386 THE GROWTH OF THE UNITED STATES 



than were the savage tribes and resident Mexicans of California ; 

 while it is the special function of the republican form of govern- 

 ment to render the inhabitants of acquired territory not only 

 self-supporting but self-governing. The progress of mankind 

 may be measured by advance in speed of locomotion, beginning 

 with neetness of foot, coming up through fleetness of ridden 

 and driven animals, and ending with swiftness of locomotive 

 engines and sea-going craft ; and, with vessels of sufficient swift- 

 ness and projectiles of sufficient velocity, there need be little 

 fear of foreign complications, little occasion for maintaining 

 great navies; for, if commercial competition be but aroused, 

 individual effort may be trusted to develop the devices required 

 for national protection. The fact that a quickly converted mer- 

 chantman commanded by a Sigsbee, or that a hastily armed 

 yacht commanded by a Wainwright can wreck torpedo-boat de- 

 stroyers and naval theory together is full of promise, since it is 

 the normal function of a free nation to produce Sigsbees and 

 Wainwrights, to develop swiftness and certainty of action, and 

 to meet emergencies as they arise. Nor need there be fear of 

 occasion for large standing armies, since citizens require no such 

 restraint and constraint as unwilling subjects, and are ever ready 

 to rise in patriotic and thinking might to support the nation of 

 which they are voluntary parts. 



The history of the growth of the United States is one of un- 

 equaled progress in territorial acquisition, in normal develop- 

 ment of population, in augmentation of wealth, and, above all, 

 in development of a national character in which individual 

 enterprise and capacity are the most conspicuous traits. There 

 is but a single line in which progress has been sluggish, and 

 that is the line which must inevitably be strengthened through 

 the stirring episodes of 1898; and, in case the accession extend 

 to far Luzon and Mindanao, America must soon lead the world 

 in ocean navigation as in other directions, and begin a conquest 

 of the sea no less complete and noble than the conquest of the 

 land already wrought. More than all else, the territorial acqui- 

 sitions must contribute toward the extension of enlightenment, 

 toward the elevation of humanity, and toward the ultimate 

 peace and welfare of the world. 



He errs who forgets the history of his country. Every citizen 

 of the United States would do well to remember the decades 

 past, and realize that the growth of 1898 marks no new policy, 

 and is but the normal continuation of a course of development 

 successfully pursued for a century. 



