plant." And it is a remarkable fact that this very figure has been
chosen by political writers, as the one which best illustrates the rise
of our government. Mr. G.A. Townsend, in his work entitled, "The New
World Compared with the Old," p. 462, says:--

"Since America was discovered, she has been a subject of
revolutionary thought in Europe. The mystery of _her coming forth
from vacancy_, the marvel of her wealth in gold and silver, the
spectacle of her captives led through European capitals, filled the
minds of men with unrest: and unrest is the first stage of
revolution."

On p. 635, he further says:--

"In this web of islands, the West Indies, began the life of both
[North and South] Americas. There Columbus saw land, there Spain
began her baneful and brilliant Western Empire; thence Cortez
departed for Mexico, De Soto for the Mississippi, Balboa for the
Pacific, and Pizarro for Peru. The history of the United States was
separated by a beneficient Providence far from this wild and cruel
history of the rest of the continent, and _like a silent seed, we
grew into empire_; while empire itself, beginning in the South, was
swept by so interminable a hurricane that what of its history we
can ascertain is read by the very lightnings that devastated it.
The growth of English America may be likened to a series of lyrics
sung by separate singers, which, coalescing, at last make a
vigorous chorus, and this, attracting many from afar, swells and is
prolonged, until presently it assumes the dignity and proportions
of epic song."