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diff --git a/15824.txt b/15824.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cc3cd0a --- /dev/null +++ b/15824.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7337 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Notable Events of the Nineteenth Century, by +Various, Edited by John Clark Ridpath + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Notable Events of the Nineteenth Century + Great Deeds of Men and Nations and the Progress of the World + + +Author: Various + +Editor: John Clark Ridpath + +Release Date: May 14, 2005 [eBook #15824] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NOTABLE EVENTS OF THE NINETEENTH +CENTURY*** + + +E-text prepared by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Richard J. Shiffer, and the +Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + +NOTABLE EVENTS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY + +Great Deeds of Men and Nations and the Progress of the World, +in a Series of Short Studies + +Compiled and Edited by + +JOHN CLARK RIDPATH + +Published by +The Christian Herald, +Louis Klopsch, Proprietor, +Bible House, New York. + +1896 + + + + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +PREFACE. + + +This little volume constitutes one number of the Christian Herald +Library series for 1896-97. The title indicates the scope and purpose +of the work. Of heavy reading the reader of to-day no doubt has a +sufficiency. Of light reading, that straw-and-chaff literature that +fills the air until the senses are confused with the whirlwind and +dust of it, he has a sufficiency also. Of that intermediate kind of +reading which is neither so heavy with erudition as to weigh us down +nor so light with the flying folly of prejudice as to make us +distracted with its dust, there is perhaps too little. The thoughtful +and improving passage for the unoccupied half hour of him who hurries +through these closing years of the century does not abound, but is +rather wanting in the intellectual provision of the age. + +Let this volume serve to supply, in part at least, the want for brief +readings on important subjects. Herein a number of topics have been +chosen from the progress of the century and made the subjects of as +many brief studies that may be realized in a few minutes' reading and +remembered for long. Certainly there is no attempt to make these short +stories exhaustive, but only to make them hintful of larger readings +and more thoughtful and patient inquiry. + +The Editor is fully aware of the very large circulation and wide +reading to which this little volume will soon be subjected. For this +reason he has taken proper pains to make the work of such merit as may +justly recommend it to the thoughtful as well as the transient and +unthoughtful reader. It cannot, we think, prove to be a wholly +profitless task to offer these different studies, gathered from the +highways and byways of the great century, to the thousands of good and +busy people into whose hands the volume will fall. To all such the +Editor hopes that it may carry a measure of profit as well as a +message of peace. + +J.C.R. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + [All articles not otherwise designated are by the Editor.] + + + CRISES IN CIVIL SOCIETY. + PAGE. + + Brumaire--The Overthrow Of The French Directory, 9 + How the Son of Equality Became King of France, 14 + The Coup d'Etat of 1851, 19 + The Chartist Agitation in England, 23 + The Abolition of Human Bondage, 27 + The Peril of Our Centennial Year, 35 + The Double Fete in France and Germany, 40 + + + GREAT BATTLES. + + Trafalgar, 44 + Campaign of Austerlitz, 50 + "Friedland--1807", 55 + Under the Russian Snows, 59 + Waterloo, 63 + Sebastopol, 71 + Sadowa, 77 + Capture of Mexico, 84 + Vicksburg, 89 + Gettysburg, 95 + Spottsylvania, 104 + Appomattox, 112 + Sedan, by Victor Hugo, 118 + Bazaine and Metz, 129 + + + ASTRONOMICAL VISTAS. + + The Century of the Asteroids, 136 + The Story of Neptune, 146 + Evolution of the Telescope, 156 + The New Astronomy, 165 + What the Worlds Are Made Of, 175 + + + PROGRESS IN DISCOVERY AND INVENTION. + + The First Steamboat and its Maker, 184 + Telegraphing before Morse, 196 + The New Light of Men, 205 + The Telephone, 216 + The Machine That Talks Back, 225 + Evolution of the Dynamo, by Professor Joseph + P. Naylor, 235 + The Unknown Ray and Entography, 244 + + STAGES IN BIOLOGICAL INQUIRY. + + The New Inoculation, 256 + Koch's Battle with the Invisible Enemy, 266 + Achievements in Surgery, 276 + GREAT RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS. + BY B.J. FERNIE, PH.D. + + Defence on New Lines, 284 + Evangelical Activity, 289 + Bible Revision, 291 + Bibles by the Million, 293 + A Great Missionary Era, 296 + Preaching to Heathen at Home, 299 + Churches Drawing Together, 304 + Organized Activities, 308 + Humanitarian Work, 314 + The Sunday School, 316 + Pulpit and Press, 318 + + + + +Notable Events of the Nineteenth Century. + + + + +Crises in Civil Society. + + +BRUMAIRE. + +THE OVERTHROW OF THE FRENCH DIRECTORY. + +The eighteenth century went out with the French Directory, and the +nineteenth came in with the Consulate. The coincidence of dates is not +exact by a year and a month and twenty-one days. But history does not +pay much attention to almanacs. In general our century arose with the +French Consulate. The Consulate was the most conspicuous political +fact of Europe in the year 1801; and the Consulate came in with +_Brumaire_. + +"Brumaire" is one of the extraordinary names invented by the +French Revolutionists. The word, according to Carlyle, means +_Fogarious_--that is, Fog month. In the French Republican calendar, +devised by the astronomer Romme, in 1792, Brumaire began on the +twenty-second day of October and ended on the twentieth day of +November. It remained for Brumaire, and the eighteenth day of +Brumaire, of the year VIII, to extinguish the plural executive which +the French democrats had created under the name of a _Directory_, and +to substitute therefor the One Man that was coming. + +The Directory was a Council of Five. It was a sort of five-headed +presidency; and each head was the head of a Jacobin. One of the heads +was called Barras. One was called Carnot. Another was called +Barthelemy. Another was Roger Ducos; another was the Abbe Sieyes. That +was the greatest head of them all. The heads were much mixed, though +the body was one. In such a body cross counsels were always uppermost, +and there was a want of decision and force in the government. + +This condition of the Executive Department led to the deplorable +reverses which overtook the French armies during the absence of +General Bonaparte in Egypt. Thiers says that the Directorial Republic +exhibited at this time a scene of distressing confusion. He adds: "The +Directory gave up guillotining; it only transported. It ceased to +force people to take assignats upon pain of death; but it paid nobody. +Our soldiers, without arms and without bread, were beaten instead of +being victorious." + +The ambition of Napoleon found in this situation a fitting +opportunity. The legislative branch of the government consisted of a +Senate, or Council of Ancients, and a Council of Five Hundred. The +latter constituted the popular branch. Of this body Lucien Bonaparte, +brother of the general, was president. Hardly had Napoleon arrived in +the capital on his return from Egypt when a conspiracy was formed by +him with Sieyes, Lucien and others of revolutionary disposition, to do +away by a _coup_ with the too democratic system, and to replace it +with a stronger and more centralized order. The Council of Ancients +was to be brought around by the influence of Sieyes. To Lucien +Bonaparte the more difficult task was assigned of controlling and +revolutionizing the Assembly. As for Napoleon, Sieyes procured for him +the command of the military forces of Paris; and by another decree the +sittings of the two legislative bodies were transferred to St. Cloud. + +The eighteenth Brumaire of the Year VIII, corresponding to the ninth +of November, 1799, was fixed as the day for the revolution. By that +date soldiers to the number of 10,000 men had been collected in the +gardens of the Tuileries. There they were reviewed by General +Bonaparte and the leading officers of his command. He read to the +soldiers the decree which had just been issued under the authority of +the Council of the Ancients. This included the order for the removal +of the legislative body to St. Cloud, and for his own command. He was +entrusted with the execution of the order of the Council, and all of +the military forces in Paris were put at his disposal. In these hours +of the day there were all manner of preparation. That a conspiracy +existed was manifest to everybody. That General Bonaparte was reaching +for the supreme authority could hardly be doubted. His secretary thus +writes of him on the morning of the great day. + +"I was with him a little before seven o'clock on the morning of the +eighteenth Brumaire, and, on my arrival, I found a great number of +generals and officers assembled. I entered Bonaparte's chamber, and +found him already up--a thing rather unusual with him. At this moment +he was as calm as on the approach of a battle. In a few moments Joseph +and Bernadotte arrived. I was surprised to see Bernadotte in plain +clothes, and I stepped up to him and said in a low voice: 'General, +everyone here except you and I is in uniform.' 'Why should I be in +uniform?' said he. Bonaparte, turning quickly to him, said: 'How is +this? You are not in uniform.' 'I never am on a morning when I am not +on duty,' replied Bernadotte. 'You will be on duty presently,' said +the general!" + +To Napoleon the crisis was an epoch of fate. The first thing was to be +the resignation of Sieyes, Barras and Ducos, which--coming suddenly on +the appointed morning--broke up the Directory. Bonaparte then put out +his hand as commander of the troops. Too late the Republicans of the +Council of Five Hundred felt the earthquake swelling under their feet. +Napoleon appeared at the bar of the Assembly, and attempted a rambling +and incoherent justification for what was going on. A motion was made +to outlaw him; but the soldiers rushed in, and the refractory members +were seized and expelled. A few who were in the revolution remained, +and to the number of fifty voted a decree making Sieyes, Bonaparte and +Ducos provisional _Consuls_, thus conferring on them the supreme +executive power of the State. By nightfall the business was +accomplished, and the man of Ajaccio slept in the palace of the +Tuileries. He had said to his secretary, Bourriene, on that morning, +"We shall sleep to-night in the Tuileries--or in prison." + +The new order was immediately made organic. There could be no question +when Three Consuls were appointed and Bonaparte one of the number, +which of the three would be _First_ Consul. He would be that himself; +the other two might be the ciphers which should make his unit 100. The +new system was defined as the "Provisionary Consulate;" but this form +was only transitional. The managers of the _coup_ went rapidly forward +to make it permanent. The Constitution of the Year III gave place +quickly to the Constitution of the Year VIII, which provided for an +executive government, under the name of the CONSULATE. Nominally the +Consulate was to be an executive committee of three, but really an +executive committee of _one_--with two associates. The three men +chosen were Napoleon Bonaparte, Jean Jacques Cambaceres and Charles +Francois Lebrun. On Christmas day, 1799, Napoleon was made FIRST +CONSUL; and that signified the beginning of a new order, destined to +endure for sixteen and a half years, and to end at Waterloo. The old +century was dying and the new was ready to arise out of its ashes. + + +HOW THE SON OF EQUALITY BECAME KING OF FRANCE. + +The French Revolution spared not anything that stood in its way. The +royal houses were in its way, and they went down before the blast. +Thus did the House of Bourbon, and thus did also the House of Orleans. +The latter branch, however, sought by its living representatives to +compromise with the storm. The Orleans princes have always had a touch +of liberalism to which the members of the Bourbon branch were +strangers. + +At the outbreak of the Revolution, Louis Philippe Joseph, Duke of +Orleans, fraternized with the popular party, threw away his princely +title and named himself Philippe Egalite; that is, as we should say, +Mr. _Equality_ Philip. In this character he participated in the +National Assembly until he fell under distrust, and in despite of his +defence and protestations--in spite of the fact that he had voted for +the death of his cousin the king--was seized, condemned and +guillotined. + +This Equality Philip left as his representative in the world a son who +was twenty years old when his father was executed. The son was that +Louis Philippe who, under his surname of _Roi Citoyen_, or "Citizen +King," was destined after extraordinary vicissitudes to hold the +sceptre of France for eighteen years. Young Louis Philippe was a +soldier in the republican armies. That might well have saved him from +persecution; but his princely blood could not be excused. He was by +birth the Duke of Valois, and by succession the Duke of Chartres. As +a boy, eight years of age, he had received for his governess the +celebrated Madame de Genlis, who remained faithful to him in all his +misfortunes. At eighteen he became a dragoon in the Vendome Regiment, +and in 1792 he fought valiantly under Kellermann and Dumouriez at +Valmy and Jemappes. Then followed the treason, or defection, of +Dumouriez; but young Louis remained with the army for two years +longer, when, being proscribed, he went into exile, finding refuge +with other suspected officers and many refugees in Switzerland. + +Thither Dumouriez himself had gone. Of the flight of young Louis, +Carlyle says: "Brave young Egalite reaches Switzerland and the Genlis +Cottage; with a strong crabstick in his hand, a strong heart in his +body: his Princedom is now reduced to _that_ Egalite the father sat +playing whist, in his Palais Egalite, at Paris, on the sixth day of +this same month of April, when a catchpole entered. Citoyen Egalite is +wanted at the Convention Committee!" What the committee wanted with +Equality Philip and what they did with him has been stated above. + +Consider then that the Napoleonic era has at last set in blood. +Consider that the Restoration, with the reigns of Louis XVIII. and +Charles X., has gone by. Consider that the "Three Days of July," +1830, have witnessed a bloodless revolution in Paris, in which the +House of Bourbon was finally overthrown and blown away. On the second +of August, Charles X. gave over the hopeless struggle and abdicated in +favor of his son. But the Chamber of Deputies and the people of France +had now wearied of Bourbonism in _all_ of its forms, and the nation +was determined to have a king of its own choosing. + +The Chamber set about the work of selecting a new ruler for France. At +this juncture, Thiers and Mignet again asserted their strength and +influence by nominating for the throne Louis Philippe, Duke of +Orleans, representative of what is known as the Younger Branch of the +Bourbon dynasty. The prince himself was not loath to present himself +at the crisis, and to offer his services to the nation. In so doing, +he was favored greatly by his character and antecedents. At the first, +the Chamber voted to place him at the head of the kingdom with the +title of _Lieutenant-General_. The prince accepted his election, met +the Chamber of Deputies and members of the Provisional Government at +the Hotel de Ville, and there solemnly pledged himself to the most +liberal principles of administration. His accession to power in his +military relations was hailed with great delight by the Parisians, who +waved the tri-color flag before him as he came, and shouted to their +heart's content. + +At this stage of the revolution the representatives of the overthrown +House and of the Old Royalty sought assiduously to obtain from Louis +Philippe a recognition of the young Count de Chambord, under the title +of Henry V. But the Duke of Orleans was too wily a politician to be +caught in such a snare. He at first suppressed that part of the letter +of abdication signed by Charles and Angouleme in which reference was +made to the succession of the Duke of Berry's son; but a knowledge of +that clause was presently disseminated in the city, and the tumult +broke out anew. + +Then it was that a great mob, rolling out of Paris in the direction of +the Hotel Rambouillet, gave the signal of flight to Charles and those +who had adhered to the toppling fortunes of his house. The Chamber of +Deputies proceeded quickly to undo the despotic acts of the late king, +and then elected Louis Philippe king, not of _France_, but of the +_French_. The new sovereign received 219 out of 252 votes in the +Deputies. His elevation to power was one of the most striking examples +of personal vicissitudes which has ever been afforded by the princes +and rulers of modern times. + + +THE COUP D'ETAT OF 1851. + +With the overthrow of Louis Philippe in 1848, what is known as the +Second Republic, was established in France. On the tenth of December, +in that year, a president was elected in the American manner for a +term of four years. To the astonishment of the whole world, the man so +elected was Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, who had since the downfall of +Napoleon been prisoner, exile and adventurer by turns. In the course +of President Louis Napoleon's administration, matters came to such a +pass between him and the National Assembly that one or the other must +go to the wall. + +In the early winter of 1851, a crisis came on which broke in a +marvelous manner in the event called the Coup d'Etat. The President +made up his mind to conquer the Assembly by force. He planned what is +known in modern history by pre-eminence the stroke. He, and those whom +he trusted, made their arrangements secretly, silently, that the +"stroke" should fall on the night of the second of December. On that +evening the President held a gay reception in the palace of the +Elysee, and after his guests had retired, the scheme was perfected for +immediate execution. + +During the night seventy-eight of the leading members of the +Opposition were seized at their own houses and taken to prison. The +representatives of the people were hurried through the streets, and +suddenly immured where their voices could be no longer heard. At the +same time a strong force of soldiers was stationed near the Tuileries. +The offices of the liberal newspapers were seized and closed, and the +Government printing presses were employed all night in printing the +proclamation with which the walls of the city were covered before +morning. With the coming of daylight, Paris awoke and read: + +1. The National Assembly is dissolved; + +2. Universal suffrage is re-established; + +3. The Elective Colleges are summoned to meet on December 21; + +4. Paris is in a state of siege. + +By the side of this proclamation was posted the President's address to +the people. He proposed the election of a president for ten years. He +referred the army to the neglect which it had received at the hands of +former governments, and promised that the soldiery of France should +rewin its ancient renown. + +As soon as those members of the Assembly who had not been arrested +could realize the thing which was done, they ran together and +attempted to stay the tide of revolution by passing a vote deposing +the President from office. But the effort was futile. A republican +insurrection, under the leadership of Victor Hugo and a few other +distinguished Liberals, broke out in the city. But there was in the +nature of the case no concert of action, no resources behind the +insurrection, and no military leadership. General Canrobert, +Commandant of the Guards, soon put down the revolt in blood. Order was +speedily restored throughout Paris, and the victory of the President +was complete. It only remained to submit his usurpation to the +judgment of the people, and the decision in that case could, under +existing conditions, hardly be a matter of doubt. + +In accordance with the President's proclamation, a popular election +was held throughout France, on the twentieth and twenty-first of +December, at which the Coup d'Etat was signally vindicated. Louis +Napoleon was triumphantly elected President, for a period of ten +years. Out of eight millions of votes, fewer than one million were +cast against him. He immediately entered upon office, backed by this +tremendous majority, and became Dictator of France. In January of +1852, sharp on the heels of the revolution which he had effected, he +promulgated a new constitution. The instrument was based upon that of +1789, and possessed but few clauses to which any right-minded lover +of free institutions could object. On the twenty-eighth of March, +Napoleon resigned the dictatorship, which he had held since the Coup +d'Etat, and resumed the office of President of the Republic. + +It was not long, however, until the _After That_ began to appear. +Already in the summer and autumn of 1852 it became evident that the +_Empire_ was to be re-established. In the season of the vintage the +President made a tour of the country, and was received with cries of +_Vive L'Empereur_! In his addresses, particularly in that which he +delivered at Bordeaux, the sentiment of Empire was cautiously offered +to the people. The consummation was soon reached. On the seventh of +November, 1852, a vote was passed by the French Senate for the +re-establishment of the imperial order, and for the submission of the +proposed measure to a popular vote. + +The event showed conclusively that the French nation, as then +constituted, was Bonapartist to the core. Louis Napoleon was almost +unanimously elected to the imperial dignity. Of the eight millions of +suffrages of France, only a few scattering thousands were recorded in +the negative. Thus, in a blaze of glory that might well have satisfied +the ambition of the First Bonaparte, did he, who, only twelve years +before at Boulogne, had tried most ridiculously to excite a paltry +rebellion by the display of a pet-eagle to his followers, mount the +Imperial throne of France with the title of Napoleon III. + + +THE CHARTIST AGITATION IN ENGLAND. + +One of the most important political movements of the present century +was the Chartist agitation in Great Britain. This agitation began in +1838. It was an effort of the under man in England to gain his rights. +In the retrospect, it seems to us astonishing that such rights as +those that were then claimed by the common people of England should +ever have been denied to the citizens of any free country. The period +covered by the excitement was about ten years in duration, and during +that period great and salutary reforms were effected, but they were +not thorough, and to this day the under man in Great Britain is mocked +with the _semblance_ of political liberty, the _substance_ of which he +does not enjoy; the same is true in America. + +The name _Chartist_ arose from an article called the "People's +Charter," which was prepared by the famous Daniel O'Connell. The +document contained six propositions, follows: + +(1) We demand Universal Suffrage--by which was meant rather Manhood +Suffrage than what is now known as universal suffrage, meaning the +ballot in the hands of both sexes. This the Chartists did not demand. + +(2) We demand an Annual Parliament--by which was meant the election of +a new House of Commons each year by the people. + +(3) We demand the right to Vote by Ballot--by which was meant the +right of the people to employ a _secret_ ballot at the elections +instead of the method _viva voce_. + +(4) We demand the abolition of the Property Qualification now +requisite as a condition of eligibility to Membership in the House of +Commons. + +(5) We demand that the Members of Parliament shall be paid a salary +for their services. + +(6) We demand the Division of the Country into Equal Electoral +Districts--by which was meant an equality of _population_, as against +mere territorial extent. + +To the reader of to-day it must appear a matter of astonishment that +the representatives of the working classes of Great Britain should +have been called upon, at a time within the memory of men still +living, to advance and advocate political principles so self-evident +and common-sense as those declared in the Charter, and his wonder must +be raised to amazement when he is told that the whole governing power +of Great Britain, the King, the Ministry, the House of Lords, the +House of Commons, the Tories as a party, the Whigs as a party, +and--all party divisions aside--the great Middle Class of Englishmen +set themselves in horrified antagonism to the Charter and its +advocates, as though the former were the most incendiary document in +the world and the latter a rabble of radicals gathered from the +purlieus of the French Revolution. + +The reason for the outbreak of the Chartist reform was the fact that +the Reform Bill of 1832 had proved a signal failure. For six years the +English Middle Classes had sought by the agency of that act to gain +their rights, but they had sought in vain. The people now began to +follow popular leaders, who always arise under such conditions. One of +these, by the name of Thorn, a bankrupt brewer and half madman, who +called himself Sir William Courtenay, appeared in Canterbury. He said +that he was a Knight of Malta and King of Jerusalem--this when he was +only a knight of malt and a king of shreds and patches. Delusion broke +out on every hand. One great leader was Feargus O'Connor. Another was +Thomas Cooper, a poet, and a third was the orator Henry Vincent, +afterward well known in America. + +The agitation for reform spread far and wide. The people seemed to be +about to rise _en masse_. The powers of British society were shaken +and alarmed. The authorities put out their hands and the Chartist +meetings in many places were broken up. The leading spirits were +seized and thrown into prison for nothing. Three of the agitators were +sent to the penal colonies, for no other offence than the delivery of +democratic speeches. For several years the movement was in abeyance, +but in 1848, in the month of April, the agitation broke out afresh and +rose to a formidable climax. A great meeting was appointed for the +Kensington common, and there, on the tenth of the month just named, a +monster demonstration was held. A petition had meanwhile been drawn +up, praying for reform, and was _signed by nearly two million +Englishmen_! + +After this the Chartist agitation ebbed away. The movement was said to +be a failure; but it failed, not because of the political principles +on which it was founded, but because those principles had in the +meantime been acknowledged and applied. At least three of the six +articles of the Chartist charter were soon adopted by Parliament. The +principle of Manhood Suffrage is virtually a part of the English +Constitution. The right of voting by Secret Ballot, deposited in a +ballot-box, has also been acknowledged as a part of the _modus +operandi_ of all British elections. In like manner the Property +Qualification formerly imposed on candidates for Parliament, against +which the Chartists so vehemently and justly declaimed, has long since +been abolished. + + +THE ABOLITION OF HUMAN BONDAGE. + +Certainly no greater deed of philanthropy has been accomplished by +mankind than the extinction of human servitude. True, that horrible +relic of antiquity has not yet been wholly obliterated from the world, +but the nineteenth century has dealt upon it such staggering and fatal +blows as have driven it from all the high places of civilization and +made it crouch in obscure corners and unenlightened regions on the +outskirts of paganism. Slavery has not indeed been extinguished; but +it is scotched, and must expire. According to the tendency of things, +the sun in his course at the middle of the twentieth century will +hardly light the hovel of a single slave! + +The opening of the modern era found slavery universally distributed. +There was perhaps at the middle of the eighteenth century not a +single non-slave-holding race or nation on the globe! All were alike +brutalized by the influences and traditions of the ancient system. All +were familiar with it--aye, they were nursed by it; for it has been +one of the strange aspects of human life that the children of the free +have been nursed by the mothers of the enslaved. All races, we repeat, +were alike poisoned with the venom of the serpent. Thus poisoned were +France and Germany. Thus poisoned was England; and thus also our +colonies. Time was, even down to the dawn of the Revolution, when +every American colony was slave-holding. Time was when the system was +taught in the schools and preached in the pulpits of all the civilized +world. + +It was about the Revolutionary epoch, that is, the last quarter of the +eighteenth century, when the conscience of men began to be active on +the subject of human bondage. We think that the disposition to +recognize the wickedness and impolity of slavery was a part of the +general movement which came on in civilization, tending to +revolutionize not only the political but the social and ethical +condition of mankind. We know well that in our own country, when our +political institutions were in process of formation slavery was +courageously challenged. It was not challenged more audaciously in +the Northern than in the Southern colonies. Some of the latter, as, +for example, Georgia, had at the first excluded slavery as a thing +intolerable to freedom and righteousness. The leading men of the old +Southern States at the close of the last century nearly all repudiated +slavery in principle. They admitted it only in practice and because it +was a part of their inheritance. The patriots, both North and South, +were averse not only to the extension of the area of bondage, but to +the existence of it as a fact. + +Washington was at heart an anti-slavery man. He wished in his heavy +but wholly patriotic way as heartily as Lincoln wished that all men +might enjoy the blessings of freedom. Jefferson was almost radical on +the question. Though he did not heartily believe in an overruling +Providence, he felt the need of one when he considered the afflictive +system of slavery with which his State and country were encumbered. He +said that considering it he trembled when he remembered that God is +just. + +Meanwhile the unprofitableness of slavery in the Northern colonies had +co-operated with the conscience of Puritanism to engender a sentiment +against slavery in that part of the Union. So, although the +institution was tolerated in the Constitution and even had guarantees +thrown around it, it was, nevertheless, disfavored in our fundamental +law. One may readily see how the patriots labored with this portentous +question. Already in Great Britain an anti-slavery sentiment had +appeared. There were anti-slavery leaders, statesmen, philosophers and +philanthropists. By the terms of the Constitution the slave _trade_ +should cease in the year 1808. Sad to reflect that the inventive +genius of man and the prodigality of nature in her gifts of cotton, +sugar and rice to the old South should have produced a reaction in +favor of slavery so great as to fasten it more strongly than ever upon +our country. + +The fact is, that to all human seeming at the middle of our century +American slavery seemed to be more firmly established than ever +before. Neither the outcry of the Northern abolitionists nor the +appeals of Southern patriots such as Henry Clay, availed to check the +pro-slavery disposition in fully one-half the Union, or to abate the +covert favor with which the institution was regarded in nearly all the +other half. + +Meanwhile, however, slavery was suffering and expiring in nearly all +parts of Europe. England began her battle against it even before the +beginning of the century. The work of the philanthropists, begun as +far back as 1786-87, when the Quakers, under the leadership of +Clarkson and Sharpe, began to cry out against the atrocity of human +bondage, now reached the public authorities, and ministers found it +necessary to take heed of what the people were saying and doing. Both +Pitt and Fox became abolitionists before the close of the eighteenth +century. The first attack was against the slave _trade_. Bills for the +abolition of this trade were passed in 1793-94 by the House of +Commons, but were rejected by the Peers. In 1804 another act was +passed; but this also was rejected by the Lords. So too, the bill of +1805! The agitation continued during 1806; and in 1807, just after the +death of Fox, the slave trade _was_ abolished in Great Britain. + +The abolitionists went straight ahead, however, to attack slavery +itself. The Anti-slavery Society was founded. Clarkson and Wilberforce +and Buxton became the evangels of a new order that was seen far off. +It was not, however, until the great reform agitation of 1832 that the +government really took up the question of the abolition of slavery. +The bill for this purpose was introduced in the House of Commons on +the twenty-third of April, 1833. The process of abolition was to be +_gradual_. The masters were to be _compensated_. There were to be +periods of apprenticeship, after which freedom should supervene. +Twenty million pounds were to be appropriated from the national +treasury to pay the expenses of the abolition process. + +It was on the seventh of August, 1833, that this bill was adopted by +the House of Commons. Two weeks afterward the House of Lords assented, +and on the twenty-eighth of August the royal assent was given. The +emancipation, however, was set for the first of August, 1834; and this +is the date from which the abolition of slavery in Great Britain and +her dependencies may be said to have occurred. In some parts, however, +the actual process of extinguishing slavery lagged. It was not until +1843 that the 12,000,000 of slaves under British control in the empire +were emancipated. + +The virtual extinction of human slavery in the present century, +presents a peculiar ethnical study. Among the Latin races, the French +were the first to move for emancipation. It appears that the infusion +of Gallic blood, as well as the large influence of the Frankish +nations in the production of the modern French, has given to that +people a bias in favor of liberty. All the other Latin races have +lagged behind; but, France foreran even Great Britain in the work of +abolition. Scarcely had the great Revolution of 1789 got under way, +until an act of abolition conceding freedom to all men without regard +to race or color was adopted by the National Assembly. + +It was on the fifteenth of May, 1791, that this great act was passed. +One of the darkest aspects of the character of Napoleon I. was the +favor which he showed to the project of restoring slavery in the +French colonies. But that project was in vain. The blow of freedom +once struck produced its everlasting results. Though slavery lingered +for nearly a half century in some of the French colonies, it survived +there only because of the revolutions in the home government which +prevented its final extinction. Acts were passed for the utter +extirpation of the system during the reign of Louis Philippe, and +again in the time of the Second Republic. + +Meanwhile, the northern nations proceeded with the work of abolition. +In Sweden slavery ceased in 1847. In the following year Denmark passed +an Act of Emancipation. But the Netherlands did not follow in the good +work until the year 1860. The Spaniards and Portuguese have been among +the last to cling to the system of human servitude. In the outlying +possessions of Spain, in Spanish America and elsewhere, the +institution still maintains a precarious existence. In Brazil it was +not abolished until 1871. In the Mohammedan countries it still exists, +and may even be said to flourish. In Russia serfdom was abolished in +1863. He who at that date looked abroad over the world, might see the +pillars of human bondage shaken, and falling in every part of the +habitable globe which had been reclaimed by civilization. + +In the meantime, Great Britain, in her usual aggressive way, had +established an anti-slavery propaganda, from which strong influences +extended in every direction. Her Anti-slavery Society re-established +itself in the United States. Abolition candidates for the presidency +began to be heard of and to be voted for at every quadrennial +election. Such was Birney in 1844. Such (strange to say) was Martin +Van Buren in 1848. Such four years afterward was John P. Hale, of New +Hampshire, and such in 1856, as the storm came on, was John C. +Fremont. + +The political history of the United States shows at this epoch an +astounding growth of anti-slavery sentiment; and this expanding force +culminated in the election of Lincoln. Great, indeed, was the change +which had already swept over the landscape of American thought and +purpose since the despised Birney, in 1844, received only a few +thousand votes in the whole United States. Now the Rail-splitter had +come! The tocsin of war sounded. The Union was rent. War with its +flames of fire and streams of blood devastated the Republic. But the +bow of promise was set on the dark background of the receding storm. +American slavery was swept into oblivion, and the end of the third +quarter of the century saw such a condition established in both the +New World and the Old, as made the restoration of human bondage +forever impossible. + +Not until the present order of civilization shall be destroyed will +man be permitted again to hold his fellow-man in servitude. The chain +that was said "to follow the mother," making all her offspring to be +slaves; the manacles and fetters with which the weak were bound and +committed to the mercies of heartless traders; all of the insignia and +apparatus of the old atrocious system of bondage, have been heaped +together and cast out with the rubbish and offal of the civilized life +into the valley of Gehenna. There the whole shall be burned with +unquenchable fire! Then the smoke, arising for a season, shall be +swept away, and nothing but a green earth and a blue sky shall remain +for the emancipated race of man. + + +THE PERIL OF OUR CENTENNIAL YEAR. + +Americans are likely to dwell for a long time upon the glories of our +Centennial of Independence. The year 1876 came and went, and left its +impress on the world. Our great Exposition at Philadelphia was +happily devised. We celebrated the one-hundredth anniversary of our +independence, and invited all nations, _including Great Britain_, to +join us in the festival. The Exposition was successful in a high +degree. The nation was at its best. The warrior President who had led +her armies to victory announced the opening and the close. Great +things were seen. One or two great orations were pronounced, and in +particular a great Centennial poem was contributed by that gifted son +of genius, Sidney Lanier, of Georgia. Nor do we refrain from +repeating, after twenty years, one of his poetic passages: + + "Long as thine Art shall love true love; + Long as thy Science truth shall know; + Long as thine Eagle harms no Dove; + Long as thy Law by law shall grow; + Long as thy God is God above, + Thy brother every man below, + So long, dear Land of all my love, + Thy name shall shine, thy fame shall glow!" + +With the autumnal frost the great Exposition was concluded; and with +that autumnal frost came a peril the like of which our nation had not +hitherto encountered. The presidential election was held, and ended in +a disputed presidency. We had agreed since the beginning of the +century that ours should be a government by party. Against this +policy Washington had contended stoutly; but after the death of the +Father of his Country, the policy prevailed--as it has continued to +prevail more and more to the present day. + +In 1876 a Democratic reaction came on against the long-dominant +Republican party, and Samuel J. Tilden, candidate of the Democracy, +secured a _popular_ majority. The _electoral_ majority remained in +dispute. Both parties claimed the victory. The election was so evenly +balanced in its results--there had been so much irregularity in the +voting and subsequent electoral proceedings in the States of Florida, +Louisiana, South Carolina and Oregon, and the powers of Congress over +the votes of such States were so vaguely defined under existing +legislation--that no certain declaration of the result could be made. +The public mind was confounded with perplexity and excitement, and +there began to be heard the threatenings of civil war. + +Perhaps the nation did not realize the danger; but the danger was +present, and threatened to be overwhelming. The Republican party in +possession of the Government was not willing to lose its advantage, +and the Democratic party, declaring its majority to be rightful, was +ready to rise in insurrection. As to the facts in the case, neither +Samuel J. Tilden nor General R.B. Hayes was clearly elected to the +presidency. The Democrats had carried two or three States by the +persuasion of shotguns, and the Republicans with the aid of electoral +commissions had counted in the electoral votes of a State or two which +they did not carry at all. The excitement increased with the approach +of winter, and it was proposed in a leading Democratic journal of the +West that a hundred thousand Democrats should rise and march unarmed +on Washington City, there to influence the decision of the disputed +question. + +When Congress convened in December, the whole question of the disputed +presidency came at once before that body for settlement. The situation +was seriously complicated by the political complexion of the Senate +and the House of Representatives. In the former body the Republicans +had a majority sufficient to control its action, while in the House +the Democratic majority was still more decisive and equally willful. + +At length the necessity of doing _something_ became imperative. The +great merchants and manufacturers of the country and the boards of +trade in the principal cities grew clamorous for a peaceable +adjustment of the difficulty. The spirit of compromise gained ground, +and it was agreed to refer the disputed election returns to a joint +high commission, to consist of five members chosen from the United +States Senate, five from the House of Representatives, and five from +the Supreme Court. + +The judgment of this tribunal was to be final. The commission was +accordingly constituted. The disputed returns were sent, State by +State, to the High Court for decision. That body was itself divided +politically, and _every member decided each question according to his +politics_. The Republicans had seven votes in the court, the Democrats +seven votes, and one vote, that of Judge Joseph P. Bradley, was said +to be independent. But Judge Bradley was a Republican in his political +antecedents, and whenever a question came to a close issue, he decided +with his party. + +On the second of March, only three days before the time for the +inauguration, a final decision was reached. The Republican candidates +were declared elected _by one electoral vote_ over Tilden and +Hendricks. Mr. Tilden had himself counseled peace and acquiescence. +The decision was sullenly accepted by the Democrats, and the most +dangerous political crisis in American history passed harmlessly by +without violence or bloodshed. No patriot will care to see such a +crisis come again. + + +THE DOUBLE FETE IN FRANCE AND GERMANY. + +The Third Republic of France has passed its twenty-fifth anniversary, +and the German Empire has just celebrated its semi-jubilee. The French +held their fete in September of 1895, and on the eighteenth of the +following January all the Fatherland shouted greetings to the grandson +of old Wilhelm the Kaiser. The Gaul and the Teuton have thus agreed to +be happy coincidently; but for very different reasons! The Gaul has +his Republic and the Teuton his Empire. Side by side on the map lie +the two great powers, representing in their history and present aspect +one of the strongest contrasts to be found in human annals. + +What the German Empire is we may permit the Emperor himself, in his +recent anniversary address, to explain. His speech shows that Germany, +of all civilized nations, has gone furthest in the direction of +unqualified imperialism. The utterances of Emperor William surpass the +speeches of the Czar himself, in avowing all the pretensions and +fictions of monarchy in the Middle Ages. The Hohenzollern potentate +openly makes the pretence of governing his subjects by rights and +prerogatives in nowise derived from the people, but wholly derived +from himself and his grandfather. Why should Germany be an Empire and +France a Republic? How could such an amazing historical result come +into the world? The French Republic and the new Empire of Germany were +not made by generals and kings and politicians in 1870-71. Indeed, +nothing is made by the strutters who are designated with such titles. +The two great powers having their centres at Berlin and Paris have +their roots as deep down as the subsoil of the ages. They grew out of +antecedents older than the Crusades, older than Charlemagne, older +than Augustus and the Christ. They came by law--even if the result +_has_ surprised the expectation of mankind. + +When Caesar made his conquest of Europe, he found the country north of +the Alps in the possession of two races--both Aryan. These two races +were as unlike then as they are now. The Gauls west of the Rhine were +proper material for the reception of Roman rule; but the Germans +beyond the Rhine were not receptive of any rule but their own. The +Gallic races became Romanized. Gaul was a part of the Roman Empire and +reasoning from the facts, we should have expected the Gaulish nations +to develop into the imperial form. + +For like reason we should expect the Teutonic races to develop into +the greatest democracy of the modern world. Contrary to this double +expectation, we have a French Republic and a German Empire. In 1870 +the Gallic race became suddenly democratic, and at the same time the +Germans became the greatest imperialists among civilized mankind! The +German Empire has arisen where we should have expected a democracy; +and the French Republic has arisen where we should have expected an +Empire. + +The illogical Empire lies alongside of the illogical Republic. They +have a line of demarkation which, though drawn on the map, is not +drawn on the ground. The great antagonistic facts touch each other +through a long line of territorial extent, but the ethnic diversity +does not permit political union. The Teuton and the Gaul continue to +touch, but they are not one, and cannot be. Two neighbors living +between Verdun and Metz are only a quarter of a mile apart. They +cultivate their grounds in the same manner, raise the same fruits, +have vines growing on the two sides of the same trellis. They speak +the same language, exchange gossip and poultry; but their children do +not go to the same school! One of them is a French democrat; the +other, a German imperialist! + +The reason for this reversal of expectation, by which the anticipated +institutions of France are found in Germany and those of Germany in +France, is this: It seems to be a law of human progress that mankind +moves forward by reactions against its own preceding conditions; that +is, Progress disappoints History _by doing the other thing_! The +French race has done the other thing; and so has the German race! They +who should have been logically the imperialists of Western Europe are +the republicans and democrats. They who should have been logically the +democrats and republicans of Europe--who should have converted +Germania into the greatest democracy of the world--have accepted +instead the most absolute empire. The phrase "German _Empire_" is, we +think, the greatest paradox of modern history; and the phrase "French +_Republic_" is another like it. But history has decreed it so; and the +reason is that human progress works out its highest results by doing +the other thing! + +But this philosophical speculation or interpretation does not trouble +either the French or the Germans. They both seem to rejoice at what +has come to pass, and do not trouble themselves about the logistics of +history. They celebrate their quarter centennials, the one for the +Republic, and the other for the Empire, with profound enthusiasm, +shouting, _Vive_ for the one and _Hoch_ for the other with an +impulsive patriotism that has come down to them with the blood of +their respective races from before the Christian era! + + + + +Great Battles. + + +TRAFALGAR. + +Lord Byron in his celebrated apostrophe to the ocean could hardly omit +a reference to the most destructive conflict of naval warfare within +the present century. In one of his supreme stanzas he reserves +Trafalgar for the climax: + + "The armaments which thunderstrike the walls + Of rock-built cities, bidding nations quake + And monarchs tremble in their capitals, + The oak leviathans, whose huge ribs make + Their clay creator the vain title take + Of lord of thee and arbiter of war,-- + These are thy toys, and, as the snowy flake, + They melt into thy yeast of waves, which mar + Alike the Armada's pride or spoils of Trafalgar." + +The battle of Trafalgar, preceding by forty-two days the battle of +Austerlitz, holds the same relation to British ascendancy on the ocean +that Napoleon's victory over the Emperors Alexander and Francis held +to the French ascendancy on Continental Europe. Henceforth Great +Britain, according to her national hymn, "ruled the wave;" henceforth, +until after Waterloo, France ruled the land. Up to this date, namely, +1805, French ambition had reached as far as the dominion of the sea. +It appears that Napoleon himself had no genius for naval warfare, but +his ambition included the ocean; coincidently with his accession to +the Imperial throne a great fleet was prepared and placed under +command of Admiral Villeneuve for the