36
THE BATTALION
and Cambridge Universities in the development of English
history, and in the establishment of her national prestige?—
It was a «on of Cambridge that, as a citizen-soldier, won the
battle of Naseby, and planted the seeds of individual and per
sonal liberty that have grown and blossomed even unto the
ideal fanc} r of 3’our own Republic. It was tins same master
mind that captured Gibraltar, and that created an English
navy that has grown and governed until it commands the re
spect or admiration of every civilized power on earth. The
uncompromising spirit of Oliver Cromwell still lives in Eng
lish history.
From Pitt to Canning, from Canning to Peel, and from
Peel to Gladstone, England has been dependent upon a son of
Oxford or of Cambridge for a prrine minister and the direc
tion of a policy for the government. iS'ot onl\ r her prime
ministers, but her brightest and greatest speakers in the
House of Commons, and her Chancellors of the Exchequer
have been college bred men—usually of Oxford or Cambridge.
It is becoming more and more the demand with each decade,
that public men shall be measured not so much by military
genius or literary talent, as by the skill shown in expounding
a way in which a nation may become prosperous and rich.
Strange as it may appear to a business man, the most
eminent managers of national treasuries, have been college
trained men. But the objection might be made that in the
Monarchies and Kingdoms of Europe, where cast and nobili
ty are such potent factors, that we would expect leadership to
be delegated to those who, b}’- birth and training were en
titled to its responsibilities. But in this country, where in
dividual liberty is the basis of the nations growth, and where
a free ballot may encourage the most illiterate but ambitious
aspirant for office, we should expect the result to be different.
Not infrequently we hear the boast that a large percent
age of congressmen have attended onl}' the common schools—
—and it cannot be denied that we have many examples of
men, who, as drift wood, have lloated upon some great politi
cal wave into the haven of popular favor. Oth$r examples