St. Cloud Democrat. [volume] (Saint Cloud, Stearns County, Minn.) 1858-1866, 1860-10-04

State at an early period Of its mnterial, devel-
opment and social Improvement and growing
up with its growing greatness, TO BE able to
appreciate the feeling with which i am OPP
pressed on this my first entrance into the Cap
|ital Of the State Of Minnesota. Every step; Of
Mississippi, has been attended by IN agreeable
and constantly increasing surprise. Iahad
early read the works in which the geographer
had described the scenes around me, and had
studied these scenes infinitely i'm the finest pro-
auctions Of art; but still, the grandeur, the
luxuriance, the geniality Of the region were
but imperfectly conceived before L saw these
sentinel walls that look down on the Missis,
sippi- seen as I beheld them-just when the
earliest tinges of Fall give the rich variety Of
hues to the American forest. ! thought hew
celebrating the Highlands of Scotland and the
mountains of Palestine, before. civilized man
had reached the banks Of the. Mississippi
And then that beautiful Lake Pepin seen, at
the close of the day, when the autumnal green
Of the shores was lost in . deep blue hue that
emulated that Of the heavans; the moistened
atmosphere reflected! the golden rays Of the
setting sun, and the skies above seemed to
come down to complete the gorgeous drapery
of the scene. It iwas1i piece Of upholstery
such as NO hand but that Of nature could have
made. This magnificent Lake, said to my
self, is aftting vestibule to the Capital Of Min
nesota--a State which have loved, which
ever shall love, for more reasons than time
would now allow me to smention,i bit chiefly
because it was ono Of the three States which
my: voice had been potential in bringing into
the Federal Union. Every one of the three
WAS . free State, and I believe on my soul, that
Of the whole three, Minnesota is the ,freest Of
all. Loud Applause. T find myself now,
or:the1 first time 1.-THE highlands in thecentre.
Of the continent Of North America, equidistant
from the waters Of Hudson's Bay and the Gulf
Of Mexico; from the Atlantic Ocean to the ocean
in which the sun setsThere on the spot; where
spring up almost side by side, and SO near
that they may kiss each other, the two great
rivers of the continent, the, one Of which pur7.
suing its strange, capricious, majestic, viva
cious course through rapids, and. cascade, lake
after lake, bay after bay, and rivers after river,
till 1T last, after q couse of 2, 500 miles it,
brings your commerce. into the ocean tmidsw
to the ports Of Europe, and the other, which
meandering through woodland and prairie q
like distance Of $500 miles, taking III tributa-s
~ after tributary from the East and from the
West, bringing together the waters from the
Western declevity Of the Alleghanies and the
the Rocky Mountains, finds the Atlantic Ocean,
in the Gulf Of Mexico, Applause. Here
is the central ;placeowhere thseagric11ture ;of
the richest regions Of North America must be-
gin its magnificent supplies to the whole world.
LApplause. lfsOn the East, all along tlle shureE
Of Lake Superior, and on the West stretching,
in one broad plain, in a belt quite across the
Continent, ia country where State after State.
is yet to rise, and whence the productions for
the support Of human society in other crowd
Cd States must forever 60 forth. This'is then
IL 11,SkS So Sss~..
in regard to the commercial future, for, power
Is not to reside permanently on the eastern
slope of the Allegheny Mountains por ins the
sea ports Of the Pacific. Seaports have always,
been controlled at last By the people Of the In
terror: The people of. theainlanda and 9ofs the
upland. those who inhabit the sources Of the
mighty waters, are they who supply all States
with the materials Of wealth and power. The
aeaports will be thu, mouths by which W.. shah
communicate and correspond with Europe, but
the power that shall speak and shall c6mmani-
cate and express the will Of men on this stohti7
nent, is to be located in the Mississippi Valley,
and 1t the source Of the Mississippi and the
St. Lawrence Loud. applause. 3ls In sether,
days, studying what might perhaps have SEEM
ed to others 4 visionary subject, r have, cast
about for the2fdtnre,s the mltimata central seat
1 of power of the North American people. Ihaye
looked at Quebec and at New Orleans, 1t wash
ington and at San Francisco,at CincinnAti and
at st. Lonis. and il has been the result ,of, my
best conjecture that The seat Of power for North
Amefica would yet beifolnd IN the ValleyT6f
Mexico s; that the glorious Aztec Capitol would
g renewed, and that eity would bsesme gl
! America. But IhaHe corrected that view, md
i I now believe that the last seat Of power on
The great continent will Ebe found sohnaew where
within aeradus, net very fai from fvetyspot