ll as fearless--not the statesmanship which will
command the applause of the hour, but the approving judgment of
posterity.

The progress of a nation can alone prevent degeneration. There must be
new life and purpose, or there will be weakness and decay. There must be
broadening of thought as well as broadening of trade. Territorial
expansion is not alone and always necessary to national advancement.
There must be a constant movement toward a higher and nobler
civilization, a civilization that shall make its conquests without
resort to war and achieve its greatest victories pursuing the arts of
peace.

In our present situation duty--and duty alone--should prescribe the
boundary of our responsibilities and the scope of our undertakings. The
final determination of our purposes awaits the action of the eminent men
who are charged by the executive with the making of the treaty of peace,
and that of the senate of the United States, which, by our constitution,
must ratify and confirm it. We all hope and pray that the confirmation
of peace will be as just and humane as the conduct and consummation of
the war. When the work of the treaty-makers is done the work of the
law-makers will begin. The one will settle the extent of our
responsibilities; the other must provide the legislation to meet them.
The army and navy have nobly and heroically performed their part. May
God give the executive and congress wisdom to perform theirs.

BEHOLD THE AMERICAN

From the speech of Rev. Dr. T. DeWitt Talmage at the eighty-first
annual dinner of the New England Society in New York, December 22,
1886.

MR. PRESIDENT, AND ALL YOU GOOD NEW ENGLANDERS:--If we leave to the
evolutionists to guess where we came from and to the theologians to
prophesy where are we going to, we still have left for consideration the
fact that we are here; and we are here at an interesting time. Of all
the centuries this is the best century, and of all the decades of the
century this is the best decade, and of all the years of the decade this
is the best year, and of all the months of the year this is the best
month, and of all the nights of the month this is the best night. Many
of these advantages we trace straight back to Forefathers' Day, about
which I am to speak.

Well, what about this Forefathers' Day? In Brooklyn they say the Landing
of the Pilgrims was December the 21st; in New York you say it was
December the 22d. You are both rig