Skip to main content

Full text of "Larned's History of the world;"

See other formats 


LIBRARY 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

SANTA  BARBARA 


PRESENTED  BY 


ROSARIO  CURLETT 


7 


^.  s 


\\asiiixgtom 


From   tlie   original    painting,    made   in    17^16,   by    Gilbert    Stuart    (1755-1828),   known 
as   the   "Athena-um    I'ortrait,"    now   in   the    Museum   of   Fine    Arts,    Boston 


ILarneli's 

History  of  tl)e  ^orlti 

or 

^e\jetttj>  Centuries 

of  tf^t  %ift  of  i^anfeinb 


A  SURVEY  OF  HISTORY 

FROM  THE  EARLIEST  KNOWN  RECORDS 

THROUGH  ALL  STAGES  OF  CIVILIZATION,  IN  ALL 

IMPORTANT  COUNTRIES,  DOWN  TO 

THE  PRESENT  TIME 

WITH  AN  INTRODUCTORY  ACCOUNT  OF  PREHISTORIC 

PEOPLES,  AND  WITH  CHARACTER  SKETCHES 

OF  THE  CHIEF  PERSONAGES  OF  EACH 

HISTORIC  EPOCH 


By  J.  N.  LARNED 

EDITOR  OF  THE  FAMOtTS  "HISTORY  FOR  READY  REFERENCE,"  AND  AUTHOR  OF 

"a   history    of   THE   UNITED   STATES   FOR   SECONDARY    SCHOOLS," 

"a   HISTORY   OF   ENGLAND   FOR   SCHOOLS,"    ETC. 

Illustrated  by  over  one  hundred  and  fifty  reproductions  of  famous  historical 
paintings  and  portraits  in  black  and  white,  and  colors 

3fn  iFtbe  Solame0 

Volume    IV 
Pages  895-1170 


WORLD  SYNDICATE  COMPANY,  Inc., 

110-112  West  Fortieth  Street,  New  York  City 

1915 


COPYRIGHT  I90S  AND  I907  BY  J.  N.  LAP.NED 

COPYRIGHT    1914  BY  S.  J.  LARNED 

ALL   RIGHTS    RESERVED 


Revised,  Enlarged  and  Up-to-date  Edition  specially  prepared  by 

C.  A.  NICHOLS  COMPANY  , Springfield,  Mass. 

Publishers  of  Larned's  "History  for  Ready  Reference"  and  subscripticni 

editions  of  this  worlc) 

For  distribution  througli  newspapers  by 

WORLD  SYNDICATE  COMPANY,  Inc.,  New  York 

who  are  the  Sole  Licensees  for  such  distributioo 


CHAPTER  XVII 


FROM  THE  DEATH  OF  CROMWELL  TO 
THE  DEATH  OF  LOUIS  XIV.,  OF  FRANCE 

(1658  TO  1715) 

England:  Restored  monarchy. — Ignoble  reign  of  Charles  II. — ^Protestant 
hostility  to  James  II. — Monmouth's  rebellion. — Revolution  of  1688. — Reign 
of  William  of  Orange  and  Mary. — Reign  of  Queen  Anne. — Rise  of  ministerial 
government. — Literature  of  the  reign. — National  union  of  England  and 
Scotland.  The  Dutch  Netherlands:  William  of  Orange,  etadtholder. — His 
organization  of  resistance  to  Louis  XIV.  France:  Reign  of  Louis  XIV. — His 
perfidious  conquests  and  wanton  aggressions.— His  revocation  of  the  Edict  of 
Nantes. — Leagues  formed  against  him  by  William  of  Orange. — War  of  the 
Spanish  Succession. — State  of  France  as  left  by  Lonis  XIV.  Oermany: 
Depressed  condition  of  the  petty  states. — Rise  of  Prussia  to  the  rank  of  a 
kingdom.  Russia:  Advent  of  Peter  the  Great.  Sweden:  Extraordinaiy 
carter  of  Charles  XII.  Italy:  The  duke  of  Savoy  made  king  of  Sardinia. 
America:  Founding  of  the  Carolinas. — English  conquest  of  New  Netherland. 
— Penn  and  Pennsylvania. — Political  character  of  the  English  colonies. — 
Designs  against  them  by  the  restored  English  monarchy. — The  Massachusetts 
charter  annulled. — Rule  of  Andros.— Effects  of  the  English  revolution. — The 
Franco-English  wars  in  America. — Growth  of  antagonism  between  the 
colonies  and  the  home  government.  India:  First  footing  of  the  English  East 
India  Company  obtained.    China:   Reign  of  Kanghi. 

Seemingly,  the  attempt  in  England  to  curb  an 
oppressive  monarchy  and  secure  constitutional 
government  had  resulted  in  nothing  but  a  fatal 
discouragement  of  political  hopes,  there  and 
abroad.  Triumphant  absolutism  appeared  to 
have  been  fortified  in  all  its  citadels  by  a  new  J^^ 

J  temporary 

buttress  of  hard  fact.    In  France  and  in  Germany  triumphs  o^ 

t      ^     r  .1  e    absolutism  • 

It  rose  rampant  and  defiant,  to  an  insolence  of 
spirit  that  had  never  been  manifested  since  the 
worst  days  of  imperial  Rome;  and  everywhere, 
for  nearly  a  generation,  the  prospects  of  constitu- 
tional government,  protective  of  popular  rights 
and  interests,  seemed  newly  cast  down.  But, 
happily,  the  reaction  was  not  lasting.     It  ended 

896 


896 


Charles  II., 
1660-1685 


Macaulay, 
History  of 
EnglaTid, 
I  :  ch.  ii-iii 


Airy,  The 
English 
Revolution  I 
and  Louis 
XIV. 


The 

royalists' 
revenge 


From  Cromwell  to  Louis  XIV 

in  the  generation  on  which  it  fell,  and  a  fresh 
culture  of  democratic  ideas  and  aspirations  was 
soon  thriving  in  most  parts  of  the  civilized  world. 

Restored  monarchy  in  England 

When,  in  May,  1660,  the  English  nation 
restored  its  ancient  monarchy,  and  welcomed 
Charles  II.  to  the  throne  from  which  his  father 
had  been  cast  down,  it  was  tired  of  a  military 
despotism;  tired  of  Puritan  austerity;  tired  of 
revolution  and  political  uncertainty; — so  tired 
that  it  threw  itself  down  at  the  feet  of  the  most 
worthless  member  of  the  most  worthless  royal 
family  in  its  history,  and  gave  itself  up  to  him 
without  a  condition  or  a  guarantee.  For  twenty- 
ilve  years  it  endured  both  oppression  and  disgrace 
at  his  hands.  It  suffered  him  to  make  a  brothel 
of  his  court;  to  empty  the  national  purse  into  the 
pockets  of  his  shameless  mistresses  and  debauched 
companions;  to  revive  the  ecclesiastical  tyranny 
of  Laud;  to  make  a  crime  of  the  religious  creeds 
and  the  worship  of  more  than  half  his  subjects; 
to  sell  himself  and  sell  the  honor  of  England  to 
the  king  of  France  for  a  secret  pension,  and  to  be 
in  every  possible  way  as  ignoble  and  despicable 
as  his  father  had  been  arrogant  and  false. 

With  the  king,  the  king's  party  came  back  to 
power,  took  control  of  parliament,  and  reveled  in 
works  of  ignoble  revenge.  Fourteen  of  the 
prominent  Roundheads — mostly  "regicides,"  as 
the  judges  of  the  late  king  were  called — were  put 
to  death,  and  those  already  dead  were  pursued 


The  Stuart  Restoration  in  England  897 

shamefully  in  their  graves.  The  body  of  Crom- 
well was  dragged  from  its  tomb  in  Westminster 
Abbey  to  be  hanged,  and  the  bodies  of  Pym, 
Blake,  and  others,  were  disinterred  and  flung  into 
pits.    The  spirit  of  vengeance  was  nowhere  else  „ 

.  ,  ,  ,  T,  r    Persecution 

so  rampant  as  m  the  church.  Jsy  one  act  01  of  non- 
parliament,  in  1662,  every  clergyman  and  teacher  ^°"^°'"'°'^'^* 
was  required  to  give  an  "unfeigned  assent  and 
consent"  to  everything  contained  in  the  prayer- 
book  of  the  established  church,  and  2,000  "Non- 
conformists" who  could  not  do  so  were  driven 
from  their  pulpits  and  chairs.  By  another  act,  no 
Nonconformist  minister  was  permitted  to  come 
within  five  miles  of  a  town  or  place  in  which  he 
had  preached  or  taught.  By  still  another, 
attendance  at  any  religious  meeting  of  more  than 
five  persons,  conducted  otherwise  than  according 
to  the  forms  of  the  church  of  England,  was  made 
a  crime,  punishable  by  imprisonment  or  trans- 
portation. 

The  king,  who  was  secretly  a  Catholic,  and 
who  wished  to  give  freedom  to  Catholic  rites,  CaThoiic- 
claimed  authority  to  relax  or  dispense  with  such  j^.™  °^  ^^^ 
intolerant  laws,  by  a  royal  "declaration  of  indul- 
gence," and  hoped  to  receive  support  from  the 
Nonconformists,  if  he  extended  that  favor  in 
common  to  them  and  to  the  members  of  the 
church  of  Rome.  But  the  persecuted  Protestants 
were  not  at  all  willing  to  share  a  royal  "indul- 
gence" with  the  Romanists,  whose  persecution 
they  approved. 

The  fact  that  the  king's  brother,  and  probable 


898 


From  Cromwell  to  Louis  XIV 


Avowed 
Catiiolic- 
ism  ©f  his 
brother 


The  Gduii- 
try  party 


Shaftes- 
bury 


The 

iwetended 

"popish 

plot," 

1678-1679 


successor,  the  duke  of  York,  was  avowedly  a 
Catholic,  and  that  the  king  himself  was  believed 
to  be  the  same  In  his  secret  belief,  so  far  as  he  had 
any  religious  belief,  was  a  cause  of  great  anxiety 
of  feeling,  as  the  reign  went  on.  That  anxiety 
became  alarm  when  it  was  discovered  that 
Charles,  In  1670,  had  entered  Into  a  secret  treaty 
with  Louis  XIV.,  of  France,  preparatory  to  a 
public  profession  of  the  Roman  Catholic  religion. 
The  treaty  pledged  large  yearly  payments  of 
money  to  him,  and  the  help  of  French  troops,  In 
case  his  subjects  should  rebel;  In  return  for 
which  he  was  to  assist  the  king  of  France  In  a 
projected  subjugation  of  the  Dutch.  This  dis- 
covery gave  a  quick  Impetus  to  the  growth  of  a 
party  In  parliament,  called  the  Country  party, 
which  had  been  gathering  numbers  for  some  time, 
in  opposition  to  the  king  and  court. 

Unfortunately,  the  better  alms  of  the  Country 
party,  led  by  Algernon  Sidney  and  Lord  Russell, 
became  mixed  with  the  lower  ones  of  a  movement 
of  popular  agitation  against  the  king  that  was  set 
on  foot  by  the  earl  of  Shaftesbury,  the  most 
scheming  and  adroit  politician  of  the  age.  Still 
more  unfortunately,  a  wretch  named  Titus  Oates 
came  on  the  scene.  In  1678,  with  stories  of  a  pre- 
tended "popish  plot,"  which  excited  the  Protes- 
tant alarm  In  the  country  to  a  panic  pitch.  On 
the  perjured  testimony  of  Oates  and  other 
creatures  who  confirmed  his  tales,  some  two 
thousand  Catholics,  accused  of  complicity  in  a 
gigantic  conspiracy  with  foreigners  against  the 


Reaction  in 


The  Ignoble  Charles  II  of  England  899 

English  constitution  and  the  Protestant  faith, 
were  imprisoned,  and  seventeen  were  put  to 
death. 

When  the  frenzy  was  spent,  and  the  falsity  of 
the  stories  that  gave  rise  to  it  became  apparent,  a 
great  reaction  of  public  feeling  occurred,  which 
broke  the  strength  of  the  opposition  to  the  king, 
and  made  him  all-pov/erful  for  the  brief  remainder 
of  his  reign.  Attempts  to  exclude  the  duke  of 
York  from  the  succession  to  the  crown  lost  pubik" 
popular  support;  Shaftesbury  had  to  fly  to  feeling 
Holland;  London,  his  stronghold,  was  deprived 
of  its  charter,  and  several  other  cities  fared  the  ^ 

'  ^  Execution 

same.    Not  long  afterward,  Sidney  and  Russell,  of  Sidney 
accused  of  some  shadowy  implication  In  a  project  Russell, 
(known  as  the  Rye  House  Plot)  for  the  seizure  ^^^3 
and  possible  murder  of  the  king  and  the  duke  of 
York,  were  brought  to  the  block. 

It  was  in  this  period  that  the  supporters  of  the  Tories  and 
king  and  court  began  to  be  called  Tories  and  their  ^^'°* 
opponents  styled  Whigs.  Both  names  were 
meaningless  in  their  political  application,  the 
word  "tory,"  coming  from  Ireland,  signifying  an 
outlaw,  while  "whig"  was  a  Scottish  word, 
meaning  sour  whey. 

Before  the  Whigs  lost  control  of  parliament,  The 
they  passed,  in  1679,  the  famous  Habeas  Corpus 
Act,  which  established,  finally,  an  old  principle  of  Act,  1679 
the  English  common  law,  that  untried  prisoners  History  for 
must  be  brought  on  demand  before  a  iudge,  for  ^'"/^ 

°  J        o    7  Rejerence 

investigation  of  the  grounds  on  which  they  are  (Full  text) 
held. 


Habeas 
Corpus 


900 


From  Cromwell  to  Louis  XIV 


An  ignoble 
reign 


The  plague 
and  the 
great  fire, 
1665-1666 


Sufferings 
of  Scotland 


Persecution 
of  the 
Cove- 
nanters 


The  ignoble  reign  of  Charles  II,  left  this  one 
important  gift  of  good  to  England;  there  is 
hardly  another  to  be  found.  It  Is  a  reign  marked 
in  the  English  annals  by  many  pollutions,  and 
many  shames,  Including  the  shame  of  the  king 
who  took  pay  from  a  foreign  sovereign  for  dis- 
honorable services,  and  the  shame  of  a  war  with 
Holland,  in  which  the  navy,  that  Blake  and 
Cromwell  left  invincible,  had  so  suffered  from 
royal  wastefulness  and  official  corruption  that  it 
could  not  defend  the  Thames  from  a  Dutch  inva- 
sion and  London  from  some  days  of  blockade. 
It  is  marked,  likewise,  by  two  dire  calamities:  the 
plague  of  1665  and  the  great  fire  which  half 
destroyed  London,  in  1666.  Its  quarter  century 
of  evil  memory  came  to  an  end  in  February,  1685, 
when  Charles  died,  leaving  no  legitimate  child. 

Scotland  suffered  more  than  England  In  this 
mean  reign.  Presbyterianism  was  abolished  and 
an  episcopal  church  system  set  up;  but  certain 
presbyterian  ministers  who  obtained  an  "indul- 
gence" were  permitted  to  preach.  The  strict 
Scottish  "Covenanters"  would  not  listen  to  these 
"indulged"  preachers,  and  persisted  in  resorting 
to  secret  meetings,  in  the  mountains  and  on  the 
moors.  For  years  there  was  no  other  rebellion  on 
their  part  than  the  endeavor  to  meet  their  chosen 
pastors  and  unite  in  prayers  and  psalms;  but 
they  were  hunted  by  wild  Highlanders,  shot, 
hanged,  imprisoned  and  tortured,  till  they  took 
arms  In  their  own  defense.  Under  the  direction 
of  the  earl  of  Lauderdale,  one  of  King  Charles's 


"  The  Reign  of  James  II  in  England  901 

favorite  ministers,  the  most  energetic  and  merci- 
less persecutor  of  the  Covenanters  was  John 
Graham  of  Claverhouse,  Viscount  Dundee,  who 
won  an  evil  fame  in  the  work.  Claverhouse  houir* 
suffered  a  sharp  defeat  at  the  hands  of  the 
maddened  Covenanters  at  Drumclog,  in  May, 
1669.  In  the  last  years  of  the  persecution  it  was 
directed  by  the  duke  of  York,  who  was  put  at  the 
head  of  the  Scottish  government  in  168 1. 

The  prospects  of  neither  England  nor  Scotland 
were  improved  in  1685  by  the  accession  of  the 
duke  of  York  to  the  two  thrones,  on  one  of  which  {g^^Jsg 
he   was   James    11. ,    on   the   other  James   VII. 
James  had  more  honesty  than  his  brother  or  his 
father;   but  the  narrowness  and  the  meanness  of  ^j^""'^/' 
the  Stuart  race  were  in  his  blood.     His  religion  England, 
was  dull  bigotry,  and  he  opposed  it  to  the  Protes- 
tantism of  the  kingdom  with  an  aggressiveness 
that  showed  he  had   learned   nothing  from   his 
father's  fate.     In  the  first  year  of  his  reign  there 
was  a  rebellion  undertaken,  in  the  interest  of  a 
bastard  son  of  Charles  II.,  called  duke  of  Mon-  1^^        . 

'  Monmouth 

mouth;    but  it  was  put  down  savagely,  first  by  rebellion, 
force  of  arms,  at  Sedgemoor,  and  afterward  by  ^    ^ 
the    "bloody    assizes"    of    the    ruthless    Judge 
Jeffreys,    of    evil    fame.      Encouraged    by    this 
success    against    his    enemies,    James    began    to 
ignore  the  "Test  Act,"  which  excluded  Catholics 
from  office,  and  to  surround  himself  by  men  of  his 
own  religion.    The  Test  Act  was  an  unrighteous  Dedara- 
law,  and  the  "Declaration  of  Indulgence"  which  tionof 
James  issued,  for  the  toleration  of  Catholics  and   1687 


902  From  Cromwell  to  Louis  XIV 

Dissenters,  was  just  in  principle,  according  to  the 
ideas  of  later  times;  but  the  action  of  the  king 
with  respect  to  both  was,  nevertheless,  a  gross 
and  threatening  violation  of  law.  England  had 
submitted  to  worse  conduct  from  Charles  11. , 
but  its  Protestant  temper  was  now  roused,  and 
r^^  the  loyalty  of  the  subject  was  consumed  by  the 

revolution,    fiercencss  of  the  churchman's  wrath.     James's 
King^°       daughter,    Mary,    and    her    husband,    William, 
janies,i688  pnncc  of  Orange,  were  invited  from  Holland  to 
come  over  and  displace  the  obnoxious  father  from 
his    throne.      They    accepted    the    invitation, 
November,   1688;    the  nation  rose  to  welcome 
them;    James  fled, — and  the  great  Revolution, 
which    ended    arbitrary    monarchy    in    England 
forever,   and  established   constitutional  govern- 
ment on  clearly  defined  and  lasting  bases,  was 
accomplished  without  the  shedding  of  a  drop  of 
blood. 
armrfor"         Ireland   was   not   submissive   to   the   English 
King  revolution.    King  James  had  put  the  Catholics  of 

that  island  in  power,  giving  them  a  few  years  of 
opportunity  to  oppress,  as  they  had  been  op- 
pressed. They  rose  against  the  new  English 
government,  not  so  much  for  King  James  as  for 
themselves,  to  improve  what  seemed  to  be  a 
favorable  time  for  revolt.  The  fugitive  king  came 
from  France  to  their  help,  in  the  spring  of  1689, 
with  an  extensive  equipment  of  ships,  arms, 
officers  and  money,  supplied  to  him  by  his  good 
Siege  of  friend,  Louis  XIV.,  and  there  were  two  years  and 
der"ryri'689  morc  of  Irish  War.     The  important  incidents  of 


King  William  III  and  Queen  Mary  II  903 

the  war  were  the  siege  of  the  Protestant  city  of 
Londonderry,  which  held  out  for  three  months, 
with  resolute  endurance  of  starvation  and  disease;  ?u^'^b^°^ 

'    the  Boyne, 

the  decisive  battle  of  the  Boyne,  fought  on  the  1690 
1st  of  July,  1690,  and  won  by  King  William,  in 
personal  command,  against  the  Irish  and  French 
army  of  James;    and  the  reduction  of  Limerick,  Treaty  of 
in  October,  1691,  which  ended  the  war.     By  a  Limerick. 
treaty   then    signed    at   Limerick,    the    Catholic 
Irish  were  promised  a  small  measure  of  religious 
freedom,  and  were  assured  that  submission  should 
save  them  from  a  confiscation  of  estates.    But,  no 
sooner  was  a  Protestant  parliament  reseated  at 
Dublin  than  it  brushed  the  treaty  of  Limerick 
aside,  and  proceeded,  with  infamous  perfidy,  to  Ireland'^ 
the  most  malignant  measures  of  oppression  that  crushed 
the  long  suffering  island  had  yet  known.    Catho- 
lic Ireland  was  crushed.    Says  Macaulay :  "There 
was  peace.    The  domination  of  the  colonists  [that 
is,  the  Protestant  colonists  of  the  'plantation  of 
Ulster'  and  the  'Cromwellian  settlement']  was 
absolute.     The  native  population  was  tranquil 
with  the  ghastly  tranquillity  of  despair.     There 
were    indeed    outrages,    robberies,    fire-raisings, 
assassinations.    But  more  than  a  century  passed 
away    without    one    general    insurrection.    .    .    . 
Nor  was  this  submission  the  eflPect  of  content,  m^my'li 
but    of    mere    stupefaction    and    brokenness    of  England, 

.  ,,  ch.  xvii 

heart.  ' 

By  an  act  of  parliament,  passed  in  February,  vviiiiam 

1689,  William  and  Mary  were  declared  to  be  ni- and 

jointly  king  and  queen;   but  full  regal  power  was  1689-1702 


904 


Macaulay," 
History  of 
England, 
ch.  xi-xxv 


The  Bill  of 
Rights, 
1689 
Lamed, 
History  for 
Ready 
Reference 
(Full  text) 


Extinction 
of  super- 
stitious 
loyalty- 


La  rned. 
History  of 
England, 
485-6 


From  Cromwell  to  Louis  XIV 

conferred  on  the  former,  to  be  exercised  in  the 
name  of  both.  "Thus  the  ancient  right  of  the 
English  people  to  regulate  the  hereditary  succes- 
sion of  royal-born  persons  in  their  monarchy  was 
exercised  once  more,  and  established  for  all  time. 
At  the  same  time,  in  the  same  instrument,  a  broad 
declaration  of  the  principles  of  constitutional 
government,  which  the  late  kings  had  violated 
obstinately,  was  made  by  Parliament  and 
accepted  by  the  new  sovereigns,  'so  that  the  right 
of  the  king  to  his  crown  and  of  the  people  to  their 
liberties  might  rest  upon  one  and  the  same  title- 
deed.'  "  In  the  following  October,  parliament 
embodied  the  Declaration  in  a  Bill  of  Rights, 
which  takes  its  place  with  Magna  Carta  and  the 
Petition  of  Right  in  forming  what  has  been  called 
"  the  legal  constitutional  code"  of  English  govern- 
ment. It  named  the  queen's  sister.  Princess 
Anne,  as  the  successor  to  King  William  and 
Queen  Mary,  if  the  latter  should  leave  no  chil- 
dren, and  it  excluded  from  the  throne  every 
person  belonging  to  the  Roman  church,  or 
married  to  one  in  that  church. 

"The  immense  importance,  however,  of  the 
political  revolution  of  1688  is  not  found  in  the 
enactments  of  constitutional  law  to  which  it  led, 
so  much  as  in  the  changed  state  of  mind  that  it 
forced  upon  the  people.  That  obstinate  and 
fatal  superstition  of  loyalty  which  had  looked 
upon  a  king  as  a  sacred  personage,  divinely 
gifted  with  an  authority  that  none  could  resist 
without  sin,  had  no  root  left  in  the  English  mind. 


The  Petition  of  Right  and  Act  of  Settlement      905 

The  church,  which  planted  that  superstition,  had 
now  helped  to  tear  it  away." 

The  succession  to  the  crown  after  Princess 
Anne  was  determined  by  a  later  act  of  parliament 
(the  "Act  of  Settlement"),  which  positively  seuie- 
barred  the  return  of  James  II.  or  his  descendants  ™^"'^'  ^7oi 
to  the  throne.  Queen  Mary  was  then  dead,  with- 
out offspring,  and  the  last  of  the  children  of  Anne 
had  died  in  the  previous  year.  By  the  provisions 
of  the  Act  of  Settlement,  one  of  the  children  of 
Elizabeth  (called  queen  of  Bohemia),  daughter  of 
James  L,  was  made  the  next  heir  to  the  crown 
after  Anne.  This  granddaughter  of  the  first  king 
James,  named  Sophia,  married  to  the  elector  of 
Hanover,  was  the  only  remaining  Protestant 
(excepting  Anne)  in  the  Stuart  family,  and  she 
and  her  descendants  were  appointed  for  that 
reason  to  be  the  future  occupants  of  the  English 
throne. 

Queen  Mary  died  in  1604,  and  King  William  in  P^aths  of 

^  ^  .  ''^'  r     1      •  •  ^^^^Y  and 

1702.  The  more  important  events  of  their  reign  William, 
are  connected  with  the  European  combinations  '  ^'*'  '''°^ 
against  Louis  XIV.,  of  France,  in  which  King 
William  bore  the  leading  part,  and  which  involved 
England  in  wars,  especially  affecting  her  colonies 
in  the  New  World.  These  will  be  told  of  in 
another  place. 

With  no  open  opposition,  Queen  Anne  received  Queen 
the  English  crown  on  the  death  of  King  William,   1702-1714 
as  the  Act  of  Settlement  had  prescribed,  and  her 
reign  of  twelve  years  was  made  remarkably  im-  Moms, 
portant  by  the  mere  fact  that  her  character  had  Am' 


'ine 


9o6  From  Cromwell  to  Louis  XIV 

little  force.  She  fell  naturally  into  the  back- 
ground of  English  politics;  the  executive  func- 
tions of  government  became  attached  to  her 
ministers  more  positively  and  conspicuously  than 
had  ever  been  possible  before.  For  other  reasons, 
as  we  shall  see,  the  next  two  f  ccessors  of  Queen 
Rise  of  the  Anne  Were  Subjected  to  a  sim  ar  eclipse  by  their 
system  of     miuisters;    and  the  peculiar     ''.nglish  system  of 

ministerial  ....  .  'in 

mmisterial  government,  in       uch  all  executive 


govern- 
ment 


activity  and  responsibility  e  taken  from  the 
nominal  sovereign,  was  give  half  a  century  of 
favoring  circumstances  in  w'  i  to  be  shaped  and 
fixed  in  its  existing  form. 

In  the  same  importan'  period,  the  political 
parties  which  provide  a  needed  mechanism  for  the 
system  of  ministerial  government  were  acquiring, 
for  the  first  time,  a  distinctly  organized  form. 
Down  to  the  later  years  of  the  sixtysenth  century 
there  were  no  political  parties  in  England.  There 
were  factions  that  supported  great  personages  or 

The  genesis    -.,..,.  i  •   >  t         i  i  •         • 

of  English    lamihes  in  their  ambitious  striies,  but  nothing  in 
political       ^i^g  nature  of  a  spontaneous  division  of  people  by 

parties  ^  tr      tr  j 

differing  opinions,  on  matters  connected  with 
public  affairs.  The  beginning  of  such  divisions 
appeared  first  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  and  they 
were  deepened  very  fast  in  the  time  of  the  first 
Stuarts  and  the  Cromwellian  years;  but  the 
animus  of  parties  through  all  that  period  was 
religious  far  more  than  political.  The  strictly 
political  parties  date  from  the  reign  of  Charles 
IL,  when  Whigs  and  Tories  were  lined  up  in  an 
opposing  array  that  has  kept  the  field  in  English 


Union  of  England  and  Scotland  907 

politics,  through  many  changes  of  aim  and  name, 
to  the  present  day.  In  Anne's  reign  the  structure 
of  the  parties  became  definite  and  distinct,  and 
that  of  the  Whigs  was  solidified  to  a  strength  that 
kept  control  of  the  government  for  nearly  fifty 

y^3.TS.  ^    ^  Literature 

The  reign  of  Anne  is  one  of  the  shining  epochs  of  Queen 
in  English  literature,  and  a  singular  characteristic  reign 
of  the  great  writers  of  that  age  is  the  political 
inspiration  of  so  much  of  their  work.  At 
no  other  time  has  so  high  an  order  of  literary 
genius  been  enlisted  in  party  warfare;  and 
never  have  such  masterpieces  of  literary  art 
been  produced  in  party  disputes  as  were 
contributed  then  to  enduring  literature  by 
Swift,  Addison,  Steele,  Defoe,  Arbuthnot,  and 
Gay. 

One    event    of    great    historical    Importance 
occurred  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Anne.    For  a  cen- 
tury the  crowns  of  England  and  Scotland  had 
been  united,  but  the  political  distinctness  of  the 
two  kingdoms  had  been  maintained,  except  dur- 
ing six  years  of  the  Cromwellian  regime.     Now, 
1707,  a  complete  union  of  the  English  and  Scot-  England 
tish  peoples  in  one  nation,  to  be  styled  the  King-  ^"^'[j^i^^^l,^ 
dom  of  Great  Britain,  was  brought  about.    The  "Kingdom 
English  parliament  became  a  British  parliament,  BHtdn," 
with  forty-five  Scottish   members   added   to  its  '707 
house  of  commons,  and  sixteen  elected  Scottish 
peers  brought  into  its  house  of  lords;    while  the 
crosses  of  St.  George  and  St.  Andrew  were  con- 
joined in  a  British  flag. 


9o8 


The  stadt- 
holdership 
restored, 
1672 


Pontalis, 
John  De 
Witt 


The 

Provinces 
attacked 
by  Louis 
XIV.,  1672 


Murder 
of  the 
De  Witts 
1672 


From  Cromwell  to  Louis  XIV 

The  House  of  Orange  and  the  Dutch  Republic 

William  of  Orange,  to  whom  the  English  people 
had  given  a  place  in  the  line  of  their  kings,  was 
holding  at  the  same  time  the  nearly  regal  office  of 
stadtholder  in  Holland,  as  the  United  Provinces 
were  called  more  commonly  than  by  their  proper 
name.     After  a  suspension  of  twenty-one  years, 
that  office  had  been  restored,  under  tragical  cir- 
cumstances, in  1672.     During  the  period  of  the 
suspension,  the  government  of  the  confederacy, 
administered   by   the   grand   pensionary   of  the 
Holland  province,  John  de  Witt,  and  controlled 
by  the  wealthy  commercial  class,  was  successful 
in  promoting  the  general  prosperity  of  the  prov- 
inces, and  in  advancing  their  maritime  impor- 
tance and  power.     It  conducted  two  wars  with 
England — one  with  the  commonwealth  and  one 
with  the  restored  monarchy — and  could  claim  at 
least  an  equal  share  of  the  naval  glory  won  in 
each.     But  it  neglected  the  land  defense  of  the 
country,    and   was   found   unprepared   in    1672, 
when  the  Provinces  were  attacked  by  a  villainous 
combination,   formed   between   Louis   XIV.,   of 
France,  and  his  English  pensioner,  Charles  II. 
The   republic,   humbled   and   distressed   by   the 
rushing  conquests  of  the  French,  fixed  its  hopes 
upon  the  young  prince  of  Orange,  heir  to  the 
prestige  of  a  great  historic  name,  and  turned  its 
wrath  against  the  party  of  De  Witt.    The  prince 
was  made  stadtholder,  despite  the  opposition  of 
John  De  Witt,  and  the  latter,  with  his  brother 
Cornelius,  was  murdered  by  a  mob  at  Amsterdam. 


William  of  Orange  Against  Louis  XIV  909 

William  of  Orange  proved  both  wise  and  heroic 
as  a  leader,  and  the  people  were  roused  to  a  new 
energy  of  resistance  by  his  appeals  and  his 
example.  They  cut  their  dykes  and  flooded  the 
land,  subjecting  themselves  to  unmeasured  dis- 
tress and  loss,  but  stopping  the  French  advance, 
until  time  was  gained  for  awakening  public  feeling 
in  Europe  against  the  aggressions  of  the  un- 
scrupulous French  king.  Then  William  of 
Orange  began  that  which  was  to  be  his  great  and 
important  mission  In  life, — the  organizing  of 
resistance  to  Louis  XIV.  The  revolution  of  1688-  William  of 
9  in  England,  which  gave  the  crown  of  that  king-  against 
dom  to  William  and  his  wife  Mary,  contributed  Lo"isXiv. 
greatly  to  his  success,  and  was  an  event  almost 
as  important  in  European  politics  at  large  as  It 
was  in  the  constitutional  history  of  Great  Britain. 

France  under  Louis  XIV. 

From  1661  until  171 5,  Louis  XIV.  was  the 
absolute  ruler  of  France,  and  during  that  long 
period,  of  more  than  half  a  century,  his  unscrupu- 
lous ambition  gave  little  opportunity  for  western 
and  central  Europe  to  make  any  other  history 
than  that  of  struggle  and  battle,  invasion  and 
devastation,  intrigue  and  faithless  diplomacy, 
shifting  of  political  landmarks  and  traffic  in 
border  populations,  as  though  they  were  pastured 
cattle  and  sheep. 

When  Philip  IV.,  of  Spain,  died,  in  1665,  Louis  Jj''^[^^'^^ 
began  promptly  to  put  forward  the  claims  which  xiv. 
he  had  pledged  himself  not  to  make.     He  de- 


9IO  From  Cromwell  to  Louis  XIV 

manded  part  of  the  Netherlands,  and  Franche 
Comte — the  old  county  (not  the  duchy)  of  Bur- 
gundy— as  belonging  to  his  queen.  It  was  his 
good  fortune  to  be  served  by  some  of  the  greatest 
generals,  military  engineers  and  administrators 
-,.  -  of    the     day, — by    Turenne,     Conde,     Vauban, 

His  first  .  . 

exploit  of  Louvois,  and  others, — and  when  he  sent  his 
i667^i^T'  armies  of  invasion  into  Flanders  and  Franche 
Comte  they  carried  all  before  them,  Holland 
took  alarm  at  these  aggressions,  which  came  so 
near  to  her,  and  formed  an  alliance  with  England 
and  Sweden  to  assist  Spain.  But  the  unprincipled 
English  king,  Charles  II.,  was  bribed  to  betray 
his  ally;  Sweden  was  bought  over;  Spain  sub- 
mitted to  a  treaty  which  gave  the  Burgundian 
county  back  to  her,  and  surrendered  an  important 
part  of  the  Spanish  Netherlands  to  France. 
Louis'  first  exploit  of  national  brigandage  had 
thus  been  a  glorious  success,  as  glory  is  defined  in 

X  nc  spoil 

and  the  the  vocabulary  of  sovereigns  of  his  class.  He  had 
Ticums  stolen  several  valuable  towns,  killed  some  thou- 
sands of  people,  carried  misery  into  the  lives  of 
some  thousands  more,  and  provoked  the  Dutch 
to  a  challenge  of  war  that  seemed  promising  of 
more  glory  of  like  kind. 

In   1672  he  prepared  himself  to  chastise  the 

Dutch,  and  his  English  pensioner,  Charles  II., 

with  several  German  princes,  joined  him  in  the 

war.     It  was  this  war,  as  related  already,  which 

.     brought  about  the  fall  and  the  death  of  John  de 

His  attack 

on  Holland,  Witt,  grand  pensionary  of  Holland;  which  raised 
1672-1678     \yiiji^jn  of  Orange  to  the  restored  stadtholder- 


Perfidy  and  Aggressions  of  Louis  XIV  911 

ship,  and  which  gave  him  a  certain  leadership  of 
influence  in  Europe,  as  against  the  French  king. 
It  was  this  war,  likewise,  which  gave  the  Hohen- 
zollerns  their  first  great  battle  triumph,  in  the 
defeat  of  the  Swedes,  the  allies  of  the  French,  at  „ 

'         .  .    ,  '  Battle  of 

Fehrbellin.     For  Frederick  William,  the  "great  Fehrbeiiin, 
elector,"  had  joined  the  emperor  Leopold  and  the  *  ^^ 
king  of  Spain  in  another  league  with  Holland,  to 
resist  the  aggressions  of  France;    while  Sweden 
now  took  sides  with  Louis. 

England  was  soon  withdrawn  from  the  contest, 
by  the  determined  action  of  parliament,  which 
forced  its  king  to  make  peace.  Otherwise  the 
war  became  general  in  western  Europe  and  was 
frightful  in  the  death  and  misery  it  cost.  Gener- 
ally the  French  had  the  most  success.  Turenne 
was  killed  in  1675  ^^^  Conde  retired  the  same  of  "the 
year;  but  able  commanders  were  found,  in  ^o^frch" 
Luxemburg  and  Crequi,  to  succeed  them.  In 
opposition  to  William  of  Orange,  the  Dutch  made 
peace  at  Nimeguen,  in  1678,  and  Spain  was 
forced  to  give  up  Franche  Comte,  with  another 
fraction  of  her  Netherland  territories;  but  Hol- 
land lost  nothing.  Again  Louis  XIV.  had  beaten 
and  robbed  his  neighbors  with  success,  and  was 
at  the  pinnacle  of  his  glory.  France,  it  is  true, 
was  oppressed  and  exhausted,  but  her  king  was  a 
"grand  monarch,"  and  she  must  needs  be  con- 
tent. 

For  a  few  years  the  grand  monarch  contented 
himself  with  small  filchings  of  territory,  which 
kept  his  conscience  supple  and  gave  practice  to 


912  From  Cromwell  to  Louis  XIV 

his  sleight-of-hand.  On  one  pretext  and  another 
he  seized  town  after  town  in  Alsace,  and,  at  last, 
in  1681,  surprised  and  captured  the  imperial  free 
aggleLions  city  of  Strasburg,  in  a  time  of  entire  peace.  He 
of^Louis  bombarded  Genoa,  took  Avignon  from  the  pope, 
bullied  and  abused  feeble  Spain,  made  large 
claims  on  the  Palatinate  in  the  name  of  his  sister- 
in-law,  but  against  her  will,  and  did  nearly  what 
he  was  pleased  to  do,  without  any  effective  resist- 
ance, until  after  William  of  Orange  had  been 
called  to  the  English  throne.  That  completed  a 
great  change  in  the  European  situation. 

The  change  had  been  more  than  half  brought 
about  already,   by  a  foul   and   foolish   measure 
which  Louis  had  adopted  In  his  domestic  admin- 
istration.    Cursed  with  a  tyrant's  impatience  at 
the  idea  of  free  thought  and  free  opinion  among 
his  subjects,  he  had  been  persuaded  by  zealots 
near  his  person  to  revoke  the  Edict  of  Nantes  and 
Revocation  ^^vivc  persccutlou  of  the  Huguenots.    This  was 
of  the  Edict  done  in  1685.     The  fatal  effects  within  France 
1685       '     resembled  those  which  followed  the  persecution 
of   the    Moriscoes    of    Spain.      The    Huguenots 
formed  a  large  proportion  of  the  best  middle  class 
of   the    kingdom, — its    manufacturers,    Its    mer- 
chants, its  skilled  and  thrifty  artisans.     Violent 
efforts  were  made  to  detain  them  in  the  country, 
Exodus  of     ^^^  there  force  them  to  apostasy  or  hold  them 
Huguenots    Under  punishment  If  they  withstood.     But  there 
was  not  power  enough  In  the  monarchy,  with  all 
its  absolutism,  to  inclose  France  in  such  a  wall. 
Vast    numbers    escaped — half    a    million,    it    is 


Revived  Persecution  of  Huguenots  913 

thought — carrying  their  skill,  their  knowledge,  P°.°ie, 
their  industry   and  their  energy  into  Holland,  oj  the 
England,    Switzerland,    all    parts    of   Protestant  ^f,|"""°^' 
Germany,    and    across    the    ocean    to    America.  Dispersion 
France  was  half  ruined  by  the  loss. 

At  the  same  time,  the  Protestant  allies  in  Ger- 
many and  the  north,  whom  Louis  had  held  in 
subserviency  to  himself  so  long,  were  angered  and 
alarmed  by  his  act.    They  joined  a  new  defensive 
league  against  him,  formed  at  Augsburg,  in  1686, 
which  embraced  the  emperor,  Spain,  Holland  and  League  of 
Sweden,  at  first,  and  afterward  took  in  Savoy  and  fgg^'.'j^JJ 
other  Italian  states,  along  with  Germany,  almost 
entire.    But  the  league  was  miserably  unprepared  Macauiay, 
for  war,  and  hardly  hindered  the  march  of  Louis'  History  of 
armies  when  he  suddenly  moved  them  into  the  ch.  xi,  xk- 
Rhenish   electorates   in    1688.      For   the   second  ^^" 
time   in   his    reign,    and    under   his    orders,    the 
Palatinate  was  devastated  horribly  with  fire  and  History  of 
sword.     But  this  attack  on  Germany,  occupying  ^^"l'"'  ' 
the  arms  of  France,  gave  William  of  Orange  his  century, 

-r-.il  1  1     5  :  bk.  20, 

oppo.  tunity   to   enter   Jingland   unopposed    and  ch.  i 
take  the  English  crown.    That  accomplished,  he 
brought  England  Into  the  league,  enlarging  it  to  a 
"grand  alliance"  of  all  western  Europe  against 
the  dangerous  monarch  of  France. 

France  had  now  to  deal  with  enemies  on  every 
side.    They  swarmed  on  all  her  frontiers,  and  she 
met  them  with  amazing  valor  and  strength.    For 
three  years  the  French  more  than  held  their  own,  France 
not  only  in  land  fighting,  but  on  the  sea,  where  against 

western 

they  seemed  likely,  for  a  time,  to  dispute  the  Europe 


914 


Treaty  of 
Ryswick, 
1697 


War  of  the 
Spanish 
Succession, 
1702-1714 


Macaulay, 
Essays: 
Maho?i's 
War  of  the 
Succession 

Lecky, 
History  of 
England, 
jSth 
century, 
ch.  r 


From  Cromwell  to  Louis  XIV 

supremacy  of  the  English  and  the  Dutch  with 
success.  But  the  frightful  draft  made  on  the 
resources  of  the  nation,  and  the  strain  on  its 
spirit,  were  more  than  could  be  kept  up.  The 
obstinacy  of  the  king,  and  his  indifference  to  the 
sufferings  of  his  people,  prolonged  the  war  until 
1697,  but  with  steady  loss- to  the  French  of  the 
advantages  with  which  they  began.  Two  years 
before  the  end,  Louis  had  bought  over  the  duke 
of  Savoy,  by  giving  back  to  him  all  that  France 
had  taken  from  his  Italian  territories  since 
Richelieu's  time.  When  the  final  peace  was 
settled,  at  Ryswick,  like  surrenders  had  to  be 
made  in  the  Netherlands,  Lorraine,  and  beyond 
the  Rhine;  but  Alsace,  with  Strasburg,  was  kept, 
to  be  a  German  graft  on  France,  until  the  sharp 
Prussian  pruning  knife,  in  our  own  time,  cut  it 
away. 

There  were  five  years  of  peace  after  the  treaty 
of  Ryswick,  and  then  a  new  war — longer,  more 
bitter,  and  more  destructive  than  those  before  it 
— arose  out  of  questions  connected  with  tb  ,  suc- 
cession to  the  crown  of  Spain.  Charles  II.,  last  of 
the  Austro-Spanish  or  Spanish-Hapsburg  kings, 
died  in  1700,  leaving  no  heir.  The  nearest  of  his 
relatives  to  the  throne  were  the  descendants  of  his 
two  sisters,  one  of  whom  had  married  Louis  XIV. 
and  the  other  the  emperor  Leopold  of  the  Aus- 
trian house.  Louis  XIV.,  as  we  know,  had 
renounced  all  the  Spanish  rights  of  his  queen  and 
her  issue;  but  that  renunciation  had  been  shown 
already    to    be    wasted    paper.       Leopold    had 


War  of  the  Spanish  Succession  915 

renounced  nothing;  but  he  had  required  a 
renunciation  of  her  Spanish  claims  from  the  one 
daughter,  Maria,  of  his  Spanish  wife,  and  he  put 
forward  claims  to  the  Spanish  succession,  on  his 
own  behalf,  because  his  mother  had  been  a 
princess  of  that  nation,  as  well  as  his  wife.  He 
was  willing,  however,  to  transfer  his  own  rights 
to  a  younger  son,  fruit  of  a  second  marriage,  the 
archduke  Charles. 

The  question  of  the  Spanish  succession  was  one 
of  European  interest  and  Importance,  and 
attempts  had  been  made  to  settle  it  two  years 
before  the  death  of  the  Spanish  king,  in  1698,  by  partition  of 
a  treaty,  or  agreement,  between  France,  England  treaty,'i698 
and  Holland.  By  that  treaty  these  outside 
powers  (not  consulting  Spain)  undertook  a  parti- 
tion of  the  Spanish  monarchy.  In  what  they 
assumed  to  be  the  Interest  of  the  European 
balance  of  power.  In  Spain,  this  proceeding  was 
resented,  naturally,  by  both  people  and  king,  and 
the  latter  was  persuaded  to  set  against  it  a  will, 
bequeathing  all  that  he  ruled  to  the  younger 
grandson  of  Louis  XIV.,  Philip  of  Anjou,  on 
condition  that  the  latter  renounce  for  himself  and  The 
for  his  heirs  all  claims  to  the  crown  of  France.  ^?ng"s*^;n 
The  Inducement  to  this  bequest  was  the  power 
which  the  king  of  France  possessed  to  enforce  It, 
and  so  to  preserve  the  unity  of  the  Spanish  realm. 
That  the  argument  and  the  persuasion  came  from 
Louis'  own  agents,  while  other  agents  amused 
England,  Holland  and  Austria  with  treaties  of 
partition,  is  tolerably  clear. 


9i6 


A  French 
prince  on 
the 

Spanish 
throne 


England 
insulted, 
1701 


Death  of 

William, 
Outbreak 
of  war, 
1702 


From  Cromwell  to  Louis  XIV 

Near  the  end  of  the  year  1700,  the  king  of 
Spain  died;  his  will  was  disclosed;  the  treaties 
were  as  coolly  ignored  as  the  prior  renunciation 
had  been,  and  the  young  French  prince  was  sent 
pompously  into  Spain  to  accept  the  proifered 
crown.  For  a  time,  there  was  indignation  in 
Europe,  but  no  more.  William  of  Orange  could 
persuade  neither  England  nor  Holland  to  war, 
and  Austria  could  not  venture  hostilities  without 
their  help.  But  that  submissiveness  only  drew 
from  the  grand  monarch  fresh  displays  of  his 
dishonesty  and  his  insolence.  The  government 
of  Spain  was  guided  from  Paris  like  that  of  a 
dependency  of  France.  Dutch  and  English  com- 
merce was  injured  by  hostile  measures.  Move- 
ments alarming  to  Holland  were  made  on  the 
frontiers  of  the  Spanish  Netherlands.  Finally, 
when  the  fugitive  ex-king  of  England,  James  H., 
died  at  St.  Germains,  in  September,  1701,  Louis 
acknowledged  James's  son,  called  "the  pre- 
tender," as  king  of  England.  This  insult  roused 
the  war  spirit  in  England  which  King  William 
had  striven  so  hard  to  evoke.  He  had  arranged 
the  terms  of  a  new  defensive  grand  alliance  with 
Holland,  Austria,  and  most  of  the  German  states; 
there  was  no  difficulty  now  in  making  it  an 
offensive  league. 

But  William,  always  weak  In  health,  and  worn 
by  many  cares  and  harassing  troubles,  died  In 
March,  1702,  before  the  war  that  he  desired  had 
broken  out.  His  death  made  no  pause  in  the 
movement   of   events.      Able    statesmen,    under 


The  Humbling  of  the  "Grand  Monarch"  917 

Queen  Anne,  his  successor,  carried  forward  his 
policy,  and  a  great  soldier  was  found,  In  the 
person  of  John  Churchill,  duke  of  Marlborough, 
to  command  the  armies  of  England  and  the  boroJgh 
Dutch.  Another  commander,  of  remarkable  ^""^  Prince 
genius.  Prince  Eugene  of  Savoy,  took  service  with 
the  emperor,  and  these  two,  acting  cordially 
together,  humbled  the  overweening  pride  of 
Louis  XIV.  In  the  later  years  of  his  reign.  He 
had  worn  out  France  by  his  long  exactions.  His 
strong  ministers,  Colbert,  Louvois,  and  others, 
were  dead,  and  he  did  not  find  successors  equal  to 
their  work.  He  had  able  generals,  but  none  equal 
to  Turenne,  Conde  or  Luxemburg, — none  to  cope 
with  Marlborough  and  Prince  Eugene.  The  war  spread 
was  widespread,  on  a  stupendous  scale,  and  it  ^^'^ 
lasted  for  twelve  years.  Its  campaigns  were 
fought  in  the  Low  Countries,  In  Germany,  In 
Italy,  and  in  Spain.  It  glorified  the  reign  of  Anne, 
in  English  history,  by  the  shining  victories  of 
Blenheim,  Ramllles,  Oudenarde  and  Malplaquet, 
and  by  the  capture  of  Gibraltar,  the  padlock  of 
the  Mediterranean  Sea.     The  misery  to  which  ^^iserycaf 

r  r  ranee 

France  was  reduced  m  the  later  years  of  the  war 
was  probably  the  greatest  that  the  much  suffering 
nation  ever  knew. 

Louis  sought  peace,  and  was  willing  to  go  far  in 
surrenders  to  obtain  It.  But  the  allies  pressed 
him  too  hard  in  their  demands.  They  would  have 
him  not  only  abandon  the  Bourbon  dynasty  that 
he  had  set  up  in  Spain,  but  join  them  in  over- 
throwing it.     He  refused  to  negotiate  on  such 


9i8 


From  Cromwell  to  Louis  XIV 


Treaties  of 

Utrecht 

and 

Rastadt, 

1713-1714 


Gerard, 
The  Peace 
•/  Utrecht 


Losses  of 
Spain  and 
France  by 
the  war 


terms,  and  Fortune  approved  his  resolution,  by 
giving  decisive  victories  to  his  arms  in  Spain, 
while  dealing  out  disaster  and  defeat  in  every 
other  field.  England  grew  weary  of  the  war  when 
it  came  to  appear  endless,  and  Marlborough  and 
the  Whigs,  who  had  carried  it  on,  were  ousted 
from  power.  The  Tories,  under  Harley  and  Bol- 
ingbroke,  came  into  office  and  negotiated  the 
famous  Peace  of  Utrecht,  In  which  all  of  the 
belligerents  except  the  emperor  were  joined.  The 
emperor  yielded  to  a  supplementary  treaty, 
signed  at  Rastadt  the  next  year. 

These  treaties  left  the  Bourbon  king  of  Spain, 
Philip  v.,  on  his  throne,  but  bound  him,  by  fresh 
renunciations,  not  to  be  likewise  king  of  France. 
They  gave  to  England  Gibraltar  and  Minorca,  at 
the  expense  of  Spain,  and  Nova  Scotia,  New- 
foundland and  Hudson's  Bay,  at  the  expense  of 
France.  They  took  much  more  from  Spain.  They 
took  Sicily,  which  they  gave  to  the  duke  of  Savoy, 
with  the  title  of  king;  they  took  Naples,  Milan, 
Mantua  and  Sardinia,  which  they  gave  to  Aus- 
tria, or,  more  strictly^  speaking,  to  the  emperor; 
and  they  took  the  Spanish  Netherlands,  which 
they  gave  to  Austria  in  the  main,  with  some 
barrier  towns  to  the  Dutch.  They  took  from 
France  her  conquests  on  the  right  bank  of  the 
Rhine;  but  they  left  her  in  possession  of  Alsace, 
with  Strasburg  and  Landau.  The  great  victim  of 
the  war  was  Spain. 

Louis  XIV.  was  near  the  end  of  his  reign  when 
this  last  of  the  fearful  wars  which  he  caused  was 


The  Treaties  of  Utrecht  and  Rastadt  919 

France  at 
the  deatlt 


brought  to  a  close.    He  died  in  September,  171 5,  France  at 


leaving  a  kingdom  that  had  reasons  to  curse  his  of  Louis 
memory  in  every  particular  of  its  state.  He  had  ^  "'  ''''^ 
foiled  the  exertions  of  as  wise  a  minister,  Jean 
Colbert,  as  ever  strove  to  do  good  to  France.  He 
had  dried  the  sources  of  national  life  as  with  a 
searching  and  monstrous  sponge.  He  had 
repressed  everything  which  he  could  not  absorb 
in  his  flaunting  court,  in  his  destroying  armies, 
and  in  himself.  He  had  dealt  with  France  as  with 
a  dumb  beast  that  had  been  given  him  to  bestride; 
to  display  himself  upon,  before  the  gaze  of  an 
envious  world;  to  be  bridled,  and  spurred  at  his 
pleasure,  and  whipped;  to  toil  for  him  and  bear 
burdens  as  he  willed;  to  tread  upon  his  enemies  The  dumb 
and  trample  his  neighbors'  fields.     It  was   he,  feature 

r  o  tl^at  went 

more  than  all  others  before  or  after,  who  made  mad 
France  that  dumb  creature  which  suffered  and 
was  still  for  a  little  longer  time,  and  then  began 
thinking  and  went  mad. 

Germany  after  the  Thirty  Years  War 

In  a  natural  order  of  things,  Germany  should 
have  supplied  the  main  resistance  to  Louis  XIV. 
and  held  his  unscrupulous  ambition  in  check. 
But  Germany  had  fallen  to  its  lowest  state  of 
political  demoralization  and  disorder.  The  very 
idea  of  nationality  had  disappeared.  The 
empire,  even  reduced  to  a  frame  and  a  form,  had 
almost  vanished  from  practical  affairs.  The 
numerous  petty  states  which  divided  the  German 
people   stood   apart  from  one   another,   in   sub- 


f20 


Petty 

courts 
aping  the 
court  of 
France 


Alienation 
of  Austria 


Rise  and 
anion  of 
Branden- 
burg and 
Prussia 


From  Cromwell  to  Louis  XIV 

stantial  independence,  and  were  sundered  by 
small  jealousies  and  distrusts.  Little  absolute 
principalities  they  were,  each  having  its  little 
court,  which  aped,  in  a  little  way,  the  grand  court 
of  the  grand  monarch  of  France — central  object 
of  the  admiration  and  the  envy  of  all  small  souls 
in  its  time.  Half  of  them  were  ready  to  bow 
down  to  the  splendid  being  at  Versailles,  and  to 
be  his  creatures,  if  he  condescended  to  bestow  a 
nod  of  patronage  and  attention  ufX)n  them. 

More  and  more  distinctly  the  emperor  drew 
apart  in  his  immediate  dominions  as  an  Austrian 
sovereign;  and  more  and  more  completely  Aus- 
trian interests  and  Austrian  policy  became 
removed  and  estranged  from  the  interests  of  the 
Germanic  people.  The  ambitions  and  the  cares 
of  the  house  of  Hapsburg  were  increasingly  in 
directions  most  opposite  to  the  German  side  of  its 
relations,  tending  towards  Italy  and  the  south- 
east; while,  at  the  same  time,  the  church  influ- 
ence which  depressed  the  Austrian  states  widened 
a  hopeless  intellectual  difference  between  them 
and  the  Germans  of  the  north. 

The  most  notable  movements  in  dull  German 
affairs,  after  the  Peace  of  Westphalia,  were  those 
which  connected  themselves  with  the  settling  and 
centering  in  Brandenburg  of  a  nucleus  of  growing 
power,  around  which  the  nationalizing  of  Ger- 
many has  been  a  crystallizing  process  ever  since. 
The  Mark  of  Brandenburg  was  one  of  the  earliest 
conquests  (tenth  century)  of  the  Germans  from 
the    Wends.      Prussia,    afterward    united    with 


Rise  of  Brandenburg  and  Prussia  921 

Brandenburg,  was  a  later  conquest  (thirteenth  Cariyie, 
century)  from  Wendish  or  Slavonic  and  other  Friedrich 
pagan  Inhabitants,   and  Its   subjugation  was   a  ^fj'^'^^ 
missionary  enterprise,  accomplished  by  the  cru- 
sading  order   of  Teutonic   Knights,   under   the 
authority  and  direction  of  the  pope.    The  order, 
which  held  the  country  for  more  than  two  cen- 
turies, and  ruled  it  badly,  became  degenerate, 
and,  about  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century,  it 
was  overcome  in  war  by  Casimir  IV.  of  Poland, 
who  took  away  from  it  the  western  part  of  its 
territory,  and  forced  It  to  do  homage  to  him  for 
the  eastern  part,  as  a  fief  of  the  Polish  crown. 

Sixty  years  later,  the  Reformation  movement 
in  Germany  brought  about  the  extinguishment 
of  the  Teutonic  order  as  a  political  power.  The 
grand  master  of  the  order  at  that  time  was 
Albert,   a  Hohenzollern   prince,   belonging  to  a  Aggrand- 

'  -^  '  .  izement  of 

younger  branch  of  the  Brandenburg  family.  He  the  Hohen- 
became  a  Lutheran,  and  succeeded  in  persuading 
the  Polish  king,  SIgismund  I.,  to  transfer  the 
sovereignty  of  the  east  Prussian  fief  to  him,  per- 
sonally, as  a  duchy.  He  transmitted  it  to  his 
descendants,  who  held  it  for  a  few  generations; 
but  the  line  became  extinct  In  1618,  and  the 
duchy  of  Prussia  then  passed  to  the  elder  branch 
of  the  family  and  was  united  with  the  electorate 
of  Brandenburg,  which  the  Hohenzollern  family 
had  acquired  in  1417. 

The  superior  weight  of  the  Brandenburg 
electors  in  northern  Germany  may  be  dated  from 
their    acquisition    of    the    important    duchy    of 


922 


"The  great 
elector," 
1 640- 1 688 

Ranke, 
Memoirs  of 
the  House  of 
Branden- 
burg, I  :  ch. 
iii 


Prussia 
becomes  a 
kingdom, 
1700 


From  Cromwell  to  Louis  XIV 

Prussia;  but  they  made  no  mark  on  affairs  until 
the  time  of  Frederick  William  I.,  called  "the 
great  elector,"  who  succeeded  to  the  electorate  in 
1640,  near  the  close  of  the  Thirty  Years  War. 
In  the  arrangements  of  the  Peace  of  Westphalia 
he  secured  east  Pomerania  and  other  considerable 
additions  of  territory.  In  1657  he  made  his  duchy 
of  Prussia  independent  of  Poland,  by  treaty  with 
the  Polish  king.  In  1672  and  1674  he  had  the 
courage  and  independence  to  join  the  allies 
against  Louis  XIV.,  Vnd  when  the  Swedes,  in 
alliance  with  Louis,  invaded  his  dominions,  he 
defeated  and  humbled  them  at  Fehrbellin,  and 
took  from  them  the  greater  part  of  their  Pomer- 
anian territory.  When  the  great  elector  died,  in 
1688,  Brandenburg  was  the  commanding  North- 
German  power,andtheHohen2ollernfamilyhad  en- 
tered fully  on  the  great  career  it  has  since  pursued. 
Frederick  William's  son  Frederick,  with  none 
of  his  father's  talent,  had  a  pushing  but  shallow 
ambition.  He  aspired  to  be  a  king,  and  circum- 
stances made  his  friendship  so  important  to  the 
emperor  Leopold  I.  that  the  latter,  exercising  the 
theoretical  super-sovereignty  of  the  Caesars, 
endowed  him  with  the  regal  title.  He  was  made 
king  of  Prussia,  not  of  Brandenburg,  because 
Brandenburg  stood  in  vassalage  to  the  empire, 
while  Prussia  was  an  independent  state. 


Poland 


In   Poland,   the   political   demoralizatioii   had 
become  complete.    The  elections  of  Pol»k  kings 


John  Sobieski  in  Poland  923 

were  prize  contests  in  which  all  Europe  took  part.  "^^  T°^^^^ 

■*■  ■*■■*■  elections 

Every  court  set  up  its  candidate  for  the  paltry 
titular  place;  every  candidate  emptied  his  purse 
into  the  Polish  capital,  and  bribed,  intrigued, 
corrupted,  to  the  best  of  his  ability.  Once,  at 
least,  when  the  game  was  on,  a  sudden  breeze  of 
patriotic  feeling  swept  the  traffickers  out  of  the 
diet,  and  inspired  the  election  of  a  national  hero, 
John  Sobieski,  to  whom  Europe  owes  much;  for  Sobieski, 
it  was  he  who  drove  back  the  Turks,  In  1683,  ^  '''^"^^ 
when  their  last  bold  push  into  central  Europe  was 
made,  and  when  they  were  storming  at  the  gates 
of  Vienna.  But  when  Sobieski  died,  in  1696,  the 
old  scandalous  vendue  of  a  crown  was  reopened, 
and  the  elector  of  Saxony  was  the  buyer.  During 
most  of  the  last  two  centuries  of  Its  history, 
Poland  sold  Its  throne  to  one  alien  after  another, 
and  allowed  foreign  states  to  mix  and  meddle 
with  its  affairs.  Of  real  nationality  there  was  not 
much  left  to  extinguish  when  the  time  of  extinc- 
tion came.  There  were  patriots,  and  very  noble 
patriots,  among  the  Poles,  at  all  periods  of  their 
history;  but  it  seems  to  have  been  the  very  hope-  p^i-'j^il"^ 
lessness  of  the  state  into  which  their  country  had  patriotism 
drifted  which  intensified  their  patriotic  feeling. 

Russia 

Russia  had  acquired  magnitude  and  strength 
as^a  barbaric  power,  in  the  sixteenth  and  seven- 
teenth centuries;  but  it  was  not  until  the  reign  of 
Peter  the  Great,  which  opened  In  1682,  that  the  Great 
great  Slavonic  empire  began  to  take  on  a  Euro- 


924 

Schuyler, 
PeUr  the 
Great 


Conquest 
of  Siberia 


Swedish 
conquests 


From  Cromwell  to  Louis  XIV 

pean  character,  with  European  Interests  and 
influences,  and  to  assimilate  the  civilization  of 
the  west.  Peter  may  be  said  to  have  knotted 
Russia  to  Europe  at  both  extremities,  by  pushing 
his  dominions  to  the  Baltic  on  the  north  and  to 
the  Black  Sea  on  the  south,  and  by  putting  his 
own  ships  afloat  in  both.  The  Russian  conquest 
of  Siberia,  begun  by  a  Cossack  adventurer, 
Yermac  Timoseef,  about  1578,  became  practically 
complete  in  Peter's  reign,  or  shortly  before. 
From  his  day,  Russia  has  been  steadily  gathering 
weight  in  each  of  the  two  continents  over  which 
her  vast  bulk  of  empire  Is  stretched,  and  moving 
to  a  mysterious  great  destiny  In  time  to  come. 

Sweden 

Just  at  the  close  of  the  century,  while  the 
powers  of  western  Europe  were  wrestling  in  the 
great  war  of  the  Spanish  succession,  these  nations 
of  the  east  and  their  near  neighbors  In  the  north 
were  Involved  in  a  furious  conflict,  provoked  by  a 
wanton  attack  from  Russia,  Poland  and  Den- 
mark on  the  possessions  of  the  Swedes.  In  the 
past  century  Sweden  had  made  extensive  con- 
quests, and  her  territories,  outside  of  the  Scan- 
dinavian peninsula,  were  thrust  provoklngly  Into 
the  sides  of  all  these  three  neighbors.  There  had 
been  three  Charleses  on  the  Swedish  throne  in 
succession,  following  Christina,  the  daughter  of 
Gustavus  Adolphus.  Queen  Christina,  an  eccen- 
tric character,  had  abdicated  In  1654,  in  order  to 
join  the  Catholic  church,  and  had  been  succeeded 


Charles  XII  of  Sweden  925 

by  her  cousin,  Charles  X.    The  six  years  reign  of  v^^arswith 
this  Charles  was  one  of  constant  war  with  the  Danes  and 

Poles 

Danes  and  the  Poles,  and  he  was  the  aggressor  in 
almost  every  case.  His  son  and  successor, 
Charles  XL,  suffered  the  great  defeat  at  Fehr- 
bellln  which  gave  prestige  to  Brandenburg;  but 
he  was  shielded,  by  the  puissant  arm  of  Louis 
XIV.,  his  ally,  and  lost  no  territory.  More  suc- 
cessful in  his  domestic  policy  than  in  his  wars,  he, 
both  practically  and  formally,  established  abso-  The 
lutism  in  the  Swedish  realm.    Inheriting  from  his  Swedish 

^    ^    _  absolute 

father  that  absolute  power,  while  inheriting  at  monarchy 
the  same  time  the  ruthless  ambition  of  his  grand- 
father, Charles  XII.  came  to  the  throne  in  1697. 

In  the  first  two  years  of  his  reign,  this  extra-  Charles 
ordinary  young  autocrat  showed  so  little  of  his  xii., 
character  that  his  royal  neighbors  thought  him  a 
weakling,  and  Peter  the  Great,  of  Russia,  con-  Voltaire, 
spired  with  Augustus  of  Poland  and  Frederick  chlnls 
IV.  of  Denmark  to  strip  him  of  those  parts  of  his  ^^i- 
dominion    which    they    severally    craved.      The 
result  was  like  the  rousing  of  a  lion  by  hunters 
who  went  forth  to  pursue  a  hare.     The  young  xhe 
Swede,    dropping,    instantly    and    forever,    all  coalition 
frivolities,  sprang  at  his  assailants  before  they  Charles, 
dreamed  of  finding  him  awake,  and  the  game  was  ^^°° 
suddenly    reversed.      The    hunters    became    the 
hunted,  and  they  had  no  rest  for  nine  years  from 
the  implacable  pursuit  of  them  which  Charles 
kept  up.  He  defeated  the  Danes  and  the  Russians 
in  the  first  year  of  the  war.    In  1702  he  invaded  its  fate 
Poland  and  occupied  Warsaw;   in  1704  he  forced 


926  From  Cromwell  to  Louis  XIV 

the  deposition  of  the  Saxon  king  of  Poland, 
Augustus,  and  the  election  of  Stanislaus  Lec- 
zinski.  Not  yet  satisfied,  he  followed  Augustus 
into  his  electorate  of  Saxony,  and  compelled  him 
there  to  renounce  the  Russian  alliance  and  the 
Polish  crown. 
Charles  ^^  1 7^8,  Charles  invaded  Russia,  marching  on 

XII.  in  Moscow,  but  turning  aside  to  meet  an  expected 
ally,  Mazeppa  the  Cossack.  It  was  the  mistake 
which  Napoleon  repeated  a  century  later.  The 
Swedes  exhausted  themselves  in  the  march,  and 
the  Russians  bided  their  time.  Peter,  the  tzar, 
had  devoted  eight  years,  since  Charles  defeated 
him  at  Narva,  to  making  soldiers,  well  trained, 
out  of  the  mob  which  that  fight  scattered.  When 
Charles  had  worn  his  army  down  to  a  slender  and 
disheartened  force,  Peter  struck  and  destroyed  it 
at  Pultowa.  Charles  escaped  from  the  wreck  and 
His  five  took  refuge,  with  a  few  hundreds  of  his  guards,  in 
years  in  the  Turkish  province  of  Bessarabia,  at  Bender. 
1709-1714  In  that  shelter,  which  the  Ottomans  hospitably 
accorded  to  him,  he  remained  for  five  years, 
intriguing  to  bring  the  Porte  into  war  with  his 
Muscovite  enemy,  while  all  the  fruits  of  his  nine 
years  of  conquest  in  the  north  were  stripped  from 
him  by  the  old  league,  revived.  Augustus 
returned  to  Poland  and  recovered  his  crown. 
Peter  took  possession  of  Livonia,  Ingria,  and  a 
great  part  of  Finland.  Frederick  IV.,  of  Den- 
mark, attacked  Sweden  itself.  The  kingless 
kingdom  made  a  valiant  defense  against  the 
crowd  of  eager  enemies;  but  Charles  had  used  the 


Swedish  Losses  927 

best  of  its  energies  and  its  resources,  and  it  was 
not  strong. 

Near  the  end  of  1710,  Charles  succeeded  in 
pushing  the  sultan  into  war  with  the  tzar,  and  the 
latter,  advancing  into  Moldavia,  rashly  placed 
himself  in  a  position  of  great  peril,  where  the 
Turks  had  him  really  at  their  mercy.  But 
Catherine,  the  tzarina,  who  was  present,  found 
means  to  bribe  the  Turkish  vizier  in  command, 
and  Peter  escaped  with  no  loss  more  serious  than 
the  surrender  of  Azov.  That  ended  the  war,  and 
the  hopes  of  the  Swedish  king.  But  still  the 
stubborn  Charles  wearied  the  Porte  with  his 
importunities,  until  he  was  commanded  to  quit 
the  country. 

Even  then  he  refused  to  depart, — resisted 
when  force  was  used  to  expel  him,  and  did  not 
take  his  leave  until  late  in  November,  1714,  when 
he  received  intelligence  that  his  subjects  were  chariesto 
preparing  to  appoint  his  sister  regent  of  the  king-  j^^^'^''"* 
dom  and  to  make  peace  with  the  tzar.  That  news 
hurried  him  homeward;  but  only  for  continued 
war.  He  was  about  to  make  terms  with  Russia, 
and  to  secure  her  alliance  against  Denmark, 
Poland  and  Hanover,  when  he  was  killed  during 
an  invasion  of  Norway,  in  the  siege  of  Fredriks- 

•^  '  °  r    n         J  ^'*  death, 

hald,  December,  171 8.  The  crown  ot  J^weden  1718 
was  then  conferred  upon  his  sister,  but  shorn  of 
absolute  powers,  and  practically  dependent  upon 
the  nobles.  All  the  wars  in  which  Charles  XH. 
had  involved  his  kingdom  were  brought  to  an  end 
by  great  sacrifices,  and  Russia  rose  to  the  place  of 


928  From  Cromwell  to  Louis  XIV 

Sweden  as  the  chief  power  in  the  north.    The 
Sw^edjsh       Swedes   paid    heavily   for   the   career   of   their 
"Northern  Alexander." 

