8720. UNITED STATES, Supremacy.—
To the overwhelming power of England, I
see but two chances of limit. The first is
her bankruptcy, which will deprive her of
the golden instrument of all her successes.
The other is that ascendency which nature
destines for us by immutable laws. But to
hasten this consummation, we must exercise
patience and forbearance. For twenty years
to come we should consider peace as the
summum bonum of our country. At the end
of that period we shall be twenty millions in
number, and forty in energy, when encountering
the starved and rickety paupers and
dwarfs of English workshops.—
To M. Dupont de Nemours. Washington ed. vi, 508.
(M.
Dec. 1815)
