160 Finch on the Celtic Antiquities of America. 
and it is there we must look for the remains of their altars 
and cromlechs, their kistvaen and Tolmin. 
tmay be asked if these are really druidical sae 
where are the Stonehenge, or the Abury, or the Carnac 0 
America, the reply is that the insular situation af Britain, 
and the mountainous country of Bretagne were favorable 
to the institutions and genius of the Celts, and it was in those 
countries alone that the Druids erected those more splendid 
monuments of their religion, which have attracted the most 
powerful feelings of admiration and awe from passing ages. 
What connexion can there be between the ancient Celts 
and Germans, who have been described by the pencil of a 
Tacitus, and the WEHCENE tribes who now inhabit the inte- 
rior parts of America? 
. Beneath the majestic language of the Roman historian, 
you may discover a picture of uncivilized tribes, varying not 
much from the North American Indians. But these scorn- 
ed even the slight reine which must be the bond of any 
civilized society, and wished to be as free as the air they 
breathed ; the love of Eearts was to these poor savages a 
meteor light, which divided Se into weak, independent 
tribes, who were continually 
Before I close this me a A be allowed to say one 
ord to plead for the preservation of these monuments, 
which - ay be to all Americans a subject of the most 
anxious ¢ 
ayaa aoe superstition and despotism have contri- 
rae to the overthrow of many a noble Celtic monument, 
but in this land of AS ae it Re be well, if legislative 
power, or better still, if public opinion would throw its shield 
around these remains, and protect the last monuments of a 
former race. Americans should consider that one of these 
cromlechs or Cairns, does more to elucidate the history of 
their native country, than the learning of Robertson, of 
the je of Buffon 
The Celts ciated: these monuments in order that they 
mighi speak to their children. 
<i Quid nobis dicunt isti lapides? ; 
Positi sunt in monumentu m.’ 
They pose that a nation of Celtic origin once inhabited 
this continent. 
