, 1853-08-13
Romance Of History.

tcrcst Of this eXpodI i'm. The most tascina
ting of tie works Of G:tion which have is
sued from the modern press, have to my
taste no attraction compared with the pages
in which the first voyage of Columbus is
described by Robertson, and still more by
our own Irving and Prescott, the last two
enjoying the advantag over the great
Scottish historian OF possessing the lately
discovered journals aud letters Of Columbus
himself The departure from Palos, where
a few years before he had begged a morsel
Of bread and a cup Of water for his wayw0rn
child his final farewell to the world at the
Canarics-his entrance upon the trade winds
which then for the first time filled an Euro
pean sail-poIentious variation Of the needle
never before obsrrvable-tho fearful course
westward and westward day after day and
night after night over the unknown OCEAN,
the mulinous and ill-appeased crew at
length the tokens of land-the cloud banks
on the western horizon-the logs of drift
wood-the fresh shrub floating with its
leaves and berres-the flock Of land birds
the shoals of f,h that inhabit shallow
water-lhe indescIibable smell Of the shore
the mysterious presentiment that ever
goes before a great event - and finally, on
that ever memorable night of the 10Th of
October, 1892, the moving light seen by
the slecpless eye of the great discoverer
himself from the deck of the Santa Maria,
and in the morning of the real unbound
land, swelling up from the bosom Of the
deep, with is plains, and hills, and forests,
and rocks, and streams, and strange new
races of men-these are incidents in which
the authentic history of the discovery of
our continent excels the specous wonders
of romance, as much as gold cxcels tiuSel,
or the sun in heavens oulshines the flicker
ing taper"
Also, after speaking of the unprecedented
immigration 10 our country from Europe
equaling 100000 for the past ten years
he says
"There is nothing in the annals of man.
kind to be compared with this but there
is series of great movements which may
be contrasted with it. In the period Of a
thousand years which began about three or
four hundred years before our Saviour, the
Roman republic and empire was from time
to time invaded by warlike races from the
North and East, who burst with overwhelm-
ing force upon the South and West Of Eu-
rope and repeatedly carried desolation 10 the
gates of Rome. These muldtudinous inva-
ders were not armies Of men they were in
reality nations of hostile emigrants. They
came with their wives, with their "young
barbarians," with their Scythiau csyalry,--
and their herds of cattle and they came
with no purpose of going away. The ami
mus maRcndi was made up before they
abandoned their ice-clad homes. They
left their arctic allegiance behind them. -
They found the sunny bgnks Of the Arno
and the Rhine more pleasant than those Of
the Don and Volga. UnaccusIomed to the
sight of any tree more inviting than the
m lanCholy fir and slunted birch, its branch
es glittering with snowy crystals; brought
up under climate where the generous
fruits are unknown, these children OF the
North were not so much fascinated as be-
wildered Gin the land Of the citron and
myrtle ;" they gazed with delighted aston
ishmeni at the spreading elm, fcstooned
with Falcrian clusters they clutched with
kind of frantic joy at the fruit of the fig
tree and the olive at the melting peach
the luscious plum, the golden orange, and
the pomgranate, whose tinted check out
bushes every thing but the living carnatior
OF youthful .ove.
l II. ~ a. kr,oI ,F tvinfar viepu
A briohier Jay aud heavens Of aLu'e hue;
Scent the new fragrance Of the breathing rose,
And quail the pendant vintage as II grows
By the fortune of war, single detachments
and even mighty arEaises frequently suffered
defeat, but their place was Immediately Ia
ken BY new hordes, which fell upon decll'
ming Rome, as the iamished wolves in one
Of Catlir's pictures fell upon an aged buffalo
in our Western prairies. The impcra
mons or, powerful even in his dccrcpltudc
would often scatter their undSciplined ar
raw with his iron tusks, aud trample then
by thousands under his brazen feet bu
when he turned back, torn aud bleeding, e
his s,yen hills, tens Of thousands came howl
ING from the Northern forests, who spranl
at his throat and buried their iangs in hi
lacerated sides. Wherever they conquered
and in the end they conquered every
whcre-thcy established themselves on th'
soil-invited new comers-and from theI
union with the former inhabitants, the ma
tions of the South and West of Europe, a
the present day, for the most part 'rac'
their descent.
We know bnt little of the numbers throw
in upon the Roman republic ana empire II II
the course Of eight or ten centuries The!
were no doubt greatly exaggerated by tn
manic far of the Inhabitants and the prd
of the Roman historians would lead them L
magnify the power before which their ow