title: The New Rome : or, the United States of the world
text: aV •/> w* ^ 4 A A ,-fc V c ^ y* - ^ f ■^. V ^. <*• ^ <* <£> &> -4 " « >. •%• *<u "++ •? .%• * rf THE NEW ROME. THE NEW ROME; THE UNITED STATES OF THE WORLD. BY THEODORE POESCHE AND CHARLES GOEPP. G. P. PUTNAM & CO., 10 PARK PLACE. M.DCCC.LIII. U^C*r ^ 0ZA, C£~^s^ C-£- n. s rfl Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1853, By G. P. Putnam and Company, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. TO fnnltlht Durn, - PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, THIS WORK IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED, BEING A GUESS AT THE SPIRIT IN WHICH HE WAS ELECTED. PREFACE A BOOK with two authors would not be so rare a thing as it is, if it were better understood that every work is the fruit, not of individual thought, but of the intellectual currents that pervade whole times and nations, — that, in fact, every individuality is but a modified reproduction of the thoughts and fancies of the age in which it appears. The leading idea de- tailed in the following pages occurred at nearly the same time to both of the individuals whose names appear on the title-page. Tt was about the end of the year 1848, when the first enthusiasm consequent upon the sudden uprising of France, Italy, and Germany, had given place to the confusion of jarring opinions, interests, and nationalities, which were destined ulti- mately to ingulf the hopes then awakened, that the destiny of the existing Eepublic of America, to realize the ideal Eepublic of the World, took shape in the mind of the author whose name is first mentioned, on the IV PREFACE. plains of Leipsic, and to the other in the farming comities of Pennsylvania. It is no less characteristic, that while the inhabitant of Germany, the home of metaphysical philosophy, took np the question in its practical light, as a relief from existing ills, the Amer- ican forgot the matter-of-fact character of his country to regard this particular subject in its ideal light, as the solution of a historical problem. The same divi- sion of labor was carried out in the present production ; the geographical, ethnographical, statistical, commer- cial, monetary, and industrial observations and reflec- tions, are the work of Poesche. The historical, legal, and metaphysical arguments, the details on American legal and political institutions, are, to a great extent', the production of his colleague. The former had written a work on the subject while in Germany, in the year 1850, which fell into the hands of the police, and could not be published. Goepp had laid clown the outlines of the plan in a little pamphlet, entitled, " E pluribus Unum," a political tract on Kossuth and America, written in the heat of the Kossuth furor, in December, 1851. We met at the Congress of Phila- delphia, mentioned in the book, and soon after formed the design of writing this work. Poesche wrote the first draft in German. Goepp, following his arrange- ment, reproduced it in English, interpolating his own ideas, and such new thoughts as occurred to either or PREFACE. both, in their conversation and studies, as the work went on. In the first part, on the political organiza- tion, these were little more than expansions ; the second chapter, on the social organization, in its present form, is, to a much greater extent, the production of the English partner. ■ The work swelled to nearly double its size, owing principally to the quotations introduced from the current literature of the day, which offered so many suggestions, that the entire press seemed to have resolved itself into a vast literary foraging party for the benefit of our undertaking. It was finished early in November, 1852. The publication being somewhat later, some of our predic- tions have already become verified, while possibly some others may have missed their aim. We have preferred to make no alterations on this account, but are willing that the results of the test of these five months should be considered as a criterion of its accu- racy in the more distant future. THE AUTHORS. THE NEW ROME; THE UNITED STATES OF THE WORLD, A HOROSCOPE. rjIHE days of prophecy are over ; but why 1 Not because the future is less important to us than it was of old ; for, instead of the reliance on a heavenly prospect which carried the hearts of our forefathers triumphantly through all the ills that flesh is heir to, we are fast substituting earthly longings after present prosperity, and the good things of this little span of years. Not because we look with more of reverential awe upon the curtain that veils the things to come ; the Yankee " has a hole in his head where the bump of veneration ought to be," and nothing is too high or too low for his investiga- tion. Nor yet because we are less able than formerly to pry into its secrets ; for, however man may degenerate in other 8 THE ^Eff ROME. respects, he is still learning tacts, and still improving his powers of digesting them. " History is philosophy teaching by example ;" but shall we for ever repeat the fable, and never propound the moral 1 The astronomer studies the history of the stars to learn the laws which must regulate their coming progress ; why cannot the historical astronomer do likewise 1 True, the stars that crowd his nether sky are more numerous, more multifarious, and more erratic than those of the upper firmament ; but they have their laws nevertheless, and must obey them. We live in the future, hope for it, strive towards it ; — it is elastic and pliable, and bows to the sceptre of the imagina- tion as submissively as to the sword of the will. Yet, like all else within the sphere of effects and causes, it has its pos- sibilities and impossibilities ; and we shall steer the more wisely the sooner these inexorable headlands are open to the view. The following essay is a map of the future of mankind, drawn from surveys of the past and present. It professes to tell neither what might nor what should, but simply what must be. I. — POLITICS. PT1HE old paradox, " There is nothing new under the sun,*' has recently been amplified into a comparison of history to a spiral revolution, in which the same positions recur, but with a difference. Perhaps a more fitting type would be found in the revolutions of a satellite, modified at each repeti- tion by the progress of its planet. If we search the history of the past for a parallel to the present aspect of political relations, we find it in the time when Greece had just passed the meridian of her glory, when Macedon had awakened to a consciousness of her powers, and the Roman republic was mewing her wings for a flight destined to outstrip them both. Applied to our times, the first is the type of Western Europe ; boundlessly rich in art and science, but no longer strong of will. ^ Russia, her vassal in civilization, but her superior in brute force, dreams of universal empire; while the American republic, with the motto " E pluribus Unum" flaming in her fillet, is developing her resources of mind and body with an 1* 10 THE NEW ROME. external force and an internal freedom which mark her the germ of a World's Republic. This " New Rome," the American Union, is a reflection of the old, even in its geographical position. The Roman Em- pire, embracing the " orbis terrarum" of the geography of those times, was a political organization of the circle of lands that skirted the Mediterranean Sea, in the midst of which, like a great line-of-battle ship, was moored the Italian penin- sula. So the American peninsula, its northern extremity connected with the mainland of the other continent by means of icebergs which have baffled our explorers as obstinately as the Rhsetian Alps whilom hemmed in the Roman pioneers, divides the ocean into its two great basins. In the middle of these peninsulas were founded, respectively, the Etrurian and the British colonies. Each looks to the lands of the East for the sources of its civilization. Each casts its eyes first upon its native peninsula, and strives to reduce it to its undisputed sway. Thus the acquisition of all Italy was an important epoch in Roman politics ; it supplied the base for further operations. Thus "The continent is ours, 'Ms becoming more and more distinctly a leading American aspiration. Bolivar cherished the plan ; Webster and Douglass have publicly avowed it. A more immediate object, desired by the whole people, is the northern portion, from the Arctic Ocean to the Isthmus of Darien. The past territorial growth of the United States is found to have been governed by well-defined laws. North America is divided into three main portions : the Atlantic sea-board, POLITICS. 11 extending to the Alleghanies, the key of which is New York ; the Mississippi valley, extending from the Alleghanies to the Rocky Mountains, and guarded by New Orleans ; and the Pacific coast, forming the western slope of the Rocky Moun- tains, with San Francisco for its entrance-gate. The first was of course first settled ; it was the theatre of the war of Inde- pendence and of the compact of Union. These two achieve- ments opened the way to the passage of the Alleghanies. The outlet and the western half of the Mississippi valley were in possession of a foreign power, but it was not difficult to purchase them. Still this did not suffice to draw the tide of population into the trans-Mississippian portions of the valley. Our present civilization is based upon the means of communication afforded by the ocean ; its effects extend inland, but only to a limited distance. Mr. Benton knows that the Pacific railroad is indispensable to make an empire state on the Missouri. "Pierce the Rocky Mountains," he said, " and hew their highest crag into a statue of Columbus, pointing the old world on the way to the Indies !" The acquisition of the Pacific coast came to his aid. In the last decade, a broad belt of country, comprising Texas, New Mexico, California, and Oregon, was definitely united with us. The settlement of these territories is now the cardinal interest of the Union ; the migration thither is a proof of it. By sea and land hundreds of thousands are pouring into the new- found El Dorados. From the 1st of January, 1852, to the 14th of August, the number of passengers landed at San Francisco was fifty .one thousand. The remaining four months 12 THE NEW ROME. and a half will not fall short of this amount ; the Chinese emi- gration, which is just beginning to assume gigantic propor- tions, will make up for all deficiencies. Seventy thousand more are scattered over various stages of the overland route. When these pilgrims, after crossing the parched plains of the West and scaling the Rocky Mountains, come again to view the boundless ocean, their hearts beat high, like the ten thousand Greeks retreating out of Persia ; and as the latter, on seeing the Pontus, cried out, " tiaXacoa, $a\aooa" so may these Americans greet the ocean, an element as vital to them as the Mediterranean was to the Greeks. The posses- sion of her western coast makes America a self-balanced whole, rounds her proportions, and enables her to cast off the swad- dling clothes of infancy. " A continent and two oceans are in the hands of that people," says the London Times ; and so must it be, for one ocean is not enough for America. 1. — Peesent Pkojects. Pour years have elapsed since the western coasts were sub- jugated to civilization, and other countries have, in the mean time, grown ripe for infederation : Cuba, at present, attracts the greatest attention. There can be no doubt that the efforts for its annexation must succeed. The slavery question, it is true, acts as a disturbing element, but an antidote offers in the shape of equivalent northern acquisitions. A door has also opened for the annexation of Hayti. In the war between Dominica and the Emperor, the former has enlisted Ameri- POLITICS. 13 can officers ; two of these have recently been sent to " the States," to purchase vessels of war, and to introduce Yankee immigrants. They are not likely to fail of success ; nor is it to be expected that the throne of his sable majesty will long withstand the shock of the republicans and their allies. Canada has had its annexation party for several years; it is constantly at work, and its principles are making visible progress. The free-trade victory of England has swept away the commercial privileges formerly enjoyed by her colonies ; and the Colonial system now weighs upon them without a compensating advantage. The loss of those privileges makes an uninterrupted communication with the United States more desirable than ever; and the Reciprocity efforts are the result. But if the principle of reciprocity is to be carried beyond a sophism, it must mean the reciprocal acceptance by each country of all that the other is interested in exporting ; and then it amounts to a removal of all taxes upon intercourse. That cannot be established without giving each country the power of regulating the foreign trade of the other, which is an absurdity, or by making the regulation of commerce a common concern, which involves the extension of the Union over the Canadian States.* The main impediment is found in the un-Teutonic descent, foreign language, and anti-republican * In the Canadian Parliament, Mr. Mackenzie has taken occasion again- to express his bitterness towards the United States. In a debate on the Reciprocity Question, he explained that the reason why the Americans refuse reciprocity to Canada, was their desire for annexation. 14 THE NE W ROME. traditions, and the want of intelligence and enterprise of the French Canadians, who now form the bulk of the population. Their very nationality, however, must make them adverse to British supremacy, and favorable to a coalition with the rebel subjects of that power ; and this sentiment of the masses finds a natural ally in the interests of the political leaders, even when of English descent, who would certainly rather aspire to a seat in the Senate of the United States, for which their language and education amply fit them, than to the leadership in the Legislative Council at Montreal or Toronto. The absolute religious and political liberty of the United States must stimulate, sooner or later, the desires of the whole population. A highly interesting paragraph in a recent newspaper, states that an emigration of French Canadians to the neighborhood of Kaskaskia, in Illinois, is in progress, which, from its extent and organization, bids fair to affect perceptibly the population of British America — another powerful agent in the actual union of the two countries.* Thus a chain of intricacies and difficulties is preparing, which are to be welcomed for the solution that must inevitably fol- low. The natural resources and incipient cultivation of this * An abstract of the official Census taken last January, has just been laid before the House of Assembly. The total population of Lower Canada is 890,261, and that of Upper Canada, 952,004. The enumeration was taken last January, and if the population then numbered 1,842,265, it cannot now be far short of two millions. About three-fourths of the popu- lation are native Canadians. The French, from a little over 60,000 at the conquest, have risen to 669,528, in spite of the recent large emigration of that POLITICS. 