THE PAST CENTURY.

Waikato Argus, Volume X, Issue 936, 24 April 1901, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE PAST CENTURY.

fTx'ra-.ta from Loudon Times]. I . i Qfyo I I a / O. ' January 11— Dicatii (F Louis Napu--1.K0.V. j An enormous mime has passed out of | Ilia liviuu world into history. j J-. Jr seems as if a hiuo mass of the ' world's annuls had receded further into thep-;st, and the future itself wa,- de- | scending morn swiftly upon us. We i ail of ns feel older in having survived ; tin; inau who represented, not, imbed, I the ardent youth, hut the bisy tnidd'e ' -.gp of thi* wonderful century. As or.c

j looks urn: ml in coii'-ider slin various ; interests accumulated round that oue | life, and having Hi it place in its story, due <TMi*t rather ask what is not to be fonuitlvrcV What hope, what feir, \\ hit sentiment, what cause, what nice, : uhut tradition, what rntioipation, what pniL of material or mental progress what 'h.tnien can apprehend or care about is absent from tin: ideal pomp Cat he.'inc.' round the de.nl? We cannot look around without seeing the shadow of a gre.t memory everywhere. Even if in all tilings we seem to detect a lower level—something less than the Jove lorn-neither the prodigy of genius nor the paragon of virtue—a cause not sacred and a devotion not absolute—inteicited loyally and ostentations splendour—in all things a desceut —it is still open to ask whether the individual nan made out of all these fcooudary materials docs not even exceed the purer and nobler creations. Louis Napoleon IJomipuite has not, like his illicit*, risen fn m th> small sentry of a remote islam! to t'iumph in every battlefield of the Old World, and to execute \engeunoe upon dynas'ies and aristocracies, till beaten only by the elemenrs and ev<-r-gro« iiiii numbers ; he has uot infilled an ancient dream of conquest ; he has not consun m .ted a long de-.igu on the liberties aud inde- j peudence of s. mi-burl irons nations ; he ; has not deliven d his o un'.ry from a hated thr ld<m ,or we dtd a race into an Empire ; he has not spread a faith or established a principle. The struggling l'ret'iidcr, I lie favourite of Fortune, the final oeoverer of his ]ust inheritance, the patriot bequeathing to the world with his list breath a legacy of truth ! and honour—these are the theme of I poets and the idolatry of historians. What we see in the career now closed for ever was a composition of all these j thiii2s, each in measure and alloy. Hardly anything L wanting to that I medley of qualities and that round of I vicissitudes which either frien 1 might j claim or enemy ascribe.

The birthright of Louis Napoleon was that which the greatest intellect and most resolute will of his lime had been compelled to let fall. It was the claim to hold and govern the world on popular principles and for present eood, against the antiquated claims of authority, prescription and class. Everything that was or had been established w.is in array ag dust his avowed design to make the world anew. Repulsive as that design was to most minds, it had to bear also the scandals of conquest and the vices oi imperialism, What had been a political fanaticism had convicted itself of hypocrisy, and, woise still, of failure. All the States of Europe were bonded to rush in and stamp out the slightest sign of an attempt to take up that sword of conquest and that crown of Universal Empire.

The long Peace of an exhausted world, scarcely disturbed even by Revolution at the very focus of the old c\il, was construed into a Divine s motion of the cause which had won the day. Trance herself at hist, when she seemed frre to chose, deliberately compromised with Legitimacy. Iben, and for a lone poriid, Louis Napoleon was the single representative of his cause. But Princes flattcvcd the people, and dallied with their own fens till, in spite of themselves, they had made a place for the name they feared, and the man they had conic to despise. \Vn now see, though few saw then, thai i.m ship which brought home the < body of Napoleon to be laid under the j gorgeous stone of the Invalides did in effect bring hon c his nephew. _ Mean- | while this strange, meditative, inscrut- j able man, dark to others, oftcu, doubtless, to himself, was learning everywhere, j everything, In Ion.!? captivity, in Swit- j zerland, and in our Metropolis, he had j nothing to do but that which Princes often cannot do--to read, observe, think and learn, and watch the star of hi* destiny. Within the sphere of thought and f> cling the man who can think, and feel, and intend, and desigu is an auto- j crat. lie wants uo advisers; he depends ou no informers ; he is bound to no I agents ; he is all in all—the first aud last in his mental realm. | That was the late Emperor's education, j as careful when it depended on himself and Fortune at when an Emperor, a nation, and a Royal mother gave their heart and Soil! to it. It prepared him for Empire, but not, as wo now see, tor Constitutional Governments and not, as ivb now still more plainly see, for the j qualities necessary to success under the overwhelming difficulties cf unexpected an i unexampled prosperity. It prepared him f iv Flebisctics and coups d'Etat, a portfolio teem ng with schemes, new maps of Europe, reci!i..i Louth rs, " wars for ideas "prepaid with territory, intrigued, demonstrations, vast material undertakings, and, in all things, a ic- '