Spain  and  Italy 

Before    the    belligerents    in    the    north    had 

quieted  themselves,  those  of  the  west  were  again 

in  arms.    Spain  had  fallen  under  the  influence  of 

HbtJ^'of     two  eager  and   restless   ambitions,   that  of  the 

Evgiayid,      queen,  Elizabeth  of  Parma,  and  an  Italian  minis- 

ch.viii-x  '    ter.   Cardinal  Alberoni;    and  the  schemes  into 

which  these  two  drew  the  Bourbon  king,  Philip 

alliance       V.,  soon  rupturcd  the  close  relations  with  France 

against        which  Louis  XIV.   had  ruined  his  kingdom  to 

Spam,  1717         ,  ,        °       . 

bring  about.  To  check  them,  a  triple  alliance 
was  formed  between  France,  England  and  Hol- 
land,— enlarged  the  next  year  to  a  quadruple 
alliance  by  the  adhesion  of  Austria. 

At  the  outset  of  the  war,  Spain  made  a  con- 
quest of  Sardinia,  and  almost  accomplished  the 
same  in  Sicily;  but  the  English  crushed  her  navy 
and    her    rising    commerce,    while    the    French 
crossed  the  Pyrenees  with  an  army  which  the 
Spaniards  could  not  resist.    A  vast  combination 
which  Alberoni  was  weaving,  and  which  took  in 
Charles  XII.,  Peter  the  Great,  the  Stuart  pre- 
tender, the  English  Jacobites,  and  the  opponents 
of  the  regency  in  France,  fell  to  pieces  when  the 
Swedish   king   fell.     Alberoni  was   driven  from 
king'dom  of  Spain   and   all   his   plans   were  given  up.     The 
the  Two       Spanish    king    withdrew    from    Sicily    and    sur- 
1720  '        rendered  Sardinia.    The  emperor  and  the  duke  of 


Europe  Against  Spain  929 

Savoy  exchanged  islands,  and  the  former  (holding 
Naples  already)  revived  the  old  kingdom  of  the 
Two  Sicilies,  while  the  latter  became  king  of 
Sardinia. 

Of  Italy  at  large,  in  the  seventeenth'century, 
lying  prostrate  under  the  heavy  hand  of  Spain, 
there  is  no  history  to  claim  attention  in  so  brief  a 
sketch  as  this.    One  sovereign  family  in  the  north- 
west, long  balanced  on  the  Alps,  in  uncertainty 
between  a  cis-AIpine  and  a  trans-Alpine  destiny, 
but  now  clearly  committed  to  Italian  fortunes, 
had  begun  to  win  its  footing  among  the  noticeable 
smaller  powers  of  the  day  by  sheer  dexterity  of 
trimming  and  shifting  sides  in  the  conflicts  of  the  Rise  of  the 
time.    This  was  the  house  of  Savoy,  whose  first  house  of 
possessions,  gathered  in  the  crumbling  of  the  old 
kingdom  of  Burgundy,  lay  on  both  slopes  of  the  Freeman, 
Alps,  commanding  important   passes.     On   the  ^J^rafif 
western  and  northern  side,  the  counts,  afterward  oj Europe, 
dukes,  of  Savoy  had  to  contend,  as  time  went  on,  sect.  7' 
with  the  expanding  kingdom  of  France  and  with 
the  Swiss,  falling  back  before  both. 

At  one  period,  in  the  fifteenth  century,  their 
dominion  had  stretched  to  the  Sa6ne,  and  to  the  city  of 
lake  of  Neufchatel,  on  both  sides  of  it,  surround-  ^^"^^^ 
ing  the  free  city  of  Geneva,  which  they  were 
never  able  to  overcome.     After  that  time,  the 
Savoyards  gradually  lost  territory  on  the  Gallic  The  duke  ' 
side  and  won  compensations  on  the  Italian  side,  blimey 
in  Piedmont,  and  at  the  expense  of  Genoa  and  the  king  of 
duchy  of  Milan.    The  duke  Victor  Amadeus  II.  1720'"'^' 
was  the  most  successful  winner  for  his  house,  and 


930 


From  Cromwell  to  Louis  XIV 

he  made  his  gains  by  remarkable  manoeuvering  on 
both  sides  of  the  wars  of  Louis  XIV.  One  of  his 
acquisitions  was  the  island  kingdom  of  Sicily, 
which  gave  him  a  royal  title.  A  few  years  later 
he  exchanged  it  with  Austria  for  the  island  king- 
dom of  Sardinia — a  realm  more  desirable  to  him 
for  geographical  reasons  alone.  The  dukes  of 
Savoy  and  princes  of  Piedmont  thus  became 
kings  of  Sardinia,  and  the  name  of  the  kingdom 
was  often  applied  to  their  whole  dominion,  down 
to  the  recent  time  when  the  house  of  Savoy 
attained  the  grander  kingship  of  united  Italy. 


The 

founding 
of  the 
Carolinas, 
1663-1693 


Charleston 


America 

The  English  colonies  in  America  were  increased 
in  number  much  more  than  in  prosperity,  during 
the  reigns  of  the  last  two  Stuart  kings.  The  first 
to  be  added  bore  the  name  of  the  Province  of 
Carolina,  and  was  created  in  1663  by  a  palatine 
charter  from  the  king  to  a  company  of  influential 
courtiers,  endowing  them  with  the  same  sover- 
eignty in  their  province  that  was  enjoyed  by  Lord 
Baltimore  in  his.  Their  grant  of  territory  gave 
them,  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  the  whole 
country  between  the  parallels  of  thirty-one  and 
thirty-six  degrees.  The  province  contained 
already  two  small  settlements  on  Albemarle 
Sound,  and  another  on  Cape  Fear  River.  In 
1 67 1,  a  place  near  the  site  of  the  present  city  of 
Charleston  was  occupied  by  a  fourth  company  of 
settlers,  who  transferred  their  homes  a  few  years 
later  to  the  ground  on  which  Charleston  stands. 


Founding  of  the  Carolinas  931 

This  and  the  Albemarle  settlements  became  the 
nuclei  of  the  two  finally  distinct  Carolina 
colonies,  North  and  South.  The  two  sections  of 
the  province  drew  apart  from  an  early  day,  under 
the  inefficient  government  which  the  proprietary 
company  maintained.  A  singular  constitution,  ,  ,  , 
prepared  for  it  by  the  eminent  philosopher,  John  constitu- 
Locke,  contemplating  the  creation  of  an  heredi- 
tary nobility  and  a  feudal  land  system,  with  both 
serfdom  and  slavery  at  the  base  of  the  social 
system,  proved  utterly  unworkable,  and,  after 
being  a  cause  of  disturbance  and  depression  to  the 
province  for  thirty  years,  was  cast  aside. 

The  next  addition  to  the  English  colonies  was 
made  in  1664,  by  conquest  of  New  Netherland  conquest 
from  the  Dutch.    England  had  never  abandoned  of  New 

...  ,  .  .  ,  Netherland 

her  claim  to  that  important  territory,   between  1664 
the  two  groups  of  her  colonies;  but  circumstances 
had  been  unfavorable  to  an  enforcement  of  the  Dutch  and 
claim.    At  length,  for  other  reasons,  a  war  with  ^"f^^f 

,  Colonies, 

Holland  had  become  desirable,  to  the  king,  and  ch.ix-xi 
to  England  at  large.  The  king  desired  it  for  the 
purpose  of  assisting  his  nephew,  the  prince  of 
Orange,  to  recover  the  stadtholdership  of  the 
United  Provinces;  and  the  country  wanted  it  as 
a  means  of. checking  the  too  successful  rivalry 
of  the  Dutch  in  trade.  The  desired  war  was 
opened  meanly,  with  no  previous  declaration,  by 
a  secret  expedition  against  the  New  Netherland 
colony,  taking  It  by  surprise.  Stuyvesant,  the 
sturdy  Dutch  governor,  surrendered  to  superior 
force,   and    Colonel    Richard    NIcolls,   commis- 


932 


From  Cromwell  to  Louis  XIV 


New 

Netherland 
becomes 
New  York 


Grant  to 

the  duke  of 
York 


Sale  of 
New  Jersey 


Political 

powers 

conveyed 


Grant  of 

Pennsyl- 
vania to 
William 
Penn,  i68l 


Fiske, 
Dutch  and 
Quaker 
Colonies, 
ch.  xii 


sioned  as  English"  governor,  took  possession, 
changing  the  names  oi  the  province  and  its 
principal  settlement — New  Netherland  and  New 
Amsterdam — to  New  York. 

In  advance  of  the  conquest,  the  king  had 
granted  the  whole  province  to  his  brother,  the 
duke  of  York,  and  the  duke  had  sold,  to  Lord 
Berkeley  and  Sir  George  Carteret,  the  part  of  It 
lying  between  the  Hudson  and  Delaware  rivers, 
from  Cape  May  to  a  line  drawn  from  41°  of  north 
latitude  on  the  Hudson  to  41°  40'  on  the  Dela- 
ware. The  name  New  Jersey  was  given  to  this 
latter  tract.  The  grant  to  the  duke  of  York 
included  Long  Island,  and  extended  eastward  to 
the  Connecticut  River,  which  encroached  on  the 
territory  given  to  Massachusetts,  as  well  as  on  a 
new  grant  just  made  to  Connecticut.  This  gave 
rise  to  long  disputes.  The  powers  of  government 
conveyed  to  the  duke  of  York  were  not  of  the 
palatine  order,  like  those  of  Lord  Baltimore,  but 
were  limited  otherwise  by  nothing  save  con- 
formity to  English  law.  The  purchasers  of  New 
Jersey  received  the  same  political  powers  from 
the  duke. 

The  last  of  the  colonies  founded  under  the 
Stuarts  was  Pennsylvania,  the  great  province 
granted  to  William  Penn,  in  1681.  Penn,  the 
most  notable  of  Quakers,  excepting  only  the 
founder  of  the  sect,  was  the  son  of  an  English 
admiral.  Sir  William  Penn,  from  whom  he  in- 
herited an  ample  fortune,  together  with  a  claim 
on  the  king  for  £16,000.    The  father  had  basked 


Penn  and  Pennsylvania  93| 

in  royal  friendship  and  favor,  and  these  were 
extended  to  the  son.  When  the  latter  proposed 
to  the  king  that  his  claim  should  be  canceled  by  a 
grant  of  the  territory  between  New  York,  New 
Jersey  and  Maryland,  his  suggestion  was  ap- 
proved, and  a  patent  was  issued  which  invested 
the  plain  Quaker  with  the  attributes  of  a  prince. 
It  made  him  the  proprietor  of  a  princely  province, 
and  endowed  him  with  substantially  the  same 
governing  authority  that  was  given  to  the  ducal 
proprietor  of  New  York. 

As  the  territory  conveyed  to  Penn  by  the  royal  p^^^,^ 
grant  did  not  touch  the  sea,  he  purchased  the  Deiawam 
claim  of  the  duke  of  York  to  a   strip  on  the  ^""'^  ^^ 
western   shore   of   Delaware    Bay,    which    Lord 
Baltimore  claimed,  also,  as  being  covered  by  his 
older  grant.  This,  and  other  questions  concerning 
bounds,  involved   the  proprietors  of  Maryland 
and  Pennsylvania  in  disputes  that  lasted  until 
1767,  when  the  southern  boundary  of  Pennsyl- 
vania was  fixed  by  two  surveyors,  Mason  and 
Dixon,   who  gave   their   names   to   the   famous  ^ 
"Mason  and  Dixon's  Line"  of  later  American  and 
history.     In  the  district  on  Delaware  Bay,  ob-  Jf^^^r',^^ 
tained  from  the  duke  of  York,  Penn  had  merely 
ownership,    with    no   political   jurisdiction.      In 
consequence,  though  that  section  was  annexed  at 
first   to   Pennsylvania,    with   the    assent   of   its 
inhabitants,  it  broke  away  from  the  union  a  few  Origin  of 

,  ,  .  •       1  •     J  J  the  state  of 

years  later  and  assumed  a  practical  mdependence,  £>eig 
which  gave  being  in  the  end  to  the  colony  and 
state  of  Delaware. 


ilaware 


934 


From  Cromwell  to  Louis  XIV 


Quaker 
purchases 
of  New 
Jersey 


Founding 
of  Philadel- 
phia, 1682 


Penn's 
troubles 


Before  he  acquired  his  great  Pennsylvania 
grant,  Penn  had  taken  part  in  Quaker  purchases 
of  New  Jersey — first  of  West  Jersey  from  Lord 
Berkeley,  and  then  of  East  Jersey  from  Sir  George 
Carteret — and  interested  himself  in  settlements 
there  by  people  of  his  much  persecuted  sect. 
Now  he  applied  his  rare  energy  and  ability  to  the 
colonizing  of  his  own  province,  with  such  success 
that  not  less  than  3,000  settlers  are  believed  to 
have  been  brought  to  the  Delaware  in  1682,  and 
Pennsylvania  reckoned  a  population  of  8,000  by 
the  end  of  its  fourth  year.  No  other  American 
colony  had  risen  so  rapidly  nor  prospered  quite  so 
well.  Philadelphia,  laid  out  and  founded  by 
Penn  personally  In  1682,  became  at  once  an 
important  town.  During  the  first  visit  of  the 
proprietor  to  his  province  he  instituted  an 
assembly  of  the  "freemen,"  which  adopted  a 
"frame  of  government,"  submitted  by  him,  and 
passed  a  full  body  of  laws.  Those  recognized  as 
freemen,  entitled  to  vote  and  hold  office,  were  all 
who  bought  or  rented  certain  holdings  of  land,  or 
who  paid  certain  taxes,  and  were  believers  in  the 
divinity  of  Jesus  Christ.  Freedom  of  worship 
was  conceded  to  all  believers  In  one  God;  but 
only  Christians,  in  the  strictest  sense,  could  enjoy 
political  rights.  The  working  of  the  "frame  of 
government"  was  not  successful;  it  underwent 
frequent  changes  in  subsequent  years,  without 
producing  content.  Though  Penn,  who  was  an 
eminently  wise  and  just  man,  made  large  conces- 
sions, he  failed  to  satisfy  his  colonial  subjects; 


Delaware — New  Jersey — New  York  935 

nor  did  the  province  become  anything  but  a 
burden  to  his  estate  and  a  trouble  to  his  mind 
while  he  lived. 

The  English  colonies  in  America  now  lacked 
but  one  of  the  final  tally,  of  thirteen;  though  the 
two  Carolinas  were  not  yet  separated  distinctly, 
nor  Delaware  parted  fully  from  Pennsylvania. 
At  this  time  one  only — Virginia — was  a  royal  or 
crown  colony,  subject  in  its  government  directly  ^     , 

11/^1'  The  three 

to  the  king.     Maryland  and  the  Carolmas  were  classes  of 

proprietary  colonies,   so-called,   of  the   palatine  f^biiM 

order,    the    territory    embraced    in    them    being 

granted,  in  one  case  to  an  individual  proprietor, 

in  the  other  case  to  a  proprietary  company,  on 

such  terms  that  the  sovereignty  claimed  by  the 

king  of  England  was  transferred  almost  wholly 

to  the  proprietors,  and  he  retained  no  more  than 

the  rights  of  a  feudal  suzerain,  or  over-lord.   New 

York,  New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania  (Including 

Delaware)  were  proprietary  provinces  over  which 

the  proprietors  exercised  an  immediate  authority 

of    government,    but    nothing    of    the    ultimate 

sovereignty    of    the    king.      Massachusetts    (In 

which  the  small  settlement  at  Plymouth  would 

soon   be   absorbed),    Connecticut    (for   which   a  Distinctive 

"  character 

charter  annexing  the  New  Haven  settlements  had  of  the  New- 
been  won  from  King  Charles  II.,  by  the  address  f^^f^^'^ 
of  its  governor,  John  Winthrop,  the  younger,  In 
1662),  and  Rhode  Island,  were  colonial  creations 
of  an  entirely  different  kind.  The  proprietorship 
of  their  territory,  and  the  political  authority 
exercised  in  it  under  the  sovereignty  of  the  king 


les 


936 


The  funda- 
mental 
likeness 
under 
political 
differences 


Larned, 
History  of 
the  United 
States, 
6^70 

Colonial 
local  gov- 
ernment 


Fiske, 

Civil 
Goeern- 
tnenl  in  the 
U.S., 
•h.  ii-ir 


From  Cromwell  to  Louis  XIV 

of  England,  were  held  by  the  whole  body  of  their 
citizens,  Incorporated  directly,  as  bodies  politic, 
by  charters  from  the  crown.  The  three  classes  of 
the  colonies,  and  the  differences  in  their  political 
structure,  are  facts  of  interest  in  the  history  of 
the  origin  of  the  American  States. 

"Under  the  wide  differences  in  their  political 
construction  there  was  a  fundamental  likeness 
between  these  colonies,  in  the  fact  that  the  people 
In  all  of  them  had  what  the  Virginia  company 
described  as  'a  hand  in  the  government  of  them- 
selves.' There  was  a  representative  legislature  In 
every  one;  having  more  Independence  In  some 
than  in  others,  but  exercising  everywhere  a  large 
measure  of  democratic  power,  and  striving  Inces- 
santly against  all  outside  restraints.  This  was 
because  they  were  English  colonies,  of  English 
creation,  peopled  mainly  by  Englishmen,  who 
brought  from  home  the  expectation  of  being 
listened  to  by  their  government,  and  of  being 
represented  in  the  making  of  their  laws  and  the 
levying  of  the  taxes  they  paid.  There  was  no 
such  thing  In  French  or  Spanish  colonies,  or  even 
In  those  planted  by  the  Dutch." 

The  Institutions  of  local  government  which 
English  colonists  brought  from  home  were  even 
more  Important,  in  some  respects,  to  the  future 
of  the  communities  they  formed,  than  the  repre- 
sentative assemblies  in  which  they  made,  or  took 
part  In  the  making,  of  their  general  laws.  In  New 
England  the  colonists  gave  vigorous  new  life  to 
an  ancient  English  organization  of  townships  and 


Political  Institutions  of  the  English  Colonies    937 

town-meetings,  for  the  democratic  management 
of  neighborhood  affairs.  Among  Englishmen  at 
home  the  town-meeting  had  suffered  decay;  but 
the  New  Englishmen  of  Massachusetts  and  Con- 
necticut, organizing  towns  and  churches  on  , 
identical  lines,  re-developed  town-meetings  from  Engiaad 
church-meetings,  with  powerful  democratic  ^^^'^ 
effects.  "The  whole  structure  of  government  in 
New  England  was  built  up  from  the  groundwork 
of  these  democratic  towns.  Their  representatives 
composed  the  'general  courts;'  they  were  the 
units  of  all  political  organization — the  primaries 
of  all  action  In  public  affairs."  From  New  Eng- 
land and  from  New  York,  where  a  system  some- 
what similar  grew  up,  the  town-meeting  was 
carried  widely,  in  later  times,  to  new  communities 
In  the  west.  In  Virginia  and  Maryland,  the  pre- 
vailing tobacco  culture,  on  large  estates,  with 
servile  labor,  made  towns,  town-meetings,  and  a 

emocratic   state   ot   society,    quite   impossible,  gj^ja 
The  county,  in  one,  and  the  old  English  district  county 
called   the   "hundred,"   in  the  other,  were  the  Maryland 
smallest  territorial  divisions  in  which  the  political  "^""'^■"^<^" 
action  of  the  people  could  be  organized. 

After  the  restoration  of  the  monarchy  In  Eng- 
land the  Puritan  colonies  could  expect  nothing 
from  the  English  government  but  ill  will.  In  the 
case  of  Massachusetts,  that  ill  will  was  worked 
upon  with  diligence  by  complaining  sufferers  from 
persecution,  received  at  the  hands  of  the  intoler- 
ant "Governor  and  Company," — whose  worst 
deed  had  just  been  committed  when  Charles  II. 


938 


Persecution 
of  Quakers 
at  Boston, 
1659-1660 

Hallowell, 
The  Quaker 
Invasion  of 
Massachu- 
setts 


King's 
commis- 
sioners 
in  New 
England, 
1 664- 1 666 

Frothing- 
ham.  Rise 
of  the 
Republic, 
54-63 


From  Cromwell  to  Louis  XIV 

came  to  the  throne.  Three  men  and  one  woman, 
of  the  sect  of  Friends,  or  Quakers,  were  hanged  at 
Boston,  in  1659  and  1660,  for  no  crime  but  their 
persistence  in  entering  the  town  to  preach,  after 
the  passage  of  a  law  that  forbade  their  coming,  on 
pain  of  death.  At  this  period,  the  Quakers,  most 
gently  pertinacious  of  all  religious  people  in 
declaring  their  simple  Christian  creed,  were 
undergoing  persecution  almost  everywhere,  by 
imprisonment  and  whipping;  but  Massachusetts 
was  alone  in  putting  the  dreadful  halter  of  the 
hangman  on  their  necks.  The  age  of  so  venomous 
an  intolerance  was  past,  and  what  Boston  had 
done  to  the  Quakers  was  abhorrent  to  a  general 
feeling,  in  England,  at  least.  It  is  probable  that 
strong  measures  against  the  independence  of 
Massachusetts  might  then  have  been  taken,  with 
common  approval  and  support.  But  the  govern- 
ment of  Charles  II.  could  do  nothing  in  a  strong 
way,  and  the  bold  Puritans  of  the  Bay  colony 
were  not  to  be  daunted  by  anything  less  than  a 
resolute  exercise  of  English  power. 

Early  in  the  new  reign,  plans  for  curbing  all  the 
northern  colonies  were  formed,  and  the  fleet  which 
seized  New  Netherland,  in  1664,  took  out  three 
commissioners,  appointed  to  "visit  the  several 
colonies  of  New  England,  and  to  examine  and 
determine  all  complaints  and  appeals  in  all 
causes,  as  well  military  as  criminal  and  civil,  and 
to  proceed  In  all  things  for  settling  the  peace  and 
security  of  that  country."  Connecticut,  Plym- 
outh and  Rhode  Island  submitted  readily  to  the 


Massachusetts  and  the  King's  Commissioners       939 

authority  of  the  commissioners,  but  Massachu- 
setts refused  absolutely  to  permit  them  to  hear 
any  appeals  from  the  action  of  its  government  or 
the  decision  of  its  courts,  claiming  to  be  exempted 
from  such  royal  interference  by  its  charter  from 
Charles  I.  At  the  end  of  a  long  controversy  the 
king's  commissioners  had  to  give  up  their 
attempt.  They  failed  equally  in  undertaking  to 
decide  an  important  boundary  dispute,  against  Rggig^gn^-g 
the     construction     which     the     Massachusetts  to  them  in 

1        .    .         ,       1  . 1      •      .         •         •    1  ^     Massachu- 

authorities  had  put  upon  their  territorial  grant,  sg^^s 
As  the  '* Governor  and  Company"  preferred  to 
understand  their  charter,  the  northern  boundary 
of  Massachusetts  ran  three  miles  north  of  the 
headwaters  of  the  Merrimac,  which  took  in  a  large 
part  of  what  is  now  New  Hampshire  and  Maine, 
both  of  which  were  claimed  by  other  grantees. 
The  king's  commissioners  decided,  on  the  con-  boundary 
trary,  that  the  line  must  run  from  three  miles  '^'^p"^^ 
north  of  the  Merrimac  at  its  mouth;  and,  accord- 
ingly, they  removed  the  Massachusetts  officials 
from  Maine.  Massachusetts,  on  the  first  oppor- 
tunity, restored  its  officials,  and  did  so  in  defiance 
of  a  direct  command  from  the  king,  "that  the 
government  of  the  province  of  Maine  continue  as 
the  commissioners  have  left  it."  The  attitude  of 
the  Bay  colony  in  all  these  proceedings  appears 
astonishingly  independent  and  bold,  contrasting 
with  the  ineffectiveness  of  action  on  the  king's 
side. 

The  colony  held  its  ground  and  made  good  Its 
chartered  "liberties,"  according  to  Its  own  claims, 


940 


The 

Massachu-3 

setts 

charter 

annulled, 

1684 


Larned, 
History  of 
the  United 
States,  1 01 

Death  of 
Charles  II., 
1685 


Captain- 
general 
Andros  in 
New 
England, 
1686-1689 


From  Cromwell  to  Louis  XIV 

until  the  last  year  of  the  reign  of  Charles  II. 
Then,  in  June,  1684,  after  circumstances  in  Eng- 
land had  broken  down  the  party  opposed  to  the 
king,  and  royal  influence  was  all  potent,  a  decree 
of  the  English  court  of  chancery  annulled  the 
cherished  charter  of  "The  Governor  and  Com- 
pany of  Massachusetts  Bay."  "The  ruin  to  the 
Massachusetts  colonists  which  this  decree  in- 
volved was  limited  by  nothing  but  the  mercy  of 
the  king.  It  left  them  with  no  rights.  Their 
charter  was  their  title-deed  for  everything  they 
owned;  it  was  their  warrant  for  everything 
they  had  done;  it  was  the  ground  of  everything 
in  their  colonial  life.  To  declare  it  void  was  to 
declare  that  the  king  had  never  surrendered 
ownership  of  the  soil  on  which  they  stood;  that 
they  were  trespassers  on  his  property,  and  might 
be  dealt  with  as  he  pleased;  that  they  had  never 
been  empowered  to  organize  a  colonial  govern- 
ment; that  all  the  acts  of  their  colonial  govern- 
ment were  invalid  and  all  their  laws  annulled." 

What  King  Charles's  treatment  of  the  stricken 
colony  would  be  had  not  been  decided  when  his 
sudden  death  occurred,  in  February,  1685.  The 
brother  who  succeeded  him  took  early  steps 
toward  making  the  most  of  the  power  that  the 
court  of  chancery  had  put  into  his  hands;  and, 
apparently,  he  planned  to  reduce  the  other 
colonies  to  the  same  helpless  state.  Sir  Edmund 
Andros,  whose  hardness  and  harshness  had  been 
proved  already  in  New  York,  was  sent  out  in 
1686,  as  "Captain-general  and  governor  of  his 


The  English  Colonies  Under  Capt.-Gen.  Andros    941 

majesty's  territory  and  dominion  in  New  Eng- 
land," "and  the  high-spirited  colonists  of  the 
Bay  writhed  under  his  absolute  authority  for  the 
next  three  years.  Their  general  court  was 
abolished;  their  town-meetings  were  stripped  of 
the  control  of  local  taxes;  their  press  was  gagged; 
the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  was  suspended;  all 
public  records  were  seized  and  brought  to  Boston; 
arbitrary  taxes  were  levied,  and  property  owners 
paid  extortions  called  'quit-rent'  to  save  the 
title  to  their  lands." 

When  Andros  demanded  a  surrender  of  the 
Connecticut  charter  it  was  spirited   away  and 
hidden  in  the  hollow  trunk  of  the  famous  "charter 
oak;"    but  he  assumed  the  government  of  that  <^onnecti- 
colony,  as  well  as  of  New  Hampshire  and  Maine,  "charter 
and  both  New  York  and  New  Jersey  were  added 
to  his  jurisdiction  in  1688.     A  suit  to  break  the  New  York 
charter  of  Lord   Baltimore,   in  Maryland,   was  V^f^^^"^ 
begun;  and  there  seemed  to  be  a  settled  plan  for  under 

A     J 

crushing    all    the    American    colonies    Into    one  i688-°689 
"territory  and  dominion"  of  the  crown,  subject 
in  government  to  the  unrestricted  will  of  the  king. 
But,  whatever  the  intent,  it  was  frustrated  by  the 
revolution  in  England  which   drove  James   II. 
from  the  throne.     Massachusetts  promptly  imi-  Je^pt^d 
tated  the  English  proceeding,  deposing  Andros  '^^9 
and  shipping  him  to  London,  to  be  dealt  with  by 
the  new  king  and  queen.  Virginia 

Notwithstanding     the     intense     loyalty     and  fa'lfd^lX 
Cavalier  spirit  of  Virginia,  that  colony  and  Mary-  the  last 
land  suffered  more  than  New  England  under  the  ]^ng^ 


942 


From  Cromwell  to  Louis  XIV 


Effect  of 
the  naviga- 
tion acts 


Despotism 

ofGovernor 

Berkeley 


last  Stuart  kings.  Tobacco  culture,  the  one 
support  of  their  prosperity,  was  stricken  sorely 
by  an  early  measure  of  the  restored  royal  govern- 
ment— the  Navigation  Act  of  1660.  The  act  was 
in  pursuance  of  a  policy  begun  by  the  government 
of  the  commonwealth,  in  1651,  when  the  first  of 
the  English  navigation  acts  was  passed;  but  it 
struck  the  southern  colonies  a  much  harder  blow 
than  they  had  felt  before.  The  original  object  of 
these  acts  was  to  stop  the  employment  of  Dutch 
ships  in  English  trade;  but  successive  enactments 
went  farther  in  purpose,  toward  the  keeping  of  all 
colonial  trade  in  English  hands,  conducted  for- 
cibly through  English  ports.  The  effect  was  to 
shut  the  tobacco  planters  out  of  all  save  English 
markets,  depressing  prices  ruinously  and  leaving 
unsalable  crops  on  the  planters'  hands.  Against 
the  New  Englanders,  who  had  an  abundance  of 
their  own  shipping,  the  navigation  acts  could 
never  be  much  enforced;  but  the  Virginians, 
especially  after  they  lost  the  help  of  Dutch 
smugglers  from  Manhattan  Island,  were  nearly 
helpless  victims  of  those  oppressive  laws. 

Politically,  too,  Virginia  had  hard  experiences 
under  the  Stuart  regime.  Her  old  Cavalier  gov- 
ernor, Sir  William  Berkeley,  restored  to  place, 
established  a  complete  despotism  in  the  colony  for 
fifteen  years.  In  the  first  outburst  of  their  feeling, 
after  the  restoration,  the  colonists  elected  an 
assembly  so  much  to  the  governor's  liking  that 
he  would  not  allow  it  to  be  dissolved,  for  any  new 
election,  in  all  that  time.    Great  scandals  In  the 


America, 
I  :  319-352 


Virginia  and  Governor  Berkeley  943 

government  arose  and  increased,  until  the  dis- 
content broke  at  last  into  open  revolt.  The  im- 
mediate occasion  of  the  outbreak,  in  1676,  was  an 
Indian  rising,  which  the  governor  would  not  deal 
with   as   a   large  body  of  the  planters   desired.  „ 

.        ,  I-  ,  Bacon  s 

Under    the    lead    of    a    resolute    young    man,  rebellion  in 
Nathaniel  Bacon,  they  took  the  matter  into  their  ^5^!""^' 
own  hands,  and  were  declared  to  be  rebels,  with 
final  consequences  of  a  state  of  civil  war.  Appar- 
ently, Governor  Berkeley  was  having  the  worst  ^°j'^' 
of  the  conflict,  until  a  sudden  death  took  Bacon  English  in 
from  the  field  and  his  party  collapsed.    The  gov- 
ernor recovered  full  power  and  used  it  so  savagely 
that  twenty-two  of  the  insurgents  were  put  to 
death.     He  was  recalled  to  England  the  next 
year. 

The  outbreak  of  Indians  in  Virginia  had  come 
closely  after  one  in  New  England,  which  opened 
the  most  serious  of  the  early  Indian  wars.  The 
leading  tribe  in  the  latter  case  was  that  of  the 
Wampanoags  or  Pokanokets,  nearest  neighbors 
to  the  Plymouth  colony,  with  which  they  had 
always,  till  this  time,  been  at  peace.  Angered  by  phiiip's" 
the  execution  of  three  members  of  the  tribe  for  a  Indian  war 

in  JNew 

murder  committed  on  one  of  their  own  race,  they  England, 
rose  in  June,  1675,  under  the  lead  of  their  chief,  ^  ''^'^  '' 
Metacom,    called    King    Philip    by    the    whites. 
Other  tribes  joined  them,  and  the  war  was  not 

Fiske 

ended  wholly  until  1678;    but  its  most  dreadful  Beginnings 
incidents  were  in  the  first  year.     Twelve  towns  £„^^^ 
were  destroyed  by  the  savages;    no  less  than  a  211-241 
thousand   white   men,   with   a   large   number  of 


944  From  Cromwell  to  Louis  XIV 

women  and  children,  are  believed  to  have 
perished,  while  more  of  the  latter  were  carried 
into  barbarous  captivity.  Not  many  males  of  the 
hostile  Indian  tribes  survived,  and  most  of  the 
few  who  did  were  sold  in  the  West  Indies  as 
slaves.  * 

The  revolution  of  1688,  in  England,  driving 
James  II.  from  the  throne,  had  tragical  conse- 
quences in  New  York.  The  militia  train-bands  of 
that  town,  under  the  lead  of  a  well-meaning  but 
ignorant  German  citizen,  Jacob  Leisler,  deposed 
the  lieutenant-governor  of  the  province,  and 
The  Leisler  LcIslcr  Undertook  the  management  of  affairs, 
tragedy  in  When  officIals  appointed  by  the  new  king  in 
1689-1691  England  arrived,  Leisler  was  so  misguided  as  to 
resist  them,  because  they  brought  him  no  direct 
order  from  the  king.  It  seems  to  be  clear  that  he 
intended  no  treason;  but  he  and  his  son-in-law 
were  condemned  and  hanged.  They  were  the 
victims  of  a  passionate  strife  between  aristocratic 
and  democratic  factions,  which  raged  long  in  the 
province  of  New  York. 

The  change  of  government  in  England  raised 

high   hopes   in  Massachusetts,   and  persevering 

charter  to     cfforts  to  rccovcr  the  old  charter  were  made,  in 

^.?^^,<^"r"    vain.    The  outcome  was  a  new  charter,  Issued  in 

setts,  1691  _      ' 

1 69 1,  which  lowered  the  self-governing  indepen- 
dence of  the  colony  to  a  serious  extent,  reducing 
it  to  the  status  of  a  royal  province,  under  gov- 
ernors of  the  king's  appointment,  and  subjecting 
its  acts  to  veto  by  the  governor  or  the  crown. 
Qualification  of  the  suffrage  by  church  member- 


Penn 


Indian  Wars  in  America  945 

ship  was  abolished,  and  ownership  of  property 
prescribed  instead. 

Penn  was  a  sufferer  by  the  English  revolution, 
having  enjoyed  so  much  favor  under  the  late 
reigns  that  he  was  regarded  by  the  new  court  with 
distrust.  His  political  authority  in  Pennsylvania 
was  taken  away  from  him  In  1693,  and  the  prov- 
ince was  placed  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
governor  of  New  York;  but  the  next  year,  on  a 
better  understanding  of  his  character,  his  powers 
were  all  restored. 

Lord  Baltimore  fared  worse.  The  government 
of  Maryland  was  taken  out  of  his  hands,  In  1691, 
and  not  restored  during  his  life.  When  he  died, 
in  171  q,  it  was  given  back  to  his  son,  who  had  left  .  ^    ,    , 

'-".*'  .  Maryland 

the  Catholic  church.    In  the  Interval,  the  tolera-  toleration 
tlon  acts  had  been  swept  away.  Catholic  forms  of  a^ay^^^^ 
worship  forbidden,  and  the  church  of  England 
established  by  law. 

The  English  wars  with  France  brought  serious 
suffering  to  the  colonists  on  the  northern  frontiers 
of  New  England  and  New  York,  against  whose 
outlying  settlements  the  French  in  Canada  did 
not  scruple  to  employ  the  tomahawks  and  scalp-  ..j^j^^ 
ing  knives  of  their  savage  allies.     In  the  first  of  William's 
the  conflicts  (called  "King  William's  War"  by  i69c>-i697] 
the  colonists),  a  hideous  massacre,  of  some  sixty 
men,   women   and   children,   was   committed   at 
Schenectady,  then  a  village  on  the  borders  of  the 
wilderness.      The    worst    horrors    of    the    next  «Queen 
encounter  ("Queen  Anne's  War")  were  experl-  Anne's 
enced  on  the  New  England  frontier,  at  Deerfield,  1702-1714 


cessions  to 
England 


946  From  Cromwell  to  Louis  XIV 

Lancaster,  Saco,  Casco  and  Wells.  Retaliating 
expeditions  were  sent,  in  both  wars,  against  Port 
Royal  (now  Annapolis),  in  Acadia,  and  against 
Quebec  and  Montreal,  with  no  success  except  the 
capture  of  the  Acadian  port.  On  the  European 
side  of  Queen  Anne's  War  the  result  was  so 
heavily  against  France,  as  we  have  seen,  that  her 
humbled  king  was  compelled  to  cede  Acadia 
French  (then  rc-uamcd  Nova  Scotia),  Newfoundland 
and  Hudson  Bay,  to  England,  and  to  acknowledge 
that  the  Five  Nations  of  the  Iroquois  were 
"subject  to  the  dominion  of  Great  Britain." 

Nocwithstanding  these  surrenders  of  territory, 
the  French  were  still  claimants  of  the  greater  part 
of  North  America,  and  had  done  much,  in  a 
certain  way,  to  make  the  claim  good.  Their 
settlements  were  so  few  and  slight  that  the  total 
white    population    of   New    France    in    168-?    is 

The  French      ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  , 

footing  in     thought  to  have  been  no  more  than  10,000;   but 
America       they  had  explored  and  mapped  the  Interior  of  the 
continent  with  great  energy,  established  military, 
missionary    and    trading    posts,    cultivated    the 
friendship  of  the  Indians,  and  acquired  an  impor- 
tant prestige,  as  being,  apparently,  the  dominant 
white  race  in  the  land.    As  early  as  1640,  Jean 
Nicolet  had  gone  beyond  Lake  Huron  to  Lake 
Michigan.    Jesuit  missions  had  been  established 
at   Sault   Ste.   Marie   and  Green   Bay  in   1669. 
exploration  Father  Marquette  and  Louis  Joliet  had  reached 
of  the  west    -j-j^g  Mississippi  from  Green  Bay,  and  gone  down 
that  stream  to  the  Illinois,  in  1673.    In  1679,  ^he 
indomitable  explorer.  La  Salle,  building  a  vessel 


French  and  English  Wars  in  America  947 

on  the  Niagara  River,  had  navigated  the  Great  ^^''^"If"' 

r    T      1         T\  T*    1   •  1  Salle 

Lakes  to  the  foot  of  Lake  Michigan,  and  pro-  and  the 
ceeded  thence  to  the  IlHnois,  where  he  built  a  of"£Z7eat 
fort.    Three  years  later,  after  traversing  the  same  ff^^st 
route  for  the  third  time,  La  Salle  had  descended 
the  Illinois  to  the  Mississippi,  and  the  Mississippi 
to  the  Gulf,  taking  formal  possession  of  the  whole 
valley  of  the  great  river  in  the  name  of  the  king  of 
France.    Practically,  this  claim  was  contested  by 
nobody  except  the  Five  Nations  of  the  confed- 
eracy of  the  Iroquois,  whose  conquest  of  other 
tribes  had  reached  far  into  the  west. 

After  the  English  revolution  of  1688,  a  rapid 
growth    of    antagonistic    feeling    between    the 
American  colonies  and  the  home  government  of  anuIon°sm 
England  becomes  plainly  marked.     This  sprang  between 

r  1  11-r  1  England 

from  several  causes,  but  chief  among  them  were  and  her 
the  political  ideas  which  that  revolution  had  '^°^°^^^^ 
planted  in  the  colonial  mind.    It  had  established,  ^'■°'^h'"g- 

t^  ^        ^  '    ham, 

for  Englishmen,  the  fundamental  principle  in  Rise  of  th^ 
government,  that  a  representative  legislature  is  lot^zr 
the  seat  of  supreme  authority  and  the  sole  source 
of  law.  Naturally,  the  colonists  took  the  principle 
home  to  themselves,  applied  it  to  their  own 
affairs,  and  shaped  upon  it  a  strictly  English  con- 
ception of  their  own  rights.  They  were  looking  at 
this  time  to  no  political  independence,  but  they 
felt  themselves  to  be  entitled,  as  Englishmen  in 
America,  to  all  those  rights  of  control  over  the 
purse-strings  and  the  domestic  regulations  of 
their  government  that  Englishmen  in  Great 
Britain  had  secured.     On  the  other  hand,  two 


948 


From  Cromwell  to  Louis  XIV 


influences 


influences  were  working  in  England  which  dis- 
inclined the  ruling  classes  there  to  concede  an 
application  of  their  own  political  principles  to 
English  communities  on  the  other  side  of  the  sea. 
One  came  from  the  shipping  and  commercial 
British  interests,  that  were  growing  to  high  importance 
commercial  in  thcsc  timcs,  and  demanding  a  consideration  in 
English  politics  never  given  to  them  before. 
According  to  the  economic  notions  of  the  age,  a 
colony  could  not  be  made  profitable  to  Its  parent 
country  in  any  other  way  than  by  depriving  it  of 
all  freedom  to  produce,  or  buy,  or  sell  with  refer- 
ence to  interests  or  wishes  of  its  own.  The 
insistence  of  English  shipowners,  manufacturers 
and  merchants,  that  the  rigor  of  this  doctrine 
should  be  applied  to  the  American  settlements  of 
their  countrymen,  opened  a  cleavage  between  the 
colonies  and  the  home  government  which  their 
navigation  laws  and  other  dictatorial  "acts  of 
trade"  widened  steadily  from  year  to  year. 

The  second  influence,  more  strictly  political, 
grew  out  of  the  experience  of  the  wars  with 
France,  on  their  American  side.  That  experi- 
ence had  shown  the  need  of  some  union  among 
the  colonies  and  some  general  organization  of 
their  military  strength.  As  to  the  need  of  the 
union,  there  was  little  disagreement,  if  any, 
between  colonial  and  British  statesmen,  but  very 
wide  disagreement  as  to  the  nature  of  the  union 
that  should  be  formed.  Union  under  one  vice- 
royal  governor  and  one  supreme  crown-appointed 
council,  which  the  latter  desired,  would  mean  a 


Differing 
desires  for 
colonial 
union 


Great  Britain  and  her  Colonies  949 

tightening  of  the  Imperial  rule  and  a  deepening  of 
colonial  subjection.  It  would  mean  taxation  of 
the  colonies  without  their  consent,  and  expendi- 
ture beyond  their  control.  But  union  by  federa- 
tion, with  its  bond  in  a  representative  federal 
assembly,  would  mean  the  domestic  self-govern- 
ment which  the  colonists  believed  to  be  their 
English  birthright.  It  might  mean,  also,  in  their 
view,  the  least  possible  contribution  of  their  own 
to  the  cost  of  defending  English  interests  in 
America  against  the  French,  and  the  greatest 
possible  draft  on  the  British  purse;  for  they 
exposed  themselves  to  this  latter  suspicion  by  the 
scantiness  of  their  military  grants.   Their  attitude  Coiomai 

/   '-'  ,  parsimony 

in  the  matter  of  expenditure  for  colonial  defense 
had  much  to  do  with  the  slow  hardening  of  an 
opposition  in  opinion  and  feeling  between  the 
Englishmen  in  America  and  the  Englishmen  in 
the  parent  isle. 

\  The  early  years  of  the  new  century  brought 
such  signs  of  social  progress  in  the  colonies  as  the 
founding  of  Yale  College  at  New  Haven,  in  1701,  social 
the  appearance  of  the  first  American  newspaper,  p''^^'"^^ 
at  Boston,  in  1704,  and  the  organizing  of  a  regular 
postal  system,  under  an  act  of  parliament,  passed 
in  1710. 

But  a  mark  of  very  different  significance  had 
been  left  on  one  of  the  last  years  of  the  preceding  g^j^^ 
century,  by  the  frenzied  witchcraft  delusion  at  witchcraft, 
Salem,  Massachusetts,  in  1692.     Ten  harmless 
men  and  women,  malignantly  accused  of  having  Upham, 
sold  their  souls  to  Satan,  and  so  purchased  super-  wiuhcraft  \ 


950 


First 
footings 
of  the 
East  India 
Company, 
161S-1698 


Madras 
Bombay 


From  Cromwell  to  Louis  XIV 

natural  powers  of  mischief  and  evil,  were  put  to 
death.  Eight  more  Were  condemned  to  death  and 
a  hundred  and  fifty  were  waiting  trial,  when  the 
season  of  madness  passed. 

The  English  in  India 

Akbar,  the  real  founder  of  the  so-called  Moghul 
empire  in  India,  was  still  reigning  when  the  small 
first  fleet  of  the  English  East  India  Company 
reached  the  port  of  Surat,  in  his  dominions,  and 
obtained  privileges  of  trade.  A  few  years  later 
(161 5)  an  English  ambassador,  Sir  Thomas  Roe, 
was  sent  to  the  court  of  Akbar's  son  and  succes- 
sor, Jahangir,  who  received  him  with  dis- 
tinguished favor,  and,  at  his  solicitation,  gave  the 
English  company  permission  to  establish  a  fac- 
tory, or  agency,  at  Surat.  This,  for  some  years, 
was  the  seat  of  the  company's  trade,  carried  on  in 
active  rivalry  with  the  Portuguese.  In  1640  it 
acquired  ground  on  the  eastern  coast  of  Hindo- 
stan,  in  the  Carnatic  region,  within  the  dominions 
of  a  Hindu  prince,  who  gave  it  permission  to 
build  a  fort.  The  fort  was  named  St.  George,  and 
became  the  nucleus  of  a  town,  which  grew 
quickly  into  the  city  of  Madras.  Twenty  years 
or  more  afterward.  King  Charles  II.,  of  England, 
obtained  the  Portuguese  island  of  Bombay,  as 
part  of  the  dowry  of  his  Portuguese  wife,  and 
made  it  over  to  the  company,  which  established 
another  prosperous  station  there.  A  third  footing 
of  importance,  on  the  Hooghly,  one  of  the  chan- 
nels of  the  Ganges,  was  established  in  1698  by  the 


The  English  in  India  951 

building  of  a  fort,  named  Fort  William,  on  ground  Calcutta 
granted  by  the  emperor  Aurungzebe.  The  great 
city  of  Calcutta  grew  under  the  shelter  of  this  fort. 
These  were  the  three  roots  of  that  astonishing 
growth  of  power,  in  a  mere  corporation  of  mer- 
chants, which  finally  took  to  itself,  and  then 
transferred  to  the  crown  and  parliament  of  Eng- 
land, the  whole  empire  of  Hindostan.  "Before 
the  accession  of  the  house  of  Hanover  these  three 
main  stations, — Fort  William,  Fort  St.  George, 
and  Bombay, — had  been  erected  into  presiden-  pre^sideJT 
cies,  or  central  posts  of  government;  not,  how-  "es 
ever,  .  .  .  subject  to  one  supreme  authority, 
but  each  independent  of  the  rest.  Each  was 
governed  by  a  president  and  a  council  of  nine  or 
twelve  members,  appointed  by  the  court  of 
directors  in  England.  Each  was  surrounded  with 
fortifications,  and  guarded  by  a  small  force, 
partly  European  and  partly  native,  in  the 
service  of  the  company.  The  Europeans  were 
either  recruits  enlisted  in  England  or  strollers  and 
deserters  from  other  services  in  India.  .  .  .  The 
natives,  as  yet  ill-armed  and  ill-trained,  were 
known  by  the  name  of  sepoys, — a  corruption 
from  the  Indian  word  'sipahi,'  a  soldier.    But  the  ^^  , 

x-       T    1  J    J  r    Mahon, 

territory  of  the  English  scarcely  extended  out  ot  History  of 
sight  of  their  towns."  These  were  the  beginnings  f^/j!"/^^ 
of  the  dominion  of  the  East  India  Company.  4 :  ch.xxxix 

China  under  the  Manchus 

Shunchih,  the  first  Manchu  emperor  of  China, 
was  a  child  during  most  of  the  eighteen  years  of 


952 

The 

emperor 
Kanghi, 
1661-1722 


Christian 

missionary 

factions 


Kanghi's 
great 

dictionary 
and  ency- 
clopedia 


From  Cromwell  to  Louis  XIV 

his  reign.  The  second  emperor,  Kanghi,  who 
occupied  the  throne  for  sixty-one  years,  holds  a 
place  of  distinction  in  Chinese  history,  as  one  of 
the  ablest  and  best  of  the  sovereigns  that  the 
great  empire  has  known.  His  intelligence,  his 
vigor,  his  uprightness,  are  equally  praised.  He 
dealt  successfully  with  many  rebellions,  and  left 
the  authority  of  the  new  dynasty  well  established 
when  he  died.  Appreciating  the  scientific  knowl- 
edge of  the  Jesuit  missionaries,  he  showed  them 
much  favor,  employing  one  of  them  to  correct 
errors  in  the  Chinese  calendar  and  placing  him, 
for  that  purpose,  at  the  head  of  the  astronomical 
board.  This  angered  the  native  literati,  and 
became  an  Important  cause  of  hostile  feeling, 
which  the  missionaries  had  to  face  in  after  years. 
Another  ground  of  prejudice  against  the  mission- 
aries was  furnished  by  their  own  factious  rivalries 
and  quarrels,  between  Jesuits,  on  one  side,  and 
Franciscans  and  Doniinicans  on  the  other. 
Though  Kanghi  sustained  the  Jesuits  against 
their  opponents,  his  respect  for  Christianity  as  a 
religion  seems  to  have  been  considerably  shaken 
by  what  he  saw  of  its  working  in  these  contentious 
representatives. 

Kanghi  was  a  noble  patron  of  learning,  and  the 
two  most  splendid  and  enduring  memorials  of  his 
reign  are  the  great  dictionary  and  the  stupendous 
encyclopedia  that  he  caused  to  be  compiled,  one 
in  thirty-six  volumes,  the  other  in  five  thousand 
and  twenty.  Both  are  standard  works  of  refer- 
ence in  China  to-day. 


China  Under  the  Manchus  953 

It  was  In  the  reign  of  Kanghl  that  the  Russians, 
in  their  conquest  of  Siberia,  reached  the  Amur  i^"ssians 
and  began  attempts  to  establish  themselves  on  Its  Amur 
southern  and  eastern  banks.  The  vigorous 
emperor  attacked  them  promptly,  captured  the 
forces  they  had  pushed  Into  his  territory,  and 
settled  them  in  Peking,  where  their  descendants, 
it  is  said,  can  still  be  found. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

FROM  THE  DEATH  OF  LOUIS  XIV.,  OF 
FRANCE,  TO  THE  ADVENT  OF 
WASHINGTON  IN  THE 
AMERICAN  REVO- 
LUTION 

(1715  TO  1775) 

Momentoiia  conaequences  from  the  wars  of  the  period.  Great  Britain:  The 
first  Hanoverian  kings. — Walpole. — Evolution  of  premier  and  cabinet. — The 
Mississippi  and  South  Sea  bubbles. — Jacobite  risings.  France:  Louis  XV. 
and  the  Regency. — Bourbon  "family  compact."  War  of  the  Austrian  Succes- 
sion: The  "pragmatic  sanction"  of  Charles  VI. — Frederick  the  Great  and 
other  spoils-hunters. — Results  of  the  war.  The  Seven  Years  War  in  Europe: 
Combination  against  Frederick  the  Great. — His  great  defensive  campaigns. 
The  War  in  America:  The  French  in  the  Ohio  Valley. — Washington's  entrance 
into  history. — Braddock's  defeat. — Dispersion  of  the  Acadians. — Pitt's  infu- 
sion of  new  spirit  into  the  war. — Wolfe's  capture  of  Quebec. — Retirement  of 
France  from  America. — Pontiac's  war.  The  War  in  India:  French  and 
English  struggle  for  supremacy. — Clive's  career. — The  "black  hole  of  Cal- 
cutta."— Subjugation  of  Bengal. — Expulsion  of  the  French.  Russia:  "The 
four  tzarinas. — Catherine  II.  Great  Britain  and  her  colonies:  George  III. — 
The  "king's  friends." — Their  colonial  policy. — The  "stamp  act"  and  its 
repeal. — Patrick  Henry  .-^Samuel  Adams. — The  tea  question  and  "the 
Boston  tea  party." — Punishment  of  Boston  and  Massachusetts. — The  first 
"continental  congress." — Lexington  and  Concord. — The  colonies  in  arms. — 
Washington  appointed  to  chief  command. 

The  sixty  years  to  be  surveyed  in  this  chapter 
were  filled  with  a  succession  of  hateful  wars,  not 
one  of  which  can  be  said  to  have  had  a  reasonable, 
just  cause.  With  almost  no  exception,  they  had 
their  ultimate  origin  in  the  greedy  ambition  of 
uncontrolled  princes,  who  coveted  bigger  domin- 

Wsrs  of 

ambitious     ious  to  boast  of  and  more  subjects  to  oppress. 

monarchs  ^hcy  wcrc  wars  that  added  heavily  to  the  score 
against  arbitrary  monarchies  which  history  was 
making  up,  and  which  an  increasing  multitude  of 
people  was  learning  to  reckon. 

954 


Influences  of  the  Period  955 

Incidentally  or  directly,  however,  these  wars 
had    three    consequences    of    far-reaching    and 
tremendous  Influence  on  the  subsequent  history  of 
the  world:    (i)    undisputed   domination  of  the  immedfltf 
English  race  In  North  America:    (2)  acquisition  «=°"^«- 

,  1  r  1        1        1  •      •        1        r  1    quences 

by  the  same  race  01  leadership  m  the  tar  east  and 
supremacy  at  sea;  (3)  the  rise  of  Prussia  to  the 
footing  of  a  contestant  with  Austria  for  rank  and 
lead  among  the  Germanic  states.  Springing  from 
the  first  of  those  primary  consequences  came, 
successively,  the  political  separation  of  the  Eng- 
lish in  America  from  their  motherland,  the  InstI-        . 

r       1      •  •  •  11-  Their 

tution  01  their  great  experiment  in  repubhcan  ultimate 
government,  the  re-awakening  thereby  of  demo-  q°"^jfjes 
cratic  aspirations  in  oppressed  communities,  and 
the  kindling  of  a  revolutionary  spirit,  with  its 
awful  outburst  in  France.  From  the  second  came 
a  wealth  and  a  power  to  the  English  people  which 
made  them  dominant  in  the  activities  of  the 
world,  and  planted  their  language,  their  law,  their 
institutions,  in  every  part  of  the  globe.  Out  of 
the  third  has  come  the  unity  of  Germany  and  its 
entrance  upon  a  really  national  career. 

England  under  the  first  Hanoverians 

By  good  management  on  the  part  of  the  Eng- 
lish Whig  leaders,  the  arrangements  of  their  Act 
of  Settlement  were  carried  out  when  Queen  Anne 
died,  in  1714,  and  the  elector  George,  of  Hanover, 
son  of  the  late  electress,  Sophia,  was  placed  on  the  George  I., 
throne  without  disturbance;  though  a  strong 
body   of   the    Stuart   partisans    (Jacobites)    had 


9S6 


Faceign- 
ne8s  oi  the 
new  king 


A  helpless 
royal  figure 


Sir  Robert 

Walpole, 

1721-1742 


Morley, 
IValpoU 

Lecky, 
History  of 
England, 
i8th 
century, 
I  :  ch.  iii 


From  Louis  XIV  to  Washington 

determined  that  the  son  of  James  II.,  called  "the 
pretender,"  should  be  brought  in.  This  Hano- 
verian king  was  so  extremely  an  alien  that  he 
could  not  even  speak  or  understand  the  language 
of  his  new  subjects.  He  knew  nothing  of  Eng- 
land, and  cared  for  it  very  little  as  compared  with 
his  Germanic  dominion.  His  interests,  ideas, 
tastes,  habits,  were  all  those  of  a  German  prince. 
Of  English  politics  he  comprehended  only  that 
the  Whigs  were  his  supporters,  and  that  he  must 
stand  by  them,  with  all  the  prerogatives  of  the 
crown  they  had  placed  on  his  head.  Necessarily, 
he  was  an  almost  helpless  royal  figure  in  the  hands 
of  his  ministers,  whose  councils  he  could  not  even 
attend,  and  necessarily,  too,  he  was  regarded  by 
his  subjects  with  a  great  lowering  of  reverence  for 
the  crowned  head.  Thus  accidents  of  circum- 
stance in  English  history  had  helped  once  more  to 
weaken  the  prestige  of  kingship,  and  give  nerve 
to  the  people  in  their  exercise  of  self-governing 
rights. 

By  good  fortune,  a  leadership  in  King  George's 
ministry  was  won  soon  by  a  man,  Sir  Robert 
Walpole,  who  was  singularly  fitted  to  make  the 
best  of  the  conditions  of  the  time.  He  saw  that 
nothing  but  peace  and  prosperity  in  England 
would  establish  the  new  dynasty,  prevent  a 
Jacobite  revolution,  and  keep  the  government  on 
the  parliamentary  lines  that  were  laid  down  for  it 
in  the  great  Bill  of  Rights.  He  held  his  party  and 
his  colleagues  to  that  programme  of  peace  for 
nearly  twenty  years,  during  which  England  was 


Walpole,  the  First  British  Prime  Minister  957 

preserved  carefully  from  disturbances  and  agita- 
tions of  any  serious  kind, — too  thriving  and  con- 
tented for  Jacobite  plotters  to  work  up  a  mis- 
chievous revolt.  They  had  attempted  a  feeble 
rising  in  Scotland  for  "the  pretender,"  in  171 5, 
the  year  after  the  death  of  the  queen  Anne,  but  it  jacobi»e 
received  little  English  support.  """^'  ^^"^ 

Walpole's    domination    in    the    ministries    of 
George   I.   and   George   II.    (who  succeeded   his 
father  in    1727)    made   him   the   first  of  actual 
"prime  ministers"  in  the  government  of  Eng- 
land,   and    the    ministry    subordinate    to    him  Eyoj^iQ, 
became  the  first  English  "cabinet,"  in  the  later  of  the 
sense  of  the  term, — a  council,  that  is,  of  executive  premier 
chiefs,  headed  and  directed  by  an  authoritative  andcabmet 
"premier."     The  parliament  of  the  period,  and 
long  afterward,   was   not   representative   of  the 
people  in  any  degree.    A  majority  of  the  members 
of  the  house  of  commons  were  proteges,  or  agents, 
or  servants,  of  a  few  great  landlords,  and  their 
votes  were  controlled  by  influences  more  or  less 
corrupt.     Walpole  used  such  influences  notori- 
ously, as  ministers  before  him  and  after  him  had  „  ,. 

.  Panianei- 

done  and  would  do,   and  parliament  was  sub-  tary 
servient  to  his  will.    We  are  just  to  him  if  we  say  *^°'''^p***^ 
that  he  was  scrupulously  patriotic  and  admirably 
wise  in  the  use  of  power  which  he  secured  by 
unscrupulous  means. 

Before  Walpole's  ascendancy  was  acquired,  he 
had  opposed  a  reckless  measure  of  government 
which  plunged  the  country  into  mad  speculations, 
ending  in  a  ruinous  collapse.     A  Scotch  adven- 


9S8  From  Louis  XIV  to  Washington 

turer  named  John  Law  had  started  the  specula- 
tive frenzy  in  France,  first  hy  the  founding  of  a 
stupendous   national  bank,   which   issued   illim- 
Miisis^fpTi^  itable  quantities  of  paper  money,  and  then,  in 
scheme  In     1717   by  Organizing  a  monster  corporation,  con- 

France 

1717-1720     nected  with  the  bank,  which  planned  to  "engross 

all  the  trade  of  the  kingdom  and  all  the  revenues 

The^'^'        of  the   crown."     Law's   company  was   formed 

Mississippi  under  the  name  of  The  Company  of  the  West, 

Bubble  ,  ,  , 

and  the  first  basis  of  its  operations  was  a  monop- 
oly of  trade  in  that  vast  American  territory 
claimed  by  France  in  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi 
River.  This  gave  his  project  the  name  of  "the 
Mississippi  scheme."  An  unexampled  excitement 
of  speculation  in  the  shares  of  the  company  was 
created,  by  extravagant  accounts  of  gold  mines 
„  ,  J  and  riches  of  every  description  in  the  regions  that 
speculation  its  present  and  future  monopolies  would  take  in. 
Very  soon  it  absorbed  the  French  East  India 
Company;  then  swallowed  an  African  trading 
company;  then  acquired  control  of  the  tobacco 
duties  and  the  management  of  the  mint;  and 
every  fresh  privilege  was  followed  by  a  larger 
issue  of  shares  and  fresh  inflations  of  their  market 
price.  At  the  climax  of  this  Mississippi  madness 
the  shares  of  500  francs  were  sold  for  10,000. 

The  French  frenzy  spread  to  England  and  pro- 
duced similar  consequences  there.    A  South  Sea 
Company,  holding  special  privileges  of  trade  in 
SeTcom^    Spanish  America,  Imitated  Law's  projects,  and 
panyin       the  government.  In  1719,  was  induced  to  make 
1719-1720     some  kind  of  delusive  bargain  with  it  for  paying 


Opening  of  a  New  Period  of  Wars  959 

off  the  national  debt.    A  wild  scramble  for  shares  ^ahon, 
in  the  company  ensued,  exactly  like  the  scramble  England, 
in  Paris  for  Law's  shares,  and  prices  were  carried  l^f^h.xi^' 
to  ten  times  the  nominal  value  of  the  company's 
stock.    At  the  same  time,  a  thousand  other  sense- 
less projects  were  floated,  and  nothing  was  too 
foolish  to  win  investments  of  the  money  which 
rich  and  poor  seemed  insanely  eager  to  threw 
away.    In  France  the  bubble  broke  in  May,  1720; 
in  England  the  collapse  came  a  few  months  later,  g^g^^^  ^^ 
In  both  countries  the  ruin  and  the  misery  pro-  the  bubbles 
duced  are  not  easily  described. 

Walpole's  supremacy  in  the  government  was 
broken  in  1738  by  a  burst  of  public  wrath  against 
Spain,  provoked  by  the  roughness  of  her  dealings 
with  English  smugglers,  who  swarmed  around  her 
colonies,  carrying  on  a  forbidden  trade.     Much 
was  made  of  the  case  of  one  Jenkins,  whose  ear 
had  been  torn  off,  and  the  war  into  which  Wal- 
pole's   opponents    succeeded    in    dragging    the 
country,  despite  his  pacific  endeavors,  got  the  "^"°! 
name  of  "the  War  of  Jenkins's  Ear."     He  re-  Ear" 
tained  office  until  1742,  but  his  power  was  gone. 
He  then  accepted  the  title  of  earl  of  Orford  and  ^^^  ^^^,^ 
retired.    A  period  of  weak  government  followed,  loss  of 
corruptly  controlled  by  an  incapable  nobleman,  ''^^^ 
the  duke  of  Newcastle,  and  his  family,  the  Pel- 
hams;  but  the  seeds  of  a  better  force  were  being 
cultivated  in  the  house  of  commons  by  a  few 
young  men,  under  the  lead  of  William  Pitt. 

1  he  war  with  bpam  was  merged  soon  m  a  great  Austrian 
European  conflict,  the  War  of  the  Austrian  Sue-  mi-ms 


960  From  Louis  XIV  to  Washington 

(Seepages    cession,  which  lasted  until  1748,  and  out  of  which 
962-s)  .     .  T 

Great  Britain  brought  nothing  to  show  for  its 

heavy  cost  in  money  and  human  life.  In  the 
midst  of  that  war  the  Jacobites  made  a  last 
attempt  to  bring  the  Stuarts  back  to  their  lost 
throne.  "The  pretender's"  son,  Charles  Edward, 
called  "the  young  pretender,"  appeared  in  Scot- 
land in  the  summer  of  1745,  rallied  a  few  thousand 
Highlanders,  took  possession  of  Edinburgh, 
defeated  a  small  English  force  at  Preston  Pans, 
and  marched  into  England  as  far  as  Derby. 
Jacobite  Finding  no  encouragement  to  proceed,  he  drew 
nsmg,  i74i  ^^^]^  jj^^^  Scotlaud,  whcrc  his  faithful  Highland 

followers  held  their  ground  in  the  north  until 
April  of  the  next  year.  They  were  broken  and 
scattered  then,  at  Culloden,  by  an  army  of 
British  and  Hanoverian  troops,  under  the  duke  of 
Cumberland,  one  of  the  king's  sons,  who  earned 
the  name  of  "The  Butcher"  by  the  ferocity  with 
which  he  hunted  them  down.  Through  many 
romantic  adventures,  in  which  Flora  Macdonald, 
a  young  woman  of  the  Hebrides,  bore  a  heroine's 
part,  Charles  Edward  escaped  to  France. 

France  under  Louis  XV. 

France  was  less  fortunate  than  Great  Britain 
in  the  change  of  sovereigns  that  occurred  in  the 
two  kingdoms  at  nearly  the  same  time.  Queen 
Anne  dying  in  17 14  and  Louis  XIV.  in  the  follow- 
ing year.  The  successor  to  the  latter  was  his 
great-grandson,  a  five-year-old  child,  and  the 
regency       regent,  Philippe,  duke  of  Orleans,  who  reigned  for 


Louis  XV. 


France  Under  Louis  XV  961 

years  In  the  child-king's  name,  was  a  reckless  and 
shameless  debauchee,  who  sank  the  French  court 
and  Parisian  society  to  the  lowest  deeps  of 
frivolity  and  vice.  That  the  young  king,  Louis 
XV.,  was  corrupted  when  he  came  to  manhood, 
and  lived  the  vile  palace  life  of  his  great-grand- 
father and  the  regent,  and  reigned  as  they 
reigned,  with  selfish  indifference  to  the  people  of 
France,  is  not  to  be  thought  strange. 

France  had  a  shorter  period  than  England  of 
rest  from  war,  and  was  benefited  less.  The  next 
quarrel  that  engaged  her  was  one  peculiar  to  the 
eighteenth  century,  growing  out  of  the  election  of 
a  Polish  king,  to  succeed  Augustus  IL  As  usual,  po^i^h 
the  neighboring  nations  formed  a  betting  ring  of  Succession, 
onlookers,  so  to  speak,  "backing"  their  several 
candidates.  The  deposed  and  exiled  king,  Stan- 
islaus Leczinski,  who  received  his  crown  from 
Charles  XIL,  and  lost  it  after  Pultowa,  was  the 
French  candidate;  for  he  had  married  his 
daughter  to  Louis  XV.  Frederick  Augustus,  of 
Saxony,  son  of  the  late  king  Augustus,  was  the 
Russian  and  Austrian  candidate.  The  contest 
resulted  in  a  double  election,  and  out  of  that  came 
war.  Spain  and  Sardinia  joined  France,  and  the 
emperor  had  no  allies.  Hence  the  house  of  Aus- 
tria suffered  greatly  in  the  war,  losing  the  Two 
Sicilies,  which  went  to  Spain,  and  were  conferred 
on  a  younger  son  of  the  king,  creating  a  third 
Bourbon  monarchy.  Part  of  the  duchy  of  Milan  Bourboji 
was  also  yielded  by  Austria  to  the  king  of  Sar-  """^^^hy 
dinia:   and  the  duke  of  Lorraine,  husband  of  the 


962 


First 
Bourbon 
"family 
compact'' 


From  Louis  XIV  to  Washington 

emperor's  daughter,  Maria  Theresa,  gave  up  his 
duchy  to  Stanislaus,  who  renounced  therefor  his 
claim  on  the  crown  of  Poland.  The  duke  of 
Lorraine  received  as  compensation  a  right  of  suc- 
cession to  the  grand  duchy  of  Tuscany,  where  the 
Medicean  house  was  about  to  expire. 

These  were  the  principal  consequences,  humili- 
ating to  Austria,  of  what  is  known  as  the  First 
Family  Compact  of  the  French  and  Spanish 
Bourbons.  That  alliance  between  the  two  courts 
gave  encouragement  to  hostile  demonstrations  in 
the  Spanish  colonies  against  English  traders,  who 
were  accused  of  extensive  smuggling,  and  the 
outcome  was  the  petty  war,  already  mentioned, 
between  England  and  Spain,  called  "the  War  of 
Jenkins's  Ear,"  which  opened  in  1739. 


Lecky, 
History  of 
England, 
iSth 

Century, 
I  :  ch.  iii 


Ranke, 
Memoirs  of 
the  House  of 
Branden- 
burg, bk.  4, 
ch.  iv-bk.9, 
ch.  ii 

The 

Pragmatic 
Sanction 


War  of  the  Austrian  Succession 

Before  these  hostilities  were  ended,  another 
"war  of  succession,"  more  wicked  than  any 
before  it,  was  brought  upon  Europe.  The  em- 
peror, Charles  VL,  died  in  1740,  leaving  no  son, 
but  transmitting  his  hereditary  dominions  to  his 
eldest  daughter,  the  celebrated  Maria  Theresa, 
married  to  the  ex-duke  of  Lorraine.  Years  before 
his  death  he  had  sought  to  provide  against  any 
possible  disputing  of  the  succession,  by  an  instru- 
ment known  as  the  Pragmatic  Sanction,  to  which 
he  obtained,  first,  the  assent  of  the  estates  of  all 
the  provinces  and  kingdoms  of  the  Austrian 
realm,  and,  secondly,  the  guaranty  by  solemn 
treaty  of  almost  every  European  power.     He 


War  of  the  Austrian  Succession  963 

died  In  the  belief  that  he  had  established  his 
daughter  securely,  and  left  her  to  the  enjoyment 
of  a  peaceful  reign.    It  was  a  pitiful  illusion.    He 
was  scarcely  in  his  grave  before  half  the  guaran- 
tors of  the  Pragmatic  Sanction  were  putting  for- 
ward claims  to  this  part  and  that  part  of  the 
Austrian  territories.    The  elector  of  Bavaria,  the 
elector  of  Saxony  (in  his  wife's  name)  and  the  p^j^j^i^^^ 
king  of  Spain,  claimed  the  whole  succession;   the  nessof  the 
two   first   mentioned    on   grounds    of   collateral  8"^''^"'^°''* 
lineage,    the   latter    (a   Bourbon   cuckoo   in   the 
Spanlsh-Hapsburg  nest)  as  being  the  heir  of  the 
Hapsburgs  of  Spain. 

