r. The
railways exceeded in aggregate length those of all Europe combined.
In 1873 the aggregate length of the European railways was sixty-three
thousand three hundred and sixty miles, that of the American was seventy
thousand six hundred and fifty miles. One of them, built across the
continent, connected the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

But not alone are these material results worthy of notice. Others of a
moral and social kind force themselves on our attention. Four million
negro slaves had been set free. Legislation, if it inclined to the
advantage of any class, inclined to that of the poor. Its intention was
to raise them from poverty, and better their lot. A career was open
to talent, and that without any restraint. Every thing was possible to
intelligence and industry. Many of the most important public offices
were filled by men who had risen from the humblest walks of life.
If there was not social equality, as there never can be in rich and
prosperous communities, there was civil equality, rigorously maintained.

It may perhaps be said that much of this material prosperity arose from
special conditions, such as had never occurred in the case of any people
before, There was a vast, an open theatre of action, a whole continent
ready for any who chose to take possession of it. Nothing more than
courage and industry was needed to overcome Nature, and to seize the
abounding advantages she offered.

ILLUSTRATIONS FROM AMERICAN HISTORY. But must not men be animated by a
great principle who successfully transform the primeval solitudes into
an abode of civilization, who are not dismayed by gloomy forests, or
rivers, mountains, or frightful deserts, who push their conquering
way in the course of a century across a continent, and hold it in
subjection? Let us contrast with this the results of the invasion of
Mexico and Peru by the Spaniards, who in those countries overthrew
a wonderful civilization, in many respects superior to their own--a
civilization that had been accomplished without iron and gunpowder--a
civilization resting on an agriculture that had neither horse, nor
ox, nor plough. The Spaniards had a clear base to start from, and
no obstruction whatever in their advance. They ruined all that the
aboriginal children of America had accomplished. Millions of those
unfortunates were destroyed by their cruelty. Nations that for
many centuries had been living in contentment and prosperity, under
institutions shown