From surveys actually made by Lieut. Freemont, it is certain, that a rail-road from Cumberland, in Maryland, to the Pacific, is entirely within our means as a nation, at an expense of only about fifty millions of dollars or less; and it is equally certain that the new lands to be brought into market by making the road, would defray every dollar of the expense of making it. We live in the infancy of the greatest nation that now exists, ever did, or ever will exist, on the face of the globe. Looking through the vista of futurity, we can now behold a nation consisting of five hundred millions of people, all speaking our language, and governing the world in peace without a rival in commerce, arts or arms. Should the British lion growl at us, the Gallic cock would flap his wings and crow at our success, and the Russian bear smile upon us. The American eagle will yet soar above both, into his own pure air, where he can revel in the brilliant beams of his own flaming sun. The trade between the East Indies and Europe will eventually pass across our territory, east and west, and the time of passing from London to Canton might not occupy more than two months. Such a state of things would add to the wealth, numbers, commerce, agriculture and manufactures of this whole nation. Such a nation, whose territory extended from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from the Icy sea in the north to the Isthmus of Darien in the south, would present a sublime spectacle. What a vast field in which free government might exercise its energies! The human imagination is lost in its contemplation of such a prospect, for the future generations of our posterity.
Yet, certainly, such is the prospect ahead, unless it be our own fault. The most difficult portion of the road to be made between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, is between Cumberland and Wheeling; and yet that portion of it could be made in five years after it was fairly began to be made by the nation. The little questions of policy and of party, now agitating so many little minds, will be lost in oblivion, and higher, nobler, better and more extended objects and aims, will occupy higher, nobler and better minds than are now employed on political affairs. The little ants and their mole hills, will give place to mammoths and to Alps, in the intellectual, political and moral world. Our destiny is in our own hands, and unless we abuse all the gifts of God to us, we shall be the most powerful nation on earth. Let us hope that our people will move forward in their career to its ultimate grand end, unimpeded by factions at home, or by force from abroad. The more States we have in our confederacy, the stronger we shall be as a nation. As a great whole, the human mind has always moved forward, and we see no reason why the American mind should stand still, or stop short of its grand, final destiny, at the very head of nations--of all nations on earth. Nature’s God never intended that the people of this great continent, should be subservient to the people of Europe, more than he did that the sun in yonder firmament should descend from his orbit to revolve around a pebble on our sea shore, as his centre of gravity. No. We inhabit a great and mighty continent, blest with every soil, climate, plant and animal which the earth contains. Our people, too, derive their origin from every other people almost who live on this globe. Let us throw aside as useless, and worse than useless, all low aims, and soar like our own eagle into purer air.