While  these  larger  pretensions  were  still  jostling 
each   other   In   the    diplomatic   stage,    a   minor 
claimant,  who  said  little  but  acted  powerfully, 
sent  his  demands  to  the  court  of  Vienna  with  an 
army  following  close  at  their  heels.     This  was 
Frederick    II.,    known    later    as    Frederick    the  fheCreij. 
Great,  who  came  to  the  throne  of  Prussia  in  1740,  oi  Prussia 
being  the  third  Prussian  king.     Frederick  resus- 
citated an  obsolete  claim  on  Silesia  and  took  pos- 
session   of    the    province,    without    waiting    for 
debate.     If,  anywhere,  there  had  been  virtuous 
hesitations  before,  his  bold  stroke  ended  them. 
France  could  not  see  her  old  Austrian  rival  dis- 
membered without  hastening  to  grasp  a  share. 
She  contracted  with  the  Spanish  king  and  the 
elector  of  Bavaria  to  enforce  the  latter's  claims,  The  royal 
and  to  take  the  Austrian  Netherlands   in  pros-  hunters 
pect     for     compensation,    while     Spain    should 
find    indemnity    in    the    Austro-Itallan    states. 


964 


Maria 
Theresa 
and  the 
Hungari- 
ans 


Frederick 
out  of  the 
war  and  in 
again 


From  Louis  XIV  to  Washington 

Frederick  of  Prussia,  having  Silesia  In  hand, 
offered  to  join  Maria  Theresa  In  defense  of  her 
remaining  dominions;  but  his  proposals  were 
refused,  and  he  entered  the  league  against  her. 
Saxony  did  the  same.  England  and  Sardinia 
were  alone  in  befriending  Austria,  and  England 
was  only  strong  at  sea. 

Maria  Theresa  found  her  heartiest  support  In 
Hungary,  where  she  made  a  personal  appeal  to 
her  subjects,  and  enlarged  their  constitutional 
privileges.  In  1742  the  elector  of  Bavaria  was 
elected  emperor,  as  Charles  VII.  In  the  same 
year,  Maria  Theresa,  acting  under  pressure  from 
England,  gave  up  the  greater  part  of  Silesia  to 
Frederick,  by  treaty,  as  a  price  paid,  not  for  the 
help  he  had  offered  at  first,  but  barely  for  his 
neutrality.  He  abandoned  his  allies  and  with- 
drew from  the  war.  His  retirement  produced  an 
Immense  difference  in  the  conditions  of  the  con- 
test. Saxony  made  peace  at  the  same  time,  and 
became  an  active  ally  on  the  Austrian  side.  So 
rapidly  did  the  latter  then  recover  their  ground, 
and  the  French  slip  back,  that  Frederick,  after 
two  years  of  neutrality,  became  alarmed,  and 
found  a  pretext  to  take  up  arms  again,  In  alliance 
with  France. 

The  Austrians  held  their  ground  against  this 
new  combination  of  enemies  (though  English 
help  was  withdrawn),  until  Frederick,  near  the 
end  of  1745,  had  crushed  Saxony,  their  one 
effective  ally.  Then  Maria  Theresa,  having  the 
Spaniards  and  the  French  still  to  fight  in  Italy 


Results  of  the  War  965 

and  the  Netherlands,  could  do  nothing  but  make 
terms    with    the    terrible    Prussian    king.      The 
treaty,  signed  at  Dresden  on  Christmas  day,  1745, 
repeated    the    cession    of    Silesia    to    Frederick,  Dresden, 
together  with  Glatz,  and  restored  Saxony  to  the  ^745 
humbled  elector. 

France  and  Spain,  deserted  the  second  time  by 
their  faithless  Prussian  ally,  continued  the  war 
until  1748,  when  the  influence  of  England  and  Treaty  of 
Holland  brought  about  a  treaty  of  peace  signed  Aix-ia- 

»  .      1      ^1  11  T^  '         ^  1  •  r  Chapelle, 

at  Aix-la-Chapelle.  Jt"  ranee  gamed  nothmg  from  1748 
the  war,  but  had  suffered  a  serious  loss  of  prestige. 
Austria,  besides  giving  up  Silesia  to  Frederick  of 
Prussia,  was  required  to  surrender  a  bit  of  ^hg^^-ar" 
Lombardy  to  the  king  of  Sardinia,  and  to  make 
over  Parma,  Piacenza  and  Guastalla  to  Don 
Philip  of  Spain,  for  an  hereditary  principality. 
In  the  circumstances,  the  result  to  Maria  Theresa 
was  a  notable  triumph,  and  she  shared  with  her 
enemy,  Frederick,  the  fruitage  of  fame  harvested 
in  the  war.  But  antagonism  between  these  two, 
and  between  the  interests  and  ambitions  which 
they  represented,  respectively, — dynastic  on  one 
side  and  national  on  the  other, — was  settled  and 
irreconcilable  henceforth,  and  could  leave  in 
Germany  no  durable  peace. 

The  Seven  Years  War  in  Europe 

The  peace  was  broken,  not  for  Germany  alone,  Cariyie. 
but  for  Europe  and  for  almost  the  world  at  large,  "i-'fllf 
in  six  years  after  the  signing  of  the  treaty  of  Aix-  //.,  bk. 
la-Chapelle.    The  rupture  occurred  first  very  far  ^^'^° 


966 


From  Louis  XIV  to  Washington 


Longman, 
Frederick 
the  Great 
and  the 
Seven 
Years  War 


Its 

beginnings 
in  America 
and  India 


English 
alliance 
with 

I'Vederick 
the  Great 


The  great 

combina- 
tion against 
Frederick, 
1756 


from  Europe — on  the  other  sides  of  the  globe,  In 
America  and  Hindostan,  where  the  rival  ambi- 
tions of  Great  Britain  and  France  had  brought 
them  to  a  final  and  decisive  clash  of  arms.  Of 
those  remote  conflicts,  in  the  western  and  eastern 
worlds,  we  shall  speak  later  on.  Their  connection 
with  the  hateful  war  about  to  distress  Europe 
again  is  in  the  fact  that  they  fired  the  train,  so  to 
speak,  which  caused  a  great  explosion  of  hos- 
tilities that  might  otherwise  have  been  suppressed 
for  a  longer  time. 

If  the  English  crown  had  not  been  worn  by  a 
German  king,  having  a  German  principality  to 
defend,  the  French  and  English  might  have 
fought  out  their  quarrel  on  the  ocean,  and  in  the 
wilderness  of  America,  or  on  the  plains  of  the 
Carnatic,  without  disturbing  their  continental 
neighbors.  But  the  anxiety  of  George  II.  to 
strengthen  his  electorate  of  Hanover  against 
attacks  from  France  led  him  into  an  alliance  with 
Frederick  of  Prussia,  which  broke  the  long- 
standing alliance  of  England  with  Austria.  This 
drove  Austria  to  join  fortunes  with  her  ancient 
Bourbon  enemy,  in  order  to  be  helped  to  the 
revenge  which  Maria  Theresa  now  promised  her- 
self the  pleasure  of  executing  upon  the  Prussian 
king.  As  the  combination  shaped  itself  finally  on 
the  French  side,  it  embraced  France,  Austria, 
Russia,  Sweden,  Poland,  Saxony,  and  the  Palati- 
nate, and  Its  Inspiring  purpose  was  to  break 
Prussia  down  and  partition  her  territories,  rather 
than  to  support  France  against  England.    The 


His 

vigorous 
action 


The  Seven  Years  War  in  Europe  i  967 

agreements  to  this  end  were  made  In  secret;  but 
Frederick  obtained  knowledge  of  them,  and 
learned  that  papers  in  proof  of  the  conspiracy 
against  him  were  in  the  archives  of  the  Saxon 
government,  at  Dresden.  His  action  was  decided 
with  that  promptitude  which  so  often  discon- 
certed his  enemies.  He  did  not  wait  to  be 
attacked  by  the  tremendous  league  formed 
against  him,  nor  waste  time  in  efforts  to  dissolve 
it,  but  defiantly  struck  the  first  blow.  He  poured 
his  army  into  Saxony,  seized  Dresden  by  surprise, 
captured  the  documents  he  desired,  and  published 
them  to  the  world,  in  vindication  of  his  summary 
precipitation  of  war.  Then,  blockading  the 
Saxon  army  in  Pirna,   he  pressed  rapidly  into  ^'^  ^'^^^ 

,  .  campaign, 

Bohemia,  defeated  the  Austrians  at  Lowositz,  and  1756 
returned  as  rapidly,  to  receive  the  surrender  of  the 
Saxons  and  to  enlist  most  of  them  In  his  own 
ranks.     This  was  the  European  opening  of  the  Years  war. 
Seven  Years  War,  which  raged,  first  and  last,  in 
all  quarters  of  the  globe. 

In  the  second  year  of  the  war,  Frederick  gained 
an  important  victory  at  Prague  and  suffered  a 
serious  reverse  at  Kolin,  which  threw  most  of 
Silesia  into  the  hands  of  the  Austrians.  Close 
following  that  defeat  came  crushing  news  from 
Hanover,  where  the  incompetent  duke  of  Cum- 
berland, commanding  for  his  father,  the  English 
king  George,  had  allowed  the  French  to  force  him 
to  an  agreement  which  disbanded  his  army,  and 
left  Prussia  alone  in  the  terrific  fight.  Frederick's 
position  seemed  desperate;    but  his  energy  re- 


968 


Campaigns 
of  1757- 
I7S8 


Campaigns 
of  I7S9- 
1760 


Exhaustion 
of  the  com- 
batants, 
1761-1762 


From  Louis  XIV  to  Washington 

trieved  it.  He  fought  and  defeated  the  French  at 
Rossbach,  near  Liitzen,  on  the  5th  of  November^ 
and  the  Austrians,  at  Leuthen,  near  Breslau, 
exactly  one  month  later.  In  the  campaigns  of 
1758,  he  encountered  the  Russians  at  Zorndorf, 
winning  a  bloody  triumph,  and  he  sustained  a 
defeat  at  Hochkirk,  in  battle  with  the  Austrians. 

But  England  had  repudiated  Cumberland's 
convention  and  recalled  him;  English  and 
Hanoverian  forces  were  again  put  into  the  field, 
under  the  capable  command  of  Prince  Ferdinand 
of  Brunswick,  who  turned  the  tide  in  that  quarter 
against  the  French,  and  the  results  of  the  year 
were  favorable  to  Frederick.  In  1759,  the  Hano- 
verian army,  under  Prince  Ferdinand,  improved 
the  situation  on  that  side;  but  the  prospects  of 
the  king  of  Prussia  were  clouded  by  heavy  disas- 
ters. Attempting  to  push  a  victory  over  the 
Russians  too  far,  at  Kunersdorf,  he  was  terribly 
beaten.  He  lost  Dresden,  and  a  great  part  of 
Saxony.  In  the  next  year  he  recovered  all  but 
Dresden,  which  he  wantonly  and  inhumanly  bom- 
barded. 

The  war  was  now  carried  on  with  great  diffi- 
culty by  all  the  combatants.  Prussia,  France  and 
Austria  were  suffering  almost  equally  from 
exhaustion;  the  misery  among  their  people  was 
too  great  to  be  ignored;  the  armies  of  each  had 
dwindled.  The  opponents  of  Pitt's  war  policy  in 
England  overcame  him,  in  October,  1761,  where- 
upon he  resigned,  and  the  English  subsidy  to 
Frederick  was  withdrawn.     But  that  was  soon 


The  Seven  Years  War  in  America  969 

made  up  to  him  by  the  withdrawal  of  Russia  from 
the  war,  at  the  beginning  of  1762,  when  Peter  of 
Holstein,  who  admired  Frederick,  became  tzar. 
Sweden  made  peace  a  little  later.  The  remainder 
of  the  worn  and  wearied  fighters  went  on  striking 
at  each  other  until  near  the  end  of  the  year. 

Meantime,  on  the  colonial  and  East  Indian 
side  of  it,  this  prodigious  Seven  Years  War,  as  a 
great  struggle  for  world-empire  between  England 
and  France,  had  been  adding  conquest  to  con- 
quest and  triumph  to  triumph  for  the  British 

arms. 

The  Seven  Years  War  in  America 

In  the  preceding  War  of  the  Austrian  Succes- 
sion the  New  Englanders,  who  named  it  "King 
George's  War,"  had  exchanged  some  hard  blows 
with  their  French  neighbors,   and   had   accom- 
plished a  glorious  capture  of  the  fortified  naval 
station  of  France  at  Louisbourg,  on  the  island  of 
Cape  Breton.    Their  exertions  and  successes  were  drcum- 
useless,  however,  for  the  treaty  of  Aix-la-Chapelle  ^^^"'^^ 
restored  Louisbourg  to  the  enemy,  and  left  all  of 
the  old  disputes  concerning  boundaries  of  French 
and  English  territory  in  America  to  breed  fresh 
quarrels,  and  an  early  renewal  of  war.    That  con- 
sequence was  hastened  by  the  vigorous  proceed- 
ings of  the  French  in  the  west.     Having  begun 
colonization  on  the  lower  Mississippi  (Louisiana) 
as  early  as  1699,  founding  New  Orleans  in  1718,  TheFrench 
and  having  established  their  military  posts  along  possefsion 
the  Great  Lakes  and  on  the  Wabash  and  Illinois  of  the  Ohio 

,  ,  .  ,  .  (■    valley, 

nvers,  they  began,  m  1749,  to  take  possession  of  1749-1753 


970 


From  Louis  XIV  to  Washington 


Parkman, 
Half 

Century  of 
Conflict,  i: 
ch.  xvii 


Entrance'ot 
Washing- 
ton into 
history, 
1753 


Encounter 
with  the 
French, 
1754 


the  upper  tributaries  of  the  Ohio,  crossing  Lake 
Erie  near  its  eastern  extremity,  and  entering  the 
western  part  of  the  province  granted  to  Penn. 
Four  years  later  they  built  forts  on  one  of  the 
branches  of  the  Allegheny,  known  since  as  French 
Creek.  This  brought  them  very  close  to  the 
mountain  borders  of  settlement  in  Pennsylvania; 
but  that  pacific  Quaker  colony  was  heedless  of  the 
encroachment,  and  left  remonstrance  to  Virginia, 
which  claimed  the  invaded  territory,  by  virtue  of 
the  interpretation  it  had  given  to  its  charter  of 
1609. 

It  was  then  that  George  Washington  made  his 
entrance  into  history.  He  had  barely  reached 
manhood,  but  was  adjutant-general  of  the  militia 
of  Virginia,  and  was  chosen  by  Governor  Din- 
widdle to  convey  a  warning  to  the  intrusive 
French  commander,  that  he  had  trespassed  on 
English  soil.  Washington,  with  a  guide,  and  a 
small  escort,  made  his  way  through  the  wilderness 
to  Fort  Le  Boeuf  and  delivered  his  message, 
which,  of  course,  had  no  effect.  On  his  return  he 
was  appointed  to  command  a  force  of  two  hun- 
dred men,  for  the  support  of  a  working  party  that 
was  sent  out,  in  the  spring  of  1754,  to  build  a  fort 
at  the  junction  of  the  Allegheny  and  the  Monon- 
gahela,  where  Pittsburgh  now  stands.  The  work- 
ing party  reached  the  chosen  ground  In  advance 
of  Its  military  support,  and  was  driven  off  by  the 
French,  who  proceeded  to  build  a  fort  of  their 
own,  which  they  called  Fort  Duquesne.  When 
Washington  and  his  men  approached  the  place 


Franklin 

From  the  original  painting  by  Jean  Baptiste  Greuze  (1725-1805),  now  in  the  Public 

Library,  Boston 


The  Colonial  Congress  at  Albany  97 i*^ 

they  came  into  collision  with  a  French  scouting 
party,  and  that  encounter  opened  the  conflict 
that  was  decisive  of  the  destiny  of  the  American 
world.  Falling  back  to  Great  Meadows,  the 
young  Virginian  built  a  small  fort,  which  he 
called  Fort  Necessity,  and  attempted  to  hold  his 
ground;  but  the  French  brought  such  numbers 
of  their  Indian  allies  against  him  that  he  made 
terms  with  them  and  was  allowed  to  withdraw 
his  men. 

Most  of  the  colonies — New  York  and  Penn- 
sylvania especially — showed  a  singular  indiffer- 
ence to  these  French  encroachments;  but  the 
British  government  saw  the  seriousness  of  the  Colonial 

"  .         ,        .    ,  .         congress  at 

move.     It  called  a  congress  of  colonial  commis-  Albany, 
sloners,  at  Albany,  in  June,  1754,  which  arranged  ^'^^'^ 
a  firmer  alliance  with  the  Six  Nations,  and  which 
proceeded  then  to  consider  the  important  subject 
of  colonial  union.    Benjamin  Franklin,  one  of  the 
commissioners  from  Pennsylvania,  submitted  a 
plan  of  union  which  the  congress  adopted,  with 
some    amendments,    and    recommended    to    the 
provincial  assemblies  and  to  the  authorities  at 
home.      The    scheme    contemplated    a    general 
government  for  the  provinces,  under  a  president-  ^o,°2^  °^ 
general,  to  be  appointed  by  the  crown,  and  a  union 
grand  council  of  representatives,  chosen  by  the 
several  colonial  assemblies.    Neither  the  colonists 
nor  the  home  government  were  satisfied  with  this 
plan.     As   Franklin,   In   his   autobiography,   de- 
scribes their  reception  of  it,  "the  assemblies  did 
not  adopt  it,  as  they  all  thought  there  was  too 


972 


From  Louis  XIV  to  Washington 


Franklin, 
Autobiog- 
raphy 


Opening  of 
the  war  in 
America, 
I7SS 


Parkman, 

Montcalm 
and  IVolfe, 
2  :  ch.  vii-x 


Braddock's 
defeat, 
July  19, 
i7SS 


much  prerogative  in  it,  and  in  England  it  was 
judged  to  have  too  much  of  the  democratic." 
The  EngHsh  board  of  trade,  which  had  charge  of 
colonial  affairs,  prepared  another  scheme, 
"whereby,"  says  Franklin,  "the  governors  of  the 
provinces,  with  some  members  of  their  respective 
councils,  were  to  meet  and  order  the  raising  of 
troops,  building  of  forts,  etc.,  and  to  draw  on  the 
treasury  of  Great  Britain  for  the  expense,  which 
was  afterward  to  be  refunded  by  an  act  of  parlia- 
ment, laying  a  tax  on  America."  Thus,  in  Eng- 
land, the  determination  to  tax  the  colonies  by 
authority  of  parliament  for  the  cost  of  their 
defense  was  becoming  fixed,  and  the  final  conflict 
with  France  was  undertaken  with  that  in  view. 

Early  in  1755  considerable  forces  were  sent  to 
America  from  both  England  and  France,  General 
Braddock  commanding  the  English  and  Baron 
Dieskau  those  of  the  French.  At  a  conference  in 
Virginia,  where  Braddock  and  his  army  were 
landed,  four  movements  against  the  French  were 
planned.  The  main  expedition,  directed  against 
Fort  Duquesne,  was  led  by  Braddock,  who  knew 
nothing  of  wilderness  warfare  with  savages,  and 
who  would  take  no  advice.  The  consequence  was 
that  dreadful  disaster  which  is  familiar  to  every 
reader  as  "Braddock's  defeat."  Ambushed  in  the 
forest,  near  Fort  Duquesne,  by  hidden  foes,  who 
fired  from  behind  trees,  he  scorned  to  let  his  men 
defend  themselves  In  the  same  backwoods 
fashion,  but  held  them  In  battle  order  till  they 
broke  and  fled  wildly,  leaving  their  wounded  to  be 


English  Expeditions  Against  the  French  973 

tomahawked  and  scalped.  Braddock  was 
wounded  mortally,  and  800  of  the  2,200  in  his 
command  are  believed  to  have  been  lost.  Wash- 
ington had  taken  a  place  on  the  staff  of  the 
unfortunate  British  general,  and  performed 
heroic  service  in  collecting  and  saving  the  fugitive 
remnant  of  the  army;  but  the  whole  Pennsyl- 
vania frontier  was  abandoned  to  the  merciless 
savages  for  some  months. 

Of  the  other  expeditions  concerted  with  Gen- 
eral Braddock,  one,  intended  for  the  capture  of  other 
Fort  Niagara,  at  the  outlet  of  the  Niagara  River,  expeditions 
went  no  farther  than  Oswego.  Another,  against 
Crown  Point,  commanded  by  Colonel  William 
Johnson,  superintendent  of  Indian  affairs  in  New 
York  (afterward  Sir  William  Johnson),  won  an 
important  victory,  near  the  head  of  Lake  George, 
wounding  and  capturing  Baron  Dieskau;  but  the 
object  of  its  undertaking  was  not  gained.  The 
remaining  movement,  planned  for  the  expulsion 
of  the  French  from  the  Bay  of  Fundy  and  its 
neighborhood,  where  they  kept  up  intrigues  with 
the  Acadian  French  of  Nova  Scotia,  had  complete 
success. 

Since  Nova  Scotia  was  ceded  to  Great  Britain  ^^ 
by  the  treaty  of  Utrecht,  in  171 3,  its  French  scotia 
inhabitants  had  stubbornly  maintained  their 
allegiance  to  France,  encouraged  to  do  so, 
apparently,  by  intriguing  French  priests.  Until 
1749  they  formed  practically  the  total  population 
of  the  province,  and  the  king  of  England  was  said 
to  have  not  one  truly  loyal  subject  in  the  Acadian 


974 


From  Louis  XIV  to  Washington 


Founding 
of  Halifax, 
1749 


Dispersion 
of  the 
Acadians, 

I7SS 


Marquis  de 
Montcalm 


Pitt, 

organizer 
of  British 
victories, 
1758-1761 


peninsula,  outside  of  the  fort  at  Annapolis.  In 
that  year  the  situation  was  changed  somewhat 
by  the  sending  out  of  twenty-five  hundred  British 
settlers,  at  government  expense,  to  found  a  colony 
where  the  city  of  Halifax  now  stands.  This  had 
strengthened  the  English  footing  in  that  region; 
but  the  irreconcilable  attitude  of  the  Acadians 
caused  troubles  which  provoked  a  cruel  measure. 
In  1755  they  were  taken  by  force  from  their 
homes,  in  large  numbers,  and  shipped  to  different 
points  in  the  English  colonies,  whence  many  of 
them  made  their  way  to  the  Louisiana  settlements 
of  the  French.  From  the  incidents  of  this  harsh 
measure,  Longfellow  wove  the  pathetic  tale  in  his 
poem  of  "Evangeline." 

Baron  Dieskau  was  succeeded  by  the  marquis 
de  Montcalm,  while  Braddock  was  replaced  by 
Lord  Loudon;  and  these  appointments  proved 
greatly  to  the  advantage  of  the  French.  Things 
went  badly  with  the  British  for  the  next  two 
years.  Then  came  an  astonishing  change.  In 
1758,  when  William  Pitt,  afterward  earl  of  Chat- 
ham, rose  to  power  In  the  English  ministry,  and 
infused  his  high  spirit  and  his  surpassing  energy 
into  every  arm  of  the  government  and  every 
movement  of  the  war.  Loulsbourg  was  taken 
again  that  year;  the  French  were  driven  from 
Fort  Duquesne,  and  Fort  Frontenac,  on  the  north 
shore  of  Lake  Ontario,  was  destroyed.  One 
dreadful  disaster  was  sustained,  at  Fort  Ticon- 
deroga,  on  the  outlet  from  Lake  George  into  Lake 
Champlain,  where  a  blundering  assault  on  the 


British  Conquest  of  Canada  975 

works  was  repulsed  with  awful  slaughter.  Lord 
Howe,  the  capable  second  officer  in  command, 
who  might  have  prevented  the  useless  carnage, 
had  been  killed  in  a  chance  encounter,  a  few  days 
before. 

The  crowning  British  victory  was  won  in  the  British 
next  year  (September  13,  1759),  when  Quebec,  the  qSIV 
citadel  of  Canada,  was  taken  by  General  Wolfe,  ^7S9 
who  died  on  the  battlefield,  while  Montcalm,  his 
antagonist,   received   a   mortal  wound.     Crown 
Point,  Ticonderoga,  Niagara,  and  Duquesne  had 
been  surrendered  or  abandoned  before  the  fall  of 
Quebec.      In   other  quarters   the   French   forces 
continued  a  hopeless  struggle  until  September, 
1760,  when  the  surrender  of  Montreal  carried  of  Canada 
with  it  the  surrender  throughout  Canada  and  the  l^^J^  ^^^ 
west  of  all  the  French  forces  in  arms. 

Forgetting  the  rights  of  the  native  occupants  of 
the  country,  the  English  deemed  this  a  sufficient 
acquisition    by   conquest,    and    took   possession 
without  seeking  the  assent  of  the  Indian  tribes, 
whose  friendship  had  been  cultivated  carefully  by 
the  French.    The  consequence  was  a  great  com- 
bination formed   against  them  by  Pontiac,   an 
Ottawa  chief,  and  a  nearly  simultaneous  attack 
on  all  their  western  posts.  In  May  and  June,  1763. 
Generally  their  garrisons  were  taken  by  surprise,  1763-1764 
and  were  overcome  almost  everywhere,  except  „  , 
at  Detroit  and  Fort  Pitt.    The  siege  of  Detroit,  Conspiracy 
by  Pontiac  in  person,  was  maintained  for  six  °^  ""'''^ 
months,  the  garrison  holding  out  till  relieved.    At 
last,  In  1764,  Pontlac's  league  was  broken  up  and 


Pontiac's 
war. 


976  From  Louis  XIV  to  Washington 

terms  of  peace  were  arranged  with  most  of  the 
tribes. 


Preceding 
circum- 
stances 


The  French 
in  the 
Carnatic 


Decay  of 
the  Moehul 
empire 


The  Seven  Years  War  in  India 

In  India,  as  well  as  in  America,  the  ambitions  of 
France  suffered  defeat.  She  had  acquired  a 
slender  footing  in  that  country  about  1674,  by  the 
purchase  of  ground  and  the  founding  of  a  small 
settlement  at  Pondicherry,  on  the  Carnatic  coast. 
Until  the  time  of  the  outbreak  of  the  War  of  the 
Austrian  Succession,  this  little  French  colony  had 
seemed  too  unimportant  to  arouse  jealousy  on  the 
part  of  the  English,  or  the  least  alarm.  But 
when,  in  that  war,  Madras  was  taken  from  them 
(though  restored  at  the  end),  and  they  failed  in  a 
retaliating  attack  on  Pondicherry,  they  began  to 
realize  that  the  French,  as  neighbors  in  Hindo- 
stan,  must  be  taken  into  account.  A  new  con- 
ception, too,  of  the  opportunities  of  the  Indian 
field  was  awakened  in  French  minds.  An 
energetic  governor  at  Pondicherry,  Dupleix  by 
name,  saw  what  advantages  might  be  gained  by 
interfering  in  the  perpetual  native  wars  that  were 
ruining  India  more  and  more.  He  disciplined  a 
body  of  native  troops,  brought  it  to  a  state  of 
great  efficiency,  and  began  using  it  in  alliances 
which  decided  many  neighboring  conflicts,  with 
an  immense  promotion  of  French  influence  and 
power. 

The  Moghul  empire  was  now  far  gone  in  a 
decline  that  began  in  Aurungzebe's  time.  That 
monarch   had   to   strive   with   incessant  revolts, 


The  Seven  Years  War  in  India  977 

particularly  in  the  southern  part  of  India,  known 
as  the  Deccan.  In  the  central  and  western  sec- 
tions of  that  region  the  Hindu  population  was 
persistent  in  insurrections  until,  under  the  name 
of  Mahrattas,  it  established  a  formidable  inde-  Mahrattasi 
pendent  power.  The  ruin  of  the  empire  was 
hastened  by  an  Invasion,  in  1739,  from  Persia, 
where  a  famous  soldier  of  fortune.  Nadir  Shah, 

.  Nadir 

had  won  the  throne.    Nadir  took  Delhi,  butchered  shah's 
many  thousands  of  its  inhabitants,  stripped  it  of  j"^g'°"' 
all  the  wealth  he  could  remove  and  returned  to 
his    own    country,    leaving    a    nominal    "great 
moghul"  on  the  throne,  but  one  whose  sover- 
eignty  was    almost   destroyed.      "The   different 
provinces    and    viceroyalties    went    their    own 
natural  way;   they  were  parcelled  out  in  a  scuffle 
among     revolted     governors,     rebellious     chiefs, 
leaders    of    insurgent    tribes    or    sects,    religious 
revivalists,  or  captains  of  mercenary  bands.    The 
Indian  people  were  becoming  a  masterless  mul-  ^f^  If  the 
titude  swaying  to  and  fro  in  the  political  storm,  British 

,        , .        .  ,  Dominion 

and  chngmg  to  any  power,  natural  or  super-  ,„  india, 
natural,  that  seemed  likely  to  protect  them."  c!i- 'v.,  sect. 
The  opportunity  for  a  strong  European  race  to 
make  itself  that  protecting  and  masterful  power 
had  been  prepared  to  perfection,  and  Duplelx,  the 
French  governor  at  Pondicherry,  was,  appar- 
ently, the  iirst  to  discern  the  fact. 

Among  the  native  princes  who  had  established 
themselves,  with  substantial  independence,  in 
different  parts  of  the  Deccan,  the  most  important 
was  the  Nizam-ul-mulk,  or  imperial  viceroy,  as  The  Nizam 


978 


The  nawab 
of  the 
Carnatic 


Advent  of 

Robert 

Clive 

Macaulay, 

Essays: 
Lord  Clive 


Capture  of 
Arcot,  1751 


From  Louis  XIV  to  Washington 

he  was  contented  with  being  styled,  whose  seat 
of  government  was  at  Hyderabad.  In  1748  the 
throne  of  that  important  princlpahty  became 
vacant,  and  was  claimed  by  rival  pretenders,  one 
of  whom  triumphed  and  slew  his  opponent  by 
means  of  help  received  from  Dupleix.  The 
English,  in  their  neighboring  presidency  of 
Madras,  lost  prestige  and  influence  among  the 
^natives  by  permitting  the  French  to  assume  such 
control  of  this  important  affair.  They  were 
anxious  to  lend  aid  to  a  son  of  the  defeated  prince, 
who  held  one  city,  Trichlnopoly,  where  he  was 
besieged  by  the  nawab  (nabob)  of  the  Carnatic, 
one  of  the  vassals  of  the  Nizam;  but  they  had  not 
prepared  themselves  to  cope  with  the  trained 
sepoy  army  of  Dupleix.  Their  situation  was 
discouraging  in  the  last  degree.  Good  fortune, 
however,  had  brought  into  their  employ  a  young 
man,  Robert  Clive,  who  was  capable  of  putting  a 
new  face  on  affairs  if  they  gave  him  the  chance, 
which  they  did.  Clive,  originally  a  clerk  in  the 
counting-rooms  of  the  East  India  Company,  had 
got  himself  transferred  to  the  more  congenial 
military  branch  of  its  service,  and  was  now  a 
commissary  of  the  little  force  at  Madras.  He 
offered  to  draw  the  nawab  of  the  Carnatic  away 
from  Trichlnopoly,  by  attacking  Arcot,  his 
capital,  and  the  Madras  authorities  allowed  him 
to  make  the  attempt.  With  200  British  soldiers 
and  300  sepoys  he  took  Arcot  (September,  1751), 
and  held  it  against  10,000  of  the  nawab's  forces, 
through  a  trying  siege  of  fifty  days.     From  this 


French  and  English  Rivalry  in  India  979 

time  the  prestige  and  influence  of  the  English 
went  up  and  that  of  the  French  went  down,  until 
poor  Dupleix  was  called  home  in  disgrace  the  next 
year.  Give,  too,  went  home  to  England  to  repair 
the  health  which  his  prodigious  exertions  had 
broken,  and  to  receive  honors,  well  earned. 

In   lyqi:   Clive  returned  to  India,  a  commis-   _,. 
sioned  lieutenant-colonel  in  the  British  army  and  emorof 
governor  of  Fort  St.  David,  one  of  the  possessions  ^'^^-^^^^^^ 
of  the  Company  a  little  south  of  Pondicherry. 
Very  soon  he  was  called  upon  to  rescue  Calcutta 
from  a  situation  far  worse  than  the  one  he  had 
redeemed  at  Madras.    In  1756  the  viceroy alty  of 
Bengal, — practically  an  independent  principality, 
like  other  viceroyalties  in  the  empire, — descended 
to  an  ignorant,  vicious  youth,  Surajah  Dowlah,  s^^ajah 
who  was  seized  at  once  with  a  desire  to  plunder  Dowlah 
the   English   settlement  at   Calcutta,   which   he 
imagined  to  be  full  of  wealth.     Fort  William, 
unprepared  to  resist  the  great  army  he  led  against 
it,  was  taken  with  ease,  and  the  captive  English, 
one    hundred    and    forty-six    in    number,    were 
driven,  on  a  night  of  fierce  heat,  into  the  garrison 
prison-cell,    a    room    only    twenty    feet    square, 
known  since  by  the  dreadfully  famous  name  of 
"the   Black  Hole  of  Calcutta."     "Nothing   in  "The Black 

°  Hole  of 

history  or  fiction,"  says  Lord  Macaulay,  "not  Calcutta" 
even  the  story  which  Ugolino  told  in  the  sea  of 
everlasting  ice,  after  he  had  wiped  his  bloody  lips 
on  the  scalp  of  his  murderer,  approaches  the 
horrors  which  were  recounted  by  the  few  sur- 
vivors of  that  night."    The  survivors  were  only 


98o 


From  Louis  XIV  to  Washington 


Clive's 

chastise- 
ment of 
Surajah 
Dowlah 


The  battle 
of  Plassey, 
1757 


Meer 
Jaffier 


Omichund 


twenty-three,  "ghastly  figures,  such  as  their  own 
mothers  would  not  have  known,"  who  staggered 
from  the  charnel-house  in  the  morning,  when  the 
door  was  opened  by  the  pitiless  guards. 

Clive  was  the  man  chosen  at  Madras  to  chas- 
tise the  perpetrator  of  his  hideous  crime.  With 
900  British  troops  and  1,500  sepoys,  he  drove  the 
Bengalee  forces  from  Calcutta  and  its  neighbor- 
hood, and  then  was  persuaded  by  the  mercantile 
representatives  of  the  East  India  Company  to 
accept  terms  which  the  offending  nawab  was 
willing  to  make.  But  Surajah  Dowlah  soon  gave 
occasion  for  distrust,  by  intriguing  with  the 
French,  and  a  conspiracy  was  entered  into  with 
his  general,  Meer  Jaffier,  who  wished  to  supplant 
him  on  the  vice-regal  throne.  On  the  strength  of 
Meer  Jaffier's  promises,  Clive,  with  1,000  English 
and  2,000  sepoys,  marched  boldly  against  Moor- 
shedabad,  Surajah  Dowlah's  capital,  and  was 
confronted  at  the  village  of  Plassey  by  a  native 
army  of  60,000,  including  15,000  mounted  men. 
Meer  Jaffier  showed  no  sign  of  the  treachery  he 
had  promised;  but  Clive  determined,  neverthe- 
less, to  give  battle,  and  his  audacity  won  the  day. 
The  nawab's  hosts  were  routed,  and  he  fled,  even 
abandoning  his  capital,  in  disguise.  Meer 
Jaffier,  though  tardy  In  joining  the  English,  was 
enthroned  at  Moorshedabad,  with  a  formal 
patent  of  Investiture  obtained  from  the  "great 
moghul,"  and  Surajah  Dowlah  was  put  to  death. 
By  shameful  treachery  on  the  part  of  Clive,  an 
influential  Hindu,  Omichund,  who  arranged  the 


British  Supremacy  in  India  981 

plot  with  Meer  Jaffier,  was  cheated  of  the  large 
reward  he  had  stipulated  to  be  paid. 

Historians  In  general  treat  the  British  Empire 
in  India  as  dating  from  the  battle  of  Plassey, 
fought  on  the  23d  of  June,  1757.    From  that  time 
British  authority  was  supreme  In  Bengal.     The  g  . . , 
nawab    of    that   great    province    was    a    puppet  supremacy 
moved  by  English   hands;    and  very  soon  the  '"^^"sai 
"great  moghul"  himself  was  nothing  more. 

The  French  In  the  Carnatic  had  now  been  rein- 
forced heavily,  and  under  a  vigorous  new  com- 
mander,   Count    de    Lally,    became    formidable 
again.    They  captured  Fort  St.  David  and  laid 
siege  to  Madras;    but  were  driven  off  by  the 
timely  arrival  of  a  British  fleet,  while  their  opera-  ^^"g^'^"^ 
tlons  In  other  quarters  were  checked  by  a  force  French  in 
which  Cllve  sent  against  them,  under  Colonel  lyj^ijeo 
Ford.     In   1759  the  command  at  Madras  was 
taken   by    Colonel    Coote,    afterward    Sir   Eyre 
Coote,    and,    within    the    next   two   years,    that 
brilliant  soldier  extinguished  the  hope  of  a  French 
dominion  in  HIndostan.     He  struck  the  decisive  „,    , 

Wande- 

blow  In  a  battle  at  Wandewash,  and  finished  his  wash,  1760 
work  by  capturing  Pondlcherry  in  the  following 
year. 

In  that  year,  1761,  the  English  demonstrated 
their  actual  sovereignty  In  Bengal  by  deposing 
Meer  Jaffier  and  seating  his  son-in-law  In  his 
place.  The  latter  failed  to  understand  that  he 
was  a  puppet,  and  attempted  to  break  the  strings 
which  pulled  him;  whereupon  he  was  driven  out 
and  took  refuge  with  the  nawab  of  Oudh.    That 


982 


Final  sub- 
jection of 
the  "great 
moghul," 
1764 


British 
empire  in 
India 


Treaties  of 
Paris  and 
Huberts- 
burg,  1763 


From  Louis  XIV  to  Washington 

prince,  and  the  reigning  emperor,  Shah  Aulum,  or 
Alam,  adopted  his  cause,  and  united  their  forces, 
challenging  war.  To  complicate  the  situation  a 
sepoy  mutiny  broke  out.  The  mutiny  was  quelled 
with  a  stern  hand,  by  Major  Munro,  afterward 
Sir  Hector  Munro,  and  the  same  officer  shattered 
the  united  armies  of  the  "great  moghul"  and  his 
vassal  of  Oudh,  at  Baxar,  in  1764.  From  that 
time  the  imperial  figure  at  Delhi  claims  little 
attention  in  East  Indian  history,  though  it 
remains  as  a  decoration  of  the  stage  for  almost  a 
century  more. 

Ck)nquests  of  England 

The  British  triumph  in  the  east,  as  well  as  in 
the  west,  went  almost  beyond  belief.  To  use  the 
language  of  Macaulay,  "conquests  equalling  in 
rapidity  and  far  surpassing  in  magnitude  those  of 


Cortes  and  Pizarro,  had  been  achieved. 


In  the 


space  of  three  years  the  English  had  founded  a 
mighty  empire.  The  French  had  been  defeated 
in  every  part  of  India."  "Throughout  Bengal, 
Bahar,  Orissa,  and  the  Carnatic,  the  authority  of 
the  East  India  Company  was  more  absolute  than 
that  of  Acbar  or  Aurungzebe  had  ever  been." 

In  February,  1763,  two  treaties  of  peace  were 
concluded,  one  at  Paris,  on  the  loth,  between 
England,  France  and  Spain  (the  latter  power 
having  joined  France  in  the  war  as  late  as  Janu- 
ary, 1762);  the  other  at  Hubertsburg,  on  the 
15th,  between  Prussia  and  Austria.  France  gave 
up   to   England    all   her   possessions   in   North 


British  Exploration  of  the  Pacific  983 

America,    except    Louisiana    (which    passed    to  Territorial 

'  ^  ^  '■  cessions  oi 

Spain),  and  yielded  Minorca.  She  surrendered,  France 
moreover,  considerable  interests  in  the  West 
Indies  and  in  Africa.  The  colonial  aspirations 
of  the  French  were  cast  down  by  a  blow  that 
was  lasting  in  Its  effect.  Spain  ceded  Florida 
and  all  territory  east  of  the  Mississippi  to  Great 
Britain,  but  recovered  Havana,  which  the 
British  had  taken  in  1762. 

British  exploration  of  the  Pacific 

It  was  now,  when  the  Imperial  ambitions  of  the 
British  government  were  excited  by  Its  first  great 
expansions  of  exterior  dominion,  that  It  began  to 
send  out  official  expeditions  for  the  exploration  of 
the  vast  uncharted  expanses  of  the  Pacific. 
Commodore  Byron,  In  1764,  and  Captains  Wallls 
and  Carteret,  In  1766,  sailed  on  voyages  of  search 
and  survey  which  located  some  islands  not  known 
before,  and  learned  many  things  of  Importance  to  c%tT^  ° 


cam 


geography  and  trade.     Then  came  the  famous  Cook, 
three  voyages  of  Captain  Cook,  which  occupied 
most  of  the  years  from  1768  to  1779.     In  those 
voyages  the  original  discoveries  of  Cook  were  less 
important  than  the  careful  examinations  that  he 
made  of  many  Islands  and  coasts  which  Portu- 
guese, Dutch  and  Spanish  navigators  had  seen  or 
visited  long  before.     He  explored  two  thousand 
miles  of  the  coast  of  Australia  (known  then  as 
New  Holland),  and  took  formal  possession  of  the  taken  of 
country  in  the  name  of  the  king,  naming  Botany  Australia 
Bay,  from  the  wealth  of  the  botanical  collections 


984  From  Louis  XIV  to  Washington 

that  were  gathered  on  its  shores,  and  caUIng  the 

whole  region  New  South  Wales.    This  led,  a  few 

years  later,  to  the  establishment  of  an  English 

First  con-     pcnal  colony,   not  at  Botany  Bay,  but  on  the 

vict  settle-    neighboring  great  harbor  of  Port  Jackson,  where 

ment,  1788       ^     .  ?CJ  JT-ui-rT 

the  city  01  bydney  now  stands.  1  he  ILnglish 
occupation  of  Australia  was  thus  begun.  New 
Zealand  and  New  Guinea  were  extensively 
coasted  by  Cook;  he  rediscovered  the 
Hawaiian  Islands  (sighted  more  than  two 
centuries  before  by  one  Gaetano),  and  he 
explored  more  than  two  thousand  miles  of 
the  western  North  American  coast,  searching 
for  the  long-coveted  northern  passage  from  sea 
to  sea. 

Prussia  and  Frederick  the  Great 

As  between  Prussia  and  Austria,  the  glories  of 
the  Seven  Years  War  were  won  entirely  by  the 
former.  Frederick  came  out  of  it,  "  Frederick  the 
Great,"  the  most  famous  man  of  his  century,  as 
warrior  and  as  statesman,  both.  He  had  defended 
his  little  kingdom  for  seven  years  against  three 
great  powers,  and  yielded  not  one  acre  of  its  ter- 
ritory. He  had  raised  Prussia  to  the  place  in 
Germany  from  which  her  subsequent  advance 
became  easy  and  almost  inevitable.  But  the 
great  fame  he  earned  is  spotted  with  many  falsi- 
ties and  much  cynical  indifference  to  the  com- 
monest ethics  of  civilization.  His  greatness  is  of 
that  character  which  requires  to  be  looked  at 
from  selected  standpoints. 


Catherine  I 


Anne 


Frederick  the  Great — ^The  Tzarinas  985 

Russia 

Another  character,  somewhat  resembling  that 
of  Frederick,  was  now  drawing  attention  on  the 
eastern  side  of  Europe.  Since  the  death  of  Peter 
the  Great,  the  interval  in  Russian  history  had 
been  covered  by  six  reigns,  with  a  seventh  just 
opening,  and  the  four  sovereigns  who  really  ^^^^ 
exercised  power  were  women.  Peter's  widow,  tzarinas 
Catherine  I.,  had  succeeded  him  for  two  years. 
His  son,  Alexis,  he  had  put  to  death;  but  Alexis 
left  a  son,  Peter,  to  whom  Catherine  bequeathed 
the  crown.  Peter  II.  died  after  a  brief  reign,  and 
the  nearest  heirs  were  two  daughters  of  Peter  the 
Great,  Anne  and  Elizabeth.  But  they  were  set 
aside  in  favor  of  another  Anne — Anne  of  Courland 
— daughter  of  Peter  the  Great's  brother.  Anne's 
reign  of  ten  years  was  under  the  influence  of 
German  favorites  and  ministers,  and  nearly  half 
of  it  was  occupied  with  a  Turkish  war,  in  coopera- 
tion with  Austria.  For  Austria  the  war  had  most 
humiliating  results,  costing  her  Belgrade,  all  of 
Servia,  part  of  Bosnia  and  part  of  Wallachia. 
Russia  won  back  Asov,  with  fortifications  for- 
bidden, and  that  was  all.  Anne  willed  her  crown 
to  an  infant  nephew,  who  appears  in  the  Russian 
annals  as  Ivan  VI.;  but  two  regencies  were  over- 
thrown by  palace  revolutions  within  little  more 
than  a  year,  and  the  second  one  carried  to  the 
throne  that  princess  Elizabeth,  younger  daughter 
of  Peter  the  Great,  who  had  been  put  aside  eleven  ,74^-1761' 
years  before.  Elizabeth,  a  woman  openly  licen- 
tious and  intemperate,   reigned  for  twenty-one 


986 


From  Louis  XIV  to  Washington 


Conquest 

of  South 
Finland 


Catherine 
II. 

Waliszew- 
ski,  The 
Romance  of 
an  Empress 


years,  during  the  whole  important  period  of  the 
War  of  the  Austrian  Succession,  and  almost  to  the 
end  of  the  Seven  Years  War.  She  was  bitterly 
hostile  to  Frederick  the  Great,  whose  sharp 
tongue  had  offended  her,  and  she  joined  Maria 
Theresa  with  eagerness  in  the  great  effort  of 
revenge,  which  failed.  In  the  early  part  of  her 
reign,  war  with  Sweden  had  been  more  successful 
and  had  added  South  Finland  to  the  Russian 
territories.  It  is  claimed  for  her  domestic  govern- 
ment that  the  general  prosperity  of  the  country 
was  advanced. 

On  the  death  of  Elizabeth,  near  the  end  of  the 
year  1761,  the  crown  passed  to  her  nephew,  Peter 
of  Holstein,  son  of  her  eldest  sister,  Anne,  who 
had  married  the  duke  of  Holstein.  This  prince 
had  been  the  recognized  heir,  living  at  the 
Russian  court,  during  the  whole  of  Elizabeth's 
reign.  He  was  an  ignorant  boor,  and  he  had 
become  a  sot.  Since  1744  he  had  been  married  to 
a  young  German  princess  of  the  Anhalt  Zerbst 
family,  who  took  the  baptismal  name  of  Cather- 
ine when  she  entered  the  Greek  church.  Cather- 
ine possessed  a  superior  intellect  and  a  strong 
character;  but  the  vile  court  into  which  she  came 
as  a  young  girl,  bound  to  a  disgusting  husband, 
had  debauched  her  in  morals  and  lowered  her  to 
its  own  vileness  of  life.  She  gained  so  great  an 
ascendancy  that  the  court  was  subservient  to  her, 
from  the  time  that  her  incapable  husband,  Peter 
III.,  succeeded  to  the  throne.  He  reigned  by 
sufference  for  a  year  and  a  half,  and  then  he  was 


Catherine  II.  of  Russia — George  III.  of  England  987 

deposed  and  put  to  death.     In  the  deposition,  ^J°^'^'°" 
Catherine  was  the  leading  actor.    Of  the  subse-  ofPeteriii. 
quent  murder,  some  historians  are  disposed  to 
acquit  her.     She   did   not  scruple,   at  least,   to 
accept  the  benefit  of  both  deeds,  which  raised 
her,  alone,  to  the  throne  of  the  tzars. 

Great  Britain  and  her  colonies  under  George  III. 

In  October,  1760,  the  crown  of  Great  Britain 
passed  from  George  II.  to  his  grandson,  George 
III.  It  was  the  year  in  which  France  had  been 
driven  from  both  India  and  America,  and  the 
young  sovereign  found  his  kingdom  expanded 
suddenly  into  the  greatest  of  world-empires, 
dominant  in  both  extremities  of  the  globe  and 
unmatched  on  the  wide  sea.  There  was  much  in 
the  circumstances  of  his  accession  to  fill  him  with 
the  pride  of  a  "grand  monarch,"  and  he  had  been 
trained  by  his  mother  to  hold  German  ideas  of  ^^^^ 
the  prerogatives  of  a  king.    With  no  small  reason,  George's 

r  o  o  1      •  1  notions  oi 

as  we  have  seen,  those  who  leaned  to  such  ideas  kingship 
could  look  on  the  English  system  of  ministerial 
government  as  an  accidental  growth  of  recent 
years,  having  no  constitutional  stamp.  The 
foreignness  of  the  late  kings  had  given  their 
ministers  an  opportunity  to  encroach  on  the 
prerogatives  of  the  crown;  but  the  accession  of 
an  English-born  and  English-bred  sovereign 
brought  that  opportunity  to  an  end.  The  young 
king  was  taught  to  believe  that  such  encroach- 
ments should  be  checked. 

With  not  much  difficulty,  the  king's  notions  of 


988 


The 

"king's 
friends" 


Macaulay, 
Essays: 
Chatham 
(2d  Essay) 


Wilkes, 
and  the 
"North 
Briton," 
1763-1774 


1774 


From  Louis  XIV  to  Washington 

his  kingship  were  carried  Into  the  government, 
sustained  by  a  new  Tory  party  that  he  drew 
around  him.  Pitt  and  other  statesmen  of  inde- 
pendence were  driven  out  of  the  cabinet,  and  It 
was  filled  with  men  known  as  "the  king's 
friends," — chief  among  them  Lord  Bute,  an  un- 
distinguished Scotchman,  but  a  special  favorite 
at  court,  Bute  became  soon  so  unpopular  that 
even  royal  favor  could  not  keep  him  at  the  head 
of  affairs,  and  he  withdrew.  He  was  able,  how- 
ever, to  name  his  successor,  George  Grenvllle,  and 
Grenvllle  carried  the  principles  of  the  new  Tory- 
ism Into  practice  with  no  hesitating  hand.  His 
opening  move  was  an  attempt  to  make  criticism 
of  the  king's  speeches  to  parliament  a  punishable 
offense.  One  John  Wilkes,  a  member  of  parlia- 
ment, and  proprietor  and  conductor  of  a  journal 
entitled  The  North  Briton^  presumed  to  publish 
such  a  criticism,  and  was  pursued  for  years  with 
prosecutions  and  persecutions  that  created  the 
most  serious  political  Issue  of  the  time.  He  was 
not  a  reputable  man;  but  he  was  raised  to  the 
distinction  of  a  popular  hero  by  the  questions  of 
freedom  for  opinion  and  speech  that  were  In- 
volved In  his  case.  A  great  constituency  in 
London  elected  him  to  parliament  again  and 
again,  and  the  house  of  commons,  more  servile 
than  the  courts  of  law,  refused  to  admit  him  to 
his  seat.  This  went  on  till  public  feeling  had 
been  excited  to  a  dangerous  heat,  and,  in  the  end, 
king,  ministers  and  parliament  had  to  bow  to  the 
will  of  the  constituency  that  elected  Wilkes. 


Patrick  Henry  Addressing  Virginia  Assembly 

From  the  painting  by  Peter  F.  Rothermel  (1817-1895),  now  in  the  Academy  at  Philadelphia 


George  III.  and  the  American  Colonies  989 

The  king  and  "the  king's  friends"  had  done 
badly  in  their  undertakings  at  home;  they  did 
worse  in  the  colonies,  so  far  as  ultimate  conse- 
quences  were  concerned.  Naturally  their  Ideas  coionia"^' 
of  colonial  policy  were  the  Ideas  of  a  paternal  policy 
government,  administered  with  a  stern  face,  a 
heavy  hand  and  an  unspared  rod.  Grenvllle, 
acting  with  Charles  Townshend,  president  of  the 
board  of  trade,  began  the  realizing  of  those  ideas, 
in  1763,  with  a  proposal  to  parliament  that 
twenty  regiments  should  be  kept  In  America,  at 
the  cost  of  the  colonies  after  the  first  year.  The 
next  step  was  a  measure  authorizing  the  employ- 
ment of  the  navy  in  the  service  of  the  custom- 
house, to  enforce  the  "acts  of  trade."  The  third 
was    a    revival,    with    some    amendment,    of   an 

The 

exasperating  old  law,  called  "the  Sugar  Act,"  or  Molasses 
"the  Molasses  Act,"  which  had  for  Its  object  to  ^ct,  1763 
prevent  the  New  Englanders  from  buying  sugar 
or  molasses  in  the  French  West  Indies  instead  of  ^^)^'    , 

Jtlistory  of 

in    the    English    Islands.      By    exchanging    fish,   England, 
lumber  and  staves  with  the  French  planters  for  Century,y. 
molasses,   which  they  converted   into   rum   and  332-337 
sold  elsewhere,  the  New  England  merchants  were 
able  to  obtain  money  in  hand  wherewith  to  buy 
English    goods;     and    this    was    their    principal 
source  of  cash.    Former  English  governments  had 
seen  that  the  Molasses  Act  would  strike  a  stupid 
blow  at  English  as  well  as  colonial  trade,  and  it 
had    not    been    enforced,    until    Grenvllle    and 
Townshend  took  it  up  and  made  it  an  effective 
irritant  of  colonial  discontent.    A  fourth  measure 


990 


From  Louis  XIV  to  Washington 


Exclusion 
of  settlers 
from  the 
west 


The  Stamp'' 
Act,  1765 

Larned, 
History  for 
Ready 
Reference 
(Full  text) 

Hosmer, 
Life  of 
Thomas 
Hutchin- 
son, ch.  iv 


Patrick 
Henry 


"Sons  of 
Liberty" 


Non- 
importa- 
tion agree- 
ments 


in  the  same  year  was  the  immediate  act  of  the 
king,  who  issued  a  proclamation  ordering  all 
white  settlers  away  from  the  region  west  of  the 
Alleghenles,  setting  apart  that  whole  vast 
domain,  just  wrested  from  France,  for  the  use  of 
the  Indian  tribes,  proposing  thus  to  bar  the 
colonies  from  any  further  westward  growth. 
Then  came  the  crowning  measure  of  the  new 
colonial  policy,  in  the  famous  "Stamp  Act,"  fore- 
shadowed in  1764  by  a  series  of  "declaratory 
resolves,"  and  made  law  in  the  following  spring. 
This  long-threatened  and  long-postponed  taxa- 
tion by  parliament  of  an  unrepresented  people 
roused  only  some  vigorous  remonstrance  in  the 
colonies  at  first;  but  feeling  warmed  against  it  as 
the  time  for  introducing  the  obnoxious  stamps 
drew  near,  especially  after  the  famous  speech  of 
Patrick  Henry,  in  Virginia,  had  been  published 
far  and  wide.  A  congress  of  delegates,  held  at 
New  York,  in  October,  1765,  adopted  a  temperate 
declaration  of  "the  most  essential  rights  and 
liberties  of  the  colonists,"  while  less  orderly 
people,  forming  associations  called  "Sons  of 
Liberty,"  Indulged  in  demonstrations  that  be- 
came riotous  at  times,  and  that  led  in  a  few 
instances,  at  Boston  and  elsewhere,  to  shameful 
doings  by  senseless  mobs.  Generally,  the  officials 
appointed  to  sell  the  stamps  were  frightened  Into 
resigning,  and  a  large  part  of  the  stamps  sent  out 
were  destroyed;  but  the  most  effectual  expression 
of  colonial  feeling  was  in  agreements  to  wear 
homespun  and  to  use  no  English-made  goods. 


a    -; 

^       Co 


tin 
O 


c 
<      c 


c 


Various  Causes  of  Discontent  991 

This  was  done  to  an  extent  that  became  serious  to 
English  trade.  British  merchants  and  manu- 
facturers were  thus  aroused  against  the  Stamp 
Act,  bringing  an  influence  that  helped  Pitt  and 
other  statesmen,  who  opposed  the  measure  on 
principle,  to  bring  about  its  repeal. 

Before  this  occurred,  Grenville  had  lost  favor 
with  the  king  and  a  more  moderate  cabinet  had 
been  formed.     It  was  this  ministry,  under  the  Rgpe^i  ^f 
marquis  of  Rockingham,  that  carried  the  repeal  the  Stamp 
of  the  offensive  act;  but  parliament,  at  the  same 
time,  recorded  a  formal  assertion  of  its  right  to 
legislate  for  the  colonies  "in  all  cases  whatso- 
ever."    The   Rockingham   ministry  was   short- 
lived, and  gave  way  to  one  which  Pitt  was  per- 
suaded to  lend  his  name  to,  but  over  which  he 
exercised  no  control.    He  was  broken  in  health, 
and  gave  up  service  in  the  house  of  commons,  _ 
acceptmg  a   peerage   as  earl  01   Chatham,   and  eariof 
Charles    Townshend,    champion    of    a    rigorous  ^^^^^^'^ 
colonial  policy,  became  the  ruling  spirit  in  the 
government.       Townshend's     measures,     which 
parliament  made  law  for  him,  were  sharp.     By  he°i!dT 
one  bill  he  imposed  duties  in  the  colonies  on  wine,  measures 
oil,  fruits,  glass,  paper,  lead,  painters'  colors  and 
tea,  for  a  revenue  to  support  civil  government  in 
them  and  provide  for  their  defense.    By  another 
he  created  a  colonial  civil  list  of  crown  officials, 
dependent  wholly  on  the  pleasure  of  the  king. 
These  and  other  measures  of  the  same  antagonism 
to  local  self-government  aroused  even  more  feel- 
ing than  the  Stamp  Act  had  done.    The  feeling 


992 


From  Louis  XIV  to  Washington 


Dickinson's 

"Farmer's 

Letters" 


Samuel 

Adams 

Hosmer, 

Samuel 
Adams, 
ch.  7 


Repeal  of 
duties 
ezcept  on 
tea,  1770 


was  deepened  profoundly  by  a  series  of  "Farmer's 
Letters,"  as  they  came  to  be  known,  published  by 
John  Dickinson,  of  Pennsylvania,  in  which  the 
"dangerous  innovation"  of  the  Townshend  acts 
was  discussed  in  a  soberly  impressive  way. 
Another  powerful  influence  on  colonial  feeling 
was  exercised  at  this  time  by  addresses  to  the 
king  and  his  ministers,  and  by  circular  letters  to 
the  colonial  assemblies,  sent  forth  by  the  Massa- 
chusetts assembly,  probably  all  from  the  vigorous 
pen  of  Samuel  Adams,  who  now  stands  forth,  a 
commanding  figure  in  the  American  history  of 
the  next  few  years. 

Once  more  an  effectual  pressure  on  the  sensitive 
nerves  of  British  commerce  was  brought  to  bear, 
by  a  systematic  organization  of  agreements  to 
abstain  from  the  use  of  English-made  goods. 
Virginia  led  the  way  In  this  movement,  and 
Washington  drew  up  the  resolutions  that  gave  It 
form.  Townshend  was  now  dead,  and  Lord 
North,  who  succeeded  him  as  the  mouthpiece  of 
the  king's  wishes,  gave  way  to  the  renewed  com- 
plaints of  the  business  world,  and  proposed  a 
repeal  of  all  the  Townshend  duties  except  the 
duty  on  tea.  It  was  the  king's  demand  that  the 
tea  duty  should  remain  "as  a  mark  of  the  suprem- 
acy of  parliament,"  and  parliament  obeyed  his 
wish.  This  deprived  the  repeal  of  any  con- 
ciliatory effect,  and  became  a  cause  of  new  aliena- 
tions which  nothing  could  repair. 

On  the  day  of  Lord  North's  motion  (March  5, 
1770)  for  the  partial  repeal  of  the  Townshend  Act, 


Organizing  of  the  Colonial  Discontent  993 

Boston  was  the  scene  of  a  deplorable  collision 
between  some  of  the  king's  troops,  quartered  In 
that  city,  and  a  crowd  of  rude  people,  who  pro- 
voked them  by  Insulting  jeers.  The  angry 
soldiers  fired  and  killed  six,  wounding  five  more.  "Boston 
This  "massacre,"  as  It  was  styled,  gave  rise  to  rnassacre," 

,      ,  .^  '    o  March  s, 

intense  excitement,  and  the  governor  was  com-  1770 

pelled  to  remove  the  soldiers  from  the  town;  but 

no  grave  consequences  ensued.     The  next  two 

years  were  peaceable  generally,  except  In  North 

Carolina,  where  a  body  of  frontier  settlers,  having 

some  grievances  of  their  own  against  the  govern- 

ment  of  the  province,  were  In  arms,  under  the  Carolina 

name  of  "Regulators,"  until  defeated  In  a  fierce  ^^^"i^^°" 

battle  on  the  Alamance. 

The  next  agitation  of  feeling  In  Massachusetts 

was  occasioned  by  an  order  from  the  kin?  that  the 

.  .  1772 

judges  In  that  provmce,  whose  appointments  had 

already    been    made    subject    to    his    majesty's 

pleasure,    should    take    their    salaries    from    the 

crown.    Anxiety  was  deepened  by  this  new  blow 

at  the  Independence  of  the  judiciary;   and  it  was 

now    that    an    effective    organization     of    the 

patriotic    party    throughout     the    colony    was  tees  of' ' 

set  on    foot    by  Samuel  Adams,   who   planned  ^°"^' 

,  -^  spondence, 

a    system    of    "committees   of  correspondence"   1772-1773 
to  be  formed   in  every  town.     The  committees  Hosmer, 
were  kept  in  constant   communication   and  co-  ^iams 
operation   with    the   Boston   leaders,    of    whom  190-206 
Samuel   and   John   Adams,    Dr.  Joseph  Warren 
and      John      Hancock     were     the      recognized 
chiefs.       Virginia     adopted     and    enlarged     the 


994 


The  king's 
cheapened 
tea 


The 

"Boston 
tea  party," 
Dec.  6, 1773 


Punish- 
ment of 
Boston  and 
Massachu- 
setts, 1774 


From  Louis  XIV  to  Washington 

idea  of  such  committees,  weaving  the  system  into 
a  strong  Intercolonial  bond. 

Generally  the  duty  on  tea  was  evaded,  either 
by  smuggling  from  Holland  or  by  abstention  from 
the  use  of  the  herb.  King  George  or  his  ministers 
conceived  a  scheme  for  inducing  the  obstinate 
colonists  to  swallow  taxed  tea,  by  means  of  the 
payment  of  a  drawback  in  England  to  the  East 
India  Company,  on  tea  sent  to  America,  thus 
enabling  its  agents  to  undersell  the  smugglers 
from  the  Dutch.  Such  an  arrangement  was  made, 
and  several  cargoes  of  tea  were  shipped  to  Boston, 
New  York,  Philadelphia,  and  Charleston.  In  the 
three  cities  last  named  the  consignees  of  these  tea 
cargoes  were  persuaded  by  the  patriot  party  to 
decline  receiving  them;  but  the  Boston  consign- 
ees refused  consent  to  such  a  course,  and  the 
governor  of  Massachusetts,  Thomas  Hutchinson, 
would  not  permit  the  ships  to  be  sent  back. 
Thereupon,  after  a  great  town  meeting,  presided 
over  by  Samuel  Adams,  a  resolute  body  of  men, 
partly  disguised  as  Indians,  proceeded  to  the 
ships,  broke  open  the  tea  chests  and  poured  their 
contents  into  the  sea. 

Naturally  there  was  wrath  in  government 
circles  when  news  of  the  Boston  doings  reached 
England,  and  no  time  was  lost  in  making  provi- 
sion for  the  punishment  of  the  offending  province 
and  town.  By  one  act  the  charter  of  Massachu- 
setts was  annulled,  the  authority  of  the  royal 
governor  and  his  council  was  made  supreme,  and 
town  meetings  were  forbidden  to  be  held  without 


The  First  Continental  Congress  in  America         995 

the  governor's  permit.     B7  another,  the  port  of  Treveiyan, 
Boston  was  closed  against  the  entrance  or  clear-  American 
ance  of  any  ship.     Events  now  moved  rapidly  ft^^fj^^^""' 
toward  the  crisis  of  armed  revolt.    General  Gage, 
with  four  additional  regiments,  was  sent  to  Bos- 
ton to  supersede  Governor  Hutchinson  and  place 
Massachusetts    under    military    rule.      He    was 
instructed  to  arrest  Adams  and  other  leaders  and 
send  them  to  England  for  trial;  but  prudence  led 
him   to  postpone  the  attempt.     Boston,   while 
suffering    severely   from   the    destruction   of   its 
trade,   received   liberal  contributions  of  aid,   as 
well  as  warm  messages  of  encouragement  and 
sympathy,  from  every  side. 

Virginia  declared  the  attack  on  Massachusetts 
to  be  an  attack  on  all  the  colonies,  needing  to^be 
resisted   by   all,   and   advised   the   holding  of  a 
"continental    congress," — that    Is,    a    congress 
representative  of  all  the  English  colonies  on  the 
continent, — and  the  advice  was  approved.    The 
first  continental  congress  was  assembled  accord-  continental 
ingly     at     Philadelphia,     in     September,     1774,  1774, 
including  Washington   in  its   membership,   and 
many  more  whose  names  were  to  become  famous 
in  the  coming  years.    The  action  of  the  congress 
was  temperate  but  firm.     It  adopted  a  Declara-  john  ' 
tlon  of  Rights,   setting  forth  the  claim  of  the  ^^'ff"-^' 
people  of  America  to  "a  free  and  exclusive  power 
of  legislation  in  their  provincial  legislatures.    .    . 
in   all   cases   of  taxation   and   Internal   polity;" 
together  with  a  respectful  petition  to  the  king,  an 
address  to  the  people  of  England,  and  another  to 


996 


From  Louis  XIV  to  Washington 


Expres- 
sions of  the 
congress 


Cotnmer-' 
cial  non- 
intercourse 
renewed 


Massachu- 
setts "com- 
mittee of 
safety" 


the  people  of  British  America,  including  Quebec. 
To  the  English  people  it  was  said:  "Permit  us  to 
be  as  free  as  yourselves,  and  we  shall  ever  esteem 
a  union  with  you  to  be  our  greatest  glory  and  our 
greatest  happiness;"  and  this  expressed,  without 
doubt,  the  feeling  of  a  large  majority  of  the 
Americans  of  the  day,  though  great  numbers  had 
grown  hopeless  by  this  time  of  the  freedom 
described.  The  resolutions  of  the  congress 
recommended  that  the  support  of  "all  America" 
be  given  to  Massachusetts,  in  her  opposition  to 
the  oppressive  measures  against  her  government; 
and  it  instituted  a  new  movement  of  commercial 
non-intercourse  with  Great  Britain,  organizing 
an  association  to  give  it  effect.  The  agreements 
of  the  association  included  a  pledge  to  discontinue 
the  importation  of  slaves  after  the  first  day  of  the 
next  December. 

In  Massachusetts,  General  Gage  was  making 
little  headway  in  his  undertaking  to  bring  the 
province  under  military  rule.  He  suppressed  the 
regular  meetings  of  its  assembly,  but  the  mem.bers 
met  elsewhere  as  a  convention,  or  congress,  and 
established,  practically,  a  provisional  govern- 
ment, under  a  "committee  of  safety,"  with  Dr. 
Warren  at  its  head.  The  committee  exercised  an 
authority  which  Gage  could  not  bring  to  bear. 
He  lacked  officials  to  serve  him,  fev/  Tories  being 
bold  enough  to  accept  commissions  at  his  hands. 
As  for  arresting  the  patriot  leaders,  a  public  con- 
vention in  Suffolk  County  gave  notice  that  the 
crown  officers  in  the  province  would  be  seized  and 


"Minute 
men 


Outbreak  of  American  Revolutionary  War  997 

held  as  hostages  if  a  single  arrest  for  political 
reasons  should  be  made.  Behind  such  resolves 
there  was  a  vigorous  activity  in  the  collection  of 
military  stores  and  in  organizing  the  militia, 
which  the  committee  was  empowered  to  call  out, 
— one  fourth  of  the  embodied  militia  to  be  styled 
"minute  men,"  and  to  be  always  ready  for  instant 
obedience  to  any  call.  Similar  armed  organiza- 
tions were  springing  up  in  all  parts  of  the  land. 

