Excerpt from Address of Hon. Elihu B. Washburne: Response of Governor Thos. T. Crittenden on the Occasion of the Presentation of the Portrait of Hon. Edward Hempstead to the State of Missouri, Jefferson City, February 3, 1881 The early history of my own State of Illinois, as well as that of Missouri, and of all that vast empire, first discovered, explored and settled by the French, has to me all the interest of a romance. In the wild and rapid whirl of events in our country, we are too apt to neglect or forget history. Humanity sweeps onward, but the recollections Of men and the histories of nations and peoples are too Often buried in forgetfulness and Oblivion. To rescue a name worthy to be remembered and honored, to recall great events, to look back upon the deeds of those who have gone before us, are objects worthy of all our considera tion. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.