15 vast expanse, when fairly thrown open to the invigorating in- fluence of American enterprise, must add materially to the comparative weight of America in the scale of power. The extinguishment of the claim of England to her colonies will be discussed after we shall have enumerated the other countries now in process of infederation. race to Illinois, and other parts of the United States. The following state- ment shows the origin or nativity of the whole population : Origins. Lower Upper Natives of Canada. Canada. Total. England and Wales, 11,230 82,690 93,929 Scotland, 14,565 75,811 90,376 Ireland, 51.499 176,267 227,766 Canada, French origin, 669,528 26,417 795,945 Canada, not of French origin, 125,580 526,093 651,673 United States, 12,482 43,732 56,214 Nova Scotia and Prince Edwards, 474 3,785 4,259 New Brunswick, 480 2,634 3,114 Newfoundland, 51 79 130 West Indies, 47 345 S92 East Indies, 4 106 110 Germany and Holland, 159 9,957 10,116 France and Belgium, 359 1,007 1,366 Italy and Greece, 38 15 43 Spain and Portugal, 18 57 75 Sweden and Norway, 12 29 41 Russia, Poland, and Prussia, 8 1S8 196 Switzerland, 38 209 247 Austria and Hungary, 2 11 13 Guernsey, 118 24 142 Jersey and other British Islands, 293 131 424 Other places, S30 1,351 2,181 Born at Sea, 10 168 178 Birthplaces not known, 2,446 8S9 3,335 Total population, S90/201 952,004 1,842,265 It is shown by the above statement that about a twentieth part of the population of Upper Canada is of United States origin. How much they may do to indoctrinate the population with republican ideas is a difficult 16 THE NEW ROME. These are, in the first place, the remaining portions of the Northern Continent, down to the Isthmus of Panama. These gardens of the world may be said, without exaggeration, to be dying for want of annexation. Of a population of ten millions, seven-eighths are composed of Indians and Mestizes, who are either highwaymen and thieves, vagrants or peons. They are the " working-class," and monopolize the labor in- terest ; as they do not labor, no work is done. The Creoles form an apology for a middle class, and furnish principally the small business men. small formers, and rancheros ; but where there is no labor, there can be but little business. The more ambitious individuals among them seek a sphere in the church or the army, the only fields of effort and success. In the former, they hope to share in the pride of the most gorgeously ornamented public edifices in the world, in the delights of the bishops' palaces, and the influence derived from the incalculable revenues extorted from the people to their question. "Where Americans are settled in considerable numbers, as in the western part of the Province, they retain all their native republicanism. But not only is a twentieth part of the population of Upper Canada American born ; a vast proportion of native Canadians, who form about half the entire population of Upper Canada, are descended of American citizens, either directly or through a distance of two or three generations. There must, as any one may see by a glance at these facts, be a strong American element in the population of Upper Canada ; one way or another, either by birth, descent, or contact of ideas, about half the population are wholly or partially Americanized. It ought not, therefore, perhaps, to be surprising that there is a perpetual tendency towards democratic institu- tions, which sometimes threatens to render all government impossible on present principles. POLITICS. 17 hopeless impoverishment. To the latter, they are attracted by the glitter of epaulettes, the renown of presidencies of four weeks' duration, the excitement of pronunciamentos, and the spirit-stirring sounds of trumpet, fife, and drum, with very little danger from the over-use of ammunition ; when promo- tion is slow, they form "free corps" and subsist on pillage. These two institutions engross the politics of the country ; "God and Liberty," means the bishop and the general. Being both consumers, they cannot afford to pay taxes ; and the clergy want all the revenue that is to be obtained for their own particular purposes, and cannot afford to share any por- tion of them with their secular brethren. The consequence is, that cabinet upon cabinet send in their resignations because the soldiers want their pay when there is no money in the treasury, and no possibility of obtaining any ; and the Rever- end Congressmen are very sorry, but really don't see how the matter is to be helped. Sometimes a loan, bearing interest at three per cent, per month, is issued, which wants nothing to make it a political panacea, except purchasers. No wonder Louis Napoleon begins to fear for the supremacy of the " Latin race," and sends a handful of soldiers to Sonora to preserve it. But the country