The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1895-10-31

| =
; to the throne of the world an error
which truly great men never knowing
ly commit. In the midst of the exc
cution of his gigantic schemes, con
spiracy was formed against him,
which aimed at his life. OF the men
engaged in it. all but Brutus seem to
have been actuated by personal and
petty motives. Some Of them were of
Tended that an old comrade should
have attained such a height above
them. Some had grudges to avenge,
and others hoped to rise upon the
runs of his power. Brutus appears
to have thought that the death Of the
despot would restore Rome TO its an
cient liberty, and it was his name
that gave something Of dignity to the
| plot
| The spring of the year fourty four
B. c., arrived. Rome was all astir
with the departing legions and the
noise of the Dictator ightyschemes.
Caesar still walked the streets of
Rome unattended, and had no guard
about his house, nor any escort when
he went to the Senate house Rumors
were industriously circulated that be
meant to assume the title of King
name Of horror to the Romans. True
he had thrice refused the prOffered
crown, in the sight of the people; but
many imagined. and Brutus among
them. that he had refused it as a
woman often refuses the thing she
cCvets most refused it that it might
be the more strenuously thrust upon
him.
On the morning of theIdes (the 18th
of March. Caesar entered the Senate
house. The Senate rose, as usual. to
do him honor He took his usual seat
On the pretence of asking the rec'll
Of a mal whom he had banished, the
cOnspirators gathered round his chair.
lie gave them, at length, positive
denial, and, as they continued their
opportunities, he grew angry. One of
the men then seized the collar of his
robe ald drew it off his shoulders,
which was the preconcerted signal of
attack. Another, with nerveless hand,
struck at his neck with his sword, in
tilcting a slight wound Caesar aston
ished, laid his hand upon his sword,
and said:
Villain. Cascal what do you mean?
At once the whole party drew their
swords, and Caesar saw himself hedged
about with bristling pointS. He stood
at bay with drawn sword, and defend
ed himself as became him, until Brut
Us thrust his sword into his groin.
Then. it is said, he uttered the memor-
able words: Thou, too, Brutusm
Then, dropping the point of his sword
gave up the struggle, and fell pierced
with twenty three wounds.
Fifteen years Of civil war followed
he assassination of julius Caesar. At
the time of his death, his nephew
Oatavius, a youth of nineteen, was
travelling with his tutor No one sup
posed that this young man would SO
much as dare to come to Rome to
claim his uncle's private estate He
boldly appeared. however, and joined
in the strife for the slain emperor's
power. Some of his rivals he over
came By lage nent and fiattery,
others we're destroyed by their own
vices. some he overthrew in battle
aud, at length, assuming the title Of
Augustus, he w e'ded the whole auth
ority iof Caesar, and ruled the vast
Roman empire peaceably and ably for
forty years. tie, too, respected and
preserved the ancient forms OF the
Republic. Under him a body callel
the senate still held its sessions. and
men styled couns els were elected. But
Augustus was. IN fact, absolute soyer-
, aign of the civilized world.
This is the man with whom Louis
Napoleon desires to be compared.
Like him. be is called the nephew of
his imperial predecessor: but Caesar
had only adopted the father of Octav
ius as his relative, and upon Louis
Napoleon's kinship with Napoleon,
doubts have been cast. Augustus
won his throne by strange mixture
Of cruelty, cunning and audacity.
| Louis Napoleon's throne was gained
by craft more than by courage; it was
founded in perjury and blood. He
will, perhaps. eudeayOr to show by
and by, that France could be saved
from anarchy only by destroying its
liberty. SO, doubtless, julius Caesar
reasoned. and so the first Napoleon.
The anwser is simple: they never
tried to save order ana liberty They
attempted only the easier task of con
cantrating all power in their own
hands Theirs was the small ambi
, ton of founding dynasty, and not
the grand ambition Of reyeneratiug a
country With all their amazing
| gifts, history pronounces them little
men. because they employ ed their
| gifts for an object beneath great
rnan-.hier own glory
To my mind, poor Charles Good
year. battling with india rubber, car
rying his pot of lime up Broadway to
Greenwich village; wrestling with his
material for ten years till he had sub
dued it to a thousand useful purposes
: Is a more august figure than any of
the Caesars or either Napoleon. New
ertheless, while the majority of man
, kind are sunk in Ignorance and sup
arstItion. Caesars and Napoleons are
/, inevitable As choice OF evils. they
: are sometimes even to be desired.
The schoolmaster and the newspaper,
good books and enlightened preachers
!, will gradually render them first, un-
necessary and then impossible.
Here is a dog story which you can
> lx,i. ~.