DECISIVE EVENTS IN THE BUILDING OF ILLINOIS.

Professor Creasey of the London University wrote a book entitled, "The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World." He attempt to show that each of the battles named was a pivoted event in history. He very plausibly argued, that a contrary issue of battle in each case would have essentially varied the drama of the world in all its subsequent scenes.

Prompted by the suggestion of this book, I have selected for my theme, certain events which I regard as decisive in shaping the history of Illinois. I do not attempt any special originality of treatment, or to contribute any new historical material. My purpose is simply to group these events about a central line of thought and trace their logical relations.

There is a chain of causes and effects which has contributed to the making of us what we are, and the time, place and manner of the welding of the links, open an inviting field of historic study.

An analysis of the events of history discloses an endless manifestation of creative and directive power. There are endless manifestations of energy, often apparently unrelated, yet in their action and interaction there is discernible the operation of selection and plan. Every line in Hamlet is part of the play. The first scene has a relation to the last. A cosmic drama is on the stage of history, and there is unity in its mighty sweep of events. Man is related to plans which have been in process of development through inconceivable millions of years. He was anticipated and provided for untold eons before he appeared. There were definite provisions for him in the various transformations which at different epochs, have been built into the physical structure of the globe itself.

In the light of this thought, I name first the deposit of the Coal measures as a fundamental and decisive event in the making of Illinois.

If we cut down through the portion of the earth's crust, which forms, geographically, the State of Illinois, we find that each stratum bears a definite relation to every other one from the primary rock to the alluvial soil at the top. If these strata are pictorially represented upon a chart, colored to distinguish their various relations, one of them is seen to have an intimate and commanding relation to the life of the millions of human beings who make the population of the State. Upon the chart one or more black bands appear, of varying thickness, covered by from 50 to 300 feet of conglomerate shales, Bands and clays, topped by a soil of rare fertility. These seams of coal are of incalculable value in the development of the State. Wonderful was the plan, which, untold ages ago, planted the vast forests of sigillaria, lepidodendra and gigantic ferns to draw poison from the heavy air, crystallize the sunbeams and so imprison and preserve for future use, the solar energy. It was certainly an epochal period, which put into permanent form an infinite store of solar energy which, in the far future would enter intimately into the material, intellectual and moral life of a great State. The link that connects great epochs may be long in the order of time but it is short in the order of life. This energy is part of the daily life of the people.

There are 40,000 square miles of coal deposits in the State. About 40,000 men and boys are engaged in the mining industry, Thirty millions of tons were mined in 1902. Two tons of coal will furnish power for a 40-horse power engine for ten hours. Imagine 1,000,000 horses working all day, many of them working by night as well as by day! If this power could be concentrated and brought within vision, it would present a phenomenon of energy, something like that of the Falls of the Niagara.

This coal helps to produce and distribute the products which supply the almost endless diversity of human wants among more than 5,000,000 people. It touches life at all its levels. In the beginning of the life of a State, it helps make the axe, the rifle, the hoe, the wagon, the sickle, the primary tools of civilization. It helps cut the tie, make the spade, pick, scraper, steel rail, telegraph wire, pump and the locomotive. It is the power upon which modern production and transportation depend. It drives away the rigor of winter from the home. It makes ice to cool the beverage of summer. It moves the press to print newspapers and books. It kindles the electric light and transforms night into day. It makes the cradle, builds the house, prepares the coffin, quarries the marble, and carves the headstone which bears the epitaph. So it touches the lives of all, high and low, rich and poor, all sorts and conditions of men.

The Power which directs all energy, might have made different dipositions. The carbonic acid of the atmosphere could have been combined with lime and made into limestone. We cannot conceive what the collective life of the State would have been, had there been no coal deposit. It is easy to trace the connection between the coal and a state checkered with interlacing railroads, large cities trembling with the rumble and roar of machinery, multiplying the individual energy of thousands of busy workers, and making Illinois as an agricultural and manufacturing state, a leading state of the Nation.

DEFEAT OF THE FRENCH. TREATY OF 1763.

