The Washington herald., 1908-01-05

It was unbelievable. this honorable,
self--especting, high-born woman coolly
extolling falsehood and perfdy. She went
on:
1T was not for me 10 say whether
Theodore Roosevelt has it quite clear in
his heart 10 avenge his mothers people.
but I do know that he is in the White
House TO stay until death doth render the
two asunder. And I believe that, con
sciously or unconsciously, he is an in
strument in the hand Of God TO make the
South d power again. His election-or,
rather, his second eIection-wilI be yet a
greater triumph than the election he has
just achieved so gloriously; the foolish
tradition once broken down, there need
never be another. except as matter Of
form. plebiscite. for in 1912 and 1916
and 1920. if he lives so long he will
have the whole power Of the Congress
and the army aud the navy at his back
yea, and the South. too. heart-sick OF
Democracy and the shams and frauds OF
shameless. venal politics, naturally pre-
ferring a strong. aristocradc government
based upon the hlood-royal and the pur-
pie and not upon money-gettng and
v0te-buyiHg, where the most successful
must be the basest."
She paused for moment as If to catch
her breath, for she was speaking with
great -earnestness. although in subdued
tones, and then proceeded:
Republican government is failure.
Even you ought 10 know that The peo-
pie are a huddle of sheep meant for the
shambles. Look at the rottenuess of
your political fabric. Look at the rotten
ness of the omnium gatherum Of the
nouveaux riches which you call society.
DO you think these things bode nothing
and can go on forever? They require a
strong hand. but 1t must be the strong
hand Of a man Of genius and a gentle
mana blooded man 80 and Theodore
Roosevelt is that man."
remained silent and she continued:
Il was in France just after the Coup
d'Etat. and though but a little girl. /
was Old enough to take in what was
going on and some Of the meaning of it.
You may remember that Cousin Mason
was the minister. Uncle and aunt had
taken me along. and we lived in the thick
of it. and though / now know that the
little emperor was but a pinchbeck Ma
poIeon-I met him and the empress often
rs 40 ~ .
guest at Compiegne in '67 ana '6S. just
before the ilI-starred Franco-Prussian
war-yet did he lift France out of the
bouTgeoisie of the fat old Citizen King.
as they called him, or rather as he called
himself under the crafty suggestion of
Guizot. and the sheer vulgarity of the
republic, which even the dilettante poetas
republic, which even the dilettante
poetasting of Lamartine and the melo-
dramatic posing of Victor Hugo could
not save from ridicule. He did indeed,
just as Theodore Roosevelt will rescue
Washington from the crudity and false
pretenton that now possess it, giving
the country the splendOTs OF a real court
and the firm puissance of a ruler. such as
Louis Napoleon gave to Paris He wears
not yet the purple on his back. only in
his heart! With one hard he feeds the
cattle with the commonplace which they
best like, while with the other he holds
the reins Of power to drive the steeds OF
manifest destiny. We shall have a king
ultimately an emperor-and a rebel king
and a rebel emperor. Southern to the
marrow of his bones That is why my
youth has come back to me, my friend,
for the stars assure me that the cause
was not lost, as you thought it, in 1865,
and that, in the last equation, it was I
who was right, not you, in 1861
1T may be So" 1 answered rather in
gallantry than in agreement. "Wes shall
see what we shall see. as our old friend.
Col. Benton, used to say"
mo. l shall not live to see it. Nor
may you. But this I can see. that the
elements are ripe for drastic deeds. You
talk of your Constitution 1t is the same
rope of sand It always was. 1t binds
nobody. The generation that has grown
to manhood since the war knows IT not
too busy moneymaking The South should
hate II, for it carries those dreadful
amendments. You were yourself always
a muff-belated, as ii Were-clinging 20
Bach and Haydn, and looking askance
upon Schumann and NfendelssOhn. Don
you remember how Wagner used 10 shock
you? How you scorned what you called
his innovation and his egotism and vanity
and self-confidence? Yet. you see now, it
was the music Of the future Well, Roose-
veltism is the music of the future Your
resounding talk about the Constitution is
chatter. idle chatter-forgive my plain
ness of speech: between you and me there
can be no offenset II Is the same un-
meaning echo 1t Was when you Thought
you ssere trying I'd save the Union. NOW
you gszlzit the re saslse. Il Nent on. ~