Jericho until their beards were grown, or at least, remained at home until they had gained sense enough to know that their petty squabbles were not to be settled on the floor of national debate, and that their untarnished honor was not, after all, of such untold importance as to cast into the shade a nation's welfare. It may be possible for such politicians to devise measures of temporary ease at the price of future quiet; but we want men who come to the work with patriotic souls, with minds bold enough to grapple with great difficulties, and comprehensive enough to provide against danger in the distant future; the Devil must not be put to sleep, but driven out, and the exorcist must not be frightened at the struggles of the exorcism. The Statesman of America should comprehend the interests which he represents. He is the representative, not simply of the twenty millions of the present generation, but of the fifty millions of the next, and the hundred millions of the succeeding one; he should feel that upon his action it depends whether these millions shall be united under one broad banner of harmony, or divided into different communities with clashing interests. We may say more; he represents the great principle of liberty and equality; his actions are allied to men of another nation and a former age-to Hamden, and Sidney, and Milton; he is to rear the fabric to which they laid the corner-stone; he is to guard the watch-fire whose light was kindled in the age of Cromwell, and reflected from the white cliffs of Albion across the broad Atlantic, and which shall yet be sent back from the hill-tops of America, to enlighten old Europe and the world. It is not mere rhetoric to say that the Statesman of America labors in a nobler sphere than other men, a sphere where the reward of action is as much more glorious as the toil is greater. He legislates in some measure for humanity; an overruling Deity we believe has great and merciful designs to accomplish through this young nation; and upon this belief, much more than upon the wisdom of man, do we rest our hopes for its future welfare. He has linked its safety to the renovation of mankind, for in spite of theories we believe that this present world is destined to a better fate than the past six thousand years have revealed. The century which is passing now has already accomplished the work ages, and as the dim drapery of the future is drawn aside, the living audience will behold each successive scene more magnificent than the last. We, of the present generation, stand looking into futurity like some ancient traveler pausing at the entrance of the avenue which led to the great temple of Thebes; as he beholds the lofty sphynxes towering one above another in the long vista, he wonders what must be the majesty of that temple to which this stupendous path is but the entrance. Such is our present position; these are the views of responsibility which we believe the Statesman of America should cherish. He who, unmindful of himself, shall act wisely for his country and his race, will be placed by a grateful people in the same niche with Washington and Jay; he who is unfaithful to his trust, will have his meet reward in the execrations of mankind. The flowers whose leaves and blossoms fair The zephyrs from the flowery lea, Are scentless now ; Exhaled their sweets, decayed their grace- The trees whose verdant canopy Wooed 'neath the shade, The rosy tints which Boreas hoar The wan destroyer oft we knew, Nor longer now the wood's dark shade, O'er velvet lawn and flowery heath, That gently kissed the curling sea And swelling sail, Have flown on balmy pinions past, The raging gale. O'er scenes like these decay to trace, These gorgeous hues- To know that cold affliction's blight, To see fond memory oft restore Ah! this it is, methinks, to live Alone we stand, while round us all Or soon or late. Yet, what though heaven's decrees are so ? And shall the cold, oblivious tomb, FROM the end of the fourth century to the complete overthrow of the Roman empire in the west, the northern parts of Italy were so repeatedly ravaged by the Goths and Huns under Alaric, Attila, and Genseric, that of the numerous towns which had grown up and flourished in that fertile region, beneath the protection of the Imperial City, little was left except smouldering ashes and tottering ruins. The epithets of "the Sword of Mars," and "the Scourge of God," applied by the affrighted inhabitants of the south to one of these conquerors, sufficiently attest the fearful character of that visitation, which the cowardice and iniquity of Rome had so long deserved. The threat of Attila, that the grass never grew where his horse once trod," was almost literally fulfilled, and while neither age, rank, nor sex were spared by his inhuman followers, the country, which 66 they left behind them, presented but one continuous scene of desolation. The grain-fields and vineyards were trampled down; men, women, and children were butchered in cold blood, or sold into hopeless slavery; and, as if to add to these horrors, the heavens were darkened by tempests, and the earth shaken by earthquakes, while meteors and comets of prodigious size shook