"Towards the West stretched that bold barrier of porphyritic rock which nature has reared around the valley of Mexico, with the huge Popocatapetl and Iztucahwatl standing, like two colossal sentinels, to guard the entrance to the enchanted region; far away to the east was seen the conical head of Orizaba, rearing high into the clouds, and nearer the barren, though beautifully-shaped Sierra de Malenchi, throwing its broad shadows over the plains of Tlascali. Three of these are volcanoes higher than the highest mountains of Europe, shrouded in snow which never melts under the fierce sun of the tropics. At the foot of the spectator lay the sacred city of Cholula."

The aspect of nature such as this, nerves to great enterprises; and it was probably a desire for distinction, like that of Cortez, that led the high-spirited Count Raousset de Boulbon to make that romantic expedition from California, in our own day, which ended in his capture and death. To see a country so beautiful as Mexico, occupied by a race so degenerate, and not desire to possess and improve it, is contrary to the feelings of mankind, and at variance with the progressive genius of our country. Never should we draw back from the wise theory of restricting European intervention, suggested by our fifth president; and, to any attempt of foreign nations to seize a portion of the American continent, we should reply in the words of Napoleon, when wearing, as king of Italy, the iron crown of Lombardy: "Dieu me l'a donné, gare qui touche."

The city of Mexico is described, by all who have seen it, as being, from the combination of art and nature, more beautiful than anything in our own land. It is not probable that two such additions as this and Cuba are to be obtained without a struggle; but the prospective terrors of war are far less than we imagine. In time of war, nations concentrate their resources within their own borders; and the fact of our commerce being cut off, would enable our people to manufacture many things they now obtain from abroad, and keep the vast yield of California from flowing, as it now does, to the vaults of the Bank of England. Mexico would indemnify us for the expenses of the contest, and Cuba follow as a natural result, whilst the necessity of overland communication with the Pacific, would induce the building of that railroad so much desired. France, feeling that her Emperor was waging a war for his own glory, contrary to the interest of the nation, might remove him from his present elevation, and thus would the area of freedom, by our instrumentality, be generally increased. As the vessels freighted with rich spoils of Mexico, brought to their country substantial proofs of the discovery and subjugation of the mainland, not only hordes of hungry Spaniards, but armies of priests, rushed into the field. But here, again, the fascinating fruit brought with it the elements of destruction. It has always been the policy of Rome to reap a material advantage from the terrors of awakened

conscience, and make the treasures gained by the promptings of the Evil One, contribute to the support of those who preach and live by the cross. Men, haunted by the memory of crimes committed in the New World, were glad to buy with gold forgiveness of their sins, and the sale of indulgences obtained a wider extension than ever before known. The idea of rearing a temple more magnificent than that of Solomon, seemed to sanctify the means employed; and, had not Martin Luther been carried away by the hope of obtaining a great name, it is much to be doubted if we would not have continued to the present day living under abuses not more dreadful than many we now submit to. Linked with the name of Cortez is that of Pizarro, conqueror of Peru; not that there is any identity of character, but from the fact that the latter opened a vein of even richer mineral wealth than that of Mexico, and extorted it by a cruelty compared with which the conduct of Cortes appears even moral. To Spain belongs the odium of plundering the Indian, and carrying off his wealth under the cover of religion. Protected by the same holy banner, England fitted out numerous expeditions to murder the Spaniard on the sea, and take from him the results of his crime. They who accomplished these feats, were the glorious heroes whose deeds awakened the ambition of the future Lord Clive, and led Warren Hastings to commit cruelties of which England reaped the advantage, and punished the wickedness. The reason why Spain successively lost all her conquests in South America is that, forgetful of the injunctions of Holy Writ, given to the chosen people, not to become mixed up with the idolatrous children of the soil, her sons, instead of remaining a peculiar race, have so intermarried and connected themselves with the other castes, that the pure Hidalgo, with his pride of birth and love of the mother country, soon ceased to exist, and gave place to a mongrel population, delighting in change, and incapable of governing or being governed. Had the American people, instead of eradicating, attempted to absorb the native Indians of our own forests, the element of weakness would have shown itself long before this. With all Europe to recruit from, we have nothing to fear from want of population, and should take as the emblem of our policy, the uncompromising letters, L. P. D., the "Lilia pedibus destrue" of the French Revolution. In showing us the rise and decadence of the South American states, Mr. Prescott has not simply given a brilliant page to history, but has aided in solving the great question of the relative powers of different races, and given us a text-book in which to find the advantages and disadvantages of that land, whither we go to possess it. We read with pleasure his Euro

pean histories; but we study with serious attention, as one reading the title-deeds or inspecting the map of his own farm, the annals of former struggles on this Western Hemisphere, and close the review of his works with the exclamation, at his loss :

"Terra tegit, populus mæret, Olympus habet."

ECCLESIASTICAL PRIME MINISTERS-XIMENES, ALBERONI, RICHELIEU.

In justice to the hierarchy of whose oppression so much has been written, may it be said, that she is not merely the only one founded on the words of the Messiah, "Thou art Peter, and on this rock will I build my church;" but also, that we are indebted to her for the recognition and expansion of the democratic theory at a time when the divine right of kings to trample on the rest of mankind, was unchallenged and uncontrolled.

