EMANCIPATION.—On the 1st of January, 1863, President Lincoln issued a proclamation declaring all slaves in States or parts of States in rebellion, to be free. This act was legally possible only as a belligerent measure, or as an exercise of the right of a commander. The refusal of the Government to carry on the war for the direct purpose of emancipation, or to adopt measures of this character before,—measures which the Constitution did not permit,—was not understood in foreign countries, and, in England especially, had tended to chill sympathy with the Northern cause. Regiments of negro soldiers were now formed.

THE FIRST SIX MONTHS OF 1863.—Hooker succeeded Burnside in command of the Potomac Army, and was defeated by Lee at Chancellorsville (May 3). There "Stonewall" Jackson, one of the best and bravest of the Confederate generals, lost his life. Lee now crossed the river, and entered Pennsylvania. This was the critical moment in the struggle. Great pains were taken, by such people in the North as were disaffected with the administration at Washington, to manifest hostility to the war, or to the method in which it was prosecuted. A riot broke out in the city of New York while the drafts for troops were in progress, and it was several days before it was put down. The defeat of Lee by Meade at Gettysburg (July 1-3) turned the tide against the Confederates; their army again retired beyond the Potomac. At the same time, in the West, General Grant captured Vicksburg with upwards of thirty thousand men (July 4), and Port Hudson was taken. The Mississippi was thus opened to its mouth. The Union navy acted effectively on the Atlantic coast, and at the end of the year nearly all the Southern ports were closed by blockades.

VICTORIES AT CHATTANOOGA.—Grant assumed command of the military division of the Mississippi, including the region between the Alleghanies and that river. With the Army of the Cumberland under Thomas, with reinforcements from Vicksburg under Sherman and from the Army of the Potomac under Hooker, he won the victories of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, at Chattanooga, Tennessee (Nov. 24 and 25). This success opened a path for the Union forces into Alabama and the Atlantic States. Sherman was sent to reinforce Burnside in Tennessee, and defeated Longstreet.

TO THE SURRENDER OF LEE.—Grant was made lieutenant-general, or first in command under the President (March 7, 1864). Three attempts to reach Richmond, made severally by McClellan, Hooker, and Burnside, had failed, as Lee's two aggressive movements had been defeated at Antietam and Gettysburg. The "border States" in the West were in the hands of the Union forces, as well as the lower Mississippi; and the blockade was maintained along the Atlantic coast. The plan now was for Sherman to secure Georgia, and to march eastward and northward into the heart of the Confederacy, starting at Chattanooga. Military operations, which had been prosecuted over so vast an extent of territory, now began to have a unity which they had greatly missed before. Grant personally took command of the Army of the Potomac. His object was to get between Lee's army and Richmond. This object was not effected; but the sanguinary battle of the Wilderness (May 5, 6), and other subsequent battles, had the effect, in the course of six weeks, to push Lee back within the fortifications of Petersburg and Richmond. During the long siege of these places, diversions were attempted by Early in Maryland and Pennsylvania; but he was repelled and defeated by Sheridan. The Confederate vessel Alabama was sunk in the English Channel by the Kearsarge (June, 1864). Farragut captured the forts in Mobile Bay. Sherman's forces, after a series of engagements, entered Atlanta, Ga., which the Confederates had been compelled to evacuate (Sept. 2). A detachment was sent by Sherman, under Thomas, after Hood, which defeated him at Nashville (Dec. 15, 16). Sherman marched through Georgia, and entered Savannah (Dec. 21). On Feb. 1, 1865, he commenced his movement northward. The attempts of General J. E. Johnston to check his advance were ineffectual. Sherman entered Columbia, S. C., and pushed on to Raleigh; Johnston, whose numbers were inferior, retiring as he approached. The efforts of Lee to break away from Grant, in order to effect a junction with Johnston, did not succeed. Sheridan's victory over Lee at Five Forks (April 1) compelled him to evacuate Petersburg. He was pursued and surrounded by Grant, and surrendered his army at Appomattox Court House (April 9). The Union forces had entered Richmond (April 2). Johnston surrendered his forces to Sherman (April 26). Jefferson Davis was captured by a body of Union cavalry in Georgia (May 10).

MURDER OF LINCOLN.—The joy felt in the North over the complete victory of the Union cause was turned into grief by the assassination of President Lincoln (April 14), who had begun his second term on the 4th of March. He was shot in a theater in Washington, by a fanatic named Booth, who imagined that he was avenging wrongs of the South. An attempt was made at the same time to murder Secretary Seward in his bed. The assailant inflicted on him severe but not fatal wounds.

Mr. Lincoln had taken a strong hold upon the affections of the people. With a large store of plain common-sense, with an even temper, an abounding good-nature, and a humor that cast wise thoughts into the form of pithy maxims and similes, he combined an unflinching firmness, and loyalty to his convictions of duty. He refused to be hurried to the issue of an edict of emancipation, which, as he judged, if prematurely framed, would lose to the Union cause the great States of Maryland, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Missouri. Keeping steadily before him the prime object of the war, he inculcated, as he felt, malice toward none, and charity for all. What Clarendon says of Cromwell is true of Lincoln: "As he grew into place and authority, his parts seemed to be raised, as if he had had concealed faculties, till he had occasion to use them."

FINANCES IN THE WAR.—The Confederate Government had carried on the war by the issue of paper money made redeemable on the condition of success in gaining independence. This currency, of course, became worthless. The debt of the United States at the close of the war had risen from about sixty-five millions to more than twenty-seven hundred millions of dollars, not to speak of the debts incurred by States and towns.

AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION.—The Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution (declared in force Dec. 18, 1865) prohibited slavery in the United States. The Fourteenth Amendment (declared in force July 28, 1868) secured to all the freedmen the right of citizenship and equality under State law, and ordained that the basis of representation in each State should be reduced in proportion to any abridgment by State law of the right of suffrage in its male population. The Fifteenth Amendment (declared in force March 30, 1870) forbade the abridgment of the right to vote, on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. The effect of the amendments was to confer on the blacks the civil and political rights enjoyed by the whites.

RECONSTRUCTION: ADMINISTRATION OF JOHNSON.—The Southern States were conquered communities; but the theory was held that they had not been, and could not be in law, dissevered from the Union. The difficulty of reconstructing State governments was aggravated by the fact that the bulk of the intelligent people in the seceding States were precluded, or excluded themselves, from taking part in the measures requisite for this end; by the additional fact of the ignorance of the blacks, and of the selfish greed of white adventurers who took the place of leaders among them; and by dissensions in the North, and in the administration at Washington, as to the right and lawful course to be pursued. The President, Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Lincoln, became involved in a contest with the dominant Republican party in Congress, on questions pertaining to reconstruction. He was impeached and tried by the Senate (Feb. 24-May 16, 1868), but the number of votes for his conviction was one less than the number required. On the expiration of Johnson's term, General Grant was raised to the presidential office. It was complained, that the new governments instituted in the South by the freedmen and their white coadjutors were grossly corrupt and incapable, and that their "returning boards" made false results of elections. On the other hand, it was complained, that the opponents of these governments resorted to violence and fraud to intimidate their political adversaries, and to keep them out of office. The troops of the United States, which had sustained the officers appointed by the blacks and by their white allies in several of the States, were at length withdrawn; and political power was resumed throughout the South by the adverse party, or the class which had contended against what were derisively styled "carpet-bag" governments. A difficulty arose in 1876, in consequence of a dispute about the result of the presidential election. It was referred to an "Electoral Commission" appointed by Congress, and Rutherford B. Hayes was declared to be chosen (1877-1881). During his administration (Jan. 1, 1879) the banks and the government resumed specie payments, which had been suspended since an early date in the civil war. The rapid diminution of the national debt is one of the important features of later American history. The Republicans succeeded in the next national election; but General Garfield, who was chosen President, was mortally wounded by an assassin (July 2, 1881), a few months after his inauguration. Guiteau, who committed the causeless and ruthless deed, claimed to be "inspired by the Deity," but was judged to be morally and legally responsible, and died on the gallows. Chester A. Arthur, the Vice-president, filled the highest office for the remainder of the presidential term. At the election in 1884 Grover Cleveland, Governor of New York, was elected as Chief Magistrate; and the Democrats, for the first time since the retirement of Mr. Buchanan and the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln (in 1861), took the reins of power into their hands; the Republicans, however, retaining a majority in the Senate. Benjamin Harrison (Republican) succeeded Cleveland as President, 1889. The McKinley Tariff Bill, 1890, reduced the duty on some imports, but increased them heavily on others. In 1892 the four hundredth anniversary of America's discovery was celebrated, and Grover Cleveland, Democratic nominee, was again elected to the presidency. The revival of industry and prosperity in the Southern States, and efforts for popular education for the blacks as well as whites, are circumstances worthy of special record.

