The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-08-23

p1SSllB ldWS uurlnS CdeSdF colioui |
 ship, Cicero moved in the senate to re-
 open the question, and made speech
 on it, which has not come down to us
 Pompey was present and did not object
 but when the news reached Caesar al
 Luca in Cisalpine Gaul, message from
 him, conveyed through Pompey to Clccro's brother Quintus, led the great
 orator not only to drop the Campanlan
 land question, but to abandon the con
 stitutional party and become the num-
 ble servant of the trlumvirate. He be-
 came Caesars most fulsome euloglst,
 although it is perfectly evident that he
 hated and feared him all the time he was heaping praises on him. Ihe ar guments he employed in letters ana
 speeches to reconcile his former posi-
 tion with his later one-his real prln-
 ciples with his assumed ones-are very hollow. There were some depths of
 humiliation, however that he might
 have avoided and ought to have been
 spared, such as the defence of Gabinius
 when the latter was tried for all sorts
 of crimes as Proconsul of Syria. Gar
 binius had been one of the vilest tools
 of the triumvirate in procuring Ciceros | brIlISlIlltul, anu Ildu DCGll luf9HCt III
 public speeches in Cicero's most effec-
 tive style Yet when this degraded
 wretch was brought to the bar of jus | tice Cicero was chosen by the triumvirs
 to defend him, and did so. It was still ] harder task to defend himself for de- lending Gabinius Gabinius was, nev- ertheless, convicted, fined and banished. | This was one of the last trmphs of the ! Goddess of Justice in republican Rome and 1t is an instance of the irony of history that 1t was accomplished in spite of the arguments of the prosecu- tor of Verres.
 In the year 53 Clodius was a candi- date for the praetorship and Milo for the consuship They were sworn enc mics. Both of them kept bands of gladiators with which they travelled Rome and the country roundabout Collisions between them were frequent. Cicero regarded the further advance ment of Clodius with terror. The only person who could control him was
 Caesar, who was far away in Gaul. Milo could meet him with his own weapons and hold him in check by fighting. Accordingly, Cicero promoted
 
 with all his might The election did not take place at the usual time. It was postponed on account of the disgusting bribery employed by the several candi- dates, and by the frequent street fights that were taking place between the opposing factions It became nec- essary to appoint an interrex. On the 17th of January, 52, there was an acci- dental meeting of Clodius and Milo and their respective bands on the Appian road, near Bovillae. about ten miles from Rome and Clodus was killed. Milo stole back to Italy while Caesar was engaged in his campaign against Pcmpey on the other side of the Adri- attic. He attempted to tamper with the loyalty of some of Caesars soldiers in Campania. and they put him to death. He survived Codius only four years.
 It has been my aim in this discourse to present view of the conditions and methods of political life in Rome at the period shortly before the final catastro- phe, which took place under the sec- ond triumvirate. It is scarcely credible to us now, and yet it was only the ex- terna sign of inward decay Her own soldiers turned her out of house and home and butchered the prescribed citizens with no more pity than they would have shown to Galllc or Thracian peasants No pity was shown to Ro- mans oe the noblest blood, the highest reputation, the most unblemished lives Nor were the decrees of the second tri- umvirate restricted to their own ene- mics or to the opposite political party They inscribed on the list of their vic time the names of rich men and infant children merely because they were rich, and they selected eighteen flourishing and unoffending Italian cities for gen. eral confscation as rewards for their troops These towns were desginated beforehand (before the war which end- ed with the battle of PhilippD to stimulate the zeal of the soldiers
 Now may not the greatest of modern republics draw some lesson of value from the experience of the greatest of ancient ones? If there be one lesson which history clearly teaches" says MT. l Froude in his sketch of Caesar, "it is this. that free nations cannot govern subject provinces. If they are unable or unwilling to admit their dependen- cies to share their own constitution, the constitution itself will fall in pieces | from mere incompetence for it's duties. |
 These words are not more appropriate | to our present circumstances than | those which Thucydides puts in the mouth of Cleon. the son of Cleaenetus, viz:
 I have remarked again and again that democracy cannot govern an em- pire. Ycu (men of Athens) should that your empire is a despot- ism exercised over unwillin gsubjects, who are always conspiring against you. They do not obey In return for any kindness which you do them to your own injury, but only in so far as you Ire their masters; they have no love Or you, but are held down by force Besides wha. can be mere detestable han to be forever changing our minds? -(Thuc. III. 37)
 O, prophetic son of Cleamentus. What can be more detestable than ad- 7ocating free trade with Porto Rico to- lay and a tariff on Porto Rican goods What more destestable han promising citizenship and equal tights to a people when we are asking hem to come under the American flag, md afterwards denying them the privi-