America knows what she has been, but does not know what she will be. It is doubtful if she knows what she would be. She has several favorite watchwords, such as progress, freedom, and equal rights, and but few, if any, settled opinions. Her present position, unstable as it may be, is her standpoint of judgment. In attempting to achieve what she most desires, she relies on experiment rather than precedent. In her forecast consist her welfare and her political sagacity; yet she can no more predict than control her future. None but a divine intelligence can comprehend the extent or grandeur of her future. One thing is certain, the rapidity of her career approaches railway speed. What impediments may lie in her track, or what collisions may occur, it is impossible for man to foresee. It would seem, however, that she is an instrumentality in divine hands; a nationality, whose task it is to work out the great problem of a just government,--one in which all political power is vested in the people, and exercised by the people for the common purpose of securing the greatest possible good to the greatest possible number. The right to live under such a government is a natural right, and should be accorded to every human being, the world over. In all human governments there are, and probably ever will be, more or less imperfections growing out of mistaken theories, or arising from their practical workings. Though it may not be possible by legislation or otherwise to remedy every imperfection, yet there can be no political inequality which may not be so far modified as to extend to every citizen equal rights and equal justice. There is a natural love of freedom and of justice implanted within the human breast, which lies at the foundation, not only of the political, but of the social, fabric. This love of freedom and of justice is an instinctive feeling, if not an inspired sentiment, which ennobles the patriot, and converts him into a hero. When oppressed, the true hero smites his oppressor. This is a law of his nature--an attempt to redress a wrong--and therefore an element of human government. When a civil government has been instituted, positive law becomes the rule of right. But when nations differ, and diplomacy fails in its mission, there remains no recognized alternative for adjustment but a reference to the arbitrament of the sword. This final method of redressing national wrongs has descended to modern times from the primitive ages of barbarism, and when adopted, as often terminates in perpetuating the wrong as in redressing it. It is, to say the least of it, a method which is entirely inconsistent with the refined civilization of the present age.