GRANT AND LEE.—About two months after his retirement from the presidency, General Grant began a tour of the world. He landed in San Francisco from Japan, on his return, in September, 1879, after an absence of nearly two years and a half. In 1880 an effort was made by his warm political supporters to bring him forward as a candidate of the Republicans for a third term in the presidency. This effort failed, as had a similar endeavor, made with less vigor, four years before. The remainder of his days were spent in private life. His death occurred on July 23, 1885. He was buried in New York, on Aug. 8, with distinguished honors. General Lee, the commander of the Confederate forces in the civil war, from the close of the struggle to his death (Oct. 12, 1870) was president of Washington and Lee University, at Lexington, Va.

UTAH: THE MORMONS.—The sect of Mormons was founded in Manchester, N. Y., in 1830, by Joseph Smith, a native of Vermont, who claimed to have received heavenly visions from the time when he was fifteen years old. He pretended that he was guided by an angel to the spot, near Manchester, where was buried a stone box containing a volume made up of thin gold plates, which were covered with strange characters in the "reformed Egyptian" tongue. This "Book of Mormon" was really a manuscript composed, in 1812, for quite another purpose, by one Solomon Spaulding, who had been a preacher. A copy of it made by a printer, Sidney Rigdon, fell into the hands of Joseph Smith. It contains fabulous stories of the settlement of refugees coming from the Tower of Babel to America, who were followed in 600 B.C. by a colony from Jerusalem that landed on the coast of Chili. War broke out among their descendants, from the bad part of whom the North American Indians sprung. One of the survivors of the better class of these Hebrews, named Mormon, collected in a volume the books of records of former kings and priests, which, with some additions from his son, was buried until the prophet chosen of God should appear. In style the Book of Mormon endeavors to imitate the English version of the Scriptures. On the basis of this volume and of its alleged miraculous origin, Smith founded the sect of "Latter Day Saints," as he styled them. From Kirtland, O., where they came in 1831, and where the converts were numerous, they removed to a place which they named New Jerusalem, in Jackson County, Mo. Here they were joined by Brigham Young, also a native of Vermont, a man of much energy and shrewdness. Smith was charged by the Missourians, and some of his own followers who deserted him, with outrageous crimes and frauds. The conflict between the Mormons and the Missourians resulted in the migration of the former to Nauvoo in Illinois, where a community was organized in which Smith exercised supreme power. In 1843 Smith, who was as profligate as he was knavish, professed to receive a revelation sanctioning polygamy. His bad conduct, and that of his adherents, brought on a conflict with the civil authorities. Smith, with his brother, was killed in the jail by a mob. Driven out of Nauvoo, the Mormons (1848) made their way to Utah, and founded Salt Lake City. Their systematic efforts to obtain converts brought to them a large number from the ignorant working-class in Great Britain and in Sweden and Norway. The Territory of Utah was organized by Congress in 1849. The laws and officers of the United States, however, were treated with defiance and openly resisted by Brigham Young, the Mormon leader; and he was removed from the office of governor, to which he had been appointed by President Fillmore. A contest with the United States authorities was succeeded by the submission of the Mormons in 1858. In 1871 efforts for the suppression of polygamy by law were undertaken by the Federal Government, and have since been continued with imperfect success. Brigham Young died in 1877, and was succeeded in the presidency of the Mormons by John Taylor, an Englishman. A body of anti-polygamist seceders from the Mormon community, including a son of Brigham Young, has been formed. Another Mormon sect opposed to polygamy, calling itself the "Reorganized Church of Latter Day Saints," originated in 1851. The number of professed believers in the strange and grotesque tenets of Mormonism, in all the different places where its disciples are found, probably exceeds two hundred thousand.

THE FORMATION OF THE STATES.—The "District of Maine" formed a part of Massachusetts from 1651 to 1820, when it was admitted to the Union as a distinct State. Its northern boundary was not clearly defined until the treaty of 1842 between the United States and England, which was made by Mr. Webster and Lord Ashburton. The North-West Territory, which was organized in 1789, comprised the cessions north of the Ohio and as far west as the Mississippi, which had been made by the "landed States;" that is, the several States holding portions of this region. A small portion, "the Western Reserve," was retained by Connecticut until 1795, when it was sold to the National Government. Out of this "North-West Territory," there were formed five States. Connected with the name of each is the date of its admission to the Union: Ohio (1802), Indiana (1816), Illinois (1818), Michigan (1837), Wisconsin (1848). South of the Ohio and east of the Mississippi, lay the territory belonging to Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia. From this, the cession of Virginia formed the State of Kentucky (1792); that of the Carolinas formed Tennessee (1796); that of Georgia formed Alabama (1819) and Mississippi (1817). The extensive territory called Louisiana was ceded by France to Spain in 1762, was ceded back to France in 1801, and purchased by the United States in 1803. From this territory, there have been formed the States of Louisiana (1812), Missouri (1820), Arkansas (1836), Iowa (1846), Minnesota (1858), Kansas (1861), Nebraska (1867), Colorado (1876), Montana and the two Dakotas (1889), Wyoming (1890), and Oklahoma and Indian Territories. From the cession of Florida by Spain (1819), the State of Florida was formed (1845). Oregon was claimed by the United States by the right of prior discovery: it was organized as a Territory in 1849; the Territory of Washington was formed from it in 1853, and Idaho in 1863. Oregon was admitted as a State in 1859, Washington in 1889, and Idaho in 1890. Texas was admitted to the Union in 1845. From the cessions of Mexico (1848) there have been formed the States of California (1850) and Nevada (1864), and the Territories of Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. Alaska was purchased from Russia in 1867. West Virginia was formed into a distinct State in 1863, in consequence of the secession of Virginia.

MEXICO.

THE FRENCH INVASION: MAXIMILLIAN.—After the close of the war with the United States (1848), there continued to be a war of factions in Mexico. There was a democratic party, which obtained the upper hand in 1857, but was opposed by the church party. The clergy and the religious bodies were possessed of nearly one-half of the landed property in the country. Benito Juarez, who had been chief justice, became president; but he was resisted by the clerical party, with their military supporters, and there was civil war (1857-58). Juarez was recognized as the lawful president by the United States. Spain, France, and England demanded reparation for injuries and losses suffered in Mexico by their subjects. In December, 1861, and January, 1862, they landed troops at Vera Cruz, to compel Mexico to satisfy their claims. The demands of England and Spain were met, and they withdrew their forces. It became clear, however, that Louis Napoleon, who refused to recognize Juarez, had an ulterior design to overthrow the Mexican government, and to establish an empire in its place. It was a part of a visionary scheme to establish the domination of "the Latin race." He expected to check the progress of the United States, and ventured on this aggressive enterprise on account of the opportunity offered by the civil war in America. He persuaded the Archduke Maximilian, the brother of Francis Joseph, emperor of Austria, to accept the throne, and agreed to sustain him with men and money. Maximilian arrived in Mexico in 1864. Large bodies of French troops fought on his side. The war resolved itself into a guerrilla contest, in which great cruelties were perpetrated on both sides. The end of the American civil war put the Government of the United States in a position to demand of Louis Napoleon the withdrawal of the French forces. His own situation in France, and the state of public opinion there, prevented him from refusing this demand. The folly, as well as criminality, of the undertaking, had become more and more obvious. He therefore decided to violate his promises to Maximilian. Deserted thus by his defenders, this prince, who, although misled by ambition, had noble traits, was captured by the troops of Juarez, tried by court-martial, and shot (1867). His wife Carlotta, the daughter of Leopold I. of Belgium, and the grand-daughter of Louis Philippe, failing in negotiations at Rome, had lost her reason. Juarez was installed in power at the capital. In 1868 and 1869, there was a succession of insurrections and revolutions; but he was again elected in 1871, and died the next year. After that time, there was more tranquillity in Mexico, and much was done to develop the mines and other material resources of the country, and for public education.