is not without elements of life. Until the war of '47, industry was in the hands of capitalists of London, Bristol, Hamburg, and Bordeaux. The younger sons of those houses were sent there to enter into mining, manu- facturing, and commercial speculations ; they amassed im- mense wealth, and were found by the officers of our army 18 THE NEW ROME. either enjoying the almost Parisian luxuries of the capital, or living retired in haciendas, amid all the profusion of the tro- pics. Still their constant exposure to legal and illegal robbery, and comparative isolation among so degraded a people, made them look upon the land of their birth as that to which they hoped ultimately to return. While no political change was presented to their minds except a colonial subjection to Euro- pean monarchy, they had but little hope of better times. A new era opens with the introduction of American enter- prise consequent upon the war, and the settlement of Califor- nia and Australia, which brought these countries into demand as transit routes. The locomotive snorts between Chagres and Panama, and the steamboat ploughs the Nicaraguan lakes. Aspinwall, and other American towns, founded by American citizens, speaking the English language, and adopt- ing Anglo-Saxon manners, customs, and municipal regulations, are springing up along the route. The Yankees are making inroads on every side; especially on the Western coast. As a young hive of bees, if sound and healthy, will infallibly send forth its swarms, so California is already planting colo- nies. Their nearest goals are the Mexican States of Sonora and Nether California. They meet with no opposition, except, perhaps, from Louis Napoleon, and we shall soon see those states Americanized. If further proof were wanted that these things tend to annexation, we have the authority of General Scott to remove every remaining doubt. In his speech, de- livered at Sandusky, Oct. 11th, 1852, he said: " An offer was made to me, to remain in Mexico, and govern it. The POLITICS. 19 impressiou which generally prevails, that the proposition emanated from Congress, is an erroneous one. The overture was made to me by private citizens — men of wealth and prominence. During our stay in Mexico, our system of government and police was established, which, as the inhabitants themselves confessed, gave security — for the first time, perfect and absolute security — to person and property. About two-fifths of all the branches of government, including nearly a majority of the members of Congress and the Executive, were quite desirous of having that country annexed to ours. " They knew that upon the ratification of the treaty of peace, nineteen out of twenty of the persons belongiug to the American army would stand disbanded, and would be absolutely free from all obligations to remain in the army another moment. They supposed, if they could obtain my ser- vices, I would retain these twelve or fifteen thousand men, and that I could easily obtain one hundred thousand more from home. The hope was, that it would immediately cause annexation. They offered me one million of dollars as a bonus, with a salary of 250,000 per annum, and five responsi- ble individuals to become security in any bank in New York which I might name. It would be so arranged that I might get it in five days. They ex- pected that annexation would be brought about in a few years, or, if not, that I could organize the finances, and straighten the complex affairs of that government. It was understood that nearly a majority of Congress was in favor of annexation, and that it was only necessary to publish a pronun- ciamento to that effect to secure the object. We possessed all the arms of the country, and occupied their cannon-foundries and powder-manufac- tories, had possession of the fortified places, and could easily have held them in our possession if this arrangement had gone into effect. A pub- lished pronunciamento would have brought Congress right over to us, and with these fifteen thousand Americans holding the fortresses of the country, all Mexico could not have disturbed us. "We might have been there to this day if it had been necessary. " I loved my distant home. I was not in favor of the annexation of Mexico to my own country. Mexico (Proper) has about eight millions of inhabitants, and out of these eight millions there are not more than one million who are of pure European blood. The Indians and mixed races constitute about seven millions. They are exceedingly inferior to our own. As a lover of my country, I was opposed to mixing up that race with our own. This was the first objection on my part to this proposition. May I plead some little love of home, which gave me the preference for the soil of my own country and its institutions V 20 THE NEW ROME. However honorable to his personal feelings, Gen. Scott will come to regret this fear of the Indians and mixed races, which may end in making two wars necessary to do the work of one. That work must be done whenever the Americans come to