az
the highest. want matter OF desire. which makes
their minds more languishing; aud have many rep
Of peril, which make their minds less
clearo Let me conclude this part OF the subject
with the confession which Gibbon sayswa made oy
Abdul Rahman: 81 have now reigned above nity
years 10 victory and peace beloved by my subjects
dreaded by my enemies, and respected by my allies.
Riches and honors power and pleasure. have waited
on nv call nor does any earthly blessing appear to
have BEEN wanting to my felicity. In this situation
have diligently numbered the days OF pure and
genuine happiness, which have fallen to my lot;
thew amount to fourteen.n VdRiids rasstatam!
fortnight In fifty years What days OF polished
pertufbation1! What nights with the ports OF
slumbsr open wide" Something OF this has oeen
the fortune OF the monarch whom traitor hands nave
now stretched upon his dreamless bedi The great
bells will toll over him. the wall of priest and peo-
pie will fill the cold bright sky above him.; bearded
lips will sneer with contempt or curl with undyiue
rage as they carry him to his sepulchro; but
after all these years Of ceaseless apprehension the
reoIcide has proved his best physician, and
those who revered and loved him. as prince and as
uriest. will hardly wish him back to the drudEery
of statecraft, to the gded slavery and pompous
wretehedness Of rcigning.
There ia one assassination of an Emperor about
which the world has not yet ceased to talk Julius
Cesar, like the late Emperor Of Russia was struck
down by the dacgers Of patrcian consprators, while
he was considering important political reforms.
sixty Young men were enough to thwart the designs
and TO terminate the of one OF the greatest
of generals most prudent and acute OF statesmen
noblest oforators andablest of writer's The twenty
three wounds which he received were thrice thar
number. each more mortal, inflicted upon the body
poitic The reign of Augustus followedj bat
after him Caliqula Claudus Nero Galba, Othol
There WAS Vepasan. it Is true, and Titus; but
there was also Domitian; there were Nerva, ira
ian AntOninus. Aurelius; but there were also
Commodus, Heogabalus, Caracalia. The corrup-
ton Of the Roman court covered the best part oil
the worlt; the Empre languished, and finally
perished Horace bad proclaimed Augustus, while
still living, q Deity; and worse poets aid
To- QfGprWar1. but
their divinity proved itself of very NOR
tai sort, n cruelty aud pride made the
Roman world wish that it's divine governors had
something more OF simple humantyin their natures.
{" Jnlius Cesar" says Mommsen, worked aud
created as never any ortsl did before or after HIM
and "a {. worker and creator he STILL after weinigh
two thousand years, lives in the memory OF the
natous-the frst, and the unique, lmperator
Cesar
Ibelleve that no historian spoke of the assas-
sinatiou of Henry the Fourth at the hands OF Ra-
yaillae as other than calamity TO France After IT,
came again the woe and waste OF a civil war. pro-
lonesd for years. Philip the Second has no very
fraaraut place in the annals OF the world; but IN
the list OF his particularly indefensbe deeds MS
employment OF Baitazar Gerard to kill William OK
Orange Is most UNANIMOUSLY conspicuous. IL VIII be
remembered that the Spanish monarch had kept be-
fore Tho interruptions and desperate OF me earth
for some time the offer OF reward OF 2o.OJOcrowns
and patent of nobility TO whoever would kiu the
PRINCE. DID the thin legs of Philip grow
thioker1 VIVA an inch added to his stature !
Was he moro robust and less dyspeptic.
after the removal of mis- great and wise
adversary What became of his inyncible
ArnadaP As he lay dying Of q large proportion OF
the diseases 20 which the human frame ssubJeet, In
the superb palace of the Escuria, suppose that his
long career Of wickedness gave him the greatest
satisfaction. Such Is the curious character OF hu-
man nature. OF this specially disagrceable king. 1t
"a true one usually thinks with pitiful commiscra-
tion. as the husband Of Mary the Bloody, Of Eng
land, This poor chin, drOpscal invalid OF Qaeen
would even have spared hereto or two for the
sake Of winning her Spanish husbands love. He
STAYED with her little than a year. and then
left her with no other recreation than the roasting
of Rcrormers including the almost canonzed John
Rogers the lively conversation OF Bonner and Gardi-
ner aud the unpleasant prospect OF being succeeded
Mt an early day by her sister Elizabeth. Philip
STAYED with her for yearI wish, for his SINS that
it had been multiplied by twenty.
There have been executions Of royal personages
which were little better than assassipations.
pow much better off would Richard the
Second of England have been il those who
desDoiled him of his crown aud his life, had
granted him the formality Of trial--how much
better Edward the Second for the poor boon which
the Queen Of the Scots and Marie Antonette had
These two unfortunate women are perpetual figures
in the charoscura OF history. and each by the inde
fepsible manner, Of her death has won the worlds
sympathy, which otherwise she must have missed.
In the company of women to-day 1t Is lot safe to
saw critical word of either. Lamartine, writer
of poetical and therefore, chvalrcus nature, has
summed mp the character Of the French Queen
tersely. Women" he says, $50 sublime IN their
sefdeyotion are rarely capable of the sleadness OF
purpose and the GOODNESS necessary TO apan OF pol
ICY. Their policy is in the heart; their feelings act
too closely on their reason. OF all the royal virtues
k.-k ris ~ m