Under The Eagle's Wing.
The Mighty Oregon and the Little Yankee Schooner met on the high
seas. "Let us keep together for mutual protection." Mexico the
first republic to join our union. The Central and South American
Republics all stampede for the shelter of the great American
Eagle. Peru joins our union in 1921, Venezuela in 1925, Canada
comes stumbling along in 1930.
Every American patriot recollects with feelings of pride and admiration
the great voyage of the U. S. battleship Oregon, the noblest floating
citadel of the nineteenth century, during the spring of the year
1898, from the Golden Gate to Jupiter, Florida, a distance of over
14,000 miles. With only five first-class battleships to its credit,
it was of paramount importance for the U. S. government to secure the
services of the Oregon to join in the volcanic welcome that awaited
the arrival of Admiral Cervera's squadron in the Caribbean sea.
The memory of that eventful voyage will remain vivid in the
recollections of more than one generation. After the noble vessel had
rounded the turbulent waters of Magellan and her stout prow pointed
north, anxiety for her safety increased at every knot she covered. The
Spanish phantom, at that critical period of the war, looked like a
towering mountain, an elevation, however, which was designed to be
soon transformed, by subsequent events, into a mole-hill.
One bright afternoon, while steaming in latitude 30° south and in
longitude 40° [A Saucy Little Yankee Craft.] west, shortly before
touching at Rio Janerio, the great Oregon spoke an insignificant,
one-masted little schooner, a mere shell, tossing upon South Atlantic
billows, with a crew of two men. The fact that the diminutive
sail boat proudly unfurled at her masthead the glorious flag of
America, was the sole feature, in her case, that saved her from utter
insignificance. The Oregon displayed signals, asking the captain of
the little vessel if he had spoken any Spanish war-vessels adding,
as a matter of information, that war had been declared between Spain
and the United States of America.
It happened that this was the first intimation the captain of the
schooner had received that a state of war existed between the two
countries above named. In reply he promptly signalled to the Oregon
that he had not seen any Spanish men-of-war, and, being somewhat of a
Yankee humorist, added, that if war had been declared, the best thing
that they could do would be "to keep together for mutual protection."
This anecdote of the recontre of the Oregon and the tiny schooner
illustrates aptly the conditions that ruled in 1999 and during
several preceding decades. In that year was witnessed a grand union
of all the peoples of the Western Hemisphere under the starry banner
of America. The little Republics of Central and South America were
heartily glad to seek the protection of the Great Leviathan of the
North, and, gathered into one great Republic, The United States of
the Americas, they stood together one and indivisible, "for mutual
protection."
In 1999 the world beheld the imposing spectacle of a United America,
a nation in magnitude and power that eclipsed any previously known
confederation of States, invincible in war and unrivalled in arts,
sciences and industry. The Americas were all under the protection
of the same stars and stripes, employing the same legal tender and
coinage and in 1999 the English tongue had been adopted officially
by every Central and South American State.
The first Republic that knocked at our gates for admission into the
grand union of [Mexico makes the First Break.] the Americas, was
Mexico. In the year 1520, the Spaniards, under Cortes, that valiant
and most intrepid of Castillian warriors, had already crushed that
most dreaded of all barbarian monarchs, Montezuma, and had reduced
the Aztec Empire into vassalage and slavery. In 1898, by a series
of the most brilliant victories, American prowess and arms, coupled
with dare-devil bravery and resolute fighting, had in turn driven
out the Spanish hordes from the Americas. With this turn in the tide
of history, nothing could be more fitting than the incorporation of
Mexico as a State in our Federal Union. Could they have witnessed our
brilliant American victories against Spain in 1898, Montezuma and
his Aztec warriors would have arisen from their graves and shouted
for joy at the knowledge that at last their wrongs at the hands of
Spain had been avenged by the sword of America and their Spanish
oppressors of 1520 had at last been hurled back to the Castillian
haunts from whence they had emerged under Columbus and Cortes.
Mexico added a new star to our flag in 1912, just one hundred years
after England and America crossed swords. These swords have been
sheathed in their scabbards, never again in the world's history to
be unsheathed against one another.
