The Peril of the Republic of the United States of America - Percy T. Magan

As the stereopticon pictures dissolve upon the
sheet upon which they are thrown, and fade away
from view, so in a. d. 360 the empire of the
Romans began dissolving upon the great sheet of
time and space upon which all nations are cast,
until in a. d. 476 the last faint traces and shadowy
outlines of her once great power and glory had
utterly vanished. But as her fleeting specter
disappeared from off the canvas, the Visigoths, in
the childlike bloom of semi-barbaric virginity, may
be seen in that dim twilight of time stealthily
gliding in to occupy the rich peninsula which the
fall of Rome had left without a tenant. Weal might
have been their day; glorious with white and gold
the years of the hoar hair of their national
existence, the harvest of their allotted span. By
their own choice alone it has brought forth only
tears and woe,--first to others, and finally to
themselves. They followed in the steps of Rome,
they repeated her history, and as far as colonial
empire is concerned, they have met her end, while
their own dissolution, the last grand tableau in the
tragedy, already looms in the offing of time. For as
God is no respecter of persons, even so he is no
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