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." Emphatic applause greeted this aspiring
prophecy. But here arose the third speaker--a very serious gentleman
from the Far West. "If we are going," said this truly patriotic
American, "to leave the historic past and present, and take our manifest
destiny into the account, why restrict ourselves within the narrow
limits assigned by our fellow-countryman who has just sat down? I give
you the United States,--bounded on the north by the Aurora Borealis, on
the south by the precession of the equinoxes, on the east by the
primeval chaos, and on the west by the Day of Judgment!"

I offer this anecdote at the outset by way of self-defence, inasmuch as
I shall by and by have myself to introduce some considerations
concerning the future of our country, and of what some people, without
the fear of Mr. Freeman before their eyes, call the "Anglo-Saxon" race;
and if it should happen to strike you that my calculations are
unreasonably large, I hope you will remember that they are quite modest
after all, when compared with some others.

The "manifest destiny" of the "Anglo-Saxon" race and the huge dimensions
of our country are favourite topics with Fourth-of-July orators, but
they are none the less interesting on that account when considered from
the point of view of the historian. To be a citizen of a great and
growing state, or to belong to one of the dominant races of the world,
is no doubt a legitimate source of patriotic pride, though there is
perhaps an equal justification for such a feeling in being a citizen of
a tiny state like Holland, which, in spite of its small dimensions, has
nevertheless achieved so much,--fighting at one time the battle of
freedom for the world, producing statesmen like William and Barneveldt,
generals like Maurice, scholars like Erasm