Prophetic Voices About America.
In the Atlantic Monthly of Sept., 1867, we find an article said to be from the pen of Chas. Sumner, headed as above, which contains some very significant declarations concerning America, and its position and influence among the nations of the earth. It is a collection of what European and American writers have said concerning this government; from which it appears that the more discerning minds of the past, though all unconscious of the position which prophecy, nearly eighteen hundred years ago, assigned to this government, have been intuitively impressed with the idea of its future greatness and power. In view of the prophecy, these utterances become very striking, and worthy the attention of those who understand the voice of inspiration on this subject. Mr. Sumner commences by saying, “The discovery of America by Christopher Columbus is the greatest event of all secular history;” while the testimonies he introduces show that many have entertained the greatest expectations of the government here founded. He continues: “Before the voyage of Columbus in 1492, nothing of America was really known. A few scraps from antiquity, a few rumors from the ocean, and a few speculations from science, were all that the inspired navigator found to guide him. Foremost among all these were the well-known verses of the Spaniard Seneca, in the chorus of his “Medea,” which for generations had been the finger-point to an undiscovered world.
“‘In tardy years the epoch will come in which the ocean will unloose the bonds of nature, and the great earth will stretch out, and the sea will disclose new worlds; nor will Thule be the most remote on the globe.’” “Two, if not more, different copies of these verses are extant in the handwriting of Columbus,—precious autographs; one in the sketch of his work on the Prophecies, another in a letter addressed to Queen Isabella; and it would seem as if there was still a third entered among his observations of lunar eclipses at Hayti and Jamaica. By these verses the great discoverer sailed. But Humboldt, who has illustrated the enterprise with all that classical or mediæval literature affords, does not hesitate to declare his conviction, that the discovery of a new continent was more completely foreshadowed in the simple geographical statement of the Greek Strabo, who, after a long life of travel, sat down in the eighty-fourth year of his age, during the reign of Augustus, to write the geography of the world, including its cosmography. In this work, where are gathered the results of ancient study and experience, the venerable author, after alluding to the possibility of passing direct from Spain to India, and explaining that the inhabited world is that which we inhabit and know, thus lifts the curtain: “‘There may be in the same temperate zone two and indeed more inhabited lands, especially nearest the parallel of Thinae or Athens, prolonged into the Atlantic Ocean.’ This was the voice of ancient science.” Sir Thomas Browne, 1682, predicted the growth of this power, till it should become the rival of the European kingdoms in strength and prowess. “Bishop Berkeley,” as we quote from the article, “is compassionately called an Irish prelate and philosopher. He was born in Kilkenny, 1684, and died in Oxford, 1753. He became bishop of Cloyne, in which place he was most exemplary, devoting himself to his episcopal duties, to the education of children, and the pleasures of composition. He wrote the famous poem entitled, ‘Verses on the Prospect of Planting Arts and Learning in America.’ The date may be fixed at 1726. Such a poem was an historic event. I give the first and last stanzas: “‘The Muse, disgusted at an age and clime,
Barren of every glorious theme,
In distant lands now waits a better time,
Producing subjects worthy fame. “‘Westward the course of empire takes its way,
The first four acts already past,
A fifth shall close the drama with the day;
Time’s noblest offspring is the last.’” “Another illustration of this same sentiment will be found in Burnaby’s ‘Travels through the Middle Settlements of North America, in 1750 and 1760,’ a work which was first published in 1775. In his reflections at the close of his book the traveler thus remarks: “‘An idea, strange as it is visionary, has entered into the minds of the generality of mankind, that empire is traveling westward: and every one is looking forward with eager and impatient expectation to that destined moment when America is to give the law to the rest of the world.’” John Adams, Oct. 12, 1755, wrote: “‘England began to increase in power and magnificence, and is now the greatest nation of the globe. Soon after the Reformation, a few people came over into this New World for conscience’ sake. Perhaps this apparently trivial incident may transfer the great seat of empire to America. It looks likely to me.’” On the Declaration of Independence he says: “‘Yesterday the greatest question was decided which ever was debated in America, and a greater, perhaps, never was nor will be decided among men. . . . I am surprised at the suddenness as well as greatness of this revolution. Britain has been filled with folly, and America with wisdom. At least this is my judgment. Time must determine, It is the will of Heaven that the two countries should be sundered forever.’” “In an official letter to the President of Congress, dated at Amsterdam, 5th September, 1780, the same writer, while proposing an American Academy for refining, improving, and ascertaining the English language, thus predicts the extension of this language: “‘English is destined to be in the next and succeeding centuries more generally the language of the world than Latin was in the last, or French is in the present, age.’” Galiani, a Neapolitan, in 1776 said: “‘Livy said of his age, which so much resembled ours, “Ad hæc tempora ventum est quibus, nec vitia nostra, nec remedia pati possumus,”—“We are in an age where the remedies hurt as much as the vices.” Do you know the reality? The epoch has come of the total fall of Europe, and of transmigration into America. All here turns into rottenness,—religion, laws, arts, sciences,—and all hastens to renew itself in America. This is not a jest; nor is it an idea drawn from the English quarrels; I have said it, announced it, preached it, for more than twenty years, and I have constantly seen my prophecies come to pass.’” In another letter, dated at Naples, July 25, 1778, he prophesies in language still more explicit: “‘You will at this time have decided the greatest revolution of the globe; namely, if it is America which is to reign over Europe, or if it is Europe which is to continue to reign over America. I will wager in favor of America, for the reason merely physical, that for five thousand years genius has turned opposite to the diurnal motion, and traveled from the East to the West.’” Adam Smith of Scotland, 1776, predicted the transfer of empire to America: “‘The distance of America from the seat of government, the natives of that country might flatter themselves, with some appearance of reason too, would not be of very long continuance. Such has hitherto been the rapid progress of that country in wealth, population, and improvement, that, in the course of little more than a century, perhaps, the produce of America might exceed that of British taxation. The seat of the empire would then naturally remove itself to that part of the empire which contributed most to the general defence and support of the whole.’”