Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1846-03-26

a result like that for Oregon? And this work
is as vet but commenced /; il is but the breaking
of the dawn of the worlds great jubilee. II
promises day OF more refinement, more intel
lectual brightness, more moral elevation, and
consequently Of more human felicity, than the
world has ever seen from It's creation.
Now the United States and England are two
nations TO be pre-eminently instrumental IN
bringing about this happy change, because
consider them as beng the most advanced IN
the scale OF human improvement, and most IN
circumstances TO further this amelioration, be-
cause they have the control of the greatest and
most extensive commerce at present in exis-
tence. We have been thus distinguished by
Providence for great and noble purpose,
and trust we shall fulfil our high destiny.
Again, am opposed to war, because hold
THAT il is now to be determined whether two
such nations as these shall exist for the future
as friends or enemies. A declaration of war
of one of them against the other must be preg
nant with miseries, not only to themselves, but
to the world around them.
Another reason is. that mighty means are
now put into the hands OF both to cement and
secures perpetual peace, by breaking down the
barriers of commerce and uniting them more
closely in an intercourse mutually beneficial
1 IL TINS sDdn DC dcCDlHpiSHcu. otltl udubile
will, one after another, follow the fair example,
and a state of general prosperity, heretofore
unknown, will gradually unite and bless the
nations of the world.
And far more than that All intercourse
like this points to that inspiring day which phi
losophers have hoped for, which poets have
seen in the bright visions of fancy, and which
prophecy has seen in holy vison-when men
/ shall learn war no more. Who can contem-
plate state of the world like this, and not feel
his heart exult at the prospect? And who
can doubt that, in the hand OF an omnipotent
! Providence, a free and unrestricted commerce
shall prove one Of the greatest agents in bring
ing il about.
Finally, | am against war because peace
peace is pre-eminendy our policy. There are
nations in the world who may resort to war for
the settlement of their differences, and still
grow great but that nation is not ours Prov
idence has east our happy inheritance where
It's frontiers extends for twenty three degrees of
latitude along the Atlantic coast. 1t has given
us a land which, In natural advantages, is per-
haps unequaAed by any other. Abundant in
all resources excellent in climate fertile and
exuberent in soil; capable OK sustaining, IN the
plentiful enjoyment fall the necessaries oflife,
population of two hundred millions Of souls.
/ IL
vast domain-there to fulfil the primeval com
mand to increase and multiply, and replenish
the land with an industrious and virtuous pop
ulation to level the forests, and let in upon
4 their solitude the light of day to clear the
swamps and morasses, and redeem them to
the plough and the sickle: TO spread over hill
and dale the echoes ofhuman labor and human
happiness and contentment: to fill the land
with cities, and towns, and villages to unite
its opposite extremities by turnpikes and rail
roads : to scoop out canals for the transmission
Of its products, and open rivers for It's internal
trade. War can only impede the fulflment OF
this high mission of Heaven; it abSorbs the
wealth, and diverts the energy which might be
so much better devoted to the improvement OF
our country. All we wants peacc-establish-
ed peace and then time, under the guidance
Of a wise and cautious policy, will soon effect
for us all the rest. say time will do ii, under
the influence of wise and mastery inactivity
"a phrase than which none other has been
less understood or more grossly misrepresented.
BY some, who should have known better, i;
has been construed to mean inaction. But
mere inertness, and what is meant by wise
inactivity, are things wide apart as the poles.
The one is the offspring Of ignorance and indo-
lence; the other is the result of profoundest
ture and bearing of things; which sees how
conspiring causes work out their effects, and
shape and change the condition of man.
Where we find that natural causes will OF
themselves work out our good. our wisdom is
to let them work and all our taskis to remove
impediments. In the present case, one Of the
greatest OF these impediments is found in our
Impotence.
He who cannot understand the difference
between an inactivity like this, and mere stupid
inaction, and the doing of nothing, is as yet but
in the hom-book of political science. Yes,
| time-ever-laborng ume-will effect every
thing for US. Our population is now increas-
ing at the annual average of SIX hundred thou
sand. Let the next twenty five years elapse,
and our increase will have reached million a
year, and at the end of that period we shall
count a population of forty millions. Be
fore that day, it viii have spread from ocean
TO ocean. The coasts of the Pacific viii then
be as densely populated and as thickly settled
with villages and towns as the coast of the At
lantic is now. In another generation we shall
have reached eighty millions of people, and,
if we can preserve peace, who shall set bounds
to our prosperity or TO our SUGGEST With one
foot planted on the Atlantic and the other on
the Pacific, we shall occupy position between
the two old continents of the world-apostlon
eminently calculated to secure to us the COM
merce and the influence of both. FIVE abide
/ by the counsels Of common sense--if we sue
coed in preserving our constitutional liberty,
we shall then exhibit spectacle such as the
world never saw. know that this one great
mission is encompassed with difficulties but
such is the inherent energy of our political sys-
tenn, and such its expansive capability, thatit
may be made to govern the widest space. If
/ by war we become great, we cannot be free if
we will be both great and free, our policy is
peace.
Before resume my seat, allow me to say a
few words which relate personally to myself,
and then will relieve the Senate.
| have been charged with having more in
clination for the annexation Of Texas than for
the retention of Oregon and it has been said
that my partialities are strong for the South,
but very weak in comparison for the North
But why is Texas spoken of as particularly
connected with theSouthern States. ! always
thought that Texas formed part, and very
important part Of the valley of the Mississippi,
and that the hearts of all who loved the West
were particularly set upon its acquisition as
means of perfecting and concentrating the
union of our great Western world. | never