The Aberdeen weekly., 1907-02-08
at SOC per pound in Gus
4. J. REYNoLDs ToBAcco c0MPANY. Wlnstonsaem. n C.
The Man, the Hour, and the OPP
portunity.
BY Dr. 3. f. Ward. Winona. Miss. in New Oh
leans PICayuue

leans Picayune.
Henry. Thomas Buckle, in his History Of Civ
uizaton i'm England. states the proposition that
no great political movement. no great reform
either legislative or executive had ever been
originated in any country by its rulers.sThe first
suggesters Of such steps have Invariably been
some bold and able thinkers. who discern The
abuse denounce it and point out how it is to be
renieded. He also says that nearly every great re-
form which has been effected has consisted. not
in doing something new but in undoiug some
thing old.
The most valuable additions made TO legi~la-
tion have been destructive Of preceding -legisla-
tion. and the best laws which have been passed
have been those by which some previous laws
have been repealed.
He also says that the repeal of unjust and op-
pressive legislation has usually been resisted by
even the most enlightened Governments until
the pressure from without is SO strong as to conn
pei acquiesence in popular demand
For instance. il required more than hundred
years to repeal the tariff or Corn Laws of Eng
land. The persistent struggle against this yici-
Gus legislation was only repitiuou Of failures
until Richard Golden entered the contest in be-
half Of the people.
Golden was uol a trained and experienced
statesman. had never held nor sought office He
had not been educated in any college or univer-
sity at home or abroad. He was selteducated.
which means that he was well educated. He was
a business man and had been a diligent student
of men and conditions. He understood the re-
lations that did exist and that should exist
between the governing class and the governed.
He realized that the privileged few had for gem
erations been Systematically robbinE the unuriy-
LEGGED masses He was bold. brajuy- candid and
conscientious He challenged thr landlords and
chartists to to open discussion. His eloquence.
his logic his compact and brilliant presentation
Of facts carried conviction to the minds OF his
hearers, and he swept every thing before him Al
most before he was aware Of it tho popular tide
had borne him into Parliament.
When he entered the House Of Commons his
enemies confidently predicted that his career was
ended. He would never be able TO stand up be-
fore the sage dignifed. ponderous statesmen
and leaders In five days after taking his seat
he was in the front rank Of forensic conflict. Al
first the opposition heard him with ill concealed
contempt, then with surprise. next with wonder
and lastly with CONSERVATION. While the iu-
petuous oratory OF Golden was driving the tariff
barons before him in Parliament the secretary
. Of Sir Robert Peel. the Prime Minister. was shot
dead in the street by a lunatici The enemies Of
reform at once seized the opportunity to charge
the crime to the effect Of Cobden's thrilling
speeches. sir Robert Peel himself declared that
his own life was endangered by Cobden's inaam-
atory language.
Human nature has been the same in all ages.
In the evolution Of government in an civilized
countries the set-fast' and the -stand-patters. 2
especially those enjoying lucrative positions,
have invariably charged the advocates Of great
reforms with melting violence and disturbing
the business interests.
But Golden was irresistible. The Prime Min
lister finally surrendered 10 Cobden's lucid and
vigorous Arguments and, joining forces with
him, aided largely in sv eeping the corn laws
from the statutes OF England.
The man. the hour and the opportunity had
met.
The Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution
of the United States may not be repealed in ten
years nor twenty-five. nor nifty years. There Is
only one thing absolutely certain about it, and
that is its repeal viii never be secured by Office
holders and representative VINO preach to their
/ constituents that its accomplishment is imprac-
ucable and impossible. and that any effort in
( that direction is silly and aesurd.' II
Golden won his epoChal victory in seven years
and those years were afterwards called in Eng
land the period Of educational agitation That
is exactly what We must have in this country be-
fore We can be restored TO the inheritance Of the
white mans government.
The people must be convinced before the lead
ers' can be coerced. Columbus had never dis
. covered this continent If he had needed the
preachments Of statesmen, philosophers and the
ologians. who not only denounced his theory as
impracticabIe. absurd and silly but declared
it sacriegious and in rebellion against the Bible
But vhen the Genoese sailor stepped upon the
traekless wave and turned his pro1gs toward the
untrodden seas Of the West. the man the hour
and the opportunity had met
Victor Hugo said that Voltaire created the
Frnnch Revolution. He declared that VoItairg
[ alone waged war against that grand coalition
Of all social vices. composed Of the court the
nobility, the capital. the clergy and the uucon-
/ scious power OF blind multitude" and won
And, says Hugo, what was his weapon2 That
which has the hghtness of the wind and the pow
er OF a thunderbolt-a pen"
We have been gravely notified that a formida-
bic list Of distinguished Mississippiaus. IN the
senate and House Of Representatives. had failed
to repeal the Fifteenth Amendment: therefore. ii
could not be done. We are very much obliged
for the information. Hug@and Buckle have also
presented as with brilliant array Of able. pat
riotic, eminent and self-sacriicing Frenchmen
who had struggled apparently in vain along the
same line with Yoltaire. such men as Button.
Montesquien. Marmontel, Duclos. Rosseau Di-
derot and Others. The publications Of these men
were seized and burned by a despotic gouern-
ment. The authors were thrown into prison. or
thrown into exile. and their property confscated.
Yet their efforts had not been altogether fruit
less. They had fertilized the soil and sown the
dragons teeth. ready to leap into life under the
vivifying touch OF voltaire's genius.
SO these worthy and faithful Senators and
Congressmen from Mississippi and other States
may have been fertilizing and preparing the yvay
for the coming of some Voltaire. OF Golden. or
Patrick Henry. possibly yet unborn yoltaire
created the Revolution but the Revolution pro
duced Robsspierre and Danton
Voltaire had sown the wind but who would