CHAPTER VI.
THE PURCHASE OF LOUISIANA; AND BURR'S CONSPIRACY, 1803-1807.
A great and growing race may acquire vast stretches of scantily peopled territory in any one of several ways.

Often the statesman, no less than the soldier, plays an all-important part in winning the new land; nevertheless, it is usually true that the diplomatists who by treaty ratify the acquisition usurp a prominence in history to which they are in no way entitled by the real worth of their labors.
Ways in which Territorial Expansion may Take Place.
The territory may be gained by the armed forces of the nation, and retained by treaty.

It was in this way that England won the Cape of Good Hope from Holland; it was in this way that the United States won New Mexico.

Such a conquest is due, not to the individual action of members of the winning race, but to the nation as a whole, acting through her soldiers and statesmen.

It was the English Navy which conquered the Cape of Good Hope for England; it was the English diplomats that secured its retention.