The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1891-09-10
ply means GeneraD at the head of an

army. "a
In his work on the grandeur and
decay of the Romans, Montesquieu
says: The founders of the ancient re-
publics made an equal division of
lands. That alone made powerful
people; and, that alone made well
regulated society. That alone made
a good army,-each one having an
equal interest, and very great in
terest to defend his country. But
when these laws as to the holdings
of land were disregardsd, and the av-
arice of some and the prodigality of
others caused the lands to pass into
few hands, there came that state of
things which always comes when the
few are very rich, and the mass are
very poor;-the rich became luxuri-
Gus and efeminate, the poor become
depraved and debased by their sense
of dependence and their poverty.
Neither rich nor poor were capable
of being good citizens, or soldiers
worthy of the name. Between these
extremes the Republic persisted.
The Empire came;-(which simply
means) one military master; all the
rest slaves
Tiberius Gracious sought to re-
sist this progress towards empire
and to save the republic. He sought
to restore an equal partition of
lands. He appealed to the Roman
Senate, in whose members much of
the wealth of Rome and a large por-
ton of the lands were concentrated,
to restore the ancient law for an
equal division of lands. In that ap
peal, he used these memorable and
prophetic words: (Which is worth
the most, citizen or perpetual
slave? soldier or a man wholly un-
fit for war? Do you wish, in order
to hold more acres of land than 9TH
er citizens, to renounCe all hope of
the conquest of the world; or to
place yourselves in danger of seeing
your enemies take from you those
very lands which you now refuse to
share with your Roman fellow citi-
zens:"
But, alas!' the avarice, effeminacy
and luxury Of the rich, and the de-
basement and decentralization of the
poor, were already too great. The
fatal disease was too deep-seated for
any cure. The Gracchi struggled;
they laid down their lives, but in
vain; for republican equality was al
ready gone. Their struggle came
too late to save.
The progress of decay went on.
The aristocracy became too feeble to
defend themselves against the stall
wart hordes of Germany. The poor
and enslaved masses had no heart or
interest to do so. The government
was overthrown and utterly persisted.
All their territories were overrun by
the sturdy barbarians. The words
of Gracious were more than real
lied. That very class.-the rich
land-holding senators to which
Gracious appealed in vain,-were
doomed to suffer most. They lost
not only all pretence of power in the
government, but they lost all their
riches, all their immense landed pos
sessions, and all their slaves. When
the barbarian leader took Rome with
fire and sword, and stabbed his horse
in the palace of the Caesars, when
when those rich and efeminate sena-
tors were his prisoners, they appealed
to his clemency for their lives and
their property. They asked him
in piteous terms: "What ransom
shall we give!" Give said he,
call your lands; all your gold and
silver and jewels, and set free every
slave" "Ahr' said the desperate
Romans, "what then will be left to
us7" 81 leave you your souls" was
his stern reply. He spared their
lives, but would promise nothing
more.
But to return to the land question:!
When those immense Teutonic
hordes from north and east of the
Danube, under the various names of
Franks, Goths, Visigoths, Burgun-
dams, Lombards, Huns and Vandals
had overrun the Roman Empire and
spread themselves through Italy,
Gaul, Spain and Northern Africa,
the very first question to arise was,
of course, the land question. In
Spain. Italy and Gaul, the barbarians
took and held about two-thirds of
the lands;-those best adapted to
focks and herds, to which they were
accustomed from time immemorial.
They left about one-third, those best
adapted to tillage, to the old inhab-
itants of the empire. For, as Caesar
and Tacitus inform US, those war
like barbarians did not desire TO at
tach themselves to the soil. They
did not love to till the ground.
They lived, mainly, upon the milk
and cheese and flesh of their focks
T.