The Sun.
London, England, 1868-01-24 00:00:00

TERRITORY AND POPULATION.

The great difficulty against which the United
States has to contend is the enormous extent of its
sparsely peopled or unoccupied territory. There
are two main causes of demoralization at work in
the Union, which act and react on each other, and
require the exercise of no small amount of national
virtue to withstand. Along the Atlantic -sea-
board are:the populous States in a high position of
culture and civilization. But this Belt is more or
less acted on by barbarism, both from the East and
from the West. Judging by the tone of the people
of New England, of Pennsylvania, and such States,
acts of violence, disregard for human life, and
gross corruption, would not be the crimes supposed
to prevail. Yet the criminal records and the
columns of every newspaper afford abundant evi-
dence that they do. Tracing the history of such
States as Massachusetts, founded by a body of
religious fanatics, down to the present day, when
the customs, manners, habits, and thoughts of the
people are cast in the mould derived from their
forefathers, the prevalence of these crimes in the
midst of such a community might well puzzle the
careless observer. if, however, the position of these
States be considered, it will become apparent that
without a strenuous exercise of morality and reli-
gious propagandism, these communities would be
smothered by the inroad of gross ignorance from
Europe on the one side, and by the still more dan-
gerous savagery of the wild settlers of the West on
the other. If grouping mankind into dense masses
leads to immorality, scattering them widely over a
waste leads to barbarism, because the civilizing in-
fluence of religion, of literature, of people's action
on each other, is, to a great extent, lost. The law
ceases to protect, and each man becomes a law unto
himself, and the guardian of his own life and pro-
perty. Such a state will doubtless generate some
virtues. It will make the individual ready, deter-
mined, and courageous in action ; strong, self-re-
li int, and enduring ; handy, and generous. But,
on the other hand, it creates a contempt, in one
word—for civilization—which involves more than at
first sight is apparent. A man who " shoots on
sight" his enemy, learns to despise the slow pro-
cesses of the law. lie who judges off-hand a ques-
tion of equity, and acts on his decision, would feel
little inclination to await the ruling of a judge, or
the verdict of a jury, Where reason and argument
fail, and even right be but a feather in the balance—
might, becomes the g,oal of his idolatry—the might
of a true eye, a steady hand, and quick action.
Whoever p33sessos the qualities that best fit him for
the circumstance in which he is plac ;d, will most
sway those around. If strength be all powerful,
the aim of all will be to be strong. Brute force
then usurps the prerogative of intellect and virtue ;
and in proportion as it gains the ascendancy will
be the ratio of col Iterupt in which the latter are
ii,,1,1. File first teu ieucy is to cite ',pen the value
,if human life. :Veil who take the law in their
own hands, and indict where they are plaintiffs
on the defendants its. extre.ne penalty learn to re-
gard a man's life as. a small matter. Just as the
South sank in the Ecale of civilization, this fright-
ful habit gained head, and there can be little
doubt that with the 7(aore general intercourse which

the extension of railways into the Far West has
produced the habit is on the increase in the north.
Like all noxious weeds, its tendency is to grow
rapidly. If a man is aware that the stranger who
enters into conversation with him has a loadel re-
volver in his pocket—that this stranger may drink
himself into a fighting mood and fasten a quarrel
on him—and if he knows that his own life may de-
pend on the celerity with which he may shoot his
companion, although a peaceable member of society,
abhorring the necessity which drives him to such an
extremity, or that forces him to carry this expedi-
tious means of death—yet he is compelled to do so.
Thus the habit which, confined to isolated commu-
nities—where men are obliged, more or less, to
fulfil for themselves the duties of police, may not
be without excuse—is introduced into the densely-
peopled tracts of the Eastern sea board, where the
citizens are driven iu self-defence to adopt the same
custom, and thus it becomes general. A greater
curse could scarcely be entailed upon society. Duel-
ling in Europe was felt to be a wicked and injurious
custom. But duelling was right and honour
itself, when compared with the habit that has
obtained so pernicious a footing in America.
A man who sets no value on another's life is not

likely to set mach on his property, his reputation,
or any other thing else he possesses ; and with this,
all the great checks are severed. The consequence
is a perpetual terrorism. A judge administers the
law with the pistol of the offending ruffian at his
head. The orator may, in denouncing a crime,
speak his death-sentence; and the editor, i❑
showing up some villany to cublic scorn and
indignation, may write away his own life. To
the ordinary incidents which tell so heavily against
the human race is added another, that more
than all, is dangerous to society, for it is not the
effect of blind chance, but is generally aimed by vice
against virtue. No doubt the greater sufferers are
brawling ruffians, who shoot each other without re-
morse in their drinking booths ; but the danger
lies more in such worthless members not only being
able to pit their lives against the best, but in doing
this with all the chances on their side. Take the
case of Judge BUSTEED, shot by District-Attorney
MARTIN at Mobile, for declaring that the law, he had
sworn to administer justly, must take its course
against MARTIN as against others, and the ruffian,
aware of his guilt, and when he had lost all that

makes life valuable, shoots down the inexorable
Judge. In New Mexico a Chief Justice is murdered
by a member of the Legislature. At Nashville, Ten-
nessee, Eugene CORRY, who was nominated Judge
for the Circuit Court, was knocked down in the

Convention by Judge BRIEN, and CORRY, doubt-
less congratulated himself on having escaped being
shot. Such habits are wholly opposed to New
England sentiments, and if time and custom had
not in some degree smoothed away the edges of
their barbarity, they would be regarded with the
horror and disgust similar crimes would excite in
England. To withstand this demoralizing tendency
on the one side, and to elevate the ignorant and
poverty-stricken immigration from Europe on the
other, is, in truth, the most difficult task ever in-
trusted to a community, and the world will here-

after owe a deep debt of gratitude to those States
which have been mainly instrumental in maintain-
ing the morality, justice, and respect for right; in

one word—the religion of America.
These considerations might well induce American
statesmen to pause ere adding to a territory already
too large. Extent is no guarantee of strength, or
Russia might roll itself over Western. Europe, and
China over the world. For some years the South
will beasource of weakness to the Union. Alaska de-

tracts from instead of adds to the might of the United
States, and Canada is not only a heavy burden, but
a source of danger to England. Detached posses-
sions will be found incunnbrances in time of peace
and points for attack in time of war. There are
many even who doubt whether the empire of India
be not a weakness to the British Crown. If Eng-
land's colonies react prejudiciously on the mother
country, as they undoubtedly do, though separated
from Great Britain by the breadth of the world, how
much more must the outlying territories of the
Union react on the highly civilized States with a
barbaric influence. The acquisition of territory is
a false policy, weakening the State and demoralizing
society. It is a useless policy, for if the Union
holds together, it will absorb all North America, as
a gigantic estate absorbs the small freeholders
around ; therefore the question does not depend on
what Mr. SEWARD can now purchase, but what is
to be the future career of the United States. For the
present and many succeeding generations, the pity
is that North America is so large, and Mr. SEWARD
shows anything but a true appreciation of the posi-
tion when he wastes the nation's resources to add
to what he must at any rate allow to be a tempo-
rary evil, alike morally and physically.—Anglo-
American Times.