Though Illinois had no place on the map as a political sub-division in the 18th century, its future was largely determined by the result of the struggle between France and England for the possession of the continent which culminated in the victory of General Wolfe and the provisions of the treaty of 1763.

Though Spain claimed a title to the country based upon the authority of a Papal Bull, she spent her energy in the search for gold and the passing glory of conquest over the comparatively harmless natives.

The struggle for the possession of North America was between the Latin and the Anglo-Saxon with a reinforcement of Teutonic blood. The significance of the movements and policy of nations, lies in the ideals which inspire their action. The early French explorers and colonists had two motives in seeking to explore and take possession of the country. They desired to enrich the treasury of their king and promote his glory by exploiting the material resources of the new territory. They also held a curious theory of physical religion, and believed that by putting officially prepared water upon an Indian baby's head, his soul would be saved from endless torment in the place of departed spirits, a punishment incurred by the sin of being born. There was a visible and tangible value in a beaver pelt which they obtained in exchange for a few glass beads, a few yards of bright calico or a drink of brandy, and there were indefinite credits on the ledger of final account in the world to come, in return for Indian baptisms.

Notwithstanding the puerilities of their faith inherited from the medieval ages when rational thought was in eclipse for a thousand years, the leaders were men of indomitable courage and energy. Their minds were aglow with bright visions of imperial expansion. As their rude maps grew under the touch of now discovery, they saw that the St. Lawrence, the great lakes, the Ohio,. Illinois, Wabash and Mississippi rivers, would become highways for the transportation of material and men, and thus give them the military control of the vast regions opening towards the west. They founded a few feeble colonies, They organized upon a sort of feudal system. They had seigniories with their dependents. They laid off areas of land for cultivation by arpents, as a rule, having a frontage upon river or lake, the survey extending back toward the high lands. Lands were so surveyed about Kahokia and other French settlements in Illinois. In the deeds of record of an early date in Monroe, St. Clair and other counties, "arpents" are named instead of acres.

They easily fraternized with the Indians. They intermarried with them. They were not equal to the severe drudgery of agricultural labor with its slow and uncertain returns.

They took to the woods. They became trappers, hunters and "couriers du bois." They loved wild and adventurous life. They cared but little for the glory of their distant king and his schemes of imperialism. In the depths of the forest, with his traps, or in the Indian village, with his dusky squaw wife and his half-breed children, his fiddle and the dance, what cared he for a distant king or a successful colony in America?

The French leaders were tactful and enterprising. They secured the alliance of the savage tribes in war. They were brave soldiers. They were tenacious of purpose and the martial ardor and enthusiasm which in after years, made the armies of the "little corporal" the terror of Europe But the genius of the Latin race was not for successful colonization. It did not develop self-dependent and self-governing bodies of men. It failed to develop public spirit, individual responsibility and love of country. Men will not work and make sacrifices for a seignior or king as they will for themselves.

On the other hand, the English colonist came to the country to escape from what he regarded as tyranny. His conscience in conflict with throne and church, needed a now and larger world for the development of his ideals. He desired a home where he could enjoy a high measure of civil freedom. He desired to found free institutions and a self-governing state. He traded with the savages and got the best of the bargain probably, but he did not intermarry with them. He surveyed land and established individual ownership. He took root in the soil. He did not waste much energy in baptizing Indians or teaching them the "fine points" of Calvinistic theology. He became a farmer, a fisherman, a sailor, a hunter, a trader; but he was ever a home builder, He built his home and his neighbor built a home, so there came to be many homes and a commonwealth in which all had a common interest. He learned to take pride in his colony. He had a share in its government. He learned to cherish the sentiment of patriotism. His religion gave him a profound sense of responsibility. It gave a serious and earnest tone to his life. He believed that the moral law, which was to him the highest law, was sustained by sanctions that reached into eternity. He believed that every man is responsible for his conduct in life, directly to God. Whatever may be the result of the progress of human thought upon Calvinism as a system of theology to explain life, the mystery of being and destiny, it does produce strong character.

