Lynchburg daily Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1852-1861, 1856-03-08
Great Britain.

Events of the last two years have directed tb
attention Of statesman TO more inquisitive an,
distrustfu scrutiny Of the elements of British
national strength and durability than have hith
erto been INDUCED. The war with Russia am
the comparison which it has furnished between
the availability, for military purposes, of British
and French power, has surprised the world b,
the disclosure of an unsupported iuertnessf no
weakness, in the former. Doubts are beginning
to exist whether British power and glory may
not have reached their eliminating point and
have poised over toward that descent which, when
once begun with a nation is rarely II ever arrest
ed. The time-bonored maxim that for empires
as we'll as individuals, there is period of growth.
and period of decay forms the text OF thought
ful commentary in the London News, upon the
position and prospects of the fast anchored isle
The writer regards them in sombre light
While acknowledging the wealth. enterprise,
courage intelligence. zeal and piety of her
sons. he concludes that the mighty empire is
menaced with perils from within and from with
ont; that the golden idol has feet of clay; that
rupton, intolerance, unbridled ambition, tho lust
of conquest have penetrated the entire structure
of the government that its strength and siabili-
~ have been maintained at prodigious sacri6-
ces, which have burtbened its population with an
overwhelming debt, aud that these evils
even less pressing, that more distant than they
are causes at work which slowly but surely
will reduce England to gradual eileteness. He
alludes particularly to the growth aud prosperi-
ty the United States,aud refers to us in terms
singularly frank and bold Says the Ne,rs:
If we calculate the growth of population
shall find that in fifty or twenty years hence, or
even earlier, Great Britain will 10 longer be the
principal seat of the vigorous race of the Anglo
Saxons; and that although that rnce may con-
tinue TO rule the world il may not be from the
banks the Thames or from any part of the old
country that gave them birth An empire TWEEN
ty. thirty, or fifty times as extensive and as rich
as ours has already arisen on the other side OF
the Atlantic to entice into its bosom tho best
blood which remains 10 us. The growth of tho
United States is in reality the downfall of Great
Britain All the unhappy circumstances that are
OF prejudice to us are Of benefit to ihem.-
With us the mouths that clamor to be fed
causes of decay. With them every additional
mouth is an additional pair of hands, is an in
crease of wealth power aud influence, Let us
pour our millions into the great valley of the
were their numbers quadruplcd. Such is our
great rival in the West. In the South there is
another rival almost eqaully formidable, equally
splendid, fed in the same mannerirom our entrails
and rising daily upon our fall. Who shall fix
the bounds of the future prosperity of tho great
Australian continent
But the sagacity Cd the writer does not pause
here. While England is drained by America aud
Australia, her political power and prestige are
threatened by that oyershadowing influence
against which the Western nations are even now
struggling. We aude TO the mighty Sclavonio
race whose onward march over the dynasty Of
Europe seems 10 the Ne,rs quite as inevitable as
that Of the United States over the bastard re-
pnbtcan'sm OF our continent. ! he doom will no
doubt be averted for while. bot it's advent seems
irresistible. The Sclavonian races are destined
to be the new lords of Europe. The Anglo-Sax-
ON race IN the language of the article, must 10
contented to be the lords of the larger and more
splendid inheritance of America and Australia
In this case what becomes of the empire of Great
Britain! II falls to the ground, and exists only
like other Powers or Poteniates of the world
IN the bones and snews of its sons and success
sors transferred to a new soil and ENJOYING priv
ieges, blessing and opportunities from which
their forefathers were excluded.
We know not when, in the funess of time this
decree OF an overriding Providence will be exc
cuted, but that it win come is apparen, to every
man who studies history in u thoughtful spirit.
and deduces valuable truths from her unerrinr
teachings. With respect to England, we can
hardly agree with the gloomy ratocinations of the
Ne,cs, that in her fall she will have few friends
Her violence and cupdty, her grasping policy,
and her mania for territorial ACKNOWLEDGEMENT have,
itscertaiE, estrangedthe nations; but as the seat
OF the highest civilization one OF the chief domains
of science and art; the conservaior aud propaga.
tor OF free institutions, she will find sympathies
III her decadence in the bosom of every republi
can' and in none will they be warmer and NOR,
enduring than in the offshoot of her greatness OF
this side of the Atlantic. who gathered from he,
precepts and example the leading principles Of ,
pohty which has created ,igor and durability AN,
which will make us pussant and formidable whe,
England shall bereduced to comparative senili
ty andimpotence.