North Branch democrat. [volume] (Tunkhannock, Pa.) 1854-1867, 1864-04-13

Gu IIlelT r'PDtS, I0elF IFanCnlSeS, tDeH sell
control, and welcomed the power of one man
The base act has never been reversed. A
the tree fell so it lies. 1t died at the root
Despotism reigns undisturbed and unbroken
in darkness and silence, where once the
light and music of freedom gladdened the
suls of the stately sons and dark eyed
daughters of Israel.
And leaving the land of sacred history
what similar scenes Of human weakness and
human folly meet us at every step in the Oh
ward pathway of time. Where now are
those splendid structures which once adorned
the shores of the Egean, the Euxlne, and
the Mediterranean Athens, the eye OF
! Greece, the school Of the world-has her dis
NAL fate impressed no lesson Cn the though Is
of mankind Fifteen hundred yeals before
! the birth of our Saviour. the light of civil or
der and civil freedom arose in the Island of
Crete, and sent its rays through the vale OF
Temple, the rich plains of Thessaly, over the
| fruitful fields Of Attica and the Boe Dtia, and
| lowered with an everlasting and imper lshable
radiance around the heads of Olmypus, Hell
| Icon. and Parnassus. 1t is true that kings
governed i'll those early days, but absolute
| powsrin one man was unknown. Laws made
| by the people chained the licentious hand of
| oppression. The proudest monarchs of those
warike ages governed in obedience to the
will of the legislative departments. They
enacted no laws they executed them as
they found them, A house of peers ald an
assembly of the people shared the supreme
authority and ensured safety and liberty to
the citizen. UIvssus speaks of one chief" to
whom Jupiter hath intruSted the sceptrc and
the laws, that by them he may govern.'-
But he recognizes that these instruments Of
government are bestowed bv The popular ia
yur, for when shpwreckcd uppa a strange
coast and addressing himself az aSlppIlcint
TO It's queen, he says: May 'he Gods grant
YOU and your guests tn live happily: and
may you all transmit to your children your
possessions in your houses and whatsoever
honors the people hath given you" Bur
even this limited and constitutional system
of monarchy was not long borne by that
proud race which drank in the owe Of liberty
from the free air Of the mountains over their
heads, and the breath of the restless aud
stormy ocean at their feet. Those vigOr
Gus principles ol Democracy which had al
ways existed in the Grecian governments be
gan to ferment; and, N the course of few
ages monarchy was abolished; the very
name of king was very generally prescribed
a commonwealth was thought the only gov
ernmenL 10 winch IL DSCaint men 10 submit,
and the term tyrant was introduced to de
note those who, in opposition to these Few
political principles, acquired monarchical
sway" Then sprang ihto existence that
wonderful cluster of republics whose memo
ry yet fills the earth with its fragrance of no.
bic deeds and * xlted genius. Liberty hoy
cred over that classic peninsula of Southern
Europe like the angel Of creation hpverln,
tuht nd ~ E,St
warmth of her embrace me forth an immDr-
tai world Of letters, Of art, Of science, and of
law. he Macedn dnnian, the Spartan, the
Arhenian, and all lifted their heads among
the stars, and barely condescended to pity
and despisc neighbDrng nations who We're
less free than themselves. They pointed to
Marathon and Salamis, Thermppyle, and
Platea, as the American points to Saratoga
and Bunker Hill, Yorktown and New Or
leans. They kept their festive days Of ma
tonal delIverance and jos as the fourth day
of July and eighth of January have been
commemorated and halowed by us. They
sounded all the dep'hs and shoals oi honor
drank deep draughs from the very fountains
oJ freedom; achieved Immortality in every
department Of human thought and action
and''yet, with their cup full of glory for more
than a thousand years, sparkling to the brm
with rights and privileges more sweet to
their taste than the honey of Hymettu<; they
dashed 1t to the earth. and its shatterei
fragments remain as they fell. The lust of
pnwer on the part of public rulers, ani the
luxury, sloth, and indifference of the people,
nursed so long in the lap of prosperity that
they allowed the uSurper to march on in his
lawlesS career unchallenged and UNIQUE ston
ed, worked the overthrow Of the Republics
Of Greece And what traveller, standluy up
on those blighted and withered plains, has
beheld a sign of resurrection for more than
two thousand years Now and then, it is
true, a murmur or groan has disturbed the
deadly sleep in which that land is embraced,
but it only shows that she dreams Of the
past, not that she will awake to the future
Her birthrisht was abandoned by her own
sordd hand, and it cannot be reclaimed. A
petty power of Northern Europe now gives
king to the country men of Homer, Thensto
cles, and Solon.
But, sir, annther name more prominent
tn an all o hers, presents itself to the student
of Antiquity in this connect ion. Roman his
tory stands out upon the canvas of time as
plainly marked as the events of IN ,dern ages
We see Tarquin, the Proud, expelled from
his throne, and the foundations of the com
the Christian era. Fyr the next five centu
res we behold alace Of men who would
have brooked the eternal devil IL keep his
state in Rome, as easily as king"
How iondly the devntee Of liberty dwells
upon that period With what grandeur the
names of the mighty dead, and the sublime
creations of their genius. arise to our view
I'm what does the boasted civilization of the
surpass the achievements Of a race
and an age to whom the revala; ions of God
were unInown} Who mas spoken as Cicero
spoke? What historian has guided pen SO
full of majesty and and of beauty as that
which inscribed the annals of Tac'us2-
Whose muse has winged a loftier flight or
sung a nobler strain than Virgil's? In arms
too, what warriors have improved upon the
skill and mtgn,ffi :ence of Scipio and Caesar 2
But it vas still more in the dignity and free
dom Of her private citizens that Rome was
great than in the renown of her most illustri-