In conclusion, I hope I may be permitted to suggest that our thoughts and surroundings on this occasion should lead us to humble recognition of the providence of God in all that has made us a great nation. From our beginning as a people our course has been marked by concurrences and incidents so striking, so significant and so constant, that only superstitious dullness or intellectual blindness will place them to the credit of luck or chance. In the midst of our rejoicing to-day it is peculiarly fitting that we recall with soberness and meekness some of the happiness in connection with the great event we celebrate, which impressively illustrate the interposition of Divine Providence in our behalf. We sought from a nation ruled by one whose ambition was boundless and whose scheme for aggrandizement knew neither the obligations of public morality nor the restraints of good faith, the free navigation of the Mississippi River, and such insignificant territory as would make such navigation useful. While our efforts toward the accomplishment of this slight result languished and were fast assuming a hopeless condition, the autocrat of France suddenly commanded one of his ministers to enter into negotiations with our waiting and dispirited representatives and exclaimed: "I renounce Louisiana. It is not only New Orleans I cede. It is the whole colony without reserve." It was only nineteen days thereafter that the treaty transferring to us the magnificent domain comprised within the Louisiana Purchase was concluded.