tted into the
Federal Union, and the population of the entire country was less
than that of the State of New York to-day. This same year witnessed
the first organization of Illinois into a distinct political
community and its creation, by act of Congress, as the Territory
of Illinois, with a white population less than one-twentieth of
that of this good county to-day. The United States having
barely escaped a war with France,--our ally in securing our
independence,--was earnestly struggling for distinct place among
the nations.

"No less significant, and fraught with deep consequences, were
events occurring in the Old Worlds. The year 1809 witnessed the
birth of Darwin and Gladstone. The despotism of the Dark Ages
still brooded over Continental Europe, and whatever savored of
popular public rule--even in its mildest form--was yet in the
distant future. Alexander the First was on the throne of Russia,--
and her millions of serfs were oppressed as by the iron hand of
the Caesars. The splendid German Empire of to-day had no place on
the map of the world; its present powerful constituencies were
antagonistic provinces and warring independent cities. Napoleon
Bonaparte--'calling Fate into the lists'--by a succession of
victories unparalleled in history had overturned thrones, compelled
kings upon bended knee to sue for peace, and substituted those
of his own household for dynasties that reached back the entire
length of human history. With his star still in the ascendant,
disturbed by no forecast of the horrid nightmare of the retreat
from Moscow, 'with legions scattered by the artillery of the snows
and the cavalry of the winds,' tortured by no dream of Leipsic, of
Elba, of Waterloo, of St. Helena, he was still the 'man of destiny,'
--relentlessly pursuing the _ignis fatuus_ of universal empire.

"The year that witnessed the birth of Abraham Lincoln witnessed
the gathering of the disturbing elements that were to precipitate the
second war with the mother country. England--with George the Third
still upon the throne--by insulting and cruel search of American
vessels upon the high seas, was rendering inevitable the declaration
of war by Congress,--a war of humiliation upon our part by the
disgraceful surrender of Hull at Detroit and the wanton burning of
our Capitol, but crowned with honor by the naval victories of
Lawrence, Decatur, and Perry, and eventually terminated by the
capture of the British army at New Or