As early as the year 1899 the desire to join our American Union began
to manifest [Awakening of the Americas.] itself. In that year the
little island of Jamaica already had under advisement the question of
joining the American Union, and the people of Jamaica were seriously
agitating the matter. They regarded this step as one that would benefit
their material prosperity. This belief was shared by the inhabitants
of the other West Indian islands and gained strength with every year,
culminating in 1912 in the action taken by Mexico.
The incorporation of Mexico into our grand American Union created a
profound sensation, not only in the Americas, but, also, throughout
the world. It was a purely voluntary act on the part of Mexico,
one which could not be fondly ascribed by the ever-jealous nations
of Europe to "Yankee greed." It brought about a distinctive turn
in the tide and the conviction became firm in the minds of all that
the example of Mexico would be followed, sooner or later, by every
Republic in Central and South America.
In 1920 public opinion in Peru became ripe for a change. The affairs
of that Republic had been unsuccessfully administered and the land
of the Incas seemed likely in that year to be devastated by Chile,
that active and more or less prosperous people, sometimes called the
"Yankees of South America." The prospect of another disastrous war
with Chile crystalized public opinion in Peru and hastened action on
her part. In the following year of 1921, Peru became a State in our
Union. Venezuela came next in 1925, then followed in rapid succession
the entire group of Central American States, Guatemala, Salvador,
Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Honduras.
In 1930 Canada at last joined the American Union. Canada had long
occupied the position of an old maid in reference to the Union;
she had been entirely willing for many years, but had withheld her
consent; England, of course, had to be consulted, and with the utmost
good nature was present at the wedding ceremonies, giving away the
Canadian bride into our union in a most gracious manner.
Between 1930 and 1935, in rapid succession, the entire stretch of
territory known as South America, and the eleven Republics occupying
that continent, were incorporated into the United States of the
Americas. The State of Brazil was recognized by Congress in 1931, and,
on account of its large area, consisting of 3,209,878 square miles,
the new State was styled the "Texas of the South."
During the last half of the nineteenth century the burning issues
caused by the [Old Wounds are Healed Up.] Civil War were generally
and vaguely characterized as those which existed between the
North and South. The question of State sovereignty, slavery and
the resultant Civil War, divided the North and South into two vast,
hostile camps. The fall of Richmond in 1865 terminated hostilities,
it is true, but a bitter, relentless political and social war was waged
between these sections for over a quarter of a century thereafter. The
deep wounds caused by the Civil War began to slowly heal, but it
required a foreign war to demonstrate to the world that time at last
had conquered all animosity, all the anguish and bitterness of spirit
that had existed between the North and South.
During our war with Spain from April 22, 1898, to October 26, of the
same year, Confederate generals who had taken prominent parts in the
Southern army, men who had led their hosts to help tear into tatters
the great Constitution of the United States, unsheathed their swords
once more, in 1898, and to their lasting honor, this time it was in
defense of that very Constitution. In 1898 the men of the South eagerly
followed the lead of Wheeler and Fitzhugh Lee and sprang to arms in the
defence of a united country. It was a most impressive spectacle; one
that filled the world with amazement and America with patriotic joy.
In 1999, that little strip of territory lying between Mason and Dixon's
line and the [No more "South" in 1999.] gulf of Mexico was no longer
known or recognized as the South. The sceptre of the South had passed
into the keeping of the South American continent, which territory in
1999 had been divided into ten States of our great American Union,
namely the States of Venezuela, Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, Chile,
Paraguay, Uruguay, Bolivia, Peru and, in the extreme South, the State
of Patagonia.
The real and actual South of the United States of the Americas, in
1999, consisted of the States above named, a vast sweep of territory
lying between the 10° North and 55° South of the equator, embracing
8,207,688 square miles in area, with a population of 127,000,000
souls. In 1999 the State of Brazil alone had a population of
42,000,000.
The Middle States of the great American Republic in 1999 were those of
Central America, namely the States of Costa Rica, Salvador, Honduras,
Guatemala, Nicaragua and Mexico.
The Northern States of the great Republic in 1999 consisted of those
states lying between Alaska and the Mexican gulf, including the newly
acquired States of East and West Canada. The population of the Middle
States in 1999 was estimated at 75,000,000, while the census of the
Northern States figured at 329,000,000. The total population of the
United States of the Americas in 1999, figured at 531,000,000 souls.