The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1883-05-05


murder of our little sister Peru, because Of
this amazing weakness this total loss o
maritime power,
So Europe and France, which once aided
us to galnnatiOnai existence and afterwards
arrested the destruction of Greece, We,
lately constrained to witness the violation
al the neutrality OF the Sucz canal and the
overthrow of Egypt, for want OF unity and
for wantof maritime strength TO prevent
1t. But there it was mighty England, Tory
f. gland, that was the aggressor, and
whose maritime power dominates Tho
world, rs does Its navigation and com
merce sad It's peculiar influence and poll
cies. Is it atheism OF love OF money thu
causes our people and statesmen to be over
borne by tteachery and bribery, or what il
the matter with themy
Even Pagan Greece always was strong
true and wise enough to eliminate sucl
influences, punish such offenders, an,
IN Ike love of country more honorable thar
love Os civil war and Office holding.
Immediately after the greatest struggle
Of ancient united Greece against eastern
ahsolutism, and after one of the most glor
ious victories for human freedom and
nationality ever aecn on earth, the very
general who lad been most honorcd with
high command, undertook to hetraY his
country to imperialism unite il with Persia
and himself ard family, with the royal
family OF that great cmplre, which then
dominated the world This rem erkable
political lesson is not to old for us 10 re-
member and respect. Not even the grta,
military services of Psusaniu5 could save
hun from the felon's death, which he richly
deserved and which saved Greece. So, long
before, Mi.tiades, after winning the great
battle OF Marathon, had 10 march his army
at once upon Athens lest the imperial party
there should snrr 'nder the city 10 the Per.
sian feet, which after their defeat at Mar
a,hon came there for that very purpose,
Datis knowing well that many wealthy
Athenians were plotting for the restoration
Of Hippas to the head Of the government,
and preferred strong concentrated or I'M
perial government to democracy. Hippias
was with Da.ls, the Persian commander,
and was in communication with "his party"
IN Athens
So 1t will readily be seen that it vas not
the Persian military power only against
which Greece had to contend. II was a
contest OF two political principles that from
the beginning of history to the present hour
have constantly commended.
In that endless contest of the past and
the present we know little OF the power OF
bribery and intrigue and party feeling up
on great many men. History tells ia
little and the press OF our tunes seems al
most ~ If forced to conceal the mo VITA!
facts or else present them in a false lieh',
and many of the largest journals are pun
llshed solely for pecuniary profit, and real
control IS not allowed 10 their editors by
any means Wise and patriotic Greece was
saved from the power OF the corrupt and
crring ambition Of that age, and the light
Of her peoples genius and advancement
produced the stock upon which modern
civilization has been grated.
But would Greece have been saved II her
language and literature and religion had
been the same as that Of imperial Persia,
and her laws and ancestry nearly the Same'
That is u question we would do well To
ponder when we sec the horrors OF need
less fratrlcidal war We would do well to
ponder 1t when VIC learn that financial
changes, ruinous To our national Interests
had been affected by criminal means We
would do well to ponder it when we see
our navigation and maritime power swept
away by treaChery ana iRcapacity, and the
Daren and Illinois canals kept back and
opposed or delayed by a hidden power
which we feel and suffer from but cannot
see.
SCHEMES OF VAST AMBITION, aided by
intrigue and bribery, penetrating every
81 "a AZ
on this eartA were more
deep, powerful, deccitful and dangerous
than those formed aud carried into effect
by the FEUDAL ISLAND LORDS, capitalists
and merchants. Never on this earth were
bribery and intrigue, in all their varied,
unknown and nameless forms, more dan.
gerous than when welded by them. Lord
in one of his last works, puts
in the mouth Of leading female star the
sentiment that land and religion were the
great powers in politics. They use these,
and they Use money, the beauty of women,
and everything that will give success,
wealth and power. They have their prin
cIples OF honor, but the leading and gov
nrnng principle is to gain success, domln
ion, wealth and power.
Their characters are drawn in the events
and affairs of modern history, and the
greller their extremity, the more deter
mined will be their efforts and the mo-e
deadly and INSCRIPTIONS the means they
will resort to. They have the undoubted
supremacy now, on this planet, and their
fixed and unaitcrabie purpose is to keep
it and extend it more and more, come what
may. This is the eighth year OF short crops,
but instead of meeting the voice OF nature
and considering the abolition OF the law ut
they propose now OF late
that nearly all the land should he devoted
TO parks. The navigation OF the world
and It's maritime power they OF course IN
tend To keep securely, and extend and fix
the price OF the produce OF the world. All
this means for us the repression OF the
genius and energies Of our people and
country, and the turning them, AS now,
into inferior and subordinate channels, lit
tie development of wealth among the
masses, little foreign commerce, save with
Europe on her terms, and in short the pre-
ponderance i'll every way ct the island
lords over ali the continents, II docs not
mean the grand future we might reach and
should aspire to for our own good and the
good of Others.
It. may easily mean for Us the rule Of
bribery, false issues, trcschery and incapa
city, and may mean, at any time when least
expected, either foreign war or civil war,
Or hpth