of this age are sometimes guilty of an irreverent smile when reading some of their rigid laws. Walking on the Sabbath, "except reverently to and from church," even cooking, sweeping, and shaving, were prohibited. On that sacred day, mothers were not allowed to kiss their children. Kissing a woman in the streets, even with the purest intentions, and among relatives, was punished with flogging. Women were not allowed to cut their hair short, or let it hang about the face. Persons who wore clothing too costly for their income were fined. Although we may sometimes regard the Puritanism of our ancestors as quite too rigid, still it was the conservative principle which fitted them for establishing a free government.

The mixed population of the Spanish-American states have sometimes contended among themselves, and never were sufficiently united against the Spanish rule. Although they have all separated from the parent state, yet their struggles towards independence have been almost in vain. The vehement, robust, firm, passionate Tussac Amaru, after the slaughter of the Spaniards at the battle of Sangararo, assumed the crown in Peru. This was followed by the reckless adventures of Tomas Catari and Juan Apasa. The natives and the Spaniards waged a bloody war with alternate success. La Paz, Puno, Sorata, were scenes of unprecedented cruelties. The Indians were at length defeated, and their leaders put to death. Ubalde, a distinguished jurist of Cuzco, lost his life for his plots against the government, but predicted on the scaffold, that the days of the Spanish dominion were numbered. San Martin was successful for a season, but his depar ture was followed by disasters of the country Bolivar, by his military success, established the republic of Bolivia. In the field, his talents, as a commander, were the best; but he lacked the best qualities of a statesman. The Bolivian constitution was introduced into Peru, but the people were still discontented The country has been distracted to this hour with insurrections, conspiracies and revolutions. The condition of the other states of South America, although their attempts at independence were earlier, has been even worse than that of Peru. Their struggle has een but little better than a sorry farce. The world has never seen a more cruel dictator than Françia. Mexico has fared but little better. The fickle multitude at one time were shouting, "Long live Iturbide, Augustin the First, Emperor of Mexico." In less than a year, his Imperial Majesty of Mexico and Anahuac abdicated his throne. Jove, in his anger, sent the croaking people, for a harmless beam, a living serpent. Santa Anna has been alternately at the head of government and in exile.

On the other hand our people, by a noble effort, achieved their entire independence, and established a government which will be a model for future republics which will grow out of the ruins of monarchies. The leaders were wise, sincere, disinterested, patriotic men. Washington was the first of military leaders. He governed without ambition the country which his arms had made free. He was the best of peaceful citizens. When he died, a nation mourned, and admiration was extorted even from the enemies of freedom. We may say of him as Plato said of Socrates, as Cicero with characteristic vanity said of himself,-to him home was dear, friends were dear, parents were dear, children were dear, but dearer than all things else was his country.

We have endeavoured to describe the difference in the condition of the Anglo-American and Spanish-American population, and to show the causes of it. We sometimes hear it said that climate is the principal cause; but in regard to this we must acknowledge ourselves to be somewhat skeptical.

In civilization, the natives of South America were far in advance of those of North America. In history we do not find that the more northern nations have always been superior. A southern nation is not necessarily weak. A northern one is not necessarily powerful. The opposite extremes have been found in the same nations at different periods of time. The Carthagenians in the time of Hannibal were only equalled in power by the Romans. Political causes brought ruin upon the empire of Dido. Cyrus was one of the most powerful of monarchs, Sardanapalus and Laborosoarchod, in the same Asiatic region, were among the weakest. The Egyptians under Sesostris were the greatest conquerors the world had then seen, yet they are now the weakest of mankind. For ages the descendants of Pericles, Leonidas, Themistocles and Lysander, were slaves on the soil of freedom, in sight of Thermopyla, Salamis, Platæa, and Marathon. The modern feeble Italians dwell in the same place in which dwelt the most energetic of mankind. The Paulists of the 17th century were hardy and energetic, notwithstanding the climate of Brazil, in the twenty-fourth degree of southern lattitude. If there are any causes of difference worthy of serious consideration which we have not mentioned, they are the early introduction of slaves into the Spanish colonies, and the extensive mingling of the Spaniards with the natives. But the first of these has not prevented us from becoming a free people, and the latter is but the result of causes which we have already given.

What is to be the destiny of the new world, is an inquiry which naturally suggests itself. That the population will be immense, there can be no doubt. The physical resources of the western continent are sufficiently great to support and even enrich an incredible number. "The western continent," says Mr. Goodrich," although only half the size of the eastern, has at least quite an equal amount of useful soil. Two-thirds of the surface of the old world are unproductive, and much of the remaining soil is poor; while more than two-thirds of the new world are not only productive, but for the most part fertile to the highest degree." The navigable lakes and rivers of the western continent are greatly superior to those of the eastern. There is nothing wanting on the part of nature to make the nations of our hemisphere great and happy.

