ial union, in the hope that it may awaken in the breast of my
reader a spirit-stirring consciousness of his own powers, and give a
new and irrefragable example of what in a good cause men may both dare
and venture, and what by union they may accomplish. It is not the
extraordinary or heroic features of this event that induce me to
describe it. The annals of the world record perhaps many similar
enterprises, which may have been even bolder in the conception, and
more brilliant in the execution. Some states have fallen after a
nobler struggle, others have risen with more exalted strides. Nor are
we here to look for eminent heroes, colossal talents, or those
marvelous exploits which the history of past times presents in such
rich abundance. Those times are gone, such men are no more. In the
soft lap of refinement, we have suffered the energetic powers to
become enervated which those ages called into action and rendered
indispensable. With admiring awe, we wonder at these gigantic images
of the past, as a feeble old man gazes on the athletic sports of
youth.

Not so, however, in the history before us. The people here presented
to our notice were the most peaceful in our quarter of the globe, and
less capable than their neighbors of that heroic spirit which stamps a
lofty character even on the most insignificant actions. The pressure
of circumstances with its peculiar influence surprized them and forced
a transitory greatness upon them, which they never could have possest,
and perhaps will never possess again. It is, indeed, exactly this want
of heroic grandeur which renders this event peculiarly instructive;
and while others aim at showing the superiority of genius over
chance, I shall here paint a scene where necessity creates genius, and
accident makes heroes.

If, in any case, it be allowable to recognize the intervention of
Providence in human affairs, it is certainly so in the present
history, its course appears so contradictory to reason and experience.
Philip II, the most powerful sovereign of his time--whose dreaded
supremacy menaced the independence of Europe--whose treasures
surpassed the collective wealth of all the monarchs of Christendom
besides--whose ambitious projects were backed by numerous and
well-disciplined armies--whose troops, hardened by long and bloody
wars, and confident in past victories and in the irresistible prowess
of this nation, were eager for any enterprise that promised glory and
spoil,