y years, it became quite easy for the captain,
imperceptibly, and, to a certain extent involuntarily, to add to his
proper office that of law giver and administrator. In this way,
especially after the exchange of Saxon for Norman administrators, the
still rebellious Saxon freeman became hopelessly entangled in a network
of machinery, local and national, which kept him for many years an
obedient, unresisting subject.

So, being deprived for centuries of any considerable weight in the
English counsels, the commoner turned his attention to the increasing of
his material well-being. In this he was favored by the stern
enforcement, by the Norman kings, of law and order, and an enduring
peace; for, though English soldiers have often fought on the continent,
it may be said with almost literal truth that not since the Norman
Conquest has English soil felt the footsteps of a foreign foe. For this
blessing, England is indebted to her insular position, which has also
pointed so unmistakably to her destiny as a sea-faring power, carrying
the world's trade in her merchant ships and scattering colonies over
every continent.

Summing up then, the conditions favoring English progress at its
beginning: we have a people, instinct with the love of freedom and
power, subjected to law by desire for victory in war, and kept obedient
by bewilderment of machinery. Forced to reconcile themselves to Norman
usurpation of all power in church and state, they devote themselves to
the acquisition of wealth, and, because of their insular position and
small territory, end in commercial supremacy and colonial expansion.

The English people are, through their American descendants, our teachers
in everything, and their lessons we eagerly and unquestioningly learn
and practice. But we ought now, fairly and candidly to consider how far
we may realize with our dispositions and our circumstances, the
greatness which England has achieved. Could we colonize Cuba, our
environing conditions would be favorable to political and economic
development. Cuba is an island, fertile and, for commerce, almost ideal
in its situation. Or, can we not, remaining here, share in the
management of this splendid country, exercising the powers and
fulfilling the duties of government in those states where we are in the
majority, and influencing the government of other states where our
numbers are not so great? If either career is open to us, the study and
imitation of the English