recovery of the Mediterranean. + +This fleet was destined in the first place for a possible invasion of +England, but fate and Providence had reserved for the armament another +service. At the same time the British fleet, to the number of +twenty-seven ships of the line and four frigates, was brought to a +high stage of proficiency and discipline, and placed under command of +Lord Horatio Nelson. His second in command was Admiral Collingwood, +who succeeded him after his death. The French fleet was increased to +thirty-three ships of the line and five frigates, the addition being +the Spanish contingent under Admirals Gravina and Alava. The Spanish +vessels joined Villeneuve from Cadiz about the middle of May. The plan +of the French commander was to rally a great squadron, cross the +Atlantic to the West Indies, return as if bearing down on Europe, and +raise the blockades at Ferrol, Rochefort and Brest. + +As soon as it was known, however, that Nelson was abroad, his +antagonist became wary and all of his movements were marked with +caution. Meanwhile Lord Nelson sought for the allied-fleet on the +Mediterranean, but found it not. He then passed through the Straits of +Gibraltar and sailed for the coast of South America; but before +reaching his destination he learned that the Spanish fleet had sailed +for Europe again. Nelson followed, but did not fall in with the enemy. +Villeneuve, gaining knowledge of the movements of the English admiral, +and disregarding the instructions of Napoleon, withdrew from Ferrol to +the south and put in at Cadiz. It was here that Nelson, so to speak, +brought the allied fleet to bay. + +On the southern coast of Spain, between Cadiz and Gibraltar, the Cape +of Trafalgar projects into the Atlantic. In the autumn Nelson's fleet +beat southward into this part of the seas, and it was here that the +battle was fought. The rival commanders were eager for a meeting, and +each foresaw that the contest was likely to be decisive. Each admiral +had behind him a long list of naval achievements, and each to his own +nation was greatly endeared. + +Nelson had, on the first of August, 1798, destroyed the French fleet +in the bay of Aboukir. In 1800 he had been raised to the peerage. In +1801 he had bombarded Copenhagen; and for that doubtful achievement +had been made a viscount. One of his arms was gone, and he was +covered with the scars of battle. Villeneuve had also a well-earned +reputation. Could he but add to his previous services the defeat of +Nelson, his fame would be established for all time. + +It was on the twenty-first of October, 1805, that the combined +squadrons of France and Spain on the one side, and the fleet of Great +Britain on the other, came face to face off the Cape of Trafalgar. The +rocks of Gibraltar might be seen in the distance. The sea was calm and +the sky clear. The combatants discerned in advance the greatness of +the event that was at hand. + +The conflict that ensued ranks among the great naval battles of the +world. Lord Nelson, with all his heroism, was a vain man, capable of +spectacular display. He clad himself in the insignia of the many +orders to which he belonged, and might be conspicuously seen from the +decks of the French ships. In fact, he seemed to court death almost as +much as he strove for victory. In the beginning of the engagement he +displayed from his pennon, where it might be read by the whole fleet, +this signal: "England expects every man to do his duty." + +On the display of this signal the British fleet rang with cheers. The +shouting was heard as far as the opposing Armada. The tradition goes +that Villeneuve said on hearing the shouts of the British marines: +"The battle it lost already." The admirals of the allied fleet +arranged their vessels in parallel lines, so that each ship of the +rear line should break the space between two of the advanced line. +This arrangement enabled all the ships to fire at once, and it was the +purpose of Villeneuve to hold his vessels in this form so that the +British squadron might gain no advantage from manoeuvring. + +Nelson's arrangement, however, was quite different. His plan was to +attack at two points and break through the Armada, throwing the ships +into confusion right and left. This brought his own vessels into the +arrangement of two harrows, each pointing the apex against the +designated vessels of the opposing squadron. One of the harrows was to +be led by Collingwood in his ship called the "Royal Sovereign." Nelson +led his column in his flagship the "Victory." The preliminaries of the +battle extended to noon, and then the British attack was begun by +Collingwood, who bore down on the two opposing vessels, the "Santa +Anna" and the "Fougeux." Nelson also sailed to the attack in the +"Victory" and broke through the enemy's line between the "Redoubtable" +and the "Santissima Trinidad." The "Victory" in passing poured +terrible broad-sides into both vessels. + +It seems that both the British admirals in going into battle outsailed +somewhat their supporting ships; but these soon came into action and +the battle line of the allied fleet was fatally broken at both points. +All the vessels were soon engaged, and the rear line of Villeneuve +gave way as well as the first. Nevertheless, the battle continued +furiously for about two hours. The "Santissima Trinidad" was at that +time the largest warship and the most formidable that had ever been +built. The "Redoubtable" was only second in strength and equipment. +Five or six others were men-of-war of the heaviest draught and metal. +The French and Spanish soldiers fought bravely, going into the battle +with flying streamers and answering shouts. + +Nelson, utterly fearless, seems to have had a premonition of his fate. +He had made a hasty codicil to his will, and entered the struggle to +conquer or die. Both fates were reserved for him. From the beginning +of the battle the French and Spanish ships suffered terribly from the +British fire; but they also inflicted heavy losses on their +assailants. Here and there a French vessel was shattered and fell out +of the fight. Nelson was struck with a ball, but refused to go below. +Again he was hit in the shoulder by a musketeer from the masts of the +"Redoubtable" and fell to the deck. "They have done for me at last, +Hardy," said he to Sir Thomas Hardy, captain of the ship. He was +carried below by the officers, and as he lay bleeding the news was +brought to him that already _fifteen_ of the enemy's ships had +surrendered. "That is well," said the dying hero; "but I had bargained +for twenty." Then his thoughts turned to Lady Hamilton, to whom he was +devoted. "Take care of Lady Hamilton, Hardy; take care of poor Lady +Hamilton," said he, as the death dew dampened his brow. He then +embraced the captain and expired. + +The victory of the British fleet was complete. The allies lost +nineteen ships. Admiral Gravina was killed, and Villeneuve was taken +prisoner. He never reacted from the mortification of his defeat, but +lingered until the following year, when he despaired of life and hope +and committed suicide. Nelson, in the midst of a pageant hitherto +unsurpassed, was buried in St. Paul's. The battle of Trafalgar passed +into history as the first and greatest naval conflict of the century. + + +CAMPAIGN OF AUSTERLITZ. + +The first four years of the present century were a lull before a +tempest. These years covered on our side of the sea the administration +of the elder Adams. In Europe they corresponded to the period of the +transformation of the Consulate into the French Umpire. This change +was rapidly and easily effected. The star of Napoleon emerged from the +chaos and the cloud and rose rapidly to the zenith. But the mood of +the age was war, war. Could Europe in these first years have foreseen +the awful struggles that were just before, then Europe might well have +shuddered. + +Now it was that the ascendancy of the Corsican brought in a reign of +violence and blood. Napoleon became the trampler of vineyards. His +armies made Europe into mire. England--agreeing at Amiens not to +fight--fought. Pitt, now in the last year of his life, used all of his +resources to bring about a league against France. He persuaded +Alexander of Russia, Francis of Austria, and Gustavus of Sweden--all +easy dupes of a greater than themselves--to make a new coalition. He +tried to induce Frederick William of Prussia to join his fortunes with +the rest; but the last-named monarch was for the time restrained by +the weakness of prudence. The agents of Napoleon held out to the king +suggestions of the restoration of Hanover to Prussia. But Austria and +Russia and Sweden pressed forward confidently to overthrow the new +French Empire. That Empire, they said, should not see the end of the +first year of its creation! + +The Austrians were first in the field. The Russians, under Kutusoff, +came on into Pomerania from the east. Out of Sweden, with a large +army, came down Gustavus, the Don Quixote of the north, to crush +Bernadotte, who held Hanover. Napoleon for his part sprang forth for +the campaign of Austerlitz, perhaps the most brilliant military +episode in the history of mankind. With incredible facility he threw +forward to the Rhine an army of 180,000 men. His policy was--as +always--to overcome the allies in detail. + +On the twenty-fourth of September, the Emperor left Paris. The Empress +and Talleyrand went with him as far as Strasburg. On the second of +October, hostilities began at Guntzburg. Four days afterward the +French army crossed the Danube. On the eighth of the month, Murat won +the battle of Wertingen, capturing Count Auffenberg, with 2000 +prisoners. On the tenth the French had Augsburg, and on the twelfth, +Munich. On the fourteenth Soult triumphed at Memingen, capturing a +corps of 6000 Austrians; and on the same day Ney literally overran the +territory which was soon to become his Duchy of Elchingen. Napoleon +out-generaled the main division of the enemy at Ulm. The Austrians, +under General Mack, 33,000 strong, were cooped up in the town and, on +the seventeenth of October, forced to capitulate. Eight +field-marshals and generals, including the Prince Lichtenstein and +Generals Klenau and Fresnel, were made prisoners. "Soldiers of the +Grand Army," said Napoleon, "we have finished the campaign in a +fortnight!" + +On the day of the capitulation of Ulm, Massena in Italy drove back the +army of the Archduke Charles. The Austrians to this date, in a period +of twenty days, had lost by battle and capture fully fifty thousand +men! On the twenty-seventh of October, the French army crossed the +Inn. Saltzburg and Braunau were taken. In Italy, Massena, on the +thirtieth, won the battle of Caldiero, and took 5000 prisoners. The +French closed toward the Austrian capital. On the thirteenth of +November, Napoleon, having obtained possession of the bridges of the +Danube, entered Vienna. He established himself in the imperial palace +of Schonbrunn. The Austrian Empire and the Holy Roman Empire--which +was its shadowy penumbra--seemed to vanish like ghosts before him. + +Out of Pomerania into Moravia, to the plain of Olmutz, the great +Russian army under the Czar and Kutusoff, came roaring. There they +were united with a heavy division of the Austrians, under the Emperor +Francis. The latter had fled from his capital, and staked his last +fortunes on a battle in the field. The allied army was 80,000 strong. +Napoleon, with 60,000 men, commanded by Soult, Lannes, Murat and +Bernadotte, advanced rapidly from the direction of Vienna, as far as +Brunn, and there awaited the onset. + +Just beyond this town, at Austerlitz, the French were arranged in a +semicircle, with the convex front toward the allies, who occupied the +outer arc on a range of heights. Such was the situation on the night +of December 1, 1805. The morrow will be the first anniversary of our +coronation in Notre Dame--a glorious day for battle! + +With the morning of the second, Napoleon could scarcely restrain his +ardor. The enthusiasm of the army knew no bounds. On the night before, +the Emperor, in his gray coat, had gone the circle of the camps, and +the soldiers, extemporizing straw torches to light the way, ran before +him. Looking eagerly through the gray dawn, he saw the enemy badly +arranged, or moving dangerously in broken masses under the cover of a +Moravian fog. Presently the fog lifted, and the sun burst out in +splendor. The onset of the French was irresistible. The allied centre +was pierced. The Austrian and Russian emperors with their armies were +sent flying in utter rout and panic from the field. Thirty thousand +Russians and Austrians were killed, wounded and taken. Alexander +barely escaped capture. Before sunset the Third Coalition was broken +into fragments and blown away. At the conference between Napoleon and +Francis, two days afterward, at the Mill of Sar-Uschitz, some of the +French officers overheard the father of Maria Louisa lie to her future +husband, thus: "I promise not to fight you any more." + + +"FRIEDLAND--1807." + +Whoever visits the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Central Park, New +York, is likely to pause before a great historical painting by Jean +Louis Ernest Meissonier. The picture is entitled "Friedland--1807." +There goes a critical opinion that, though common fame would have +Austerlitz to be the greatest battle of the Napoleonic wars, the palm +ought really to be given to Friedland. At any rate, the martial +splendor of that day has been caught by the vision and brush of +Meissonier, and delivered, in what is probably the most splendid +painting in America, to the immortality of art. + +Let us note the great movements that preceded the climax of Friedland. +In the summer of 1806, the historical conditions in Europe favored a +general peace. Pitt was dead, and Fox agreed with Napoleon that a +peace might now be secured by the restoration of Hanover to England. +Suddenly, however, on the thirteenth of September, 1806, Fox died, and +by the incoming of Lauderdale the whole complexion was changed. +Toryism again ran rampant. The Anglo-Russo-Prussian intrigue was +renewed, and the rash Frederick William sent a peremptory challenge to +Napoleon to get himself out of Germany. + +The Emperor had in truth agreed to withdraw his forces, but the Czar +Alexander had also agreed to relinquish certain vantage grounds which +he held--and had not done it. Therefore Napoleon's army corps would +remain in Germany. Frederick William suddenly declared war, and in a +month after the death of Fox, Napoleon concentrated in Saxe-Weimar an +army of a hundred thousand men. Then, on the fourteenth of October, +1806, was fought the dreadful battle of Jena, in which the Prussians +lost 12,000 in killed and wounded, and 15,000 prisoners. On the same +day, Davout fell upon a division of 50,000 under the Duke of Brunswick +and Frederick William in person, and won another signal victory which +cost the Germans about ten thousand men. + +Prussia was utterly overwhelmed by the disaster. Her fortresses were +surrendered without resistance, and Napoleon, in less than a +fortnight, occupied Berlin. On the twenty-first of November, he issued +from that city his celebrated Berlin decree, declaring the British +Islands in a state of blockade, and interdicting all correspondence +and trade with England! The property of British subjects, under a wide +schedule of liabilities, was declared contraband of war. + +Meanwhile the aid promised to Prussia by the Czar had been too slow +for the lightning that struck at Jena. The oncoming Russians reached +the Vistula, but were forced back by the victorious French, who took +possession of Warsaw. There the Emperor established his winter +quarters, and remained for nearly three months, engaged in the +preparation of new plans of conquest and new schemes for the +pacification of Europe. + +After Jena, Prussia, though crushed, remained belligerent. Her +shattered forces drew off to the borders, and were joined by the +Russians in East Prussia. The campaign of 1807 opened here. On the +eighth of February, the French army, about 70,000 strong, advanced +against the allies, commanded by Benningsen and Lestocq. At the town +of Eylau, about twenty miles from Koenigsberg, a great but indecisive +battle was fought, in which each army suffered a loss of nearly +eighteen thousand men. The Russians and Prussians fell back about four +miles to Friedland, and both armies were reinforced, the French to +about eighty thousand, and the allies to approximately the same +number. + +Here for a season the two great camps were pitched against each other. +The shock of Eylau and the inclemency of the spring, no less than the +political complications that thickened on every horizon, held back the +military movements until the beginning of summer. But at length the +crisis came. On the fourteenth of June was fought the great battle of +Friedland and the allied army was virtually destroyed. The loss of the +Russians and Prussians was more than twenty-five thousand men, while +the French loss was not quite eight thousand. Napoleon commanded in +person, and his triumph was prodigious. + +Let not the visitor to the Metropolitan Museum fail to look long and +attentively on the picture of the scene which represents the beginning +of the battle on the side of the French. There on a slight elevation, +in the wheatfield of June, sitting on his white horse, with his +triangular hat lifted in silent salutation, surrounded by the princes +and marshals of his Empire, sits the sardonic somnambulist, while +before him on the left the Cuirassiers of the Guard, on their +tremendous horses gathered out of Normandy, plunging at full gallop, +bearing down through the broken wheat, with buglers in the van and +sabers flashing high and bearded mouths wide open with yellings that +resound through the world till now, charge wildly, irresistibly onward +against the unseen enemy, reckless alike of life and death, but +choosing rather death if only the marble face but smile! + + +UNDER THE RUSSIAN SNOWS. + +The first empire of France was buried between the Niemen and Moscow. +The funeral was attended by vultures and Cossacks. + +It was on the twenty-fourth of June, 1812, that Napoleon began the +invasion of Russia. The dividing line was the River Niemen. The +inhabitants fell back before him. He had not advanced far when he +encountered a new commander, with whom he was unfamiliar. It was +Field-Marshal Nature. Marshal Nature had an army that the Old Guard +had never confronted. His herald was Frost, and his aid-de-camp was +Zero. One of his army corps was Snow. His bellowing artillery was +charged with Lithuanian tempests. Hail was his grape and shrapnel. The +Emperor of the French had never studied Marshal Nature's tactics--not +even in the Alps. + +The Russian summer was as midwinter to the soldiers of France and +Spain and Italy. Some of the invading divisions could hardly advance +at all. The howling storms made impassable the ungraded roads; the +1200 guns of the Grand Army sank into the mire. Horse-life and +man-life fell and perished in the sleet of the mock-summer that raged +along the watershed between the Dwina and the Dnieper. + +The Russians under Kutusoff fell back to Smolensko. There on the +sixteenth of August they fought and were defeated with a loss of +nearly twelve thousand men. The way was thus opened as far as the +Moskwa. At that place on the seventh of September Kutusoff a second +time gave battle, at the village of Borodino. This was one of the most +murderous conflicts of modern times. A thousand cannon vomited death +all day. Under the smoke a quarter of a million of men struggled like +tigers. At nightfall the French had the field. The defeated Russians +hung sullenly around the arena where they had left more than 40,000 of +their dead and wounded. The Frence losses were almost equally +appalling. "Sire," said Marshal Ney, "we would better withdraw and +reform." "_Thou_ advise a retreat, Michel?" said the marble head, as +it turned to the Bulldog of Battles. + +Kutusoff abandoned Moscow. The inhabitants receded with him to the +great plains eastward. On the fifteenth of September, Napoleon entered +the ancient capital. The streets were as a necropolis. All was +silence. The conqueror took up his residence in the old palace of the +Czars. Here he would spend the winter in luxurious quarters. Here he +would extemporize theatres, and here he would issue edicts as from +Berlin and Milan. Lo, out of the Bazaar, near the Kremlin, bursts a +volume of flame! The surrounding region is lighted with the glare. +Moscow is on fire in a thousand places. The equinoctial gales fan the +flame. For five days there is the roar of universal combustion. Then +it subsides. But Moscow is a blackened ruin. Napoleon tries in vain to +open negotiations with the Czar; but Alexander and Kutusoff will not +hear. The French are left to enjoy the ashes of a burnt-up Russian +city. + +Already winter was at hand. The snow was falling. The soldier of +fortune had at last found his destiny. On the nineteenth of October, +he left Moscow, and the retreat of the Grand Army began toward the +Niemen. Had the retreat been unimpeded, that army might have made its +way back to France with comparatively trifling losses. Indeed the fame +of having burnt the old capital of the Czars might have satisfied the +conqueror with his expedition. But no sooner did he recede than the +Cossacks arose on every hand, and assailed the fugitives. The soldiers +of the West and South dropped and perished by thousands along the +frozen roads. The ice-darts in their sides were sharper than Russian +bayonets. A hundred and twenty thousand men rolled back horridly +across the hostile world. The bridges of the Beresina break down under +the retreating army, and in the following spring, when the ice-gorges +go down the river, 12,000 dead Frenchmen shall be washed up from the +floods! + +There is constant battle on flank and rear. All stragglers perish. The +army dwindles away. It is almost destroyed. Ney brings up the rear +guard, wasted to a handful. At the passage of the Niemen, soiled with +dirt, blackened with smoke, without insignia, with only drawn sword, +and facing backward toward the hated region, the "Bravest of the +Brave" crosses the bridge. He is the last man to save himself from the +indescribable horrors of the Campaign of Russia. + +The remnants of the Grand Army dragged themselves along until they +found refuge in Koenigsberg. Napoleon had gone ahead toward France. +After Moscow he took a sledge, and sped away across the snow-covered +wastes of Poland, on his solitary journey to Paris. There is a +painting of this scene by the Slavic artist Kowalski, which +represents the three black horses abreast, galloping with all speed +with the Emperor's sledge across the cheerless world which he +traversed. He came to his own capital unannounced. None knew of his +arrival until the next day. At four o'clock in the morning of that +day, some one entered his office at the Tuileries, and found him with +his war-map of Europe spread out on the floor before him. He was +planning another campaign! In doing so, he could hardly forget that +the Grand Army of his glory was under the Russian snows! + + +WATERLOO. + +One battle in this century rises in fame above all other conflicts of +the ages. It is Waterloo. + +It was on the night of the seventeenth of June, 1815, that the British +and French armies, drawing near each other on the borders of Belgium, +encamped, the one near the little village of Waterloo and the other at +La Belle Alliance. They were close together. A modern fieldpiece could +easily throw a shell from Napoleon's headquarters over La Haie Sainte +to Mont St. Jean, and far beyond into the forest. During the afternoon +of the seventeenth, and the greater part of the night, there was a +heavy fall of rain. On the following morning the ground was muddy. +The Emperor, viewing the situation, was unwilling to precipitate the +battle until his artillery might deploy over a dry field. + +As to the temper of the Emperor, that was good. Hugo says of him: +"From the morning his impenetrability had been smiling, and on June +18, 1815, this profound soul, coated with granite, was radiant. The +man who had been sombre at Austerlitz was gay at Waterloo. The +greatest predestined men offer these contradictions; for our joys are +a shadow and the supreme smile belongs to God. + +"'Caesar laughs, Pompey will weep,' the legionaries of the Fulminatrix +legion used to say. On this occasion Pompey was not destined to weep, +but it is certain that Caesar laughed. + +"At one o'clock in the morning, amid the rain and storm, he had +explored with Bertrand the hills near Rossomme, and was pleased to see +the long lines of English fires illumining the horizon from +Frischemont to Braine l'Alleud. It seemed to him as if destiny had +made an appointment with him on a fixed day and was punctual. He +stopped his horse and remained for some time motionless, looking at +the lightning and listening to the thunder. The fatalist was heard to +cast into the night the mysterious words, '_We are agreed_.' Napoleon +was mistaken; they no longer agreed." + +The arena of Waterloo is an undulating plain. Strategically it has the +shape of an immense harrow. The clevis is on the height called Mont +St. Jean, where Wellington was posted with the British army. Behind +that is the village of Waterloo. The right leg of the harrow +terminates at the hamlet of La Belle Alliance. The left leg is the +road from Brussels to Nivelles. The cross-bar intersects the right leg +at La Haie Sainte. The right leg is the highway from Brussels to +Charleroi. The intersection of the bar with the left leg is near the +old stone chateau of Hougomont. The battle was fought on the line of +the cross-bar and in the triangle between it and the clevis. + +The conflict began just before noon. The armies engaged were of equal +strength, numbering about 80,000 men on each side. Napoleon was +superior in artillery, but Wellington's soldiers had seen longer +service in the field. They were his veterans from the Peninsular War, +perhaps the stubbornest fighters in Europe. Napoleon's first plan was +to double back the allied left on the centre. This involved the +capture of La Haie Sainte, and, as a strategic corollary, the taking +of Hougomont. The latter place was first attacked. The field and wood +were carried, but the chateau was held in the midst of horrid carnage +by the British. + +Early in the afternoon a Prussian division under Billow, about 10,000 +strong, came on the field, and Napoleon had to withdraw a division +from his centre to repel the oncoming Germans. For two or three hours, +in the area between La Haie Sainte and Hougomont, the battle raged, +the lines swaying with uncertain fortune back and forth. La Haie +Sainte was taken and held by Ney. On the whole, the British lines +receded. Wellington's attempt to retake La Haie Sainte ended in a +repulse. Ney, on the counter charge, called on Napoleon for +reinforcements, and the latter at that moment, changing his plan of +battle, determined to make the principal charge on the British centre, +saying, however, "It is an hour too soon." The support which he sent +to Ney was not as heavy as it should have been, but the Marshal +concluded that the crisis was at hand, and Napoleon sought to support +him with Milhaud's cuirassiers and a division of the Middle Guard. +Under this counter charge the British lines reeled and staggered, but +still clung desperately to their position. They gave a little, and +then hung fast and could be moved no farther. In another part of the +field Durutte carried the allied position of Papelotte, and Lobau +routed Buelow from Planchenois. At half-past four everything seemed to +portend disaster to the allies and victory to the French. + +If the tragedy of Waterloo had been left at that hour to work out its +own results as between France and England it would appear that the +latter must have gone to the wall; but destiny had prepared another +end for the conflict. Waterloo was a point of concentration. Several +tides had set thither, and some of them had already arrived and broken +on the rocks. Other tides were rolling in. The British wave had been +first, and this had now been rolled back by the tide of France. A +German wave was coming, however, and another French billow, either or +both of which might break at any moment. + +On the morning of June 18, at the little town of Wavre, fifteen miles +southeast of Brussels and about eight or ten miles from Waterloo, a +battle had been fought between the French contingent under Marshal +Grouchy and the Prussian division under Thielmann, who commanded the +left wing of Marshal Bluecher's army. That commander had a force of +fully forty thousand men under him, and was on his way to join his +forces with those of Wellington on the plateau of Mont St. Jean. +Grouchy had at this time between thirty and forty thousand men, and +was under orders from Napoleon to keep in touch with his right wing, +watching the Prussians and joining himself to the main army according +to the emergency. + +These two divisions--Bluecher's and Grouchy's--were _sliding along_ +toward Waterloo, and on the afternoon of the eighteenth it became one +of the great questions in the history of this century which would +first arrive on the field. Napoleon believed that Grouchy was at hand. +Wellington in his desperation breathed out the wish that either night +or Bluecher would come. The ambiguous result of the principal conflict +made it more than ever desirable to both of the commanders to gain +their reinforcements, each before the other. The event showed that the +arrival of Buelow's contingent was really the signal for the oncoming +of the whole Prussian army. The French Emperor, however, remained +confident, and at half-after four he felt warranted in sending a +preliminary despatch of victory to Paris. + +Just at this juncture, however, an uproar was witnessed far to the +right. The woods seemed to open, and the banners of Bluecher shot up in +the horizon. Grouchy was _not_ on his rear or flank! Napoleon saw at a +glance that it was then or never. His sun of Austerlitz hung low in +the west. The British centre must be broken, or the empire which he +had builded with his genius must pass away like a phantom. He called +out four battalions of the Middle and six of the Old Guard. In the +last fifteen years that Guard had been thrown a hundred times on the +enemies of France, and never yet repulsed. It deemed itself +invincible. + +At seven o'clock, just as the June sun was sinking to the horizon, the +bugles sounded and the finest body of horsemen in Europe started to +its doom on the squares of Wellington. The grim horsemen rode to their +fate like heroes. The charge rolled on like an avalanche. It plunged +into the sunken road of O'Hain. It seemed to roll over. It rose from +the low grounds and broke on the British squares. They reeled under +the shock, then reformed and stood fast. Around and around those +immovable lines the soldiers of the Empire beat and beat in vain. It +was the war of races at its climax. It was the final death-grip of the +Gaul and the Teuton. The Old Guard recoiled. The wild cry of "_La +Garde recule_" was heard above the roar of battle. The crisis of the +Modern Era broke in blood and smoke, and the past was suddenly +victorious. The Guard was broken into flying squadrons. Ruin came with +the counter charge of the British. Ney, glorious in his despair, +sought to stay the tide. For an hour longer he was a spectacle to gods +and men. Five horses had been killed under him. He was on foot. He was +hatless. He clutched the hilt of a broken sword. He was covered with +dust and blood. But his grim face was set against the victorious +enemy in the hopeless and heroic struggle to rally his shattered +columns. + +Meanwhile the Prussians rushed in from the right. Wellington's Guards +rose and charged. Havoc came down with the darkness. A single regiment +of the Old Guard was formed by Napoleon into a last square around +which to rally the fugitives. The Emperor stood in the midst and +declared his purpose to die with them. Marshal Soult forced him out of +the melee, and the famous square, commanded by Cambronne--flinging his +profane objurgation into the teeth of the English--perished with the +wild cry of "_Vive l'Empereur!_" + +Hugo says that the panic of the French admits of an explanation; that +the disappearance of the great man was necessary for the advent of a +great age; that in the battle of Waterloo there was more than a storm, +that is, the bursting of a meteor. "At nightfall," he continues, +"Bernard and Bertrand seized by the skirt of his coat in a field near +Genappe a haggard, thoughtful, gloomy man, who, carried so far by the +current of the rout, had just dismounted, passed the bridle over his +arm, and was now with wandering eye returning alone to Waterloo. It +was Napoleon, the immense somnambulist of a shattered dream!" + +On the spot where French patriotism afterward planted the bronze lion +to commemorate forever the extinction of the Old Guard of the French +Empire, and of Napoleon the Great, the traveler from strange lands +pauses, at the distance of eighty years from the horrible cataclysm, +and reflects with wonder how within the memory of living men human +nature could have been raised by the passion of battle to such sublime +heroism as that displayed in these wheatfields and orchards where the +Old Guard of France sank into oblivion, but rose to immortal fame. + + +SEBASTOPOL. + +In the fall of 1852 Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, Prince President of the +French Republic, about to become the French Empire, was invited to a +banquet by the Chamber of Commerce in Bordeaux. He was on his +triumphal tour through the South of France. At the banquet he spoke, +saying: "I accept with eagerness the opportunity afforded me by the +Bordeaux Chamber of Commerce for thanking your great city for its +cordial reception.... At present the nation surrounds me with its +sympathies.... To promote the welfare of the country, it is not +necessary to apply new systems, but the chief point above all is to +produce confidence in the present and security for the future. For +these reasons it seems France desires a return to the Empire. There is +one objection to which I must reply. Certain minds seem to entertain a +dread of war; certain persons say the Empire is only war. But I say +_the Empire is peace_." + +The last four words of this extract became the motto of the Second +Empire. Everywhere the Prince President's saying was blown to the +world. "The Empire is peace" was published in the newspapers, echoed +on the stage, and preached from the pulpits. + +But the Empire was _not_ peace. Just at this time Tennyson wrote his +poem against France, as follows: + + "There is a sound of thunder afar, + Storm in the South that darkens the day-- + Storm of battle and thunder of war; + Well if it do not roll our way! + Form, form; riflemen, form! + Ready, be ready to meet the storm!" + +In less than a year the storm broke. It broke in Eastern Europe. Of +the personal forces that brought the breaking, the two principal were +the Czar Nicholas and the Emperor Louis Napoleon. In 1853 the Czar +demanded of the Sultan certain guarantees of the rights of the Greek +Christians in the Turkish provinces. This was refused, and the +Crimean War broke out on the Danube. The first power in Western Europe +to support the Sultan was France, while England and Sardinia came hard +after. There was an alliance of England and France in support of the +Turkish cause. In the bottom of the difficulty lay this question: +Whether Russia might now move forward, gain control of the Black Sea, +overawe the Porte, force her way through the Sea of Marmora into the +Mediterranean, and thus rectify the mistake of Peter the Great in +building his capital on the Gulf of Finland. All this and much more +was called _The Eastern Question_. + +The coast of the Black Sea became the seat of the war that ensued. The +Russians posted themselves strongly in the Crimea. That peninsula was +commanded by the famous fortress of Sebastopol, situated at the +southwestern extremity. On the twenty-fifth of September, 1854, the +heights of Balaklava, lying south of the fortress, were seized by a +British division under command of Lord Raglan. In this way the +Russians were besieged; for the allied fleets had made their way into +the Black Sea, and the land side of Sebastopol was commanded by +Balaklava. + +The siege that ensued lasted for nearly eleven months, and was one of +the most memorable of modern times. On two occasions the Russians +sallied forth and gave battle. The first conflict of this kind was on +the night of the twenty-fifth of October, 1854, at Balaklava. The +Russian attack on the English and Turks was at first successful, and +four redoubts were carried by the assailants. At the crisis of the +battle, however, the British Highlanders came into action, and the +Russians were repulsed. The latter did not attempt to renew the +attack, but fell back into their intrenchments. It was at this +juncture that the famous incident occurred of the Charge of the Light +Brigade, which was immortalized by Tennyson in his poem. + +A few days after the battle of Balaklava occurred another hard +conflict at the village of Inkerman, at the head of the harbor of +Sebastopol. On the fifth of November, 1854, a strong force of Russians +descended from the heights, and were met by the allies on the slope +opposite the ruins of an ancient town, which occupied the site in the +times of Strabo. A severe battle ensued, in which the English and +French were victorious. Many other sorties were made from the +fortress, but were designed rather to delay the siege than with any +serious hope of breaking the investment. Sometimes the conflicts, +though desultory, were severe, taking the proportions of regular +battles. But nothing decisive was effected, until winter closed on +the scene, and brought upon both the besiegers and the besieged the +greatest hardships. + +The sufferings of the allies, so far away from the source of supplies, +were at times beyond description. It is doubtful whether any other +siege of modern times has entailed such cruel privations upon a +civilized soldiery. At times the combined havoc of hunger, disease and +cold was seen in its worst work in the allied camps. The genius of +Elizabeth Butler has seized upon the morning "Roll Call," in the +Crimean snows of 1855, as the subject of a great painting in which to +depict the excess of human suffering and devotion--the acme of English +heroism in a foreign land. + +Meanwhile, the allied lines around Sebastopol were considerably +contracted, and several serious assaults were made on the Russian +works. On the twenty-third of February the French in front of the +bastion, called the Malakhoff, assaulted that stronghold with great +valor, but were unsuccessful. On the eighteenth of the following June +an attempt was made to carry the Redan, a strong redoubt at the other +extreme of the Russian defences, but the assailants were again +repulsed. Then, on the sixteenth of August, followed the bloody battle +of Tehernaya, in which the Russians made a final effort to raise the +siege. With a force of 50,000 infantry and 6000 cavalry they threw +themselves on the allied position, but were beaten back with great +slaughter. + +In the meantime, the trenches of the allies had been drawn so near the +Russian works that there was a fair prospect of carrying the bastions +by another assault. A terrible bombardment was begun on the fifth, and +continued to the eighth of September, when both the Redan and the +Malakhoff were taken by storm. But the struggle was desperate, and the +losses on both sides immense. The Russians blew up their +fortifications on the south side of the harbor, and retreated across +the bay. Nor did they afterward make any serious attempt to regain the +stronghold which the allies had wrested from them. The victors for +their part proceeded to destroy the docks, arsenals and shipyards of +Sebastopol, and, as far as possible, to prevent the future occupancy +of the place by the Russians as a seat of commerce and war. + +The siege and capture of Sebastopol virtually ended the contest, +though the war lagged during the greater part of the ensuing year. On +the second of March, 1855, the Czar Nicholas died, and Alexander II. +came to the throne, predisposed to peace. It was not, however, until +the thirtieth of March, 1856, that the Treaty of Paris was concluded, +in which Russia was obliged to yield to the allied powers, among which +France held the first place. + +The story of the Crimean War, and of the siege of Sebastopol in +particular, has passed into history as one of the great events, of the +century. The struggles at Balaklava, on the river Alma, at Inkerman, +and the storming of the Redan and the Malakhoff became the subjects of +great historical paintings, of poems and of songs, the echoes of which +are heard to the present day. + + +SADOWA. + +From a military point of view, nothing in this century has been more +brilliantly successful than the campaign of Prussia into Bohemia +against the Austrians, culminating on the sixth of July, 1866, in the +great conflict called the battle of Sadowa or Koeniggraetz--the one or +the other from the two towns near which it was fought. The historical +painter, Wilhelm Camphausen, of the School of Duesseldorf, has left +among the art trophies of the world a painting of this battle which is +as true to the field and the combatants as anything which we recall +from the sublime leaves of historical art. + +The scene represented is the triumphant conclusion of the battle. The +field is wide and stormy. In the centre, riding at full gallop with +his staff, is King William. Already he is receiving the cheers and +salutations of victory. By his side are seen the stalwart figures of +Bismarck, Von Roon, Von Moltke, the Crown Prince, Prince Frederick +Charles, and many others destined in the ensuing ten years to rise to +the heights of military fame. To the right of the group of commanders +charges the column of the Uhlans. The Austrians before are broken, and +falling into rout. Far to the left and in the distance may be seen the +half-obscured wrecks of battle. + +This conflict proved to be the Waterloo of Austria. It was the climax +of the Seven Weeks' War. Already the Germans, under the leadership of +Prussia, were making haste toward empire. The activity and energy +displayed by the Prussian Government at this juncture were prodigious. +It was like the days of Frederick the Great come again. The trouble +with Austria had arisen about the claims of the Duke of Augustenburg +to the government of Holstein. Bismarck desired that that duchy should +be disposed of in one manner, while Austria was determined on another. + +The German States were drawn into this controversy, and the support of +Italy was sought by each of the contestants. Prussia held out to +Italy the temptation of recovering Venice, as the reward of her +entrance into a Prusso-Italian alliance. This bait was sufficient. The +smaller German powers, with the exception of Oldenburg, Mecklenburg, +the Saxon States, and three Free Cities, took their stand with +Austria, and the German Diet approved of the Austrian demand. It +looked for the time as though Prussia, with the exception of the aid +of Italy, was to be left naked to all the winds of hostility. The +event showed, however, that that great power was now in her element. +She declared the action of the German Diet to be not only a menace, +but an act of overt hostilities. This was followed by an immediate +declaration of war against a foe that had nearly three times her +numerical strength. + +On the fifteenth of June, 1866, King William called upon Saxony, +Hanover, Hesse-Cassel and Nassau to remain neutral in the impending +conflict, and gave them _twelve hours_ in which to decide! Receiving +no answer, he ordered the Prussians out of Holstein to seize Hanover. +This work was accomplished in two days. In another two days +Hesse-Cassel was occupied by an army from the Rhine, while at the same +time a third division of the Prussian forces was thrown into Dresden +and Leipsic. On the twenty-seventh of the month, a battle was fought +with the Hanoverians, in which the latter were at first successful, +but were soon overpowered and compelled to surrender. George V., King +of Hanover, fled for refuge to Vienna. + +Within two weeks the field in the South was cleared, and the Prussian +army was turned upon Austria. King William's forces numbered 260,000 +men. They were commanded by the Crown Prince, Prince Frederick +Charles, Von Moltke, Von Roon and General Bittenfeld. The King in +person and Bismarck were present with the advance. The impact was more +than Austria could stand. On the twenty-seventh and twenty-ninth of +June, Frederick Charles defeated the Austrian advance in four +indecisive engagements. Count Clam-Gallas, the Austrian general, was +obliged to fall back on the main body for support. + +In these same days the Crown Prince gained several preliminary +successes over the principal Austrian army under Benedek. Then, on the +river Bistritz, on the sixth of July, came the great battle of Sadowa. +The opposing commanders in the beginning of the engagement were +Frederick Charles and Benedek. The battle began at eight in the +morning, and raged with the utmost fury until two in the afternoon. +Thus far the Prussians had gained but little advantage; but at that +hour the powerful division of the Crown Prince, which, like that of +Bluecher at Waterloo, had been delayed by recent rains, appeared on the +Austrian right. The wing of Benedek's army was soon turned. Bittenfeld +then broke the left, and under a general advance of the Prussian lines +the Austrian centre gave way in confusion. The field was quickly +swept. The overthrow of the Austrian army became a ruinous rout, and +the out-flashing sun of evening looked upon a demoralized and flying +host, scattering in all directions before the victorious charges of +the Prussian cavalry. + +The overwhelming victory of the Prussians was not without its rational +causes. Indeed the antecedents of victory may always be found if all +the facts of battle are known and analyzed. It remained for the battle +of Sadowa to demonstrate practically the superiority of the +needle-gun. This arm had been adopted by the Prussian government and +was now for the first time on a great scale brought to the crucial +test. Hitherto the old plan of muzzle-loading had been followed by all +the nations of Europe and America. In our country the Civil War had +come almost to its climax before breech-loading was generally +introduced. Austria had continued to use the old muzzle-loading +muskets. It seems surprising that nations, of whom intelligence and +self-interest may well be predicated, should continue in such a matter +as war to employ inefficient weaponry long after a superior arm has +been invented. + +If one might have looked into the gunshop of M. Pauli at Paris in the +year 1814, he might have seen a gunsmith, twenty-seven years of age, +plying his trade under the patronage of Napoleon the Great. That +gunsmith was Johann Nicholas Von. Dreyse, of Soemmerda, who presently +became an inventor as well as a smith, and in 1824, having returned to +his own country, he took a patent for a new percussion method in +musketry. Three years afterward he invented a needle-gun, retaining +the muzzle-loading method. He continued his experimentation until +1836, when he made and patented the first breech-loading needle-gun +complete. This was done under the patronage of the Prussian +government. It was not until 1841, however, that this arm began to be +supplied for Prussian troops, and it was twenty-five years after that +date before the general adoption of this arm contributed to the rout +of the Austrians at Sadowa. + +The Prussians being armed with needle-guns, were enabled to get the +double advantage of rapid firing by loading in a chamber at the +breech of the piece, and the equally great advantage of a long range +and most deadly missile; for in the cartridge of this gun the needle +runs through the charge, firing it first at the front of the chamber, +thus securing the whole force of the explosive, which burns backward +in the enclosed space and expends itself entirely on the projectile. +Those breech-loading pieces which fire the cartridge by percussion +against its back end have the disadvantage of the charge burning +forward, and thus wasting itself partly in the air after the bullet +has left the muzzle. This difficulty, however, has been overcome in +recent gunnery, and the needle-gun such as it was in the hands of King +William's soldiers at Sadowa, must now be regarded as a clumsy and +obsolete weapon. + +The battle of Sadowa was to Francis Joseph the handwriting on the +wall; but he made vain exertions to save his tottering fabric. Now it +was that the shadow of a great hand was seen behind the conflict. It +was the hand of Bismarck. His scheme was the unification of Germany. +The NORTH GERMAN UNION was formed on the basis of Protestantism and +the unity of the German race. Already the Empire might be seen in the +distance. + + +CAPTURE OF MEXICO. + +Whatever may be said of the justice of our war with Mexico, no +criticism can be offered as to the brilliancy of the result. The +campaign of General Scott against the ancient capital of the Aztecs, +was almost spectacular; certainly it was heroic. + +On the ninth of March, 1847, the General, then nearly sixty-one years +of age, arrived at Vera Cruz, with an army of 12,000 men. That city +was taken in about a week, and the way was opened from the coast to +the capital. The advance began on the eighth of April, and ten days +afterward the rocky pass of Cerro Gordo was carried by assault. Santa +Anna barely escaped with his life, leaving behind 3000 prisoners, his +chest of private papers, and his _wooden leg!