The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1854-07-23

eaoA-.and Suur stAsrs building. sAe had
ffteen ftieates, chiefly IL ~ guns eash;
twenty sldsps, chiefly Of 20 gnns each; four
brigs Of 10 guns; two sohooners Of small ar
mainent; sixteen steamers most Of them of re-
cent construction, and powerfully armed, and
i've storeshipA The marine corps attached TO
the navy department consisted, In October,
1862. Of ,260 officers and men.
We cannot Quit the contemplation of the strik-
ing picture which America presents Of vigorous
and successful enterprise pervading every de-
partment Of commerce and industry, every pur-
suit and movement In which her population are
engaged, without instituting q comparison be-
tween her and some Of the great European com
munities, and specializing what might have been
the reeult in them had the same well directed
enterprise been called into requisition. Take
az one Of these Russia with her sixty or eighty
millions Of population and vast territory, capa-
BILE of producing every commodity requisite for
insuring the GREATNESS of q nation. Had her
government and landowners, instead Of expend-
ing the whole Of her revenue and capital in bar
barrie pOmp and wars Of aggression, in
studding her shores and her frontiers with
fortresses and batteries. turned their
attention to the Improvement of her navigable
rivers and to the construction Of system Of
railroads; had the appliances Of science and ma
chimney been brought to aid in the cultivation
what height Of greatness and prosperity might
she not have been enjoying at the present mo-
ment, instead Of being what she has made her
self the plague and the pest OF Europe! Her
Southern provinces might have supplied food
sufficient. of everykind, TO have maintained a po-
puation treble in extent to what she now pos
sesses. She has within her territory minerals
almost inexhaustible in extent. She has vast
forests Of excellent timber, which invite the axe
Of the enterprising laborer; fisheries which
might be prosecuted with eminent success; and
other sources of wealth which more practica
and sensible people W ould long ago have turned
to useful and profitable account. She has
had in her possession the means Of forming
Q powerful mercantile marine, which would
have been by this time vigorous COM
petitor for share in the commerce and the cor.
rying trade OF the world whilst, by an I'm
proved system Of roads and inland navigation,
she might have made herself the connecting
link between Western Europe and the interior
of Asia. But Russia has preferred the path Of
ambition. She has aimed at grasping new ter
ritory, and neglected the more peaceful and the
wiser policy Of developing the resources Of that
which she already possessed; and, as the re-
suit, her fall from high position amongst the
nations is probably close at hand.
But we turn once more. before concluding, to
the great country Of the West, with view to
inquire whether its institutions, and their past
working, afford q guarantee Of its per-
was asslss period min ls2s 'oI + We remsm re
Der aright-when disruption threatened the in
tegrity Of the Union, and it was prophesied
that the Southern States and the New England
and Western States must ultimately bring about
their separation. Even now the slavery ques-
ton is provoking serious discord, and may
have, to those who have not studied the posi-
ton of the country, a somewhat menacing
R,,f rfp has hoo I'D
to cement and strength the entire confedera-
ton. The various lines of railway and other
communications running from north to south
on the Atlantic seaboard. and along the valley
between the Allegheny aud the Rocky Noun
tains, through every variety Of climate and of
soil, from the temperate nearly to the
tropic, have created vast interchange Of
the products, both Of agriculture and Of
manufacturing industry, which no Sec
forego, or to see diminished. The Importance
Of maintaining the condition of mutual depend
ence between the various States is becoming,
day by day, more acknowledged. The manuiac-
turing and Western States especially feel the
advantages afforded to domestic industry by an
increasing crop Of the raw material, cotton, and
the sources of national wealth, in the shape Of
exports, which the produce Of the Southern
States provides, whilst the latter. from tariff
reductions, and the great adyauce made In do
nestle manufactures of every description, have
ceased to feel that they ore taxed for the ex-
elusive benefit Of the other states Of the Union.
These considerations induce us to believe, and
indeed to hope, that the progress Of the entire
people of the American republic will continue,
that the political compact of the various States
which compose it will remain unbroken, and
that high destiny for it amongst nations is in
the future.