The weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1869-18??, 1870-11-02
Prussian Occupssion.

There are reasons for a belief which
little short Of decided conviction, that tn
hour has come when the good of mankinl
demands fusion of the French and Germag
States OF Europe. aloi ,5s tisiHi
Such fusion has been attempted ativa
rious times, and with reason. .nnR s.it
The first and most obvious reason is, thai
any attempt to establish permanent nation
ality with no we'll defined natural boundary
must necessarily prove q failure. Such
natural boundary is broad expanse Of
water, a rugged mountain chain, an IRE
claimable desert In olden times rivei
served as boundary. Now a river Is q
bond of union. Hs0g9.nE aif 10 LtiloiaiH
Such a natural boundary as is here con
templated defined the territory Of ancient
Egypt. The Mediterranean, the Red Sea
end the desert were its defences against
foreign aggression. Ancient Greece had
such boundary. Spain and Great Britain
are so bounded. c-at5ai.,.s.eft 9fl \;
When, spurred by the impulse of great
idea, a national nucleus originates in terri
tory not thus sharply defined, it seeks ex-
pansion, and such expansion renders war in
evltable. Such expansion led to our recent
civil strife. Slavery and freedom each
sought extension in territory with no
sharp natural divisions. 1t was impossible
to establish and maintain artificial deiences
fifteen hundred miles long against the ap-
planes of modern warfare: Therefore we
found two nations here impossible. How
impossible it is to maintain such line
permanently Is shown by our gradual alb
sorption of Mexico. It is such considera-
tions as these which lead thoughtful men
to anticipate the time when our own Re
public shall be co-extensiye with the con-
tinent. hi'h fi5sA ai''sa. ~ '@45
Like causes have led to frequent changes
in Europe. That Poland should lose its
separate existence was Predetermined when
Poland was established with no defensible
border A nation SO situated must absorb
or be absorbed. -, -. ''.-. go.
For the same reason Prussia has been
obliged to extend itself The Rhine ceases
to be boundary. There is no defensible
boundary anywhere between France and
Prussia. The representative OF rational re-
igion, of popular education, of philosophy,
oftreesufrage, ofmarriage Prussia comes into
the field against Italian ideas Of religion,
popular ignorance, superficial infdelity,
despotism, divorce. She finds the French
people ready to abandon the old, but with
out strength to embrace the new. Is it not
the duty of the strong Teutonic race to seize
the present opportunity and break for fet-
tered France those chains against which
that beautiful captive frets her polished
limbs? go" t''' i7t'l
Should Germany maintain its present oc-
cupation, who can doubt that union Of
these two States would soon be strengthened
by the accession of the Lowlands, and that
thusa Commonwealth would be formed which
would be linked together by homogeneous
ideas Of religion aud liberty, and gussded
on all sidesby impregnable natural defsnces.
Seoneror later such D commonwealth win
be established. Sooner or later the peoples
Of Europe win unite against their heredi-
tary tyrants, and the Empire of Charlemagne
: win he re-established, not now as of old held
together By an external force. but BY the ia
tsrnal cohesion Of qfSlisbsea = freedom CON
served BY Christian legislation. 60