Whenever this is accomplished, the uttermost ends of the earth will be unlocked to the researches of christianity and civilization. They will unbar the crowded regions of China and India, knock off the golden fetters of South America, and penetrate the almost fabulous regions in the interior of Africa. We shall be amazed to find that more than one half of the globe has been shut out from the benefit of commercial intercourse with the other, not by oceans and mountains, but by the perverse and sanguinary usur. pation of monopolies. The wars, the frauds, the wretchedness, the demoralization, which have been falsely ascribed to the magnitude of trade, will appear to have proceeded from its restriction, and will disappear with the removal of their causes. The great source of bloodshed will be dried up; and, under the auspices of universal peace, ten thousand times the traffic, for which so many climes have been ravaged, will cover every sea, connecting and ameliorating all nations.

As the United States of America will have been among the principal promoters of this general amelioration, so will they be one of its largest partakers. For whatever may be thought of their national character or legislation, that they are eminently situated to become a great commercial people can hardly be denied. The extent and variety of their territories, the fruitfulness of their different soils, the prodigious structure of their internal navigation by means of the immense lakes and western waters, the reciprocal dependence of the different parts of the continent on each other, the capacity of all parts to

supply other countries with those superfluities they require, their remoteness and natural protection from the only powers that can injure them, their industry, freedom and affluence, insure a rapid augmentation of population, strength and prosperity.

Should the great events transacting in Europe lead to the independence of South America, new and incalculable advantages must accrue to both these portions of the western world. A vast natural alliance might be formed, capable of plans the most glorious and beneficial; an alliance that may set Europe at defiance.

It was the opinion of an eloquent and philanthropic historian,* after considering the situation and prospects of this country," that the only way to prevent disturbances among the people would be to leave upon their frontiers a powerful rival, always disposed to avail himself of their dissensions. Peace and se

curity, says he, are necessary for monarchies; agitation and a formidable enemy for republics. Rome stood in need of Carthage. Venice, perhaps, would have lost her government and her laws four hundred years ago, had she not at her gates, and almost under her walls, powerful neighbours, who might become her enemies or her masters." In like manner, the Romans, says one of their most judicious writers, were free from faction and vice, while they had to make head against hostile neighbours: metus civilis in bonis artibus civitatem retinebat. And where a population is so dispersed as that of America, foreign

* Raynal.

pressure certainly contributes to the tone of the national character and exertions.

But the speculations of statesmen and historians, the wisdom and experience of ages, the opinions of antiquity, the prejudices that were planted in our veneration, have all been swept away by the torrent of revolution and war that has lately rushed over the nations of Europe. The "temperate and undecisive contests," which, it was foretold, would long preserve the many balanced sovereignties of that conti. nent, have been superseded by a warfare more furious and overwhelming than had been supposed possible. New and bolder ideas of government and of tactics will prevail hereafter; and the American republic must endeavour to keep pace with the genius of the age, or sink under its expansion. It must not be forgotten, that as business is transacted for the attainment of pleasure, so occasional wars are necessary to the security and permanency of peace. As long as a people refrain from offensive hostilities, a military genius is an attribute deserving encouragement; and it is especially the interest of the United States to cultivate so much of a warlike spirit, as may not be incompatible with their republican institutions. They are not in a situation to desire conquests. Their territories rather need concentration than acquisitions. The seat of government is so remote from the scene where armies would be required, that the republic has little to fear from the ambition of commanders. And despotism is less to be dreaded from the regular maintenance of a suitable establishment, than from its sudden creation, in case of emergency, when dic* Gibbon's Rom. Emp. vol. 6. p. 415.

tatorial powers are almost indispensable. Every general may not have the integrity of Washington.

In a most important respect the American republic has a vast advantage over all others that have preceded it; that is, in the extent of dominion, and dispersion of population. Athens, Rome, Venice, Carthage, most of the republics that have been, were at first confined almost to a single city, and always entirely influenced by the capital. So that pretorian guards, or ambitious men, by mastering the head, were sure of the extremities. But the same danger does not exist here. And as long as Canada and Louisiana remain even virtually under foreign influence, the same or a greater inducement exists for maintaining that most dignified of all national attitudes, the armed neutrality of a powerful republic. A military despotism, whether monarchical or republican, is the most odious and oppressive, the most disgraceful and destructive form of polity. In fact it is not a form, but a subversion of government, which, after destroying every thing else, at last destroys itself. It is a colossus, which falls as soon as its arm is no longer uplifted; from whose ruins petty tyrannies spring up; whose slaves are not entitled to enjoy till they assert the immunities of men, and which does not become a government till the supremacy of the law is re-established. But a domi, nant republican empire, with military force enough to defend its rights, without so much as to instigate an ambition to subvert them; just and respectable abroad, free and just at home; forms the most glo-. rious consummation of national prosperity.

Lastly, have the United States of America resourcer for this attitude? Their resources have been, if possible, more underrated than their character. Their population now falls but little short of ten millions. With an inexhaustible territorial fund of wealth, without debts or taxation, with every abun. dance of munition and requisite for war, they have a greater strength in men with arms in their hands, than the Roman empire ever maintained at any one time, than the force with which Louis XIV. terrified all the powers of Europe combined, or with which the Duke of Marlborough and his auxiliaries drove Louis XIV. into the recesses of his palace. A militia of six hundred thousand men, undisciplined indeed, unofficered, and uninured to the tactics and hardships of a state of hostility, but hardy, athletic, adroit, and invincibly attached to their country and its liberties, are the raw materials at least for forming a formidable barrier to invasion. Much of the contumelious aggression the Americans have experienced from the European belligerents, is ascribable to their reliance on the defenceless and unprepared posture of this country.* But a free and martial people, accustomed

* The American navy is at once the glory and the shame of the American nation: the nursery of its martial genius, the chancery of its fame, the vestal guard of that spark, which however it may fade or darkle, can never expire without carrying with it all that ennobles, embodies and preserves a people. Among so small a number of individuals as compose the officers of this little navy, never did nor does there exist a more glorious spirit of chivalric valour and enterprise, superior nautical skill, and proficiency, discipline, subordination and concert in time of service, more gentleman-like deport

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