did not wish to divulge the true design of their journey, they refrained as yet from all mention of their plans, but expressed a fancy to obtain a view of the unknown city, and asked for a guide to the spot mentioned by the cùra; this their host promised to furnish early the next morning. He asserted that he had more than once climbed to the summit, himself, and imagined he saw figures moving below, but they were so far off he might have been mistaken, although the plain was certainly inhabited, from the fact of smoke being visible occasionally; and, on a very clear day, the white walls in the distance, when the sun shone on them, could plainly be distinguished not to be mere ruins. They asked if there were not some accessible peak from which the whole valley could be seen. No; the sierra terminated in an abrupt wall of rock, and he knew but of the one gap. Further on toward the north-east it was likely there were other clefts; but the Can lones, who dwelt about the foot of the mountains, were held in such fear, that no one had ever made the attempt to penetrate in that direction: and this was all the information that could be gathered. The party were up before daylight, and, having dismissed the mozos with the horses and a message to the cùra, set out with the guide, who proved to be a simple fellow enough but as agile as a monkey at climbing. They first crossed the plain on the edge of which the village is built, and, after walking about two miles in a straight line, descended a deep barranca with the opposite side of which the ascent of the sierra began. This last became rapidly steeper and steeper, hills piled on hills, which, as they advanced, were studded with rocks and showed more stunted vegetation. At length they reached el duro (the rock region), and saw on every side enormous fragments of gritty stone heaped together in desolate profusion, above which towered smooth crags piercing the blue overhead Eustace and his associates, clambered laboriously up the almost perpendicular channel of a former torrent, receiving frequent falls on the slippery foothold, and, when nearly exhausted, reached a narrow ledge from which the long expected view broke upon them. As the cùra had described, they gazed through the foot of a chasm or cleft in which they stood; but the perpendicular edges, approaching each other toward the north, left a space open scarce wide enough to thrust the arm between. For this reason only, a remote portion of the valley below was visible; but, to their great satisfaction, the object of their search, a cluster of white spots, which nearer assumed the shape of regular structures of some sort, was plainly discernible. As much of the country as could be seen appeared quite open, and a little to the right the extremity of a lake glittered in the sunshine. They now perceived that it was, as the padrè again had stated, a low er range of the sierra which obstructed the near view; and on this, about five hundred yards off, they had turned their eyes, when all were startled by observing a gigantic figure climbing the opposite summit with apparent ease: but they were able to distinguish nothing definite before his disappearance from their narrow field of observation. On returning to the village, Senor Eustace found the alcalde had made arrangements for their accommodation with such assiduity, that they could not do less than remain with him the next day, and accordingly postponed the commencement of their enterprise until the morning after. In the meantime, to obtain as much information as practicable, he privately informed his host, whose hospitality and fair share of intelligence had won his good opinion, of a portion of their plans. At first he would not believe his ears. Que designio demasiado! what a daring scheme! Ustedes seran matados, sin falta-they would be killed, beyond doubt! and called upon the saints to save him from such demencia. However, when Senor Eustace showed him his weapons and told him, with a laugh, the Candones would not find it so easy to "malarlos," kill them, and requested to be told something of the people they were going among, he crossed himself and said, son malosthey are not good, and that was all he knew about them. But, on being pressed, admitted they were idolators and reported to be cannibals; but whether they were the people who inhabited the valley on the inner side of the sierra, he could not say. Occasionally, some of the Oristrehstra and La Candroné tribes came to Chaxul to trade, but none of his people had ventured to return these visits of their wild neighbors. The resolute confreres, nothing shaken, requested the alcalde to keep the matter close, and, before daylight the ensuing morning, bidding him farewell, with their light baskets on shoulder and weapons concealed under their clothes, followed the path leading to the sierra, and, descending into the barranca, turned to the right, instead of crossing as had been done two days before. It was still deep night in this vast chasm, and they sat down to await the dawn and discuss the tortillas provided by their host. [To be continued.] ART. VII.-THE LATE CUBA EXPEDITION. MILITARY SPIRIT OF OUR COUNTRY; ITS DANGERS; OUR NEUTRAL DUTIES AND THE QUESTIONS WHICH ARISE UNDER OUR TREATIES, ETC., WITH SPAIN. THE history of the world furnishes no instance of a great and growing power intent to pursue its career of progress and improvement without encroaching upon the rights and dominions of its weaker neigh bors. In all ages, and under all circumstances, the nature of man is identical. Dependent, he is subservient and cringing; strong and powerful, his ambition and his arrogance tower aloft and are without practical limit. Give him power to oppress, and he will assuredly do it. Wielding the thunders of Jupiter, he will, without any of the discretion of the god, battle and rage, and storm, and be found beating ever against the barriers around him, and leveling them all in the mere joy and consciousness of irresistible might. Man is not the friend, where dominion and power are concerned, but the enemy, of his fellow, and acknowledges the single sentiment: "The good old rule sufficeth me-the single plan, And he should keep who can." It is customary, now-a-days, to ascribe these attributes peculiar to republican governments, and to none more than our own—a charge which the records of nations will, upon every page, belie. Political institutions, are the mere outward forms, which, though they may partially conceal, can scarcely modify, much less destroy, the inward spirit of man. Some of these forms are, doubtless, more susceptible than others to aggrandizing influences, and it is making small concessions to say, that republics are the most susceptible of all, and hence their greater need of wisdom and