mpire moves."

Ohio welcomed its first permanent settlers in 1788, and now it is
occupied by nearly 2,000,000 of people. Michigan obtained its first
immigrants but fourteen or fifteen years ago, and now has a population
of 300,000. Indiana, admitted into the Union in 1816, has since then
received a population of more than half a million, and now numbers
nearly a million of inhabitants. Illinois became a State in 1818. From
that date its population trebled every ten years till the last census
of 1840, and since then has risen from 476,000 to about 900,000.
Missouri, which in 1810 had only 20,800 people, has now 600,000, having
increased 50 per cent. in six years. Iowa was scarcely heard of a dozen
years ago. It is now a State, and about 150,000 people call its land
their home. Wisconsin was organized but twelve years ago, and has now a
population of not less than 200,000. One portion of its territory, 33
miles by 30, which ten years before was an unbroken wilderness,
numbered even in 1846 87,000 inhabitants; and the emigration to the
"Far West" is now greater than ever. A giant is therefore growing up
there, who will soon be able and disposed to rule the destinies of the
United States. The Church of Rome is straining every nerve to have that
giant in her own keeping, and already shouts the song of triumph. Says
one of her sanguine sons, "The Church is now firmly established in this
country, and persecution will but cause it to thrive. Our countrymen
may grieve that it is so; but it is useless for them to kick against
the decrees of the Almighty God. They have an open field and fair play
for Protestantism. Here she has had free scope, has reigned without a
rival, and proved what she could do, and that her best is evil; for the
very good she boasts is not hers. A new day is dawning on this chosen
land, and the Church is about to assume her rightful position and
influence. Ours shall yet become consecrated ground. _Our hills and
valleys shall yet echo to the convent-bell._ The cross shall be planted
throughout the length and breadth of our land; and our happy sons and
daughters shall drive away fear, shall drive away evil from our borders
with the echoes of their matin and vesper hymns. No matter who writes,
who declaims, who intrigues, who is alarmed, or what leagues are
formed, THIS IS TO BE A CATHOLIC COUNTRY; and from Maine to Georgia,
from the broad Atlantic to broader Pacific, the 'clean sacrifice' is to
be offered d