The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1858-09-16
Caina and Minnesota.

Of the Treaty. with China. Few people APP
prebend the immense significance Of this
latter event; bat experimenting il, it would
almost seem, in the marvellous coincidence
Of these great initial cpochs, as II the Allan
tic Telegraph was laid especially to proclaim
the tidings Of this majestic revolution in the
Eastern World or, as il the Peace with
China had concurred with this new bond
between the nations especially to signalize
the gospel mission announced in its first
fash across the ocean Of {" Goodwill toward
men,"
The Divine vocation OF the Atlantic
Gable could have no grander Interpretation
than the correspondent acquisition Of China
to the civilization Of the world and there
isa sublime epical consistency in the coinci.
dence Of the two great events which closed
at the same time the gulph that separated
Europe from America, and the wider gulph
that separated the world from China.
or these triumphs Of opposite forces, the
latter, though it is not at first sight appa'
rent, has the more direct bearing upon the
topical interests of Minnesota. The juxta-
position which we have given to China and
Minnesota in the caption Of this article, will
startle only those with too little grasp Of
mind to comprehend the real nature OF the
relation il suggests, or with too little intor-
nation on which to predicate it. b
The discovery OF Gold upon Frazer River,
1000 miles from st. Paul, upon the Pacific
Coast, was instinctivey seized upon by the
sagaeity Of the people of Minnesota, as q
barbinger of gccd to our State. The open
ing of China to the intercourse of civilized
nations is the complement Of that discovery.
1t offers new guaranty for the construc-
ton of Northern Pacific Railroad. II
makes the path Of commerce across the con.
tinent coincident with the zone OF Industrial
development.
The weight Of European civilization and
resources, the industrial activity Of the
American people, are in the great geograph'
ical belt which stretches across the two con-
tinents and includes Minnesota. The st.
Lawrence Rive. and its magnificent western
extersiol ~ u lakes, the great granaries
Of the st the head Of navigation
on the u ki.sippi, the majestic and fertile
plains Of je Red River and Saskatchewan,
aretchinelgest to the Rocky Mountains
and al, Il for nearly 1000 miles by con-
tinuoj chain Of navigable rivers, the min.
eral ID \ .es Of Frazer River, the magnif.
cent ha sge Of Puget Sound; these are
some Of the physical elements which enter
into the solution Of the question Of North.
ern Pacific Railway.
The chain of physical conditions is per.
feca; nothing was wanting but motive, and
that is no longer wanting. There is some.
thing providential in the fact that scarcely
had the practicability Of the northern route
tothe Pacific been satisfactorily ascertained,
than, all at once, there should spring from
the vexy bowels OF the earth at its Pacific
extMnity, an appeal on its behalf never
made IN vain to the most powerful Of human
passions (; and scarcely has that argument
fxfd itself in the minds Of the world, and
set its currents all in motion towards the
/, snd in question, than all the hidden wealth
81 China is unlocked TO make the argument
irresistible, and the possessions Of the Hud.
son Bay Company are surrendered TO colo
nization TO remove the last obstacle to the
enterprise; aud 4 Il the adaptations Of ma.
I ,ture, the potential stimulus Of avsrice, the
aimpulses Of colonization and the deeper sec.
ulsr movements Of population, were not
enough to determine the final solution oil
this problem Of an interoceanic railway, the
Destiny which has made it inevitable has
made its contamination the national policy
g the most energetic nation under the sun.
England has taken the matter In hand. Let
no one fear but she win carry it through.
A Pacific Railway would not only give her
the basis Of new colonial empire, but it
would give her Asia.
All her plans Of future aggraDdizement
lob to her colonial possessions as the source
Of future power. With an empire built up
and consolidated in IBdia and Australia,
with an uninterrupted belt Of dominion from
the Atlantic to the Pacific, with the naval
control Of the Pacific from the magnificent
emporium Of Puget Sound, she will have
surrounded Asia, che viii have command Of
j all it, approaches ard make it tributary 70
her veslth. That the whole national policy
Of England 10 shaped to secure TO herself the
rich resources Of Asiatie trade. Der whole
history proyes. An other nations have