03 to 1769 scarcely
a ship had ever visited California, that wonderful country which,
twenty-five years ago, with the exception of a few places on the coast,
was an unknown wilderness, but which is now covered with flourishing
and prosperous towns and cities, served by a sea-to-sea railway, and
its capital already ranking the third of the seaports of the Union;
even at this early stage of its existence a central point of the
world's commerce, and apparently destined, by the proposed junction
of the great oceans, to play a most important part in the future.

[The mission of America.] In proportion as the navigation of the west
coast of America extends the influence of the American element over
the South Sea, the captivating, magic power which the great republic
exercises over the Spanish colonies [267] will not fail to make itself
felt also in the Philippines, The Americans are evidently destined to
bring to a full development the germs originated by the Spaniards. As
conquerors of modern times, representing the age of free citizens in
contrast to the age of knighthood, they follow with the plow and the
axe of the pioneer, where the former advanced under the sign of the
cross with their swords.

[Superiority over Spanish system.] A considerable portion of
Spanish-America already belongs to the United States, and has since
attained an importance which could not possibly have been anticipated
either under the Spanish Government or during the anarchy which
followed. With regard to permanence, the Spanish system cannot for a
moment be compared with that of America. While each of the colonies,
in order to favor a privileged class by immediate gains, exhausted
still more the already enfeebled population of the metropolis by the
withdrawal of the best of its ability, America, on the contrary, has
attracted to itself from all countries the most energetic element,
which, once on its soil and, freed from all fetters, restlessly
progressing, has extended its power and influence still further and
further. The Philippines will escape the action of the two great
neighboring powers all the less for the fact that neither they nor
their metropolis find their condition of a stable and well-balanced
nature.

[Need of Philippine awakening.] It seems to be desirable for the
Filipinos that the above-mentioned views should not speedily become
accomplished facts, because their education and training hitherto
have not been of a nature to pre