On Friday, May 25th, Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler, President of
Columbia University, New York, delivered at the Mansion House the first of a series of lectures on the Sir George Watson Foundation for American History, Literature and Institutions. It dealt with " Building the American Nation." As regards the facts, the lecture was simply an account of the growth and national components of the American people, which was probably already more or less familiar to students. But the art of the historian consists in adding to the facts, which somehow are always rather similar, touches of local colour and interest, so as to distinguish them from other facts. The main contention of the lecture was that the revolt against English rule was prompted less by anti-English sentiments than by the desire of the American people for independence as an end in itself. This desire was prompted ultimately by ethnical and geographical considerations. In the interest of Anglo-American friendship, which is perhaps the one weapon which can ward off the utter ruin of civilize.• tion, the lecture was most valuable.
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