The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1846-08-15

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mense extent, her vast resources, material and
moral, her commerce, the number, freedom, inteli-
gence, energy, happiness and glory of her people
leading 1t on to that social regeneration which
! promises the delivery Of mankind from the misefes
| of antiqualed monarchy. deem il necessary in
who they are, and what they are citizens Of the
great republic. | deem IL necessary, in order that
they may feel, they have right TO feel, that 10
be an American citizen is TO enjoy the proudest priv
ilege the world has to gvei that feeling thus, they
may stand erect, in all the pride Of this great priv
lege, ready, each of them; TO defend the honor
and glory OF his country, as things sacred to him.
self
How stand we, then, in the contrast with Old
Engand2 The line which separates her and us il
the line which separates the past from the present
the old from the new state Of the world The social
principles which. originating in our revolution,
spread through Europe, drew that line strongly and
deeply. By taking the lead in the royal coalition 10
arrest those principles, England became the head Of
the ancient system, threatened by their progress as
this republic became the head off new, as being
the source Of their origin Thus the two govern
nients stand confronting each other-the one Lay-
| ing the old decaying system Of Hereditary DOW
er, with Its abuses, TO defend-the other, the
new and onward system Of elective authority,
with It's freedom to protect Disguise IT, therefore,
as we may, these two governments are by the re-
sistess force Of events placed in antagonist rela-
TONS TO each other in struggle which nothing hu-
man can preyent-a struggle destined to throw so.
clety backwards or forwards, az the case may be
with shock that sust pnsettle the foundations OF
the one or the other Of those systems And sir, the
two nations are brought more Immediately into
conflict by that commercial rivalry which makes the
American shores Of the Pacific desirable to each
and which lies at the bottom OF the pending Difficult
/ y between them. IL Is IN this commercial rivalry
Of the two leading nations Of the old and of the new
system that the great contest has begun which in
Vnly fhaIF FaatIf Il -
merce which now regulates the International rela-
ions Of the world. IL is upon commerce that the
| new code OF the law Of nations is based. IL was
upon commerce that the British empire was found
| ed IL is by commercial monopoly alone that il can
be sustained. IL is the danger to which that mo-
nopoy is exposed from other nations, and chiefly
from the United States, which renders the British
! empire more precarious at this day than ever be-
fore, and feeber by far than any other of the old
leading monarches Of Europe. Yes, sir, notwith-
standing am aware that in doing so place myself
in opposition to the universal conviction of men,
| in both Europe and America, nevertheless boldly
affirm that the British empire is at this very hour
not the most powerful but the feeblest and the least
| TO be dreaded Of all those governments. say SO,
because such is her internal condition arising from
the shock already gwen 10 her commercial monop-
oily, that She OF all those governments is the only
one to which a single great reverse Of fortune at
arms, and especially at sea, must prove utterly de-
| structye. That commercial monopoly upon which
her empire depends has been extended and upheld
! solely by commercial wars, and was doomed there
| fore, TO decline with the empire ITSELF as soon as
the means of prosecuting such wars were dimin-
lshed by internal exhaustion, or their success OBJ
! sructed by the increased means of the balance of
the world. The French convention, even before
the close Of the last century, fully understood this
of her strength and Of her weakness, and the
great man who soon after succeeded TO the govern
ment of France, acting upon the same conviction,
attempted her overthrow by closing upon her all the
ports Of Europe. He failed; not because he had
misudged the true point Of attack but because Eu-
rope, manufacturing nothing for herself was, there
! fore, in no condition to dispense with English COM
modies. He failed because a great commercial
revolution, which carried with il total change in
| the habits and modes of life among men, was
thing to be suddenly effected by the abrupt man.
date Of armed power. IL was thing to be accom-
plished only by time; peace, artisan skill and mari
| time enterprise. Yet did the armed efforts of
| France, by exhausting the resources OF Eng land
| by entaling, through all coming time, a merciless
tax upon her labor to meet the interest on debt that
can never be paid or diminished, prepare the way
| for that continental system" which subsequent
peace, with its arts and its instruments has been s
lently enforcing against her. The fall of Napoleon
threw back into the mass of productive labor mil
lions of men from the fields of battle; cleared the
ocean Of commercial distractions; gave being to
capital, to manufactures and navigation throughout
Europe as means of repairing the waite occasioned
by war, and thus made every nation which had be-
| fore been consumer of British products produ-
Ger of its own consumption, and with its surplus,
| competitor with her in the open market Of the
world. Thus has peace accomplished against her
what war alone could not Thus are the effects of
! the French revolution now found in the treasury of
England They seen in a debt, the mere inter
est on which imposes upon her furnishing peo-
| pie annual tax Of 10000, 900. They are
heard in the distressful cry of those people for
! bread. Thus too, has it become the interest as
q. = ~. Il, - 4 a
| formerly leagued with her in sustaining her COM
mercial monopoly against the efforts of France now
to league against her in breaking down that monop.
| oily by participating themselves in the work and
traffic of the world, and by the disruption of that CO.
| lonial system on which her commercial ascendency
depends. Conscious of, this-conscious of her dam
ger from domestic commissions provoked by taxed
starvation; conscious of her danger in the remote
parts of her empire from the ambition Of her rivals,
also from those instincts which ever prompt col
ones to revolt against declining parent authority;
conscious of these England sternly resolves to brave
the peril, and, armed against the world, she goes
forth with fire and sword to open new highways for
| her commerce in the east, that she may postpone
| yet longer the catastrophe which awaits her. For
this reason il is that she her cannon also upon
| the States Of South America. For the same rea-
son il is that she now seeks, by the possession Of
Oregon, to extend her sway upon the American
front of the Pacific ocean; BECAUSE If successful she
not only adds positive strength to herself, but by
loss Of that region subtracts positive strength
| from us-the most dangerous Of her rivals, com.
mercially and politically. The most dangerous,
commercially, because, with oneourth ofthe worlds
whole tonnage already in our possession, prom
Use TO hold the one-haf Of it, because ALSO with
a country vast and various in extent and resources
| Of unlimited seacoast and numberless harbors,
with close proximity to Mexico, to the West In
dies, to South America; with affiliated institutions;
with the great staple of Gotten; with the means
manufacture that large article Of consumption in the
| warm climates of those countries with heavy de-
mand on our part for their products in exchange;
because say, with these things in our favor, and
aided by the mighty energies Of this great people,
we bid fair drive her from all those markets,
and to take sole possession Of the Atlantic seas
Yes, sir, the most dangerous politically, not only
because powerful ourselyes-ve are the most secure
by the absence Of powerful neighbors-but because
the contguity Of her colonial possessions renders it
easy for US to wrench off that large portion Of her
empire, and thus to give the signal TO RUSSIA and
France to do the SAME with her East India and ASH
attic dependencies.
But when, sir, am told, as shall be, that Eng
Il