Whether the people of the new world are to enjoy political success, is a question of the deepest interest, which our limits will not allow us to discuss. We do not doubt that our nation will prosper, at least for a season. We believe the time will come, when, as De Tocqueville predicts, our republic will number one hundred and fifty millions. But whether that Persian epitome of the history of nations thus far-"they were born, they were wretched, they died,"-shall in the end be applied to our nation also, time alone can tell. It is quite certain that a new act in the great drama of man's existence upon this planet, has now commenced; but whether it will be one to make beholding angels weep, or one to give them joy, will be known only after decades of centuries have glided away. Whether there are to be at present any heroic ages, or many more unheroic, godless, utilitarian ages, we dare not now prediet. We cling fondly to the hope of future ages; for, as Carlyle says, "the ages differ greatly, even infinitely, from one another. Considerable tracts of Ages there have been, by far the majority indeed, wherein the men, unfortunate mortals, were a set of mimetic creatures, rather than men; without heart-insight as to this Universe, and its Heights and its Abysses; without conviction or belief of their own regarding it at all; who walked merely by hearsay, traditionary

VOL. XXIV.—NO. CXXVIII.

5

cants, black and white surplices, and inane confusions; whose whole Existence accordingly was a grimace,-nothing original in it, nothing genuine or sincere, but this only-their greediness of appetite and their faculty of digestion. Such unhappy ages, too numerous here below, the Genius of Mankind indignantly seizes, as disgraceful to the Family, and, with Rhodamanthine ruthlessness-annihilates; tumbles large masses of them swiftly into Eternal Night." No doubt many ages of the same kind will hereafter go the same way; but, since the human race is progressive, unheroic ages in the future must become fewer and fewer.

There is one thing of which we cannot be too often reminded, that we are in danger as a people of neglecting moral culture, while we employ every means for the development of intellect. We do not believe the

saying of Solon, то πλεον κακον, "the multitude are wicked;" but moral principle, as Judge Story said, "is the crying want of our countrymen everywhere." Virtue alone will preserve our government. In vain are we told that bad men are powerless. Just as if, in the language of Macaulay, history were not made up of the bad actions of extraordinary men; as if nine-tenths of the calamities which have befallen the human race had any other origin than the union of high intelligence with low desires." If we allow bad men to gain the ascendancy, our national existence may become almost a calamity. The words of Martial are as applicable to nations as to individuals :

*

Vita non est vivere, sed valere.

TRANSLATIONS FROM HORACE.

THE POET TO HIS LYRE.

THEY bid me sing; if e'er beneath the shade,
Upon thy strings in idle hours I've played,
Respond, a Latin song, and one that Rome
Shall not forget in years to come.

Since to the warlike Lesbian thou didst yield
Thy first born strains, who, in the tented field,
Or when his ocean-batter'd ship at last

To the moist strand he had made fast,

Of Bacchus and the Nine found time to sing,
Of Venus, and the boy that loves to cling
To her side ever, and of Lycus fair,
With raven eyes and raven hair,

O Lyre, thou pride of Phœbus, and delight
Of Jove's own banquets, thou who makest light
The heavy load of care, with accents sweet
Thy poet's invocation greet.

PROPHECIES FOR THE PAST.

WE have read somewhere, that the best proof of the immortality of the soul, was that universal craving for a knowledge of futurity, which in all ages has prevailed among the various families of the human race. We may not pause to consider whether that appetite be entitled to the honor of furnishing evidence of so exalted a nature; but we cannot question that it exists, nor that it has enabled the designing to practice upon the vulgar mind for evil ends more frequently than for good.

Prophecy, however, to say nothing of holy writ, is not always an unprincipled device to ensnare the credulous; under a certain aspect, it may be considered the most lofty employment of the human faculties. A deep knowledge of the past, and a careful observation of the present, have often enabled men to predict the future with wonderful accuracy. But for the occasional exercise of this species of rational divination, the aruspex and augur would soon have sunk into general contempt. And we read, that many individuals, without any pretensions to inspiration, have succeeded to a wonderful degree in foretelling occurrences of which no indications were apparent to the vulgar mind.

Many of the great men of antiquity certainly exercised this faculty of foresight to an astonishing degree. It was a distinguishing trait in the character of Themistocles, and one which secured for him the greatest influence over the chieftains of the allied Greeks. Solon possessed it prëeminently; and oftentimes did the lapse of ages justify the conclusions of his searching and sagacious genius. Cicero, himself the author of a treatise on Divination, is said to have displayed incredible prescience; and he appeals to his friend and correspondent, Atticus, to bear testimony to the truth of many of his predictions. No wonder; he lived at one of those troublous periods of political agitation, that furnished the readiest incitement and the best opportunities of development to the faculty of judging of the future from the past. No great convulsion of society is without its sure prognostics.— Revolutions closely resemble each other in their main features, and only differ in proportion as the causes which led to them may vary. Nay, a surprising similarity has often been noticed, even in their most minute details. The civil wars in France and England offer the most striking analogy, and their courses diverge only so far from the parallel as they were directed by circumstances, whose operation could have been appreciated at the time.— The same might be said of the great French Revolution, as compared with the "Great Rebellion." The unfortunate Louis XVI. was not slow to notice the similarity of the two epochs, and passed much of his time in reading the history of Charles I. His character bore no likeness to that of the haughty Stuart, and his utmost endeavor was to avoid imitating his conduct; but these points of difference were of no avail, because their tendency was opposed by counter-dissimilitudes in the elements of the strife; and the end of both princes proved the same.*

