éd so many centuries in plundering the nations, and had so long reigned the domineering mistress of the world, was taken, and plundered by the Goths, about eleven hundred and fifty-two years after its foundation. Alaric soon after died, in the vigor of his age, and his brother, Adolphus, being elected king of the Goths, concluded a peace with the empire; and having evacuated Italy, and married Placidia, sister of the Emperor Honorius, marched into Gaul, where he founded the Gothic kingdom of Thoulouse, which comprised the provinces situated between the Loire and the Garronne, and was afterwards annexed to the kingdom of France, by Clovis, the first Christian king of that Country.

A gleam of tranquility now seemed to shine on the declining empire; but its overthrow was written in the volume of Divine Providence. Its great Gothic enemy was now converted into a friend and ally, but hosts of enemies stilled poured in. The period of time included, between A. D. 345, and A. D. 451, was marked by the sanguinary reign of Attila, king of the Huns. This butcher of the human race every where spread horror and desolation. He attacked the eastern empire, and ravaged its provinces, to the very gates of Constantinople. A.D. 441. After making peace with that empire, he invaded Gaul, and laid siege to Orleans. The plains of Chalons, in Champagne, are rendered famous by the most dreadful and destructive conflict recorded

in history, where the king of the Huns received a signal defeat by a confederate Roman and Gothic army, commanded by the general Etius, and Theodoric, king of the Gothic kingdom of Thoulouse. Historians, although they differ in their statements of particulars, all agree in representing this battle as the most horrible scene of butchery ever displayed on the military theatre of the world. The lowest calculation makes the loss on the side of the Huns, amount to 130,000; but most historians state it at a much greater number. The restless Attila, wh ose title of the scourge of the whose Almighty, was perfectly appropriate to his character, notwithstanding this bloody defeat, and loss, soon after invaded Italy, and extended his ravages to the very gates of Rome. He died within about a year afterwards, in the full strength and vigor of his age, by the breaking of a blood vessel, A. D. 458. Thus the world was delivered from one of the most sanguinary destroyers of mankind that ever disgraced the page of history. It is now impossible to determine the limits of Attila's kingdom; but it is supposed that he had united the greatest part of Germany and Poland, as well as Hungary and the ancient Da cia, under his dominions. It appears, however, that his empire had fallen asunder after his death, as none of his successors have made any figure in history.

In these disastrous times, the crimes, as well as the misfortunes of the Romans, seemed to ex

ceed all bounds. The Emperor, Valentinian the Third, stabbed with his own hand the Patrician Etius, the last support of the empire, to whom it owed the prolongation of its existence. Valentinian was himself assassinated at a review, about a year after he had committed this rash crime. He was the last of the race of the great Theodosius. Etius had broken the formidable power of Attila, in the memorable conflict on the plains of Chalons; but the enemies of Rome were not extirpated by that defeat, nor by the subsequent death of that destroyer. Generic, king of the Vandals, took and plundered Rome, A. D. 455. From the death of Valentinian the Third, A. D. 455, to A. D. 476, the empire still dragged on a lingering existence, under nine successive Emperors, until Odoacer, chief of the Heruli, sat down on the throne of the Cæsars, and put a final period to the existence of the western empire.

If we peruse, with attention, the histories of those calamitous times, and examine the complicated tissue of circumstances which occasioned the subversion of the most extraordinary and wonderful political structure the world has ever seen, we shall find, that a variety of causes concurred to produce this great effect. The luxury of the Romans, and the despotism of the imperial government, might break the martial spirit of the people, and render them less fit for military achievements. This is more than a bare supposition. It evidently appears to have actually been the case. During the latter ages of the

empire, reckoning from the reign of Commodus, the strength of the empire had been often exhausted, and much of its best blood spilt, in fruitless contests among its rulers. These causes, undoubtedly, contributed to effect the downfal of the empire; and a variety of other causes, too numerous to examine in detail, and some of them, perhaps, at this time, totally unknown, or at least difficult to investigate, undoubtedly entered into the combination. The division of the empire into two separate states, however, appears to have been the principal internal cause of its dissolution. Perhaps, however, no system of politics, no military discipline or courage, could have prevented the destruction of the Colossal fabric. An external cause existed, which would, perhaps, in process of time, have surmounted every obstacle, and overcome all opposition. The nations of the north had, ever since the time of Marius, been formidable enemies to Rome. that period the republic had, with the Cimbri, one of the most dangerous wars in which it was ever engaged, and which was not terminated without an incredible slaughter of the enemy. During the prosperous times of the empire, the Roman name was a restraint on their daring and enterprizing spirits; but on every favorable opportunity they recommenced their predatory inroads into the frontier provinces; and although in every war they were repulsed with great loss of men, they incessantly renewed their incursions. Those nations, deading a simple and hardy life,

At

ignorant of the arts of civilization, which contribute to the support of numerous communities; little acquainted with agriculture, and yet less with commerce and manufactures, found themselves unfavourably situated for subsistence; and their increasing numbers straitened in the frozen regions of the north; and, actuated by a roving inclination, and à restless spirit of enterprize, they were always ready to emigrate towards the fertile regions and genial climates of the more southern parts of the globe. But the dominions of Rome extending from the Euphrates to the Atlantic, every where presented an insurmount able barrier to their progress, and confined them to the countries on the north of the Rhine, the Danube, and the Euxine sea. By the physi cal laws of the increase of the human species, those nations must have multiplied very fast; and in their uncivilized state, must, in procéss of time, have been necessitated to open some passage for the discharge of their superfluous num bers. This has always been the case in all unci vilized nations; and from the earliest periods of antiquity, history furnishes successive instances of the migrations of the northern nations towards the temperate climates of the south. In every country the soil can provide subsistence for only a limited number of inhabitants, and this number may be reckoned greater or less, in proportion to its natural fertility in conjunction with the tem perature of the climate, and the perfection of agriculture. Whenever the population is increas