Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1846-05-07
Mise eIIaMeOus.
From the N. Y, Evangelist
The Signs Of lhe Times,
NO. 9.
BY REV. JOHN S. c. ABBOTT,

The murderous war which England recently waged
gainst the Chinese empire, was perhaps as unustif-
pie war as a civil nation everengaged in. Yet the
ord, even from the sins and outrages of man, educes
bod; and He will doubtless overrule this event for
|e furtherance of civilization and the gospel.
The merchants of Europe and America have year
ter year, waiteda the doorof the vast empire of Chi
teemng with population ofthree hundred millions,
Id in vain sought admittance. They would gladly
nd their ships up every river and sell the products
their manufactures in every village But the Chi
Sc have kept them waiting at their threshold, have
hched out cautious hand, and taken in few goods
handed out little tea, while the people at large
We been absolutely secluded from intercourse with
le nations of the earth-have been shut I'D to barba
fm. This cannot continue. Now, when the smoke
the steamer is seen upon the bosom of the Atlantic
hd the Pacific and is floating over the streams, not
ply of Europe and America, but also of Asia and AZ
ca;-when the railroad bridges the gulf and bores
Re granite OF the eternal mountains and brings the
ord's eXtermntes into uxtaposition; when machine
seems almost invested with living intellect and a
Pnsltlve conscience, and manufactures are flooding
be world with comforts and Injuries when MANY
|n to and fro, and knowledge is multiplied, no dcs
Phc efforts can stay the onward progress of any ma
pm or tribe. The wall of China has crumbled. That
pm despotsm has yielded The millions, who crow
Pd the valleys Of the Hoangho, the Yangtse and the
ongking, those mighty Mississppes of Eastern Asia,
Re opened to intercourse with the great nations of
llrstendom. The steamer will soon riumphantly as
md those majestic streams, and carry in its train the
fnements and the arts of civilized life
Steam navigation is now opening a new era upon
dia From England to Bombay, by way of the
edlterranean sea and the Euphrates, which river the
glish government have already explored by steam
;, the distance is but seven thousand miles. In all
route there is but one hundred and twenty miles
and carriage This by railroad seems but trifng
itacle. The distance to India around the Cape of
cd Hope is about fourteen thousand niles
The route through Egypt and the Red Sea is also
htemplated with much interest. From Cairo on the
lie to Suez on the Red Sea, the distance is but sew
q ty miles The remains of an ancient canal connec-
lg these waters, can now be distinctly traced. The
tench engineers under Napoleon estimated the ex-
fnse of opening this canal for ship navigation to be
ut three millions of dollars.
One of these routes will soon, doubtless become the
Feat thorougharc to India. By either of them the
stance, in time. from London to Bombay, is about
Dirty days, instead of from four to six months, which
|as the average passage by the Cape. When it is
Pmembered that England has in India territory about
large as the whole of Europe; that she has there
yer one hundred millions of subjects that India now
pnsumes English products to the amount of twenty
We millions of dollars annually and that this consump-
ION is so rapidly increasing that it is confidently ex-
ected that it will soon amount to five hundred mill
Pns; and the annual revenue drawn from that coun-
y is estimated by some of her statesmen as high as
rom fifty to hundred Millions we cannot wonder at
Ter anxiety 10 retain these possessions and to render
lem as easily accessible as possible.
If we turn our attention to Africa, we there see the
me progressive movement of the Caucasian race, in
Dining possession of the territories of the barbarian
ces, and in transferring to them the laws and inst-
tons of Civilization 1t is not yet fifty years since
England first took possession of point of land at the
/ ape Of Good Hope. Now she owns territory there
PINE two three times as largeas the island of Great
rltain Every few years we hear that she has push
her boundary line some hundreds of miles farther
to the country of the natives bringing many chiefs
it'll populous tribes, into subsection to the British gov
hment
The land of the Hottentots, the land of the Zuus
d large part of the land of the Care nation, have
Pw become the territory of England. And the same
ogress of gradual and irresistible encroachment il
ltnessed at dozen other points on the coast of Thu
st, benighted continents; at Fernando Pc, at Cape
0asl at Sierra Leone and at Gambia. .
Russia, as to extent territory has during the las
Pntury been making the most astonishing advantages
er subjects are now seventy Millions and one seventh
the whole habitable globe is brought under he
bwer Her dominion extends across the whole broadd
Europe and of Asia; reaching from the eterna
lows and graciers of the north, to the sunny plain
the palm tree and the fig Her fleet is ever on tn
ing-her armies ever marshaled for war and con
uest She has swallowed up Poland; Sweden an
Norway are prepared for her repast She is now de
curing Caucasia, having already consumed large POI
ions of Turkey; and she has planted her fangs dee
nd strong in the Persian empire. And the armies
Nicholas are crowdng rapidly down, to meet upon tn
plains of Central Asia, in fearful conflict with the vel
Pran troops of Victoria. Russia and England hav
net in Asia, as two highway robbers fighting for tn
blunder of the helpless; and now and then shrek
extored from their victims so piercing-of sue
earul horror that it makes the ear of Chrstendom
|hngle England recently rained down tempest
grape shot upon the naked AfghA pd robbed the
of their country. And the cool she made f
the crime was, TINT if she had not bhe land, Mel
olas would have done so.
Such is the influence which the United States, En-.
land and Russia are now gaining over this globe TT
other leading nations of Europe, France, Austri
Prussia &C., are so situated that their influence
hardly felt off the continent. The people generally
the different states in Europe, arc steadily thong
slowly advancing against the encroachments of arb
uary power, and rising in the scale of intelectu
and moral beings
This vast hasty and necessarily imperfect sketch
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