ANTIQUARIAN REFLECTIONS. 149 tions which, under the circumstances, are not only intrinsically interesting, but afford curious evidence of his peculiar characteristics. He is replying to letters received from here soon after his arrival: "I am glad to learn you received and were so well pleased with the long details of my rambles in Italy. . . . "Of my former rambles you are in possession of no inconsiderable detail, but the extent of country over which my destiny has led me since parting from you in January last has certainly been more interesting than, perhaps, all the others combined. Previous to this my mind seems hardly to have been able to grasp or realize the idea of the prodigious number of years which have elapsed even since the construction of some of those edifices which yet bear witness to it, and still less to the more remote periods of history. But in Italy you are as irresistibly led back seventeen hundred years to the destruction of Pompeii, or two thousand years to the days when Rome was in her glory, as you are in America to the voyage of Columbus or the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth. "This familiarity, even with objects of no greater antiquity, appears to approximate so nearly to the Mosaic account of the time of the creation that you find it difficult to believe that the world can be so young; but when you are presented with specimens of art, some of which can be traced upwards of three thousand years, and others lost in remote antiquity, which are, nevertheless, the wonder and admiration of the present age, such as the Egyptian obelisks and pyramids, it requires a different education from mine, more implicit faith in the generally received authority, and perhaps you will say a more correct way of thinking, to be perfectly satisfied with it. 'Having observed mankind in their most abject state of barbarism does not afford (even to an experienced observer) sufficient data to form an idea of the time necessary for them to be advanced to that degree of civilization which is indicated by the production of such labors; but setting aside the Egyptian account of the antiquity of their origin (which they carry back twenty thousand years); the period appears too limited between their being in a state of barbarism, even as immediately after the Mosaic account of the creation as possible, and their producing, when they did, such gigantic works. "The difference between the Hebrew and the Greek texts of 1270 years in the period between the Creation and the birth of Christ does not tend to enlighten the doubtful and inquiring mind, and will satisfy only those who will not doubt. A singular circumstance mentioned in Recupera's history of Mount Etna has a particular relation to this subject. He says that in digging a pit of great depth at Jaci (near Etna) seven distinct strata of lava were pierced through, the surfaces of which were parallel, and most of them covered with a thick bed of earth. Now the eruption which formed the lowest of these strata, if we may be allowed to reason from analogy, must have flowed from the mountain at least fourteen thousand years ago, for it is said to require two thousand years to form even a scanty soil on the surface of the lava. "But of what consequence is it to us whether the world is six, ten, or twenty thousand years old? We have only to act well our parts in it, and, conscious of doing this with an easy and cheerful mind, leave the event to that Almighty Power who Though changed through all, is yet in all the same, To him no high, no low, no great, no small, He fills, he bounds, connects, and equals all.' "There is, however, something in the appearance of the venerable relics of antiquity with which Italy abounds which not only leads to a conviction of many historical facts, but must also necessarily compel the most volatile to reflect on the vicissitude of all human affairs. "Is it not amazing, then, that we find the present rulers of the earth, men of liberal education, pursuing the same path as their predecessors? As proud, arrogant, and unjust, on obtaining an advantage over their weaker neighbors as were their predecessors, and as ready to ascribe their success to their superior wisdom and talents. The miserable end of Pompey the Great, of Cæsar, of Antony, and of nine tenths of the mighty heroes of Rome, in whose PHILOSOPHICAL REFLECTIONS. 151 exploits the world has been as much interested and absorbed as it now is with those of Bonaparte, Massena, Nelson, Wellington, etc., must appear to the actors themselves as fabulous or distant as death does to a thoughtless boy-at such a prodigious distance that nothing need be apprehended from it. "That the Emperor of France should not be deterred from any act of injustice by such reflections is not surprising. His profession is that of a warrior. By war alone and the calamities it produces could he ever have reached the summit at which he has arrived, nor is it probable he could maintain his position but by pursuing the same system. But that an old-established government like that of Great Britain should follow such an example, a government that is ever boasting of its justice, humanity, etc., is indeed wonderful. When Themistocles declared to the assembly of Athens that he knew a method of giving them the sovereignty of Greece, but that it must be kept secret, he was desired to make it known to Aristides only, and abide by his decision. He accordingly told him that his project was to burn the whole fleet of the confederates. Aristides then informed the assembly that nothing could be more advantageous than the proposal of Themistocles, nor could anything be more unjust. Whereupon they at once abandoned the thought of it. But we find, in this civilized age, the pretensions to justice and honor of the enlightened government of England are not so well founded as those of the ancients, nor better than those of the great modern usurper, for besides the minor acts of injustice and villainy to which their cupidity is daily inciting them, they have shown that merely to obtain possession of a few old hulks of ships, and those belonging to a people as much in friendship with them as were the confederates with the people of Athens, the destruction of a flourishing city, the death of thousands, and all the long and dreadful train of miseries resulting from the ravages of fire and sword when used as the destroying engines of a merciless conqueror, have been no impediment. On the whole, I am induced to believe that mankind are much the same at the present day that they were two thousand years ago, equally unjust, ambitious, and arrogant; perhaps more humane, though, recurring to the Spanish in America, the English and Dutch in India, and the French during the revolution, even this may be doubted." To many readers of the present day these will doubtless seem but commonplace reflections. Those who can recall the state of public feeling and the tone of current literature of fifty years ago—before the era of modern scientific investigation, and before the study of history had been rendered fascinating by such writers as Macaulay, Prescott, and Motley-will recognize the fact that even then these expressions would have been thought bold and startling. When we reflect that they were uttered twenty years earlier than that, by a man whose only early education had been that of the common schools of New England, and are simply the outflow of his own thoughts in a familiar letter to his wife, written in the midst of the perplexing cares of business, they cannot be regarded as other than remarkable. CHAPTER IX. 1811-1816. Transactions in England and on the Continent.-A Project Promising Great Results Defeated by the Failure of the Russian Campaign. THE enormous difference in prices, even of articles of ordinary necessity, between England and the Continent, resulting from the forced and unnatural conditions which had been imposed upon them, offered favorable opportunities to neutrals, which my father, in company with many other Americans, made very active efforts to improve. The proposed return to Naples was abandoned, and for the next two years he was in London and the north. of Europe, engaged in commerce, the management of which often required the exercise of great skill and boldness, and of course involved corresponding risks. His letters during this period are continued at frequent intervals, but from the great uncertainty which attended their transmission, were always very guarded in their expression relative to the operations in which he was engaged. The following extract, from his first long letter after arriving in London, furnishes the keynote of the general tone which pervades them-a tone of anxiety resulting from the painful uncertainty attending the efforts he was making to attain the means of returning to those in |