Of him it may be truthfully said, in the beautiful language of the dead poet, Tennyson, "He wears the white flower of a blameless life in that fierce light which beats upon a throne and blackens every blot."

And tonight, I am sure the heart of every true American, whatever his politics or opinions, goes out to him in tender sympathy in this hour of his terrible bereavement.

God grant that time and religion, those twin nurses of the wounded heart, may temper and assuage his poignant grief into a calm and gentle sorrow.

Perhaps, some one may say that this is neither time nor place to speak of sorrow for the dead, or sympathy for the living. To such a one I answer, "No hour is too holy or too free, no place too sacred or too public for the human heart to feel, and, feeling, to express the Divine sympathy implanted in the human breast!"

"THE EVOLUTION OF THE REPUBLIC."

ADDRESS TO THE

GRADUATES OF THE UNIVERSITY

OF VERMILLION.

JUNE 16th, 1892.

The age in which we live is the grandest in the history of the world! The hours of the nineteenth century are almost spent! The twentieth century is near at hand! The 12th of October next will witness the celebration of the 400th anniversary of the Discovery of America; and within a year from this day the greatest Exposition, and the grandest selection of the products of civilization the world has ever seen, will be in the fullness of its splendor. To be a citizen of any country in this age is, indeed, a privilege; but what shall we say of citizenship in a country whose Government is the freest, the most enlightened and the most philanthropic the world has ever known; a Government with but one flag, the Stars and Stripes, one ruler-the people, and one common end— liberty?

He is, indeed, a cynic and a sluggard who is not proud of being a citizen of the American Republic; and I am loath to believe there are many such beneath the shadow of its flag.

But while most of our citizens are proud of this honor, it is undoubtedly true, that the great majority

of them do not fully appreciate that our Republic in its present condition, is the fruit, neither of a hundred, nor even a thousand years, of wisdom and experience, but that it is rather the result of the evolution of ages, the child of centuries.

Whether or not we believe with Darwin, and his disciples, that man was evolved from the monkey, through innumerable generations of growth and development, we must believe "That through the countless ages one increasing purpose runs; and the thoughts of men are widened with the process of the suns," or doubt the existence of the Divine Intellect itself.

As the latest invention in the sciences, manufactures and arts is evolved out of, and includes every form, or improvement in the same direction, so our beloved Republic drew nourishment from whatever there was of good in the governments of former centuries.

Heeding the wrecks of the past caused by a union of Church and State, the founders of the Republic declared that they should forever be separated.

From India, from Greece and Rome she took whatever was good, and discarded that which was evil.

From France and from Holland she borrowed something, and from England most of all.

But, while the Government of England was a mixture of monarchy, aristocracy and democracy, America