The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1858-01-29
TERRITORIAL EXPANSION.
[Prom the New YORK EIpress.l ]

due development of republican institutions
and to the material welfare of the American
People. And in this prevalent light, the for
chile estoppel of Walkers second raid upon
Nicaragua is condemned as not only unlaw.
ful, but unwise, unpatrio,ic, and impolitic.-
A stranger unacquainted with the true state
of the case, listening just now to certain ora
tors in the Senate and House of Representa-.
tives, would be apt to imagine that we OF the
North American Republic must be, of all
men, the most miserable. He would think
that we had nothing at home to content us,
and that the things which our hearts most
desired were to be found in foreign lands
alone, in feverish atmospheres, amidst tropi-
cal miasmas, and under torrid suns. He
would be tempted to believe that our popua.
ton had already waxed so'intolerably super
abundant that there was not square inch
Of unoccuped land within our boundaries,
not in some way or other appropriated. With
the leech cries of more territory, manifest
destiny, and progress, eternally resounding in
his ears he might be pardoned if his inno-
| cence led him TO suspect that our people
were SO "criLbed, cabin'd aud confined" new
accessions of outside territory were indispen-
sable to our health and comfort-nay, to our
very existcnce-and that, therefore, a more
liberal Interpretation of the laws of nations,
and the laws of good morals, ought to be
made for our benefit, than mankind are in
clined to accord to nations and people more
fortunately situated. .ta
We have characterized this line of argu-
ment as based upon pre-supposition Of pub
lie credulity. pre.suppostion likewise of
public intelligence might be added-for what
can be more preposterous or absurd than the
theory that great nation like this is, in any
considerable degree, dependent upon the pos.
session of Central America, or Cuba, or Can
ada, or any other foreign territory, for the
means to enable it to work out the glorious
destiny to which good Providence has de-
voted it! We are not "cribbd, cabined, nor
confined" We have not begun 10 feel the
miseres and Inconvenience of an over popu-
latiou, and if there is one toant in this world
which the United States are not in want Of
so 20 speak-t is want of more territory
Between the Alleghanies pnd the Rocky
Mountains we have a virgin area, broad
enough to contain nearly all of Europe. Its
soil is fertile enough to produce probably
food enough to feed the whole family of man
while its climate is second to none in the
temperate zones tor its salubrous and health
giving qualities. Much of this vast area as
yet is untrodden by the foot of the white
man. Our geogrnphers, gazetteers, and guides,
only indicate in bare outline its vast and
magnificent dimensions. Practically the truth
is we know but little of il, aud, in the ordi-
nary course of human events, we think it is
not saying too much, that another generation
Of men must pass from this stage ere we be-
gin to appraise II at anything like its real
value. With these imperial possessions open
to us, then, how idle it is to prate of the ne
cessity Of territorial expansion! How crimi.
nal to make that dishones! plea the dishon-
orable pretext for the spoliation Of neighbor-
ing nations, too weak to give force to their
remonstrances by force of arms The tone
of our national morality must be in a rapidly
declining scale, indeed, if sophistics like these
are to give character and direction to the
American mind. The safer progress Of our
country just now, we may be permitted to
suggest, is toward the setting sun-not to-
wards the equnoctial line. We do not ex-
pect that class Of statesmen who are in the
habit Of separating sectional interests and
sectional Institutions from the interests and
institutions of the nation at large, to look at
our "manifest destiny" in its highest and tru-
est light, through this medium; but in view
of the persistency and boldness with which
some Of those statesmen are coming forward
to justify and apologize for system of pro-
fessional piracy, on the doubtful theory of
national necessity, every consideration of JUS
tice and truth, of national honor and public
morality, irresistiby impel us to protest
against extension, upon any such principle
There can be no plea for fllibusterism, or for
fillibusters, with men uninfuenced by party
motives, personal ambition, or sectional pre-
judice. There can be no plea for pluudering
Central America, or any other nation, on
whose possessions our greedy aye may light;
and, though we are having melancholy evi-
dence every day tha, no plea is so bad that il
will not have, here and there, pleader in the
halls Of Congress, yet we are happy to have
good reason to believe that the vast majority
Of our ceuntrymen. representing the honora-
BILE and honest Of all parties and al sections,
South as well as North, are unwilling to be
responsible for the new and dangerous doc
trines promulgated on Walkers behalf, BY
some Of their representatives in the National
Legislature.
A FEARFUL WARSNe.-A young lady,
twenty-five years Of age, Of elegant accom-.
plishments and fascinating Qualities Of many