And while this expansion has been thus rapidly going forward here, how has it been with the other leading nations of the globe?  Macmillian & Co., the London publishers, in announcing their “Statesman’s Year Book” for 1867, make an interesting statement of the changes that took place in Europe during the half century between the years 1817 and 1867.  They say:—­

“The half century has extinguished three kingdoms, one grand duchy, eight duchies, four principalities, one electorate, and four republics.  Three new kingdoms have arisen, and one kingdom has been transformed into an empire.  There are now forty-one States in Europe against fifty-nine which existed in 1817.  Not less remarkable is the territorial extension of the superior States of the world.  Russia has annexed 567,364 square miles; the United States, 1,968,009; France, 4,620; Prussia, 29,781; Sardinia, expanding into Italy, has increased by 83,041; the Indian Empire has been augmented by 431,616.  The principal States that have lost territory are Turkey, Mexico, Austria, Denmark, and the Netherlands.”

We ask the especial attention of the reader to these particulars.  During the last half century, twenty-one goverments have disappeared altogether; and only three new ones have arisen.  Five have lost instead of gained in territory.  Only five, besides our own, have added to their domain.  And the one which has done the most in this direction has added only a little over half a million of square miles, while we have added nearly two millions.  Thus the United States government has added over fourteen hundred thousand square miles of territory more than any other single nation, and over eight hundred thousand more than have been added by all the other nations of the earth put together:  In view of these facts, can any one doubt, looking the whole world over, which government it is that has been, during this time, emphatically, “coming up”?

In point of population, our increase since 1798, according to the census of the several decades, has been as follows:  In 1800, the total number of inhabitants in the United States was 5,305,925; in 1810, 7,239,814; in 1820, 9,638,191; in 1830, 12,866,020; in 1840, 17,069,453; in 1850, 23,191,876; in 1860, 31,445,089; in 1870, 38,555,983.  These figures are almost too large for the mind to readily grasp.  Perhaps a better idea can be formed of the rapid increase of population by looking at a few representative cities.  Boston, in 1792, had 18,000 inhabitants; now, 250,000.  New York, in 1792, 30,000; now, nearly 1,000,000.  Chicago, about thirty years ago, was a little trading post, with a few huts; but yet it contained at the time of the great conflagration in October, 1871, nearly 350,000 souls.  San Francisco, twenty years ago, was a barren waste, but contains to-day 170,000 inhabitants.