Monmouth weekly herald. [volume] (Freehold, N.J.) 1854-1860, 1858-09-16
familp Giirtlt,
"A;
THE COURGE OF GOD.

empire of Rome for the dominion Of Eu-
rope, when new communities were settling
in Spain and Germany, and the Franks
were beginning in Gaul to assert, first
their own freedom, and then their sway
over their weak n~eighbors when Chris
tianlty was beginning to assert its iniu-
ence over the wild barbarians in the Hell
| vetian morasses and in the German wood;
and the dawn Of a better day seemed to
dawn over the world through the dark
shades of barbarism ; superstition. and
cruelty, there crept a storm over Europe,
that had well nigh crushed and blighted
in its fury the tender blossoms of new civ
ilization. From the sleeps of central Asia.
the desolate region lying between the fro
zen tracts of Siberia, and the lofty Hima-
Iva range, there arose q race of men, who
pouring over Europe, like a swarm of To-
Gusts, devoured every green thing, and
left behind them ruin and misery, and des-
olatlon. Innumerable as the sands on the
sea shore, pitiless as the blast that swept
their native plains they we're in them
selves sufficiently calculated to inspire
fear in the minds of halfcivilized tribes
against whom they turned their arms
but the terror caused by the first arrival
reached its eliminating point, when they
marshalled at last, not by a rude, IN,
thinking savage, but by a leader who uni
ted to consumate cunning and dauntless
valor. the most ~unbounded and unpitify.
ing ferocity, a king, who, by vast success
in the field, and the pitless rancour with
which he hunted down his foes, acquired
a name pronounced by his enemies with
fear and trembling, and came to be
known throughout the length and breadth
Of Europe as the "Scourge of God" the
rod with which an outraged Providence
was supposed to smite the nations of the
earth. The Huns, for SO these formida-
BILE strangers were called. were wander
ing tribes of the Tartar plains. Posses,
sing no fixed abode, they wandered from
place to place, as jewellers in t~ents--and
keepers of cattle. Their aspects was hid
eous to behold. They were short of stat
ue, and their thin legs, weak and crooked,
seemed unable to support the huge square
bodies and enormous heads which appear
ed rather to belong to demons than NOR
tai men. Thus they seldom appeared on
foot, and all their mau9uyerso of advance
and retreat, or attack and defence being
executed on horseback. When once
mounted, horse and mai see1,ed to form
bat one creature. and almost to realize
the ancient superstition concerning the
Centaurs. Their skill in archery struck
Il chill to the hearts even to the brave
Cloths and with their tough lanees trnst-
ing sure, and their harsh voices yelling
like the bowls of savage beasts above the
din OF battle, they swarmed like wolves
through the afrighted fields of southern
and central Europe. One horrible Gus
tom they had, that contemplated the dis
gust and adherence with which these
terocious strangers were regarded-they
ate their meat raw. Each warrior plac-
ed upon his horses back, beneath the
saddle, a great piece Of beef or horse
flesh and when the action OF the rider
had rendered it somewhat tender. the
savage would devour it with the yoracity
OF a famished tiger, washing down his
savage repast with huge draughts of sour
milk. Such were the INNS. Ferocious
beyond the imaginihgs Of the dark times
IN which they lived, barbarious beyond
the conception of the inhabitants of be.
nighted Europe, they proved fit agents
to execute the DEGREES of the wild, cruel
despot, who deluged the West with blood
while he called himself an instrument
scourge in the hands of the Almighty.
Attila was one of those mighty spirits
which arise from time to time, endowed
to all appearance with the power and will
to crush a world. He was worshipped as
a God by his followers whom he led from
victory, while he ruled them with a rod
of iron. Where his horses hoofs had
trod," said superstition. the grass could
grow no more" Smiling fields and pop
uloas cities stood before him but a how
ling wilderness marked the track his saw.
age horses had taken. For the borders
OF the Black Sea and the banks of the
Rhine he led the Huns, laying waste the
country as he went. The affrighted pon.
ulace fled everywhere before him and
there were not a few who asserted in
the extremity Of their fear that the end
OF the world had come, and that the final
Judgment foretold in the Scriptures were
about to fall on the earth, by the hand Of
the "Scourge of God.s
The Eastern Empire was the first 10
suffer from the invaders fury. Greece
was laid waste from end to end. and Con.
st~antinople only escaped destruction nv
the payment Of a tremendous ransom -
Onward through Central Europe. to.
wards Gaul, swept the mighty torrent i
and among the country people there IS
still to be found to survive tales of tba
horrors that accompanied the march of|
these ruthless men ; are still to be fonnd|
In various parts of Germany great mounds
and fortlhcationsv of earth, erected in thel
vain hope of checking the enemy in their
onward course, and distinguished by the
names OF Huns Mountains and Huns
bitches. Isolated attempts were howey1
er, far toe feeble against such an invasion
and right onward, past the Rhine. came
the hordes Of Attila. Nothing stoned
their progress, and the fate Of Enropel
trembled in the balance.
Then, at last, there seems to havel
flashed upon the minds of the scathedI
nations Of the West, the great idea that
IN union alone could o sure defence he
made. Franks and Vinigoths. Gauls,
Romans, forgot for a moment their mnfu'
al anlmosities, and resolved to stand side
SIDE by side, to repel the common nnamu