The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1850-01-26
For Inc CaIrdnnIan
Our Country.

| Hsr igRufnee piEsf BE- eTisHsits and poserGai.
] Already - ours great aud mighty nation
Our influence IL even now extensively and
powerfully felt The kings of the earth see
It and are troubled The thrones Of mighty
monarehs are shaken by the bare mention Of
our eountry's name The world knows Of us
and "a looking for great good or great evil at
our hand Bat 90 nation We are destined TO
become Ear grcatcT4' frmorc powerful than We
now are aud our influence upon the other ma.
tons Of the globe will grow with our growth,
and strengthen with our strength With an
extent Of territory equal TO the whole Of Eu.
rope % or % times AZ large 40 England,
Scotland aud Ireland together 10 % 10 times
az large ~ France, OF sufficient 90 make
400 states Of the sizr Of MAssacbusetts,
and with population numbering iis millons,
not by units, Or tens. but by Lundreds--and
greater by far than that Of any nation upon
which the sun NOW ahinea, and equal 10. If not
exceeding the present population the whole
of Europe, how can It but be, that our inAu~
cncc will be powerfully felt, the world over
But there are other combinations which
serve 10 strengthen our confidence in this pc.
siuoni for instance the extent Of our sea cost,
our unity, or oneness a. nation, (or r We
shall continue to be onc) and the peculiarly
cnterpr'ing character Of our inhabitants.
Our line Of sea shore 10 Of an astonishing
extent. IL is estimated by the'supetinta ndeni
Of the cost survcy, that Texas alone has =
shore Of more than 400 miles, on the Gulf Of
Me Sieoi that the coast Of California, on the
g., =. -, A - n. 4
ic shore, including that Of Oregon and the
Straits Of FueA, presents an extent Of more
than 1890 miles. The extent OF coast on the
Atlantic. from Maine to the Sabine, is proba.
bly, not far from 400 miles. We have then,
in all, an extent orsca coast exceeding 50On
niles not including bays, sounds, and snail
irregularities Of the main shore. II these TO.
gethcr with the Sea Islands be included, the
whole extent Of shore, ms estimated by the gu
r-rtntrudrut of thu -uo1stSufyey,w o uId extend
$4,000 miles. Such in extent is our line of
sea coust, from which eventually Ehipa will
sail, freirhted with good or evil, with influence
healthful or deathful,,o every city aud Port un
der heaven. And Why not' "Tor even now
auF salats faaas- ala Ia the .eebetes ef
the Poles, and pursue their prey amid .famil.
lar haunts in rcgions'yet unnoted on the chart
of other nations" And soon, not only from
our Eastern Shores, but from the many Cities
and Towns, great and populous, which viii
si' as queens upon our Western coast, will
sail thousands ofships TO China, TO Japan, to
Dorneo, TO Northern Russia, to New Holland
and TO every Island and every Port, from the
rising to the setting sun. And then when
tccgrnphs and railroads shall have joined the
Great West and the Great East in one, when
from Boston to San Francisco will be but
journey of n few days, and telegaphic com.
munications car be conveyed in az many sec 4.
ondsi who shall presume to set bounds TO our
national facilities for influence upon other ma
tons
And this influence will be the greater from
the fact Of our being not many nations, but
one nation, The Old World has wanted uni
ty. Europe for insta nee, being made up of
many nations, of different, usages, languages,
laws, religions, and modes of thinking, is fee
BILE compared with what Europe would be, if
but one great and mighty nation, speaking
one language, and bound together by the
same ws,usages, &c. From want Of unity,
thein Auence of Europe has been greatly weak
ened if not quite destroyed. But oursis at
present bat one nation, Our people are ~ a
high sense one people. Our language mainly
one, And as union is strength, shall we not,
lin our oneness be able 20 do what Europe has
never been able to do, md TO cxcri m influ-