understand, as they already divine, their ' : manifest destiny." Why is the Mexican called Mexican, the Cuban Cuban, and the continental name of American bestowed upon the citizen of the United States alone 1 The following article appeared in the Panama Star, of Oct. 16, 1852: " Federation of the Isthmus. — For some time past, the leading topic of conversation in this city, both publicly and privately, as well as the main subject of the native press, has been the discussion of the independence of the Isthmus, or, rather, the formation of the Isthmus into a Federal State, and suggestions of annexation to a more powerful country. The matter has already been brought before the public, both through the Government at Bogota, and the Carnara Provincial in this city. " The Government at Bogota has acted most liberally in opening the mat- ter for discussion, and the Provincial Carnara here have acted wisely in summoning the people publicly, to express their sentiments in reference to a separation from their mother State." Not content with occupying the Californian territory, the people of that State of adventurers have overrun the Sand- wich Islands, made interest with the government, and effected a treaty by which King Kamehameha III. bequeaths his king- dom to the American people, as of old Attalus made the Roman people heirs of his kingdom of Pergamus. Is there not something Roman in, the walk of this republic % The former administration, in pursuance of a policy more timid than cautious, have omitted to ratify this treaty; but the POLITICS. 21 error will ere long be corrected. The annexation of these islands, forming, as they do, an important shipping station between America and Asia, is particularly interesting as mark- ing the extension of America beyond the continent. A people cannot forego its mission, and the mission of the American people is not bounded by oceans. A new project has just been devised, worthy, in the grandeur of its outlines, of the American mind. It is the settlement of the valley of the Amazon — the greatest river of the world, irrigating the most fertile region, cultivated by the most en- terprising people ! The suggestion will confer lasting renown upon Lieutenant Maury, its originator. The reason assigned for the occupation of the valley, that the series of its produc- tions begins where that of the productions of the Mississippi valley terminate, (sugar closing the train of the latter, and leading that of the former,) betrays the philosophical states- man. v But where are the laborers to be found for those im- mense plantations 1 The negroes of the cotton States will hardly suffice for the rice fields ; Texas is left bare of them. The day of African importation is happily over. But even now the advanced guard of the millions has arrived, who are destined, under Anglo-Saxon management, to accomplish the mighty work. China, with her population of three hundred and sixty-nine millions, has found an outlet on this continent. The gold of California has manifested the miraculous power claimed for it by Columbus, in his letter to Queen Isabella : 11 El oro es excellentissimo, — it will even save souls from purgatory." In the Chinese Empire they punish a man for a 22 THE NEW R O M E. breach of the peace by slinging a rope under his arms, and hanging him up in the sun. A company, under the name of the New York and Para- guay Steamship Company, has been chartered, and is now receiving subscriptions to its stock in New York, for the pur- pose of establishing a line of steamers for the navigation of the Rio de la Plata and its tributaries, of which the Parana, Paraguay, and Uruguay are the principal. The commerce of the fertile countries along the line of these rivers has long been closed to the world by the obstinacy of Rosas, the late Dictator of the Argentine Confederation, who forbade any vessel proceeding up and down the Rio de la Plata. On his downfall, however, it was thrown open, which will give a great impetus to the trade of the fertile states bordering on those streams. Be it said, in passing, that we now witness the first realiza- tion of the plan of Columbus, to reach the east by a westward route ; the fables of the El Dorado of Quinsai and Cathay are fables no longer. American history has doffed its prose, and now assumes all the gorgeous imagery of the Genoese who unchained the oceans. 2. — Internal Growth. We have seen that the American mind is awakening to the necessity of overspreading the continent from the North Pole to the cliff of Don Diego Ramirez on Cape Horn. It does not enter upon the task, however, without calling in the POLITICS. 