The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1873-02-22
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SKETCHES FROM HISTORY.

! INV, tiiO NouiIS f,CIlCl dNlpit ClONulHS RDo
the footsteps of the old, and the old dropp
ing into the grave to make room for tn
new, that in succession must yield to other
as evanescent as themselves. Chidre
mourn for parents, but soon they, too, mus
| yield their places to others. Mortality ha
become the doom of all things earthly
Among men, some are called home in earl
life, some in middle age, some not till ag
has whitened their brows with the SHOWS o
many winters. Some ceasesat once to worl
and live; some are dying for years. until i
seems almost hard to decide just when TIL
moment comes that is finally death; but t.
all in some form comes the same inevitable
doom; if not at one time, at another, som
earlier, some later, but to all at last. Ma
lions are individuals aggregated, and ar
subjected to the same vicissitudes of birth
old age and death. Some States have risel
and sunk beneath the hand Of violence in
lifetime; others have gathered the strength
of many centuries, until they seemed al
most eternal, then died from old age anc
internal weakness. The generation ofpas
Empires is in its grave, and those which
now divide the dominion of the world mus
like them sink to decay. England, France
America, must sooner or later, follow Per
STA, Greece and Rome, to an eternal sleep
a sleep that can have no waking. We wisl
to try to gather up few threads from the
histories of the Empires of the past, that
may have bearing on the temperance
cause, and may serve as a warning to those
who fondly deem their country eternal
Looking back into the dim past, success
sion of great Empires appear treading upon
the steps of each other, but each alike dying
to give place to others. Away BIZ OK in the
dim past, while the Ark must have rested
still undecayed upon Ararat, Nimrod be-
gan to lay the foundations of the earliest
monarchy, and Semiramis completed the
organization. 1t may be worthy of notice
that the earliest of the worlds great EN-
pires owed it's existence to woman's
hand. Centuries roll away, minor King
doms rise and fall, till at last the Empire of
Ninyas and of Semiramis approaches its
end. What are the symptoms that promise
its death: corruption reigns supreme and
the emperor's palace instead of holding a
council Of State, holds the boon compan-
ions af king. Sunk in drunkenness and
crime, the effeminate Sardanapalus saw
Province after Province revolt from his
hand, until he and his courtezans were no
longer safe in his capital. His triple walls
city, aroused at last he madly sets fire to
his palace and court, emperor and empire
perish in the ruins OF city that this en-
peror is too drunken to defend. The
records of Assyria, it is true, are buried in
obscurity, but this much at least is known,
that it began in the masculine vigor Of
Semirams, it ended in the drunken de-
bauchery Of Sardanapalus, and the infer
ence is naturul that the people were much.
like their emperor. The buried mounds of
Nineveh are still eloquent witnesses, that
will secure certain punishment in nation
as well as an individual.
Next in the great succession came Baby
lonia. Like Assyria, her origin runs far
back into the domain of myth and fable
Her early people seem to have been simple
tillers of the soil and shepherds; her citi-
zens seem to have been the world pioneer
scientists. Centuries after centuries rolled
away; the frugal temperate jewellers in the
of the Euphrates, slowly, surely,
reared the massive walls and noble palaces
Of Babylon; elegance and wealth poured in
upon them, and with them came debauch-
cry and crime, until for them the day that
saw the fall Of their great rival, and the
establishment of Babylonia as the mistress
of the East, was the day from which they
could date the full development of the caus-
es that have made the great Babel place
great Nebuchadnezzar, she reached her
zenith of power and of pride; subject kings
from the distant East and the farthest West
brought tribute, but as outward power in
creased, internal weakness kept pace. The
land whose mission it was to punish the
" drunkards af Ephraim," and those whose
vices made the religion of Jehovah mock
cry, merely imported the crimes of those
who had yielded to their arms. In the
court, the vices of Nineveh are already out
done when the father dies and the son adds
murder to drunkenness. 1t is curious
study how soon drunkenness leads to other
crimes. The intrigues of worthless court
soon engrossed the whole attention of the
ruler and left no time to care for the inter
est Of the motley States whose only bond Of
cohesion was force.
To the northeast, among the mountains
and deserts that skirt the Caspian, SIM
pie, temperate people were preparing to
next claim the Empire of the world
Cyrus Injured to hardships, reared in fru-
gality and industry, presents strange con-
trast to the worthless rulers of Babylon
The empire of Nebuchadnczzer slowly fell
to pieces, Province after Province SUBMIT
ed to his arms, until the walls of Babylon
were the bounds of his Empire, while the
hardy Persian patiently sat down at the
gates. Then, if not before. zone would have
supposed that the king and courtiers would
have made some exertion to save them
selves from ruin, but such does not seem to
have been the case. Secure as they deemed
within their triple walls and brazen gates,
they madly gave Themselves up to drunken
ness. Instead of preparation for deeds of
arms, from the palace resounded the mad
cry Of revelry and drunken mirth. The
cry was, con with the dance" and revelry
vice, and abandonment reigned supreme
The miner for coal, sometimes find leaves
and even the trunks of trees imbedded in
the rock in which he is W )rking; caught
as it were in the very act of death and their
decomposition arrested to give to us some
idea of the flora that reigned ages ago
The little shell that the quarry man picks
from the rock, seems alike to have been
preserved in stone to tell us what class of
existence peopled the world in other ages;