T3bc Conservative.
CONCKKN1NG The last imniber
iionsox. of 0110 of the big
weeklies contains a picture , showing
how young Mr. Hobsou is interfered
with on the streets by people who wish
to shako his hand and give three or
more cheers for him. There is also a
series of portraits of Mr. Hobsou at var
ious times , from the ago of two years
onward ; there are portraits of his father
and mother , and a view of the Hobsou
residence ; and there is a display of these
and many more Hobsons on the Hobsou
front door stops , together with the Hobson -
son family-servants , who are black , and
the young lady visiting at Hobsous' ,
who is white.
So far as the public is concerned , this
is all very well. If wo are to have war ,
wo want our fighting to be as well done
as possible. And if the young men who
are doing it arc encouraged in their ef
forts by looking up to Hobsou , as we
may suppose Hobsou to have looked up
to Gushing , Gushing to Decatur , Decatur -
tur to Jones , and so on , then the more
ado we make over Hobson the better
for us.
But as to its effect on the young man
himself , such a course of treatment may
not be by any means so desirable. It
may be doubted if he will return , after
some weeks of it , to the duties for which
we have educated him , with a mind so
well attuned as before to the consider
ation of problems of naval construction ,
or if he will bo as comfortable to deal
with for those whoso duties call them
into contact with him ; in a word , if he
will bo as valuable an assistant naval
constructor as he is said to have boon
before ho blow up the MoiTimac.
And if not , what is to become of him ?
Clearly , ho nmst either bo straightway
forgotten ( which would be hard on him
and all the Hobsons ) or ho must bo
made a personage of , with a prospect of
ultimately coming to the position now
occupied by those venerated leaders ol
the Civil War , whom we have been ac
customed to seeing led about , like fal
oxou , for occasional exhibition in smal
towns. And is this a career that wo
woTild like to see lie before any youiif
man in whom wo feel an interest ?
Then there is the matter of glory , am'
the inevitable descendants , in when
pride of race is observed to increase di
rectly with the distance from the glor
ions ancestor. The more the glory now
the greater will bo the uplifting of the
remote progeny , and the great grand
children of young Mr. Hobsou will bo
quite unapproachable to the great grand
children of us , who remained quietly a
homo in 1898 and blew up nothing more
noteworthy than , say , the icuiimu.
A SPANISH Iu the year 1040
suimi/rv. when Spain' ?
American colonies were perhaps the leas
prized of all her holdings of land , i
French army was laying siege to th <
town of Arras , which had been takei
and garrisoned by a Spanish force from
icross the Belgian border. The follow-
ng singular episode of this siege appears
n a narrative of the time , which has
ust been ropublishcd , and which has
lover been translated into English :
"These failures excited the insolence
of the besieged. They placed upon the
vails pasteboard rats , which they conTented -
Tented with cats of the same material ,
nid the besiegers asked themselves the
signification of those emblems. Well ,
uiving taken some prisoners in a sortie ,
ihey requested of them the explanation.
These prisoners wore real Spaniards , and
is such possessed the wit that is ob
served in people of that nation , espeo-
ally in the soldiery , and much more
; han among the officers ; for in those
lines , when a merchant became bank
rupt , he purchased with his last pennies
an officer's commission , and brought
ivith him into his now calling all the
jlownishness of his first trade. How
ever this may bo , these prisoners were
icither stupid nor bashful. They re
plied boldly to Marshal do Chatillon who
was questioning thorn , 'That they were
surprised that a man of his capacity
should not have understood at once that
that meant , when the mix shall cut this
/s / , the French will lake Arms. ' The
marshal dared not laugh at this allegory ,
as he would have done if the conduct of
the siege had been in better shape. Ho
pretended .not to have understood their
speech , as if scorn had been the only re
turn he could make to so impudent a
response. ' '
The American nation is as honest in
peace as it is valorous in war. It will
not bo long before the truth will come
homo to the minds and hearts of the
people that Cuba , by which is meant a
great majority of its home-loving , pro
perty-owning people , had as good a gov
ernment under the Spanish monarchy as-
they were capable of maintaining. It
will also bo likely to occur , indeed it is
already occurring , that wo shall como
to know that the organized cries oJ
"Spanish oppression , " "Spanish cruelty'
and "Spanish crime , " largely omauatec
from as merciless a gang of brigands a *
over infested the Italian Alps. If thif
is not so ; if it is as true as the Proctors
Masons , Thurstons , and other profes
sional patriots would have us believe
that Garcia and his blood-thirsty "pat
riots" have been oppressed by bad laws
and government , why does the presi
dent refuse to change the laws or dis
trust the courts , or private rights , as
Spain long since ordained and estab
lished them ? And why , oh , why does ho
outlaw Garcia from all part in the now
order ?
THE CONSERVATIVE , Hon. J. Sterling
Morton's now paper made its first appearance
pearanco from the now oifico of publica
tion , at Nebraska City , July 14. It is a
neat sixteen page , three column paper
devoted largely to the discussion of ceo
lomic , political , agricultural and horti-
jultural topics. It is ably edited and
till of good thought. Mr. Morton has
ilways been a persistent advocate of the
; old standard , and has been favored
nany times by his party in his state ,
vith the nomination for governor. Ho
vas then regarded as the most able ex
ponent of democratic principles in this
state. Ho is today as strongly advoca-
ig the same principles that ho did in
'ormor days but the great bulk of his
party have gone off with the pops on the
l(5-to-l ( business and loft him and a few
others to fight the battles of the old-timo
lemocracy alone. Mr. Morton does not
seem discouraged however in this whole
sale desertion for ho advocates as per-
iistently , those same doctrines , as ho did
fifteen or moro years ago. Some of the
wanderers are returning to the domo-
iracy of old and Mr. Morton is not with
out hope. Sterling Sun.
"Oh , Liberty , what criinuH Imvu boon com-
inittud in thy nuino. "
If Madame Roland did not say ex
actly those words , she did say something
very like them.
The curtain begins to rise on Cuba.
The American people , through the pres
ident and General Shaftor , are already
beginning to see what "liberty" means
to General Garcia and other freebooters
011 this island who have been waging
barbarous warfare on the property-hold
ing and law-abiding subjects of the
Spanish monarchy who constitute a
largo majority of the people of Cuba.
Cubans would neither fight nor work in
the late campaign , but the moment our
gallant troops captured a coast city ,
they fell to plundering , robbing and
talcing murderous revenges upon their
loyal , industrious populations. And
was it to give "liberty" to these bri
gands that the flow.or of American
youth laid down their lives at Santiago ,
and thousands of millions of money is
being expended by a patriotic people ?
DisTKiiiUTioN THE CONSEU-
OF PRODUCTS. VATIVE IS Under
renewed and increased obligations to its
active and efficient friend , Mr. Edward
Atkinson , of Boston. Ho has just pre
sented ( with the compliments of the
author ) ' ' The Distribution of Products , ' '
published by G. P. Putuams' Sons in
Now York and in London. This book
has already entered upon its fifth edi
tion. It treats intelligently and lucidly
of three subjects , viz :
1. What makes the Bate of Wages ?
2. What is a Bank ?
. The Railway , the Farmer , and the
Public.
It would bo a good teacher in every
farm house , factory , bank and railway
reading-room in the Um'ted States.
From time to time THE CONSERVATIVE
will quote this instructive and useful
volume.
, ' KJ :
