Mountain Democrat. [volume] (Placerville, El Dorado Co., Cal.) 1854-1860, 1859-08-13
OUR COUNTRY.



The discovery Of America In its practical
bearings on the deStinies Of mankind was
equivalent to the creation Of another planet
beyond the seas for the habitatlon Of man.
1t brought into activity on the race . new
combination Of physical causes, which, In
their final operation, shall lead to cOnsequen.
ces-pOlitical, social, intellectual, and moral
grander than have yet occupied the thoughts
or dazzled the minds of men.
North America stands forth on our sphere
the centre figure among the continents around
which they are all grouped. On the one hand,
she lifts her front, set and Offering with cities
in the face Of Europe; and on the other, turns
her western slope, watered with rivers Liter.
ally turbed with gold, and crowned with eter-
nal spring, in The broad vision Of Asia. While
between these extremes lies an empire more
than six thousand miles in its outline, covered
with the richest soils ever visited by the beams
Of the sun, and interscctcd by streams which
pour their floods through finland seas " to
the great ocean. And already Science, in her
azure robe, has taken her stand on the crest
Of the world the summit Of the Rocky noun.
tains; and gazing with dazzling eyes in the
face Of Asia, with q globe in one hand and n
compass in the other, whose trembling needle,
instinct with the pulSatiOns Of that wonderful
vein Ofmagnetic influence which throbs around
the world, is pointing out to the millions of
the West the parallel Of latitude on which the
riches Of the earth are TO find highway to
the East And, indeed, she is now reckoning
into our Pacific ports the daring canvas "
and flying It amer Of every nation, from the
wandl ring seas ard distant transits around
Cape Horn and Cape Of Good Hope. And yet
our country is but in the germ of her great.
ness and the infancy Of her years.
In century to come, at the regular rates
Of increase, she will contain \ population Of
800, 100000. 1t cannot be avcrted; for the
general laws Of the moral are as certain in
their operation as those OF the natural world.
The AnglO-Amcrican race must eventually
pour its wave Of population over this CONT
ncnt. Its progress in the past is the best
ang1ry for the future. Had any one in the
time Of The confederation Said that the hand.
full Of men then living, and their descendants
in fifty years, would spread to the Pacific
ocean, he would have been regarded as q run.
mad enthusiast But incredulity has been
turned into faith and fancy into fact. Is it
less probable that this powerful and master
race, within the next hall. century, will have
followed our eagles over all Central American
Already the pulse Of the AngIO-AmrricGR
beats in Nicaragua.
| And what exists in our system to prevent
! its extension to the whole? Il is totally un-
like any other which ever existed. In the
checks and balances, concord and harmony Of
! its embodied members" it approaches more
nearly to the solar system, planned by God
himself, than any other; for, like the planets
each revolving on its axis, while bound by
the kindly law Of gravitatiOn to the central
luminary-cvery State, possessing a separate
distinct, and independent government Of her
own, is, at the same time, bound with her sis
tiers into perfect union around the Federal
Government by the compact Of the Constitu-
ton Of the United States.
| The inference of dsmembrrmcnt from ter
ritorial expansion springs from the error Of
cOnfOundiDg our representative republic with
pure and primitive DcnOcracicS, aud applying
the rcasonings drawn from one to the other
The true distinction is, as Mr.. Madison said,
that in a radical Democracy the people meet
and exercise the government in persOn-in q
representative republic by their agents. II
follows, that the territorial limit Of pure De-
mocracy is that distance from common cen.
tire which will barely allow the most remote
citizens, as often public exigencies demand,
to come to the scat Of government; and that
Of a representative republic, that distance
which will permit the representative Of tie
people to come to the central point as often rs
necessary without dctIint mt to the public ser.
vice.
The application Of the agency Of steam to
transit on land and water, and the employment
Of the lightning for the transmission Of intclli-
gcnce, have endowed government, man, and
the human mind, with kind Of earthly ubi.
guilty, which, in point Of time and practical
effect, have brought the utmost borders this
whole continent nearer to its common centre
than were the limits of the old thirteen States
to the scat Of government in the days Of the
confederation. Our double system Of govern.
ment, State and federal in the practical infiu.
ence and expansibility of its machinery, is ca
pable Of adjusting itself as well to the whole
as to any Of its segments. Whether such an
extension ought ever to take place. and the
time and methods by which it shall be accom-
plished, If ever, are far different questions
questions which must be decided by you in
your day and generation, under high sense
Of national justice, honor, and morality, when
they shall arise.
Discarding, however, in nature ell social
distinctions springng from the accidents Of
birth and fortune, and founded ON the intrin.
sic dignity Of man as man, our institutions
know no ariStOcracy but that Of virtue and Of
intellect The equality Of civil and religious
privileges and the general diffusion OF political
power among the people at large, by which
every free man Of the white race becomes an
element in our State and national sovereignties,
have brought the patronage Of the Govern
ment and the capacities Of the people into
contact and furnished motives for high attain.
ments in science, law, and political economy
unknown to the monarchles and deSpotisms
Of the other hemisphere, founded IS they are
upon the interest Of the few. And, in conSe-
qucnce of indefinite numbers to whom the
high honOrs and dazzling rewards Of our free
country make their mighty depths Of appeal,
and whom they stir to mental activity in their
preparations for our ever.returning Olympics,
our country Is soon 70 be the brightest spot
on the planet We inhabit, and in tho empire
Of the mind, of letters, ard Of CloqUence, the
first In the civilized world.
Carry forward your minds, then, to that
country which rises on the prophetic future
Consider the immensity Of her outline, itself Z
bOundless image Of liberty, crowded with Z
dense and mighty people; belted with every
degree OF climate, repoSing in tho midst ofthe
great oceans, and watered by . thousand
rivers running to the seaR. Behold her fields
spotted with fiOcks and herds, and crowned
with purple harvests checkeFed with cleo
trio wires and public works; studded with
villas and cities and ruled by the wiseSt gov
ernmsnt the world ever saw. Turn the radiant
eye Of contemplation 70 her beautiful seats O
art. where the genius Of sculpture "pouTe liz
l..