no account simply as a
man. Here, at last, Humanity has flowered; here has blossomed a new race
of men, capable of postponing persons to uses, and private preferences
to the public good, of subjecting its wildest passions to a sense of
justice,--qualities so rare, that, when they are most strikingly
manifested in us, foreign observers stand astonished and incredulous.
Accustomed to seeing other races carried away by their own frenzy the
moment they break free from despotic restraint and attempt to act for
themselves, they cannot believe that Americans actually have that
uncommon virtue, self-control. The predictions of the London "Times"
with regard to us have always proved such ludicrous failures, because
they have been based upon this false estimate of our temper. Taking for
granted that we are a mob, and that a mob is an idiot, whose speech and
actions are void of reason, "full of sound and fury, signifying
nothing," the Thunderer continues to prophesy evil of us; and when,
where madness was most confidently looked for, we exhibit the coolest
sense, it can think of nothing better to do than to denounce us for our
inconsistencies! Yet the self-control we claim for ourselves comes from
no lack of caloric: caloric we possess in abundance, though of a stiller
sort than that with which the world has been hitherto acquainted. Our
friend from the backwoods thought there was no fire in the coal-furnace,
because he could not hear it roar and crackle, and was afterwards amazed
at its steady intensity of heat. Our misguided Southern brethren had the
same opinion of Northern character, and burned their hands most
deplorably when they laid hold of it.

They have discovered their mistake. Our Transatlantic neighbors have
also, by this time, discovered theirs. Moreover, we (and this is the
main thing) have caught a glimpse of ourselves in the glass of the last
election. Henceforth let us have faith in our destiny. Let us once more
open our maps, and, by the light of that day's revelation, look at the
grand outlines and limitless possibilities of our country. Look at the
old States and the new, and at the future States! Behold the vast plains
of Texas and the Indian Territory,--the rivers of Arizona, Dakotah, and
Utah,--Montana, Idaho, Colorado, and New Mexico, with their magnificent
mountain-chains,--Nevada, and the Pacific States,--Washington, Oregon,
and California, each alone capable of becoming another New England! What
a home