106 On the Natural Boundaries of Empires. 



DESERTS 



Form a permanent barrier to nations. 



The ancient Egyptians, surrounded nearly on every side 

 by deserts, attempted in vain to pass tiie boundary which 

 nature had interposed between them and the adjacent na- 

 tions. They attempted the conquest of Palestine ; more 

 than once, when they saw the Jewish chieftains led into cap- 

 tivity, they supposed their triumphs complete, but were still 

 unable to unite the two countries. 



Two foreign kings, who obtained possession of Egypt, at- 

 tempted to establish their dominion over the deserts of Af- 

 rica by force. The result of the two expeditions was simi- 

 lar, though the immediate fate of those engaged was differ- 

 ent. Cambyses the Persian took with him a numerous and 

 flourishing army ; he left them buried in the sands of the 

 desert, and returned back nearly alone. 



Hussein, the son of Mohammed Ali Pacha, undertook a 

 similar expedition, but his army returned, leaving their com- 

 mander in possession of as much dominion as his remains 

 would cover. 



The empire under the rule of the heirs of Constantine the 

 Great, and those of the monarch of Persepolis, were separa- 

 ted by immense deserts, which served as a barrier between 

 the hostile nations. The Romans of the eastern empire, 

 under a warlike emperor, were accustomed to make inroads 

 on Persia, crossed the Tigris, captured the principal fortres- 

 ses, and imagined the country subdued. A single year gen- 

 erally witnessed their retreat. The Persians, when their lead- 

 ers were ambitious, invaded Asia Minor, gained victories 

 and captured cities, but the result was uniformly the same. 



Lewis the fourteenth, laid waste Lorraine and Franche 

 Compte ; however detestable this was in a moral point of 

 view, it was correct policy, to prevent the invasion of France. 



The desert of Atacama forms a natural barrier between the 

 dominions of Chili and Peru. A desert, twelve hundred 

 miles long, forms a boundary to the United States of Amer- 

 ica on the west. 



The political fate of the nations, residing, in future time, 

 beyond this boundary, is fixed by their situation. 



It is not possible that the inhabitants of the coast of the 

 Pacific, if true sons of America, will ever send their rep- 

 resentatives to a distance of three thousand miles, over 