DIAZ: INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.—President Juarez died in 1872, and was succeeded by Lerdo de Tejada. Under him the authority of the State over the Church was maintained. The monastic orders were abolished. The democratic constitution, which had been framed in 1857, was amended (1873-4), and was afterwards upheld against the efforts of the reactionary or ecclesiastical party to overthrow it. In 1876, there were three claimants of the presidency,—Tejada, Iglesias, the chief justice, who denied the validity of his election, and Gen. Porfirio Diaz, who was at the head of a revolt. Diaz established himself in power, and was succeeded in 1880 by Manuel Gonzalez. On the expiration of his term (1884), Diaz was once more chosen to the same office. In 1891 an insurrection, headed by Catarino Garza, a journalist, and General Riez Sandival, was directed against the Diaz government. It was put down and Diaz was re-elected president, July 11, 1892. Under Diaz and his coadjutors much was done for the development of the country. Mexico has advanced towards a stable government in the republican form.

SOUTH AMERICA.

BRAZIL.—After returning to Portugal, King John recognized the independence of Brazil, and his son Dom Pedro as emperor of the country (1825), although John kept the title during his lifetime (p. 553). The two crowns were not to be united. On the death of his father (1826), Dom Pedro resigned his claim to the throne of Portugal. His subsequent career in Brazil was a troublous one, owing to his contest with a liberal party. He returned to Spain in 1831. After his departure there were party contests under a regency. In 1840 Dom Pedro II., who had been left behind in Brazil by his father, and was then fourteen years of age, was proclaimed emperor. Measures were taken against the slave-trade, and it was finally abolished; an effective plan for the gradual emancipation of slaves was adopted (1871). Rosas, dictator of Buenos Ayres, who intended to subvert the republics of Uruguay and Paraguay, was defeated by the Brazilian forces and their allies (1852). A long war against Lopez, dictator of Paraguay, ended in his capture and death (1870). This war involved losses to Brazil in men and money. Under Dom Pedro II., public works, manufactures, and commerce were promoted. A long strife of the government with the Catholic hierarchy ended in an accommodation (1875). In November, 1889, as the result of a bloodless revolution, Dom Pedro II. was dethroned, and a republican form of government declared. In Feb., 1891, Marshal Deodoro da Fonseca was confirmed as President, resigned in November, and was succeeded by Vice-President Floriano Peixoto, who held office until Nov. 15, 1894, when Prudente de Moraes, the first Brazilian President elected by a popular vote, was inaugurated.

OHILI, PERU, BOLIVIA.—The contest of Chili with Peru and Bolivia has attracted special notice. Chili, after the formation of its constitution in 1833,—which resembles the constitution of the United States,—enjoyed remarkable prosperity. The strife to which we refer began between Chili and Bolivia. The point in dispute was the right to the province of Atacama, between Chili and Peru, the southern part of which was claimed by Chili. Bolivia claimed the whole. By a treaty in 1866, the territory in dispute was to be, under certain conditions, common property. A rivalry existed between Chili and Peru, and a secret alliance was formed in 1873 between Peru and Bolivia. Bolivia now asserted her title to the entire province of Atacama. The Argentine Republic was disposed to take sides against Chili, but, in consequence of the success of the Chilians, remained neutral. The Chilians captured (Oct. 8, 1879) the Peruvian iron-clad vessel, the Huascar. They gained other advantages, and took possession of the whole province, with its deposits of nitrate and guano. Revolutions ensued in Bolivia and Peru. Chilians took Lima, the Peruvian capital, and overran the country. Terms of peace proposed by Chili, involving large cessions of territory, were ratified by the Congress at Lima (March 1, 1884). A treaty of peace was made between Chili and Bolivia (May 4). In Jan., 1891, war broke out in Chili, resulting in the defeat of President Balmaceda in August. An assault on American seamen by Chilians in Valparaiso, Oct., 1891, caused strained relations between Chili and the United States, the latter demanding apology and reparation. Chili complied, Jan., 1892.

CHINA AND JAPAN.

CHINA AND FOREIGN NATIONS: THE TAIPING REBELLION.—In the recent period, there has been a gradual but grudging and reluctant opening of China to commercial intercourse with foreign nations, and to the labors of Christian missionaries. In 1840 there began the first war with Great Britain, called the "opium war" for the reason that it was caused by the Chinese prohibition of the importing of that article. In the treaty at the end of the war, five ports were made free to British trade; Hong-Kong was ceded to England; and it was provided that the intercourse between the officials of the two nations should be on the basis of equality (1842). Two years later an advantageous treaty was concluded by the United States with China: a treaty was also concluded with France (1844). Aggressions of the Chinese led to a second war with Great Britain, in alliance with France (1857-60); in which the Chinese fleet was destroyed, and Canton, a city of a million inhabitants, was captured. Treaties were made, but the infraction of them was followed by the capture of Peking (1859). In the settlement which immediately took place, toleration was granted to Christianity, and liberty to foreign ambassadors to reside at the capital. In 1868 Mr. Anson Burlingame, who had been United States minister to China, with two Chinese envoys, visited the powers which had made treaties with China, and negotiated agreements by which important principles of international law were mutually adopted. The most important domestic event in China, in recent times, is the "Taiping"-rebellion, which broke out in 1850, in Southern China. Complaints of oppression and consequent disorder were brought to a climax on the accession of the young emperor, Heen-fung. The revolt spread from province to province, and found a leader in the person of Hung Lew-tseuen, who called himself Teen-Wang (Celestial Virtue). He proclaimed his purpose to overthrow the Manchu dynasty, and to restore the throne to the native Chinese. He claimed a divine commission, had caught up certain Christian ideas, and professed to be an adherent of Christianity. Multitudes flocked to his standard.

City after city fell into their hands. The war with England and France operated in his favor. After the conclusion of peace, the government was more energetic and successful in its effort to suppress the rebellion, and was helped by foreign officers, in particular by Major (afterwards General) Gordon. Nanking was recaptured (1864); and the revolt, which had been attended with an enormous destruction of life, came to an end.

JAPAN AND FOREIGN NATIONS.—Up to the year 1866, the actual rulers of Japan were the Shogun, or emperor's lieutenant, who resided at Yedo, and the daimios, or territorial nobles, whose residence was also there. The Mikado, or emperor, lived in Kioto, surrounded by his relatives, the imperial nobles. There was a strict classification of the whole people, and a strict supervision of them, and the country was shut to foreigners. In 1853 Commodore Perry, of the United-States Navy, first entered the harbor of Yedo, and in 1854 returned, and negotiated a treaty with the Shogun, which opened certain ports to foreign trade, and to the admission of consuls. Treaties of a like nature between Japan and the other principal nations were soon made. The Mikado and his court were deeply incensed at the Shogun's usurpation of authority, and were at the same time hostile to the introduction of foreigners. Thus a double contest arose. There was an attempt to put down the Shogun, and to strip him of his authority, and to drive off the strangers. This last effort led the Mikado's officers to fire on the ships of the foreign nations. The punishment which these inflicted in the harbor of Shimonoseki (1864) so impressed the emperor, in conjunction with his fear lest the foreigners should help the Shogun, that he completely reversed his policy, and proceeded to remove the barriers to intercourse with them. The daimios, who had been compelled to live at Yedo, flocked to Kioto. The Mikado, countenanced by the foreigners, overcame the resistance of the party of the Shoguns. He removed his residence to Yedo, now called Tokio (1869). Feudalism was abolished (1871), and a constitution promulgated in 1889. The empire was thus united and strengthened. Institutions and customs of Western civilization were rapidly introduced. Political and legal reforms kept pace with the introduction of railroads and other material improvements. Christian missionaries actively engaged in preaching and teaching.



CHAPTER VII. THE LAST DECADE OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

During the last decade of the nineteenth century tendencies which years before had begun to appear became the dominant feature of the European situation. The old ideals of the Manchester school—freer trade, more intimate and peaceful intercourse between nations, the right of each people to control its destiny, the development of liberal institutions—gave way to a policy of high protective tariffs and bitter commercial warfare, of constant increase in armaments, of eager rivalry in seizing the territory of less civilized and weaker peoples, accompanied, particularly on the continent, by a decrease in the effectiveness of parliamentary government. Several of the great statesmen of the century yielded to new men. Although the close came without such wars as desolated Europe at the end of the eighteenth century, the heavy burdens which rested upon the taxpayer and the constant danger that the work of civilization would be rudely interrupted hardly justified the optimism of the earlier decades. The pronunciamento of the Czar Nicholas in favor of restricting the growth of armaments and the consequent establishment, in 1900, of an international tribunal of arbitration at the Hague held out hopes of a better future.

