MODERN HISTORY.

INTRODUCTION.

SEC. 1. Writers who have divided History into Ancient and Modern, are not agreed as to the most convenient separating line between them. Some have taken the subversion of the Western Empire of the Romans as the dividing period; and others the establishment of the New Empire of the West, under Charlemagne. We however agree with a third, and probably a more numerous class, who adopt the commencement of the Christian Era as the line of separation. In this there is an evident propriety.

2. It is the epoch from which civilized nations reckon time, both backwards to the beginning of creation, and forwards to the end of the world. Add to this, the event (the birth of Christ) that forms this era, is the most important of events It has had a commanding influence upon all subsequent history. It has altered the aspect of all human affairs, and it will alter them more and more, as Christianity becomes extended. The state of the civilized world was also singular. A change had taken place in the establishment of a mighty despotism, which was destined to oppress the nations, through many successive generations.

The period from which we commence Modern History, cannot be contemplated with too deep an interest. It was a remarkable era in Divine Providence. "The fullness of the time was come"--the ancient order of things was drawing to a close, and new scenes in the moral world, were henceforth to be presented to the view of mar kind. It is therefore associated with our most solemn thoughts of the dispensations of the Supreme Being towards his creatures. It is the period whence we date the commencement of the spiritual renovation of the world.

The state of the world, in a political point of view, also deserves consideration. The principal nations were reduced under one head. Wars and dissentions, of long continuance and infinite ferocity, having terminated in one most formidable power, the whole earth enjoyed an unheard of calm. Mankind, for a short time, tasted the sweets of peace, though in servitude. One man was master of

the lives and fortunes of all the rest, and therefore even the spirit of conquest could scarcely desire more.

3. The authenticity and the abundance of the materials of modern history, will be hailed with peculiar satisfaction by the inquirer after truth. A considerable portion of ancient history is plunged into darkness and uncertainty, from a variety of causes. And the scantiness, in some instances, of the materials from which it is drawn, is often perplexing But both the ecclesiastical and civil records of modern history, illustrate, with desirable fullness, the state of the times. It must be owned, however, that the rage of the barbarians who subverted the Roman Empire, has deprived us of some means of information which we should otherwise have possessed. But it is wonderful, after all, that so many monuments of the earlier periods of modern history, have come down to us.

§ The causes that have operated to render some portions of ancient history obscure, are such as the lapse of numerous ages; a series of great revolutions, in consequence of which the memory of many events was lost; the fury of barbarians, by which numerous monuments of early times have been destroyed; and more than all the rest, the designed or accidental destruction of libraries.

Some noble collections of books perished before the Christian era, particularly the celebrated library of Alexandria. This library was founded by Ptolemy Philadelphus, about 284 years B. C., and consisted of a vast collection of records, histories, poems, and othe works. The number of volumes was reckoned at 400,000, and they might have been as many as were in all the world beside. Before the art of printing, books were comparatively scarce; and of some, there might have been no other copies than those contained in this library. It perished in the flames of Alexandria, when Julius Cæsar took that city.

In later ages, large libraries have been destroyed, particularly the same library at Alexandria after it was revived, and collections had been made during several centuries. In the latter instance 700,000 volumes perished. But books by this time had been much more multiplied, and though numerous destructions took place, many have survived the wrecks of ages.

GENERAL DIVISION.

MODERN HISTORY may be divided into ten periods. They have each their peculiar characteristic, by which they may be always remembered, and by which distinct views of the subject are designed to be imparted to the mind.

PERIOD I, will extend from the Nativity of Jesus Christ,

to the reign of Constantine the Great, 306 years A. C. This is the period of the Ten Persecutions of Christians.

PERIOD II, will extend from the reign of Constantine the Great, 306 years A. C., to the Extinction of the Western Empire, 476 years A. C. This is the period of the Northern Invasions.

PERIOD III, will extend from the Extinction of the Weslern Empire, 476 years A. C., to the Flight of Mahomet, 622 years A. C. This is the period of the Justinian Code, and the Wars of Belisarius.

PERIOD IV, will extend from the Flight of Mahomet, 622 years A. C., to the Crowning of Charlemagne at Rome, 800 years A. C. This is the period of the Establishment of the Saracen Dominion.

PERIOD V, will extend from the Crowning of Charlemagne at Rome, 800 years A. C., to the First Crusade, 1095 years A. C. This is the period of the New Western Empire.

PERIOD VI, will extend from the First Crusade, 1095 years A. C., to the Founding of the Turkish Empire, 1299 years A. C. This is the period of the Crusades.

