Boon's Lick times. [volume] (Fayette, Mo.) 1840-1848, 1840-11-21
From the American Sentinel.
OUR COUNTRY,

OUR COUNTRY.
The growth and prosperity of this coun-
try has been great and rapid without a par
allel in the history Of the world. Within a
sir gle lifetime, within the memory of ma
ny yet living, this nation has gained in pop
ulation, wealth and enterprise to an extent
never realised or dreamed by any nation
OF ancient or modern times. And it has
risen, not by wars Of conquest and crime;
not by the invasion Of delenceless terrific
ries; not by treading upon the necks OF
subdued tribes Of men; but by the peace
full arts, by homely and toilsome indus
try; by daring and large minded enter
prise; by honorable competition in every
market of the world; by generous institu-
tons, wisely administered and cheerfully O.
beyed; by liberal advances to men of all
climes; and by the benignity of Gods pro-
violence shining upon her from cloudless
skics,t that her mighty youth has been nurtu-
red into almost excessive greatness.
The rapidity with which some Of our cit
les have reached their present size, wealth
and spendor, wears more the air OF ro-
nance than of history. New York may be
named as an example. One hundred and
fifty years ago, the whole amount of prop
ty in the now chartered limits of that city,
was assessed at the value of $4,000 lbs, and
was owned by 800 persons. The whole a.
mount of tax levied was $50 dollars. Then
the place was infested by wolves, and re-
wards were offered for their determination.
The whole number of vessels belonging to
the port were three banks, three brigantines,
twenty six sloops, and forty-six open boats;
and the whole number of carmen employed
was but twenty. A century ago the pop
ulation was but 5000. Now it is one of the
first commercial cities in the world. The
harvest of the rivers is her revenue; and
she is mart of nations. She has become
the GROWING city, whose merchants are
princes, whose tratlickers are the honorable
Of the earth.
Philadelphia, though Of second-rate COM
mercial Importance, ranks even higher than
her sister city in literary and scientific char
acter and riches. Some of our old people
vet living, can remember when grain fields
occupied what is now the centre OF oul
city, and when our entire population die
not more than equal that of many OF the
villages at present surrounding us. le
here are colleges, Libraries, museums, collec
tons of art, manufactures worthy OF the
Oldest cities of Europe. Nay, in balancing
accounts with the mother continent, WI
find it our debtor in medical discovery, il
natural philosophy, and in the mechanic
arts, AS to the latter, after giving to Eu
rope and the world the immortal Fulton t.
reveal the properties and powers OF steam
are we not at this moment sending GU
from the workshops Of our Norrlses AM
Baldwins locomotives and other appliance
to the Russias and to England?
Nor are New York and Philadelphia sin
gular instances of rapid increase. Ih
whole country has grown in an equal an
corresponding ratio, and NOTWITHSTANDING
temporary embarrassment, still swells, nc
with bloated, but substantial pro!
perity; and the most sober calculations {
future prospects starIe US as chimerical an
dreamy.
A writer in one of the British EncyclC
pedas calculates that if the natural resou
ces of the American continent were full
developend, it would afford sustenance I
$500 millions OF inhabitants, number fiv
times as great as the entire mass of huma
beings existing al present on the globe
@And," continues the article, "what is SIT
more surprising, there is every probabilit
that this prodigious population will be
existence within three, or at most four Gel
turtles. The imagination is lost in conter
plating a state of things which will make
great and rapid change in the condition
the world. We almost fancy it a drear
and yet the result is based on principl
quite as certain as those which govern Il
conduct of men in their ordinary pursuit
Nearly all social improvements spring fro
the reciprocal influence OF condensed al
greatly dihused intelligence. What tn.
will be the state of society in America tv
centuries hence, when thousand or tv
thousand millions of civilized men a
crowded into a space comparatively
narrow, and speaking only two language
as will doubtless be the case? Histo
shows that wealth, power, science, liter
ture, all follow in the train OF numbe
general intelligence and freedom. L
same causes which transferred the sept
of civilization and the weight Of influen
from the banks of the Euphrates and
Nile to Western Europe, must in the cour
of no long period carry them from the t
ter to the plains of the Mississippi and
Amazon"
Musing on these prospects, what won6
if we sometimes deem of small account
distant din of Eastern and European pc