A writer for Blackwood's Magazine, quoting from an ingenious French author, notices a great many striking analogies between the events of the Revolution of July and those of February, 1848. We copy at length this curious passage, which gives a clue to the feelings of Louis Philippe, when in his flight he exclaimed,—" Comme Charles X.:""In the elder branch of the Bourbons, the Duke de Berri, the son of Charles X.,

A French author, struck with the ever recurring similitude of human events, composed a book on the startling principle, that "It would be possible to frame a table or chart in which all the given imaginable events of the history of a people would be reduced to a mathematical exactness." It is upon this principle that Coleridge was led to foresee the fall of Napoleon's empire, at the height of its prosperity. He searched the history of the past for precedents, and judged from analogies. "On every occurrence," says he, "I endeavored to discover in past history, the event that mos nearly resembled it. I procured the cotemporary historians, memorialists and pampleteers. Then fairly subtracting the points of difference from those' of likeness, as the balance favored the former or latter, I conjectured that the result would be the same or different."

Since the art of printing has given a character of durability to the opinions of men, we possess proofs that scarcely any occurrence of unusual magnitude has taken place in modern times that had not been clearly foretold. We deem it of infinite consequence to insist upon this truth, because it often happens that individuals of superior mind, either deceiving themselves, or purposely to impose upon others, choose to clothe their speculations on the future in mystic words, and claim the authority espoused a foreign princess, and had by her a son, who was regarded as the heir to the throne: in the younger, the Duke of Orleans, the son of Louis Philippe I., likewise espoused a foreign princess, and had by her a son, likewise regarded as the eventful heir of the dynasty. The father of the Duke de Bordeaux was assassinated on the 13th of February, 1820; the father of the Count of Paris died by an accident on the 13th of July, 1842. In both the years preceding the fall of either monarch, the price of provisions was at an excessive height, the want was great, and the cold such that the Seine was frozen over-a circumstance which did not occur between the winters of 1829 and 1847. In both instances, the anti-liberal tendencies of the heads of the state, after most inviting promises, called forth from their best friends remonstrances upon the course they were pursuing, and warnings of an approaching crisis, which in both instances were rejected. In both instances, the last speech of the crown to the parliament assembled, contained words concerning the culpable manœuvres,' or 'blind inimical passions,' of the Opposition which created the discontent, and called forth the protest of several deputies, and the resolution to hold the famous banquet. The capture of the Dey of Algiers, and that of Abd-el-Kader, which immediately preceded each catastrophe, were both in vain considered as triumphs by the ministry of the day. The ordinances of July suspended the liberty of the press; an ordinance in February prohibited the banquet. In both cases these ordinances caused a commotion in the capital, and a species of presentiment of revolution on the Monday evening; on the following day the revolt broke out, and lasted during three days, commencing on the Tuesday, and terminating on the Thursday; and the power fell into the hands of the insurgents. The gendarmerie in the one case, the municipal guard-another name for the same corps-in the other, offered the chief defence of royalty, were overcome, and finally disbanded. Charles X. fell from his throne at the age of seventy-four, Louis Philippe at the same age; the one in July, the month in which the Duke of Orleans died-the other in February, the month in which the Duke de Berri was assassinated. Each monarch abdicated in favor of his grandson; each was met by the fatal cry, Il est trop tard.' In each case a provisional government was established, and the royal family was obliged to quit the French territory; both the monarchs sought a refuge in England. Here, however, the 'coincidences' offer a striking dissimilitude. The one monarch was accompanied, in his departure, by his guards and numbers of faithful servitors-the other filed poor, wretched, and in disguise, abandoned by those who had called themselves his friends: the one shed tears ou landing in the country of exile-the other hailed it with joy. In both cases, the ministers of the fallen king were impeached. In even smaller circumstances, other coincidences have been recorded. During the combats of both revolutions, the temperature was excessively warm for the season of the year-a circumstance not wholly without its weight, if the well-known barometric nature of the Parisian temperament be considered; and a few days after, in both years, an extraordinary tempest burst over the capital, obscured it for many hours in darkness, and swept down the new flag placed aloft upon the column of the Place Vendôme."