ENGLAND.—An analysis of the majority which Gladstone had obtained in the general election of 1892 showed that the prospects of Home Rule for Ireland were slight. This majority was composed of an English minority supported by Scottish, Welsh, and Irish groups. The bill which was introduced in the following year differed from the previous bill in that it did not withdraw the Irish members from Westminster. Although the House of Commons gave it a small majority, it was defeated in the Lords. Gladstone felt that his support was too precarious to force the question to a final settlement by an appeal to the country. He accordingly turned his attention to the remainder of his programme, the most important part of which was a Parish Councils bill. This aimed to do for local government in the parishes what the previous Salisbury ministry had done for local government in the counties. After the success of the bill was assured Gladstone withdrew, and Lord Rosebery became prime-minister. Gladstone spent the remainder of his life in retirement. The Rosebery ministry soon fell, and a new Salisbury ministry dissolved Parliament. In the general election of 1895 the Conservatives and their allies, the Liberal-Unionists, received an overwhelming majority. This took the Home Rule question out of practical politics. Only through a series of minor concessions was the attempt to be made to satisfy Ireland's legitimate aspirations. This victory also showed that English public sentiment was ready to break definitely with the principles of Gladstone and his friends, and support a policy of energetic imperialism. The Queen, whose jubilee was again celebrated in 1897, died on January 22, 1901. The new king, Edward VII., at the age of sixty-one, was crowned in 1902.

GERMANY: BISMARCK's LATER POLICY.—Since 1878, when Bismarck abandoned his alliance with the National Liberals, he had been endeavoring to increase the financial strength of the empire by changing the customs and excise system, to conquer the socialists both by direct attack and by taking the working classes under the special care of the state, and, more recently, to procure for Germany colonial possessions. Although his new financial policy was definitely protectionist, his chief aim was to free the imperial government from the need of applying to the different states for a subvention. In consequence of his policy, the income from customs and excises rose in ten years from 230,000,000 marks to 700,000,000. But the plan of state subventions although altered in fact was preserved in appearance, for Bismarck was obliged to concede to Particularist jealousies that all income from these sources above 130,000,000 must be paid to the states and the deficiency in the imperial treasury be made up in the usual manner. Later on the new naval programme again made state contributions a reality. In the laws to protect the workingmen Bismarck affirmed this to be the duty of the Christian state; he did not concede that such measures were simply the right of the workmen. The plan was carried out in three great laws: that of insurance in case of illness (1883), in case of accident in mines or factories (1884), and in case of old age or incapacity (1889). These laws were enacted in the face of much outcry from employers, and were effectively administered. They did not, however, so far remove the grievances of the lower classes as to check the growth of the Social Democratic party. Although the party has since 1891 embodied in its programme the theories of Marx, it is not wholly socialistic in character; it is also a protest of the democratic spirit against the administration of Germany as an aristocratic, military monarchy. In the face of repressive laws the party grew steadily, so that in 1890 it was able to cast 1,400,000 votes. The only force able to resist its advance was the Catholic Center, because the Catholic Church included among its members all classes in the community; while the Protestant Church, in the cities at least, was more generally composed of the employing class. From 1884 Bismarck had put Germany forward as an eager competitor for colonial acquisitions in Africa and the Pacific. The lands that Germany was able to obtain were hardly suited to distinctively German settlement, and afforded comparatively little advantage to trade.

BISMARCK'S FALL.—William II. began by continuing the policies which had been characteristic of the closing years of his grandfather's reign. It was not long before he became restive under the leadership of Bismarck. He desired to make his own personal aims more prominent. In 1890 there was a struggle over the renewal of the laws against the socialists and a consequent general election. The Emperor seized the opportunity to declare his purpose to improve still further the situation of the working classes, and, with this in view, to call an international congress. In Prussia he declared it to be the duty of the state to regulate the conditions of labor. Such declarations took the control of the electoral campaign out of Bismarck's hands. One result was decided losses for the conservative groups. Bismarck tried to maintain his ascendency by insisting that, according to a cabinet order of Frederick William IV., the king of Prussia must communicate with the ministers through the president of the council. William retorted by denying Bismarck's right to negotiate with the chiefs of the parliamentary groups, and by requiring a decree reversing the obnoxious cabinet order. On March 20 he demanded Bismarck's resignation. Bismarck left Berlin amid a great ovation a few days later. For some years he and his friends formed an unofficial center of opposition and criticism. He died in July, 1898.

GERMANY SINCE BISMARCK'S FALL.—Bismarck's successors were Count Caprivi (1890-1894), Prince Hohenlobe (1894-1900), and Count Buelow. It was tacitly recognized that the anti-socialist laws had failed, and they were not renewed. The socialists as well as all other groups received the additional advantage that somewhat later a law was passed permitting societies of all kinds to affiliate. It was estimated that in 1900 the Social Democrats controlled over 2,000,000 votes. The government vainly attempted to dike the rising flood by laws providing a practical censorship of art and of literature, but these had to be abandoned. In the parliamentary life of Germany the most significant change was the disintegration of the old parties, the strengthening of such groups as the Catholic Center and the Social Democrats, and the creation of a strong Agrarian party or interest. The Agrarians became prominent during the controversy over a commercial treaty with Russia. This treaty was part of a general attempt to develop the European market to make good the loss through the adoption of high tariffs in countries like America and France, and, at first, by Russia herself. Although Germany could not furnish enough grain to feed her own people, and there was a tariff on imported grain, the price kept falling, while the prices of manufactured articles steadily increased. The peasants and the landowners felt that they were threatened with ruin. Accordingly they formed an alliance in 1893, and a parliamentary union which, from that time on, was so formidable as to force important concessions from the government. Among other important measures of this period were the adoption of a new Civil Code for the empire, to go into effect Jan. 1, 1900; the reduction of the term of military service to two years; and the efforts by the successive naval programmes of 1897 and 1900 to create for Germany a strong sea power capable of supporting her trade and colonial aspirations.

FRANCE: BOULANGER.—In 1888 the continuance of the Republic was endangered by the support which many of its enemies and some of its ignorant friends lent to the pretensions of General Boulanger, who had made himself popular as minister of war by his army reforms and by his belligerent attitude toward Germany. When he ceased to be minister, and particularly after he was deprived of his military command, he began an energetic propaganda for a revision of the constitution, with the cry "Dissolution, Revision, Constituent." The royalists gave freely to further the campaign, hoping that moderate men would be frightened into calling the Count of Paris to the throne in order to save the country from another military empire. The Boulangists took skillful advantage of the fact that the deputies representing each department were elected "at large," and not on single district tickets, so that it was possible for Boulanger's name to be placed on each departmental ticket, and so in time to receive the votes of all France. With such a mandate it would be impossible for the moderate Republicans to resist him. For a time the scheme was successful. Boulanger was even elected on the Paris list. Had he been willing to undertake a coup d'etat he might then have overthrown the Republic, but he wished for a more peaceful triumph at the approaching general election. This his opponents deprived him of by abolishing the method of election "at large," so that each deputy was to represent a particular district. Boulanger was soon after attacked on a charge of treason before the Senate acting as a high court. He fled to Belgium and a little later committed suicide on the grave of his mistress.

PANAMA CRISIS.—Hardly had the danger from Boulanger subsided when, in 1892, many of the leading politicians were discredited by the disclosures made in the judicial investigation of the bankruptcy of the Panama Canal Company. It appeared that the company had spent large sums to muzzle the press, so that ignorant investors should not discover the precarious condition of the enterprise. It had also contributed to the campaign expenses of friendly deputies and directly purchased votes in order to obtain authority to negotiate a loan in a manner ordinarily illegal.

Although several deputies and senators were tried, no one was convicted save an ex-minister, who confessed that he had accepted 300,000 francs. Had the exposure come a little earlier, it must have led to the triumph of Boulanger. Its principal consequence was to bring new men of less tarnished reputations to the front.

THE CHURCH.—In the same year the Church with direct encouragement and even pressure from Pope Leo XIII, rallied to the support of the Republic. The pope issued an encyclical to French Catholics and followed this by a letter to the French cardinals. Many royalists were afflicted by this attitude, but nearly all were submissive. They called themselves the "constitutional party," but were also called the "rallied." Their watchword seemed to be, "Accept the constitution in order to modify legislation."

PARTIES.—The radical revolutionary groups, which had been crushed in the suppression of the Commune of 1871, and which had not been able to reconstitute themselves effectively until the amnesty of 1880, began in the early nineties to make their influence more effective. This coincided with a general shifting of political power toward the Left. The assassination of President Carnot, in 1894, and the enthusiasm provoked by the cementing of the Russian alliance and by the coming of the Czar to Paris, prolonged the control of the moderates, or Progressists, as they were called in 1896. It was the persistent attacks of the radicals that disgusted Casimir-Perier with the presidency. His successor was Felix Faure, a successful business man. When he died suddenly in 1899, Emile Loubet was chosen by the support of the groups of the Left. Before the moderate Republicans lost control they revolutionized the economic policy of France, substituting for practical free trade and commercial treaties a high protective tariff.

