Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, IA [i.e. Ind.]) 1839-1854, 1844-02-23
From tho Phil Daily Chron ic!e.
THE FALL OF EMPIRES-GOD is IN HIS
TORY.

TORY.
The ruins Of kingdoms! The relics Of mighty
empirss that were! The overthrow or decay OF
the master works Of man is, of all objects iha
enter tho mind. the most afflicting The
high wrought Projections Of beauty and art seem
born but TO perish, and decay is seen and Eel, to
DO an inherent law Of their being. Bus such is
tho nature OF man. that even while gazing upon
tho relics OF unknown nations, which have sur
vived all history, he forgeis his own perisha BILE
nation in the spectacle Of enduring greatness.
We know OF no spectacle so we'll calculated to
teach man humiliation, and convince Of the
utter fragility Of the proudest monuments, OF art
as the relics which remind Of vast popula-
tions that have passed from tho earth, and EN-.
pires that have crumbsd into ruins. We read
upon their ruins Of tho past the fate Of the pres
ont. We feell as il all the cises Of men were
built on founda lions beneath which the ca ,bauake
slept; and that we abide in the midst Of the same
doom which has already much Of the records
OF mortal msgnificence. Under such emotions
look on all human power as founda,ionless, and
view the proudest nations Of the present as Gov
cred only with the mass Of their desolation.
The Assyrian Empire was once alike the ter.
ror and wonder Of the world, and Babylon was
perhaps never surpassed in power and gorgeous
magni6cence. But where is there a relic
Of Babylon now. save on the faithful pages Of
Holy Writ The very place Of its existence is
matter Of uncertainty and dispute Alas! tina,
tho measures Of time should be doomed TO oblivi.
moths. and invented the zodiac itself should par
take SO spariogly OF Immortality to be. in the
lapse OF q few centuries, COMPOUNDED with the ma
tural phenomena Of mountain and valley.
Who can certainly show the si,e Of the
Tower that was "reared against heavenr'-Who
were the builders Of the Pyramids that have ex.
cited 80 much Of the astonishment Of modern o IA.
siops2
Where IL Rome, the irresistible monarch of the
east, the terror Of the world! Where are the
pronj edfces of her glory, the fame Of which
has reached even our time, in classic vividnessf
Alas! she TOO has faded away in sins and vices
Time has swept his unsparing scyihs over her
glores. and shorn this prince Of cities vf its tow
erng diadems.
ssflsr lonely columns stand sublime,
Fngng their shadows from high,
Like dias, which tho wizard Time
Has raised to count his ages by.''
Throughout The range Of our western wilds,
down into Mexico. Yucatan, Bolivia, &c., travel |
lers have been able to discover the most indispu
table evidences Of extinct races Of men highly |
skilled in learning aud the arts, Of whom we
have no earthly record, save the remains Of their
wonderful works which time has spared for our
contemplation. On the very spo, where forests
Yise in unbrokeu grandeur, and seem to have been
explored only by their natural inha bitants gene.
ration after generation has stood. has lived, has
warred, grown old and passed away. and not on
their Names but their nation, their language, has
persisted. and utter oblivion has closed over their
once poPuloos abodcs. Who shall unravel TO Us
tho magnificent ruins Of Mexico. Yucatan and
Bolivia, over which hangs the sublmes, nv s,ery,
and which seem to have been antiquities in tie
days Of Pharaoh? Who we're the builders Of
those gorgeous temples. o5elisks and palaces, now
tho ruins Of . powerful and highly cultivated
people, whose national existence vas probably
before that Of Thebes or Rome, Char,hape or
Athensf Alas! there is none to tell the tale: all
is conjecture, and our best Information concerning
them 10 derived only from uncertain analogy
How forcibly do these wonderful rev oluiions ,
which overtnrn the master works Of man, and ut.
tsriy dissolve his boosted knowledge, remind US
that God Is IN them ali! Wherever the eve is
turned, 10 whatever quarter Of the world the At.