Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1906-09-14

her DantOns and RObespierres-The JacObin
Tactics Of Her Revolutionary Forces Liable
to Intensity.
By BYRON M.LLETT.
According to reports in ths newspa-
pers and articles in magazines and
riodicals, much comment and discus.
sion may be found regarding the pres
ent Russian situation. A great deal
OF this discussion is devoted to compar.
ing the conditions now prevailing in
that unhappy country with the situa-
tion in France, at the time OF the great
revolution in 1889. "Other things
equal. like causes produce similar of.
fects."
AT that time, according to reliable
historians, the crown, the clergy and
nobility, consisting of about 10000
persons, owned three-fifths OF the soil
OF France; the remainder, or two.
ffths, greatly inferior in quality, was
held by 25,O0O,OOO of her population.
Pliny, the historian, said that land
monopoly ruined Rome. The annals
OF the past show that the first great
governmental elm is land monopoly;
money monopoly as the instrument of
execution, and class.law as the god
which shaped the destiny OF decaying
nations. France had all these instru.
mentalities and excrescences, with
which to deal, the same as Russia has
at the present time.
Conservatism and progress in the
realms Of physical, intellectual, social
and political life, seem to be continu.
ally at war with each other. The for.
mer worships the past, decries change,
fights ior vested interests and privil.
eges, while innovation proceeds along
the lines OF least resistance, under.
mines and uproots ussges and institu-
tions hoary with age and begrimed by
superstition, prepares the soil for more
healthy growths, although it may be
conceded that at times it would seem
that evolution does not proceed in a
straight line. and the last state may be
worse than the first. Nevertheless, the
general tendency is forward, towards
better conditions. Fortunately there
is strange benevolence in the opera.
ton OF Nature's laws, in that revolu.
tions never 60 backward.
This spirit of innovation is now, as
it was in the time Of Louis XVI, eve.
Eywhere present and active. Itis with
the artisan at his bench, in the novels
of the proletariat, in the gorgeous
palaces of millionaires, with the schol.
ar 10 bis study, the judge on the bench,
the minister in his pulpit, and with the
legislator, whether he wishes to graft
upon or benefit his fellow man. Taci-
tus observed that at the period of the
disintegration OF States, laws multiply.
Then is the time when politicians apd
Legislators endeavor to do their patch.
work. Instances in such behalf were
numerous in those times, particularly
in the lines OF land and financial legis.
lation. These lessons have been re-
peated in Russia, within the past few
months. The representatives Of the
people did not see fit to compromise
their manhood in lending assistance to
bureaucratic foolishness, consequently
the Douma was abruptly dissolved.
Louis XVI. was not able, with bis army
on the side of the people, to dissolve
the national assembly so unceremoni.
ously.
Success, at certain stages in the
pathway of progress, alternately kisses
the banner of conservation and limo.
walton, when tho latter, at certain re.
curing periods, takes steps forward,
never to recede. Even when conserv.
atism seems to meet with success,
it isoiten unstable; the stability OF
the present hour becomes the irony
of history. Everything human must
retrograde if it does not progress"
(Gibbon). As strange as it may seem,
conservatism aids this matter OF devel.
opment, by its antagonism; shows its
opponents their mistakes, and gives the
votaries Of progress greater confidence
and persistence in their undertakings.
The great upheaval in France taught
mankind that society and government
are as much controlled by law as the
ebb and flow Of the tides and the plan.
cts in their movements.
Monstrosities in the physical, social
and economic domains tend to their
own undoing or destruction. All births
are attended with pain. The floors OF
great seas are constantly being lifted
or depressed by the great law OF gravi.
Sation and the forces at work below the
Earth's surface. When the time shall
become propitious, the ocean will have
birth.pangs and new lands will have it's
been born. Similarly with regard to
the social organism, the time surely ar.
Eives in the course OF evolutionary de.
velopmsnt, when the polarity of socie-
ty changes, and different forces pre-
dominate in the matter Of regulating
and governing the new regime which
is destined to take the same course
and share a similar fate. The worm.
eaten institutions OF feudalism in
France had to fall. A terrible catas-
trophe taught mankind that the laws