Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1907-02-15

alter having been accused by Robes
peirre, he observed that in the last
analysis, revolutions bring the worst
elements of humanity into the fore.
ground, In the early stages of the
upheaval, shoemakers forsook theil
lasts, tailOrs neglected their shops,
maSons laid aside their trowels, and
proceeded to formulate constitutions
and systems of government, with all
the assurance and confidence of por-
found statesmen. The theaters were
neglected for the real shows and cat
astrophies that occurred almost daily
on the streets of Paris.
1t has been urged by historians of
note that, while the Jacobins were not
the Revolution, they constituted its
eye. The horrible scenes incident to
the Reign of Terror, were the work
of a comparatively small number of
men in proportion to the whole pop
ulatiOn of France, estimated at twen-
ty-five million inhabitants, while the
Jacobins numbered about $50, 600
members, organized in clubs throug gh-
out the kingdom. Taine says there
were no more than 5000 members of
that organization at any one time in
Paris. Through their systematic Or
CARNATIONS and methods of cruelty
the Jacobins kept the whole popula-
tion of France in terror for four or
five years. They equipped armies,
drove foreign foes from French soil,
contiscated the property of church
and the nobility, issued paper money.
known as assignats, based upon these
confiscated property values. with
which the revolutionary government
was enabled to equip fourteen armies
and prevent ACKNOWLEDGMENT of their
country. This body of men, with in
struments of death and the torch of
destruction, swept aside all Opposi-
tion. Horrible crimes were commit
ted in the name of Freedom. Many
irresponsible wretches took advan-
tage of the situation, to wreak VEN
geance upon their private enemies,
and to profit by theft and plunder.
If any movement were instituted not
agreeable to their wishes, the Jaco-
bins massacred the promoters and
destroyed their property.
Freedom of speech and the press
meant just what liberty of conduct in
that behalf, the Jacobins were will
ing to allow. If lawsuits were
brought against any member for
the prosecutors were sup
pressed and given to understand un-
less they desisted they would be
dealt with, which meant
a great deal in those terrible times.
Danton, at the last stage of the
characterized Robes
pierre and his associates as breth-
rem of Cain,' was sent to the guillo-
tine after a mock trial Robespierre
followed in his wake, without having
been given any chance to make de-
fense. Napoleon Bonaparte moved
down the mob in the streets of Par
is, the Commune fell, and France
breathed more easily for a spell.
The force behind the Revolution took
a different direction in the wars
which followed under the leadership
of this general.
Many good people lost their lives
amid those terrible scenes of carnage,
but the time had arrived when feudal
had to fall. Notwith-
standing the eXcesseS which are blOts
on history's pages, this Revolution
in six years that which
took one hundred and fifty years to
effect in England, in the abolition of
the feudal regime. In France all
institutions were swept
aside, while in other coun-
tries of continental Europe much of
the underbrush of tho old regime still
Russia seems to be having a some
what similar experience to France
in 1898. The work of evolution pro-
ceeds along the lines of least resist
ance. The changes at first seem slow
and almost imperceptible, and when
the time comes for q change every
barrier seems to give way in order to
the new order.
Warnings are always sent in ad-
vance. God always shows through
the workings of His benevolence that
He does not want blood. If His
warnings are needed, the change de-
creed by the All Wise need not be
with the baptism of blood,
but the transition, or new birth, may
come peaceably as the gospel of glad
tidings bringing happiness to the
hearts of the children of men, placing
upon higher plane of civil
lization than ever heretofore exper-
fenced. There are prominent persons
in this country and in the old world
who predict unless plutocratic greed
shall be checked, the scenes of the
French Revolution will be repeated,
with intensified horrors, upon the
worlds stage. Mr.. Kautsy, the Ger
man Socialist and scholar, states in
his little work entitled Social Rev.
olution," a second French Revolution
is impossible in this day and age.
The barbaric methods of the past are
becoming more obsolete as time
moves along. We are passing from
the regime of militarism to the do
main of intellectual superiority. The
transition period of any organism is
with more or less pain, but
agitation and education turned into
heathful channels will overcome diff
culties which may seem at first to be
almost insurmountable. According
to the workings of the Divine Econ
Omy, difficulties always recede when
approached. Wendell Phil
lips once remarked that nothing can
the force of an idea found
ed upon a truth. Principles in the
past have achieved, and will in the
future achieve, greater victories than
armies or navies. This evolutionary
process for a change from present to
more desirable conditions is feature
Of the Divine Wisdom that the cum
ming and folly of man cannot encom-
pass or defeat.