Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1874-05-15
NO. 20.

its value, hackneyed as 1t Is, and that there
is nothing from any oracle and little from
any prophecy which can compare with ii.
But ii is not the poet alone from whom he
draws his illustrations. DIR. Dsrmaut,
writing on trade predicted the Revolution,
and the Marquis D'Argenson, French no.
bic, about 174j, predicted that the American
colonies would separate from England, and
would form a Republican nation that would
in a short time render itself master of Amer
lea. "And," said he, "you will then see
how the earth will be beautiful. What cul-
ture What new arts and sciences! What
safety for commerce! Navigation will pre-
cipitate all the people toward each other.
a day will come when one will go pop
ulous and regulated city of California as one
goes in the stage coach Of Meaux."
THE PROPHECIES WHICH ARE not COME
TO PASS.
Ofthese some seem probable, some i'm
probable, and some impossible. John Ad-
ans thought he foresaw colonial indepen-
dence and the establishment of the great
Republic, not only, but also the emancipa-
ii, n of slaves, the triumph Of our language,
and finally, the establishment of our repub-
lcln institutions all over North America.
In 1913 he wrote: Many hundred years
must roll away before we shall be corrupt
ed. Our pure, virtuous, public-spirited,
federative republic will last forever, govern
the globe, and introduce the perfection of
man." Gov. Pownal said America would
"change the system of Europe" and while
its exuberant vitality exposed ii to many
and dangerous disorders, these it would at
| last surmount. Said the Able Gregoire in
the last century:
"When an energetic and powerful nation,
| to which everything presages high destin-
les, stretching its arms upon the two oceans,
| Atlantic and Pacific, shall direct its vessels
| from one TO another by an abridged route
| it may be in cutting the Istbnus of Pana-
| ma; IL may be in forming a canal commu-
nicalng, as has been proposed, by the river
| st. John and tho lake of Nicaragua-it will
| change the face of the commercial world
and the face Of empires. Who knows if
| America will not then avenge the outrages
| she has received, and If our old Europe,
| placed in the rank of a subaltern power,
will not become colony Of the New
| World?"
Lucas Alaman, the greatest statesman OF
Mexico, declared that though his country
must, from its natural advantages, be a
land Of prosperity, yet it would not be so
for the races which now inhabit it. As the
ancient Mexcans fell beneath the power OF
the Spaniards-the country gaining by this
change of dominion, though its ancient
masters were overthrown-so, likewise, its
present inhabitants should be ruined.
Bishop Shipley of st. Asaph uttered many
remarkable prophecies, and among them
one that in this favored country time and
discipline would discover some means to
correct the extreme inequalities of condi-
tion between the rich and the poor.
MR. SUMMERS OWN VISION.
These are but specimens. Fox and Sher-
idan and Robert Burns, Cerisier, Gallant
and Amanda, De Tocqueville and Golden,
and many others, are drawn from, and Mr..
Sumner, after recapitulating, adds:
IAN these various voices of different
times and lands, mingle and intertwine in
representing the great future of our Repub-
lie, which from small beginnings has al
ready become great. 1t was at first only a
grain of mustard-seed, which is, indeed,
the least of all seeds but when it is grow n
il is the greatest among all herbs, and be-
GENES q tree, so that the birds OF the air
come and lodge in the branches thereof
Better sill, it was only little leaven, but
it is fat leavening the whole contir ent.
Nearly all who have prophesied speak of
'Americi, or North America and not OF
any limited circle, colony, or State. 1t was
so at the beginning, with Sir Thomas
Browne, and especially with Berkeley,
During our revolution the Colonies, strug-
Cling for independence, were always de-
scribed by this continental designation
They were already America or North
America ami such was the language o
Washington, thus incidentally foroshadow-
ing that coming time when the whole con-
tinent, with ali its various States shall be 6
Plural Unit, with one Constitution, one
. Liberty, and one Destiny.