Settling along the Atlantic border, the English colonist did not dream of the conquest of the continent. As his numbers increased and new swarms came in from the old hive in England. he pushed the Indians a tittle further westward. When he found that the savages had allies who furnished them guns and ammunition from Montreal and Quebec, he saw that conflict with the French was inevitable. It was only a question of time when the control of the western slope of the Alleghanies would have to be fought for and decided by the wager of battle. The inevitable conflict came, with varying fortunes upon the battlefield. Louisbourg was captured. but Braddock was defeated. At last, after battle on many fields and cruel massacres in many settlements on the frontier, Wolfe won his victory on the plains of Abraham. This was a decisive victory. It determined the fate of all the vast territory from the Alleghanies to the Mississippi and north of the Ohio, The shot that killed Montcalm was heard by the French at Starved Rock, Crevecoeur, Cahokia and Kaskaskia. The country of which the Illinois of the future would be a part passed from under French to English dominion, from Latin to Anglo-Saxon ideals, A decisive event in the laying of the foundation of a great state had taken its place in history. By the treaty of 1763, France relinquished her claim, and the great western territory, including what is now Illinois, was opened to the immigration of home-building pioneers. The pioneer with axe, rifle, plow, school house and meeting house was now invited to take the place of the habitans "courier du bois," trapper and savage.

The next decisive event was the passage of the ordinance of 1787, twenty years after the victory of General Wolfe and the treaty of 1763, and after the War of the Revolution, by the treaty of 1783, the English commissioners recognized the right to the territory north and west of the Ohio, as vested in the United States, The prize won by the English at Quebec was transferred to a new sovereign power. This was the first recognition of the now nation as distinguished from a cluster of states, each a sovereign.

There was a question as to ownership of parts of this territory, arising out of the claims of Connecticut, Massachusetts and Virginia, it was under the direction of Governor Henry of Virginia that General Clark had undertaken his brilliant and successful campaign by which he won Kaskaskia and Vincennes, and thus obtained military control of the country. But Virginia relinquished her claims, and the question was settled. The title was vested in the United States as a nation. Provision was made that the land should be platted by rectangular surveys made on and from proper base lines and meridians. Individuals who bought land received their patents direct from the general government.

This recognition of the national government as owner of the land was of great importance. As is well known, there was in the convention which framed the Constitution radical differences of opinion respecting national as opposed to state sovereignty, as well as respecting the ethics and economics of the institution of slavery.

The action of Congress in regard to the Northwest territory was destined to have a decisive influence in the final settlement of these questions, and in which the future State of Illinois would have a prominent if not a commanding part.

To provide for the organization of this territory, Congress passed the ordinance of 1787.

In 1784 Jefferson was chairman of a committee to draft an ordinance for the Territory. He reported a bill proposing to divide it into seven states.

The bill contained a provision that after the year 1800, "there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in any of said states otherwise than in the punishment of crime where of the party shall have been duly convicted." This report was not adopted. It is worthy of note that Jefferson framed his bill assuming the power of the national government to keep slavery out of the Territory. Though he is regarded as a strong advocate of do-centralized government he evidently did not believe in this disposition of slavery by squatter sovereignty, as was advocated at a later date, in the controversy over Kansas and Nebraska.

An appeal was afterwards made from Kaskaskia, seconded by the Ohio Land company, which resulted in the passage of the ordinance.

This ordinance made provision for the temporary government of the people but set forth certain fundamental principles, which have been characterized by some thoughtful students of statesmanship as a second Declaration of Independence.

These assert: (1) The right of freedom of worship and religious opinion; (2) The right of trial by jury, proportionate representation, protection in liberty and property; (3) That religion, morality and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall be forever encouraged; (4) That "the states formed within the Territory shall forever remain a part of this Confederacy of the United States of America, subject to the Articles of Confederation and to such alterations therein as shall be constitutionally made; (5) Prescribe the boundaries of the states to be formed and the conditions of their admission into the Union; (6) Provided that I 'there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in said Territory, otherwise than in the punishment of crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, provided always that any person escaping into the same from whom labor or service is lawfully claimed in any one of the original states, such fugitive may be lawfully claimed and conveyed to the person claiming his labor or service as aforesaid."

The provisions of the ordinance expressly deny the right of secession and assume the sovereignty of the national government and the right to prohibit slavery in the Territory of the nation.

