The Belmont chronicle, and farmers, mechanics and manufacturers advocate. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1848-1855, 1853-07-15

which prevailed for time in that happy state
and then too we may learn lesson of indus
try. for the superior inte llectual attainment
of many Of her men must be attributed I,
their great energy and untiring perseverance
!, tor lew OF the arts or sciences had at that time
reached as great perfection as they have now
We presume there are instances of as untrinp
ardor in quest Of knowledge in our own age
and country, but those instances are rare and
form the exception not the rule.
And this, too, their history teaches, that
it is with nations as with individuals with the
increase of wealth and luxury, the energies
siacken, the government becomes weakened,
order is lost, anarchy, rebellion, dismember-
ment follow, till it finally ends in degeneracy
and death.
We may laugh at some of the incidents re-
lated, as ingenious and fictcous stories, or
forget some Of the Ssser lights of that change
able people, but the names of Themistocles,
Miltiades and Epaminondas will ever remain
bright, and (as after the lapse of ages, a cen.
tury signifies little,) as contemporaries of
these, the Persian monarchs. The great Cy-
rus and Xerxes. These we kno,o, and with
Alexander and his handful of Greeks subdunp
the rich Persian empire, and pursuing his con
quests until all the known world acknowl-
edged him its awgiver. We pity the weak
and timid Darius-but we regret the unhappy
close of the short and brilliant career of the
Macedonian hero, we follow with sorrow the
vlcissltudes OF the various divisions to which
his splendid conquests were subjected, and
though the Greeks rejoiced at his death, he
did for Greece, what Napoleon has since done
for France. Although after their unsuccess-
iul revolt against his successor, Greece flour
ished and fell, we will only observe, that
through period Of little more than fourteen
hundred years, she rose from comparative OBJ
security to be one of the first nations of the
earth, and Athens her capital "proud mis-
tress OF the world" To borrow again she lam
guage OF another, "during this PERIOD they
had founded and over turned the greatest en-
pires; they exceled all other nations in arch
itecture, statuary. painting, poetry and oratory,
they gave the world its first hero; they ex-
holted the greatest variety of character, and
the most astonishing displays of genius; and
they may be considered as Justly meriting the
first rank among the nations of the earth.
Their history therefore, and their language
open more variegated, rich, beautiful. and
sublime field of study than those of any
other nation.
Rome, too, affords her share of history she
received her instructions from Grece, but her
generals, orators, and philosophers are her
own; and her literature presents an enexhaus.
table source of study
And Carthage, it you have read her sad
history, how your highest enthusiasm, your
deepest reverence for ought that is human is
awakened, as you witness her ruin and ex-
tlhction which the death of the worlds great
est hero.
Nor are the treasures which modern history
presents less rich and vasious than those Of
ancient.
France, with hers full of blood and tears,
seemingly but vast theatre, wherein sue
cession of tragedies, are continually enacted,
is also full of instruction. Condorcet, Veig-
maud, De Stael and De Lisle, and a hoste
beside are but other names for, philosophy
and literature. The various trans formations
excitable and admirable people, show us that
errors and crimes invariably being their own
retribution. We pavse wonder and tremble,
at the sudacity. courage, and nonchalance
with which each set Of actors appears on the
stage, announcing themselves, as their own
powet statesmen says of one of their orators,
to win themselves popularity, to intoxica,e
themselves with applause, and--to die. And
looking at her now, we invountarily ask is
the yfate of those actors prophetic of her end!
The wealth of English history is commen-
surate with her vast acquisitions and strength
in other respects, we feel that her history is
our history, and pass on to speculate on our
own. For if ours is short, and mostly unwrit.
ten, it is no less true that it is great one,
although few centuries ago, our country was
unknown, and when Columbus and his little
band first discovered st. Salvador, did he,
think you, with his fertile genius and unwaver-
ing hope once dream that it was a new world!
a distinct continent, containing larger rivers
and lakes and loiter mountains than any in
the old! When Sebastian Cabot landed first
at New England then on the coast of Florida,
think ye, he thought that country might be
the scene of such tragedies as have been en-
acted there! When Sir Walter Raleigh first
planted colony in North Carolina, and Cap
tain Smith in Virginia, or when the Pilgrims
landed on the rocky shore of New Eng
land did they suspect the rugged cline, and
granite hills of their new home was the COM
mencement of a mighty nation, Mighty in
it's wealth, mighty in its resources, mighty in
its niquities!
The traditional history OF the Indians too,
is fraught with incidents particularly calcula-
led to awaken an interest in and make deep
impression on the mind Of a child A little
more thau two hundred and fifty years ago
the white mans foot had never pressed the
soil where he now reins supreme. Then the
Indian lived free and happy; his wants being
few were easily supplied, his hunting grounds
were bounded by the rising and the setting
sum- his fisheries knew no bounds He chas-
ed the wild deer through the forest, he pur-
sued the buffalo over the vast prairie where
he roamed at home, only to satisfy the wants
of nature, though serving at the same time
for exercise and amusement. He acknowl-
od0ed tho rnlip1 of a Great Shirt hiu faith