Proof  of  the  alertness  of  the  minute  men  and 
the  efficiency  of  the  militia  system  in  Massachu- 
setts was  given  on  the  19th  of  the  next  April 
(1775),  when  800  British  troops,  sent  out  from 
Boston  by  General  Gage,  to  capture  Sam.  Adams 
and  Hancock,  at  Lexington,  and  to  seize  certain 
military  stores  at  Concord,  were  encountered  by 
the  "embattled  farmers,"  who  "fired  the  shot  "embattled 

f3.rinfirs"  3.t 

heard  round  the  world."    It  is  needless  to  repeat  Lexington 

the  familiar  tale  of  that  first  bloodshed  on  Lexing-  concord, 

ton  green,  of  the  fight  at  Concord,  of  the  pitiful  1775  ^^' 

suffering  of  the  king's  troops  in  their  retreat  to 

Boston,  ambushed  by  an  enraged  people  along 

the  whole  road.     Ninety-three  of  the  Americans 

and  273  of  the  British  fell  that  day,  and  the  War  jmeHcan 

of  American  Independence  was  begun.  Revolution 

111  1    ^  •  120-126 

As  fast  as  the  news  of  battle  could  spread, 

minute  men  from  every  part  of  New  England 

were  on  the  march   toward   Boston,   and  Gage 

found  himself  beleaguered  by  13,000  before  the  ^"""^'^^ 

°  J        •'^  lorces  be- 

end  of  the  week.    At  New  York,  when  the  Sons  of  jeaguered 
Liberty  heard  of  Lexington,  they  rose  and  took 
control  of  the  city.    Even  the  Quakers  of  Phila- 


The 

colonies 


998  From  Louis  XIV  to  Washington 

delphia  were  moved  by  the  excitement  of  the 
event  to  prepare  for  war.    In  Virginia  and  South 

in  arms  Carolina  the  patriots  had  already  taken  arms  to 
secure  the  military  stores  in  those  provinces,  and 
were  actually  in  revolt.  As  quickly  as  the  travel 
of  the  time  could  bring  it,  the  New  Englanders 
had  assurances  of  support  from  every  British- 
American  community  except  Quebec;  and  the 
same  assurance  was  repeated  by  collective  action 

continental  of  the  coloulcs  In  the  second  continental  congress, 

congress,  whlcli  asscmblcd  at  Philadelphia  on  the  loth  of 
May.  Again  the  congress  addressed  a  respectful 
petition  to  King  George,  and  a  calm  declaration 
of  "the  causes  and  necessity  for  taking  up  arms;" 
but  it  made  common  cause  with  New  England  In 
the  hostilities  already  begun,  adopted  the  forces 
in  arms  as  a  "continental  army,"  and,  by  an 
inspiration  that  can  never  be  thought  of  without 
wonder  and  awe,  it  appointed  George  Washington 

mentof       to  the  chlcf  commaud.     To  that  appointment, 

Washington  ,  n         1  1*11 

to  chief        more  than  to  all  other  causes  combmed,  the  suc- 
june  15, '     cess  of  the  struggle  for  American  Independence 
was  due. 

In  nothing  else  was  the  action  of  the  continental 

Timidity  .  ax-^Ti  m  •  1  • 

of  the         congress  SO  Wise.       While  assummg  the  responsi- 

congress       bllltles  of  the  Impending  struggle,  It  assumed  no 

power   to   enforce   an   order   It   might   give,   or 

authority  to  levy  a  dollar  of  taxation  for  the 

^tj/i/M-      expenses    Incurred.      Its    whole    exercise    of    a 

iionaJLaw    nominal  authority  to  direct  the  common  action 

S-12        *  of  the  thirteen  colonies  was  left  dependent  on  the 

willingness  of  each  provincial  government  to  be 


Washington  in  Command  of  a  Continental  Army  999 

submissive   to   its   advice.    .   .    .    State   govern- 
ments, when  formed,  became  the  only  govern- 

T  J 

ments  felt  and  known  in  reality  by  the  people,  fjl^^^:„f 
who  struggled  through  their  war  of  independence  the  United 
with  nothing  that  could  be  called  a  governing  1^-200 
head." 

As  far  as  one  commanding  personality  could 
make  good  the  defect  In  government,  Washington 
supplied  it,  by  his  massive  strength  of  character. 
Without  that  majestic  Influence  In  the  struggle, 
one  finds  It  very  hard  to  believe  that  the  American 
cause  would  have  escaped  wreck.  But  the  strain 
on  him  who  gave  it  was  such  as  has  tested  the  ^^^^  "^ 
greatness  of  very  few  men.  Let  those  who  would  greatness 
know  what  he  was  to  his  country,  what  difficulties 
he  contended  with,  what  slender  means  he  worked 
with,  through  what  disheartenments  he  kept  his 
courage  and  his  faith, — let  them  read  his  cor- 
respondence and  take  the  painful  record  from  his 

own  pen. 

China 

The  protection  which  the  Christian  mission- 
aries had  enjoyed  in  China  under  Kanghl  was 
withdrawn  by  his  successor,  and  they  were 
exposed  to  the  hostility  of  the  literati  and  the 
important  "board  of  rites."  Excepting  a  few 
Jesuits  who  were  employed  in  public  services, 
and  whose  knowledge  was  too  useful  to  be  dis- 
pensed with,  they  were  sent  to  the  Portuguese  o/mbsS«- 
settlement  at  Macao,  and  more  than  three  hun-  aries 
dred  churches  were  destroyed.  Replying  to  a 
deputation  from  the  missionaries,  who  remons- 


looo  From  Louis  XIV  to  Washington 

trated  against  these  measures,  the  emperor  asked 
Dcmgias,      them:   "What  would  you  say  if  I  were  to  send  a 

China,  I3S  .  ,  .   /  / 

troop  oi  bonzes  and  lamas  mto  your  country  to 
preach  their  doctrines?  How  would  you  receive 
them?"    Their  answer  is  not  recorded. 

Under  the  fourth  of  the  Manchu  sovereigns, 
Keen-lung,  Kashgar  and  Yarkand  were  added  to 
the  empire  by  conquest,  and  both  Burmah  and 
Cochin  China  were  made  tributary  states. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

FROM  THE  ADVENT  OF  WASHINGTON 
IN  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 
TO  HIS  DEATH 

(1775  TO  1799) 

Continuity  of  revolutionary  influence  from  the  English  Long  Parliament  to 
the  French  States-general.  The  War  of  American  Independence:  Campaigns 
and  battles  of  the  war. — Discouraging  conditions. — Trials  of  Washington. — ■ 
Surrender  of  Cornwaliis. — Treaty  of  peace.  "  The  critical  period  of  American 
history:"  Weakness  of  the  Confederation. — Framing  and  adoption  of  the 
federal  con.9titution.  The  British  empire:  Hostilities  with  France,  Spain  and 
Holland. — Wars  in  India. — Concessions  to  Ireland. — Industrial  revolution  in 
Great  Britain.  France:  The  approaching  political  revolution. — Its  causes. — 
Its  outbreak. — Meeting  of  the  States-general. — Assumption  of  supremacy 
by  the  third  estate. — The  Girondists. — The  Jacobins. — Overthrow  of  the 
monarchy. — Execution  of  the  king. — Fall  of  the  Girondists. — Crusade  against 
all  monarchies. — "The  reign  of  terror." — The  Jacobin  factions  devouring  one 
another. — End  of  "the  terror." — Advent  of  Napoleon  Bonaparte. — His  cam- 
paign in  Italy. — His  expedition  to  'Egypt,  and  return. — His  domination  as 
first  consul.  The  P'lriitioning  of  Poland:  The  three  partitions.  7'he  United 
States  of  America:  Organization  of  federal  government  under  Washington. — ' 
Financial  measures  of  Hamilton. — Lasting  division  of  political  parties. — 
Troubles  with  England  and  France. — Administration  of  John  Adams. — 
Overthrow  of  the  Federalists.  British  America:  The  Quebec  Act. — United 
Empire  Loyalists. — Act  of  1791. 

In  this  last  quarter  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
the  period  we  have  described  as  an  "epoch  of 
political  revolutions"  was  rounded  to  a  startling 


The 


close.  The  epoch  had  been  opened,  in  the  first  rounding 
half  of  the  preceding  century,  by  a  movement  of  rrvo°ut*!on- 
revolution  in  England,  where  long-nurtured  ary  epoch 
principles  and  practices  in  government,  politically 
favorable  to  the  people,  were  developed  suddenly, 
by  exciting  violations,  into  a  precocious  and 
untimely  republicanism.  Discredited  by  unfor- 
tunate results,  they  seemed  for  a  time  to  lose  their 
hold  in  the  English  mind;  but  the  reaction  did 
not  last  to  the  end  of  the  generation  in  which  it 

1001 


I002 


The  Period  of  Washington 


From  the 
English 
revolutions 
to  the 
American 


From  the 
American 
to  the 
French 


occurred.  Then  came  the  vigorous  revival  of 
1688,  which,  acting  on  more  moderate  lines, 
carried  forward  the  attempted  revolution  of  1649, 
not  to  the  construction  of  an  impracticable 
republic,  but  to  a  monarchy  constitutionally 
restrained.  On  that  formulation  and  affirmation 
of  English  principles  in  government,  the  people 
of  the  English  colonies  in  America  began  to  make 
claims  of  right  to  a  measure  of  provincial  self- 
government  which  the  home  country  would  not 
concede.  From  the  consequent  breach  came  the 
American  revolution,  in  which  English  political 
principles  were  pressed  finally  to  their  logical 
conclusion,  and  realized  In  a  democratic  republic. 
This  fired  the  train  which  exploded  a  passionate 
discontent  in  France,  with  shattering  effects  in 
Europe  on  hoary  structures  of  absolutism,  far 
and  wide.  One  by  one  they  went  down  in  the 
next  century,  to  be  replaced  by  constitutional 
governments,  so  universally  that  the  few  excep- 
tions now  remaining  are  but  marks  of  the  sur- 
vival of  a  half-civilized  social  state.  From  the 
English  Long  Parliament  of  1640  to  the  French 
States-general  of  1789,  the  continuity  of  the 
revolutionary  influence  is  plainly  to  be  traced.  ; 


Fiske,  The 

American 

Revolution 


The  War  of  American  Independence 

Before  Washington  assumed  command  of  the 
American  army,  which  he  did  at  Cambridge,  on 
the  2d  of  July,  two  important  events  of  war  had 
occurred.  Forts  Ticonderoga  and  Crown  Point 
had  been   surprised   and   captured   In  May,   by 


Opening  of  American  War  of  Independence        1003 

Ethan  Allen  and  the  "Green  Mountains  Boys"  Treveiyan, 
of  Vermont,  giving  two  hundred  cannon  to  the  American 
provincials,  with  a  quantity  of  ammunition  and  ■^'^^°^"*»°" 
other  stores;   and  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill  had 
been  fought.    A  defeat  that  had  the  Influence  of  a 
victory  was  experienced  in  the  Bunker  Hill  fight,  g^^^er^^ 
The  New  Englanders  besieging  Boston  had  been  Hiu,  June 
driven  from  a  position  they  attempted  to  secure;  ^^'  '^^^ 
but    their    raw    militiamen     had     repulsed    two 
assaults  by  British  veterans,  inflicting  a  loss  more 
than  double  their  own,  and  giving  good  proof  of 
the  firmness  of  their  nerve.     The  worst  conse- 
quence of  the  battle  was  the  death  of  Dr.  Warren, 
who  joined  the  defenders  of  the  hill  as  a  volun- 
teer. 

While  Washington  labored  for  months  to  form 
an    effective    army    for   operations    against    the  „ 

•'  ^     ^    ^  °  ^  Expedition 

British  in  Boston,  two  expeditions  were  sent  into  to  Canada 
Canada,  which  had  no  useful  result,  but  cost 
some  valuable  lives.  Including  that  of  General 
Richard  Montgomery,  who  fell  in  an  assault  on 
Quebec.     Meantime,  King  George  was  heating 
and    hardening    the    rebellious    temper    of    the 
colonies  by  hiring  Hessians  and  other  German  mercen" 
soldiers  for  service  against  them,  and  Thomas  ^"^^ 
Paine,  a  late  comer  to  Philadelphia  from  England, 
was  persuading  them  to  declare  for  Independence,  Paine's 
in   his    powerful    pamphlet,    entitled    "Common  "Common 
Sense."    At  the  beginning  of  March,  Washington 
felt  prepared,  with  men,  guns,  and  ammunition,  fvTcuation 
for  an  aggressive  move.    On  the  night  of  the  4th  ^^  Boston, 
he  seized  and  fortified  a  position  on  Dorchester  1776 


I004 


The  Period  of  Washington 


Washing- 
ton defend- 
ing the 
Hudson 


The  form- 
ing of 
colonies 
into  States 


Declaration 
of  Inde- 
pendence, 
July  4, 
1776 


Heights  which  compelled  General  Howe,  who  had 
superseded  Gage,  to  evacuate  Boston,  sailing  to 
Halifax  with  his  army  and  with  900  of  his  Tory- 
friends. 

With  all  possible  haste,  Washington  moved  the 
greater  part  of  his  army  to  New  York,  assuming 
what  he  recognized,  then  and  always  throughout 
the  war,  as  his  most  important  task, — namely, 
that  of  holding  the  valley  of  the  Hudson  against 
the  British,  to  prevent  their  cutting  New  England 
from  connection  and  cooperation  with  the  middle 
and  southern  colonies,  and  to  separate  them,  at 
the  same  time,  from  their  savage  allies,  the  Six 
Nations  of  the  Iroquois.  But  the  American 
commander  could  take  to  New  York  no  more 
than  about  8,000  men,  while  Howe,  at  Halifax, 
was  preparing  a  large  army  for  his  next  cam- 
paign, backed  by  a  powerful  fleet.  Till  late  in 
summer,  however,  all  things  looked  cheering  on 
the  American  side.  One  by  one,  in  May  and 
June,  the  several  colonies  declared  for  indepen- 
dence, and  before  June  ended  there  were  seven 
which  had  organized  independent  governments, 
based  on  "the  authority  of  the  people,"  thus 
casting  their  colonial  swaddling  clothes  and  tak- 
ing on  the  political  vesture  of  American  States. 

It  was  then,  on  the  Fourth  of  July,  1776,  that 
the  general  wish  for  a  united  Declaration  of 
Independence  was  obeyed  by  the  continental 
congress,  and  the  republic  of  the  United  States  of 
America  proclaimed  itself  to  the  world.  The 
Declaration  was  received  everywhere  with  rejoic- 


British 
repulse  at 


Declaration  of  Ajmerican  Independence  1005 

ing,  heightened  by  news  from  Charleston,  where  a 
British  fleet,  attempting  to  enter  the  harbor,  had 
been  repulsed  by  a  rude  log  fort  on  Sullivan's  Charleston, 
Island,  defended  by  Colonel  Moultrie  with  1,200  1776^^' 
men.  But  these  were  the  last  good  tidings  that 
rejoiced  the  country  for  almost  half  a  year.  The 
end  of  July  brought  Howe,  with  30,000  troops, 
and  his  brother,  Vice-Admiral  Howe,  with  a  great 
fleet,  into  New  York  Bay,  and  Washington  was 
overwhelmed.  He  had  collected  about  20,000 
men,  but  they  were  mostly  undisciplined  and 
poorly  equipped,  in  comparison  with  the  army  of 
Howe.  Defeated  on  the  27th  of  August,  in  a 
battle  on  Long  Island,  which  expelled  them  from  Washing- 
Brooklyn  Heights,  the  Americans  retreated  from  i°"  ^^°"^, 

■'  .  .    .  New  York 

New  York  up  the  river  to  positions  among  the 
hills. 

Then  came  the  first  of  the  dark  periods  of  the 
war, — a  time,  as  Paine  expressed  it,  "that  tried 
men's  souls."  Washington  was  assailed,  with 
hostile    criticism    and    undermined    by    jealous 

,  .       ^         ,.  Til  •       Intrigues 

intrigues,  congress  taking  a  discreditable  part  in  against  him 
both.     Subordinate  officers  were  encouraged  to 
disregard  the  orders  of  the  commander-in-chief. 
A   military   adventurer   from   England,    Charles 
Lee,    unfortunately    commissioned    among    the 
American  major-generals,  and  supposed  to  be  a 
great  soldier,  became  especially  mischievous;  and 
the    whole     situation    was    deplorably    wrong. 
Washington,  as  a  consequence,  was  compelled,  His  retreat 
at  the  beginning  of  December,  to  retreat  from  the  >nto  Penn- 
Hudson    (maintaining    forts,    however,    on    the  Dec,  1776 


ioo6  The  Period  of  Washington 

upper  parts  of  the  river),  falling  back,  through 
New  Jersey,  until  he  had  placed  the  Delaware 
between  the  pursuing  enemy  and  himself.  The 
short  terms  of  so  many  of  his  men  had  expired 
that  hardly  3,000  remained  In  his  immediate 
command.  And  now  It  was  that  the  high  quali- 
ties of  this  great  soldier  and  great  man  received 
their  first  full  proof.  The  almost  ruined  cause  of 
the  States  was  borne  up  by  his  grand  courage  and 
faith.  He  and  his  officers  borrowed  money  on  the 
pledge  of  their  private  estates  for  the  pay  of  their 
men,  to  keep  them  in  the  field.  By  Christmas  he 
had  got  together  6,000,  and  planned  to  recover 
the  ground  he  had  lost.  His  pursuers,  com- 
manded by  Lord  Cornwallis,  were  waiting  care- 
lessly for  the  ice  In  the  river  to  bridge  them  over 
it,  and  let  them  strike  what  they  expected  to 
make  a  finishing  blow.  Suddenly,  on  Christmas 
Washin  -  ^^^'  Washington  forced  a  crossing  of  the  half- 
tonresumes  frozcn  rlvcr,  wIth  boats  enough  to  land  himself 
offensive,      ^^^   2,40O  of  hIs   troops   ou   the  Jersey   shore; 

Dec-Jan.,     marched  through  a  sleety  winter  storm  to  Tren- 
1776-1777  , 

ton;  surprised  and  captured  1,000  Hessians,  with 

abundant  stores;   slipped  from  the  fingers  which 

Cornwallis  felt  certain  of  closing  upon  him;   took 

more  prisoners  and  more  stores  at  Princeton,  and 

moved  on  to  a  secure  position  at  Morristown; 

recovering  from  the  enemy,  in  a  campaign  of  ten 

days,  all  the  advantages  they  had  gained  from  his 

temporary  retreat. 

The  helpful  efi^ect  of  this  brilliant  operation,  at 

home  and  abroad,  was  Immense.    It  decided  the 


Burgoyne's  Surrender  1007 

French   government   to  give   secret   aid   to   the  Helpful 
States,  in  money,  stores,  and  privateers,  and  it  of  the 
inspired  fresh  confidence  in  America,  when  the  "^P^'^n 
next  serious  undertaking  of  the  British  was  faced. 
This  was  an  invasion  from  Canada,  attempted  in 
the  summer  of  1777,  to  meet  a  northward  move- 
ment from  New  York,  and  to  gain  possession  of 
the  Hudson  from  end  to  end.    The  story  of  Bur-  invasion, 
goyne's  invasion  and  its  defeat, — of  the  obstruct-  defeat  and 

o    J  y->  r"  surrender, 

ing  of  his  march  by  forces  under  General  Schuy-  juiy-Oct., 
ler;  of  the  cutting  of  his  communications  with  *''^'' 
Canada  by  New  England  and  New  York  militia- 
men, directed  by  General  Lincoln;  of  the  disas- 
trous fate  of  St.  Leger's  column,  coming  by  way 
of  Lake  Ontario  and  the  Mohawk  to  join  him;  of 
the  failure  of  Howe  to  move  northward  from  New 
York  and  meet  him;  of  the  victory  won  by  shirt- 
sleeved  farmers  at  Bennington,  under  Stark;  of 
the  two  desperate  battles  which  Burgoyne  was 
forced  to  fight  at  Freeman's  Farm,  on  Bemis 
Heights,  near  Saratoga,  and  of  his  surrender,  on 
the  17th  of  October,  with  6,000  men, — the  story 
is  too  long  to  be  told  in  this  place.  Undeserved 
credit  for  the  great  success  was  won  by  General 
Horatio  Gates,  an  intriguing  officer,  whom  con- 
gress had  put  in  Schuyler's  place,  and  who  came 
on  the  scene  after  the  fate  of  Burgoyne  had  prac- 
tically been  sealed.  Schuyler  had  directed  the 
resistance  to  Burgoyne  with  great  prudence  and 
skill,  and  the  glory  of  the  two  victories  on  Bemis 
Heights  belonged  to  Benedict  Arnold  and  Daniel 
Morgan;     but   the   laurels   were   carried   off   by 


General 
Gates 


ioo8 


The  Period  of  Washington 


Howe's 
movement 
on  Phila- 
delphia 


Battle  of 
the 

Brandy- 
wine, 
Sept.  II, 
1777 


The  winter 
at  Valley 
Forge, 
1777-1778 


General  Gates,  who  became  now  an  Intriguing 
and  strongly  backed  candidate  for  Washington's 
place. 

When  General  Howe  should  have  been  moving 
up  the  Hudson  to  cooperate  with  Burgoyne,  he 
turned  his  army  in  the  contrary  direction  and 
effected  a  useless  capture  of  Philadelphia.  Orders 
directing  him  to  meet  Burgoyne  had  been  pigeon- 
holed in  London  by  a  careless  minister,  and,  act- 
ing on  his  own  judgment,  he  went  wildly  astray. 
Washington  hindered  and  delayed  the  Phila- 
delphia movement  to  the  best  of  his  ability,  forc- 
ing the  British  general  to  transport  his  troops  by 
sea  to  the  head  of  Chesapeake  Bay;  but  when  he 
fought  them  at  the  Brandywine  his  forces  were 
not  adequate  and  he  gave  way.  Howe  entered 
Philadelphia,  and  congress  fled  to  York.  A  week 
later,  Washington  attempted  to  surprise  the 
British  headquarters,  in  the  Germantown  suburb, 
by  a  night  attack,  but  his  plans  were  spoiled  by 
disastrous  mishaps. 

Howe  passed  the  winter  with  gayety  In  Phila- 
delphia; Washington  placed  his  army  in  winter- 
quarters  at  Valley  Forge,  on  the  Schuylkill, 
twenty-one  miles  away.  That  winter  of  1777-8  is 
memorable  for  the  sufferings  of  the  half-clad  and 
ill-fed  American  army,  and  for  the  sore  personal 
trials  of  its  great-souled  commander-in-chief.  To 
shallow  lookers-on,  the  latter  seemed  to  have 
done  nothing  to  be  compared  with  the  boasted 
exploit  of  Gates  at  Saratoga,  and  intrigues  to 
supplant  him  were  begun  anew.     Congress  was 


United  States  in  Alliance  With  France  1009 

tainted  deeply  by  the  envies  and  ignorances  at  the 
root  of  the  intrigue;  for  many  of  its  high-minded 
and  able  men  had  left  their  seats  for  service 
abroad  or  in  the  several  States.  As  for  the  Gates 
faction  in  the  army, — called  the  "Conway  cabal,"  ^^^ 
from  the  active  prominence  of  a  certain  General  "Conway 
Conway, — it  was  virulent,  but  not  large.  The 
conspiracy  had  no  substantial  success,  and  it  was 
not  long  in  so  exposing  its  own  meanness  of 
spirit,  by  contrast  with  the  loftiness  of  character 
in  Washington,  that  public  opinion  crushed  it 
with  contempt. 

The  time  was  far  from  being  altogether  one  of 
darkness  on  the  American  side;    for  France,  in  ^u^nce 
February,  signed  a  treaty  of  open  alliance  with  with 
the  United  States,  challenging  England  to  war,  Feb"ri778 
which  the  latter  declared  in  the  following  month. 
Personal   alliances,    too,   of  great  value   to   the 
cause,  had  been  formed  of  late.    Lafayette,  w^ith 
his  fine  temper,  his  warm  enthusiasm,  his  affec- 
tionate   admiration    of   Washington,    his    useful 

1.313  VCttC 

influence  in  France, — Steuben,  with  his  Prussian  steuben, ' 
training,  and  his  thorough  military  knowledge, —  p^^t!^' 
De  Kalb  and  Pulaski,  with  their  splendid  valor, 
— had  come  to  give  their  services  to  the  young 
republic, — two  of  them  to  die  in  its  defense. 

Spring  brought  overtures  of  peace  from  Great 
Britain,  but  not  the  recognition  of  independence, 
without  which  no  peace  could  be  made.  Military 
operations  were  reopened  in  June,  when  Sir 
Henry  Clinton,  who  had  superseded  Howe  in  the 
British  command,  abandoned  the  useless  occupa- 


loio  The  Period  of  Washington 

Battle  of      -tion  of  Philadelphia,  movin?  back  to  New  York. 

Monmouth  ,        ,  j  j  •   i 

Court  Washington  broke  camp  and  pursued,  with  an 

j!in"e  2*8       army  about  equal  to  that  In  retreat.     At  Mon- 
1778  mouth  Court  House,  New  Jersey,  he  overtook  the 

enemy  and  prepared  to  attack;  but,  unfortu- 
nately, his  advance  was  commanded  by  General 
Charles  Lee,  who  Is  now  known  to  have  been 
treacherous  on  former  occasions,  and  who  acted, 
probably,  with  traitorous  Intentions  again.  Lee's 
bewildering  orders  produced  a  disorderly  retreat, 
instead  of  an  attack,  until  Washington  reached 
the  front  and  saved  the  army  from  disaster;  but 
the  promising  opportunity  for  an  important 
stroke  was  lost.  Clinton  made  his  way  to  New 
York,  and  the  military  situation  in  that  region 
settled  to  inactivity  for  the  remainder  of  the  war. 
ton  again  Washington  kept  his  post  at  the  center  of  the 
theHudI  whole  field,  specially  on  guard  over  the  Hudson, 
while  detaching  forces  from  his  immediate  com- 
mand to  meet  exigencies  at  other  points. 

Plans  of  cooperation  with  a  French  fleet,  under 
Count  d'Estaing,  In  a  movement  on  New  York, 
were  baffled  by  the  inability  of  the  larger  French 
vessels  to  cross  the  bar.  There  was  failure,  too, 
in  a  subsequent  undertaking  with  the  French 
fleet,  in  the  same  summer  (1778),  to  dislodge  the 
British  from  Newport,  their  sole  foothold,  outside 
of  New  York,  in  the  whole  thirteen  States. 
Marauding  parties  from  Newport  and  New  York 
continued  to  harass  the  New  England  coast,  and 
this,  for  a  long  period,  was  the  only  warfare  con- 
ducted by  the  regular  British  forces  in  any  part 


Washington  Guarding  the  Hudson  ioii 

of  the  north.     But  bands  of  malignant  Tories,  Tory  and  . 
who  had  taken  refuge  in  western  New  York  and  raids 


Canada,  with  their  headquarters  at  Fort  Niagara, 
led  war  parties  of  Indians  in  savage  raids  upon 
Wyoming,  Cherry  Valley,  and  other  frontier 
settlements  of  Pennsylvania  and  New  York.    In  ^  „.     , 

/^  1  o     IT  1         Sullivan  s 

the  summer  of  1779  General  bullivan  was  sent  by  expeditioQ 
.Washington  Into  western  New  York,  with  a  force 
of  5,000  men,  to  chastise  the  white-sklnned  and 
red-skinned  barbarians  who  did  this  bloody  work. 
Sullivan  executed  his  commission  relentlessly,  so 
far  as  the  offending  Indians  in  the  Genesee  valley 
were  concerned,  but  Fort  Niagara  was  not 
reached. 

Farther  west,  a  young  surveyor,  George  Rogers 
Clark,  commissioned  by  Governor  Patrick  Henry,  western 
of  Virginia,  and  leading  a  small  force  of  hardy  conquests 
frontier  riflemen,  had  been  operating  in  an  inde- 
pendent way  since  the  summer  of  1778.     Clark 
captured    the    British    posts    at   Kaskaskia    and  j^nnJngof 
Kahokia,  on  the  Mississippi,  and  VIncennes,  on  the  West, 
the  Wabash,  thereby  establishing  claims  of  con-  ch.  i,  iii/viu 
quest  which  assumed  importance  when  bounda- 
ries were  in  question  at  the  end  of  the  war. 

At  sea  the  British  possessed  every  advantage, 
and  their  commerce  suffered  little  from  American 
privateers,  compared  with  the  destruction  they 
were  able  to  Inflict  on  American  trade.  But 
Captain  Paul  Jones,  a  Scotch  sailor,  commis-  exploits  of 
sioned  by  the  continental  congress  and  equipped  ^f^Uones, 
in  1779  with  a  small  squadron,  In  France,  began 
then   to  make   himself  a   terror   to   the   British 


IOI2 


The  Period  of  Washington 


British  sub- 
jugation of 
Georgia 
and  South 
Carolina, 
1778-1779 


British 
capture  of 
Charleston, 
May,  1780 


Partisan 
warfare  in 
South 
Carolina 


coasts,  as  well  as  to  British  merchant  fleets.  The 
desperate  battle  of  his  flagship,  the  Bon  Homme 
Richard,  with  the  English  frigate  Serapis,  in 
September,  that  year,  is  one  of  the  heroic  inci- 
dents of  the  war. 

The  main  seat  of  war  had  now  been  transferred 
by  the  British  to  the  southern  States.    Beginning 
near  the  close  of  the  year  1778  with  the  capture  of 
Savannah,  they  accomplished,  substantially,  the 
subjugation  of  Georgia  and  South  Carolina  in  the 
course  of  the  next  eighteen  months.    An  attempt 
by  General  Lincoln,  commanding  in  the  south, 
and  Count  d'Estaing,  with  the  French  fleet,  to 
recover  Savannah,  in  the  fall  of  1779,  failed,  with 
the  loss  of  a  thousand  men.     Count  Pulaski,  the 
gallant  Pole,  was  among  those  who  fell  in  a  disas- 
trous assault.     In  the  following  spring  Sir  Henry 
Clinton,   coming   from   New   York   v/ith   heavy 
reinforcements,  inclosed  Lincoln  and  his  army  in 
Charleston  and  captured  the  whole.     Soon  after 
that  important  exploit  he  returned  to  New  York, 
leaving    Cornwallls    in    the    southern  command. 
The  condition  of  South  Carolina  was  then  pitiable 
in  the  extreme.    In  attempts  to  compel  the  entire 
people  to  swear  allegiance  to  King  George,  and  to 
give  active  assistance  to  the  king's  troops,  a  cruel 
hunting   of   stubborn    patriots   was   carried   on. 
The  war  assumed  a  partisan  or  guerrilla  charac- 
ter, more  than  elsewhere  or  at  any  other  time; 
and  the  adventures,  of  Marion,  Sumter,  and  other 
dashing  captains  of  small  bands,  who  harassed 
Tarleton  and  Ferguson,  the  active  commanders  of 


The  War  in  the  Southern  States  1013 

British  and  Tory  forces,  have  given  to  revolu- 
tionary history  some  of  Its  most  romantic  tales. 

Against  the  wish  of  Washington,  congress  sent 
Gates  to  command  In  the  south,  and  he  made  the  the^^uth 
situation   worse  by  rushing  his   small   army  to 
dreadful  defeat  and  destruction  at  Camden,  where 
De  Kalb  came  to  his  death. 

At  this  time  the  discouragements  of  the  coun- 
try were,  apparently,  the  heaviest  it  had  known. 
Congress  had  issued  paper  promises  ("continental 
currency,"  so-called),  based  on  no  resources  of 
taxation  or  any  substantial  authority,  until  that 
fictitious  money  had  lost  all  worth.    Most  of  the 
States  had  been  doing  the  same.    Of  real  money  ageme^nts 
there  was  almost  none  in  the  land.    There  was  no  of  the  time, 
public  credit;  there  was  no  foreign  trade.    Wash- 
ington was  driven  to  the  levying  of  forced  con- 
tributions for  the  feeding  of  his  men,  who  re- 
ceived no  pay,  practically,  and  little  promise  of 
any  to  come.     Desertions  were  increasing  and 
recruits  were  few.     Six  thousand  French  troops, 
under  General  Rochambeau,  had  arrived  at  New-  Fr"ndi  °  ^ 
port  (from  which  the  British  withdrew  in  the  ^''^^ 
previous   autumn),   but   the   fleet  that  brought 
them  was  blockaded  immediately,  and  they  were 
held  to  support  it  if  attacked.    To  crown  these 
many  disheartenments  came  the  discovery  of  the  Benedict" 
treason  planned  by  Benedict  Arnold,  then  com-  Arnold, 
manding  at  West  Point.    Arnold's  services  as  a 
soldier  had  been  very  great,  and  men  less  deserv- 
ing had  been  put  above  him  in  rank.    He  brooded 
over  his  grievances  till  they  poisoned  his  soul,  and 


I0I4  The  Period  of  Washington 

he  became  willing  to  ruin  the  cause  of  his  country 
for  the  sake  of  revenge.  West  Point  was  the 
American  stronghold  on  the  Hudson;  to  lose  it 
was  to  lose  all  that  Washington  had  guarded  so 
carefully  and  so  long.  Arnold  sought  and  ob- 
tained the  command  there,  for  the  purpose  of 
betraying  the  fort,  and  had  arranged  all  the 
details  of  the  betrayal  with  Major  John  Andre,  of 
Sir  Henry  Clinton's  staff,  who  came  to  confer 
with  him  inside  of  the  American  lines.  The 
unfortunate  Andre  was  captured  on  his  way  back 
to  New  York,  and  suffered  death  as  a  spy.    The 

Major         traitor,  Arnold,  received  warning  of  the  discovery 

Andr4         gf  his  plot  in  time  to  escape. 

The  darkest  hours  were  now  past,  and  there 
began  to  be  a  breaking  of  light  in  the  south, — the 
herald  of  a  coming  day  of  independence  and 
peace.  Its  first  gleam  shone  from  the  mountain 
border  of  the  Carolinas,  where  the  British  major 
Ferguson,  pursuing  armed  patriots  too  vigor- 
ously, stirred  up  the  Scotch-Irish  and  Huguenot 
frontiersmen,  who  had  taken  no  part,  hitherto,  in 
the  war.    They  swarmed  out  of  their  mountain 

Ktng'^s°       settlements,  and  Ferguson,  with  400  of  his  men, 

Mountain,    fgH  in  battle  with  them,  at  King's  Mountain. 

Oct.  7, 1780  .  .        .  ° 

This  was  the  beginning  of  events  that  wrought  a 
complete  change  in  the  situation  at  the  south. 
Washington  was  permitted  in  December  to  send 
General  Nathanael  Greene  to  supersede  Gates, 
with  Daniel  Morgan  and  Henry  Lee  ("Light 
Horse  Harry,"  father  of  Robert  E.  Lee),  in  sub- 
ordinate commands.    Morgan  defeated  Tarleton, 


CoRNWALLis'  Blunder  1015 

In   a   remarkable   battle   at  the   Cowpens,   and 
Greene    fought    Cornwallis    at    Guilford    Court  General 
House,  with  sufficient  success  to  hold  his  ground,  Greene's 
while  the  latter  withdrew  to  Wilmington,   and  in  the 
moved  presently  into  Virginia,  leaving  others  to  ^°^^^'  '''^^ 
contest  the  Carolinas  with  Greene.     Within  a  ^ 

Oreene, 

few  months  that  able  general,  winning  good  fruits  ii/>  of 
even  from  battles   that  were  not  victories,   at  Greene, 
Hobklrk's  Hill  and  Eutaw  Springs,  wrested  both  3:bk.<t 
States  from  the  enemy,  excepting  only  the  city  of 
Charleston. 

While  Greene  achieved  deliverance  for  the 
Carolinas,  the  last  and  grandest  act  in  the  drama 
of  war  was  performed,  by  other  actors,  on  the 
Virginia  stage.     Considerable  British  forces  had  „   .    . 

°  ,  ...  Beginning 

been  ravaging  the  eastern  parts  of  Virginia  for  of  the  end 
some  months  before  Cornwallis  came  to  join 
them,  at  Petersburg,  In  May.  Lafayette,  at 
Richmond,  was  opposing  them  with  a  little  army 
of  about  3,000  men,  and  Steuben  was  raising  and 
organizing  a  few  more.  Lafayette  retreated  when  Lafayette 
Cornwallis  moved  against  him,  and  was  pursued,  in  Virginia 
the  British  laying  waste  a  wide  region  of  country, 
almost  to  the  Rapldan.  Then  Cornwallis  com- 
mitted the  fatal  error  of  returning  to  the  sea- 
board and  taking  a  position  with  his  army  at 
Yorktown,  In  the  narrow  part  of  the  peninsula 
between  the  York  River  and  the  James.  It  was  a 
safe  position  so  long  as  the  British  controlled  the 
sea;  but,  unknown  to  Cornwallis,  a  strong  French 
fleet  was  expected  from  the  West  Indies  at  this 
time,  for  a  planned  attack  on  New  York.    Wash- 


ioi6 


The  Period  of  Washington 


Cornwallis 
trapped  at 
Yorktown 


Surrender 
of  Corn- 
wallis, Oct. 
19,  1781 


The  effect 
in  England, 
March, 
1782 


Negotia- 
tion of 
peace, 
1782-1783 


Lecky, 
History  of 
England, 
jSth 

Century, 
4  :  218-232, 
243-2SS, 
275-284 


Ington  saw  instantly  that  something  better  than 
the  movement  against  New  York  could  be  done 
with  the  help  of  this  fleet.  Concerting  arrange- 
ments with  the  French  admiral,  Count  de  Grasse, 
and  with  Rochambeau,  the  French  general,  while 
deceiving  Sir  Henry  Clinton,  at  New  York,  he 
suddenly  transferred  2,000  of  his  own  troops  and 
4,000  of  Rochambeau's,  with  great  celerity,  from 
the  Hudson  to  the  James.  Lafayette  had  fol- 
lowed Cornwallis  and  was  intrenched  in  his  rear, 
and  the  French  fleet  had  secured  possession  of 
Chesapeake  Bay.  The  trap  was  complete.  At 
the  end  of  a  short,  sharp  siege,  the  English  com- 
mander, hopeless  of  relief,  surrendered,  with  a 
few  more  than  8,000  men. 

This  blow  broke  the  party  in  England  which 
upheld  the  American  War,  drove  Lord  North  and 
his  colleagues  to  resign,  and  forced  the  king  to 
accept  ministers  who  desired  peace.  A  private 
agent,  sent  to  Paris,  opened  conferences  there 
with  Dr.  Franklin,  which  led  to  more  formal 
negotiations  between  commissioners  from  both 
governments,  and,  finally,  to  the  signing  of  a 
provisional  treaty,  at  Paris,  on  the  30th  of 
November,  1782.  This  was  not  to  have  effect, 
however,  till  the  arrangement  of  peace  between 
Great  Britain  and  France,  which  came  to  com- 
pletion on  the  third  of  September,  1783.  By  the 
definite  treaty  then  signed,  the  United  States 
secured  western  territory  to  the  Mississippi,  and 
from  the  Floridas  to  the  Great  Lakes;  but  with 
northeastern    and    northwestern    boundaries    so 


End  of  the  War  of  American  Independence         1017 
Ill-defined  that  they  gave  trouble  for  many  years.  '^"'"^  °^ 

^    °  "^    ■"    ,  the  treaty 

Important  rights  were  conceded  to  American 
fishermen  on  the  British-American  coasts.  On 
two  questions,  serious  difficulties  in  the  framing 
of  the  treaty  arose  from  the  want  of  any  national 
authority  In  the  government  of  the  loose  con- 
federation of  the  United  States.  One  related  to  J^^  ^^^ 
the    treatment    of    the    American    loyalists,    or  American 

,       ,   .  ....  I-    loyalists 

Tories,  against  whom  the  bitter  feeling  in  most  of 
the  States  led  to  cruelly  persecuting  acts,  con- 
fiscating their  property  and  driving  them  from 
their  homes.    Some  of  these  people  had  provoked  ^J^'^' '" 
that  feeling  by   malignant   and   barbarous   hos-  and  Critical 
tilities  In  the  war;   but  a  large  part  of  them  vv^ere  X^v^t^ 
men  of  character  and  culture,  whose  loyalty  to 
Great  Britain  had  been  conscientious,  and  whose 
expulsion  from  the  country  was  a  serious  mistake. 
The  British  government  felt  bound  to  protect  character 
them;  but  that  of  the  United  States  had  no  power 
to  control  the  action  of  the  States,  and  could  only 
promise  the  exercise  of  an  Influence  which  proved 
to  have  no  effect.    On  the  other  question,  relating 
to  debts  that  were  due  to  British  creditors  when  to^rkisT 
the  war  began,  the  difficulty  was  the  same.    The  creditors 
treaty  stipulated  that  those  creditors  should  meet 
with  no  lawful  Impediment  in  the  collection  of 
their  dues;    but  many  of  the  States  interposed 
such  impediments,  and  congress  was  powerless  to 
interfere.     These  matters  became  Irritating  for 
many  years,  provoking  the  English  government 
to  refuse  the  surrender  of  a  number  of  Important 
frontier  and  western  forts. 


ioi8 


The  Period  of  Washington 


Disbanding       When  the  time  came  for  disbandin?  the  con- 

the  con-  ,  ^  " 

tinentai        tlneiital  army,  nothing  but  the  personal  influence 
^™y  of  Washington  prevented  a  dangerous  outbreak 

of  bad  feeUng,  stirred  up  by  some  mischievous 
agitators,  In  consequence  of  the  arrears  of  pay 
that  were  due  to  officers  and  men.  Thanks  to  the 
Illimitable  trust  reposed  In  the  great  commander- 
in-chief,  a  pacifying  arrangement  was  brought 
Retirement  about  and  the  army  was  dissolved.  Washington 
of  Wash-  took  leave  of  his  officers  at  New  York  on  the  4th 
Dec,  1783  of  December,  1783,  resigned  his  commission  to 
congress,  at  Annapolis,  submitted  a  statement  of 
the  large  expenditures  he  had  made  from  his 
private  fortune  on  public  account,  exceeding 
$64,000,  and  declined  all  pay  beyond  the  reim- 
bursement of  that  sum.  On  Christmas  eve  he 
reached  his  home  at  Mount  Vernon,  which  he 
had  seen  but  once  In  eight  years. 

The  critical  period  of  American  history 

And  now  the  United  States  entered  on  what 
Dr.  FIske  has  described  correctly  as  being  "the 
critical  period  of  American  history."  The 
States  were  United  only  In  name.  They  had 
taken  their  place  among  the  nations  without 
being  a  nation,  in  any  right  sense  of  the  term. 
They  had  no  government  that  could  exercise  a 
national  authority  or  power.  Their  congress 
nationality  could  pledge  nothing  to  any  other  government 
and  guarantee  that  some  or  all  of  the  States 
would  not  repudiate  Its  pledge.  This  barred 
them  from  commercial  treaties,  to  restore  their 


Fiske, 

Critical 

Period 


in  the 

"United 

States" 


c 
to 


a. 

nj 

>• 

u 

<5 

u 

« 

•^ 

-<' 

o 

a 

^ 

.Tj 

y.     li 


o 

^ 

'u 

o 

o 

^ 

z 

^ 

r^ 

z 

00 

o 

■7j 

o 

a 

in 

— 

(^ 

~^ 

z 

— 

b 

"^ 

z 

^ 

—1 

V. 

s 

rH 

tfl 

< 

5 

-> 

o 

■^ 

1— , 

>. 

^ 

Adoption  of  American  Federal  Constitution        1019 

ruined  trade.    They  could  not  even  establish  free 
commerce  among  themselves.    They  could  build 
up  no  public  credit,  by  creating  any  method  for 
the  payment  of  their  general  war  debt.     There 
was  no  money  in  the  country  to  speak  of,  since 
the  "continental  currency"  had  sunk  to  utter  of°the^°" 
worthlessness,  and  no  agency  existed,  or  could  country 
exist,  in  the  circumstances,  that  Would  establish 
a  monetary  system.]  The  political  and  economical 
situation  was  one  of  chaos;    and  the  prevailing 
political   ideas,    for   some   years,   were   such   as 
appeared  to  put  anything  better  beyond  hope. 
Experience  under  British  rule  had  filled  the  minds 
of  the  majority  with  a  dread  of  strong  govern- 
ment that  was  greater  than  their  dread  of  any- 
thing  else.     Articles   of   Confederation,    agreed  "^^^^^^  ^ 
upon  with  slowness  and  difficulty  during  the  war,  Confedera- 
and  not  adopted  until  1781,  had  been  so  mal- 
formed by  that  dread  that  no  more  than  a  feeble 
"league  of  friendship"  was  contemplated  in  their 
design.     For  five  years  after  the  conclusion  of 
peace    every    attempt    to    amend    these    futile 
articles  was  baffled;   and  when,  at  last,  in  1787, 
favoring    circumstances    brought    together,    at  andAdoi>. 
Philadelphia,    a    convention    which    undertook  Federll^^ 
boldly,    not    proposals    of    amendment    to    the  ^^r"*"'' 
Articles  of  Confederation,  but  the  framing  of  a  i787-i788 
real  constitution  of  national  government,  nothing 
less  than  a  miracle  seemed  likely  to  secure  the 
ratification  of  its  work  by  a  sufficient  number  of  History  for 
States.     Prodigious  exertions  on  the  part  of  the  -?^f^y 

1  •  r     1  r    J  1  •  •  r  Reference 

champions  01  the  new  federal  constitution, — tore-  (Full  text) 


1020 


The  Period  of  Washington 


Curtis, 
History  of 
the  Origin 
[etc.]  oftlt£ 
Constitu- 
tion 


most  among  whom  were  Alexander  Hamilton  and 
James  Madison, — did  win  the  needed  ratification, 
however,  and  the  constitution  went  into  eiFect  in 
the  spring  of  1789,  with  George  Washington  as 
the  first  president  of  a  nationalized  federal  union 
of  the  States. 


Hostilities 
with 
France, 
Spain  and 
Holland 


Wars  in 

India, 

1780-1782 


The   British    empire  during   and  after  the  American 
Revolution 

Not  only  France,  but  Spain  after  1779  and 
Holland  after  1780,  were  drawn  into  conflict  with 
Great  Britain  during  the  American  War;  while  a 
hostile  league  of  "armed  neutrality"  among  the 
nations  of  northern  Europe  crippled  her  attempts 
to  break  up  the  trade  of  her  enemies.  All  these 
combinations,  however,  failed  to  overthrow  the 
naval  supremacy  of  England,  which  Admiral 
Rodney  confirmed  anew  by  two  great  victories,  in 
1780  and  1782,  over  Spanish  and  French  fleets. 

In  India,  France  renewed  her  attempts  to  shake 
the  ascendancy  of  the  English  company,  and  very 
nearly  with  success.  A  self-made  ruler,  Hyder 
AH,  of  remarkable  capacity  and  energy,  had 
erected  a  new  throne  in  Mysore,  establishing  a 
power  which  does  not  seem  to  have  been  esti- 
mated rightly  by  the  English  till  too  late.  They 
made  him  their  enemy,  while  the  French  gave 
him  all  possible  help.  The  consequence  was  a 
a  war  in  southern  India,  raging  from  July,  1780, 
till  the  end  of  1782,  during  which  the  whole  fabric 
of  British  power  in  the  east  seemed  near  to  over- 
throw more  than  once.     It  was   saved  by  the 


'  India — Ireland  1021 

administrative  energy  of  Warren  Hastings,  the  Warren 
governor-general,  and  by  the  military  skill  of  Sir  govemor- 
Eyre  Coote.    Hyder  Ali  died,  and  his  son,  Tippoo,  fjl'^[f' 
made  peace. 

The  political  government  in  India  had  been 
transferred  by  act  of  parliament,  in  1774,  from  the  fVarr'en 
London  directors  of  the  East  India  Company  to  a  '"""^'^ 
resident  governor-general  and  council,  appointed 
by  the  company,  but  subject  to  the  approval  of 
the  crown.  Warren  Hastings  was  the  first  of  the 
governors-general,  and  not  even  Clive  did  more 
than  he  in  the  founding  of  the  British  empire  in 
the  east.  At  the  end  of  his  administration  of  ten 
years  he  came  home  to  undergo  one  of  the  most 
famous  of  trials,  on  charges  of  infamous  oppres- 
sion, spoliation,  and  corruption  of  justice;  charges 
prosecuted  with  the  eloquence  of  Burke,  Sheridan 
and  Fox,  and  made  more  damning  in  later  years 
by  Macaulay's  immortalizing  pen.  Hastings  was 
kept  upon  trial  by  the  dilatory  lords  of  the  high 
court  of  parliament  for  eight  years,  and  then 
acquitted  on  every  charge.  The  search-light  of 
recent  historical  study  has  confirmed  that  acquit- 
tal, so  far  as  concerns  the  specific  accusations  of 
Burke  and  Macaulay;  but  has  shown  with  glaring 
certainty  that  neither  Clive  nor  Hastings,  nor 
many  others  of  their  generation,  were  scrupulous 
as  to  the  means  by  which  they  gathered  wealth 
for  the  great  company  and  for  themselves,  nor  as 
to  methods  in  their  subjugation  of  feeble  states. 

Ireland   derived   some   important  advantages 
from  the  struggle  in  which  England  was  engaged 


I022 


The  Period  of  Washington 


Conces- 
sions to 
Ireland, 
1780-1782 


McCarthy, 
Ireland 
since  the 
Union, 
ch.  3 


Political 
progress  in 
England 


with  so  many  enemies.  To  repel  threatened 
invasions  from  France,  the  government  was 
constrained  to  permit  the  raising  of  volunteers  in 
that  much  oppressed  island,  and  found  itself  con- 
fronted by  60,000  organized  men,  who  began  to 
make  demands  which  could  not  safely  be  refused. 
By  consequent  acts  passed  in  1780  and  1782, 
independence  was  given  to  the  Irish  parliament 
and  to  Irish  courts,  with  more  freedom  to  Irish 
industries  and  trade,  and  more  liberty  to  Irish 
Catholics  than  they  had  ever  enjoyed  before. 
But  the  Catholics,  forming  a  great  majority  of  the 
population,  were  still  shamefully  excluded  from 
representation  in  the  parliamerkt  of  their  kingdom, 
and  the  independence  of  that  body  only  hardened 
its  bigotry  and  made  it  corrupt. 

In  England  itself,  the  very  reaction  which  King 
George  and  his  "friends"  had  undertaken  to 
bring  about,  towards  arbitrary  government, 
brought  gains  to  the  people  in  the  end.  Especially 
the  freedom  of  speech  and  the  press,  and  the 
exposure  of  government  to  publicity  and  criti- 
cism, were  made  complete  and  secure,  not  only  by 
the  proceedings  against  Wilkes,  but  by  futile 
attempts  made  in  1771  to  stop  the  reporting  of 
parliamentary  debates.  Religious  bigotry,  too, 
was  compelled  to  begin  the  relaxation  of  its  anti- 
Catholic  laws,  and  a  few  of  the  most  atrocious 
measures  that  had  stood  on  the  statute  book 
since  the  end  of  the  last  century  were  repealed  in 
1778.  This  gave  rise  to  dreadful  rioting  by  Ignor- 
ant mobs,  stirred  up  especially  by  a  weak-minded^ 


Political  Progress  in  England  1023 

Scotch   nobleman,   Lord   George   Gordon,   with  ^he^^^ 
grave  consequences  of  destruction  and  pillage  in  riots,  1780 
London  for  four  days.     The  Gordon  riots  are 
described  with  vividness  in  Dickens's  story  of 
Barnahy  Rudge. 

Late  in  1783  the  younger  William  Pitt,  son  of  ^^ 
the  earl  of  Chatham,  a  young  man  of  but  twenty-  younger 
four  years,  was  called  to  the  lead  in  government  pii^'^™ 
by  the  king,  and  began  his  remarkable  career. 
Before  long,  he  had  won  the  confidence  of  the  p°J^^"^' 
country,  had  obtained  the  election  of  a  parlia- 
ment that  obeyed  his  will,  and  held  power  by  a 
tenure  that  was  nearly  independent  of  the  king. 
France  was  then  approaching  that  crisis  of  revolu- 
tion which  shook  all  society  and  every  govern- 
ment in  Europe,  and  the  abilities  of  the  young 
premier  of  Great  Britain  were  brought  soon  to  a 
remarkable  test. 

"England,  itself,  at  this  time,  was  entering 
upon  a  revolution,  very  different  from  that  which 
Impended  In  France,  but  the  silent  effects  of 
which  were  of  even  greater  moment  to  mankind.  J"^",'Jj"on 
There  exists  an  immense  difference  between  the  in  England, 
methods  and  the  organization  of  industry  in  the 
twentieth  century  and  those  that  were  practiced 
before.  It  is  a  difference  that  has  been  brought 
about  by  mechanical  Inventions  of  labor-saving 
machinery,  and  by  scientific  discoveries,  which 
have  increased  the  power  of  man  to  produce 
things  for  the  satisfaction  of  his  wants.  Such 
invention  began,  of  course,  when  civilization 
began;     but   it   went   forward    very   crceplngly 


I024  The  Period  of  Washington 

through  all  the  centuries  until  the  last  third  of  the 
eighteenth.  Then  a  sudden,  tremendous  leap  in 
it  nearly  broke  all  connection  between  the  ways 
in  which  the  work  of  the  world  was  done  before 
and  the  ways  in  which  it  has  since  been  done. 

"It  was  principally  in  England  that  the  revolu- 
tionary leap  of  inventive  enterprise  was  made, 
and,  consequently,  England  won  then  the  indus- 
trial as  well  as  the  commercial  leadership  of  the 
Spinning      ^°^^^-    Hargrcavcs,^  in  1764,  Arkwright,  in  1769, 
and  weav-    Crompton,  in  1779,  invented  spinning  machinery, 
ibn's™"     ^^^  Cartwright,  in  1784,  invented  a  power  loom, 
1764-1784     which  ended  the  hand-spinning  and  hand-weaving 
of  the  past;    James  Watt,   in    1776,   made  the 


Watt's 


steam  stcam  cngmc  a  cheap  and  practicable  source  of 

power    tor    movmg    such    machmes;     Smeaton, 
Cort,    and    others,    between     1760    and     1790, 
improved  and  cheapened  the  making  of  English 
iron,  and  Brindley  began  the  building  of  many 
canals  for  internal  trade,  while  Arthur  Young,  in 
that  period  and  after,  was  laboriously  teaching 
better  agriculture  to  the  tillers  of  the  soil.    While 
England  was  being  thus  armed  with  new  powers, 
and  better  highways  were  being  opened  to  trade, 
Smtth's        a  book  appeared,  entitled  The  Wealth  of  Nations, 
fafls!     ^y  -^^^"^  ^m\l\  which  taught  the  English  people 
i776  to  see  that  when  labor  is  most  free  to  produce  and 

to  exchange  what  it  produces,  with  least  inter- 
ference from  the  makers  of  law,  the  result  of 
general  wealth  is  greatest  and  most  sure.  It  was 
a  truth  learned  slowly,  but  with  extraordinary 
effect  in  the  end. 


Industrial  Revolution  in  England  1025 

"So  England,  at  the  outbreak  of  the  French 
Revolution,  was  passing  the  beginnings  of  a 
momentous  revolution  within  herself.  It  was  a 
revolution  as  much  social  as  economic.  It  gave 
rise  to  the  factory  system,  to  huge  manufacturing 
establishments,  to  powerful  combinations  of 
capital,  to  new  and  greater  inequalities  of  wealth. 
It  built  up  cities,  increased  their  population 
enormously,  and  created  in  them  a  class  of  work- 
ingmen  easily  stirred  by  ideas,  easily  combined, 
and  certain  to  become  a  power  In  the  state.  It 
made  the  region  of  coal  and  Iron,  in  the  north,  the 
most  thickly  peopled  part  of  the  land.  It  raised 
up  an  interest  In  the  country  which  soon  out- 
weighed the  landowning  Interest,  that  had  ruled 
It  before.  It  worked  great  and  rapid  changes  in  nl^ory  of 
the  structure  of  English  society,  and  In  Its  whole  England, 

character  and  tone." 

The  French  Revolution 


545 


While  England  was  passing  the  early  stages  of 
this  great  social  transformation,  France  was 
drawing  near  to  the  convulsions  of  a  political 
revolution  which  ended  the  old  modern  order,  not 
for  France  only,  but  for  Europe  at  large.  It  was 
a  catastrophe  toward  which  the  abused  French  prolchbg 
people  had  been  slipping  slowly  for  generations,  political 

11  -iii-ii  11  J-         revolution 

pushed  to  It  by  bimd  rulers  and  a  besotted  aris- 
tocracy. By  nature  a  people  ardent  and  lively  In 
temper,  hopeful  and  brave  In  spirit,  full  of  Intel- 
ligence, they  had  been  held  down  in  dumb  repres- 
sion: silenced  In  voice,  even  for  the  uttering  of 
their  complaints;    the  national  meeting  of  their 


I026 


The  Period  of  Washington 


ksi 


State  of  the 
kingdom 
under 
Louis  XIV, 
and  XV. 


Taine, 
The 

Ancient 
Regime 


Improving 
conditions 


representative  states-general  suppressed  for 
nearly  two  centuries;  taxes  wrung  from  them  on 
no  measure  save  the  will  of  a  wanton-minded  and 
ignorant  king;  their  beliefs  prescribed,  their  laws 
ordained,  their  courts  of  justice  commanded, 
their  industries  directed,  their  trade  hedged 
round,  their  rights  and  permissions  in  all  particu- 
lars meted  out  to  them  by  the  same  blundering 
and  irresponsible  autocracy.  How  long  would 
they  bear  it?  and  w*  "  1  their  deliverance  come  by 
the  easing  or  the  brt  'dng  of  their  yoke? — these 
were  the  only  questions. 

Their  state  was  probably  at  its  worst  in  the 
later  years  of  Louis  XIV.  That  seems  to  be  the 
conclusion  which  the  deepest  study  has  now 
reached,  and  the  picture  drawn  formerly  by  his- 
torians, of  a  society  that  sank  continually  into 
lower  miseries,  is  put  aside.  The  worst  state, 
seemingly,  was  passed,  or  nearly  so,  when  Louis 
XIV.  died.  It  began  to  mend  under  his  despicable 
successor,  Louis  XV., — perhaps  even  during  the 
regency  of  the  profligate  Orleans.  Why  it 
mended,  no  historian  can  be  said  to  have  ex- 
plained. The  cause  was  not  in  better  govern- 
ment; for  the  government  grew  worse.  It  did 
not  come  from  any  rise  in  character  of  the  privi- 
leged classes;  for  the  privileged  classes  abused 
their  privileges  with  increasing  selfishness.  But 
general  influences  were  at  work  In  the  world  at 
large,  stimulating  activities  of  all  kinds, —  indus- 
try, trade,  speculation,  combination.  Invention, 
experiment,  science,  philosophy, — and  whatever 


Preludes  to  the  French  Revolution  1027 

Improvement  occurred  in  the  material  condition 
and  social  state  of  the  common  people  of  France 
may  find  its  explanation  in  these.  There  was  an 
augmentation  of  life  in  the  air  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  and  France  took  some  Invigoratlon  from 
it,  despite  the  many  maladies  in  Its  social  system, 
and  the  oppressions  of  government  under  which 
it  bent. 

But  the  difference  between  the  France  of  Louis 
XIV.  and  the  France  of  Louis  XVL  was  more  in 
the  people  than  In  their  state.     If  their  misery 
was  a  little  less,  their  patience  was  still  less.    The 
stimulations  of  the  age,  which  may  have  given  The  people 
more  effectiveness  to  labor  and  more  energy  to  ^^^^'j^;^'^^ 
trade,  had  likewise  set  thinking  astir,  on  the  same 
practical   lines.      Men   whose    minds    in   former 
centuries  would  have  labored  on  riddles  dialecti- 
cal, metaphysical  and  theological,  were  now  bent 
on   the   pressing   problems   of   daily   life.     The 
mysteries  of  economic  science  began  to  challenge 
them.      Every    aspect    of    surrounding    society 
thrust    questions    upon    them,    concerning    its 
origin,  its  history,  its  inequalities,  its  laws  and 
their  principles,  its  government  and  the  source  of 
authority  in  It.    The  so-called  "philosophers"  of 
the    age, — Rousseau,    Voltaire    and    the    ency-  Rousseau, 
clopedlsts — were  not  the  only  questioners  of  the  3°^^^!,^^ 
social  world,  nor  did  the  questioning  all  come  "encydo- 
from  what  they  taught.     It  was  the  Intellectual 
epidemic  of  the  time,  carried  into  all  countries, 
penetrating  all  classes,  and  nowhere  with  more 
diffusion  than  in  France. 


I028 


The  Period  of  Washington 


Effects 
of  the 
American 
revolution 


Franklin 
in  France 


After  the  successful  revolt  of  the  English 
colonies  in  America,  and  the  conspicuous  blazon- 
ing of  democratic  doctrines  in  their  declaration  of 
independence  and  their  republican  constitution, 
the  ferment  of  social  free-thinking  in  France  was 
increased.  The  French  had  helped  the  colonists, 
fought  side  by  side  with  them,  watched  their 
struggle  with  intense  interest,  and  all  the  issues 
involved  in  the  American  revolution  were  dis- 
cussed among  them,  with  partiality  to  the  repub- 
lican side.  Franklin,  most  republican  repre- 
sentative of  the  young  republic,  came  among 
them  and  captivated  every  class.  He  recom- 
mended to  them  the  ideas  for  which  he  stood, 
perhaps  more  than  we  suspect. 

And  thus,  by  many  influences,  the  French 
people  of  all  classes  except  the  privileged  nobility, 
Louis  XVI.  ^^^  even  in  that  class  to  some  extent,  were  made 
increasingly  impatient  of  their  misgovernment 
and  of  the  wrongs  and  miseries  going  with  it 
Louis  XVI.,  who  came  to  the  throne  in  1774, 
was  the  best  in  character  of  the  late  Bourbon 
kings.  He  had  no  noxious  vices  and  no  baleful 
ambitions.  If  he  had  found  right  conditions 
prevailing  in  his  kingdom  he  would  have  made 
the  best  of  them.  But  he  had  no  capacity  for 
reforming  the  evils  that  he  inherited,  and  no 
strength  of  will  to  sustain  those  who  had.  He 
accepted  an  earnest  reforming  minister  with  more 
than  willingness,  and  approved  the  wise  measures 
of  economy,  of  equitable  taxation,  and  of  emanci- 
pation for  manufactures  and  trade,  which  Turgot 


1 774-1 793 


Conflict  of  the  Three  Estates  1029 

proposed.    But  when  protected  Interests,  and  the 
privileged    order    which    fattened    on    existing  Dismissal 

,  .        ,  c  •    •  L  ofTurgot, 

abuses,  raised  a  storm  or  opposition,  he  gave  way  1776 
to  it,  and  dismissed  the  man  who  might  possibly 
have  made  the  inevitable  revolution  a  peaceful 
one.     Another   minister,    the   Genevan   banker, 
Necker,  who  aimed  at  less  reform,  but  demanded  ofNecker, 
economy,    suffered   the   same   overthrow.     The  ^78i 
waste,  the  profligate  expenditure,  the  jobbery, 
the  leeching  of  the  treasury  by  high-born  pen- 
sioners   and    sinecure    office-holders,    went    on, 
scarcely  checked,  until  the  beginnings  of  actual 
bankruptcy  had  appeared. 

Then  a  cry,  not  much  heeded  before,  for  the 
convocation  of  the  states-general  of  the  kingdom 
— the  ancient  great  legislature  of  France,  extinct 
since  the  year  1614 — became  loud  and  general. 
The  king  yielded.    The  states-general  was  called 
to  meet  on  the  ist  of  May,  1789,  and  the  royal  ^^^fj- 
summons  decreed  that  the  deputies  chosen  to  It  Hay^'^i^ss 
from    the    third    estate — the   common   people — 
should  be  equal  In  number  to  the  deputies  of  the  ^j^^^'     , 
nobility  and  the  clergy  together.     So  the  dumb  the  French 
lips  of  France  as  a  nation  were  opened,  its  tongue 
unloosed.  Its  common  public  opinion  and  public  ^  . 
feeling  made  articulate,  for  the  first  time  in  one   The  French 
hundred  and  seventy-five  years.     And  the  word  bk!"!" '"" 
that  it  spoke  was  the  mandate  of  revolution. 

The  states-general  assembled  at  Versailles  on 
the  5th  of  May,  and  a  conflict  between  the  third  be°meen 
estate  and  the  nobles  occurred  at  once  on  the  the  three 
question    between    three    assemblies    and    one. 


I030 


The  Period  of  Washington 


The  third 

estate 

organized 

as  a 

national 

assembly 


Outbreak 
of  revolu- 
tion, July, 
1789 


Should  the  three  orders  deliberate  and  vote 
together  as  one  body,  or  sit  and  act  separately 
and  apart?  The  commons  demanded  the  single 
assembly.  The  nobles  and  most  of  the  clergy 
refused  the  union,  in  which  their  votes  would  be 
overpowered. 

After  some  weeks  of  deadlock  on  this  funda- 
mental issue,  the  third  estate  brought  it  to  a 
summary  decision,  by  asserting  its  own  suprem- 
acy, as  representative  of  the  mass  of  the  nation, 
and  organizing  itself  in  the  character  of  the 
"national  assembly"  of  France.  Under  that 
name  and  character  it  was  joined  by  a  con- 
siderable part  of  the  humbler  clergy,  and  by 
some  of  the  nobles, — additional  to  a  few,  like 
MIrabeau,  who  sat  from  the  beginning  with  the 
third  estate,  as  elected  representatives  of  the 
people.  The  king  made  a  weak  attempt  to  annul 
this  assumption  of  legislative  sufficiency  on  the 
part  of  the  third  estate,  and  only  hurried  the  ex- 
posure of  his  own  powerlessness.  Persuaded  by 
his  worst  advisers  to  attempt  a  stronger  demon- 
stration of  the  royal  authority,  he  filled  Paris 
with  troops,  and  inflamed  the  excitement,  which 
had  risen  already  to  a  passionate  heat. 

Necker,  who  had  been  recalled  to  the  ministry 
when  the  meeting  of  the  states-general  was 
decided  upon,  now  received  his  second  dismissal, 
and  the  news  of  it  acted  on  Paris  like  a  signal  of 
insurrection.  The  city  next  day  was  in  tumult. 
On  the  14th  the  Bastille  was  attacked  and  taken. 
The  king's  government  vanished  utterly.     His 


Outbreak  of  the  French  Revolution  103  i 

troops     fraternized     with     the     riotous     people. 
Citizens    of    Paris    organized    themselves    as    a 
national  guard,  on  which  every  hope  of  order 
depended,  and  Lafayette  took  command.     The 
frightened  nobility  began  flight,  first  from  Paris, 
and  then  from  the  provinces,  as  mob  violence  Jj/^^J"^^^ 
spread  over  the  kingdom  from  the  capital.     In  Lafayette,!-. 
October  there  were  rumors  that  the  king  had 
planned  to  follow  the  "emigres"  and  take  refuge 
in  Metz.    Then  occurred  the  famous  rising  of  the 
women;     their    procession    to    Versailles;     the 
crowd  of  men  which  followed,  accompanied  but 
not   controlled    by   Lafayette    and    his    national 
guards;    the  conveyance  of  the  king  and  royal  ^^^i^^^iy 
family  to  Paris,  where  they  remained  during  the  brought  to 

,  .       „       .  .     .  ,  Paris 

subsequent  year,  practically  m  captivity,  and  at  Oct.,  1789 
the  mercy  of  the  Parisian  mob. 

Meanwhile,  the  national  assembly,  negligent  of 
the  dangers  of  the  moment,  while  actual  anarchy 
prevailed,  busied  itself  with  debates  on  consti- 
tutional theory,  with  enactments  for  the  abolition 
of  titles  and  privileges,  and  with  the  creating  of 
an  inconvertible  paper  money,  based  on  confis- 
cated church  lands,  to  supply  the  needs  of  the 
national  treasury.  Meantime,  too,  the  members 
of  the  assembly  and  their  supporters  outside  of 
it  were  breaking  into  parties  and  factions,  divided 
by  their  different  purposes,  principles  and  aims, 
and  forming  clubs, — centers  of  agitation  and  dis- 
cussion,— clubs  of  the  Jacobins,  the  Cordeliers,  po^^jcai 
the  Feuillants  and  the  like, — where  fear,  distrust  ^'ubs, 

,     .       ,  1      •  r  •  Jacobin, 

and   jealousy   were   soon   engendering   lerocious  etc. 


lO'^Z 


The  Period  of  Washington 


Taine, 
The  French 
Revolution 
Z  :  bk.  4 


Death  of 
Mirabeau, 
April,  1 79 1 


Adoption 
of  a  consti- 
tution 


Election  of 
a  legislative 
assembly 
Oct.,  1791 


The 

Girondists 
in  power, 
1792 


conflicts  among  the  revolutionists  themselves. 
And  outside  of  France,  on  the  border  where  the 
fugitive  nobles  lurked,  intrigue  was  always 
active,  striving  to  enlist  foreign  help  for  King 
Louis  against  his  subjects. 

In  April,  1 791,  Mirabeau,  whOse  influence  had 
been  a  powerful  restraint  upon  the  revolution, 
died.  In  June,  the  king  made  an  attempt  to 
escape  from  his  durance  in  Paris,  but  was  cap- 
tured at  Varennes  and  brought  back.  Angry 
demands  for  his  deposition  were  now  made,  and  a 
tumultuous  republican  demonstration  occurred, 
on  the  Champ  de  Mars,  which  Lafayette  and  the 
mayor  of  Paris,  Bailly,  dispersed  by  force. 
Republicanism  had  not  yet  got  its  footing.  In  the 
constitution,  which  the  assembly  completed  at 
this  time,  the  throne  was  left  undisturbed.  The 
king  accepted  the  instrument,  and  a  constitu- 
tional monarchy  appeared  to  have  taken  the 
place  of  the  absolute  monarchy  of  the  past. 

It  was  an  appearance  maintained  for  little 
more  than  a  year.  The  constituent  national 
assembly  being  dissolved,  gave  way  to  a  legis- 
lative assembly,  elected  under  the  new  constitu- 
tion. In  the  legislative  assembly  the  republicans 
appeared  with  a  strength  which  soon  gave  them 
control.  They  were  divided  into  various  groups; 
but  the  most  eloquent  and  energetic  of  these, 
coming  from  Bordeaux  and  the  department  of  the 
Gironde,  fixed  the  name  of  Girondists  upon  the 
party  to  which  they  belonged.  The  king,  as  a 
constitutional  sovereign,  was  forced  presently  to 


Adoption  of  a  Constitution  in  France  1033 

choose  ministers  from  the  ranks  of  the  Girondists,  Lamartine, 

History  oj 

and  they  conducted  the  government  for  several  the 
months  in  the  spring  of  1792.    The  earliest  use  ^"""'^"'^ 
they  made  of  their  control   was   to  hurry  the 
country  into  war  with  the  German  powers,  which 
were   accused   of  giving  encouragement  to   the 
hostile  plans  of  the  emigres  on  the  border.    It  is 
now   a   well-determined   fact  that  the  emperor 
Leopold  was  opposed  to  war  with  France,  and 
used   all   his   influence   for  the   preservation   of 
peace.      It    was    revolutionary    France    which  theGlrman 
opened  the  conflict,  and  it  was  the  Girondists  powers 
who  led  and  shaped  the  policy  of  war. 

