plentiful store of provisions and wine, sail about on the tranquil surface of the ocean, and return to the land when the war was over. Less tyranny would be practised, and the independence of nations would be much promoted.

CHAPTER IV.

LAKES.

"Lands, intersected by a narrow frith
Abhor each other."

LAKES vary in their power upon the boundary of a nation, according as in size and shape, they resemble a river or a sea.

Lake Champlain has already created a State, it will in time create an Empire.

The North American lakes form a good natural boundary between the United States and Canada. Nations vie with each other in humanity. Five times have the Americans, animated with the purest spirit of philanthropy, passed the lakes to free the Canadians from colonial bondage. Five times have the English, glowing with the sacred flame of compassion, passed the lakes, to free the Americans from the bondage of their double government. All these expeditions have been unsuccessful, and may all future expeditions of the two powers be attended with the same result.

Sufficient to every nation are the evils which they endure without being troubled with those of their neighbour. The Caspian Lake forms an important barrier, which protects the Circassians on their eastern flank.

The Black Sea or Lake forms a good natural boundary between the Emperor of Russia and the Sultan of the Ottomans.

The Lake of Constance separates the land of the Switzers from Suabia.

The Lake of Geneva divides Switzerland from Savoy,

"Mountains interposed

Make enemies of nations, which had else
Like kindred drops been moulded into one."

MOUNTAINS are the true sovereigns over the earth, they permit man to survey them from a distance, they even allow him sometimes to ascend to their summit, or to pass over them, but they are invincible, and the real arbiters of the destiny of nations. They vary in power to restrain communities of men within proper limits, according to their breadth and altitude; but, on the whole surface of the earth, they form real and permanent barriers. An individual ascends a mountain, but he returns to dwell in the valley. The peasant seldom ascends the hill which overlooks his native plain. Of those who live within sight of the

Blue Mountain, not one in a thousand has ever visited its summit. These were ambitious natives of the plains, but even they could not establish a permanent residence. We travelled a hundred miles to place our hand upon the summit of the mountain; having done so, our curiosity was gratified, and we retired, leaving the mountain unscathed. Still does he nobly, proudly, rear his head towards the sky.

Mountains are, on several accounts, good boundaries between nations. Numerous bodies of. troops cannot, without a great expense, be supported on their summit. Nations, to whom they serve as a barrier, are therefore content to place a few sentinels on the frontier. If mountains were always boundaries, wars would be less frequent; the difficulty of marching to combat would compel ambitious men to pause. Thus the armies of France have not so often crossed the Alps and the Pyrenees, in search of conquest, as they have invaded the valleys of the Rhine and the Netherlands.

One

The Andes form a natural barrier to the States on the Western Coast of South America. of the most disastrous military expeditions ever recorded, was that under Gonzalez Pizarro, in which this circumstance was disregarded.