DREYFUS CASE.—France had not recovered from the shock of the Panama scandal before she was involved in another scandal far more subtle in its demoralizing influence. Jealousy of the success of Jewish financiers, strengthened by the common feeling that capitalists are enriched by ill-gotten gains, led to an obscure campaign against the Jews and all capitalists. The reminiscences of Panama did not allay these feelings. Soon the royalists seized this instrument as a means of discrediting the Republic, asserting that it had been organized through the influence of German-Jewish immigrants who were enriching themselves at the expense of the thrifty but guileless French. It was also asserted that Jews in the army were betraying its secrets to their German kindred. As the army was universally popular, this was an effective blow at the Jews. The denouement was the arrest of Captain Dreyfus, his degradation, and his confinement on an island off the coast of French Guiana. The evidence had been slight, and it was discredited when a courageous officer of the Intelligence Department told his superiors that even this had been constructed by a Major Esterhazy. The officer, Colonel Picquart, was removed, and his place taken by Colonel Henry, who undertook to supply the necessary evidence. Although he imposed on the minister of war, he was unable to endure the moral strain, especially after distinguished men like Zola became champions of the innocence of Dreyfus, and he committed suicide after making a confession. The government was obliged to bring the case before the Court of Cassation in 1898, which ordered a new trial. Although Dreyfus was again convicted by a military court, he was immediately pardoned by the President.

OTHER COUNTRIES.—After 1897 the situation in Austro-Hungary became precarious, owing to the difficulties which arose when the time came to renew the Ausgleich, or agreement, between Austria and Hungary, first made in 1867. Neither portion of the empire was satisfied with its part of the bargain. As the Hungarians always stood together in any struggle with Austria, they were likely to get the better of the bargain. There was the additional difficulty that no agreement of any sort could be adopted in the Austrian parliament, which had become hopelessly disorganized through the savage conflicts between the various groups, Germans, Czechs, anti-Semites, etc. The only way to prevent the actual dissolution of the empire was to renew the agreement in behalf of Austria by imperial warrant. Another country belonging to the Triple Alliance, Italy, was brought into trouble by the policy of extravagant expansion, pursued especially under the leadership of Crispi. But the disastrous defeat by the Abyssinians at Adowa, in 1896, gave pause to the plans of such statesmen. Spain also suffered disaster in this period, first through the outbreak of revolt in Cuba, and then through the loss of the remnant of her once splendid colonial empire in consequence of the war with the United States.

EUROPEAN DIPLOMACY.—The foundation of the Triple Alliance had been laid by the treaty between Germany and Austria. To this Italy had acceded in 1883. Such a combination tended to bring Russia and France together, especially as Russia began to see that the only power pursuing a policy favorable to her desires was France. Finally Russian and French officers were authorized to arrange for the possible cooeperation of armies in case of war, and in 1894 a military convention was completed. That there came to be a definite understanding still more comprehensive has been generally believed, but its terms were not divulged. The French minister of foreign affairs used the word "alliance" in the Chamber of Deputies in 1895, and two years later, when President Faure visited the Czar at St. Petersburg, the Czar used the phrase "two great nations, friends and allies." The consequence of these two alliances, and of the peaceful policy pursued by England, was the localizing of difficulties and the maintenance of a "concert" on all questions likely to embroil Europe. This was evident from the treatment of the Eastern, the African, and the Far Eastern questions.

ARMENIA.—Bulgarian affairs had not received their final solution at the Berlin Congress, for the peaceful revolution of Philippopolis in 1885 had forcibly reunited Bulgaria and East Roumelia. But the powers did not recognize the change until Prince Alexander had withdrawn, and Prince Ferdinand had placed himself more under Russian tutelage, making this emphatic by the decision to bring up his son, Prince Boris, according to the Greek rite. The success of Bulgaria rendered the Armenians envious. Discontent at the failure to carry out the reforms promised by the treaty of Berlin led to the formation of a revolutionary party which hoped by provoking a Turkish repression, similar to the Bulgarian "atrocities," to necessitate a new European intervention. Such a scheme was opposed by American missionaries and by the native clergy, for they saw that it was doomed to disaster. The revolutionists endeavored to compromise the missionaries by posting their placards on the walls of the American college at Marsivan. The suspicions of the Turks were directed against the missionaries, and the Girls' Schoolhouse was burned by a mob. Ostensibly to capture agitators the Kurds followed by the regular troops perpetrated terrible massacres in the mountain villages of Sasun in 1893 and 1894. The powers could not agree upon any common plan to check such evils, and when they did force upon the Sultan a scheme of reform, it served only as a signal for worse massacres, which recurred chronically until the final massacre in Constantinople in August, 1896. As the "concert" was honeycombed by jealousies, it was impossible to do more than prevent the development of this horror into a general European war. England was unable to intervene separately because of the hostile attitude of Russia. Such statesmen as Lord Salisbury recognized that England's traditional support of Turkey had been discredited by such events. When, in the following year, war broke out between Greece and Turkey, and when Crete fell into a state of anarchy, the powers were more successful in their common action, for they were able to mitigate the terms which the victorious Turks demanded, and to withdraw Crete from direct Turkish control.

EGYPT.—The history of Egypt touches both the situation in the Turkish empire and the more general situation of Africa and the routes to the Far East. England's occupation of Egypt, at first considered temporary, gave her practical control of the Suez Canal; it also gave her a strong position in the eastern Mediterranean, the lack of which had been one reason for her hostility to the treaty of San Stefano in 1878. The problem of the equatorial provinces had remained vexatious ever since the triumph of the Mahdi and of his successor, the Kalifa. Any attempt to begin a campaign for their recovery was hindered by the peculiar financial condition of Egypt. As all the funds were either mortgaged to creditors, or at least under an international control not favorable to the presence of England, the only money absolutely under the control of the Egyptian government was a special reserve fund, the result of painful administrative economies. But the necessity of an advance was imperative. Although the attempt of the Congo Free State to establish a permanent foothold in the upper Nile basin had been checked by England, France was striving to extend her territorial possessions straight across from Senegal to Jibutil, on the Gulf of Aden. Major Marchand had left Paris secretly in 1896 with this mission. In this year also the defeat of the Italians at Adowa, and the pressure of the troops of the Kalifa upon Kassala, held by the Italians for the English, did not permit longer delay. A great preparatory work had been done in the ten years previous. A new army had been created. The advance began in March, under the leadership of Sir Herbert Kitchener. One of its most effective and brilliant features was the construction in the following year of a railway 230 miles across the Nubian desert to save a river journey of 600 miles. The decisive campaign took place in 1898, with the battle on the Atbara and the crushing defeat of the Kalifa at Omdurman in September. During the summer Marchand had been establishing posts in the upper Nile region as far as Fashoda. Kitchener immediately proceeded thither, raised the English and Egyptian flags near by, leaving the settlement of the question to diplomacy. The French, not being supported by Russia in an aggressive attitude, were obliged to give way, and their sphere of influence was not to include any portion of the Nile basin. The war had been economically managed, so that Egyptian finances were not seriously disarranged. The help that England was obliged to give justified her in considering the Sudan as territory held jointly by her and by Egypt. The general consequence of English rule in Egypt has been a reduction of taxation, and, at the same time, the collection of a larger revenue. Vast public improvements, like the dam at Assouan, also added to the resources of the country.