In  the  first  encounters  of  the  war,  the  undis- 
ciplined French  troops  were  beaten,  and  Paris 
was  alarmed.  Measures  were  adopted  which  the 
king  refused  to  sanction,  and  his  Girondist  minis- 
ters were  dismissed.  Lafayette,  who  commanded 
one  division  of  the  army  in  the  field,  approved  the 
king's  course,  and  wrote  an  unwise  letter  to  the 
assembly,  intimating  that  the  army  would  not 
submit  to  a  violation  of  the  constitution.  The  Rgpub- 
republicans  were  enraged.     Everything  seemed  I'cans 

,  .  enraged 

proof  to  them  of  a  treasonable  connivance  with 
the  enemies  of  France,  to  bring  about  the  subju- 
gation of  the  country,  and  a  forcible  restoration 
of  the  old  regime,  absolutism,  aristocratic  privi- 
lege and  all.  On  the  20th  of  June  there  was 
another  unchecked  rising  of  the  Paris  mob.  The 
rioters  broke  into  the  Tuileries  and  humiliated  "^'^f  '^'"s 

,  •    1     •  1  1  -1  and  queen 

the  kmg  and  queen  with  msults,  but  no  violence  mobbed, 
was   done.     Lafayette   came   to   Paris   and   at-  J""^''792 


1034 


The  Period  of  Washington 


Overthrow 
of  the 
monarchy, 
August, 
1792 

Stephens, 
History  of 
the  French 
R£V.,  Z  :  ch. 
iv. 


Lafayette 
in  exile 


tempted  to  reorganize  his  old  national  guard,  for 
the  defense  of  the  constitution  and  the  preserva- 
tion of  order,  but  failed. 

The  extremists  then  resolved  to  throw  down 
the  toppling  monarchy  at  once,  by  a  sudden  blow. 
In  the  early  morning  of  August  10,  they  expelled 
the  council-general  of  the  municipality  of  Paris 
from  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  and  placed  the  govern- 
ment of  the  city  under  the  control  of  a  provisional 
commune,  with  Danton  at  its  head.  At  the  same 
hour,  the  mob  which  these  conspirators  held  in 
readiness,  and  which  they  directed,  attacked  the 
Tuileries  and  massacred  the  Swiss  guard,  while 
the  king  and  the  royal  family  escaped  for  refuge 
to  the  chamber  of  the  legislative  assembly,  near 
at  hand.  There,  in  the  king's  presence,  on  a 
formal  demand  made  by  the  new  self-constituted 
municipality  or  commune  of  Paris,  the  assembly 
declared  his  suspension  from  executive  functions, 
and  invited  the  people  to  elect  without  delay  a 
national  convention  for  the  revising  of  the  con- 
stitution. 

Commissioners,  sent  out  to  the  provinces  and 
the  armies  In  the  field,  were  received  everywhere 
with  submission  to  the  change  of  government, 
except  by  Lafayette  and  his  army,  in  and  around 
Sedan.  The  marquis  placed  them  under  arrest 
and  took  from  his  soldiers  a  new  oath  of  fidelity 
to  the  constitution  and  the  king.  But  he  found 
himself  unsupported,  and,  yielding  to  the  sweep 
of  events,  he  obeyed  a  dismissal  by  the  new 
government  from  his  command,  and  left  France, 


Overthrow  of  the  French  Monarchy  1035 

to  wait  in  exile  for  a  time  when  he  might  serve  his 
country  with  a  conscience  more  assured. 

Pending  the  meeting  of  the  convention,  the 
Paris   commune,    increased   in    number   to   two 
hundred    and   eighty-eight,    and   dominated   by  ruled  by 
Danton  and  Robespierre,  became  the  governing  the  Pans 

^  '     _  ^  "  ^    commune, 

power  in  France.    The  legislative  assembly  was  Aug.-Sept., 
subservient  to  it;    the  kingless  ministry,  which  *^^^ 
had   Danton   in   association   with   the    restored 
Girondists,  was  no  less  so.     The  fierce  vigor  of 
the   commune   caused   the    king   and   the   royal  _ 

,         .         .  J    Impnson- 

f  amily  to  be  imprisoned  in  the  Temple ;  mstituted  ment  of  the 
a    special    tribunal    for    the    summary    trial    of     "^ 
political  prisoners:  searched  Paris  for  "suspects," 

1  •    1  r     A  ^  .U         J     *U  The  "Sep- 

on  the  night  of  August  29-30;    gathered  three  te^^ber 
thousand  men  and  women  into  the  prisons  and  Massa- 

crcs 

convents  of  the  city;    planned  and  ordered  the  Sept.  2-7, 
"September  Massacres"  of  the  following  week,  *^^^* 
and   thus   thinned   the  whole   number  of  these 
"suspects"  by  a  half. 

On  the  22d  of  September  the  national  conven- 
tion assembled.     The  Jacobins,  who  controlled 
the  commune,  were  found  to  have  carried  Paris 
overwhelmingly,    and    all    France    largely    with 
them,  in  the  election  of  representatives.    A  furi-  Ja^lonai 
ous,  fanatical  democracy,  a  bloodthirsty  anarch-  convention 
ism,    was    in    the    ascendant.      The    republican 
Girondists  were  now  the  conservative  party  in  the 
convention.      They     struggled     to     hold     their 
ground,  and  very  soon  they  were  struggling  for  J^^^'° 
their  lives.    The  Jacobin  fury  was  tolerant  of  no 
opposition.     What  stood   in   its   path,   with  no 


1036 


The  Period  of  Washington 


Execution 
of  the  king, 
Jan.  21, 
1793 

Carlyle, 
French 
Revolution, 
bk.  2,  ch. 


Fall  of  the 
Girondists, 
June,  1793 


Stephens, 
History  of 
the  French 
Revolution, 
2  :  ch.  vii- 


The 
Jacobin 
"Moun- 
tain" 


The  mad- 
ness of  un- 
bounded 
power 


deadlier  weapon  than  an  argument  or  an  appeal, 
must  be,  not  merely  overcome,  but  destroyed. 
The  Girondists  would  have  saved  the  king  from 
the  guillotine,  but  they  dared  not  adopt  his 
defense,  and  their  own  fate  was  sealed  when  they 
gave  votes,  under  fear,  which  sent  him  in  January 
to  his  death.  Five  months  longer  they  contended 
irresolutely,  as  a  failing  faction,  with  their  terrible 
adversaries,  and  then,  in  June,  1793,  they  were 
proscribed  and  their  arrest  decreed.  Some 
escaped  and  raised  futile  insurrections  in  the 
provinces.  Some  stayed  and  faced  the  death 
which  awaited  them  in  the  fast  approaching 
"reign  of  terror." 

The  fall  of  the  Girondists  left  the  Jacobin 
"Mountain"  (so-called  from  the  elevation  of  the 
seats  on  which  its  deputies  sat  in  the  convention) 
unopposed.  Their  power  was  not  only  absolute  In 
fact,  but  unquestioned,  and  they  went  mad  In  the 
exercise  of  it.  The  same  madness  overcame  them 
in  the  mass  which  overcame  Nero,  Caligula, 
Caracalla,  as  individuals;  for  the  unnatural  and 
awful  feeling  of  unlimited  dominion  can  turn  the 
brain  of  a  suddenly  triumphant  faction  as  surely 
as  it  can  madden  a  single  shallow-minded  man. 
The  men  of  the  "Mountain"  were  not  only 
masters  of  France — except  In  La  Vendee  and  the 
neighboring  region  south  of  the  Loire,  where  an 
obstinate  Insurrection  had  broken  out — but  the 
armies  which  obeyed  them  had  driven  back  the 
invading  Germans,  had  occupied  the  Austrian 
Netherlands  and  had  taken  possession  of  Savoy 


The  "Reign  of  Terror"  1037 

and  Nice.     Intoxicated  by  these  successes,  the 
convention  had  proclaimed  a  crusade  against  all  Crusade 

,   .       ,  rr      '  against 

monarchical  government,  offermg  the  help  of  monarchies 
France  to  every  people  which  would  rise  against 
existing  authorities,  and  declaring  enmity  to 
those  who  refused  alliance  with  the  revolution. 
Holland  was  attacked  and  England  forced  to 
war.  The  spring  of  1793  found  a  great  European 
coalition  formed  against  revolutionary  France, 
and  justified  by  the  aggressions  of  the  Jacobinical 
government. 

For    effective    exercise    of    the    power    of   the 
Jacobins,  the  convention  as  a  whole  proved  too 
large  a  body,  even  when  it  had  been  purged  of 
Girondist   opposition.      Its    authority   was    now 
gathered  into  the  hands  of  the  famous  committee  mk^^^^' 
of   public    safety,    which    became,    in    fact,    the  P"t>Hc 
revolutionary      government,      controlling      the 
national  armies  and  the  whole  administration  of 
domestic  and  foreign  affairs.     Its  reign  was  the 
Reign  of  Terror,  and  the  fearful  "revolutionary  ofterS" 
tribunal,"  which  began  its  bloody  work  with  the  juiy.'  1794" 
guillotine  in  October,  1793,  was  the  chief  instru- 
ment of  its  power.    Robespierre,  Barere,  St.  Just,  frlnch 
Couthon,    Billaud-Varennes,    Collot   d'    Herbois  ^'■^oiuiion,^ 
and  Carnot — the  latter  devoted  to  the  business  of 
the  war — were  the  controlling  members  of  the 
committee.     Danton  withdrew  from  it,  refusing 
to  serve. 

In    September,    the    policy   of   terrorism   was  ^Hut^'^^of 
avowedly  adopted,  and,  in  the  language  of  the  the  French 

PIC  ,t  .  r  111  Revolution, 

aris  commune,      the  reign  of  terror      became  2:ch.x-xi 


1038 


The  Period  of  Washington 


it 


Execution 
of  the 
queen,  Oct. 
1 6,  1793 


Madame 
Roland 


Factions 

of  "the 

Mountain" 

devouring 

one 

another 

Morley, 
Robespierre 
(in  Critical 
Aliscellan- 
ies,  2.) 


Carlyle, 
French 
Revolution, 
3:bk.6 

Execution 
of  Danton, 
Aprils,i794 


the  order  of  the  day."  The  arraignment  of 
"suspects"  before  the  revolutionary  tribunal 
began.  On  the  14th  of  October  Marie  Antoinette 
was  put  on  trial;  on  the  i6th  she  met  her  death. 
On  the  31st  the  twenty-one  imprisoned  Girondist 
deputies  were  sent  to  the  guillotine;  followed  on 
the  loth  of  November  by  the  remarkable  woman, 
Madame  Roland,  who  was  looked  upon  as  the 
real  leader  of  their  party.  From  that  time  until 
the  midsummer  following,  the  blood-madness 
raged;  not  in  Paris  alone,  but  throughout  France, 
at  Lyons,  Marseilles,  Toulon,  Bordeaux,  Nantes, 
and  wherever  a  show  of  insurrection  and  resist- 
ance had  challenged  the  ferocity  of  the  commis- 
sioners of  the  revolutionary  government,  who  had 
been  sent  into  the  provinces  with  unlimited 
death-dealing  powers. 

But  when  Jacobinism  had  destroyed  all  ex- 
terior opposition,  it  began  very  soon  to  break  into 
factions  within  itself.  There  was  a  pitch  in  its 
excesses  at  which  even  Danton  and  Robespierre 
became  conservatives,  as  against  Hebert  and  the 
atheists  of  his  faction.  A  brief  struggle  ensued, 
and  the  Hebertists,  in  March,  1794,  passed  under 
the  knife  of  the  guillotine.  A  month  later  Dan- 
ton's  enemies  had  rallied  and  he,  with  his  fol- 
lowers, went  down  before  their  attack,  and  the 
sharp  knife  in  the  Place  de  la  Revolution  silenced 
his  bold  tongue.  Robespierre  remained  dominant 
for  a  few  weeks  longer  in  the  still  reigning  com- 
mittee of  public  safety;  but  his  domination  was 
already  undermined  by  many  fears,  distrusts  and 


u 

O 

H 

•" 

^ 

fl 

o- 

cc 

2 

o 

l/^ 

OG 

(^ 

— • 

w 

u 

K 

-i 

E-i 

^ 

(L. 

f^ 

o 

01 

t/2 

? 

S 

O 

bo 


Quarrels  Among  Revolutionists  1039 

jealousies  among  his  colleagues  and  throughout 

his  party.     His  downfall  came  suddenly  on  the 

27th  of  July.    On  the  morning  of  that  day  he  was 

the  dictator  of  the  convention  and  of  its  ruling  J'^'"^" 

committee;    at  night  he  was  a  headless  corpse,  pierre, 

•        •  July  27 

and  Paris  was  shouting  with  joy.  1794 

On  the  death  of  Robespierre  the  reign  of  terror 
came  quickly  to  an  end.  The  reaction  was  sudden  R";g°o5  ^ 
and  swift.  The  committee  of  public  safety  was  Terror 
changed;  of  the  old  members  only  Carnot,  indis- 
pensable organizer  of  war,  remained.  The  revolu- 
tionary tribunal  was  remodeled.  The  Jacobin 
club  was  broken  up.  The  surviving  Girondist 
deputies  came  back  to  the  convention.  Prosecu- 
tion of  the  terrorists  for  their  crimes  began.  A 
new  struggle  opened,  between  the  lower  elements 
in  Parisian  and  French  society,  the  sansculotte 
elements,  which  had  controlled  the  revolution 
thus  far,  and  the  middle  class,  the  bourgeoisie, 
long  cowed  and  suppressed,  but  now  rallying  to 
recover  its  share  of  power.  Bourgeoisie  tri-  \^^^^l^^^^ 
umphed  in  the  contest.     The  sansculottes  made  rising, 

,      :,  _.  ..  ,  -r)*'!  J    May,  179S 

their  last  effort  m  a  rismg  on  the  ist  rrairial,  and 
were  put  down. 

A  new  constitution  was  framed,  which  organ- 
ized the  government  of  the  republic  under  a 
leelslaturc  in  two  chambers, — a  council  of  five  Anew 

,  ,        1  1  -1         r  •  -^1  republican 

hundred    and    a    council   oi    ancients, — with    an  constitu- 
executive  directory  of  five.     But  only  one-third  s^t.^j^g- 
of    the    legislature    first    assembled    was    to    be 
elected  freely  by  the  people.    The  remaining  two- 
thirds  were  to  be  taken  from  the  membership  of 


1040 


Advent  of 
Napoleon 
Bonaparte, 
Oct.  5, 1794 


The 
Directory 


War  with 
the 

Coalition, 
1794-179S 


The  Period  of  Washington 

the  existing  convention.  Paris  rejected  this  last- 
mentioned  feature  of  the  constitution,  while 
France  at  large  ratified  it.  The  national  guard  of 
Paris  rose  in  insurrection  on  the  13th  Vendemiare 
(October  5),  and  it  was  on  this  occasion  that  the 
young  Corsican  officer,  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  got 
his  foot  on  the  first  round  of  the  ladder  by  which 
he  climbed  afterward  to  so  great  a  height.  Put  in 
command  of  the  regular  troops  in  Paris,  which 
numbered  only  5,000,  against  30,000  of  the 
national  guards,  he  crushed  the  latter  in  an 
action  of  an  hour.  That  was  the  opening  hour  of 
his  career. 

The  government  of  the  directory  was  instituted 
on  the  27th  of  October  following.  Of  its  five 
members,  Carnot  and  Barras  were  the  only  men 
of  note,  then  or  after. 

While  France  was  cowering  under  "the  Ter- 
ror," its  armies,  under  Jourdan,  Hoche  and 
Pichegru,  had  withstood  the  great  European 
combination  with  astonishing  success.  The  allies 
were  weakened  by  ill  feeling  between  Prussia  and 
Austria,  over  the  second  partition  of  Poland,  and 
generally  by  a  want  of  concert  and  capable 
leadership  in  their  action.  On  the  other  side,  the 
democratic  military  system  of  the  republic,  under 
Carnot's  keen  eyes,  was  bringing  fresh  soldierly 
talent  to  the  front.  The  fall  of  the  Jacobins  made 
no  change  in  that  vital  department  of  the  admin- 
istration, and  the  successes  of  the  French  were 
continued.  In  the  summer  of  1794  they  carried 
the  war  into  Germany,  and  expelled  the  allies 


Advent  of  Napoleon  Bonaparte  1041 

from  the  Austrian  Netherlands.     Thence  they  Holland 

subjugated. 

Invaded  Holland,  and  before  the  end  of  January,  Jan.,  1795 
1795,  they  were  masters  of  the  country;  the 
stadtholder  had  fled  to  England,  and  a  Batavian 
republic  had  been  organized.  Spain  had  suffered 
losses  in  battle  with  them  along  the  Pyrenees,  and 
the  king  of  Sardinia  had  yielded  to  them  the 
passes  of  the  Maritime  Alps.  In  April  the  king 
of  Prussia  made  peace  with  France.  Before  the 
close  of  the  year  1795  the  revolt  In  La  Vendee 
was  at  an  end;  Spain  had  made  peace;  Pichegru 
had  attempted  a  great  betrayal  of  the  armies  on 
the  Rhine,  and  had  failed. 

This,  in  brief,  was  the  situation  at  the  opening 
of   the    year    1796,    when    the    "little    Corslcan 
officer,"  who  won  the  confidence  of  the  new  gov-  pint's 
ernment  of  the  directory  by  saving  Its  constitu-  f^mpaign 
tlon  on  the  13th  Vendemlare,  planned  the  cam-  1796 
paign  of  the  year,  and  received  the  command  of 
the  army  sent  to  Italy.     He  attacked  the  Sar- 
dinians in  April,  and  a  single  month  sufficed  to 
break  the  courage  of  their  king  and  force  him  to  a 
treaty  of  peace.    On  the  loth  of  May  he  defeated 
the  Austrlans  at  LodI;    on  the  15th  he  was  in 
Milan.     Lombardy  was  abandoned  to  him;    all  Lodi^° 
central    Italy   was    at    his    mercy,    and    he    be- 
gan   to    act    the    sovereign    conqueror    in    the 
peninsula,    with    a    contempt    for    the    govern- 
ment   at     Paris    which     he     hardly     concealed. 
Two    ephemeral    republics  were    created    under 
his    direction,     the    Cisalpine,     in     Lombardy,  Creation  of 
and  the  CIspadane,  embracing  Modena,  Ferrara  republics 


1042 


The  Period  of  Washington 


Treaty  of 
Campo 
Formio, 
Oct.,  1797 


Overthrow 
of  the 
republic  of 
Venice 


France 
under  the 
Directory, 
1797 


and  Bologna.  The  papacy  was  shorn  of  part  of 
its  domain. 

Every  attempt  made  by  the  Austrians  to  shake 
the  hold  which  Bonaparte  had  fastened  on  the 
peninsula  only  fixed  it  more  firmly.  In  the  spring 
he  began  movements  beyond  the  Alps,  in  concert 
with  Hoche  on  the  Rhine,  threatening  Vienna 
itself  and  frightening  Austria  into  proposals  of 
peace.  Preliminaries,  signed  in  April,  fore- 
shadowed the  hard  terms  of  the  treaty  concluded 
at  Campo  Formio  in  the  following  October. 
Austria  gave  up  her  Netherland  provinces  to 
France,  and  part  of  her  Italian  territories  to  the 
Cisalpine  republic;  but  received,  in  partial  com- 
pensation, the  city  of  Venice  and  a  portion  of  the 
dominions  of  the  Venetian  states;  for,  between 
the  armistice  and  the  treaty,  Bonaparte  had 
attacked  and  overthrown  the  venerable  republic, 
and  now  divided  it  with  his  humbled  enemy. 

The  masterful  Corsican,  who  handled  these 
great  matters  with  the  air  of  a  sovereign,  may 
already  have  known  himself  to  be  the  coming 
master  of  France.  For  the  inevitable  submission 
again  of  the  many  to  one  was  growing  plain  to 
discerning  eyes.  The  frightful  school-teaching  of 
the  revolution  had  not  impressed  practical  lessons 
in  politics  on  the  mind  of  the  untrained  democ- 
racy, so  much  as  suspicions,  distrusts  and 
alarms.  All  the  sobriety  of  temper,  the  confi- 
dence of  feeling,  the  constraining  habit  of  public 
order,  without  which  the  self-government  of  a 
people  Is  impracticable,  were  yet  to  be  acquired. 


France  Under  the  Directory  1043 

French  democracy  was  not  more  prepared  for  French 

.  1  •      1       1    1  democracy 

republican  institutions  m  1797  than  it  had  been  unprepared 
in  1789.     There  was  no  more  temperance  in  its  [anTnS- 
factions,   no  more  balance  between  parties,  no  tions. 
more  of  a  steadying  potency  in  public  opinion; 
but  it  was  brought  to  a   state  of  feeling  that 
would  prefer  the  sinking  of  all  factions  under 
some  vigorous   autocracy,   rather  than   another 
appeal  of  their  quarrels  to  the  guillotine.     And 
events  were  moving  fast  to  a  point  at  which  that 
choice  would  require  to  be  made.    The  summer 
of  1797  found  the  members  of  the  directory  in 
hopeless  conflict  with  one  another  and  with  the 
legislative  councils.     On  the  4th  of  September  a 
^''coup  d'  Hat^''  to  which  Bonaparte  contributed  coup  d'etat 
some  help,  purged  both  the  directory  and  the  of  1797 
councils  of  men  obnoxious  to  the  violent  faction, 
and  exiled  them  to  Guiana.    Perhaps  the  moment 
was  favorable  then  for  a  soldier,  with  the  great 
prestige  that  Bonaparte  had  won,  to  mount  to 
the  seat  of  power;   but  he  did  not  so  judge. 

He  planned,  instead,  an  expedition  to  Egypt,  g^^^_ 
directed  against  the  British  power  in  the  east,  parte's 
It  was  an  expedition  that  failed  in  every  object  it  ^  Egypt" 
could  have,  except  the  absence  in  which  it  kept  1798 
him  from  increasing  political  disorders  at  home. 
He  was  able  to  maintain  some  appearance  of  suc- 
cess, by  his  subjugation  of  Egypt  and  his  invasion 
of  Syria;  but  of  harm  done  to  England,  or  of  gain 
to  France  in  the  Mediterranean,  there  was  none; 
since  Nelson,  at  the  battle  of  the  Nile,  destroyed  Battle  of 

1    rr.       1  1  J      1  .the  Nile, 

the  French  fleet,  and  Turkey  was  added  to  the  Aug.1,1798 


I044 


The  Period  of  Washington 


Mahan, 
Influence  of 
Sea  Power 
on  French 
Rev.,  I  :  ch. 
ix 

New 
coalition 
against 
French 
aggres- 
sions, 1798 


French 
reverses  in 
Italy 


Anglo-Austrian  coalition.  The  blunder  of  the 
expedition,  as  proved  by  its  whole  results,  was 
not  seen  by  the  French  people  so  plainly,  how- 
ever, as  they  saw  the  growing  hopelessness  of 
their  own  political  state,  and  the  alarming 
reverses  which  their  armies  in  Italy  and  on  the 
Rhine  had  sustained  since  Bonaparte  went  away. 

Continued  aggressions  on  the  part  of  the 
French  had  provoked  a  new  European  coalition, 
formed  in  1798.  In  Switzerland,  the  French  had 
overthrown  the  ancient  constitution  of  the  con- 
federacy, organizing  a  new  Helvetic  republic  on 
the  Gallic  model,  but  taking  Geneva  to  them- 
selves. In  Italy  they  had  set  up  a  third  republic, 
the  Rorhan,  removing  the  pope  forcibly  from  his 
sovereignty  and  from  Rome.  Every  state  within 
reach  had  then  taken  fresh  alarm,  and  even  Russia, 
undisturbed  in  the  distance,  was  now  enlisted 
against  the  troublesome  democracy  of  France. 

The  unwise  king  of  Naples,  entering  rashly  into 
the  war  before  his  allies  could  support  him,  and 
hastening  to  restore  the  pope,  had  been  driven 
from  his  kingdom,  which  underwent  transforma- 
tion into  a  fourth  Italian  republic,  the  Partheno- 
peian.  But  this  only  stimulated  the  efforts  of  the 
coalition,  and  in  the  course  of  the  following  year 
the  French  were  expelled  from  all  Italy,  saving 
Genoa  alone,  and  the  ephemeral  republics  they 
had  set  up  were  extinguished.  On  the  Rhine  they 
had  lost  ground;  but  they  had  held  their  own  in 
Switzerland,  after  a  fierce  struggle  with  the  Rus- 
sian forces  of  Suwarrow. 


The  Napoleonizing  of  the  Revolution  1045 

When  news  of  these  disasters,  and  of  the  ripe- 
ness of  the  situation  at  Paris  for  a  new  coup  d* 
Hat,  reached  Bonaparte,  In  Egypt,  he  deserted  his  pace's 
army  there,  leaving  It,  under  Kleber,  In  a  helpless  return  from 

EffVDt 

situation,  and  made  his  way  back  to  France.    He  Oct.,  1799 
landed  at  Frejus  on  the  9th  of  October.    Precisely 
a    month   later,  by  a    combination  with    Sleyes, 
a  veteran  revolutionist  and  maker  of  constitu- 
tions,  he    accomplished    the  overthrow  of    the  ^^  ^"g  ^^"^ 
directory.     Before  the  year  closed,  a  fresh  consti-  Directory. 
tutlon  was  In   force,  which    vested  substantially  Bonaparte, 

.  .  nil         ^rst  consul, 

monarchical  powers  in  an   executive  called  the  Nov.,  1799 
first   consul,  and  the  chosen    first    consul    was 

Napoleon   Bonaparte.      Two   associate   consuls,  mstlry'of 

who  sat  with  him,  had  no  purpose  but  to  conceal  ^"poi^'^jj: 

I  ;  ch.  Xlll- 

for   a    short   time   the    real  absoluteness  of  his  xiv 
rule. 

From  that  time,  for  fifteen  years,  the  history  of 
France — it  is  almost  possible  to  say  the  history  of 
Europe — is  the  story  of  the  career  of  the  extra- 
ordinary Corsican  adventurer  who  took  posses- 
sion of  the  French  nation,  with  unparalleled 
audacity,  and  who  used  It,  with  all  that  pertained 
to  It — lives,  fortunes,  talents,  resources — In  the  Career  of 

the  cxtr^— 

most  prodigious   and   the   most  ruthless  under-  ordinary- 
takings  of  personal  ambition  that  the  modern  ^jvent^urer 
world  has  ever  seen.    The  French  revolution  was 
Napoleonlzed. 

Germany  after  the  Seven  Years  War 

After  the  Seven  Years  War  and  before  the  dis- 
turbance of  Europe  by  the  French  revolution, 


1046  The  Period  of  Washington 

Germany  enjoyed  a  period  of  thirty  years  that 

was    generally    peaceful,    and    generally   one    of 

advancement  In  many  ways.    In  the  twenty-three 

^ater  years  j-gj^^jj^jj^g  ygars  of  the  Tclgn  of  Frederick  the 

Frederick     Great  he  did  much  to  repair  the  exhaustion  pro- 

the  Great,  1    •       -n  •       1         1  •  1    1  • 

1763-1786  duced  m  rrussia  by  his  wars,  and  his  sagacious 
practical  measures  to  that  end  furnished  lessons 
to  his  neighbors  that  were  not  entirely  lost.  On 
the  Austrian  throne,  the  emperor  Joseph  11. ,  who 

emperor,      camc  first  Into  assoclatlon  with  his  mother,  Maria 

i76s-?79o'  Theresa  (1765),  and  then  (1780)  In  succession  to 
her,  with  exalted  aspirations  and  ideals,  but  less 
of  practical  judgment,  went  sometimes  too 
fast  and  too  far  in  superb  undertakings  of 
reform. 

Among  the  results  of  his  reign  were  the  abolition 
of  slavery  (not  serfdom)  in  Austria;  suppression 
of  serfdom  in  Hungary;  abolition  of  torture  in 
criminal  procedure;  freedom  of  Protestant  wor- 
ship in  Austria;  diminution  of  monasteries,  with 
an  appropriation  of  many  monastic  estates  to  the 
support  of  public  instruction.  Naturally,  the 
church  was  his  enemy,  and  worked  against  him 
among  the  people,  troubling  his  life  to  the  end. 
He  died  In  1790,  at  the  early  age  of  forty-nine. 
It  was  in  this  time,  following  the  wars  of  Freder- 
d  ick  the  Great,  that  the  classical  period  of  German 

philosophy  ii^gj.^^yj.g^  opened  about  the  middle  of  the  century 
by  Klopstock  and  Lessing,  came  to  its  acme  in  the 
work  of  Goethe  and  Schiller;  and  it  was  now  that 
philosophical  thought  in  Germany  was  awakened 
newly  by  Kant. 


His  reforms 


Literature 
an 


Germany  After  the  Seven  Years  War  1047 

The  partitioning  of  Poland 

Of  political   events   in   the   period,    the   most 
important  was  the  partitioning  of  Poland,  a  crime 
planned  by  Catherine  II.  of  Russia,  but  shared  In 
the  perpetration  by  Prussia   and  Austria.     As  j^3^jj.ijj. 
Catherine  entertained  the  design  at  first,  there  tosh,  The 
was  probably  no  thought  of  the  partitioning  that  inglf°^ 
was  afterward  contrived.     Her  purpose  was  to  -f^^'^^f/'" 

.         ,.  ,  Miscellane- 

keep  the  Polish  kmgdom  m  disorder  and  weak-  ous  Works) 
ness,  and  to  make  Russian  Influence  supreme  In 
it,  with  views,  no  doubt,  that  looked  ultimately  „ 

1  •  ^         1         1         1         r     1        o  Preceding 

to  somethmg  more.  Un  the  death  01  the  baxon  events, 
king  of  Poland,  Augustus  III.,  in  1763,  Catherine  ^763-1768 
put  forward  a  native  candidate  for  the  vacant 
throne,  in  the  person  of  Stanislaus  Ponlatowsky, 
a  Russianized  Pole  and  a  former  lover  of  her  own. 
The  king  of  Prussia  supported  her  candidate,  and 
Poniatowsky  was  elected,  with  10,000  Russian 
troops  In  Warsaw  to  see  that  it  was  properly  done. 
The  Poles  were  submissive  to  the  invasion  of  their 
political  independence;  but  when  Catherine 
sought  to  create  a  Russian  party  in  Poland,  by 
protecting  the  members  of  the  Greek  church  and 
the  Protestants,  against  the  intolerance  of  the 
Polish  Catholics,  and  forced  a  concession  of  civil 
equality  to  the  former,  there  was  a  widespread 
Catholic  revolt. 

In  the  fierce  war  which  followed,  a  band  of 
Poles  was  pursued  across  the  Turkish  border,  and 
a  Turkish  town  was  burned  by  the  Russian 
pursuers.  The  sultan,  who  professed  sympathy 
with  the  Poles,  then  declared  war  against  Russia. 


1048 


The  Period  of  Washington 


Russo- 
Turkish 
War, 
1768-1774 


The 

whispered 
suggestion 


The  first 

partition, 

1772 


The  Russo-Turkish  war,  in  turn,  excited  Austria, 
which  feared  Russian  conquests  from  the  Turks, 
and  another  wide  disturbance  of  the  peace  of 
Europe  seemed  threatening.  In  the  midst  of  the 
excitement  there  came  a  whispered  suggestion,  to 
the  ear  of  the  courts  of  Vienna  and  St.  Petersburg, 
that  they  might  satisfy  their  territorial  cravings 
and  mutually  assuage  each  other's  jealousy,  at  the 
expense  of  the  crumbling  kingdom  of  Poland. 
The  whisper  may  have  come  from  Frederick  II. 
of  Prussia,  or  it  may  not.  There  are  two  opinions 
on  the  point.  From  whatever  source  it  came,  it 
found  favorable  consideration  at  Vienna  and  St. 
Petersburg,  and,  between  February  and  August, 
1772,  the  details  of  the  partition  were  worked  out. 

Poland,  however,  was  not  extinguished.  The 
kingdom  was  only  shorn  of  some  160,000  square 
miles  of  territory,  more  than  half  of  which  went 
to  Russia,  a  third  to  Austria,  and  the  remainder, 
less  than  10,000  square  miles,  to  Prussia.  This 
last  mentioned  annexation  was  the  old  district  of 
West  Prussia,  which  the  Polish  king,  Casimir  IV., 
had  wrested  from  the  Teutonic  Knights  in  1466, 
before  Brandenburg  had  aught  to  do  with 
Prussian  lands  or  name.  After  three  centuries, 
Frederick  reclaimed  it. 

The  diminished  kingdom  of  Poland  showed 
more  signs  of  a  true  national  life,  of  an  earnest 
national  feeling,  of  a  sobered  and  rational 
patriotism,  than  had  appeared  in  its  former 
history.  The  fatal  powers  monopolized  by  the 
nobles,  the  deadly  "liberum  veto,"  the  corrupting 


The  Partition  of  Poland  1049 

elective  kingship,  were  looked  at  in  their  true 
light,  and  in  May,  1791,  a  new  constitution  was 
adopted  which  reformed  those  evils.     But  a  few  Pv^^"* 

■^  rolish  con- 

nobles  opposed  the  reformation  and  appealed  to  stitution, 

Russia,    supplying   a    pretext    to    Catherine   on  ^^^^ 
which  she  filled  Poland  with  her  troops.    It  was  in 
vain  that  the  patriot  Kosciusko  led  the  best  of  his 
countrymen  in  a  brave  struggle  with  the  invader.  Kosciusko, 
They  were  overborne;    the  unhappy  nation  was 
put  in  fetters,  while  Catherine  and  a  new  king  of 
Prussia,    Frederick    William    II.,    arranged    the 
terms  of  a  second  partition.    This  gave  to  Prussia 
an  additional  thousand  square  miles,  including  and  third 
the  important  towns  of  Danzig  and  Thorn,  while  j"!'^'°"'' 
Russia   took  four  times   as   much.     Two  years 
later,  the  small  remainder  of  Polish  territory  was 
dismembered  and  divided  between  Russia,  Prus- 
sia and  Austria,  and  thus  Poland  disappeared 

from  the  map  of  Europe  as  a  state.  ' 

Russia 

Meantine,    in    her   conflicts   with    the   Turks, 
Catherine  was  extending  her  vast  empire  to  the 
Dnelster  and  the  Caucasus,  and  opening  a  passage 
for  her  fleets  from  the  Black  Sea  to  the  Medlter-  of°CatiS 
ranean.    By  treaty  in  1774  she  placed  the  Tatars  '"^  11.  from 

r     ■,       /-,  •  ..,  .  -,— ^,  ,    tlie  Turks, 

01  the  Crimea  m  mdependence  of  the  Turks,  and  1774-1783 
so  Isolated  them  for  easy  conquest.  In  1783  the 
conquest  was  made  complete.  By  the  same 
treaty  she  secured  a  right  of  remonstrance  on 
behalf  of  the  Christian  subjects  of  the  sultan,  in 
the  Danublan  principalities,  and  In  the  Greek 
church  at  Constantinople,  which  opened  many 


I050 


Her 
reforms 


The  Period  of  Washington 

pretexts  for  future  Interference  and  for  war  at 
Russian  convenience. 

The  aggressions  of  the  strong-willed  and  power- 
ful tzarina,  and  their  dazzling  success,  filled  her 
subjects  with  pride,  and  effaced  all  remembrance 
of  her  foreign  origin  and  her  want  of  right  to  the 
seat  which  she  filled.  She  was  ambitious  to 
improve  the  empire,  as  well  as  to  expand  it;  for 
her  liberal  mind  took  in  the  large  ideas  of  that 
speculative  age  and  was  much  moved  by  them. 
She  attempted  many  reforms;  but  most  things 
that  she  tried  to  do  for  the  bettering  of  civiliza- 
tion and  the  lifting  of  the  people  were  done 
imperiously,  and  spoiled  by  the  autocratic 
method  of  the  doing.  In  her  later  years,  her 
inclination  towards  liberal  ideas  was  checked, 
and  the  French  revolution  put  an  end  to  it. 


Organiza- 
tion of 
federal 
govern- 
ment, 1789 


The  United  States  of  America 

The  organization  of  the  federal  government  of 
the  United  States,  under  the  presidency  of  George 
Washington  (inaugurated  April  30,  1789),  hap- 
pened colncidently  with  the  opening  scenes  of  the 
French  revolution,  and  the  first  quarter-century 
of  the  life  of  the  young  American  republic  was 
troubled  by  that  dread  convulsion,  and  by  influ- 
ences that  sprang  from  the  wars  to  which  It  led. 
There  were  four  years,  however,  of  the  adminis- 
tration of  Washington,  before  the  European  dis- 
turbance of  American  politics  and  economics 
became  serious,  in  which  time  the  new  govern- 
ment acquired  a  firm  footing,  and  overcame  the 


Rise  of  Political  Parties  in  the  United  States  105  i 

chaos  of  conditions  in  the  country  with  remarka- 
ble success. 

In  forming  his  administration,  the  president 
called  Alexander  Hamilton  to  the  treasury  ton's '"^" 
department,  Thomas  Jefferson  to  the  department  ^^^^'"^^ 
of  state,  and  General  Henry  Knox  to  that  of  war. 
These,  at  the  outset,  were  the  only  departments 
created.  Hamilton  received  the  post  of  chief 
importance,  in  the  circumstances  of  the  time,  and 
no  wiser  selection  was  ever  made.  His  financial 
measures,  carried  through  congress  by  convincing 
arguments,  against  strong  opposition,  founded  the  , 

credit  of  the  young  nation  with  enduring  solidity,  financial 
and  inspired  faith  in  the  stability  and  efficiency  ^^'J'J."'^'^'; 
of  its  government,  at  home  and  abroad.     They 
included,   (i)  provisions  for  the  funding  of  the  gchouier, 
indebtedness   of  the   late   confederation,   in   the  History  of 

.  ,    s.  .  the  United 

various  forms  of  its  existence;  (2)  an  assumption  states, 
of  the  war  debts  of  the  several  States,  to  be  J^g-iS'"^^' 
funded  in  like  manner,  as  a  national  obligation; 
(3)  provision  of  revenues  from  customs  dues  and 
excise  tax  on  whisky,  sufficient  for  meeting  these 
obligations,  in  current  interest  and  in  principal  at 
maturity;  (4)  the  creation  of  a  national  bank  of 
the  United  States,  to  strengthen  the  organization 
of  capital  and  credit  in  the  country,  and  to  assist 
the  financial  operations  of  the  government. 

The  two  features  of  Hamilton's   policy  that 
encountered  the  most  earnest  opposition  were  the 
assumption  of  the  war  debts  of  the  States  and  the  -p,^g 
institution  of  a  national  bank.    It  was  easy  to  see  political 

1SSU6 

that  these  measures,  beyond  their  financial  bear-  involved 


I052 


The  Period  of  Washington 


Jealous 
dread  of 
strong 
central 
govern- 
ment 


Lasting 
division  of 
political 
parties 


Gordy, 

Political 

History  of 

the  United 

States, 

I  :  ch.  vii-x 


ing,  would  have  powerful  political  effects.  They 
tended  to  magnify  the  functions,  the  attributes, 
the  sovereignty,  of  the  federal  government,  and, 
apparently,  at  least,  to  set  the  States  in  a  rank 
more  subordinate  than  many  people  were  willing 
to  have  them  accept.  The  jealous  dread  of  any 
kind  of  strong  overlordship  in  the  government  of 
the  federated  States  was  felt  widely  and  deeply, 
even  yet.  It  had  given  way  just  far  enough  to 
assent  to  the  federal  constitution  of  1787;  but 
many,  like  Madison,  who  had  labored  ardently  to 
procure  that  assent,  were  anxious  watchers  of  the 
working  of  the  constitution,  determined  that  the 
government  formed  under  it  should  have  no  more 
of  power  and  no  more  of  supremacy  above  the 
States  than  the  common  interests  and  the  neces- 
sities of  public  order  would  require.  This  feeling 
was  at  the  bottom  of  the  opposition  to  Hamilton's 
measures;  while  he  and  a  large  part  of  his  sup- 
porters were  inspired  by  the  desire  to  solidify  and 
nationalize  the  federal  union,  and  to  give  positive 
supremacy  and  strength  to  its  government,  as 
much  as  by  financial  opinions  and  aims. 

From  that  day  to  this  the  main  division  of 
political  parties  in  the  United  States  has  been  on 
the  line  of  cleavage  that  opened  then.  It  has 
been  upon  issues  between  national  sovereignty 
and  State  sovereignty;  between  strength  and 
weakness  in  the  general  government;  between 
centripetal  and  centrifugal  forces  in  the  working 
of  the  federal  system.  Generally,  too,  the  party 
issues  In  American  politics  have  turned   at  all 


Hamilton's  Wise  Financial  Plans  1053 

times,  as  they  did  at  the  beginning,  on  questions 
that  relate  to  the  scope  and  meaning  of  provisions 
embodied  in  the  federal  constitution.  Hamilton's 
opponents  contended  that  the  constitution  gave 
congress  no  authority  to  charter  a  bank.  He 
argued,  in  reply,  that  the  authority  is  implied  in  national 
that   clause   of   the   eighth   section   of   the   first  ^^"'^ 

.    ,  .J.  ...         question 

article,  coming  aiter  an  enumeration  01  the 
powers  given  in  express  terms  to  congress,  which 
adds  to  them  the  broad  authority  "to  make  all 
laws  which  shall  be  necessary  and  proper  for 
carrying  into  execution  the  foregoing  powers.'* 
The  proposed  bank,  he  held,  was  a  necessary  and 
proper  instrument  of  government,  for  the  con- 
ducting of  financial  operations  and  promoting  the 
general  welfare,  and,  therefore,  the  power  to 
create  it  is  implied.  This  doctrine  of  "implied 
powers"  in  the  constitution  gives  an  elasticity 
to  the  great  instrument  —  especially  to  that 
most  "elastic  clause" — which  minds  of  one  doctrine  of 
order  welcome,  as  essential  to  its  best  working,   "'™piied" 

"      powers' 

and  which    minds  of    another    order  fear   and 
abhor. 

Those  who  supported  Hamilton's  measures 
and  his  broad  construction  of  the  constitution, 
desiring  to  make  the  most  of  the  federal  constitu- 

^1  -1  r  >.•  11     1    Federalists 

tion,  as  the  organic  law  ot  a  nation,  were  called  andRepub- 
Federalists;    the  opposing  party,  contending  for  ^'""* 
strict    constructions    of    the    constitution    and 
limited  powers  in  the  general  government,  found 
its  chief  in  Jefferson,  and  was  content  for  a  time 
to  be  known  as  the  party  of  the  Anti-Federalists. 


IOS4 


The  Period  of  Washington 


Later,  It  was  organized  as  the  Democratic- 
Republican,  or,  in  common  usage,  the  RepubHcan 
party,  under  which  designation  it  needs  to  be 
distinguished  with  care  from  the  Republican 
party  of  later  times. 

During  the  first  term  of  the  administration  of 
President  Washington,  as  said  before,  the  atten- 
tion of  the  Americans  was  undistracted  from  their 
domestic  affairs,  and  a  remarkable  settlement  of 
conditions  among  them  was  accomplished,  start- 
ing them  with  signal  success  on  their  new  political 
career.     Then  a  mischievous  intrusion  In  their 

Disturbing  .    .  .  ... 

effects  of  politics  oi  cxcitmg  qucstious  irom  abroad,  arising 
revoktion  f^m  the  French  revolution,  began  to  fever  them 
with  an  alien  factiousness  that  distempered  the 
whole  American  body  politic  for  twenty  years. 
Ardent  sympathy  with  the  revolutionary  move- 
ment in  France  had  been  almost  universal  at  the 
beginning;  but  the  awful  violence  into  which  it 
ran,  the  savagery  of  the  rising  Jacobins,  the 
despairing  flight  of  Lafayette  from  France, 
changed  the  feeling  of  the  conservative  classes  of 
people,  found  generally  In  the  ranks  of  the 
Federalists,  while  the  more  democratic  Anti- 
Federalists  or  Republicans  clung  still  to  beliefs  or 
hopes  In  an  outcome  of  right.  When,  in  1793,  the 
French  revolutionists  declared  war  with  England, 
this  division  of  feeling  toward  them  produced 
partisans  of  France  on  one  side,  partisans  of 
England  on  the  other, — a  French  faction  and  an 
French  and  English  factlon, — the  quarrels  of  which,  un- 
factions       natural  in  American  politics  and  unwholesome, 


France,  England  and  the  United  States  1055 

did  infinite  harm  to  the  poHtical  spirit  of  the 
generation  in  which  they  occurred. 

Troubles  arising  from  the  Anglo-French  war 
began  in  the  spring  of  1793,  on  the  arrival  of  ^^ 
"Citizen  Genet,"  as  an  envoy  from  the  revolu-  Genet," 
tionary  government  in  France,  claiming  aid  from  '793-1794 
the  United  States,  to  fulfill  obligations  under  the  McMaster, 
treaty  of  alliance  made  in  1778.     That  treaty.  History  of 
with  the  king  of  France,  pledged  help  to  him  for  o/t/wU.s. 
the  defense  of  his  West  India  possessions.    Was  it  2  :ch.  vm 
binding  in  present  circumstances,  since  the  royal 
government    in    France    was    overthrown,    and 
France  was  not  defensively  but  aggressively  at 
war.''    Washington  and  his  advisers  decided  that 
it  was  not,  and  a  proclamation  of  neutrality  was 
issued,   with   the   acquiescence   of  Jefferson,   as 
secretary  of  state.    But  the  friendliness  of  Jeffer- 
son's party  to  France  was  so  warm  that  neutrality 
became  hard  to  preserve.     Genet,  misled  by  the  conduct 
enthusiasm    of    the    welcome    they    gave    him, 
imagined  that  the  American  people  would  over- 
rule their  government  and   allow  him  to  push 
them  into  war.    His  conduct,  in  violation  of  the 
neutrality  proclaimed,   became  intolerable,   and 
the  government  was  forced  to  demand  his  recall. 

At  the  same  time  England,  using  her  great 
naval  power  with  arrogance,  and  assuming  to 
dictate  the  narrowest  possible  rules  of  neutral 
commerce,  dealt  most  offensively  with  the  United 
States,  not  only  in  the  matter  of  American  trade  of  England 
with  France  and  her  colonies,  but  in  another  that 
exasperated  American  feeling  much  more.     She 


Naval 
arrogance 


1056 


British 
searching 
of  neutral 
ships 


The  Jay 

treaty, 

1794-1795 

Pellew, 
John  Jay, 
301-317 


The  Period  of  Washington 

asserted  a  right  to  search  the  ships  of  other 
nations  for  seamen  who  had  deserted  from  her 
own,  or  whom  she  claimed  for  naval  service  as 
subjects  of  her  crown.  Naturally,  this  right  of 
search  which  she  claimed  was  exercised  mostly  on 
American  ships,  where  British  seamen  were  most 
likely  to  be  found,  but  where,  among  people  of  the 
same  race  and  same  speech,  nativity  would  be 
hardest  to  prove.  Many  native-born  Americans 
were  said  to  have  been  dragged  into  the  British 
navy  by  this  barbarous  impressment  at  sea. 
These  fresh  irritations,  added  to  the  old  feeling 
against  England  which  the  War  of  Independence 
had  left,  kindled  an  anger  in  the  country  that 
seemed  likely  to  be  satisfied  by  nothing  short  of 
war.  Hostilities  were  averted,  however,  by  the 
unwilling  acceptance  of  a  treaty  which  the  chief 
justice  of  the  '  Jnited  States,  John  Jay,  went  to 
England  to  negotiate,  in  1794.  Though  a  tempest 
of  rage  against  the  treaty  was  raised  when  its 
provisions  became  known,  it  represented,  un- 
doubtedly, the  best  that  could  be  done  at  the 
time,  and  the  ratification  of  it  was  wise.  It  did 
not  bind  Great  Britain  to  stop  impressments  from 
American  ships,  but  it  secured  indemnity  for 
recent  illegal  captures  of  merchant  vessels, 
secured  the  surrender  of  western  forts,  obtained 
some  privileges  of  trade  in  the  British  West 
Indies,  settled  the  claims  of  British  creditors,  and 
postponed  a  war  which  the  country  was  in  no 
condition  to  undertake. 

The  Jay  treaty  gave  much  offense  to  France 


The  Jay  Treaty  1057 

and  Spain,  and  nearly  caused  the  latter  country 
to  repudiate  a  recent  convention,  which  freed  the 
navigation    of    the    Mississippi    and    conceded 
important  privileges  to  American  merchants  at  mentofthe 
New    Orleans.      American    settlement    of    the  southwest 
country  south  of  the  Ohio  was  now  advancing 
with  great  rapidity,  and  two  new  States  (Ken- 
tucky,  1792,  Tennessee,   1796)   were  formed  in 
that  region  and  admitted  to  the  union  in  the  Vermont, 
period  of  the  presidency  of  Washington.    These  Kentucky, 
stand  second  and  third  in  the  long  list  of  States  nessee 
added  to  the  original  thirteen,  Vermont,  formed  f^'^yf^" 

D  '  '  the  Union, 

from  territory  that  had  been  in  dispute  between  1791-1796 
New  Hampshire  and  New  York,  and  admitted  in 
1791,  being  the  first.  Exit  to  the  Gulf  for  their 
trade  was  a  matter  of  prime  importance  to  all  the 
settlements  in  the  Ohio  Valley,  and  they  were 
restive  under  the  control  held  by  Spain  over  the 
mouth  of  the  Mississippi  and  its  whole  western 
bank. 

Washington  could  not  be  persuaded  to  serve  in 
the  presidency  for  a  third  term,  and  announced 
his  decision  in  the  memorable  Farewell  Address 
to  his  countrymen  that  was  published  in  Septem-  ^^^^^ 
ber.  1796.    John  Adams,  of  Massachusetts,  who  president, 
had  been  vice-president,  was  chosen  for  president, 
and  Thomas  Jefferson  for  vice-president,  at  the  ^, 
ensuing  election,  and  took  office  in  the  following  joim  ' 
March.    Early  in  the  administration  of  President  ^'^""^ 
Adams  a  serious  rupture  with  France  occurred. 
The  revolutionary  government  of  that  country 
had  resented  the  refusal  of  the  United  States  to 


1058 


Rupture 
with 
France, 
1797-1798 


McMaster, 
History  of 
the  People 
of  the  U.S., 
2  :  ch.  z 


TheX.Y^., 

corre- 
spondence 


Naval 

hostilities, 

1798 


The  Period  of  Washington 

become  Its  ally  against  Great  Britain;  and  its 
resentment  had  been  heightened,  first,  by  the  Jay 
treaty,  and  then,  still  further,  by  the  recall  from 
France  of  Mr.  James  Monroe,  sent  there  as 
American  minister,  in  1794.  Monroe  had  been 
warmly  in  sympathy  with  the  French  republicans, 
and  Washington,  who  thought  his  course  unwise, 
sent  General  C.  C.  Pinckney  to  take  his  place. 
The  French  government  not  only  refused  to 
receive  Pinckney,  but  ordered  him  out  of  the 
country  in  a  most  offensive  way.  At  the  same 
time  it  proceeded  to  hostile  acts  against  American 
ships  and  merchandise,  and  war  appeared  inevita- 
ble; but  President  Adams  and  congress,  seeking 
anxiously  to  avoid  that  result,  sent  John  Marshall 
and  Elbridge  Gerry  as  special  envoys,  to  join 
General  Pinckney  in  an  effort  to  restore  friendly 
understandings  with  the  republic  In  France. 
The  envoys  were  not  treated  discourteously,  but 
they  could  get  no  official  hearing  for  months,  and 
were  beset,  meantime,  by  emissaries,  who  seemed 
to  speak  for  Talleyrand,  the  French  minister  for 
foreign  affairs,  and  who  demanded  gifts  for  the 
members  of  the  directory,  then  governing 
France. 

When  reports  of  this  experience  were  published 
in  America  the  French  go-betweens  were  not 
named,  but  designated  as  X.  Y.  Z.,  which  caused 
the  matter  to  be  known  as  the  "X.  Y.  Z.  affair." 
Intense  Indignation  was  caused,  and  an  outbreak 
of  actual  hostilities  occurred,  In  which  the  United 
States  frigate  Constellation  fought  sharp  battles 


Presidency  of  John  Adams  1059 

with  two  French  ships,  one  of  which  she  captured. 
Hurried  military  preparations  were  made,  and 
Washington  was  appointed  commander-in-chief, 
with  Hamilton  next  in  command.  But  the  man- 
ners and  tone  of  the  French  government  took  on 
a  sudden  change.  It  had  to  face  a  formidable 
coalition  of  hostile  European  powers,  while  its 
remarkable  young  general,  Napoleon  Bonaparte, 
had  placed  himself  badly  in  Egypt,  and  a  quarrel  restored 
in  America  was  not  to  be  desired.  Negotiations 
were  opened  which  resulted  in  a  new  treaty, 
abrogating  that  of  1778. 

While  the  war  excitement  lasted.  Republican 
friendship  for  France  was  chilled  so  much  that  the 
Federalists  enjoyed  a  too  Intoxicating  sense  of 
power,  and  ran  to  excesses  in  the  use  of  it.  By 
two  acts  which  they  passed,  the  Alien  Act,  ^^^^  '^" 
so-called,  and  the  Sedition  Act,  aimed  especially  Sedition 

'.  1        .  '  ,         ^         .  Acts,  1798 

at    certam     abusive     newspapers    01    opposmg 
politics  and  at  certain  foreign  writers,  they  made 
a  startling  attack  on  personal  rights,  as  well  as  on 
the  freedom  of  the  press.     In  denouncing  and 
opposing  these  high-handed  measures,  the  Repub- 
licans went  as  far  in  the  other  direction  on  a 
vicious  line.     Jefferson  and  Madison  gave  coun- 
tenance to  the  constitutional  theory  that  each 
State  may  nullify  and  refuse  obedience  to  acts  of 
the    general    government    which    exceed,    in    its 
judgment,  the  powers  delegated  to  that  govern-  Kentucky 
ment;      and     this     dangerous     doctrine,     which  Virginia 
imperiled  the  union  at  a  later  day,  was  embodied  ^^^^"g""^"^"^* 
in  resolutions  adopted  by  the  Kentucky  legisla- 


io6o 


The  Period  of  Washington 


Hoist, 
Const,  and 
Pol.  History 
of  the  U.  S., 
1  :  143-167 


Death  of 

Washing- 
Ion,  Dec. 
14,  1799 


Overthrow 
of  the 
Federalist 
party,  iSoo 


John  Mar- 
shall, chief 
justice 


ture,  and  In  Virginia  resolutions,  more  guarded, 
at  nearly  the  same  time. 

The  Federalists  gave  offense  to  the  country, 
not  only  by  their  arbitrary  measures,  but  by 
many  expressions  and  signs  of  undemocratic 
feelings  and  views.  Their  party  suffered,  more- 
over, from  factious  quarrels  among  its  leaders, 
after  the  restraining  influence  of  Washington  was 
withdrawn  by  his  sudden  death,  on  the  14th  of 
December,  1799.  The  Father  of  his  Country  had 
been  in  no  sense  a  partisan;  but  his  inclination 
toward  Federalist  views  was  plain,  and  his  closest 
relations  in  public  life  were  with  men  on  that  side. 
In  the  election  of  1800,  the  Federalists,  support- 
ing Adams  for  reelection,  were  defeated,  and 
never  had  power  in  the  general  government  again. 
Jefferson  was  elected  president,  and  Aaron  Burr 
vice-president. 

Before  quitting  office  in  the  following  spring, 
President  Adams  improved  an  opportunity  to  fill 
the  office  of  chief  justice  of  the  United  States  by 
appointing  John  Marshall,  of  Virginia,  who 
presided  in  the  supreme  court  for  the  next  thirty- 
four  years.  In  the  long  term,  the  profound 
decisions  of  Chief  Justice  Marshall  stamped  con- 
structions upon  the  federal  constitution  which 
can  never  be  effaced,  and  which  have  made  it,  in 
theory  and  in  fact,  the  supreme  law  of  the  land. 


British  America 

Until   1774,  no  government  was  provided  for 
any  part  of  the  vast  continental  territory  ceded 


Death  of  Washington  io6i 

by  France  to  England  in  1763,  except  a  section  of  Formation 
eastern  Canada,  which  the  king,  by  proclamation,  province  of 
had  named  Quebec,  and  for  which  he  appointed  a  ,  "g!'^^ 
governor  and  council,  giving  them  large  discre- 
tionary powers.     All  other  territory  covered  by 
the  cession  of  French  claims,  including  all  that 
lies  west  of  the  Appalachian   mountain   range, 
which  various  English  colonies  had  regarded  as 
their  own,  was  treated  as  a  great  Indian  reserve, 
open  to  no  settlement,  and  outside  the  jurisdic- 
tions of  colonial  law.    In  1774,  parliament  passed  990) 
the  Quebec  Act,  which  extended  the  boundaries 
of  the  province  of  Quebec  to  the  Ohio  on  the  south 

d,       -  _.      .      .        .  ,  ,  ,  .         .        ,        TheQuebcc 

the  Mississippi  on  the  west,  thus  taking  in  the  Act,  1774 

greater  part  of  this  lawless  wild  land,  and  attach- 
ing it,  not  to  the  neighboring  colonial  govern- 
ments, but  to  that  of  the  remote  French  province 
in  the  north,  where  free  institutions  were  un-  „     . 

^  counnot, 

known.    The  act  gave  to  the  French  settlers  of  Manual  of 
Quebec  the  only  freedom  for  which  they  greatly  ofcanada,' 
cared,  and  that  was  freedom  for  the  rites  of  their  ch.ii-iii 
church.     It  secured  to  the  Catholic  clergy  their 
"accustomed  dues  and  rights,"  and  those  wise 
concessions  made  most  of  the  existing  population 
indifferent,  for  a  time,  to  the  fact  that  parliament 
had  imposed  upon  it  a  purely  arbitrary  govern- 
ment,  conducted   by  appointees   of  the   crown. 
But  the  act  was  a  new  sting  of  provocation  to  the  }^^  ofTens- 
neighboring  English  colonics,  and  they  denounced  the  English 
it  the  next  year,  in  their  declaration  of  indepen-  <=°'°"'^^ 
dence,  "for  abolishing,"  as  they  set  forth,  "the 
free   system   of  English   laws   in   a   neighboring 


io62  The  Period  of  Washington 

province,  establishing  therein  an  arbitrary  gov- 
ernment, and  enlarging  its  boundaries  so  as  to 
render  it  at  once  an  example  and  fit  instrument 
for  introducing  the  same  absolute  rule  into  these 
colonies." 

Possibly  the  Roman  Catholics  of  Quebec  and 
Nova  Scotia  might  have  joined  the  Protestants 
of  the  English  colonies  in  their  revolt,  if  the 
representatives  of  the  latter,  when  they  composed 
an  address  to  the  people  of  England,  had  not 
vented  their  religious  prejudice  by  declaring  that 
parliament  had  established  in  Canada  "a  religion 
that  had  deluged  their  land  In  blood  and  dispersed 
impiety,  bigotry,  persecution,  murder  and  rebel- 
lion through  every  part  of  the  world."  This  most 
offensive  utterance  was  worth  some  regiments  to 
the  British,  no  doubt,  in  the  subsequent  war, 
helping  them  to  hold  the  lately  French  provinces, 
and  to  offer  them,  in  the  end,  as  a  place  of  refuge 
to  the  loyalists  who  fled  or  were  driven  from  the 
colonies  in  revolt.  These  "united  empire  loyal- 
"United  ists,"  as  they  came  to  be  known,  are  computed  to 
empire        havc  numbered  not  less  than  <?  c;,ooo  men,  women 

loyalists  . 

and  children,  of  whom  about  25,000  found  homes 
in  Nova  Scotia,  mostly  in  the  part  of  that  prov- 
ince which  became  New  Brunswick,  and  about 
Eihs,  in        10,000  were  settled  in  Canada,  generally  on  and 

r^arrative  '  . 

and  Critical  near  the  St.  Lawrence,  west  of  the  Ottawa  River, 
Jm.^-j:  and  along  the  Niagara  frontier.  They  received 
185-214     .  liberal  grants  of  public  lands,   and  became  an 

element  of  great  influence  and  importance  in  the 

British-American  population. 


British  American  Provinces. — China  1063 

The  Ottawa  River  formed  substantially  a  line 
of  division  between  French  and  English  Canadi- 
ans;   and  that  racial  separation  was  confirmed  tionaf^Tt 
politically  in  1791,  by  a  new  constitutional  act  of  of  1791 
the  British  parliament,  which  divided  the  former 
province  of  Quebec  into  the  two  provinces  of 
Upper  and  Lower  Canada,   the  former  mostly 
English  in  population,  the  latter  French.    With  a  lo^J  ^"^ 
property    qualification    of    the    sufi"rage,    both  Canada 
peoples  were  then  given  representation  in  one 
branch  of  their  provincial  legislatures,  the  other 
branch  being  of  royal  selection,  appointed  for  life. 

In  Nova  Scotia,  the  colonists  had  been  repre- 
sented in  a  legislative  assembly  since  1758.  The  ^°J^i^ 
province  then  included  what  are  now  New  Bruns- 
wick, Cape  Breton  and  Prince  Edward  Island, 
and  the  general  population  had  been  increased 
quite  largely,  since  the  removal  of  the  Acadlans, 
by  accessions  from  New  England,  Great  Britain 
and  Germany.  In  1784,  that  part  of  the  old 
French  Acadia  which  lies  on  the  northern  side  of 
the  Bay  of  Fundy  was  separated  from  Nova 
Scotia,  and  organized  as  the  province  of  New 
Brunswick.  The  "U.  E.  Loyalists,"  so-called,  Brunswick 
had  made  it  their  special  domain. 

The  Chinese  Empire 

Late  in  the  reign  of  Keen-lung  the  first  British 
embassy  to  the  court  at  Peking  was  received  with 
every  manifestation  of  gracious  friendliness  and 
hospitality,  but  no  practical  concessions  to  its 
request  for  commercial  openings  and  privileges 


1064 

British 

embassy, 

1792 


Abdication 
of  Keen- 
Jung 


The  Period  of  Washington 

were  made.  Lord  Macartney,  who  headed  the 
embassy,  bore  an  immense  number  of  gifts  to  the 
emperor,  and  had  the  mortification  of  learning, 
too  late,  that  certain  Chinese  characters  on  the 
flag  of  the  vessel  in  which  he  was  conveyed  up  the 
Peiho  to  Peking  announced  him  as  a  "tribute- 
bearer  from  England."  For  some  time  past 
English  traders  had  been  doing  a  little  business 
on  sufferance  at  Canton,  undergoing  many  an- 
noyances and  humiliations,  and  that  contemptu- 
ous sufferance  was  still  extended  to  them;  but 
Lord  Macartney  gained  nothing  more. 

In  1796  Keen-lung,  who  had  reached  a  great 
age,  abdicated  in  favor  of  his  son.  "The  native 
historians  state  with  justice  that  during  the  sixty 
years  of  his  reign  the  empire  reached  its  acme  of 
greatness.  From  the  northern  steppes  of  Mon- 
golia to  Cochin  China,  and  from  Formosa  to 
Nepal,  the  Chinese  armies  had  fought  and  con- 
quered." 


HISTORIC  EPOCHS 


VI 


EPOCH   OF   SCIENCE,  MECHANISM, 
DEMOCRACY,  AND  THE  TRANS- 
FORMING OF  THE  WORLD 


(from  the  NAPOLEONIZING  of  the  FRENCH  REVO- 
LUTION TO  THE  PRESENT  DAY) 


CHIEF  CHARACTERS  OF  THE  SIXTH  EPOCH 

CHAPTER  XX 

FROM  THE  DEATH  OF  WASHINGTON  TO  THE  ADVENT    OF 
STEPHENSON  AND  THE  STEAM  RAILWAY 

CHAPTER  XXI 

FROM  THE  ADVENT  OF    GEORGE    STEPHENSON  AND    THE 

STEAM  RAILWAY  TO  THE  ELECTION    OF  ABRAHAM 

LINCOLN,  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

CHAPTER  XXH 

FROM  THE  ELECTION  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN,  PRESIDENT 

OF  THE  UNITED  STATES,  TO  BISMARCk's 

FOUNDING  OF  THE  GERMAN  EMPIRE 

CHAPTER  XXni 
FROM  Bismarck's  founding  of  the  german  empire 

TO  THE  DEATH  OF  VICTORIA 

CHAPTER  XXIV 

FROM  THE  DEATH  OF  VICTORIA  TO  THE  PRESENT  DAY 


CHIEF  CHARACTERS  OF  THE  SIXTH 

EPOCH 

In  describing  this  last  epoch  of  history  as  one 
characterized  by  ^Uhe  transforming  of  the  world^'' 
the  writer  reverts  to  a  view  of  it  which  he  had 
presented  in  a  former  book.  Speaking  then  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  he  remarked  that  the  genera- 
tions before  it,  "whether  ancient  or  modern,  had 
found  the  world  in  which  they  lived  much  the 
same,  so  far  as  concerns  the  common  conditions  rp,    , 

'  Ihe  trans- 

of  life;    but  for  us  of  the  present  age  it  has  been  formation 

,  J-  J        T  1  •  ,  .  of  the  world 

Utterly  trans]  or  me  a.  Its  distances  mean  nothmg 
that  they  formerly  did;  its  dividing  seas  and 
mountains  have  none  of  their  old  effect;  its  ter- 
rifying pestilences  have  been  half  subdued,  by 
discovery  of  the  germs  from  which  they  spring; 
its  very  storms,  by  being  sentinelled,  have  lost 
half  their  power  to  surprise  us  in  our  travels  or 
our  work.  Netting  the  earth  with  steam  and 
electric  railways,  seaming  it  with  canals,  wire- 
stringing  it  with  telegraphic  and  telephonic  lines;  j^^j^^ 
ferrying  its  oceans  with  swift,  steam-driven  ships;  ditions  of 
ploughing,  planting,  harvesting,  spinning,  weav- 
ing, knitting,  sewing,  writing,  printing,  doing 
everything,  with  cunning  machines  and  with  tire- 
less forces  borrowed  from  coal  mines  and  from 
waterfalls,  men  are  making  a  new  world  for 
themselves  out  of  that  in    which  they  lived  at 

1067 


io68  Chief  Characters  of  the  Sixth  Epoch 

»  the  dawning  of  the  era  of  mechanism  and  steam. 

"These,  however,  are  but  outward  features  of 
the  change  that  is  being  wrought  In  the  world. 
Socially,  politically,  morally,  it  has  been  under- 
going in  this  epoch  a  deeper  change.  The  growth 
of  fellow-feeling  that  began  In  the  last  century 
has  been  an  increasing  growth.    It  has  not  ended 

In  social      war,  nor  the  passions  that  cause  war,  but  it  is 

relations  rouslug  an  Opposition  which  gathers  strength 
every  year,  and  it  Is  forcing  nations  to  settle  their 
disputes  by  arbitration,  more  and  more.  It  has 
made  democratic  institutions  of  government  so 
common  that  the  few  arbitrary  governments  now 
remaining  in  civilized  countries  seem  disgraceful 
to  the  people  who  endure  them  so  long.  It  has 
broken  many  of  the  old  yokes  of  conquest,  and 
revived  the  independence  of  many  long-sub- 
jugated states.  It  has  swept  away  unnatural 
boundary  lines,  which  separated  peoples  of 
kindred  language  and  race.  It  Is  pressing  long- 
neglected  questions  of  right  and  justice  on  the 
attention  of  all  classes  of  men,  everywhere,  and 
requiring  that  answers  shall  be  found. 

"And,  still,  even  these  are  but  minor  effects  of 

the  prodigious  change  that  the  nineteenth  cen- 

.  tury  has  brought  into  the  experience  of  mankind. 

pecttothe  rar  beyond  them  all  In  importance  are  the  nev^ 
conceptions  of  the  universe,  the  new  suggestions 
and  inspirations  to  all  human  thought,  that 
science  has  been  giving  In  these  later  years.  If 
we  live  In  a  world  that  is  different  from  that  which 
our  ancestors  knew.  It  Is  still  more  the  fact  that  we 


Chief  Characters  of  the  Sixth  Epoch  1069 

think  of  a  different  universe,  and  feel  differently  Lamed, 

History  oj 

in  our  relations  to  it."  England, 

This  view  of  the  epoch  leads  us  naturally  to  ^^^'^ 
think  first  of  the  men  whose  genius  or  work  or 
influence  is  conspicuous  among  the  causes  of  a 
change  so  prodigious  in  the  conditions  of  life  in 
the  world.  Naturally,  too,  our  thoughts  turn 
primarily  to  the  swifter  movements  of  the  great 
transformation,  which  have  been  on  the  side  of 
the  physical  environments  of  life.  That  those 
took  their  first  marvelous  acceleration  from  the 
introduction  of  the  steam  engine  is  a  plain  fact. 
The  steam  engine  was  made  a  practicable  motor 
by  James  Watt  about  1775;  but  results  from  it  in 
the  directions  now  considered  were  hardly  visible  Puiton, 
before  the  opening  years  of  the  next  century.  '765-1815 
Numerous  inventors,  in  several  countries,  had 
then  been  busy  for  some  years  with  devices  for 
putting  the  steam  engine  afloat,  as  a  propelling 
power  for  ships;  but  Robert  Fulton,  the  Ameri- 
can, is  the  one  among  them  who  succeeded  first 
in  carrying  the  invention  quite  beyond  the  experi- 
mental stage  into  that  of  practical  use.  This  was 
accomplished  in  1807;  but  it  was  not  until  1838 
that  the  revolutionizing  of  ocean  navigation 
began. 