23 assistance of all the nations of the earth. The true map of the world for the present epoch is that which takes the ocean for its starting point, as given in the Appendix. America is in the middle ; on either hand the ocean, bounded on one side by Europe and Africa, and by Asia on the other. There is but one ocean and two continents, the Western and the Eastern, of which latter Europe and Africa are peninsulas ; Australia is an Asiatic island. AH these countries increase and decrease in historical importance in proportion as they approach or retreat from the ocean, the great highway of nations. The dividing line which marks the outside, passes through the 100° of eastern longitude, traversing the greatest contiguous expanse of mainland which it is possible for a meridian to cover ; these regions, being the least oceanic, are accordingly the least historical in the world. The old world had no room for the expansion of the new ideas ; Columbus opened a new arena upon the virgin soil of the new-found continent. As Mother Earth of the Grecian fable upreared the island of Delos on her bosom, wherein to conceal the infant Jupiter from the murderous fangs of his unnatural father, Time, so the Genius of humanity transported the new ideas to America, there to gather their forces for the impending conquest of heaven and earth. The new organiza- tion draws from Europe the wholesome influences it needs ; but the sea screens it with maternal mantle from the Euro- pean powers of evil. It will not be amiss to notice, in this place, the internal growth of the United States, for the purpose of showing the 24 THE NEW ROME, proportion between their swelling powers and their increasing task. The population, down from 1714, was as follows : — 1714 434,000 1727 580,000 1750 1,260,000 1754 1,425,000 1760 1,695,000 1770 , 2,312,000 1780 2,945,000 1790 3,929,872 1800 5,305,952 1810 7,239,814 1820 9.638,920 1830 12,866,131 1840 1 7,063,353 1850 23,144,126 Compare the result of the last two English censuses : — 1841 . .' 27,019,555 1851 27,452,262 The French censuses are still more unfavorable, since the English censuses of the first half of the century show an in- crease of population of 50 per cent. Here are the French censuses : — 1801 27,349,003 1806 29,107,425 1821 30,461,875 1831 32,569,223 1836 33,540,910 1841 34,240,178 1846 35,400,486 1851 35,781,628 No country affords any comparison to the progress of America, in this respect. Its efficient causes are annexation. POLITICS. 25 immigration, and internal increase. The first of these factors has hitherto contributed but little ; the second far more, as appears from the following table : — 1790-1810 120,000 1810-1820 ' 114,000 1820-1830 203,000 1830-18-10 778,000 1840-1850 1,543,000 Hence it appears that the immigration of every decade about doubles that of the preceding; in one case, (1830-1840,) the proportion was as three to one. That the present decade will not fall short of this ratio, may be inferred from the fact that in 1851, 335,966 persons emigrated from England alone, 267,357 of them to America. The German emigration of the last five years averaged annually 80,000; in 1851 it reached 1 13,199. The immigration of 1852, to the port of New York alone, has been as follows : — January 1 1,592 February 5,252 March 21,726 April 28,193 May 33,372 June 49,225 July 29,403 August 34,513 September 36,777 October 20,115 Total 270,168 The German emigration, at all ports, for the same year, is at least 200,000, and that of 1853 cannot fall short of 400,- 2 26 T HE N E W E OME. 000. Continued political and social pressure combined with improved means of locomotion, to produce these stupendous phenomena. Thus the relative importance of the three sources of accretion, of which natural increase was hitherto by far the most efficient, must undergo a change; immigra- tion and annexation being destined to rise considerably in the scale. The past increase averaged 36 per cent, for every ten years; supposing this to remain, the population would in- crease as follows : — 1860 30,958,000 1810 41,145,000 1880 54,559,000 1890 73,144,000 1900 97,525,000 1910 1 20,034,000 1920 160,045,000 1930 213,360,000 1940 284,480,000 1950 379,307,000 Yet the actual growth will manifestly become far more rapid, though irregular; the mass of probabilities, however, makes every calculation uncertain. 3. — Constitution. The causes of this unparalleled growth and infinite expan- siveness must be looked for in the political and social organi- zation of the United States ; their natural advantages are shared by other countries, as Brazil, which have shown no symptoms of these capacities. Our republic is the result of POLITICS. 