A fifth great power, the noblest and the last, was, according to his poem, to arise this side the Atlantic, and here close the drama of time, as the day here ends its circuit.
To what part of the American continent shall we look for the power in question?
To the most powerful and prominent nation certainly.

This is so self-evident that we need not stop to pass in review the frozen fragments of humanity on the north of us, nor the weak, superstitious, semi-barbarous, revolutionary, and uninfluential kingdoms to the south of us.

No; we come to the United States, and here we are held.

To this nation the question of the location of the two-horned beast undeviatingly leads us.
As an objection to this view, it may occur to some minds that the two-horned beast exercises all the power of the first beast before him (Greek [Greek: enopion], literally, before his eyes) and does wonders in his sight; and how can the United States, separated by an ocean from European kingdoms, hold such an intimate relation to them?
We answer, Space and time are annihilated by the telegraph.

Through the Atlantic cable (an enterprise which, by the way, owes its origin to the United States), the lightnings are continually picturing to European beholders the affairs of America.