Ka Leo o ka Lahui, Volume II, Number 160, 30 March 1891 — Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin! [ARTICLE]

Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin!

The study of modern history shows that the ciose of eaeh eentury has been disturbed by wars and ea]amities and radical ehanges m the affairs of the world. The reeords of the ancient past also tell of strife, bl©odshed and revolution that prevailed in certain successive cyeles of eime. Astrologers and prophets have foretold events whieh have alrendy happened and have predicted events fbr this century whieh give signs of being relaized, till at last it has become an article of eommon iaiih that the close of the century wili mark another cycle of time whieh will be distinguished by war and social couvulsions. Nostradaßaus, a famous attached to on« of the French Kings in the fifteenth century, predicted aeeurately the stiring events whieh were to mnik the eloee of eaeh succeeding century, the revolqtibn and the career of Napoleon I «were f.>retold by bim for the c!ose of the eighteenth century, and the nineteenth was to be marked by similar agitat'onb. The book of Daniel in our bible contains mauy veilei prophecies of d.?aster whieh the Seventh-Diy adventists apply to the present century. The osophistB also rtad in the signs of the times the termmation of

another cycle at whieh, nccording to the wis(loui f of the East, agitatioD. violence and strife are iuevitable. Nihilisni iu Russia, Socialism in Gerrnany, the anarchy and the Farmer*s Allianee in America, and the Trades Union in both Europe and America, and * the univeraal strife between capital and labor all over the world f wou!d sf>em to be; but the ibeginning of those agitations whieh are to make a complete revolulion in the social relations of the world. Certain it is that a great wa've of republicanisffi ie spreading over Europe. The revolution in Brazil and the formation oi a ReDublie blotted out the last vestige of the monarchial principle on the American continent. Einment men annource their belief that the socialistic power is so strong in Ger--1 many t!iat it wi!l not be long be fore the praCtical GernKins will have self-govern ment un<.!er a Repnhliean fonn. Enghind is repubin he ia fact b«t Queen in d:scording the explodedi thet>2iy - of divine rigiitf> a:>d aMow-1 ing the represen tati ver? of th? peo-; I'lo, and not royal. favorites, to! administer the government. The | Drinciij)le of popular governnient has a strong foot-hold in ,th* niinds of the Europeans; distressed Portugul is now struggling ' hard for the pnneiple as the fol'lowing manifesto whieh we will takefroml one of our foreign exchanges wili j show. ] On tbe 31st of January the Repuhliea Portugueza, the organ of the Oporto insurgent, addressed an apostrophe to King Carlos, of whieh what followB in an extract: T0 THE KLN T G, I

"Let us now deal withyou ! u We have ever addresscd you openly. We have alwuys told you to your face, our heads erect 7md ©ur f,ye3 looking into yours, that 'we hate aud degpise you ! repres*entative of a decayed princioie. vou -have'heard of our condemnalion of you, and that liome time ago. "Abjeet <lescendaut of a vjie race, Bome timc ago did we brund wita a burning iron vour narrow fore)iead. u You still sit on a throne. A erown still rests on vour bead. drag along a maritle of ennine. Worthless vagabond that you are, your scei)ite still ks thore to remind m that you are King ! ut it is time that you should decend from your clisfionored throne. It is time for us to tear that 4-rown froin your head. It is time kus to rend thnt mantle with ts goldeu embroideries. **King we are going to smash y6ursceptre! '"\Ve have told you that this was a eiuel unto death. It is a duel your power and the strength of the country. It is a duel het«-een your interesrs and the lS[ationai honor. 4 *King. the ippint of our sword is over jrour heart;, b'it, ere we drive it in, jlisten. u Ypu are a traitor. You_Jhnve traujpled on your country's honor; your feet ha|ve spurned the nation's suflfering. "King v yqu are a criminal! " The foregoing wili give a fair idea of thc manifeBto, whieh ēxtende over a eoīumn. P«rhaps the incritable eoneulsions whieh are predicted for the fina!e of this century will seiid every crown and sceptre to the muscijms and let the world be governei by Presidents mstead of be ng ruled by Kinge.

That the full heneh took in tbe Pinafore last Thurs iay evettfng. C, J. atsenthifr