Regarding only objects of improvement of the nature of those embraced in
this bill, how inexhaustible we shall find them. Let the imagination run
along our coast from the river St. Croix to the Rio Grande and trace
every river emptying into the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico to its source;
let it coast along our lakes and ascend all their tributaries; let it
pass to Oregon and explore all its bays, inlets, and streams; and then
let it raise the curtain of the future and contemplate the extent of
this Republic and the objects of improvement it will embrace as it
advances to its high destiny, and the mind will be startled at the
immensity and danger of the power which the principle of this bill
involves.
Already our Confederacy consists of twenty-nine States. Other States may
at no distant period be expected to be formed on the west of our present
settlements. We own an extensive country in Oregon, stretching many
hundreds of miles from east to west and seven degrees of latitude from
south to north. By the admission of Texas into the Union we have
recently added many hundreds of miles to our seacoast.
Pages:
584
585
586
587
588
589
590
591
592
593
594
595
596
597
598
599
600
601
602
603
604
605
606
607
608