8 'Cbc Conservative.
Till : MOIIAL , OF Til 13 CUD AX IVAN.
War , the almost certain concomitant
of empire , is alleged to have a most
blessed effect on the internal harmony
of nations. This \ve are told not only in
the press , but from the pulpit ; some
going oven so far as to intimate that the
restoration of national haimony was a
sufficient object for this war. The
moral world would be strangely out of
joint if a nation could cure itself of
factiousness or of any internal disorder
by shedding the blood and seizing the
possessions of its neighbors. War has
no such virtue. The victories of the
Plantagenets in Franco were followed by
insurrections and civil ware at home ,
largely owing to the spirit of violence
which the raids on Franco had excited.
The victories of Chatham were followed
by disgraceful scenes of cabal and fac
tion as well as of corruption , terminat
ing in the prostration of patriotism and
the domination of George III and North.
Party animosities in the United States
do not seem to have been banished or
even allayed by the Cuban war. Set
ting party divisions aside , no restoration
of harmony appeared to be needed , so
far as the white population was con
cerned. Not only peace , bxt good will
between the North and South had been
restored in a surprising degree. The
blue and gray had fraterni/.cd on the
field of Gettysburg. It was to harmon
ize white and black that some kindly
influence was manifestly and most ur
gently needed. But all through the war
and since the war American papers have
been almost daily recording cases of
lynching , sometimes of such a charac
ter as to evince the last extremity of
hatred and contempt. The negro is
lymphatic , apathetic , patient of degra
dation and even of insult. But San
Domingo saw that ho had a tiger in
him ; and when the tiger broke loose hell
ensued. There has been at least one in
stance of the retaliatory lynching of
a white man ; and now we have a bloody
battle of races at Yirdcn. Why should
the American commonwealth want
more negroes ?
# * # * *
What is this mood styled "imperial
ism , " "jingoism , " expansionism , "
"Greater Britain , " which has suddenly
come over the world ? How is it that
all at once moderation , regard for right ,
and what was deemed common pru
dence are discarded , and in their place
we hear avowals of thirst for aggran
dizement , and proclamations of the law
of force , far more philosophic in form ,
but hardly more moi'al in spirit , than
the utterances of Attilla or Timur ?
Europe has become an arsenal and drill
ing-ground. The bread is taken from
the mouths of toil to furnish destruc
tion with its implements ; the toiler him
self is pressed into its hosts ; mad com
petition in ai'mamonts has gone on till
the Czar himself stands aghast and ap
peals to reason and humanity. The
people everywhere groan. Socialism
and anarchism , as a natural consequence
quence , prevail. America "at last
catches the infection , and , as might bo
expected from her receptivity and vi
vacity , in its extreme form. Lord Salis
bury , casting the world's horoscope ,
predicts that the weak nations will all
be devoured by the strong , and appar
ently that the process will go on till ,
instead of the community of nations ,
each contributing out of its special
treasure to the common store , there will
be left only one great predatory power.
That power , we flatter ourselves , will be
the Anglo-Saxon ; and we think that the
nations ought to look forward with
gladness to its solo domination. But
the nations may differ from us in taste ;
at all events thny may prefer variety.
What , again , we would ask , is the ex
planation of this paroxysm of aggran
dizement ? Is it the sudden opening by
exploration of Africa and other regions
hitherto unappropriated by civilized
man ? Is it the intense thirst of gain ?
Is it mere restlessness and satiety of
peaceful industry and life ? Is it the re
moval of religious restraints on self-
aggrandizemenjb by the decadence of
Christianity ? It seems not altogether
to bo the last , since one mode of expan
sion is to send a missionary in advance ,
and , when he gets into trouble with the
natives to follow him with * ' '
, up a 'pun
itive expedition. "
* * * * *
When talk of "the
we great common
wealth of English-speaking people , " and
think of it as pursuing a common policy ,
it is as well to remember that the Brit
ish part of it comprises two hundred
millions of Hindus , who with other
alien races comprehended in the empire ,
form about four-fifths of the whole. Its
interests , relations , and liabilities are
not likely to coincide very closely with
those of the United States.
It is with the imperialist party in
England which is also in the main that
of aristocracy and militarism , that the
alliance would practically bo formed.
By that party it is that the prospect of
an Anglo-American combination for the
purpose of common aggrandizement
is so eagerly hailed. At present ,
thanks to the recoil from home
rule whioh threatened the dismem
berment of the United Kingdom ,
imperialism is completely in the ascen
dant. But when home rule has been
fairly buried , there may be a liberal and
moderatist revival. Already there have
been symptoms of it in more than one
of the recent by-elections.
For the propagation of Anglo-Saxon
ideas and institutions no diplomatic or
military combination is required. Ideas
are propagated b- the press ; while par
liamentary government and trial by
jury have made the round of the civil
ized world without the firing of a gun.
To impose peace upon all nations by the
fiat of the two great Anglo-Saxon
powers , wo are sometimes told , would
bo the beneficent object of the combi
nation. The nations would presently
object to having peace or anything else
imposed upon them by anybody's fiat ;
they would take arms to assert their in
dependence ; and the end , instead of
universal peace , might be a general war.
Goldwin Smith in the November
Forum.
NO HALF WAY DESTINY. "
We carry no exemption from the evils
that have overtaken that other nation ,
as proud , as self-confident as wo our
selves. Give us a few generations of
foreign wars and splendid victories and
colonial domination , and we may expect
to emulate the Spanish character , and
to hold as high a place as the Spaniards
in the estimation of the world.
If wo adventure ourselves in the
course that lies so invitingly open to us ,
and go forth in quest of glory and
power , after the Spanish fashion , it
seems likely that we shall achieve what
we go for ; but we must take it with its
liabilities , for ourselves as well as for
others. It may , indeed , be , as so many
are ready to assure us , that there is a
great destiny before us. Are we ready
to accept that destiny , the whole of it ,
to the end ? There is an illuminating
story of Zeno , that highly orthodox
Stoic philosopher of the ancient time.
His slave had been found out a thief ,
and was tied up for punishment , but
pleaded in mitigation , "O Zeno. I was
predestinated to steal. " "Yes , " said his
master , "and predestinated to be flogged
for it. " We cannot take half this des
tiny and leave the rest. From a sermon
by the Rev. Dr. Leonard W. Bacon.
, .
SAT.ISDUUY. years the habit of
the American press
to berate and beslime the name of Lord
Salisbury as an English statesman who
was always busy in "backing down"
under every serious complication with
foreign powers. In no single instance
has the illustrious survivor of the Cecils
failed to compel admiration for his
steadiness and force in every serioiis
crisis which England has had to con
front during his long public service. If
either Englishmen or Americans would
know the real reach and courage of this
powerful statesman in great interna
tional controversies , they would do well
to recall the "peace with honor" which
Lord Salisbury and Disneli brought to
London from Berlin , or pay a short visit
to Paris at about this time.
The Society Lecture Course at the
State Normal School , Peru , Nebraska ,
for the ensuing winter promises to bo
very entertaining and instructive. Cit
izens of Nebraska City may find it to
their advantage and improvement to
attend the same. The first lecture will
be given on November 19 , by James
Hedloy.
