Certainly
the world never beheld such a spectacle before. In my next and
concluding lecture I shall return to this point while summing up the
argument and illustrating the part played by the English race in the
general history of civilization.
III.
"_MANIFEST DESTINY_."
Among the legends of our late Civil War there is a story of a
dinner-party given by the Americans residing in Paris, at which were
propounded sundry toasts concerning not so much the past and present as
the expected glories of the great American nation. In the general
character of these toasts geographical considerations were very
prominent, and the principal fact which seemed to occupy the minds of
the speakers was the unprecedented _bigness_ of our country. "Here's to
the United States," said the first speaker, "bounded on the north by
British America, on the south by the Gulf of Mexico, on the east by the
Atlantic, and on the west by the Pacific, Ocean." "But," said the second
speaker, "this is far too limited a view of the subject: in assigning
our boundaries we must look to the great and glorious future which is
prescribed for us by the Manifest Destiny of the Anglo-Saxon Race.
Here's to the United States,--bounded on the north by the North Pole,
on the south by the South Pole, on the east by the rising and on the
west by the setting sun.
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