CÆSAR'S COLUMN.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2307, 19 January 1892, Page 3

CÆSAR'S COLUMN.

The year 2000 appears to be the great loadstar of the modern prophet. It is to that year all of them have been looking for great social changes. The first to speculate as regards the social condition of the world in Anno Domini 2000 was Sir Julius Vogel. He pictured the world almost entirely governed by women in that year. A Mrs Harding is to be Premier, and a Miss Fitzherbert is to be Secretary of State, in that year, but, strangely enough, we shall have a King instead of a Queen then, and the King will marry Miss Pitzherbert. The next book on the year 2000 is Bellamy's "Looking Backwards." According to him someone went to sleep in 1887, and will not awake uutil the year 2000, when he will marry the grand-daughter of the

woman he was to have married 113 years before. Bellamy pictures the world iu an extremely happy condition, under a cooperative system of government. But it is with neither of these we intend to deal. The latest and most powerfully-written work on this subject is entitled " Csesar's Column." This takes a very gloomy

view of the future, but in all probability it will prove more useful than any of it's predecessors, as it issues a warning to the people to be on the alert lest they may be re-enslaved by the capitalists. The story is told in letters forwarded from New York by Gabriel Weltstein to his brother Heinrich Weltstein, in the State of Uganda, in Africa, and the first < letter bears the date of Sept. 10, 1988.

Uganda, which at the present time is a savage African district, will, it would appear, be well settled by civilised people In 19*8, Gabriel goes to America to transact some business, and his experiences in New York make up the story. He reaches Now York in an airship, and 100 miles away he can see the brilliant radience of millions of magnetic lights. New York is indescribably magnificent, and by night is lighted up with light obtained from the "Aurora

Borealis," which ha 3 superseded electricity. But we must not stop to describe it all, as it would take more space than we can afford to give it. In the hotel at which he stayed he had only to touch a button and his dinner appeared on the table, or the news of any country appeared on a mirror before him, hot water was pumped out of the

bowels of the earth, and fresh air brought down from beyond the clouds, and all is magnificence, but the poor are slaves, and f the first trouble into which Gabriel got was for thrashing a gentleman's coachdriver for trampling a poor beggar-man beneath the feet of his horses. The beggar-man whom he saved turns out to be a, very wealthy young gentleman, who plays the principal part in the story, and becomes Gabriel's protector and friend. He is one of three leaders of a secret society which has its rammifications all over the e.irth, and whose behests are obeyed on pain of immediate death. This gentleman, whose mms is M-vr.-.nillian, takes the African stranger in hand, and introduces him to what is tanned the "under world," by which is meant the

laboring poor. The condition of the i working people is awful, terrible, and fearful, but the most revolting thing in it all 1 is that in a footnote in the book the following appears : " The testimony taken before the Parliamentary Commission in 1888 shows that the workers "' in the sweating shops of London worked in this way even at that time for fifteen or sixteen hours a day, and ate their meals in the manner described in the text." There is food for reflection in this. Here we find a man of a powerfully imaginatives intellect drawing the most degraded picture he can conceive conditions of the poor, and when he has depicted it in the most revolting

colors ho turns round and says: This is nothing worse than what exists in merry England at the preshnt. time." The imagination of man, there fore, can not conceive a condition worse than what may be seen in England now, and yet the man who has the hardihood to denounce the greed and avarice which produces sijch a result is characterised as a socialist, an anarchist, andarqbber, and any effort put forward for a more equal distribution of wealth is called confiscation

and spoliation. L :--. The most powerful chapters in the W book are those which describe how the

world became enslaved. The moneyed men combined together, and at election times bought votes so as to secure the majority in Parliament. Great rings, syndicates, and corners were formed, and wealth got into fewer hands yearly, while at the same time the number dependent upon labor became greater. Machinery did most of the work, and thus the poor were' reduced to abject misery, till the world became one huge sweating sfyoj). At last a great rebellion "broke out, but the lions 'offaimers rushed io the assistance of the capitalists, arid being well armed they slaughtered the rebels: This completely crushed .%>" power 'qf t,l f e p,eqp,Je, gnd \\\Q wealthy became more, wealthy, anil tlje cfyief ainong them was a man who was given 'the title of Prince Cabanq. All this is brought aoou* bv tl\Q pqw§r <4 a "4 n ext an ar.n{y is established, with air ships called th§ I)emqn§. They ibqw* up m *Ji§ m mm*. *--■ '* bombs containing - * them . > • .. 6 a destructive poisonous matter are flung amongst the opposing army. Wholesale slaughter is the result, and by this means the oligarchy maintain power, The position of women / }s terrible, they are altogether enslaved, - <MLand bought and sold by the wealthy. The Prince Oabano. Gabriel loves her, and With the assistance of the Secret Society, which is called the Brotherhood of Destruction, he arranges to rescue her. While ooncealed in Prince Cabano's house the council of the oligarchy meets, and he learns all their plana. A spy tells all about the Secret Society, and they decide to force on the people to rebel. Their plan is to confine the people within narrow limits, send up the air ships, and fling the murderous bombs amongst them. They say there are too -many people in • the world, and they decide on killing ten millions of them. They have Qnly one trouble to contend, against. The army k;nqwing that the wealthy are dependent, on J fciem are continually asking for more pay, T and at the council meeting General " Quincy, their commander, makes an application for a further increase in their wages. The council of the wealthy men agree to this, but as soon as the General "" retires, they decide on forming an army from amongst the sons of the wealthy, and. on killing the army which is con-

tinually demanding more wagea. Gabne has heard all this, and through the medium of the Brotherhood of Destruction reports to General Quincy what the intentions of the council of the wealthy are. The general at once agrees to join the brotherhood, the rebellion takes place, and instead of firing the bombs from the air ships on the rebels, General Quincy fires th« j m at the army of the wealthy. The result is that the Brotherhood of Destruction gains the day, and then commences wholesale slaugter, and plunder, till the streets are impassible owing, to the numbers lying dead on them. The chief of the Brotherhood of Destruction has taken possession of Prince Cabona's house, and decides on burying the dead in a column made of coment, and this he calls Cresar's Column, on which is the following inscription : " This great monument is erected by Cjesar Lomellini Commanding General of the Brotherhood of Destruction, in commemoration of the death and burial of modern civilisation." The destruction goes on, Gabriel, Maximillian, and their friends fly to Africa in an air-ship, and they build up defences to protect the

state of Uganda from the incursions of the Brotherhood of Destruction who have laid all the civilised world in ashes. Such is the outlines of the story, but these are only the dry bones which are clothed with powerfully written descriptions, and interesting matter relating to social life. Marriage appears to be generally disregarded, there is no idea of morality, the ministers of religion pander to the vices of the people and suit their sermons to the tastes of their congregations, fearfully anarchical speeches are made at private meetings of working men, and religion appears to be a thing of the past. The book is intensity interesting; one does not'care to put it down without finishing it, it is the work of a scholar of great intellectual powers. The author is set down as Edmund Boisgilbert, M.D., but it is supposed that that is a fictitious name. It is attributed to Mr Donnelly, who recently became notorious by trying to prove that the works of Shakespeare were written by Lord Bacon. " Looking Backwards'' is, the author says, what ought to be, but " Cassar's Column," ia what may be if we people do not look after their own interests in time. The book can be obtained from Mr Dann in Temuka.