ing beyond
the frontiers of the Union towards Mexico, are still destitute of
inhabitants. The natives of the United States will forestall the
rightful occupants of these solitary regions. They will take possession
of the soil, and establish social institutions, so that when the legal
owner arrives at length, he will find the wilderness under cultivation,
and strangers quietly settled in the midst of his inheritance. *n

[Footnote n: [This was speedily accomplished, and ere long both Texas
and California formed part of the United States. The Russian settlements
were acquired by purchase.]]

The lands of the New World belong to the first occupant, and they are
the natural reward of the swiftest pioneer. Even the countries which are
already peopled will have some difficulty in securing themselves from
this invasion. I have already alluded to what is taking place in the
province of Texas. The inhabitants of the United States are perpetually
migrating to Texas, where they purchase land; and although they conform
to the laws of the country, they are gradually founding the empire of
their own language and their own manners. The province of Texas is still
part of the Mexican dominions, but it will soon contain no Mexicans;
the same thing has occurred whenever the Anglo-Americans have come into
contact with populations of a different origin.

It cannot be denied that the British race has acquired an amazing
preponderance over all the other European races in the New World; and
that it is very superior to them in civilization, in industry, and in
power. As long as it is only surrounded by desert or thinly peopled
countries, as long as it encounters no dense populations upon its route,
through which it cannot work its way, it will assuredly continue to
spread. The lines marked out by treaties will not stop it; but it will
everywhere transgress these imaginary barriers.

The geographical position of the British race in the New World is
peculiarly favorable to its rapid increase. Above its northern frontiers
the icy regions of the Pole extend; and a few degrees below its southern
confines lies the burning climate of the Equator. The Anglo-Americans
are, therefore, placed in the most temperate and habitable zone of the
continent.

It is generally supposed that the prodigious increase of population in
the United States is posterior to their Declaration of Independence. But
this is an error: the population increased as rapidly unde