Page:Memoir upon the negotiations between Spain and the United States of America which led to the treaty of 1819.djvu/33

23 diversified and fertile lands: so that the territory of these states may now be estimated at about two millions of square miles, and according to the computation of Captain Hutchins, at twelve hundred millions of acres, including water, which forms a considerable portion of the surface, in consequence of the multitude of rivers, lakes and bays which the country contains. It will be seen by this computation, that the actual extent of the Anglo-American territory, is more than seven times greater than that of France before the revolution, and of the whole peninsula of Spain and Portugal. "The Americans, says Volney, delight in drawing comparisons of this kind; and the vanity inspired by their flattering dreams of future grandeur, induces them to measure the importance of foreign nations by this prodigious scale." When Volney thus wrote, the Americans had not yet acquired Louisiana, nor had their view been expanded over the brilliant prospect which was afterwards opened to their presumptuous and mad ambition. The Americans, at present, think themselves superiour to all the nations of Europe; and believe that their dominion is destined to extend, now, to the isthmus of Panama, and hereafter, over all the regions of the New World. Their government entertains the same ideas, and in the whole course of its policy, calculates upon the illusion of these flattering expectations. But what is the physical and moral