Loudon free press. (Loudon, Tenn.) 1852-1855, 1853-02-26
From the London Times.

feet community of race, Of language, sof Gus
toms, and social institutions. These few instan
ces, however, have been very remarkable. Th,
most prominent, if not the only, up to modern
times, have been the Greek and the German IA
ces, both of them under some mysterious law
which made a common character itself the sti
multus of separation and dispersion. Each Of
these has performed great part in the econo
nv vf civilization, which would not have been
so well performed had their genius tended more
to political unity, to perfect uniformity of laws
to conquest, or any other form of national ego
tisn. Ccnquerors and statesmen not less able
and successful have endeavored time after time
to construct out of the copious and splended
materials around them Greek or German uni
", but the grander the attempt, the more con.
spicuous the failure, and Greek and German to
this day remains the names of races, not OF
States: Both of these great instances seem
likely to be eclipsed by one which bids fair to
occupy the same prominent place in the history
of the whole world as the Hellenic race did in
that lesser world which was limited to the shores
of the Mediterranean. The English language,
carrying with it no small part of the genius and
traditions of this country, in the dominant
tongue of North America, of Australia, and
many other regions which may one day be the
seats of populous and powerful States. Al
present no other language and national charac
ter present the same appearance of diffusion and
propagation. German and French, not to speak
of lesser nations, are absorbed and assimilatcd
into the great English staple of the L. States.
Indeed the day is not far distant when the Ian
guage we speak will be the chief medium OF
communication throughout the Atlantic the
Pacific, the Indian and the Southern Oceans;
and whatever the weary emigrant seeks TO rest
the sole Of his foot, he will find himself com
PEELED to change the language of his fathers
for that Of Queen Victoria and President Fill
more. Disappointed. then, as VIC arl If unity
and conquest, we are at least sure of seeing our
race the most numerous, the most diffused, the
most powerful in the world, and of exercising
an influence far beyond the scope of EmperOrS
and Cars, beyond the reach Of Cabinets. and
the organization of armies. Whatever may be-
fal the community that peoples these little isles,
IT will be consolation that wherever We go,
whether following gain or flying oppression, we
shall everywhere find our own countrvmen, hear
our own language in every port, and everywhere
discover that We have changed the cline, but
not the generous freedom, the industry, the lit
eraturc, the worship of our own native land.
1t is the prospect of these expanding and
Strengthening afinities that imparts so much in
terest to the mutual hospitalties shown by Brit
ish and American citizens to the diplomatic
representatives of the sister States. We have
lately seen not only the British Minister, but al
so a distinguished merchant of this metropolis,
ma@nifcently entertained at more than one city
of the United States, and it is now grown up in
to custom, not easily to be broken, that the
American Minister should receive here n like
welcome at our own principal seats of COM
merce and manufacture. London, Manchester,
Liverpool, Birmingham. and other cities, as oc-
casion may offer, afford the American Minister
an opportunity of hearing ard returning the
expressions of that confidence and friendship,
and that sense of 4 common interest, which are
felt By every rational person on both sides ofthe
Atlantic Nor would these festivities be SO
popular or the speeches then delivered be lis
tened to with such interest, were it not for the
almost business character of ii ese OCCASIONS
4 mere interchange of political sentiment be
tween two nations with but little to bind
them beyond mutual respect and affection might
have apoetical character, but would never grow
into custom. It is that business character,
that evident prospect of advantage, that constant
referance to commercial affairs, which dcprives
these festivities of a sentimental character, but
also gives them a fare more sensible and endur-
ing significance. In TRUTH these international
banquets celebrate. not q sentiment, but a fact;
not a name, but a substance; not an historical
recollection, but a future full of promise. Ev-
er since the epoch, so deplorable in the ewes of
politicians, which violently removed the United
States from the legal pale of this realm, the ac-
tual connection between the mother country
and her Transatlantic colonies has been closer
and closer. 1t has now attained TO pass that our
Georgian statesman never dreamt of. The re-
lation OF England to Scotland or Ireland, of the
metropolis to the provinces of towns to coun-
ties, is not more intimate and beneficial than
that Of the British isles to the United States
The vast and fertile territory there lroughtundtr
cultivation by our kinsmen supplies, our increas-
ing population here with the materials of labor,
and the means of existence, without which they
must have long ceased to increase and multiply.
We contribute the bone and snew, without
which the planter and the colonist would never
have had encouragement to penetrate the inte
rior, to cut down the forest, to drain the swamp,
and cover half 4 continent, in one brief genera
ton, with network of railways and telegraph
ic wires.
1t used to be said that ifAthens and Lacedae-
mon could but make up their minds to be good
friends and make a common cause, they would
be masters of the world. The wealth, the sci
ence, the maritime enterprise, and daring ambi-
ton of the one, assisted by the population, the
territory the warlke spirit, and stern institutions
of the other, could not fail to carry the whole
world before them. That was project hostile
to the peace and prosperity of mankind, and
only to national vanity. A far
grander object, more easy and more honora-
bic acquisition, lies before England and the Z.
States, and all other countries owing to our or
lgin and speaking our language. Let them
agree not in an alliance offensive and defensive
but simply never to go TO war with one another.
Let them permit one another TO develop as
Providence seems to suggest, and the British
race will gradually and quietly attain to pre-em-
nenco beyond the reach of mere policy and
arms. The vast and ever increasing inter-
change of commodities between the several
members Of this great family, the almost daily
now opened across, not one, but
several oceans, the perpetual discovery of new
means of locomotion, in which steam itself now
bids fair to be Suppianted 'by an equally power
nj but cheaper and more convenient agency
al promise to unite the whole British race
throughout the world in one social and CONNER
elal unity, more mutually beneficial than any
,ontrlvance of politics. Already, what does |
Austria gain from Hungary France form Alge-
ia, Russia and Siberia, or any absolute mon
lrchy from its abject population, or what town |
rom its rural suburbs, that England does not |
lerive in much greater degree from the U. |