Weekly Calaveras chronicle., 1867-04-13
Destiny.

to the infancy, middle and old age OF
mankind, and when the mission for which
they were created, is performed, they gradu-
ally decay and are buried In the oblivion OF
the past. Rome, once the capital of an
empire whose dominion extended over the
whole of the globe then known, and which
for centuries maintained the title of mistress
of the World" has long since fallen from her
proud position. and at present is scarcely TAX
en- into consideration by the great Eui opean
powers. At first, not possessing foot OF
territory except what was enclosed by the
walls of their city. the Romans, by their
valor and superior attainments in the science
of arms, gradually extended their conquests,
absorbing the territory and consolidating
the inhabitants of other nations with their
own. Their leg:ons, victorious in every di-
rection, planted their banners in triumph
over the capital of every nation on the face of
the globe. and the Roman Emperors swayed
the sceptre, and received the homage and
tribute of the habitable world. The march
of ideas, keeping pace with the progress of
their arms, gave to the conquered natonali-
ties the civilization, education and the arts
and sciences which the Romans themselves
possessed, and freed them from the benighted
state of savage barbarism in which they had
been plunged previous to the Roman con-
quest. This accomplished, the destiny of
the Roman Empire appears to have been full
filed. The heterogeneous materials of which
it was composed was its principal element of
weakness and when once the process of dis
solution commenced, its downfall was rapid.
With the extinction of the Roman Empire,
the light Of civilization went out beneath the
dark waves of ignorance, superstition and
barbarism which enshrouded the world dur
ing the Dark Ages. The manifest destiny of
the United States of America is is plainly to
be understood as though the mysteries of the
future had been unveiled, and the events
which are to transplre were already chroncled
in the pages of history. The rapidity with
which they have increased in wealth and
population since the days of the Revolution
up to the present time, the gigantic strides
they are making in the acquisition of terrific
ry, strength and power, indicate, as plainly
as did the hand writing on the wall the
downfall of Belteshazzar, what the future Of
the United States is to be. No patriotic
American citizen can review the history of
his country, from the achievement of inde-
pendence, without feeling glow cf honest
pride. Composed at that time of but thr-
teen Colonies. mere dependencies upon the
bounty of a Mother Government, insignif-
cant in point of territory and population,
occupying but a narrow strip of country
along the Atlentic seaboard, surrounded by
a vast wilderness filled with fierce savages
who were prepared to dispute the progress
of the white man, engaged in a contest with
the most powerful nation on the face of the
globe, who then could have predicted that
the incipient Republic which was struggling
in the throes Of birth, would. in less than a
century, become mighty nation, stretching
its strong arms across the Continent, from
the Atlantic to the Pacific, from the North
Pole to the Isthmus of Darien-a Government
founded upon the principles of right, justice
and equality, enshrined in the hearts, upheld
and supported by thirty millions of freemen,
the boast of the free and the terror of tyrants j?
The recent requirement of the Russian Pos
sessions is but one of the steps which We
shall continue to take until the Stars and
Stripes wave in triumph over every foot of
the Continent of North America. 1t is as
inevitable as fate. But when this shall have
been accomplished, the mission which an
All-wise Providence intends US to perform
will not be completed. A republican form
and the question whether men are capable of
governing themselves or not. has been settled
in the affirmative The down trodden masses
of Europe watched the progress of the strug-
gle between freedom and slavery through
which we have recently passed, in breathless
suspense, and when the sun of liberty again
arose, brighter for its baptism of blood, they
hailed its appearance with delight. A revo-
lutionary spirit is manifesting itself through
out Europe, and its monarchs sit on thrones
beneath which the fires of liberty are being
famed into flames. When every crowned
head is divested of its symbol of power, and
mankind, everywhere, enjoy the blessings of
free government, will the destiny of the
Giant Republic of the West be fulfilled.