The Washington union. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1857-1859, 1859-01-27
THE AMERICAN po4aev cF EXPANSION BY PuR-
CHASE.

United States which cannot escape II we
would. We have passed the Appalachian ear-
rier and occupied the Mississippi besin we have
rounded cut possessions on the south by the
purchase of Florida and the acquisition ofLousiana.
We have overSowed our borders thus expanded into
Texas, and have annexed, in that acquisition, de.
partsnent to the Union great the oid thirteen
States. We have pushed out dominion beyond
the Rio Grande to the Pacific ocean on whose
shores have planted empire which, in the
next decade, will exceed in wealth and population
the confederation il existed at the adoption of the
constitution. In the exuberance of our strength
and the buoyant energy Of development, we
have once taken possession of Mexico, and nothing
but the moderation and patience of acquisition in
spired by our confidence in our destiny could have
induced us to recede for time from that land, as
beautiful IN its natural features as wretched in its
social state, attractive in its future destiny as
gloomy in its present dcsoation.
We have undergone this marvellous development
IN less than century, and upon basis Of popula-
ton to begin with, Of but three millions of souls In
eighty years three millions of people have developed
into thirty, have occupied the whole Gulf coast to
",
have crossed the continent to the Pacific, and occu
pied its entire coast with settlements. In view
OF this past, and of the expansion which has thus
been effected with three millions of population it is
not unreasonable to infer that we are not to stand
still during the next eighty years, possessing now,
as we do basis Of thirty millions of people to begin
with instead Of three.
The acquisition OF Louisiana and of Florida was
not measure of cxpodicncy optional with our gov
ernment buta measure of necessity obligatory npon
it. Tho law of development which has spread
our population the Mississippi valley along the
slopes Of tho Gulf and out to the coast of the Pacific
renders 1t necessary for our government from time
to time, in order to avoid the opprobrium which
attend buccancer Hbuster practices, and to
guard against ENVIRONMENTS with foreign pow
ers to step forth in advance of the natural out
flow Of emigration and open the way for it by ami
cable purchases of domains lying in its course.
Nothing is clearer than that we should have been
involved in constant wars with Spain and France if
Louisiana and Florida had not been coded to the
Union ia advance of the occupation of those districts
by our The history of Texas illustrates the
incvitablcness of war, if timely acquisition is not
made by the government of territory which the
natural progress of migration marks out for race
tits impossible for government Al
is the design of Providence that the hardy, enter.
prising, and daring race which peoples the United
States shall ultimately acquire possession of the
southern portions of the North American conti-
nent Tho consummation will he the result Of
great natural and physical laws, on which gov
crnment can put no rein and which it is inn
possible for it to check. There is therefore. but
one line Of policy which it is free to pursue in
respect to this development; which is that of open
ing the way by negotiation and acquisition for the
progress Of the migration. This prodigous develop
ment of population and marvellous outspread of emf
grafton is anomaly unknown before in the history
of civilization, and peculiar TO our continent IN
like those OF Europe, government has not at its
command vast standing armies ty which to coerce its
population within prescribed limits The rapid devel-
opwent Of our population results from potential laws
OF nature and not from any agency of its Having
thus no power to restrain its growth to conine it
within prescribed boundaries, there is imposed upon
IL from time to time, political necessity, the
policy OF acquiring new territory, by the agency of
''~''"J P"ANH'ner ioA Hit outioW OF adventurous
spirits,
The policy of expansion by purchase is new. as
the anomaly in which it arises is peculiar ia tbis
continent. The great migrations of population on
the other hemisphere took place in the rude ages of
the world, when the law ofrapne was the only law Of
nations The migrations of the human race are. and
will continue to be, on mighty scale in our
hemisphere as they were the eastern but il is the
glory of modern civilization, and the especial glory
of our own country, that the violence, wrong, and
outrage that marked their course and constitute
some Of tho most horrfying incidents of history.
are now unknown. We have inaugurated the peace
full policy new in history peculiar to ourselves and
not yet truly appreciated or apprehended in Europe
OF amcabe purchase. The only war that has re
suited from our expansion one in which our
government neglected TO go acant courier. olive
branch in hand to purchase country which prog
rcss annexed in spite of its omission.
The fillibuster expeditions which sometimes 20
forth from shores, in spite Of the precautionary
measures taken by government unprovided rs il
is with military force adequate to their suppression
are but the inscparable incidents of the anomaly
we have been mentioning and do not entail the
disgrace upon authorities which the European
press would visit upon them. If Great Britain. will,
her then standing army of hundred thousand men.