Wheeling times and advertiser. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1839-1849, 1845-09-05

MIR. JEFFERSON evidently entertained views
similar to the foregoing. In a letter la Mr..
ASroR, referring tn the establishment of Asto-
rd on the Columbia River, hc said hc consld-
cred the commencement col a settlement on
that point ul the western coast ol America a.
a great public acquisition, and added. that hc
looked forward with qualification to the time
" hen its descendants should have spread them
selves through the whole length oi that coast
covering il With free aud independent Amer
leans, Urcoarcci,d rim rs tUi by me ties oil
blood md interest, and ENJOYING like Ia the
rights of Self-govemnient.'
MI. BEEruN's remarks were made twenty
years ago and those ot MI. JEFFERSON are OF
u still older date. Yet within twenty years
our ideas OF space siid distance have - won
deriully changed. in consequence ot the re
markable Inventions applied Ia facilitate in
tercoursc both by hand and Nv water, that the
old relations 81 things IN that particular are
nov obsolete. IL was once supposed that The
Allegheny ridge presented :" convenient nat
ural aud everlasting boundary - ON the west
EN- frontier OF the Republic. Yet at this day
that range of mountups, once 50 remote i'm the
West, may b. reached in some eight or ten
hours travel. The Mississippi then became
the Ultima Thule oi our p~ruspcCts-a river
now regarded as the Genital line Ut our future
limits. Again, the Rocky Mountains are held
up as the utmost barrier beyond which we
should not expect To pass. Will not that dis
appear from our thoughts as tile others have
dune2
Taking st. louis as n central point, wlicfc
az some time our seat ut Government may
pfattably be located, the distance To New York
Is about The same as the distance from the
same poiit To the bay of San Francisco. With
a railroad extending from Baltimore to st.
Louisa thing which may be witnessed in
this g~cncration-vc could have communion
ton between the two points in four or five
days. The extension OF the magnetic telegraph
could give skalost instantaneous transmission
,o all sorts of Intelligence. From ST. Louis
tn the Pacific tile sariie modes of intercourse
would furnish, i'll due course of time, equal
facilities.
In view of these facts are we not warranted
III coming To the conclusion that the Rocky
Mountains will he no more the Western boun-
Diary oi the Republic forty years hence than
the Allcgbenies were forty years ago? Who
does not perceive the all decisive Tact that In,
great gigantic body on the Mississippi Valley
must have attractive force enough TO hold to
Itself both appurtcpant sea board st,ins ON the
East and on the West? The region between
the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific will be
as inevitably drawn and as closely held 10 the
huge central body as the intermediate country
between the Alleghenics and the Atlantic is
at this time. When the dome of the Capitol
shall rear its stately head by the waters of the
Mississippi, midway between both oceans, the
extremity of our Empire which shall rest on
the shore 10Y SO familiar to our sight, will not
b. more thoroughly iransfused with the vital
element of nationality than that which shall
he iaved by the great ocean of the West. One
common pulsation of national life will beat
with equal force in both.
Towards the Pacific. then. our course is
PLAN. But there are no geographical aIinitics
which seem likely to hold in cohesion with us
the region ofthe South West beyond the range
oi the Mississippi valley. Those regions,
moreover, are occupied by a people different
from MS in race and language and habits, who
could not ~coalescc with us. The boundary of
our Texan frontier ought to bc fixed in accord
ance with the geographical features of the
country and It's natural a~ilinities and if Il
war with Mexico should give Us the entire
mastery oi that weak and distracted nation,
no lust OF dominion or pride ofconquest should
tempt us 10 extend the limits of the Great Re
public Feyond those confines which nature
has pointed out. Ii is well for nations as for
individuals TO understand their own position
and their peculiar sphcIc-yet it must be con-
iessed that this IL Il sort of knowledge very
difficult ol attainmcnt.-Bdlt. 1mcricUn.