The Abbeville banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1847-1869, 1857-05-07
BYsDAv1s g. CREWS.
OUR C0uNTRYs MIssIoN-sPEEGH OF HON
-, CALEB CUSHING

late Attorney General of the United States
afrixed at his bone in Newberryport, Mass.
= and was receivedswith imposing ceremonies
Mayor Davenport welcomed him in a brie
peech, to which Mr.. Cushing replied in
1ne of the grandest efforts, it has ever been
our forthnes st9 listen to Or to read. We
would gladly publish his remarks entire, ii
-'our limits allowed; bnts,nust content our
selves WITH tie following eloquent extracts
1t was my fortune, not many years ago,
to traverse the Pacific Ocean in its widest
;expanse, from tire Continent of Asia to
that of America. We launched forth upon
it in our frail bark, as Columbus did on the
Atlantic, with nothing save it.. not to speak
of mans presence, in that great world Of
sea and sky. 1t may have been that some
solitary, daring hunter Of the seas, from
New Bedford or Nantucket, chased the
whale in tho distant bays of Kamschatka
or the Aluetiun Islands, or that some Rus
sian coasted along the Straits of Behring
from the Asiatic 10 the American Siberia :;
but otherwise, from the Sandwich Islands,
beneath the Tropic Cancer, 10 the ice-boud
foundations of the Polar North, we alone
-, sYere out on that immense ocean. No;
forgot. There might have been stray
ship from Boston or Salem, painfully col
lecting cargo of raw hides in San Fran
cisco or San Diego, or another from our
city, with perhaps your present Mayor and
Others of your immediate fcllow-citzcns on
board, planting our country's standard OH
tho banks of the Columhia; for be il re-.
membered, Oregon was originally colonizcd
by men Of Newhuryport. But no longer
were the great galleons Of spain TO he seen
there, transporting the wealth of Mexico to
China. It was a desert waste IF water .s
if awaiting the winged messenger Of the
ark to fly forth upon it, and seek u new
resting place for the feet of another Noah.
While navigating that waste of water
while sailing by its almost uninhahitaLlc
shores, the thought came to mellow
should it not ?-Are Tie inraluaJle riches
Of Meoe e'ast regions Of curtA ncver to profit
naus Is that vast ocean TO continue thus
barren of use, with no white canvas Of the
mariner, TO steamship, with lis clouds 10y
day and its pillar of fire 10y night, to plow
the deep and breast the rolling waves, bear
ing the freight and wealth of the Western
to the Eastern Indies Timc-and how
brief a time has answered this question.
The opulent State of California has grown
up there, as it were, i'll day-giving and
receiving treasury of wealth, and assuming
its proud place i'll the galaxy of the Union.
"A second State, Oregon, is about to take
on the robes Of sovereignty as cocqual
member of the confederation of States
A fhird, Washington, perpcluating the
nametof the father Of his country in that
ultimo thule of America, will not be con-
sent to remain long without its full enjoy.
ment of constitutional rights, and its due
representation in the Senate of the United
States. And that SO recently unoccupied
ocean of the North Pacitic-how buoyant
iy does it now bear upon its swelling waves
those noble fleets of clipper ships of New
buryport and of East Boston, by tho side
OF which the gallcons of Acapulco and
Manila were but unsightly hulks, and
which are freightcd with wealth such rs
q poet never dreamed of to fill the : great
argosies Of Genoa and of Venice Who,
In so brief time, wrought all these won
derss Was it the work of legends Of fab
nlous giants, marshallcd to their stupend.
. Nous task by the miraculous charm of the
gfing Of Solomon, such as we read of in the
picturesque legends of Arabia9 He who
saw it as it was ten years ago, and sees it
as 1t is7noy, might well conceive that moth
;ngsshort of supernatural power could have
;. produced the marvellous change. 1t is mi
lacnlous, il is supernatural--not miracle
Of demon slaves driven under the lash of
2 some magacisn taskmaster, but the miracle
:. of American courage, American genius and
American virtue, working ont our country's
great destinics, under the pre-. ordained i'm
palsion Of Almighty Cod
It wassmy fortune, at another lime, to
stand on the summit of the lofty ridgo Of
assad sl,iGl divides the sources ofthe Miss
ppii from those of Lakes Superior, HUI
SSn; Esie and Ontario, having, on my right
bard waters Of that mighty river which
as.it fows on to tile Gulf Of
sfico, 9srtiiisss Largest and the richest
rdj5evsofs cuItiSatablo, land on tho. face ~