virtue. Yet, forms are but forms at last, and Cossack or empire, constitutional monarchy or Cromwellian commonwealth, aristos or demos, the principles of aggression, authority and power, are alike fixed, deep and immovable, the active and the ruling impulse. Whoever has followed the course of the United States, for the last half century, without noting the growth of a military spirit, diffusing itself through all classes of society, and ready, at any moment, to develop itself in every form of action, has observed to very little purpose. It was this spirit which almost defied the vigilance of Washington, when Genet would have precipitated the West upon New Orleans-this, which dictated the schemes of Burr, clamored for a part in the wars of Napoleon, and received with huzzas the proclamation of Mr. Madison's government of hostilities with England. Emboldened by the results. of this brilliant war, the American eagle has plumed its pinions for a flight still nearer to the sun. Miniature West Points have sprung up in every State and on every hill top, indurating young sinews for the toils of the camp and the battle field, counseling discipline and strategy, and inspiring admiration for "nodding plumes" and "dazzling crests." The sports of boyhood have even assumed this form, as we find the cannon among the earliest playthings of the child, Napo leon. The tender heart of girlhood looks on and smiles, and, fashioning the stars and the stripes of the beautiful banner, presents it, all eloquent with blushes as with words, and yields her young affections irresistibly captive to the embroidery and the epaulette! How otherwise, in such a school, could American militia bayonets have else than bristled along the Maine frontier, when the occupation of disputed territory was threatened by British soldiery?-how otherwise, but the genius of the wisest and the greatest statesman should be sorely taxed in preventing the execution, by force of arms, of the threat, "the whole of Oregon or none"?-how otherwise, the call of Texas attracts legions of soldiers to her standard from our midst, and the proclamation of war with Mexico is received with illuminations and bon-fires, and the tender, in a few months, as Mr. Polk is said to have admitted, of the voluntary services in the field of 200.000 men! What have been the results of this Mexican war? They are but of yesterday, and we remember the intense excitement, from the Aroostook to the Columbia valley-the illuminations, the bon-fires, the banners, the shouts, the processions; the returning heroes, drawn in chariots over multitudes of heads, as great cities move from their foundations, in the figure of Cicero, to receive them on their triumphant advances; the muffled drum, the reversed arms, the toll of bells, the stiffled sobs, the somber pageant, the eloquent Periclesian eulogiums, the insignia and the reward of the dead warrior, "from the field of his fame, fresh and gory." The people, in a delirium of joy, welcome the return of their champions, and deem no chaplets of fame too glittering for their brows. The warrior captain becomes the civil chief of the great nation-his immediate compatriots, crown congressional, diplomatic, gubernatorial and legislative seats; the subaltern and verriest soldiery have a potency at the ballot box, and distance all competition in the race for office! Shall not they who have borne the heat and burden of the day reap the greater reward? and the arm which was mighty to protect and defend in the hour of danger, must it not be guided by a heart pure and incurrupt, and earnestly solicitous of the public weal, in peace or in war? What higher preparation or fitness for office can be required than these? "The curtain has fallen upon the first act of American history," said the great statesman, who, but the other day, went down into his grave, "and, for the first time, all before me is dark." With the Mexican war the nation entered upon a new career, which was predicted of her, and to which her institutions and position peculiarly inclined—one of war and conquest! Shall we essay to lift the curtain form the future? The brilliant and unparalleled successes of the field, and the high and distinguished honors and emoluments accorded to the warriors and soldiers at home, are not likely, soon, to be forgotten. What can resist intoxications like these? "The way," says Milton "The way found prosperous once, Induces best to hope of like success." The way has been opened. How ill-appeased, the appetite for conquest, was thought, when the government refrained from disbanding its soldiers abroad, lest their arms should be employed in other service. It was a wise resolve; for, even then, a scheme had been entertained, for overrunning the Sierra Madre, at the invitation, we were told, of its inhabitants. Where are these disbanded soldiers and chieftains, who have won more glories than the Roman legions in Britain or in Gaul? Is it not to expect much, that the peaceful pursuits of life can content them soon again? Will not their example be felt upon others, whom we have practically taught, that even civil success must be won by the sword, and that it was but a vain boast of the Roman orator after all, "Let arms revere the robe, The warrior's laurel Yields to it the palm of eloquence." The military spirit of the country has been around, and is rife for anything, and woe to the power that shall endeavor to stay it. Administrations will fall to pieces at its blow-statesmen will not dare the ostracism of its voice. The cry of war is flattering to our pride and our power, and they are either of them equal to that of any other nation, ancient or modern. The field before us is boundless, and the power that broods over it, grows every day in energy, in resources and in magnitude, and will be as resistless, in time, as the whirlwind. Armed bands will sally from our ports, as in days of yore from the northern hive, covertly, often openly, in the service of every power that shall offer emolument and glory. Our sympathies with freedom, everywhere, are first the incentive; but there will, in time, be other and less honorable incentives. We have a destiny to perform, "a manifest destiny" over all Mexico, over South America, over the West Indies and Canada. The Sandwich Islands are as necessary to our eastern, as the isles of the gulf to our werstern commerce. The gates of the Chinese empire must be thrown down by the men from the Sacramento and the Oregon, and the haughty Japanese tramplers upon the cross be enlightened in the doctrines of republicanism and the ballot box. The eagle of the republic shall poise itself over the field of Waterloo, after tracng its flight among the gorges of the Himalaya or the Ural mountains, and a successor of Washington ascend the chair of universal |