Such will be this
republic;--upstart among the nations. Aye! as the steam-engine, the
telegraph, and chloroform are upstart. Comforter and helper like these,
it can know no bounds to its empire over a willing world. But the first
stage is the death of slavery.
* * * * *
From "Prophetic Voices about America."
=_99._= NATIONAL GREATNESS ATTAINABLE THROUGH PEACE.
Such are some of the prophetic voices about America, differing in
character and importance, but all having one augury, and opening one
vista, illimitable in extent and vastness. Farewell to the idea of
Montesquieu, that a republic can exist only in a small territory....
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 its unconscious life, builds the everlasting
coral; each citizen is little more than the industrious insect. The
result is accomplished by continuous and combined exertion. Millions of
citizens, working in obedience to nature, can accomplish anything. Of
course, war is an instrumentality which a true civilization disowns.
Here some of our prophets have erred.
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