PERIOD VII, will extend from the Founding of the Turkish Empire, 1299 years A. C., to the Taking of Constantinople, 1453 years A. C. This is the period of the Papal Schism.

PERIOD VIII, will extend from the Taking of Constantinople, 1453 years A. C., to the Edict of Nantes, (Nantz) 1598 years A. C. This is the period of the Reformation.

PERIOD IX, will extend from the Edict of Nantes, 1598 years A. C., to the Death of Charles XII, of Sweden, 1718 years A. C. This is the period of the English Commonwealth.

PERIOD X, will extend from the Death of Charles XII, of Sweden, 1718 years A. C., to the final Restoration of the Bourbons, 1815 years A. C. This is the period of the American and French Revolutions.

PERIOD I.

The period of the Ten Persecutions of Christians, extend ing from the Nativity of Jesus Christ, to the Reign of Constantine the Great, 306 A. C.

THE ROMAN EMPIRE.

SEC. 1. The great event with which this period properly commences, is the BIRTH OF JESUS CHRIST. It belongs to the Roman History, only from the fact that Judea, the country of Our Saviour, was held in subjection to Rome. It is strictly an event of the Jewish History, and is hereafter to be more fully noticed under that head.

Here it may be mentioned only, that the Birth of Jesus occurred, according to the common reckoning, in the 31st year of the reign of Augustus, 752 years after the building of Rome, and in the 195th Olympiad, under the consulship of Caius Julius Cæsar. It is the general opinion of the learned, however, that our Saviour was born four years earlier than this date, viz. in the 27th of Augustus, and that the common reckoning or era is a mistake.

According to this opinion, Jesus, in the year 1, A. C., (the vulgar date) was really four years old.

It is a circumstance worthy of remark, that the temple of Janus, at Rome, which was always open in time of war, and shut only du ring peace, was shut at the period of our Saviour's birth, and that, for the third instance only, during the space of more than 700 years.

2. Rome had been an empire in the more proper sense of the word, from the beginning of the reign of Augustus. At the time of the nativity of Christ, the empire was at the meridian of its splendour, or perhaps a little past it. Most of the nations had bowed to the Roman yoke; and luxury and the arts poured in upon the queen of cities.

It had been for some years the most powerful dominion of the ancient world, and continued thus to be for several succeeding centuries. The times, however, were degenerate, and the real strength of the Roman empire, if it had not begun to diminish at this epoch, was certainly not greater than during the last days of the republic. A few nations afterwards were added to its sway, but these rather weakened than augmented the power of Rome. The wide extent of its do

minions, we shall hereafter see, was one of the causes of its decline and downfall.

But the pomp and glory of so great a monarchy, continu ed long after the seeds of weakness and decay were sown. Distant nations admired and dreaded the splendid spectacle. Ambassadors from every region daily arrived at Rome, to do homage to her greatness, or to seek her friendship and assistance. 3. Augustus, who first established a despotism over the Roman people, died 14 years after the birth of Christ. The events which took place between the Lirth of Christ and the death of Augustus, pertaining to the Romans, were neither many nor important.

During this interval, Augustus adopted Tiberius, and finally associated him in the empire. Archelaus, king of Judea, was deposed, and that country became strictly a Roman province. Germanicus, grandson of Augustus, successfully commanded in Pannonia, and Q. Varus was signally defeated by the Germans, with the loss of three Roman legions.

4. Luxury and the arts having enervated the Roman people, and the former civil wars and the consequent calamities having paved the way for a different order of things, in the quiet establishment of despotism under Augustus, their fate from this time was fixed. He found no difficulty in riveting their chains, and for long ages, a series of despots, most of them monsters of vice and cruelty, ruled with a rod of iron, this once liberty-loving people, and mistress of nations.

§ Amidst the refinements and elegancies of modern times, connected with our ideas of the progressive improvement of society, we are perhaps inclined to overlook and undervalue the ages of antiquity. Many seem to forget what scenes of brightness and grandeur have illumined the nations before us, and how mournfully those scenes are departed.

The pensive, contemplative mind, however, does justice to such a subject; and no instance of human greatness of old, strikes such a mind more forcibly, than that of the proud empire of Rome, under her Caesars. The memorial is both pleasant and mournful to the soul. The mixture of misery with its splendour, renders it, if any thing, more touching and impressive.

5. Tiberius, who had been named in the will of Augustus as his successor, immediately assumed the government, 14 years A. C. He was the son of Augustus's wife, Livia, by a former husband, and had distinguished himself in war. During the first eight or nine years of his reign. he put on