The weekly American banner. (Yazoo City, Miss.) 1855-18??, 1856-05-09


The growth and prosperity Of this county h6ve
been great and rapid without parallel in the his
tory Of the world. Within single lifetime, within
the memory Of some yet living, the nation has
gained in population, wealth, and enterprises to an
extent never realized or dreamed of by any nation
in ancient or modern times And it has arisen not
by wars of conquest and crime not by the invasion
of defenseess territories not by reading upon the
a,ecks of subdued tribes Of men but by the peace
aul arts, by toilsome industry, by honorable eompe
tition in every market of the world, by generous
institutions wisely administered and cheerfully
obeyed, and by Gods providence shining from
cloudless skies, that her mighty youth has been
nurtured into almost excessive greatness.
The rapidity with which some of our cities have
attained their present size, wealth, and splendor,
wears more the air of romance than of history
New York may be named example. Accord
ing to statistics recently published, one hundred and
fifty years ago the whole amount of property in the
now chartered limits of that city, was assessed at
the value of E99,000, and owned by three thou
sand persons. The whole amount of tax levied was
four hundred and fifty dollars. Then, the place
was infested with wolves, and rewards offered
for their determination. The whole number of YES
sells belonging to the port three barges, three
brigantines, twentysix sloops, and forty-six open
boats /; and the whole number of seamen employed
was but twenty. A century ago, the population was
only about 5000. Now, it is one of the first COM
mercial cities in the world, The harvest of her
rivers is her revenue and she is mart of nations
She has become the carrying city, whose merchants
are princes, whose trafiekers are the honorable CT
the earth.
| Philadelphia, though of second-rate commercial
importance ranks even higher than her sister city in
literary and scientific character and riches There
are yet living some persons who remember when
grain-ields occupied what is the center of the
city, and when her entire population did not more
than equal some Of our country villages. Yet there
are colleges libraries collections of art, and manu-
factories, worthy of the Oldest cities of Europe
Nay, in balancing accounts with the mother cont
nent, we find it our debtor in medical discovery in
natural philosophy, and in the mechanic arts.
! Nor are New York and Philadelphia singular in
stances of rapid increase. The whole country has
grown in an equal and corresponding ratio, and
notwithstanding occasional temporary embarrass
ment, still swells, not with bloated but substan
tial prosperity and the most sober calculation o
the future prospects startle US as chimerical ant
1 dreamy.
A celebrated English writer calculates that if thu
natural resources of the American continent wer
fully DEVELOPED, it would easily afford sustenanc
800, 100000 of inhabitants, number one third Z
as great as the entire mass of human beings exist
ling at present upon the globe. And the write
thinks there is every probability that this prodi
gious population will be in existence within three
or, at most, four centuries The Imagination is los
in contemplating state of things which will max
so zaad ,rsnid change in condition Of tn