The hardy peasant who entered the armies of Europe could scarcely expect, whatever his talents, to rise above the rank of a private; but his feeble brother, who, unfitted for rougher toils, was received in some subordinate capacity into the ranks of the Church, was encouraged, by numerous examples, to hope for, and expect, the highest honors of ecclesiastical preferment, if true to the interests of the great corporation to which he had

united himself.

He who bore the sacred cross, and washed the feet of beggars, was the same Sovereign Pontiff who trampled on the necks of Emperors, and wore the triple crown, and looked back most frequently not to ancestral halls as the scene of his early days, but to some lowly peasant's cot on the rugged domain of a mountain chief. Such, too, were mostly the cardinals, whose votes in the sacred college were canvassed by rival princes. Shut out from family ties of a direct nature, they still seldom forgot the scenes of their youth, and strove to engraft on a higher sphere their nearest relatives. To them to point out and condemn the follies and crimes of those in lofty station, was rendered pleasant by the idea that they were avenging themselves and kindred for years of neglect or oppression. To

the pride of birth the nobles added an ignorance which rendered them dependent upon the learning of the Church, in all cases where brute force could not avail. It is true that most families boasted ecclesiastical relatives, but there is no golden road to learning, and they who started from the lowest point, possessed an energy which arrived at the highest grades, whilst fat abbeys, and rich cloisters, contented the gently born. Kings then were opposed in their pet schemes of power, not by the people, a force as yet unknown, but by those nobles who held their lands by military tenure. In the seclusion of confession the priest received the griefs of the monarch, and devised a remedy; and the more powerful the sovereign, so much the more likely was he to select a confessor unconnected in rank with the objects of his disquietude or disgust. Thus Thomas Becket, a Saxon, and one of the oppressed race, received the confidence of Henry II. Supple, active, amusing, he contrasted so favorably with the rough and ignorant barons, that his master delighted to raise him in quick promotion to the first archiepiscopal rank in the state. But with his new position, new duties impressed themselves upon him, and having to choose between impiety, or seeming ingratitude, he preferred the cause of a heavenly to that of an earthly master, and gained canonical honors at the hands of the church, when perishing like the holy man of old at the horns of the altar. Wolsey, too, was sprung from Saxon stock, at a time when Norman blood was considered an index of gentility, and his father was an humble butcher; yet Wolsey was not only the favorite of the proudest of England's kings, but the courted friend of the monarchs of France and Spain, and nearly replaced the Cardinal's hat with the tiara of Rome. Ximenes, also born of parents, though noble, yet exceedingly poor, was really of the people; yet such was his power that Spain owes to him her inquisition, a then necessary engine for the extirpation of Moors and Jews; and his anxiety for the conversion of Pagan souls led him to plant it on this Western Continent almost as soon as the standard of his country was unfurled. He who had so aided in driving the Moors from the Alhambra, and in concentrating into a great kingdom the scattered principalities beyond the Pyrenees, felt that his task was but half accomplished, whilst a Pagan soul remained to be brought within the acknowledged fold of the church. Little did he think that in a future age that unexplored waste brought to light by the genius of Columbus, would be teeming with mighty cities, which should produce two men of letters, Irving and Prescott, who, each in his own field, should give the history of the struggles in which the crescent yielded to the cross, and which forced Boabdil to

leave in tears the elegant palace which still bears the impress of oriental taste.

The hand of death has removed the latter writer from his appreciative country, and the practical pens of the daily press have dropped their terse style to add a tribute to his fame. Having brought the empire of Spain to its height, he was taken away ere he could depict the causes which led to its decline. But amidst all his portraits, that of Ximenes stands out the clearest, to use the language of our remaining historian, when speaking of his style, and pouring out a tribute of appropriate sorrow for his loss at the stated meeting of the New York Historical Society.. "It is drawn with a diamond pen upon tablets of steel." "His (Ximenes) character was of that stern and lofty cast which seems. to rise above the ordinary wants and weaknesses of humanity.. His genius of the severest order, like Dante's or Michael Angelo's, in the regions of fancy, impresses us with ideas of power that excite admiration akin to terror. His enterprises, as we have seen, were of the boldest character. His execution of them equally bold. He disdained to woo fortune by any of those soft and pliant arts which are often the most effectual. His disinterestedness was further shown in the disposition of his property. He founded no family. He left brothers and nephews, but contented himself with making them comfortable -and expended his savings in ameliorating the condition of the poor." Alberoni, who gave a queen to Spain, and guided the counsels of the first Spanish Bourbon, was the son of an Italian gardener. His course was marked by severe toil, his laurels were won by anxious study of men, as well as books. Deputed to conclude a treaty of marriage for the king of Spain with the daughter of the Italian prince who ruled his native dominions, and having the day before it was signed received by a special courier orders countermanding its conclusion, he had the boldness to direct the messenger, if he wished to live, not to arrive till the next day. In the meanwhile, he concluded the treaty, and secured the path to his wished for post of Prime Minister of Spain. Armand Jean du Plessis, Cardinal Richelieu, was of noble birth, and belonged to an old family in the South of France. He began his career by a falsehood in assuring the Pope, on his application for the bishopric of Lucon, that he had attained the legal age of twenty-five, whereas he was only twenty-two. He afterwards asked absolution for the sin, and was complimented on his adroitness. He commenced by devoting himself to the Marechal d'Ancre and as deputy of the clergy to the States-General made his first great speech, when presenting to the king the report of their deliberations. It was afterwards noticed that in the commencement of his