By  that  time  the  humble-born,  self-educated 
Englishman,  George  Stephenson,  had  opened  a 
greater  revolution  in  traffic  and  travel  by  mount-  Stephenson 
ing  the  steam  engine  on  locomotive  wheels  and   '781-1848 
setting  the  wheels  upon  iron  tracks.    The  floated 
engine  and  the  wheeled  engine  came  then  into  use 


1 070 


Chief  Characters  of  the  Sixth  Epoch 


Hans 

Christian 

Oersted, 

1777-18SI 


Andre 
Marie 
Ampere, 
1775-1836 


Michael 

Faraday, 

1791-1867 

George 
Simon 
Ohm, 
1787-1874 


Samuel 

F.B.Morse, 

1791-1872 


together  about  two  generations  ago,  as  the  main 
agents  in  two  processes  of  human  development: 
(i)  hy  the  commingHng  of  men,  through  travel 
and  migration,  and  (2)  by  bringing  them  into 
cooperations  of  labor  as  wide  as  the  world.  Thus 
far  in  history,  no  other  single  agencies  have  acted 
on  the  circumstances  of  life  with  such  penetrating 
social  effects. 

Next  to  the  inventions  that  brought  steam  into 
the  service  of  mankind,  those  later  ones  which 
subdue  and  employ  the  mysterious  electric  energy 
have  been  most  wonderful  in  their  transforming 
eifects.  Behind  the  practical  inventors  in  this 
field  lies  the  work  of  a  long  succession  of  the 
purely  scientific  students  of  electrical  phenomena, 
who  brought  to  light  the  facts  and  formulated  the 
laws  which  invention  applied  to  use.  Oersted,  the 
Dane,  had  to  make  the  discovery  of  electro- 
magnetism,  before  even  the  true  conception  of  an 
electric  telegraph  could  be  formed;  and  studies  of 
electric  currents  and  of  electro-magnetic  action, 
by  Ampere  and  Arago,  in  France,  by  Faraday,  in 
England,  and  by  Ohm,  in  Germany,  were  needed 
to  guide  the  inventors  of  the  telegraph  to  success. 
There  were  several  close  competitors  for  the  prize 
of  that  invention:  Henry  and  Morse,  in  America, 
Wheatstone  and  Cooke  in  England, — Morse 
winning  the  lead,  by  devising  an  alphabet  of 
easily  recorded  dots  and  lines,  and  by  being  the 
first  to  offer  a  telegraphic  line  of  wires  for  public 
use.  Distinction  equal  to  that  of  the  inventors 
seems  due  to  Cyrus  W.  Field,  whose  persevering 


Chief  Characters  of  the  Sixth  Epoch  1071 

enterprise  accomplished  the  laying  of  the  first 
great  oceanic  cable,  in  1866. 

In  the  later  perfecting  of  electric  telegraphy, 
carried  even  to  Its  emancipation  from  dependency 
on  conducting  wires,  and  In  the  more  amazing 
development  of  electric  telephony,  the  scientific 
achievements  of  Edison,  Bell,  Gray,  and  Marconi  ^^^^^^^ 
appear  greater,  by  far,  than  the  simpler  feats  of  Edison, 
the  pioneers  In  the  field. 

Until  about  1867,  the  nimble  messenger-service  ham  Beii, 
of  electricity  was  all  of  much  practical  Importance  '^^7- 
that  It  gave  to  man.  Then  the  dynamic  genera- 
tion of  powerful  currents,  or  the  transmutation  of 
power  from  other  sources  into  electromagnetic 
force,  was  begun.  From  that,  within  the  next 
two  decades,  sprang  the  electric  railway  and  the 
electric  light.  These  were  followed.  In  another 
decade,  by  bold  captures  from  Nature  of  the 
mighty  gravitational  force  in  her  great  cataracts, 
flashing  it  into  electric  currents  and  over  miles  of 
distance,  to  places  of  convenience  for  Its  use. 
Out  of  the  host  of  savants,  mechanicians  and 
engineers  who  have  borne  important  parts  in  that 
later  exploitation  of  electricity  we  may  distinguish 
without  injustice,  perhaps,  the  Siemens  brothers, 
Werner  and  Sir  William,  Professor  Thomson, 
now  Lord  Kelvin,  Nikola  Tesla  and  Elihu  Thom-  Thomson 
son,  with  Wheatstone  and  Edison  again  in  the  list.  (^°''<? , 

A  •  •  1  1,  Kelvin), 

Great  engmecrmg  works,  as  well  as  extraor-  1824-1907 

dinary  improvements  in  connected  processes  and  Nikola 
arts,  have  been  associated  at  every  stage  with  the     "^''  ^^' 
mastery  and  utilization  of  electricity  and  steam; 


1072 


Chief  Characters  of  the  Sixth  Epoch 


Sir  Henry 
Bessemer, 
1813-1898 


Ferdinand 

DeLesseps, 

1805-1894 


John 

Ericsson, 
1803-1889 

Wilbur 

Wright, 

1867-1912 

Orville 

Wright, 

1871- 


George  W. 

Goethals, 

1858- 


and  these  have  been  made  so  common  by  their 
multitude  that  personal  distinction  from  them, 
publicly  recognized,  seems  hard  to  win  and  is 
quickly  lost.  Bessemer's  revolution  in  the  pro- 
duction of  steel,  cheapening  it  to  the  level  of  iron 
and  bringing  it  to  common  uses,  has  made  an 
impression  that  stamps  his  name  on  the  public 
memory;  De  Lesseps'  triumph  in  the  construc- 
tion of  the  Suez  canal,  and  his  pitiable  failure  at 
Panama,  have  marked  him  with  a  double  nota- 
bility; Ericsson's  dramatic  opening  of  a  new  era 
in  naval  warfare  by  the  timely  production  of  the 
Monitor  links  him  with  an  enduring  episode  of 
history;  the  conquest  of  the  air  by  the  Wright 
brothers  has  opened  new  avenues  of  industry  and 
adventure,  and  added  a  new  factor  to  warfare; 
but  most  of  the  marvelous  work  of  late  years  in 
applied  science  and  mechanics  is  appropriated  by 
the  world  with  no  more  than  a  momentary 
identification  of  the  brain  from  which  it  comes. 

The  crowning  engineering  achievement  of  the 
present  epoch  is  the  completion  of  the  Panama 
Canal,  a  titanic  project  carried  through  by  the 
United  States  at  a  cost  of  about  ^375,000,000 
(including  the  payment  made  to  the  French 
syndicate).  What  is  even  more  remarkable  than 
the  actual  building  of  the  Canal  is  the  transfor- 
mation of  a  fever-stricken  zone  into  one  of  the 
healthiest  places  in  the  western  hemisphere,  with 
a  death  rate  lower  than  that  of  the  average 
American  city.  The  chief  engineer  of  this  vast 
undertaking,     Colonel     G.     W.     Goethals,     was 


George  Stephenson 

From  painting  by  Briggs 


Edison 

From  a  photograph 


^HIk"            vb 

Hi 

■RE^^ 

^JpP%,  „ 

^ 

o^«'-'.. 

»                                    ,1                       ■     .; 

Bessemer 

From  a  photograph 


Pasteur 

From  a  photograph 


Chief  Characters  of  the  Sixth  Epoch  1073 

fittingly   appointed   first   civil   governor   of   the 
Canal  Zone,  in  1914. 

Generally,  the  gifts  of  science — the  splendid 
and  abounding  gifts  of  the  present  age  and  the 
recent  past — are  taken  in  that  way,  with  scanty 
recognition  of  the  givers,  beyond  some  small 
circle  in  a  professional  class.  Hundreds  of 
laborious  investigators,  for  example,  have  con- 
tributed to  that  present-day  knowledge  of  malig- 
nant living  organisms  in  nature, — germs  of 
disease, — which  it  is  reasonable  to  value  above 
any  other  learning  of  our  time;  yet  how  many 
among  them  are  known  memorably,  even  in  the 
medical  schools?  Pasteur,  who  found  the  secret 
of  fermentation,  who  led  the  way  in  tracing  ^"^gy^ 
particular  maladies  to  cognizable  germs,  and  who  1822-1895 
robbed  hydrophobia  of  half  its  terrors,  did  too 
much  to  be  overlooked  in  his  life  or  forgotten 
when  he  died.  Lister,  too,  the  pioneer  in  anti- 
septic surgery,  MechnikofF,  the  Russian  patholo- 
gist, who  traced  the  functions  of  beneficial  and 
pathogenic  bacteria,  and  Koch,  whose  discoveries 
of  the  bacilli  of  cholera  and  tuberculosis  have 
checked  the  terrifying  outbreaks  of  the  one  and 
armed  all  communities  with  power  to  eradicate 
the  other,  may  be  tolerably  sure  of  lasting  names.  Lis/e°^^^'^ 
An  unscientific  writer  can  hardly  venture  to  1827- 
specifymore.  ^        ^  ^  ^^^^^^ 

The  present  writer  is  fully  conscious  of  the  Koch,  1843- 
hazard   of  an   undertaking   like   this,   to  enroll, 
without  specialized  knowledge,  the  men  of  most 
notable   achievement   in   the   scientific   work   of 


I074 


Chief  Characters  of  the  Sixth  Epoch 


Pierre 

Simon 

de  Laplace, 

1749-1827 

Baron 

Georges 
Cuvier, 
1769-1832 


Alex,  von 

Humboldt, 
1769-1859 


Jean  Louis 

Agassiz, 

1807-1873 


Hermann 

Helmholtz, 

1821-1894 


Sir  Charles 

Lyell, 

1797-1875 


Asa  Gray, 
1810-1888 


Rudolf 

Virchow, 
1821-1902 


later  times.  Errors  of  unjust  omission  are 
inevitable,  without  doubt;  errors  on  the  other 
side  ought  not  to  occur.  There  can  be  no  mistake 
in  giving  places  here  to  Laplace,  the  great  French 
mathematician  and  astronomer;  to  Cuvier, 
recognized  head.  If  not  creator,  of  the  science  of 
comparative  anatomy;  to  Herschel,  of  the 
famous  telescope,  who  has  been  called  "the 
virtual  founder  of  sidereal  science;"  to  Hum- 
boldt, who  seems  to  have  been  the  master  of  all 
knowledge  in  his  day;  to  Pinel,  who  humanized 
the  treatment  of  the  Insane;  to  Dalton,  originator 
of  the  atomic  theory  In  chemistry;  to  Davy, 
analyst  of  the  fixed  alkalies  and  contriver  of  the 
safety-lamp  for  miners;  to  Agassiz,  the  demon- 
strator of  glacial  action  in  geology;  to  Fraun- 
hofer,  Bunsen  and  Kirchoff,  who  began  the 
decipherment  of  the  revelations  of  the  spectrum; 
to  Joule,  who  determined  the  mechanical  equiva- 
lent of  heat;  to  Grove,  originator  of  the  concep- 
tion of  the  correlation  of  forces;  to  Helmholtz, 
foremost  of  modern  discoverers  in  optics  and 
acoustics;  to  Lyell  and  Dana,  Gray  and  Hooker, 
who  hold  the  highest  rank  among  geologists  and 
botanists  of  the  age;  to  Tyndall,  the  Interpreter 
of  physical  science  to  common  understanding, 
and  the  fruitful  investigator  in  many  of  its  fields; 
to  Clerk  Maxwell,  formulator  of  the  most 
accepted  mathematical  theory  of  electrical  phe- 
nomena; to  Schwann,  whose  cell  theory  became 
the  basis  of  modern  histology,  and  to  Virchow, 
the  founder  of  cellular  pathology;   to  Jackson,  or 


Chief  Characters  of  the  Sixth  Epoch  1075 

Morton,  or  both,  in  recognition  of  their  proof  that 
surgery  can  be   made   painless   by   anesthetics; 
to  Carrel,  of  the  Rockefeller  Institute,  New  York,  Alexis 
who  was  awarded  the  Nobel  prize  for  medicine  ^a"^'' 
for  his  researches  and  discoveries  in  the  cultiva- 
tion of  tissues  in  vitro,  the  grafting  of  limbs  and 
peripheral    parts,    and    the    transplantation    of 
tissues  and  organs  from  one  animal  to  another; 
to  Crookes,  Hertz  and  Rontgen,  whose  successive 
discoveries  have  led  to  knowledge  of  the  mysteri-  crookes, 
ous  so-called  "X-rays,"  the  usefulness  and  mean-  '^32- 
ing  of  which  have  not  yet  been  half  learned;    to 
Becquerel,  who  discovered  the  radiating  proper- 
ties of  uranium;    to  Pierre  and  Madame  Curie,   pi^^^^ 

the  ioint  discoverers  of  radium,  the  radioactive  ^'^"^'    , 
.  .  •  .  1859-1906 

properties   of  which   have  been  enlisted   in  the  Marie 

treatment  of  disease.  jg"^"^' 

With  the  Increased  knowledge  of  electromag- 
netic waves,  and  Improved  methods  of  producing 
and  detecting  them  made  by  Sir  Oliver  Lodge, 
Marconi,  and  others,  wireless  telegraphy  was 
made  possible.  The  wireless  system  from  the 
outset  proved  itself  of  incalculable  value  In  saving 
life  at  sea,  and  Introduced  a  new  factor  in  the  art 
of  naval  warfare.  Not  the  least  important  of  its 
uses  is  the  widening  of  the  area  of  meteorological 
observations. 

Photography  now  plays  such  an  important  part  j^^-^^ 
in  the  life  of  mankind,  being  at  once  the  handmaid  Jacques 
of  science  and  Industrial  art  and  the  bringer  of  all  Daguerre, 
countries    and    peoples   before   the   eyes    of   the  '789-1851 
multitude,  that  we  are  apt  to  forget  our  debt  to 


1076 


Chief  Characters  of  the  Sixth  Epoch 


William 
Henry  Fox 
Talbot, 
1800-1877 


Charles  R. 
Darwin, 
1 809-1882 


Alfred  R. 

Wallace, 

J822-1913 


Niepce,  Daguerre,  Talbot,  and  others  whose 
experiments  and  improvements  have  made  this 
wide  usefulness  possible.  To  Edison  again  we 
owe  the  cinematograph  or  moving  pictures,  a 
development  of  photography  which  has  created 
a  new  industry  and  a  new  source  of  popular 
entertainment. 

But  the  great  name  of  the  nineteenth  century 
In  science  is  still  unwritten  on  our  scroll.  If  it  is 
true,  as  was  said  at  the  beginning  of  this  sketch, 
that  science,  in  these  later  years,  has  been  giving 
"new  conceptions  of  the  universe"  and  "new 
suggestions  and  inspirations  to  all  human 
thought,"  it  is  mainly  because  Darwin,  the 
patient  open-minded  seeker  for  the  truth  of 
things,  gathered  convincing  evidences  of  the 
process  of  "natural  selection"  by  which  an 
evolution  of  higher  from  lower  forms  of  life  is 
brought  about.  The  thought  of  such  a  process, 
with  an  ascending  evolution  of  being  as  its  con- 
comitant, had  occurred  to  other  minds.  Wallace, 
simultaneously  with  Darwin,  described  the  pos- 
sible working  of  natural  selection  in  the  varying 
of  species.  Spencer  had  already  arrived  at  the 
conception  of  a  universal  process  of  evolution  in 
the  organic  world,  had  formulated  its  law  and 
planned  an  all-embracing  philosophy  founded 
thereon.  But  the  long-pursued,  careful  observa- 
tions and  inductions  of  Darwin,  prejudiced  by  no 
theorizing  a  priori^  were  what  made  the  new 
doctrine  of  material  creation  irresistible  and  fixed 
it  in  scientific  belief.    In  the  strong  body  of  ardent 


Chief  Characters  of  the  Sixth  Epoch  lojr 

champions  who  rose  promptly  to  support  and  ?"^"J 
confirm  the  conclusions  of  Darwin,  Huxley,  the  1820-1903 
most  lucid  and  eloquent  of  all  scientific  writers, 
shines  brilliantly  preeminent.    His  agency  seems  Thomas  H. 
next  to  that  of  Darwin  In  the  conversion  of  man-  1825-1^95 
kind  to  a  view  which  changes  the  standpoint  of 
all  thinking  on  the  deeper  problems  of  existence. 
The  results  of  recent  research  mark  an  epoch 

i..  f  |.  jf*'!*  Cambridge 

m  the  history  01  natural  science  and  01  civiliza-  Modem 
tlon.     "Perhaps  the  most  striking  feature  of  the  ^"'ory. 

.  .  .  .12  :79i 

more  recent  discoveries  has  been  their  cumulative 
effect.  A  new  branch  of  physics  at  once  bears 
chemical  fruit,  while  knowledge  gained  in  physical 
chemistry  Is  applied  alike  by  physicists,  chemists, 
and  physiologists.  Archaeology  throws  light  on 
anthropology,  and  anthropology  on  the  com- 
parative history  of  religion.  Academic  study  of 
the  problems  of  heredity  has  Immediate  bearing 
on  agriculture  and  sociology,  while  the  mechani- 
cal arts  are  lying  in  wait  for  the  results  of  research 
In  the  laboratory,  and  In  using  extend  them.  We 
understand  at  last  that  knowledge  Is  one,  and 
that  only  for  convenience  sake  has  It  been 
divided  into  subjects  and  sections  along  lines 
determined  by  historical  reasons." 

In  literature,  no  less  than  In  science,  splendid 
promises  at  the  opening  of  the  late  century  were 
fulfilled  with  amplitude  during  two-thirds,  at 
least,  of  its  years.  The  wakening  that  had  been 
signaled  in  the  song  of  Burns,  to  simpler  influ- 
ences from  nature,  touching  warmer  depths  of 
feeling,   became   manifest   decisively   In   Words- 


1078 


Chief  Characters  of  the  Sixth  Epoch 


William 
Words- 
worth, 
1770-1850 

Sir  Walter 

Scott, 

1771-1832 


George 
Noel  Gor- 
don, Lord 
Byron, 
1788-1824 

Jane 

Austen, 

1775-1817 


Ernest 
Moritz 
Arndt, 
1 769- 1 860 

Heinrich 

Heine, 

1797-1856 


worth's  more  spiritual  verse.  At  the  same  time, 
a  corresponding  and  collateral  wakening  to  more 
vivid  consciousness  of  the  poetry  in  human  life 
was  inspiring,  on  one  hand,  the  school  of  bards 
whose  imagination  followed  Scott's  into  the 
unfamiliar  past,  and  the  less  adventurous  school 
of  Byron,  on  the  other  hand,  which  found  motives 
in  the  life  of  its  own  time.  Scott,  passing  from 
verse  to  prose  fiction,  created  the  romantic 
historical  novel;  while  Jane  Austen  perfected 
the  design  of  the  novel  of  contemporary  domestic 
life. 

The  three  movements  or  tendencies  of  imagina- 
tive feeling,  toward  nature,  romance  and  con- 
temporary life,  ran  everywhere,  and  were  inter- 
mingled, more  or  less,  in  subsequent  poetry  and 
prose  fiction,  but  always  with  one  dominating 
strain.  Goethe's  genius  was  great  enough  to 
comprehend  them  all;  yet  its  own  personality 
was  so  controlling  as  to  give  to  his  poetry  the 
classic  tone  of  restraint.  Patriotic  and  political 
feeling  entered  largely  into  all  German  literature 
during  much  of  the  first  half  of  the  century, 
expressing  itself  warmly  in  the  lyrics  of  Korner 
and  Arndt,  and  deeply  coloring  the  satire,  the  wit 
and  the  fancies  of  the  brilliant,  cynical  Heine; 
but  the  romantic  tendenz  is  manifest  generally  in 
the  imaginative  writing  of  the  time.  This,  in  the 
early  years,  was  stimulated  ardently  by  Tieck 
and  Novalis,  and  satisfied  more  perfectly,  a  little 
later  by  Uhland,  the  master  balladlst  of  his  day. 

After  Rousseau,  the  starting  Impulse  of  the 


Chief  Characters  of  the  Sixth  Epoch  1079 

movement  that  liberated  French  literature  from  Madame 

De  Stael 

its  long  bondage  to  the  old  canons  called  classical  Hoistdn, 
is  attributed  most  largely  to  Madame  de  Stael,  ^766-1817 
who  roused  discontent  with  the  literary  spirit  and 
tone  that  prevailed.    Chateaubriand  and  Lamar- 

•       ^1-  •       ^'    _  Alphonse 

tme  were  pioneers  m  the  emancipation  move-  Lamartine, 
ment;   but  Victor  Hugo  Is  the  conspicuous  chief  1790-1869 
of  what  became,  In  the  third  and  fourth  decades  Victor 
of   the   century,    a    singularly   passionate   revolt  1802-1885 
against  the  traditional  judgments  and  tastes  of 
the  literary  public  in  France.    An  almost  riotous 
exuberance  of  freedom  obtained  indulgence  then, 
for  a  time;  but  It  underwent,  presently,  a  taming, 
in  poetry  and  prose  fiction,  from  extreme  roman- 
ticism to  extreme  realism,  with  an  ultimate  deca- 
dence in  many  writers  to  sheer  animalityof  senti- 
ment and  imagination.    Hugo,  Vigny  and  Dumas, 
— Balzac,  George  Sand  and  Beranger, — Gautler 
and  Musset, — Stendhal  and  Merlmee, — Flaubert  Balzac, 
and  Zola,  Baudelaire  and  Verlaine, — may  be  said   ^''^^'^  ^° 
to  represent  different  phases  of  the  change.    The 
charming  Erckmann-Chatrlan  tales,  In  their  pure 
simplicity,  seem  to  stand  by  themselves,  quite  Dudevant 
apart  from  the  general  stream  of  tendency  in  their  P^'V.^^ 
time.     Criticism,  as  exercised  by  such  writers  as   1804-1876 
Villemaln,  Sainte-Beuve  and  Taine,  has  been  an 
influence  of  unusual  force  in  France;    and  the  ^    .  ^, 

,.  1-         .  •  •   •  1-1  1     ^       r    LouisChas. 

literary  quality  in  serious  writmg,  like  that  01  Alfred  de 
Renan,  is  more  than  commonly  an  element  of  181^1857 
power. 

Turning  eastward,  we  see  Russian  literature 
entering  upon  its  most  glorious  era,  with  Pushkin, 


io8o 


Chief  Characters  of  the  Sixth  Epoch 


Nikolay 
Vasilevich 
Gogol, 
1809-1852 

Leo  Niko- 

laevich 

Tolstoy, 

Count, 

1828-1910 


Henrik 

Ibsen, 
1829-1906 


BaratynskI,  and  Lermontov  in  the  vanguard  of 
the  poets.  Gogol,  the  creator  of  the  Russian 
novel,  established  the  school  of  realism  and  was 
followed  by  Turgenev,  Goncharov,  Dostoevski, 
Pisemski,  and  the  most  famous  of  them  all,  Tol- 
stoy, a  nihilist  and  mystic  in  whose  writings 
Russian  naturalism  would  seem  to  have  cul- 
minated. 

Scandinavia  too  has  contributed  generously  to 
the  world's  literature  in  modern  times.  A  race  of 
intellectual  giants  was  brought  to  a  close  with 
the  four  Danish  poets,  Grundivig,  Bodtcher, 
Hans  Christian  Andersen,  Paludan-Miiller,  and 
the  celebrated  critic,  Brandes.  Frederika  Bremer, 
the  Swedish  novelist,  is  well  known  in  the  United 
States;  so  too  is  Viktor  Rydberg,  one  of  the  fore- 
most writers  of  our  day.  The  wave  of  realism 
that  swept  over  Europe  is  manifest  in  the  works 
of  the  Finlander,  Runeberg,  the  greatest  poet  that 
has  ever  used  the  Swedish  tongue,  and  of  the 
celebrated  Norwegians,  Ibsen  and  Bjornson. 

More  in  English  literature  than  in  any  other, 
the  rewakened  Inspirations  from  nature  and  from 
human  life  were  soon  harmonized  and  fused,  with 
rich  variations  of  effect.  The  fusion  appears  even 
in  Wordsworth,  who  caught  suggestions  of 
thought  or  feeling  from  simple  incidents  of  com- 
mon life,  as  readily  as  his  eye  caught  the  beauty 
and  the  hint  of  simple  objects  that  he  found  In  his 
walks.  It  does  not  appear  in  Coleridge,  fatally 
compounded  as  he  was  of  the  poet  and  the 
analyzing     critic, — a     positive     deformation     of 


Darwin 

From  a  photograph 


Wordsworth 

From  painting  by  Haydon 


Victor  Hugo 

From  a  photograph 


Tennyson 

From  a  portrait  by  Kramer 


Chief  Characters  of  the  Sixth  Epoch  io8i 

genius.     All  that  is  finest  in  his  poetry  is  from  ^amud 

.,.,.  ,.  ......  Taylor 

sources  within  himself;  romantic  in  the  spirit,  but  CoieHdge, 
fabricated  from  nothing  out  of  any  known  past,   ^772-1834 
and  showing  little  sign  of  the  seeing  eye.    But  the 
poems  of  Shelley  are  one  product  of  the  fusion  we 
speak  of,  while  another,  very  different,  is  found 
in    the    poetry    of    Keats.      The    inexhaustible  Bysshe 
delightfulness   of  nature   was   felt   intensely  by  jJ^J-Ts'zz 
both.     Shelley  blended  it  with  profounder  feel- 
ings, from  the  depths  of  a  heart  that  was  pained 
by  the  sufferings  of  humanity  and  angered  by  its 
wrongs.     Keats,  on  the  contrary,  Greek-like  in  l^^^.^szl^ 
his  genius,  could  take  no  inspiration  from  pain  or 
wrong,  or  from  anything  adverse  to  the  joy  of  life 
and  the  beauty  of  the  world.    He  had  to  look  into 
some  twilighted  past  for  visions  of  imagined  life 
that  would  harmonize  with  the  aspects  of  nature 
that  he  loved. 

And  now  we  approach  a  generation  that  began 
to  be  moved  profoundly  by  those  great  revela- 
tions of  science  that  have  changed  the  tenor  of  all 
thought.  The  pondering,  questioning  spirit  of  a 
scientific  age  entered  poetry,  charging  the  highest 
efforts  in  It  with  a  deeper  thoughtfulness,  turning 
them  on  the  problems  of  existence  that  fret  our 
minds.  This  graver  tone  and  weightier  substance 
came  slowly  Into  the  poetry  of  Tennyson,  took  ^^^d^^' 
possession  of  Browning's  and  gave  its  finest  Tennyson, 
quality  to  Matthew  Arnold's  verse.     The  three  ^ 

pre-Raphaellte  poets,  Rossetti,  Morris,  and  Swin- 
burne, were  the  foremost  singers  of  a   revived  Robert 

,1  ,  .  r      1  •         T       Browning, 

romanticism,  and  show  nothing  or  the  scientmc  1812-1889 


io82 


Chief  Characters  of  the  Sixth  Epoch 


Henry  W. 

Longfellow, 
1807-1882 


Ralph 
Waldo 
Emerson, 
1803-1882 


Nathaniel 

Hawthorne 

1804-1864 


influence;  nor  do  any  of  the  chief  American  poets 
of  the  same  generation.  Bryant  ceased  to  sing 
when  his  youth  was  passed,  and  a  busy  city  took 
him  into  its  life,  and  he  lost  touch  with  nature. 
To  Longfellow  all  influences  from  nature  and 
life,  past  and  present,  were  inspiring;  but  he  was 
not  moved  to  deal  with  the  problems  of  his  age. 
Nor  was  Lowell,  critic,  humorist,  satirist, — 
warmly  romantic  at  the  bottom  of  all.  Least  of 
all  did  Whittier,  equal  lover  of  God,  nature  and 
man,  touch  any  such  questioning  in  his  sweet  and 
simple  song.  As  for  Poe,  he  was  like  a  Coleridge 
of  lighter  genius  on  the  critical  and  philosophic 
side.  He  took  little  from  and  gave  little  to  any 
outward  influence,  drawing  his  poetry  from 
sources  of  suggestion  and  imagination  within 
himself.  Emerson,  alone,  in  America,  tinctured 
a  subtly  pregnant  verse,  as  well  as  a  rarely  cogent 
prose,  with  the  profoundest  thinking  of  the 
age. 

Romantically  as  the  Imagination  of  the  English 
novel-reading  world  had  been  excited  by  Scott, 
the  pure  romance  did  not  hold  its  place  long  in 
English  literature.  There  were  no  masters  to 
uphold  it  after  Sir  Walter  died,  except  Haw- 
thorne, thi  American,  who  found  a  realm  of 
psychological  romance  in  the  Puritan  past  of  New 
England,  and  explored  it  with  a  dark-lanterned 
imagination.  In  constructive  art  and  purity  of 
English  prose  the  work  of  Hawthorne  has  hardly 
been  surpassed.  The  other  great  writers  of  prose 
fiction  who  followed  Scott  found  more  to  interest 


Chief  Characters  of  the  Sixth  Epoch  1083 

and  move  them  in  the  life  of  their  own  day  than 
in  that  of  the  past. 

Thackeray,  with  his  fine  discernment  of  charac- 
ter and  of  the  play  of  mixed  motives  in  human  Make^ace 
action,  could  and  did  compose  historical  novels  Thackeray, 

1  r        •  1  r  c  ^        1811-1863 

that  are  nearer  to  perfection  than  any  01  bcott  s; 
but  his  art  was  still  finer  and  more  perfect  in  the 
keenly  satirical  and  no  less  keenly  true  pictures 
that  he  drew  of  society  as  he  saw  it  in  the  living 
state.  Dickens  had  none  of  that  artistic  fineness 
in  his  work,  but  he  was  far  beyond  Thackeray  in 
creative  power.  He  went  to  real  life,  not  so  much 
for  characters  as  for  hints  of  eccentricity,  out  of 
which  to  create  characters  that  have  the  seeming 
of  reality,  while  they  bear  their  maker's  stamp. 
They  are  not  real  to  our  experience,  but  easily 
become  real  to  our  imagination;  and  the  same  is 
true  of  the  whole  structure  of  the  society  into 
which  we  are  carried  by  one  of  Dickens's  tales. 
We  know  nothing  quite  like  it;  it  has  no  actuality 
but  that  which  it  takes  from  his  pen;  yet  that 
seems  to  be  enough.  His  creative  achievement, 
in  fact,  is  unique:  it  is  nothing  less  than  the 
fabrication  of  a  Dickens  zvorld,  peopled  wonder- 
fully with  a  multitudinous  community  of  Dickens 
characters,  all  consistent  with  it  and  with  them- 
selves. There  is  nothing  else  in  imaginative 
literature  with  which  it  can  rightly  be  compared. 
After  Thackeray   and   Dickens,   the   name  of 

1-1       ,.    ,  |.  .       Charles 

greatest   emmencc    among   iLnglish    novelists    is  Dickens, 
unquestionably  that  of  George  Eliot,  who  brought  '^^--'^70 
to  the  study  of  character,   and   to  the  artistic 


1084 


Chief  Characters  of  the  Sixth  Epoch 


Marian 

Evans 

Cross 

(George 

Eliot), 

1819-1880 

Charles 

Kingsley, 

1819-187S 


Charlotte 

Bronte, 

I8i6-i8ss 


Harriet 
Beecher 
Stowe, 
18U-1896 

Samuel 

Langhorne 

Clemens 

(Mark 

Twain), 

183S-1910 


Charles 

Lamb, 

177S-1834 

Robert 
Louis 
Stevenson, 
1850-1894 


observation  of  life,  a  quality  of  intellectual  power 
very  different  from  that  of  any  other  great 
writer  of  fiction,  unless  Balzac  may  be  thought  to 
show  somewhat  the  same.  It  seems  to  be  the 
power  of  a  profoundly  rational  mind,  lending 
itself  to  imaginative  tasks,  not  spontaneously, 
but  under  the  constraint  of  a  marvelous  self- 
command. 

If  these  masters  of  prose  fiction  stand  apart,  in 
a  class  of  their  own,  that  most  fertile  field  of 
English  literature  has  been  thronged  for  six 
decades,  at  least,  with  writers  of  the  second  rank. 
The  number  is  too  great  for  more  than  mention 
in  this  place:  Kingsley,  Bulwer,  Disraeli,  Char- 
lotte Bronte,  Mrs.  Gaskell,  Reade,  Hughes, 
Trollope,  Stevenson  (whose  higher  rank  as  a 
great  literary  artist  is  in  another  company), 
Macdonald,  Mrs.  Oliphant,  Mrs.  Ewing,  George 
Meredith,  Blackmore,  Walter  Besant,  Black,  in 
Great  Britain,  and  Cooper,  Mrs.  Stowe,  Bret 
Harte,  S.  L.  Clemens  (Mark  Twain),  F.  Marion 
Crawford,  in  America, — who  will  question  the 
right  of  these  to  a  place  in  our  list.'*  From  living 
writers  we  will  venture  no  choice  of  names. 

Outside  of  fiction,  in  English  prose,  what 
brilliant,  beautiful,  powerful  work  has  been  done 
within  the  last  hundred  years,  in  widely  differing 
styles!  Lamb,  in  the  first  generation  of  the 
century,  Stevenson  in  the  last, — each  from  his 
own  delightful  personality  and  in  the  spirit  of  his 
own  age, — exemplify  the  high  charm  of  that 
limpid,  natural  flow  of  written  discourse  which 


Chief  Characters  of  the  Sixth  Epoch  1085 

nothing    but    a    genius    of   perfect    naivete    and 
sincerity    can    yield.      De    Quincey    tests    the  _,        _ 
flexibility  of  the  language  in  subtle  intricacies  of  Quincey, 
inconclusive  thought.     Ruskin  develops  its  pic-  ^''  ^'^  ^^ 
torial  capacities  and  brings  to  light  new  beauties  Ruskin, 
of  verbal  effect.     Carlyle  moulds  it  into  strange  1819-1900 
and  striking  forms  of  expression,  which  he  uses 
with  a  power  that  is  more  extraordinary  than  the 
power  of  the  thought  conveyed.    Hazlitt,  Hunt, 
Landor,  Mill,  Bagehot,  Huxley,  Martineau,  New-  cariyie! 
man,   Symonds,  Matthew  Arnold,   in  England,   1795-1881 
and  Irving,  Emerson,  Thoreau,  Holmes,  Curtis,  ^eo  old 
in  America, — each  for  his  own  purpose  makes  it  von  Ranke, 
a  potent,  satisfying  vehicle  of  such  message  as  he      ^^  ' 
has  for  the  world. 

No  branch  of  the  literature  of  knowledge  has 
more  to  give  distinction  to  its  work  in  this  period 
than  the  historical;  and  that  is  true  equally  if  we 
judge  it  by  the  carefulness  of  preparatory  investi- 
gation, by  the  conscientious  candor  of  treatment, 
or  by  the  literary  excellence  of  composition.    In 
Ranke,    Mommsen,    Hausser,    Curtius,    of   Ger- 
many, Thierry,  Guizot,  Barante,  Micheiet,  Mar-  Louis 
tin,  Thiers,  of  France,  Hallam,  Macaulay,  Grote,  Thiers, 
Stubbs,   Freeman,   Green,   Lecky,   Gardiner,   of  '797-1877 
England,  Bancroft,  Prescott,  Motley,  Parkman,  JJ^ilJ^ton 
Fiske,  Rhodes,  of  the  United  States,  we  have  a  Baron 
list  of  historians  which  all  the  preceding  centuries,  is^i^ssg' 
together,   from  Thucydides  to  Gibbon,   cannot  Francis 

match.  Parkman, 

Apart  from  Germany,  the  notable  and  influ- 
ential contributions  to  philosophical  thinking,  in 


io86 


Chief  Characters  of  the  Sixth  Epoch 


Isidore 
Auguste 
Comte, 
1798-1857 


Georg 
Wilhelm 
Hegel, 
1770-183 1 


Arthur 
Schopen- 
hauer, 
1788-1860 

Henri 

Bergson, 

i8S9- 


William 

Booth, 

1829-1912 


the  nineteenth  century,  were  few.  From  France, 
Comte's  skeptical  system  of  "positive  philoso- 
phy" made,  for  some  time,  a  marked  impression, 
which  has  waned  since  the  project  of  a  new  re- 
ligion was  erected  upon  it.  Hamilton,  in  Scot- 
land, gave  rise  to  wide  discussion  in  his  day  by 
attempts  to  mediate  between  the  transcendental- 
ism of  Kant  and  the  common  sense  of  Reid.  The 
later  movements  of  British  thought  in  these 
regions  have  turned  to  controversy  over  the 
evolutionary  principle  worked  out  by  Herbert 
Spencer  and  his  school.  It  is  in  Germany  that 
philosophy  has  had  its  chosen  home  since  it  was 
domiciled  by  Kant;  and  every  generation  there 
has  taken  famous  new  systems  from  famous  new 
teachers, — Fichte,  Hegel,  Herbart,  Schelling, 
Schopenhauer,  Lotze,  Hartmann, — in  an  un- 
broken line.  The  twentieth  century  sees  the  eyes 
of  philosophical  students  turned  once  more  to 
France  where  Bergson's  teachings  of  "creative 
evolution"  have  opened  up  new  horizons  of 
thought.  No  such  impression  has  been  made  by 
any  contribution  to  philosophy  since  Kant 
launched  his  "Critique  of  Pure  Reason." 

In  religious  movements,  the  two  most  con- 
spicuous are  probably  the  Salvation  Army, 
organized  and  firmly  established  by  General 
Booth,  and  Christian  Science,  discovered  and 
founded  by  Mary  Baker  Eddy,  both  of  which 
achieved  worldwide  success  during  the  lifetime 
of  their  founders.  General  Booth  built  up  a 
militant  organization  outside  the  churches,  bear- 


Longfellow 

From  portrait  by  Kramer 


Dickens 

From  a  photograph 


Carlyle 

From  a  photograph 


Mary  Baker  Eddy 

From    a    photograph    copyrighted  by 

The  Christian  Science  PubHshing 

Society,  Boston 


Chief  Characters  of  the  Sixth  Epoch  1087 

ing  the  message  of  the  Cross  into  the  darkest  ^^jy 

•  1     1         •         •  1  •  Baker 

abodes  of  vice  and  destitution,  and  working  out  Eddy, 
a  radical  scheme  of  social  reform.     Mrs.  Eddy,   '^-^-'^'o 
unusually  gifted  and  spiritually  minded,  seems  ^^dHeliih, 
to  have  been  the  inspired  leader  needed  to  turn  ^'^'^^  Key  to 
the  world's  thought  away  from  its  sordid  materi-  tures" 
ality  into  spiritual  channels.     Her  discovery,  in 
1866,  of  what  she  afterwards  called  the  "Science 
of    Christianity"    has    certainly    produced    pro- 
digious   results    from    whatever    point    viewed. 
Many  thousands  have  been  healed  of  hopeless 
disease,  both  of  mind  and  body.     Following  the 
demonstration  of  such  healing  power,  the  estab- 
lishment of  Christian  Science  churches  has  spread 
with  unprecedented  rapidity  to  all  parts  of  the 
globe,  particularly  in  the  English-speaking  coun- 
tries,  while  the  influence  of  this   teaching  has 
permeated  every  branch  of  thought,   scientific, 
philosophical,  and  religious.    Though  Mrs.  Eddy 
claimed  no  personal  glory,  the  fruit  of  her  work 
surely  entitles  her  to  a  place  among  the  world's 
greatest  benefactors. 

Now,  at  last,  we  may  turn  to  the  conspicuous 
actors  in  public  affairs.  In  any  former  century 
they  would  have  filled  most  of  the  stage  and 
dominated  the  history  of  the  time;  for  no  period 
of  equal  length  was  ever  productive  of  more 
stirring  or  more  pregnant  political  events;  but 
the  greater  marks  on  humanity  and  the  world  are 
made  no  longer  by  the  energies  that  operate  in 
politics  and  war.  What  are  the  marks  that  Napo- 
leon left,  compared  with  those  visible  or  felt  by  all 


io88  Chief  Characters  of  the  Sixth  Epoch 

mankind,  to-day,  from  the  work  of  Watt  and 
Stephenson  or  from  the  thoughtful  studies  of 
Darwin  and  Pasteur?  Large  as  he  looks  in  the 
story  of  his  brutal  career,  the  great  Corsican 
adventurer  shrinks  to  a  poor  figure  when  the  real 
outcome  of  his  life  is  measured  up.  He  was  the 
incarnation  of  genius  in  those  modes  of  intel- 
lectual power  which  bear  upon  the  mastery  of 
momentary  circumstances  and  the  command  of 
men.  But  he  had  no  spark  of  the  higher  genius 
that  might  have  directed  such  powers  to  great 
ends.  The  soul  behind  his  genius  was  ignoble,  the 
spirit  was  mean;  and  his  genius  had  its  narrow- 
ness even  on  the  intellectual  side.  His  selfish 
projects  were  never  sagacious,  never  far-sighted, 
thoughtfully  studied,  wisely  planned.  There  is 
no  appearance  in  any  part  of  his  career  of  a  pon- 
dered policy,  guiding  him  to  a  well-determined 
result  from  what  he  did.  The  circumstances  of 
any  moment,  whether  on  the  battlefield  or  in  the 
political  arena,  he  could  handle  with  a  swift 
apprehension,  a  mastery  and  a  power  that  may 
never  have  been  surpassed.  But  much  commoner 
men  have  apprehended  and  have  commanded  in 
a  larger  and  more  successful  way  the  general 
sweep  of  circumstances  in  their  lives.  It  is  that 
Bon°pane,  ^^^^  which  belittles  Napoleon  in  the  comparison 
if69-i82i  often  made  between  him  and  Csesar.  Probably 
he  was  Caesar's  equal  in  war;  but  who  can 
imagine  Caesar,  in  Napoleon's  place,  committing 
the  blunders  of  blind  arrogance  which  ruined  the 
latter  in  Germany  and  Spain,  or  undertaking  his 


Chief  Characters  of  the  Sixth  Epoch  1089 

fatuous    "continental    system"    against    British 
trade? 

On  his  own  plane  of  character  and  genius,  as  a 
heartless   warrior,   Napoleon   was   unrivaled, — a 
prodigy,  such  as  Providence  has  rarely  permitted 
to  be  born,  for  the  affliction  of  mankind.    None  Weiiesky, 
who  contended  with  him  in  war  were  nearly  his  ^g^i^^g^on 
equals, — neither  Wellington   and   Bliicher,   who  1769-1852 
overcame  him  finally  at  Waterloo,  nor  Nelson,  Horatio, 
who  forbade  him  the  use  of  the  sea;  and  opposing  Nelson, 
statesmanship    was    paralyzed    by    his    military  ^758-1805 
success.    Moreover,  unfortunately,  no  statesman  wiiiiam 
of  the  first  order  came  to  power  in  Europe  in  that  P'"-  ^^^ 

r  J        -n-  1   •      r  younger, 

time  01  great  need,    ritt,  his  loremost  opponent,   1759-1806 
was    a    skillful    parliamentarian,     an    effective 
speaker,  a  financier  of  ability,  and  he  organized 
the  European  resistance  with  considerable  skill;  james  Fox, 
but  he  had  nothing  of  his  father's  inspiring  genius  '749-1806 
or  force.     Fox,  the  warm-hearted,  the  eloquent, 
the    reckless,    pleasure-loving    man    of    personal  better- 
charm,  is  hardly  to  be  thought  of  as  an  efficient  "'ch-        • 

...  .    ,  ,  ,  .    ,  Winne- 

master  01  ministerial  power.    Mettermch  was  too  burg, 
narrow,  too  limited  in  every  way  for  dealing  with  '773-1859 
situations  like  those  which  the  French  revolution  „  .   .  , 

rieinricn 

and  Napoleon   had   brought  about.     Stein  and  Friedrkh, 
Hardenberg,  who  raised  Prussia  from  her  pros-  stdn?  ^°" 
trate  state,  and  prepared  her  for  the  subsequent  '757-1831 
leadership  that  made  Germany  what  it  is,  found 
their  opportunity  too  late  for  effects  upon  the 
European  conflict  till  its  end  approached;    but  August^J,^ 
their  work  counts  in  history,  from  its  durable  Harden- 
results,  for  infinitely  more  than  time  has  sifted   1750^1822 


1090 


Chief  Characters  of  the  Sixth  Epoch 


iTiomas 
Jefferson, 
I 743 -I 826 


James 

Madison, 

1751-1836 


Henry- 
Clay, 
1777-1852 


out  of  the  wreckage  of  ephemeral  empire  which 
Napoleon  left. 

American  statesmanship,  In  the  Napoleonic 
period,  took  from  Jefferson  a  cast  or  spirit  that 
was  strangely  misfitted  to  that  stormy  and 
strenuous  time.  It  applied  humanitarian  and 
philosophic  principles  to  circumstances  In  which 
philosophy  and  humanitarian  sentiment  were 
least  likely  to  have  force,  and  the  experiment  did 
not  succeed.  Measured  by  the  lasting  Influence 
of  his  political  opinions  In  the  United  States, — the 
profound  impress  of  his  thought  and  feeling  on 
American  democracy,  and  the  fundamental 
quality  which  that  shows  in  them, — ^Jefferson 
was  more  than  a  great  statesman,  for  he  was  a 
great  political  chief, — the  founder  of  an  inde- 
structible political  creed;  but  his  practical 
administration  of  government  showed  more 
weakness  than  strength.  So,  too.  did  Madison's, 
when  he  came  to  the  helm  of  government  In  those 
difficult  years.  Madison  the  president  was  far 
from  being  the  peer  of  Madison  the  chief  architect 
of  the  federal  constitution.  As  for  those  who 
took,  practically,  the  reins  from  Madison,  and 
drove  the  young  republic  Into  what  was  no  less 
than  an  alliance  with  Napoleon  against  Great 
Britain,  they  were  mere  boyish  minded  young 
patriots  and  politicians,  with  no  maturity  of 
experience  and  judgment,  such  as  statesmanship 
requires.  Clay,  their  leader,  kept  something  of 
the  same  buoyant  boyishness  in  his  nature 
through   life,    and   It   gave   him   no   small   part 


Napoleon 

From  painting  by  David 


Pitt 

From  painting  by  Hickel 


Jefferson 

From  painting  by  Gilbert  Stuart 


Andrew  Jackson 

From  painting  by  Healy 


Chief  Characters  of  the  Sixth  Epoch  109 i 

of  his  personal  charm  and  his  political  success. 

It  was  one  of  the  misfortunes  to  the  United 
States  of  the  war  of  1812-15  that  it  created  a 
popular  hero  who  was  not  qualified  for  usefulness 
in  that  part.  The  prodigious  force  of  will,  the 
unlimited  self-confidence  and  the  thorough  ^^^^^^ 
honesty  of  purpose  in  Andrew  Jackson,  were  Jackson, 
elements  of  a  measureless  personal  power,  when 
the  masses  of  the  people  gave  their  confidence  to 
him;  and  the  rude  training  of  the  man,  undis- 
ciplined and  ill-informed  as  he  was,  made  It  a  very 
dangerous  power.  It  is  a  matter  for  wonder  that 
the  country  suffered  no  more  harm  than  it  did 
from  his  autocracy  of  eight  years  and  his  domi- 
nating influence  for  a  much  longer  time. 

In  the  years  between  Jefferson  and  Jackson, 
the  character  of  most  importance  In  American 
history  is  that  homely  man,  of  inerrable  logic,  the  {?'^", 
chief-justice  Marshall,  whose  Interpreting  deci-  1755-1835 
sions  were  then  giving  to  the  federal  constitution 
of  the  republic  a  nationalizing  base,  so  solid  In 
principle  that  it  has  resisted  every  shock. 

The  European  revolutions  of  1830,  which 
started  the  undoing  of  the  work  of  the  "holy  alli- 
ance," brought  no  striking  character  into  promi- 
nence; but  it  was  then  that  Mazzini's  life  of  exile  Mazzi^T 
and  laborious  conspiracy,  to  rouse  Italy  against  1805-1872 
its  many  oppressors,  was  begun.  On  the  surface 
of  history  there  is  little  to  be  seen  of  the  fruits  of 
his  labor;  but  no  small  part  of  the  spirit  that 
unified  Italy  at  last,  under  a  constitutional  gov- 
ernment,   sprang    undoubtedly    from    the    seed 


1092 


Giuseppe 
Garibaldi, 
1 807-1882 


Louis 
Kossuth, 
1 802- 1 894 


Louis 

Napoleon 

Bonaparte 

(Napoleon 

III.), 

1808-1873 


CniEr  Characters  of  the  Sixth  Epoch 

which  Mazzini,  with  faithful  patience,  had  been 
sowing  for  forty  years. 

The    dramatic    revolutions    of    1848    brought 
figures  of  more  distinction  on  the  scene.     The 
picturesque  Garibaldi,  simple  in  habit,  romantic 
in  spirit,  audacious  in  boldness,  ready  for  any 
enterprise    and    any    responsibility,    came    from 
fourteen  years  of  exile  in  South  America,  to  serve 
a  few  months  of  revolutionary  apprenticeship  in 
Italy,   and  then  retired  to  exile  again,  and  to 
humble  candle-making,  at  New  York.    Kossuth, 
in    Hungary,    emerged    from    quiet    missionary 
labors  in  patriotic  journaUsm,  to  be  raised,  first, 
to   sudden   fame   in   the   leadership   of   a   great 
national  revolt,  and  then  to  greater  fame  when 
failure  drove  him  from  his  country,  sending  him 
to  amaze  and  dazzle  the  English-speaking  world 
with  his  marvelous  eloquence  in  a  newly-learned 
tongue.     In  France,  an  infatuated  people  took 
up  a  shallow  adventurer,  and  lifted  him  to  the 
summit  of  distinction  and  power,  merely  because 
he  bore  a  name  that  ought  to  have  carried  warn- 
ing in  itself.     It  was  according  to  the  plainest 
probability  that  a  second  Napoleon  Bonaparte 
would  be  a  poor  imitator  of  the  first,  impelled  by 
like  meannesses  of  nature,  but  weakly,  with  no 
imposing  brilliancy  and  force;    and  so  there  was 
nothing  to  disappoint  any  reasonable  expectation 
in  that  ignoble  career  which  ended,  after  twenty- 
two  years,  in  the  crumbling  of  a  rotten  "second 
empire,"  with  France  crushed  beneath  the  ruins 
of  its  fall. 


Chief  Characters  of  the  Sixth  Epoch  1093 

Great  Britain  passed  through  both  of  the 
periods  of  revolutionary  excitement  without 
serious  disturbance  of  public  order,  because 
peaceful  revolution,  through  pressure  of  public 
opinion  and  force  of  law,  had  been  made  prac- 
ticable to  the  English  race  by  centuries  of  con- 
stitutional experience.  Englishmen,  in  1830, 
were  demanding  a  more  real  representation  in 
parliament,  and  would,  if  necessary,  have  made 
the  demand  with  arms  in  hand;  but  there  was  no 

«  Chsrlcs 

such  need.    Two  years  later  the  reform  of  parlia-  Earl  GrW, 
ment  was  won  by  Earl  Grey  ("a  pure  and  lofty  1764-1845 
character,"     says    Goldwin    Smith),    who    had 
persisted  In  contention  for  the  measure  since  the 
days  of  Fox  and  Pitt.     Possible  rebellion  in  Ire- 
land  had   been    averted   in    1829   by   the   great        . 
measure  of  partial  justice  known  as  "Catholic  cconneii, 
emancipation,"    which    Daniel    O'Connell,    the  ^775-1847 
most  gifted  and  powerful  leader  that  has  ever 
arisen  in  Ireland,  forced  even  a  Tory  government 
to  concede.    Similarly,  in  1848,  England  had  been 
pacified  in  advance  of  the  continental  convulsions 
by  the  repeal,   in    1846,  of  the  oppressive  and 
iniquitous  corn-laws,  brought  about  by  a  great 
"campaign  of  education,"  organized  and  led  by  ^oblkn 
Cobden,  the  invincible  champion  of  freedom  for  1804-1865 
industry  and  trade. 

Peel,  the  Conservative  premier  who  accepted  51^^01,^^ 
and   adopted   that  measure  of  repeal,   deserves  Peel, 
high  honor  for  the  open  mind,  the  candor,  the 
spirit    above    party,    which    led    him,    then    and 
after,  to  break  away  from  the  old  class-protective 


I094 


William 
Ewart 
Gladstone, 
1809-1898 


Benjamin 
Disraeli, 
Earl  of 
Beacons- 
field, 
1804-1881 


William 
Lloyd 
Garrison, 
1 804-1 879 

John  C. 

Calhoun, 

1782-1850 


Chief  Characters  of  the  Sixth  Epoch 

Toryism  In  which  he  had  been  schooled.  The 
same  honor,  in  a  measure  even  greater,  is  due  to 
Gladstone,  who  went  with  Peel  in  the  notable 
departure  of  1846,  turning  toward  liberaHsm,  to 
become  in  time  the  chief  of  a  new  party  of 
political  progress  and  courageous  reform.  In  his 
freedom  from  bondage  to  his  own  mistakes  of 
opinion  or  act,  in  his  capacity  for  large  and  larger 
convictions,  in  the  intrepidity  of  his  respect  for 
public  opinion,  in  the  ethical  authority  that  he 
acquired,  Gladstone  is  a  nobly  shining  character 
in  British  history,  whatever  the  final  verdict  on 
his  statesmanship  may  be.  If  Disraeli  (Beacons- 
field),  his  life-long  opponent  in  politics  and  his 
opposite  in  every  attribute  of  character,  keeps  a 
place  of  distinction  in  history,  it  will  be,  as  he 
would  probably  prefer  it  to  be,  among  the  prac- 
titioners of  dexterity  in  politics,  who  make  the 
most  of  opportunity  when  it  comes  their  way. 

In  most  parts  of  Europe,  the  last  supports  of 
arbitrary  monarchy  and  class  domination  were 
being  shaken  down;  but  chattel  slavery,  the 
worst  relic  of  barbaric  institutions,  appeared  to  be 
fastening  itself  more  fixedly,  as  a  hideous  and 
incongruous  parasite,  on  the  democracy  of  the 
United  States.  It  was  strengthened  by  the  pas- 
sionate recklessness  of  the  disunion  spirit  in 
Garrison's  abolition  crusade,  until  Calhoun,  the 
accepted  champion  and  counselor  of  the  slave- 
holding  interest,  destroyed  that  effect  by  the 
more  alarming  spirit  of  his  defense.  Believing  in 
slavery  as  a  righteous  social  system,  and  confident 


John  IVIarshall 


Garibaldi 

From  a  photograph 


Gladstone 

From  a  photograph 


Calhoun 

From  a  pliotograph 


Chief  Characters  of  the  Sixth  Epoch  1095 

of  its  perpetuity,  while  recognizing  its  incom- 
patibility with  the  freedom  of  thought  and  speech 
that  democracy  had  developed  in  the  non-slave- 
holding  States,  Calhoun  persuaded  himself  and 
his  followers  that  the  daunting  and  restraining 
of  that  freedom,  on  the  one  subject  of  slavery, 
was  a  practicable  thing  to  do.  For  some  years 
there  was  astonishing  success  in  their  measures  to 
that  end.  Mere  politicians  were  daunted  and 
made  submissive  to  their  resolute  dictation.  The 
inevitable  revolt  of  northern  spirit  was  tardy  and 
slow,  but  it  grew.  The  voice  that  roused  it  most  Quincy 
was  the  voice  of  John  Quincy  Adams,  the  vener-  ^-"^61^1^848 
able  ex-president,  who  would  not  and  could  not 
be  silenced  on  the  floor  of  congress,  in  his  vindica- 
tion of  the  constitutional  right  of  petition,  which 
the  Calhounists  had  denied. 

Then  came  the  period  of  a  dozen  years  in  which 
the  old  parties  crumbled  steadily,  and  the  politi- 
cal forces  of  the  country  were  drawn  by  degrees 
into  two  sectional  camps,  while  statesmen  of  the 
elder  school,  like  Clay,  "the  great  compromiser," 
and  Webster, — worshiper  of  the  Union  and  the  webs^ter 
constitution,  greatest  of  American  senators,  most  1782-1852 
superb  of  American  orators, — made  vain  attempts 
to  hold  the  middle  ground.    Douglas,  the  adroit,  Douglas, 
resourceful,  vigorous  "opportunist"  of  a  younger  ^^^3-1861 
generation,  was  the  last  to  make  that  hopeless 
attempt. 

In  1 861  the  two  political  camps  became  armies, 
and  civil  war  began.  Many  reasons  may  be 
found  for  explaining  why  slavery  perished  in  the 


1096 


Abraham 

Lincoln, 

1809-1865 


William  H. 

Seward, 

1801-1872 

Edwin  M. 

Stanton, 

1814-1869 

Salmon  P. 
Chase, 
1 808-1 873 


Jefferson 

Davis, 

1808-1889 


Chief  Characters  of  the  Sixth  Epoch 

war  and  the  Union  was  saved  from  dissolution, 
but  the  one  discernible  reason  that  outweighs  all 
others  is  in  the  fact  that  Abraham  Lincoln  led  the 
winning  cause.  His  wise  mind,  his  simple  magna- 
nimity of  temper,  his  perfection  of  lucid  speech, 
his  plain  straightforwardness  in  thought  and  deed, 
his  unequaled  discernment  and  understanding  of 
the  people, — all,  in  fact,  that  made  him  the 
beloved  "Father  Abraham"  of  the  country, — 
were  factors  in  the  conflict  of  more  final  potency 
than  measures  in  congress  or  armies  in  the  field. 
He  was  wise  with  a  wisdom  which  nothing  but 
genius  bestows.  It  was  not  in  the  shrewd, 
diplomatic  brain  of  Seward,  nor  in  the  resolute 
and  willful  mind  of  Stanton,  nor  in  the  large, 
strong  intellect  of  Chase.  Lincoln  could  feel  the 
argument  and  meaning  of  events.  And  so  it 
happened  that  all  he  did  and  all  he  said  in  the 
great  crises  of  the  conflict  were  done  and  said 
with  a  timeliness,  a  fitness,  an  eflfect,  which  no 
calculating  sagacity  could  have  hit. 

Providence  did  not  favor  the  rebellious  Con- 
federacy with  so  choice  a  gift.  Davis,  its  chief, 
was  an  able,  strong,  experienced  man,  but  only 
of  the  better  grade  in  a  common  political  class. 
There  was  nothing  of  a  fatherly  character  in  his 
relations  to  the  cause  for  which  he  stood;  nothing 
in  his  personality  that  centered  the  cause  in  him- 
self, as  Lincoln's  did,  warming  devotion  to  it 
from  his  own  devotion,  and  strengthening  public 
faith  by  his  own  abiding  faith.  It  was  Lee,  not 
Davis,  who  held  that  place  in  the  Confederacy, 


Jefferson  Davis 

From  a  photograph 


General  Lee 

From  a  photograph 


General  Grant 

From  a  photograph 


Farragut 

From  a  photograph 


Chief  Characters  of  the  Sixth  Epoch  1097 

when  he  came  to  be  known  for  what  he  was.  He 
was  the  high-souled  great  character,  as  well  as 
the  great  soldier  of  the  contest,  on  Its  southern 
side;  a  figure  more  nearly  companioned  to  that 
of  Lincoln  than  any  other  in  the  history  of  the 
civil  war. 

That  Lee  was  the  ablest  soldier  of  all  who  „  , 

Robert  E. 

fought  in  the  war,  on  either  side,  can  hardly  be  Lee, 

questioned  by  a  candid  mind.     Who  can  believe  ^  °^'^  ^° 

that  Grant  or  Sherman,  with  Lee's  resources  and 

his  task,  would  have  accomplished  what  he  did.  Gran" 

or    that    Stonewall    Jackson    could    have    taken  1822-1885 

Lee's    place.''      They    deserve    their    fame,     as  William T, 

admirable  soldiers,  each  notably  representative  1820^891 

of  a  type;   but  Lee  seems  entitled  to  a  rank  with  xhomas  t 

Frederick   the   Great,   with   Marlborough,   with  (Stonewaii) 

Cromwell,  who  represent  a  superior  type.     Far-  1824-1863 

ragut's  exploits  in  the  war  are  equaled  by  nothing  p^^ij  q 

that  has  been  done  in  naval  warfare  since  Nelson  Farragut, 
,    .  ,  .  1801-1870 

ended  his  career. 

During  the  conflict  In  America  and  within  a 
few  subsequent  years,  two  achievements  of  con- 
structive statesmanship  that  are  not  surpassed  in 
history  were  accomplished  in  the  European  world. 
That  of  Cavour,  the  architect  of  a  united  Italy, 
was,    perhaps,   the   finer   work   of   art;     for   his  Be^o'° 
resources  were  slender  and  his  difiiculties  were  Count  di 
great.     His  footing  was  a  small  kingdom,  of  no  i8io-i86i 
prestige,  till  he  won  a  little  for  it  by  engaging  in 
the  Crimean  war.    His  source  of  authority  was  a 
not  very  popular  king.     His  main  dependence 
was  on  foreign  help  and  Italian  revolution,  both 


1098 


Prince  von 
Otto 

Bismarck, 
181S-189S 


Count 

Helmuth 

von 

Moltke, 

1800-1891 


Alexander 
IL,  of 
Pvussia, 

1818-18S1 

Stephen 
Grover 
Cleveland, 
I037-1908 

William 

McKinley, 

1843-1901 

Queen 

Victoria, 

1819-1901 


King 
Edward 
VII., 
1841-1910 


Chief  Characters  of  the  Sixth  Epoch 

serving  him  with  intentions  adverse  to  his  own. 
His  most  effective  military  instrument  was 
Garibaldi,  self-commissioned  and  independent 
commander  of  an  army  formed  without  authority 
of  law.  On  the  other  hand,  Bismarck,  builder  of 
a  federated  German  empire,  had,  for  the  base  of 
his  structure,  a  compact  Prussian  nation;  for  his 
masterworkman,  a  strong  king;  for  his  mighty 
implement  of  force  an  army  moulded,  marshaled 
and  directed  by  Moltke,  the  most  consummate 
military  organizer  of  modern  times.  The  great- 
ness of  Bismarck's  work  was  in  his  powerful 
bending  of  circumstances,  to  produce  the  oppor- 
tunities for  which  he  had  prepared.  That  of 
Cavour's  was  in  the  fitting  of  his  means  and  his 
tools  to  such  circumstances  as  came. 

Our  list  of  famous  names  is  nearly  filled.  We 
must  take  into  it  the  tzar  who  gave  freedom  to 
the  Russian  serfs,  though  he  angered  his  subjects 
by  later  oppressions  and  was  horribly  slain. 
We  must  include  the  President  who  maintained 
the  inviolability  of  the  Monroe  doctrine,  and  who 
stamped  his  individuality  upon  the  life  of  the 
United  States  in  no  uncertain  manner.  Nor  can 
we  omit  his  successor,  William  McKinley,  a  man 
of  less  force  and  originality,  who  fell  a  victim  to 
an  anarchist's  bullet.  We  must  give  a  place  to 
the  good  English  queen  whose  long  influence  in 
her  own  wide  realm  and  in  the  world  was  all  for 
good.  We  must  enroll  her  universally  beloved 
son  whose  reign  was  all  too  brief,  but  who  will 
live  in  history  as  Edward  the  Peacemaker.    We 


Count  di  Cavour 

From   a   painting  by  Mitzmacher 


Bismarck 

From  a  photograph 


Moltke 

From  a  photograph 


John  Bright 

From  a  photograph 


Chief  Characters  of  the  Sixth  Epoch  1099 

must  surely  admit  to  It  the  great-hearted,  golden- 
tongued  apostle  of  peace  and  righteousness,  John 
Bright.     Thiers,  who  did  notable  work  in  the 
founding  of  the  third  republic  of  France  on  the  Bright, 
ruins  of  the  second  empire,  cannot  with  justice  i8"-i889 
be  left  out;  nor  can  Deak,  the  master-spirit  of  the  p^j-encz 
movement  that  restored  Hungary  to  a  footing  of  Deak, 

1  A  TT  •  IS03-I876 

distinct  nationality,  m  the  Austro-Hunganan 
empire;  nor  yet  can  George,  the  Danish  king  of 
the  Hellenes,  whose  life  was  cut  off  by  an  assassin 
in  the  hour  of  Greece's  triumph. 

For  a  moment,  we  may  turn  to  Africa,  and 
note  the  work  of  Livingstone,  whose  missionary  ingJtoner" 
explorations   were   the   first   to   waken    a   wide,   1813-1873 
general   interest   in   the   bringing   of   that   vast 
unknown  part  of  the  earth  into  relations  with  the 
civilized    world;     then    of    Speke,    Burton,    and 
Baker,  who  solved  the  mysteries  of  the  Nile;  then  ^^^^^  j^_ 
of  Stanley,  who  revealed  the  enormous  stretch  of  Stanley 
the  Congo  and  the  expanse  of  its  valley;    and  Rowian 
lastly  of  Rhodes  and  Kruger,  representatives  of  '^41-190+ 
rival  ambitions,  whose  antagonized  projects  of  ^^^\^^ 
African  dominion  caused  the  terrible  Boer  war.   1853-1902 
These  are  but  a  few  among  the  men,  in  our  own 
generation,    who    have    been    drawing    a    long-  Kruger, 
obscured  continent  out  of  prehistoric  darkness  '^'^'^  ^^04 
into  historic  light. 

When  we  come  to  living  men  we  deem  it  best 
to  pause.    It  will  be  left  for  future  historians  to 
characterize    the    work    of    present    European  ^^^ 
rulers,  notably  George  V.  of  England,  William  H.  George  v., 
of   Germany,   Nicholas    H,    of   Russia,   Alfonso 


IIOO 


Chief  Characters  of  the  Sixth  Epoch 


Emperor 
William 
II.,  i8s^ 

Emperor 
Francis 
Joseph, 
1830- 

Woodrow 

Wilson, 

1856- 

William 
Howard 
Taft, 
1857- 

Theodore 
Roosevelt, 

1858- 

Pius  X., 

1835- 
Pope, 
1903- 

Queen 

Alexandra, 

1844- 

Queen 

Mary, 
1867- 


XIII.  of  Spain,  Francis  Joseph  of  Austria- 
Hungary,  Constantine  of  Greece,  Emmanuel  III. 
of  Italy,  Christian  X.  of  Denmark,  Ferdinand  of 
Bulgaria,  Gustav  V.  of  Sweden,  Albert  of 
Monaco,  Haakon  VII.  of  Norway,  Albert  of 
Belgium,  Mehmed  V.,  successor  of  the  ill-fated 
Abdul-Hamid  of  Turkey,  and  President  Poincare 
of  France;  of  Yuan  Shi-kai,  first  president  of  the 
Chinese  Republic,  and  of  President  Wilson  and 
his  immediate  predecessors,  William  Howard 
Taft  and  Theodore  Roosevelt  of  the  United 
States;  of  Pius  X.,  whose  singleheartedness  and 
apostolic  zeal  have  commanded  the  esteem  of 
Catholics  and  non-Catholics  alike;  of  the 
two  British  queens,  the  widowed  Alexandra 
and  the  consort  of  the  King-Emperor;  of 
eminent  statesmen  and  diplomats,  such  as 
Asquith,  Chamberlain,  Balfour,  Lloyd  George, 
Bonar  Law,  Curzon,  Morley,  and  Bryce  of  Great 
Britain,  Laurier  and  Borden  of  Canada,  Seddon 
and  Stout  of  New  Zealand,  Deakin,  Joseph  Cook, 
and  Forrest  of  Australia,  Vice-President  Mar- 
shall, Bryan,  Champ  Clark,  and  Cannon  of  the 
United  States;  of  the  eminent  British  generals 
Roberts,  Kitchener,  and  French;  of  the  renowned 
admirals  Noel,  Fanshawe,  May,  and  the  veteran 
Beresford  of  Great  Britain,  and  Dewey  of  Manila 
fame;  of  the  princely  benefactors  Carnegie, 
Rockefeller,  and  Mrs.  Russell  Sage. 

Finally,  we  recall  the  exploits  of  the  men  who 
pierced  the  frozen  solitudes  of  the  polar  regions, 
wresting  therefrom  the  secrets  that  civilization 


Chief  Characters  of  the  Sixth  Epoch  iioi 

wished    to    learn.      Nansen    and    the    Duke    of  F"dtjof 

Nansen, 

Abruzzi  made  splendid  efforts  to  reach  the  North  1861- 
Pole,   getting   within   225    miles    and    206   miles 

respectively;   but  it  was  left  to  Peary  to  achieve  Robert 

the  goal  of  centuries.     Peary  reached  the  North  pea^r^" 

Pole  in  1909.    The  South  Pole  still  remained  to  ^^56- 

be  explored.     The  British  explorers   Scott  and  Robert 

Shackleton  had  already  penetrated  to  within  a  5^^^°" 

comparatively    short    distance    of    the    coveted  1868-1912 

objective;    Shackleton,   after  locating  the  mag-  ^''_^™"'^ 

netic  South  Pole,  reachmg  a  pomt  only  97  miles  ton,  1873- 
from    the    terrestrial    Pole.     The   final    struggle 

became  virtually  a  race  between  Amundsen,  the  ^"^'"^ ,  „ 

'  '  Amundsen, 

Norwegian,  and  Captain  Scott,  the  Englishman,  1872- 
the  former  reaching  the  South  Pole  in  December 
1911,  followed  by  Scott  a  month  later.  On  the 
return  journey,  Captain  Scott,  with  four  of  his 
companions,  perished  of  starvation,  leaving 
behind  them  a  splendid  record  of  bravery  and 
self-sacrifice.  Disaster  also  attended  the  Aus- 
tralian Antarctic  Expedition  (1912-1914),  Dr.  Dr. 
Douglas  Mawson,  leader  of  this  scientific  expedi-  po^gia* 

'^  '         ^  _  /  Mawson, 

tion,  losing  two  of  his  comrades,  leaving  him  to  1882- 
press  forward  to  his  distant  base  alone  and 
undaunted.  Mawson's  expedition  has  defined  a 
considerable  part  of  the  coast  of  Antarctica,  and 
has  added  greatly  to  the  store  of  scientific  and 
geographical  knowledge.  With  these  brave  men 
and  their  inspiring  achievements  we  may  prop- 
erly close  our  scroll. 


