THE FIRST BOOK. www POWER AND MAGNIFICENCE OF ENGLAND. "That power whose flag is never furl'd- "THE future historian of a decline and fall hereafter, not less memorable than that of Rome, will probably commence his work with a corresponding account of the power and extent of the British Empire under William the Fourth and Queen Victoria. What Rome was in its influence over the destinies of mankind in the 1st century, England is now in the 19th; while not merely in regard to rank in science and civilization, but also in the territorial extent of its possessions, on which the sun never sets, England occupies a prouder position than ancient Rome."— Westminster Rev. Ap. 1842. CONDITION AND FATE or ENGLAND. BOOK FIRST. POWER AND MAGNIFICENCE OF ENGLAND. IN England or out of England, one is everywhere met with evidences of her greatness. Whether he stand in the centre of London and feel the pulsations of that mighty heart which sends its life blood to the farthest extremities of the British Empire, or enter her palaces and manufactories, or walk along her docks, or travel the world, the exclamation is still, "Great and Mighty England!" Her power seems omnipresent, her ships circle the pole, and " put a girdle round the earth." Her cannon look into every harbour, and her commerce flows into every nation. She has her word to say in every part of the habitable world. Scarcely a nation projects an outward scheme without first looking up to behold the aspect which England will assume toward it. Nineteen hundred years ago the Roman standard first floated on the shores of Britain. Then a race of barbarians, clothed in the skins of wild beasts, roamed over the uncultivated island. The tread of the legions was then heard on the plains of Africa and Asia, and the name of Rome was written on the front of the world. Nearly two thousand years have rolled by, and Julius Cæsar and all the Cæsars, the Senate, the people, and the Empire of Rome have passed away like a dream. Her population now only a little exceeds that of NewYork state, while that island of barbarians has emulated Rome in her conquests, and not only planted and unfurled her standard in the three quarters of the globe that owned the Roman sway, but laid her all-grasping hand on a new continent. Possessing the energy and valour of her Saxon and Norman ancestors, she has remained unconquered, unbroken, amid the changes that have ended the history of other nations. Like her own island that sits firm and tranquil in the ocean that rolls round it, she has stood amid the ages of man and the overthrow of empires. A nation thus steadily advancing over every obstacle that checks the progress or breaks the strength of other governments; making every world-tumult wheel in to swell its triumphal march, must possess not only great resources, but great skill to manage them. Looking out from her sea-home she has made her fleets and her arms her voice. Strength and energy of character, skill, daring, and an indomitable valour ex |