The passage of the ordinance invited and stimulated immigration from all parts of the country, but especially from that portion of the country north of Mason and Dixon's line. It appealed to those who believed in national sovereignty and in liberty as the right of all men. Many came from the slave states south of the Ohio. The rich land and forests of valuable timber had their attractions, but many of them desired to get away from the institution of slavery. The people who settled in the northwest in numbers sufficient to give it its distinguishing characteristics, bad no sympathy with "State rights," so-called, or with slavery.

The fathers builded better than they knew. Men who were from the slave states and who believed in state sovereignty and in slavery, voted for the ordinance, not knowing, though possibly fearing, that they were laying the foundations of seven great states, which would, in a supreme struggle on the battlefield, be on the side of the nation as a nation, and freedom as opposed to slavery. It was thus, that the ordinance of 1787, indirectly possibly but effectively contributed to make Illinois a free, instead of a slave State Had this check upon the introduction of slavery not been accomplished by the ordinance, it is reasonably sure, that immigration from south of the Ohio bringing slaves would have gained political control of the Territory and the states, afterwards organized. Pro-slavery leaders afterwards gained control of the general government, to such an extent that the preservation, the propagation and perpetuation of slavery was its vital and animating spirit. The men who repealed the Missouri compromise in later years would never have voted for the ordinance of 1787. It came at an opportune time.

Equally influential with the passage of this ordinance in determining the history of Illinois was the fixing of the northern boundary of the State.

The original plan proposed in the ordinance of 1787 was that the northern boundary of the State should be a line drawn east and west on the southern bend of Lake Michigan, While the bill for an enabling act was before the committee of the whole in Congress, Judge Pope, the territorial Delegate, offered an amendment advancing the northern boundary to latitude 42' 30'. This amendment was accepted without division, and became a law. The magnitude of the results of this amendment can only be realized by careful study of the growth of a disposition on the part of those who held the seats of political power to either destroy the Union or nationalize the institution of slavery. Judge Pope saw the drift of things clearly. He argued that the effect of his amendment would gain to the now State a coast line on Lake Michigan, including the mouth of the Chicago river. This would bring it into commercial relations with the states east of it, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York. "Thus," to use his own language, "affording additional security to the perpetuity of the Union." He argued that the location of the State between the Wabash, Ohio and Mississippi rivers, all flowing to the south, would bring it into intimate communication with the southern states, and that in the event of an attempt to disrupt the Union, it was important that it should be identified with the commerce of the lakes, instead of being left entirely to southern outlets. "Thus," he said, "a rival interest would be created to check the wish for a western or southern confederacy." He foresaw the building of a great city about the mouth of the Chicago river. He saw the desirableness of a canal connecting it with the Illinois river, and thus with the Mississippi. If his amendment had been rejected, the great city by the lake would have been in Wisconsin. Indeed, effort was made by the state of Wisconsin to secure the establishment of the northern boundary at the line at first proposed. The territory added to the State, as originally bounded, included 14 counties, all north of the north line of LaSalle county, and containing 8,500 square miles, one-seventh of the area of the State.

But the main significance of this additional territory was the quality of the people who settled in it. The population of these 14 counties was loyal to the Union by overwhelming majorities. They were true to the great ideals of national unity and freedom.

Judge Pope seems to have had a gift of pre-vision; that, at least, which belongs to a keen insight into facts and a capacity to discern clearly their logical relations. The demonstration of his wisdom and prophetic vision came years after his death, in the position the State' was able to assume, by reason of the large majorities for the Union in the vote of these 14 counties determining the political complexion of the State. It was this vote in the northern part of the State, dominating the vote of the southern part of the State, that sent Lyman Trumbull to the Senate in 1854 and in 1860, and made Illinois overwhelmingly loyal and strong in the great crisis of the civil war. It made Illinois prominent in the national convention. It enabled Illinois to nominate and help elect Abraham Lincoln to the Presidency, giving him a majority of 12,000 votes over his competitor. One of these counties (JoDaviess) also had the honor of sending one of its citizens to the head of the army which overcame the forces of the rebellion. General Grant was a citizen of Galena when he tendered his services to the Governor of Illinois.