_ + +On the twenty-second of the same month, the strong castle of Perote, +crowning a peak of the Cordilleras, was taken without resistance. Then +the sacred city of Puebla was captured. On the seventh of August, +Scott, with his reduced forces, began his march over the crest of the +mountains against the city of Mexico. The American army, sweeping over +the heights, looked down on the valley. Never before had a soldiery in +a foreign land beheld a grander scene Clear to the horizon stretched +a living landscape of green fields, villages, and lakes--a picture too +beautiful to be marred with the dreadful enginery of war. + +The American army advanced by the way of Ayotla. The route was the +great national road from Vera Cruz to Mexico. The last fifteen miles +of the way was occupied with fortifications, both natural and +artificial, and it seemed impossible to advance directly to the gates +of the city. The army was accordingly brought around Lake Chalco, and +thence westward to San Augustine. This place is ten miles from the +capital. The approach now lay along causeways, across marshes and the +beds of bygone lakes. At the further end of each causeway, the +Mexicans had built massive gates. There were almost inaccessible +positions at Contreras, San Antonio and Molino del Rey. Further on +toward the city lay the powerful bulwarks of Churubusco and +Chapultepec. The latter was of great strength, and seemed impregnable. +These various outposts were held by Santa Anna with a force of fully +thirty thousand Mexicans. + +The first assaults of the Americans were made on the nineteenth of +August, by Generals Pillow and Twiggs. The line of communications +between Contreras and Santa Anna's army was cut, and in the darkness +of the following night an assault was made by General Persifer F. +Smith, who about sunrise carried the place and drove the garrison +pell-mell. This was the _first_ victory of the memorable twentieth of +August. + +A few hours later, General Worth compelled the evacuation of San +Antonio. This was the _second_ victory. About the same time, General +Pillow advanced on Churubusco, and carried one of the heights. The +position was taken by storm, and the enemy scattered like chaff. This +was the _third_ triumph. The division of General Twiggs added a +_fourth_ victory by storming and holding another height of Churubusco, +while the _fifth_ and last was achieved by General Shields and Pierce, +who drove back an army of reinforcements under Santa Anna. The +Mexicans were thus forced back into the fortifications of Chapultepec. + +On the following morning, the alarm and treachery of the Mexican +authorities were both strongly exhibited. A deputation came out to +negotiate; but the intent was merely to gain time for strengthening +the defences. The terms proposed by the Mexicans were preposterous +when viewed in the light of the situation. General Scott, who did not +consider his army vanquished, rejected the proposals with scorn. He, +however, rested his men until the seventh of September before +renewing hostilities. On the morning of the eighth, General Worth was +thrown forward to take Molino del Rey and Casa de Mata, which were the +western defences of Chapultepec. These places were defended by about +fourteen thousand Mexicans; but the Americans, after losing a fourth +of their number in the desperate onset, were again victorious. The +batteries were now turned on Chapultepec itself, and on the thirteenth +of September that frowning citadel was carried by storm. This exploit +opened an avenue into the city. Through the San Cosine and Belen gates +the conquering army swept resistlessly, and at nightfall the soldiers +of the Union were in the suburbs of Mexico. + +During the night, Santa Anna and the officers of the Government fled +from the city, but not until they had turned loose from the prisons +2000 convicts, to fire upon the American army. On the following +morning, before day-dawn, a deputation came forth from the city to beg +for mercy. This time the messengers were in earnest; but General +Scott, wearied with trifling, turned them away with disgust. +"_Forward!_" was the order that rang along the American lines at +sunrise. The war-worn regiments swept into the beautiful streets of +the famous city, and at seven o'clock the flag of the United States +floated over the halls of the Montezumas. It was the triumphant +ending of one of the most brilliant and striking campaigns of modern +history. + +The American army, as compared with the hosts of Mexico, had been but +a handful. The small force which had left Vera Cruz on the march to +the capital had lost considerably by battle and disease. Many +detachments had been posted _en route_ to hold the line of +communications, and for garrison duty in places taken from the enemy. +The army had thus dwindled until, after the battles of Churubusco and +Chapultepec, _fewer than six thousand men_ were left to enter and hold +the capital. + +The invasion had been remarkable in all its particulars. The obstacles +which had to be overcome seemed insurmountable. There were walled +cities to be taken, fortified mountain passes to be carried by storm, +and frowning castles with cannon on the battlements to be assaulted by +regiments whose valor and impetuosity were their only protection and +warrant of victory. Yet the campaign was never seriously impeded. No +foot of ground once taken from the Mexicans was yielded by false +tactics or lost by battle. + +The army which accomplished this marvel, penetrating a far-distant and +densely peopled country, held by a proud race, claiming to be the +descendants of Cortes and the Spanish heroes of the sixteenth +century, and denouncing at the outset the American soldiers as +"barbarians of the North," was, in large part, an army of +volunteers--a citizen soldiery--which had risen from the States of the +Union and marched to the Mexican border under the Union flag. + + +VICKSBURG. + +The story goes that on a certain occasion some friends of General +Grant, anxious to make him talk about himself--something he would +hardly ever do--said: "General, at what time in your military career +did you perceive that you were the coming man--that you were to have +the responsibility and fame of the command-in-chief and end the war?" +For little while the General smoked on, and then said, "_After +Vicksburg!_" + +Certain it is that the star of Grant, long obscured and struggling +through storm and darkness, never emerged into clear light, rising in +the ascendant, until after the capture of the stronghold of the +Confederates on the Mississippi. After that it rose, and rose to the +zenith. + +The position of Vicksburg is hard to understand. The river at this +place makes a bend to the north and then turns south again, leaving a +delta, or peninsula, on the Louisiana side. Vicksburg occupies a kind +of shoulder on the Mississippi side. The site is commanding. The river +flows by the bluffs, as if to acknowledge its subjection to them. From +the beginning of the war the Confederate authorities recognized the +vast importance of holding this key to the great inland artery, and +the Federal Government saw the necessity of clutching it from the +enemy. + +The mouth of the Mississippi was soon regained by the Government, so +that there was no serious obstruction as far north as where the +northern border of Louisiana crosses the river. From the north the +Federal fleets and land forces made their way along the Tennessee +border, and then the Arkansas border; but in the middle, between the +twenty-second and thirty-third parallels, the Confederates got a +strong grip on the Father of Waters, and would not relinquish their +hold. Jackson, the capital of the State, was in their power also, and +from Jackson eastward the great thoroughfare extended into Alabama, +and thence expanded in its connections into all the Confederacy. From +Jackson to Vicksburg reached the same line of communications, so that +here, at Vicksburg, the Confederate power, having its seat in Richmond +and its energy in the field, reached directly to the Mississippi +river, and laid upon that stream a band of iron which the Union must +break in order to pass. + +Such was the situation at the beginning of 1863. General Grant, who +had been under a cloud since Shiloh, had gradually regained his +command, and to him fell the task of breaking the Confederate hold on +the great river. He has himself in his _Memoirs_ told the story of the +Vicksburg campaign. He managed, by herculean exertions, to get his +forces below Vicksburg, and then began his campaign from Grand Gulf +inland toward the line of communication between Jackson and Vicksburg. +It was some time before the Confederates took the alarm. When they did +become alarmed about Grant's movements, General J.E. Johnston, who +commanded at Jackson, and General J.C. Pemberton, who was in command +at Vicksburg; made the most unwearied efforts to keep open the line of +communications upon which the safety of Jackson and the success of +Pemberton depended. + +But Grant pressed on in a northwesterly direction until he came upon +Pemberton in a position which he had chosen at Champion's Hill. Here, +without doubt, was fought one of the critical battles of the Union +war. If General Pemberton had been successful, that success would seem +to have portended the end of Grant's military career. But a different +fate was reserved for the combatants. Grant's army was strong, and had +become seasoned by hardship into the veteran condition. His under +officers--Logan, McPherson, Hovey, McClernand and A.J. Smith--were in +full spirit of battle. The engagement was severely contested. The +Union army, actually engaged, numbered 15,000, and Pemberton's forces +were about equal in number; but the latter were disastrously defeated. +The losses were excessive in proportion to the numbers engaged. + +The Confederates now fell back to Big Black river. Their line of +communication with Jackson was cut. A second battle was fought at Big +Black River, and then, on the eighteenth of May, the victorious Union +army surrounded Vicksburg, and the siege was begun. The siege lasted +forty-seven days, and was marked by heroic resistance on the one side +and heroic pertinacity on the other, to the degree of making it one of +the memorable events in the military annals of the world. Gradually +the Union lines were narrowed around the doomed town. Ever nearer and +nearer the lines of riflepits were drawn. Day by day the resources of +the Confederates were reduced. But their defences were strong, and +their courage for a long time unabated. + +General Pemberton hoped and expected that an attack on Grant's rear +would be made in such force as to loosen his grip, and to enable +the besieged to rise against the besiegers and break through. The +Confederates, however, had not sufficient forces for such an +enterprise. General Lee, in the East, had now undertaken the +campaign of Gettysburg, and the Confederacy was already strained +in every nerve. General Grant had the way open for supplies and +re-enforcements. The siege was pressed with the utmost vigor, and +Pemberton was left to his fate. + +Meanwhile, however, two unsuccessful assaults were made on the +Confederate works. The first of these occurred on the day after the +investment was completed. It was unsuccessful. The Union army was +flung back from the impregnable defences in the rear of Vicksburg, and +great losses were inflicted on them. Grant, however, was undismayed, +and, still believing that the enemy's line might be broken by assault, +renewed the attempt in a gallant attack on the twenty-second of May. A +furious cannonade was kept up for several hours, and then the +divisions of Sherman, McPherson and McClernand were thrown forward +upon the earthworks of the enemy. + +It was here that General McClernand reported to the commander that he +had gained the Confederate intrenchments. General Grant says: "I +occupied a position from which I thought I could see as well as he +what took place in his front; and I did not see the success he +reported. But his request for reinforcements being repeated, I could +not ignore it, and sent him Quinby's division. Sherman and McPherson +were both ordered to renew their assaults in favor of McClernand. This +last attack only served to increase our casualties, without giving any +benefit whatever." In these attacks large numbers of the Federal +soldiers had got into the low ground intervening, under the enemy's +fire, and had to remain in that position until darkness enabled them +to retire. The Union losses were very heavy, and General Grant, years +afterward, in composing his _Memoirs_, referred to this assault and to +that at Cold Harbor as the two conspicuous mistakes of his military +career. + +Now it was that the regular siege of Vicksburg was undertaken. Toward +the latter part of June, the Confederates, both soldiers and citizens, +began to suffer. Houses became untenable. The people sought what +refuge they might find. Some actually burrowed in the earth. The +garrison was placed on short rations, and then a condition of +starvation ensued. Pemberton held out with a resolution worthy of a +better fate. But at length human endurance could go no further. On +the fourth of July the white flag was hoisted from the Confederate +works, announcing the end. Generals Grant and Pemberton, with three or +four attendants each, met between the lines, and the terms of +capitulation were quickly named and accepted. Vicksburg was +surrendered. General Pemberton and all his forces, 30,000 strong, +became prisoners of war. + +This was the greatest force ever surrendered in America, though it was +only about one-sixth of that of Marshal Bazaine and his army at Metz +seven years afterward. Thousands of small arms, hundreds of cannon, +and all the remaining ammunition and stores of the Confederates were +the other fruits of this great Union victory, by which the prospect of +ultimate success to the Confederacy was either destroyed or long +postponed, and by which in particular the great central river of the +United States was permitted once more to flow unvexed from the +confluence of the Missouri to the Gulf. + + +GETTYSBURG. + +The battle of Gettysburg is properly included among the great battles +of the world. It was the greatest conflict that has thus far occurred +in America. The losses relative to the numbers engaged were not as +great as those at Antietam, Spottsylvania, and a few other bloody +struggles of our war; but in the aggregate the losses were greatest. +Gettysburg was in truth the high tide of the American Civil War. Never +before and never afterward was there a crisis such as that which broke +in the dreadful struggle for the mastery of Cemetery Ridge. + +The invasion of the Northern States by General Lee had been undertaken +at the close of the previous summer. That invasion had ended +disastrously at the battle of Antietam. Once more the Confederate +commander would make the trial. So well had he been able to beat back +every invasion of Virginia by the Union forces that he now thought to +end the war by turning its tide of devastation into Pennsylvania. + +Doubtless Lee realized that he was placing everything upon the cast of +a die. He undertook the campaign with a measure of confidence. He, +almost as much as Grant, was a taciturn man, not much given to +revelations of his purposes and hopes. No doubt he was somewhat +surprised at the successful rising of the Union forces against him. +Besides the Army of the Potomac, Pennsylvania seemed to rise for the +emergency. + +It has not generally been observed that before the great battle +General Meade was in a position seriously to threaten the Confederate +rear. Armies in the field rarely meet each other at the place and time +expected. There is always something obscure and uncertain in the +oncoming of the actual conflict. The fact is that General Lee was +receding somewhat at the time of the crisis. Then it was that he +determined to fight a great battle, and if successful then march on +Washington. Should he not be successful, he would keep a way open by +direct route for retreat into Virginia. + +By the first of July, 1863, a situation had been prepared which +signified a decisive battle with far-reaching consequences to the one +side or the other, accordingly as victory should incline to this or to +that. By this date General Reynolds, who commanded the advance line of +the Union army, met the corresponding line of the Confederates at the +village of Gettysburg, and the rest followed as if by logical +necessity. + +On July 1 and 2, the great body of the Union and Confederate armies +came up to the position where battle had already begun between the +advance divisions and the pressure of the one side upon the other +became greater and greater with each hour. At the first the +Confederate impact was strongest. General Reynolds was killed. +Reinforcements were hurried up on both sides. General Howard, who +succeeded Reynolds, selected Cemetery Hill, south of the town of +Gettysburg, and there established the Union line. + +General Meade arrived on the field on the afternoon of the first, and +the two armies were thrown rapidly into position. That of the Federals +extended in the form of a fishhook from Little Round Top by way of +Round Top and along Cemetery Ridge through the cemetery itself, by the +way of the gate, and then bending to the right, formed the bowl of the +hook, which extended around as far as Culp's Hill and Wolf Creek. The +ground was elevated and the convexity was toward the enemy. + +By nightfall of the first, both armies were in state of readiness for +the conflict. The Union army was on the defensive. It was sufficient +that it should hold its ground and repel all assault. The Confederates +must advance and carry the Federal position in order to succeed. How +this should be done was not agreed on by the Confederate commanders. +General Lee formed a plan of direct assault; but General Longstreet +was of opinion that a movement of the army to the Union left flank +would be preferable, and that by that method the flank might be turned +and the position of Meade carried with less loss and much less hazard. + +Longstreet, however, did not oppose the views of his commander to the +extent of thwarting his purpose or weakening the plan adopted. On the +second of July the battle began in earnest about noon. The +Confederates advanced against the Union centre and left, and at a +later hour a strenuous and partly successful attack was made on the +Federal right. But complete success was not attained by Lee in any +part of the field. About sundown the Confederates gained considerable +advantage against Slocum, who held the line along Wolf Hill and Rock +Creek; and on the Union left a terrible struggle occurred for the +possession of Great and Little Round Top. In this part of the field +the fighting continued until six o'clock in the evening; but the +critical positions still remained in the hands of the Federals. + +In the centre the contest was waged for the mastery of Cemetery Hill, +which was the key to the Union position. Here were planted batteries +with an aggregate of eighty guns, and here, though the assaults of the +Confederates were desperate and long continued, the integrity of the +Federal line was preserved till nightfall. The fighting along a front +of nearly five miles in extent continued in a desultory manner until +about ten o'clock on the July night, when the firing for the most part +ceased, leaving the two armies in virtually the same position which +they had occupied the day before. + +This signified, however, that thus far the advantage was on the Union +side; for on that side the battle was defensive. The Confederate army +had come to a wall, and must break through or suffer defeat. The +burden of attack rested on the Confederate side; but General Lee did +not flinch from the necessity. In the darkness of night both he and +the Union commanders made strenuous preparations for the renewal of +the struggle on the morrow. + +On the morning of the third both armies seemed loath to begin the +conflict. This phenomenon is nearly always witnessed in the case of +really critical battles. It was so at Waterloo, and so at Gettysburg. +It seems that in such crises the commanders, well aware of what is to +come, wait awhile, as though each would permit the other to strike +first. As a matter of fact, the topmost crest of the Civil War had now +been reached; and from this hour the one cause or the other must +decline to the end. + +The whole forenoon of the third of July was spent in preparations. +There was but little fighting, and that little was desultory. At +midday there seemed to be a lull along the whole line. Just afterward, +however, General Lee opened from Seminary Ridge with about one hundred +guns, directing his fire against the Union centre on Cemetery Hill. +There the counter position was occupied by the American artillery of +about equal strength, under command of General Hunt. The cannonade +burst out at one o'clock with terrific roar. Nothing like it had ever +before been seen or heard in the New World. Nothing like it, we +believe, had ever up to that time been witnessed in Europe. Certainly +there was no such cannonade at Waterloo. For about an hour and a half +this tremendous vomit of shot and shell continued. It was the hope of +General Lee to pound the Union batteries to pieces, and then, while +horror and death were still supreme in the Union centre, to thrust +forward an overwhelming mass of his best infantry into the gap, cut +Meade's army in two, plant the Confederate banner on the crest of the +Union battle line, and virtually then and there achieve the +independence of the Confederate States. + +It seems that an action of General Hunt, about half-past two, +flattered Lee with the belief that he had succeeded. Hunt adopted the +plan of drawing back his batteries over the crest of the hill, for the +double purpose of cooling his guns that were becoming overheated and +of saving his supply of ammunition, that was running low. The Union +fire accordingly slackened and almost ceased for a while. Nor was Lee +able to discover from his position but what his batteries under +General Alexander had prevailed. It looked for the moment as though +the battle were lost to Meade, and that victory was in the clutch of +his antagonist. + +Already a Confederate charge of infantry had been prepared. About +18,000 men, in three divisions, under Armistead, Garnett and +Pettigrew, and led by General George E. Pickett, of Virginia, had been +got into readiness for the crisis which had now arrived. Longstreet +was the corps commander, and through him the order for the charge +should be given. General Lee had himself made the order, but +Longstreet seeing, as he believed the inevitable, hesitated and turned +aside. It was not a refusal to send an army to destruction, but the +natural hesitation of a really great commander to do what he believed +was fatal to the Confederate cause. Pickett, however, gave his +salutation to Longstreet, and presently said: "Sir, I am going to move +forward!" + +Then began the most memorable charge ever witnessed in America. The +Confederate column was three-fourths of a mile in length. It was +directed against the Union centre, where it was supposed the +Confederate fire had done its work. What ensued was the finest +military spectacle that had been seen in the world since the charge of +the Old Guard at Waterloo; and the results were alike! The brave men +who made the onset were mowed down as they crossed rapidly the +intervening space. Hunt's batteries were quickly run back to their +position, and began to discharge their deadly contents against the +head of the oncoming column. That column veered somewhat to the right +as it came. The line staggered, but pressed on. It came within the +range of the Union musketry. Gaps opened here and there. Armistead, +who led the advance, saw his forces sink to the earth; but he did not +waver. Nearer and nearer the column came to the Union line. It +_struck_ the Union line. There was a momentary melee among the guns, +and then all was over. Hancock's infantry rose with flash on flash +from among the rocks by which they were partially protected. The +Confederates were scattered in broken groups. Retreat was well-nigh +impossible. The impact of the charge was utterly broken, and the +Confederate line was blown into rout and ruin. Victory hovered over +the National army. The Confederate forces staggered away under the +blow of defeat. Night came down on a broken and virtually hopeless +cause. The field was covered with the dead and dying. Two thousand +eight hundred and thirty-four Union soldiers had been killed outright; +13,709 were wounded, and 6643 were missing, making a total of 23,186 +men. The Confederate loss was never definitely ascertained, but was +greatly in excess of that of the Federals. The best estimate has been +fixed at 31,621. The grand total of losses in those fatal three days +thus reached the enormous aggregate of 54,807! + + +SPOTTSYLVANIA. + +A losing cause never showed a braver front than the Confederacy put on +in the Wilderness. It was a front of iron. A man weaker than Grant +would have quailed before it. It was virtually the same old rim of +fire and death that had confronted McClellan, that had consumed Pope, +that almost destroyed both Hooker and Burnside. Either the Union army +must go through this barrier of flame and destruction and scatter it +like brands of fire to right and left, or else the Union could never +be rebuilded on the foundation of victory. + +There was much discussion--and some doubt--in the spring of 1864 +whether the Silent Man of Galena, now made Commander-in-chief of the +Union armies, could pursue his military destiny to a great fame with +Robert E. Lee for his antagonist. This talk was bruited abroad; Grant +himself heard it, and had to consider what not a few people were +saying, namely, that he had had before him in the West as leaders of +the enemy only such men as Buckner and Beauregard and Pemberton; now +he must stand up face to face with "Old Bobby Lee" and take the blows +of the great Virginian against whom neither strategy nor force had +hitherto prevailed. + +The Man of Galena did not quail. Neither did he doubt. His pictures of +this epoch show him with mouth more close shut than ever; but +otherwise there was no sign. Lee for his part knew that another foeman +was now come, and if we mistake not he divined that the end of the +Confederacy, involving the end of his own military career, was not far +ahead. It is to the credit of his genius that he did not weaken under +such a situation and despair ere the ordeal came upon him; but on the +contrary, he planted himself in the Wilderness and awaited the coming +of the storm. + +Let the world know that Grant in entering upon his great campaign, in +the first days of May, 1864, had to do so against the greatest +disadvantages. The country south of the Rappahannock was against him. +The fact of Lee's acting ever on the defensive was against him. The +woods and the rivers were against him. All Virginia, from the Rapidan +to Richmond, was a rifle-pit and an earthwork. The Confederates knew +every hill and ravine as though they were the orchard and the fishing +creek of their own homes. The battlefield was theirs, to begin with; +it must be taken from them or remain theirs forever. To take a +battlefield of their own from Virginians has never been a pleasing +task to those who did it--or more frequently tried to do it and did +not! + +It remained for Grant and his tremendous Union army to undertake this +herculean task. He moved into the Wilderness and fought a two-days' +battle of the greatest severity. The contest of the fifth and sixth of +May were murderous in character. The National losses in these two days +in killed, wounded and missing were not less than 14,000; those of the +Confederates were almost as great. In this struggle General Alexander +Hays was killed; Generals Getty, Baxter and McAlister were wounded, +and scores of under-officers, with thousands of brave men, lost their +lives or limbs. Now it was that Lee is reported to have said to his +officers, with a serious look on his iron face: "Gentlemen, at last +the Army of the Potomac has a head." + +On the seventh of May there was not much fighting. It is said that in +the lull Grant's leading commanders thought he would recede, as his +predecessors had done, and that not a few of them gave it as their +opinion that he should do so. It is said that when coming to the +Chancellorsville House, he gave the command, "Forward, by the left +flank," thus demonstrating his purpose, as he said four days afterward +in his despatch to the government, "to fight it out on that line if +it took all summer," the soldiers gave a sigh of relief, and many +began to sing at the prospect of no more retreating. General Sherman +has recorded his belief that at this juncture Grant best displayed his +greatness. + +With the movement which we have just mentioned, the next stage in the +campaign would bring both the Union and the Confederate armies to +Spottsylvania Courthouse. The distance that each had to march to that +point was about the same. It was at this juncture that the woods in +which the two armies were moving, Grant to the left and Lee to the +right, took fire and were burned. When the Union advance came in sight +of Spottsylvania, Warren, who commanded, found that the place had been +already occupied by the vigilant enemy. Hancock did not arrive in time +to make an immediate attack, and Longstreet's corps was able to get +into position before the pressure of the Union advance could be felt. + +At this juncture Sheridan, in command of the Federal cavalry, was cut +loose from the Union army and sent whirling with irresistible speed +and momentum entirely around the rear of the Confederate army, +destroying railroads, cutting communication, burning trains and +liberating prisoners, as far as the very suburbs of Richmond. + +The main divisions of the Union army came into position before +Spottsylvania. Hancock had the right wing, and upon his left rested +Warren. Sedgwick's corps was next in order, while Burnside held the +left. Just as the commanders were forming their lines and some men at +a Union battery seemed to shrink from the Confederate sharpshooters, +Sedgwick went forward to encourage them, saying, "Men, they couldn't +hit an elephant at that distance." But the next instant he himself +fell dead! His command of the Sixth Corps was transferred to General +Wright. + +It now remained for Hancock on the extreme right to attack the +Confederate left. This was done by Barlow's division, but without +success. This attack and repulse was the real beginning of the battle +of Spottsylvania. The Confederates in front were strongly intrenched, +but near the northernmost point of their works what was thought to be +a weak point in the line was discovered. This point was what is known +as a _salient_. The position, however, was in the thick woods, or was +at any rate concealed by the woods and ravines in front. + +As soon as the position was discovered and its nature known, a large +part of Wright's corps was sent against it. The attack was successful. +The line was carried, and about a thousand men captured in the +assault. But the reinforcements were not up promptly, and the +assailants were driven back. A second assault ended in the same way. +This fighting was on the evening of the tenth of May. The battle +continued into the night, and the event hung dubious. + +On the eleventh there was a heavy rain, but during that day General +Grant, who placed great confidence in General Hancock and his corps, +moved that brilliant officer to the point of attack before the +_salient_. With the early light on the morning of the twelfth, Hancock +sprang forward to the assault. So sudden and powerful was the charge +that one-half of the distance had been traversed before the enemy knew +what was coming. Then the storm burst wildly. The yell arose from one +side, and the cheer from the other. Hancock's men in great force and +with invincible courage sprang upon the breast-works, clubbed their +guns, or went over bayonet foremost. They were met on the other side +in like manner. The melee that ensued was perhaps the most dreadful +hand-to-hand conflict of the war. The impetus of the Union attack was +irresistible. Great numbers were killed on both sides, and the +Confederates were overpowered. + +General Edward Johnson and his division of about four thousand men +were captured in the angle. General Stuart was also taken. He and +Hancock had been friends in their student days at West Point. The +story goes that Hancock, recognizing his prisoner, said, "How are +you, Stuart?" and offered his hand. The hot Confederate answered, "I +am _General_ Stuart of the Confederate army, and under the +circumstances I decline to take your hand." Hancock answered, "Under +any other circumstances I should not have offered it!" + +But there was no time for bantering. The very earth round about was in +the chaos of roaring battle. Hancock had taken twenty guns with their +horses, and about thirty battle flags. It was a tremendous capture, if +he could hold his ground. No officer of the Union army ever showed to +better advantage. The world may well forgive the touch of vanity and +bluster in the undaunted Hancock, as he sent this despatch to Grant: +"I have used up Johnson and am going into Hill." He found, however, +that he should have terrible work even to keep the gain that he had +made. + +Lee no sooner perceived what was done than he threw heavy masses upon +the position to retake it from the captors. Hancock was now on the +wrong side of the angle! The Confederates came on during the day in +five successive charges, the like of which for valor was hardly ever +witnessed. The contested ground was literally piled with dead. There +was hand-to-hand fighting. Men bayoneted each other through the +crevices of the logs that had been piled up for defences. The storm +of battle swept back and forth until the salient gained that name of +"Death Angle" by which it will ever be known. The place became then +and there the bloodiest spot that ever was washed with human life in +America. The bushes and trees round about were literally shot away. At +one point an oak tree, more than eighteen inches in diameter, was +completely eaten off at the man-level by the bullet storm that beat +against it. That tree in its fall crushed several men of a South +Carolina regiment who still stood and fought in the death harvest that +was going on. + +The counter assaults of the Confederates, however, were in vain. They +inflicted terrible losses, and were themselves mowed down by +thousands; but they could not and did not retake the angle. Hancock +and his heroes could not be dislodged. The battle of Spottsylvania +died away with the night into sullen and awful silence, which was +broken only by the groans of thousands of wounded men who could not be +recovered from the bloody earth on which they had fallen. The +antagonists lay crouching like lions, only a lion's spring apart, and +neither would suffer the other, even for the sake of their common +American humanity, to recover his dead. + +In the retrospect it seems marvelous that within the memories of men +now living and not yet old, so awful a struggle as that of the Death +Angle in the Wilderness could have taken place between men of the same +race and language, born under the flag of the same Republic, and +cherishing the same sentiments and traditions and hopes. + + +APPOMATTOX. + +Appomattox was not a battle, but the end of battles. Fondly do we hope +that never again shall Americans lift against Americans the avenging +hand in such a strife! Here at a little court-house, twenty-five miles +east of Lynchburg, on the ninth of April, 1865, the great tragedy of +our civil war was brought to a happy end. Here General Robert E. Lee, +with the broken fragments of his Army of Northern Virginia, was +brought by the inexorable logic of war to the end of that career which +he had so bravely followed through four years of battle, much of which +had shown him to be one of the great commanders of the century. + +The story of the downfall of the Confederacy has been many times +repeated. It has entered into our literature, and is known by heart +wherever the history of the war is read. Generally, however, this +story has been told as if the narrator approached the event from the +Union side. We have the pursuit of General Lee from Petersburg +westward, almost to the spurs of the Alleghanies. We follow in the +wake. We see the unwearied efforts of the victorious host to close +around the retreating army which has so long been the bulwark of the +Confederacy. We hear the summons to surrender, and the answer of "_Not +yet_;" but within a day that answer is reversed, and the stern wills +of Lee and his fellow-commanders yield to the inexorable law of the +strongest. + +Only recently, however, the story has been told with great spirit from +the Confederate side, by General John B. Gordon, who was at that time +at the right hand of his commander-in-chief, and who stood by him to +the last hour. General Gordon's account of the final struggle of the +Confederate army and of the surrender is so graphic, so full of +spirit, so warmed with the animation and devotion of a great soldier, +that we here repeat his account of + +THE DEATH STRUGGLE. + +We always retreated in good order, though always under fire. As we +retreated we would wheel and fire, or repel a rush, and then stagger +on to the next hilltop, or vantage ground, where a new fight would be +made. And so on through the entire day. At night my men had no rest. +We marched through the night in order to get a little respite from +fighting. All night long I would see my poor fellows hobbling along, +prying wagons or artillery out of the mud, and supplementing the work +of our broken-down horses. At dawn, though, they would be in line +ready for battle, and they would fight with the steadiness and valor +of the Old Guard. + +This lasted until the night of the seventh of April. The retreat of +Lee's army was lit up with the fire and flash of battle, in which my +brave men moved about like demigods for five days and nights. Then we +were sent to the front for a rest, and Longstreet was ordered to cover +the retreating army. On the evening of the eighth, when I had reached +the front, my scout George brought me two men in Confederate uniform, +who, he said, he believed to be the enemy, as he had seen them +counting our men as they filed past. I had the men brought to my +campfire, and examined them. They made a plausible defence, but George +was positive they were spies, and I ordered them searched. He failed +to find anything, when I ordered him to examine their boots. In the +bottom of one of the boots I found an order from General Grant to +General Ord, telling him to move by forced marches toward Lynchburg +and cut off General Lee's retreat. The men then confessed that they +were spies, and belonged to General Sheridan. They stated that they +knew that the penalty of their course was death, but asked that I +should not kill them, as the war could only last a few days longer, +anyhow. I kept them prisoners, and turned them over to General +Sheridan after the surrender. I at once sent the information to +General Lee, and a short time afterward received orders to go to his +headquarters. That night was held Lee's last council of war. There +were present General Lee, General Fitzhugh Lee, as head of the +cavalry, and Pendleton, as chief of the artillery, and myself. General +Longstreet was, I think, too busily engaged to attend. + +General Lee then exhibited to us the correspondence he had had with +General Grant that day, and asked our opinion of the situation. It +seemed that surrender was inevitable. The only chance of escape was +that I could cut a way for the army through the lines in front of me. +General Lee asked me if I could do this. I replied that I did not know +what forces were in front of me; that if General Ord had not +arrived--as we thought then he had not--with his heavy masses of +infantry, I could cut through. I guaranteed that my men would cut a +way through all the cavalry that could be massed in front of them. +The council finally dissolved with the understanding that the army +should be surrendered if I discovered the next morning, after feeling +the enemy's line, that the infantry had arrived in such force that I +could not cut my way through. + +My men were drawn up in the little town of Appomattox that night. I +still had about four thousand men under me, as the army had been +divided into two commands and given to General Longstreet and myself. +Early on the morning of the ninth I prepared for the assault upon the +enemy's line, and began the last fighting done in Virginia. My men +rushed forward gamely and broke the line of the enemy and captured two +pieces of artillery. I was still unable to tell what I was fighting; I +did not know whether I was striking infantry or dismounted cavalry. I +only know that my men were driving them back, and were getting further +and further through. Just then I had a message from General Lee, +telling me a flag of truce was in existence, leaving it to my +discretion as to what course to pursue. My men were still pushing +their way on. I sent at once to hear from General Longstreet, feeling +that, if he was marching toward me, we might still cut through and +carry the army forward. I learned that he was about two miles off, +with his face just opposite from mine, fighting for his life. I thus +saw that the case was hopeless. The further each of us drove the enemy +the further we drifted apart, and the more exposed we left our wagon +trains and artillery, which were parked between us. Every line either +of us broke only opened the gap the wider. I saw plainly that the +Federals would soon rush in between us, and then there would have been +no army. I, therefore, determined to send a flag of truce. I called +Colonel Peyton of my staff to me, and told him that I wanted him to +carry a flag of truce forward. He replied: + +"General, I have no flag of truce." + +I told him to get one. He replied: + +"General, we have no flag of truce in our command." + +Then said I, "Get your handkerchief, put it on a stick, and go +forward." + +"I have no handkerchief, General," + +"Then borrow one and go forward with it." + +He tried, and reported to me that there was no handkerchief in my +staff. + +"Then, Colonel, use your shirt." + +"You see, General, that we all have on flannel shirts." + +At last, I believe, we found a man who had a white shirt. He gave it +to us, and I tore off the back and tail, and, tying this to a stick, +Colonel Peyton went out toward the enemy's lines. I instructed him +simply to say to General Sheridan that General Lee had written to me +that a flag of truce had been sent from his and Grant's headquarters, +and that he could act as he thought best on this information. In a few +moments he came back with some one representing General Sheridan. This +officer said: + +"General Sheridan requested me to present his compliments to you, and +to demand the unconditional surrender of your army." + +"Major, you will please return my compliments to General Sheridan, and +say that I will not surrender." + +"But, General, he will annihilate you." + +"I am perfectly well aware of my situation. I simply gave General +Sheridan some information on which he may or may not desire to act." + +He went back to his lines, and in a short time General Sheridan came +forward on an immense horse, and attended by a very large staff. Just +here an incident occurred that came near having a serious ending. As +General Sheridan was approaching I noticed one of my sharpshooters +drawing his rifle down upon him. I at once called to him: "Put down +your gun, sir; this is a flag of truce." But he simply settled it to +his shoulder and was drawing a bead on Sheridan, when I leaned forward +and jerked his gun. He struggled with me, but I finally raised it. I +then loosed it, and he started to aim again. I caught it again, when +he turned his stern, white face, all broken with grief and streaming +with tears, up to me, and said: "Well, General, then let him keep on +his own side." + +The fighting had continued up to this point. Indeed, after the flag of +truce, a regiment of my men, who had been fighting their way through +toward where we were, and who did not know of a flag of truce, fired +into some of Sheridan's cavalry. This was speedily stopped, however. I +showed General Sheridan General Lee's note, and he determined to await +events. He dismounted, and I did the same. Then, for the first time, +the men seemed to understand what it all meant, and then the poor +fellows broke down. The men cried like children. Worn, starved and +bleeding as they were, they would rather have died than have +surrendered. At one word from me they would have hurled themselves on +the enemy, and have cut their way through or have fallen to a man with +their guns in their hands. But I could not permit it. The great drama +had been played to its end. But men are seldom permitted to look upon +such a scene as the one presented here. That these men should have +wept at surrendering so unequal a fight, at being taken out of this +constant carnage and storm, at being sent back to their families; that +they should have wept at having their starved and wasted forms lifted +out of the jaws of death and placed once more before their +hearthstones, was an exhibition of fortitude and patriotism that might +set an example for all time. + + +SEDAN. + +BY VICTOR HUGO. + +The Second Empire of the French was pounded to powder in a bowl. This +is literal, not figurative. To attempt to describe Sedan after Victor +Hugo has described it for all mankind were a work futile and foolish. +To Hugo we concede the palm among all writers, ancient and modern, as +a delineator of battle. His description of the battle of Waterloo will +outlast the tumulus and the lion which French patriotism has reared on +the square where the last of the Old Guard perished. His description, +though not elaborate, is equally graphic and final. He was returning, +in September, 1871, from his fourth exile. He had been in Belgium in +banishment for about eighteen years. It is in the "History of a Crime" +that he tells the story. He says that he was re-entering France by the +Luxembourg frontier, and had fallen asleep in the coach. Suddenly the +jolt of the train coming to a standstill awoke him. One of the +passengers said: "What place is this?" Another answered "Sedan." With +a shudder, Hugo looked around. He says that to his mind and vision, as +he gazed out, the paradise was a tomb. Before substituting his words +for our own, we note only that nearly thirteen months had elapsed +since Louis Napoleon and his 90,000 men had here been brayed in a +mortar. Hugo's description of the scene and the event continues as +follows: + +The valley was circular and hollow, like the bottom of a crater; the +winding river resembled a serpent; the hills high, ranged one behind +the other, surrounded this mysterious spot like a triple line of +inexorable walls; once there, there is no means of exit. It reminded +me of the amphitheatres. An indescribable, disquieting vegetation, +which seemed to be an extension of the Black Forest, overran all the +heights, and lost itself in the horizon like a huge impenetrable +snare; the sun shone, the birds sang, carters passed by whistling; +sheep, lambs and pigeons were scattered about; leaves quivered and +rustled; the grass, a densely thick grass, was full of flowers. It was +appalling. + +I seemed to see waving over this valley the flashing of the avenging +angel's sword. + +This word "Sedan" had been like a veil abruptly torn aside. The +landscape had become suddenly filled with tragedy. Those shapeless +eyes which the bark of trees delineates on the trunks were gazing--at +what? At something terrible and lost to view. + +In truth, that was the place! And at the moment when I was passing by, +thirteen months all but a few days had elapsed. That was the place +where the monstrous enterprise of the second of December had burst +asunder. A fearful shipwreck! + +The gloomy pathways of Fate cannot be studied without profound anguish +of heart. + +On the thirty-first of August, 1870, an army was reassembled, and was, +as it were, massed together under the walls of Sedan, in a place +called the Givonne Valley. This army was a French army--twenty-nine +brigades, fifteen divisions, four army corps--90,000 men. This army +was in this place without anyone being able to divine the reason; +without order, without an object, scattered about--a species of heap +of men thrown down there as though with the view of being seized by +some huge hand. + +This army either did not entertain, or appeared not to entertain, for +the moment any immediate uneasiness. They knew, or at least they +thought they knew, that the enemy was a long way off. On calculating +the stages at four leagues daily, it was three days' march distant. +Nevertheless, toward evening the leaders took some wise strategic +precautions; they protected the army, which rested in the rear on +Sedan and the Meuse, by two battle fronts, one composed of the Seventh +Corps, and extending from Floing to Givonne, the other composed of the +Twelfth Corps, extending from Givonne to Bazeilles; a triangle of +which the Meuse formed the hypothenuse. The Twelfth Corps, formed of +the three divisions of Lacretelle, Lartigue and Wolff, ranged on the +right, with the artillery between the brigades, formed a veritable +barrier, having Bazeilles and Givonne at each end, and Digny in its +centre; the two divisions of Petit and Lheritier massed in the rear +upon two lines supported this barrier. General Lebrun commanded the +Twelfth Corps. The Seventh Corps, commanded by General Douay, only +possessed two divisions--Dumont's division and Gilbert's division--and +formed the other battle front, covering the army of Givonne to Floing +on the side of Illy; this battle front was comparatively weak, too +open on the side of Givonne, and only protected on the side of the +Meuse by two cavalry divisions of Margueritte and Bonnemains, and by +Guyomar's brigade, resting in squares on Floing. Within this triangle +were encamped the Fifth Corps, commanded by General Wimpfen, and the +First Corps, commanded by General Ducrot. Michel's cavalry division +covered the First Corps on the side of Digny; the Fifth supported +itself upon Sedan. Four divisions, each disposed upon two lines--the +divisions of Lheritier, Grandchamp, Goze and Conseil-Dumenil--formed a +sort of horseshoe, turned toward Sedan, and uniting the first battle +front with the second. The cavalry division of Ameil and the brigade +of Fontanges served as a reserve for these four divisions. The whole +of the artillery was upon the two battle fronts. Two portions of the +army were in confusion, one to the right of Sedan beyond Balan, the +other to the left of Sedan, on this side of Iges. Beyond Balan were +the division of Vassoigne and the brigade of Reboul, on this side of +Iges were the two cavalry divisions of Margueritte and Bonnemains. + +These arrangements indicated a profound feeling of security. In the +first place, the Emperor Napoleon III. would not have come there if he +had not been perfectly tranquil. This Givonne Valley is what Napoleon +I. called a "wash-hand basin." There could not have been a more +complete enclosure. An army is so much at home there that it is too +much so; it runs the risk of no longer being able to get out. This +disquieted some brave and prudent leaders, such as Wimpfen, but they +were not listened to. If absolutely necessary, said the people of the +imperial circle, they could always be sure of being able to reach +Mezieres, and at the worst the Belgian frontier. Was it, however, +needful to provide for such extreme eventualities? In certain cases +foresight is almost an offence. They were all of one mind, therefore, +to be at their ease. + +If they had been uneasy they would have cut the bridges of the Meuse, +but they did not even think of it. To what purpose? The enemy was a +long way off. The Emperor, who evidently was well informed, affirmed +it. + +The army bivouacked somewhat in confusion, as we have said, and slept +peaceably throughout this night of August 31, having, whatever might +happen, or believing that they had, the retreat upon Mezieres open +behind it. They disdained to take the most ordinary precautions, they +made no cavalry reconnoissances, they did not even place outposts. A +German military writer has stated this. Fourteen leagues at least +separated them from the German army, three days' march; they did not +exactly know where it was; they believed it scattered, possessing +little unity, badly informed, led somewhat at random upon several +points at once, incapable of a movement converging upon one single +point, like Sedan; they believed that the Crown Prince of Saxony was +marching on Chalons, and that the Crown Prince of Prussia was marching +on Metz; they were ignorant of everything appertaining to this army, +its leaders, its plan, its armament, its effective force. Was it still +following the strategy of Gustavus Adolphus? Was it still following +the tactics of Frederick II.? No one knew. They felt sure of being at +Berlin in a few weeks. What nonsense! The Prussian army! They talked +of this war as of a dream, and of this army as of a phantom.... + +The masterful description of the great novelist and poet then +continues in a narrative of the attack and catastrophe: + +Bazeilles takes fire, Givonne takes fire, Floing takes fire; the +battle begins with a furnace. The whole horizon is aflame. The French +camp is in this crater, stupefied, affrighted, starting up from +sleeping--a funereal swarming. A circle of thunder surrounds the army. +They are encircled by annihilation. This mighty slaughter is carried +on on all sides simultaneously. The French resist and they are +terrible, having nothing left but despair. Our cannon, almost all +old-fashioned and of short range, are at once dismounted by the +fearful and exact aim of the Prussians. The density of the rain of +shells upon the valley is so great that "the earth is completely +furrowed," says an eye-witness, "as though by a rake." How many +cannon? Eleven hundred at least. Twelve German batteries upon La +Moncelle alone; the Third and Fourth _Abtheilung_, an awe-striking +artillery, upon the crests of Givonne, with the Second Horse Battery +in reserve; opposite Digny ten Saxon and two Wurtemburg batteries; the +curtain of trees of the wood to the north of Villers-Cernay masks the +mounted _Abtheilung_, which is there with the third Heavy Artillery in +reserve, and from the gloomy copse issues a formidable fire; the +twenty-four pieces of the First Heavy Artillery are ranged in the +glade skirting the road from La Moncelle to La Chapelle; the battery +of the Royal Guard sets fire to the Garenne Wood; the shells and the +balls riddle Suchy, Francheval, Fouro-Saint-Remy, and the valley +between Heibes and Givonne; and the third and fourth rank of cannon +extend without break of continuity as far as the Calvary of Illy, the +extreme point of the horizon. The German soldiers, seated or lying +before the batteries, watch the artillery at work. The French soldiers +fall and die. Amongst the bodies which cover the plain there is one, +the body of an officer, on which they will find, after the battle, a +sealed note containing this order, signed Napoleon: "To-day, September +1, rest for the whole army." + +The gallant Thirty-fifth of the Line almost entirely disappears under +the overwhelming shower of shells; the brave Marine Infantry holds at +bay for a moment the Saxons, joined by the Bavarians, but outflanked +on every side draws back; all the admirable cavalry of the +Margueritte division hurled against the German infantry halts and +sinks down midway, "annihilated," says the Prussian report, "by +well-aimed and cool firing." This field of carnage has three outlets, +all three barred: the Bouillon road by the Prussian Guard, the +Carignan road by the Bavarians, the Mezieres road by the +Wurtemburgers. The French have not thought of barricading the railway +viaduct; three German battalions have occupied it during the night. +Two isolated houses on the Balan road could be made the pivot of a +long resistance, but the Germans are there. The wood from Monvilliers +to Bazeilles, but the French have been forestalled; they find the +Bavarians cutting the underwood with their billhooks. The German army +moves in one piece, in one absolute unity; the Crown Prince of Saxony +is on the height of Mairy, whence he surveys the whole action; the +command oscillates in the French army; at the beginning of the battle, +at a quarter to six, MacMahon is wounded by the bursting of a shell; +at seven o'clock Ducrot replaces him; at ten o'clock Wimpfen replaces +Ducrot. Every instant the wall of fire is drawing closer in, the roll +of the thunder is continuous, a dismal pulverization of 90,000 men! +Never before has anything equal to this been seen; never before has an +army been overwhelmed beneath such a downpour of lead and iron! At +one o'clock all is lost! The regiments fly helter-skelter into Sedan! +But Sedan begins to burn, Dijonval burns, the ambulances burn, there +is nothing now possible but to cut their way out. Wimpfen, brave and +resolute, proposes this to the Emperor. The Third Zouaves, desperate, +have set the example. Cut off from the rest of the army, they have +forced a passage and have reached Belgium. A flight of lions! + +Suddenly, above the disaster, above the huge pile of dead and dying, +above all this unfortunate heroism, appears disgrace. The white flag +is hoisted. + + +BAZAINE AND METZ. + +A letter of Count Von Moltke has recently been published, showing that +the question of the conquest of France was under consideration by the +Count and Bismarck as early as August of 1866. It is demonstrated that +these two powerful spirits were already preparing, aye, had already +prepared, to trip the Emperor Louis Napoleon, throwing him and his +Empire into a common ruin. The letter also proves that the plan of the +North-German Confederation, under the leadership of Prussia, with +German unity and a German Empire just beyond, was already clearly in +mind by the far-sighted leaders who surrounded King William in 1866. +Count Von Moltke shows that it was possible and practicable _at that +date_, and within a period of two or three weeks, to throw upon the +French border so tremendous an army that resistance would be +impossible. The antecedents of the Franco-Prussian War had been +clearly thought out by the German masters at a time when Louis +Napoleon was still tinkering with his quixotical Empire in Mexico. + +When the war between France and Germany actually broke out, four years +later. Germany was prepared, and France was unprepared for the +conflict. Louis Napoleon did not know that Germany was prepared. He +actually thought that he could break into the German borders, fight +his way victoriously to the capital, make his headquarters in Berlin, +and dictate a peace in the manner of his uncle. It was the most +fallacious dream that a really astute man ever indulged in. From the +first day of actual contact with the Germans, the dream of the Emperor +began to be dissipated. Within five days (August 14-18, 1870,) three +murderous battles were fought on French soil, the first at Courcelles, +the next at Vionville, and the third at Gravelotte. In all of these +the French fought bravely, and in all were defeated disastrously, +with tremendous losses. + +By these great victories, the Germans were able to separate the two +divisions of the French army. The northern division, under command of +the Emperor and MacMahon, began to recede toward Sedan, while the more +powerful army, under Marshal Bazaine, numbering 173,000 men, was +forced somewhat to the south, and pressed by the division of Prince +Frederick Charles, until the French, in an evil day, entered the +fortified town of Metz, and suffered themselves to be helplessly +cooped up. There was perhaps never another great army so safely and +hopelessly disposed of! + +Metz, after Antwerp, is the strongest fortress in Europe. It is +situated at the junction of the rivers Seille and Moselle. It is the +capital of the province of Lorraine, destined to be lost by France and +gained by Germany in the struggle that was now on. The place was of +great historical importance. Here the Roman invaders had established +themselves in the time of the conquest of Gaul. It was called by the +conquerors, first Mediomatrica, and afterward Divodurum. Its +importance, on the very crest of the watershed between the Teutonic +and Gallic races, was noted in the early years of our era, and to the +present day that importance continues for the same reason as of old. +Metz is on the line of a conflict of races which has not yet, after so +many centuries, been finally decided. + +The position is one of great strategic importance. But such were the +military conditions at the end of August, 1870, that to occupy Metz +with one of the greatest armies of modern times was the most serious +disaster that could befall the French cause. Bazaine's army was +needed, not in a fortified town, but _in the field_. It was a +tremendous force. The army that Prince Frederick Charles locked up in +Metz could have marched from Parthia to Spain against the resistance +of the whole Roman Empire, at the high noon of that imperial power! It +could have marched from end to end of the Southern Confederacy in the +palmiest day of that Confederacy, and could not have been seriously +impeded! And yet this tremendous force was pent up and shut in, as if +under seal, while King William and the Crown Prince and Bismarck and +Von Moltke hunted down the French Emperor and his remaining forces, +brought them to bay, and compelled a surrender. + +This was accomplished by the first of September. The Empire of +Napoleon went to pieces. The Third Republic was instituted. The +Empress fled with the Prince Imperial to England, while her humbled +lord was established by his captors at the castle of Wilhelmshohe. +Republican France found herself in possession of a political chaos +which could hardly be stilled. She also found herself in possession of +a splendid army of more than one hundred and seventy thousand men shut +up helplessly in Metz. The situation was highly dramatic. The Republic +said that Bazaine should break out, but the Marshal said that he could +not. What he said was true. The Germans held him fast. But the +Republic believed, as it still believes, that Bazaine, loyal to the +fallen Emperor rather than to his country, wished to handle his army +in such a manner as should compel the restoration of the Empire, under +the auspices of the German conquerors. + +This idea was hateful above all things to the French Republicans. +September wore away, and more than half of October; but still the +siege of Metz was not concluded. Vainly did the new Republic of France +strive to extricate herself. Vainly did she raise new armies. Vainly +did she look for the escape of Bazaine. Finally, on the twenty-seventh +of October, that commander surrendered Metz and his army to the +Germans. It was the most tremendous capitulation known in history. +Never before was so powerful an army surrendered to an enemy. The +actual number of French soldiers covered by the capitulation was +fully one hundred and seventy thousand! The prostration of France was +complete, and her humiliation extreme. + +Bazaine became the Black Beast of the public imagination. A tribunal +was organized at Paris, under the presidency of the Duc d'Aumale, son +of Louis Philippe--the same who with the Prince de Joinville had been +on McClellan's staff during the peninsular campaign in our Civil War. +Before this court Bazaine was haled as a traitor to his country. He +was tried, convicted and condemned to degradation and death. It was +only by the most strenuous efforts in his behalf that a commutation of +the sentence to imprisonment for twenty years was obtained. + +The Marshal was accordingly incarcerated in a prison at Cannes, +whither he was sent in December of 1873, and from which he effected +his escape in the following August. He succeeded in making his way to +Madrid, and took up his residence there. He sought assiduously by +writings and argument and appeal to reverse the judgment of his +countrymen and of the world with regard to the justice of his +sentence; but he could not succeed. It is probably true that the +greatest surrender of military forces known in the history of the +world was brought about by the preference of the commanding general of +the conquered army for an Emperor who was already dethroned, as +against a true devotion to his country. There was also in the case a +measure of incapacity. Bazaine was no match as a military commander +for the powerful genius of Von Moltke and the persistency of Frederick +Charles and the more than two hundred thousand resolute Germans who +surrounded him, and brought him and his army to irretrievable ruin. + + + + +Astronomical Vistas. + + +THE CENTURY OF ASTEROIDS. + +The nineteenth century may be called the Age of the Asteroids. It was +on _the first night_ of this century that the first asteroid was +discovered! Through all the former ages, no man on the earth had had +definite knowledge of the existence of such a body. It was reserved +for Guiseppe Piazzi, an Italian astronomer at Palermo, to make known +by actual observation the first member of the planetoid group. If +human history had the slightest regard for the calendars of +mankind--if the eternal verities depended in any measure on the +almanac or the division of time into this age or that--we might look +with wonder on the remarkable coincidence which made the discovery of +the first asteroid to happen in the first evening twilight of the +first day of the nineteenth century! + +At the close of the eighteenth century, mankind were acquainted with +all the major planets except Neptune. Uranus, the last of the group, +was discovered by the Elder Herschel, on the night of the thirteenth +of March, 1781. True, this planet had been seen on twenty different +occasions, by other observers; but its character had not been +revealed. Sir William called his new world Georgium Sidus, that is, +the George Star, in honor of the King of England. The world, however, +had too much intelligence to allow the transfer of the name of George +III. from earth to heaven. Such nomenclature would have been unpopular +in America! The name of the king was happily destined to remain a part +of terrestrial history! + +For a while it was insisted by astronomers and the world at large that +the new globe, then supposed to bound the solar system on its outer +circumference, should be called Herschel, in honor of its discoverer. +But the old system of naming the planets after the deities of +classical and pagan mythology prevailed; and to the names of Mercury, +Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, was now added the name Uranus, that is, +in the language of the Greeks, _Heaven_. + +Piazzi, scanning the zodiac from his observatory in Palermo, in the +early hours of that first night of the century, noticed a hitherto +unobserved star, which under higher power proved to be a planet. It +presented a small irregular disc, and a few additional observations +showed that it was progressing in the usual manner from west to east. +For some time such a revelation had been expected; but the result did +not answer to expectation in one particular; for the new body seemed +to be too insignificant to be called a world. It appeared rather to be +a great planetary boulder, as if our Mount Shasta had been wrenched +from the earth and flung into space. Investigation showed that the new +body was more than a hundred miles in diameter; but this, according to +planetary estimation, is only the measurement of a clod. + +There had been, as we say, expectation of a discovery in the region +where the first asteroid was found. Kepler had declared his belief +that in this region of space a new world might be discovered. +Following this suggestion, the German astronomer Olbers, of Bremen, +had formed an association of twenty-four observers in different parts +of Europe, who should divide among themselves the zodiacal band, and +begin a system of independent scrutiny, either to verify or disprove +Kepler's hypothesis. + +There was another reason also of no small influence tending to the +same end. Johann Elert Bode, another German astronomer, born in 1747 +and living to 1826, had propounded a mathematical formula known as +Bode's Law, which led those who accepted it to the belief that a +planet would be found in what is now known as the asteroidal space. +Bode's Law, so-called, seems to be no real law of planetary +distribution; and yet the coincidences which are found under the +application of the law are such as to arouse our interest if not to +produce a conviction of the truth of the principle involved. Here, +then, is the mathematical formula, which is known as Bode's Law: + +Write from left to right a row of 4's and under these, beginning with +the second 4, place a geometrical series beginning with 3 and +increasing by the ratio of 2; add the two columns together, and we +have a series running 4, 7, 10, etc.; and this row of results has an +astonishing coincidence, or approximate coincidence with the relative +distances of the planets from the sun--thus: + + 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 + 3 6 12 24 48 96 192 384 + -- -- -- -- -- -- --- --- --- + 4 7 10 16 28 52 100 196 388 + +The near agreement of this row of results with the row containing the +_actual_ relative distances of the planets from the sun may well +astonish, not only the astronomer, but the common reader. Those +distances--making 10 to represent the distance of the earth--are as +follows: + +Mercury, 3.9; Venus, 7.2; Earth, 10; Mars, 15.2; Asteroids, 27.4; +Jupiter, 52; Saturn, 95.4; Uranus, 192; Neptune, 300. + +In addition to Kepler's prediction and the indications of Bode's Law, +there was a _general_ reason for thinking that a planetary body of +some kind should occupy the space between the orbits of Mars and +Jupiter. The mean distance of Mars from the sun is about 141,500,000 +miles; that of Jupiter, is about 483,000,000 miles. The distance from +one orbit to the other is therefore about 341,500,000 miles. Conceive +of an infinite sheet of tin. Mark thereon a centre for the sun. +Measure out a hundred and forty millions of miles, and with that +radius strike a circle. From the same centre measure out four hundred +and eighty-three millions of miles, and with that radius strike a +circle. Cut out the sheet between the two circles, and the vast space +left void will indicate the vacant area in the mighty disc of our +solar system. That this space should be occupied with _something_ +accords with the plan of nature and the skill of the Builder. + +So Olbers and his twenty-three associates began, in the last decade of +the eighteenth century, to search diligently for the verification of +Kepler's prediction and the fulfillment of Bode's Law. Oddly enough, +Piazzi was not one of the twenty-four astronomers who had agreed to +find the new world. He was exploring the heavens on his own account, +and in doing so, he found what the others had failed to find, that is, +the first asteroid. + +The body discovered answered so little to the hopes of the +astronomical fraternity that they immediately said within themselves: +"This is not he; we seek another." So they continued the search, and +in a little more than a year Olbers himself was rewarded with the +discovery of the second of the planetoid group. On the twenty-eighth +of March, 1802, he made his discovery from an upper chamber of his +dwelling in Bremen, where he had his telescope. On the night in +question he was scanning the northern part of the constellation of +Virgo, when the sought-for object was found. This body, like the first +of its kind, was very small, and was found to be moving from west to +east in nearly the same orbit as its predecessor. + +Here then was something wonderful. Olbers at once advanced the +hypothesis that probably the two bodies thus discovered were fragments +of what had been a large planet moving in its orbit through this part +of the heavens. If so there might be--and probably were--others of +like kind. The search was at once renewed, and on the night of the +first of September, 1804, the third of the asteroid group was found by +the astronomer Hardy, of Bremen. The belief that a large planet had +been disrupted in this region was strengthened, and astronomers +continued their exploration; but two years and a half elapsed before +another asteroid was found. On the evening of March 29, 1807, the +diligence of Olbers was rewarded with the discovery of the fourth of +the group, which like its predecessors, was so small and irregular in +character as still further to favor the fragmentary theory. + +How shall we name the asteroids? Piazzi fell back upon pagan mythology +for the name of his little world, and called it Ceres, from the Roman +goddess of corn. Olbers named the second asteroid Pallas; the third +was called Juno--whose rank in the Greek and Roman pantheon might have +suggested one of the major planets as her representative in the skies; +and the fourth was called Vesta, from the Roman divinity of the +hearthstone. + +Here then there was a pause. Though the zodiac continued to be swept +by many observers, a period of more than thirty-eight years went by +before the fifth asteroid was found. The cycle of these discoveries +strikingly illustrates the general movement of scientific progress. +First there is a new departure; then a lull, and then a resumption of +exploration and a finding more fertile than ever. It was on the night +of the eighth of December, 1845, that the German astronomer Hencke +discovered the fifth asteroid and named it Astraea. After a year and a +half, namely, on the night of the first of July, 1847, the same +observer discovered the sixth member of the group, and to this was +given the name Hebe. On the thirteenth of August in the same year the +astronomer Hind found the seventh asteroid, and named it Iris. On the +eighteenth of October following he found the eighth, and this was +called Flora. Then on the twenty-fifth of April, 1848, came the +discovery of Metis, by Graham. Nearly a year later the Italian De +Gasparis found the tenth member of the system, that is, Hygeia. De +Gasparis soon discovered the eleventh body, which was called +Parthenope. This was on the eleventh of May, 1850. + +Two other asteroids were found in this year; and two in 1851. In the +following year _nine_ were discovered; and so on from year to year +down to the present date. Some years have been fruitful in such finds, +while others have been comparatively barren. In a number of the years, +only a single asteroid has been added to the list; but in others whole +groups have been found. Thus in 1861 twelve were discovered; in 1868, +twelve; in 1875, _seventeen_; in 1890, fourteen. Not a single year +since 1846 has passed without the addition of at least one known +asteroid to the list. + +But while the number has thus increased to an aggregate at the close +of 1890 of three hundred and one, many of the tiny wanderers have +escaped. Some have been rediscovered; and it is possible that some +have been twice or even three times found and named. The whole family +perhaps numbers not only hundreds, but thousands; and it can hardly be +doubted that only the more conspicuous members of the group have ever +yet been seen by mortal eye. + +A considerable space about the centre of the planetary zone between +Mars and Jupiter is occupied with these multitudinous pigmy worlds +that follow the one the other in endless flight around the sun. It is +a sort of planetary shower; and it can hardly be doubted that the +bodies constituting the flight are graded down in size from larger to +smaller and still smaller until the fragments are mere blocks and bits +of world-dust floating in space. Possibly there may be enough of such +matter to constitute a sort of planetary band that may illumine a +little (as seen from a distance) the zone where it circulates. + +As to the origin of this seemingly fragmentary matter, we know +nothing, and conjectures are of little use in scientific exposition. +It may be true that a large planet once occupied the asteroidal space, +and that the same has been rent by some violence into thousands of +fragments. It may be observed that the period of rotation of the +inferior planets corresponds in general with that of our earth, while +the corresponding period of the superior or outside planets is less +than one-half as great. The forces which produced this difference in +the period of rotation may have contended for the mastery in that part +of our solar system where the asteroids are found; and the disruption +may have resulted from such conflict of forces. + +Or again, it may be that a large planet is now in process of formation +in the asteroidal space. Possibly one of the greater fragments may +gain in mass by attracting to itself the nearer fragments, and thus +continue to wax until it shall have swept clean the whole pathway of +the planetary matter, except such small fragments as may after aeons of +time continue to fall upon the master body, as our meteorites now at +intervals rush into our atmosphere and sometimes reach the earth. + +Some astronomers have given and are still giving their almost +undivided attention to asteroidal investigation. The discoveries have +been mostly made by a few principal explorers. The astronomer, Palisa, +from the observatory of Pola and that of Vienna, has found no fewer +than seventy-five of the whole group. The observer, Peters, at +Clinton, New York, has found forty-eight asteroids; Luther, of +Duesseldorf, twenty-four; Watson, of Ann Arbor, twenty-two; Borrelly, +of Marseilles, fifteen; Goldschmidt, of Paris, fourteen, and Charlois, +of Nice, fourteen. The English astronomers have found only a few. +Among such, Hind of London, who has-discovered ten asteroids, is the +leader. + +The Italian, German and American astronomers are first in the interest +and success which they have shown in this branch of sky-lore. Their +investigations have made us acquainted with the dim group of little +worlds performing their unknown part in the vast space between the +Warrior planet and Jove. + + +THE STORY OF NEPTUNE. + +The discovery of the planet Neptune by Dr. Galle on the twenty-third +of September, 1846, was one of the most important events in the +intellectual history of this century. Certainly it was no small thing +to find a new world. Discoverers on the surface of our globe are +immortalized by finding new lands in unknown regions. What, therefore, +should be the fame of him who finds a new world in the depths of +space? Perhaps the discoverer of an asteroid or planetary moon may +not claim, in the present advanced stage of human knowledge, to rank +among the flying evangels of history; but he who found the great +planet third in rank among the worlds of the solar system, a world +having a mass nearly seventeen times as great as that of our own, may +well be regarded as one of the immortals. + +We have referred the discovery of Neptune to Dr. Johann Gottfried +Galle, the German astronomer and Professor of Natural Sciences at +Berlin. But this Dr. Galle was only the _eye_ with which the discovery +was made. He was a good eye; but the eye, however clear, is only an +organ of something greater than the eye, and that something in this +case consisted of two parts. The first part was Urbain Jean Joseph +Leverrier, the French astronomer, of the Paris Observatory. The other +part was Professor John Couch Adams, the astronomer of the University +at Cambridge, England. These two were the thinkers; that is, they +were, as it were, jointly the great mind of the age, of which Galle +was the eye. + +In getting a clear notion of the discovery of Neptune, several other +personages are to be considered. One of these is the astronomer Alexis +Bouvart, of France, who was born in Haute Savoie, in 1767, and died +in June of 1843, three years before Neptune was found. Another +personage was his nephew, the astronomer E. Bouvart, and a third was +the noted Prussian, Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel, Director of the +Observatory at Koenigsberg, who was born in 1784, and died on the +seventeenth of March, 1846, only six months before the discovery of +our outer planet. + +Still another character to be commemorated is the English astronomer +Professor James Challis, Plumian Professor and Director of the +Observatory at Cambridge, England. This contributor to the great event +was born in 1803, and died at Cambridge on the third of December, +1882. Still another, not to be disregarded, is Dr. T.J. Hussey, of +Hayes, England, whose mind seems to have been one of the first to +anticipate the existence of an ultra-Uranian planet. And still again, +the English astronomer royal, Sir G.B. Airy must be mentioned as a +contributor to the final result; but he is to be regarded rather as a +contributor by negation. The great actors in the thing done were +Leverrier, Adams and Galle. English authors contend strongly for +placing the names in this order: Adams, Leverrier and Galle. + +Suffice it to say that when Uranus was discovered by the elder +Herschel in 1781, that world was supposed to be the outside planet of +our system. Hitherto the splendid Saturn had marked the uttermost +excursion of astronomical knowledge as it respected our solar group. +For about a quarter of a century after Herschel's discovery the world +rested upon it as a finality. The orbit of Uranus was thought to +circumscribe the whole. But in the meantime, observations of this +orbit led to the knowledge that it did not conform in all respects to +astronomical and mathematical conditions. The orbit showed +irregularities, disturbances, perturbations, that could not be +accounted for when all of the known mathematical calculations were +applied thereto. Uranus was seen to get out of his path. At times he +would lag a little, and then at other times appear to be accelerated. +Each year, when the earth would swing around on the Uranian side of +the sun, the observations were renewed, but always with the result +that the planet did not seem to conform perfectly to the conditions of +his orbit. What could be the cause of this seeming disregard of +mathematical laws? + +Astronomers could not accept the supposition that there was any actual +violation of the known conditions of gravitation. Certainly Uranus was +following his orbit under the centripetal and centrifugal laws in the +same manner as the other planets. There must, therefore, be some +undiscovered disturbing cause. It had already been noted that in the +case of the infra-Uranian planets they were swayed somewhat from their +paths by the mutual influence of one upon the other. This was +noticeable in particular in the movements of Jupiter, Saturn and +Uranus. When Saturn, for instance, would be on the same side of the +sun with Jupiter, it might be noted that the latter was drawn outward +and the former inward from their prescribed curves. The perturbation +was greatest when the planets were nearest, together. In like manner +Uranus did obeisance to both his huge neighbors on the sun's side of +his orbit. He, too, veered toward them as he passed, and they in turn +recognized the courtesy by going out of their orbits as they passed. +What, therefore, should be said of the outswinging movement of Uranus +from his orbit in that part of his course where no disturbing +influence was known to exist? Certainly _something_ must be in that +quarter of space to occasion the perturbation. What was it? + +It would appear that the elder Bouvart, the French astronomer referred +to above, was the first to suggest that the disturbances in the orbit +of Uranus, throwing that planet from his pathway outward, might be and +probably were to be explained by the presence in outer space of an +unknown ultra-Uranian planet. Bouvart prepared tables to show the +perturbations in question, and declared his opinion that they were +caused by an unknown planet beyond. No observer, however, undertook to +verify this suggestion or to disprove it. Nor did Bouvart go so far as +to indicate the particular part of the heavens which should be +explored in order to find the undiscovered world. His tables, however, +do show from the perturbations of the orbits of Jupiter, Saturn and +Uranus that the same are caused by the mutual influence of the planets +upon one another. + +It seems to have remained for Dr. T.J. Hussey, of Hayes, England, to +suggest the actual discovery of the unknown planet by following the +clew of the disturbance produced by its presence in a certain field of +space. Dr. Hussey, in 1834, wrote to Sir George Biddell Airy, +astronomer royal at Greenwich, suggesting that the perturbation of the +orbit of Uranus might be used as the clew for the discovery of the +planet beyond. But Sir George was one of those safe, conservative +scholars who scorn to follow the suggestions of genius, preferring +rather to explore only what is known already. He said in answer that +he doubted if the irregularity in the Uranian orbit was in such a +state of demonstration as to give any hope of the discovery of the +disturbing cause. He doubted even that there was such irregularity in +the Uranian orbit. He was of opinion that the observers had been +mistaken in the alleged detection of perturbations. So the Greenwich +observatory was not used on the line of exploration suggested by +Hussey. + +Three years afterward, and again in 1842, Sir George received letters +from the younger Bouvart, again suggesting the possibility and +probability of discovering the ultra-Uranian planet. These hints were +strengthened by a letter from Bessel, of Koenigsberg. But Sir George B. +Airy refused to be led in the direction of so great a possibility. + +It was in 1844 that Professor James Challis, of the Cambridge +observatory, appealed to Sir George for the privilege of using or +examining the recorded observations made at Greenwich of the movements +of Uranus, saying that he wished these tables for a young friend of +his, Mr. John C. Adams, of Cambridge, who had but recently taken his +degree in mathematics. Adams was at that date only twenty-five years +of age. The royal astronomer granted the request, and for about a year +Adams was engaged in making his calculations. These were completed, +and in September of 1845, Challis informed Sir George Airy that +according to the calculations of Adams the perturbations of Uranus +were due to the influence of an unknown planet beyond. + +The young mathematician indicated in his conclusions at what point in +the heavens the ultra-Uranian world was then traveling, and where it +might be found. But even these mathematical demonstrations did not +suffice to influence Sir George in his opinions. He was an Englishman! +He refused or neglected to take the necessary steps either to verify +or to disprove the conclusions of Adams. He held in hand the +mathematical computations of that genius from October of 1845 to June +of the following year, when the astronomer Leverrier, of Paris, +published to the world his own tables of computation, proving that the +disturbances in the orbit of Uranus were due to the influence of a +planet beyond, and indicating the place where it might be found. There +was a close agreement between the point indicated by him and that +already designated by Adams. + +It seems that this French publication at last aroused Sir George Airy, +who now admitted that the calculations of Adams might be correct in +form and deduction. He accordingly sent word to Professor Challis to +begin a search for the unknown orb. The latter did begin the work of +exploration, and presently saw the planet. But he failed to recognize +it! There it was; but the observer passed it over as a fixed star. As +for Leverrier, he sent his calculations to Dr. Galle, of Berlin; and +that great observer began his search. On the night of the twenty-third +of September, 1846, he not only _saw_ but _caught_ the far-off world. +There it was, disc and all; and a few additional observations +confirmed the discovery. + +Hereupon Sir George Airy broke out with a claim that the discovery +belonged to Adams. He was able to show that Adams had anticipated +Leverrier by a few months in his calculations; but the French scholars +were able to carry the day by showing that Adams' work had been void +of results. The world went with the French claim. Adams was left to +enjoy the fame of merit among the learned classes, but the great +public fixed upon Leverrier as the genius who did the work, and Dr. +Galle as his eye. + +Several remarkable things followed in the train. It was soon +discovered that both Leverrier and Adams had been favored by chance in +indicating the field of space where Uranus was found. They had both +proceeded upon the principle expressed in Bode's Law. This law +indicated the place of Neptune as 38.8 times the distance of the earth +from the sun. A verification of the result showed that the new-found +planet was actually only thirty times as far as the earth from the +sun. In the case of all the other planets, their distances had been +remarkably co-incident with the results reached by Bode's Law; but +Uranus seemed to break that law, or at least to bend it to the point +of breaking--a result which has never to this day been explained. + +It chanced, however, that at the time when the predictions of +Leverrier and Adams were sent, the one sent to Galle and the other to +Challis, Uranus and the earth and the sun were in such relations that +the departure of the orbit of Uranus from the place indicated by +Bode's Law did not seriously displace the planet from the position +which it should theoretically occupy. Thus, after a little searching, +Challis found the new world, and knew it not; Galle found it and knew +it, and tethered it to the planetary system, making it fast in the +recorded knowledge of mankind. + +While Daniel O'Connell, the greatest Irishman of the present century, +despairing of the cause of his country, lay dying in Genoa, and while +Zachary Taylor, at the head of a handful of American soldiers was +cooping up the Mexican army in the old town of Monterey, a new world, +37,000 miles in diameter and seventeen times as great in mass as the +little world on which we dwell, was found slowly and sublimely making +its way around the well nigh inconceivable periphery of the solar +system! + + +EVOLUTION OF THE TELESCOPE. + +The development of telescopic power within the present century is one +of the most striking examples of intellectual progress and mastery in +the history of mankind. The first day of the century found us, not, +indeed, where we were left by Galileo and Copernicus in the knowledge +of the skies and in our ability to penetrate their depths, but it did +find us advanced by only moderate stages from the sky-lore of the +past. + +The after half of the eighteenth century presents a history of +astronomical investigation and deduction which confirmed and amplified +the preceding knowledge; but that period did not greatly widen the +field of observation. If the sphere of space which had been explored +on the first day of January, 1801, could be compared with that which +is now known and explored by our astronomers, the one sphere would be +to the other even as an apple to the earth. + +It is difficult to apprehend the tremendous strides which we have made +in the production of telescopes and the consequent increase in our +sweep of the heavens. It was only in 1774 that the elder Herschel +began his work in the construction of reflecting telescopes. These he +gradually increased in size, until near the close of the century, when +he produced an instrument which magnified two hundred and twenty-seven +diameters. In the course of his career he built two hundred +telescopes, having a seven-foot focus; 150 of ten feet and about +eighty of twenty feet each. + +With these instruments the astronomical work in the last quarter of +the eighteenth century was mostly performed. The study of the heavens +at this epoch began to reach out from the planetary system to the +fixed stars. In this work Herschel led the way. The planet Uranus at +first bore the name of Herschel, from its discoverer. Sir John +Herschel, son of Sir William, was born in 1792. All of his +astronomical work was accomplished in our century. Following the line +of his father, he used the reflecting telescope, and it was an +instrument of this kind that he took to his observatory at the Cape of +Good Hope. Lord Rosse was born in the year 1800. Under his auspices +the reflecting telescope reached its maximum of power and usefulness. +His great reflector, built in his own grounds at Birr Castle, Ireland, +was finished in 1844. This instrument was the marvel of that epoch. It +had a focal distance of fifty-three feet, and an aperture of six feet. +With this great telescope its master reached out into the region of +the nebulae, and began the real work of exploring the sidereal heavens. + +In the reflecting telescope, however, there are necessary limitations. +Before the middle of this century, it was known that the future of +astronomy depended upon the refracting lens, and not on the speculum. +The latter, in the hands of the two Herschels and Rosse, had reached +its utmost limits--as is shown by the fact that to this day the Rosse +telescope is the largest of its kind in the world. + +Meanwhile the production of refracting telescopes made but slow +progress. As late as 1836 the largest instrument of this kind in the +world was the eleven-inch telescope of the observatory at Munich. The +next in importance was a nine and a half-inch instrument at Dorpat, in +Russia. This was the telescope through which the astronomer Struve +made his earlier studies and discoveries. His field of observation was +for the most part the fixed and double stars. At this time the largest +instrument in the United States was the five-inch refractor of Yale +College. Soon afterward, namely, in 1840, the observatory at +Philadelphia was supplied with a six-inch refracting telescope from +Munich. + +German makers were now in the lead, and it was not long until a Munich +instrument having a lens of eleven inches diameter was imported for +the Mitchell Observatory on Mount Adams, overlooking Cincinnati. About +the same time a similar instrument of nine and a half inches aperture +was imported for the National Observatory at Washington. To this +period also belongs the construction of the Cambridge Observatory, +with its fifteen-inch refracting telescope. Another of the same size +was produced for the Royal Observatory at Pulkova, Russia. This was in +1839; and that instrument and the telescope at Cambridge were then the +largest of their kind in the world. + +The history of the telescope-making in America properly begins with +Alvan Clark, Sr., of Cambridgeport, Massachusetts. It was in 1846 that +he produced his first telescope. Of this he made the lens, and such +was the excellence of his work that he soon became famous, to the +degree that the importation of foreign telescopes virtually ceased in +the United States. Nor was it long until foreign orders began to +arrive for the refracting lenses of Alvan Clark & Sons. The fame of +this firm went out through all the world, and by the beginning of the +last quarter of the century the Clark instruments were regarded as the +finest ever produced. + +We cannot here refer to more than a few of the principal products of +Clark & Sons. Gradually they extended the width of their lenses, +gaining with each increase of diameter a rapidly increasing power of +penetration. At last they produced for the Royal Observatory of +Pulkova a twenty-seven-inch objective, which was, down to the early +eighties, the master work of its kind in the world. It was in the +grinding and polishing of their lenses that the Clarks surpassed all +men. In the production of the glass castings for the lenses, the +French have remained the masters. At the glass foundry of Mantois, of +Paris, the finest and largest discs ever produced in the world are +cast. But after the castings are made they are sent to America, to be +made into those wonderful objectives which constitute the glory of the +apparatus upon which the New Astronomy relies for its achievements. + +It was in the year 1887 that the Lick Observatory on Mount Hamilton, +of the Coast Range in Southern California, was completed. The lens of +this instrument is thirty-six inches in diameter. Nor will the reader +without reflection readily realize the enormous stride which was made +in telescopy when the makers advanced from the twenty-seven-inch to +the thirty-six-inch objective. Lenses are to each other in their power +of collecting light and penetrating apace as the squares of their +diameters, and in the extent of space explored as the cubes of their +diameters. + +The objective of the Pulkova instrument is to that of the Lick +Observatory as 3 is to 4. The squares are as 9 is to 16, and the cubes +are as 27 is to 64. This signifies that the depth of space penetrated +by the Lick instrument is to that of its predecessor as 16 is to 9, +and that the astronomical sphere resolved by the former is to the +sphere resolved by the latter as 64 is to 27--that is, the Lick +instrument at one bound revealed a universe _more than twice as great_ +as all that was known before! The human mind at this one bound found +opportunity to explore and to know a sidereal sphere more than twice +as extensive as had ever been previously penetrated by the gaze of +man. + +Nor is this all. The ambition of American astronomers and American +philanthropists has not been content with even the prodigious +achievement of the Lick telescope. In recent years an observatory has +been projected in connection with the University of Chicago, which has +come almost to completion, and which will bear by far the largest +telescopic instrument in the world. The site selected for the +observatory is seventy-five miles from the city, on the northern shore +of Lake Geneva. There is a high ground here, rising sufficiently into +a clear atmosphere, nearly two hundred feet above the level of the +lake. + +The observatory and the great telescope which constitutes its central +fact are to bear the name of the donor, Mr. Yerkes, of Chicago, who +has contributed the means for rearing this magnificent adjunct of the +University. The enterprise contemplated from the first the +construction of the most powerful telescope ever known. The +manufacture of the objective, upon which everything depends, was +assigned to Mr. Alvan G. Clark, of Cambridgeport, Massachusetts, who +is the only living representative of the old firm of Alvan Clark & +Sons. + +Alvan G. Clark has inherited much of the genius of his father, though +it is said that in making the lens of the Lick Observatory the father +had to be called from his retirement to superintend personally some of +the more delicate parts of the finishing before which task his sons +had quailed. But the younger Clark readily agreed to make the Geneva +lens, under the order of Yerkes, and to produce a perfect objective +_forty inches in diameter_! This important work, so critical--almost +impossible--has been successfully accomplished. + +The making and the mounting of the Yerkes telescope have been assigned +to Warner & Swasey, of Cleveland, Ohio, who are recognized as the best +telescope builders in America. The great observatory is approaching +completion. The instrument itself has been finished, examined, +accepted by a committee of experts, and declared to fulfill all of the +conditions of the agreement between the founder and the makers. Thus, +just north of the boundary line between Illinois and Wisconsin, the +greatest telescope of the world has been lifted to its dome and +pointed to the heavens. + +The formal opening of the observatory is promised for the summer +months of 1896. The human mind by this agency has made another stride +into the depths of infinite space. Another universe is presently to be +penetrated and revealed. A hollow sphere of space outside of the +sphere already known is to be added to the already unthinkable +universe which we inhabit. Every part of the immense observatory and +of the telescope is of American production, with the single important +exception of the cast glass disc from which the two principal lenses, +the one double convex and the other plano-concave, are produced. These +were cast by Mantois, of