! card to that which pleases the fancy and i meets the eye. It preparer! him for the [ pageant and the scene, but not for the stern realities of all life, whether public ;or private-not fur the .successes only itI tainabic by the full tension and continual | exercise of the highest moral and mental faculties A student may learn, a riroimcr may have vi-iuli;-, a thinker may : arrive at couciusion* or collect and arrange iotas ; but if they h.ivc to spend i the best part ot their lives oat of the j action of life, watching, observing, and ; patiently expecting, they will he sure to j lied that when the opportunity does ; iitise they cannot deil with mcu, except i as the bloodies? creatines of their own I ideal world. . . . 1874. j January 24.—Glai.sj.vne Dissolves Parliament Note ; Mr. Gladstone suddenly anj pounced a dissolution of Parliament and \ in the course of a lengthy address to his constituents at Greenwich undertook in the following terms to abolish the Income Tax if his Government were I returned to power ; | " ... Accordingly to the older financial tradition, the Income Tax was a war tax. For fu'di a purpose it is invaluable. Men ure willing to .sacrifice much, not only if their means* but of their privacy, time, and enmfort, at the call of patriotism. "In IS4*2 the Income Tax was employed by Sir Robert Peel, partly ooverlo a serious deficit in the tevenue, but pi incipally to allow of important advance in the direction of Free Trade. I need not dwell on the great work of liberation which has been accomplished by its aid. Ma'nly perhaps on this account, it has been borne with an exempluty patieocn. But no Government, has ever bean able to make it perpetual, like our taxes in general, or even to obtain its renewal for any very lons term of years. Sines 1869 it his been granted by an annual Act. During the long time, for seasons ou which it is not necessary for me here to dwell, the country jherished, together with the desire, the expectation or hope o' its extinction. Hur. the sum annually drawn from it formed go heavy an item in the account from year to year ih it it appeared 'o have grown unmanageable. Ic has, however, beeu the happy fortune of Mr Lowe to bring if. down, fir.-t from Gd to 4d, and then from 4d to 3d in the pound. The proceeds of the Income Tax for the present year are expected to be between £5,000,000 and £6,000,000, and at a sacrifice for the financial year of something less than £5,500,000 the country nv;y enjoy the advantage and relief of its total repeal.

1 1 do nor li-.-.--itatc to affirm that an i-fTnt should now be made to attain this ad van tugs, nor to declare that, accordin™ to my judgment, it is iu present circumstances practicable! " And yet, while making the recommendation and avowal, I have more to add. It will have been observed that the proposals I have m ntion-d contemplate principally the relief of ratcabh and other property, although there are many among the payers of Income Tax; the association of whom with that term

A FATAL SPIDER WEB v%" dentally caught in a s*s WtQ spider's web, tho spidor 1% calmly goes about tho * work of scouring his prey. He doesn't hurry particularly; "he takes his time and binds lirst the fly's feet, and then his wings and his entire body. That is the way with the dread enemy of mankind—disease. It has a vol)—the web of trivial disorders neglected. When a man heedlessly stumbles into that web he must be careful. Tho stomach is most liable to get cut of order. Hence how important that no diseased matter clog its operations, which would cause nausea and distress by the taking of food. If not attended to, a thousand ailments aro ready to arise, caused by impurities being carried through the whole system by the blood. What yon want is something that will keep the digestive organs in a healthy condition, and unclog, or carry away, all impure matter. That something is Dr. Morses Indian Root Pills; they cleanse the stomach, make the appetite healthy, the digestion perfect, tho liver active and the blood pure. Dr. Morse's Indian Hoot Pills cure Biliousness, Indigestion, Constipation, Dyspepsia, Headaches, Liver and Kiduey Diseases, Boils, Pimples and Blotches. They are unlike other medicines— they do not weaken-and as a cure for Female Ailments they arc unequalled. Sold by chemists aud storekeepers, Is 3d per bottle, or si>; bottles 7s, or same will be mailed, post paid, on receipt of price. Sole Proprietors, The \V. H. (Jomsloek Co., Ltd. (Australasian Depot) 58 Pitt Street, Sydney. There is another web, and not a spider's web, but tho web of so-called " nerve tonics." Look out for that web; do not stumble into it. Cunning weavers, they would bind you. Once you start their use then there is danger ahead. They may appear to do you good while you are taking them (so does whisky), but stop their use, then comes the re-action. They would have you bound to their use like the spider binds the fly.

BeiiMttlnipstlomocttheni, Hut it is manifest that we ought not to aid the rn'ee, nni) remove ilie Income Tux, without giving to the general consumer, jiikl uiving him simultuneously. somp marked relief in the class of articles of popular consumption. "It may be observed that the changes I have indicated would dispose of more, indeed considerably more, than the surplus I have named : and that I am not entitled to unticipate any larger balance r,f available revenue during the coming financial year from the presait minxes as they are fixed by law. But 1 have said nothing to preclude the Government from asking Parliament to consider, in conjunction with those great remissions, what moderate assistance could be had from judicious adjustments of existing taxes. And it is scarcely necessary? for me to add that, admitting, as I do admit, the declarations of 1868, I for one could not belong to a Government which did not on every occasion reek to euhrge its reeoutess by a wise economy. But these, I admit, are general declarations. Their whole v»lin depends upon their future and practicaldevelopment. On this subject I will frankly allow that, the question is for the moment oue of confidence. The policy of the Government for the last live years in particular, and the financial and commercial legislation with which 1 may say that, sines 1842, I have been associated, are before you. 1 can only add that I have not spoken lightly, but deliberately, and with persuasion." ___

A great deal of interest lias becu ex cited at Home and on the Continent through Investigations recently made hy the London Society of Antiquities into the matter of the dibcovcry of Printing. As a result of their researches the Society have discovered that the Chinese were not, as is generally believed, the inventors of the graphic art— in fact the first printer being none other than Adam when he imprinted the first kiss upon the air check of Eve, and, we are given lo understand, made a good impression. That is the kind of printing which is done at the Waikato Akgbs Office, good printing. Our plant is the most up-to-date in the district, and most suitable for artistic work. Give us a trial and fyou will be a* well pleased as Kve was.