Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1836-06-23

" pOpuidtiVil, 10 ~ iiiOlC Va NC ~ tC5S
was reduced in the fourteenth century
as low as $4,000; and under Leo X
when it began to revive, 1t was only
$4,000 and even now it is less than
l4O, 000--though about that amount
is said to be the population of the pre-.
sent day. Judge then only from the
statement of these figures what must
| have been, and what is the present ap.
pearance of Rome--particularly bear
ing in mind, that the whole of tha,
broad spread and once fertile plain
from the base of the Apprentices to the
Mediterranean, once thickly clustered
with habitations, is now almost desert
ed, or tenanted only at the hazard Of
life, as are the swamps in the neigh
borhood of Charleston, Is. c. so that
a modern Roman banker, (Torlonia is
his name, owns whole fields Of ruins
of what were once the august hablta-
,ions Of Emperors, or the play ground
Of the Romans, such as the Circus Of
Caracala. The tombs of mighty ia
miles also arc within his district,
among them the lofty mausoleum of
Cecilia Metella, about which, and a.
round which, so thick are the bricks
and mortar of ancient ruins, that it
would be almost impossible to plough
the fields. Thus ruined and deserted
is the Rome of old. And though all
is eloquent with moral, yet the city
and suburbs are sad and mournful, and
every day this living among the dead
makes me sigh more for the sight of
the living. find it to be the sanctua-
ry of the scholar, where he may revel
in the glory of his exciting pursuits;
and it may be well chosen as the sane
tuary ofthe Christian too-for where
can moral be pointed with force SO
keen as upon ruins of man and mans
ambition, so thick as these 7 But yet
it is the city of the dead. There is no
life here, such as IS seen in the soil
tudes Of America, or in the glens Of
Scotland. The sky is bright. The air
is inviting. But the people look, talk,
and walk, as if they belonged to ano-
Their time. There is a consumption
upon every thing. 1t seems to be
struggling with death and death by
and by will have it, even in spite of
the opposition of man.
But as my last letter was chiefly up.
on the ruins of Rome, and as this see,
is running that way, | will turn my
pen from what is so saddening and so
gloomy, to write to you of what there
exists at the present moment, beautiful
and grand even beyond the picturings
ofthe warmest fancy, before that fan.
cy finds its originals here. | am a
raging Anti Catholic when | see squa-
drons OF priests crowding the streets Of
Rome; and Satan himself tempts me
strongly to be at least an infidel, when
| hear every church resounding with
ceremonies from morning till night
But when enter the Palace of the Va
tican, and exchange the saints md
the angels for the choicest works of
Grecian and Roman art, and rcmem-
Der that the Popes are the men who
have collected these precious monu-
ments of antique workmanship, lose
half my rage, and all my infdelity is
at an end. The lovo of art, the taste
for beauty, the civility and the polite
ness that mark the Catholic priest
wherever you sec him, (lreland ex-
cept, are the most tempting arguments
+, find in favor ofthis system; and my
great surprise in travelling over the
world is, that all the world are not
smitten by the men and the works of
such men who have enjoined in their re
ligion all that can touch, sway, charm,
or awe the human heart. Certain it
is, | shall think the better of the whole
race of the Popes for having been in
the Vatican, and the worse Of the eff
fleets of religion upon society for ha-
wing been in Rome, though all people
must be miserable under the sway OF
priests alone, no matter what their
professions are-for when the church
frules the State, and there is no State
but the church, so much is thought OF
heaven, and so little of earth, that the
result undoubtedly would be sin Rome
the building up of little costly hea-
vens, like St. Peters, say,-and the
employment Of earth's laborers to feed
and pay the laborers upon this heaven
upon the earth. The sum Of the ar.
gument is, that in preparing for the
other world, this world is entirely for
gotten; and as the earth will not fiou-
IRISH without men and means, the con-
sequence is what we see in Rome-the
whole treasures Of the State within ITS
churches, which are the richest on the
earth, and misery and beggary enough
among mankind. A Christian will
say that is indeed an unknown sin, but
it is nevertheless the fact-Rome IS too
, religious. There is need of the gov
Auso4 of ,,,an axclIisiyely devoted