Paris, whose superiority to the American +manufacturers of optical glass is recognized. + +It is estimated that the Yerkes telescope will gather three times as +much light as the twenty-three-inch instrument of the Princeton +Observatory. It surpasses in the same respect the twenty-six-inch +telescope at the National Observatory in the ratio of two and +three-eighths to one. It is in the same particular one and four-fifth +times as powerful as the instrument of the Royal Russian Observatory +at Pulkova; and it surpasses the great Lick instrument by twenty-three +per cent. + +What the practical results of the study of the skies through this +monster instrument will be none may predict. Theoretically it is +capable of bringing the moon to an apparent distance of sixty miles. +Under favorable circumstances the observer will be able to note the +characteristics of the lunar landscape with more distinctness than a +good natural eye can discern the outlines and character of the summit +of Pike's Peak from Denver. The instrument has sufficient power to +reveal on the lunar disc any object five hundred feet square. Such a +thing as a village or even a great single building would be plainly +discernible. + +Professor C.A. Young has recently pointed out the fact that the Yerkes +telescope, if it meets expectation, will show on the moon's surface +with much distinctness any such object as the Capitol at Washington. +It is complained that in America wealth is selfish and self-centred; +that the millionaire cares only for himself and the increase of his +already exorbitant estate. The ambition of such men as Lick of San +Jose and Yerkes of Chicago, seems to ameliorate the severe judgment of +mankind respecting the holders of the wealth of the world, and even to +transform them from their popular character of enemies and misers into +philanthropists and benefactors. + + +THE NEW ASTRONOMY. + +This century has been conspicuous above all centuries for new things. +Man has grown into new relations with both nature and thought. He has +interpreted nearly everything into new phraseology and new forms of +belief. The scientific world has been revolutionized. Nothing remains +in its old expression. Chemistry has been phrased anew. The laws of +heat, light and electricity have been either revised or discovered +wholly out of the unknown. The concept of universal nature has been so +translated and reborn that a philosopher coming again out of the +eighteenth century would fail to understand the thought and speech of +even the common man. + +In no other particular has the change been more marked than with +respect to the general theory of the planetary and stellar worlds. A +New Astronomy has come and taken the place of the old. The very +rudiments of the science have to be learned as it were in a new +language, and under the laws and theories of a new philosophy. Nature +is considered from other points of view, and the general course of +nature is conceived in a manner wholly different from the beliefs of +the past. + +In a preceding study we have explained the general notion of planetary +formation according to the views of the last century. The New +Astronomy presents another theory. Beginning with virtually the same +notion of the original condition of our world and sun cluster, the new +view departs widely as to the processes by which the planets were +formed, and extends much further with respect to the first condition +and ultimate destiny of our earth. The New Astronomy, like the old, +begins with a nebular hypothesis. It imagines the matter now composing +the solar group to have been originally dispersed through the space +occupied by our system, and to have been in a state of attenuation +under the influence of high heat. Out of this condition of diffusion +the solar system has been evolved. The idea is a creation by the +process of evolution; it is evolution applied to the planets. More +particularly, the hypothesis is that the worlds of our planetary +system grew into their present state through a series of stages and +slow developments extending over aeons of time. + +This is the notion of world-growth substituted for that of +world-production en masse by the action of centrifugal force and +discharge from the solar equator. The New Astronomy proposes in this +respect two points of remarkable difference from the view formerly +entertained. The first relates to the fixing of the planetary orbits, +and the other to the process by which the planets have reached their +present mass and character. The old theory would place a given world +in its pathway around the sun by a spiral flinging off from the +central body, and would allow that the aggregate mass of the globe so +produced was fixed once for all at the beginning. The new theory +supposes that a given planetary orbit, as for instance that of the +earth, was marked in the nebula of our system before the system +existed--that is, that our orbit had its place in the beginning just +as it has now; that the orbit was not determined by solar revolution +and centrifugal action, but that it was mathematically existent in the +nebular sheet out of which the solar system was produced. + +Other lines existed in the same sheet of matter. One of these lines or +pathways was destined for the orbit of Mercury; another for the orbit +of Venus. One was for the pathway of Mars; another for the belt of +the asteroids; another for Jupiter; another for Saturn, and still two +others, far off on the rim, for Uranus and Neptune. The theory +continues that such are the laws of matter that these orbital lines +_must_ exist in a disc of fire mist such as that out of which our +solar universe has been produced. The New Astronomy holds firmly to +the notion that the orbits of the planets are as much a part of the +system as the planets themselves, and that both orbit and planet exist +in virtue of the deep-down mathematical formulae on which the whole +material universe is constructed. + +Secondly, the New Astronomy differs from the old by a whole horizon in +the notion of world-production. About the middle of the century the +theory began to be advanced that the worlds _grew_ by accretion of +matter; that they grew in the very paths which they now occupy; that +they began to be with a small aggregation of matter rushing together +in the line or orbit which the coming planet was to pursue. The +planetary matter was already revolving in this orbit and in the +surrounding spaces. It was already floating along in a nebulous +superheated form capable of condensation by the loss of heat, but in +particular capable of growth and development by the fall of +surrounding matter upon the forming globe. We must remember that in +the primordial state the elements of a planet, as for instance our +earth, were mixed together and held in a state of tenuity ranging all +the way from solid to highly vaporized forms, and that these elements +subsequently and by slow adjustment got themselves into something +approximating their present state. + +The New Astronomy contemplates a period when each of the planets was a +germinal nucleus of matter around which other matter was precipitated, +thus producing a kind of world-growth or accretion. Thus, for +instance, our earth may be considered at a time when its entire mass +would not, according to our measurement, have weighed a hundred +pounds! It consisted of a nucleus around which extended, through a +great space, a mass of attenuated planetary matter. The nucleus once +formed the matter adjacent would precipitate itself by gravitation +upon the surface of the incipient world. The precipitation would +proceed as heat was given off into space. It was virtually a process +of condensation; but the result appeared like growth. + +To the senses a planet would seem to be forming itself by accretion; +and so, indeed, in one sense it was; for the mass constantly +increased. As the nucleus sped on in the prescribed pathway, it drew +to itself the surrounding matter, leaving behind it an open channel. +The orbit was thus cleared of the matter, which was at first merely +nebular, and afterward both nebular and fragmentary. The growth at the +first was rapid. With each revolution a larger band of space was swept +clear of its material. With each passage of the forming globe the +matter from the adjacent spaces would rush down upon its surface, and +as the mass of the planet increased the process would be stimulated; +for gravitation is proportional to the mass. At length a great tubular +space would be formed, having the orbit of the earth for its centre, +and in this space the matter was all swept up. The tube enlarged with +each revolution, until an open way was cut through the nebular disc, +and then from the one side toward Venus and from the other side toward +Mars the space widened and widened, until the globe took approximately +by growth its present mass of matter. The nebulous material was drawn +out of the inter-planetary space where it was floating, and the shower +of star dust on the surface of the earth became thinner and less +frequent. In some parts of the orbit bands or patches of this material +existed, and the earth in passing through such hands drew down upon +itself the flying fragments of such matter as it continues to do to +the present day. What are meteoric displays but the residue of the +primordial showers by which the world was formed? + +All this work, according to the New Astronomy, took place while our +globe was still in a superheated condition. The mass of it had not yet +settled into permanent form. The water had not yet become water; it +was steam. The metals had not yet become metals; they were rather the +vapor of metals. At length they were the liquids of metals, and at +last the solids. So, also, the rocks were transformed from the +vaporous through the liquid into the solid form--all this while the +globe was in process of condensation. It grew smaller in mathematical +measurements at the same time that it grew heavier by the accretion of +matter. At last the surface was formed, and in time that surface was +sufficiently cooled to allow the vapors around it to condense into +seas and oceans and rivers. There were ages of superficial +softness--vast epochs of mud--in which the living beings that had now +appeared wallowed and sprawled. + +We cannot trace the world-growth through all its stages but can only +indicate them as it were in a sketch. The more important thing to be +noted is the relation of our planet in process of formation to the +great fact called life. Here the New Astronomy comes in again to +indicate, theoretically at least, the philosophy of planetary +evolution. Each planet seems to pass through a vast almost +inconceivable period in which its condition renders life on its +surface or in its structure impossible. Heat is at once the favoring +and the prohibitory condition of life. Without heat life cannot exist; +with too great heat life cannot exist. With an intermediate and +moderate degree of heat many forms of animate and inanimate existence +may be promoted. + +These facts tend to show that every world has in its career an +intermediate period which may be called the epoch of life. Before the +epoch of life begins there is in the given world no such form of +existence. There is matter only. Then at a certain stage the epoch of +life begins. The epoch of life continues for a vast indeterminate +period. No doubt in some of the worlds an epoch of life has been +provided ten times as great, possibly a thousand times as great, as in +other planets. After the epoch of life begins only certain forms of +existence are for a while possible. Then other and higher forms +succeed them, and then still higher. Thus the process continues until +the highest--that is, the conscious and moral form of existence +becomes possible, and that highest, that conscious, that moral form of +being is ourselves. + +This is not all. The epoch of life seems to be terminable at the +further extreme by a planetary condition in which life is no longer +possible. The New Astronomy indicates the coming of a condition in all +the worlds when life must disappear therefrom and be succeeded by a +lifeless state of worldhood. This may be called the epoch of +death--that is, of world-death. It seems to be almost established by +investigation and right reason that worlds die. They reach a stage in +which they are lifeless. They cool down until the waters and gases +that are on the surface and above the surface recede more and more +into the surface and then into the interior, until they wholly +disappear. Cold takes the throne of nature. Universal aridity +supervenes, and all forms of vegetable and animate existence go away +to return no more. They dwindle and expire. The conditions that have +come are virtually conditions of death. + +Whether the universe contains within itself, under the Almighty +supervision, certain arrangements and laws by which the dead world can +be again cast into the crucible and regenerated by liberation through +the action of heat into its primordial state once more and go the same +tremendous round of planet life, we know not. The conception of such a +process, even the dream or vague possibility of it, is sufficiently +sublime and fills the mind with a great delight in contemplating the +possible cycles through which the material universe is passing. + +At any rate, we may contemplate the three great stages of world-life +with which we are already acquainted--that is, the birth stage, the +epoch of life and the epoch of death. There is a birth, as also a life +and a death of planets. Richard A. Proctor, of great fame, on one of +his last tours of instructive lecturing among our people, had for his +subject the "Birth and Death of Worlds." The theme was not dissimilar +to that which has been here presented in outline. The birth, the life +and the death of worlds! Such is a summary of that almost infinite +history through which our earth is passing--the history which the +globe is _making_ on its way from its nebulous to its final state. + +Such, if we mistake not, is the story epitomized--the life history in +brief--of all the worlds of space. They have each in its order and +kind, an epoch of the beginning, then an epoch of growth and +evolution, then an epoch of life--toward which all the preceding +planet history seems to tend--and finally an epoch of death which +must, in the course of infinite time, swallow from sight each planet +in its turn, or at least reduce each from that condition in which it +is an arena of animated existence into that state where it is a +frozen and desert clod, still following its wonted path through space, +still shining with a cold but cheerful face, _like our moon_, upon the +silent abysses of the universe. + + +WHAT THE WORLDS ARE MADE OF. + +The present century was already well advanced before there was any +solid ground for the belief that the worlds of space are made of +analogous or identical materials. It was only with the invention of +the spectroscope and the analysis of light that the material identity +of universal nature was proved by methods which could not be doubted. +The proof came by the spectroscope. + +This little instrument, though not famed as is its lordly kinsman the +telescope, or even regarded with the popular favor of the microscope, +has nevertheless carried us as far, and, we were about to say, taught +us as much, as either of the others. It is one thing to see the worlds +afar, to note them visibly, to describe their outlines, to measure +their mass and determine their motions. It is another thing to know +their constitution, the substances of which they are composed, the +material condition in which they exist and the state of their progress +in worldhood. The latter work is the task of the spectroscope; and +right well has it accomplished its mission. + +The solar spectrum has been known from the earliest ages. When the +sun-bow was set on the background of cloud over the diluvial floods, +the living beings of that age saw a spectrum--the glorious spectrum of +rain and shine. Wherever the rays of light have been diffracted under +given conditions by the agency of water drops, prism of glass or other +such transparent medium, and the ray has fallen on a suitable screen, +lo! there has been the beautiful spectrum of light. + +The artificial, intentional production of this phenomenon of light has +long been known, and both novice and scientist have tested and +improved the methods of getting given results. The child's soap-bubble +shows it in miniature splendor. The pressure of one wet pane of glass +against another reveals it. The breakage of nearly all crystalline +substances brings something of the colored effects of light; but the +triangular prism of glass, suitably prepared, best of all displays the +analysis of the sun-beam into the colors of which it is composed. + +The spectroscope is the improved instrument by which the diffracting +prism is best employed in producing the spectrum. The reader no doubt +has seen a spectroscope, and has observed its beautiful work. In this +place we pass, however, from the instrument of production to the +spectrum, or analyzed result, as the same is shown on a screen. There +the pencil of white light falling from the sun is spread out in the +manner of a fan, presenting on the screen the following arrangement of +colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. + +This order of colors, beginning with red, starts from that side of the +spectrum which is least bent from the right line in which the white +ray was traveling. The violet rays are most bent. The red rays are +thus said to be at the _lower_ edge of the prism, and the violet rays +at the _upper_ edge. Below the red rays there are now known to be +certain invisible rays, as of heat and electricity. Above the violet +rays are other invisible rays, such as the actinic influence. In fact, +the spectrum, beginning invisibly, passes by way of the visible rays +to the invisible again. Nor can any scientist in the world say at the +present time _how much_ is really included in the spread-out fan of +analyzed sunlight. + +Thus much scientists have known for some time. Certain other facts, +however, in connection with the solar spectrum are of greater +importance than are its more sensible phenomena. It was in the year +1802 that the English physicist, William Hyde Wollaston, discovered +that the solar spectrum is crossed with a large number of _dark +lines_. He it was who first mapped these lines and showed their +relative position. He it was also who discovered the existence of +invisible rays above the violet. Twelve years afterward Joseph von +Fraunhofer, of Munich, a German optician of remarkable talents, took +up the examination of the Wollaston lines, and by his success in the +investigation succeeded in attracting the attention of the world. + +This second stage in scientific discovery is generally that which +receives the plaudits of mankind. It was so in the case of Fraunhofer. +His name was given to the dark lines in the solar spectrum, and the +nomenclature is retained to the present time. They are called the +"Fraunhofer lines." It was soon discovered that the lines in question +as produced in the spectrum are due to the presence of gases in the +producing flame or source of light. It was also discovered that each +substance in, the process of combustion yields its own line or set of +lines. These appear at regular intervals in the spectrum. When several +substances are consumed at the same time; the lines of each appear in +the spectrum. The result is a _system_ of lines, becoming more and +more complex as the number of elements in the consuming materials is +increased. + +The lines in a narrow spectrum fall so closely together that they +cannot be critically examined; but when more than one prism is used +and the spectrum by this means spread out widely, the dark lines are +made to stand apart. They are then found to number many thousands. We +speak now of the analysis of sunlight. Experimentation was naturally +turned, however, to terrestrial gases and solids on fire, and it was +found that these also produce like series of dark lines in the +spectrum. Or when the substances are consumed _as solids_, then the +spectral effects are reversed, and the lines that would be dark lines +in the luminous colored spectrum become themselves luminous lines on +the screen; but these lines hold the same relation in mathematical +measurement, etc., as do the _dark_ lines in the colored spectrum. + +Skillful spectroscopists succeeded in detecting and delineating the +lines that were peculiar to each substance. By burning such substances +in flame, they were able to produce the lines, and thus verify +results. By such experimentation the various lines present in the +solar spectrum were separated from the complex result, and the +conclusion was reached that in the burning surface of the sun certain +substances _well known on earth are present_; for the lines of those +substances are shown in the spectrum. + +No other known substances would produce the given lines. The +conclusion is overwhelming that the substances in question are present +in a gaseous condition in the burning flames of the sun. Down to the +present time the examination of the sun's atmosphere has shown the +existence therein of thirty-six known elements. These include sodium, +potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, copper, cobalt, silver, lead, +tin, zinc, titanium, aluminium, chromium, silicon, carbon, hydrogen +and several others. + +It was thus established that in the constitution of the sun many of +the well-known elements of the earth are present. There could be no +mistake about it. An identity of lines in such a case proved beyond +dispute the identity of the substance from which such lines are +derived. The existence of common materials in the central sphere of +our system and in _one_ of his attendant orbs--our own--could not be +doubted. The discovery of such a fact led by immediate inference to +the expectation and belief that the _other_ planets were of like +constitution, or in a word, that the whole solar system was +essentially composed of identical materials. + +As the inquiry proceeded, it was found, however, that the agreement +in the lines of different spectra was not perfect. Lines would be +found in the spectrum derived from one source that were not present in +a spectrum derived from another source. Materials were therefore +suggested as present in one body that were not present in another. +Still further inquiry confirmed the belief that while there is a +general uniformity in the materials of our solar system, the identity +is not complete in all. An element is found in one part that may not +be found in another. Hydrogen shows its line in the spectrum derived +from every heavenly body that has been investigated; but not so +aluminium or cobalt. Sodium, that is, the salt-producing base, is +discovered everywhere, but not nickel or arsenium. The result, in a +word, shows a certain variability in the distribution of solar and +planetary matter, but a general identity of most. + +The question next presented itself as to the character of the luminous +bodies _beyond_ the solar system. Of what kind of matter are the +comets? Of what kind are the fixed stars? Of what kind are the nebulae? +Could the spectroscope be used in determining also the character of +the materials in those orbs that we see shining in the depths of +space? The instrument was turned in answer to these questions to the +sidereal heavens. No other branch of science has been prosecuted in +the after half of this century with more zeal and success than has the +spectroscopic analysis of the fixed stars. These are known by the +telescope to have the character of suns. The most general fact of the +visible heavens is the plentiful distribution of suns. They sparkle +everywhere as the so-called fixed stars. To them the telescope has +been virtually turned in vain. We say in vain because no single fixed +star has, we believe, ever been made by aid of the telescope to show a +disc. + +On turning the telescope to a fixed star, its brightness, its +brilliancy, increases according to the power of the instrument. Coming +into the field of one of these great suns of space, the telescope +shows a miraculous dawn spreading and blazing into a glorious sunrise, +and a sun itself flaming like infinite majesty on the sight; but there +is no disc--nothing but a blaze of glory. Thus in a sense the +telescope has worked in vain on the visible heavens. But not so the +spectroscope. The latter has done its glorious work. Turning to a +given fixed star, it shows that the tremendous combustion going on +therein is virtually the same as that in our own sun. There, too, is +flaming hydrogen, and there is carbon and oxygen and iron and sodium +and potassium and many other of the leading elements of what we thus +know to be universal nature. The suns are all akin; they are +cousins-german. They are of the same family--they and their progeny. +They were born of the same universal fact. They are of the same +Father! They are builded on the same plan, and they have a common +destiny. Aye, more, the nebulae that float far off, swanlike, in the +infinitudes, are of the same family. The nebulae may be regarded as the +mothers of universes. It is out of their bosoms that the life and +substance of all suns and worlds are drawn! And these, too, are +composed of the common matter of universal nature. It is the same +matter that we eat and drink. It is the same that we breathe. It is +the same that we see aflame in our lamps and grates. It is the same +that is borne to us in the fragrance of flowers planted on the graves +of our dead. It is the common hydrogen and carbon and oxygen and +nitrogen of our earth and its envelope. It is the soda of our bread; +the potassa of our ashes; the phosphorus of our bones and brain! +Indeed, the universe throughout is of one form and one substance, and +there is one Father over all. Sooner or later the concepts of science +and of religion will come together; and the small agitations and +conflicts of human thought and hope will pass away in a sublime unity +of human faith. + + + + +Progress in Discovery and Invention. + + +THE FIRST STEAMBOAT AND ITS MAKER. + +On the night of the second of July, 1798, a man at a little old tavern +in Bardstown, Kentucky, committed suicide. If ever there was a +justifiable case of self-destruction, it was this. No human being is +permitted to take his own life, but there are instances in which the +burden of existence becomes well-nigh intolerable. In the case just +mentioned, the man went to his room and took poison. He was a little +more than fifty-five years of age, but was prematurely old from the +hardships to which he had been subjected. He had not a penny. His +clothes were worn out. A dirty shirt, made of coarse materials, was +seen through the rags of his coat. His face was haggard, wrinkled, +written all over with despair, the lines of which not even the +goodness of death was able to dispel. + +The man had seen the Old World and the New, but had never seen +happiness. He had followed his forlorn destiny from his native town +of South Windsor, Connecticut, where he was born on the twenty-first +of January, 1743. His body was buried in the graveyard of Bardstown, +then a frontier village. No one contributed a stone to mark the +grave. Nor has that duty ever been performed. The spot became +undistinguishable as time went by, and we believe that there is not a +man in the world who can point out the place where the body of John +Fitch was buried. The grave of the inventor of the steamboat, hidden +away, more obscurely than that of Jean Valjean in the cemetery of +Pere-Lachaise, will keep the heroic bones to the last day, when all +sepulchres of earth shall set free their occupants and the great sea's +wash cast up its dead! + +The life of John Fitch is, we are confident, the saddest chapter in +human biography. The soul of the man seems from the first to have gone +forth darkly voyaging, like Poe's raven, + + --"Whom unmerciful disaster + Followed fast and followed faster, till his song one burden bore, + Till the dirges of his hope the melancholy burden bore,-- + Of 'Nevermore--nevermore!'" + +Certainly it was nevermore with him. His early years were made +miserable by ill-treatment and abuse. His father, a close-fisted +farmer and an elder brother of the same character, converted the +boyhood life of John Fitch into a long day of grief and humiliation +and a long night of gloomy dreams. Then at length came an ill-advised +and ill-starred marriage, which broke under him and left him to wander +forth in desolation. + +He went first from Connecticut to Trenton, N.J., and there in his +twenty-sixth year began to ply the humble trade of watch-maker. Then +he became a gunsmith, making arms for the patriots of Seventy-six, +until what time the British destroyed his shop. Then he was a soldier. +He suffered the horrors of Valley Forge; and before the conclusion of +the peace he went abroad in the country as a tinker of clocks and +watches. His peculiarity of manner and his mendicant character made +him the butt of neighborhoods. In 1780 he was sent as a +deputy-surveyor from Virginia into Kentucky, and after nearly two +years spent in the country between the Kentucky and Green rivers, he +went back to Philadelphia. On a second journey to the West his party +was assailed by the Indians at the mouth of the Muskingum, and most +were killed. But he was taken captive, and remained with the red men +for nearly a year. But he escaped at last, and got back to a +Pennsylvania settlement. + +Fitch next lived for a year or two in and did approve of the +invention, he withheld any public endorsement of it. + +Month after month went by, and no helping hand was extended. Fitch got +the reputation of being a crazy man. To save himself from starvation, +he made a map of the territory Northwest of the river Ohio, doing the +work of the engraving with his own hand, and printing the impressions +on a cider-press! Early in 1787 he succeeded in the formation of a +small company; and this company supplied, or agreed to supply, the +means requisite for the building of a steamboat sixty tons' burden. +The inventor also secured patents from New Jersey, New York, +Pennsylvania, Delaware and Virginia, granting to him the exclusive +right to use the waters of those States for fourteen years for +purposes of steam navigation. + +Hereupon a boat was built and launched in the Delaware. It was +forty-five feet in length and twelve feet beam. There were six oars, +or paddles on each side. The engine had a twelve-inch cylinder, and +the route of service contemplated was between Philadelphia and +Burlington. The inventor agreed that his boat should make a rate of +eight miles an hour, and the charge for passage should be a shilling. + +He who might have been in Philadelphia on the twenty-second of August, +1787, and did approve of the invention, he withheld any public +endorsement of it. + +Month after month went by, and no helping hand was extended. Fitch got +the reputation of being a crazy man. To save himself from starvation, +he made a map of the territory Northwest of the river Ohio, doing the +work of the engraving with his own hand, and printing the impressions +on a cider-press! Early in 1787 he succeeded in the formation of a +small company; and this company supplied, or agreed to supply, the +means requisite for the building of a steamboat sixty tons' burden. +The inventor also secured patents from New Jersey, New York, +Pennsylvania, Delaware and Virginia, granting to him the exclusive +right to use the waters of those States for fourteen years for +purposes of steam navigation. + +Hereupon a boat was built and launched in the Delaware. It was +forty-five feet in length and twelve feet beam. There were six oars, +or paddles on each side. The engine had a twelve-inch cylinder, and +the route of service contemplated was between Philadelphia and +Burlington. The inventor agreed that his boat should make a rate of +eight miles an hour, and the charge for passage should be a shilling. + +He who might have been in Philadelphia on the twenty-second of August, +1787, would have witnessed a memorable thing. The Convention for the +framing of a Constitution for the United States of America was in +session. For some time the body had been wearing itself into +exhaustion over this question and that question which seemed +impossible of solution. On the day referred to, the convention, on +invitation, adjourned, and the members, including the Father of his +country, who was President, went down to the water's edge to see a +sight. There Fitch's steamboat was to make its trial trip, and there +the trial trip was made, with entire success. + +They who were building the ship of state could but applaud the +performance of the little steamer that sped away toward Burlington. +But the applause was of that kind which the wise and conservative folk +always give to the astonishing thing done by genius. The wise and +conservative folk look on and smile and praise, but do not commit +themselves. Most dangerous it is for a politician to commit himself to +a beneficial enterprise; for the people might oppose it! + +The facts here referred to are fully attested in indisputable records. +There are files of Philadelphia newspapers which contain accounts of +Fitch's boat. A line of travel and traffic was established between +Philadelphia and Burlington. There was also a steam ferryboat on the +Delaware. A second boat, called the "Perseverance," was designed for +the waters of the Mississippi; but this craft was wrecked by a storm, +and then the patent under which the Ohio river and its confluent +waters were granted, expired, and the enterprise had to be abandoned. +On the fourth of September, 1790, the following advertisement of the +"Pennsylvania Packet" appeared in a Philadelphia paper: + +"The Steamboat will set out this morning, at eleven o'clock, for +Messrs. Gray's Garden, at a quarter of a dollar for each passenger +thither. It will afterwards ply between Gray's and middle ferry, at +11d each passenger. To-morrow morning, Sunday, it will set off for +Burlington at eight o'clock, to return in the afternoon." + +This Pennsylvania Packet continued to ply the Delaware for about three +years. The mechanical construction of the boat was not perfect; and +shortly after the date to which the above advertisement refers the +little steamer was ruined by an accident. The story is told by Thomas +P. Cope, in the seventh volume of Hazard's _Register_. He says: "I +often witnessed the performance of the boat in 1788-89-90. It was +propelled by paddles in the stern, and was constantly getting out of +order. I saw it when it was returning from a trip to Burlington, from +whence it was said to have arrived in little more than two hours. +When coming to off Kensington, some part of the machinery broke, and I +never saw it in motion afterward. I believe it was his [Fitch's] last +effort. He had, up to that period, been patronized by a few +stout-hearted individuals, who had subscribed a small capital, in +shares, I think, of six pounds Pennsylvania currency; but this last +disaster so staggered their faith and unstrung their nerves, that they +never again had the hardihood to make other contributions. Indeed, +they already rendered themselves the subjects of ridicule and derision +for their temerity and presumption in giving countenance to this wild +projector and visionary madman. The company thereupon gave up the +ghost, the boat went to pieces, and Fitch became bankrupt and +brokenhearted. Often have I seen him stalking about like a troubled +spectre, with downcast eye and lowering countenance, his coarse, +soiled linen peeping through the elbows of a tattered garment." + +With the breakdown of his enterprise, John Fitch went forth penniless +into the world. The patent which he received from the United States in +1791, was of small use. How little can a pauper avail himself of a +privilege! Presently his patent was burned up, and a year afterward, +namely in 1793, he went to France. There he would--according to his +dream--find patronage and fame; but on his arrival in the French +capital he found the Reign of Terror just beginning its work. It was +not likely that the Revolutionary Tribunal would give heed to an +American dreamer and his proposition to propel by steam a boat on the +Seine. However, Fitch went to L'Orient and deposited the plans and +specifications of his invention with the American consul. Then he +departed for London. + +In the following year a man by the name of Robert Fulton took up his +residence with the family of Joel Barlow, in Paris. There he devoted +himself to his art, which was that of a painter. Whoever had passed by +the corner of Second and Walnut streets, in Philadelphia while Fitch +was constructing his first steamboat, might have seen a little sign +carrying these words: "Robert Fulton, Miniature Painter." But now, +after nearly ten years, he was painting a panorama in France. While +thus engaged, the American consul at L'Orient showed to Fulton Fitch's +drawings and specifications for a steamboat. More than this, _he +loaned them to him, and he kept them for several months_. + +A thrifty man was Robert Fulton; discerning, prudent and capable! +Meanwhile, poor Fitch, in 1794, returned to America. On the ship he +worked his way as one of the hands. Getting again to New York he +determined to make his way into that region of country where he had +been a surveyor in 1780. He accordingly set out from New York for +Kentucky, but not till he had invented, or rather constructed, a +steamboat, which was driven by _a screw propeller_! This, in 1796, he +launched on the Collect Pond, in what is now Lower New York. The boat +was successful as an experiment; but the people who saw it looked upon +its operation and upon the thing itself as the product of a crazy +man's brain. + +He who now passes along the streets of the metropolis will come upon a +vendor of toys, who will drop upon the pavement an artificial +miniature tortoise, rabbit, rat, or what not, well wound up; and the +creature will begin to crawl, or dance, or jump, or run, according to +its nature. The busy, conservative man smiles a superior smile, and +passes on. It was in such mood that the old New Yorker of 1796 +witnessed the going of Fitch's little screw propeller on the Pond. It +was a toy of the water. + +After this the poor spectre left for the West. The spring of 1798 +found him at Bardstown, with the model of a little three-foot +steamboat, which he launched on a neighboring stream. There he still +told his neighbors that the time would come when all rivers and seas +would be thus navigated. But they heeded not. The spectre became more +spectral. At last, about the beginning of July, in the year just +named, he gave up the battle, crept into his room at the little old +tavern, took his poison, and fell into the final sleep. + +We shall conclude this sketch of him and his work with one of his own +sorrowful prophecies: "The day will come," said he in a letter, "when +some more powerful man will get fame and riches from _my_ invention; +but nobody will believe that poor John Fitch can do anything worthy of +attention." Than this there is, we think, hardly a more pathetic +passage in the history of the sons of men! + + +TELEGRAPHING BEFORE MORSE. + +There is a great fallacy in the judgment of mankind about the method +of the coming of new things. People imagine that new things come all +at once, but they do not. Nothing comes all at once; that is, no +thing. In the facts of the natural world, that is, among visible +phenomena of the landscape, the judgment of people is soon corrected. +There it is seen that everything grows. The growth is sometimes slow +and sometimes rapid; but everything comes gradually out of its +antecedents. No tree or shrub or flower ever came immediately. No +living creature on the face of the earth begins by instantaneous +apparition. The chick gets out of its shell presently, but even that +takes time. Every living thing comes on by degrees from a germ, and +the germ is generally microscopic! Nature is, indeed, a marvel! + +The facts of human life, whether tangible or intangible, have this +same method. For example, there has not been an invention known to +mankind that has not come on in the manner of growth. The antecedents +of it work on and on in a tentative way, producing first this trial +result and then that, always approaching the true thing; and even the +true thing when it comes is not perfect. It is made perfect afterward. +There was never an instantaneous invention, and there was never a +complete one! It is doubtful whether there is at the present time a +single complete, that is perfect or perfected, invention in the world. +They are all of partial development. They show in their history their +origin, their growth, their gradual approximation to the perfect form. + +All of the marvelous contrivances which, fill the arena of our +civilization, making it first vital and then vocal, have come by the +evolutionary process. Every one of them has a history which is more +and more obscure as we follow it backward to its source. In every +case, however, there comes a time when a given discovery, manifesting +itself in a given invention, takes a sort of spectacular character, +and it is then rather suddenly revealed to the consciousness of +mankind. + +Of this general law the telegraph affords a conspicuous example. The +whole world knows the story of the telegraph of Morse. It was in 1844 +that the work of this great inventor was publicly demonstrated to the +world. Then it was that the electro-magnetic telegraph in its first +rude estate began to be used in the transmission of messages and other +written information. + +It has come to pass that "telegraph" means virtually _electric_ +telegraph. The people of to-day seem to have forgotten that the +telegraph is not necessarily dependent on the electrical current. They +have forgotten that back of the Morse invention other means had been +employed of transmitting information at a distance. They have +forgotten that it was by the most gradual and tedious process that the +old telegraphic methods were evolved into the new. Note with wonder +how this great invention began, and through what stages it passed to +completion. + +There is a natural telegraphy. Whoever stands in an open place and +calls aloud to his fellow mortal at a distance _telegraphs_ to him. At +least he telephones to him; that is, _sounds_ to him at a distance. +The air is the medium, the vocal cords in vibration the source of the +utterance, and the ear of the one at a distance the audiphonic +receiver. This sort of telegraphy is original and natural with human +beings, and it is common to them and the lower animals. All the +creatures that have vocality use this method. It were hard to say how +humble is the creeping thing that does not rasp out some kind of a +message to its fellow insect. Some, like the fireflies, do their +telegraphing with a lantern which they carry. The very crickets are +expert in telegraphy, or telephony, which is ultimately the same +thing. + +After transmitted sound the next thing is the visible signal, and this +has been employed by human beings from the earliest ages in +transmitting information to a distance. It is a method which will +perhaps never be wholly abandoned. Observe the surveyors running a +trial line. Far off is the chain bearer and here is the theodolite. +The man with the standard watches for the signal of the man with the +instrument. The language is _seen_ and the message understood, though +no word is spoken. Here the sunlight is the wire, and the visible +motion of the hands and arms the letters and words of the message. + +The ancients were great users of this method. They employed it in both +peace and war. They occupied heights and showed signals at great +distances. The better vision of those days made it possible to catch a +signal, though far off, and to transmit it to some other station, +likewise far away. In this manner bright objects were waved by day and +torches by night. In times of invasion such a method of spreading +information has been used down to the present age. Nor may we fail to +note the improved apparatus for this kind of signaling now employed in +military operations. The soldiers on our frontiers in Arizona, New +Mexico, and through the mountainous regions further north, are able to +signal with a true telegraphic language to stations nearly a hundred +miles away. + +Considerable progress was made in telegraphy in the after part of the +eighteenth century. This progress related to the transmission of +visible messages through the air. In the time of the French Revolution +such contrivance occupied the attention of military commanders and of +governing powers. A certain noted engineer named Chappe invented at +this epoch a telegraph that might be properly called successful. +Chappe was the son of the distinguished French astronomer, Jean Chappe +d'Auteroche, who died at San Lucar, California, in 1769. This elder +Chappe had previously made a journey into Siberia, and had seen from +that station the transit of Venus in 1761. Hoping to observe the +recurring transit, eight years afterward, he went to the coast of our +then almost unknown California, but died there as stated above. + +The younger Chappe, being anxious to serve the Revolution, invented +his telegraph; but in doing so he subjected himself to the suspicions +of the more ignorant, and on one notable occasion was brought into a +strait place--both he and his invention. The story of this affair is +given by Carlyle in the second volume of his "French Revolution." One +knows not whether to smile or weep over the graphic account which the +crabbed philosopher gives of Chappe and his work in the following +extract: + +"What, for example," says he, "is this that Engineer Chappe is doing +in the Park of Vincennes? In the Park of Vincennes; and onward, they +say, in the Park of Lepelletier Saint-Fargeau, the assassinated +deputy; and still onward to the Heights of Ecouen and farther, he has +scaffolding set up, has posts driven in; wooden arms with elbow-joints +are jerking and fugling in the air, in the most rapid mysterious +manner! Citoyens ran up, suspicious. Yes, O Citoyens, we are +signaling; it is a device, this, worthy of the Republic; a thing for +what we will call far-writing without the aid of postbags; in Greek it +shall be named Telegraph. '_Telegraphe sacre_,' answers Citoyenism. +For writing to Traitors, to Austria?