The weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1852-1858, 1852-12-11

TWO, ana Of the independence Oh the
United States the X sfFsR'f RxTsEs4.
By the Governor,
ALEX. WnkIs, Secretary.
The Slsux Purchase --L Louisiana and Mime sofa
Railroad.
By the final measures of consummation, now
In progress in our midst, new Empire is added
to, and brought under the full dominion of the
United States The last act to fulfill the treaty
stipulations entered into with the Dakota In
dams during the summer of '5l--the payment
Of the money for their lands-wll be completed
ere what We now write meets the eye of the
public reader. And then the curtain will drop,
which forever closes the scenes so familiar to all
who have dwelt here in days past. The next
act Of the drama is far different, but more deep
" important and interesting The rude Indian
tepee gives place to the neat and spacious
farm-house-the village Of rough poles and
bark to the busy and prosperous commercial
town and city-the tardy log canoe to the ar.
row-deeting eteamer-and the wild scalp
dance and savage rite in worship Of heather
deities, to the music of Sabbath bells and songs
Of praise to the True and Most High God. The
red man fees to his new western home, and the
axe OF his pursuer smites the giant oak that
shades the graves of his fathers He is gone
the footprints Of pale-faced children mark the
sands upon the shores of the Mississippi and
The Minnesota the language of Shakespeare and
Milton is breathed in soft and measured accents
Into the ear Of Beauty beneath the trysting
bower, where the dusky warrior was wont to
rehearse his deeds of daring, to gain the ap-
proving smile Of her he sought to win and the
white mother, Tin carpeted halls of luxury"
rocks her babe on downy cushions, upon the
very spot where oft in olden time her dark, IN.
taught sister l1lled to sleep, on far rcugher
couch, the cherished hope and promise Of brave
and warlike ancestry.
But this ia not to orr prAsent rurrnse
mission has been cast upon us ; and it is not in
the visions Of either the past CT the present that
we would deal, but the realities Of the future.
II is not By the invocation of poetic fancies that
we can fulfill our destiny, and make the solitary
places to rejoice, lana the wilderness to bloom
and blossom as the rose;'' but By addressing
ourselves to solid and substantial facts--tc stern
realities. We have said, by the Sioux Purchase
an Empire has been added to the dominion of
Christianity and civilization. Yes, more than
On Empire, five compare, BY measured bounds,
ours with the dimensions of empires that in
olden ages ruled the world. Here we have fifty
thousand square miles. Egypt, the land of the
Pharaohs and the builder of the Pyramids that
ruled the universe in science and arms before
the days of Abraham, possessed not one-fourth
90 large and no more fertile territory. Mace
don, that sent an Alexander forth to conquer
the world, is but as speck upon one Of the vast
prsiries of our new Empire. The domains of
Aerxes, and his three million soldiers, was not
more extensive; the banners of Rome in the
days of the Tarquins and the elder Brutus,
noated over a less expanse; and Carthage, when
Hannibal assembled the Alps, would have been
considered scant pattern for any of the future
cities, which, in embryo, already throw the
shadows OF their tapering spires into the sky
eoiored waters of the Minnesota. The land of
the Saracen, when be drove his serried hosts
over the walls of the Eastern Empire, and
startled the Christian world with the war-cry
OF the sons of the Prophet, was not more vast
and the monarchs of CASTLE and Aragon sway
ed the sceptre over more limited bounds, at
the time they despatched the Gepoese ad-
venturer in search of Western Worlds. Eng
land, the great mistress of the world in modern
times, is of no greater extent and France, who
in the memory of men now living, exercised
dominion over these very Sioux lands, boasts
but fraction of greater extent than this Pur-
Chase, combined with the State of Iowa.
What, then, may not the Sioux Purchase be-
come In few years, if those holding its desti-
ny IN their hands are but true to themselves
ana the duties required Of them! Not nursery
OF warlike ambition and scenes of strife, as
were the kingdoms Of old we have named: but
W ask what may not this land become at this
age ofrefned progress, in forwarding the great
ends of modern improveme and humanity >
Why may it not, during our own day and gen.
Grafton, burst forth a blooming, hopeful, happy
Empire, with wealth and prosperity teeming
in the busy streets Of its cities golden fields
and rugged health GROWING its bills, and
peace tinkiing on the shepherds bell :"
through its luxuriant valleys?
Inc Louisiana and Minnesota Railroad (!
This Is the point we wish to come at and re-
mark Tor few moments upon. 1T is wild
impraeticable project" says Mr.. standstill-
"the man is fool that talks Of its feasibility
and deserves to be sent to lunatic asv,um y
1T will ruin St. Paul." says Mr. Selfish Short.
eight; "and will have nothing to do with it.v
But these are petty annoyances that all great
improvements have ever been destined to en-
couTter, and will encounter to the end of time.
Therefore. they are hardly worth abiding 10 :;
and shall certainly not deter US from advoca-
ting and agitasipg continually, this great work,
until its final consumustion.
This week We can only give few general
outlines The region which th;, roaa ~, A..