The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1860-01-26

ico.sk ouch was sentiment expressed by Mr.
Calhoun in his celebrated speech on the wal
question last winter. Whether that far-seeine
Senator had in his mind all the reasons thai
might suggest such a remark, it is not neces
sary to inquire. We adopt and repeat the sen
timent )" There as mysterious connection be
tween the destinies of this country and those o.
Mexico"
AT the beginning of the century, few, if any
statesmen foresaw. the rapid growth of the Uni
ted States, or the bearings of this growth on
the fortunes of the Spanish dominion in North
America. During the last ten years of the last
century, we were humbly negotiating for the
free navigation of the Mississippi and Con
gress instructed Mr.. Carmichael, in 1890, tc
urge on the Spanish Government, as induce
ments to concede this, the considerations, that
the United States would be safer neighbor
than Britain, to Spain; that conquest was re
| pugnant to the genius of our Government; that
it was not our interest TO cross the Mississippi,
for agesn that it " ssecer scU be our interest 10
remain connected acih those icho do" In the
beginning of this century, all that President
Jefferson asked of Napoleon, was, the cession
of New Orleans and of the Floridas, with the
Mississippi as the final boundary of our pos
sessions and at last he was fairly forced to
take the ,ohole of louisiana
| How short-sighted is the wisdom of the
wisest Some of those statesmen have lived
to see the seat of American empire transferred
from the Atlantic slope to the west of the ALE,
ghanies, and the Mississippi river, which tcas
to be the perpetual scestern boundary of Amer
lean territory, passing far to the east of its cen.
trail point :,
Now, cast your eye on the map of North
America. An energetic race of people, speak
ing one language, assimilated under one sys.
TEN of free institutions favorable to the utmost
development of human faculties, has taken pos
session of the best portion of the continent,
stretching from the great chain of inland seas
on the north to the Gulf of Mexico on the
south, and indented on the Atlantic seaboard
with numerous commodious and secure har.
bors. 1t has acquired not only the Free but the
sole navigation of the central river of the Mis-
sissippi valley. 1t has secured every harbor on
the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico. 1t
passes beyond the Mississippi States
upon its western shores-sweeps onward above
the fortieth parallel of latitude to the Rocky
Mountains, surmounts those formidable barri-
ers, pours down their western dechvities, and,
in 1916, finds itself in safe possession of seven
degrees of the Pacific coast 1t has belted the
continent with its power-one people, one lam
guage, one mind, prevailing from ocean to
ocean. The Government which fifty years ago
trembled for its stability at the bare idea of
colonization beyond the Alleghanies, is now
sending the mail to American colonists across
the Rocky Mountains.
The people who have accomplished these
results, meantime, have multiplied from three
to twenty millions, and the old world is now
pouring its hundreds of thousands, the excess
of its population, into the country which they
have opened.
But it was only above the fortieth degree of
latitude that their energies had scope, and the
tide of population could roll onward to the Pa
ci6c. Below that, reaching down ten degrees
to the Gulf of Mexico, progress was arrested a
short distance beyond the Mississippi, not by
natural barriers = mountains, lakes, or des-
erts-but by another empire, running up from
the sixteenth degree of latitude to near the
thirtieth, in narrow slip between the Gulf of
Mexico and the Pacific Ocean, and thence up
wards from thirty to forty-two Degrees between
the Pacific on one side and two-thirds of the
western boundary of this country on the other ;
and this boundary, not natural, but artificial,
depending upon parchment deeds and titles.
The portion of Mexico thus bounded, pressed
upon by the restless energies of the United
States, constitutes its larger portion, and yet
contains scarcely any population, while the
whole of Mexico has but eight souls to the
square mile. The race which made it an en-
pire is scarcely one eighth Of the entire popula-
ton, and has failed to establish institutions
favorable to the assimilation of the various
classes of people under its ascendency, or to
the development of their energies. The people
languish. Five millions when we were three.
they are now only seven millions while we are
twenty. Agriculture, manufactures, com
merce, are all at stand. Civilization strug.
giles for life.
What is to be expected when two such races.
SO contrasted in all the elements of power, are
yet brought into immediate juxtaposition, with
out the impeachment of any natural barriers
vast wilderness owned by the one, inviting the
reckless adventures of the other? Texas is
first settled, then annexed. This would have
taken place, even though the Curse which
fastened that event, and has alleged its conse-
quences with evils not yet fully disclosed, had
not been the immediate cause.
But the stronger race has overleaped its lin
its; it has passed to the Nueces, and then, BY
a second thought, to the Rio Grande, thus add
ing, at one stroke, three hundred thousand
square miles to Its territory, grasping one.third
of the western shore of the Gulf of Mexico and
bringing itself a thousand miles nearer the Pa
ci6c. The weaker race feels itself aggrieved
and for good reason. 1t has been foully deal
with. What has happened, would have hap
pened, had there been no Slavery to precipitatt
the result by means repugnant to fair dealing
but, it would have taken, place by the operation
of natural causes, probably. in such a way a.
Justice might have sanctioned.
Has the force of these natural causes, how
ever, now spent itself? Have we acquired {
natural boundary? Have we sufficient mum
Der of safe ports on the western shore of tn,
Gulf? Have we free, ready, safe outlet tt
the PaciGc9 Has the tide of foreign immigra
ton ceased swelling towards our shores? Ha