Daily evening star. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1852-1854, 1853-04-16
DAILY EVENING STAR.
1776 AND 1853.

year. The last seventy years, almost equal
in rapid development of the race, any pre-
vious thousand years of the worlds history.
A distinguished writer in the cause OF Lloer-
ty, in the Revolution, when surveying our
country's future, then attempted TO De
choked to death by the red hand of British
monarchy, said in effect: " Never since the
time of Noah, hath people been placed In
our position. TIE future is In our hands,
and we have to begin the business Of worId
anec'' Nobly has our country fulfilled
the saying of the prophetic writer of the
Revolution Let rs and '53 stand face to
face for moment, and the world will be
struck dumb by the miracle of contrast
which they present. Or, to bring the
matter home more palpably, suppose Wash
ington risen from his grave, for little
while and enthroned on the highest peak of
the Alleghanies, surveying as with super
natural scope of vision, THE LAND, from
ocean to ocean, from northern SHOWS to the
Gem of the Antilles. What contrast to
the days of '76 would meet the gaze of the
great mani In re the United States con-
sisted of thirteen colonies, pent up between
The Alleghanies and the Atlantic, with a
population of barely three millions, strug-
Cling for life itself against the most power
ful-the most brutal monarch of the age.
In 1853, the United States consist of
thirty-one great Republics, cemented in
indissoluble union, with population of
twenty-five millions; her vast territory
fronts alike toward the rising and the set
ting sun the Atlantic and the Pacific are
her eastern and western boundaries, and as
to the northern and southern boundaries,
they are not settled yet; by no means
finished; Destiny will take care of them.
Washington risen from his tomb, and sur
veying the land from its topmost height,
need not let his vision be checked by either
Niagara Falls or the Gulf OF Mexico; there
is a great deal Of United States get to come,
beyond gulf and cataract. Niagara Falls
will yet sing the hymn of a republican con-
tinent. Call up Franklin, and let him
contrast the industrial resources of '76 with
'53. We can imagine the stare of wonder
which would light up his hearty, good
humored face.
In his day, one John Fitch aimed, the un-
extinguishable laughter of crowd of mer
chants and other respectable people assem-
bled on Philadelphia wharf, tried the
experiment of propelling boat by the force
of steam. In his day, also, Oliver Evans,
another mailman of the Fitch stamp, amid
the pity or contempt of all men of common
sense, tried to propel wagon on the Lam.
caster pike, (near Philadelphia,) by the
force of steam-succeeded, too-but was
set down as mere theorist and dreamer by
all practical men. Well, Doctor, look over
the land, noD! The Continent is net-worked
with iron ways. The scream of the Loco
motive is heard everywhere-it is never
silent, from the Cataract to the Gulf. And
the Hudson, the Ohio, the Mississippi, the
ocean in the east to the ocean in the west,
send up, night and day, the smoke of the
steamboat to heaven; the very steamboat,
Doctor, which John Fitch in imperfect form
tried one day on the Delaware river, and in
miniature, upon the New York Kolch.
From the Aroostook to the bay of San
Francisco, Doctor, the steam engine-dumb
matter fired into strong. terrible life, at the
command of science-never rests, not for
an hour, nay, not for moment, out of the
twenty-four. Through the still night your
hear its mighty breathings its fires rise
through the darkness from ocean to ocean !;
its iron tramp is never still upon iron ways;
and upon river and sea, its hoarse anthem
never dies. But, as if this was not enough
Doctor, as if steam was not fast enough for
this hurrying age, here comes the Ericsson,
gliding up New York bay, with its new mo
tor, destined to dethrone steam, even as
steam annihilated the stage coaches, lum-
bering wagons, and snail-like moving hand
labor of '76.