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CHAP. XII.

LESSONS, TAUGHT BY THE ANCIENTS, REPEATED IN MODERN TIMES.

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SUCH was the discourse, which the Genius addressed to me.-Struck with the justness and impressive cogency of his narration, and, a multiplicity of ideas crowding upon my mind, which, while they thwarted my habits, led my judgment at the same time captive, I remained deeply absorbed in a profound silence. Meanwhile, as in this serious and pensive attitude, I kept my eyes fixed upon Asia, volumes of smoke and of flames northward, on the shores of the Black Sea, and in the plains of the Crimea, suddenly attracted my attention. They appeared to ascend at the same time from every part of the peninsula, and then, after passing by the isthmus to the continent, they pursued their course, as if driven by a westerly wind, along the muddy lake of Asoph, and were lost in the verdant plains of the Coban. Observing more attentively the direction of these volumes of smoke, I perceived that they were preceded or followed by swarms of moving beings, which, like ants or locusts disturbed by the foot of a passenger, were most busily active. Sometimes they seemed to move onward, and to rush with precipitation against each other, and numbers, subsequent to this violent approach, remained perfectly motionless. Whilst my mind was anxiously engaged by the singularity of this appearance, and I was striving

to distinguish the objects:-" Dost thou see those fires," said the Genius, "which spread over the earth, and art thou acquainted with their causes and effects ?"-Addressing the Genius, I replied, "I see indeed columns of flame and smoke, and something like insects accompanying them; but, discerning only very indistinctly even towns and monuments, how can my sight have an accurate perception of such microscopic and diminutive creatures? All I can see is, that these insects seem to carry on a sort of mock battles; for, they appear to advance, approach, attack, and pursue each other."-"There is no mockery in the case," said the Genius; "they are actually fighting in good earnest."-" And what, in the name of wonder," said I, "are those silly and furious little animalculæ, that are so very active in destroying each other? Is not their life short enough, that live only for a single day, without further abridging it by violence and murder?'-Scarcely had the question escaped my lips, when, on a sudden, touching my eyes and ears,-"Listen," said he," and observe." Immediately, directing my eyes towards the same objects, "Alas!" said I, pierced with anguish, "those columns of flame, those insects, O Genius! are absolutely men and the ravages of war! Those blazing streams of fire ascend from towns and villages! I see the horsemen that are setting them in flames : I see them with their drawn sabres over-running the country. Multitudes of old men, women, and children, are flying in dismay be fore them. I see other horsemen, who, with

their pikes upon their shoulders, accompany and direct them: I can even distinguish by their horses of reserve which they lead, by their kalpacks, and by their tufts of hair (p,) that they are Tartars; and, without doubt, those who pursue them in triangular hats and green uniforms are Muscovites. Yes, yes, now I understand it: the war has just broken out afresh between the empire of the Czars and that of the Sultans."-"No, not yet," replied the Genius; "this is only the prelude to it. These Tartars have been, and would still be troublesome neighbours; but the Muscovites are ridding themselves of them. Their country is a very convenient and desirable object to them; the acquisition of it will round and make their dominion more compact; and, as a preparatory step to the revolutionary project that has been conceived, the throne of the Guerais is overthrown."

And I actually saw the Russian standards floating on the Crimea, and their naval flag soon after displayed upon the Euxine.

Meanwhile, at the cries of the fugitive Tartars, the empire of the Mussulmen was in commotion. "Our brethren," exclaimed the children of Mahomet, "are driven from their habitations; the people of the Prophet are outraged; infidels are in possession of a conseerated land (g) and profane the temples of Islamism! Let us arm ourselves for the combat, in order to avenge the glory of God and our own cause."

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Accordingly, a general preparation for war took place in the two empires. Armed men,

provisions, ammunition, and all the murderous accoutrements of battle were every where mustered. But, my attention was more particularly caught by the immense crowds that, in both nations thronged to the temples. On one side, the Mussulmen, assembled before their mosques, washed their hands and feet, pared their nails, and combed their beard; then spreading carpets upon the ground, and turning themselves towards the south, with their arms sometimes crossed and sometimes extended, they performed their genuflections and prostrations. And, calling to mind the disasters they had experienced during the last war, they cried out:-"Oh! gracious and merciful God, hast thou then abandoned thy faithful people? Why dost Thou, who hast promised to thy Prophet the dominion of nations, and signalized religion by so many triumphs, deliver up true believers to the sword of infidels ?" And the Imans and the Santons said to the people: "It is the chastisement of your sins. Ye eat pork, ye drink wine, and ye touch things that are unclean: wherefore God hath punished you. Do penance, purify yourselves, and say your creed;* fast from the rising to the setting sun; give tithes of your goods to the mosques: go to Mecca, and God will render your arms victorious." Then the people, resuming their courage, cried aloud in a furious transport of passion: "There is but one God, and Mahomet is his Prophet! accursed be every one that believeth not!... Indulgent God! grant us power to extermi

*«There is but one God, and Mahomet is his Prophet.”

the evil which He himself permits; that He foresees crimes and guilt without preventing them; that, like a corrupt judge, He is to be bribed and influenced by gifts and offerings; that, like a fickle despot, He one moment makes laws, and the next revokes them; that, like a peevish tyrant, He withholds or dispenses his favours without rule or distinction, and is only to be won upon by the very grossest adulation and servility. . . . . . . Yes, Yes, yes, I have now detected the falsehood and deception of man! On reviewing the picture, which he has drawn of the Divinity, I said to myself: "No, no, it is not God that hath made Man after his own image: it is Man, that hath personified and made God after his own image; he has gifted Him with a mind shaped precisely after his own, palmed upon him human passions, opinions, and habits, and fashioned his judgment and capacity in exact conformity to the frame and dimensions of his own.-And, when, in this strange medley of discordant confusion, his principles have been shewn to be contradictory and self-subversive, in order to rescue the creature of his own prejudiced imagination from the charge of having committed suicide upon itself, he has put hypocrisy in the place of candour and argumentative proof, and, in a tone of affected humility, lamented the imbecility and uncertainty of human reason, calling the man-created absurdities naturalized in his own brain, by the high sounding title of the sacred mysteries of God."

"Thus, he has said :-God is immutable, and yet he has been for ever praying to Him to

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