Ever intent on enlarging the "area of freedom," America next sent out her armies and took possession of the ancient palaces of the Montezumas, and finally settled differences by accepting the "golden land" of California, nor thought it at the time much of a bargain. And last, not least, she suppressed within her own borders, despite the adverse influences of England, one of the most formidable rebellions the world ever beheld, and succeeded in restoring fraternal harmony throughout the Union. In the history of the world there have been many forms of human government, which have arisen at successive periods, and which may be classed as the patriarchal, the monarchical, the aristocratic, and the democratic. The last was originally a direct rule of the people, but from necessity and convenience has now become a representative government, chosen by the people, and controlled by their will and action as expressed through the medium of the ballot-box. The doctrine that "the majority must rule" is evidently based on the scriptural idea that in a "multitude of counsellors there is safety;" and yet this is not always true. Minorities are often right, and majorities wrong. What is right and what is wrong, is a matter of opinion, ever changing with the advance of civilization. Take any form of government you please, and analyze it, and you will find that its vitality and its ability to preserve itself, are based on physical power,--a power to coerce; and when this power fails, the government fails, and either anarchy or revolution is the inevitable consequence. Yet the moral power of a government, though it may not save it, is not less important than its physical power. When both are exercised with no other view than a sincere desire to promote the public welfare, the government is pretty certain of being sustained, and simply for the reason that it is approved by a generous and healthful public sentiment. But let public sentiment become corrupted by the influences of aspiring demagogues, or by men who avow principles in conflict with the public interests, and no government, however pure and just in its inception, can long command respect, or preserve its authority. Every nation has its representative men. America has hers. Cotton Mather was a Puritan and a theocrat; Benjamin Franklin, a patriot and a philosopher; George Washington, a great general and a model man; Thomas Jefferson, a true democrat and a wise statesman; Andrew Jackson, a hero at New Orleans, and a Jupiter in the Presidential chair; and Abraham Lincoln, a man of destiny, who crushed rebellion, and proclaimed freedom to four millions of slaves. These were the men of power in the hands of Divine Power; and yet they did not comprehend the sequence of their mission. Their achievements marked the age in which they lived, and will doubtless exercise a living influence, more or less controlling, throughout the coming ages of the civilized world.