It is not, therefore, to be wondered at, that Tyrus, from practising such devices and courage upon the waters of the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, should have gained and secured to herself the title of Queen of the Sea; but the Policy was not founded in brotherly love, or neighbourly intercourse; and as a consequence, the Tyrians were against every rising maritime nation, which drew from those countries in return, an unconquerable contempt for their pride and monopoly, and compelled them to place so high a duty upon imports into Tyrus, as by degrees to injure her prosperity, and the several nations thence (as a necessity) became their own manufacturers.
The writer (or the reader) of history would pass his time uselessly, if he did not draw strong conclusions for a nation's downfall,—when built upon such an unjust foundation as that of absolute and unconditional commercial monopoly. Nations of ancient days should be viewed as beacons for the modern.
Although Tyrus visited every country, yet every nation at this time (Sidon and Israel excepted) received her with wounded pride,—no home or haven was given from love, but from fear,—every hand was ready to be raised against her; and when the fatal moment arrived when it could be done with safety, not a Nation, upon the surrounding shores of the Mediterranean, but at once exerted the wished-for resentment;—and this was but in accordance with Prophecy. [Ezekiel xxvi.]
"Many nations to come up against thee." [i. e. Tyrus.] This just behaviour the Tyrians knew would be their doom; and in the day when the Judgment of God and of Nations fell upon them, they acted in the great emergency, in a manner perfectly in keeping with their ocean-spirit of Independence. We will not anticipate events pertaining to warfare,—for the reign now under consideration was one of peace and happiness.
Of King Hiram we may justly write, that he was the original upon whom the Athenian Pericles (in after ages) founded his own splendid public character. For the love of the Fine-Arts, in all their branches, seems to have been Hiram's dream by night, his reality by day. He gathered around him the wise and the good, the gifted and the talented, to illustrate his own conceptions,—for his brain was the casket, where, for his Nation's service and that of his Allies, were gathered those inestimable jewels of the mind, that wealth cannot purchase, and Death itself cannot destroy,—for corroding Time has hallowed them to the present day, and will to all posterity! The Temple of Jerusalem, erected to The One living GOD, claims not Solomon for its Founder, with a greater certainty than it does Hiram for its Builder. In following the above course, from the direction of a superior and elegant mind, Hiram but consulted the true glory of his People,—for he encouraged not only Poetry, Music, and the Scientific Arts, but enlarged his Commerce, enabling his kingdom thereby to pursue the accomplishments and the intellectual adornments of life,—for the Fine-Arts and Commerce are as essentially the instruments of Peace, as swords and spears are the weapons of war! The country, guarded by her feudal Towers and Banners, may be physically secure in parts of the kingdom; but the Nation that points to the Walls of Artistical and Scientific Galleries, to the Temples of the Muses, Literature, and Education, and to free swelling sails—for her Bulwarks and Standards,—is intellectually defended in every quarter of her domain,—for Peace is the Citadel, and the several branches of Prosperity, her moated outworks!
Through the long life of Hiram (whom we have ventured to style "The Great"), he continued the firm ally of David and Solomon,—was the friend and promoter of peace, humanity, the arts and sciences,—was the uncompromising enemy, as a consequence, to all warfare depending upon, or emanating from, the bloody path of Conquest: and to these high points of character may be justly added, that he was "the sworn and covenanted foe" to Religious bigotry or intolerance! The reader will not then wonder that, during his reign, that Tyrus reached the highest point of intellectual grandeur in the estimation of antiquity; and from united acclamation, her triumphant Statue was placed upon the chief pedestal in the Temple of History.
While Hiram lived, his mind was as a Pharos, whose revolving light illumined every point to guard his fellow-man from the rocks of danger, and to ensure a peaceful haven—true Nature's harbour; but, at his death [about 990 B. C.], the shade remained upon the Tyrian quarter, and threw its shadow over the People; while other Nations took advantage of the forecast gleams, and found for themselves a brilliant track to power and safety.
Such was the patriotic, peaceful, and intellectual King Hiram of Tyrus, whose reputation has descended with increasing splendour through a period of nearly three thousand years! His elevated mind, extensive knowledge, Religious toleration, the patron of Education, Literature, Arts and Science,—the friend of oppressed humanity, and the Patriot King,—are all again revivified amid the applause of nations, in the person of the present William of Prussia; and may posterity record his memory to the date of his Tyrian prototype, that his example may be imitated by future Kings and Rulers!