AFRICA.—Although Africa since 1885 had been the subject of an important conference at Berlin and of various international agreements it was, strictly speaking, beyond the sphere of action of the European concert. Its partition among the European states, a movement originating in the expeditions of Livingstone and Stanley, went on rapidly from 1884. The Congo Free State, which at first promised to be an international enterprise, speedily changed into a territorial possession of the king of Belgium. When in 1890 it became necessary for him to raise funds for the support of his rule, it was agreed that the reversion of the territory belonged to Belgium as a colony. King Leopold, as already remarked, made an attempt to establish his authority over a part of the upper Nile basin, but here he was thwarted by the ambition of both England and France. England undertook to lease the Bahr-el-Ghazal in consideration of the lease from him of a strip fifteen and a half miles wide along the eastern border of the state, in order to make possible the scheme of a railway on land under British control from "the Cape to Cairo." This scheme was defeated by the Germans as well as by the French. The Portuguese were in turn prevented from extending their holdings from Angola to Mozambique. The French and the English, though each disappointed in their extreme purposes, made substantial gains; England in the regions north of the Cape, across the Zambezi, in Uganda, and in the Sudan; France in western and northern Africa, so that all the northwest, except the coast colonies and the independent Sultanate of Morocco, came under her power. France also turned her protectorate of Madagascar into a colonial possession. England's policy of expansion, together with difficulties arising out of the gold mining industry, involved her in a war with the Boer republics, the South African Republic and the Orange Free State. The center of the mining industry was Johannesberg. So rich were the mines that the foreign population there soon outnumbered the Boers. These foreigners, or uitlanders, desired all the privileges of Englishmen, although they had become residents in a state ruled by primitive agriculturists. They claimed that their industry was ruinously hampered by unwise taxation. So great did their sense of wrong become that they entered into an arrangement with Cecil Rhodes, premier of Cape Colony, and with Dr. Jameson, administrator of the South African Chartered Company, in accordance with which, at a given signal, they were to rise and Dr. Jameson with armed troopers was to come to their assistance. Dr. Jameson did not wait for the signal, the scheme broke down, and he and his troops were captured. To the Boers all this seemed to be an English plot against their independence, and so they became more suspicious. Through a series of incidents the Colonial Secretary, Joseph Chamberlain, was led to attempt to extort by force from the Boers the desired concessions. Before the diplomatic campaign was well begun new issues were introduced, both parties began to prepare for war, and finally in October, 1899, the Boers took the initiative and invaded the British colonies. The war was at first disastrous for the English, but finally through a large army under Lord Roberts the Boers were driven from both the Transvaal and the Orange Free State, which were occupied and declared to be colonies of the empire. But it was not until three years after the beginning of the war that the last Boer bands were compelled by Lord Kitchener to surrender, and the country was pacified. England's influence in South Africa was greatly strengthened by this victory, although her prestige in the world at large was somewhat compromised.

THE FAR EAST.—Before the close of the century the interest which had once belonged to the near East was transferred to the Far East. The first indication of this was the action of the powers at the close of the war which broke out between Japan and China, in 1894, over their relations to Korea. Japan was triumphant, demonstrating in the battle of the Yaloo River the superiority of her new navy. She occupied the peninsula of Liaotung and Port Arthur, a harbor of strategic importance. She demanded a cession of this peninsula, together with Formosa and a large indemnity. Russia, Germany, and France intervened and kept Japan from establishing herself on the mainland. This action did not appear altogether in the interest of China, for each of the three powers soon asked of China quite as important concessions for themselves,—France in the south, Germany at Kiaochow, and Russia at Port Arthur,—which compelled England to guard her interests by leasing WVei-hai-wei, opposite Port Arthur. At this time began the marking out of spheres of influence, a practical partition of China, accompanied by demands of all sorts of railway and mining concessions. This unedifying pressure from aggressive Europeans seemed for a time to awaken China. The emperor began to urge forward reform. It was thought that China might follow in the footsteps of Japan, but suddenly there was a palace revolution, the dowager-empress seized control, and the reformers had to fly for their lives. Closely following this came a serious anti-foreign outbreak, led by "the Boxers," and encouraged by certain high officials. Before Europe was aware of the gravity of the situation it was alarmed by the report that the foreign legations at Pekin had been besieged, captured, and massacred. Although this was a false report, it was true that from June 20 to August 14, 1899, the legations were besieged, partly by a mob and partly by Chinese regulars. The siege was raised by a mixed expedition of European and Japanese troops sent from the coast. The satisfaction with which the news of rescue was received in Europe was chilled by stories that some portions of the expeditionary corps had been guilty of crimes only to be paralleled in the history of European wars in the seventeenth century. After the war a difficult diplomatic question remained, all the more puzzling because the ambitions of the powers prevented any hearty agreement among them. These questions were only in appearance settled by the signing of the protocol in January, 1901. Attention was fixed upon Russia, supported by a new instrument of influence, the Trans-Siberian railway, because it appeared to be her purpose to establish her power in Manchuria on a permanent basis.

AUSTRALIA.—During the Boer war the English colonies by their loyal and generous cooperation strengthened the bonds of empire and forced to the front schemes to render the imperial tie more practically beneficial and effective. One of these groups succeeded in completing its own federal organization. This was Australia. Active effort towards federation was begun in 1889 by Sir Henry Parkes, but not until six years later was public sentiment sufficiently aroused. The main difficulty, as in the case of the American colonies, was to reconcile the differing trade-interests and to establish a proper balance between the larger and the smaller states. Finally, in 1900, these difficulties were overcome, and all the colonies save New Zealand voted to become parts of the commonwealth of Australia. Each state was to have six senators, and to be represented in the lower house in proportion to its population, although no state was to have fewer than five representatives. Matters of taxation were more fully intrusted to the lower house than in the United States. For a time it seemed impossible to settle the delicate questions of appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council of England, the only instrument of control left in the hands of the home government, but this was settled by a judicious compromise. During the last decade not only Australia, but also New Zealand, made many interesting attempts to solve labor and social problems by legislation. Although the prosperity of Australia received heavy blows after 1890, it began to recover after 1895, and to advance towards its earlier level.

UNITED STATES: CLEVELAND'S SECOND ADMINISTRATION.—Although the McKinley tariff aided in elevating its author to the presidency, its first political consequences were not helpful to the Republican party. In 1892 there was a popular cry for tariff reduction, and Cleveland was triumphantly elected by the Democrats, who also obtained control of both houses of Congress. President Cleveland's purpose of reforming the tariff was hindered at first by a grave financial and industrial crisis, which came in the spring of 1893. The causes of this crisis were the extravagant inflation of business during the preceding years, a financial policy accompanied by the purchase for coinage of vast quantities of silver, and the natural timidity of capital while the economic policy of the government was in danger of fundamental change. The opponents of the administration took skillful advantage of the panic to bring its policies into discredit. So great was the stringency of the money market, especially on account of the depletion of the gold reserve in the treasury, that President Cleveland was obliged to call an extra session of Congress, and to urge upon that body the repeal of the law requiring the monthly purchases of silver for coinage. This measure, adopted by the Senate with evident reluctance in the late fall, did not wholly relieve the situation, and to maintain the gold reserve and defend its credit the government was forced four times to issue bonds for more gold, the consequence of which was the increase of the public debt by over $262,000,000. During the controversies upon monetary legislation, the President had alienated many members of his party in the House, and particularly in the Senate. He was unable to bring them together for such tariff legislation as had been promised. A bill was passed which also embodied income tax provisions, and this bill became a law without the President's signature. Not long afterwards the Supreme Court declared the income-tax clauses unconstitutional. Since the tariff bill did not produce the expected revenue, the government was obliged to face an ominous deficit. The President, however, by his courage and honesty, upheld the national credit despite attacks from his own party. His foreign policy, save in one instance, was conservative. He refused to take advantage of the Hawaiian revolution to bring on the annexation of those islands, and he endeavored to maintain the neutrality of the United States in the struggle between Spain and the Cuban revolutionists; but he intervened in a boundary dispute between Great Britain and Venezuela, insisting that the question should be submitted to arbitration rather than be settled on the terms imposed by the stronger.

MCKINLEY ADMINISTRATION.—In the campaign of 1896 the older leaders of the democracy were thrust aside and William J. Bryan became the party candidate, with the free coinage of silver at the ratio of 16 to 1 as its watchword. This appealed strongly to the distressed debtor class, very numerous in the West on account of the "hard times." The tone of the platform and of the speeches of the leaders was such as to attract the workingmen. The Republicans nominated McKinley, with the promise to reenact the former tariff legislation, to foster industries, and to protect the financial credit of the country. The success of the Republicans was at first doubtful; but the conservative interests became alarmed, and finally the Republicans gained a decisive victory. By the time President McKinley was inaugurated, the period of business liquidation and readjustment was over, confidence had returned, and so the new President became, as campaign placards of his party had announced, "the advance agent of prosperity." The tariff was restored to its older level, the monetary system was reformed, and the gold standard legally established. It was not this legislation, however, that rendered the period significant; it was the adoption of a new national policy of expansion, incident to the war with Spain. The Spaniards had been unable to put down the Cuban insurrection. The drastic measures, especially the policy of "reconcentration" adopted by General Weyler, had discredited the Spanish cause. The ancient tradition of Spain's cruelty to her colonies predisposed the American people to credit reports of atrocity. The administration was apparently anxious to perform its duties as a friendly power, but this was rendered more and more difficult owing to the growing popular demand for intervention. On the 15th of February, 1898, the American battleship Maine was blown up in Havana harbor. Although there was no decisive proof that this was due to the Spaniards, there was no doubt of it in the popular mind. A little later the Spaniards were ready to make any concessions short of an actual abandonment of their sovereignty. It was now too late. There was an irresistible demand for war, and war was declared in April. The result was inevitable, and Spain was obliged to yield sooner than was anticipated. Her fleet at Manila was destroyed by Admiral Dewey, May 1, and her West India squadron by the fleet in which Rear Admiral Sampson held the chief command, on July 3. Meantime a small American army had rendered Santiago untenable. After the surrender of Santiago, Porto Rico was soon overrun. Manila, which had been under the American guns since May, was also forced to surrender. A protocol signed in August led to the negotiation of peace in December. According to its terms, not only was Cuba to be evacuated, but Porto Rico, the Philippines, and the Ladrones were to become American possessions. In this way a war begun because of popular sympathy with the Cubans, turned into a means of territorial expansion. The resistance to the policy of an expansion of this sort was strong in certain sections of the country. Many senators held similar opinions, long delaying the ratification of the treaty of peace.