--and tears it down, Chappe had to +escape and get a new legislative Decree. Nevertheless he has +accomplished it, the indefatigable Chappe; this his Far-writer, with +its wooden arms and elbow-joints, can intelligibly signal; and lines +of them are set up, to the North Frontiers and elsewhither. On an +Autumn evening of the Year Two, Far-writer having just written that +Conde Town has surrendered to us, we send from the Tuileries +Convention-Hall this response in the shape of a Decree: 'The name of +Conde is changed to _Nord-Libre_ (North Free). The Army of the North +ceases not to merit well of the country.' To the admiration of men! +For lo! in some half-hour, while the Convention yet debates, there +arrives this new answer: 'I inform thee (_Je t'annonce_), Citizen +President, that the Decree of Convention, ordering change of the name +Conde into North Free; and the other, declaring that the Army of the +North ceases not to merit well of the country, are transmitted and +acknowledged by Telegraph. I have instructed my Officer at Lille to +forward them to North Free by express.' Signed, Chappe." + +This successful telegraph of Engineer Chappe was not an electric +telegraph, but a sunlight telegraph. Is it in reality any more +wonderful to use the electrical wave in the transmission of +intelligible symbols than to use a wave of light? Such seems to have +been the opinion of mankind; and the coming of the electric telegraph +was long postponed. The invention was made by slow approaches. In our +country the notion has prevailed that Morse did all--that others did +nothing; but this notion is very erroneous. + +We are not to suppose that the Chappe method of telegraphing became +extinct after its first successful work. Other references to what we +_suppose_ to be the same instrument are found in the literature of the +age. The wonder is that more was not written and more accomplished by +the agency of Chappe's invention. In the fall of the year 1800, +General Bonaparte, who had been in Egypt and the East, returned to +Europe and landed at Frejus on his way to Paris, with the dream of +universal dominion in his head. In the first volume of the _Memoirs of +Napoleon Bonaparte_, his secretary M. de Bourrienne, writing of the +return to France says: + +"We arrived in Paris on the 24th Vendemiaire (the sixteenth of +October). As yet he (Napoleon) knew nothing of what was going on; for +he had seen neither his wife nor his brothers, who were looking for +him on the Burgundy Road. The news of our landing at Frejus had +reached Paris _by a_ _telegraphic despatch_. Madame Bonaparte, who +was dining with M. Gohier when that despatch was communicated to him, +as President of the Directory, immediately set off to meet her +husband," etc. We should be glad to know in what particular form that +"telegraphic despatch" was delivered! But such are Bourrienne's words! + +To the American reader the name of Karl Friedrich Gauss may have an +unfamiliar sound. Gauss was already a youth of fourteen when Morse was +born, though the latter outlived the German mathematician by seventeen +years. Gauss was a professor of Mathematics at Goettingen, where he +passed nearly the whole of his life. In the early part of the century +he distinguished himself in astronomy and in other branches of +physical science. He then became interested in magnetic and electrical +phenomena, and in 1833, with the assistance of Wilhelm Eduard Weber, +one of his fellow-professors, who died in 1891, he erected at +Goettingen a magnetic observatory. There he began to experiment with +the subtle agent which was soon to be placed at the service of +mankind. + +The observatory was constructed without the use of iron, in order that +the magnetic phenomena might be studied under favorable conditions. +Humboldt and Arago had previously constructed laboratories without +using iron--for iron is the great disturber--and from them Gauss +obtained his hint. Weber was also expert in the management of +magneto-electrical currents. Gauss, with the aid of his co-worker, +constructed a line of telegraph, and sent signals by the agency of the +magnetic current to a neighboring town. This was nearly ten years +before Morse had fully succeeded in like experimentation. + +It appears that the German scientists regarded their telegraph as +simply the tangible expression or apparatus to illustrate scientific +facts and principles. It was for this reason, we presume, that no +further headway was made at Goettingen in the development of +telegraphy. It was also for the additional reason that men rarely or +never accept what is really the first demonstration and +exemplification of a new departure in scientific knowledge. Such is +the timidity of the human mind--such its conservative attachment to +the known thing and to the old method as against the new--that it +prefers to stay in the tumble-down ruin of bygone opinions and +practices, rather than go up and inhabit the splendid but unfamiliar +temple of the future. + +Gauss and Weber were left with their scientific discovery; and, +indeed, Morse in the New World of practicality and quick adaptations, +was about to be rejected and cast out. The sorrows through which he +passed need not here be recounted. They are sufficiently sad and +sufficiently humiliating. His unavailing appeals to the American +Congress are happily hidden in the rubbish of history, and are +somewhat dimmed by the intervention of more than half a century. But +his humiliation was extreme. Smart Congressmen, partisans, the +ignorant flotsam of conventions and intrigues, heard the philosopher +with contempt. A few heard him with sympathy; and the opinion in his +favor grew, as if by the pressure of shame, until he was finally +supported, and in a midnight hour of an expiring session of Congress, +or rather in the early morning of the fourth of March, 1843, the +munificent appropriation of $30,000 was placed at his disposal for the +construction of an experimental line between Washington and Baltimore. + +The one thing was done. A new era of instantaneous communication +between men and communities at a distance the one from the other was +opened--an era which has proved to be an era of light and knowledge. +Nor may we conclude this sketch without noting the fact that, not a +few of the members of the House of Representatives who voted the +pittance for the construction of the first line of actual working +telegraph in the world, went home to their constituents and were +ignominiously beaten for re-election--this this for the slight +service which they had rendered to their country and the human race! + +When in New York City, turn thou to the west out of Fifth avenue into +Twenty-second street, to the distance of, perhaps, ten rods, and there +on a little marble slab set in the wall of a house on the north side +of the street, read this curious epitaph: + +"In this house lived Professor S.F.B, Morse for thirty years and +died!" + + +THE NEW LIGHT OF MEN. + +By the law of nature our existence is divided between daylight and +darkness. There is evermore the alternate baptism into dawn and night. +The division of life is not perfect between sunshine and shadow; for +the sunshine bends around the world on both horizons, and lengthens +the hemisphere of day by a considerable rim of twilight. To this +reduction of the darkness we must add moonshine and starlight. But we +must also subtract the influence of the clouds and other incidental +conditions of obscuration. After these corrections are made, there is +for mankind a great band of deep night, wherein no man can work. +Whoever goes forth at some noon of night, when the sky is wrapped with +clouds, must realize the utter dependence of our kind upon the light. +How great is the blessing of that sublime and beautiful fact which the +blind Milton apostrophizes in the beginning of the Third Book of +_Paradise Lost_: + + "Hail, holy Light! offspring of heaven first-born! + Or of Eternal coeternal beam, + May I express thee unblamed? since God is light, + And never but in unapproached light + Dwelt from eternity, dwelt then in thee, + Bright effluence of bright essence increate! + Or hear'st thou rather, pure ethereal stream, + Whose fountain who shall tell? Before the sun, + Before the heavens thou wert, and at the voice + Of God, as with a mantle, didst invest + The rising world of waters dark and deep, + Won from the void and formless infinite." + +How then shall man overcome the darkness? It is one of the problems of +his existence. He is obliged with each recurring sunset of his life to +enter the tunnel of inky darkness and make his way through as best he +may to the morning. What kind of lantern shall he carry as he gropes? + +The evolution of artificial light and of the means of producing it +constitutes one of the most interesting chapters in the history of our +race. Primeval man knew fire. He learned in some way how to kindle +fire. The lowest barbarian may be defined as a fire-producing animal. +The cave men of ancient Europe kindled fires in their dark caverns. +The lake dwellers had fires, both on shore and in their huts over the +water. Wherever there was a fire there was artificial light. The +primitive barbarian walked around the embers of his fire and saw his +shadow stretching out into the gloom of the surrounding night. + +With the slow oncoming of a better estate, the early philosophers of +mankind invented lamps. Very rude indeed were the first products in +this kind of art. Note the character of the lamps that have survived +to us from the age of stone. Still they are capable of holding oil and +retaining a wick. Further on we have lamps from the age of bronze, and +at last from the age of iron. Polite antiquity had its silver lamps, +its copper lamps, and in a few instances its lamps of gold. The +palaces of kings were sometimes lighted from golden reservoirs of oil. +Such may be seen among the relics preserved to us from the +civilizations of Western Asia. The palace of Priam, if we mistake not, +had lamps of gold. + +The Great Greeks were the makers of beautiful lamps. In the age of the +Grecian ascendancy the streets of Athens and of some other Hellenic +cities were lighted by night. The material of such illumination was +oil derived either from animals or from vegetable products, such as +the olive. In the forms of Greek lamps we have an example of artistic +beauty not surpassed or equaled in modern time; but the mechanical +contrivance for producing the light was poor and clumsy. + +Rome lighted herself artificially. She had her lamps and her torches +and her chandeliers, as we see in the relics of Herculaneum and +Pompeii. A Roman procession by night was not wanting in brilliancy and +picturesqueness. The quality of the light, however was poor, and there +was always a cloud of smoke as well as of dust hovering about Roman +processions and triumphs. + +The earlier Middle Ages improved not at all; but with the Renaissance +there was an added elegance in the apparatus of illumination. +Chandeliers were made in Italy, notably in Venice, that might rival in +their elegance anything of the present age. The art of such products +was superior; but the old barbaric clumsiness was perpetuated in the +mechanical part. With the rise of scientific investigation under the +influence of inductive philosophy, all kinds of contrivances for the +production of artificial light were improved. The ingenuity of man was +now turned to the mechanical part, and one invention followed another +with a constant development in the power of illumination. + +We can but remember, however, that until the present age many of the +old forms of illuminating apparatus have been retained. In the ruder +communities such things may still be seen. Civilization in its +progress from east to west across our continent followed a tallow +candle. The light of it was seen by night through the window of the +pioneer's cabin. The old forms of hanging lamps have hardly yet +disappeared from the advance posts of the marching column. But +meanwhile, other agencies have been discovered, and other forms of +apparatus invented, until the branch of knowledge relating to +illumination has become both a science and an art. + +Within the memories of men still living, a great transformation has +occurred. Animal oils have virtually ceased to be employed as the +sources of light. The vegetable world is hardly any longer drawn upon +for its products. Already before the discovery of petroleum and its +multifarious uses the invention by chemical methods of illuminating +materials had begun. Many kinds of burning fluid had been introduced. +The reign of these was short-lived; coal oil came in at the door and +they flew out at the window. Great was the advantage which seemed to +come to mankind from the use of kerosene lamps. Those very forms of +illumination which are now regarded as crude in character and odious +in use were only a generation ago hailed with delight because of their +superiority to the former agents of illumination. Thus much may +suffice for all that precedes the coming of the New Light of men. The +new light flashes from the electrical glow. The application of +electricity to purposes of illumination marks an era in human +progress. The electrical light is, we think, high up among the most +valuable and striking stages of civilized life in the nineteenth +century. It is best calculated to affect favorably the welfare of the +people, especially in great cities. The illumination of a city by +night, making its streets to be lighted as if by day, is a more +interesting and important fact in human history than any political +conflict or mere change of rulers. + +About the beginning of the eighth decade of this century the project +of introducing the electric light for general purposes of illumination +began to be agitated. It was at once perceived that the advantages of +such lighting were as many as they were obvious. The light is so +powerful as to render practicable the performance of many mechanical +operations as easily by night as by day. Again, the danger of fire +from illuminating sources is almost wholly obviated by the new system. +The ease and expedition of all kinds of night employment are greatly +enhanced. A given amount of illumination can be produced much more +cheaply by electricity than by any means of gas lighting or ordinary +combustion. Among the first to demonstrate the feasibility of +electric lighting was the philosopher Gramme, of Paris. In the early +part of 1875 he successfully lighted his laboratory by means of +electricity. Soon afterward the foundry of Ducommun & Co., of +Mulhouse, was similarly lighted. In the course of the following year +the apparatus for lighting, by means of carbon candles was introduced +into many of the principal factories of France and other leading +countries of Europe. It may prove of interest in this connection to +sketch briefly the principal features of the electric light system, +and to trace the development of that system in our own and other +countries. + +Lighting by electricity is accomplished in several ways. In general, +however, the principle by which the result is accomplished is one, and +depends upon the resistance which the electrical current meets in its +transmission through various substances. There are no perfect +conductors of electricity. In proportion as the non-conductive quality +is prevalent in a substance, especially in a metal, the resistance to +the passage of electricity is pronounced, and the consequent +disturbance among the molecular particles of the substance is great. +Whenever such resistance is encounted in a circuit, the electricity is +converted into heat, and when the resistance is great, the heat is, in +turn, converted into light, or rather the heat becomes phenomenal in +light; that is, the substance which offers the resistance glows with +the transformed energy of the impeded current. Upon this simple +principle all the apparatus for the production of electric light is +produced. + +Among the metallic substances, the one best adapted by its low +conductivity to such resistance and transformation of force, is +platinum. The high degree of heat necessary to fuse this metal adds to +its usefulness and availability for the purpose indicated. When an +electrical current is forced along a platinum wire too small to +transmit the entire volume, it becomes at once heated--first to a red, +and then to a white glow--and is thus made to send forth a radiance +like that of the sun. Of the non-metallic elements which offer similar +resistance, the best is carbon. The infusibility of this substance +renders it greatly superior to platinum for purposes of the electric +light. + +Near the beginning of the present century it was discovered by Sir +Humphry Davy that carbon points may be rendered incandescent by means +of a powerful electrical current. The discovery was fully developed in +the year 1809, while the philosopher just referred to was +experimenting with the great battery of the Royal Institution of +London. He observed--rather by accident than by design or previous +anticipation--that a strong volume of electricity passing between two +bits of wood charcoal produces tremendous heat, and a light like that +of the sun. It appears, however, that Davy at first regarded the +phenomenon rather in the nature of an interesting display of force +than as a suggestion of the possibility of turning night into day. + +For nearly three-quarters of a century the discovery made by Sir +Humphrey lay dormant among the great mass of scientific facts revealed +in the laboratory. In the course of time, however, the nature of the +new fact began to be apprehended. The electric lamp in many forms was +proposed and tried. The scientists, Niardet, Wilde, Brush, Fuller, and +many others of less note, busied themselves with the work of +invention. Especially did Gramme and Siemens devote their scientific +genius to the work of turning to good account the knowledge now fully +possessed of the transformability of the electric current into light. + +The experiments of the last named two distinguished inventors brought +us to the dawn of the new era in artificial lighting. The Russian +philosopher, Jablokhkoff, carried the work still further by the +practical introduction of the carbon candle. Other scientists--Carre, +Foucault, Serrin, Rapieff, and Werdermann--had, at an earlier or later +day, thrown much additional information into the common stock of +knowledge relative to the illuminating possibilities of electricity. +Finally, the accumulated materials of science fell into the hands of +that untutored but remarkably radical inventor, Thomas A. Edison, who +gave himself with the utmost zeal to the work of removing the +remaining difficulties in the problem. + +Edison began his investigations in this line of invention in September +of 1878, and in December of the following year gave to the public his +first formal statement of results. After many experiments with +platinum, he abandoned that material in favor of the carbon-arc _in +vacuo_. The latter is, indeed, the essential feature of the Edison +light. A small semicircle, or horseshoe, of some substance, such as a +filament of bamboo reduced to the form of pure carbon, the two ends +being attached to the poles of the generating-machine, or dynamo, as +the engine is popularly called, is enclosed in a glass bulb, from +which the air has been carefully drawn, and is rendered incandescent +by the passage of an electric current. The other important features of +Edison's discovery relate to the divisibility of the current, and its +control and regulation in volume by the operator. These matters were +fully mastered in the Edison invention, and the apparatus rendered as +completely subject to management as are the other varieties of +illuminating agencies. + +It were vain to speculate upon the future of electric lighting. The +question of artificial illumination has had much to do with the +progress of the human race, particularly when aggregated into cities. +Doubtless the old systems of lighting are destined in time to give +place altogether to the splendors of the electric glow. The general +effect of the change upon society must be as marked as it is salutary. +Darkness, the enemy of good government and morality in great cities, +will, in great measure, be dispelled by the beneficent agent, over +which the genius of Davy, Gramme, Brush, Edison, and a host of other +explorers in the new continents of science has so completely +triumphed. The ease, happiness, comfort, and welfare of mankind must +be vastly multiplied, and the future must be reminded, in the glow +that dispels the night, of that splendid fact that the progress of +civilization depends, in a large measure, upon a knowledge of Nature's +laws, and the diffusion of that knowledge among the people. + + +THE TELEPHONE. + +Perhaps no other great invention of man has been within so short a +period so widely distributed as the telephone. The use of the +instrument is already co-extensive with civilization. The cost at +which the instruments are furnished is still so considerable that the +poor of the world are not able to avail themselves of the invention; +but in the so-called upper circles of society the use of the telephone +is virtually universal. It has made its way from the city to the town, +from the town to the village, from the village to the hamlet, and even +to the country-side where the millions dwell. + +The telephone came by a speedy revelation. It was born of that intense +scientific activity which is the peculiarity of our age. The +antecedent knowledge out of which it sprang had existed in various +forms for a long time. The laws of acoustics were among the first to +be investigated after a true physical science began to be taught. The +phenomena of sound are so universal and experimentation in sound +production so easy, that the governing laws were readily discovered. + +Acoustics, we think, foreran somewhat the science of heat, as the +science of heat preceded that of light. Electricity came last. The +telephone is an instrument belonging not wholly, not chiefly, but only +in part, to acoustics. It owes its existence to magnetic induction and +electrical transmission as much as to the mere action of sound. One +foot of the instrument, so to speak, is acoustics, and the other foot +electricity. The telephone philosophically considered is an instrument +for the conversion of a sound-wave into electrical motion, and its +reconversion into sound at a distance. The sound is, as it were, +committed to the electrical current and is thus sent to the end of the +journey, and there discharged with its message. The possibility of +this result lies first of all in the fact of electrical transmission +by wire, and in the second place to the mounting of a sound-rider on +the electrical saddle for an instantaneous journey with important +despatches! + +New results in scientific progress generally seem marvelous. The +unfamiliar and unexpected thing is always a marvel; but scientifically +considered, the telephone does not seem so surprising as at first +view. The atmosphere is a conductor of sound. It is the natural agent +of transmission, and so far as the natural man is concerned, it is his +only agent for the transmission of oral utterance. If the unlearned +man have his attention called to the surprising fact of hearing his +fellow-man call out to him across a field or from far off on the +prairie, he does not think it marvelous, but only natural. Yet how +strange it is that one human being can speak to another through the +intervening space! + +It is strange that one should see another at a distance; but seeing +and hearing at distances are natural functions of living creatures. +The sunlight is for one sense and the sound-wave is for the other. The +sound-wave travels on the atmosphere, and preserves its integrity. A +given sound is produced, and the same sound is heard by some ear at a +distance. All the people of the world are telephoning to one another; +for oral speech leaping from the vocal organs of one human being to +the ear of another is always telephonic. It is only when this +phenomenon of speech at a distance is taken from the soft wings of the +air, confined to a wire, and made to fly along the slender thread and +deliver itself afar in a manner to which the world has hitherto been a +stranger that the thing done and the apparatus by which it is done +seem miraculous. Indeed it is a miracle; for _miraculum_ signifies +wonderful. + +The history of the invention of the telephone is easily apprehended. +The scientific principles on which it depends may be understood +without difficulty. There is, however, about the instrument and its +action something that is well nigh unbelievable. It is essentially a +thing contrary to universal experience, if not positively +inconceivable, that the slight phenomenon of the human voice should +be, so to speak, _picked up_ by a physical contrivance, carried a +thousand miles through a thread of wire not a quarter of an inch in +diameter, and delivered in its integrity to the sense of another +waiting to receive it! At all events, the history of the telephone, +belonging so distinctly to our own age, will stand as a reminder to +after times of the great stride which the human race made in inventive +skill and scientific progress in the last quarter of the nineteenth +century. + +The telephone, like many similar instruments, was the work of several +ingenious minds directed at nearly the same time to the same problem. +The solution, however, must be accredited first of all to Elisha P. +Gray, of Chicago, and Alexander Graham Bell, of the Massachusetts +Institute of Technology. It should be mentioned, however, that Amos E. +Dolbear, of Tufts College, Massachusetts, and Thomas A. Edison, of +Menlo Park, New Jersey, likewise succeeded in solving the difficulty +in the way of telephonic communication, and in answering practically +several of the minor questions that hindered at first the complete +success of the invention. The telephone is an instrument for the +reproduction of sounds, particularly the sounds of the human voice, by +the agency of electrical conduction at long distances from the origin +of the vocal disturbance. Or it may be defined as an instrument for +the _transmission_ of the sounds referred to by the agencies +described. Indeed it were hard to say whether in a telephonic message +we receive a _reproduced_ sound or a _transmitted_ sound. On the +whole, it is more proper to speak of a reproduction of the original +sound by transmission of the waves in which that sound is first +written. + +It is now well known that the phenomenon called sound consists of a +wave agitation communicated through the particles of some medium to +the organ of hearing. Every particular sound has its own physical +equivalent in the system of waves in which it is written. The only +thing, therefore, that is necessary in order to carry a sound in its +integrity to any distance, is to transmit its physical equivalent, and +to redeliver that equivalent to some organ of hearing capable of +receiving it. + +Upon these principles the telephone was produced--created. Every sound +which falls by impact upon the sheet-iron disk of the instrument +communicates thereto a sort of tremor. This tremor causes the disk to +approach and recede from the magnetic pole placed just behind the +diaphragm. A current of electricity is thus induced, pulsates along +the wire to the other end, and is delivered to the metallic disk of +the second instrument, many miles away, just as it was produced in the +first. The ear of the hearer receives from the second instrument the +exact physical equivalent of the sound, or sounds, which were +delivered against the disk of the first instrument, and thus the +utterance is received at a distance just as it was given forth. + +As already said, the invention of the telephone stands chiefly to the +credit of Professors Gray and Bell. It should be recorded that as +early as 1837, the philosopher Page succeeded, by means of +electro-magnetism, in transmitting _musical_ tones to a distance. It +was not, however, until 1877 that Professer Bell, in a public lecture +given at Salem, Mass., astonished his audience, and the whole country +as well, by receiving and transmitting _vocal_ messages from Boston, +twenty miles away. Incredulity had no more a place as it respected the +feasibility of talking to persons at a distance. The experiments of +Gray at Chicago, a few days later in the same month, were equally +successful. Messages were distinctly delivered between that city and +Milwaukee, a distance of eighty-five miles, nor could it be longer +doubted that a new era in the means of communication had come. + +The Bell telephone, with its many modifications and improvements, has +come into rapid use. Within reasonable limits of distance, the new +method of transmitting intelligence by direct vocal utterance, has +taken the place of all slower and less convenient means of +intercommunication. The appearance of the simple instrument has been +one of the many harbingers of the oncoming better time, when the +interchange of thought and sentiment between man and man, community +and community, nation and nation, and race and race shall be the +preliminary of universal peace in the world and of the good-fellowship +of mankind. + +Every such fact as the invention of the telephone, produces a complex +and almost indescribable result in human society. This result has in +it, in the first place, a change in the manners and method of the +individual There is also a change in his sentiments. He whose work in +life, whatever it may be, is accomplished in touch with the telephone +will realize that he is in touch with the whole world. This intimacy +reaches, first, his neighbors and friends. He seems to live henceforth +in their presence, and in communication with them. + +The isolation of the individual life is virtually obliterated by such +an agency. Solitude disappears before it; for he whose ear is within +hearing of his instrument, knows not at what moment any one of many +thousands of people may speak to him. He knows not at what moment +intelligence of an ever-varying kind may be spoken to him from his own +community or out of the depths of distance. The mind is thus +affiliated with an enlarged and ever-present society. These +considerations do not relate to mere matters of convenience and +quickness and advantage and safety, but to the larger question of the +aggregate effect upon the individual. + +The effect on the community is of like kind. The community is no +longer so segregated as it was before. The community is in touch with +other communities of like character. The conflagration in one town is +felt in the neighboring towns, if it is not seen. The epidemic of the +one is the epidemic of many. The sensation of the one community +diffuses itself instantly into several. The effect is in the +intellectual life like that of a wave produced on the lake by the +casting in of a stone. The wave widens and recedes. It may be +obstructed or unobstructed in its progress. If obstructed, the +obstructions may be removed. Then the motion of the wave will become +free and regular. So also on the tide of public thought. The telephone +is an agency _for removing mental obstructions_, and for the regular +diffusion of a common thought. + +All this, however, is attended with draw-backs. One of these is the +breaking in on the privacy and seclusion of the individual life. +Individuality suffers under scientific progress. Great thinking is +accomplished best in solitude. Emerson has forcibly pointed out the +advantages which arise in the intellectual life from its isolation and +seclusion--from its free and uninterrupted communion with itself. + +The convenience--the physical convenience--of life is vastly augmented +by such a contrivance as the telephone. Time is saved and trouble +obviated. But at the same time the necessity for bodily exercise is +reduced, and the overgrowth of brain at the expense of body encouraged. +The fact is that the invention of the telephone and its general use, +while it has added very greatly to the comfort of life, while it has +promoted ease and diffused a social sense that needed stimulation and +development, has at the same time brought in conditions that are not +wholly favorable to human welfare. More largely still, the truth is +that the telephone, like every other symbol and agency of progress, +has brought _enlarged responsibilities._ + +No man, no community, no people or nation can gain an increase of +power without accepting the accompanying increase of responsibility. +The moral nature of man is thus involved. Every forward stride of +scientific invention places upon the life of man, including his bodily +activity, his mental moods and his spiritual and moral powers, an +added stress of duty, of energy, and of rectitude in conduct from +which he may not shrink if he would be the gainer rather than the +loser. Each discovery and each improved method of employing the +beneficent forces of the natural world, brings with it a strain upon +the moral nature of man which, if he stand it, well; but if he stand +it not, then it shall go ill with him. + + +THE MACHINE THAT "TALKS BACK." + +The invention for making nature give an intelligent response may well +be regarded with wondering interest. The odd, we might say humorous, +feature of the invention is that nature, being as it were cornered and +compelled to respond, will answer nothing except _to repeat what is +said in her ear!_ The phonograph may be defined as a mechanical +parrot. Unlike the living bird, however, it never makes answers +malapropos. It never deviates from the original text. The distrust +which has been justly cherished against the talking bird on account of +his originality can never be reasonably directed against the +phonograph! + +The possibility of writing sound has been recognized for a century +past. Since the discovery of the vibratory character of sound, the +physicist has seen the feasibility of recording the vibration. Nature +herself has given many hints along this line of experimentation. Long +ago it was seen that the writing sand sprinkled on the sounding board +of the piano would under the influence of a chord struck from the keys +arrange itself in geometrical figures. It was also seen that a discord +sounded from the key-board would break the figures into chaos and +confusion. Were not these phenomena sufficient to suggest that sound +might be written in intelligible characters? + +The mind, however, moves slowly from the old to the new. The former +concept of physical facts and the laws which govern them is not +readily given up. A great discovery in physical science seems to +disturb the foundations of nature. It does not really do so; the +disturbance is not in nature, but in the mind. No endeavor of man, no +advance of his from some old bivouac to a new camping-ground, affects +in the least the order of the world. The change, we repeat, is in the +man, and in the race to which he belongs. + +Long and tedious has been the process of getting thought into a +recorded form. The first method of expressing thought was oral. Long +before any other method of holding ideas and delivering them to others +was devised or imagined, speech came. Speech is oral. It is made of +sound. Oral utterance is no doubt as old as the race itself. It began +with the first coming of our kind into this sphere. Indeed we now know +that the rudiments of speech exist in the faculties of the lower +animals. The studies of Professor Garner have shown conclusively that +the humble simian folk of the African forest have a speech or +language. Of this the professor himself has become a student, and he +claims to have learned at least sixty words of the vocabulary! + +Strange it is to note the course which linguistic development has +taken. At the first, there was a _spoken_ language only. The next +stage was to get this spoken language recorded, not in _audible_, but +in _visible_ symbols. Why should it have been so easy and apparently +natural for the old races to invent a visible form of speech-writing +rather than an audible form? Why should the ancients have fallen back +on the eye rather than the ear as the sense to be instructed? Why +should sight-writing have been invented thousands of years ago, and +sound-writing postponed until the present day? + +In any event, such has been the history of recorded language. The +early races began as the mother begins with her children; that is, +with oral speech. But at a certain stage this method was abandoned, +and teachers came with pictorial symbols of words. They invented +visible characters to signify words, syllables, sounds. Thus came +alphabetical writing, syllabic writing, verbal writing, into the +world. Ever afterward the children of men learned speech first from +their parents, by oral utterance; but afterward by means of the +pictorial signs in which human language was recorded. + +This method became habitual. The eye was made to be the servant of the +intellect in learning nearly all that was to be gained from the wisdom +of the past. It was by the tedious way of crooked marks signifying +words that ideas were henceforth gleaned out of human lore by all who +would learn aught from the recorded wisdom of mankind. And yet there +never was anything essentially absurd or insurmountable in the +invention of a method of recording speech in audible instead of +visible symbols. + +The phonograph came swiftly after the telephone. The new instrument is +in a sense the complement of its predecessor. Both inventions are +based upon the same principle in science. The discovery that every +sound has its physical equivalent in a wave or agitation which affects +the particles of matter composing the material through which the sound +is transmitted led almost inevitably to the other discovery of +_catching_ and _retaining_ that physical equivalent or wave in the +surface of some body, and to the reproduction of the original sound +therefrom. + +Such is the fundamental principle of the interesting but, thus far, +little useful instrument known as the phonograph. The same was +invented by Thomas A. Edison, of Menlo Park, in the year 1877. The +instrument differs considerably in structure and purpose from the +_Vibrograph_ and _Phonautograph_ which preceded it. The latter two +instruments were made simply to _write_ sound vibrations; the former, +to reproduce _audibly_ the sounds themselves. + +The phonograph consists of three principal parts,--the sender or +funnel-shaped tube, with its open mouth-piece standing toward the +operator; the diaphragm and stylus connected therewith, which receives +the sound spoken into the tube; and thirdly, the revolving cylinder, +with its sheet-coating of tin-foil laid over the surface of a spiral +groove to receive the indentations of the point of the stylus. The +mode of operation is very simple. The cylinder is revolved; and the +point of the stylus, when there is no sound agitation in the funnel or +mouth-piece, makes a smooth, continuous depression in the tin-foil +over the spiral groove. But when any sound is thrown into the +mouth-piece the iron disk or diaphragm is agitated; this agitation is +carried through the stylus and written in irregular marks, dots, and +peculiar figures in the tin-foil over the groove. + +When the utterance which is to be reproduced has been completed, the +instrument is stopped, the stylus thrown back from the groove, and the +cylinder revolved backward to the place of starting. The stylus is +then returned to its place in the groove, and the cylinder is revolved +forward at the same rate of rapidity as before. As the point of the +stylus plays up and down in the indentations and through the figures +in the tin-foil, produced by its own previous agitation, a quiver +exactly equivalent to that which was produced by the utterance in the +mouth-piece is thrown into the air. This agitation is of course the +exact physical equivalent of the original sound, or, more properly, +_is_ the sound itself. Thus it is that the phonograph is made to talk, +to sing, to cry; to utter, in short, any sound sufficiently powerful +to produce a perceptible tremor in the mouth-piece and diaphragm of +the instrument. + +Much progress has been made toward the utilization of the phonograph +as a practical addition to the civilizing apparatus of our time. It +may be said, indeed, that all the difficulties in the way of such a +result have been removed. Mr. Edison has carried forward his work to +such a degree of perfection that the instrument may be practically +employed in correspondence and literary composition. The problem has +been to _stereotype_, so to speak, the tin-foil record of what has +been uttered in the mouth-piece, and thus to preserve in a permanent +form the potency of vanished sounds. Nor does it require a great +stretch of the imagination to see in the invention of the phonograph +one of the greatest achievements of the age--a discovery, indeed, +which may possibly revolutionize the whole method of learning. + +It would seem clear that nature has intended the _ear_, rather than +the eye, to be the organ of education. It is manifestly against the +fitness of things that the eyes of all mankind should be strained, +weakened, permanently injured in childhood, with the unnatural tasks +which are imposed upon the delicate organ. It would seem to be more in +accordance with the nature and capacities of man, and the general +character of the external world, to reserve the eye for the +discernment and appreciation of beauty, and to impose upon the ear +the tedious and hard tasks of education. + +The phonograph makes it possible to read by the ear instead of by the +eye, and it is not beyond the range of probability that the book of +the future, near or remote, will be written in phonographic plates and +made to reveal its story directly to the waiting ear, rather than +through the secondary medium of print to the enfeebled and tired eye +of the reader. + +We hardly venture on prophecy; but we think that he who returns to +this scene of human activity at the close of the twentieth century +will find that sound has been substituted for sight in nearly +everything that relates to recorded information, to learning, and to +educational work. By that means the organ of hearing will be restored +to its rightful office. Enlightenment and instruction of all kinds +will be given by means of phonographic books. The sound-wave will, in +a word, be substituted for the light-wave as the vehicle of all our +best information and intercourse. The ear will have habitually taken +the place of the eye in the principal offices of interest and +information. + +The unnatural method of the book--the visible book instead of the +audible book--will then be done away. Nature, who instructs the child +by sound, will continue to teach the man in the same manner. All +mothers, from the mother bird to the mother woman, begin the teaching +of their offspring by sound, by utterance. The mother bird continues +in this manner; but the mother woman is presently supplanted by a +teacher who comes in with a printed book filled with crooked marks, +and would have it that learning must be _thus_ acquired. Instead of +continuing the natural process of instruction to the complete +development and information of the mind, an abnormal method has been +adopted by mankind with many hurtful consequences. + +The youth at a certain age is led into the world of science, and there +dismissed from the mother-method, to acquire, if he can, the painful +and tedious use of meaningless hieroglyphics. There he must study with +the eye, learning as best he may the significance of the crooked signs +which can at the most signify no more than words. How much of human +energy and life and thought have been thus wasted in the instruction +of the mind by characters and symbols. The eyes of mankind have, as we +said, been dimmed and shadowed, and at the same time the faculties +have been overheated and the equipose of perception and memory +seriously disturbed by this unnatural process of learning. + +Human beings begin the acquirement of knowledge with words, and they +end with words; but an unnatural civilization has taught man to walk +the greater part of his intellectual journey by means of arbitrary +systems of writing and printing. When the next Columbian Year arrives +we shall see him untaught (a hard thing withal) and retaught on +nature's plan of learning. Nature teaches language by sound only. +Artificiality writes a scrawl. Nature's book is a book of words. Man's +book is as yet a book of signs and symbols. Nature's book utters +itself to the ear, and man's book blinds the eyes and overheats the +imagination. Nature's method is to teach by the ear, and to reserve +the sight for the discovery and enjoyment of beauty. + +The sound-book in some form is coming; and with that the intellectual +repose of mankind will begin to be restored. The use of the eye for +the offices of education instead of the stronger ear, has, we think, +impaired, if it has not destroyed, the equilibrium of the human mind. +That equilibrium must be restored. The mental diseases and unrest of +our race are largely attributable to the over-excitement of the +faculties through ages of too much seeing. + +The Age of Hearing is, we think, to be ushered in with the twentieth +century. The coming of that age will tend to restore the mental +balance of mankind. Memory, now almost obliterated, will come again. +The over-heated perceptions will cool. The imagination will become +calm, and the eye itself will recover, we hope, from the injuries, of +overstrain, and will regain its power and lustre. Man will see once +more as the eagle sees, and will learn Shakespeare by heart. He will +remember all knowledge, and will again be able to see, as of old, from +Sicily to Carthage! + + +THE EVOLUTION OF THE DYNAMO. + +BY PROFESSOR JOSEPH P. NAYLOR, A.M. + +It is difficult to estimate the influence in modifying and shaping the +nineteenth century civilization that has resulted from the discovery +of the dynamo and the production of heavy currents of electricity. +That it has had great influence is evident without question. The arc +light for out-of-doors lighting and the incandescent lamp for inside +has modified all our previous ideas of illumination. Effects in light +are now produced daily that were beyond imagination twenty years +since. The trolley and the electromoter have largely solved the +problem of rapid transit through our crowded cities. Thus larger +business facilities, suburban homes and cheaper living, cleanliness +and better sanitary conditions are electrical results. + +The transmission of energy by the electric current from a central +plant makes possible many small industries that could not exist +without it, and gives employment and happiness to hundreds. The art of +Electro-metallurgy seems but the development of months: yet it already +employs millions of capital and is adding thousands daily to the +world's wealth. Steam and wind and tide contribute to the work. Even +Niagara is being touched by the spirit of the time and sends her +wasting energy thrilling through the electric wires to turn the wheels +of many busy factories. It is perhaps not the least remarkable fact in +connection with this work that it is largely the product of the last +thirty years, and that it had its very beginning less than seventy +years since. Edison and Thompson and Brush are honorable household +names; yet they are still living to produce even greater electric +marvels. In fact, so rapid and brilliant has been the development that +in the brilliancy some of the pioneers in the work have been almost +forgotten, except by the specialist and the student, and it is no +small part of this sketch to do them honor. The tiny spark of Faraday +may be lost in the brilliancy of the million-candle-power +search-light, yet the brilliancy of the search-light but enhances the +wonder of the discovery of the spark. + +The discovery of electro-magnetic induction marked the beginning of a +new era; for in it lay all the possibilities of the future of +electrical science. Michael Faraday, the third son of a poor English +blacksmith, was born at Newington, Surrey, England, September 3, 1791. +His father's health was never the best, and due to the resulting +straitened circumstances his early education consisted of the merest +rudiments of reading, writing and arithmetic. His early life was, no +doubt, largely spent in the street; but at thirteen he became errand +boy to a book-seller of London. About a year later he was apprenticed +to a book binder, with whom he served seven years, learning the trade. + +It was while an apprentice that Faraday began reading scientific +articles on chemistry and physics in the books he was set to bind. He +also tried to repeat the experiments of which he read. And more, he +pondered over them long and earnestly, until he saw clearly the +principles involved in them. It was in these early days of +experimenting and self-education that the desire to become a +philosopher was implanted in his mind. He embraced every chance for +scientific study and caught every opportunity for intellectual +self-improvement. In the last year of his apprenticeship he was +enabled through the kindness of a customer at his master's shop, to +attend a course of four lectures on chemistry, given by Sir Humphry +Davy at the Royal Institution. This marked the turning point in his +life. He made careful notes of the lecture, and afterward transcribed +them neatly into a book and illustrated them with drawings of the +apparatus used. + +After completing his apprenticeship, Faraday began life as a +journeyman bookbinder. He had, however, as he says, "no taste for +trade." His love of science became a consuming desire that he sought +in every way to gratify. Inspired by his longing for scientific +pursuits, he sent his lecture notes to Sir Humphry Davy, with the +request that if opportunity offered he would give him employment at +the Royal Institution. Davy was favorably impressed with the lecture +report, and sent a kindly reply to the young philosopher. Shortly +after this a vacancy did happen to occur at the Institution, and upon +the recommendation of Davy, Faraday was elected to the place. Thus, in +1813, in the humble capacity of an assistant charged with the simple +duty of dusting and caring for the apparatus, Michael Faraday began +the life that was destined to make him the first scientist of the +world and to bring honor to the Institution which had given him his +opportunity. + +There is inspiration and encouragement to be found in reading the +story of Faraday's success. He has been called a genius; but his +genius seems to have largely consisted in persistent industry and the +habit acquired in those early days of thinking over his experiments +and reading until he had a clear perception of all there was in them. +He lived in his work, and loved it. In the fifty busy years that +followed his installment at the Royal Institution he digged deep into +nature's secrets, and gave the world many brilliant gems as evidence +of his industry. But of all his discoveries, _electro-magnetic +induction_ is the crowning masterpiece and that for which the world +stands most his debtor. + +The principle of conservation of energy, now so well known and +universally accepted, was then but a vague guess in the minds of the +more advanced in science. Faraday was among the first to accept the +new doctrine, and many of his brilliant discoveries were made in his +effort to prove the truth of these important generalizations. He was +acquainted with Sturgeon's method of making magnets by sending a +current of electricity through a wire wound around a bar of iron; and +he reasoned, if electricity will make a magnet, a magnet ought to make +electricity. As early as 1821 his note book contains this suggestion: +"Convert magnetism into electricity." Again and again he attacked the +problem; but it was not until the autumn of 1831 that his efforts to +solve it were successful. Then in a series of experiments that have +scarcely ever been equaled in brilliancy and originality, he gave to +the world the principle on which is based the wonderful development of +modern electrical science. + +The principle is briefly stated. The space, around a wire carrying an +electric current, or in the neighborhood of a magnet, has a directive +effect upon a magnetic needle, and is hence called a magnetic field. +Now if a conductor, or coil of wire, be placed in the field across the +direction of a magnetic needle, and the field be varied either by +varying the current or moving the magnet, a current will be developed +in the conductor. It is impossible at this distance to appreciate the +interest excited by the announcement of this principle, not only among +scientists, but also among inventors and those who saw practical +possibilities for the future; and probably no one more fully +appreciated its value than Faraday himself. Yet he made no effort to +develop it further, or even to protect his interest by a patent, as is +common in these days. He was eminently a scientist, and this was his +free gift to the world. He said: "I have rather been desirous of +discovering new facts and relations than of exalting those already +obtained, being assured the latter would find their full development +hereafter." + +Among the first to attempt successfully to exalt the new discovery was +Pixii, an instrument maker of Paris, in 1832. He wound two coils of +very fine insulated wire upon the ends of a piece of soft iron, bent +in a horseshoe form. A permanent horseshoe magnet was then placed with +poles very close to the ends of the iron in the coils. The field so +produced was then rapidly varied by revolving the magnet on an axis +parallel to its length. The soft iron cores of the coils became +strongly magnetized as the poles of the revolving magnet came opposite +to them; and their polarity was reversed at each half-revolution