Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1826-12-08

us even some assurance Of this renewed vigor
From the beginning, Providence has done no
thing imperfectly; it has made :be people for
the land s. the land forthe people. BY the divi-
sion Of the finest portion Of the territory into
islands, or fragments Of coast nearly insular,
the most curious and complete provision OF
which there is any example on earth, was made
for the perpetual excitement Of the national ge-
MUS. II isa proof of,he design ofthis arrange
ment, that nearly the whole of these matchiess
labors by which The Greek name lives, were
achieved within sight Of the sea- | ne INLAND
districts, the entire mountain country 70 the
north, west, and east, were comparatively I'M
intellectual Even where the distance from the
sea was trivial, what were the lnteHectuai tro-
phies of A:golis, Laconla, or Arcadia! he
islands were the original seat OF all the true
triumphs. Attica, itself penlnsular ana raised
into sudden supremacy by the defeat OF the Per-
SLAMS, was but the borrower from their trea'
,ures. until she and her illustrious tributaries
fell under The successive yokes Of Sparta, Ma
cedonia and Rome.
The singular developement Of ability in the
Egean islands has long attracted the eye of the
-bilosopher and two theories have been form
ed for its explanation. The one, the early free
dom Of their Constitutions; the other, the rival
ry of island with island. But neither theory,
nor both put together, will solve this interesting
problem Republicanisin is not favorable 10 the
arts. II may foster oratory, and the other
means of acquiring polite influence, but its ma
ture is to be narrow in its expendture,-in-
consistent in its patronage,-and contemptuous
Of the arts. Even Athens was indebted Tor It's
noblest works TO the reign of a man, who held
its sceptre with frmest grasp Of monarchy for
forty years Yet even Pericles was arraigned
for the expenditure ofpublic money in the Par
,henon, and Phidia persisted in prison, victim
to the parsimony of popular assembly.
The great patterns Of modern Italy were des-
pots, or bodies allied to despotism. The Medi-
CT were despots, the Popes were despots, the
great mona site communities were remote from
all contact with the popular spirit OF their day
What was the patronage Of the French Re-
public compared with any equal period of the
reign oil Louis the XIV. Despotism loves lux
ury, and loves il in a way the most inaccessible
10 the people-it is lavish, and, after the first
safety OF the senses, must look for its indul-
geace in ornament and splendour. 1t expends
its superf1uties on fine pictures, and statues, it
gratiGes its own tastes by magnificent archi-
lecture; and if it stoop 10 solicit popularity in
any form, solicits by dazzling the public eye; &
in the brilliant profusion and lasting grandeur
Of its public memorials This was the history
Of taste under the whole long line of French
despotism, under despots who lorded it over
the nominal republics of Modern Italy, under
even The sluggish, sun-withered half African
sovereignty ofSpain. Republcanism even in
its miees, form, is spirit Of labour, narrow
equality Of means, Of struggle and suspicion,
the rugged denizen of a scanty and reluctant
soil-the genius Of the spade and the sword
Despotism is the lordly and yolup,uous spiri,
thvl diselaims 10 shake its wings in the open
air Of Heaven, shape Of the palace and Of the
banquet-the picture and the song; the splendid
sensualist encircIed by splendour.
The mutual rivalry of the islands is no. SUI
icient for the problem. There are but few ev-
licences of general competition. The public
riy airy was almost totally limited 10 the fatal
struggle Of the sword The only places open
to the competition Of the Greek blood were the
games, as the Olympian and Isthymian. But
these were VIGOROUSLY almost without excep-
ton, for manual and bodily display.
The real solution may be in that primitive
work OF nature, by which the region was divid-
ed into islands, in general sufficiently large for
separate governments, yet sufficiently near to
make whole. Emulation is the secret OF all
extraordinary eminence; and the true emula-
ton is like the true trade, internal The sepa-
rate existence Of those little communities sup
piled sources of emulation, to which even the
coniguralion Of other parts of the globe can
afford no parallel. To be the first poet, or
sculptor, or architect in his own island, was
the highest reward ofgenious and labor. lfby
the disposition Of nature the islands had been
compressed into one, there would have been
lonely. possessor of the first rank Of fame, and
perhaps second or third, but all below would
have been mediocrity, and indolent despair But
by the multitude Of the islands, there were sup
piled multitude of independent and immedi-
ate incentives. Instead of solitary artist hold
ing the solitary supremacy Of Greece, there was
leader in every island, with second or third
pressing upwards after him. The spirit of en-
ulation was multiplied by the separation Of
society. In every circle of,his glorious realm,
:here was erecteda point, round which the fires
of he aven played, till the whole region was
light and electricity.
The deficiency Of the higher species Of pub
lie talent in despotisms may be solved on the
same principle. Despotism is jealous Of all
separate legislature. 1t breaks up all the little
Il