was celebrated at those places on the 19th of April with great rejoicings. On the 17th of June the centennial of Bunker Hill was celebrated at Charlestown. Vast crowds were present from all parts of the country. One of the most gratifying features of the celebration was the presence and hearty participation in the ceremonies of a large number of troops from the Southern States. Nearly all of these had served in the Confederate army, and their presence in the metropolis of New England was an emphatic proof that the Union has indeed been restored. The memory of the common glory won by the fathers of the republic has already done much to heal the wounds and obliterate the scars of the civil war. May the good work go on.

As early as 1872 measures were set on foot for the proper observance of the one hundredth anniversary of the independence of the United States. It was resolved to commemorate it by a national exposition to be held at Philadelphia, in 1876, in which all the world was invited to take part. As these pages are passing through the press, the preparations for this great celebration are being carried forward with success. The exhibition will undoubtedly be one of the most notable events of the century.

CHAPTER XLV.

CONCLUSION.

have now traced the history of the republic from its settlement through the first century of its national existence, and from the point we have reached may look back over the long period we have traversed, and mark the results accomplished by the nation. and the lessons which our history teaches.

In material growth our country has surpassed every nation upon the globe. At the beginning of the Revolution, nearly two centuries after the settlement at Jamestown, the population of the thirteen colonies was a little more than three millions. By 1790, the year after the inauguration of the republic, it was 3,929,827. In 1870 it had reached the enormous figure of 38,547,229. In 1776 the area of the States comprising the Union was less than one million square miles, embracing only a narrow strip of country along the Atlantic from Georgia to Canada. It has grown by successive additions until it is now nearly four millions of square miles, and stretches from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic ocean.

In 1776 but a few wretched roads connected the distant parts of the country. Now all points are brought into close and intimate relations with each other by lines of railway and canals. Splendid steamers navigate our bays, lakes and rivers, and the feeble and precarious trade of colonial days has expanded into a mighty and growing system of commerce which is rapidly enriching the country. In 1872 there were about sixty thousand eight hundred and fifty-two miles of railway in operation in the United States. The telegraph was unknown at the commencement of our existence. Over sixty thousand miles of wire are now in operation in this country.

In 1776 the manufactures of the country were few, and were limited to one or two necessary articles. In 1870 there were 252,148 establishments in the United States, employing a capital of $2,118,208,769, and producing manufactured articles to the value of $4,232,325,442 annually. In 1790 the tonnage of the United States engaged in foreign trade was only a little over half a million. In 1860 it exceeded six millions. It

fell off during the war, in consequence of the depredations of the AngloConfederate cruisers, but it is now rapidly reviving, and ranks next to that of Great Britain. In 1870 the total value of goods imported into the United States from foreign countries was $315,200,022; the total value of exports for the same year was $254,137,208.

In 1790 the cultivation of cotton was just being introduced in the south. In 1860 the cotton crop amounted to 5,198,077 bales, and constituted the principal article of export at that period. In 1870 the crop amounted to 3,011,996 bales.

Besides the larger crops, the value of orchard and market garden pro

ducts in 1870 was $68,054,418. In the same year the value of homemade articles was $23,433,332; the value of slaughtered animals, $398,956,376; the cash value of farms, $9,262,803,861; and the value of farming implements and machinery, $336,878,429.

The inventive genius of the country has supplied every demand which its rapid development has created. To Americans the world owes the application of steam to navigation, the invention of the electric telegraph, the sewing machine, the cotton gin, the reaping machine, the discovery of the use of ether as an anesthetic, and the great improvements in the steam-engine and the printing-press. "The States were behind us in

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invention," says Mr. Charles Reade. "They soon advanced upon us, and caught us, and now they head us far. . . Europe teems with the material products of American genius. American patents print English newspapers, and sew Englishmen's shirts. A Briton goes to his work by American clocks, and is warmed by American stoves, and cleaned by American dust-collectors. . . In a word America is the leading nation in all matters of material invention and construction, and no other nation rivals nor approaches her."

Nor is it only in material wealth that the improvement of our country

has been so remarkable. In the higher departments of intellectual effort it has kept pace with its growth in riches.

In 1800 there were but two hundred newspapers published in the United States. In 1870 the number of newspapers and periodicals was five thousand seven hundred and seventy-five, and their circulation amounted to 28,492,655 copies.

At the opening of the century there were few libraries in this country, and these were chiefly in the hands of private individuals. In 1870 there were in the United States 164,815 public and private libraries, containing 45,528,938 volumes.

In 1790 there were not more than a dozen colleges in the Union, and the common schools were confined to the New England States. In 1870 there were 2454 colleges and professional and scientific schools in the United States, with an attendance of 255,190 pupils. The private school in the same year numbered 14,025, with 726,688 pupils, and the free public schools 125,059, with an attendance of 6,228,060 pupils. The total income of all these establishments in 1870 was $95,402,726. In the same year there were but 748,970 white males and 1,145,718 white females, of twenty-one years and over, who could not read, among the inhabitants of the United States. The public schools exist now in every State, and liberal provision is made for their support, in order that the blessings of education may be diffused among the entire population.

At the beginning of the century the number of churches was limited, and in many communities there was not a single religious establishment. In 1870 there were 63,082 religious edifices in the Union, with sittings for 21,665,062 worshippers. In this year the value of church property was $354,483,581.

Such are some of the results of a century of free government. Few persons, one hundred years ago, would have believed them possible. The American republic was an experiment, and its establishment and first steps were watched with the keenest anxiety by the friends of human freedom in all parts of the world. Even the founders of our system of government were painfully apprehensive of the future, while from monarchical Europe came hosts of predictions of failure. The wisest statesmen of Europe had grave doubts whether a nation established upon principles such as ours could long endure. They predicted that in a short time we would be involved in wars with foreign powers; that our government, unable to give security to life and property, would end in anarchy, and that we would at last be driven into monarchy as the only solution of the troubles that would afflict us before the end of the century.

Time, the great solver of all problems, has demonstrated the wisdom of the fathers of the republic, and has confounded the predictions of their opponents. Republican institutions have been tested, and have been found sufficient to all the wants of a free people.

Let us compare the predictions of our adversaries at the commencement of our existence with the actual facts as they have occurred.

It was predicted that we would be involved in ruinous foreign wars, as our weakness would tempt stronger nations to acts of aggression. We have had but two foreign wars-one with England and the other with Mexico from both of which we have emerged successfully and with increased strength. In the same period England has engaged in four