Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1845-05-22

entertaining no great faith in her DISPOSE.
ton to fight when SHE can stand back and
growl with more safety, we look upon Or
egon as yielded up without the shedding
o! drop of blood. We believe Great
Britain will be quite as unwilling to "put
her finger in the Oregon pie" as she was
TO show fight in relation to the Texas mat.
ter, in relation to which she recently
clustered MS loudly. The Dublin Free
mans Journal now taunts her with the
oozing away of her war spirit:
zone year ago the very mention of an
nexation called forth such Wanting bull
lying as made the island shake. Annexa-
ton then seemed scarcely probable, Now
annexation is accomplished, unless some
master spirit step in to forbid its consum-
ation--and 10! the roar of the Lion is sub
dued to the howl of a whipped hound
Eng and dares not 60 to war; neither
Wings nor Tories dare preciptate her in
to it. fshe entered on such a settle
ment of accounts with distant customers,
she has creditors at home7 who might be-
come inconver iently urgent on herselflor
satisfaction of debts long due and most in
iquitously withheld This receding OF
, England from the position she had taken
about Texas is deeply significant, and
! history may hereafter use it to mark the
: point at which the flood of her fortunes
. began to ebb. America is ofno ordinary
power. Her greatest strength can be put
forth upon England's own ocean domain.
A quarter Of a century ago, when Eng.
land was supposed capable Of annihilating
the little marine of America by single
stroke of her finland the relative dimen.
sions Of their navies justified the SUPPOSE
tlon-the younger nation seized the knife
between her teeth, dashed TO meet her en-
envy on her enemy's own element, and
many spouling vein Of the monster Of
the seas crimsoned the deep on which
} they struggled.
. America is better grown now. Her
commercial navy covers every sea, and in
its qualities leaves all rivalry far behind.
Great as has been her advance in popula-
, ton and in wealth, her progress in com
merce has outstridden even these. The
. maritime strength of nations is no longer
measured by counting their ships of war,
: but by sounding the depths ofthal source
whence the military marine is to be sup
Piled; their commercial navies. England is
, mightier at sea than France, not because
that for every 100 tons ofLous Philip S
royal navy Victoria's navy numbers 100
or whatver else may be the proportion of
the eXcess--but because the commercial
tonnage of France being blu, 500, 900, that
of England amounts to 100000. BY
the same standard the mari
time strength of England and
that of the United States may be com.
pared, they stand thus-England has 8, :
600, 0Oo-America has already 1900, 900!
This is the relative position, not of coun-
tries whose distance has long maintained
a stationary proportion, out of countries,
the second place OF which is gaining
upon the first by strides almost Incredible.
Fifteen years perhaps-twenty years GER
tainly-wil reverse their position in the
} race.
England wilt not 60 to war with Amer
lea on account of Texas-nor on account
f of Oregon-and scarcely on account of
anything else that the new world contains.
England will be especially cautious of
going to war with America or dashine
herself against the compact Constitution
Of her States, when she reflects that A.
merlca is a country with whom foreign
nations are ambitious to become united
while she herselfis country from whose
mcrclless grippe kindred nations struggle
to be released.
England! keep cool !-don't 90 to war.
Be content to show your adherence of
slavery by robbing your people of two
annual millions at home, to put them into
the pockets ofthe ex-slave drivers of the
West Indies Do not exhibit your phi
anthroPy by dashing your brittle empire
against the iron clamped federation of A
nerica."
Many Of the liberal papers on the 9TH
er side of the Atlantic, speak out in refer
ence to our controversy with Great Brit
ain, in tones not dlssimilar to the above.
Indeed, several even ofthc opposite par
ty journals manifest more Just spirit
towards US than certain federal prints
claiming to be editedby American citizen.
/