The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1893-06-08
AN IMPORTANT CHAPTER IN HISTORY
BENG MADE,

enough at home 10 engross and mo-
, nopollze their attention at present.
But it will be interesting and instruc-
tive to turn from our fight for liberty
and justice here, and look across at
the Old World to see what is going
on there.
First, let us look at Belgium.
There the rank and file Of the peo-
pie, who had borne oppression until
| patience ceased TO be n virtue, arose
in their might and demanded man
hood suffrage for all the people.
The oppressors, the misrepresenta-
tives of the people who sat in the
| Legislative halls of that country,
saw that at last the people were de-
| termlned. Like Oppressors always
are, they were towards, they quailed
before the people and granted their
honest and rightful demands, not
from sense of justice, but from a
| 7'h>' vi Itdi' l. MS was all ea pidlu-
ed in an article Of week or two since.
Next let us look at Germany. There
the Kaiser gave his order to the
Reichstag to pass bill to increase
the standing army of Germany. The
people had enough Of their represen-
tatives in their Legislative halls,
who had back bone and courage
enough to even stand up against a
| King, when he is wrong, to stand by
the people and to refuse the demands
Of the King,
Now let US look at England and
| Ireland, for in fact it is about. these
that we started out to lite. Histo-
ry that will stand out prominently in
the annals of the world, is now being
made there. In fact when future
historian write about Gladstone s
great fight for Home Rule for Ire
land, and pictures out the grand old
man in his S4th year, as he stood up
before English parliament and
fought, and won great triumph for
the liberty of that down trodden
people; then he describes how this
great commoner had all the wealth
and aristocracy, and even the crown
ed head itself against him, repre-
sented by the solid ranks Of Tory
party, while to his back he had to
marshal all the various and diverse
forces of the opposition, and going
IN the fight with bare majority, and
gaining strength at each passage OF
arms, he (the historian) will picture
it as one of the grandest epochs In
history, and one of the most bill
liant achievements of any individual.
When our grand children read this
page in English History, one hun
dred years hence, they will compare
it with their own time, and wonder
why such events do not occur then
and why such men as Gladstone dc
not then live. In fact we scarcely
realize how grand the struggle is
and how much victory or defeat will
mean. But such it is always the
case with people who live while great
events in history are transpiring
They fail at the time to realize its
size and Importance. Then too, we
have to be considerably removed
from such events to fully appreciat,
: them. The old>Romans appreciated
this, and expressed it in their say
ings, "that he who is on Mount Altos
can't see Mount Altos"
The outlook now is, that Gladstone
will succeed in passing his bill
through the House of Commons tt
: give partial home rule, and local sell
government to the people of Ireland
1t is very probable that the House o.
Lords, that old barnacle all human
progress, will kill the measure, ever
if it should pass the House of Com
mons. But even if they do, the vic
tory for Gladstone will be none the
less, and the victory for Ireland will
be only delayed a few years at least
The whole world is gravitating tow
ards Democracy it is bound to come
We might state in this connection
that Ireland had home rule once
from 1882, to about 1900. But from
combination of circumstance
| (Which Gladstone's bill provides fo
avoiding,) by the free use of English
gold to bribe the Irish parliament
that country suffered the disgrace O
. apparently voluntarily surrenderint
their liberty, and again putting thei
necks under the English yoke. Th
agitation to regain home rule wa
commenced by the Irish people un
, der the leadership Of Daniel O'Con
nor in 1884. This fight has beer
t continued by Isaac Butt and others
and was carried almost within sigh
of victory by the late great Iris
leader Parnell. And to day Glad
stone, the greatest man in England
if not In the world, is carrying o.
TIE fight for that down trodden pee
e pie. To secure home rule for Ire
t land has been one of his great OF
! jects and burning desires for the las
i 10 years. 1t is probably the inspira
ton of this fight, which keeps tn
old man alive to day, and if he SUI
|, eeeds, he will probably not live
e year. But it would be a happy tim
n to Hla far ~ +bo e,&a of 1,,& 70,