'The Conservative 13
Criino has justified itself on a thou-
saud ingenious pleas , not only to escape
punishment , but to placate in some
fashion the angry conscience of the evil
doer. But it is ruroly that this glazing
of sophistry carries with it such a note
of sincerity even to the point of humor ,
as in the case of the Cleveland incen
diary who recently fired the building of
the Young Men's Christian association
of that city. It seems that this unique
firebug had been recipient of consider
able kindness front the association and
felt profoundly grateful. It had come
to his knowledge that the board desired
to put up a new building in place of the
ramshackle old one , but funds were
short , though the structure was highly
insured. To this grateful person's sim
ple minded logic the course was straight ,
not crooked. Ho burned the building
and compelled the insurance company
to do the rest. Unfortunately , among
that remainder was restraint of his own
liberty. The local mind has been exer
cising itself on this curious perversion
of nature with much interest , it is said ,
but without preventing the prison doors
from yawning still more widely for the
grateful incendiary.
A happy opportunity is offered to that
innumerable intellectual genus , the
Yankee inventor , by the commissioner
of New Zealand who recently arrived
in this country. His government is
eager to find a mechanical or chemical
process for treating the native hemp
fiber , and suggests figures up in the
millions as a reward. That is sufficient.
There are plenty of Americans with
from 50 to 200 patents to their score
who only need a hint. Commissioner
Holmes may rest sure of getting his
desire gratified if he can prove the
"quet pro quo. "
Recollection is the one paradise out
of which we cannot be driven. So it is
the one hell from which there is no es
cape. The mirror reflects the beautiful
and the repulsive with equal fidelity.
f _
The charge of the Seventy-first lancers
at the recent battle of Omdurmanin the
Sudan on a mass of fierce dervishes
more than ten times their number will
rank among deeds of British valor only
second to the famous Balaklava ride to
death. The loss was less and the condi
tions were different , but as a splendid
example of disciplined and well ordered
courage against numbers inspired by
the most reckless fury it is well worthy
of a word of comment. The whole hat
tie indeed was a very remarkable exam
ple of the efficiency of modern weapons.
The discrepancy of slaughter has but
few parallels in the history of war.
The whole loss of killed and wounded
on the British side was within 000
men , while the destruction inflicted on
the army of the khalifa is said to have
reached the enormous total in casualties
of battle of 26.800. with some 4.000
taken prisoners. The very courage of the
dervish hordes , who absolutely defied
death in the persistent recklessness of
their attacks , made their slaughter at
the mouth of Lee-JMctford rifles , ma
chine guns and the most improved mod
ern field artillery the more terrible and
complete. Another interesting comment
suggested by this overwhelming victory
is the excellent quality of soldiership
developed in the Egyptian troops by
habit and discipline. Made up mostly
of fellaheen , the least warlike material
by nature in the world , these troops
showed themselves worthy of their
white fellowship in steadiness and cour
age. There has been an enormous
change in their morale since the period
of Khedive Ismail's Abyssinian expedi
tion in 187G , when the Egyptians al
lowed themselves to be butchered like
sheep and refused to fire their pieces
against a foe inferior in numbers.
According to the Jewish Year Book ,
there are only about 11,000,000 of the
race in this wide world of ours , half of
whom still live in Russia. When wo
consider the astonishingly largo number
of those out of Russia and countries
where the Hebrew is persecuted who
are highly prosperous , we find such a
ratio of general success in material af
fairs such as no other people can rival.
The Duke of Tetuan , formerly Span
ish minister of foreign atfairs , recently
said in criticism of Sagasta that the late
Premier Oanovas and himself had al
ways looked on an American war as the
certain ruin of Spain. The duke was
very unpatriotic not to have pub this
conviction into a speech at a time when
it might have been of some use to his
country.
When we say there is nothing new
under the sun , we do not include forgot
ten things. This is fortunate for many
writers able to dig into dusty tomes and
thus beget the reputation for original
ity.
Prosperity makes a multitude of
friends , but it is adversity which makes
the fast ones.
