The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-02-05

! So0s gzasEazsk1ense aEadzzkZessRn0 ems O nnEkzH
Undoubtedly there is a law Of
decline as there is q law
! Of progress. And this law is viz
tllally the same for individuals and
nations. The violation Of The princi-
Elos OF being works a forfeiture of the
| right of existence. The person who
! deliberately undCrmines his moral or
! his physical strength or undermnes
! il at all whether raShly or with eyes
open, does it Ut his peril, and he suf-
! fers the consequences of his temerlty
| q dollberation. The nation which en-
; tcrs upon z. course Of folly, having be-.
! fore It the lesson OF other nations
| that have done The same thing acts
! with Nganton disregard Of its own true
! welfare and invites disaster The
Trouble with both individual and ma
ton is that they consider themselves
the exception TO the rule, or they deny
altogether The validity OF the rule.
! Thus. Rome with the example OF sew
cral small Greek commemorative De-
rore it, divided from the start into
class factions, rich and poor, and each
struggled ruthlesSiy for the mastery
! II the State. The compromises tnat
! we're made were not such as should
nave been reached by experience but
such as we're forced at the point OF
the sword or by threats of dissolution.
the secession of the plcbS 10 Mons
Sacer secured the Tribunate. NoW-the
Tribune Of Rome was q persona! veto.
III the interests Of the people he
could nullify what the Senate had
done. This tribunate worked we'll at
first but gradually fell INTO decay.
Then, another compromise at Rome
was preserving in the occasional office
tof Dictator the Sovereignty Of the dis
crowned monarch. The people would
no longer have kings except when, in
The midst of war or scditiO1. King
authority seemed desirable to- give
solidity To the administration. Now
sol dity is most obtainable when pow
er is entrusted 10 single person. The
| modern American achieves il itN con-
! ierrfng some royal powers upon the
President.
But the chief peril Of Rome. as il
was later of Venice. her most llluStr-
Gus pupil among republ cs was not the
tribunate, but the Senate itseii-the
C.i@ ma! source Of the republic. This
very Senate was however, in lis
prime the greatest political council the
world ever saw before the rise Of the
British Parliament and the United
states Congress. The danger OF Rome
from the Senate was in this eXtraor-
binary adaptibiLty To the chardcte!
OF the nation The people trusted it
+ zoo Idf. IL Ikotli iitlAl NV conquered
Carthage and subdued other nations
beyond the borders of italy, il would
probably never have entrusted so
great powers TO the senate rs invited
eventual disaster by the very might
Of her doninionS and consequent cor
ruption OF people and governments.
The conOueSts beyond Italy were
largely achieved BY others than Latin
! or Italian farmers. The Senate as IL
4 IaTr unKts,sysfITl n-T2CnCI All
the public riches. The tributes paid
went into the pockets of Senators.
Lands CONQUERED were ,ho demesne of
! Senatorial lords propretors. Colonies
nf Roman citizens di@intc"rlte1 the
latin nationality slowly but surely, so
that by the time of Julius Caesar thcI
descendants of the soldiers who had
created the fabrico the Roman state
! Dy their lahors and their military
/ heroism had become mere tnendcants|
eager TO be fed with largesgea CT corn
from Sicily. Syria and Egypt-aad o.
! figs dates and Olives from the Far
| last. In between the agitations under
! the Gracchi and the empurDl ne Of
augustus blood flowed like water.
Civil dissension followed civil disSen-
sion. There We're servile wars and
, wars with the remnants Of old Italian
: lcpubI. cS striving to be free again.
There were wars betweesn leaders of
! the aristocracy and leaders OF the de-
mocrcy--Sulla against Marius ana
! Marius against Sulla. These are often
mistaken for the ordinary faction
| fights OF all free commonWealths.
! Really, they we're symptomatic Of the
decline which set iii with the decay OF
| The popular spirit when the Roman
! cit zen ceased To- be q free owner of
The soil and flockcd to the cities to
be maintained at public expense to.
| serve the ends OF the cupidity OF
| Roman Senators VINO owning all the
farms, worked them by coloni or
slaves taken in war or reduced by
! debt to abject conditions Of life.
II there were room here the terri
| bile warning offered by the Roman re-
public could be reinforced by the
changes at Venice by which Il demo-
cratic republic passed into a desDCticI
cligarchy. No people OF great spirit
| are ever enslaved except by moral de-
cay liz themselves and failure to read
| the past into the present. The man
! or people who thinks that ne on it can
do an unreasonable or unnatural thnS
to crafty pleasure, and not pay for
| felt in Other words, The persoH or
the power deeming itself the single
exception TO the operation OF natura
or moral laws-is on the road toI
death.
The lesson from Greece from Rome
from Venice. from Florence, from
Spain. (where commons represen a
ton was, earlier than in England),
from Holland. where there was TOO
much trust in one princely house OF
leaders and too little confidence in
the mass of the people, where the
merchant princes gradually LOST tbe
spirit Of liberality-the lesson. | say
OF all these, and other people, warns