The herald., 1898-09-12
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"Uneasy Lies the Head
That Wears q Crown"

Such were the memorable words put into
the mouth Of King HenrYIv by Shakes
peare. Why was the head uneasy! After
a hard fought battle he had attained the
summit Of his ambition and secured the
crown Of England. His friends had rallied
round his standard, and his enemies were
beneath his feet. Why could he not lie on
the royal and well guarded couch and rest
as quietly and sleep as profoundly as any
Of his toiling subjects? 1t was because ne
felt that Northumberland, Mowbray,
Hastings and others about his court were
discontented and ins!diously plotting to un-
dermine his throne and climb into power
| themselves, and that could only be accom-
plished by destroying the king.
Then, tossing restlessly upon his palatial
couch, within the safe and silent depths OF
| the grim castle. he vainly wooes the gentle
| goddess Of sleep. but she flies from his en-
| brace, and amid the throbbings Of his fe-
| vered brow he breaks forth in the famous
soliloquy on sleep.
How many thousand of my poorest SUBJ
jects
| Are at this hour asleep, o sleep, o gentle
sleep,
Natures soft nurse, how have I frightened
thee,
That thou no more wilt weigh my eyelids
down,
And steep my senses in forgetfulness?
Why. rather, sleep, Hest thou in smoky
cribs,
Upon uneasy pallets stretching thee.
And hushed with buzzng nght-f1ies to thy
slumber.
han in the perfumed chambers Of the great.
Under the canopies of costly state.
| And lulled with sounds of sweetest melody?
o, thou dull god, why Hest thou with the
vile,
In loathsome beds, and leav'st the kingly
| couch.
A watch case or a common 'larum bell?
Wilt thou upon the high and giddy mast
Seal up the ship boys eyes and rock his
brains
| In cradle of the rude, imperious surge,
| And in the visitation of the winds.
| Who take the ruffian b:llows by the top.
Curling their monstrous heads. and hanging
With deaf'ning clamors in the slippery
clouds,
That. with the hurly, death itself awakes?
Cans. thou, partial sleep! give thy repose
To the wet sea-boy in an hour so rude;
And, in the Gaines, and most stillest night.
! With all appliances and means to boot.
DENY IT to a king? Then. happy low. lie
down!
Uneasy lies the head that wears crown"
How many OF the crowned heads and
titled d.gnitaries Of Europe are today as un-
easy as King Henry's, their minds sus-
picious. their hearts filled with apprehen-
ton, and their souls full of dire forebodings!
Within a month have occurred unsuccess-
full attempts on the lives Of the czar OF Rus
sia. and Of the young queen Of Holland, and
now comes the tragic death Of the harm
less empress Of Austria. Doubtless every
crowned head Is asking. "Where will the
next blow fall? Who will be the next vic
tim? What stealthy figure is lying In wait
fer me?" Can we wonder that their ads
arr uneasy. that their eyes are sleepless?
Is 1t not we'll to give some serious thought
to the perpetrators OF these dark crimes?
In the first place. they accomplish nothing;
their acts promote no reforms; they do no.
advance the interests Of their cause single
step. On the contrary II their object is
the overthrow of monarchy. they actually
postpone that event for the masses are re-
PEELED by such atroclty, and by natural re-
action become conservative and refuse Their
svmrath and cooperation with any re-
form movement.
But it seems to me that the powers that
be have duty in the premises. During the
French revolution those invested with
hereditary power and wealth reveled in lux
ury, INDUCED In the most wasteful extrava-
gance, grinding the miserable and helpless
moor to the very verge of starvation. and
giving no more thought to their feelings.
their yearnings. and their sufferings than
if they were cattle in the field. That To-
human Indifference was rec:procated when
royalty and titles and wealth were in the
power Of the mob. and the passive and
perhaps unconscious cruelty of inherited
and time-encrusted power. was replaced by
the active cruelty of the equally unthnking
and ignorant rabble newly invested with ir-
responsible power.
What remedy. then. can he proposed for
the danger that turks in that phase Of hu-
man nature. not alone among the crowned
heads of Europe. but between the powerful
corporations and the moneyed synd;cates on
the one hand. and the abject and hopeless
poor of this country? There Is but one way
to avert the threatened danger: the ex-
tremely rich must study the condition Of the
suffering poor, ascertain the causes that
produced that condition. and use the same
business sense in assisting to remove those
causes that they used in accommodating their
own wealth. VIM. H. KNIT.