CHAPTER  XX 

FROM  THE  DEATH  OF  WASHINGTON  TO 

THE  ADVENT  OF  STEPHENSON  AND 

THE  STEAM  RAILWAY 


The 

crumbling 
of  absolute 
govern- 
ments 


(1799  TO  1830) 

The  days  of  absolute  government  numbered. — History  assuming  a  new 
tenor.— Beginning  of  a  transformation  of  the  world.  The  Napoleonic  Wars: 
Second  defeat  of  Austria. — Reconstruction  of  Germany. — Napoleon  emperor. 
— Austerlitz  and  Trafalgar. — Subjugation  of  Prussia. — Warfare  by  destruc- 
tion of  trade.— Napoleon's  crime  against  Spain. — The  Spanish  uprising. — The 
humiliation  of  Germany. — The  making  of  Prussia.— Napoleon  in  Russia.  — 
Beginning  of  his  overthrow.  His  fall. — His  return  from  Elba. — Waterloo. — 
St.  Helena.  The  United  Slates  of  America  during  the  Napoleonic  Wars. 
Neutral  trade. — Humiliations  endured. — Presidency  of  Jefferson. — The 
Louisiana  purchase. — ^^Wrongs  and  insults  from  England  and  France. — 
English  claim  to  a  right  of  search. — Madison's  presidency. — Napoleon's 
knavery. — War  of  1812  with  England.- — Beginning  of  a  conscious  national 
life.  Europe  after  the  fall  of  Napoleon:  The  English  com  laws. — Reconstruc- 
tion work  of  the  Congress  of  Vienna. — The  Holy  Alliance. — Revolutions  of 
1820  and  1830. ^Ireland  and  Catholic  emancipation.  New  departure  in  social 
progress:  Effects  of  steamboat  and  railway.  The  United  States  after  the  war 
of  1812:  Steam  navigation. — Canal  building.  _  "The  cotton  gin." — Its  effects 
on  slavery.  Question  of  slavery  in  the  Territories. — The  Missouri  compro- 
mise. —  The  "  Monroe  doctrine."  British  America:  Discontent  in  the 
Canadas.  Spanish  America:  Revolt  and  Independence  of  Spanish  provinces. 
Santo  Domingo:  Revolt. — Slave  rising. — Toussaint  L'Ouverture.  Brazil: 
Founding  of  the  independent  empire.  Australia:  Growth  of  New  South 
Wales.    India:   Extension  of  British  rule. 

When  the  nineteenth  century  began,  the  days 
of  absolute  government  had  been  numbered  for 
all  Christendom,  excepting  possibly  for  the 
empire  of  the  Russian  tzar.  Though  It  seemed  to 
have  been  not  much  Injured  by  the  great  shock 
from  France,  yet  Its  bases  had  been  broken 
beyond  repair,  and  gave  way  In  Its  formidable 
seats,  one  after  the  other,  till  the  tzar  -was  left 
alone  In  his  autocracy,  among  the  princes  of  the 
Christian  world.  Napoleon,  with  all  his  prestige 
and   his   masterfulness,   failed   to  found   a   new 

1102 


Emergence  of  the  Masses  Into  History  1103 

absolutism  in  France,  even  for  the  term  of  his  own 
life;  and  the  subsequent  labors  of  the  "holy 
alliance"  of  European  kings  were  undone  in  a 
generation.  B7  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth 
century  it  had  been  determined,  past  disputing, 
that  civilized  peoples,  within  the  range  of  Chris- 
tendom at  least,  would  have  a  voice  in  their  own 
government,  and  that  the  powers  of  government 
would  be  constitutionally  defined.  The  funda- 
mental political  issue,  between  sovereigns  and 
subjects,  that  had  filled  so  much  of  past  history, 
was  thus  settled  substantially,  and  cleared  away, 
so  far  as  concerned  the  leading  nations  of  the 
world. 

Hence    history    has    assumed    a    new    tenor. 
Room  has  been  made  in  the  life  of  the  peoples  for  History 
so  many  more  energies  to  become  active, — for  so  assuming  a 

'  ,    .  °  .  .  new  tenor 

many  more  interests  to  acquire  a  motive  force, — 

that  the  whole  plot  and  character  of  the  human 

drama    have    undergone    a    prodigious    change. 

Multitudes  are  on  the  stage,  where  a  few  figures 

were  in  action  before.    Parties  are  casting  ballots 

where  kings  used  to  be  signing  decrees.     The  oUheT"'^^ 

masses — the  populace — that  were  curtained  for-  "passes  mto 

merly  out  of  historical  sight,  are  now  busy  and  activity 

conspicuous  In  every  scene,  using  the  freedom  of 

opportunity  that  has  been  opened  to  men,  for 

each  to  make  the  most  of  his  faculties  and  powers. 

In  scientific  discovery,  in  mechanical  invention, 

in     commercial    and     industrial    enterprise,    in 

educational  and  reformative  social  work,  millions, 

of  the  last  two  or  three  generations,  have  been 


II04 


Lanfrejr, 
History  of 
Napoleon 
I.,  vol.  2, 
and  vol.  3, 
ch.  i-ix 


Second 
defeat  of 
Austria, 
1 800-1 801 


Treaty  of 
Luneville, 
Feb.  9, 
1801 


Recon- 
struction of 
Germany- 


England 
alone 
against 
Napoleon 


April  I, 
i8oi 


From  Washington  to  Stephenson 

contributing  to  the  improvement  of  the  condi- 
tions of  human  life,  where  thousands  were  con- 
tributing before;  and  the  result  of  their  labors 
already  is  a  "transformation  of  the  world." 

First  period  of  the  Napoleonic  wars 

In  the  first  year  of  his  consulate,  Bonaparte 
recovered  Italy  by  an  extraordinary  campaign, 
in  which  his  main  army,  of  40,000  men,  crossing 
the  Alps  at  the  Great  St.  Bernard  pass,  struck  the 
Austrians  in  the  rear  of  their  position,  defeated 
them  on  the  plain  of  Marengo,  and  won  back  all 
the  losses  of  the  previous  year.  At  the  same 
time,  Moreau,  on  the  northern  side  of  the  Alps, 
gained  the  victory  of  Hohenlinden,  and  Austria 
was  forced  to  make  peace  on  Bonaparte's  terms. 
In  the  treaty  of  Luneville  she  renewed  the  con- 
cessions of  Campo  Formio,  and  assented  to  a 
reconstruction  of  Germany  under  the  victor's 
dictation.  The  ecclesiastical  states  were  secular- 
ized, the  freedom  of  all  save  six  of  the  forty-eight 
imperial  cities  was  extinguished,  and  Bavaria, 
Wurtemberg,  Baden  and  Saxony  were  aggran- 
dized as  proteges  and  dependencies  of  France. 

England  was  now  left  alone  in  the  war,  with 
hostile  feeling  raised  against  her  in  Europe  and 
America  by  the  arrogant  use  she  had  made  of  her 
mastery  of  the  sea.  The  neutral  powers  had  been 
embittered  by  her  maritime  pretensions,  and 
Bonaparte  brought  about  the  organization  among 
them  of  a  northern  league  of  armed  neutrality. 
England  broke  it  with  a  single  blow,  by  Nelson's 


Napoleon's  Continental  System  1105 

bombardment  of  Copenhagen  and  seizure  of  the 
Danish  fleet.  Napoleon,  however,  had  conceived 
the  plan  of  starving  English  industries  and  ruin- 
ing British  trade  by  a  "continental  system"  of 
blockade,  which  involved  the  compulsory  exclu-  ^^     ,     , 

.    .  .  .    .  f        f  Napoleon  s 

sion   of   British   ships    and    British   goods   from  continental 
Europe  at  large.     This  impossible  project  com-  '^"^"^ 
mitted  him  to  a  desperate  struggle  for  the  sub- 
jugation  of  Europe.     It  was   the   fundamental 
cause  of  his  ruin. 

"The  significance  then  of  the  Peace  of  Luneville 
lay  in  this:   not  only  that  it  was  the  close  of  the 
earlier  revolutionary  struggle  for  supremacy  in 
Europe,  the  abandonment  by  France  of  her  effort 
to  'liberate  the  peoples,'  to  force  new  institutions 
on  the  nations  about  her  by  sheer  dint  of  arms; 
but  that  it  marked  the  concentration  of  all  her 
energies    on    a    struggle    with    Britain    for    the 
supremacy    of    the    world.    .    .    .   To    strike    at 
England's  wealth  had  been  among  the  projects  of 
the  directory:   it  was  now  the  dream  of  the  first 
consul.     It  was  in  vain  for  England  to  produce,  History 
if  he  shut  her  out  of  every  market.    Her  carrying-  "/'^^f. , 
trade  must  be  annihilated  if  he  closed  every  port  People, 
against  her  ships.    It  was  this  gigantic  project  of  ch_y^^' 
a  'continental  system'  that  revealed  Itself  as  soon 
as  Bonaparte  became  finally  master  of  France." 

In  1802  the  first  consul  advanced  his  restora- 
tion of  absolutism  in  France  a  second  step,  by 
securing  the  consulate  for  life.     A  short  interval  ^^l^^f 
of  peace  with  England  was  arranged,  but  war  March, 
broke   out   anew   the   following   year,    and    the 


iio6 


From  Washington  to  Stephenson 


Napoleon 
crowned 
emperor, 
Dec.  2, 
1804;  also, 
king  of 
Italy, 
April,  1805 


Third 
European 
coalition, 
1 80s 


English  had  no  allies  for  a  time.  The  French 
occupied  Hanover,  and  the  Germans  were 
quiescent.  But,  in  1804,  Bonaparte  shocked 
Europe  by  the  abduction  from  Baden  and  execu- 
tion of  the  Bourbon  prince,  Due  d'Enghien,  and 
began  again  to  challenge  the  interference  of  the 
surrounding  powers  by  a  new  series  of  aggressive 
acts.  His  ambition  had  thrown  off  all  disguise. 
He  transformed  the  republic  of  France  into  an 
empire,  so-called,  and  himself,  by  title,  from 
consul  Bonaparte  into  emperor  Napoleon,  com- 
pelling the  pope  to  crown  him  as  such,  in  the 
ancient  cathedral  of  Notre  Dame.  The  Cisalpine 
or  Italian  republic  received  soon  afterward  the 
constitution  of  a  kingdom,  and  he  took  the  crown 
to  himself,  as  king  of  Italy.  Genoa  and  surround- 
ing territory  (the  LIgurian  republic)  were  an- 
nexed, at  nearly  the  same  time,  to  France; 
several  duchies  were  declared  to  be  dependencies, 
and  an  Italian  principality  was  given  to  Napo- 
leon's elder  sister. 

The  effect  produced  in  Europe  by  such  arbi- 
trary and  admonitory  proceedings  as  these 
enabled  Pitt,  the  younger,  now  at  the  head  of  the 
English  government,  to  form  an  alliance,  first 
with  Russia,  afterward  with  Austria,  Sweden  and 
Naples,  and  finally  with  Prussia,  to  break  the 
yoke  which  the  French  emperor  had  put  upon 
Italy,  Holland,  Switzerland  and  Hanover,  and  to 
resist  his  further  aggressions. 

The  amazing  energy  and  military  genius  of 
Napoleon  never  had  more  astonishing  proof  than 


Napoleon  Crowned  Emperor  1107 

in  the  swift  campaign  which  broke  this  coalition 
at  Ulm  and  Austerlitz.  Austria  was  forced  to 
another  humiliating  treaty",  which  surrendered 
V^enice  and  Venetia  to  the  conqueror's  new  king-  AuTted'hz, 
dom  of  Italy;  gave  up  Tyrol  to  Bavaria;  yielded  Oct.  19 and 
other  territory  to  Wiirtemberg,  and  raised  both 
electors  to  the  rank  of  kings,  while  making  Baden 
a  grand  duchy,  territorially  enlarged.  Prussia 
was  dragged  by  force  into  alliance  with  France, 
and  took  Hanover  as  pay. 

But  England  triumphed  at  the  same  time  on 
her  own  element,  and  Napoleon's  dream  of  carry- 
ing his  legions  across  the  Channel,  as  Caesar  did, 
was  dispelled  forever  by  Nelson's  dying  victory  oct.  21,  ' 
at  Trafalgar.  That  battle,  which  destroyed  the  ^^°^ 
combined  navies  of  France  and  Spain,  ended 
hope  of  contending  successfully  with  the  Britons 
at  sea. 

France  was  never  permitted  to  learn  the  seri- 
ousness of  Trafalgar,  and  it  put  no  check  on  the 
vaulting  ambition  in  Napoleon,  which  now  began 
to  o'erleap  itself.  He  gave  free  reign  to  his  ar- 
rogance in  all  directions.  The  king  of  Naples  was 
expelled  from  his  kingdom  and  the  crown  con- 
ferred on  Joseph  Bonaparte;  Louis  Bonaparte 
was  made  king  of  Holland;  southern  Germany 
was  reconstructed  again.  The  little  German 
kingdoms  of  Napoleon's  creation  and  the  small 
states    surrounding   them    were    declared    to   be 

-      -  ,  .  .  ,  Confedera- 

separated   irom   the   ancient   empire,    and   were  tionofthe 
formed  into  a  Confederation  of  the  Rhine,  under  ^^^^^ 
the  protection  of  France.     Warned  by  this  rude 


iio8  From  Washington  to  Stephenson 

announcement  of  the   precarious   tenure  of  his 

imperial  title  as  the  head  of  the  H0I7  Roman 

the  Holy       empire,  Francis  II.  resigned  it,  and  took  to  him- 

Em™^e,        self,  instead,  a  title  as  meaningless  as  that  which 

Aug.  6. 1806  Napoleon  had  assumed,— the  title  of  emperor  of 

Austria.      The    venerable    fiction    of    the    Holy 

Roman  empire  disappeared  from  history  on  the 

6th  of  August,  1806. 

Subjuga-  But,  while  Austria  had  become  submissive  to 

Prussia        the    offensive    measures    of    Napoleon,    Prussia 

became  fired  with  unexpected,  sudden  wrath,  and 

Jena  and      declared  war  in  October,  1806.     It  was  a  rash 

On^H,^^'    explosion  of  national  resentment,  and  the  rash- 

1806  ness  was  paid  for  dearly.    At  Jena  and  Auerstadt 

(two  battles  fought  on  the  same  day)   Prussia 

sank  under  the  feet  of  the  merciless  conqueror,  as 

helplessly    subjugated    as    a    nation    could    be. 

Russia,  attempting  her  rescue,  was  overcome  at 

Eylau  and  Friedland;    and  both  the  vanquished 

Treaty  of     powcrs  camc  to  tcrms  with  the  victor  at  Tilsit. 

Tilsit,  July,  The  king  of  Prussia  gave  up  all  his  kingdom  west 

1807  *-»  1  o 

of  the  Elbe,  and  all  that  it  had  acquired  in  the 
second  and  third  partitions  of  Poland.  A  new 
German  kingdom,  of  Westphalia,  was  con- 
structed for  Napoleon's  youngest  brother, 
Jerome.  A  free  state  of  Danzig,  dependent  on 
France,  and  a  grand  duchy  of  Warsaw,  were 
formed. 
rj^  ,.^  The  Russian  tzar,  bribed  by  some  pieces  of 

Thebnbery  .  •'.  ^.., 

of  the  tzar  -Tolisn  rrussia,  and  by  prospective  acquisitions 
from  Turkey  and  Sweden,  became  an  ally  of 
Napoleon  and  an  accomplice  in  his  plans.     By 


Napoleon's  Subjugation  of  Europe  1109 

the  treaty  of  Tilsit,  he  enlisted  his  empire  in  the 
"continental  system"  against  England,  and 
agreed  to  the  enforcement  of  a  decree  which 
Napoleon  issued  from  Berlin,  declaring  the 
British  islands  in  a  state  of  blockade. 

Great  Britain  and  Ireland 

The  younger  Pitt,  who  had  been  the  master-  ^ 
spirit  of  the  resistance  to  French  aggressions  and  Pitt,  Jan. 
Napoleonic    ambitions,    was    dead.      Feeble    in  ^^' ' 
health  and  worn  out  with  labors  and  cares,  he  had 
succumbed  to  the  shock  of  the  news  of  Austerlitz, 
which  frustrated  all  his  plans.     Early  in  1806  he 
died,  and  the  direction  of  the  government  was 
undertaken  by  a  ministry  made  up  of  brilliant 
men  from  differing  parties,  who  could  not  act  g^. . , 
effectively  together,  nor  with  the  king.     Charles  "ministry- 
James  Fox,  the  most  distinguished  member  of  talents," 
this  ministry,  died  within  the  year,  but  not  till  he  ^^°^ 
had  insured  the  passage  of  an  act  against  the 
slave  trade,  which  was  the  measure  he  had  most 
at  heart.    The  colleagues  of  Fox,  in  what  came  to 
be  described  as  "the  ministry  of  all  the  talents,'* 
were  not  long  in  office  after  his  death.     They 
resigned    because    the   bigoted    king   would    not 
listen  to  proposals  for  some  relief  to  the  Roman 
Catholics  of  the  kingdom,  who  had  writhed  under 
shameful  disabilities  for  more  than  two  hundred 
years. 

In  that  period,  and  through  all  the  prior  cen-  treftment 
turies  of  their  subjection,  the  treatment  of  the  of  Iceland 
Irish  people  by  the  English  was  as  cruel  and  as 


mo 


From  Washington  to  Stephenson 


Walpole, 
History  oj 
Englajid 
from  iSis, 
2  :  ch.  viii 


Oppression 
of  the 
Catholic 
Irish 


The  Protes- 
tant Irish 
legislature 


heedless  of  justice  and  right  as  the  treatment  of 
Poles  by  Russians  or  of  Greeks  by  Turks.  They 
were  trebly  oppressed:  as  conquered  subjects  of 
an  alien  race,  as  religious  enemies,  as  possible 
rivals  in  production  and  trade.  They  were 
deprived  of  political  and  civil  rights;  they  were 
denied  the  ministrations  of  their  priests;  the 
better  employments  and  more  honorable  profes- 
sions were  closed  to  them;  the  industries  which 
promised  prosperity  to  their  country  were  sup- 
pressed. A  small  minority  of  Protestant  colonists 
became  the  recognized  nation,  so  far  as  a  nation- 
ality in  Ireland  was  recognized  at  all.  When 
Ireland  was  said  to  have  a  parliament,  it  was  the 
parliament  of  the  minority  alone.  No  Catholic 
sat  in  it;  no  Catholic  was  represented  in  it. 
When  Irishmen  were  permitted  to  bear  arms, 
they  were  Protestant  Irishmen  only  who  formed 
the  privileged  militia.  Seven-tenths  of  the 
inhabitants  of  the  island  were  politically  as  non- 
existent as  actual  serfdom  could  have  made 
them.  For  the  most  part  they  were  peasants 
and  their  state  as  such  scarcely  above  the  condi- 
tion of  serfs.  They  owned  no  land;  their  leases 
were  insecure;  the  laws  protected  them  In  the 
least  possible  degree;  their  landlords  were  mostly 
of  the  hostile  creed  and  race.  No  country  in 
Europe  showed  conditions  better  calculated  to 
distress  and  degrade  a  people. 

This  was  the  state  of  things  in  Ireland  until 
nearly  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century.  In  1782 
legislative  independence  was  conceded;    but  the 


English  Treatment  of  Ireland  iiii 

independent  legislature  was  still  the  parliament 
in  which  Protestants  sat  alone.  In  1793  Catholics 
were  admitted  to  the  franchise;  but  seats  in 
parliament  were  still  denied  to  them  and  they 
must  elect  Protestants  to  represent  them.  History  of 

England  in 
in  the  iSth 


Pitt  had  planned  a  great  measure  of  states- 


manship and  justice,  contemplating  not  only  the  century, 
union  of  Ireland  with  England  and  Scotland,  "^  -"^ 
under  one  parliament  and  one  system  of  law, 
but,  likewise,  the  admission  of  Catholics  to  that 
parliament,  and  their  general  liberation  from  the 
disabilities  under  which  they  were  kept.  One 
part  of  his  measure  was  carried  through;  the 
other  failed.  By  acts  of  the  parliaments  in  both 
islands,  "the  United  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain 
and  Ireland"  was  created  in  the  year  1800,  and 
the  British  realm  assumed  that  name  on  the  ist 
day   of  January,    1801.      But   when    Pitt   then 

,  .  ,  II  r  Union  of 

attempted  to  give  substance  as  well  as  lorm  to  Ireland 
the   union   of   Ireland    with    Great   Britain,    by  ^'^^  Great 

'         •'      Britain, 

placing  its  Catholic  citizens  on  a  footing  of  Jan.  i,  isoi 
political  equality  with  their  Protestant  fellow 
citizens,  he  found  his  course  blocked  by  the 
immovable  bigotry  of  the  king.  Thereupon  he 
resigned,  and  was  out  of  office  during  the  period 
of  the  Peace  of  Amiens;  but  when  war  broke  out 
afresh,  and  Napoleon  began  formidable  prepara- 
tions to  invade  England,  Pitt  was  recalled  to  the  ^'"'^  ''"'5' 

°  '  _    _  _  nation  and 

helm,   and  the  new  coalition  against  Napoleon  recall, 
was  his  final  work.    As  said  before,  he  died  when  jgoj^  ' 
it  failed.     Nelson,  at  Trafalgar,  had  foiled  the  ^^^y-  ^s°4 
project   of   invasion,    by   destroying   the   united 


1 1 12  From  Washington  to  Stephenson 

fleets  of  France  and  Spain;  but  the  coalition  was 
broken  at  Austerlitz. 

Warfare  with  bloodless  weapons 

For  the  time  being  that  failure  ended  effort  on 
the  part  of  the  British  government  to  array  con- 
tinental armies   against   those  of  France.     The 
deadly  combat  between  England  and  Napoleon 
took  on  a  different  form,  was  fought  with  other 
weapons  than  the  musket  and  the  cannon,  and 
The  com-     inflicted  other  wounds.    As  described  by  Captain 
newTom     Mahan:    "England  had  no  army  wherewith  to 
meet  Napoleon;   Napoleon  had  no  navy  to  cope 
with  that  of  his  enemy.     As  in  the  case  of  an 
impregnable   fortress,    the   only   alternative   for 
influaiceof  either  of  these   contestants   was   to   reduce   the 
Sea  Power    other  by  starvation.     On  the  common  frontier, 

■upon  the  .  i  •  i  •  i 

French        thc  coast  Ime,  they  met  m  a  deadly  strife  in 
f^"'"''""     which    no   weapon    was    drawn.      The   imperial 
Empire,       soldicrs   wcrc   turned    into   coast-guardsmen,    to 
shut  out  Great  Britain  from  her  markets;    the 
British  ships  became  revenue  cutters,  to  prohibit 
the  trade  of  France."     But  this  was  a  kind  of 
warfare  that  wounded  neutral  nations  as  sorely 
as  the  combatants  themselves,  and  many  coun- 
tries— the    United     States    of    America    more, 
perhaps,    than   any   other — suffered    the   conse- 
quences of  hostilities  in  which  they  had  no  part. 
Napoleon  had  been  the  first  challenger  to  this 
reckless    scheme    of    warfare;     but    the    really 
desperate    attempt   of   the    two    antagonists    to 
destroy  each  other's  traffic  with  the  outer  world 


Attempted  Suppression  of  Neutral  Trade         1113 

was  opened  by  the  British  government  in  May, 
1806.     This  was  done  by  an  "order  in  council" 
which  declared  the  whole  western  coast  of  Europe  »"^jj^  -^^ 
from  the  Elbe  to  Brest  (all  controlled  by  Napo-  council," 

N  1        •  r  ui       1      J  U  May,  1806 

leon)  to  be  m  a  state  of  blockade,  even  where  no 
British  war  vessels  were  present  to  maintain  an 
actual  blockade,  and  that  neutral  vessels  bound 
to  that  coast  or  sailing  from  it  would  be  prize  of 
war,  wherever  caught.  This  declaration  of  what 
is  described  as  a  "paper  blockade"  was  an  arro- 
gant assumption  of  the  right  to  dictate  rules  of 
war.  Napoleon,  then  lording  it  at  Berlin,  Berlin 
retorted  in  November  by  a  decree  which  declared  ^^1^%^^^ 
the  British  islands  to  be  in  a  state  of  blockade; 
prohibited  all  commerce  and  correspondence 
with  them;  ordered  all  British  merchandise  and 
property  found  in  any  country  occupied  by  the 
troops  of  France  or  her  allies  to  be  seized,  and  all 
British  subjects  within  similar  reach  of  his  arm 
to  be  made  prisoners  of  war. 

The  Berlin  decree  drew  fresh  orders  in  council 
from  Great  Britain,  extending  the  earlier  ones  to 
every  port  from  which  British  ships  were  shut 
out.  Napoleon  met  these  by  a  new  decree,  from 
Milan,  declaring  that  every  vessel,  of  any  nation, 
that  submitted  to  the  British  orders  in  council, 
should  be  deemed  British  property,  subject  to  orde'ijan. 
seizure  and  condemnation.     And  so  the  warfare  and  Nov., 

ana  iNa- 

of  orders  and  decrees,  contemptuous  of  all  neutral  poieon's 
rights  of  trade,  went  on  for  years,  culminating  in  ^^[^^^ 
a  mandate  from  Fontainebleau,  that  all  British  Dec,  1S07 
goods    found    in    France,    Germany,    Holland, 


III4 

Fontaine- 
bleau 
decree, 
Oct.,  1810 


The  effects 


From  Washington  to  Stephenson 

Italy,    Spain,    and    other    regions    obedient    to 
Napoleonic  commands,  should  be  burned. 

Neither  orders  nor  decrees  wrought  the  ruin 
that  their  authors  desired,  since  the  power  of 
Napoleon  could  not  suppress  an  extensive 
smuggled  commerce  with  Great  Britain,  nor 
could  the  fleets  of  England  catch  half  of  the 
neutral  ships  that  became  carriers  for  France; 
but  the  suff^ering  produced  on  all  sides  was 
undoubtedly  very  great,  and  the  insolence  of  the 
powerful  belligerents  toward  neutral  nations, 
especially  toward  the  young  republic  of  the 
United  States,  was  hard  to  endure. 


Lanfrey, 
History  of 
Napoleon 
/.,  vol.  3, 
ch.  ix-xv, 
and  vol.  4 


Napoleon's 
attack  on 
Portugal 

Oct.  27, 
1807 


Second  period  of  the  Napoleonic  wars 

Having  prostrated  Germany,  in  1807,  and 
captivated  the  tzar.  Napoleon  turned  toward 
another  field,  which  had  scarcely  felt,  as  yet,  his 
intrusive  hand.  Spain  had  been  in  servile  alliance 
with  France  for  ten  years,  while  Portugal  adhered 
steadily  to  her  friendship  with  Great  Britain, 
and  now  refused  to  be  obedient  to  the  Berlin 
decree.  Napoleon  took  prompt  measures  for  the 
punishment  of  a  defiance  so  bold.  A  delusive 
treaty  with  the  Spanish  court,  for  the  partition  of 
the  small  kingdom  of  the  Braganzas,  won  permis- 
sion for  an  army  under  Junot  to  enter  Portugal, 
through  Spain.  No  resistance  to  it  was  made. 
The  royal  family  of  Portugal  quitted  Lisbon, 
setting  sail  for  Brazil,  and  Junot  took  possession 
of  the  kingdom. 

This    accomplished    only    half   of    Napoleon's 


Napoleon's  Crime    Against  Spain  1115 

design.     He  meant  to  have  Spain,  as  well;    and  Napoleon's 

crime 

he  found,  in  the  miserable  state  of  the  country,  against 
his    opportunity    to    work    out    an    ingenious,  ^^^'" 
unscrupulous    scheme   for   its    acquisition.      His  |;;^^7' 
agents  set  on  foot  a  revolutionary  movement,  in  History  of 

,  ft  11  •  T-<       T  1      Napoleo7i 

favor  of  the  worthless  crown  prince,  rerdmand,  /.,  ch.  v 
against  his  equally  worthless  father,  Charles  IV., 
and  pretexts  were  obtained  for  an  interference  by 
French  troops.  Charles  was  coerced  into  an 
abdication;  then  Ferdinand  was  lured  to  an 
interview  with  Napoleon,  at  Bayonne,  was  made 
prisoner  there,  and  compelled  In  his  turn  to 
relinquish  the  crown.  A  vacancy  on  the  Spanish 
throne  having  been  thus  created,  the  emperor 
brought  together  at  Bayonne  a  small  assembly 
of  Spanish  notables,  who  offered  the  seat  to 
Joseph  Bonaparte,  already  king  of  Naples. 
Joseph,  obedient  to  his  imperial  brother's  wish, 

.  ,.  -_  ..      Joseph 

resigned   the   Neapolitan   crown   to   Murat,    his  Bonaparte 

sister's  husband,  accepted  the  crown  of  Spain,  °^^^^i^ 

and  was  established  at  Madrid  with  a  French  throne, 

...      ,  1808 

army  at  his  back. 

This  was  one  of  the  two  most  ruinous  of  the 

political   blunders  of  Napoleon's   life.     He   had 

cheated  and  insulted  the  whole  Spanish  nation, 

in  a  way  too  contemptuous  to  be  endured,  even 

by  a  people  long  cast  down.     The  consequence 

was   a   revolt   which   did    not   spring   from   any  jngofSpain 

momentary  passion,  but  which  had  an  obstinacy 

of  deep  feeling  behind.    French  armies  could  beat 

Spanish    armies,    and    disperse    them,    but   they 

could  not  keep  them  dispersed;    and  they  could 


iii6 


From  Washington  to  Stephenson 


Wellington 
in  the 
peninsula, 
1808-1813 


The  exas- 
perating of 
Germany 


Brutal 

insolence 
of  the 
conqueror 


The 
makers 
of  a  new 
Prussia 


not  break  up  the  organization  of  a  rebellion  which 
organized  itself  in  every  province,  and  which 
went  on,  when  necessary,  without  any  organiza- 
tion at  all.  England  sent  forces  to  the  peninsula, 
under  Wellington,  for  the  support  of  the  insur- 
gent Spaniards  and  Portuguese;  and  thencefor- 
ward, to  the  end  of  his  career,  the  most  inex- 
tricable difficulties  of  Napoleon  were  those  in 
which  he  had  entangled  himself  on  the  southern 
side  of  the  Pyrenees. 

The  other  cardinal  blunder  in  Napoleon's 
conduct,  which  proved  more  destructive  to  him 
than  the  crime  in  Spain,  was  his  exasperating 
treatment  of  Germany.  There  was  neither 
magnanimity  on  the  moral  side  of  him  nor  wisdom 
on  the  intellectual  side,  to  restrain  him  from 
using  his  victory  with  Immoderate  insolence. 
He  put  as  much  shame  as  he  could  invent  into 
the  humiliations  of  the  German  people.  He  had 
Prussia  under  his  heel,  and  he  ground  the  heel 
upon  her  neck  with  the  whole  weight  of  his  power. 
The  consequence  was  a  pain  and  a  passion  which 
wrought  changes  like  a  miracle  in  the  temper  and 
character  of  the  abused  nation.  Springs  of  feeling 
were  opened  and  currents  of  national  life  set  in 
motion  that  might  never,  otherwise,  have  been 
brought  into  play. 

Enlightened  men  and  strong  men  from  all  parts 
of  Germany  found  themselves  called  to  Prussia 
and  to  the  front  of  its  affairs,  and  their  way  made 
easy  for  them  in  labors  of  restoration  and  reform. 
Stein  and  Hardenberg  remodeled  the  administra- 


Napoleon's  Treatment  of  Germany  and  His  Fall  i  i  17 

tlon  of  the  kingdom,  uprooted  the  remains  of 
serfdom  in  it,  and  gave  new  freedom  to  its 
energies.  Scharnhorst  organized  the  military  ^^yJ^J;^ 
system,  on  which  arose  in  time  the  most  for-  Times  of 
midable  of  miUtary  powers.  Humboldt  planned 
the  school  system  which  educated  Prussia  beyond 
all  her  neighbors,  in  the  succeeding  generations. 
Even  the  philosophers  came  out  of  their  closets 
and  took  part,  as  Fichte  did,  in  the  stirring  and 
uplifting  of  the  spirit  of  their  countrymen.  So  it 
was  that  the  outrages  of  Napoleon  in  Germany 
revenged  themselves,  by  summoning  into  exist- 
ence an  unsuspected  energy  that  would  turn 
against  him  to  destroy  him,  in  the  end. 

But  the  time  of  destruction  was  not  yet  come. 
He  had  a  few  years  of  triumph  still  before  him, — 
of  triumph  everywhere  except  in  Portugal  and  ^agram, 
Spain.     Austria,  resisting  him  once  more,  was  Juiy6,i8o9 
crushed  once  more  at  Wagram,  to  such  submis- 
siveness  that  she  gave  a  daughter  of  the  imperial 
house  in  marriage  to  the  parvenu  sovereign  of  jj^^^orsi- 
France,  next  year,  when  Josephine,  his  wife,  was  can  at  the 
divorced.    The  Corsican  was  at  the  summit  of  his  ^'^s'^cTreer, 
renown  that  year,  but  declining  already  from  the  iSio-iSn 
greatest  height  of  his  power. 

The  fatal  expedition  of  Napoleon  to  Russia,  in 
18 1 2,  was  the  beginning  of  the  end  of  his  career. 
In  the  next  year  Prussia,  half  regenerated  within 
the  brief  time  since  Jena  and  Tilsit,  went  into 
alliance  with  Russia,  and  the  War  of  Liberation  _,   „^     . 

,       ,    ,  .  The  War  of 

was  begun.     Austria  joined  the  alliance;    and  at  Liberation, 
Leipsic  the  three  nations  shattered  at  last  the 


iii8 


From  Washington  to  Stephenson 


Napoleon 
in  Elba, 
1814-181S 


His  return 
to  France 


Waterloo, 
June, 
18.  1816 


Napoleon 
at  St. 
Helena, 
181S-1821 


yoke  of  oppression  that  had  bound  Europe  so 
long.  At  the  same  time,  the  French  armies  in 
Spain  were  expelled,  and  Wellington  entered 
France  through  the  Pyrenees,  to  meet  the  allies, 
who  pursued  Napoleon  across  the  Rhine.  Forced 
to  abdicate  and  retire  to  the  little  island  of  Elba 
(the  sovereignty  of  which  was  ceded  to  him),  he 
remained  there  in  quiet  from  May,  18 14,  until 
March,  181 5,  when  he  escaped  and  reappeared  in 
France.  Army  and  people  welcomed  him.  The 
Bourbon  monarchy,  which  had  been  restored  by 
the  allies,  fell  at  his  approach.  The  king,  Louis 
XVIII. ,  fled.  Napoleon  recovered  his  throne  and 
occupied  it  for  a  few  weeks;  but  the  allies  who 
had  expelled  him  from  it  refused  to  permit  his 
recovery  of  power.  The  question  was  settled 
finally  at  Waterloo,  on  the  i8th  of  June,  when  a 
British  army  under  Wellington  and  a  Prussian 
army  under  Bliicher  won  a  victory  which  left  the 
beaten  emperor  without  hope.  He  surrendered 
himself  to  the  commander  of  a  British  vessel  of 
war,  and  was  sent  to  confinement  for  the  remain- 
der of  his  life  on  the  remote  island  of  St.  Helena. 


A  troubled 
period 


The  United  States  of  America  during  the  Napoleonic  wars 

The  fifteen  years  of  the  Napoleonic  wars  were 
a  troubled  pepod  for  the  American  people, — a 
time  of  many  excitements,  of  many  humiliations, 
of  sore  trial  to  their  undeveloped  national  spirit, 
and  of  grave  harm.  So  prolonged  a  state  of  wide- 
spread war,  involving  half  of  Europe  and  every 
European  colony,  opened  extraordinary  oppor- 


o 
o 

w 

< 


P. 


^      I 


O 

o 


3 

•a 

o 


E 

o 
u 


A  Troubled  Period  in  American  History  1119 

tunitles  for  neutral  trade,  which  the  Americans  American 

1  .  ry-ii  activity  in 

were  well  prepared  to  improve.    They  entered  the  neutral 
field  with  eager  enterprise  and  made  it  almost  ^^^'^^ 
their  own.    Their  ships  swarmed  in  every  sea  and 
their  flag  became  familiar  in  every  port.    England 
saw  reason  to  fear  that  the  carrying  trade  of  the 
ocean  would  pass  into  their  hands,  and  began  a 
sharp  narrowing  of  neutral  rights,  by  dictatorial 
rulings   which   her   naval   supremacy   gave   her 
power     to     enforce.       Then     came     Napoleon's 
attempt  to  exclude  British  products  from  Euro- 
pean marts,  and  the  finally  frantic  endeavor  of 
both  belligerents,  abusing  land-power  on  one  side 
and  sea-power  on  the  other,  to  destroy  all  neutral 
trade.     Struck  unsparingly  by  both,  the  Ameri- 
cans suffered  heavy  losses;   and  yet  large  profits 
remained  to  them  in  the  commerce  which  neither  The  attack 
cruisers  nor  coast  guards  could  stop.    Their  more  ^gh^"^"^" 
serious    suffering    came    from    the    humiliations 
which  their  national  weakness  and  their  govern- 
mental policy  required  them  to  endure. 

Mr.  Jefferson,  who  became  president  in  1801, 
held  views  of  the  federal  constitution  and  general  President 
theories  of  government  which  differed  extremely  J^^^''^** 
from  those  of  his  two  predecessors.  In  his  opin- 
ion, and  that  of  his  party,  the  functions  of  the 
federal  government  should  be  restricted  as  nearly 
as  possible  to  foreign  affairs,  and  should  touch 
nothing  beyond  a  strict  necessity  in  even  those. 
His  declared  aim  was  a  *' frugal  government," 
"which  shall  restrain  men  from  injuring  one 
another,  which  shall  leave  them  otherwise  free 


1 1 20 


From  Washington  to  Stephenson 


Jefferson, 
Writings 
(Ford's  ed.) 
7  :  451-2; 
8:4 


Adverse 
circum- 
stances 


^ee  pages 
982-3) 


Negotia- 
tions for 
New 
Orleans 
and  Florida 


to  regulate  their  own  pursuits."  He  believed  the 
commerce  of  America  to  be  so  necessary  to 
European  countries  that  merely  withholding  it 
would  compel  them  to  redress  any  wrong  they 
might  do  to  the  United  States,  without  need  of 
war. 

Unfortunately  the  circumstances  of  the  time 
were  singularly  adverse  to  the  working  in  practice 
of  this  noble  philosophy  of  government.  At  the 
outset  of  his  term  the  president  was  forced  to 
chastise  the  pirates  of  the  Barbary  states  of  north 
Africa,  opening  a  war  with  the  insolent  pasha  of 
Tripoli  which  lasted  for  four  years.  A  little  later 
he  was  confronted  by  a  question  which  went  to 
the  core  of  his  doctrines  concerning  the  constitu- 
tion of  the  American  Union  and  the  powers  of  its 
general  government.  Napoleon,  then  first  consul 
of  France,  was  found  to  have  extorted  from  Spain 
a  secret  cession  of  that  great  territory,  called 
Louisiana,  which  France  made  over  to  Spain  in 
1763,  including  New  Orleans,  on  the  eastern  bank 
of  the  Mississippi,  as  well  as  the  whole  western 
watershed  of  the  river.  To  have  such  complete 
control  of  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  pass  from 
the  weak  kingdom  of  Spain  to  a  power  so  aggres- 
sive as  Napoleonic  France  was  profoundly  alarm- 
ing to  every  western  interest  of  the  United  States. 
In  the  face  of  this  danger  the  scruples  of  Presi- 
dent Jefferson  as  to  functions  and  powers  in  the 
federal  government,  and  even  as  to  war,  gave 
way.  He  opened  negotiations  with  Napoleon  for 
the  purchase  of  New  Orleans  and  the  Floridas 


The  American  Purchase  of  Louisiana  1121 

(supposing  the  latter  to  have  been  embraced  in 
the  transfer  from  Spain  to  France),  and  pressed 
his  proposals  with  a  plain  intimation  that  the 


Jefferson, 


ngs. 


United  States  would  go  into  alliance  with  Great  >^^,^,- 
Britain  "on  the  day  that  France  takes  possession  ^  =  ^5 
of  New  Orleans." 

Fortunately,  Napoleon  became  embarrassed  in 
his  colonial  schemes,  by  the  failure  of  an  attempt 
to  re-enslave  the  revolted  negroes  of  Santo 
Domingo,  or  Hayti,  and  by  the  re-opening  of  war 
with  England,  after  the  brief  peace  of  Amiens. 
He  abandoned  those  projects,  accordingly,  and 
offered,  not  New  Orleans  alone,  but  Louisiana  as 
a  whole,  to  the  United  States.  The  welcome  TheLouisi- 
proposal  was  accepted  promptly,  and,  at  a  price  *°^  ''"I'aos 
equivalent  to  about  ^15,000,000,  the  magnificent 
territory  in  question,  extending  from  the  Missis- 
sippi, throughout  Its  length,  to  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains, was  conveyed  to  the  American  government 
by  a  treaty  signed  in  May,  1803. 

No  reasoning  could  reconcile  this  momentous 
transaction  with  the  constitutional  theories  of 
President  Jefferson  and  the  party  which  he  led. 
It  implied  attributes  of  nationality  in  the  federal 
union  and  attributes  of  sovereignty  in  the  federal 
government  which  they  had  refused  to  concede,  tudonar '" 
Mr.  Jefferson  made  frank  acknowledgment  of  the  question 
fact,  and  desired  a  constitutional  amendment  to 
sanction  what  had  been  done;  but  he  yielded  to 
the  judgment  of  political  friends,  who  believed 
the  purchase  to  be  justified  and  authorized 
sufficiently  by  the  practical  exigencies  of  the  case. 


1 1 22 


From  Washington  to  Stephenson 


Party- 
incon- 
sistencies 


Hoist,  Con- 
stitutional 
and  Politi- 
cal History 
of  the  U.  S., 
I  :  1 83-185 

Federalist 
opposition 
to  the  pur- 
chase 


A  disunion 
conspiracy, 
1 803 -1 804 


The  Burr- 
Hamilton 
duel,  July 
II,  1804 


If  the  Republicans,  In  this  matter,  did  violence 
in  practice  to  their  political  theories,  so,  too,  and 
even  more,  did  their  opponents  of  the  Federalist 
party.  On  every  principle  for  which  the  Federal- 
ists had  contended,  they  might  have  been 
expected  to  approve  and  welcome  the  Louisiana 
purchase.  Hamilton,  the  great  statesman  of  the 
party,  did  so,  without  reserve;  but  most  of  the 
New  England  Federalists  allowed  sectional  jeal- 
ousies and  party  animosities  to  pervert  their 
minds.  They  denied  the  existence  of  any  power, 
anywhere,  even  by  constitutional  amendment,  to 
incorporate  new  territory  in  the  Union  against 
the  will  of  a  single  State.  On  this  ground  they 
opposed  the  treaty  and  resisted,  even  with  threats 
of  secession,  the  legislation  that  gave  it  effect. 

This  evil  temper  in  the  opposition  had  de- 
plorable results.  It  led  to  a  disunion  conspiracy 
between  certain  New  England  Federalists  and 
Vice-President  Aaron  Burr.  Burr's  trickeries  and 
treacheries  in  politics  had  turned  the  leaders  of 
his  party  against  him,  and  provoked  slights  which 
he  sought  to  avenge.  In  prosecuting  the  scheme 
of  secession  he  became  a  candidate  for  governor 
of  New  York,  and  was  opposed  by  Hamilton, 
whose  plain  speaking  in  the  canvass  furnished 
Burr  with  a  pretext  for  demanding  the  barbarous 
satisfaction  of  the  duel.  Hamilton  felt  con- 
strained by  the  false  notions  of  the  time  to  accept 
his  challenge,  and  received  a  mortal  wound. 

Burr  was  abhorred  and  shunned  as  a  murderer, 
and  became,  apparently,  a  desperate  man.    At  the 


Political  Inconsistencies  and  Their  Results     1123 

close  of  his  vice-presidential  term  he  went  into  the 
southwest  and  was  busy  for  months  in  a  mysteri- 
ous undertaking,  the  full  objects  of  which  have 
never,  with  certainty,  been  ascertained.  A 
filibustering  conquest  of  Mexico  and  other  plotting 
Spanish  provinces  was  in  his  plan,  without  g^^Jlt^g^^^ 
doubt;  but,  beyond  that,  he  is  supposed  to  have  1805-1806 
been  working  for  a  separation  of  western  States 
and  Territories  from  the  Union,  to  form  an  inde- 
pendent power  in  the  Mississippi  Valley  and  on 
the  Gulf.  Discontent  among  the  French  of  New 
Orleans,  and  a  restless  spirit  in  the  American 
population  of  the  western  border,  seem  to  have 
given  some  encouragement  to  his  schemes.  At 
length,  in  November,  1806,  his  preparations  went 
so  far,  mustering  men,  boats,  and  munitions,  on 
the  Ohio  and  its  tributaries,  that  the  president 
issued  a  proclamation,  commanding  the  arrest  of 
all  concerned.  Burr  was  taken  and  brought  to 
trial  at  Richmond,  but  escaped  conviction  on 
technical  grounds. 

During  the,  first  years  of  the  second  term  of 
President  Jefferson  the  country  was  in  a  highly  Prospenty 
prosperous    state.     Though   Great   Britain   had  United 
narrowed  her  own  former  rules  for  determining  i8os!^i'8o6 
what  merchandise  should  be  treated  as  neutral, 
and  had  increased  her  captures  and  confiscations 
to  an  enormous  extent,  the  ocean  trade  yielded 
great  gains.    The  revenue  of  the  federal  govern- 
ment   rose    far    above    its    frugal    expenditures, 
promising  an  early  extinction  of  the  public  debt. 
Anticipating  a  surplus  in  the  treasury,  the  presi- 


1 1 24 


From  Washington  to  Stephenson 


Modified 
views  of 
Mr.  Jeffer- 
son 


Prosperity 

checked, 
1 807- 1 808 


(See  page* 
1113-1114 

Assumed 
British 
right  of 
search 


McMaster, 
History  of 
the  People 
of  the  U.  S., 
3  :  240-246, 
253-270 


An  experi- 
ment in 
"peaceable 
coercion," 
1807 


dent  recommended  an  amendment  of  the  consti- 
tution, to  authorize  its  use  for  "great  purposes  of 
the  public  education,  roads,  rivers,  canals,  and 
....  other  objects  of  public  improvement." 
This  indicated  a  very  notable  modification  of  Mr. 
Jefferson's  political  views,  and  one  creditable  to 
the  statesmanlike  openness  of  his  mind. 

Unfortunately,  the  expected  surplus  was  not 
acquired.  The  prosperous  trade  of  a  few  years 
was  checked  by  the  British  orders  in  council  and 
the  French  decrees.  To  those  high-handed 
measures  the  British  government  added  one  still 
more  offensive,  by  asserting  a  right  on  the  part  of 
its  cruisers  to  search  the  ships  of  other  nations  for 
deserters  from  Its  own,  and  for  British  subjects 
whose  services  it  claimed  and  impressed.  That 
assumed  "right  of  search"  was  exercised  upon 
American  ships,  especially,  with  increasing  inso- 
lence on  the  part  of  British  naval  officers,  until 
the  climax  of  insult  was  reached  in  June,  1807. 
The  Chesapeake^  an  American  frigate,  sailing  then 
out  of  Norfolk  navy  yard,  wholly  unready  for 
battle,  was  attacked  by  a  waiting  English  frigate, 
disabled  by  three  broadsides,  which  she  could  not 
return,  and  compelled,  on  a  false  claim,  to  give 
up  three  of  her  crew. 

The  cry  for  war  which  this  crowning  outrage 
provoked  was  resisted  calmly  by  President 
Jefferson,  who  acted  upon  his  belief  in  the  prac- 
ticability of  extorting  justice  from  other  nations 
without  resorting  to  arms.  His  extraordinary 
influence   caused   a   singular  experiment  in   the 


Jefferson's  "Peaceable  Coercion"  Experiment  1125 

policy  of  "peaceable  coercion"  to  be  tried.     It 
took  the  form  of  an  "embargo  act"  of  congress, 
forbidding  the  exportation  of  any  merchandise 
from  the  United  States  to  any  foreign  port,  hold- 
ing every  American  ship  tied  fast  to  her  wharf, 
and    commanding    all    foreign    ships    to    depart. 
This  made  a  strange  demand  on  the  American 
people,  for  an  heroic  endurance  of  great  loss  and 
suffering,  as  a  means  of  inflicting  some  lighter  History  of 
suffering  on  other  peoples.    It  ruined  the  shipping  J^'^^-^^  ^^ 
interests  of  New  England,  stopped  the  marketing  ^dminis- 
of  southern  cotton  and  tobacco,  and  p^aralyzed  Jefferson, 
many  industries  in  every  part  of  the  country,  +:'^^^-"^"- 
without  a  sign  of  effect  on  the  conduct  of  Great  xx 
Britain  or  France.     The  former  was  pinched  in 
her  supplies  of  cotton  and  breadstuffs,  and  her 

.  .  Effects  of 

West  India  colonies  were  half  starved;   but  there  the 
was   nothing   In   those   results   that   moved   her  embargo 

o  ^  act 

government  to  rectify  the  abuse  of  her  naval 
power.  As  for  Napoleon,  the  embargo  touched 
his  own  empire  so  lightly  and  hurt  England  so 
much  more,  that  he  used  influence  at  Washington 
to  have  it  prolonged.  The  experiment,  though  a 
failure,  was  persisted  In  till  the  end  of  President  theexperi- 
Jefferson's  term.  Then  the  embargo  was  with-  ^^^^ 
drawn,  but  a  conditional  measure  of  non-inter- 
course was  adopted  instead.  This  forbade 
importations  from  England  and  France  so  long 
as  they,  severally,  persisted  in  their  violation  of 
neutral  rights. 

Had  the  opponents  of  the  embargo  policy  been 
able  to  act  together,  it  is  not  at  all  probable  that 


I  I  26 


From  Washington  to  Stephenson 


Presidency 
of  James 
Madison, 
1809-1817 


Mr.  Ers- 

kine's  mis- 
take, 1809 


The  situa- 
tion made 
worse 


Napoleon's 
knavish 
trick,  Aug., 
1810 


the  Republicans  could  have  carried  the  ensuing 
presidential  election;  but  they  could  not  unite, 
and  President  Jefferson  was  succeeded,  conse- 
quently, by  his  disciple  and  intimate  friend,  Mr. 
Madison,  In  the  spring  of  1809.  In  the  first 
month  of  the  new  administration  an  unfortunate 
blunder,  committed  by  the  British  minister  at 
Washington,  Mr.  Erskine,  gave  rise  to  a  new 
disturbance  in  the  relations  of  the  United  States 
with  both  England  and  France.  Mr.  Erskine 
entered  Into  an  agreement  with  President  Madi- 
son, that  the  British  orders  In  council,  on  one 
side,  and  the  American  non-intercourse  act,  on 
the  other  (so  far  as  concerned  Great  Britain), 
should  be  annulled.  Thereupon  the  president 
proclaimed  a  suspension  of  the  non-intercourse 
act,  and  there  was  great  joy  and  busy  trade  in  the 
country  for  about  three  months, — until  news 
came  from  England  that  Mr.  Erskine  had  mis- 
understood his  Instructions,  and  that  his  govern- 
ment refused  to  be  bound  by  the  agreement  he 
had  made.  Feeling  was  then  embittered  on  all 
sides  and  the  situation  made  worse.  Congress 
repealed  the  non-intercourse  act,  but  authorized 
the  president  to  prohibit  Intercourse  with  either 
one  of  the  belligerent  powers,  if  the  other  should 
withdraw  Its  offending  decrees. 

This  suggested  to  Napoleon  a  characteristic 
fraud.  He  gave  notice  to  the  American  minister 
at  Paris  that  "the  decrees  of  Berlin  and  Milan 
are  revoked,"  and  called  upon  the  United  States 
to  enforce  the  act  (as  above  described)  against 


The  Situation  Growing  Worse  1127 

England  if  her  orders  in  council  were  not  with-  Adams, 
drawn.    Trusting  the  notice  so  given,  President  ihe  u.  s. 
Madison  proclaimed  it,  and  interdicted  commerce  ^]2^lJ^_ 
with   Great   Britain;     but   only   to   learn,    after  trationof 
months  of  questioning  and  expostulation,  that  he  Jnd^'°'^ 
had  been  duped   by  a  shameless   knave.     The  ^^'^ffwoo- 

,  S  :  ch.  VII- 

seizure  of  American  vessels  and  cargoes,  wherever  xiv,  xvi, 
they  came  within  the  clutch  of  the  great  Corsican  ^^"' 
brigand,  went  on  without  check,  and  there  was 
never  a  sign  that  his  decrees  had  been  revoked. 

The  conduct  of  the  French  government  toward 
the  United  States  at  this  time  was  more  insulting, 
if  possible,  and  more  injurious,  than  that  of  Great 
Britain;  but  the  feeling  of  the  party  in  power 
leaned  strongly  against  the  latter,  and  made  the 
most  of  offenses  which  came  from  that  side.  Of  iis"h  feenng 
such  offenses  a  new  one  was  supposed  to  be  added 
in  1811  by  an  Indian  rising  in  the  west,  under 
Tecumseh  or  Tecumthe,  a  Shawnee  chief.  The 
hostile  tribes  were  defeated  by  General  William 
Henry  Harrison,  the  territorial  governor  of 
Indiana,  in  a  battle  fought  on  the  Tippecanoe, 
and  Tecumseh  took  refuge  in  Canada,  which  can^ 
strengthened  a  belief  that  he  had  acted  under  Si'i  '^' 
instigations  from  the  authorities  there. 

Despite  these  irritations,  the  opposition  to  war 
was  very  strong  in  New  England  and  In  parts  of 
the  middle  States;  but  the  old  anger  against 
England  burned  yet  in  the  south  and  in  the  new 
western  States,  and  the  impetuous  spirit  of  a  few 
young  men  in  Congress  from  those  sections — 
Henry  Clay  and  John  C.  Calhoun  conspicuously 


Tecumseh 


Tippe- 


II28 


From  Washington  to  Stephenson 


Declara- 
tion of  war, 
June  1 8, 
1812 


British 
orders 
revoked 
too  late 

A  war  for 

"sailors' 

rights" 


The 

country 

unprepared 


Soley,  in 

Narrative 
and  Critical 
History  of 
Am.,  7:  ch. 
vi 


Hull's  sur- 
render, 
Aug.  16, 
1812 


in  the  lead — was  able  to  fan  it  into  a  flame.  With 
much  reluctance  President  Madison  yielded  to 
pressure  from  his  party,  and  recommended  a 
declaration  of  war  with  Great  Britain,  which 
Congress  adopted  and  which  he  signed  on  the 
1 8th  of  June,  1812.  A  month  later  news  came 
that  the  British  government  had  actually  revoked 
its  offensive  orders  in  council  and  had  announced 
the  fact  in  parliament  one  day  before  the  Ameri- 
can declaration  of  war.  It  offered  no  concession, 
however,  in  the  matter  of  impressments  from 
American  ships,  and  its  proposal  of  a  truce,  to 
reopen  negotiations,  was  declined.  To  vindicate 
"sailors'  rights"  remained,  therefore,  the  sole 
purpose  of  the  war.  That  it  failed  to  accomplish 
that  purpose,  and  that  every  plan  and  expecta- 
tion of  those  who  undertook  it  was  disappointed, 
has  never  surprised  any  student  of  the  period 
who  learned  how  entirely  the  country  was  unpre- 
pared for  war.  It  had  neither  trained  soldiers, 
nor  officers  of  experience  (excepting  aged  veterans 
of  the  Revolution),  nor  any  real  military  organiza- 
tion, nor  any  system  of  administration  that 
would  allow  such  an  organization  to  be  evolved. 
The  results  that  followed  were  inevitable. 

The  war  party  had  counted  on  a  speedy  con- 
quest of  Canada;  but  every  attempt  on  the 
Canadian  frontier  found  the  British  forces  better 
prepared  than  their  assailants  and  more  alert. 
General  Hull,  who  led  the  first  movement  of 
invasion,  from  Detroit,  was  not  only  driven  back, 
but  followed,   and   forced   to  surrender  after  a 


War  of  the  United  States  with  Great  Britain     1129 

short  siege.    The  next  attempt  to  enter  Canada, 
made  on  the  Niagara  frontier,  was  repulsed  at 
Queenston,   in   October,   with   heavy  loss.     An  q"^^"'^°"' 
undertaking  to  recover  Detroit,  by  General  Har-  1812 
rison,  with  forces  assembled  in  Indiana,  had  no 
better    success.      General    Winchester,    who   led 
Harrison's  advance,   allowed   his  column  to  be 
surprised  at  Frenchtown,  on  the  Raisin  River,  jan.  22, 
and  the  whole  body,  nine  hundred  In  number,   '^'3 
was  captured  or  slain. 

Meantime  the  small  American  navy  was  having 
triumphs  which  went  far  toward  redeeming  the 
military  disasters  of  the  year.    The  famous  frigate  American 
Constitution  (known  familiarly  as  Old  Ironsides),  "avaivic- 
commanded  m  the  iirst  mstance  by  Captam  Isaac 
Hull  and  by  Captain  Bainbridge  In  the  second, 
won  two  signal  victories,  capturing  the  frigate 
Guerriere,  In  August,  and  destroying  the  frigate 
Java,  four  months  later,  after  a  fierce  fight  off  the 
coast  of  Brazil.    A  third  British  frigate,  the  Mace-  ThTNami 
donian,  surrendered  to  Captain  Decatur,   com-  ^^'^''of^^^^ 
manding    the    American    frigate    United    States. 
Probably   It  was   the   satisfaction   produced   by 
these  naval  achievements  that  enabled  the  war 
party  to  reelect  President  Madison  In  November,  ofPres^ent 
notwithstanding  the  military  disappointments  of  Madison, 
the  war.     But  the  triumphs  at  sea  were  soon 
ended.     The    next   season    brought    a    grievous 
downcasting  of  the  pride  of  the  Americans  in 
their  ships.    Captain  James  Lawrence,  command- 
ing the  unfortunate  frigate  Chesapeake,  sailed  out 
of    Boston    Bay    to    accept    a    challeaige    from 


II30 

Duel  of  the 
"Chesa- 
peake" 
and 

"Shan- 
non," Juna, 
I,  1S13 

Naval 
battle  of 
Lake  Erie, 
Sept.  10, 
1813 


Battle 
of  tlie 
Thames, 
Oct.  s, 
1813 


Chippewa 
and 

Lundy's 
Lane, 

July  S  and 
25.  1814 


Siege  of 
Fort  Erie, 
1814 


From  Washington  to  Stephenson 

Captain  Broke,  of  the  British  frigate  Shannon, 
and  fought  a  naval  duel  in  which  he  fell  mortally- 
wounded  and  his  ship  was  overcome. 

On  the  fresh  water  of  the  Great  Lakes,  how- 
ever, the  navy  still  gathered  most  of  the  few 
laurels  of  the  war.  By  a  hard  won  victory  on 
Lake  Erie,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Sandusky  River, 
Captain  Oliver  H.  Perry  made  the  position  of  the 
British  and  Indian  forces  at  Detroit  untenable 
and  compelled  them  to  retreat.  They  were  fol- 
lowed into  Canada  by  General  Harrison,  defeated 
in  a  battle  fought  on  the  river  Thames,  and 
Tecumseh,  the  Indian  leader,  was  slain. 

Practically  these  successes  had  no  important 
effect,  and  a  fresh  failure  was  experienced  soon 
afterward,  in  an  expedition  undertaken  against 
Montreal.  The  last  attempt  of  the  Americans  to 
carry  the  war  into  Canada  was  made  in  the 
summer  of  18 14,  by  General  Jacob  Brown,  who 
crossed  from  Buffalo  and  had  two  engagements 
with  the  enemy  near  Niagara  Falls,  the  first  at 
Chippewa,  the  second  at  Lundy's  Lane.  Both 
armies  claimed  a  victory  in  the  latter  engage- 
ment; but  the  Americans  fell  back  to  Fort  Erie, 
opposite  BuflFalo,  where  they  withstood  a  deter- 
mined siege  for  two  months,  and  then  withdrew 
to  their  own  side  of  the  river,  destroying  the  fort. 

The  circumstances  of  the  war  had  been 
changed  immensely  at  this  time  by  the  fall  of 
Napoleon,  which  liberated  British  forces  from 
service  in  Europe  and  allowed  them  to  be  brought 
to  the  American  field.    The  military  authorities 


Campaigns  of  the  War  of  i8  12-15  ^^3^ 

in  Canada  were  then  prepared  for  an  aggressive 
movement  toward  the  Hudson,  on  the  old  route 
of  Burgoyne.     At  the  head  of  Lake  Champlain 
they  fitted  out  a  squadron  of  small  vessels  and 
gunboats,  to  attack  a  similar  small  fleet  which  ^^^^^ 
the  American  commodore,  Macdonough,  had  put  battle 
afloat  on  the  lake.    The  decisive  battle — in  some  champhin, 
views  the  most  important  of  the  war — was  fought  Sept.  n, 
at  Plattsburg,  on  the  nth  of  September,  and  won 
by  Macdonough,  stopping  the  British  advance. 

With  more  success  the  British  were  opening 
attacks  upon  the  coast.  Their  blockade  of 
American  ports  had  been  nearly  complete  for  a 
year,  and  most  of  the  few  vessels  of  the  regular 
navy  of  the  United  States  were  shut  in;  but 
swift  privateers  were  active,  as  they  had  been 
from  the  beginning  of  the  war,  and  English  com 
merce  suffered  severely  from  their  attacks.  In  ing 
August  a  considerable  British  force  was  landed  in 
Patuxent  River,  Maryland,  and  marched,  with  ^^  ^^^^ 
slight  resistance  at  Bladensburg,  to  Washington,  and 

,  111  1  r  '^  destruction 

where,  under  barbarous  orders  from  its  com-  ofWashing- 
mander,  most  of  the  government  buildings  were  ^°^'  ^"g- 
destroyed.  A  little  later  Baltimore  was  assailed, 
but  saved  by  the  defense  of  Fort  McHenry,  which 
the  enemy's  fleet  could  not  pass.  It  was  the 
bombardment  of  Fort  McHenry  that  inspired  the 
composition  of  the  song  of  "The  Star  Spangled 
Banner,"  by  Francis  Scott  Key. 

Everywhere,  all  heartiness  In  the  war  had  dis-  Span^gied"^ 
appeared;  the  feeling  against  it,  especially  in  New  Banner" 
England,  had  become  intense.     In  December,  on 


Privateer- 


II32 


From  Washington  to  Stephenson 


The  Hart- 
ford Con- 
vention, 
Dec,  1814 


■Negotia- 
tions for 
peace, 
Aug.-Dec, 
1814 


The  treaty 
of  Ghent, 
Dec.  24, 
1814 


Schurz, 
Life  of 
Henry  Clay, 
J  :99-i2S 


the  invitation  of  Massachusetts,  a  convention 
representing  the  New  England  opposition  was 
assembled  at  Hartford  and  remained  in  secret 
session  for  three  weeks.  On  adjourning  It  pub- 
lished a  report,  demanding  certain  amendments 
to  the  federal  constitution  and  recommending 
another  convention,  "to  decide  on  the  course 
which  a  crisis  so  momentous  might  seem  to 
demand."  What  ultimate  action  was  contem- 
plated is  a  question  that  has  been  always  in  dis- 
pute; but  the  men  of  the  Hartford  convention 
were  stigmatized  as  disunlonlsts  to  the  end  of 
their  lives.  So  far  as  disloyalty  to  the  Union  had 
arisen  in  New  England  it  expired  then.  Peace 
came  unexpectedly,  so  soon  after  the  Hartford 
convention  adjourned  that  all  the  feelings 
represented  in  it  were  swept  away. 

Negotiations  for  peace  had  been  in  progress  at 
Ghent  since  August,  18 14.  "With  all  her  advan- 
tages in  the  war,  England  was  most  anxious  for 
peace.  She  was  weary  of  war;  the  situation  In 
Europe  was  still  precarious,  and  her  commerce 
was  badly  broken  by  American  privateers. 
Hence  the  American  commissioners,  by  stout 
Insistence,  secured  better  terms  In  the  end  than 
the  condition  of  their  country  gave  them  reason 
to  expect.  But  the  treaty  signed  on  the  24th  of 
December,  18 14,  contained  no  mention  of  the 
naval  searches  and  Impressments  that  had  been 
the  chief  provocation  to  war.  The  question  about 
them  was  settled  by  being  dropped;  for  the 
English  stopped  practicing  what  they  still  held 


Treaty  of  Ghent — End  of  the  War  1133 

to  be  their  right.  Other  important  questions, 
relating  to  the  Newfoundland  fisheries  and  the 
navigation  of  the  Mississippi,  were  postponed 
for  future  settlement;  and  so  the  treaty  was 
scarcely  more  than  an  agreement  that  matters 
between  the  two  nations  should  be  as  they  were  History  of 
before  the  war.  There  was  little  to  show  for  the  {..  '  '' 
30,000  lives  it  was  estimated  to  have  cost  the 
country,  and  the  hundred  millions,  or  nearly, 
that  it  had  added  to  the  national  debt." 

Fifteen  days  after  the  signing  of  the  treaty  of  Battle  of 
peace,  but  before  news  of  it  could  reach  America,  |^^^  ^l' 

•  r  1  -KT  leans,  Ja*. 

the  bloodiest  battle  of  the  war  was  fought  at  New  8, 1815 
Orleans.  Defending  that  city  against  an  expedi- 
tion from  Jamaica,  General  Jackson  intrenched 
his  riflemen  so  well  that  2,000  British  veterans 
fell  in  a  rash  attempt  to  carry  his  works  by 
assault,  while  the  loss  of  the  Americans  was  but 
seventy-one.  The  British  commander.  General 
Pakenham,  was  among  the  killed.  Naturally 
General  Jackson  became  the  hero  of  the  war. 

The  ending  of  the  War  of  1812-15  with  Great  Beginning 
Britain  was  the  ending  of  a  period  of  great  harass-  scious°°' 
ment  and  trial  to  the  young  American  republic,  national 
and  brought  it,  we  may  say,  to  the  real  beginning 
of  its  conscious  national  life.    Thus  far  in  its  cor- 
porate existence  it  had  been  struggling  with  cir- 
cumstances which  made  a  common  consciousness 
and  general  spirit  of  nationality  among  its  people 
impossible.     Its  peculiar  relations  to  the  warring 
powers  in  Europe,  with  its  youthfulness,  its  weak- 
ness, its  insignificance  as  a  nation  In  their  eyes, 


II34 


From  Washington  to  Stephenson 


Ending  of 
foreign  dis- 
tractions 


The  west   "] 
and  its 
democracy 


Roosevelt, 

The  Win- 
ning of  tfu 
West,  4  : 
223-257 


exposed  It  to  an  exasperating  ill  treatment,  which 
angered  half  of  its  people  against  one  offender  and 
half  against  the  other.  For  this  reason  the  roused 
temper  that  ought  to  have  flamed  patriotically, 
and  welded  them  to  unity,  was  burned  out  in  their 
party  politics  and  went  to  worse  than  waste.  In 
reality  there  had  been  next  to  nothing  in  their 
politics, — next  to  nothing  in  their  conflicts  of 
party, — but  heats  of  feeling  against  England  in 
one  faction  and  against  France  in  the  other.  Now 
the  situation  was  cleared  for  a  different  working 
of  the  American  public  mind.  For  the  first  time 
since  the  early  years  of  Washington's  administra- 
tion, it  was  free  from  foreign  distractions,  and 
could  give  an  undivided  attention  to  its  own 
domestic  concerns.  In  these  circumstances  a 
more  common  national  spirit  could  not  fail  to 
arise. 

This  was  stimulated,  too,  by  the  rapid  spread 
of  population  westward  and  the  creation  of  new 
States.  Before  the  opening  of  the  war,  four 
States  (Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Ohio  and  Louisi- 
ana) had  been  formed  in  the  Mississippi  Valley, 
and  four  more  (Indiana,  Mississippi,  Illinois  and 
Alabama)  were  added  to  the  Union  within  four 
years  after  it  closed.  The  conditions  of  the 
pioneer  life  In  these  newer  communities  moulded 
society  in  them  more  democratically  than  In  the 
older  States  of  the  east,  and  gave  It  a  more  dis- 
tinctly American  character  and  tone. 

