occupied on financial questions during a lishment of religion or prohibiting the free long service in Congress, and to say that time and experience have strengthened the opinions I have so often expressed on these subjects. The finances of the government shall suffer no detriment which it may be possible for my administration to prevent. The interests of agriculture deserve more attention from the government than they have yet received. The farms of the United States afford homes and employment for more than one-half our people, and furnish much the largest part of all our exports. As the government lights our coasts for the protection of mariners and the benefit of commerce, so it should give to the tillers of the soil the best lights of practical science and experience. Our manufactures are rapidly making us industrially independent, and are opening to capital and labor new and profitable fields of employment. Their steady and healthy growth should still be matured. Our facilities for transportation should be promoted by the continued improvement of our harbors and great interior water-ways and by the increase of our tonnage on the ocean. exercise thereof. The Territories of the United States are subject to the direct legislative authority of Congress, and hence the general government is responsible for any violation of the Constitution in any of them. It is therefore a reproach to the government that in the most populous of the Territories the constitutional guarantee is not enjoyed by the people, and the authority of Congress is set at naught. The Mormon Church not only offends the moral sense of manhood by sanctioning polygamy, but prevents the administration of justice through ordinary instrumentalities of law. In my judgment it is the duty of Congress, while respecting to the uttermost the conscientious convictions and religious scruples of every citizen, to prohibit within its jurisdiction all criminal practices, especially of that class which destroy the family relations and endanger social order. Nor can any ecclesiastical organization be safely permitted to usurp in the smallest degree the functions and powers of the national government. The civil service can never be placed on a satisfactory basis until it is regulated by law. For the good of the service itself, for the protection of those who are intrusted with the appointing power against the waste of time and obstruction to the public business caused by the inordinate pressure for place, and for the protection of incumbents against intrigue and wrong, I shall at the proper time ask Congress to fix the tenure of the minor offices of the several executive departments, and prescribe the grounds upon which removals shall be made during the terms for which incumbents have been appointed. The development of the world's commerce has led to an urgent demand for shortening the great sea voyage around Cape Horn by constructing ship-canals or railways across the isthmus which unites the continents. Various plans to this end have been suggested and will need consideration, but none of them has been sufficiently matured to warrant the United States in extending pecuniary aid. The subject, however, is one which will immediately engage the attention of the government with a view to a thorough protection to American interests. We will urge no narrow policy nor seek peculiar or Finally, acting always within the auexclusive privileges in any commercial thority and limitations of the Constituroute; but, in the language of my pred- tion, invading neither the rights of the ecessor, I believe it to be the right "and States nor the reserved rights of the peoduty of the United States to assert and ple, it will be the purpose of my adminismaintain such supervision and authority tration to maintain the authority of the over any interoceanic canal across the nation in all places within its jurisísthmus that connects North and South diction; to enforce obedience to all the America as will protect our national in- laws of the Union in the interests of the terests." people; to demand rigid economy in all The Constitution guarantees absolute the expenditures of the government, and religious freedom. Congress is prohibited to require the honest and faithful service from making any law respecting an estab- of all executive officers, remembering that the offices were created, not for the benefit of incumbents or their supporters, but for the service of the government. And now, fellow-citizens, I am about to assume the great trust which you have committed to my hands. I appeal to you for that earnest and thoughtful support which makes this government in fact, as it is in law, a government of the people. I shall greatly rely upon the wisdom and patriotism of Congress, and of those who may share with me the responsibilities and duties of administration, and, above all, upon our efforts to promote the welfare of this great people and their governments I reverently invoke the support and blessings of Almighty God. The Western Reserve.-On Sept. 16, 1873, General Garfield delivered the address that follows before the Historical Society of Geauga county, Ohio: From the historian's stand-point, our country is peculiarly and exceptionally fortunate. The origin of nearly all great nations, ancient and modern, is shrouded in fable or traditionary legend. The story of the founding of Rome by the wolfnursed brothers, Romulus and Remus, has long been classed among myths of history; and the more modern story of Hengist and Horsa leading the Saxons to England is almost equally legendary. The origin of Paris can never be known. Its foundation was laid long before Gaul had written records. But the settlement, civilization, and political institutions of our country can be traced from their first hour by the clear light of history. It is true that over this continent hangs an impenetrable veil of tradition, mystery, and silence. But it is the tradition of races fast passing away; the mystery of a still earlier race, which flourished and perished long before its discovery by the Europeans. The story of the Mound-builders can never be told. The fate of the Indian tribes will soon be a half-forgotten tale. But the history of European civilization and institutions on this continent can be traced with precision and fulness, unless we become forgetful of the past, and neglect to save and perpetuate its precious memorials. In discussing the scope of historical IV.