3. No nation ever advanced so rapidly in all that constitutes national
strength and capital.
4. No nation ever rose to such a pinnacle of power in a space of time so
incredibly short.
5. No nation in so limited a time has developed such unlimited
resources.
6. No nation has ever existed founded on principles of justice so pure
and undefiled.
7. No nation has ever existed in which the conscience of men have been
left so untrammeled and free.
8. In no nation and in no age of the world, have the arts and sciences
so flourished, so many improvements been made, and so great successes
been achieved, as in our own country during the last fifty years.
9. In no nation and in no age has the gospel found such freedom, and the
churches of Christ had such liberty to spread abroad their principles
and develop their strength.
10. No age of the world has seen such an immigration as that which is
now pouring into our borders from all lands the millions who have long
groaned under despotic governments, and who now turn to this broad
territory of freedom as the avenue of hope, the Utopia of the nations.
The most discerning minds have been intuitively impressed with the idea
of the future greatness and power of this government. In view of the
grand results developed and developing, the discovery of America by
Columbus, not four hundred years ago, is set down as the greatest event
of all secular history. The progress of empire to this land was long ago
expected.
Sir Thomas Brown, in 1682, predicted the growth of a power here, which
would rival the European kingdoms in strength and prowess.
In Burnaby's Travels through the middle settlements of North America, in
1759 and 1760, published in 1775, is expressed this sentiment:--
"An idea, strange as it is visionary, has entered into the minds of
the generality of mankind, that empire is traveling westward; and
every one is looking forward with eager and impatient expectation
to that destined moment when America is to give the law to the rest
of the world."