Herald of the times. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1849-1856, 1852-03-04

-
ed reproach who, whenever their at
Temps were unsuccessful, thought il dis
honor that their country should stand
in need Of anything their valor cou d do
tor il, and SO made il the most glorious
I present.
H Bestowing their lives on the public.
they have every one received a praise
that will never decay, a sepulchrc that
will always be most iIIustrious, not that
in which their bones lie mouldcring, but
that in which their lame is preserved,
10 be on every occasion when honor is
the theme OF elher word or act, eternal
/ ly remembered. This whole earth Is
the sepulchre OF llustrious men nor is
II the inscriptions on the columns of
their native soil alone that show their
merit but the memorial Of them better
than all inscriptions, in every foreign
nation, rePosited more durably in uni
versal remembrance than OH their own
tomb. From this very moment, emulat-
ing these noble patterns, placing your
happiness in liberty, and liberty IN val
lor, he prepared to encounter all the
dangers OF war"
Gentlemen, does not every page,
paragraph, and sentence Of what have
read 90 home to all our hearts, carrying
most gratified consciousness OF its re-
semblance TO what is near and dear TO
us in our native land Is it Athens, or
\ America Is Athens or America the
theme oi these immortal strains Was
Pericles speaking Of his own country,
as he saw il or knew il or, was he gazi
ing upon a bright vision then two thou
sand years before him, which we see in
reality, and as he saw in prospect
But the contests Of Sparta and Athens,
wi al were they in lasting importance,
and in their bearing on the destines of
the world IN comparison with that ever
memorable struggle which separated
the colonies from the dominion Of
Europe2
How different the result which betid-
ed Athens, from that which crowned the
! glorious efforts of our ancestors and,
therefore, this renowned grafton oil Peri.
cles, what is it IN comparison with an
effort Of historical eIoqueDce which
should Justly set forth the merits Of the
heroes and the martyrs Of the American
revolution And the liberty of Athens
and OF the other Grecian republics, be
ing founded in pure dem ocracies, with
out any principle of representation, was
| fitteI only Tor small states. The exer-
else Of popular power in a purely demo-
cratic form, cannot be extended over
countries IF large extent, because, in
such countries, all cannot assemble in
the same place, 10 vote directly upon
laws and ordinances, and other aues-
tions. But the rinciple Of representa-
ton is expansive II may be enlarged, il
not infinitely, yet indefinitely, TO meet
new occasions, and embrace new re
gions. While, therefore, the love Of
liberty was the same, and its general
! principle the same, in the Grecan re-
publcs as with us, yet not oUly were
forms essentially different, but that also
was wanting, which we have been
taught to consider as indispensable TO
its security that is, a fixed settled, def
mite, fundamental law, or constitution,
imposing limitation and restraints, equal
ly on governors and governed. We
may therefore inhale all the iulness and
greatness of the Grecian spirit but we
necessarily give its development a dit-
ferent form, and subjects ii TO new mod
ifcatons.
But history is not only philosophy,
teaching by example ; its true purpose
is, also to illustrate the general progress
of society in knowledge and the arts,
and the changes Of manners and pursuits
| Of men.
There is an imperfection, both in
ancient and modern histories, and those
of the best masters in this respect.
While they rec:e public transactions,
they omit, in great degree, what be
longs to the civil, social, and domestic
progress OF men and nations. There is
not, so far as know, a good civil his
tory OF Rome, nor is there an account
! of the manners and habits in social and
domestic life, such as may inform us Of
the progress of her citizens, from the
foundation Of the city to the time Of LiSy
and Sallust in individual exhibitions Of
character.
We know, indeed, something Of tho
private pursuits and private vices ofthe
Roman people at the commencement of
the empire, but we obtain our know-
edge of these chiefly from the severe
and indignant rebukes of SaIlust, and
the inlmltable satires Of Juvenal. Wars,
foreign and domestic, the achievements
OF arms, and national alliances, fill up
the recorded greatness OF the Roman
empire.
1t is very remarkable that, in this re-
spect, Roman literature is far more
deficient than that of Greece. Arlsto-
phanes and other Grecan comic writ
ers, have scenes richly filled with III
delneation of tie lives and manners OF
their own people. But the Roman
imitators Of the Greclan Stage gave
themselves up TO the reproduction OF for
eign characters on their own stage, and
presented in their dramas Grecian man
ners also. instead of Roman manners.
How much wiser was Shakespeare, who
enchained the attention of the whole
Teutonc race, by the presentation Of
English manners and English history
Falstad, Justice Shallow, and Dog
berry, are no, shrubs of foreign growth
transplanted into the pages OF Shaks-
peare, but gennne productions of the
soil. the creations OF his own home bred
fancy.
MIR Banks has written a civil history
Of Rome, but IL seems not TO have ans
wered the great end VIII ch IL proposed.
know nothing Of the TACT, but | onre
had an ntimation, that one of the most
distinguished writer's of our time and
OF our country has had his thoughts
turned to this subject Tor several years.
II this be so, and the work, said TO lie in
contemplation, be perfected, IL will
be true, as have no doubt, that the
civil history of the great republic oi an.
tiuuiiy will have been written, not only
with thorough research, bu, also with