The mountain sentinel. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1844-1853, 1851-04-03

army, the forlorn hope of the freedom of
the new world. Here the concidents
close, and the contrasts commence. Each
has now reached the pinnacle of power.
Each possesses unbounded opportunities
for good or evil. How will these oppor-
tunities be used or abused. Have we any
| thing in their past life by which to Judge {?
A fact in reference TO each will show that
with Them, as is mostly the case, the mind
/ took, even in childhood, that bent which
would influence it through life.
The one employed his leisure moments,
when a school boy, in composing and col
lating code of rules 10 govern his action,
even in copying deeds, draughts, &C., in
order 10 perfect himself in the details of
( business, and was an ever ready peace
maker among his comrades-the other
reclining on the banks on the Iris, in sight
/ of the alienated possessions of his ances-
tors, fed his young fancy in gorgeous day
dreams of wealth and power, wild projects
of selfish ambition and personal aggran-
dlsement. He would recover the estates
that had belonged to his fathers, he too
would be Hastings of Daylesford. How
faithfully now was each about to fulfil the
destiny shadowed forth prophetically by
( these simple incidents. The one, regard
| less of personal interest, renounces the
government he had served, when il became
subversive of the liberty of his country
men-the other in pursuit of his own
emoluments oversteps the tyranny, even
the almost unbounded license of the same
government. To the one was entrusted
the destiny of young and feeble nation,
Ia fo1t l..
not only the weight of the present, but the
responsibility of the fearful future.
But he shrank from 10 duty-he shun-
ned no sacrifice. When the rising hopes
of his country seemed about to 90 down
in darkness and in blood, he breathed into
/ desPonding patriotism the breath of ss:.ffs-s
He became the Moses of our Israel. He
led them through Red Sea, guided them
, IN the wilderness, and while their garments
were yet purple, while their locks were
yet wet with mist of the Jordan through
which they had came up, he brought them
INTO the land-not of promise alone-but
OF astonishing and glorious fulflment.-
The chosen leader now became the be-
loved ruler. He sought not power. He
/ shrank, as he touchingly said, from s'the
mighty and untried duties before him.
But the ratification of his rule was the
Joyous shout of the whole enfranchised
people exutlng in their new born liberty.
Every where he now trod literally 4 fowe,
path, bestrewn with fragrant offerings by
virgin loneliness and maternal gratitude.
Power absolute and indisputable was with
in his grasp. But he hearkened not to ,he
stuffed whispers of an unhalIowed ambt
! ilon. He ruled the people 10 save them.
AND when he had established their freedors
he turned aside from proffered power.
from an imperial crown and kingly dia-
mond, to the obscurity of private life
lfow shall We rank thee upon glory's page .
i"ou more than soldier and just less than
All thou hast been reflect less fame on thee,
L ar less than all thou hast forborne to be"
10 me oiher was entrusted, too, the
destiny OF nation, not of three millions.
out oi one hundred and fifty millions Of
people. Robert Cline, Clerk in a Mad
fas factory, had laid the foundation Of the
British empire in India. Trading posts
anu commercial privileges were all thai
were solicited by the English in return for
services rendered to the daughter of ma
tive prince by an army surgeon. These
were freely granted. On this foundation
Warren Hastings erected towering SUI.
Perstructure, whose blighting shadows
darkened million square miles of terri
tory. By bribery, intimidation, cruelty
and massacre, he made himself master of
an empire. Then was displayed that
most dreadful OF all spectacles-the strength
pl civilization without its mercy. Terror
Fstaiked IN his footsteps Hope, afrighted.
fed before him. He beheaded or drowned
princes at pleasure. He gave away thrones
on which had sat the heirs of Tamorlane.
Even his wife was the wife of another.
Surrounded by power and splendor, "equal
'nat oil Roman proconsul in the DAYS
OF Cesar" by arms, intrgues and extor-
uons' he spread strife, dismay and wretch
edness from the pine forests of the north
10 the cinnamon groves Of Cape Comorn
bu' me- 100 must resign his power. Tho
ms splendid administrative abilities had
dazzied the eyes of the British nation.
and ma his gigantic crimes, vet day of
reckoning was at hand. He returns TO his
native land criminal on trial. For eight
years he is awaiting the verdict of an in
censed people, and at last is acquitted only
because pity had taken the place of ndig-
nation. Broken in spirit, broken in fortune,
and an ouicast from humanity, he hid his
mead amid the shadows Of DayIesford to
die.