A  natural  consequence  of  all  that  had  taken 
place  was  the  quick  final  decay  of  the  Federalist 


The  United  States  at  the  End  of  the  War        1135 

party.      It   represented   the   old    Federalism   of  Decay  of 
Hamilton  and  his  day  no  longer.     It  had  per-  Federalist 
mitted   the  opposing  party  of  the  Democratic  ^^"^ 
Republicans  to  appropriate  the  better  part  of  its 
original   principles;    for  both   parties   had   been  Link  doc- 
faithless  alike  to  the  doctrines  of  government  on  tdnai  dif- 
which   they   divided    at   the   beginning.      Each,  beTwSn 
when   controlling   the   federal   government,   had  ^^^  parties 
been  eager  to  magnify  its  powers  by  broad  con- 
structions of  the  constitution,  and  each,  when  in 
opposition,  had  shown  equal  eagerness  to  mini- 
mize those  powers.    As  exemplified  practically  in 
legislation  and  administration,  there  was  little  of 
doctrinal  difference  to  distinguish  the  one  party 
from  the  other  in  181 5.     At  the  same  time,  the 
Republican  party  was  recommended  to  popular 
favor  by  the  democratic  spirit  which  it  drew  from 
its  founders  and  which  never  was  lost.     So  it 
became  for  a  time  the  sole  occupant  of  the  field  in 
American  politics,  and  the  Federalist  party  was 
left  with  no  substantial  ground  on  which  to  stand. 
Discredited  by  its  opposition  to  the  late  war,  it 
was    hardly    able    to    contest    the    presidential  Election  of 
election  of  18 16.    Tames  Monroe,  of  Virginia,  was  President 

•^  _  '  o  7  Monroe, 

elected  by  a  large  majority  of  electoral  votes.  1816 
Before  the  next  election  the  Federalist  party,  as  a 
national  organization,  had  disappeared. 

Great  Britain  after  the  fall  of  Napoleon 

To  large  classes  of  the  working  people  of  Great 
Britain,  the  interruption  of  trade  in  the  long  con-  Distress  of 

'  *•  the  work*" 

flict  with  revolutionary  France  and  with  Napo-  ,ng  people 


1 1 36  From  Washington  to  Stephenson 

leon  had  been  a  cause  of  heavy  distress.  Indus- 
tries had  been  checked  and  wages  lessened,  while 
the  prices  of  food  were  raised.  Suffering  from 
these  causes  was  deepened  by  temporary  dis- 
turbances, resulting  from  the  great  industrial 
_  revolution  through  which  the  country  was  passing 

1023-4-S  at  the  time.  At  every  stage  of  the  transition 
from  hand  work  to  machine  work,  and  from 
home  spinning  and  home  weaving  to  the  factory 
system,  the  nation  as  a  whole  was  made  richer, 
by  economy  and  increase  of  production,  but 
multitudes  of  individuals  lost  employment,  or 
were  starved  in  a  hopeless  endeavor  to  labor  and 
live  in  the  old  ways.  The  period  of  adjustment 
to  the  new  industrial  conditions  of  the  age  of 
Period  of      machinery  and  steam  was  a  sad  one,  on  the  whole, 

adjustment    .  .  . 

to  new  con-  in  the  wagc-workmg  world. 

Two  classes  in  England — the  landlords  and  the 
farmers — were   enriched   by   the   high   prices   to 


ditions 


Enrich- 


ment of        which  breadstuffs  were  raised  by  the  long  wars, 
^"d  °  Peace   should   have  lowered   those   prices;    but, 


ani 


iarmers  unfortunately,  the  landlord  class,  controlling 
parliament,  had  power  to  prevent  that  result. 
For  some  time  past  they  had  upheld  prices  for  the 
farm  produce  on  which  their  high  rents  depended, 

_.    „  by  what  were  known  as  "corn  laws"  (all  cereals 

The    corn         \  ,  ^  ^_  ^ 

law" of  being  called  "corn"),  imposing  protective  duties 
on  imported  grain.  Now  they  passed  a  corn  law 
which  practically  prohibited  the  importation  of 
RecoUec-  '  whcat  whcucver  its  price  fell  below  eighty  shil- 
iionsof  lings  (about  $20)  a  quarter  (eight  bushels);  and 
ch.  i.  '        that  atrocious  law,  which  starved  many  for  the 


England  at  the  End  of  the  Napoleonic  Wars       1137 

enrichment  of  a  few,  was  enforced  for  thirteen 
years.     In  the  light  of  this  glaring  exhibit  of  the 
class-government    then     maintained     in    Great 
Britain,  the  common  people  were  wakened  fast 
to  a  sense  of  the  political  rights  which  they  ought 
to  claim  and  which  they  had  power  to  take.    The  and'^^js^'* 
demand  for  a  better  representation  in  parliament  order 
began  to  be  peremptory  in  tone,  and  a  period  of 
agitation  and  disorder,  both  political  and  indus- 
trial, ensued.     In  the  midst  of  these  conditions 
George  III.,  who  had  been  hopelessly  insane  for  GMrge°iil 
ten  years,  died,  and  his  son,  the  fourth  George,  Jan.  29, 
acting  regent  since  18 10,  became  king. 

Europe  at  large  after  the  fall  of  Napoleon 

Delivered  from  one  tyrannical  master  by  the 
overthrow  of  Napoleon,  Europe,  thereupon,  was 
given   over   to   a    combination    of   despots   who 
oppressed  it  for  another  generation.    The  sover- 
eigns who  had  united  to  dethrone  Napoleon,  with 
the  two  emperors,  of  Austria  and  Russia,  at  their 
head,  and  with  the  Austrian  minister,  Metternich, 
for  their  most  trusted  counselor,  assumed  first, 
in   the   congress   of  Vienna,   a   general  work  of  gressof 
political    rearrangement,    to   repair   the   revolu-     '^""^ 
tionary  and  Napoleonic  disturbances,  and  then  Fyffe,  i/iV- 
to  assume  an  authoritative  supervision  of  Euro-  ^7,°^ 

^  Modern 

pean   politics   which  proved   as   meddlesome   as  Europe, 
Napoleon's  had  been. 

Their  first  act  was  to  restore  the  Bourbon 
monarchy  In  France,  indifferent  to  the  wishes  of 
the  people.     In  Spain,  Ferdinand  had  taken  the 


2  :ch. 


II38 


Recon- 
structed 
Europe 


The  "holy 
alliance" 


From  Washington  to  Stephenson 

throne,  when  Joseph  fled.  In  Italy,  the  king  of 
Sardinia  was  restored  and  Genoa  transferred  to 
him;  Lombardy  and  Venetia  were  given  back  to 
Austria;  Tuscany,  Modena  and  some  minor 
duchies  received  Hapsburg  princes;  the  pope 
recovered  his  States,  and  the  Bourbons  returned 
from  Sicily  to  Naples.  In  Germany,  the  Prussian 
kingdom  was  enlarged  again  by  several  absorp- 
tions, including  part  of  Saxony,  but  some  of  its 
Polish  territory  was  given  to  the  tzar;  Hanover 
became  a  kingdom;  Austria  resumed  the  prov- 
inces which  Napoleon  had  conveyed  to  his 
Rhenish  proteges;  and,  finally,  a  Germanic  con- 
federation was  formed,  to  take  the  place  of  the 
extinct  empire,  and  with  no  more  efficiency  in  its 
constitution.  In  the  Netherlands,  a  new  kingdom 
was  made  up,  to  bear  the  Netherland  name,  and 
to  embrace  Holland  and  Belgium  in  union,  with 
the  house  of  Orange  on  the  throne. 

Between  the  tzar,  the  emperor  of  Austria  and 
the  king  of  Prussia,  there  was  a  personal  agree- 
ment that  went  with  these  arrangements  of  the 
congress  of  Vienna,  and  which  was  prolonged  for 
a  number  of  years.  In  the  public  understanding, 
this  was  associated,  perhaps  wrongly,  with  a 
written  declaration,  known  as  "the  holy  alli- 
ance," in  which  the  three  sovereigns  set  forth  their 
intention  to  regulate  their  foreign  and  domestic 
policy  by  the  precepts  of  Christianity,  and 
invited  all  princes  to  join  their  alliance  for  the 
maintenance  of  peace  and  the  promotion  of 
brotherly  love.    Whether  Identical  as  a  fact  with 


The  Work  of  the  "Holy  Alliance"  in  Europe     1139 

this  "holy  alliance"  or  secreted  behind  it,  there 
was,  and  long  continued  to  be,  an  undoubted 
league  between  these  sovereigns  and  others, 
which  had  aims  very  different  from  the  promo- 
tion of  brotherly  love.  It  was  wholly  reactionary, 
hostile  to  all  political  liberalism,  and  repressive 
of  all  movements  in  the  interest  of  the  people,  to  all 
Metternich  was  its  skillful  minister,  and  the  liberalism 
deadly,  soulless  system  of  bureaucratic  abso- 
lutism which  he  organized  in  Austria  was  the 
model  of  government  that  it  strove  to  introduce. 

In  Italy,  the  governments  generally  were  j^ . 
reduced  to  the  Austrian  model,  and  the  political 
state  of  the  peninsula,  for  forty  years,  was 
scarcely  better,  if  at  all,  than  it  had  been  under 
the  Spanish  rule  in  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth 
centuries. 

Germany,  as  divided  as  ever,  under  a  federal  ^ 

.  .  .  Germany 

constitution  which  federated  nothing  else  so  much 
as  the  big  and  little  courts  and  their  reactionary 
ideas,  was  profoundly  depressed  in  political 
spirit,  while  prospering  materially  and  showing 
notable  signs  of  intellectual  life. 

France  was  not  slow  in  finding  that  the  restored  under  the 
Bourbons  and  the  restored  emigres  had  forgotten  restored 
nothing  and  learned  nothing,  in  the  twenty-five 
years  of  their  exile.  They  put  all  their  strength 
into  the  turning  back  of  the  clock,  trying  to  make 
it  strike  again  the  hours  in  which  the  revolution 
and  Napoleon  had  been  so  busy.  It  was  futile 
work;  but  it  sickened  and  angered  the  nation 
none  the  less.    After  all  the  stress  and  struggle  it 


1 140 


From  Washington  to  Stephenson 


had  gone  through,  there  was  a  strong  nation  yet 
to  resist  the  Bourbonism  brought  back  to  power. 
It  recovered  from  the  exhaustion  of  its  wars  with 
a  marvelous  quickness.  The  miUions  of  peasant 
landowners,  who  were  the  greatest  creation  of  the 
Peasant  revolution,  dug  wealth  from  its  soil  with  untiring 
landowners  free  arms,  and  soon  made  it  the  most  prosperous 
land  in  Europe.  Through  country  and  city,  the 
ideas  of  the  revolution  were  in  the  brains  of  the 
common  people,  while  Its  energies  were  in  their 
brawn,  and  Bourbonism  needed  more  wisdom 
than  it  ever  possessed  to  reconcile  them  to  its 
restoration. 

It  was  not  In  France,  however,  but  in  Spain, 
that  the  first  rising  against  the  restored  order  of 
things  occurred.  Ferdinand  VIL,  when  released 
from  his  French  imprisonment  in  18 14,  was 
received  warmly  in  Spain,  and  took  the  crown 
with  quite  general  consent.  He  accepted  the  con- 
stitution under  which  the  country  had  been 
governed  since  181 2,  and  made  large  lying 
promises  of  a  liberal  rule.  But,  when  seated  on 
the  throne,  he  suppressed  the  constitution, 
restored  the  Inquisition,  revived  the  monasteries, 
d  Portu-  called  back  the  expelled  Jesuits,  and  opened  a 
deadly  persecution  of  the  liberals  in  Spanish 
tions,  1820  politics.  In  1820  a  revolutionary  movement  took 
form,  which  forced  the  king  to  reestablish  the 
constitution  and  call  different  men  to  his  council. 
Portugal,  at  the  same  time,  adopted  a  similar 
constitution,  and  it  was  accepted  by  the  exiled 
king,  John  VL,  who  returned  from  Brazil. 


Spain 


Spanish 
an 

guese 
revolu- 


Revolutionary  Movements  in  Europe  1141 

The  revolution  in  Spain  set  fire  to  the  discon- 
tent that  had  smouldered  in  Italy.  The  latter 
broke  forth,  in  the  summer  of  1820,  at  Naples,  italy/i'slTo- 
where  the  Bourbon  king  made  no  resistance  to  a  1821 
sudden  revolt  of  soldiers  and  citizens,  but  yielded 
the  constitution  they  demanded  at  once.  Sar- 
dinia followed,  in  the  next  spring,  with  a  rising  of 
the  Piedmontese,  requiring  constitutional  govern- 
ment. The  king,  Victor  Emmanuel  I.,  who  was 
very  old,  resigned  the  crown  to  his  brother, 
Charles  Felix.  The  latter  refused  the  demands 
of  the  constitutionalists  and  called  uoon  Austria 
for  help. 

These  outbreaks  of  the  revolutionary  spirit 
were  alarming  to  the  sovereigns  of  the  "holy  the  "holy 
alliance"  and  excited  them  to  a  vigorous  activity,  alliance" 
The  congenial  duty  of  restoring  absolutism  in  the 
Tv/o  Sicilies,  and  of  helping  the  king  of  Sardinia 
against  his  subjects,  was  imposed  upon  Austria, 
and  willingly  performed;  while  the  Bourbon 
court  of  France  was  solicited  to  put  an  end  to  the 
bad  example  of  constitutional  government  in 
Spain.  Both  commissions  were  executed  with 
fidelity  and  zeal.  Italy  was  flung  down  and 
fettered  again;  French  troops  occupied  Spain. 
England,  alone,  protested  against  this  flagrant 
policing  of  Europe  by  the  "holy  alliance."  Can-  protest 
ning,  its  spirited  minister,  "called  in  the  New 
World,"  as  he  described  his  policy,  "to  redress 
the  balance  of  the  old,"  by  recognizing  the  inde- 
pendence of  the  Spanish  colonies  in  America, 
which,  Cuba  and  Porto  Rico  excepted,  were  now  poUcy 


1 142 


Rising  of 
the  Chris- 
tian sub- 
jects of  the 
Turks, 
iSzi 


Greek  war 
of  inde- 
pendence, 
1821-1829 


From  Washington  to  Stephenson 

separated  forever  from  the  crown  of  Spain. 
Brazil  in  like  manner  was  cut  loose  from  the 
Portuguese  crown,  and  assumed  the  constitution 
of  an  empire,  under  Dom  Pedro,  the  eldest  son 
of  John  VI. 

These  stifled  revolutions  in  western  Europe 
failed  to  discourage  a  more  obstinate  insurrection 
which  began  in  the  east,  among  the  Christian 
subjects  of  the  Turks.  The  Ottoman  government 
had  been  growing  weaker  and  more  vicious  for 
many  years.  The  corrupted  and  turbulent 
janissaries  were  the  masters  of  the  empire,  and  a 
sultan  who  attempted,  as  Selim  III.  had  done,  to 
introduce  reforms,  was  put  to  death.  Russia, 
under  Alexander  L,  had  been  continuing  to  gain 
ground  at  the  expense  of  the  Turks,  and  assuming 
more  and  more  of  a  patronage  of  the  Christian 
subjects  of  the  Porte. 

There  seems  to  be  little  doubt  that  the  rising 
begun  in  1821,  which  had  Its  start  in  Moldavia, 
and  its  first  leader  in  a  Greek,  Ypsilanti,  who  had 
been  an  officer  in  the  Russian  service,  received 
encouragement  from  the  tzar.  But  Alexander 
turned  his  back  on  It  when  the  Greeks  sprang  to 
arms  and  appealed  to  Europe  for  help.  England 
alone  showed  sympathy,  but  did  nothing  as  a 
government,  and  left  the  struggling  Greeks  to 
such  help  as  they  might  win  from  individual 
friends.  Lord  Byron,  with  others,  went  to  Greece, 
carrying  money  and  arms.  Generally,  however, 
these  volunteers  lost  much  of  their  ardor  In  the 
Greek  cause  when  they  came  Into  close  contact 


1 825 


Greek  War  of  Independence  1143 

with  Its  native  supporters.  But,  If  the  Greeks 
lacked  high  qualities,  they  made  an  obstinate 
fight,  and  held  their  ground  against  the  Turks, 
until  the  feeling  of  sympathy  with  them  had 
grown  strong  in  England  and  in  France.  In 
Russia,  Alexander  I.  had  been  succeeded  by  the 
aggressive  tzar  Nicholas,  who  had  not  patience  to 
wait  for  the  slow  crumbling  of  the  Ottoman 
power,  but  was  determined  to  break  it  as  sum- 
marily as  he  could.  To  that  end  he  joined  France 
and  England  in  a  naval  demonstration  against 
the  Turks,  which  had  its  result  in  the  battle  of 
Navarino,  and  the  destruction  of  the  combined  Navarino, 
Turkish  and  Egyptian  fleets.  ^g""  ^°' 

Egypt,  at  this  time,  was  under  the  practically 
independent  rule  of  an  adventurer,  Mehemet  AH, 
who  went  to  it  In  1801  as  one  of  the  officers  of  the 
Turkish  force  sent  to  act  with  the  English  in 
expelling  the  French.  In  the  confusions  that  uS* 
followed  he  succeeded  in  rising  to  a  position  which  Mehemet 
forced  the  sultan  to  make  him  governor.  His 
authority  was  disputed  by  the  Mameluke  beys, — 
chiefs  of  the  old  military  organization  that  had 
held  and  ruled  Egypt  for  a  long  period  before 
they  yielded,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  to  the 
sovereignty  of  the  Ottoman  sultan.  By  a  general 
massacre,  accomplished  through  treachery,  he 
swept  them  from  his  path,  and  went  steadily 
forward  in  the  pursuit  of  plans  which  aimed  at 
the  establishment  of  an  independent  state.  His 
project  was  promoted  by  the  troubles  in  which 
Turkey  was  now  involved. 


1 144 


The  king- 
dom of 
Greece 

established, 
1830-1833 

European 

revolutions 
of  1830 


In  France 


Exile  of 
Charles  X. 

Crowning 
of  Louis 
Philippe 


From  Washington  to  Stephenson 

After  the  battle  of  Navarino,  the  French  and 
EngUsh  went  no  farther  in  hostlHties;  but  tzar 
Nicholas  pursued  the  undertaking,  in  a  war  which 
lasted  till  the  autumn  of  1829.  Turkey  at  the  end 
of  it  conceded  the  independence  of  Greece,  and 
practically  that  of  Wallachia  and  Moldavia. 
In  1830,  a  conference  at  London  established  the 
Greek  kingdom,  and  in  1833  a  Bavarian  prince, 
Otho  I.,  was  settled  on  the  throne. 

Before  this  result  was  reached,  revolution  in 
western  Europe,  arrested  in  1821-23,  had  broken 
out  afresh.  Bourbonism  had  become  unen- 
durable to  France.  Charles  X.,  who  succeeded 
his  brother,  Louis  XVIIL,  in  1824,  showed  not 
only  a  more  arbitrary  temper,  but  a  disposition 
more  deferential  to  the  church.  He  was  fond  of 
the  Jesuits,  whom  his  subjects  very  commonly 
distrusted  and  disliked.  He  attempted  to  put 
shackles  on  the  press,  and,  when  elections  to  the 
chamber  of  deputies  went  repeatedly  against  the 
government,  he  undertook  practically  to  alter 
the  suffrage  by  ordinances  of  his  own.  A  revolu- 
tion seemed  then  to  be  the  only  remedy  that  was 
open  to  the  nation,  and  it  was  adopted  in  July, 
1830,  the  veteran  Lafayette  taking  the  lead. 
Charles  X.  was  driven  to  abdication,  and  left 
France  for  England.  The  crown  was  transferred 
to  Louis  Philippe,  of  the  Orleans  branch  of  the 
Bourbon  family, — son  of  the  Philip  Egalite  who 
joined  the  Jacobins  in  the  revolution. 

The  July  Revolution  in  France  proved  a  signal 
for  more  outbreaks  in  other  parts  of  Europe  than 


European  Revolutions  of  1830  1145 

had   followed   the   Spanish    rising   of  ten   years 
before. 

Belgium    broke    away   from    the    union   with 
Holland,   which   had   never  satisfied   its  people,     ^^"^" 
and,  after  some  struggle,  won  recognized  inde- 
pendence, as  a  new  kingdom,  with  Leopold  of 
Saxe  Coburg  raised  to  the  throne. 

Russian  Poland,  bearing  the  name  of  a  con- 
stitutional kingdom  since  181 5,  but  having  the 
tzar  for  its  king  and  the  tzar's  brother  for  viceroy, 
found  no  lighter  oppression  than  before,  and  made 
a  hopeless,  brave  attempt  to  escape  from  its 
bonds.  The  revolt  was  put  down  with  unmerciful 
severity,  and  thousands  of  the  hapless  patriots 
went  to  exile  in  Siberia. 

In  Germany,  there  were  numerous  demonstra- 
tions in  the  smaller  states,  which  succeeded  more  ^"™^"y 
or  less   in   extorting   constitutional   concessions; 
but  there  was  no  revolutionary  movement  on  a 
larger  scale. 

Italy  remained  quiet  in  both  the  north  and  the  ^^^^ 
south,  where  disturbances  had  arisen  before;  but 
commotions  occurred  in  the  papal  states,  and  in 
Modena  and  Parma,  which  required  the  arms  of 
Austria  to  suppress. 

Ireland  had  been  at  the  point  of  rebellion  In 
1 820,  but  was  pacified  by  a  tardy  yielding  to  the  ,  ,    , 

T  rclflnd 

demand  of  the  Catholics  for  representation  in 
parliament  by  members  of  their  own  faith.  The 
agitation  which  extorted  this  concession  had  been 
led  with  extraordinary  eloquence  and  resolution 
by  Daniel  O'Connell,  who  became  then  a  great  o-conneii 


1 146 


1828 


Catholic 
emancipa- 
tion, 1829 


Great 

Britain 


New 

departure 
in  social 
progress 


The  railway 

and 

Etephen- 

soa's 

steam 

locomotive, 

1S25-1830 


From  Washington  to  Stephenson 

power  in  the  realm.  The  Tory  ministry  of  the 
day,  headed  by  the  duke  of  WelHngton  and  Sir 
Robert  Peel,  had  given  signs  already  of  a  relaxing 
conservatism,  by  moderating  the  iniquitous  corn 
laws,  and  by  opening  the  doors  of  public  office  to 
Protestant  dissenters  from  the  established  church, 
who  could  enter  no  such  office  hitherto  without 
an  infringement  cf  law.  Now  the  same  ministry 
abrogated  the  test  oath  which  barred  Catholics 
from  parliament  and  from  all  public  life. 

The  movements  of  feeling  and  opinion  which 
accomplished  these  results  were  hurrying  the 
British  people  toward  a  greater  reform;  toward 
one  that  would  surpass  all  other  revolutions  of 
the  time  In  the  lasting  Importance  of  Its  effects, 
and  exhibit  In  their  grandest  early  triumph  the 
peaceful  forces  of  the  platform  and  the  press. 
The  account  of  this  belongs  to  our  next  chapter. 

By  several  tokens  it  can  be  seen  that  a  fresh 
point  of  departure  In  the  social  progress  of  the 
world  had  been  reached  at  this  time.  For  more 
than  half  a  century  past,  scientific  discovery  and 
mechanical  invention  had  been  marking  such 
points,  by  setting  new  agencies  in  action,  with 
wonder-working  effects  on  the  relations  between 
men  and  communities  of  men.  The  early  appli- 
cations of  the  steam  engine,  to  mining  and  manu- 
facturing industries  and  to  the  propulsion  of 
boats,  had  produced  Influences  that  are  traceable 
in  all  the  lines  of  the  stretch  of  history  just  sur- 
veyed. And  now  the  mounting  of  the  steam 
engine  upon  wheels  and  the  wheels  upon  a  railway 


Catholic  Emancipation  and  First  Railway        1147 

was  the  beginning  of  another  revolution,  in  travel 
and  transportation,  which  transformed  the  world 
in  every  circumstance  of  civilized  life.     George 

_         ,  1         T-       1  •   1  1  J       1        Smiles,  Life 

Stephenson,  the  Englishman  who  proved  the  of  George 
practicability  of  the  railway  and  the  steam  suphenson 
locomotive,  did  so  first,  on  a  small  scale,  in  1825, 
when  he  ran  his  "traveling  engine"  from  Stockton 
to  Darlington,  and  more  effectively  in  1830,  when 
a  railway  from  Liverpool  to  Manchester  was 
opened  with  triumphant  success.  A  new  chapter 
in  human  history  was  opened  by  that  event. 

The  United  States  of  America 

At  this  time  no  other  country  was  gaining  so 
much  as  the  United  States  from  the  service  of  that 
floated  locomotive,  the  steamboat,  because  no 
other  possessed  such  natural  waterways,  opening 
such  broad  and  rich  expanses  of  unoccupied  land. 
The  first  practical  success  in  steam  navigation  Na^™a- 
had  been  attained  in  America,  by  Robert  Fulton,  Jsot-isso 
on  the  Hudson  River,  in  1807.    Within  five  years 
there  were  steamers  on  the  Mississippi;    within 
ten  years  they  were  launched  on  the  Great  Lakes; 
and  from  that  time  they  were  everywhere  hurry-  History  of 
ing  the  movement  of  emigrants  and  merchandise,  Jj^^^^'^^^^m 
to  populate  the  American  interior  and  develop  Engine, 
trade.    Where  nature  had  not  given  the  needed 
waterway,   men   were   stimulated   to   dig  it  for 
themselves,  and  astonishing  enterprises  of  canal- 
making  were  set  on  foot.    As  early  as  18 17  the 
State  of  New  York,  then  containing  no  more  than  The  Erie 

1  1        Canal, 

a  million  and  a  quarter  of  mhabitants,  began  the  1817-1825 


1 148 


Whitney's 
"cotton 
gin,"  1793 


Effects  of 
the  cotton 
gin  upon 
slavery 


From  Washington  to  Stephenson 

building  of  the  great  Erie  Canal,  which  it  opened 
to  travel  and  transportation,  from  the  Hudson 
River  to  Lake  Erie,  in  1825.  Then  the  streams 
of  emigration  flowing  westward  became  a  mighty 
flood,  sweeping  away  forests,  effacing  the  wilder- 
ness, creating  farms,  towns  and  cities,  along  the 
line  of  its  swift  advance. 

From  a  simpler  mechanical  invention  than  the 
steam  engine  or  the  paddle  wheel,  the  southern 
section  of  the  Union  had  received  still  another 
and  more  powerful  impulse  to  the  extension  of  its 
settlements,  the  increase  of  its  population,  and 
the  enlargement  of  its  wealth.  Cotton  culture 
had  been  unprofitable  till  Eli  Whitney,  in  1793, 
perfected  his  "gin,"  for  separating  the  fiber  of 
cotton  from  the  seed.  At  the  same  time  an  eager 
and  unlimited  demand  for  the  fiber  had  been 
created  in  England,  by  the  inventions  for 
machine-spinning  and  weaving  and  by  the 
development  of  the  factory  system,  with  the  use 
of  steam  power.  At  once  Whitney's  "  cotton  gin  " 
enabled  southern  planters  to  supply  that  demand, 
with  large  profit  to  themselves,  and  cotton-grow- 
ing was  spread  over  the  States  and  Territories  of 
the  warmer  belt  as  fast  as  slaves  for  new  planta- 
tions could  be  procured. 

In  American  history  there  is  no  occurrence  of 
graver  moment  than  this;  for  it  fastened  the 
institution  of  slavery  on  the  States  of  the  south. 
Previously  there  had  been  reason  to  hope  that  the 
system  of  enslaved  labor  would  be  extinguished 
gradually  throughout  the  country,  in  a  natural 


Cotton  and  Slavery  in  the  United  States        1149 

way.    A  sentiment  repugnant  to  it  was  gaining 
force  in  all  the  border  States  of  the  slaveholding 
section,  and  emancipation  in  those  States  would 
weaken   the  institution  in  its   small   remaining 
seats.     But  a  sudden  and  sinister  change  in  the 
whole  prospect  was  produced  by  the  simple  work- 
ing of  the  Whitney  "gin."    Not  only  was  slave  3,^^^,^^^^^ 
labor  made  doubly  profitable  in  the  regions  where  made 
cotton  could  be  grown,  but  slaves  were  made  profitable 
doubly  valuable  in  all  the  marts  of  the  neighbor- 
ing States.     After  1808,  no  further  introduction 
of  slaves  from  outside  of  the  Union  was  permitted, 
and  the  cotton  planters  must  depend  on  a  home 

.  Ill*  Develop- 

supply.     This  gave  rise  to  slave-breeding  as  a  mentof 

business,  and  established  it  in  the  border  slave  jj^^^^djng 

States,  creating  an  interest  in  the  perpetuation  of 

slavery  which  moral  sentiment  could  not  over-  and  slave 

States, 

corns*  ^        ^      1819-1820 

Of  twenty  States  that  formed  the  Union  in 

1 819,  slavery  had  been  abolished  or  prohibited  in 
exactly  one-half.     Hence  the  free  labor  and  the 
slave  labor  interests  were  represented  equally  in  cotSan.^ 
the  federal  senate;    but  the  slave-holding  States  Pol.  Hist. 
had  lost  and  were  losing  ground   in  the  other  , ;  350-378* 
branch  of  congress,  notwithstanding  the  repre- 
sentation  of  three  fifths   of  their  slaves.     The 
greater  streams  of  emigration  flowing  into  the 
country  were  drawn  to  the  regions  where  labor 
was  free,  and  there  could  not  be  a  doubt  that  the 
weight  of  numbers  in  population,  and  therefore  of 
votes   in   the   federal   house   of   representatives, 
would    always   be   adverse   to   the   slaveholding 


II50 


Slave-hold- 
ing interest 
in  the 
senate 


Question  of 
slavery  in 
the  Louisi- 
ana Pur- 
chase 


The  "Mis- 
souri com- 
promise," 
1821 


From  Washington  to  Stephenson 

States.  Alarmed  by  this  prospect,  the  latter 
strove  to  hold  the  senate  as  a  citadel  of  political 
defense,  by  keeping  at  least  an  even  balance  In 
that  body  between  free  and  slave  States.  By 
tacit  agreement  and  without  much  discussion 
this  equilibrium  had,  so  far,  been  maintained. 
The  States  added  to  the  Union  from  territory 
south  of  the  Ohio  came  in  with  slavery  permitted; 
those  formed  in  the  old  northwestern  domain 
were  secured  against  it  by  the  Ordinance  of  1787, 
— and  each  section  counted  ten  States,  with 
twenty  senatorial  votes. 

But  how  should  it  be  in  the  making  of  more 
States,  from  the  great  new  domain  bought  from 
France.?  That  vast  territory,  beyond  the  Missis- 
sippi, had  come  into  the  possession  of  the  United 
States  with  slavery  sanctioned  in  it  by  Spanish 
and  French  laws.  One  slaveholding  State, 
Louisiana,  had  been  carved  from  it  already,  and 
a  slaveholding  population  was  spreading  along 
its  southern  streams.  Should  the  nation  take 
care  of  its  future  in  this  matter,  or  leave  it  to  be 
ruled  by  events.?  The  question  came  to  congress 
in  1 8 19,  when  a  bill  to  authorize  the  organization 
of  the  State  of  Missouri  was  taken  up,  and  an 
amendment  prohibiting  the  further  introduction 
of  slavery,  with  provision  for  emancipating  the 
future  children  of  slaves,  was  offered  by  a  member 
from  New  York.  A  passionate  debate  ensued, 
and  the  first  stormy  agitation  of  slavery  questions 
convulsed  the  whole  country  for  two  years.  It 
resulted  in  the  famous  "Missouri  compromise," 


The  "Missouri  Compromise"  1151 

agreed  to  in  March,  1820,  but  not  determined 
until  February,  1821,  by  the  terms  of  which 
Missouri  came  into  the  Union  with  no  restriction 
concerning  slavery,  but  slaveholding  was  for- 
bidden in  all  that  part  of  the  Louisiana  Purchase 
which  lies  north  of  36°  30',  north  latitude. 
Maine,  detached  from  Massachusetts,  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  Union  at  the  same  time. 

The  larger  part  of  the  Louisiana  Purchase  was 
secured  for  free  labor  by  this  compromise;  but 
the  slaveholding  interest  had  acquired,  just  prior 
to  it,  another  considerable  extension  of  territory, 
by  the  purchase  of  Florida  from  Spain.  That  Florida, 
transaction  was  sequent  to  a  war  with  the  ^^^^ 
Seminole  Indians  of  Florida,  in  the  prosecution  of 
which  General  Jackson,  pursuing  the  Indians  to  igis 
their  home  in  the  Spanish  province,  took  practical 
possession  of  East  Florida,  in  a  lawless  way, 
expelling  Spanish  garrisons  from  Pensacola  and 
St.  Marks.  West  Florida,  claimed  by  the  United 
States,  rather  groundlessly,  as  forming  part  of  the 
Louisiana  Purchase,  had  been  dealt  with  as 
American  territory  since  18 10.  After  Jackson's 
performance,  the  Spanish  government  seems  to 
have  abandoned  the  hope  of  holding  any  part  of 
the  province,  and  consented  to  a  cession  of  the 
whole. 

Four  months  prior  to  this,  a  convention  with 
Great  Britain  established  joint  occupancy  for  ten  ji^gOre  on 
years  of  the  region  called  Oregon,  lying  west  of  question, 
the    Rocky    Mountains,    between    Mexico    and 
Russian  America,  which  both  nations  claimed. 


II52 


From  Washington  to  Stephenson 


Reelection 
of  Presi- 
dent Mon- 
roe, 1820 


So-called 
"era  of 
good  feel- 
ings," 
1820-1824 


Hamil- 
tonian 
measures  of 
the  Jeffer- 
sonian 
party 


Promulga- 
tion of  "the 
Monroe 
doctrine," 
1823 


Thereafter  the  northern  boundary  question  in 
that  region  stood  unsettled  till  1846. 

In  1820  President  Monroe  was  reelected  with- 
out opposition, — a  distinction  which  he  shares 
with  President  Washington  alone.  He  owed  it 
to  no  special  popularity,  but  simply  to  the  dis- 
organized conditions  in  politics,  which  broke  up 
the  old  Federalist  party  and  left  the  Democratic 
Republicans  in  sole  possession  of  the  field. 
Somebody  described  the  time  as  an  "era  of  good 
feelings,"  and  the  pleasing  phrase  was  much  in 
use;  but  the  political  feeling  of  the  period  was 
pacified  only  by  being  confused.  The  Repub- 
licans as  a  party  had  lost  their  bearings.  Many 
had  strayed  from  Jeffersonian  to  Hamiltonian 
principles;  had  chartered  a  second  United  States 
bank  in  1816;  had  framed  and  passed  a  distinctly 
protective  tariff  in  the  same  year;  had  declared 
for  a  policy  of  "internal  Improvements"  by  the 
general  government;  had  upheld  Chief  Justice 
Marshall  in  constitutional  decisions  which 
affirmed  the  sovereign  nationality  of  the  federal 
government.  But  Jeffersonian  beliefs  were  not 
extinct,  nor  sectional  oppositions  reconciled; 
they  had  only  lost  organization  for  a  time.  They 
were  soon  to  reappear  in  a  new  array,  and  the 
old  battles,  on  the  old  issues,  would  be  renewed. 

The  second  administration  of  President  Mon- 
roe was  distinguished  only  by  the  famous 
declaration  of  American  policy  known  as  the 
"Monroe  Doctrine,"  which  appeared  in  the 
president's  message  of  1823.     It  was  called  out 


The  Monroe  Doctrine  Promulgated  1153 

(i)  by  the  movements  of  the  "holy  alliance"  in  J^^^^Jj^.^J;^ 
Europe,   which   seemed   to  be  meditating  some  of  the 
attempt  to  restore  the  sovereignty  of  Spain  over  ^7//^.  s., 
her  revolted  American  provinces,  and  (2)  by  signs  s  =28-48 
of  an  ambition  in  Russia  to  broaden  her  American 
claims.     In  substance,  the  president  gave  notice 
that  the  United  States  would  oppose  any  attempt 
of  European  powers  to  make  conquests  in  the 
western  hemisphere,  or  to  overturn  the  govern- 
ments   existing   in   it,    or   to   extend    their   own 
political   system   to   it;     and,   further,   that  the 
American  continents  could  be  regarded  no  longer 
as  open  fields  for  new  colonies  under  European 
control.     This  firm  attitude  on  the  part  of  the  q^^j^-^^^^ 
American  government  was  encouraged  by  Can-  proposal 
ning,    the    then    British    secretary    for    foreign 
affairs,  who  had  made  a  recent  proposal  that  the 
United  States  and  Great  Britain  act  together  in 
resisting    the   American    projects    of   the    "holy 
alliance."      It  is   probable   that  the   president's 
message   received  much  of  its  tone  from  John 
Quincy  Adams,  who  was  Monroe's  secretary  of 
state. 

Mr.  Adams  was  made  president  by  the  election 
of  1824.    The  issues  in  that  election  were  purely  pl2dent°^ 
personal,  between  five  candidates,  all  professing  John 
the  same  political  principles  and  stamped  with  Adams, 
the  same  party  name.     General  Jackson,  "the  ^^^^ 
hero  of  New  Orleans,"  received  the  largest  vote, 
Henry  Clay  received  the  smallest,  and  there  was 
a  majority  for  none.     This  carried  the  election 
into   the   house   of   representatives,    and   Clay's 


1 1 54  From  Washington  to  Stephenson 

Influence  gave  it  to  Adams.  The  fact  that 
Cry  of  President  Adams  invited  Clay  to  be  secretary  of 
"bargain      state  gavc  the  partisans  of  Tackson  an  oppor- 

andcorrup-  .      "  '■  , ''  ^^ 

tion"  tunity  to  charge  that  a  bargam  had  been  made, — 

that  the  presidency  had  been  sold  and  the  people 
cheated    of    their    choice.      It    was    an    utterly 

Schurz,  .  ■' 

Life  of         groundless  charge;    no  men  m  public  were  less 
^cia^i:       capable    of   such    corruption    than   Adams    and 
236-257,       Clay;   but  the  public  mind  in  large  sections  was 
poisoned  by  the  venomous  slander,  and  embit- 
tered  against  one   of  the   purest  of  presidents 
throughout  his  term. 

Many  circumstances  conspired  to  weaken  the 
administration  of  the  second  Adams  and  expose 
It  to  humiliations  and  defeats.     The  Inevitable 
stmcdonof  reconstructlou   of  parties   was   begun.     All   the 
parties        JefFersonlan  reaction  of  the  time,   toward  new 
assertions   of   "State   sovereignty"   and   "State 
rights,"  went  Into  a  movement  which  accepted 
Jackson   for   its   leader   and    conducted    a   long 
campaign    for    his    election    in    1828.      All    the 
Hamiltonian  and  Federalistic  leanings  that  sur- 
vived were  rallied  to  the  support  of  the  Adams 
administration,  but  In  a  disheartened  way.    The 
latter  party  took  the  name  of  National  Repub- 
Democrats    jj^an;  the  former  kept  the  old  title  of  Democratic 
National      Republican,  but  liked  best  to  be  called  Demo- 
cans  cratlc.      President   Adams    was    nominated    for 
reelection  by  the  National  Republicans,  but  with 
small  chance  of  success.     General  Jackson  was 
elected  by  an  overwhelming  Democratic  vote  In 
the  south  and  the  west. 


Disaffection  in  the  Canadas  1155 

British  America 

In  the  war  of  1812-15  with  the  United  States, 
the    Canadians,    French    as    well    as    English,  History  of' 
showed  loyalty  to  the  British  flasf.    Nevertheless,  OwOwn 

•'         ■'  ^  °  .  Times,  i: 

even    before    that    time,    both    provinces    were  ch.iii 
seething  with  discontent,  which  came  hotly  to 
the  surface  in  the  years  after  the  war.    In  Lower 
Canada,  race  antagonisms  were  at  the  bottom  of  tbns  in 
the  feeling.     The  French  Canadian  majority  of  c^^'^da 
population,  dominant  in  the  representative  as- 
sembly, claimed  a  right  of  control  over  revenues 
and  expenditures  which  the  executive  branch  of 
government,  wholly  English,  would  not  concede. 
The  contentions  that  arose  from  this  cause  grew 
in    bitterness    from    year    to    year.      In    Upper 
Canada,  the  popular  irritant  was  a  small,  exclu- 
sive party,  or  class,  formed  within  the  established 
church  of  England,  which  had  contrived  to  get 
impregnable    possession,    for    its    members    and 
their  church,  not  only  of  every  office  of  honor  or 
emolument  in  the  province,  but  of  most  other  The 
desirable   things,    such    as   bank    charters,    land  compact" 
grants,  and  the  like.    In  the  parlance  of  the  day,  »"  Upper 
their  snug  little  bureaucratic  organization,  which 
successive  governors  seemed  to  look  upon  as  the 
only  part  of  Canada  that  merited  their  attention, 
was  described  as  "the  Family  Compact,"  and  the 
political  literature  of  the  time  is  full  of  the  wrath 
which  its  pretensions  stirred  up.    In  the  maritime 
provinces  of  Nova  Scotia  and  New  Brunswick  maritime 
there  was  much  the  same  friction  as  in  Lower  p''^^'""* 
Canada,  between  legislative  assemblies  and  irre- 


1 1 56  From  Washington  to  Stephenson 

sponsible  executives;  but  it  lacked  the  passion 
that  came  in  the  other  case  from  jealousies  of 
race. 


Markham, 
in  Narra- 
tive and 
Critical 
History  of 
Am.,  8  :  ch. 

V 

Miranda 


Revolu- 
tionary 

move- 
ments, 1 8 10 


SimoB 
Bolivar 


Spanish  America 

At  least  from  the  time  of  the  American  revolu- 
tion, thoughts  of  attempting  to  escape  from  the 
rule  of  Spain  appear  to  have  been  working  in 
many  of  her  American  provinces.  The  first  man 
to  act  on  them  was  Francisco  Miranda,  a  Vene- 
zuelan of  considerable  military  experience,  ac- 
quired in  the  service  of  France.  Miranda's 
undertaking,  in  1806,  received  no  support;  but 
the  next  four  years,  during  which  Napoleon  stole 
the  Spanish  crown  for  his  brother,  wrought  a 
change  of  feeling,  and  Venezuela  was  one  of  five 
presidencies  and  viceroyalties  in  which  inde- 
pendent governments  were  formed  and  revolt 
begun  in  18 10.  The  movements  in  Venezuela 
and  in  the  neighboring  viceroyalty  of  New 
Granada  (which  embraced  the  Colombia,  the 
Ecuador  and  the  Panama  of  the  present  day) 
were  connected  closely,  and  were  promising 
success,  till  the  awful  earthquake  of  18 12,  at 
Caraccas,  was  construed  by  the  superstitious 
people  as  a  chastisement  for  their  revolt.  This 
caused  a  quick  collapse  of  the  revolution  in 
Venezuela,  and  Miranda,  who  led  it,  was  sent  to 
imprisonment  in  Spain,  where  he  died.  Miranda's 
work  was  then  taken  up  by  Simon  Bolivar,  a 
native  of  Caraccas,  who,  from  New  Granada, 
where    the    independent    government    held    its 


Spanish-American  Revolt  and  Independence        1157 

ground,  organized  a  fresh  rising  in  Venezuela, 

with  temporary  success;   but,  again,  the  Spanish  independ- 

authorities  recovered  power,  not  only  in  Vene-  ^""  °^  , 

*^  '  ,  Venezuela 

zuela,  but  in  New  Granada,  and  it  was  not  until  and  New 
18 18    that   they  were   overcome.      In   fact,   the  ^lll^^^^^ 
independence  of  the  two  provinces  was  not  fully 
secured  until  1822.    Bolivar  had  been  the  military 
chief  of  both,  throughout  the  contest,  and  had 
proved  himself  a  soldier  of  the  higher  class.  Now, 
he   entered   upon    a   political   career,   with   less 
advantage  to  his  fame.     New  Granada,  Vene- 
zuela, and   the  presidency  of  Quito  (Ecuador), 
were  united  in  a  single  republic  of  Colombia,  and 
Bolivar    was    elected    to    its    presidential    seat.  Colombia"^ 
Meantime,  events  elsewhere  were  calling  him  to 
a  wider  field. 

The  viceroyalty  of  Buenos  Ayres  was  one  of  Buenos 
those  in  which  revolutionary  governments  were  ^y"  (A""- 

.  gentine 

set  up  in  1810;  and  there  the  revolution  had  confedera- 
immediate  and  complete  success,  so  far  as  con- 
cerned the  extinction  of  Spanish  rule.  The 
difficulty  of  the  revolutionists  was  in  establishing 
any  authority  in  the  capital  city  which  the  rude 
cattle-breeders  of  the  pampas  would  submit  to, 
or  any  kind  of  efficient  bond  of  union  between  the 
provinces  of  the  confederacy  which  they  tried  to 
form.  It  was  a  difficulty  they  could  not  over- 
come. In  their  independence,  however,  they 
were  so  secure  that  they  could  lend  their  neigh- 
bors a  helping  hand.  The  Chileans,  in  18 10,  had 
renounced  their  allegiance  to  Spain,  intrusted  Revolution 
their  government  to  a  junta,  and  upheld  it  for  18101826 


1 1 58  From  Washington  to  Stephenson 

three  years.    Then  the  viceroy  of  Peru,  the  firmest 
seat  of  Spanish  power  in  America,  attacked  them 
with  forces  which  they  could  not  resist,  and  they 
would    have    been    hopelessly    crushed    if    the 
San  Martin  ^^g^^tincs,  or  Bucnos  Ayrcans,  had  not  come  to 
in  Chili,       their  relief.    Early  in  1 8 17,  San  Martin,  one  of  the 
^  '''"'  ^°     leaders   of  the   latter,   crossed   the  Andes   with 
4,000  men,  and,  joining  forces  with  O'Higglns,  the 
Chilean  leader,  defeated  the  Spaniards  at  Chaca- 
buco  and  established  an  independent  government 
with  O'Higglns  at  its  head.     Nevertheless,  the 
Chilean  struggle  was  not  entirely  ended  till  1826. 
Before  that  time,  Spanish  authority  in  Peru,  its 
last  stronghold,  had  been  overturned  by  attacks 
from  the  independent  provinces  on  both  sides. 
San  Martin  San  Martin,  with  a  force  of  Argentines,  Chileans 
'182^1822     ^"^   European   volunteers,   greatly   aided   by   a 
small  Chilean  fleet  under  the  command  of  the 
English  Lord  Cochrane  (afterward  earl  of  Dun- 
donald),  entered  Peru  in  1820,  forced  the  Span- 
iards out  of  Lima  in  the  following  year,  pro- 
claimed independence,  and  assumed  for  a  time 
dictatorial  power.    Friction  with  jealous  Peruvian 
leaders  nearly  caused  the  loss  of  all  that  he  had 
gained,    and    in    1822    he    resigned    authority, 
returned  to  Chile,  and  departed  thence  to  France. 
Bolivar  was  then  approaching  Peru  with  forces 
^o^ivarin     ^^^^  ^^^  north,  and  the  two  liberators  had  an 
1822-1824     interview    and    an    understanding    before    San 
Martin  withdrew.    The  final  victory  which  won 
Peruvian  independence  was  won  at  Ayacucho,  by 
Bolivar's  able  general,  Sucre,  in  December,  1824. 


Work  of  San  Martin  and  Simon  Bolivar  1159 

In  the  region  called  Upper  Peru  (now  Bolivia),  a 

Spanish  force  held  its  ground  for  another  year.  ^^^^^^ 

That  region  was  then  declared  to  be  a  separate  Peru 

state,  taking  the  name  of  Bolivia,  and  received  a  Bdi'^^ 

constitution  from  Bolivar,  under  which  Sucre,  his  ^825 
lieutenant,  was  chosen  president  for  life. 

Bolivar  was  now  dictator  of  Peru   (formally 

declared  so  in  1823),  being  president,  at  the  same  g^u^^r's 

time,  of  the  republic  of  Colombia,  and  practical  autocratic 

-     ,  111*  T        disposition 

master  of  the  new  state  that  bore  his  name,  in  ^nd  sus- 
possession  of  this  great  power  and  prestige,  he  pectedaims 
showed  an  autocratic  disposition,  adopted  oppres- 
sive measures,  was  suspected  of  designs  hostile  to 
republican  institutions,  and  his  popularity  waned 
fast.  The  suspicion  was  only  strengthened  by 
his  endeavor  to  form  a  general  confederation  of 
the  Spanish-American  states,  in  South,  Central 
and  North  America,  for  which  purpose  he  pro- 
posed a  congress  at  Panama,  which  assembled  in 
1826.  The  United  States  were  invited  to  send  g^f^";"' 
delegates,  and  did  so;  but  the  appointment  of  1826 
delegates  was  delayed  so  long,  by  opposition  in 
the  congress  at  Washington,  that  the  Panama 
congress  had  adjourned  (with  no  result)  before 
they  reached  the  ground.  By  this  time,  Bolivar's 
Colombian  confederation  was  undergoing  disso- 
lution, Venezuela  and  Ecuador  breaking  away 
from  it,  and  the  liberator  was  losing  both  prestige 
and  power.  In  1830  he  withdrew  from  public 
life,  and  died  the  same  year.     Generally,  in  the  ^^".^"'^ 

'  _  •'  ^  ^  ■'  '  death  of 

field  of  his  liberating  services,  and  in  all  the  new  Bolivar, 
Spanish-American  republics,  factious  contentions   ^  ^° 


ii6o 


From  Washington  to  Stephenson 


Paraguay 
under  the 
Jesuits 


Dr.  Fran- 
cia's  dicta- 
torship, 
1814-1840 


Revolu- 
tionary 
struggles 
in  Mexico, 
1810-1817 


made  settled  governments  Impossible  for  many 
years, — even,  in  some  Instances,  to  the  present 
day.  It  may  be  that  Bolivar's  alienation  from 
republican  aims  was  due,  with  reason,  to  the 
experience  he  had  had. 

An  exception  to  the  prevailing  disorder  was 
found  In  Paraguay.  Jesuit  missionaries  had  been 
supreme  in  that  province  down  to  1767,  and  the 
natives  had  been  trained  like  children  to  be  sub- 
missive to  control.  Spanish  authority  over  them 
was  exercised  from  the  viceroyalty  of  Buenos 
Ayres;  but  they  refused  to  acknowledge  the 
independent  government  that  was  seated  there 
by  the  revolution  of  18 10.  The  result  was  a  local 
dictatorship,  extraordinarily  despotic,  which  a 
native  advocate.  Dr.  Francia,  was  able  to  set  up, 
in  the  Napoleonic  way,  and  to  maintain  for 
twenty-six  years.  In  that  period  the  Para- 
guayans were  absolutely,  in  every  particular, 
submissive  to  his  will,  having  no  trade  with  and 
receiving  no  visitors  from  the  outer  world,  save 
rarely,  by  special  permit. 

Revolt  in  Mexico  was  set  In  motion  In  18 10; 
but  after  seven  years  of  repeated  risings  and  cruel 
warfare,  In  which  leader  after  leader  had  suffered 
defeat,  capture  and  death,  the  cause  of  inde- 
pendence seemed  hopelessly  lost.  It  was  won 
selfishly,  at  last,  by  one  who  had  fought  against 
it,  but  who  saw  an  opportunity  to  win  power  for 
himself.  This  was  after  the  constitution  of  1820 
had  been  conceded  in  Spain.  Many  of  the  ruling 
party  in  Mexico  disliked  the  concession,  and  this 


The  Independence  of  Mexico  ii6i 

created  a  situation  which  an  ambitious  colonel  in 
the  army,  Agustin  de  Iturbide,  thought  favor- 
able for  a  bold  stroke.     Securing  the  support  of 

,  .  11-1  •  ^         Pronuncia- 

his  own  command,  he  issued  a  pronunciamento,  mentoof 
declaring  for  the  independence  of  Mexico,  as  a  iturbide, 
separate    kingdom,    under    a    resident    Bourbon 
prince,  with  guarantees  for  the  maintenance  of 
the  Catholic  church.     The  scheme  met  with  so 
much  favor  that  small  opposition  appeared,  and 
it  was  referred  for  consideration  to  Spain.    When 
rejected    by   the    Spanish   government,    as   was 
expected,  no  doubt,  Iturbide  had  become  so  con- 
spicuous a  national  hero  that  his  partisans  pro- 
claimed him  emperor,  with  the  title  of  Agustin  I.;  proclaimed 
but  Mexico  at  large  was  not  quite  prepared  for  \^^"°^' 
this,  and  Iturbide  wore  his  crown  no  longer  than 
ten  months.    Forced  then  to  abdicate  and  accept 
exile,  with  a  large  pension,  he  had  the  folly  to 
return    in    the    next    year,    whereupon    he    was 
arrested  and  shot.     A  federal  republic  had  been  fan  an  J"' 
organized  meantime,  with  a  constitution  modeled  'leath, 
on  that  of  the  United  States.     Santa  Anna,  an 

rr  f      1  1111  •  •        Santa  Anna 

orncer  oi  the  army,  who  had  been  promment  m 

the   overthrow  of   Iturbide,   became   the   ruling 

spirit  of  the  country,  and,  whether  in  the  office  of 

president  or  out  of  it,  and  whether  leading  or 

resisting    revolution,    controlled    its    affairs    for 

many  years. 

It  was  not  until  1821  that  the  Central  American 

provinces  declared  for  independence  and  set  aside  American 

the  Spanish  captain-gcneralcy,  seated  in  Guate-  p™^'"^"=^' 
^  _     ^  °   ^  -^ '  1821-1829 

mala.     During   the   brief   reign   of   Iturbide   in 


Cuba 


1 162  From  Washington  to  Stephenson 

Mexico  they  were  annexed  to  his  empire,  but 
escaped  from  the  Mexican  connection  when  he 
fell,  and  united  themselves  in  a  federal  republic, 
which  was  broken  up  in  1826  and  reconstructed 
in  1829.  For  many  years  thereafter  their  history 
is  a  record,  in  the  main,  of  factious  and  sectional 
contests  and  revolutions,  not  profitable  to  pursue. 
In  Cuba  there  were  formidable  risings  of  the 
Creole  (non-Spanish  or  mixed)  population,  in  1823 
and  1829,  against  the  oppressive  domination  of 
the  "Spanish  party,"  but  the  latter  were  in- 
trenched in  power  too  strongly  to  be  overthrown. 
For  those  who  controlled  its  advantages,  the 
J.  island  was  in  a  highly  prosperous  state.     Ever 

from  the  siucc  the  Scvcn  Years  War,  when  the  English 
Slfition^o'f  captured  Havana,  held  it  for  a  year,  and  showed 
Havana,      [^  ihsit  short  time  what  could  be  made  of  its  pro- 

1762-176^ 

ductions  and  trade  by  throwing  open  its  ports, 
there  had  been  an  improvement  in  the  manage- 
ment of  both.  Sugar  and  tobacco  culture  gave 
great  wealth  to  the  planter  class,  with  consequent 
power,  against  which  the  less  favored  elements  of 
the  population  were  never  able  to  contend. 

Hayti  (Santo  Domingo) 

The   island   which   the   Caribs    called   Hayti, 

s.  Hazard     which  Columbus  named  Espanola,  and  which  is 

Santo  sometimes  known  as  Santo  Domingo,  from  one 

of  its  divisions,  was  half  lost  to  Spain  in  the 

Divided       seventeenth   century,   when   French   buccaneers 

between  ■'  \ 

Spain  and  took  posscssiou  of  its  wcstcm  part.  French 
1697*^'       settlements  were  then  so  established  that  France 


Central  America — Santo  Domingo  1163 

obtained  title  to  that  western  part  by  treaty  with 
Spain  in  1697.  Soil  and  climate  were  both 
favorable  to  sugar,  cotton,  coffee,  cocoa  and  gin- 
ger culture,  with  negro  slave  labor,  and  the  spread 
of  plantations  went  rapidly  on.  When  the 
eighteenth  century  approached  its  close  there 
were  38,000  inhabitants  of  European  origin  in 
this  French  colony,  28,000  free  people  of  color, 
mostly  mulattoes,  and  a  great  number  of  slaves. 
The  free  colored  people,  though  many  of  them 
were  wealthy  and  well  educated,  had  no  political 
rights.  Then  came  the  French  revolution,  and  a 
decree  by  the  French  national  assembly  that 
people  of  color,  born  of  free  parents,  were  French 
citizens,  entitled  to  all  political  privileges  as  such. 
The  whites  resisted  and  delayed  the  operation  of 
the  decree;  the  free  mulattoes  and  blacks  were 
determined  to  secure  the  rights  it  conferred; 
both  parties  were  more  or  less  divided  between 
republicans  who  sympathized  with  the  revolution 
in  France  and  royalists  who  abhorred  it;  and  out  races,  and 
of  the  whole  ferment  came  a  conflict  that  was  rection'!^"'^ 
made  hideous  by  savage  risings  among  the  slaves.  1791-1793 
Then,  to  make  the  situation  worse,  the  French 
assembly  revoked  its  decree,  while  Great  Britain, 
appealed  to  by  the  white  royalists,  landed  forces 
for  a  conquest  and  pacification  of  the  island,  and 
Spain  made  a  rival  attempt  of  the  same  kind. 
Commissioners  sent  from  France  to  act  for  the 
revolutionary  government  proclaimed  universal 
freedom,  and  thus  won  the  general  support  of  the 
blacks,  who  turned  their  arms  against  both  the  1793 


1 164 


Toussaint 

L'Ouver- 

ture 


Beard, 
Toussaint 
UOuver- 
iure  (con- 
taining 
autobiog- 
raphy) 


Character 
and  rule  of 
Toussaint 
in  Hayti 


His  fate 

H.  Adams, 
Historical 
Essays, 
«ssay  4 


From  Washington  to  Stephenson 

foreign  invaders  and  drove  them  out.  To  this 
course  the  insurgent  blacks  were  drawn  by  a 
remarkable  leader,  who  had  been  raised  by  his 
own  force  of  intellect  and  high  character  to  an 
influence  among  them  that  was  very  soon 
supreme.  He  was  a  slave  and  the  son  of  slaves, 
but  had  been  educated  by  a  priest.  His  name 
was  Toussaint,  to  which  the  surname  L'Ouverture 
was  added  when  he  came  to  be  a  personage  of 
note;  but  why  and  with  what  meaning  seems  an 
unsettled  question. 

For  some  years  Toussaint  held  dictatorial 
power  over  the  whole  Haytian  island,  and  dis- 
played an  extraordinary  political  genius,  com- 
parable with  that  of  the  greater  statesmen  of 
history.  He  restored  order,  peace  and  prosperous 
industry  to  a  land  blackened  with  ruins  and 
stained  horribly  with  blood.  Until  1801  he  ruled 
it  in  the  name  of  the  French  republic;  then  he 
did  in  Hayti  what  Napoleon  had  done  in  France 
— setting  the  repubhc  aside.  But  Napoleon  was 
not  willing  to  be  so  imitated  by  a  black,  and  dis- 
patched an  army,  not  merely  to  arrest  Haytian 
independence,  but  to  restore  slavery,  as  well. 
By  treacherous  means,  the  French  commander 
lured  Toussaint  into  his  hands  and  sent  him  a 
captive  to  France,  where  he  died  in  a  dungeon,  in 
1803.  That  he  was  treated  inhumanly  in  his 
prison,  with  intention  to  cause  his  death,  and 
that  his  jailers  were  obedient  to  the  wishes  of 
Napoleon  in  what  they  did,  has  been  made  plain 
by  documents  drawn  from  the  archives  of  France. 


TOUSSAINT    L'OUVERTURE    IN    SaNTO    DoMINGO  1 1 65 

Then  came  evil  days  for  Haytl,  which  have 
never   reached   their   end.      Insurrection   blazed 
anew,  and  yellow  fever  thinned  the  ranks  of  the 
French  till  they  abandoned  the  island  and  gave  abandon- 
it  up  to  the  triumphant  blacks.     Leaders  very  mentofthe 

^  .  island 

different  in  character  from  Toussamt  rose  among 
them;     first   Dessalines,    then    Christophe,    who 
established    despotisms    of    the    worst    oriental 
pattern,   one   styling   himself  emperor   and   the  Reignof 
other  king.     Then,  in  1820,  a  better  period  was  "«sro 

IT  -r»-  -0  despots 

opened  by  an  able  mulatto,  Jean  Pierre  boyer, 
who  contented  himself  with  a  republican  presi- 
dency, and  ruled  intelligently,  though  despoti- 
cally, till  1843. 

Brazil 

Driven  from  Lisbon  by  Napoleon  in  1807,  the 
prince-regent  of  Portugal,  afterward  King  John  1114)' 
VL,  transferred  his  court  to  Brazil,  and  Rio  de  Ja- 
niero  became  the  capital  of  the  Portuguese  king- 
dom for  the  next  fourteen  years.     In  many  ways  rj^gp^^^. 
Brazil,  and  especially  Rio,  profited  immensely  by  guese  court 
the  change,  which  broke  the  trammels  of  the  old  igoj-igzi 
colonial    system,    while    Portugal    suffered    loss. 
After  the  fall  of  Napoleon  in  181 5,  the  regent 
(who  became  king  the  next  year,  on  the  death  of 
his  Insane  mother)   still  hesitated  to  return  to 
Portugal,  finding  it  hard  to  reconcile  the  opposed 
interest  In  the  two  parts  of  his  realm,  and  seeming 
to  value  the  great  American  dominion  most.    His 
difficulties  were  not  removed  by  a  decree  which 
incorporated  Brazil  and  Portugal  In  one  kingdom. 
To  the  Portuguese,  Brazil  was  a  colony,  and  must 


ii66 


From  Washington  to  Stephenson 


Return  of 
the  king  to 
Lisbon, 
1821 


Brazil  an 

indepen- 
dent em- 
pire, 1822 


Uruguay 


be  kept  under  colonial  bonds.  In  1820  they 
resorted  to  revolutionary  proceedings  which 
forced  King  John  to  return  to  Lisbon  the  follow- 
ing year,  leaving  his  son,  Dom  Pedro,  to  rule  as 
regent  in  Brazil.  He  found  the  cortes  of  Portugal 
uncontrollable  in  the  matter  of  the  treatment  of 
the  Brazilians,  determined  to  reduce  them  to  their 
old  colonial  dependence  and  restraint  in  trade. 
Its  fatuous  measures  drove  the  Brazilians  to  a 
declaration  of  independence,  with  the  regent's 
consent,  and  Dom  Pedro  accepted  the  title  and 
crown  of  emperor  in  December,  1822.  Portugal 
resisted  feebly  for  three  years  and  then  acknowl- 
edged the  accomplished  fact.  The  reign  of  Pedro 
I.  was  not  satisfactory  to  his  subjects,  and  in  1831 
he  gave  up  the  throne  to  his  son,  Dom  Pedro  11. , 
who  occupied  it  for  nearly  sixty  years.  Shortly 
before  the  abdication  of  the  father  an  important 
province  had  been  lost  to  Brazil,  by  a  successful 
revolt,  which  established  the  republic  of  Uruguay 
in  1828. 


New  South 
Wales 


Beginning 
of  sheep- 
breeding 


Australia 

In  1800,  twelve  years  after  the  founding  of  the 
settlement  (mostly  of  convicts)  at  and  near 
Sydney,  in  New  South  Wales,  its  numbers  had 
increased  to  a  little  more  than  6,000,  and  that 
was  the  total  white  population  of  Australia.  The 
vast  flocks  and  herds  of  a  later  time  were  pio- 
neered then  by  no  more  than  1,000  cattle  and  6,000 
sheep;  but  the  fitness  of  the  country  for  sheep- 
breeding  had  been  proved,  and  that  profitable 


The  Beginnings  of  Australia  1167 

industry  was  beginning  to  engage  capital  and 
men.  Hitherto,  the  colony  had  gone  through 
much  suffering,  in  a  struggle  with  natural  condi- 
tions, which  were  overcome.  It  still  had  serious 
troubles  to  meet,  due  to  a  dominating  body  of 
military  officers,  who  defied  the  governors, 
assumed  special  privileges  and  monopolized  wool- 
growing,  as  well  as  various  branches  of  trade. 
After  the  removal  of  this  troublesome  corps,  in 
1 8 10,  affairs  settled  into  a  better  state.  Under 
Governor  McQuarie,  then  appointed,  exploration  McQuane 
was  pushed  through  the  Blue  Mountains,  which 
had  shut  the  colony  into  a  narrow  strip  of  coast 
land;  broad  expanses  of  pasture  and  farm  land 
were  found,  and  roads  were  constructed  to  open 
them  up.  The  incoming  of  free  settlers  was  rapid 
from  that  time.  In  1823,  the  previous  autocratic 
government  of  the  colony  was  modified,  by  an 
act  of  the  British  parliament  which  created  a 
legislative  council  and  a  supreme  court.  At  this 
time,  and  for  some  years  after,  there  was  no  other 
settlement  on  the  continent;  but  a  branch  colony 
had  been  founded  on  the  island  at  the  south 
(Tasmania),  known  then  as  Van  Dieman's  Land.  ^^"P'^ 

'^  ' '  man  sLana 

Some  missionaries  were  in  New  Zealand,  but  no  (Tasmania) 
settlement  on  those  islands  had  been  undertaken. 

India 

In  this  period,  of  the  first  third  of  the  nine- 
teenth century,  the  British  subjugation  of  India 
made  its  most  important  advances.  An  enlarge- 
ment of  imperialistic  ambitions  was  carried  into 


ii68 


From  Washington  to  Stephenson 


The 
Wellesleys 


Tippoo 
Sahib 


Overthrow] 
oftheMah- 
rattas, 
1803,  1817- 
1819 


Runjeet 

Singh 


Suppres- 
sion 

of  suttee 
and  the 
Thugs 


the  administration  of  the  East  India  Company  by 
Richard  Wellesley,  earl  of  Mornington,  afterward 
marquis  of  Wellesley,  who  was  appointed  gov- 
ernor-general in  1798.    On  the  military  side  of  his 
policy,  Wellesley  was  assisted  with  great  ability 
and  vigor  by  his  younger  brother,  Arthur,  who 
found  then  the  full  opening  to  a  career  which 
made  him  duke  of  Wellington  and  gave  him  his 
splendid  fame.     Tippoo  Sahib,  successor  to  his 
father,  Hyder  Ali,  as  sultan  of  Mysore,  and  con- 
tinuing his  father's  alliance  with  the  French,  was 
the  first  enemy  to  be  crushed  by  the  British  arms. 
Two    wars    with    the    powerful    confederacy    of 
Mahratta  chiefs  of  central  and  western  India, 
conducted  by  the  Wellesleys  and  Lord  Lake  in 
the  first  instance,  and  by  Lord  Hastings  in  the 
second,  put  an  end  to  their  power.    Aggressions 
by  the  warlike  Ghorkas  of  Nepal,  on  the  northern 
frontier  of  British  territory,  and  by  the  Burmese, 
on  the  eastern  border,  were  stopped  decisively,  by 
governor-general  Hastings,  in  18 16,  and  by  Lord 
Amherst    in    1824-6.      Without    war,    the    once 
famous  Sikh  ruler  in  the  Punjab,  Runjeet  Singh, 
was  checked  in  his  projects  of  conquest  south  of 
the  Sutlej,  and  his  arms  turned  against  Afghanis- 
tan and  Kashmir.     Within  the  bounds  of  the 
company's  government,  important  measures  of 
administration  were  the  suppression  of  the  dread- 
ful  Hindu   practice   of   suttee — the   burning   of 
widows — and    the   extermination   of   the    secret 
society  of  Thugs,  which  made  murder  a  religious 
rite. 


India — Africa  1169 

Africa 

Prior  to  the  nineteenth  century  there  had  been 
little  of  European  action  in  Africa  south  of  the 
great  desert.  The  Portuguese  had  established 
settlements  and  stations  on  both  the  east  and 
west  coasts;  the  Dutch,  between  1652  and  1795, 
had  been  in  possession  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  ^^'"l^ 

_  -^  ,  '■      ^  '^       settlements 

and  adjoining  territory;  an  English  settlement  andex- 
for  freed  slaves  had  been  founded  (1787)  at  p°"^°°* 
Sierra  Leone;  an  African  association  formed  in 
England  had  sent  Mungo  Park  to  explore  the 
western  interior,  from  the  Gambia;  Bruce  had 
ascended  the  Blue  Nile;  England,  in  1795,  had 
seized  the  Dutch  Cape  Colony,  to  keep  it  from 
passing,  with  Holland,  under  French  control; 
some  Christian  missions  had  been  undertaken  in 
a  few  parts  of  the  continent: — and  the  substance 
of  known  central  and  south  African  history, 
down  to  1800,  Is  in  those  facts. 

In  1802,  England  restored  Cape  Colony  to  the 
Dutch,  but  in  1806,  after  Holland  had  been  trans-  ^"^'"'^    , 

'  ^  '  ^         _  conquest  of 

formed  into  a  Napoleonic  kingdom,  she  took  the  Cape 
settlement   again,   and   gave   it   back   no   more.  1806"^' 
Between  that  time  and  1830,  more  active  investi- 
gations of  the  African  Interior  were  carried  on,  by 
British    explorers,  —  Mungo    Park,     Campbell, 
Lyon,  Laing,  Clapperton,  Denham,  and  others, — 
by  Lichtenstein,   a  German,  by  Burchhardt,  a  tions°Ind 
Swiss  traveler,  and  by  Caille,  a  Frenchman,  who  mission* 
penetrated    to    Timbuctoo.      Missions,    too,    of 
great  importance  in  their  effect,  were  undertaken, 
especially  in  South  Africa,  where  the  labors  of 


1 170  From  Washington  to  Stephenson 

Robert  Moffat  were  begun.  The  republic  of 
Liberia  was  founded  by  the  American  Coloniza- 
tion Society,  in  1822,  to  receive  a  population  of 
free  negroes  from  the  United  States. 


Liberia 


THE  LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

Santa  Barbara 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW. 


Series  9482 


A  A      000  272  308    8