Men are largely influenced by their business interests. If Illinois had been compelled to send its products exclusively down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers and found its best market among those engaged in raising cotton with slave labor, it would have been tempted to compromise, weaken and possibly make common cause with them in their effort to disrupt the Union. In the absence of a controlling devotion to high ideals, material interests usually sway the political action of large masses of men. Wealth in the large cities and commercial centers studied the secession and pro-slavery agitation, in the light of their ledgers and bank accounts. With goods to sell, they would conciliate a hostile market by concealing their principles or by having none. The commerce of Illinois with the east and north by the lakes was immeasurably greater than that which sought a southern outlet. The fixing of the northern boundary was a decisive event in the history of the State. Judge Pope was wise and had a great opportunity.

Another pivotal event was the defeat of the effort to make Illinois a slave state in 1824.

The French settlers had slaves as early as 1722, and they were protected in their possession by the treaty of 1763. In the discussion of the ordinance of 1787, some held that while it prohibited the introduction of slaves, it recognized property relations in slaves and their descendants already in the territory. Others contended that the anti-slavery provision of the ordinance was unconstitutional and that Congress exceeded its power in making it.

While, as has been stated, the passage of the ordinance of 1787, stimulated immigration largely from the Now England states, New York and Pennsylvania, there were many who came in from the country south of the Ohio river. Of these there were two classes. One of these sought the new territory, not only to get new and fertile land and make their homes, but to escape contact with the influences of a system which they believed to be economically inexpedient and morally wrong. The other class came because they were too poor to own negroes. They would have owned them if they could. They liked a clever "nigger" just as they liked a good coon dog, but they hated a black man. Most of those who had emigrated from North Carolina, Tennessee and Kentucky were in sympathy with the slave holders. Experiencing the trials and coarse labor of opening up a now country, they began to think the provision of the ordinance prohibiting slavery was a grave mistake and that it should be repealed. Hence various efforts were made to secure its repeal. Petitions were sent to Congress, General Harrison himself, territorial Governor, favored the repeal. So widespread was the desire, that he called a convention to promote it. In March, 1803, John Randolph, chairman of the committee to whom had been referred the petition for repeal, reported "that the labor of slaves is not necessary to promote the growth and settlement of colonies in that region; that the committee deemed it highly dangerous and inexpedient to impair a provision, wisely calculated to promote the happiness and progress of the northwest country and add strength and security to that extensive frontier."

At the next session, however, a report was made recommending the granting of the request and the suspension of the provision for ten years, On this no action was taken. The pro-slavery party in 1812, secured the passage of an act. providing for the introduction of slaves to be kept in servitude under certain limitations. The effect of this was to increase rapidly the number of slaves. In 1818 the anti slavery element which during this pro-slavery agitation had not been idle, succeeded in forming a free State constitution for Illinois.

This success stimulated pro-slavery zeal. The fact that Illinois had adopted a Constitution making it a free State, made all the stronger the determination of the pro-slavery politicians to make Missouri territory a slave state- This they did in 1820, and the result was that the wealthier immigrants from south of the Ohio, passed by Illinois and made their homes in Missouri. This added strength to the contention that the free Constitution of Illinois kept out rapid settlement, wealth and negro labor which was necessary to the development of the resources of the State. So keenly was this felt, so active and persistent was the pro-slavery agitation, that effort was made to call a convention to change the Constitution and make Illinois a slave State.

This brought on a desperate conflict and a fight to a finish. The controversy was deep and bitter-slavery was assailed and defended, in behalf of the State's economical interests and in behalf of religion itself. By a gross fraud upon parliamentary usage a number of votes were secured sufficient to make legal a call for a convention. It remained to defeat it at the polls. The features of this conflict ought to be familiar to all readers of Illinois history. No question had ever before so stirred the people. The wildest and fiercest passion raged. Every possible threat as well as acts of violence was used to intimidate the friends of freedom, the pro-slavery element was carried to a pitch of insane frenzy. The blind rage of this element in the fight is a study in pschycology. The passion has slowly spent itself. It disgraced our statutes with the "black laws." It threw the printing press of Lovejoy into the river and assassinated him, trampling upon the sacred right to life and property and free speech. It repealed the Missouri compromise to make Kansas and Nebraska slave states. It made some men eager to be hounds and fasten their fangs into the flesh of the fugitive slave, caught on his way to freedom. It survived in the State to discourage enlistments and encourage desertion in the mortal struggle of the slave holder's war.

