Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1861-04-26
NUMBER 46.
THE FUTURE OF AMERICA

1he Abbe LacordaIre, upon his lnau-
guration into the French Acadamy as the
successor of the profound and philosophical
De Toequeville, who alone of all foreign
writers on the United States has compre-
hended the true genius and character of
our institutions and people, passed most
glowing and eloquent eulogium upon Amer
lea. We are aware that the secession Of
some OF our States may appear to de-
tract from the force of this grand tribute
to free principles, but it is in appearance
only. The recent movements in the South
have exhibited no tendency whatever to
the transformation of a republic into a
monarchy, nor in any way invaidate .Ls
great principle Of the capacity of man for
self government. Whatever probability
there may 5e Of the ultimate detachment
and separation of the federal groups, when
the fractions of which the whole is compos
ed prov. too numerous and powerful for
their prescribed limits, there is no throne
in the world as solid and stable as the free
representative government of which this
Union Is composed, because they are iden-
titled with national manners, and have
their roots and sap IN the habits and souls
of the people. We may, therefore. hail
with unalloyed pleasure this tribute to
America of the learned and eloquent La
cordaire, one of the literary magnates of 3
nation which was the early ally of our
country and is still our most faithful friend.
What is America to become ?" exclaims
another distinguished writer of the same
gallant France which always contemplates
our growth and prosperity with pride and
satisfaction ''An aggrandized Europe!
And what is Europe? The space comprised
between the Alleghanies | arallel to the
Atlantic, and the Rocky Mountains parallel
to the Pacific, is as is well known, six times
larger than France. If to this is added
the three hundred and ninety leagues of shs
old States, and the more recent acquisitions
from the Rocky Mountains to the sea, i'm
agination itself is sstonished at these pro-
portions. 1t is the tenth part of the whole
globe 7"
What a contrast is all this to the pettu
vindictiveness manifested in a late num-
Der of the London Times, where it tauuts
America with their boast that s'the State
of Virginia is larger than England" and
exultingly points them to their present dis
ruption
Why, that disruption, even ifit becomes
permanent. will prove only transien.
check to American progress. 1t will not
even interrupt permanently the friendly
relations of the two people, They will, in
all probability, be united by an offensive
and defensive alliance, and therefore, in all
important aspects of their foreign relations,
will remain one as at present. There Will
be no change whatever in Republican in
stitutions. Whether States secede and
stay seeded, or whether they return, the
race and society to which they all belong
cannot seeede from itself The New York
er will continue to become easily acclima-
ted in Louisiana, and so the Virginian in
New York. Still enjoying the full devel-
opment of his American strength, each will
feel that he is part of substantially the
same organic and harmonious body
We say thus much on the suppositiou
that the Union will be preserved, an event
which we believe to be as certain as th~
regular return of that seasons year by yea
But, whether that event happen or not,
the secession of the Gulf States can not re-
tard the inevitable developments of the
New World. The grand characteristic of
the American mind is embodied in the
phrase of David Crockett, "Go ahca ad - i.
can die, but cannot surrender that moral
Vigor which is the secret of its strength
and progress, and which was never sur
passed by the energy of Rome under the
Scipios, of France under Louis XIV, or of
Spain under Isabella A land in which
everything moves--in which the rivers
change their beds-the climate becomes
more temperate-the means of subsistence
multiply-and the population doubles cv
cry twenty years-can not soon be expect
ed to come to standstill. At the end Of
this century the eighteen millions Of the
North will be seventy millions-as large
population as that of Russia; and the
twelve millions Of the South will be forty
millions--a larger population than that Of
England or Fronce the whole, whether
united or divided, possessing the same free
institutions to which the Able Laeordaire
has paid his glowing tribute, and over
whose downfall the organs of absolutism
and aristocaacy are now indulging in pre-
mature exultation.