The Wilmingtonian, and Delaware register., 1824-09-23

Extract from the Grafton by Professor Everett,
pronounced at Harvard University Oh the 9th.
of August last.
1t is respectfully and aHectionatcly" dedica-
ted to Maior Gen. La Faycttc, in whose presence
it was delivered.
"Instead of growing cumbrous, as it increases
i'll size, there never was moment since the first
settlement of Virginia, when the political system
of America moved with so firm and bold step as
at the present day. If there is any faith in our
countrys auspicies, this great continent, in no re-
mote fIt,lrity, will be filed up with homogene-
Gus population-with the mghticst kindred peo-
pie known in histoiy-our language will acquire
an extension, which no other ever posscsscd--and
the empire of the mind, with nothing to resist its
sway, will attain an expansion, of which as yet we
can but partly conceive. The vision is too mag
niicient to be fully bornc-a mass oftwo or three
hundred millions, not chained to the oar like the
same number in China, by brntallsing despo-
tism, but held in their several orbits of nation and
state, by the grand representative attraction
bringing to bear on every point the concentrated
energy of such host-calling into competition
50 many minds-united into one great national
feeling the hearts OF so many irccmen-al to be
guided, persuaded, moved, and swaycd, by the
master spirits Of the time!
Let me not be told that it is chimericu i'm
not hear repeated the rbaldrv of an anticipation
Of 'two thousand ycars-ofa vision that requires
for its. fiflmcnta length Of FACES beyond the grasp
of any reasonable computation.-It is the last
point Of peculiarly in our condition, to which |
invite your attention, as affecting the progress
ofintellcct III the country that il is growing with
a rapdty hitherto entirely without example in
the world. For the two hundred years OF our
existence, the population has doubled itielf in
periods OF less than quatcr Of century In the
infancy Of the country, and while o,lr numbers
remained within the limits Of a youthful colony,
4 progress SO rapid as this, however important in
the principle Of growth disclosed, was not yet .
circumstance strongly to fix the attention.
But arrived at population of ten millions, it
is fact of the most ovcrpowcring interest, that
within less than twenty-five years, these ten mil
lion will have swellcd to twenty that the youn-
ger members of this audience will be citizens OF
! the largest civilized state on earth that in few
! years more than one century, the American pop
ulaton will equal the fabulous number lthe Chi
neesc empire. This rate OF increase has alrcad,
produced the most striking phenomena. A few
weeks after the opening Of the Revolutionary
dramaat Lexington, the momcntuous intelligence
that the first blood was split, reached party o
hunters beyond the Allcghanes, who had wander
cd far into the western wilderness. In prophet
ic coil!llHnontlOn OF lnc HloliOuS cNci lllcl gave
the name of Lexington to the spot Of their en-
cumpment III the woods. That spot is now the
capital Of u state larger than Massachusetts; it il
the seat OF an university as fully attended oul
venerable Alma Master-nay, morc, It'll the cap
ital Ola state from which, in the language OF ont
Of her own citizens, whose cloaucncc is the or
namcnt of his country, the tide Of emigration still
farther westward, is more fully pouring than from
any other in the union.*
] need not say that this astonishing increase o
numbers, is by no means the limit AM. mcaa'lr
of our country's growth. Arts agriculture, al
the great national interests, all the sources OF nj
T tonal wealth, are growing in ratio sti'l NOR
rapid In our cities the intcnsest activity is apps
rent; in the country every spring fprpsperit,
from the smallest improvcmentin husbandry to tn
construction of canals acrosslthe continent, is i
, vigorous action;-abroad our vessels are beatin
the pathways of the ocean while on the inlan
frontier, the nation is journeyng OH, Ikea health
giant, With pace more like romance than reality.
Mr.. CLAY late Speech or Internal Improve
mcnta.