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.
FOOTNOTES
[1] Conférences Américaines, p. 143.
[2] Müller’s Voyages from Asia to America, tr. Jefferys, (London, 1764,) p. 45.
[3] Articles XV., XVI.: Billings’s Expedition, Appendix, No. V., pp. 41, 42.
[4] Voyage, Tom. II. p. 147.
[5] A translation of this document is given in Barrow’s Arctic Voyages, Appendix, No. II., pp. 24, seqq.
[6] Voyage of Malaspina: Barrow, p. 127.
[7] Barbé-Marbois, Histoire de la Louisiane, (Paris, 1829,) p. 335.