The south-western. [volume] (Shreveport, La.) 1852-1870, 1858-12-15

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Of America, have been suecincty narrated in
needs not that we here do more than point to
these, as worthy the study, the patient study
Of every citizen Of our country.
They are full Of lessons OF encouragement,
of instruction, and of warning. They clearly
eylnce, that by the favoring care and guidance
of Him who rules in the affairs of men, our
country has gone forward with unexampled
rapidity, increasing in strength year by year,
until now she stands in the very front rank of
the great ruling powers of the world With
immense resources; with vast wealth; with a
territory stretching from ocean to ocean, sea-
coast of over tive thousand miles in length,
and an area Of country nearly three and a half
millions of square miles in extent; with some
thirty millions of people, full Of spirit, zeal,
enterprise, courage, and enthusiasm; what a
ours! Who can predict the extent of its devel-
opment, the increase of its population, the en-
largement of its wealth, the augmentation OF
its power and greatness? Who can venture to
tell what these United States of America are
yet to accomplish on this broad continent? Who
can say, what shall be the limit Of our adyan-
ces, the extent of our conquest, the terminus
of our career2
To the man who looks upon these things
from the point Of view which the christian
patriot occupies, the prospect of our country's
future causes anxiety no less than exultation
He knows, however men may delude them
selves or be puffed up with the idea that they
are acting wholly independently of all control
that there is ''God that iud geth in the earth, -
and that nations as well as individuals, are
subject to his laws and are working together te
accomplish his purposes. And, consequently
he watches, earnestly and faithfully the course
of events; he scans narrowly the principles
which are avowed in high places; he notes.
with the deepest concern, the tone of public
sentiment, the standard Of public virtue and
honor, and the recognizing, or the refusing to
recognize, the oyerruling providence Of Al,
mighty God.
It is hence very important and very inter,
esting question, what is the mission of oul
country in the world? Why has God seen fl
to favor with his aid the rise and spread oi
this great western republic? What is the duty
of Americans in view of their marked position
and their inestimable advantage! Not, surely,
to endeavor to accomplish any merely party
ends; not to exult in our advantages and privi-
leges for purely selfish purposes; not to think
that we are irresponsible beings, and living
without aim and object beyond the present
hour. Oh no. Privileges and blessings are
not bestowed upon men to use or neglect as
their passions or their Incidence may dictate
on the contrary, Shey are like the talents lent
upon the masters servants in the parable; they
involve deep responsibility; they must be ac-
counted for; they must yield their fair return
Or the master will certainly pronounce sentence
of condemnation; beyond doubt, our couuny
has mission to fulfill in the history of man
kind God has certainly raised up this people,
even as he raised up other nations and peoples,
to accomplish his purposes of mercy and good
ness, of Justice and truth. And if we, acting
upon the principles of truth and justice, and
endeavorng to promote the spread Of those
inestimabe advantages and blessings which We
enjoy as christian freemen,-if we set ourselves
to carry forward everything that is pure and
noble, ,eeyating to our race, we shall accomplish
the noblest and highest ends of human exis
tence; we shall work out our manifest destiny,
in the best sense of the words; we shall elevate
our species by perpetuatng those eternal truths
on which rest all our civilization all our prog.
ress, all our hopes here and hereafter.
tits not to be concealed, however, that there
is, on every side, much to fill the mind of the
patriot and the christian with anxious forebod
ings. With all our widely extended nationa
power, with all our millions of population, with
all our expanding resources, and our rapid ad
vancement in material wealth and Importance
with all that we have in the present, and conf
IDENTIFY count upon for the future, there are il
our midst elements of evil, and tendencies tt
discord and ruin, which may, eye long, if TN
checked, work out their necessary results. L
is hard to say it, it is indeed rather humiliating
to have to confessit, but it is nevertheless true
that party spirit is actively at work, from the
very presidency down to the lowest office in the
country; party spirit, too, in its most pernicious
form, in its meanest, most disgusting form,-ir
office seeking for the spoils of Office in scram-
bling and shutting, and scheming on the part
of those who are out to get in, and on the par
of those who are in to keep all others out
Public morality has deteriorated, and public
plundering is not, as once, rare thing; honor
and integrity are less priced than they were by
our fathers; defalcations are not uncommon
swindlers are more unblushingly open in then
nafarious operations; men, high in office and
position, are not ashamed to be guilty of con
duct suitable only to bullies and braggers, anc
to avow principles looked for only in infdel:
and defamers of the truth; robberies, murders
and the fouler sorts of crime, are more frequen
and less horlifying than ought to be the case
human life is valued at a small price; the mora
sense is becoming blunted; large foreign in
fusion has brought into our country the base
elements of foreign principles and views OF
social and moral topics; drunkenness is far too
common; che mass of current cheap literature
in the way of newspapers, flash magazines
novels, and the like, foster the most absurd ane
wicked opinions, the most silly iu1aginings the
most preposterous expectations, to say nothing
of suggesting and melting TO evil deeds anc
crimes of the deepest dye; greed of gain is OF
the increase; l.sh and fatal ventures in busi
ness are continually made; extravagance ir
style of living has grown wonderfully; there i:
less horror of debt; less sensbility to disgrace
from this source; there is, among the very poor
a harder, sterner, more savage sense, as if they
were personally wronged by the rich and the
prosperous, and a more ready disposition te
yield to the temptation to war against those
whom they look upon as their natural enemies