THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE 385 



the significant homestead act, we shall see what a complex 

 population has to be dealt with in the Louisiana Pur- 

 chase, as well as in the great cities of our laud. But for- 

 tunately, the assimilation of foreign elements is far easier 

 and quicker on the prairies than in the cities. While it 

 is true that in the Louisiana Purchase there is the great- 

 est number of languages heard anywhere, and that a large 

 percentage of the population in the various states had its 

 nativity in other countries, it is also true that nowhere 

 else could be found such rapid Americanization of all 

 these diverse elements. 



Aud here once more we note the overrulings of Provi- Protestantism 



'^ Dominant 



deuce. This Louisiana Purchase was opened up to civ- 

 ilization by the Jesuit missionaries who made their way 

 down the Mississippi, bent on converting the Indians and 

 establishing a new France, Eoman Catholic and free from 

 any Protestant taint, in America, Many of these pioneers 

 were brave and self-sacrificing men, who gave their lives 

 for the cause. But every attemj)t to keep out the Protes- 

 tants failed : and it was with the oj)ening of the region to 

 the same religious light and liberty enjoyed in the older 

 states that progress came aud a new civilization. As 

 with Roman Catholic France, so with Roman Catholic 

 Spain. Neither nation found it possible to keep the 

 advantage gained by priority of possession ; both were 

 gradually conquered aud compelled to withdraw before 

 the Anglo-Saxon, who represented in religion the very 

 antipodes of the spirit of the Latin and Roman Catholic 

 peoples. In this he who will may see the hand of God, 

 working out human destiny along the lines of true relig- 

 ious and political liberty. Since Protestantism is demo- 

 cratic in its essential principles, it must prevail in a 

 democracy. Autocracy in America is no more possible 

 in religion than in government. 



