Young man, there is America—which at this day serves for little more than to amuse you with stories of savage men and uncouth manners; yet shall, before you taste of death, show itself equal to the whole of that commerce which now attracts the envy of the world.

Burke contrasts contemporary British condescension toward the American colonies—treated as a distant curiosity of “savage men and uncouth manners”—with their latent economic potential. The remark is a prediction: America, though culturally disparaged, will soon rival the commercial power that makes European states “the envy of the world.” The force of the address (“Young man”) is admonitory, suggesting that youthful complacency and metropolitan prejudice blind people to structural realities: population growth, resources, and expanding trade networks. In Burke’s larger political outlook, such a forecast also implies a practical lesson for statesmanship: policy should be guided by sober assessment of emerging power and commerce, not by inherited stereotypes or imperial vanity.