Through and in them all, I see nothing but the inflexible execution of that old law, which ordains, as eternal, the cardinal rule, “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's goods, nor any thing which is his." Since I have lately heard so much about the dismemberment of Mexice, I have looked back to see how, in the course of events which some call "Providence," it has fared with other nations who engaged in this work of dismemberment. 2. I see that, in the latter half of the eighteenth century, three powerful nations- Russia, Austria, and Prussia-united in the dismemberment of Poland. They said, too, as you say,-"It is our destiny." They "wanted room. Doubtless each of these thought, with his share of Poland, his power was too strong ever to fear invasion, or even insult. One had his California, another his New Mexico, and the third his Vera Cruz.* 3. Did they remain untouched, and incapable of harm? Alas! no; far, very far, from it. Retributive justice must fulfill its destiny too. A very few years pass off, and we hear of a new man, a Corsican lieutenant, the self-named, "armed soldier of Democracy," Napoleon. He ravages Austria, covers her land with blood, drives the Northern Cæsar from his capital, and sleeps in his palace. Austria may now remember how her power trampled upon Poland. Did she not pay dear, very dear, for her California'? 4. But has Prussia no atonement to make? You see this same Napoleon, the blind instrument of providence, at work there. The thunders of his cannon at Jena† proclaim the work of retribution for Poland's wrongs; and the successors of the Great Frederick,' the drill-sergeant of Europe, are seen flying across the sandy plains that sur *Pronounced Va' rä kroos. † Gen' a. round their capital, right glad if they may escape captivity or death. 5. But how fares it with the Autocrat of Russia? Is he secure in his share of the spoils of Poland'? Nò: suddenly we see six hundred thousand armed men marching to Moscow. Does his Vera Cruz protect him now'? Far from it. Blood, slaughter, devastation, spread abroad over the land; and, finally, the conflagration of the old commercial metropolis of Russia closes the retribution: she must pay for her share in the dismemberment of her impotent neighbor. 6. A mind more prone to look for the judgments of Heaven in the doings of men than mine, can not fail, in all unjust acquisitions of territory, to see the Providence of God. When Moscow burned, it seemed as if the earth was lighted up, that the nations might behold the scene. As that mighty sea of fire gathered and heaved and rolled upward, and yet higher, till its flames licked the stars, and fired the whole heavens, it did seem as though the God of nations was writing, in characters of flame, on the front of His throne, that doom that shall fall upon the strong nation which tramples in scorn upon the weak. 7. And what fortune awaits him, the appointed executor of this work, when it was all done? He, too, conceived the notion that his destiny pointed onward to universal dominion. France was too small: Europe, he thought, should bow down before him. But as soon as this idea takes possession of his soul, he, too, becomes powerless. Right there, while he witnessed the humiliation, and doubtless meditated the subjugation, of Russia, He who holds the winds in His fist, gathered the snows of the North, and blew them upon his six hundred thousand men. They fled,—they froze,—they perished. 8. And now the mighty Napoleon, who had resolved on universal dominion, he, too, is summoned to answer for the violation of that ancient law, "Thou shalt not covet any thing which is thy neighbor's.' "How are the mighty fallen!" He, beneath whose proud footstep Europe trembled, is now an exile at Elba, and now, finally, a prisoner on the rock of St. Helena; and there, on a barren island, in an unfrequented sea, in the crater of an extinguished volcano, there is the death-bed of the mighty conqueror. All his annexations have come to that! His last hour has now come; and he, the man of destiny, he who had rocked the world as with the throes of an earthquake, is now powerless, still, — even as the beggar, so he died. 9. On the wings of a tempest that raged with unwonted fury, up to the throne of the only Power that controlled him while he lived, went the fiery soul of that wonderful warrior, another witness to the existence of that eternal decree, that they who do not rule in righteousness shall perish from the earth. He has found "room" at last. And France — she, too, has found "room." Her "eagles" now no longer scream along the banks of the Danube, the Po, and the Borys'thenes. They have returned home, to their old aerie, between the Alps, the Rhine, and the Pyrenees. 10. So shall it be with yours. You may carry them to the loftiest peaks of the Cordilleras; they may wave, with insolent triumph, in the halls of the Montezumas,2 — the armed men of Mexico may quail before them: but the weakest hand in Mexico, uplifted in prayer to the God of justice, may call down against you a Power, in the presence of which the iron hearts of your warriors shall be turned into ashes. 1. K LESSON CXXXVIII. VANITY OF EARTHLY TREASURES. ANON. NEEL not, O friend of mine! before a shrine Have thou no idol, lest those hopes of thine Prove but false lights upon a treacherous sea. Know'st thou that rose that blooms beside thy door And fade and die' ? Know also that the loved and tried for years, 2. Maiden! upon whose fair, unclouded brow, Half hid by many a curl of clustering hair, I mark the buds of promise bursting now, Unmingled with a thought of future care, Oh! let me teach thee, as a sister may, That bridal flowers have decked the silent bier, 3 Mother! who gazes with a mother's joy, Who stands in childish beauty by thy side, I warn thee! build no castles in the air: That bud, just bursting to a perfect flower, 4. Father! whose days, though in "the yellow leaf," - Burn thou no incense here! hast thou not seen Believe me, all who breathe the vital breath 5. Ah, yes! beneath the church-yard's grassy mound Too many an early-smitten idol lies, Too many a star of promise has gone down |