Text: C. F. Briggs (?), Literary, Broadway Journal (New York), January 25, 1845, vol. 1, no. 4, p. ??

January 25, 1845

[page 50, column 1, continued:]

THE NATURAL BOUNDARIES OF EMPIRES, AND A. NEW VIEW OF COLONIZATION. By John Finch, Esq., Corresponding Member of the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec, and of the Natural History Societies of Montreal, New York, New Brunswick, Delaware, etc. London: Longmans, 1844. Imported by Wiley ik Putnam.

SYDNEY SMITH, or somebody else, said once that the present was an age of persiflage. We can hardly open a book on any subject, which does not contain a dash of satire. The gravest lessons are now taught in a vein of humor, and all our philosophers are professed jokers. There seems to be nothing serious but fun, a,id nothing funny which is not serious. The favorite jest nook of the day is the Comic Blackstone; and the legitimate successors of Addison and Johnson, are the contributors to Purim Upon our own side of the water, we have, as yet, no didactic humorists; our sermons contain as little humor as they well can; and our humorous writers would run little danger of being mistaken for preachers. Our jokes are nothing but jokes, and done of our political writers have yet aimed at enlightening the people, or enlivening their essays, by witticisms in disguise. We certainly had no expectation of meeting anything punchy in a philosophical essay on the natural boundaries of empires; but the corresponding member of the Natural History Societies of Montreal, New York, New Brunswick, etc., is not free from the contagion of the age. There is irony in every page of his book; it reads like the papers in Punch, or the preface to Martin Chuzzlewit; but it contains more of the philosophy of history than we ever before saw compressed into so small a space. The author must be an old man, for he was a correspondent of Madison's, and he appears to have distilled this volume from the studies of a life-time. His knowledge of American affairs is very exact and minute, and his national prejudices are nothing. He seems to have entirely forgotten the place where he was born, for he shows no partiality for any particular part of the globe; and though an Englishman, he makes no boast of British glory. Ile mentions the fact, incidentally, that there are three millions of slaves in the United States, but he has no more prejudices against the south than. Mr. Calhoun, or father Ritchie. His book is of great value to America, now, whin we are striving to change the boundaries of the empire, and we hope that some of our publishers will undertake its republication. A copy of it should be placed in the hands of every member of Congress, and a large one, like a pulpit bible, should be nailed to the desk of the Secretary of State, from which he should be required to read a chapter every morning.

Much of the book is of that scrappy, anecdotical character, which so well suits the taste of a people, whose favorite reading is found in magazines.

“Many, persons,” says Mr. Finch, “imagine that walnuts were created, because the nut is good to eat, but they are quite mistaken; they hang in profusion from the trees because they exhibit the true model fur the hull of a ship. If you examine attentively the shell of a walnut, you perceive that one extremity is sharp, exhibiting all the qualities of a beautiful prow, while the other end expands with all the dignity and proportions of a Dutch galliot.”

He is a profound lover of the ocean, like most of his countrymen, whom we never suspected of so strong an attachment as he makes them have.

An Englishman who resides in the interior of the country, and is not able to visit the ocean or the sea once a year, always expires of ennui, although the learned physicians who attend him give the disease a ditlerent name.”

Unlike the majority of British writers, he draws as many of his illu.-trations from the United States, as from the states of •Europe.

The most philosophical treaty of peace in relation to boundaries ever recorded in history, was that between the States of North Carolina and Tennessee. Their boundary being undetermined, they agreed that the hit,hest ridge of the Appalachian chain should torn the boundary line. Commissioners were appointed to take the altitude of the several ranges, and the highest being ascertained, both parties acquiesced in the result. In other parts of the world, rather than have made such a treaty, they would have covered every hill with wounded, and they would have filled every valley with slain.”

Here is a prophecy which cannot be very far from being fulfilled. Massachusetts and South Carolina are doing what they can to bring it about.

America is arranged almost in natural divisions. It is probable that, at some future day, the New England States, throwing off the weight of the federal yoke, may once more become free. Thus, on the surface of the earth, man finds it impossible to change the decree of that Almighty Power, whose will governs the Universe”

When Mr. Finch composed his book, we had not raised the cry of Polk, Dallas and Texas.

Make room there! make room! come, arrange yourselves in the boxes, and take your seats in the pit, and those who cannot find room elsewhere, may go into the gallery, and we will see the spectacle which she world now exhibits. There are going to pass before us on the stage, in triumphal procession, the various conquering nations, with their banners displayed, and bearing the insignia of war, and with their unhappy captives at their feet. See! the lamps afford a brilliant light, the curtain is about to rise. Keep silent, and do not speak a word.

“Who comes there? see, in the van of conquering nations, comes Great Britain, a free representative monarchy, her swords are red with blood, her bayonets are bent and twisted in the struggle, her can. non are hot with firing repeated charges of balls. Ten empires, which once had independent sovereigns, are crushed beneath her chariot wheels; seven republics, anxious to pursue their glorious career of i enterprise and fame, are chained beneath her feet. She has conquered, and retains in subjection one hundred millions of people! Pass on. [page 51:]

“What see we next? Ah! here is a nation who profess themselves republicans, and who believe that if all the liberty which the nations of the earth ever possessed was collected and placed in a single pile, it would form an insignificant heap in comparisou with that which they enjoy. These are the United States of America, who call themselves the freest of the free. And what are they about? Keep silent. They have room in their present territory for two hundred millions of people, but that is not sufficient; and they are fitting out an expedition to take possession of Oregon, and are exterminating the unfortunate Seminoles because they will not part with the hunting grounds of their fathers. Pass on!”

His acquaintance with our political affairs is as intimate as of our geographical boundaries.

“The boundaries of the United States present many phenomena that are worthy of being attentively studied. In examining these, we must remember that the people have yielded to a central government the distinctive mark, the most important prerogative of sovereign power, the right of making peace and declaring war. The frontiers of the several states must therefore, under the present form of government, be judged rather as divisional lines of one territory, than as rival jealous nations, ready to war with each other on the slightest pretexts. It may however be observed, that in most important questions brought before congress, although every member enjoys and exercises the privilege of speech, only three members are allowed to vote. These are representatives of the South, the East, the West. All the artificial divisions of territory disappear before the powerful influence of natural boundaries.”

Mr. Finch proposes to erect Long Island into an independent state, and we like his proposition exceedingly. The east end of Long Island reaches out towards Connecticut, and seems to be striving for a closer neighborhood with New England. It is quite impossible that the people of Sag Harbor and Sackett's Harbor should ever think alike in regard to politics. They may both vote for the same men, as they often do, but they must differ when they come to conclusions. We do not know how the project of Mr. Finch will suit our neighbors, but if they should adopt it, we should be very likely to make one amongst them.

“We have in a former page, proposed that the island of Nassau, contiguous to New York, should form an independent State. It is larger in extent than Rhode Island, and nearly as populous as Delaware. A friend here whispered in my car,’ What trouble you are going to cause to these unfortunate people. If they are to be free, they will require a constitution, and will want a governor. Then only consider the caucuses, the political meetings of young and old men, the votes, the resolutions, the remonstrances, and counter-resolutions, and the opposite meetings of federalists and democrats, and national republicans of the old and new school.’ Struck with his remark, I replied, ‘I will give them a constitution, and I will be their governor.’