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Show Political Hints from Sismondi. "Largs empires derive a power of self preservation from thtir size; it is their privilege to be able sometimes to endure bad icovemment in proportion to their extent." That is, if one understands un-derstands correctly, the civil degradation degrada-tion of one province of a great empire does not certainly carry with it the like degradation of all the provinces, especially in the case of governments whose bond of nationalization is attenuated atten-uated rather than strung and thorough. For example, in the decay of the Roman state, the island ol Britain, at one extremity of the empire, em-pire, escaped in a degree the bad influence of Italy itself. This is, in efleel, what in therapeutics would perhaps be culled the let alone practice prac-tice leaving matters to the working of the constitution itself in a crisis. Again ' The morality of a nation is preserved by associating ils sentiments senti-ments wiiii what isstable a;id perman ent. A people who sacrifice the memory mem-ory of ancestors or the welfare of their children to the pleasures of the day are sojourners in a country not citizens." citi-zens." Another point: "Improvidence and an unbridled appetite for pleasure pleas-ure characterizing all classes are visibld on every page of the Roman hUtory of the tilth century. A puerile rage for theatrical spectacles was universal pervaded all the capitals the fury for scenic games, the only one ol all their public passions pas-sions which the Romans retained to the very last." Once more : "The utter corruption corrup-tion of the Roman people during the fourth century may teach us this lesson : That adversity may be even more fatal lo the virtue of a nation than prosperity. " That is again if one apprehends rightly a nation once started on a moral decline loses tbo elastic power to recover itself, and its down hill career is accelerated by adversity as much as by prosperity. pros-perity. A ship, whose rudder is gone, is iu no condition to outride a storm, let it blow from what quarter it may. The graceful symmetry aud proportion ol the craft avail nothing, but whetber in sunshine or in tempest tem-pest it is only "A painted ship upon a painted ocean." July 14th. Gentile. |