The Delaware herald. (Smyrna, Del.) 1850-1854, 1851-05-28
Our Country.
ny THE LATE JUDGE STORY.

ny THE LATE JUDGE STORY.
When we reflect on what has been, and
what is, how is it possible not to feel pro-.
found sense Of the responsibilities of this Re-
public on all future ages What vast mo-
tives passupon our lofty cfiorts--what brilliant
prospects invite our enthusiasm-what SOL
emu warnings demand our vigilance, and
moderate our confidence.
Thcold world has already revealed 10 US
in its unsealed books, the beginning and tho
end of marvellous struggle for liberty
Greece lovely Greece the land of scholars
and the nurse of arms-wherc sister repub-
lies chaunted the praise of lberty-where ia
she For two thousand years the oppres-
sors have bound her TO the earth. Her arts
are no more. The last sad relics of her tenn
Piles are but the barracks of ruthless soldiery;
the fragments Of her columns and palaces aro
in dust, yet beautiful in ruins. She fell not
when the mighty were united at Thermopylse,
and Marathon, the tide other triumph rolled
back upon the Hcllespont. The men of Mac
edonia did not the work of destruction. 1t
was already done by her own corruptions,
banishments and dissentions.
Rome Republican Rome whose eagles
glanced in the rising sun; what and where is
she7 The eternal city remains proud even
in her desolations, noble in decline, venera-
Bile in the majesty of religion, and calm MS in
tho composure of death. The malaria has
traversed' the paths worn by the destroyers.-
More than eighteen centuries have mourned
over the loss the empire. A mortal disease
was upon her before Caesar had crossed the
Rubicon, and Brutus did not restore her health
by the deep probngs Of the Senate chamber.
The Goths and Vandals. and the swarms of
the North, completed only what had been be-
gun at home. Romans betrayed Rome
The legistss were bought and sold, but the
people paid the tribute. money.
And where are the republics Of modern
time that clustered around modern Italy =.
Venice and Genoa existed but in name. The
Alps, indeed, looked down upon the bravo
and peaceful Swiss in their native fastuess,
but the guaranty of their freedom is rather
weakness, not their strength. The noun
tains are not easily retained. When the in
vader comes, he moves like the avalanche.
carrying destruction in his path. The peas.
antry sink before him. The country, foo, is
too poor for plumber, and too rough for vaIua-
Bile conquest. Nature presents her eternal
barrier on every side, to check the wanton-
ness of ambition. And Switzerland re-
mains with her simple institutions, military
road to climate scarcely worth permanent
possession, and protructed by the jealousy of
neighbors. We stand the latest, and if we
fall, probably the last example of selfgoyern-
ment by the people, We have begun under
circumstances OF the most auspcious charac-
fer. We are in the vigor of youth. Our
growth has never been checked by the op-
preston Of tyranny. Our constitution has
never been unfeebled by tho vices or luxurics
OF the world .
Such as we are, so have we been from the
beginning, simple, hardy, intelligent and ac-
customed to selfgoyernment and respect.-
The Atlantic rolls between us and formida-
BILE foe. Within our own territory, stretching
through many degrees Of Iatittdes We hayo
the choice of many products and many means
of independence. The government is mild
Tho press is free. knowledge reaches, or
may reach, every home. What fairer pros.
poets of success could be presented What
more is necessary than for the people to pre-.
serve what they themselves have created
Already has the age caught the spiri. of
our institutions. 1t has ascended The Andes,
and suffered the breezes of both oceans. 1t
has infused itself into the hfe-bIood of Eng
land, and warmed the sunny plains of Franco
and the lowlonds of Holland 1t has touch
ed the philosophy ofGermany and the North,
and moving on towards the South, has OPEN
ed to Greece the lessons of her better,days.
Can it be that America, under such cir