their fiery locks over the devoted land. Whole towns and villages were deserted at once, the wretched inhabitants flying in every direction, to obtain that security which their effeminate cowardice forbade them to seek by arms. The citizens of Concordia, Altinum, Padua, Aquileia, and several smaller towns, abandoning their dwellings and their lands to the cupidity or caprice of the invaders, sought a refuge for themselves and their families among the numerous islands which skirt the northwestern coast of the Adriatic gulf. Here, secured from danger by the natural defenses of the place, and gaining continually fresh acquisitions of strength from the fugitives, who deserted their homes on the continent, during the destructive wars of the Greeks, the Heruli, and the Lombards, they laid the foundations of a State, which, in the language of one of their own writers," they meant should be free, safe, and eternal." Such was the origin of VENICE. Thirteen hundred years have passed away since the period of its birth, and after arriving at a height of prosperity almost unparalleled, it hath at length fallen, and its place in the volume of history is now side by side with those of Babylon and Tyre, Athens and Rome. The causes which led to its elevation, and the succession of events which terminated in its overthrow, it will be the object of this essay to exhibit. The state of Europe during the long period which intervened between the establishment of the Gothic kingdom in Italy, and the overthrow of Constantinople by the Turks, was eminently favorable to the formation and increase of a great maritime power. Rome, that had for so many ages been the mistress of arts and arms, had fallen from the throne of the nations; the shops of her artisans were shut, and her palaces had become the habitation of the spoiler; her harbors were deserted, her vessels sunken, and her merchants had abandoned their dwellings, or perished miserably on their thresholds. The vast extent of country over which she had held such despotic sway, was divided among her barbarous conquerors; who, gradually assuming different habits, manners, and languages, according to their respective situations, laid the foundations of the modern European kingdoms. Too fierce and warlike, as well as too uncivilized, to turn their attention, at that early period, to the peaceful arts of commerce, they yet desired to partake of its benefits and to enjoy its luxuries. The Eastern Empire, though so torn by internal discord, and distracted by foreign invasion, that it often seemed tottering on the very verge of dissolution, was entirely abandoned to the enjoyment of the voluptuous pleasures of the Orientals. Its merchants, indulging in the most profuse expenditure and the most costly luxury, had become so enervated as to be unwilling to encounter the perils and fatigues of commerce, and were in no condition to resist the encroachments of such as were ready to sustain the burden of traffic, in order to reap its profits. To re-open the shops of Rome, to repair her harbors, and to rebuild her vessels to provide for the necessity or luxury of the Western European Kingdoms, to furnish them with the gold and gems, the silks and spices of the East and South-to colonize, with industrious traders, the cities of the Greek Empire, the profits of whose traffic should increase the revenues of the parent State-to supply the civilized world with manufactures and to seize upon and enjoy the rich reward which such occupations would afford. These were the avenues to wealth and power, which lay open to the enterprise of any State, whose rulers should possess sufficient judgment to perceive them. At this juncture Venice sprang into existence; and at once availing herself of all these advantages, she soon attracted the attention and jealousy of the surrounding kingdoms. Her persevering citizens opened their shops and displayed their wares in the capital of the East, in Egypt, Spain, France, Germany, and England; and, unwilling to stop thus, they boldly set out for the golden regions of Cathay and the realms of Prester John. Careless of hunger and thirst, of cold and heat, they established commercial posts on the shores of the Baltic and in the oases of Sahara, on the margin of the Thames, and along the banks of the Burampooter. Not a city in Asia Minor or the Greek Empire, but contained within its walls some little collection of Venetian traders, who, governed by their own laws, and answerable to their own magistrates alone, continually increased the wealth and power of the rising republic. The natural situation of Venice was extremely favorable to her as a commercial power. Placed at the head of the Adriatic, she was able to collect into her storehouses the productions of every country, "and, in her long range of maritime stations, from the Po to the eastern boundary of the Mediterranean, and the mouth of the Don, to gather and disperse the merchandise of the entire known world." Nor was this the only advantage which her insulated position afforded; not only did it offer every facility for commerce in time of peace, but in war it became her safeguard, and Venice alone could boast that for thirteen |