of +the magnet. By this plan currents of considerable intensity and +alternating in direction at each revolution were induced in the coil. + +The ends of the coil were next connected to the external circuit +through a "commutator." This is a device which is arranged to convert +the alternating current of the coils into a current of one direction +in the external circuit, and which in some form is found on all +direct-current dynamos. Joseph Saxton, an American, improved upon +Pixii's machine by rotating the coils, or armature as it is called, +and making the heavier magnet stationary. The essential points of +construction being worked out, improvements followed rapidly. Dr. +Werner Siemans, of Berlin, introduced an important modification by +making the revolving armature of a cylinder of soft iron, having a +groove cut throughout its length on opposite sides. In these grooves a +wire was wound and the armature was rotated on its axis between the +poles of several magnets. + +In all the earlier machines permanent magnets of steel were used. The +next important step was to use electro-magnets of soft iron, excited +by a current flowing through many turns of wire wound around the legs +of the magnet. These could be made much more strongly magnetic than +the permanent magnets. The exciting current was at first obtained from +a small permanent magneto machine; but it was afterward found that the +machine could be made self-exciting. Soft-iron electro-magnets, after +being once magnetized, remain slightly magnetic. This will produce a +weak current in the revolving armature which is turned into the magnet +coils. The magnets are thus further magnetized, and again react upon +the armature with greater intensity. In this way a _strong_ current is +rapidly built up, and after wholly or in part passing around the +magnet coils to sustain its magnetism, can be carried out into the +circuit to serve the great variety of purposes to which it is now put. + +The essential points in the evolution of the dynamo can here be +sketched only in broadest outline. Even to catalogue in detail, the +improvements of Edison and Brush, Gramme and Wheatstone, and a host of +others who have contributed to the work, would require a volume. One +fact, however, should ever be kept in mind: Whatever may be the extent +of the superstructure of electrical science, it is all built upon the +foundation of electro-magnetic induction laid by Michael Faraday. The +little "magnetic spark" he first produced, and the trembling of his +galvanometer-needle, were but signals of the birth of the giant of the +century. + +These are the days of electricity and steel, and a fitting part of the +intense age in which they exist. That we have as yet seen but a +partial development of the possibilities of the electrical discovery, +no one can doubt. The rush of the trolley car, and the blinding flash +of the electric light, are but challenges thrown out to the future for +even greater achievements. That they will come no one will question; +but where is the daring prophet who will hazard a guess as to what +they will be? + + +THE UNKNOWN RAY AND ENTOGRAPHY. + +It is difficult to name the unknown. In the ancient world all the +unknown was included in the idea of God. It remained for the +evangelist to declare that God is a _spirit_--thus separating the +natural forces of the material world from the Supreme Power who is +from eternity. + +This century has been the epoch of investigation into the nature of +the imponderable forces. Sound and light and heat have been known as +the principal agents of sensation since the first ages of man-life on +the earth; but their nature has not been well understood until within +the memories of men still living. Electricity was also vaguely +known--but very indistinctly--from ancient times. It has remained for +the scientific investigators of our age to enter into the secret parts +of nature and lay bare to the understanding many of the hitherto +unknown facts relating to the imponderable agents. + +The laws of heat, of acoustics, of light, have been clearly arranged +and taught; but they have not been placed beyond the reach of new +interpretation and possibly not beyond the reach of complete +revolution and reconstruction. That which has been accepted as +definitely known with regard to these agents has now to be reviewed, +and possibly to be learned over again from first principles. + +As to electricity in its various forms and manifestations, that +sublime and powerful agent began to be better known just before the +middle of the century. Since that time there has been almost constant +progress in the science of this great force, until at the present time +it is handled, controlled and understood in its phenomena almost as +easily as water is poured into a vessel, air compressed under a +piston, or hydrogen made to inflate a balloon. + +It has remained, however, for the last half decade of the great +century to come upon and investigate a hitherto unknown force in +nature. Certain it is that the new force exists, that it is +everywhere, that it is a part of the profound agency by which life is +administered, that its control is possible, and that its probable +applications are as wonderful--perhaps more wonderful--than anything +ever hitherto discovered by scientific investigation. + +It is not unlikely that since the day, or evening, on which Galileo, +with his little extemporized telescope, out in the garden of the +Quirinal, at Rome, compelled bigotry to behold the shining horns of +the crescent Venus, thus opening as if by compulsion the sublime +vista of the heavens and bringing in a new concept of the planetary +and stellar worlds,--no such other discovery as that of the so-called +Roentgen rays has been made. The results which seem likely to flow from +this marvelous revelation surpass the human imagination. Let us try in +a few words to realize the discovery, and define what it is. + +It was on the eighth of November, 1895, that Dr. William Konrad +Roentgen, of Wuerzburg, made the discovery which seems likely to +contribute so much to our knowledge of the mysterious processes of +nature. On that day Dr. Roentgen was working with a Crookes tube in his +laboratory. This piece of apparatus is well known to students and +partly known to general readers. It consists of a glass cylinder, +elongated into tubular form, and hermetically closed at the ends. When +the tube is made, the air is exhausted as nearly as possible from it, +and the ends are sealed over a vacuum as perfect as science is able to +produce. Through the two ends, bits of platinum wire are passed at the +time of sealing, so that they project a little within and without. The +interior of the tube is thus a vacuum into which at the two ends +platinum wires extend. Electrical communication with outside apparatus +is thus supplied. + +It has long been known that on the discharge of an electrical current +into this kind of vacuum peculiar and interesting phenomena are +produced. The platinum wires at the two ends are connected with the +positive and negative wires or terminals of an induction coil. When +this is done, the electrical current discharged into the vacuum seems +to flash out around the inner surfaces of the tube, in the form of +light. There are brilliant coruscations from one end to the other of +the tube. The tips of the platinum wire constituting the inner poles +glow and seem to flame. That pole which is connected with the positive +side of the battery is called the _anode_, or _upper_ pole, and that +which is connected with the negative, or receptive, side of the +battery, is called the _cathode_, or lower pole. It was in his +experimentation with this apparatus, and in particular in noticing the +results at the cathode or lower end of the tube, that Professor +Roentgen made his famous discovery. It was for this reason that the +name of "cathode rays" has been given to the new radiant force; but +Dr. Roentgen himself called the phenomena the X, or unknown, rays. + +In the experimentation referred to, Roentgen had covered the glass tube +at the end with a shield of black cardboard. This rendered the glow at +the cathode pole completely invisible. It chanced that a piece of +paper treated with platino-barium cyanide for photographic uses was on +a bench near by. Notwithstanding the fact that the tube was covered +with an opaque shield, so that no _light_ could be transmitted, +Professor Roentgen noticed that changes in the barium paper were taking +place, _as though_ it were exposed to the action of light! Black lines +appeared on the paper, showing that the surface was undergoing +chemical change from the action of some invisible and hitherto unknown +force! + +This was the moment of discovery. The philosopher began experimenting. +He repeated what had been accidentally done and was immediately +convinced that a force, or, as it were, invisible rays were streaming +from the cathode pole of the tube through the glass, and through a +substance absolutely opaque, and that these rays were performing their +work at a distance on the surface of paper that was ordinarily +sensitive only to the action of light. + +Certain it was that _something_ was doing this work. Certain it was +that it was _not light_. Highly probable it was that it was not any +form of _electricity_, for glass is impermeable to the electrical +current. Certain it was that it was _not sound_, for there was no +noise or atmospheric agitation to produce such a result. In a word, it +was demonstrated then and there that a hitherto unknown, subtle and +powerful agent had been discovered, the applications of which might be +of almost infinite range and interest. + +Professor Roentgen soon announced his discovery to the Physico-Medical +Society of Wuerzburg. It was at the December meeting of this body that +the new stage in human progress was declared. The news was soon +flashed all over the world, and scientific men in every civilized +country began at once to experiment with the cathode light--if light +that might be called that lighted nothing. + +In Roentgen's announcement he stated that there had been by the +scientists Hertz and Lenard, in 1894, certain antecedent discoveries +from which his own might in some sense be deduced. There was, however, +a great difference between the discovery made by Roentgen and anything +that had preceded it. His stage of progress in knowledge was this, +that during the discharge of _one_ kind of rays of force from the +cathode pole in a Crookes tube _another kind_ of rays are set free, +which differ totally in their nature and effects from anything +hitherto known. It is this fact which has indissolubly connected the +name of Konrad Roentgen with that great bound in scientific knowledge +which seems likely to modify nearly all the other scientific knowledge +of mankind. + +Everywhere, in the first months of 1896, the experimenters went to +work to verify and apply the discovery of the German philosopher. It +was at once discerned that the new force, since it would freely +traverse opaque bodies and produce afterward chemical changes on +sensitized surfaces similar to those ordinarily produced _by_ light, +might be used for delineating (we can hardly say _photo_ graphing) the +interior outlines and structure of opaque bodies! + +On this line of experimentation the work at once began, and with +remarkable success. Roentgen himself was the first man in the world to +obtain, as _if_ by photography, the invisible outline of objects +through opaque materials. He soon obtained a delineation of the bones +of a living hand through the flesh, which was only dimly traced in the +resulting picture. In like manner coins were delineated through the +leather of pocketbooks. Other objects were pictured through +intervening plates of metal or boards of wood. The possibility of +discovering the visible character of invisible things, and even _of +seeing directly through_ opaque materials into parts where neither +light nor electricity can penetrate, was fully shown. + +The work of picture taking in the interior of bodies and through +opaque materials was quickly taken up by philosophers in England, +France and the United States. Almost everywhere the physical +laboratories witnessed daily this form of experimentation. Swinton, of +London; Robb, of Trinity College, Dublin; Morton, of New York; Wright, +of Yale University, and in particular Thomas A. Edison, of Menlo Park, +attacked the new problem with scientific zeal, and with startling +results. It remained for Edison to discover that the new force acted +in some respects in the manner of _sound_ rather than in the manner of +_light_. Thus, for example, he showed that the invisible rays not only +_pass through_ substances that are opaque to light and non-conductors +of electricity, but that the invisible rays _run around the edges and +sides_ of plates, then proceeding on their way somewhat in the manner +of sound. A sound made on one side of a metallic plate is heard on the +other side _partly_ by transmission through the plate, and _partly_ by +going around the edges, by atmospheric transmission. The new force +rays act in this manner, and Edison is said to have procured pictures +by means of the invisible agent while it was _going around the corner +_ of an opaque obstruction! + +The pre-eminence of Thomas A. Edison as a scientific explorer and +inventor depends upon a quality of mind which enables him more easily +than others--more distinctly than any others--to see the touch of each +new discovery with existing conditions, and the application of it to +the problems of life. Edison catches the premonitory spark struck in +the darkness by some other master's hammer, and with that kindles a +conflagration. Though not the discoverer of the Roentgen ray, he was +able, as it would appear, to understand that discovery better even +than the discoverer. He almost immediately applied the new increment +of knowledge more successfully, we think, than any contemporary +scientist. His experimentation led him directly to the discovery of +the important fact that no photographic apparatus of any kind is +needed to enable an observer to use the X-rays in the delineation or +inspection of objects through opaque substances. He said within +himself: "Why not pass the X-rays through the object to be inspected +and then convert them into visibility, as if by fluorescence." + +This scientific question Edison almost immediately solved. +Fluorescence is a property which some transparent bodies have of +producing, either on their surface or within their substance, light +different in color from that of its origin. This happens, for example, +when _green_ crystals of fluor spar afford _blue_ reflections of +light. Glass may be rendered fluorescent, as is seen in the Geisler +and Crookes tubes. Edison conceived the project of using this +phenomenon to get back the invisible rays into visibility. + +The substance which he employed was the tungstate of calcium. Taking +crystals of this chemical compound, he spread the same over a cloth or +paper screen, and used that screen to catch and convert the invisible +images carried against it by the X-rays. To his surprise, his +experiment was completely successful. All that is needed in this case +is the cathode light, the object to be examined (as for instance the +hand), and the screen treated with tungstate of calcium. The observer +looks through the screen, or into it, and sees _with the unaided eye_ +the invisible interior parts of the object examined, held between the +screen and the cathode light. The invisible rays take the image of the +interior parts of an opaque object, and carry that image to the +screen, where it is reconverted into visibility and delivered to the +eye of the observer, without the aid of any instrument at all! It is +on this simple principle that Edison has invented his surgical and +physiological lamp. The announcement is that with this lamp the +surgeon may look through the calcium tungstate screen and examine, for +example, the fractured bones of the hand, and set them perfectly by +actual inspection of the parts with his eye! + +What then _is_ the cathode ray? At the present time its nature is not +understood. That it is a form or mode of motion goes with the +saying--unless it should be presently shown that all the imponderable +forces are really _material_ in their nature; that is, that they are +an inconceivably fine and attenuated form of matter in varying +manifestations. + +The cathode rays are not light. They are not sound. They are not +electricity or magnetism. They are not heat. They are not any of the +known forms of force. They seem to be a new transformation of some one +or more of the known agents. It has long been observed that _motion_ +is accompanied with _sound_, and that motion also, if increased, +becomes manifest in _heat_. It is known that heat is convertible into +light, and light into electricity. + +It is possible that at the bottom of all these phenomena lies the +force of gravitation. This force is absolute and universal. All the +others are partial and limited. All the others, even the newly +discovered cathode rays, are subject to obstruction by certain forms +of matter; that is, to them certain forms of matter are opaque. But +gravitation knows no opacity in the universe. No atom of matter is +exempt from its sway. It streams through all obstructive media as +though such media did not exist. It would appear that heat, light, +electricity, sound, the cathode rays, and all other forms of force in +nature are probably variations, and as it were limited expressions and +manifestations, of _the one supreme force_ that supports the +constitution of the physical universe; and that one supreme force is +_gravitation_! + + + + +Stages in Biological Inquiry. + + +THE NEW INOCULATION. + +Any account of the scientific progress of this century which omits the +name of Louis Pasteur would be lamentably incomplete. In that part of +science which relates strictly to human life and the means of +preserving it, the work of this great man must be placed in the first +rank. Indeed, we believe that no other stride in biological +investigation from the beginning of time has been so great in its +immediate and prospective results as has been the increment +contributed by Pasteur and his contemporary Koch. The success of these +two experimental philosophers grew out of the substitution of a new +theory for one that had hitherto prevailed respecting some of the +fundamental processes in living matter. + +Up to about the close of the third quarter of this century, the belief +continued to prevail in the possibility of the propagation and +production of germ life without other germ life to precede it. It was +held that fermentation is not dependent upon living organisms, and +that fermentation may be excited in substances from which all living +germs have been excluded. This belief led to the theory of +_abiogenesis_ so-called--a term signifying the production of life +without life to begin with. + +The question involved in this theory was hotly debated by philosophers +and scientists in the Sixties and Seventies. The first great work of +Pasteur in biological investigation was his successful demonstration +of the impossibility of spontaneous generation. About 1870, he became +a careful experimenter with the phenomena of fermentation. As his work +proceeded, he was more convinced that fermentation can never occur in +the absence and exclusion of living germs; and this view of the +deep-down processes in living matter has now been accepted as correct. + +The next stage in the work of Pasteur was the discovery that certain +substances, such as glycerine, are products of fermentation. From this +foundation firmly established he passed on to consider the phenomena +of disease. He had been, in the first place, a teacher in a normal +school at Paris. In 1863, when he was thirty-nine years of age, he was +a professor of geology. Afterward he had a chair of chemistry at the +Sorbonne. In 1856 we find him experimenting with light, and after that +he turned to biological investigations. This led him to the results +mentioned above, and presently to the discovery that the contagious +and infectious diseases with which men and the lower animals are +affected are in general the results of processes in the system that +are nearly analagous to fermentation, and that such diseases are +therefore traceable ultimately to the existence of living germs. + +This view of the case brought Pasteur to a large and general +investigation of bacteria. The bacterium may be defined as a +microscopic vegetable organism; or it may be called an _animal_ +organism; for in the deep-down life of germs there is not much +difference between vegetable and animal--perhaps no difference at all. +The bacterium is generally a jointed rod-like filament of living +matter, and its native world seems to be any putrefying organic +substance. + +Bacteria are the smallest of microscopic organisms. They are widely +diffused in the natural world, existing independently and also in a +parasitical way, in connection with larger forms of organic life. They +multiply with the greatest rapidity. On the whole, the bacterium +fulfills its vital offices in two ways, or with two results; first, +_fermentation_, and secondly, _disease_. + +To this field of inquiry Pasteur devoted himself with the greatest +assiduity. He began to investigate the diseased tissue of animals, and +was rewarded with the discovery of the germs from which the disease +had come. It was found that the bacteria of one disease are different +from those of another disease, or in a word that the microscopic +organisms which produce morbid conditions in animals are +differentiated into genera and species and varieties, in the same +manner as are the animals, birds and fishes, of the world. A new realm +of life invisible save by the aid of the microscope, began to be +explored, and practical results began to follow. + +Pasteur at length announced his ability to _produce_ infectious +diseases by inoculation; and of this his proofs and demonstrations, +were complete. In the next place he announced his ability to +_counteract_ the ravages, of certain classes of diseases (those called +zymotic) by inoculating the animal suffering therefrom with what he +called an "attenuated" or "domesticated" virus of the given disease. + +The matter first came to a practical issue by the inoculation of well +animals with the attenuated virus. The animals so treated became +_immune_; that is, exempt from the infection of the given disease. +Pasteur gave public demonstrations in the fields near Paris, using the +disease called splenic fever, and sheep as the subjects of his +experimentation. The whole civilized world was astonished with the +results. The tests were conducted in such a way as to preclude the +possibility of error. It was shown, in a word, that by the simple +process of inoculating well animals with the modified poison the +infectious disease might be avoided. + +It were long to tell the story of the experimentation and discovery +that now followed. The last quarter of the century has been fruitful +in the greatest results. The bacilli of one disease after another have +been discovered, and the means have been invented of defending the +larger animal life from the ravages of microscopic organisms. + +But what is an "attenuated" virus? Pasteur and other scientists have +shown that by the inoculation of suitable material, such as a piece of +flesh, with the poison of a given disease, the bacteria on which that +disease depends rapidly multiply and diffuse themselves through the +substance. If poison be taken from the _first_ body of infected +material and carried to _another_, that other becomes infected; and +from that the third; from the third the fourth, and so on to the tenth +generation. + +It was noticed, however, that with each transference of the virus to a +new organic body the bacilli were modified somewhat in form and +activity. They became, so to speak, less savage. The bacterium which +at the beginning had been for its savagery a wolf, became in the +second body a cur; then a hound; then a spaniel; and then a +diminutive lapdog! The bacteria were thus said to be "domesticated;" +for the process was similar to the domestication of wild animals into +tame. The virus was said to be "attenuated;" that is, made thin or +fine; that is, its poisonous and death-dealing quality, was so reduced +as to make it comparatively innocuous. + +If after the process of attenuation was complete--if after the +bacteria were once thoroughly domesticated and the poison produced by +them be then introduced into a well subject, that subject would indeed +become diseased, but so mildly diseased as scarcely to be diseased at +all. In such a case the result was of a kind to be called in popular +language a mere "touch" of the disease. In such case the severe +ravages of the malady would be prevented; but the subject would be +rendered incapable of taking the disease a second time. + +On this line of fact and theory Pasteur successfully pressed his work. +One disease after another was investigated. It was demonstrated in the +case of both the lower animals and men that a large number of maladies +and plagues might be completely disarmed of their terrors by the +process of inoculation. The name of Pasteur became more and more +famous. The celebrated Pasteur Institute was founded at Paris, under +the patronage of the French Government, and in some sense under the +patronage of the whole world. To this establishment diseased subjects +were taken for treatment, and here experimentation was carried on over +a wide range of facts. + +The value of the results attained can hardly be overestimated. The +fear which mankind have long entertained on account of plagues and +epidemics, and the loss which the animal industries of the world have +sustained, were largely abated. As yet the use of the Pasteur methods +for the prevention and cure of disease is by no means universal; but +the knowledge which has come of his investigations and of the results +of them has diffused itself among all civilized nations, and the +hygienic condition of almost every community has been most favorably +affected by the new knowledge which we possess of bacteria and of the +means of destroying them. + +Pasteur, whose recent death has been mourned by the best part of +mankind, was an explorer and forerunner. His industry in his chosen +field of investigation was prodigious. When he was already nearly +seventy years of age, he undertook the investigation of hydrophobia, +with the purpose of discovering, if he might, the germ of that dreaded +disease, thus preparing a method for inoculation against it. + +Hydrophobia is one of the most subtle diseases ever known. So obscure +and uncertain are its phenomena that many able men have been led to +doubt the _existence_ of such a disease! The mythological origin of +the malady in the supposed influence of a dog-star seemed to +strengthen the view that hydrophobia, as a specific disease, does not +exist. It is undeniably true that the great majority of the cases of +so-called rabies are pure myths. Under investigation they melt away +into nothing but alarm and fiction. However, there appeared to be a +residue of actual hydrophobia, though the disease as tested by its +name exists in fancy rather than fact. + +In any event, Pasteur began to investigate hydrophobia, and at length +discovered the bacilli which produce it. At least he found in animals +affected with rabies, notably in the spinal marrow of such animals, +minute living organisms, having the form of thread-like animalculae, +with heads at one end. The microscope showed also among these +thread-like bodies other organisms that were like small circular black +specks, or disks. + +The next step in the work was to test the result by inoculating a well +animal with these bodies. Pasteur selected rabbits for his +experimentation. When the experiment was made, the inoculated rabbit +was presently attacked with the disease, and soon died in spasms. The +repetition of the experiment was attended with like results. + +The philosopher next tried his established method of domesticating, or +attenuating, the poison. The spinal cord of a rabid dog was obtained, +and with this the first rabbit was inoculated. In about two weeks it +took hydrophobia. Hereupon the spinal cord was extracted, and the +second rabbit was inoculated; then the third; then the fourth, and so +on. It was observed, however, that at each stage the intensity of the +disease was in this way strangely increased; but the period of +inoculation became shorter and shorter. + +It was next found that by preserving the spinal cords of the animals +that had died of the disease--by preserving them in dry tubes--the +poison gradually lost its power. At last the virus seemed to die +altogether. Then the experiment of inoculating against the disease was +begun. A dog was first inoculated with dead virus. No result followed. +Then he was inoculated with stale virus, and then with other virus not +so stale. It was found that by continuing this process the animal +might be rendered wholly insusceptible to the disease. + +The next step was the human stage of experimentation. It was in July +of 1885 that Pasteur first employed his method on a human subject. A +boy had been bitten and lacerated by a rabid dog. The inoculation was +thought to prove successful. Soon afterward some bitten children were +taken from the United States to Paris, and were treated against the +expected appearance of hydrophobia. Others came from different parts +of the continent. Within fourteen months more than two thousand five +hundred subjects were treated, and it is claimed that the mortality +from hydrophobia was reduced to a small per cent of what it had been +before. + +It should be said, however, that neither have the results arrived at +by Pasteur respecting the character of rabies been so clear, nor have +his experiments on subjects supposed to be poisoned with the disease +been so successful as in the case of other maladies. It remains, +nevertheless, to award to Louis Pasteur _the first rank_ among the +bacteriologists of our day, as well as a first place among the +philanthropists of the century. Only Robert Koch, of Germany, is to be +classed in the same list with him. + + +KOCH'S BATTLE WITH THE INVISIBLE ENEMY. + +There was a great _negative_ reason for the success of the World's +Columbian Exposition. The cholera did NOT come! It is quite +true that there is no _if_ in history; but IF the cholera had +come, IF the plague had broken out in our imperial Chicago, +what would have become of the Columbian Exposition? Certainly the Man +of Genoa would have had to seek elsewhere for a great international +gathering in his honor. + +The cholera did not arrive, although it was expected. The antecedent +conditions of its coming were all present; but it came not. The +American millions discerned that the dreaded plague was at bay; a +feeling of security and confidence prevailed; the summer of 1893 went +by, and not a single case of Asiatic cholera appeared west of the +Alleghenies. We are not sure that a single case appeared on the +mainland of North America. And why not? + +It was because the increasing knowledge of mankind, reinforced with +philanthropy and courage, had drawn a line north and south across +Western Europe, and had said, _Thus far and no farther_. Indeed, there +were several lines drawn. The movement of cholera westward from the +Orient began to be obstructed even before it reached Germany. It was +obstructed in Italy. It was obstructed seriously on the meridian of +the Rhine. It was obstructed almost finally at the meridian of London. +It was completely and gloriously obstructed at the harbor of New York. + +Civilization has never appeared to a better advantage than in the +building of her defences against the westward invasion of cholera. +There have been times within two decades of the present when in the +countries east of the Red Sea 3000 people have died daily of the +Asiatic plague. Egypt has been ravaged. The ports of the Mediterranean +have been successfully invaded. Commerce, reckless of everything +except her own interests, has taken the infection on shipboard, and +sailed with it to foreign lands, as though it were a precious cargo! +Importers, anxious for merchandise, have stood ready to receive the +plague, and plant it without regard to consequences. But in the midst +of all this, a new power has arisen in the world, and standing with +face to the east, has drawn a sword, before the circle of which even +the spectral shadow of cholera has quailed and gone back! Humanity +might well break out in rhapsody and jubilee over this great victory. + +Among the personal agencies by which cholera has been excluded from +Europe and America, first and greatest is Dr. Robert Koch, of Berlin. +He, more than any other one man, has contributed to the glorious +exemption. Dr. Koch, now by the favor of his Emperor, Baron Koch, is +one of those heroic spirits who go before the human race exploring the +route, casting up a highway and gathering out the stones. Thus shall +the feet of the oncoming millions be not bruised and their shouts of +joy be not turned to lamentation. + +Robert Koch was born at Klausthal, in the Hartz mountains, on the +eleventh of December, 1843. He is a German of the Germans. In his +youth he was a student of medicine at Goettingen, where at the age of +twenty-three he took his first degree. He was by nature and from his +boyhood a devotee of science. For about ten years he practiced his +profession, but continued his studies with indefatigable zeal. The +investigations of Pasteur had already filled Europe with applause when +Koch, following on the same lines of scientific exploration, began to +enlarge the borders of knowledge. He became a bacteriologist of the +first rank. He began to investigate the causes and nature of +contagion; but as late as 1876 his name was still unknown in the +cyclopaedias. + +Koch was twenty-one years the junior of Pasteur; but his enthusiasm +and genius now bore him rapidly to a fame as great as that of his +predecessor. His first remarkable achievement was a demonstration of +the cause and cure of splenic fever in cattle. He showed, just as +Pasteur had done in similar cases, that the plague in question was due +to the specific poison of a bacterium, and that the disease might be +cured by inoculation against it. This he proceeded to do, and the +demonstration and good work brought him to the attention of the old +Emperor. Dr. Koch was made a member of the Imperial Board of Health in +Berlin. + +A greater discovery was already at the door. Dr. Koch began a careful +investigation into the nature of consumption. His discovery of the +germ of splenic fever, and that of chicken cholera, as well as the +general results in this direction in other laboratories of Europe, led +him to the conjecture that consumption also is a zymotic or bacterial +disease. His inquiry into this subject began in 1879, and extended to +March of 1882. On that day, in a paper before the Physiological +Society of Berlin, he announced the discovery of the _tubercle +bacillus_. He was able to demonstrate the existence of the germ of +consumption, and to describe its methods of life, as well as the +character of his ravages. + +Here then at last was laid bare the true origin of the most fatal +disease which has ever afflicted mankind. He who has not informed +himself with respect to the almost universal prevalence of consumption +among the nations of the earth, or taken note of the mortality from +that dreaded enemy, by which nearly one-sixth of the human race sooner +or later perishes, will not have realized the awful character of this +enemy. To attack such a foe, to force him into a corner, even as +Siegfried did the Grendel in his cavern, was an achievement of which +the greatest of mankind might well be proud. + +The discovery of the bacillus of consumption by no means assured the +cure of the disease; but it foretokened the time when a cure would be +found. This prophecy, though it has not yet been clearly fulfilled, +is, in the closing years of the century, in process of fulfillment. +The enemy does not readily yield; but such has been the gain in the +contest that already within the last twenty years the mortality from +consumption of the lungs has fallen off more than forty per cent! Much +of this gain has been made by the reviving confidence of human beings +that sooner or later tuberculosis would be destroyed. Hygiene has done +its part; and other circumstances have conduced to the same result. +Though neither Dr. Koch nor any other man living has been able as yet +positively to meet and vanquish consumption in open battle, yet the +goblin has in a measure been robbed of his terrors. He is no longer +boastful and victorious over the human race. + +After the discovery of the tubercle bacillus, the fame of Robert Koch +became world-wide. In the following year he was made a privy +councilor, and was placed in charge of an expedition organized by the +German government to go into Egypt and India for the investigation of +the causes of Asiatic cholera. The expedition was engaged in this work +for nearly a year. Koch pursued his usual careful method of scientific +experimentation. He exposed himself to the contagion of cholera, but +his science and fine constitution stood him well in hand, and he +returned unharmed. + +It was in May of 1884 that he was able to announce the discovery of +the _coma bacillus_, that is, the bacterium of cholera. Here, again he +had the enemy at bay. For long ages the Asiatic plague had ravaged the +countries of the East with little hindrance to its spread or fatality. +The disease would appear as an epidemic at intervals and sweep all +before it. The wave of death would roll on westward from country to +country, until it would subside, as if by exhaustion, in the far west. +Two or three times within the century cholera had been fatally +scattered through American cities. It had spread westward along the +rivers of the Ohio and Mississippi valleys, and into country +districts, where villages and hamlets were decimated. + +The discovery of Koch was a virtual proclamation that this ruin of +mankind from the Asiatic plague should cease. The knowledge that the +disease was due to a living bacterium, that without the germ and the +spread of the germ the plague could not exist, was a virtual +announcement that in the civilized countries it should _not_ any +longer exist. + +The discoverer was now set high in the estimation of mankind. Imperial +Germany best of all countries rewards its benefactors. France is +fascinated with adventure; Great Britain with slaughter; America with +bare political battles; but Germany sees the true thing, and rewards +it. Koch was immediately placed beyond want by his government, and +titles and honors came without stint. + +The Empire would fain have such a man at the seat of power. Dr. Koch +was, in 1885, made a professor in the University of Berlin. The new +chair of Hygiene was created for him, and he was made Director of the +Hygienic Institute. It was in this capacity that armed with influence +and authority and having the resources of the government virtually at +his disposal, he directed in the great scientific work by which a +bulwark against cholera was drawn almost literally across Europe, and +was defended as if with the mounted soldiery of science and humanity. +True enough, cholera managed to plant itself in Italy in 1886, and in +Hamburg in 1892, and the plague was scattered into several German +towns. But it came to Hamburg by water, not by land. It did there +during the summer a dreadful work, but the battle was the Waterloo of +the enemy. Not again while the present order continues will it be +possible for the dreaded epidemic to get the mastery of a great German +city. + +It was to be anticipated that Dr. Koch's discovery of the tubercle +bacillus would lead him on to the discovery of a cure for +tuberculosis. Very naturally his thought on this subject was borne in +the direction of inoculation. That method had been used by Pasteur and +by himself in the case of other infectious diseases. Why should it not +be employed in consumption? If the "domestication," so-called, of the +virus of splenic fever and the use of the modified poison as an +antiseptic preventive of the disease was successful, as it had been +proved to be, why should this not be done with the attenuated virus of +consumption? + +The last five years of the ninth decade were spent by Dr. Koch in +experimentation on this subject. He found that the tubercular poison +might be treated in the same manner as the poison of other infectious +diseases. He experimented with methods for domesticating the bacillus +of consumption, and reached successful results. On the fourteenth of +November, 1890, he published in a German medical magazine at Berlin a +communication on a possible remedy for tuberculosis. He had prepared a +sort of lymph suitable for hypodermic injection, and with this had +experimented on a form of _external_ tuberculosis called lupus. This +disease is a consumption of the skin and adjacent tissues. It is a +malady almost as dreadful as consumption of the lungs, but is by no +means frequent in its occurrence. It is found only at rare intervals +by the medical practitioner. + +Dr. Koch had demonstrated that lupus is a true tuberculosis--that the +germ which produces it is the same bacillus which produces consumption +of the lungs. He accordingly directed his effort to cases of lupus, +treating the patients with hypodermic injections which he had prepared +from the modified form of the tubercular poison. He was successful in +the treatment, and was able to announce, to the joy of the world, that +he had discovered a cure for lupus; and the announcement went so far +as to express a belief in the salutary character of the remedy in the +treatment of consumption of the lungs. + +Dr. Koch, however, with the usual caution of the true men of science, +did not announce his tuberculin, or lymph, as a cure for pulmonary +consumption. He did not even declare that it was positively a remedy +for the other forms of tuberculosis, but did announce his cure of +cases of lupus by the agent which he had prepared. The world, after +its manner, leaped at conclusions, and the newspapers of two +continents, in their usual office of disseminating ignorance, +trumpeted Koch's discovery as the end of tubercular consumption. + +In January of 1891, Dr. Koch published to the world the composition of +his remedy. It consists of a glycerine extract prepared by the +cultivation of tubercle bacilli. The lymph contains, as it were, the +poisonous matter resulting from the life and activity of the tubercle +bacterium. The fluid is used by hypodermic injection, and when so +administered produces both a general and local reaction. The system is +powerfully affected. A sense of weariness comes on. The breathing is +labored. Nausea ensues; and a fever supervenes which lasts for twelve +or fifteen hours. It is now known that the action of the remedy is not +directly against the tubercle bacilli, but rather against the affected +tissue in which they exist. This tissue is destroyed and thrown off by +the agency of the lymph; being destroyed, it is eliminated and cast +out, carrying with it the bacteria on which the disease depends. + +The results which have followed the administration of Koch's lymph for +consumption of the lungs have not met the expectation of the public; +but something has been accomplished. Ignorant enthusiasm has meanwhile +subsided, and scientific men in both Europe and America are pressing +the inquiry in a way which promises in due time the happiest results. + + +ACHIEVEMENTS IN SURGERY. + +It will not do to disparage the work of the ancients. The old world, +long since fallen below the horizon of the past, had races of men and +individuals who might well be compared with the greatest of to-day. In +a general way, the ancients were great as thinkers and weak as +scientists. They were great in the fine arts and weak in the practical +arts. This is true of the Hindus, the Egyptians, the Greeks, the +Romans, even of the Aztecs and the Peruvians. + +The art work of these old peoples, whether in sculpture, painting or +poetry, surpassed, if it did not eclipse, corresponding periods of +modern times. In some of the practical arts the old races were +proficient. In architecture, which combines the aesthetic and +practical elements, the man of antiquity was at least the equal of the +man of the present. In one particular art--a sort of humanitarian +profession based on natural science and directed to the preservation +of life--the ancients had a measure of proficiency. This art was +surgery. The surgeon was even from the beginning, and he will no doubt +be even to the end. + +The great advance which has been made in surgical science and practice +is shown in two ways: first, in a great increase of courage, by which +the surgeon has been led on to the performance of operations that were +hitherto considered rash, audacious or impossible; and secondly, by +the immunity which the surgeon has gained in the treatment of wounds +through the increased knowledge he possesses of putrefaction and the +means of preventing it. It were hard to say whether the surgeon's +increase of skill and courage in performing operations has equalled +his increased skill in the after treatment of wounds. + +These improvements have all proceeded from scientific investigation. +They have come of the application of scientific methods to the +treatment of surgical diseases. With the investigations of Pasteur and +the development of the science of bacteriology, it was seen at a +glance how large an influence such investigation must have in the +work of the surgeon. The publication of Tyndall's "Essays on the +Floating Matter of the Air in Relation to Putrefaction and Infection," +in 1881, gave a great impulse to the new practice; but that practice +had been already confirmed by the great and original work of Sir +Joseph Lister, an English surgeon who as early as 1860 had introduced +the antiseptic method of bandaging. + +It is within the last forty years that the greatest marvels of modern +surgery have been performed. It would seem that no part of the human +body is now beyond the reach of surgical remedy. Almost every year has +witnessed some new and daring invasion of the fortress of life with a +view to saving it. Old opinions with respect to what parts of the +human economy are really vital have been abolished; and a new concept +of the relation of life to organism has prevailed. + +Until recently it was supposed that the peritoneal cavity and the +organs contained therein, such as the stomach, the liver, the bowels, +etc., could not be entered by the surgeon without the certain result +of death. To do so at the present time is the daily experience in +almost every great hospital. The complexity of civilization has +inflicted all manner of hurts on the human body, and the malignity of +disease has spared no part. It was supposed that the cranial cavity +could not be entered or repaired without producing fatal results. It +was taken for granted that certain organs could not be touched, much +less treated capitally, without destroying the subject's life. But one +exploration has followed another and one successful adventure has been +succeeded by another still more successful until the surgeon's work is +at the present time performed within a sphere that was until recently +supposed to be entirely beyond his reach. + +As to the liver, that great organ is freely examined and is treated +surgically with considerable freedom. This is true also of the +stomach, which until recently was supposed to be entirely beyond the +surgeon's touch. Within the last two decades sections of the stomach +have been made and parts of the organ removed. Not a few cases are +recorded in which subjects have fully recovered after the removal of a +part of the stomach. Sections of the intestinal canal have also been +made with entire success. Several inches of that organ have in some +cases been entirely removed, with the result of recovery! The spleen +has been many times removed; but it has been recently noted that a +decline in health and probably death at a not distant date generally +follow this operation. + +The disease called appendicitis has either in our times become +wonderfully frequent or else the improved methods of diagnosis have +made us acquainted with what has long been one of the principal +maladies of mankind. The _appendix vermiformis_ seems to be a useless +remnant of anatomical structure transmitted to us from a lower animal +condition. At least such is the interpretation which scientists +generally give to this hurtful and dangerous tube-like blind channel +in connection with the bowels. That it becomes easily inflamed and is +the occasion of great loss of life can not be doubted. Its removal by +surgical operation is now regarded as a simple process which even the +unlearned surgeon, if he be careful and talented, may safely perform. +The surgical treatment of appendicitis has become so common as to +attract little or no notice from the profession. Even the country +neighborhood no longer regards such a piece of surgery as sensational. + +The use of surgical means in the cure, that is the removal, of tumors, +both external and internal, has been greatly extended and perfected. +The surgeon now carries a quick eye for the tumor and a quick remedy +for it. In nearly all cases in which it has not become constitutional +he effects a speedy cure with the knife. The cancerous part is cut +away. It has been observed that as the recent mortality from +consumption has decreased cancerous diseases have become more +frequently fatal. Whether or not there be anything vicarious in the +action of these two great maladies we know not; but statistics show +that since the beginning of Pasteur's discoveries the one disease has +diminished and the other increased in almost a corresponding ratio. +Meanwhile, however, surgery has opposed itself not only to cancers but +to all kinds of tumors, until danger from these sores has been greatly +lessened. The removal of internal tumors such as the ovarian, is no +longer, except