The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1850-12-30
Great Britain.

England This is as true as 1t is poetical
Almost every country has indeed contributed
10 her accumulated spois.
Helgoland the most northern of her Euro
pean possessions, she wresied from Denmark J;
Gibraltar she conquered from Spain; Malta
from France. She has colonies on the west
and at the south of Africa the latter she con-
uuered from the Dutch la the Indian Sea
she has Mauritius, taken from the French
The whule of Hindos,an, including Ceylon
and extending north To the Himmaleh noun
tans--a territory OF million of square miles and
with population Of 100000, oOo-is either in
her complete possession or tributary 10 her, with
the exception only of the little border States of
NepauI and Bootan This mighty empire she
has robbed piece-meal, within the last century,
from its former sovereigns. Under the British
East India Company the gorgeous dynasties of
the Mogus-the successors of Baber, Acbar,
and Aurungzebe, with the long line of native
princes, have disappeared, or sunk ntomere pup
pets, in the hands of their masters. The gold
and silver and precious stones, which had been
gathered around thrones and treasured in temples
for thousand years, have gone to England,
through the pockets of her robber nabobs, and
passed into the permanent wealth of the king
dom Golconda has been exhausted to furnish
Jewels for the crowns and coronets Of British
royalty and nobility. Under the overshadowng
influence of Britain, the Indian colonies of Por-
tupal Denmark, and France have dwindled into
insignificance BirInah has been dismembered
and some of its fairest provinces become subject
to the British Queen. Australasia, the island
continent-equal to all Europe in extent
with some of the contiguous islands, are
British possessions. British America-con-
quered from France-spreads from the Pacific
to the Atlantic, and equals the United States in
extent. Nearly twenty of the West India
islands belong to Britain on the mainland of
South America, she has Demarara; on the 18TH
mus she claims the Balize, and is gradually
sliding her greedy palm over Mosquito.
The whole territory subject TO the British
crown is not much less than seven millions of
square miles-a territory larger than that of
any other government on the earth. Her whole
population is nearly two hundred millons-rnore
than one half the population OF Europe and one
fifth that of the entire globe.
Yet the appetite Of Britain is not satisfied
She is every where grasplng at new territory;
while the rest of the world is asleep, she is
striding over the earth like giant in search of
new lands Wherever she places metes and
boundaries, there CLOVIS the British redo
there bristle British cannon; there floats the
British flag. Every year adds to her dominions
There is no limit, no safety to her territorial
avarice. Twice within few years have we
beaten her back from encroachments upon our
own soil; and even now is pending the ques-
ton whether she shall not hold or control the
passage across Central America, between the
Atlantic and the Pacific.
The commanding position of her forts, posts,
and colonies, is a feature quite remarkable
as the vast extent of the British possessions.
She commands the entrance TO the Meditena
mean and no ship, heather or Christian, can enter
or depart from that sea without passing under her
batteries. and asking her leave. In the North
Of Europe she holds the important war-post Of
Heligoland. She has possession Of the three
great Peninsulas of the Eastern continent
the Cape Of Good Hope, India, and Malacca.
At the latter point she has Singapore, which
commands the great maritime thoroughfare be-
tween India and China. Facing the Gulf of
Mexico, she has Jamaica and other West India
islands. Midway in the Atlantic, and in the path
Of commerce with the Indian and Pacific oceans.
she has ST. Helena. To the southwest, at the
turning around Cape Horn, she has the Falk-
land islands. Passing to the northern EXTERN
ity of the American continent, we see the whole
Northern ocean, from Baffin's bay to Behring's
straits effectually under her control. There
is no great maritime highway of nations-no
thoroughfare of commerce-no sea--no ocean
no mighty river Of the earth-which the Brit
ish flag and British guns do not watch, men
ace, or command.
These boundless possessions are the fruit Of that
Unsuitable thirst for riches and power which
made Britain the mistress of the sea How she
has used this supremacy, the world knows too
well. Whether her usurpation Of maritime do
minion, and the consequent engrossment Of com
merce in her own hands, has been beneficial 10
Christendom, is question too extensive for
consideration here. Nothing is more certain.
however, than that the Netherlands, farther
advanced than Britain in the elements of polit-
ical liberty two centuries ago, and in position
10 spread a high civilization over the North Of
Europe, was eclipsed in her career Of glory, and
finally reduced to insignifcance by British ma
val supremacy. Portugal, which led the world
out Of the dark ages, has been little better than
q British colony for nearly hundred years, in
consequence of the Methuen treaty, which es-
tablisbed, 50 far as that kingdom was con
cerped, pretty nearly the same system Of free
trade which British policy and democratic
folly now 40 kindly offer to MS. Spain, Den.
mark. Sweden, all Europe, indeed, in respect
10 commemorative great liberalizer and civlize
Of nations-have doubtless been embarrassed and
crippled for century under the exclusive and
engrosslng policy Of the geuius Of Britannia.
And what has England given to Europe 70
thisl II she has enriched herself, and mad,
progress in civilization, at the expense of Eu