The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1914-04-26
The Journals Classification
Raises Objection.

L Our 1kIGubIOh 10 a41CSlC0 " AAk0 III
lowing from The Tampa Tribune re-
garding q recent editorial in these
columns in which Julius Caesar was
chased as a progressive In opposition
| to Pompey and Nero az reacdonaries;
and Napoleon was rated progressive
as opposed TO Pitt and Ta1leyrand
and the react1onary royaffst element
which they represented. Our eontem-
porary says:
The Pensacola News offers q serious
| objection to the Pensacola Journals
classification of Julius Caesar as q pro-
| gressive in the list which that paper
recently compiled.
Julius was the worst sort at reac-
| tionary, as The Journal considers that
term, because he was monopolist,
and autocrat and a fellow who didn't
give a hang for the people.
The Tribune also offers an objection
to The Journals listing of Napoleon
| on its list of immortal progressiyes.
Napoleon was also an autocrat, be-
sides being all kinds OF tyrant, &C
tuated only by personal ambitfon-an
Incarnation of force and murder" he
has been justly called. Just how
Editor Mayes can put Caesar and Ma
| poleon under it's own classification or
progressives is a bit more than the
Ir1Dune can ramon.
We judge men by the standard of
the times in which they lived.
julius Caesar was a military despot
but he lived In time of despots. He
waged war with a genius that had
never been surpassed, hut he carried
the learning and civilization of Rome
wherever he went and as a conquerer
he was as magnanimus on the ono
hand as his campaigns were brilliant
on the other. Tfia sympathies were
with democracy as opposed to aris-
tocracy. The very mobiles of Gaul
whom he conquered were by him given
seats in the Roman Senate. He passed
| the agrarian law-designed to give the
people themselves a share in the public
domain-and he reformed the calen-
dar-a benefaction which the entire
world enjoys today, He lived in a
/ time of superstition, yet superstition
played little part in his life. It made
no difference to him whether the
calves livers were white er black,
whether the sacred hens ate their food
or not, whether the oracles were fav-
orabie or unfavorab1e. When he got
ready to do a thing, he did it, ne mat
! ter what the signs said or failed to
say He built roads that are today
| 9, 900 years after-the marvel of the
world Before his death he planned a
digest of the Roman law fer the pub
lie use, he proposed to drain marshes,
enlarge harbors, dig canals, and found
public libraries. Had It not been for
his assassination, he would no doubt
have accomplished these things and
more. He was with one exception
Cicero-the greatest orator OF his time
and unqestlonably the greatest states
man and military genius Of his age.
He received the title Father of His
Country" while yet alive and was at
his death the then foremost man of
all the world" Despot? Yes. But he
left Rome and the world better than
he found 1t, and his name after 1000
years is the Greatest name in Roman
history. He was not the idol of his
own soldiers or of the history OF his
countrymen without a reason.
What do you suppose was the rea-
SOM The answer will determine
whether Caesar was. judged by the
standard of his time, reactionary or
progressive.
Had Napoleon Bonaparte done moth
ing else than put a crimp for all time
in the detestable doctrine of the <di-
vine right of kings, his name would be
entitled to a place among the imrnor-
tails. What Cromwell began, he fin
ished. When Cromwell challenged di
vine right Napoleon overthrow it,
booted it, spat upon it. He gave to
France her first logical system of
jurisprudence, and the Code Napoleon
furnishes today the foundation for
most of the French law. He estab-
lished a system of state education and
that system, amplified to meet present
needs, obtains in France to this day.
He ruled with an iron hand, but he
lived in time of iron rule. He de-
manded and got respect and obedience,
but neither aristocracy nor royalty
looked any better to him than the
toiling peasant by the wayside. The
humblest private in the ranks always
found the flap of Napoieon's tent open.
He believed in rewarding, and did re-
ward, merit wherever he found it. He
remembered his own poverty, obscur-
ity, suffering, and he was quick to lis
ten to and redress a grievance no mat
ter how humble the man aggrieved.
He detested show, pretense, and ar
tificial distinction. When a sycophan-
tic court messenger sought to f1atter
him by presenting evidence that Ma
poleon himself was of noble descent,
he exclaimed: Il will have none of
such tomfoolery. My patent of nobil-
ity dates from the battle Of Monte
notte!''
Today in the great city on the Seine.
whose statue is 1t that overtops all