The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-12-04
SHALL OUR LIBERTIES BE
SOLD FOR FILTHY LUCRE
PurcFasable Eiectorateis Infinitely Worse Than an
Established Heredi. AIRY Monarchy. God
Save the Republic.

Let tHose WHO Will, f1Out the vision
here portrayed as the idle phantasy
Of pessimism; the reply comes in that
Israels mouTnful patriot prophet
never saw one in his minds eye more
palpable to him than this to me.
barring Providential interposition.
From boyhood upwards, Free Gov
eminent has had no more de-
voted Worshipper and history but few
more assiduous followers than the
writer hereof, and in the last declin-
ing years of life after the illusions
or enhemeral ambition have long
since been discarded, he gives as the
sad conclusion of study, observation
and reflection, that until men are
elevated by a higher teacher than
earthly school master. Liberty will
continue to be as it has ever been, a
plant Of rapid growth in barren
SOIL but of short life when it's habitat
is over enriched whether by muck or
golden dross. Where wealth ac-
cumulates men decay" and SO does
that which MEN should prize most
highly The caption is not designed
to intimate by parallel, the actual
auction sale of the Empire or Re-
public, although not beyond the
hope and reach of the modern Croe-
sus but only to point out the tenn
sus but only to point out the tempta-
tons and possibilities of squint-eyed
barter. 1t proved a potent factor in
the third century of Rome, A. D., and
human nature of the baser kind at
| least has undergone but little modifi-
cation since then. AS caSuistS mighc
| laold, it is only q question of barter on
the highest scale, and as one of old who
had flched a kingdom without eX-
cuse was wont to say in eXtenuatiOn.
lin the ordinary affairs of life let JUS
tice be done, and no relaxation to
the rule except when crowns are at
issue" When despotism is in reach,
the DeSpot Will not be far off nor
hard TO find, be he purse bearer or
sword bearer, be the agency steel or
gold the two most potent levers for
the overthrow of traditions. ConStitu-
tons and free states. AS a prefer
ence between the two, | as a member
of the Electorate. if slavs may eX-
ercise the ballot Of preference vote
for the man in steel, him on horseback.
with legions of armed mercenaries at
his heels to the mere money changer.
him of accounts and accountants.
ensconced within his coy counting
house behind a legion of ledgers.
J journals, day books and most essen
! tial of all, checkbook, to cut off clan
| destine coupons for the purpose in
dicated Yes, better a Sapor, a Caesar,
Corsican to such a thing as this. or
] his tool or puppet either When such
as these can WELD the destinies of
| free states, be it understood, for as
the poet sings of such:
"A thousand years scarce serve to
form a state;
An hour may lay in the dust
Tyrannies are eternal and never die.
! for their sycophants will pirate of
prosperity, so called. as due to their
| beneficent sway. and credulous fools
will believe them.
The cavalier will probably say. You
tell us we are on the rocks of wreck.
Can't you point out the means of
avoidance and escape? Not l. by
Jupiter, as the wise old Athenian was
wont TO answer his almost especially
gifted pupil, when no answer could be
given. Men may be reclaimable, not
so with nations after certain point
on the ''decensus Ayerni" has been
reached and passed.
God pity the people who in insane
frenzy approach the incline plane
leading with unerring certainty to po-
litical perdition, in search of the
phantasma of commercial prosperity
| If reached, it will probably be found
at the bottom of a shaft, and amongst
the debris and dejecta membra of
dreaming philanthropists and
thoughtlesS patriots, who like their
predecessors for thousands of years,
presumptousy thought that they
had discovered the "magnum arcan-
UNI of eternal liberty. Fools and
Missionaries. to hope. with American
impudence, that YOU could reach at
a vault what has baffed the wisest
sages of all time. This is an opti-
mistic view of our political future
| it is beyond nv reach to see it
through that sort of spectacles La
chrymose though it be. mine can at
least lay claim to the merit of honest
utterance To me. under our FEEDER
ative system in a virgin soil. UNI
shackled by traditions and effets sur
roundingS, never was the experiment
of free government begun under more
promising auspices or hopeful con-