Today about all that is left of it is a remnant "survival of the unfittest" and a recollection of the Knights of the Golden Circle, who sit in silent shame at the feet of wasted patriotic opportunity bathing them in tears penitential but vain.

The friends of freedom won the fight, and the calling of the convention was defeated by a majority of 1,834 in a vote of 11,764.

The 14 counties added by the boundary line amendment, and in. deed, all of Northern Illinois were without inhabitants at this time. Sangamon was the northernmost county in the State.

This was the first defeat of the pro-slavery propaganda which had become dominant in National politics.

This failure to make Illinois a slave State, contributed to an extent which can hardly be overestimated, to the maintenance of the Union when the question of maintaining the Union was submitted to the arbitrament of war.

The geographical position of the State with its railways and rivers and its large capacity to furnish the material of war, gave it fundamental importance. Cairo was a most advantageous strategic point. From this point, at the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, the Union army and navy could command the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers. From this point the first important attack was made upon the Confederate lines, resulting in the capture of Forts Henry and Donelson, the city of Nashville and opening a way into the heart of the state of Tennessee. Commanding the Mississippi, the Union troops passed into Missouri by the Hannibal & St. Joseph railroad and up the Missouri river, turned the extreme left flank of the Confederate army, and practically gained control of the state.

From Chicago down the canal, seen by Judge Pope and foretold as a tie to bind together the Union; came steam tugs which were useful in naval operations from Cairo to the gulf. The lumber and coal which built gunboats came from the forests and mines of Illinois. Illinois was the point of the wedge, which entering at Cairo split the Confederacy in twain, opening the Mississippi to the sea.

But above and beyond all material forces is the moral energy which organizes and directs them. The result of the victory of 1824 stimulated migration. The northern part of the State was rapidly settled by people who believed in liberty for all men and who were loyal to the Union. The majority were true to these ideals. It was this ideal and the patriotic consecration which it inspired, and which the victory of 1824 had made dominant in the State, which enabled Illinois to send a quarter of a million volunteer soldiers into the army of the Union. It was this victory which enabled the State 37 years afterward to give to the Union Army its great leader who achieved a standard of military skill beyond the precedents of history. It was this victory which enabled the State to educate and train in the arena of debate on the question of union or disunion, freedom or slavery, the man whose inspired spirit of wisdom and love destroyed slavery and saved the Union of the states making them a nation.

If the pro-slavery party had succeeded in the struggle of 1824, the drama of our State and national history would have been greatly changed. The destruction of the institution of slavery would have been indefinitely postponed and the task of maintaining the Union incalculably more difficult if not impossible. Imagination falters in trying to conceive what might have been the result. It was an event decisive in its effects upon both the State of Illinois and the nation.

Another event decisive in its influence upon the history of the State was the purchase of Louisiana in 1803.

At the close of the war of the Revolution the major part of what is now the Territory of the United States, was in the possession of Spain. She claimed all of east and west Florida up to the 31st degree of latitude and all west of the Mississippi river, known as the Louisiana purchase. Both France and Spain who were with us in our war with England, when the treaty was made in 1782, were more hostile to us than to England. The representative of Spain foresaw and stated that the future expansion of the new nation, would be at the expense of Florida and the vast region beyond the Mississippi, and he proposed to make the Alleghanies the western boundary. France, though our ally, as between us and Spain, was disposed to favor the latter and she proposed that the United States should embrace such of the territory west of the Alleghanies as lay around the head waters of the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers north of the Ohio.

