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FUTURE OF THE REPUBLIC. May we rationally hope that its life and success will be permanent; or has it entered upon a career of brilliant, brief mortality?

When our fathers shaped and fashioned it, and breathed into its beautiful form the inspiration of their great lives, did they utter a vain and empty boast, when they pronounced upon it the loving benediction "Esto Perpetua?"

What do men mean when they predict immortality of anything earthly?

The first Napoleon was one day walking through the galleries of the Louvre, filled with the wonders of art which he had stolen from the conquered capitols of Europe. As he passed the marvelous picture of Peter Martyr, one of the seven masterpieces of the world, he overheard an enthusiastic artist exclaim, "Immortal work!" Turning quickly upon his heel, the Emperor asked, "What is the average life of an oil painting?', "Five hundred years," answered the artist. Immortal! the Corsican scornfully repeated, as he passed on, thinking doubtless of Austerlitz and Marengo. Six years ago, the wonderful picture of Peter Martyr, was dissolved in the flames of a burning church at Venice, and like Austerlitz, is now only a memory and a dream.

When the great lyric poet of Rome, ventured to predict immortality for his works, he could think of no higher human symbol of immortality than the Eternal City and her institutions, crowded with seven centuries of glorious growth, and so Horace declared that his verses would be remembered, as long as the highpriest of Apollo and the silent vestal virgin should climb the steps of the capitol. Fifteen centuries ago, the sacred fires of Vesta went out, never to be rekindled. For a thousand years, Apollo has had no shrine, no priest, no worshiper on the earth. The steps

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of the Capitol, and the temples that crowned it, live. only in dreams. And to-day the antiquary digs and disputes among the ruins, and is unable to tell us where on the Capitoline hill the great citadel of Rome stood.*

There is much in the history of dead empires to sadden and discourage our hope for the permanence of any human institution. But a deeper study reveals the fact that nations have perished, only when their institutions have ceased to be serviceable to the human race. When their faith has become an empty form, and the destruction of the old is indispensible to the growth of the new. Growth is better than permanence; and permanent growth is better than all. Our faith is large in time; and we

"Doubt not through the ages, an increasing purpose runs,

And the thoughts of men are widened by the process of the suns.'

It matters little what may be the forms of national institutions, if the life, freedom and growth of society are secured. To save the life of a nation it is sometimes necessary to discard the old form and make room for the new growth; for

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Old decays but foster new creations;

Bones and ashes feed the golden corn;
Fresh elixirs wander every moment,

Down the veins through which the live part feeds its child, the
life unborn."

There are two classes of forces whose action and reaction determine the condition of a nation.-the forces of repression, and expression. The one acts from without; limits, curbs, restrains. The other acts from within; expands, enlarges, propels. Constitutional forms, statutory limitations, conservative customs belong to the first. The free play of individual life,

*Hare's "Walks in Rome."

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forces be happily balanced; if there be a wise conservation and correlation of both; a nation may enjoy the double blessing of progress and permanence.

How are these forces acting upon our nation at the present time?

Our success has been so great hitherto, we have passed safely through so many perils which, at the time seemed almost fatal, that we may assume that the Republic will continue to live and prosper unless it shall be assailed by dangers which outnumber and outweigh the elements of its strength. It is idle to boast of what we are, and what we are to be, unless, at the same time, we compare our strength with the magnitude of our dangers.

What then are our dangers; and how can they be conquered?

EXTERNAL DANGERS.

In the first place, our great dangers are not from without. Separated from all great rivals by broad seas, and protected from foreign complications, by the wise policy introduced by Washington, and now become traditional - the policy of non-interference — nothing but reckless and gratuitous folly on our part, can lead us into serious peril from abroad. Our Republic is the undisputed master of its geographical position. It is the central figure in what must soon be the grandest of all theatres of national effort. Civilization has always clustered about some sea as the centre and arena of its activity. For many centuries, the Mediterranean was the historic sea, around which were grouped the great nations of classic antiquity. The grander forces of modern history required a larger theatre of operations; and the race turned remorse

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lessly away from the scenes and monuments of its ancient glory. It changed the front of Europe to the westward, and made the Atlantic and its shores the scene and centre of the new and grander activities The Atlantic is still the great historic sea. Even in

its sunken wrecks might be read the record of modern nations. On its western shore, our Republic holds the chief place of power.

But there is still a grander sea; and who shall say that the Pacific will not yet become the great historic sea of the future—the vast amphitheatre around which shall sit in majesty and power the two Americas, Asia, Africa and the chief colonies of Europe? In that august assemblage of nations, the United States will be "easily chief," if she fill worthily the measure of her high destiny-if she do not abdicate the seat which Providence and Nature have assigned her. I repeat it then, our great dangers are not from without. We do not live by the consent of any other nation. We must look within, to find the elements of danger. The first and most obvious of these is territorial expansion, overgrowth; the danger that we shall break in pieces by our own weight. This has been the commonplace of historians and publicists for many centuries; and its truth has found many striking illustrations in the experience of mankind. But we have fair ground for believing that new conditions and new forces have nearly if not wholly removed the ground of this danger. Distance, estrangement, isolation have been overcome by the recent amazing growth in the means of inter-communication. For political and industrial purposes, California and Massachusetts are nearer neighbors to-day, than were Philadelphia and Boston in the days of the revolution. The people of all our thirty-seven States know more of each other's affairs.

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than the Vermonter knew of his Virginia neighbors. fifty years ago. It was distance, isolation, ignorance of separate parts, that broke the cohesive force of the great empires of antiquity. Public affairs are now more public, and private less private than in former age. The Railroad, the Telegraph and the Press have virtually brought our citizens, with their opinions and industries, face to face; and they live almost in each other's sight. The leading political, social and industrial events of this day, will be reported and discussed at more than two millions of American breakfast tables to-morrow morning. Public opinion is kept in constant exercise and training. It keeps itself constantly in hand-ready to approve, condemn and command. It may be wrong; it may be tyrannical; but it is all pervading, and constitutes, more than ever before, a strong band of nationality.

Fortunately our greatest line of extension is from east to west, and our pathway along the parallels of latitude are not too broad for safety; for it lies within the zone of national development. The Gulf of Mexico is our special providence on the South. Perhaps it would. be more fortunate for us if the northern shore of that Gulf stretched westward to the Pacific. If our territory embraced the Tropics the sun would be our enemy. "The stars in their courses" would fight against us. Now these celestial forces are our friends, and help to make us one. Let us hope that the Republic will be content to maintain this friendly alliance.

Our northern boundary is not yet wholly surveyed. Perhaps our neighbors across the lakes will some day take a hint from Nature, and save themselves and us the discomfort of an artificial boundary. Restrained within our present southern limits, with a population more homoeogenous than that of any other great na

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