in complicated and neglected cases, a matter of serious +import. Such work is performed in almost every country town, and the +amount of human life thus rescued from impending death is very great. +The work of lithotomy is not any longer regarded with the dread which +formerly attended it. In fact, every kind of disease and injury which +in its own nature is subject to surgical remedy has been disarmed of +its terror. The eye and the ear and all of the more delicate organs +have become subject to repair and amendment to a degree that may well +excite wonder and gratify philanthropy. + +But it is not only in the actual processes of surgery that this great +improvement in human art may be noted. The treatment of wounds with +respect to their cure by preserving them from bacterial and other +poisons has been so greatly improved that it is now regarded almost as +a crime to permit suppuration and other horrible processes which were +formerly supposed to be the necessary concomitants of healing. The +hospital, whether military or civil, was formerly a scene that might +well horrify and make sick a visitant. It was putrefaction everywhere. +It was stench and poisonous effluvia. The conditions were such as to +make sick if not destroy even those who were well. How then could the +injured sufferers escape? + +It is one of the crowning glories of our time that no such scene now +exists in any civilized country. No such will ever exist again, unless +science should lose its grip on the human mind and the civilized life +subside into barbarism. The surgeon would now be held in ill-repute +that should permit to any considerable degree the processes of +putrefaction to take place in a wound of which he has had the care. +The introduction of antiseptic and aseptic methods has made him a +master in this respect. The skillful surgeon bids defiance to the +microbes that hover in swarming millions ravenous for admission to +every hurt done to the human body. To them a wound is a festival. To +them a sore is a royal banquet to which through the invisible realm a +proclamation goes forth, "Come ye! Come to the banquet which death is +preparing out of life!" All this the modern surgeon disappoints with a +smile and a wave of his hand. The invisible swarms of invading +animalculae are swept back. Not a single bacterium can any longer enter +the most inviting wound while the surgeon stands ready with drawn +sword to defend the portals of life. + + + + +Great Religious Movements. + + +DEFENCE ON NEW LINES. + +In a period so intensely active and progressive as the nineteenth +century has been, in politics, science and literature, it would have +been surprising if the church had remained inert, wrapped like a mummy +in the cerements of the past. At the beginning of the century, there +were voices on all hands loudly proclaiming that it was dead; that it +was antiquated and obsolete; that it had lost touch with the life of +the time, that it was a relic of exploded superstition; and as a great +writer said, had fallen into a godless mechanical condition, standing +as the lifeless form of a church, a mere case of theories, like the +carcass of a once swift camel, left withering in the thirst of the +universal desert. That in certain circles there was ground for such +reproach is sufficiently proved. Materialism had crept into its +colleges, sapping away their spiritual life and driving young men +either into Atheism or into the Roman Catholic Communion. Such +activity as it had, was in the evangelical circles only The common +people still listened eagerly to Wesley's successors and were +intensely in earnest in the Christian life and work. It was at the top +that the tree was dying, where the currents of the philosophy of +Voltaire struck the branches, and where Hume's scorching radicalism +blighted its leaves. In the universities, and the clubs, not in the +workshops, was religion scorned and contemned. + +There was soon, however, to be a quickening of the dry bones. The +spirit of the time--the zeit-geist--began to move in the Church. It +was the spirit of investigation, of scientific inquiry, of rigorous +test. The older preachers and religious authorities still droned about +the duty of defending the faith "once for all" delivered to the +saints. In spite of their protests, the younger men would go down into +the crypt of the Church, and examine the foundations of the building. +They could not be kept back by authoritative assurances that the +stones were sound, and were well and truly laid. The hysterical +protests against the irreverence of examination fell on deaf ears. The +answer was the simple insistance on investigation. The very reluctance +to permit it was an indication that it would not bear investigation. + +At the opening of the century, this idea, expressed in varying forms, +was rapidly becoming prevalent. The citadel of the Church was +assaulted, by some with ferocity, and by others with scorn and +contempt. The defence was on the old lines of denunciation of the +wickedness of the assailants, of vituperative epithets, and of the +assumption of special and divine illumination. The issue of the +conflict would not have been doubtful, had it been continued with +these tactics. The Church would have been relegated to the limbo of +superstition and the hide-bound pedantry of ecclesiasticism, if new +defenders on new principles had not entered the lists. Reinforcement +came from a band of philosophic thinkers of whom Wordsworth and +Coleridge were the pioneers. The influence of both these men was +underestimated at the time. They appeared weak and ineffective, but +the ideas to which they gave expression, entered the minds of stronger +men, who applied them with more vigorous force. The Church, Coleridge +declared, as Carlyle interprets him, was not dead, but tragically, +asleep only. It might be aroused and might again become useful, if +only the right paths were opened. Coleridge could not open the paths, +he could but vaguely show the depth and volume of the forces pent up +in the Church; but he insisted that they were there, that eternal +truth was in Christianity, and that out of it must come the light and +life of the world. As his little band of hearers listened to him, they +saw the first faint gleams of the light which was to illumine the +world and make the darkness and degradation of the materialistic +philosophy an impossibility to the devout mind. Thus he stood at the +beginning of the nineteenth century, as Erasmus stood at the beginning +of the sixteenth, perceiving and proclaiming the existence of truths +which others were to apply to the needs of the time. + +To ascertain precisely in what form the forces of Christianity existed +and how they might be applied to nineteenth century life, became early +in the nineteenth century the problem on which the best thought of the +time was concentrated. Coleridge's unshaken conviction that it was +solvable, inspired many with courage. Whately, Arnold, Schleiermacher, +Bunsen, Ewald, Newman, Hare, Milman, Thirlwall and many others, +approached it from different directions. The spirit of scientific +investigation that was in the air was applied with reverent hands, but +with unsparing resolve to ascertain the exact truth. The investigation +was no longer confined to dogma; a proof text from the Bible was no +longer sufficient to close a controversy. The Bible itself must be +subjected to investigation. This was indeed going to the foundations. +There was a wild outcry against rationalism and iconoclasm, but the +search for truth and fact went on. As in a siege, the garrison must +sometimes destroy with their own hands outworks which cannot be +successfully defended, and may be made a vantage ground for the enemy, +so the defenders of Christianity set themselves to the task of finding +out how much of the current theology was credible and tenable, and how +much might wisely be abandoned, to insure the safety of the remainder. +The discoveries of Geology, Astronomy and of Biology could not be +denied, yet their testimony was contrary to Christian doctrine. "The +world was made in six natural days," said the old Christian preacher. +"The world was thousands of years in the making," said the geologist. +The preacher appealed to his Bible, the geologist appealed to the +rocks. The issue was fairly joined, and in the early years of the +century it seemed as if there was no alternative but that of believing +the Bible and denying science, or believing science and giving up the +Bible; it seemed impossible to believe both. When the scientific +theologian ventured to suggest that the word "day," might mean age, or +period, there was another outcry that the Bible was being surrendered +to the enemy. But it was realized that the message of the Bible to the +world was not scientific, and that its usefulness was not impaired by +the suggested mode of understanding its record of creation; and +gradually the surrender was accepted. It is true that to this day +there are some who will not accept it, as there is at least one +preacher who insists, on the authority of the Bible, that "the sun do +move," but the number diminishes in every generation. A beginning was +made in attaining the true view of the Bible which led further and has +not yet reached its limits. Having admitted that the Bible was not +given to teach science the Church has to decide whether it can admit +the theory of evolution and whether its records of history are +authoritative. These questions are so fundamental that the strife of +Calvinism and Arminianism and the question of the double procession of +the Holy Spirit, which seemed vital to our fathers have faded into +relative insignificance. + +EVANGELICAL ACTIVITY. + +While these storms were agitating the upper air, and the thunderous +echoes reverberated through the mountains, the work on the plain went +rapidly forward. However the scholars and the theologians might decide +the questions at issue between them, the working forces were +profoundly convinced that the Gospel was the great need of the world, +and they put out new energy and applied all the powers of the mind to +devising new methods for its propagation. The increased facilities of +travel, the improved means of communication and, above all, the power +of the printing-press, were all seized and harnessed to service in the +dissemination of the Gospel. No characteristic of this century is so +prominent as this intense activity and aggressive energy. From every +secular movement, the church has taken suggestions for its own +advancement. Trade-unionism has suggested Christian Endeavor and the +Evangelical Alliance; the public school system has developed the +International Lesson system in the Sunday School; the political +convention has taught the advantages of great religious conferences; +the principles of military organization have been utilized in the +Salvation Army. If in some circles religion seems to have been a fight +over doctrines and theories, in others it has seemed a ceaseless, +untiring struggle for converts. In no century since the first century +of the Christian era has the zeal of propagation, with no element of +proselytism in it, taken so strong a hold of the followers of Christ. +To translate the Bible into every tongue, to carry the Gospel message +to every people, and to evangelize the masses at home, prodigious +efforts have been put forth, and enormous sums of money have been +expended. Mental activity, uncompromising veracity, indefatigable +energy, have characterized the Church through the century, and its +closing years show no abatement in any of these characteristics. A +brief sketch of some of the more prominent of these developments can +render the fact only more, obvious. + + +BIBLE REVISION. + +One of the most important events of the century to the English +speaking world is the Revision of the Bible. Its full effect is not +yet felt, as the book which was the product of the Revisers' labors is +but slowly winning its way into use in the Church and the home. Like +its predecessor, the Authorized Version now in general use, it has to +encounter the prejudice which comes from long familiarity with the +book in use and from the veneration for the phraseology in which the +precious truths, are expressed. Yet from the beginning of the century +the need of an improved translation was felt and several persons, +undertook to supply it, but with very objectionable results. The +principal bases of the need were serious. One was that many words and +phrases have in the nineteenth century a meaning entirely different +from the one they had in the early part of the seventeenth century +when the Authorized Version was issued. One case in point is Mark vi. +22, in which Salome asks that the head of John the Baptist be given +her "by and by in a charger." In 1611 the expression by and by meant +immediately or forthwith, and was a correct translation, while with us +it means a somewhat indefinite future and is therefore an incorrect +translation. With the noun, too, the meaning has changed. Our idea of +a charger is of a war-horse, not of a dish, which the original +conveys. A second reason for the revision was that there were in the +libraries in this century several manuscripts of the original, much +older than those to which the translators of the Authorized Version +had access when they undertook their work. A third reason was that a +notable advance had been made in scholarship in the interval, and +learned men were much better acquainted with the Hebrew and Greek +idiom than were any of the scholars of the King James period. For +these three, among other reasons, a revision was necessary, that the +unlearned reader might have, as nearly as was possible, the exact +equivalent in English of the words of the Bible writers. The project, +after being widely discussed for several years, finally took shape in +England in 1870, when the Convocation of Canterbury appointed two +committees to undertake the work. The ablest scholars in Hebrew and +Greek literature in the country were assigned to the committees, of +which one was engaged on the Old, and the other on the New Testament. +They were empowered to call to their aid similar committees in +America, who might work simultaneously with them. Stringent +instructions were given to them to avoid making changes where they +were not clearly needed for the accuracy of translation, and to +preserve the idiom of the Authorized Version. Only with these +safeguards and with not a little reluctance, the commission was +issued. One hundred and one scholars on both sides of the Atlantic +took part in the work. The committees commenced their labors early in +1871. On May 17, 1881, the Revised New Testament was issued, and on +May 21, 1885, the Revised Old Testament was in the hands of the +public. All that scholarship, strenuous labor and exhaustive research +could do to give a faithful translation had been done within the +somewhat narrow and conservative limits under which the revisers were +commissioned. + + +BIBLES BY THE MILLION. + +With this improvement, there was at the same time a marked impetus in +Bible circulation. The nineteenth century has been eminently a +Bible-reading and a Bible-studying period. In no previous century have +efforts on so gigantic a scale been made to put the Book in the hands +of every one who could read it. The price was brought so low by the +decrease in the cost of production, that the very poorest could +possess a copy. The British and Foreign Bible Society, founded in +1804, and the American Bible Society, founded in 1816, have largely +contributed to this result. Both societies were organized to issue the +Bible without note or comment, and both have faithfully labored to +promote its circulation. In spite of all that has been said against +the Book and in spite of the fact that so large a number of persons +must have been supplied, the circulation has increased from year to +year. In the year ending March, 1896, the American Society alone +issued 1,750,000 copies, and the British two and a half million. +During its existence the American Society has sent out over sixty-one +million copies and the British Society over one hundred and forty +millions. The work of translation has kept pace with the demand. At +the beginning of the century the Bible had been translated, in whole +or in part, into thirty-eight languages. It is now translated into +three hundred and eighty-one, and translators are engaged on nearly a +hundred others. Nor must it be supposed that the supply was in excess +of the demand. There is abundant evidence of the desire of the public +to possess the Word of God. One fact alone is a conspicuous proof of +this demand. In 1892 the proprietor of the _Christian Herald_ of New +York offered an Oxford Teacher's Bible as a premium with his journal. +The offer was accepted with such avidity that edition after edition +was exhausted, and it has been renewed every year since with increased +demand. Through this journal alone, by this means, over three hundred +and two thousand copies have been put into the hands of the people +during the past five years. + +With the increase in the circulation of the Word of God there has been +a costly and thorough effort to gain new light on its pages. Never +before have labor and money been expended so lavishly in endeavors to +learn from exploration and research, historical facts which would +contribute to an intelligent understanding of its history and +literature. In 1865 a society called the Palestine Exploration Society +was organized for the special purpose of thoroughly examining the Holy +Land, investigating and identifying ancient sites and making exact +maps of the country. In twenty-seven years the society, though working +with the utmost economy, expended $425,000. The result of its labors +has been to let a flood of light on the ancient places and the ancient +customs of its people, explaining many allusions in the sacred +history, poetry and prophecy that were previously dark. The Egypt +Exploration Fund has also added materially to our knowledge of that +country which is associated with the early history of the Chosen +People. But the most valuable aid to Bible study came from the +discovery of the Assyrian Royal Library, a series of clay tablets and +cylinders covered with cuneiform inscriptions which were deciphered by +Mr. George Smith of the British Museum. From these and from the +records on the monuments of Egypt historical information has been +derived of inestimable value in the study of the Bible. + + +A GREAT MISSIONARY ERA. + +One of the most prominent characteristics of the Church of Christ in +this century has been its phenomenal missionary activity. Its zeal in +this cause, the devotion and courage of its missionaries and the +amount of money expended have had no parallel in the previous history +of the Church. Already a beginning had been made when the century +dawned. In 1701 King William III. of England had granted a charter to +the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. In +1714 Frederick IV. of Denmark established a College of Missions and +two Danish missionaries were laboring in India. In 1721 the famous +Danish missionary, Hans Egede, began a work in Greenland. In 1732 the +Moravian missionaries, Dober and Nitschmann, went to St. Thomas, and +in the following year the Moravian Church sent missionaries to +Labrador, the West Indies, South America, South Africa and India. But +it was not until the last decade of the eighteenth century that the +spirit which was to distinguish the next century really manifested +itself. In 1792 the devotion and consecration of William Carey led to +the formation of the Baptist Missionary Society, and in the following +year he sailed for India as its first missionary. + +In 1795 the London Missionary Society was organized, a missionary ship +was purchased and the first band of missionaries sailed for the South +Sea Islands. Two years later, another party sailed for South Africa, +among whom were the veterans, Vanderkemp and Kitchener. Two Scottish +societies were founded in 1796 and a Dutch Society in 1797. In the +closing year of the century the famous Church Missionary Society was +formed in the Church of England. Thus the nineteenth century opened +with organizations for work in existence and pioneers few in number, +but intensely in earnest in several fields of labor. + +The first quarter of the century witnessed the advent of new agencies, +as well as a multiplication of forces. The American Board of +Commissioners for Foreign Missions was organized in 1810, the English +Wesleyan Missionary Society in 1814, the American Baptist in 1814, the +American Methodist in 1819, the American Protestant Episcopal in 1820, +and the Berlin and Paris Missionary Societies in 1824. Thus, in the +comparatively short space of thirty-two years, thirteen societies had +been organized by the various denominations here and in Europe, each +of which was destined to grow to proportions little contemplated by +their founders. Since that time the great China Inland Mission and +other undenominational societies have been founded and are sending out +men and women in large numbers to the heathen world. Besides these, +there have been societies of special workers which have done valuable +service in aiding the missionary societies, such as the medical +missionaries, the Zenana Missionaries and the university and students' +volunteer movements. Statistics recently compiled show that the number +of central stations in heathen lands occupied by Protestant +missionaries in 1896 was 5055, with out-stations to the number of +17,813. There are now thirty-seven missionary societies in this +country alone which have sent out 3512 missionaries. A library of +volumes would be needed to give even a sketch of the results of the +labors of these devoted men and women. The Church holds their names in +holy reverence. Many of them have attained the crown of martyrdom, and +a still greater number have fallen victims to the severities of +uncongenial climates. Every heathen land has now associated with it +the name of valiant soldiers of the Cross, who have given their lives +to add it to their Master's, kingdom. In India among many others, +there have been Carey, Duff, Martyn, Marshman and Ward. In China, +Morrison, Milne, Taylor, John Talmage and Griffith John. In Africa, +Moffat, Livingstone, Hannington and Vanderkemp. In the South Seas, +Williams, Logan and Paton, while Judson of Burmah and a host of noble +men and women in every clime, have toiled and suffered, not counting +their lives dear unto them, that they might preach to the heathen the +unsearchable riches of Christ. + + +PREACHING TO HEATHEN AT HOME. + +The zeal for the propagation of the Gospel among the heathen, has been +paralleled by the efforts put forth for the evangelization of the +people in nominally Christian lands. In this enterprise the front rank +on both sides of the Atlantic has been occupied by the Methodist +Church. Its system of itinerary, relieving its ministers in part from +exhausting study, and so giving them time and opportunity for pastoral +work and aggressive evangelistic effort, its welcome of lay assistance +in pulpit service and its system of drill and inspection in the +class-meeting, have all combined to develop its working resources and +increase its aggressive power. The fact that there are now in the +world over thirty million Methodists of various kinds, makes it +difficult to realize that when the century began, John Wesley had been +dead only nine years. This century consequently has witnessed the +growth and development of that mighty organization from the seed sown +by that one consecrated man and his helpers. It is doubtful whether in +politics or society there is any fact of the century so remarkable as +this. The Church Wesley founded has split into sections in this land +and in England, but the divisions are one at heart, and the name of +Methodist is the common precious possession of them all. A great +writer has contended with much force that the world at this day knows +no such unifier of nationalities and societies as the Methodist +Church. When the young man leaves the parental roof of a Methodist +family for some distant city, or some foreign land, the pangs of +anxiety are alleviated by the knowledge that wherever he may be, there +will be some Methodist Church where he will find friends, and some +Methodist class-leader who will look after his most important +interests. The magnificent Methodist organization, unequalled outside +the Roman Catholic Church, has developed within the century, and its +aggressive forces have been felt throughout Christendom. All the +denominations have received an impetus from its abundant energy and +each in its measure has caught the contagion of its activities. In +country districts, in the great cities and in foreign lands, its +representatives, loyal to their Church and the principles of its +founder, are pressing forward in self-denial and apostolic fervor +foremost everywhere in the van of the Christian army. + +Kindred with the Methodist in its enthusiasm and still more highly +organized, is the youngest of all the religious organizations--the +Salvation Army. In its origin, a daughter of the Methodist Church, +with a strong resemblance in spirit and purpose and methods to its +mother, the Salvation Army has a mission peculiarly its own. It too +has grown with a rapidity unexampled in the religious history of other +centuries. More than one quarter of the century had passed when +William Booth first saw the light, more than half the century had +passed before he had begun to give his life to his Master's service. +From 1857 to 1859 he was simply a Methodist minister, at an +unimportant town, appointed by his conference, sparsely paid, and +certain to be removed to another sphere at the end of his term. In +1865, he and his devoted wife resigned home and income and dependence +on conference for support, and went to London. They settled in the +poorest and most degraded district of the city, and began to preach in +tents, in cellars, in deserted saloons, under railroad arches, in +factories and in any place which could be had for nothing, or at a low +rental. The people gathered in multitudes wherever Mr. Booth and his +wife preached, veritable heathen, many of them, who knew nothing of +the Bible and had never attended a religious service in their lives. +Converts were numerous and they were required to testify to the change +in their souls and their lives and to become missionaries in their +turn. In 1870 an old market was purchased in the densest centre of +poverty in London and was made the headquarters of the Mission. Bands +of men and women were sent out to hold meetings, sing hymns and "give +their testimony" in the open-air, in saloons, or any resort where an +audience could be gathered. These bands were busy every night in a +hundred wretched districts of the great city, and at every stand, +some poor forlorn creatures would be gathered in and encouraged to +begin a new life in faith in Christ. Some method of organization +became necessary, and was eventually devised. The perfect obedience +and confidence manifested everywhere to the man who directed the +movement, and the entire dependence of every worker on him for +guidance and support, may have suggested the military system. However +that may be, the military organization was adopted, and a perfect +system framed with the aid of Railton Smith, and a few other clever +organizers who were attracted to Mr. Booth's side by the novelty of +his methods, and his marvelous success. In the spring of 1878, the +plans were all matured and the new movement became a compact and +powerful religious force. Since that time it has spread throughout +England, into several European lands, to the United States, and +Canada, to India, Australia and South Africa. Its autocratic character +has been steadfastly maintained. General Booth has retained absolute +control of every officer in his service and has the management of the +enormous income of the army. Occasionally there has been mutiny which +has been overcome by tact or prompt discipline, and not until this +year (1896), when General Booth's son, Ballington, who was his +representative in the United States, resigned rather than be removed +from his command, has there been any formidable defiance of the +supreme and despotic government of the world-wide organization. The +methods of the Army are unconventional and are shocking to staid, +respectable members of churches, but criticism is out of place in any +method which will redeem the masses in the numbers won by the +Salvation Army. + +CHURCHES DRAWING TOGETHER. + +A notable characteristic of the religious life of the century, +especially in the latter half of it, has been a desire manifested in +various quarters, and in different ways, for union among the +denominations. That organic union could be attained, no practical man +could hope. Uniformity could not be expected, even if it could be +proved to be desirable, but friendly association was possible, and +there were many who contended that there ought to be a recognition of +brotherhood and comradeship, which might issue in some attempt at +co-operation. This was the conviction of many prominent preachers and +laymen on both sides of the Atlantic, early in the century. And truly +the condition of the world and of society was of a character to force +such a conviction on the minds of intelligent men. Infidelity was +rampant, and intemperance, gambling, unchastity, and other forms of +vice were practiced with unblushing effrontery. On the other side, the +churches, which should have been waging war on all ungodliness, were +fighting each other, contending about the questions on which they +differed, and exhausting their strength in internecine conflict. Was +it not time, men were asking, that the forces that were on the side of +godliness united in opposition to evil? After long discussion, and +some opposition, this feeling took practical shape in the Evangelical +Alliance. At a meeting held in London in 1846 eight hundred +representatives of fifty denominations were assembled. It was found +that however widely they differed on questions of doctrine and church +government, there was practical agreement on a large number of vital +subjects, such as the need of religious education, the observance of +the Lord's Day, and the evil influence of infidelity. An organization +was effected, on the principles of federation, to secure united action +on subjects on which all were agreed, and this organization has been +maintained to the present time. Branches have been formed in +twenty-seven different lands, each dealing with matters peculiarly +affecting the community in which it operates, and by correspondence, +and periodical international conferences, keeping in touch with each +other. Its usefulness has been proved in the success of its efforts to +secure tolerance in several lands, where men were being persecuted for +conscience' sake, though much still remains to be done on this line. +Perhaps the most conspicuous result of its work is the general +observance throughout Christendom of the first complete week of every +year as a week of prayer. The proposal for such an observance was made +in 1858. Since that time the Alliance has issued every year a list of +subjects which are common objects of desire to all Evangelical +Christians. On each day of the week, prayer is now offered in every +land for the special blessing which is suggested as the topic for the +day. + +From the same spirit of Christian brotherhood which took shape in the +Evangelical Alliance, came at later dates other movements which are +yet in their infancy. One of these is the Reunion Conference which +meets annually at Grindelwald in Switzerland. Its object is to find a +basis for organic union of the Protestant Episcopal Church with +Congregationalists, Presbyterians, Methodists and other evangelical +denominations. The meetings have been hitherto remarkably harmonious, +and suggestions of mutual concessions have been made which have been +favorably considered. A less ambitious, and therefore more hopeful +movement of like spirit, is that of the Municipal or Civic Church. +Its aim is the organization of a federative council of the churches of +a city, or of sections of a city, for united effort in social reform, +benevolent enterprise and Christian government. It proposes to +substitute local co-operation for the existing union on denominational +lines, or to add the one to the other. It would unite the Methodist, +Baptist, Congregational and other churches in a city, or district, in +a movement to restrict the increase of saloons, to insist on the +enforcement of laws against immorality and to promote the moral and +spiritual welfare of the community. The united voice of the Christians +of a city uttered by a council, in which all are represented, would +unquestionably exercise an influence more potent than is now exerted +by separate action. To these movements must be added another which has +been launched under the name of the Brotherhood of Christian Unity. +This is a fraternity of members of churches and members of no church, +who yet accept Christ as their leader and obey the two cardinal +precepts of Christianity--love to God and love to man. Its object is +to promote brotherly feeling among Christians and a sense of +comradeship among men of different creeds. All these movements are an +indication of the spirit of the time. As one of the leaders has said, +their aim is not so much to remove the fences which divide the +denominations, as to lower them sufficiently to enable those who are +within them to shake hands over them. In no previous century since the +disintegrating tendency began to manifest itself, has this spirit of +brotherly recognition of essential unity been so general, or has taken +a shape so hopeful of practical beneficence. + + +ORGANIZED ACTIVITIES. + +Effective influence to the same end has been set in motion, +incidentally, by an organization which was originated for a different +purpose. This is the Christian Endeavor Society, which is one of the +latest of the important religious movements of the century. It was +primarily designed to promote spiritual development among young +people. It had its birth in 1881 in a Congregational Church at +Portland, Me. Dr. Francis E. Clark, the pastor of the church, had a +number of young people around him who had recently made public +profession of faith in Christ and pledged themselves to His service. +Precisely what that implied, may not have been definitely understood +by any of them. As every pastor is aware, the period immediately +following such a profession is a critical time in the life of every +young convert. In the college or the office, or the store, the youth +comes in contact with people who have made no profession of the kind, +and he is apt to ask himself, and to be asked, in what way he differs +from them. The early enthusiasm of his new relation to the Church is +liable to decline, and he may become doubtful whether any radical +change has taken place in him. He does not realize that he is at the +beginning of a period of growth, a gradual process, which is to be +lifelong. Taking his conception of personal religion from the sermons +he has heard and the appeals that have been made to him, he has a +tendency to regard conversion as an experience complete and final, an +occult mysterious transformation, effected in a moment and concluded. +Disappointment is inevitable, and when non-Christian influences are +Strong, there is a probability of his drifting into indifference. Dr. +Clark was aware of this fact, as other pastors were, by sad +experience, and he sought means to remedy it. Some plan was needed +which would help the young convert and teach him how to apply his +religion to his daily life, to make it an active influence, instead of +a past experience. The plan Dr. Clark adopted was of an association of +young people in his Church, who should meet weekly for prayer and +mutual encouragement and helpfulness, with so much of an aggressive +quality as to exert an influence over young people outside its +membership. The plan succeeded. The religious force in the soul, so +liable to become latent, became active, and the young converts made +rapid progress. Dr. Clark explained his experiment to other pastors, +who tried it with like results. The remedy for a widespread defect was +found. It was adopted on all hands and by all evangelical +denominations. It spread from church to church, from town to town and +into foreign lands. Annual conventions of these Christian Endeavor +Societies were held, at which forty or fifty thousand young people, +representing societies in all sections of the country with an +aggregate membership of about two million souls, were present to +recount their experience and pledge themselves anew to the service. +The basis of their association was made so broad that Christians of +every denomination could heartily unite in its profession of faith. +Thus, in addition to the primary design, a basis of Christian +inter-denominational union was incidentally discovered, and the +Methodist and the Presbyterian, the Congregationalist and Episcopalian +found themselves united in a common bond for a common purpose. The +movement in these present years shows no signs of decrease, but is +still growing in numbers, power and influence, and promises to be one +of the most potent factors of religious life which springing up in +this century will go on to influence the next. + +The idea of association and combination in religious life, of which +Christian Endeavor is the most extensive illustration, has been +embodied during the century in other forms. Springing directly from +the Christian Endeavor Society, are the Epworth League in the +Methodist Church, and the Baptist Young People's Union in the Baptist +communion. The two organizations are practically identical in +principle and purpose with the Christian Endeavor Society and differ +from it only in the absence of the inter-denominational character. The +heads of the Methodist Church apprehended danger to their young people +in their being members of a society not under direct Methodist control +and feared that they might eventually be lost to Methodism. The +Baptists, on the other hand, were not concerned on the question of +control, but feared that the association of their young people with +the young people of other churches might lead them to think lightly of +the peculiar rite which separates them from other denominations, and +to diminish its importance in their esteem. Both denominations +therefore organized societies of the same kind, to keep their young +people within the denominational fold. + +Another organization which has attained large membership and has +become international, is that of the King's Daughters. As its name +indicates, it was primarily intended for women, though as it extended, +it added as an adjunct a membership for men as King's Sons. It also +was inter-denominational in character, and its objects were more +directly identified with the philanthropic side of the religious life +than were those of the societies previously mentioned. It originated +in a meeting of ten ladies, held in New York, in 1886, at which plans +were discussed for aiding the poor, the unfortunate and the distressed +in mind, body or soul. They were all Christian ladies who recognized +the duty of ministering in Christ's name to those who were in need and +so fulfilling His injunction of kindly service. The plan finally +adopted was to organize circles of ten members each, who should be +pledged to use their opportunities, as far as they were able, for +Christian ministration. Each member agreed to wear, as a badge of the +Order, a small silver Maltese Cross, bearing the initials, I.H.N., +representing the motto, "In His Name." Every circle was to be left +free to apply the principle of service as it saw fit, or as special +circumstances might suggest, and all the circles to be under the +direction and limited control of a central council. The plan, +subsequently modified as experience suggested, was widely adopted. The +circles have worked in a variety of ways, visiting hospitals and +prisons, making garments for the poor, raising funds for the needy, +aiding the churches and rendering service in various ways in which +kindly Christian women are so effective. + +Still another form of combination in Christian work has distinguished +this century. In 1844 George Williams, a London dry goods merchant +employing a large number of young men, made an effort to provide them +with a species of Christian club. His own experience as a young man +fresh from a country home, suddenly inducted into the temptations of +city life, suggested to him the kind of help such young men needed. A +Christian friend in a great city to help a new-comer, to find him +wholesome amusement in the evenings, and to put him on his guard +against the pitfalls that were set for his unwary feet, might, Mr. +Williams was convinced, save many a young man from ruin. To provide +them with such friends and to furnish a place of meeting for reading, +converse and amusement, was the problem the kindly Christian man +attempted to solve. Out of his effort grew the institution we know as +the Young Men's Christian Association, which has its mission in +nearly every large town in this country and in England. The young man +of this century can go into no considerable town without finding a +commodious hall, with well-equipped library and reading-room, +generally with a gymnasium attached, and with a host of young men +ready to make his acquaintance and surround him with Christian +influences. In many towns, the institution has developed from the +purely religious enterprise into a many-sided effort to give practical +educational training and to attract young men to it by the help it +renders them in secular pursuits. The institution as it now exists, +must be counted as one of the most beneficent in its far-reaching +influence that the century has produced. + + +HUMANITARIAN WORK. + +Kindred in spirit, but differing essentially in operation, is the +institution, peculiarly a product of nineteenth century religion, +which we know as the Social or College Settlement. Though it does not +claim a distinctively religious character, its principles are so +thoroughly identical with Christianity, that no survey of the +religious life of the century would be complete without a recognition +of it. It is the spirit that brought the Founder of Christianity to +the earth, to live a lowly life among men, which inspires the Social +Settlement. It is generally an unostentatious house in some crowded +neighborhood, where the people are poor and life is hard. In the house +are a number of college-bred men, or women, who come in relays and +live there for a week or a month or longer. They do no missionary +work, do not preach, or denounce, or instruct their neighbors, but +they live among them a cleanly, helpful, friendly life, welcoming them +cordially as visitors, advising them if advice is sought, rendering +help in difficulties and being neighborly in the best sense of the +word. There are concerts in the house, exhibitions of pictures, +children's parties and amusements of various kinds to which all the +neighbors are welcome. Charity is no part of the Settlement's +programme. It does not give, but it extends a brotherly hand, and in a +spirit of friendship and equality seeks to do a brother's part in +brightening lowly lives. Hundreds of such institutions are in +operation on both sides the Atlantic. To the credit of this century be +it said that it has seen in these institutions the Parable of the Good +Samaritan made a living fact in intelligent organization. + +Tending directly toward the same object, is the religious enterprise +now commonly known as the Institutional Church. It is a distinct gain +to the church if the people in its vicinity discover that it is +anxious to help them to a better and happier life in this world, as +well as guiding them to happiness in the next. The Divine Founder of +Christianity never ignored the fact that men have bodies which need +saving, as well as souls, and some of His followers are following His +example. Their churches do not stand closed and silent from Sunday to +Sunday, but are open every day and evening, busy with some form of +practical helpfulness. Temperance societies, coal clubs, sewing +meetings, dime savings banks, gymnasiums, boys' clubs, and a host of +helpful associations tending to the betterment of life, find their +home under the roof of the church, and the pastor and his helpers are +finding out the social and economical needs of the people by actual +contact with them and devising means to supply them. The critics say +this is not the business of the church, but they are not found among +the people who derive benefit from this form of thoughtful interest in +their welfare. + + +THE SUNDAY SCHOOL. + +Of all the products of this prolific nineteenth century, the one most +extensive and most profitable to the church still remains to be +mentioned. Though this century did not see the birth of the Sunday +School, it has witnessed its wonderful development. In June, 1784, +Robert Raikes published his famous letter outlining his plan for the +religious instruction of children on the Lord's Day, and before the +close of the year, John Wesley wrote that he found Sunday Schools +springing up wherever he went, and added with prophetic insight: +"Perhaps God may have a deeper end therein than men are aware of. Who +knows but some of these schools may become nurseries for Christians?" +Within five years, a quarter of a million children were gathered into +the Sunday Schools. So much had already been done before the beginning +of the century. But even then men did not realize whereunto the +movement was destined to grow. Probably no enterprise has really +exerted a deeper and stronger influence on the religious life of the +time. Children have entered the schools, passed through their grades, +have become teachers in their turn, and their descendants have +followed in their footsteps, until now we can scarcely bring ourselves +to believe that a little more than a hundred years ago the Sunday +School was unknown. The organization of Sunday School Unions, the +introduction of the International Lesson System, and the City, State +and National Conventions are all the developments of this century. The +thought that a million and a half of Sunday School teachers are now +engaged in every clime, Sunday by Sunday, in teaching the children and +young people the truths of Christianity is enough to fill the mind of +the Christian with thankfulness and hope. + + +PULPIT AND PRESS. + +It would be beyond the scope of an article of this character to +attempt to recall the names of the eminent preachers of the century. +It has been singularly rich in men of eloquence, depth of thought and +high culture. A few, however, are distinguished among the noble army +by the phenomenal character of their work. Of these probably no name +is so widely known as that of Rev. T. DeWitt Talmage, D.D. One of the +most remarkable phenomena of the religious world in this century, is +the fact that every week one preacher should address an audience +numbered by millions. The fact is unprecedented. Of all classes of +readers, the number of those who read sermons is considered the +smallest, yet this century has produced a preacher whose sermons +command a public larger than that of a fascinating novelist. For +thirty years the newspapers have been publishing Dr. Talmage's sermons +in every city of his own land, in every English-speaking land and in +many foreign lands where they are translated for publication. It is a +significant fact, which should gratify every Christian, that the man +whose words reach regularly and surely the largest audience in the +world should be a preacher of the Gospel. + +To no man in any walk of life, whether politician, editor or author, +has the opportunity of impressing his thoughts on his generation that +Dr. Talmage enjoys been given in such fulness. Next in extent of +influence, and with a like faculty of reaching immense and widely +scattered masses of people, was the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon, a +preacher of singularly homely power, Calvinistic in theology, +epigrammatic in style, and with an earnest evangelical spirit which +had a powerful influence on both hearers and readers. His sermons, +like those of Dr. Talmage, were read in every land and were +instrumental in conversions wherever they went. Strongly resembling +Mr. Spurgeon in his strong evangelicalism, as well as in homely +eloquence, is Mr. D.L. Moody. During this century probably no man has +addressed so large a number of people. In this country and in England +such audiences have thronged the buildings in which he preached as no +other orator has ever addressed on religious subjects, and the +influence of his words is demonstrated by the thousands who through +his appeals have been led to Christ. + +We are nearing the end of the century. Looking back over the events in +the religious world which have marked its history, one characteristic +is prominent above all others. It is the operation of the force to +which an eminent writer has given the name of "spiritual dynamics." +The world does not need a dogma, or a creed, so much as it needs +power. It needs power to live right, to do right, to love God and man, +to pity the fallen, to relieve the needy, the power of being good, of +leading a spiritual life. This power it finds in Christ and the whole +tendency of the religious life of the century is to get back to him. +Conduct rather than creed, love rather than theology, have been the +watchwords of the church. The spirit of Christ, His teachings, His +character, His example, are the centre of attraction which holds His +church together and endues it with the power which shall yet subdue +the world. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NOTABLE EVENTS OF THE NINETEENTH +CENTURY*** + + +******* This file should be named 15824.txt or 15824.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/8/2/15824 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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