The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1900-02-24

of that mob were bought up, and even
one of His Apostles was bribed to be-
tray Him. The Savior Himself saw
the coming blow. His human heart re-
volted at the ingratitude of the people
He went into the garden, prayed and
suffered such agony of spirit that He
sweat drops of blood. He talked with
His Apostles over the fickleness OF
mankind. Then Peter jumped up, cry
ing; Master if all the world betray
you, 1 will stand by you
All, Peter He replied. cycling the
Apostle with a look of sorrow and
commiseratton, before the cock crows
thrice tonight, you will deny Me
| thrice"
Then He is taken, bound, beaten,
struck and spat upon. scourged and
crowned with thorns, clothed with
an old scarlet robe and sent about from
one justice seat to another. His spirit
will not let Him complain. He meets
| His accusers with silence, and when
brought before the mob, who shouted
in His train on the Sunday before, they
cry out with one voice: Away with
Him, cruelty Him
Pass We now to Rome, Pagan Rome
loO years before Christ. From the be-
ginning, just as in the United States
the laws of that famous city were en-
acted in favor of the rich and against
the poor. The latter were in a cOntin-
ual state of pauperism, for the rich
cQntriYed to get hold of all the lands
as in the United States, and farmed
them through slaves, leaving the poor
free Romans no chance to earn living
by the labor of their hands. Two noble
Romans, Tiberius and Sempronius
Gracious, saw this sad state of things
With sorrow, and each in turn sought
to remedy the evil by laws made to di-
vide the public lands among the poor
citizens. Their efforts were opposed by
the rich, but relying upon the support
of the people in whose cause they were
fighting, they defed the wealthy pos
SCISSORS of the public lands The latter
armed and bribed an army of dema-
gogues to support their side of the dis
pute, and in the hour of trial the cham
pions of the psople being deserted by
their cOwardly followers, were put to
death
Nearly 1500 years after another Ro-
man patriot suffered much in the same
way. Rienzi Cola, a young Roman of
humble parentage, born in Rome in
1910, seeing the abject state to which
the common people were reduced from
the tyranny of the rich, resolved to free
his country and establish a republic as
of old. Every Sunday he addressed
the people, pointing to the ruin by
which he and they were surrounded,
and compared the condition of their an
Gent city with the condition of her peo-
PIE. His elOquence and courage at
length prevailed, and on the goth of
May, 1347, Rienzi was accompanied to
the capitol at the head Of an immense
crowd, by the POpe's vicar, and
was there appointed the peoples Trib-
une, with the Wears sanction. and
Rome was once again a republic. But
all in vain. A short time suficed to
estrange the tickle crowd from their ia
VOrite and because he could not work
impoasibilities for them. they actually
tore him to pieces and submitted to
their former degradation.
The only successful usurper of power
seems to have been Oliver Cromwell
but while he professed to fight for the
people and the Lord, he took care to
keep his followers we'll in hand, and
governed the poor not by speeches and
fiattery, but by the strong hand. After
his death the fiatterers of Charles II
dug UP his body and subjected it to
many indignities. A supercilious lord,
meeting the protectors daughter, Anne,
said: L suppose you know. madame,
that we have dug up your fathers body
and hung the rascal in chains
Il heard you did" replied the I'M
daunted daughter, but you dared not
do it until he was dead"
Nearly all the chiefs engaged in the
EY7eJt
deaths at the hands of the people who
they had raised out of bondage. And
it is we'll known that our own Wash
ington suffered much in his latter days
from the creatures for whose liberty he
had often risked his life and liberty to
save. His letters disclose how deeply
he felt the state of envious men to-
wards the close of his life. And all
goes to show how little thanks the man
who devotes his life labors to the ben
eft of his countrymen may expect when
the end comes.