Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1901-07-18

barbarities Of the Thirty Years war, the deyasta-
ton Of the Palatinate and the dragonnades Of
Louis XIV.
Barbarities Of the kind became only too prob
able when our rulers entered with light heart
on a war to conquer and crush one Of the tough
est bravest. most independent races in the world
and gayly announced that mot a shred Of indie
pendence' would be left to men of proverbial
courage and obstinacy who for many generations
have faced death, famine and the extremes OF
suffering in order to live free, and especially free
of the hated British bondage. When the swindlers
and braggarts told US that little show Of force
would COW these Dutch farmers, that, even if war
did result, it would be over in few weeks and
would only cost few millions, when they en-
tered ON one OF the most formidable wars Of the
century with ignorance SO laughable and AFRO
gance SO blind, it became clear to all who knew
the history and nature Of the Boer and the phys
ical conditions Of the task that ghast1y ferocites
would be resorted to and that our British name
would be dragged down from each meanness and
atrocity to still lower depths.
The horrible side of this war to US who retain
some feeling for the honor Of our country is that
the nature of the task to which we were com
mitted made violent and unlawful measures al
most inevitable. To conquer and annex two free
and proud nations Of European race and most
stubborn nature is an outrage which has never
been attempted since the partition Of Poland.
Considering the vast extent of the land, the
physical difficulties of the task and the superb
fighting qualities of the patriots, it was an I'M
dertaking Of extreme peril Since they were of
the same race, language and traditions as the
Afrikanders of our own colony it made civil war
and rebellion almost inevitable and yet to fail in
sight of mankind, after all our Quixotic bragga-
decio, would be intolerable humiliation. Accord
ngly they set their teeth, prepared tto fight it
10 frich Nv xrba 4c
the winds considerations of public law, humanity
and the good name Of England Men curse in
their hearts the law of nations and sneer openly
at the farce of The Hague, and women of the
governing class do not blush to say that "what is
wanted is more cruelty" The horrible part of
this war, say, is that it has brutalized public
opinion, made public men desperate and has un
sexed the women whom they peryert.
If those things, awful things, set
forth by Mr.. Harrison are not true, he
is traitor to England and liable to
be hanged for treason If they are
true, they constitute terrible in
dctment not only of Joe Chamber
lain and his heartless jingoes, but also
of the Mckinley administration, fer
it stood by, conscnting to the foul muir
der of the two brave little republics as
! did Saul at the stoning of Stephen.
All of Mr.. McEinley's tact, skill,
amiability, grace and graciousness will
not remove from his administration
that ugly blot. The greatest republic
earth gave aid and comfort to the
Htthroats who are butchering, burning
and plundering in South Africa A
word from us would have stopped it,
but our pro-English administration
Winked.
A New Converts Zeal.
The zeal of o new convert is pro-
verbal He thinks he must out-Herod
| Herod i'll order to convince people of
his sincerity. The New York Sun is
case in point. It was Democratic,
and when Democratic was so intensely
Democratic as to put to blush the aver
age Democratic journal. Then it flop
ped to Ben Butler in 1884. Finally it
has landed in the Republican camp
/ and is the leader of the procession in
| abusing everybody and everything not
Republican. Not long since l was on
a lecture tour through Kansas, Arkan-
sas, Louisiana and Texas. / stopped
over one day in New Orleans, where q
newspaper correspondent asked for an
| interview. lie got it, for always like
/ to be accommodating. lie wanted to
( know what thought of the supreme
court decision in the Porto Rican case.
As am plain, blunt man and speak
what think without circumlocution, l
said, "There isn't a lawyer in the
United States that is fit to try re-
plevin case about hog in the court Of
a justice CT the peace who does not
know that that decision is preposter-
ous."
For expressing that short, clear and
emphatic opinion The Sun assails me
and says that l will soon begin work
on a lecture entitled Supreme Courts
Which I Have Reversed" The Sun is
mistaken. | never reversed OK claim
to have reversed any supreme court;
consequently | will write no lecture on
| that subject. But very useful and
| instructive lecture might be written on
| the subject, Supreme Courts Which
the People Have Reversed" The sa-
pient editor of The Sun has perhaps
heard of the Dred Scott decision. The
| makers of that opinion thought they
had settled the slavery agitation for all
| time to come. That decision has never
been reversed by that court, but it was
reversed by the people-so thoroughly
reversed that nobody pays the slightest
attention to it now.
Again, for the sole purpose of stirring
up The Suns pure mind by way of re-
membrance. l once more allude to the
| famous legal tender cases and the chap
ter of history growing out of them
| history made by the Republican party,
whose conscience keeper The Sun now
aspires to be. The first legal tender
| opinion was adverse to the cOnstitu-
tionality OF the legal tender quality Of
the greenbacks. 1t is q historic fact
that q Republican congress enlarged
the supreme court, and President Grant
packed it in order to have that decision
reversed. He appointed Judge Strong
and Aliunde Joe Bradley, who swim
died Samuel j. Tilden out of the pres
idency. They did the deed, acting ii
conjunction with the dissenting judges
in the original opinion. The legal ten
der act was by this second decision
held constitutional. Does The Sun re
member that? Did it ever read the
story whose moral was, every muci
| depends on whose OK is gored?''
Prosperity Tor Drummers.
The way in which trusts benefit tht
! people, like the peace of God, passett
! all understanding. The latest item
! touching their doings informs a palpl
| tating world that 100 northwestern
! travelling men with headquarters al
| Minneapolis have been thrown out OF
! employment by the plow trust one-half
| of them having formerly worked Min
nesota territory. Now, those are the
4 first fruits of that particular trust-5O
drummers to the state, or about %, ,000
drummers for the whole United States,
out of job-about 10000 men, WON
/, en- and children without food, shelter
and clothingl Yet Mr.. Serene E. Payne
and other potent personages in the Re-
| publican party propose to spank Mr..
Babcock and to degrade him because
of his belated war on trusts Their cry
is, mo tariff tinkeringr' Twenty-Five