Such are prophetic voices, differing in character and importance,
but all having one augury, and opening one vista, illimitable in
extent and vastness. Farewell to the narrow thought of Montesquieu,
that a republic can exist only in a small territory![647] Through
representation and federation a continent is not too much for practical
dominion, nor is it beyond expectation. Well did Webster say, “The
prophecies and the poets are with us”; and then again, “In regard to
this country there is no poetry like the poetry of events, and all the
prophecies lag behind their fulfilment.”[648] But my purpose is not
with the fulfilment, except as it stands forth visible to all.
Ancient prophecy foretold another world beyond the ocean, which in the
mind of Christopher Columbus was nothing less than the Orient with
its inexhaustible treasures. The continent was hardly known when the
prophets began: poets like Chapman, Drayton, Daniel, Herbert, Cowley;
economists like Child and Davenant; New-Englanders like Morrell, Ward,
and Sewall; and, mingling with these, that rare genius, Sir Thomas
Browne, who, in the reign of Charles the Second, while the settlements
were in infancy, predicted their growth in power and civilization;
and then that rarest character, Bishop Berkeley, who, in the reign
of George the First, while the settlements were still feeble and
undeveloped, heralded a Western empire as “Time’s noblest offspring.”
These voices are general. Others more precise followed. Turgot, the
philosopher and minister, saw in youth, with the vision of genius, that
all colonies must at their maturity drop from the parent stem, like
ripe fruit. John Adams, one of the chiefs of our own history, in a
youth illumined as that of Turgot, saw the predominance of the Colonies
in population and power, followed by the transfer of empire to America;
then the glory of Independence, and its joyous celebration by grateful
generations; then the triumph of our language; and, finally, the
establishment of our republican institutions over all North America.
Then came the Abbé Galiani, the Neapolitan Frenchman, who, writing from
Naples while our struggle was still undecided, gayly predicts the total
downfall of Europe, the transmigration to America, and the consummation
of the greatest revolution of the globe by establishing the reign
of America over Europe. There is also Adam Smith, the illustrious
philosopher, who quietly carries the seat of government across the
Atlantic. Meanwhile Pownall, once a Colonial governor and then a
member of Parliament, in successive works of great detail, foreshadows
independence, naval supremacy, commercial prosperity, immigration from
the Old World, and a new national life, destined to supersede the
systems of Europe and arouse the “curses” of royal ministers. Hartley,
also a member of Parliament, and the British negotiator who signed the
definitive treaty of Independence, bravely announces in Parliament that
the New World is before the Colonists, and that liberty is theirs; and
afterwards, as diplomatist, instructs his Government, that, through
the attraction of our public lands, immigration will be quickened
beyond precedent, and the national debt cease to be a burden. Aranda,
the Spanish statesman and diplomatist, predicts to his king that the
United States, though born a “pygmy,” will some day be a “colossus,”
under whose influence Spain will lose all her American possessions
except only Cuba and Porto Rico. Paley, the philosopher, hails our
successful revolution as destined to accelerate the fall of Slavery,
which he denounces as an “abominable tyranny.” Burns, the truthful
poet, who loved mankind, looks forward a hundred years, and beholds
our people rejoicing in the centenary of their independence. Sheridan
pictures our increasing prosperity, and the national dignity winning
the respect, confidence, and affection of the world. Fox, the liberal
statesman, foresees the increasing might and various relations of the
United States, so that a blow aimed at them must have a rebound as
destructive as itself. The Abbé Grégoire, devoted to the slave, whose
freedom he predicts, describes the power and glory of the American
Republic, resting on the two great oceans, and swaying the world.
Tardily, Jefferson appears with anxiety for the National Union, and
yet announcing our government as the primitive and precious model to
change the condition of mankind. Canning, the brilliant orator, in a
much-admired flight of eloquence, discerns the New World, with its
republics just called into being, redressing the balance of the Old.
De Tocqueville, while clearly foreseeing the peril from Slavery,
proclaims the future grandeur of the Republic, covering “almost all
North America,” and making the continent its domain, with a population,
equal in rights, counted by the hundred million. Cobden, whose fame
will be second only to that of Adam Smith among all in this catalogue,
calmly predicts the separation of Canada from the mother country by
peaceable means. Alaman, the Mexican statesman and historian, announces
that Mexico, which has already known so many successive races; will
hereafter be ruled by yet another people, taking the place of the
present possessors; and with these prophetic words, the patriot draws a
pall over his country.
All these various voices, of different times and lands, mingle and
intertwine in representing the great future of our Republic, which from
small beginnings has already become great. It was at first only a grain
of mustard-seed, “which, indeed, is the least of all seeds; but when it
is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that
the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.” Better
still, it was only a little leaven, but it is fast leavening the whole
continent. Nearly all who have prophesied speak of “America” or “North
America,” and not of any limited circle, colony, or state. It was so,
at the beginning, with Sir Thomas Browne, and especially with Berkeley.
During our Revolution, the Colonies struggling for independence
were always described by this continental designation. They were
already “America,” or “North America,” (and such was the language of
Washington,) thus incidentally foreshadowing that coming time when the
whole continent, with all its various states, shall be a Plural Unit,
with one Constitution, one Liberty, and one Destiny. The theme was
also taken up by the poet, and popularized in the often quoted lines,--
“No pent-up Utica contracts your powers,
But the whole boundless continent is yours.”[649]
Such grandeur may justly excite anxiety rather than pride, for duties
are in corresponding proportion. There is occasion for humility also,
as the individual considers his own insignificance in the transcendent
mass. The tiny polyp, in unconscious life, builds the everlasting
coral. Each citizen is little more than the industrious insect. The
result is reached by the continuity of combined exertion. Millions of
citizens, working in obedience to Nature, can accomplish anything.
Of course, war is an instrumentality which true civilization disowns.
Here some of our prophets have erred. Sir Thomas Browne was so much
overshadowed by his own age, that his vision was darkened by “great
armies,” and even “hostile and piratical assault” on Europe. It was
natural that Aranda, schooled in worldly life, should imagine the
new-born power ready to seize the Spanish possessions. Among our own
countrymen, Jefferson looked to war for the extension of dominion. The
Floridas, he says on one occasion, “are ours in the first moment of
the first war, and until a war they are of no particular necessity to
us.”[650] Happily they were acquired in another way. Then again, while
declaring that no constitution was ever before so calculated as ours
for extensive empire and self-government, and insisting upon Canada as
a component part, he calmly says that this “would be, of course, in
the first war.”[651] Afterwards, while confessing a longing for Cuba,
“as the most interesting addition which could ever be made to our
system of States,” he says that he is “sensible that this can never be
obtained, even with her own consent, but by war.”[652] Thus at each
stage is the baptism of blood. In much better mood the poet Bishop
recognized empire as moving gently in the pathway of light. All this is
much clearer now than when he prophesied.
It is easy to see that empire obtained by force is unrepublican, and
offensive to the first principle of our Union, according to which all
just government stands only on the consent of the governed. Our country
needs no such ally as war. Its destiny is mightier than war. Through
peace it will have everything. This is our talisman. Give us peace, and
population will increase beyond all experience; resources of all kinds
will multiply infinitely; arts will embellish the land with immortal
beauty; the name of Republic will be exalted, until every neighbor,
yielding to irresistible attraction, seeks new life in becoming part of
the great whole; and the national example will be more puissant than
army or navy for the conquest of the world.