The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1891-10-02
THE LESSON THEY TEACH.

tOI Cob al ~ quilO SpdIb 1IOnl buO luOl SOAo6-
tional ending of the two noted careers. In
the first place it may serve to remind US
that the disposition "to play the Roman
fooF' in the matter of self-destruction is |
becoming stsrtlingly common, permeating !
all classes and conditions of men, from the |
poor, love- lorn idiot who blows his brains |
out because, forsooth, some bewitching |
blue-eyed or dark-eyed siren refuses to
walk the steep and thorny path of married
life with him, up to the disappointed man
of genius, ambitious of place and power
among his fellows. Among the pagan Ro
mans we may not be surprised to find sui
cides of so frequent occurrence as they |
were in the last days of the great republic;
but it is hard comment on theinfluence of
the Christianity of our age to have this
crime 80 rapidly increasing. No Deity that
the Romans worshiped had fixed his canon
against self-destruction, and many OF
their philosophers had written it down
virtue instead of a crime. But to the
men of our times the error of the Roman is
made manifest; for it is regarded as for
hidden by the solemn voice of revelation,
and by the canon of the churches, some of
WhASb AOAuoO hOIJ JULIA w bhOoO
who lay violent hands upon them
selves. 1t is also against the
canon of sanity and common sense 1t
is no longer q question as to whether it is
nobler in the mind to suffer the sings and
arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take
up arms against sea of troubles, and, by
opposing, end them. The voice of common
sense, the voice of religion, both declare
that there is no comparison between that
courage which arms patience against the
misfortunes of life and that insane frenzy
which snesks off to some secluded spot and
there commits the crime OF self-murder.
! Secondly, the fate Of these two mon
BALMACEDA and BoULANGER-may be
! looked upon as an incident serving notice
on aspirants for arbitrary power that the
day of sucn hero worship as the world has
known in the past is a thing gone forever.
The people viii have no more masters,
the world no more conquerors. We shall
see no more ALEXANDERs, or NAPoLEoNs.
Master minds there doubtless will be, and
great leaders whom the people will follow,
but not abjectly as they have followed men
in the past who have thought proper to
play the tyrant. The people to-day know
the source of power. The divinity which
was supposed to hedge about king aud
furnish him with awe and majesty is now
laughed at as one of those fables which will
perhaps serve to amuse the wonder Of lisp
ing childhood, but further than that will
serve no other purpose in the world We
live in time when it has become recog-
| l-,o
more than anybody;'' and the capacity of
men to lead hereafter viii depend upon
their ability to serve. And if there be
men who would lead and are not willing to
serve, then they will be found signing for
other worlds to conquer, for this world
will not submit to arbitrary rulers. The
reign of the people has commenced. The
principle that governments derive their
just powers from the consent of the gov.
erned is spreading on every hand, and as il
gains'placo in the minds of men it makes
beautifully less the chances for success OF
adventures who would seize upon the
reins of power and ride on to fortune over
the necks of the people.
IT IS extremely doubtful if another coun
try of Europe than France could have pro
duced, or endured for 80 long, BoULAN-
GER. Itwas the idiosyncracy of the French
nation which made it possible for such
character to arise into prominence. Tha
l people feel keenly the humiliation inflicted
upon them by Germany in 1870. To wipe
out the memory of that defeat in a splendit
victory over her enemy is the passion
: which seems to have taken possession O
France. BouLANGER was the embodimen
, of that sentiment. He took no pains to con
, ceai it. He talked it, and while at the heat
: Of the war department. did what he coul
to make preparations for it. Prince BIS
MARCK, in an evil moment, dubbed him tn
first soldier of France; and regarded hin
q as the enemy of Germany. From that mo
O ment he became the idol of the French PEG
ple-the coming NAPOLEON. His pictur
d, adorned nearly every show window i
Paris; he was cheered on the boulevard
and at the theatres, until he thought him
self greater than France, and that he coul
set at defiance the discipline of the arm
a and the authority which the people had es
tablished and respected. 1t was
-, SAD mistake and fatal to his career
y From idol he was soon reduced t
q exile. Once an exile he was soon forgo
a ten by the tickle CdnaiHe,y who ha
cheered him in Paris; and death havin
robbed him of the one companion wh
made life endurable-his mistress-h
sought a cowardly relief from his woes !
a suicides grave.
AS France alone in Europe could produc
BoULANGER, so Chill alone in Amerie
- could develop BALMAoEDA. He is bol
- man who in a republic in America will ur
:, dertake to defeat the will of the people 9
!. expressed by their representatives, an
setting them aside, undertake to establis
arbitrary rule. Yet this BALMACEp
tried, bnt failed miserably, and sougi
= relief by his own hands. Let US hope th,
- the wretched ending of these unfortuns
men and their enterprises may at lea
- have the good effect of unteaching asp
y rants the lust for arbitrary power; and
- their failure may they read the solen
); truth that the day for that sort of thing
past.
.-snsz.n..szs.zansszr-sa->
~ ACCORDING TO the Hawaiian Annual I,
1891, we bought Of Hawaii in 1880 near