miliar it may become with nature and things material, must not be so trained as to be unmoved by heroism, patriotism, unselfishness, or by grandeur of soul or action.

LESSONS FROM OUR COUNTRY'S HISTORY*

The Old Testament is largely a history of God's dealings with his peculiar people. I think that the guiding hand of God is as plainly to be seen in the history of our own national life as in that of the Hebrews; and that what he has done for us is a proper subject for consideration at this hour. Moreover, it is a part of the work of public education to cultivate patriotism in the young; and I know of no way in which this can be more effectually done, than by setting clearly before them the noble deeds of the fathers as manifestly chosen of God for the work they were to do as were Abraham, Samuel, and David. It is impossible in a single brief address to do more than present the barest outline of a few important events and to draw from them the lesson of the hour; but if, as a result, the young men and young women to whom I speak, shall feel a new enthusiasm for the flag of their country, and shall cherish a deeper determination than before that the country which brave men saved in war, shall not perish through anarchy and corruption in time of peace, I shall not have spoken in vain.

The New World having been discovered by Columbus, sailing under the flag of Spain, it was a provi

*Delivered before the graduating class of the University of Minnesota, May 31st, 1896.

dence that saved the best part of the North American continent from the dominion of Spain and gave it to England instead. As a result, our country was colonized by the best people of the world, intelligent, moral, freedom-loving, progressive, and patriotic, while many of them were imbued with the most earnest religious sentiment and feeling. The strip of country from Maine to Georgia on the Atlantic coast was colonized by English, French, Dutch, and Swedes, by Protestants and Catholics, by men seeking religious freedom and men seeking business success, all of them peculiarly independent and energetic. The colonies thus formed remained for a century and a half under the dominion of England, sharing with her the burdens of French and Indian wars, while struggling to subdue the forests and establish civilization; and then, after a war of eight years for independence, they established a government of their own and became the United States of America.

It was apparently an accident, but really a providence, by which at the close of the Revolutionary war, our western boundary was made the Mississippi River, and not the Allegheny Mountains. It looked for a time as if we were to be hemmed in on the south by Spain, on the west by Spain or France, on the north by Great Britain, and on the east by the navies of the Old World,—to be but an inferior power, liable at all times to the menace of the more powerful nations by whose territory we were surrounded, and with no possibility of expansion in any direction. It was providential events, unforeseen by us, which opened the way for the extension of our domain and made it possible for the great republic to reach, as it does to-day, from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

At the close of the Seven Years' war in 1763, France surrendered to Spain by treaty the territory west of the Mississippi River called Louisiana. In 1800 Bonaparte, by treaty with Charles IV of Spain, regained possession of this territory including New Orleans on the east side of the Mississippi River. In 1803 there was a prospect of war between France and England. Bonaparte, fearing that England, by her superior naval force, would gain possession of Louisiana, "by a dash of diplomacy," as has been said, "as quick and as brilliant as his tactics on the field of battle, placed it beyond the reach of British power"-beyond the reach of any European power fortunately, by selling it to the United States. "I know the value of Louisiana," he said. "The English wish to take possession of it. They have already twenty ships of the line in the Gulf of Mexico. The conquest of Louisiana would be easy. I have not a moment to lose in putting it out of their reach." And he opened negotiations with the American minister at once. Fortunately, Thomas Jefferson was president of the United States. He had sent James Monroe to Paris fully informed as to the President's views. Neither Jefferson nor Monroe expected to secure this immense territory; but they were both wise enough to take it when it was offered. They did take it. It cost fifteen million dollars. The country thus purchased embraces to-day the states of Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Minnesota west of the Mississippi, Colorado north of Arkansas, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana, and the Indian and Oklahoma territories. It may be easily seen that but for this purchase all the other states and territories west of us

which are now in the Union but were not included in Louisiana-Oregon, Washington, California, and others with Texas-would not now in any reasonable probability be ours, but our western border would have continued to be the Mississippi River. Napoleon made up his mind to sell Louisiana, April 10, 1803. In twenty days negotiations were completed and the treaty was signed, and the territory was safe from British covetousness for all time, except for a few hours, January 8, 1815, when a British army interviewed for a short time General Andrew Jackson at New Orleans, and then concluded to retire.

I know of no other single event in history brought about so simply and swiftly and unexpectedly that has had such a far-reaching and mighty influence on the development and history of a nation as the purchase of Louisiana has had on the development and history of the United States. It has brought to us untold good and untold evil. It has solidified us as a nation and has given us safe and certain boundaries. It has almost torn us into fragments by civil war and wasted more treasure than the whole United States was worth when Louisiana was purchased, and the lives of almost as many vigorous men as the whole land then contained. But all honor to the men who dared to make the purchase and thus make it possible for the United States to become the power that she is, at the head of all the nations of the western hemisphere and the friend of them all, I hope,— respected, if not loved, by the nations of the Old World, destined in the coming years, as her people shall grow in culture and in all excellencies of character, to be a powerful factor in maintaining justice, order, and peace, even on the other side of the world.