The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1845-10-24
VOL. VINO. 1S.5

III u y. W. ON9>'''fNf 1919 ~ " -
by the great Southern gulf as the
vast inland seas of the North--and
our population has swollen, in sew
\ enfold increase, from three to per-
haps twenty-one millions Cores
ponding, too, has been our progress
sion, and the umbilicle colonies Of
England now rank in the national
scale with the mightiest powers Of
the earth, and viii not shnn q conf
parison with the mothct country,
from which they wrested their indie
pendance. Our population contin-
ues to increase in a scale ofprogres-
sion unexampled in the history OF
the past, and new States crowd on
the field and heighten the lustre of
our star-spansled banner.-Blessed,
too, are We with a political consti-
tuition, framed with such profound
wisdom and skill, that itseems capa.
bic of expansion, in well balanced
rule, over atleast all contiguous ter
ritory-beng so admirably construc-
ted and cxquisitely poised that, ac-
cording to Mr.. JEFFERSON; every
new State added to our republican
family at once increase our national
power and YIELDS the more securely
our national Union-as to use his
own idea, in case Of domestic dis
sension there will only be the great
er number of sound States to face
the disailccted ones. Who, then.
can Set bounds to our territorial ex-
pansion, short of the continent on
which our destiny is cast-what
earthly power shall say to us $50 far
shalt thou 60 and no farther" within
that ample area? Coming events
cast their shadows before! Louisi-
ana is ours, Florida is ours, Texas
is ours, the Oregon must be ours,
inundated, in the course of nature,
by the advancing tide Of our popu-'
lation. Mexico threatens a war,
Which will provoke, if not invite,
her ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS will in due
season fall like ripe fruit into our
lap-and all the rest will then follow
of course, till the Isthmus of Darien
form our equinoctial and the Arctic
Sea our polar boundary. Coming
events cast their shadows before
Time was when our republic, al
though far short of her now colossal
proportions, was deemed already too
vast and unwiedly for one govern
ment-when it was thought the far
west would naturally and necessari-
ly flake of and form an independent
empire-or when at least the nation
al capitol must tower on the Mis-
souri, instead of the Potomac, to pre-
vent our overgrown republic from
breaking into fragments. All such
fears and speculations are now as a
tale that is told as legend Of the
past. The discovery and applica-
ton Of the uses of steam-thc inven-
ton of the steamboat, the railway
and the locomotive-to say nothing
of atmospheric pressure and electro
magic power, pregnant with mighty
issues-and above all the invention
Of tie magnetic telegraph, able to
flash intelligence with TIE speed of
lightning, from ocean TO ocean, and
pole to Enthusiastically annihila-
ting distance, and bringing every
part Of our vast republic practically
into jnXto pos;tlon--scem to be the
appointed means and appliances in
the hands Of a woodworking Pro-
violence, TO effect the expansion Of
our republic, until the whole CONT
nent of North America shall rejoice
in our free institutions and form one
vast and enlightened nation--desti-
ned, perhaps, to play mighty and,
a blessed part in that millennin con-
summation dcvoutIy TO be wished,
when universal shall be the reign of
peace on earth and good will toward
men. ..HfrJH
CL;p,vc /Hco;rcco;o rNbo C,I