making future treaties of peace, or in fixing the boundaries of those semi-sovereign States which are called into existence by the fiat of the American Congress, not the mathematician, but the geographer, or the individual who has the greatest knowledge of the country in dispute, should be selected. ON UNCERTAIN BOUNDARIES. It is a most unpardonable offence in any person, either in speaking, thinking, or writing, to deviate from the subject before him. Of this very serious offence we have to accuse the author of a delightful novel, Philip Augustus. This novelist, who has recorded in a very agreeable manner some of the deeds of the French monarch in love and war, makes the following assertionNothing is more uncertain in the world than the smiles of beauty, and the boundaries of an empire. The first proposition is undoubtedly true. But were we governor or king over a great, a free, and a prosperous community, and over none other would we accept the office; and a young gentleman should come to our court to complain that Julia had smiled one moment and frowned the next, which she is very apt to do, we would invite him to a magnificent banquet. And when all the avenues to his heart were thrown wide open by good wine and good cheer, we would explain to him that it was the high privilege of beauty to do, to say, and to smile, as she pleased; for we admire those who are wise, we esteem those who are good, but our most devoted and unlimited homage is paid to the beautiful. With the second proposition, that the boundaries of empires are usually very uncertain, we do not agree. Yet still, when the frontier of a state is not very definite, the oscillation of dominion may be great. The Happy Valley of Abyssinia is the only territory on the surface of the world whose natural defences are so strong as to preserve the natives free from invasion at all times, without the slightest effort of their own. In the smaller States of Germany there appears to be no correct rule by which their boundary can be determined, but they usually possess both sides of the rivers. The cannon and bugle, the bayonet and bullet, the musket and trumpet, the fife and the drum, will sometimes determine the limits of empires during short periods of time. An artificial line, strongly fortified, if drawn without reference to natural divisions, possesses little inherent strength. Three Roman walls in the north of England, built at successive periods and each in a different situation, did not answer the purpose of their founders. The northern Scottish barbarians pulled the defenders of the ramparts with hooks from the wall, scaled the battlements, and spread carnage and desolation over the country to the south. A Roman wall, which extended from the Rhine to the Danube, was only defended for a few years. The wall of China, that wonder of the world, was built on a range of hills on the northern frontier of the Celestial empire, and was of partial use, because it increased the strength of the former natural boundary. CHAPTER XII. ON GOVERNMENTS. SELF-GOVERNMENT DEFINED MONARCHY PLURARCHYFEDERAL GOVERNMENT QUESTION, WHETHER THE HUMAN RACE ADVANCES TOWARDS PERFECTION?-INFLuence of GOVERNMENTS ON BOUNDARIES. THE most important circumstance connected with the welfare of man, is the government which exercises a control over his actions and his thoughts; for, in every country where the human race have existed for some time under one species of power, his sentiments and his ideas become gradually assimilated to the government under which he is placed. A single glance at the countries that were formerly prosperous and flourishing under free institutions, and which are now rendered desolate and oppressed by despotic power, would confirm so irresistibly this view of the subject, and has been so often illustrated by various writers, that it is not worth while to cite any examples. They will readily occur to any one who is conversant with history. There is not any nation which desires to have a good government; that is, it is not the first and principal object which they desire. The first wish of all nations, and which they are unhappy if they do not attain, is to be governed according to their peculiar ideas and prejudices. There is no doubt they believe these to be founded in truth and justice; but how far this is from being actually the case, the history of every country will elucidate. Even if a nation should desire it, as governments are carried on by human agents, and their power is exercised over human subjects,—how is it possible it should be perfect? they of necessity partake of the general imperfection of all human things. Can we construct a temple which shall continue to attract for ages the admiration of mankind with diminutive bricks, or will you raise a pile of timber to last for centuries? -- Let us therefore make a few inquiries what the human race are. In the first place, in respect to their form, which has some relation to the subject, although it may appear a distant one; and in the next, with respect to their disposition or character, on which, in point of fact, governments depend for their development. Do we find |