-B study in reference to our country, I will call attention to a few general facts concerning its discovery and settlement. First.-The Romantic Period of Discovery on this Continent. There can scarcely be found in the realms of romance anything more fascinating than the records of discovery and adventure during the two centuries that followed the landing of Columbus on the soil of the New World. The greed for gold; the passion for adventure; the spirit of chivalry; the enthusiasm and fanaticism of religion-all conspired to throw into America the hardiest and most daring spirits of Europe, and made the vast wilderness of the New World the theatre of the most stirring achievements that history has recorded. Early in the sixteenth century, Spain, turning from the conquest of Granada and her triumph over the Moors, followed her golden dreams of the New World with the same spirit that in an earlier day animated her Crusaders. In 1528 Ponce de Leon began his search for the fountain of perpetual youth, the tradition of which he had learned among the natives of the West Indies. He discovered the low-lying coasts of Florida, and explored its interior. Instead of the fountain of youth, he found his grave among its everglades. A few years later De Soto, who had accompanied Pizarro in the conquest of Peru, landed in Florida with a gallant array of knights and nobles, and commenced his explorations through the western wilderness. In 1541 he reached the banks of the Mississippi River, and, crossing it, pushed his discoveries westward over the great plains; but, finding neither the gold nor the South Sea of his dreams, he returned to be buried in the waters of the great river he had discovered. While England was more leisurely exploring the bays and rivers of the Atlantic coast, and searching for gold and peltry, the chevaliers and priests of France were chasing their dreams in the North, gearching for a passage to China and the realms of Far Cathay, and telling the mystery of the Cross to the Indian tribes of the far West. Coasting northward, her bold navigators discovered the mouth of the St. Lawrence; and in 1525 Cartier sailed up its broad current to the rocky 17 heights of Quebec, and to the rapids above the westward, and on the 16th of June Montreal, which were afterwards named La Chine, in derision of the belief that the adventurers were about to find China. In 1609 Champlain pushed above the rapids and discovered the beautiful lake that bears his name. In 1615 Priest La Caron pushed northward and westward through the wilderness and discovered Lake Huron. In 1635 the Jesuit missionaries founded the Mission St. Mary. In 1654 another priest had entered the wilderness of northern New York and found the salt springs of Onondaga. In 1659-60 French traders and priests passed the winter on Lake Superior and established missions along its shores. Among the earlier discoverers, no name shines out with more brilliancy than that of the Chevalier La Salle. The story of his explorations can scarcely be equalled in romantic interest by any of the stirring tales of the Crusaders. Born of a proud and wealthy family in the north of France, he was destined for the service of the church and of the Jesuit order. But his restless spirit, fired with the love of adventure, broke away from the ecclesiastical restraints to confront the dangers of the New World, and to extend the empire of Louis XIV. From the best evidence accessible, it appears that he was the first white man that saw the Ohio River. At twenty-six years of age we find him with a small party, near the western extremity of Lake Ontario, boldly entering the domain of the dreaded Iroquois, travelling southward and westward through the wintry wilderness until he reached a branch of the Ohio, probably the Alleghany. He followed it to the main stream, and descended that, until in the winter of 1669 and 1670 he reached the Falls of the Ohio, near the present site of Louisville. His companions refusing to go farther, he returned to Quebec, and prepared for still greater undertakings. In the mean time the Jesuit missionaries had been pushing their discoveries on the northern lake. In 1673 Joliet and Marquette started from Green Bay, dragging their canoes up the rapids of Fox River; crossed Lake Winnebago; found Indian guides to conduct them to the waters of the Wisconsin; descended that stream to reached the Mississippi near the spot where now stands the city of Prairie du Chien. To-morrow will be the 200th anniversary of that discovery. One hundred and thirty-two years before that time De Soto had seen the same river more than 1,000 miles below; but during that interval it is not known that any white man had looked upon its waters. Turning southward, these brave priests descended the great river, amid the awful solitudes. The stories of demons and monsters of the wilderness which abounded among the Indian tribes did not deter them from pushing their discoveries. They continued their journey southward to the mouth of the Arkansas River, telling as best they could the story of the Cross to the wild tribes along the shores. Returning from the Kaskaskias, and travelling thence to Lake Michigan, they reached Green Bay at the end of September, 1673, having on their journey paddled their canoes more than 2,500 miles. Marquette remained to establish missions among the Indians, and to die, three years later, on the western shore of Lake Michigan, while Joliet returned to Quebec to report his discoveries. In the mean time Count Frontenac, a noble of France, had been made governor of Canada, and found in La Salle a fit counsellor and assistant in his vast schemes of discovery. La Salle was sent to France, to enlist the Court and the ministers of Louis; and in 1677-78 returned to Canada, with full power under Frontenac to carry forward his grand enterprises. He had developed three great purposes: first, to realize the old plan of Champlain, the finding of a pathway to China across the American continent; second, to occupy and develop the regions of the northern lakes; and, third, to descend the Mississippi and establish a fortified post at its mouth, thus securing an outlet for the trade of the interior and checking the progress of Spain on the Gulf of Mexico. In pursuance of this plan, we find La Salle and his companions, in January, 1679, dragging their cannon and materials for ship-building around the Falls of Niagara, and laying the keel of a vessel 2 leagues above the cataract, at the |