Christopher Hitchens

 Does this have resonance today?

The following is a quote from Christopher Hitchen's autobiography "Hitch 22" which was published in 2010. 

James Fenton was the winner of the Newdigate poetry prize for the sonnet sequence titled, "Our Western Furniture". On the cover of the first published version was a paragraph from Commodore Perry's * report to Congress in1856.

"It seems to me," opined the gallant commander: that the people of America will, in some form or another extend their dominion and their power, until they shall have placed the Saxon race upon the shores of Asia. I think too that Eastward and Southward will her great rival in future aggrandisement (Russia) stretch forth her power to the coast of China and Siam and thus the Saxon and the Cossack will meet .... Will it be in friendship?  I fear not!  will the world look with breathless interest; The antagonistic exponents of freedom and absolutism must thus meet at last and then will be fought the mighty battle on which the world will look with breathless interest; for on its issue the freedom of the world will depend."

* Matthew Calbraith Perry was a commodore of the United States Navy who commanded ships in several wars, including the War of 1812 and the Mexican American War. He played a leading role in the opening of Japan to the West with the Convention of Kanagawa in 1854. Wikipedia