COLONIAL PROBLEMS.—Simultaneously with the ratification of the peace, war broke out in the Philippines between the American army and the natives, whose leaders had been bent on securing independence. The American troops easily defeated the organized native armies, though one consequence of the struggle was widespread ruin in the island of Luzon; but they were unable for over two years to pacify the country. Even before these troubles were ended, measures were taken to substitute a civil for a military administration, which went into effect in the summer of 1901. Porto Rico was organized as a partly autonomous territory, and although on its trade with the United States there was not at first a full freedom from tariff restrictions, these subsequently disappeared. In dealing with Cuba there had been no formal recognition of the revolutionary organization. It was suspected by many that the military occupation would be prolonged until annexation was brought about, but the President insisted upon the fulfilment of the pledges which had been made at the beginning of the war. A Cuban convention agreed to a treaty in accordance with which the United States acquired the right to intervene to guarantee the independence of the island should this be endangered by entanglements with foreign states. The Cubans also promised to sell or lease to the United States sites for naval stations. The army of occupation was then withdrawn, and the new government inaugurated in 1902. Even before the outbreak of the war, President McKinley had endeavored to bring about the annexation of the Hawaiian Islands, but it required such a pressing need of a controlling position in the mid-Pacific, as the hostilities emphasized, to overcome the opposition. It was not until after the war closed that the islands were organized as a territory. About the same time England withdrew from her joint control of Samoa, and Germany agreed with the United States for a partition of the group. Active preparations were also made for the building of an interoceanic canal through Nicaragua or the Isthmus of Panama on the route laid out by the French. With these questions of expansion and colonial government, other equally important problems, growing out of the new period of prosperity, agitated the public mind, particularly the formation of gigantic corporations, a form of organization which tended to supersede the trusts. As the state laws were helpless to check abuse of power by such corporations, there was a growing demand for the better enforcement of the national laws already enacted or the adoption of other laws more effective. In 1900 McKinley was reelected, Bryan again being put forward by the Democrats. A few months after his inauguration, while he was visiting the Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo, he was fatally shot by an anarchist. Upon his death, the Vice-President, Theodore Roosevelt, became President.



CHAPTER VIII. DISCOVERY AND INVENTION: SCIENCE AND LITERATURE: PROGRESS OF HUMANE SENTIMENT: PROGRESS TOWARD THE UNITY OF MANKIND.

As an era of invention and discovery, the nineteenth century is a rival of the fifteenth.

GEOGRAPHICAL DISCOVERIES.—Too much was already known of the globe to leave room for another so stupendous discovery as that of the New World. Nevertheless, many important geographical discoveries have been made, especially since about 1825. Geographical societies without number have been founded, of which the Royal Geographical Society in England (1830) is one of the best known. Geographical knowledge is increased in two ways,—first, by the discovery of places not before known; and secondly, by the scientific examination of countries and districts, with accurate surveys, and the making of maps. In both these departments, especially in the latter, the recent period won distinction. The Russians in their advance rendered the regions of Northern and Central Asia accessible to travelers. Not only India, but also extensive districts in Central Asia, have been explored by the British. China has been traversed by a succession of travelers, and Japan has unbarred its gates for the admission of foreigners. Abyssinia has been traversed. The mystery respecting the sources of the Nile has been dispelled by Speke, Grant, and Baker. In 1822 and 1825 Clapperlon, in two journeys, went over the whole route from Tripoli to the coast of Guinea. In 1830 Richard and John Lander settled the question as to the outlet of the Niger. Barth, and other later explorers, have carried forward the study of the course of this great river, in the exploration of which Mungo Park lost his life (1806). In 1816 the Congo was explored to the falls of Yellala. The travels of Schweinfurth, Livingstone, Barth, Cameron, and Stanley have greatly enlarged our acquaintance with formerly unknown portions of the African continent. In 1879 Stanley, commissioned by King Leopold of Belgium, opened up communication with the populous basin of the Congo. During the struggle of the European states to acquire colonial territory, no part of the continent remained unexplored. European rivalries also had similar important consequences to geography in Asia, especially in the Trans-Caspian region and in Tibet. Dr. Sven Hedin was the most successful of the explorers in Tibet, traversing wholly unknown districts. Unknown regions on the American continent, in South America, in far north-western North America, and in Labrador, have been visited. The same is true of the interior of Australia. The eagerness to find a north-western passage (and later in scientific exploration) has led to hazardous and not unfruitful expeditions under Ross, Parry, Franklin, Kane, Markham, McClintock, Greely, and other voyagers. In 1875 Markham reached the highest latitude that up to that time had been attained (83 deg. 21' 26"). A still higher point (86 deg. 14') was reached by Dr. Nansen who in 1893 started to drift in the Fram across the polar regions. In 1892 Lieutenant Peary crossed Greenland from the west coast to a part of the north-east coast never before visited. The Antarctic seas were also explored first by the Challenger in 1874. By 1900 the farthest point reached was 78 deg. 50'. Geography has become a much more profound and instructive science. The physical character of the globe, and of the atmosphere that surrounds it, have been studied in their relation to man and history. Physical geography, or physiography, has thus arisen. In recent years scientists have gone far in the study of the physical geography of the sea, in making maps of its bottom, and in the endeavor to define the system of oceanic winds and currents. In connection with physical geography, the distribution of animal life on the land and in the depths of the sea has been studied, and much valuable information gained.

FOUR INVENTIONS.—Among the useful inventions of the present century, there are four which are of preeminent consequence. The honor connected with each of these, as is generally the case with great inventions, belongs to no individual exclusively. Several, and in some cases many persons, can fairly claim a larger or smaller share in it. (1) The most efficient agent in bringing the steam-engine to perfection was James Watt (1736-1819), a native of Scotland. (2) In connection with the application of steam to navigation, no name stands higher than that of Robert Fulton. (3) Carriages on railroads were at first drawn by horses. In 1814 George Stephenson, in England, invented the locomotive, and afterwards (1829) an improved construction of it.

The first great railroad for the transportation of passengers began to run between Manchester and Liverpool in 1830. Remarkable achievements in engineering have been connected with the construction of railways. The Alps were pierced, and the Mont Cenis tunnel was completed in 1871. The principal civilized countries have gradually become covered with networks of railways. The whole method of transportation of the products of industry has been altered by them. Besides their vast influence in facilitating and stimulating travel and trade, they have modified the method of conducting warfare, with very important results. (4) In contriving the electric telegraph, Wheatstone, an Englishman, Oersted, a Dane, and Henry, an American, had each an important part. The most simple and efficient form of the telegraphic instrument is admitted to be due to the inventive sagacity of Morse (1837). His instrument was first put in use in 1844. The first submarine wires connecting Europe with America transmitted messages in 1858, between England and the United States. Since that time numerous submarine cables have been laid in different parts of the globe. Upon the invention of the telegraph, another invention—that of the telephone—has followed, by which conversation can be held with the voice between distant places. By the phonograph it has become possible to reproduce audibly songs, speeches, and conversations. Still more recently a system of wireless telegraphy has been invented by which messages may be sent even across the Atlantic without the use of a cable.

The Suez Canal, a channel for ships, connecting the Mediterranean with the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, and opening thus a shorter highway by water between Europe and the East, was officially opened on the 17th of November, 1869.

