Daily national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1854, 1854-07-27
[REroRrRD FOR THE NATIONAL ERA.
ADORE
BEFORE THE
PHI BETA KAPPA OF YALE COLLEGE,
JULY 26, 1854.
JULY 20, 1854.
ny WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

| the forces and tendency OF q Republic which is
not obscure, cannot, therefore, at any time or in
any place, be unbecoming an association which
regards universal philosophy as the proper guide
! OF human life.
Nations are intelligent, moral persons, existing
for the ends of their own happiness and the i'm
| provement of mankind. They grow, mature, and
decline. Their physical development being most
obvious, always attracts our attention first Ger
tanly we cannot too web understand the mate
rial condition of our own country. g i think"
said Burke, sadly, addressing the British House
OF Commons, just after the American war; ~
think can trace all the caamitcs Of this coun-
try to the single source of not having had stead
lily before our eyes general, comprehensive
wcll-connected, and wcll-proportoned view Of
the whole of our dominions, and a just sense of
their bearings and relations"
Trace on map the early boundaries Of the
United States, rs they were defined by the treaty
OF Versailles, in 1888. See with what jealousy
Great Britain abridged their enjoyment OF the fish
cries on the Northeast coast and how tenaciously
she locked up against them the ST. Lawrence
the only possible channel between their inland
regions and the Atlantic ocean. Observe how
Spain, while retaining the vast and varied soli-
tudes which spread out westward from the Mis-
sissppi river to the Pacific ocean, at the same
time assigned the thirty-frst parallel Of latitude
as the southern boundary Of the United States,
and thus shut them out from access by that river
or otherwise to the Gulf of Mexico See now
how the massive and unpassable Allegheny
Mountains traversed the new Republic from north
to south, dividing it into two regons--the inner
one rich in agricultural resources, but without
markets; and the outer one adapted to defence
and markets, but wanting the materials for COM
merce. We're not the Europeans astute in thus
combining the United States within limits which
would probably render an early separation Of
them inevitable, and would also prevent equally
the whole and each of the future parts from ever
becoming formidable or even a really independ-
ent Atlantic Powerl They had cause for their
Jealonsies. They were monarchics, and they
largely divided the western hemisphere between
them. The United States aimed to become
maritime nation, and their success would tend to
make that hemisphere not only republican, but
also independent of Europe. That success was
foreseen. A British statesman, in describing the
American Colonies just before the peace, had
said to his countrymen: {" Your children do not
grow faster from infancy to manhood than they
spread from families to communities, and from
villages to nations
The United States, thus confined landward,
bctook themselves at once to the sea, whose
broad realm lay inappropriate; and, having fur
nished themselves with shipping and seamen equal
to the adventurous pursuit of the whale fishery
under the Poles, they presented themselves in
European ports as a maritime people, After
",
season Of general war, enabled them to become
carriers for the world. But they never forgot for
moment the Importance of improving their po-
stion on the coast. France was now the owner
OF the Province of Louisiana, which stretched all
along the western bank of tho Mississippi Sho
wisely sold possession, which she was unable
to defend, TO the United States, who thus, only
twenty years after the treaty Of Versailles, tcur-
ed the exclusive navigation of the great river;
and descending from their inland frontier, estab-
lished themselves on the coast of the Gulf of
Mexico Spain soon saw that her Colonies on
that coast, east Of the Mississippi, virtually
surrounded by the United States were untenable.
She therefore, for an equivalent, ceded the Flor
idas, and retired behind the Sabine; and so the
coast of the United States was now seen TO
begin at that river, and passing along the Gulf
and around the Peninsula, and beyond the Capes,
10 terminate at the St. Crox in the Bay Of Fundy.
The course of the European showed that
Spain was exhausted. Nearly all her American
Colonies, inspired by the example Of the United
States, and sustained by their sympathy, struck
for independence established Republican systems,
and entered into treaties of amity and commerce
with the Republic of the North.
But the United States yet needed n northern
passage from their western valleys to the Atlantic
ocean. The new channel to be opened must
necessarily have connections, natural or artificial
with the inland rivers and lakes. An internal
trade ramifying the country was necessary
basis for commerce, and it would constitute the
frmest possible national union. Practically,
there was in the country neither canal TO serve
for model nor an engineer competent to pro-
ject one. The railroad invention had not yet
been perfected in Europe, nor even conceived in
the United States The Federal Government
alone had adequate resources, but, after long
consideration and some Improbable experiments,
ii not only disavowed the policy, but also dis
claimed the power of making internal improve
ments. Private capital was unavailable for
great national enterprises. The States were not
convinced of the wisdom of undertaking singly
works within their own borders which would be
wholly or in part useless, unless extended beyond
them by other States, and which, even although
they should be useful to themselves, would be
equally or more beneficial to States which refused
or neglected to join in their construction. More
over the only source Of revenue in the States was
direct taxation--always unreliable in popular
Governmcnt--and they had no established cred
its, at home or abroad Nevertheless, the people
comprehended the exigency, and their will open
ed way through all these cmbarrassments.
The State of New York began and she has hth-
erto, although sometimes fatering, prosecuted this
great enterprise with unsurpassed fidelity. The
other States according to their respective abili-
ties and convictions of interest and duty, have
co-operated. BY canals we have extended the
navigation of Chesapeake bay TO the coal-lields
OF Maryland at Cumberland and also by the
way Of Columbia to the coal-felds OF Pennsylya-
mia. BY canals also, we have united Chesapeake
bay with the Delaware river, and have, with
alternating railroads, connected that river with
the Ohio river and with Lake Erie. BY canals
we have opened navigation between PhiIadc-
pbia and New York, minglint the waters Of the
delaware with those of the Raritan. BY canals
we have given access from two several ports on
the Hudson to two different coal-felds in Penn
sylvania. BY canals we have also extended the
navigation Of the Hudson, through Lake Cham
plain and its outlet, to the st. Lawrence near
Montreal We are just opening channel from
the Hudson to Lake Ontario, to Cape Vincent,
near its eastern termination, while we long since
opened one from the same river TO q central har-
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