10 INTRODUCTION. 



4 



for the deeds of Washington and his associates in 

 the camp will forever remain, a brilliant and honor- 

 able record on the historic page. The next want of 

 the Confederacy was that of statesmen, whose pro- 

 found and sagacious minds could comprehend the 

 peculiar form of government best adapted to pro- 

 mote the welfare of the people ; who possessed the 

 requisite ability to construct such a government; and 

 who were gifted with the practical talent afterward 

 to administer its laws with energy, fidelity, and 

 success. And then also, in that great crisis of the 

 nation's destiny, there arose men whose superiors 

 as statesmen the world has never seen ; for all men 

 concede the matchless ability of Alexander Hamil- 

 ton, Jefferson, Madison, and their chief associates. 



Under their guidance and under that of their 

 worthy successors, among whom Quincy Adams, 

 Clay, Calhoun, and "Webster rank as noblest and 

 greatest, the territories of the republic have gra- 

 dually extended, until they now comprise an entire 

 continent filled with a numerous brotherhood of 

 nations, each one of which is equal in wealth, intel- 

 ligence, and power to many of the renowned king- 

 doms of the Old World. Everywhere we now behold 

 the prevalence and supremacy of equal laws, of 

 skilful legislation, of judicious education, of indus- 

 try, security, and prosperity, as the result of the 



