The advantages to the Pacific coast have two aspects,--one domestic, and the other foreign.

Not only does the treaty extend the coasting trade of California, Oregon, and Washington Territory northward, but it also extends the base of commerce with China and Japan.

To unite the East of Asia with the West of America is the aspiration of commerce now as when the English navigator recorded his voyage.

The Pacific Railroad is such an advantage; for, though running westward, it will be, when completed, a new highway to the East.

This treaty is another advantage; for nothing can be clearer than that the western coast must exercise an attraction which will be felt in China and Japan just in proportion as it is occupied by a commercial people communicating readily…

Extension of Dominion.--The extension of dominion is another consideration calculated to captivate the public mind.

Few are so cold or philosophical as to regard with insensibility a widening of the bounds of country.

Wars have been regarded as successful, when they have given a new territory.

Territorial acquisitions are among the landmarks of our history.

The passion for acquisition, so strong in the individual, is not less strong in the community.

A nation seeks an outlying territory, as an individual seeks an outlying farm.

I doubt, however, if this passion be stronger with us than with others, except, perhaps, that in a community where all participate in government the national sentiments are more active.

There are few anywhere who could hear of a considerable accession of territory, obtained peacefully and honestly, without a pride of country, even if at certain moments the judgment hesitated.

In the name of Human Rights our fathers overthrew the kingly power, whose representative was George the Third.

With cynical austerity the early Cato said that kings were “carnivorous animals,” and probably at his instance it was decreed by the Roman Senate that no king should be allowed within the gates of the city.

By the text of our Constitution, the United States are bound to guaranty “a republican form of government” to every State in the Union; but this obligation, which is applicable only at home, is an unquestionable indication of the national…

The Republic is something more than a local policy; it is a general principle, not to be forgotten at any time, especially when the opportunity is presented of bringing an immense region within its influence.

Our resources, our energies, our spirit of enterprise cannot be employed in building up a Russian emporium at the mouth of the Stikine.

The navigation of the Mississippi was also open to the United States before the Louisiana purchase; but the growing strength of the North made the acquisition of that territory, either by purchase or by force of arms, an inevitable…

It is a principle of England to acquire territory only for purposes of defence.

Canada, Nova Scotia, Malta, the Cape of Good Hope, and the greater part of our Indian possessions were all acquired for purposes of defence.

With a power like Russia it would perhaps be more difficult to arrange matters; but if we need the sea-coast in order to protect and maintain our commerce with an interior rich in precious metals, then we must have it.

It is just as much the destiny of our Anglo-Norman race to possess the whole of Russian America, however desolate and inhospitable it may be, as it has been that of the Russian Northmen to possess themselves of Northern Europe and Asia.

As the Wandering Jew and his phantom, so will the Anglo-Norman and the Russian yet gaze at each other from the opposite sides of Behring Strait.

The recent discovery of the precious metals in our hyperborean Eldorado will most probably hasten the annexation of the territory in question.