The semi-weekly messenger., 1906-07-27
PREDICTION OF LORD MLClUlLr
Symptoms He Described Maxine
lhier Appearance
Declared Ia His Opinion That Demo
cratic Institutions Must sooner or
Later. Destroy Liberty or CiStiixa-
iion. or Both-Dur Constitution All
Sail and No Anchor

Many years ago. wheu vas a
| school boy. said Charlotte man yes
| terday, Il read with Indifferent inter
est Lard Macaulays letter Of is5.
! 10 II. : Randall. Of New York who
had sent 10 the g-sa: English htstor.-
an copy of \ Life or Jefferson. I
have. al various times. recalled sonc
| OF the striking points made By Lord
| Macaulay. but ~. until recently have
t noticed any special mention Of the
| famous letter. The Scrap Book Of
August published y the Frank \.
| Munsey Company. of New York. has
| picked up the esS-ntlau narts OF the
/ letter and printed them along with
/ some commett After reading the
| letter over and over again / wonder II
/ Aacau!ay could have been right Are
We drifting TO Just the conditions that
| he predictedo
Lord Macaulay evidently took his
| opportunity 10 express his opinion so
that he might be OF record "
/ The letter in question follows:
| have long been convinced that
! institutions purely democratic must.
sooner or later. destroy liberty or civ
ilization, or both In Europe. where
| the population is dense. the effect of
! such institutions would b. almost in
! stantaneous
What happened lately in France
is an example - Is4S d pure de-
| mocracy was established there Dur
| !ng short time there was reason TO
| expect general spoliation. a national
bankruptcy, new partition OF the
soil, maximum OF prices. a ruinous
| load of taxation laid on the rich for
the purpose of supporting the poor in
idleness
| Such a system would. in twenty
| years. have made France as poor and
| barbarOus as the France of the Car
| IovlngianS. Happily. the danger was
| averted and now there is despotism.
| silent tribune. an enslaved press
| Liberty is gone. but civilization has
| been saved
You may think that your county
enjoys an exemption from these evils,
| will frankly own to you that | am
OF very different opinion.
| Your fate | believe TO be certain
though it is deferred by a physical
cause. AS long as you have bound
less extent of fertile and unoccupied
land. Your laboring population Will be
| far more at ease than the labOring
| population of the Old World: and
| whole that is the case the jefferson
politics may continue % exist without
| causing any fatal calamity.
AN EARLY-VICTORIAN MOTHER
SHIPTON.
i But the time will come when New
| England will be as thiCkly settled as
| Old England Wages vii be as low.
| and will fiuctuate as much with you
as with us. You will have your Man
chesters and Birminghams: and n
those Manchesters and Birmingharls
| hundreds and thousands Of partis3ns
will sometimes be out Of work
| Then your institutions will b.
| fairly brought to the test Distress
| everywhere makes the labOrer mutt
nous and disconnected and inClines
him 10 listen with eagerness TO agl-
tators, who tell him that it l. I mon
strous iniquitiy that one man should
| have a million while another cannot
| get full meal.
In bad years there is plenty Of
| grumbing here. and sometimes a lit
| tie rioting: Uut = matters little. for
| here the sufferers arc not the rulers.
| The supreme power is 4 the hands
Of a class. numerous indeed, but select
of an educated class-Of a class
which is and knows itself 10 be. deep
| ly interested in tile security Of pro-
| perty and the maintenance of order.
| RESTRAINING THE DISCONTENT-
Ed MAJORITY
Accordingly the malcontents are
| gently but nrmi: restrained The
bad time is got over without robbing
| the wealthy to relieve the INDECENT.
The springs OF national prosperity
soon begin to fiow again. work Is
| plentiful. wages rise. and all is tran
| guilty and cheerrulness-
Il have seen England pass. three or
| four times. through such critical sea
| sons as | have described Through
| such critical seasons the United States
! will nave TO pass in course ot the next
| century. II not Of this. How will you
| pass through them? ! heartily wish
| YOU good deliverance: but IT, reason
| and my wishes are a. var anu / can
| not help forboding the vors,-
| II IL quite plain that your govern
| ment will never b able 70 r-straIn i
| distresser and disseminated majority.
| For with you. the majority j. the gov
| eminent. and has the rch. who are
| always In The minority absolutely
at its mercy.
The day will cof=e when. in the
| State OF New York a multitude 81
| people none Of whom has had more
| than half bre4kf.st. or expects To
| have moro than half 4 dinner will
choose q legislative f. is possible
! 10 doubt what sort % = legislature
! will be chosen
STATESMAN AND DENAGOGUE
On one side i = stateman preach
l ,vx Srs~ al Eww