The Sun.
London, England, 1847-03-25 00:00:00

journal. It was towards the close of this remarkable
trial, that the Judge, who came eager to condemn, sued
for pity to his intended victim. The defendant quoted
Warburton and Tillotson, as doubters of the authenticity
of the Athanasian Creed. • Even his Lordship's father,
the Bishop of Carlisle, he believed, took a similar view
of the Creed.' And then the Judge solemnly said
Whatever that opinion was, he has gone, many year
ago, where he has had to account for his belief and h i
opinions For common delicacy forbear:-
0, my Lord, I shall certainly. forbear.' Grave and tem-
perate was the charge to the jury this day ; and in 20
minutes they bad returned a verdict of Not Guilty."

THE ORIGINAL HISTORY OF ANCIENT
AMERICA, anterior to the time of Columbus, proving
the Identity of the Aborigines with the Tyrians and
Israelites, and the Introduction of Christianity into the
Western Hemisphere by the Apostle St 1 homas. By
George Jones, Esq., F.S.Y. Vol. 1., The
7yrian .Era.
While there is no portion of a reviewer's duty more
painful than to expose ignorance and presumption,
there is no part of his vocation which confers greater
pleasure than in rendering a just homage to intellec-
tual energy, and high morality. When to these na-
tural qualities are superadded those of classical attain-
ments and general accomplishments, with an unusual
power of argumentative reasoning, sustained through
the medium of a poetical style and language, we feel
that much pleasure has been reserved for us
in noticing the above original work, from the
pen of Mr. Jones. The very title seems, at the first
glance, a strange anomaly. It has hitherto seemed
that there were no portions of the history of mankind
that had escaped the pen of historians ;yet the present
author unfurls his banner boldly, and justly claims a
new ground on which to hurl his classic spear. But
where is the locality of a people not heretofore defined
as to their origin ? The reply is Ancient America.
This seems as strange as the claim to have written
and defined in this age, and, for the first time, an ori-
ginal historical theory. Yet we are compelled to
award the high merit of the success obtained, in the
most triumphant and enthusiastic manner, and in lan-
guage classic and poetical. We are compelled, we
say, to award to Mr. Jones the singular merit of ac-
complishing, by the labour and research of years, and
by sound argument, founded on inductive reasoning,
a perfect triumph as to the truth of his extraordinary
proposition. The volume now before us goes far to
establish the fact, that the Tyrians were the abori-
gines of ancient America; and five prophecies of
Isaiah are quoted, which the author, with great inge-
nuity, argues to be fulfilled by the proofs of the
Tyrian mra. The period of the first peopling of
the Western Continent contended for in this remark-
able volume is no less than 332 years B.C.
Yet remote as is this antiquity, the author, by sound
argument, profound learning, and scientific know-
ledge, compels an assent to the truth of his proposi-
tion, and by his bold attempt, and by the energy of
an original mind, has achieved a haven for his
reputation—he is as truly " the Discoverer of the
Ancient History, as Columbus is of the land of the
Western hemisphere." We had at first our misgiv-
ings that the author could not claim the qualities ne-
cessary for a successful historian. His poetic style
and flights of fancy made us fearful of a lasting result,
but we were agreeably surprised. The commence-
ment of the volume is a complete snare to entrap the
reader to the analysis of the ruined cities ; and that
analysis is founded upon scientific knowledge of the
fine arts. The volume concludes in the same spirit
of romance—the romance of truth, to which fiction is
but a torch-bearer. The interest becomes a continual
excitement. Facts are scattered throughout like
jewels upon a mantle—valuable and brilliant; and the
more so, for that they are taken from the casket of
religion, and the archives of holy truth; and we closed
the volume with the conclusion, that the author pos-
sesses the essentials of a successful historian.
What a field of contemplation does not this volume
unfold I Hitherto unknown cities buried in the
Western hemisphere—the mouldering and time .for-
gotten temples and palaces of past centuries, have
been brought to light and forced to disclose their
mysterious origin. Two thousand years had, past,
oblivion seemed to have placed her unmottoed seal
upon those splendid relics of the art of man. That
charmed seal is broken by the wand of know-
ledge, and beneath its fragments are read the
historic records in the sculptured language of the
arts, in all their beauty of detail, and in the very
majesty of their grandeur.
The review by Mr. Jones, in the volume before us,
of the assertion, that the original architects of the
now ruined temples had no foreign origin, but sprung
up indigenous to the Western Continent; is a
masterpiece of criticism, and proves that Mr. Jones
had the correct knowledge necessary to criticise the
temples and ruins themselves. Literally, not a stone
of the foundation of the proposition is left unturned,
the sandy base is completely unfolded, and all this is
done with good nature and respect for the personal
feelings of the author whose theory he is examining.
We now propose to give a few quotations from tht
work itself, in order to unfold the theory, style, and
language of the author. The following is from
portion of the prefatory remarks, expressive of hi:
intent to write in a warm and fluent style, rather
than with the pen of " the ice-brook temper." The
extract briefly illustrates, also, what an accumglated
amount of knowledge the reader is to receive, de-
rived from a vivid mind, engaged for many years
upon the subject-matter of the entire history.
