practice of electing deputies, to meet as representatives of the whole body of citizens, and from that the modern system, no doubt originated. The principle is as ingenious as it is wise, and the British people never can be at the summit of their power, until it be restored to its original purity, and extended through the length and breadth of the land.

When we consider over what a vast portion of the globe the Roman power was established, and how many ages it endured, it strikes one with astonishment to find scarcely any trace of that gigantic power remaining in the institutions or laws of the many nations that were formerly subjected to it. It is true, that the Roman code of laws forms the basis of the civil law of most of the nations of Europe; but this circumstance is of modern date, and has no connection whatever with the original dominion of the Romans over the nations that adopted the Justinian laws.

In the institutions, or even traditions, of nations, we find few relics of Roman government or polity. The Roman system was a pure military one, and it seemed formed for the speedy and effectual amalgamation of the Italian settlers with the mass of the conquered population. But, in the absence of any moral or political remains, we find the stupendous physical works of that extraordinary people standing at this day in every country-the proud monuments of their science, as civil and military engineers.

Throughout Europe, Asia, and Africa, wherever they established their power, we see the ground covered with the ruins of their empire. From Petræa in Arabia to the Grampian Mountains in Scotland, we find the surface marked with military lines, sites of encampments, and remains of roads and bridges; and with so much judgment were the military positions chosen, that in modern warfare, with science unknown to the ancients, the positions would

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serve for armies in possession of artillery and the musket, instead of the catapult and the javelin.* The Romans thus rested their dominion on military force, with its accompaniment of forts, walls, and mounds. Their descendants are seen in the present day, but without military power, and without nationality; the petty political States of modern Italy represent the ancient tribes whence the conquering Romans proceeded. The grand cycle is about to come round in Roman history, but what will result from the next turn of it, it is impossible for any human being to predict.

In contrast with the issue of the Roman power, mark the origin and progress of the Anglo race. From the date of the foundation of Rome, to the transfer of the empire to Constantinople, a period elapsed of a thousand and eighty years; that event split the Roman empire, and led to its destruction. Eighteen hundred and ninety-seven years have passed since Julius Cæsar invaded the coasts of England, and what is the state of the island at the present time?

The people have gradually advanced under the representative system of government, in spite of a retarding dragweight which would have ruined any other people. The representative system is the palladium of the British nation.

* In proof of this, two instances in the military annals of Great Britain may be adduced'; first, the impregnable position occupied by the Presbyterian army, under Leslie, previous to its coming down to the plain to offer battle to Cromwell at Dunbar, was the site of an ancient Roman camp. Second, The entrenched Roman camp on the Downs, above the village of Woodbury, between Exmouth and Exeter, was chosen for the concentration of a considerable force, of all arms, at the time of the expected invasion by Napoleon, in the beginning of the present century.

The author, in his rambles, has visited both these spots, which command extensive and interesting views of fine countries.

There must be no niggard disposition displayed in dispensing the blessings of it. One mighty nation has already started into existence, derived from such a vigorous root. Other nations are springing up under the representative power.

In the parent country, every thing for its safety and happiness depends upon an expansion of the suffrage, and the uncorrupted nature of the election. The Roman people lost their liberties along with their subsistence; they were made poor and thus corrupted, and were at length actually fed for their votes, to enable their political oppressors to mock the citizens in their miserable condition.*

Let the British citizens open their eyes to the peril to which they are now exposed. Corruption may so far undermine the foundations of the representative system, as to lead to a ruin as terrible as that which overwhelmed the Roman people. +

ROME AND CARTHAGE.

The transactions of the Roman people have been considered as illustrative of the domestic struggles between the

* "A nation of legislators and conquerors might assert their claim to the harvests of Africa, which had been purchased with their blood; and it was artfully contrived by Augustus, that in the enjoyment of plenty, the Romans should lose the memory of freedom. But the prodigality of Constantine could not be excused by any consideration, either of public or private interest, and the annual tribute of corn imposed upon Egypt for the benefit of his new capital, was applied to feed a lazy and indolent populace, at the expense of the husbandmen of an industrious province.-Gibbon's Roman Empire, chap. xvii.

†The foregoing sketch of the Roman History, applied to the circumstances of Great Britain, is drawn from the cabinet edition of Lardner's History of Rome-from the Roman History, by Niehbuhr-and from an abridged history of that extraordinary people.

citizens and the patrician order, and on closing these sketches of the exciting and instructive passages from the history of that remarkable people, it will not be without use to allude cursorily to the fierce commercial and maritime wars, which, with some intervals of peace, were carried on for upwards of a hundred years, between the Romans and Carthaginians, ending in the total destruction of the latter.

There is only the Roman account extant of those wars, and of the condition of the Carthaginian nation. We have therefore in the present day a partial history only.

The resources and power of Carthage were very great, and enabled her to retain the command of the navigation of the Mediterranean for about six hundred years, and to plant colonies along the shores of that sea. The resources appeared to have been entirely derived from manufactures and commerce, for the territory occupied by the Carthaginian republic, was only about forty miles round, and at first a ground-rent was paid for it to the native inhabitants of the country. The possession of the gold and silver mines of Spain, must have put into the power of the Carthaginians immense sums of the precious metals; and the manufacturing ingenuity and enterprise of that people enabled them to acquire the productions of every tribe and nation at that period, within reach of their maritime and terrestrial traffic.

To give an idea of the naval and military strength of Carthage at the height of her power, it will be sufficient to mention the fact, that one of her foreign expeditions consisted of 300,000 men, conveyed in 2,000 ships of war, and 3,000 transports, and taking the vessels at 100 tons each, there would be about half a million of tonnage employed. Neither England nor France, in the present day, could send out to sea such an immense armament.

Whatever were the nature and component parts of the government of Carthage, the system established appeared to have suited the genius of the people, and allowed full development to their physical and mental powers. The extraordinary talents displayed by all the generals and commanders of their foreign enterprises, proved that men were chosen for their abilities and fitness for their respective offices, and not appointed to gratify the ambition or caprice of influential individuals.

As enemies, the Carthaginians and Romans were worthy of each other, and the struggle for the empire of the Mediterranean, and through it, of the world, could terminate only in the destruction of one of the parties. Carthage was finally subjugated, and razed to the ground by the Roman power, in the 147th year before the Christian era, after having stood for more than seven hundred years.

In modern times nothing similar to the issue of the struggle between Rome and Carthage has taken place, but some of the fiercest wars, within the last two hundred years, between European nations, have been commercial wars. The sanguinary battles between the English and the Dutch, towards the end of the seventeenth century, were for the mastery of the narrow seas, and after many vicissitudes the English triumphed. The wars between Great Britain and Spain, in the eighteenth century, were for commercial and colonial objects.

At the present moment, events have occurred in the East, and in the West, which are concentrating the attention and exciting the rivalry of the three great maritime nations of the globe. The great commercial routes, which were opened and frequented by the Tyrians, the Carthaginians, and the Romans, are again becoming the highways to eastern and southern Asia; and European nations are now frequenting