Centre Democrat. [volume] (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1848-1989, 1861-04-18
The Future Of America.

the Baltimore american of the I'd instant j
The Able Lacordaire, upon his inaugura-
tion into the French Academy as the success
sor of the profound and philosophical De
Tocqueville, who alone Of. all foreign writers
on the United States has comprehended the
true genius and character of our institutions
and people, passed most glowing and 9 o,
quent eulogium upon America. We are
aware that the secession of some of our States
may appear to detract 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 what
ever to the transformation OF a Republic inc
to monarchy nor in any way inyalidate the
great principle of the capacity Of. man for
self government. Whatever probability there
may be Of the ultimate detachment and sep
aration Of the federal. groups, when the fIac-
tions of which the whole is composed prove
too numerous and powerful for their pre-
scribed limits, there is no throne in the world
as soliSs and stable as the fres replesentatiy g
government of which this Union is composed,
because they are identified with national
manners, and have their roots aud sap in the
habits and souls of the people. We may.
therefore, hail with unalloysd pleasure this
tribute to America of the learned and elc--
quent Lacordsire, one of the literary mag
mates Of 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 gal
liant France which always contemplates our
growth and prosperity with pride and salts
faction: "An aggrandized EnropeL And
what is Europe?, The space comprised be-
tween the Alleghenies parallel to the Allan
tic, and the Rocky Mountains parallel to he
Pacific. is, as is we'll known, six times larger
t,an France. If to this is added the three
hundred and ninety leagues of the old States,
aad the naore recent acquisitions from the
Rocky Mountains to the sea, Imagination it
self is astonished at these proportions. It is
the tenth part Of the whole globe !'
What q contrast is all this to the petty
Vindictiyeness maalferted in late number
cf the London Times, where it taunts Ameri-
ca with their boast that the State of Vir-
giEia is larger than England" and exulting-
ly points them to their present disruption
Why, that disruption, even if it becomes
permanent. will prove only a transient check
to American progress. 1t will not even in
terrupt permanently the friendly relations of
the two people. They will, in all proba5ili-
ty, be united by an offensive and defensive
alliance, and therefore, in al important as
poets of their foreign relations, will remain
ONE ss ct present. There will be no change
whatever in Republican institutions. Wheth-
er States secede and stay seeded. or wheth
er they return, the race and society to which
they all belong can not secede from ITSELF
The New Yorker will continue to become
easily acclimated in Louisiana, and SO th e
Virginian in New York. Still enjoying the
full development 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 supposition that
a reconstruction of the Union will not soon
occur-an event which We believe to be as
certain as the regular return of the seasons
year by year. But, whether that event hap
pen or not, the secession Of the Gulf States
can not retard the inevitable developments of
the New World. The grand characteristic
of the Ameri can mind is embodied in the
phrase of David Crockett, Go ahead )" it
can die, but can not surrender that mortal
vigor which is the secret of its strength and
progress, and which was never surpassed by
the energy of Rome under the Scipios, of
France under Louis XIV, or of Spain under
Isabella. a land il which everything moves
in which the rivers change their beds
the climate becomes more temperate-the
means of subsistence multiply-and the pop
ulation doubles every twenty years-can net
soon be expected to come to a stand STILL
At the end of this century the eighteen mil
lions 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 France; the whole whether uni
ted or divided, possessing the same free in.
situations TO which the Abbe Lacordaire has
paid his glowing tribute, and over whose
downfall the organs of absolutism and aris-
tocracy are now indujging in premature ex-
ultation.
Napoleon's Tomb at St. Helena. "a
An English steamer recently brought from
St. Helena Capt. Masselin and two soldiers
of the Third Regiment Of Engineers. They
have been employed in repairing the tomb of
Napoleon, at St. Helena. by direction of the
French authorities, and with the permission
of &bo IT, cI;sh Cova~rccork Ill., x,c.h Lc .