Spain, organizing a small expedition in St. Louis and Cahokia had made an attempt at invading Illinois in 1781, and in negotiating the treaty of Paris in 1783 she made a claim to the Illinois county by the right of conquest. She attempted to levy duties upon the products which came down to New Orleans from Kentucky and Tennessee, and regions about the upper river. But it was not long before she found that she would be unable to hold the country against the enterprise, adventure and audacity of the frontier men. She resolved to rid herself of the burden and the Spanish king made a private arrangement with the first Consul, by which he exchanged the vast Louisiana territory for the petty kingdom of Etruria.

Meanwhile Congress had begun to debate the propriety and expediency of taking New Orleans and Florida by force. Livingston and Monroe were negotiating with France for their cession. Napoleon saw the wish and purpose of the United States, He foresaw the difficulty of holding the territory. He was about to go to war with England. "They have," he exclaimed to his minister, "20 ships of war in the Gulf of Mexico. I have not a moment to lose in putting it out of their reach. They only ask of me one town in Louisiana but I already consider the colony as lost." He afterwards said to Marbois, "Let them give you 100,000,000 francs, pay their own claims and take the country." When the minister said something about the rights of the colonists, Napoleon replied, "Take your maxims to the London market." He also said, "I know the full value of Louisiana but the English wish to take possession. They have taken Canada, Cape Breton, New France, Nova Scotia and the richest portion of Asia, but they shall not have the Mississippi which they covet."

The sale was made and when Marbois, Livingston and Monroe signed the treaty, April 30, 1803, they rose and Livingston said, "We may have lived long but this is the noblest work of our lives." The territory had changed hands six times in 91 years. It was now the property of the United States.¹

The effect of this transfer of sovereignty upon the United States as a whole, and especially on the states that in future would lie along the river, opens up a field of speculative study. If the first Consul had not sold the territory it would have been seized by England. Those 20 battleships would have passed up the river, and English fleets would have patroled it while English troops would have fortified strategic points from its mouth to the Falls of St. Anthony. Illinois being on the pathway from the Mississippi to Lake Michigan via the Illinois river, would have been the most important field for military operations in case of war between Great Britain and the United States.

Nine years later British soldiers captured Detroit, Mackinac and practically held the line from the mouth of the St. Lawrence to the site of Chicago.

If at this time England had had command of the Mississippi she had only to force her way up the Illinois and make a short portage to the lakes to have had an uninterrupted line from New Orleans to Quebec. To open and command this line was of such fundamental military importance, that it would surely be attempted in case of war.

Happily for Illinois, though then but a sparcely settled territory, the nation of which it was a part controlled the Mississippi river. Had it been otherwise, it would have been a central theatre of war waged upon the settlers by the British and their Indian allies.

If the Louisiana territory had been under the English flag, all of the border states east of the river, including Illinois, would have been constantly exposed to the menace of war by reason of the escape of slaves who would have sought British protection. Those who are familiar with the efforts made by the pro-slavery states to secure a fugitive slave law, which would be effective as between the states, can readily believe that the easy escape of slaves who could swim the river in a night or transport themselves across in a "dug out," would inflame a passion that would surely have provoked a war. Between the states south of the Ohio and Canada, the free states served as a buffer, and to make war upon the Dominion would have been premature at that stage of the game. But if the Union Jack had sheltered the fugitive within plain view where he could defy his owner it would have become a symbol of what he hated most, and war would have been inevitable. In this Illinois would have had a central share.

Furthermore, even if the institution of slavery had not been an influential factor, the pressure of emigration westward would have filled the Louisiana country with stalwart pioneers. Some of them as early as 1803 had found homes on the Mississippi river. The drift of emigration followed the lines of latitude. There was no disposition to go to Canada. The line of movement was westward. This movement would have been so vigorous, as to be resistless. Carrying with them their love of politics, of organizing and of freedom, they would have soon absorbed the few colonists which England might have planted and the few French already in the country.

This would have led to agitation, revolution and conflicts which would have overthrown English dominion, but it would have been at heavy cost. A struggle of this character would have involved all contiguous states. So I think that the peaceful purchase of Louisana was a decisive event in the building of Illinois. She was not left a border state upon the western limit of the nation. It secured for her the position of a central and keystone state, in a mighty family of states reaching from ocean to ocean.