" Knowing from experience that works upon anti-
quities, described in language cold as the marbles the)
illustrate, are not of deep interest to the general
reader, the author has avoided tbo usual frigid style,
and has placed around them such fervent and glowing
words as their novel characters have authorised and
demanded. In delineating also the history of Tyrus,
the chief events only are given ; and being rendered
with the artistical pages con amore, the poetry of his-
tory, and not its dry prosaic qualities, will be received
by the reader. This will be seen in the descrip
tions of the classic remains, battles, and voyages, and
especially, for instance, in resuscitating the ruins 01
Rome, and in the celebrated Tyrian siege by Alexander
of Macedon ; but in this style of writing (it is sub-
mitted) the author has not lost sight of that high
solemity demanded by the philosophy of history. with-
out which, memorials of past ages, or of our fathers,
would be useless. To give a list of works consulted
during fifteen years in America, and more immediately
for the last two years in England, while writing thr
Tyrian sera, would be pedantic; but no author, sacred or
profane, from the first lawgiver to the present time,
having even a remote reference to the western hemi-
sphere, has been knowingly omitted ; yet being profes-
sedly an original work, the volume of the brain has been
more largely extracted from than any writer whose
works are already before that public to whose final
judgment (upon its merits or demerits) the present
author submits the " History of Ancient America " with
all humility, but he will yield to none in the conscien
tious belief of the truth of the startling propositions,
and the consequent historic conclusions.'
The following unfolds the three branches of the
complete History (one volume of which is already
given to the public, viz., the Tyrian sera), and the
original proposition of separating the aborigines into
two distinct races, upon which fact is based the foun-
dations of the historic edifice
de
:
upon the chieftain Tecumseh, the following
oafn ge
xatrct-
gae work.s
used, and we avail ourselves of the privilege
ing from
from our store- house materials for the
e c s
"In the prefatory remarks to the forthcoming
rthcolmi
ment of this new historical campaign :—The co.urtedouirs
reader in tracing the fate of Tecumseh, as picte
the pages of his life, will not fail to observe the strong
analogy between the religious sentiments of the chief
Theot
the forest, and those of the ancient Hebrews.
language as uttered by Tecumseh is not written to up-
hold a theory of the brain, but gathered from the
archives of a people's history, to support a theory of
apparent truth. The present writer will not yield to any
man in the firm belief that the aborigines of North Ame-
rica (but-North America only) and the ancient Israelites
are identical, unless controverted by the stern authority
have
formed
the North and those of South and Central America,
We
o theret
h e fore
v
foof r
ms superior rainor originalh i historical etahlehdryediunctions.
referenceW
together with the newly-discovered ruined cities in and
around Guatemala, and by that theory have separated
into two distinct races or people, the aborigines of the
western hemisphere. Tire lately recovered xuins, cities,
and temples, in Central America, and of which 310
ancient record is to be found, have shattered the chain
of acknowledged history to atoms ; and until that chain
is again united by a firmly established theory, education
herself must pause ere she can, with the wand of truth;
point to her rising children the history of the world or
its inhabitants. Suspicion has asserted that all the
natives of the continent of Columbus might probably
have been originally of Hebrew extraction. The assertion
hasbe
beenconfounded doubthy
essentialand
contrasts
in the religious
customs of North and South America ; there were no
analogies between them, which circumstance should
eamade
ia
have compelled historians to pursue another path of in-
quiry, and to obtain a conclusive truth ; but they found
a Gordian knot which they could not unravel, and.
assuming the impatient weapon of Alexander, they de-
stroyed it. The architecture, however, of tho ruins cf
Copan, Palenque, Uxmal, and their time-honoured as
sociates, has furnished a rosetta-stone ' to aid the new
translation of the hieroglyphical history of (now) An-
cient America ; and if our theory is true, not only have
the Islaelites walked the land where the sun bestows
his last smile, but another nation (in which was retained
the primitive language of the diluvian world) previously,
trod that soil as aborigines ; and beyond all this, it
our thread of Ariadne lead us faithfully, if not the Al-
mighty father, who gave the thought, will pardon its
application : yes, beyond all the beunding feelings leap
ing at events, at once classic and venerated, do we con-
template another branch of our theory ; for if we not
write in error—and our perfect faith assures us that
we do not—then the trembling hand which sought
doubt the Saviour's wounds has been outstretched in
sacred oratory even in those southern wilds ; the bold
yet conquered voice, which uttered in hallowed and
confirmed faith, My Lord and my God,' bas given
forth its missioned eloquence even in the western hemi
sphere, and there_ the ashes of that Apostle may yet
repose.'
The author then proceeds to discourse in the fol-
lowing eloquent manner upon the
two races of
people—as newly divided by him, and sustained
throughout by his argttments. The most superficial