The Minnesota pioneer. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn. Territory) 1849-1855, 1850-04-03
SIGNS OF DECAY.

yolVe IN all Old appointed cirCie-tbdt 1Ior
empires rs well as for individuals there Is a
periodof growth and period Of decay
and that neither the mighty nor the humble
can escape the operation of the invariable
law which fixes a penalty for every trans
ity the high and the lowly. A modern wri-
ter, struck with the power OF these old
truths, and tracing in the past and present
history of Great Britain the operation of
causes which must, in The fu!lness Of time,
produce its fall, has drawn vivid picture
Of New Zelunder. sitting upon ruined
arch Of London-brislge, and moralizing up
on the fate OF the once mighty empire, be-
come ms much a thing Of the past as Rome
Greece, and Assyfia. But when we read
the eloquent page, we smile at the predc-
lion of the writer. We cannot believe that
'sBabylon, that mighty city, who glorfied
herself and lived deiicionsly," who said in
her heart, sl sit as queen and shall see no
sorrow," shall ever fall from her high estate.
We think Of the wealth, the enterprise, the
indomltab!e courage, the intelligence, the
zeal, and the piety Of her sons--we see her
wondrous progress in arts that Greek and
| Roman never knew--the triumphs of her
science, and the blessings Of a civilization
superior to any eyer enjeyed by the earlier
ages Of The world, and we fancy that in all
these things there are germs OF stability and
progress WEIGH shall grow up aud flourish
in after time, bearing tho name and fame,
the power and the glory, oc Great Britain
to the remotesr generations. Ii is well,
however, that we should sometimes view
the other side Of the picture, and ask our
selves more calmly whether our empire is
indeed so firmly rooted--so endeared to the
world by its justice, humility, and berefi-
cence--so supported by lis own integrity
so much removed from all possibility of ri
valry, as to defy Inc agencies Of decay and
ruin, and stand 10 the most distant times the
Queen and the model of Nations. The
picture is not quite SD brilliant when il is
thus considered. The golden image is
found to have feet Of clay. The fair peach
Of prosperity is seen TO have a worm with
in il, and the mighty empire TO be menaced
with perils from within and from without.
We see that we have 10 exclusive claim to
the possession Of the virtues which have
raised US TO the high position that we hold;
that what we have. we share; that uen ut
our own blood and language have permea-
ted with our intelligence, our industry, and
our enterprise. the re,nOtest ends of the
| earth; that our sons have founded new en-
pires, at present as brilliant; and proms-
ing in the future to he more brilliant, than
our own. If we calculate the growth Of
population. we shall find that, in fifteen or
twenty years hence, or even earlier, Great
Britain will no longer be the principal seat
Of the vigorous race of the Anglo-Saxons;
and that, although that race may continue
to rule the world, it may not be from the
banks of the Thames, or from any part of
the old country that gave them birth. An
empire twenty, thirty, or fifty times as ex-
tepsive, and as rich as ours, has already
arisen on the other side of the Atlantic, TO
entice into its bosom the best blood which
remains to us. The young, the hardy,
the persevering of our country, and of
all the countries of Europe, that groan
under the weight Of debt, Of difficulty, and
of a surplus population, and that cannot say
TO their sons, as the New World does, that
every man is man, welcome, for the sake
Of his manhood, to the great feast of ma
tnre, where there is enough and to spare for
the meanest, are daily invited to leave the
shores of effete Europe, and settle in more
vigorous America. The growth of the
United States is, in reality, the downfall of
Great Britain. All the unhappy circum-
stances that are of prejudice TO Us, are Of
benefit to them. With US, the mouths that
clamor to he fed are causes of decay.
With them, every additional mouth is an
additional pair of hands, and every addi-
tional pair of hands is an increase of wealth,
power, and influence. Let us pour our
millions into ihe great wiley of the Mis-
sissippi, and it will hold and feed them all /,
were there number gnadrupled. Such Is
our gaeat rival in the West. In the South
there is another rival almost equally form
idable, equally splendid, fed IN the same
manner from our entrails, and rising daily
upon our fall. Who shall fix the bounds of
the future prosperity of the great Austria
Ian Continent! While in this old country
the pauper vegetables or dies, accursed OF
the land that produced him, in that new
country the parper becomes laborer; he
no longer vegetables, but lives; and if he
lives long enongh, he may become a patri-
arch, sitting under the shade of his own
fg-tree, and counting by thousands and tens
of thousands bis flocks and her'ls--a new
job in a land of plenty. Fertile soil, de-
licious climate, elbow room, and freedom
from taxatiOB--these are the blessings Of
the Australian, The Englishman enjoys
the first two 10 an imperfect manner; the
last are aliens-he knows them not, and
will never know them while England holds
her place among the nations. Nor are
these the only dangers which nenance US.
Although our empire stretches to the Fest
and to the West, to the North and TO the
South-though we have our hands in Asia,
our feet 10 Africa, our arms in America and
the South Pacific Ocean, our own peculiar
territory is but small spot in remote
corner Of Europe. We have only held
that corner by the enormous sacrifices we
have made 1t was our ambition to become
= ruling power--giving The law to the
world-and we became so; but it was at a
cost of debt Of ESOO, 900 900, that pau
perizes our population, and lies like per-
pe,uai and killing weight upon the energy
Of all classes. In addition TO this stupen.
dous evil, we share the effeteness of all Eu.
rope. There is but one empirefGithin Eu.
|, ropeau boundaries that is not worn out and
pauperized by debt and f. extravagance,
+ that empire is Russia; and she is the enc
my Of all the rest, and desires to rise upor
their ruins. Destiny seems to have traced
|, her path as il has traced ours. The Scia
!. vonian races will inevitably be the new lord.
of Europe The Anglo-Saxon race mus
be congented to he the lords Of the lsrgel
and more splendid inheritance of Americs