the Conservative.
to supply , "in the name of humanity , "
the proper rations and comforts to our
own lath and kin in the army invading
Cuba ?
And if such "impeachment" is not
to be tolerated of what use is a commis
sion to investigate the alleged delin
quencies of the War Department ? How
can a commission , after being thus
menaced by the president himself , find
any truth in the rumors of incompetency
which have been circulated about Sec
retary Alger and the War Department
and General Miles and others "who
planned and achieved ? " What is the entire -
tire significance of President McKinley's
sentence above quoted and who will in
terpret the same ?
man ago-
WORDS , WORM ,
WORDS. ment of the Oma
ha Exposition have
the public classified under two compre
hensive heads , which they denominate
respectively Ladies and Gents. Now ,
lady is a good old English word , and
one properly applicable , we doubt not ,
to all female visitors to the exposition ;
but the masculine equivalent of lady is
not gent , but lord ; or , according to a
somewhat more recent usage , gentle
man. On the whole , however , we
would perhaps hardly advise the man
agement of the exposition to placard
their groxauds , in directing the move
ments of an American assemblage ,
with signs of Lords and Ladies ;
and we presume it would be useless to
remind them that the words Men and
Women would cover the ground amply ,
and in a manner quite beyond the reach
of criticism.
The suicitl ° iu
i i > . „ _ , . .
METHOD. prison of Colonel
Henry , supposedly
by order of a French court of justice ,
strikes an American as a strange form
of punishment. The French no doubt
think it a proper legal proceeding ; at
least it is not rare iu their annals. Here
is an almost exactly parallel case , found
in a narrative history of the XVII cen
tury. It is an episode of the Flemish
wars of Cardinal 'Mazariu's time. A
French army is besieging the city oj
Gravelines.
"A battle was thought to be at hand
and the Due d'Orleans gave orders to
have powder distributed to all the regi
ments. The artillery officer who was in
charge of this matter replied to the ma
jors that ho was ou.t of powder , as a
great deal had been burned before
Gravelines , and that they would have to
wait until a new stock was received.
Though the fighting had been heavy , it
was astonishing that the powder shoulc
have given out so suddenly , and the ma
jors wont and reported to Marshal do la
Meillerayo , who was grand master oi
the artillery. This marshal was a very
honest man , and everyone know that he
would not. for anything iu the world
iavo taken part in any rascality , sup-
) osing that there was any going on in
; ho artillery.
"The marshal sent for the oflicor who
was complained of , with his mind made
up to make it hot for him. As soon ns
10 saw him , he told him that he was
going straight to have him hanged , and
; hat he had a quarter of an hour to prepare -
pare for death. The powder-officer was
not disturbed by the marshal's violence ,
oven when the latter informed him that
; ho Due d'Orleans had endorsed his sen
tence , but merely answered that they
would both be sorry for it when all the
facts came to light. The marshal was
furiously enraged at this calmness , and
demanded of him if he had not received
orders to provide himself with so many
thousand-weight of powder , and if ,
counting everything , half the stock
must not be remaining.
"The other aclmowledged the correct
ness of the marshal's statement , but an
swered that he had acted upon the
prime minister's order in refusing the
powder , and handed the marshal a let
ter from the cardinal , which ran thus :
" 'You are to rememb'er the oath that
you took when you were given your
place. You promised the king to be
faithful to him. The faithfulness which
he requires of you is to prevent his
being robbed , so far as may lie in your
power. A great dissipation of powder
is made every year , without anybody
knowing where it goes to. Your su
periors take every occasion to order
great quantities of it distributed , and it
is not all employed in the king's service ,
but the price of it comes into their
pockets , as His Majesty luiows very
well. At all these encounters you will
therefore make them repeat their orders
three or four times at least. Find some
pretext for not obeying promptly.
Otherwise you will be considered to be a
sharer in these thieviugs. '
"The marshal could not finish reading
this document for wrath. He saw him
self designated as a thief , and the chiel
of them all , since he was chief of artil
lery. The Due d'Orleaus coming in ai
this time , M. do la Meilleraye shower
him the letter. He wondered that a
sensible man like the marshal should
mind so small a thing. Everyone judges
people by himself ; what was there
strange in the cardinal's seeing robbers
everywhere ? The war was costing the
prime minister's avarice dear , anc
money spent for powder was so mucl
money gone up in smoke.
By such arguments the Due d'Orleans
tried to quiet the marshal's dissatisfac
tion. But the latter represented that
the cardinal's avarice , by inciting in
feriors to disobedience , might have cos1
the army dear if Piccolomini had learnec
of our lack of powder and delivered a
vigorous charge upon our lines. The
duke had no objection to make to this
but declined to punish the insubordinate
officer himself , alleging that ho did not
vish to trespass upon the marshal's
urisdiction.
"M. do la Meilleraye was considerably
embarrassed , and ordered the provost to
confine the officer , pending a decis-
on upon his case. The next morning
the man was found hanging from a
jeain in the wretched house in which ho
md been confined ; it was given out that
10 had hung himself , out of despair , but
nobody explained who had taken him a
rope to hang himself with , a stout nail
; o attach it to and a hammer to drive in
the nail.
"This death made a good deal of talk ,
as much as the refusal of the powder
had done. The slanderous circulated
the story that the duke had taken this
means to rid himself of awkward testi
mony , for there is no man safe from the
tongue of malice. However this may bo
there was no further lack of powder in
the army. "
Colonel Henry's out-going from this
world , under similar circumstances ,
merely suggests that Franco and French
men do not perceptibly change in mili
tary methods.
YOUNO AMERICA'S IDEA OF ISLAND
DEPENDENCIES.
Not long since THE CONSERVATIVE
listened with intense interest to a dis
cussion of the expansion policy , now
proposed for the government of the
United States , between a successful
merchant and a prominent railroad
official.
What department of the government
will supervise and manage the Philip
pine Islands , Porto Rico , Cubaandall the
other ocean-surrounded territory that it
is proposed to make part of the United
States ? Will there bo a new Depart
ment of the Colonies or will the State
Department create within itself a bureau
or division for the colonies ?
And a boy thirteen years of age a
Chicago boy rising to the occasion ,
said :
"I think congress will create a De
partment of the Exterior. It will pro
perly attend to the government of all
our island dependencies. "
The London
THOSE ANGLO- Athenaeum , in
SAXONS.
reviewing the il
lustrious Mr. Rudolf Rassendyll , ven
tures to hope that his excellent qualities
are characteristically "English , or at
least Anglo-Saxon. "
This would appear to bo an instance of
a very common confusion of terms.
Would the writer imply that the manly
virtues of the English people were im
ported wholly by the German tribes
who immigrated prior to the 9th cen
tury ? Or has ho an idea that Anglo-
Saxon is a wider term than English , and
covers the Scotch , the Irish , the Ameri
cans , the Canadians , the Australians ,
the British Indians , the South African
ders and the scattering upholders of
English ideas ?
4' *