The Ohio Democrat And Dover Advertiser

THE PROSPECTS OF WAR.

It is pretty generally thought by those who have a right to know, that unless some immediate acknowledgement is made on the part of Great Britain, for her armed forces now occupying that portion of territory belonging to the State of Maine, in violation of all former treaties, the great question will have to be settled by an appeal to arms on the part of our government. Nor is it likely that England will yield without a struggle, even when convinced of the fallacy and injustice of her claims.

For a number of years England has been comparatively a looker on, while her sister nations have been grasping after Empire, and increasing their military and maritime forces with such rapidity, as to soon rival the once 'mistress of the Ocean.' She sees Russia, daily augmenting herself, penetrating Circassia and the Tartar Provinces, with her eye fixed on the Chinese Empire. She sees France, in order to prevent internal discords at home, trampling upon the neck of Mexico, and the South American Republics; she sees America smiling in the arms of prosperity, after having twice thrown back and paralyzed her own iron hands. She sees her provinces on this continent one by one, ripening for revolt, nurturing within their bosoms the spirit of that dearest right to man—Self government. She beholds her own rock girt kingdom racked by dissensions, while the clashing of pikes and bayonets, resound through her thresholds—threatening a speedy dissolution, to avert which, and to attract the attention of her rivals, she has made a descent upon our territory.

All Oregon, and part of Maine she has laid claim to, and upon the same principle can she claim the old thirteen Colonies; but whether she will succeed in her claim is quite another thing.

What will be the immediate measures pursued by our Government, we can hardly conjecture, but, judging from the late correspondence between it and the British Minister, we shall not be surprised to see a declaration of war, before the breaking up of Congress. However much a collision is to be deprecated, we prefer war to the knife—and the knife to the hilt, rather than brook a national insult. When things have arrived to such a crisis, the bayonet is the best diplomatist. In the event of a war, we are better prepared than at any former period. Our militia returns show nearly eight millions of men, and the country is full of provisions. We look with anxiety for the issue.