27 a secessio plebis in montem sacrum^ of a segregation, not only threatened and attempted, but effected, or in the course of effectuation, of the third and fourth estates, those of intellect and labor, from the first and second, those of the priesthood and the aristocracy. Ancient Rome went down because this separation was then rescinded ; the new Rome, thanks to the guiding hand of Columbus, is the offspring of this movement, and must stand so long as its force remains unspent. All the nations of Europe, through their children, have helped to rear this edifice of human freedom; but the chief credit is due to the Anglo-Saxons. The old Germanic liberty lost its political phase in Germany, but was preserved and developed in England, as of old the institutions of the Doric tribes found an asylum from the destroying hand of the HeraclidaB in the recesses of Crete, whence Lycurgus afterwards trans- ferred them back to Sparta. This liberty, when endangered in England, was vindicated and raised to its present perfec- tion by the people of America. Let us view it somewhat in detail. t Form of Government. The American union is an organized constellation of sovereignties. It is a consolidated republic, in so far as its central government is financially, and in part politically, in- dependent of the integrating states ; but it is a free confedera- tion in as far as the sovereign members are self-existent, and controllable in nothing but the points they have themselves conceded. The Constitution of the United States is amendable 28 THE NEW ROME. by the ratification, by three-fourths of the several states, of proposals made by a convention called by two-thirds of both houses of Congress, or on the application of two-thirds of the states : this is the highest power acknowledged by the Con- stitution. Under this sole restriction, it is the supreme and unalterable Jaw In it the confederating states form a perpetual compact to give faith and credit to each other's acts, records, and judicial proceedings; to admit the citizens of every state to all the rights of citizenship in every other ; to surrender up mutually fugitives from justice and from labor; to preserve republi- can forms of government; to impose no restraints upon in- tercourse, and to establish and maintain a federal government with certain specified powers and duties. In favor of this government the several states also forego the sovereign rights of foreign negotiation, making war, and maintaining standing armies, of bills of credit, the making of any thing but gold and silver a legal tender or payment of debts, passing ex-post facto laws, bills of attainder, or improv- ing the obligations of contracts, granting titles of nobility, and laying duties on imports, exports, and tonnage. The federal government is, on its part, expressly restricted from impairing the prerogative of the states by the appoint- ment of militia officers, by laying duties on exports, by regu- lating commerce to the preference of one state and the detriment of another, or by granting titles of nobility. These express reservations do not exclude implied ones, but all rights are reserved which are not expressly granted. POLITICS. 29 The rights of the people under the federal government are further guarded from invasion by the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus, bills of attainder or ex-post facto laws, reli- gious tests, regulations, or church establishments, invasions of the freedom of speech, of the press, of assemblage, of peti- tion, of the right to bear arms, of exemption from the illegal quartering of troops, unreasonable searches and seizure, indefi- nite and unauthorized warrants, from arraignment for crime, except upon presentment of a grand jury, from repeated trials in capital cases, from compulsory self-inculpation, from de- privation of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, or from deprivation of property for a public purpose without compensation. An impartial jury trial is secured in all criminal cases, and in all civil ones of amount ; the requi- sition of excessive bail, and the infliction of cruel and unusual punishments or excessive fines, is expressly prohibited. Under these restrictions, the following powers are delegated : — 1. To the legislative branch, the power of declaring war, of raising and supporting armies and navies, of calling forth the militia for purposes of defence, and of its organization and discipline, of regulating foreign, inter-state, and Indian commerce, of naturalization and bankruptcy laws, of coinage, weights, measures, post-offices, patents, and copyrights ; and of borrowing money, and laying and collecting uniform taxes, duties, imports and excises ; of governing territories, admitting new states, and guaranteeing to every state a repub- lican government, and freedom from invasion. 30 THE NEW ROME. 2. To the judiciary, the power of deciding on cases arising under the laws passed by the federal government, cases affecting ambassadors and consuls, cases of admiralty jurisdiction, controversies in which the Lulled States are a party, and controversies between states. 3. To the executive, the chief command of the army and navy, the power of pardoning, and (with the advice and consent of the Senate) of making treaties, and appointing public officers. The legislative power is vested in a house of represent- atives, a senate, and, for certain purposes, a president. Every law must be proposed in one of the two houses, passed by a majority of both, and receive the assent of the president, or be re- submitted to the vote of the houses, and receive two- thirds of their suffrages. The courts are organized by acts of Congress, but the appointment of the judges must conform to the constitutional provision. 