nt of the country is then
most prejudicial to the power of the State. But if the inhabitants of
these vast regions are not divided by contrary interests, the extent of
the territory may be favorable to their prosperity; for the unity of the
government promotes the interchange of the different productions of the
soil, and increases their value by facilitating their consumption.

[Footnote c: See "Darby's View of the United States," p. 435. [In 1890
the number of States and Territories had increased to 51, the population
to 62,831,900, and the area of the States, 3,602,990 square miles.
This does not include the Philippine Islands, Hawaii, or Porto Rico.
A conservative estimate of the population of the Philippine Islands is
8,000,000; that of Hawaii, by the census of 1897, was given at 109,020;
and the present estimated population of Porto Rico is 900,000. The area
of the Philippine Islands is about 120,000 square miles, that of Hawaii
is 6,740 square miles, and the area of Porto Rico is about 3,600 square
miles.]]

It is indeed easy to discover different interests in the different parts
of the Union, but I am unacquainted with any which are hostile to each
other. The Southern States are almost exclusively agricultural. The
Northern States are more peculiarly commercial and manufacturing. The
States of the West are at the same time agricultural and manufacturing.
In the South the crops consist of tobacco, of rice, of cotton, and
of sugar; in the North and the West, of wheat and maize. These are
different sources of wealth; but union is the means by which these
sources are opened to all, and rendered equally advantageous to the
several districts.

The North, which ships the produce of the Anglo-Americans to all parts
of the world, and brings back the produce of the globe to the Union,
is evidently interested in maintaining the confederation in its present
condition, in order that the number of American producers and consumers
may remain as large as possible. The North is the most natural agent
of communication between the South and the West of the Union on the one
hand, and the rest of the world upon the other; the North is therefore
interested in the union and prosperity of the South and the West,
in order that they may continue to furnish raw materials for its
manufactures, and cargoes for its shipping.

The South and the West, on their side, are still more directly
interested in the preservation of the Union, and th