Litchfield enquirer., 1881-08-11
Progress, Whitber

where much the same characteristics The small, frugal state whose citizens are all poor together, and whose prosperity is founded on the hard manual labor of all, is the starting point. These solid qualities give the young people an advantage over neighbors, till by slow growth and gradual increase, it toutstrips competitor after competitor and finds itself supreme in an important section of the civ ilized world. But, here, too, it comes in con- flict with opposing nations, till conquering all competition, it finally becomes the imperial people of the world, without rival or apparent danger of a rival Then begins the process of decay Social inequalities widen. The rich grow richer; the poor, poorer; till, at last, most of the independence. the manhood. has gone out of the mass of the imperial race, and to still more lamentable extent out Of | all it's subordinate races. At this point abso. lutism steps in, arrests the inevitable decline, and for @ time gives even an appearance of progress. But it is only an appearance the decline goes en, first almost imperceprbly then rapidly, till at last savagery triumphfntly bears down the effete civilization and thk re- construction of society stsrts once moro itom the bottom.
 Such in brief is the history of the rise and fall of the greatest of ancient empires-that of Rome One cannot read the history of that imperial people without conceding that their leadership of the ancient world was in no wise due to accident. but to the superior quality of man the early republic bred. Yet in how short time did au oligarchy based on slavery sap the strength of this wonderful race. An | hundred and fifty years after the tenacity of the Roman farmer soldier had tired out the military genius of Hannibal, Italy had be- come land of aristocrats and of slaves. Years before Julius Cesar founded the empire, the capacity for self government had gone out of the Roman people. The aristocracy was too high; the people too low, for anything but the mer show of republican government. A lazy, corrupt, servile populace were the suc- cessors of the stout old Roman plebs; while the later Roman noble had lost the courage, the honesty, and the capacity of the old patri- clan. Yet this was the result of 6 century and half of material prosperity and develop ment such as no country but our own can par- allel.
 The later history of the Roman Common wealth is indeed sad history for republican perusal. The American, especially, cannot but shudder at the similarity between the rul- ing class in Rome, as Sallust describes them, and the swarm of monopolizing milionaires who are fastening themselves on the industry of our own country, perverting It's produce to swell their already oYergrown fortunes, cor rupting courts, legislatures. voters-making all things here as thoroughly venal as Jugur- tha found them at Rome two thousand years ago. +.. .... ...
 Some grand points of advantage we undoubt. edly have. American aristocrats can no lon. ger wield so tremendous a weapon as slavery against the liberties of the people. Printing and the common school have raised the Amer ican citizen to higher plane of general intel ligence than was practicable to the Roman burgess. The modern discovery of representa-. tive government-a discovery Rome could not have used even if she had made it--also lends it's help to support the cause of govern ment of the people, by the people, for the people," ss
 The real danger to American institutions in this second century of our existence as peo- pie is the same that threatened Rome in the seventh century after the founding of the city unexampled material prosperity. No modern country but our own so nearly resembles Rome in this respect Masters of @ new continent, with no equal within thou sands of miles and no rival anywhere, we, like Rome after the fall of Carthage, are country with whose power and progress no other country can interfere. With an almost unlimited field for growth, with our immense, inevitable development of wealth, the ques- tion fer America day is, who shall gain that wealth. the few or the many? In Rome 1t was the few who monopolized the spells of the then known world, and the result was the ruin of the state. Are we sure that we are not hastening to the same result in America With all our unexampled material. prosperity, is the average American citizen of 1880 grow- ing more intelligent, honester, more independ ent, than the American citizen of 1880, of 17809 In spite of all our boasted material ] progress, the eventual welfare of the republic hangs on an affirmative answer to this mo- mentous question. The nation is advancing, l or retrograding-pot in proportion to it's in- crease in wealth, but proportion to it's increase in the manlness, the independence of the individual citizen. Though we build 10O,. 900 miles of railroad 1t is no gain to us as people if those miles of railroad are in the hands of few monopolsts, but less. If ! our mines and our manufscturies breed a race of masters owning them, and a race of servants working them, the country is loser in what | is worth more to @ republic than wealth. The republican reader of history, then, grows to fear this avalanche of material pros perity which may, if monopolized by the few, destroy the liberties of the many. Sudden wealth seems almost as great danger to the nation as to the individual. It IS a manure that,if suffered to lein heaps, threatens the public health and breeds nothing but weeds ; while, thinly spread it enriches the whole land It should be the chief aim of the American \ statesman to prevent these undue accumula. tions to which thoughtless people point as l evidence of an era of unexsmpled national prosperity. .,
 Virginia Bourbons had State Convention on Thursday last, and nominated Major John w. Daniel for Governor He is said to be a Bourbon of the Bourhons aud bitterly oppos, ed to common school system. In Mississip- pi the candidates of the extreme factions were both beaten and compromise candidate nominated. a, . | The House of Lords have amended the