Marston, Or, the Soldier and Statesman (Volume 3) (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1849. Excerpt: ... "You must come and see me here," said he, "for it is only here that you can see me, as I ever desired to be seen; or, in fact, as nature made me. In your busy metropolis, I was only one of the millions, who were content to make a sort of a reptile existence, creeping on the ground, and living on the chances of the day. Here I have thrown off my caterpillar life, and am on the wing; a human dragon-fly, if you will; darting at a thousand different objects, enjoying the broad sunshine, and speeding through the wide air. My invincible attachment to my nation here finds its natural object; for the sons of Abraham are here a people.--I am here a patriarch, with my flocks and herds, my shepherds and clansmen, the sons of my tribe coming to do me honour, and my heart swelling and glowing with the prospects of national regeneration. I have around me a province, to which one of your English counties would be but a sheepfold; a multitude of bold spirits, to whom your populace would be triflers; a new nation, elated by their approaching deliverance, solemnly indignant at their past oppression, and determined to shake the land to its centre, or to recover their freedom. "You will speak of this as the vision of an old man--come to us, and you will see it a splendid reality. But observe, that / expect no miracle. I leave visions to fanatics; and while I acknowledge the Power of Powers, which rides in clouds, and moves the world by means unknown to human weakness, I look also to the human means which have their place in speeding the wheels of the great system. The army which has broken down the strength of the Continent--the force which, like a whirlwind, has burst such tremendous chasms through the old domains of European power, and has torn up so many of the forest mon...