At the beginning of the next period another great man appeared, the waves of whose power were felt over the whole world, and who, by the grandeur of his conceptions, power and executive will, rose from obscurity to dictate to Europe, which was at that time the world. From 1789 to 1815 may justly be styled the Bonapartean period. It would be superfluous to recapitulate his career; nor would it be less so to trace the rescuing of America from the savages by the resistless advance of civilization, which, since the settlement of Jamestown, in 1607, has made such unexampled progress in all things that pertain to greatness, grandeur and glory—in literature, science, art and government.
Before closing the resume of general history it should be observed that many great events have been passed unnoticed, the principal aim having been to follow the western tendency of empire, and to present only such facts as were prominent in forming standards of progress, perpetual landmarks and historic eras. In Asia particularly, great events occurred, such as the career of Ghengis Khan and Tamerlane. The former, it is computed, slaughtered fifteen millions of human beings during his reign. The efforts of such as he were the last struggles of barbarians to arrest the onward course of general progress. Though for a time triumphant in their course the genius of progress could never be entirely eradicated where once it had found root and growth. China and India have been passed because, for the most part, they have been confined within themselves; the reason whereof will be discussed hereafter.
THE TENDENCIES OF GOVERNMENT.
[Revised from the New York Herald of May 16, 1870.]
VICTORIA C. WOODHULL’S LAST LESSON IN POLITICAL HISTORY.
[The following communication from Mrs. Woodhull, who, as the public is already informed, has devoted herself to enlightenment on the question of government, will be found as interesting as any of her previous letters on the same subject This is Mrs. Woodhull’s concluding letter on the Tendencies of Government:]
In entering upon the next and third part of the subject, we are conscious of the imperfect construction of the second. It must be remembered that the purpose of the resume was not to give consecutive historic detail, but to mark such special facts as evidently show there was a progressive and consecutive rise and fall of nations. Without apology for omissions and minor errors, we proceed to the consideration whether the facts elicited from history form a consecutive chain of progress, by which the world has been evolved from barbarism, and whether this evolution has been according to present philosophic formulas. The first and most prominent fact that becomes obvious to the observer of general history is that the progress of empire has always been from the east, westward. The progress of the earth in its daily rotation upon its own axis and also in its orbital movement around the sun is toward the east. This is believed to explain the order maintained by the course of empire. Motion being in the direction of the least resistance, the general tendency of the surface influence of the earth must be west. Counter side influences have at times caused deviations from straight lines, but this only makes the general proposition still more forcible. Therefore, as a general proposition, the course of empire and of civilization and population has always been westward.
If this proposition is applied to pre-historic times, to govern deductions regarding it, neither Assyria nor Egypt can be considered as having been the first powerful empire of the world. It is known that in them there existed a numerous and powerful people of whom history fails to give the exact or even supposed origin; the same is true of all the surrounding countries, in Europe, Asia and Africa. If it is allowed that population has resulted from the same general law that civilization has, it must be admitted that China and India were the predecessors of Assyria and Egypt.
Allowing that China and India existed as vast tribal communities previous to the historic age of Assyria and Egypt, it will be seen that population, general civilization and improving government crossed Asia westward and developed the Assyrian Empire, which, for the same general reasons must be held the predecessor of Egypt.
The Assyrian Empire attained its greatest power under Semiramis, 2,150 years B. C., which was about the beginning of the historic age of Egypt, and 700 years before Sesostris conquered the greater part of the known world. In whatever comparative light the histories of these two countries are viewed, Assyria must be deemed the more ancient empire. It may be further observed, if Nimrod was the first King of Assyria, and the father of Ninus, who was the husband of Semiramis, the empire came to its greatest glory in an exceedingly short time. Very many reasons can be assigned why Assyria must have been an empire of centuries when Semiramis reigned.