M
*
Conservative.
of the old American idea that n government -
, ment of absolute powers is an intolera
ble thing , and , under the constitution of
the United States , an impossible thing. "
We agree with him that this view "will
not limit the power of territorial expansion
L *
pansion ; but it will lead us to limit the
use of that power to regions that may
safely become part of the United States ,
and to peoples whose American citizen
ship may bo allowed. "
'Wo urge all lovers of freedom to or
ganise in defense of human rights now
threatened by the greatest free govern
ment in history. Let every citizen
study the facts and make his conclusion
known , combining with his neighbors to
influence congress to stand true to the
principles of the declaration by which
this government was founded and under
which it has grown so great. The
gravest danger our country has known
'til ) now , has come from a denial of
those principles. We appeal from those
who for the moment exercise the power
of the nation to the people who are the
nation that-nation which , on July 4 ,
J.770 , was "conceived in liberty and ded
icated to the proposition that all men
are created equal. "
AMERICAN ANTI-IMPERIALIST LEAOUE ,
George S. Boutwell , President By
Edwin Burritt Smith , Chairman Ex
ecutive Committee , and W. J. Mize ,
Secretary.
NEW E N a L A N D ANTI-IMPERIALIST
LEAGUE By Erving Wiustow , Secre
tary.
ANTI - IMPERIALIST LEAGUE , of New
York By Ernest H. Crosby , Presi
dent , and E. W. Ordway , Sec'y.
AMERICAN LEAGUE , of Philadelphia
By George G. Mercer , President , and
*
Samuel Miliken , Secretary.
WASHINGTON ANTI-IMPERIALIST LEAGUE
By W. A. Cruffut , President.
CINCINNATI ANTI-IMPERIALIST LEAGUE
' By Charles B. Wilby , Chairman Ex
ecutive Com.
We concur in the above address :
Carl Schurz , New York.
Morfleld Storey , Boston.
Herbert Welsh , Philadelphia.
J. Sterling Morton , Nebraska City ,
Nebraska.
t r.
Nearly every
THE PIONEERS , county in Nebraska
has an organiza
tion of its first settlers. The pioneers
along the Missouri river the eastern
rim of the commonwealth are becom
ing more alert and active in making up
packets of reminiscences of the early
settlements in Richardson , Nemaha ,
Otoe , Cass , SarpyDouglas , Washington ,
Burt , Dakota , Dixon , Cedar and L'eau
qui Court ( now Kiiox ) counties , and
transmitting them to the State Histori
cal Society at Lincoln. Those Argo
nauts who first sheared golden crops
from these fertile plains are swiftly
passing away. They must do their his
torical work soon , or never. Out of the
six hundred and odd men who voted at
the first territorial election in Nebraska
on that tranquil November day in 1854
few , very few , remain. They were the
founders of civil government. They
were the advance guard of the million
and a quarter of inhabitants who now ,
in health and prosperty , send up , from
factory and farm , from city and vil
lage , every day , the constant hum of
contented industry , and , from thous
ands of beautiful homes , the rythmic
hymn of satisfied happiness. To have
led the way , to have been in the fore
front of settling a commonwealth like
Nebraska , and to have seen it evolve
from savagery into civilization , and to
have aided or accelerated that evolution
is a glory , an honor. It is so because
the judgment of the early settlers as to
the soil and its possibilities has been
vindicated , verified by crops of two
hundred millions of bushels of corn for
a series of years. It is a glorious thing
to live long enough to see all of ones
highest hopes and richest forecasts as
to a wilderness more than triumphantly ,
and , even miraculously realized by hu
man occupancy. Forty-seven years ago
the first settlers were permitted to enter
Nebraska for permanent settlement
upon its lands. In that time while
crops have been six times "short , " in
the river counties , there has never been
a complete failure ; nineteen crops have
been "bumpers" and twenty have
been merely good. When the
editor of THE CONSERVATIVE
first occupied Arbor Lodge , the one
hundred and sixty acres of land , where
he has ever since lived , it was more than
three hundred miles to a railroad. That
was in June , 1855 , before the United
States had surveyed Nebraska and two
years before a land office was opened in
the territory. Nearly half a century has
e'apsed. ' The changes that have trans
pired are miraculous. Now , in the state
there are five thousand , seven hundred
and six miles of railways and eighteen
million acres of tilled land.
"That great mystery of Timewere there
no other ; the illimitable , silent , never-
resting thing called Time , rolling , rush
ing on , swift , silent , like an all-embrac
ing ocean-tide , on which wo and all the
universe swim like exhalations , like ap
paritions which are and then are not ;
this is forever , very literally , a miracle ;
a thing to strike us dumb , for we have
no word to speak about it. "
But the mere flight of time does not
make history. For centuries and tens
and thousands of centuries the vast
plains , stretching from the Missouri to
the Rocky Mountains saw summer sun
and winter storm. But they had no
history. Barbarism is incapable of his
tory. History is the biography of * civili
zation. It is the story of the life of men ,
human integrals , chiefly narratives of
able and conspicuous men. Oompositely ,
history is the life of all men. But an in
dividual who has no energy , no educa
tion , no ambition , no altruism , termi
nates at his grave. He has said nothing ,
to be remembered , accomplished
nothing , and the clay out of
which he was formed was inutile and
wasted. History has no solicitude for
the do-nothing breeds of men. History
conserves the records of those , only , who
have earned its authoritative considera
tion through industry and utility. The
pioneers of all now territories , state , or
colonies have been , in the main , repre
sentatives of the best blood and brain of
the communities whence they migrated.
Nebraska , as her annals demonstrate ,
was opened up by sturdy , intelligent ,
far-seeing men. Shall the common
wealth continue development under
similar guidance and control ?
THE CONSERVA-
ADELBERT S. HAY. TIVE has been al
ways an admirer
and friend of Secretary of State Hay.
His terrible bereavement enters the
hearts of those of his friends who have
suffered similarly in recent months as a
renewal of their own personal affliction.
The New York Evening Post of Mon
day , June 20th , expresses the sentiments
of THE CONSERVATIVE as follows :
"We are sure that all hearts are full
of sympathy with the Secretary of
State and Mrs. Hay in view of the sud
den and appalling calamity that has be
fallen them. As a general rule , public
sympathy in such cases can best be
shown by a discreet silence. In this in
stance we may be permitted to express
the common hope that the father , whose
own health has been somewhat im
paired by the labors and auxietie's of a
trying office , may not be so crushed by
this unexpected blow that his useful
ness to the country will bo sensibly im
paired. Mr. Hay has rendered such
good service to the nation during the
past four years , and with such uncon
sciousness of merit on his own part , that
he has won the admiration of his ene
mies , if he had any. It is the hope of
the whole people , we think , that he may
be able to continue the work which he
has so well discharged thus far , and
hence that he may not be utterly over
whelmed by the grief which has visited
him in the loss of a dearly loved and
promising sou. "
The question
A GREAT PROBLEM , now agitating the
soul of the aver
age populist is , "shall we again press
down the crown of nomination upon the
brow of Blab , and once more crucify
success upon a cross of silver ? "
CHANGED HIS POLITICS.
David Holt , former editor of a demo
cratic paper in Macomb City , Miss. , has
changed his politics , and is to issue a re
publican paper in Jackson , Miss.
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