be the moral and physical
possibility of his committing such a crime, it must still be allowed
that there are no certain grounds for imputing it to him. Gustavus
Adolphus, it is well known, exposed himself to danger, like the
meanest soldier in his army, and where thousands fell, he, too, might
naturally meet his death. How it reached him, remains indeed buried in
mystery; but here, more than anywhere, does the maxim apply that where
the ordinary course of things is fully sufficient to account for the
fact, the honor of human nature ought not to be stained by any
suspicion of moral atrocity.

But by whatever hand he fell, his extraordinary destiny must appear a
great interposition of Providence. History, too often confined to the
ungrateful task of analyzing the uniform play of human passions, is
occasionally rewarded by the appearance of events which strike, like a
hand from heaven, into the nicely adjusted machinery of human plans
and carry the contemplative mind to a higher order of things. Of this
kind is the sudden retirement of Gustavus Adolphus from the
scene--stopping for a time the whole movement of the political machine
and disappointing all the calculations of human prudence. Yesterday,
the very soul, the great and animating principle of his own creation;
today, struck unpitiably to the ground in the very midst of his eagle
flight; untimely torn from a whole world of great designs and from the
ripening harvest of his expectations, he left his bereaved party
disconsolate; and the proud edifice of his past greatness sunk into
ruins. The Protestant party had identified its hopes with its
invincible leader, and scarcely can it now separate them from him;
with him, they now fear all good fortune is buried. But it was no
longer the benefactor of Germany who fell at Luetzen; the beneficient
part of his career Gustavus Adolphus had already terminated; and now
the greatest service which he could render to the liberties of Germany
was--to die. The all-engrossing power of an individual was at an end,
but many came forward to essay their strength; the equivocal
assistance of an over-powerful protector gave place to a more noble
self-exertion on the part of the Estates; and those who were formerly
the mere instruments of his aggrandizement now began to work for
themselves. They now looked to their own exertions for the
emancipation which could not be received without danger from the hand
of the mighty; and the Swedish p