It is to bo feared that Commissioner
General Peck dallied at home too long ,
and that Americans have been too indif
ferent about the Paris exposition. Now
that we have begun to waken up , the
news from Paris is that any further
award of space is impossible. The other
nations have got it all.
Many a mnn lives on a pedestal of
his own manufacture , and the world
good nuturedly accepts the solidity of
the base. He dies , and the statue in
stantly topples into the mud.
Some human hearts need the miracle
of Moses. They must bo smitten with a
rod of might before they gush forth in
a stream of living water.
What we gain by experience is not
worth what wo lose in the flight of illu
sion. Most old men would willingly re-
; uru to the joyous blundering of youth
and leave their wisdom behind. It is the
ever recurring Faust fable in living
flesh and blood.
TIMELY AraiVEKSAJRIES ,
Some Current Selections From His
tory's Broad Page.
September 29.
48 B. C. Pompoy , rivnl of
Julius Caesar , was murder
ed on the shorn of Egypt ,
where ho had fled for ref-
ugo.
1725 Robert Lord Clive , who
established the British empire -
piro in India , was born in
Shropshire ; died 1774.
1758 Horatio Nelson , British
admiral and naval hero , ADM. wiN8tow.
\vas born in Shropshire ; died 1805.
1818 General William Henry Harrison recap
tured Detroit from the British.
1823 Daniel Shays , veteran of the American
Revolution and leader of Shays' rebellion
in Massachusetts in 1780 , died at Sparta , N.
Y. ; born 1740.
1831 John McAllister Schofleld , formerly com
mander of the United States army , born
in Ghautauqua , N. Y.
1807 The Emperor Maximilian and his Mexi
can generals , Mcjia and Miramon , shot at
Qucrotaro.
1873 Rear Admiral John Ancrum Winslow , U.
8. N. , hereof thoKearsarge-Alabanmlight ,
died in Boston ; born 1811.
September 30.
480 B. O. Euripides , Greek tragio dramatist ,
born at Salamis.
100 B. C. Pompoy the Great , rival of Julius
Ccesar , was born ; tried the same day of the
month 01 B. C.
1899 First peaceful revolution in England ;
Richard II surrendered the crown to Henry
IV.
1485 Isabel of Bavaria , queen of diaries VI of
France , died.
1601 Battle in the streets of London in a royal
procession to welcome the Swedish einbas-
eador , the French and Spanish envoys fight
ing for precedence ; Spaniards victorious ;
12 killed and 80 wounded.
1781 Jacques Necker , eminent financier and
father of Mine , do Stacl , born ; died 1804.
1770 George Whiteilold , famous preacher , died
at Newburyport , Mass. ; born 1714.
1805 General Samuel Peter Hointzolman , a
prominent Union soldier in 1802 , born in
Lancaster county , Pa. ; died 1880.
1817 John Weiss Forney , American journalist
of the political echool , born in Lancaster ,
Pa. ; died 1881.
1857 August Comto , philosophical writer , died
in Paris.
1882 John Jacob Herzog , editor of the noted
"Cyclopedia of Theology"died ; born 1805.
1891 General Boulanger , the French agitator ,
killed himself at Brussels.
October 1.
1207 Henry III of England died after a reign
of 50 years , the longest in English history
until the present.
1084 Pierre Cornoille , French tragic dramatist ,
died in Paris.
1754 Paul I , emperor of Russia ( "Crazy
Paul" ) , was born ; murdered by a band of
his nobles.
1781 James Lawrence , naval hero , born in
Burlington , N. J. ; died of wounds , 1813 , on
his vessel , the Chesapeake.
1709 Rufus Choato , great lawyer and orator ,
born at Essex , Mass. ; died at Halifax 1859.
1803 Arrival at New York of flvo Russian ves
sels of war as a demonstration of sympathy.
1884 The international prime meridian conference -
once mot at Washington ; it adopted Green
wich as the line for all the world.
1890 President Hnrtison signed the MoKinley
tariff bill , and it became a law.
1893 Judge Irving B. Randle , who had been
the intimate friend of President Lincoln ,
died at Alton , Ills. ; born 1811.