USES OF STEAM.—The practical applications of steam, besides its use in the propulsion of vessels, and of carriages on railways, are numberless. It is used, for example, in automobiles, in traction engines, in plowing and harvesting machinery, in fire-engines, in road-rollers, and in all sorts of hoisting and conveying machinery.

Steam forge hammers were invented by Nasmyth, an engineer of Manchester, in 1839. In a multitude of industrial occupations, where water-power was once used, or tools and machines whose use involved muscular exertion, the work is now done by the energy of steam. More recently electricity has been displacing steam not only on street railroads and suburban railroads, but also in many other industrial processes, as well as the lighting of buildings and streets.

TOOLS AND MACHINES.—In modern days no small amount of skill has been directed to the devising of tools and machines for the more facile and exact production of whatever costs labor. Factories have become monuments of ingenuity, and museums in the useful arts. Improved machinery lightens the toil of the sailor. Machines in a great variety facilitate agricultural labor. They open the furrow, sow the seed, reap and winnow the harvest. In-doors, the sewing-machine performs a great part of the labor formerly done by the fingers of the seamstress. The art of printing has attained to a marvelous degree of progress. Hoe's printing-press, moved by steam, seizes on the blank paper, severs it from the roll in sheets of the right size, prints it on both sides, and folds it in a convenient shape,—all with miraculous rapidity. Inventions in rock-boring and rock-drilling have made it possible to tunnel mountains. The use of explosives for mechanical purposes is a highly important fact in connection with the modern labor-saving inventions.

INDIA RUBBER.—Shoes made of caoutchouc, the thickened milky juice of the india-rubber plant, were imported from Brazil to Boston as early as 1825. Improvements in the use of this material, in the solid form and in solution, were made by Mr. Macintosh of Glasgow, and Thomas Hancock of Newington, England, about 1820. From the dissolved caoutchouc, a coating was obtained making garments water-proof. In 1839 Charles Goodyear, an American, discovered the process of vulcanizing india-rubber,—that is, producing in it a chemical change whereby its valuable qualities are greatly enhanced. The material thus procured was applied to a great number of uses. It enters into a great variety of manufactured articles.

ENGINERY OF WAR.—A continual advance has been made in the construction of the implements of war. The whole science and art of war have been fundamentally changed, mainly in consequence of these modern inventions. Reference may be made to the invention of rifled cannon, heavier ordnance, breech-loading guns, and shells and explosive bullets. It was the needle-gun of the Prussians, which gave them a signal advantage in their war with the French. The building of armored battle ships has been followed by the construction of small swift vessels from which to launch torpedoes at the battle ships. Other swift vessels have been constructed to pursue and destroy the torpedo boat. High explosives and smokeless powder have also been invented.

THE TELESCOPE AND MICROSCOPE.—Among the instruments which have promoted the extension of science, the microscope, with its modern improvements, is one of the most interesting. It has aided discovery in botany, in physiology, in mineralogy, and in almost all other branches of science. It has even assisted in the detection of crime. The large refracting telescopes have been constructed within the last few decades. Telescopes have recently been used with increasing success in photographing the heavens with accuracy.

INSTRUMENTS IN MEDICINE AND SURGERY.—The microscope has rendered inestimable service to the healing art. Rare ingenuity has been exerted in contriving surgical instruments by which difficult operations are performed with comparative safety and without pain. In medicine and surgery, the discovery of anesthetics for the general or partial suspending of nervous sensibility is one of the triumphs of practical science in later times. Chloroform was brought into general use in the medical profession in 1847; although it had been discovered, and had been used by individuals in the profession, much earlier. Nitrous oxide was first used by Horace Wells, a dentist of Hartford, in the extraction of a tooth (1844). In 1846 the great discovery of anaesthetic ether, by Morton of Boston, was first applied in surgery. Jackson and others were claimants, with more or less justice, to a part in the honors of this discovery. Lately cocaine has been found to benumb the sensibility of the more delicate membranes, as those of the eye and the throat. In auscultation, or the ascertaining of the state of the internal organs by listening to their sound, a very valuable instrument is the stethoscope. The principle of the ophthalmoscope, that wonderful instrument for inspecting the interior of the eye, was expounded by Helmholtz in 1851. By its aid, not only the condition of that organ is explored, but indications of certain diseases in the brain, and in other parts of the body, are discovered. Helmholtz did an equal work in acoustics. The recent discovery and use of the X-rays has assisted surgeons in locating foreign substances and in diagnosing disease.

THE SPECTROSCOPE: PHOTOGRAPHY.—In connection with the phenomena of light, the spectroscope, by which the chemical elements entering in the composition of the sun and of other heavenly bodies are ascertained, is one of the marvels of the age. The way was paved for this discovery by a succession of chemists and opticians,—Fraunhofer (1814), Brewster (1832), Sir John Herschel (1822), J. W. Draper, and others; but the instrument was devised by Kirchhoff and Bunsen. Photography, or the art of making permanent sun-pictures, is the result of the labors of Niepce (who died in 1833), Daguerre (1839), Fox Talbot, an Englishman, J. W. Draper, and other men of science and practical artisans. Instantaneous photography has been of much service in the observation of eclipses and other astronomical phenomena. Progress has also been made in color-photography.

THE CONSERVATION OF ENERGY.—Perhaps the most important conclusion of physical science which has been reached in the recent period is the doctrine of the conservation of energy. Chemists had shown that the sum of matter always remains the same. In the transformations of chemistry no matter is destroyed, however it may change its form. Now, it has been proved that the quantity of power or energy is constant. If lost in one body, it reappears in another; if it ceases in one form, it is exerted in another, and this according to definite ratios. One form of energy is convertible into another: heat, light, electricity, magnetism, chemical action, are so related that one can be made to produce either of the others. This fact is termed the correlation of physical forces. Connected with the discovery of it are Meyer in Germany, and Grove and Joule in England. It has been expounded by Sir William Thompson, Helmholtz, Tait, Maxwell, etc. The truth was elucidated by Tyndall in his Heat considered as a Mode of Motion, and by Balfour Stewart in his Conservation of Energy. But Count Rumford, an American (1753-1814), the real founder of the Royal Institution, long ago opened the path for this discovery by furnishing the data for computing the mechanical equivalent of heat.

GEOLOGY AND PALEONTOLOGY.—In geology, from the publication of Lyell's work (1830), the tendency has more and more prevailed to explain the geological structure of the earth by the slow operation of forces now in action, rather than by violent convulsions and catastrophes. In 1831 Sedgwick and Murchison, likewise English geologists, commenced their labors. Agassiz published his Essay on the Glaciers in 1837, the precursor of like investigations by Tyndall and others. These are only a small fraction of the numerous body of explorers and writers in geological science. In the United States, Benjamin Silliman (1779-1864), an eminent scientific teacher, lent a strong stimulus to the progress of geology, as well as of chemistry. Even in the branch of paleontology, or the study of the fossil remains of extinct animals, it would be impracticable to give the names of those who have added so much to our knowledge of the earth and its inhabitants in the ages that preceded man.

ASTRONOMY.—The great French geometers, Lagrange and Laplace, made an epoch in astronomical science. Since their time, however, there has been a large increase of knowledge in this branch. The discovery of the planet Neptune (1846) by Galle, as the result of mathematical calculations of Leverrier, which were made independently also by Adams, was hailed as a signal proof of scientific progress; and, recently, the discovery of a fifth satellite of Jupiter. Besides Neptune hundreds of thousands of stars have been discovered and registered. Mathematical astronomy has advanced, while the study of nebulae and of meteors, and the investigation of the constitution of celestial bodies by the help of the spectroscope, are among the more recent achievements of this oldest of the sciences. Among the names identified with the recent progress of astronomy are Sir John Herschel and A. Herschel, Maxwell, Struve, Secchi, Bessel, Bond, Peirce, Newton, Newcomb, Young, Lockyer, Schiaparelli.

PROGRESS IN CHEMISTRY.—In chemistry the major part of the more rare elements have been discovered since the century began. It was proved in 1819 that the capacities for heat which belong to the atoms of the different elements are equal. In the same year Mitscherlich's law was propounded,—the law of isomorphism, according to which atoms of elements of the same class may replace each other in a compound without altering its crystalline structure. Chemists have directed their attention to the molecular structure—the ultimate constitution—of various compounds. Faraday (1791-1867) developed the relations of electricity to chemistry. Liebig (1803-1873), a German chemist, in connection with numerous laborers in the same field, made interesting contributions in the different departments of chemical science. Among the recent elements which have been discovered are argon, which enters into the composition of air, helium, and radium.