The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-05-31

was steady IN former times, III Is Jtue; Out bnaV
was slow, and of course the natural increase
of population could not within so short
time make the mighty empire we now see.
Still the American statesmen of the early
days of the republic began to lay the founda-
tions of continental republican empire.
The acquisition of Louisiana was q great
event and the first one to carry the people in
large numbers to the immense and rich valley
of the Mississippi. This was really the initial
step to our wonderful territorial expansion
and development. The ambition and national
pride of our people received a powerful
stimulus in that The acquisition of Florida,
of Texas, of California, of New Mexico and
Arizona, and of Alaska, was but the sequel of
that act and followed the natural law Of our
development.
But new agencies began to work in the
course of time to increase the population of
the United States and to spread it over the
continent from the shores of the Atlantic to
the Pacific. The wonderful natural wealth,
variety of products cheap lands, free repub-
ican institutions, and q glorious future at
tracted the people of all nations from the Old
World. A vast stream of immigration poured
in and cultivated the soil, built up cities, and
made the wilderness blossom as the rose.
The redundant population of Europe, with
the poverty, tyranny, and political troubles
there, increased the volume of this immigra-
ITOm year 10 y6dr, anu III COuIluu6S 10
swell more and more. Here was the home of
the oppressed and poor, and here they could
find a welcome and abundance There is not
a village or hamlet in Europe where this fact is
not known. Then came those mighty agents
of modern civilization and science-the press,
steam power and the magnetic telegraph-to
increase knowledge, facilitate communication,
and to inspire admiration for this great re-
publican and conglomerate representative ma
Al IL IL
mankind with the wonderful power and re-
sources of the republic. 1t revealed the fact,
of which We were hardly conscious ourselves
before, that the United States is really the
most powerful nation on the globe, and as re-
CARDS foreign nations absolutely impregnable.
Within the course of a few years railroads
and telegraphs have covered, like network,
the vast area of the interior, and have spanued
the continent over distance of thousands of
miles. A national debt of enormous magni-
tude, created in four or five years, that would
have overwhelmed any other nation under
such circumstances, is to us comparatively a
bagatelle, and is now being paid off at the
rate of nearly hundred millions of dollars a
year. Such progress, such wealth and re-
sources, and such power have never been
known before.
All this, however, glorious as it is, only
foreshadows the mighty future of the repub-
lie. By the natural increase of population
and the enormous stream of immigration we
shall have probably in thirty or thirty-fve
years a hundred millions of people. The
augmentation of wealth will be still greater
Whatever difficulties we may labor under at
present with regard to the development of
our mercantile marine, commerce, and naval
power, we have such resources, such geo.
graphical position and such harbors and vast
seaboard that we must become the first mari
time and commercial nation. Nothing can
prevent this. And what is thirty years in
the life of a nation or in history? Other
nations may and perhaps will advance under
the new and progressive dispensation of
modern science; but relatively they
have not the resources and means that we
have. Already we see the moral influence
of Anne rican ideas and institutions upon Eu-
rope and the rest of the world, and the time
is not distant when this country will control
indirectly, if not directly, the destinies of
mankind. There is but one thing we need,
and that is, statesmen who can comprehend
the position we occupy and the glorious future
before u.s. Instead of being bound by the
precedeIts Of the Old World or of the
past, we should strike out a policy for
ourselves in consonance with our destiny.
| We should throw off the swaddling clothes
that Europe has placed upon us and assert
our manhood. 1t is our destiny to give the
law to nations, for the people everywhere are
with us, and there is no use of resistance, if
we be wise, to the moral and political power
we may exercise. AS to the affairs and in
terests of the American continent, this re.
public can do as it wishes, and no one will
presume to interfere. Do the people realize
their power and destiny? Does the Govern.
ment at Washington comprehend the neces
sites of our situation and the glory of the re-
public? These are important questions as
regards the present and the parties concerned
but whatever incapacity may be shown by
those who are in power, the grand future OF
our country is inevitable.
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