The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-07-04
Hut perhaps the story of Iceland

| cape TIC OHOIcSSlca VI tAiC W. " 1000
| Swedish and Danish kings recalls the
| tale of our Puritan ancestors. The
new land they sought was even
| sterner than ours; but they estab-
| lished there the same free gov
| eminent which was SO long after
wards proclaimed in New England,
and. like ours, their progress and pros
perity were beyond expectation. A
purer. harder, healthier community
! has never been seen; and IceIandlc lit
| erature can compare for elevation and
I brilliancv with the best of her con-
| temporaries But four hundred years
went by, and then Iceland, grown too
! wealthy to be strong or contented,
| Welded her liberties to Norway, and
later to Denmark, whose vassal she
still remains.
The list of republics that havspassed
away may close with the United Neither
! lands and the first French republic.
They were both founded on blood, shed
during ages of intolerable oppression
in the case of the Netherlands, and
during the terrific revenges of the
reign of terror in that of France. The
first deserved their freedom, and used
it well: and the declaration of the in
dependence Of the united provinces in
1913 was the beginning of splendid
and useful career AS for France,
it is not easy to sympathize
with her management Of repub-
lican institutions during those
sanguinary years between 1892 and
1894. The provocation to outrage had
been great, and the savages who
snatched the supreme power got their
savagery by due operation of the laws
of human nature. But terrible neces-
sity, though it may serve as salutary
warning, is not therefore an agreeable
object of contempla ton. Nor need we
fear that such scenes must be repeated
in order to enforce the lesson which
the French revolution taught. Wealth
and rank will never again be in a po-
sition to SO Cypress the poor and
humble as to render possible another
reign of terror.
The oldest existing republic in the
world is that of st. Marine, near the
shores Of the Adriatic. It was founded
thirteen hundred years ago by the
saint of the same name, who was
a Dalmatian stone-mason. He eX-
perienced religion, became q hermit,
performed miracles, and the people
focl1ed to him. The republic thus
formed now comprises five villages
with eight thousand inha bitants. The
annual expenditure of the government
is about five thousand dollars; there is a
standing army, but no printing press
or newspaper; and it's one prison is
without an occupant. The population
is homogeneous and virtuous, and has
kept itself apart from all foreign COM
plications; in consequence whereof, it
is as prosperous to-day as in any period
of its career, and there seems no rea-
son why it should not continue to be
SO for ten centuries to come. AndOrra,
on the Spanish side of the Pyrenees, is
another ancient miniature republic,
whose independence was the gift of
Charlemagne in $50. The inhabitants
are simple, industrious, hospitable
folk, employed in farming and stock
raising.
Switzerland has had several "Fourths
of July" the latest occurring in 1S4S;
but the present constitution was rati-
fed on May 90, 1874. The people are
descendants of the ancient Helvetii
who are mentioned by Caesar, and for
nine hundred years they fought for
freedom against Romans, Ostrogoths,
Burgundians and Franks. Later they
resisted the Austrians and the French:
but in 1902 Napoleon conceded their
independence, observing: Mature
made you to be federative state; no
reasonable man attempts to conquer
nature"
The contemporary French republic,
though founded in blood like its prede-
cessor, shows the benefit of the influ-
ence of the new age. Its birthday was
February 25, 1876, and the progress of
France during the past nineteen years
has outdone all reasonable expecta-
ton. The possibility of relapse into
monarchy or imperialism is not entire
ly past; it might come from causes
either internal or external; but there
is every porspect that were change to
tciLiC AZ NoUlo iioo AoSb ioIS. LII
ropean monarchs are on their last legs;
and the great war, should it come, will
probably result in general federation
of states, whose natal day will be even
moro momentous and salutary than
our own.
As for Liberia, the Transvaal and the
Orange Free state, their condition is
too insignificant and their future too
precarious to detain us. The repub
lies of Hayti and San Domingo seem to
indicate that the negro is incapable of
self-government. The Central Amer
lean republics are born one day to ex-
pire the next. The sun Of the tropics
appears to be hostile to steadiness and
constancy. without which true political
freedom is impossible. But Mexico,
since 1857, and notably under the sway
OF President Disz, has taken her place
among nations with n strong, healthy
assurance of continuance. In South
America. Chilli, in 1885, and Brazil the
other day. have made themselves free
OF hereditary sovereigns. The Argen-
tine republic, founded May Is, 1888. has
been hitherto costly experiment for
European fnanciers. and the same may
be said of Bolivia. Paraguay, Uruguay
and Peru. Dictators and bondholders
have played havoc with these weak
and turbulent communities. Nowhere
in the earth. perhaps. is man yet good
and wise enough to merit free govern
ment; but it is better to look upward
than downward, and the glorious
promise of our own Fourth of July will
educate US up to its own ful6llment-
TTIIkS HAWTHORNE