Part 9

At home in England it was a period of unprecedented scientific and industrial development. Following Faraday's recent conversion of the electric current into mechanical motion, Sturgeon invented the prototype of the electro-magnet. The first public railway for steam locomotives was opened between Stockton and Darlington by Edward Peese and George Stephenson--an innovation which caused great excitement throughout England. On the opening day, September 27, an immense concourse of people assembled along the line to see the train go by. Nearly every one prophesied that the "iron horse" would be a failure. The train weighed about ninety English tons, and consisted of six wagons loaded with coal and flour, then a covered coach containing directors and proprietors, with twenty-one coal wagons fitted up for invited passengers, nearly 600 in number. Stephenson's engine, named the "Locomotion," had a ten-foot boiler and weighed not quite 1,500 pounds. As six miles an hour was supposed to be the limit of speed, it was arranged that a man on horseback should ride on the track ahead of the engine carrying a flag. The train was started without difficulty amid cheers. Many tried to keep up with it by running, and some gentlemen on horseback galloped across the fields to accompany the train. After a few minutes, Stephenson shouted to the horseman with the flag to get out of the way, for he was going to "let her go." Ordering the fireman to "keep her hot, lad," he opened wide the throttle-valve and the speed was quickly raised to twelve miles an hour and then to fifteen.

[Sidenote: Stephenson's practical demonstration]

The runners on foot, the gentlemen on horseback and the horseman with the flag were left far behind. So, with the cross-beams and side-rods trembling from the violent motion, the red-hot chimney ejecting clouds of black smoke, amid the cheers of the delighted spectators and to the astonishment of the passengers--the immortal George Stephenson brought his train safely into Darlington.

As the "Newcastle Courant" (October 1, 1825) put it, "certainly the performance excited the astonishment of all present, and exceeded the most sanguine expectations of every one conversant with the subject. The engine arrived at Stockton in three hours and seven minutes after leaving Darlington, including stops, the distance being nearly twelve miles, which is at the rate of four miles an hour; and upon the level part of the railway, the number of passengers was counted about four hundred and fifty, and several more clung to the carriages on each side. At one time the passengers by the engine had the pleasure of accompanying and cheering their brother passengers by the stage coach, which passed alongside, and of observing the striking contrast exhibited by the power of the engine and of horses; the engine with her six hundred passengers and load, and the coach with four horses and only sixteen passengers."

[Sidenote: Immediate railroad development]

So successful was the Stockton and Darlington railway that a bill was brought in Parliament for the construction of a railroad between Liverpool and Manchester after Stephenson's plan. The scheme was violently opposed. Its detractors, among whom were Lords Lefton and Derby, declared that Stephenson's locomotive would poison the air, kill the birds as they flew over them, destroy the preservation of pheasants, burn up the farms and homesteads near the lines; that oats and hay would become unsalable because horses would become extinct; travelling on the highways would become impossible; country inns would be ruined; boilers would burst and kill hundreds of passengers. Indeed, there was no peril imaginable that was not predicted to attend the working of a railroad by steam.

When Stephenson was examined by a Parliamentary committee, one of the members put this question: "Suppose, now, one of these engines to be going along a railroad at a rate of nine or ten miles an hour, and that a cow were to stray upon the line, and get in the way of the engine, would not that, think you, be a very awkward circumstance?" "Yaw," replied Stephenson, in his broad Northumbrian dialect, "ay, awkward--for the _coo_." On account of his speech Stephenson was denounced as a "foreigner," and the bill was thrown out by the committee, by a vote of 37 against 36. After a second Parliamentary battle, the bill was passed through both Houses by a majority of forty-seven votes. The passage of the act cost L27,000.

[Sidenote: Other modern inventions]

[Sidenote: English financial crisis averted]

[Sidenote: Canning's attempted reforms]

Almost coincidentally, Faraday found that benzine was a constituent of petroleum, a discovery destined to affect the modern construction of automobile vehicles toward the close of the century. A number of other achievements made this an important year for science in England. John Crowther took out a patent for his invention of a hydraulic crane. The steam jet was first applied to construction work by Timothy Hackworth. Joseph Clement built a planing machine for iron. One of the earliest chain suspension bridges was erected at Menai Strait by Thomas Thelford, and at the same time Brunel sunk his first shaft for the Thames tunnel. Significant of the industrial revival of those days was the opening of mechanics' institutes at Exeter and Belfast. In Canada, the newly founded McGill College was raised to the rank of a university. A financial measure of far-reaching import was the Bank of England's sudden diminution of its circulation to the extent of L3,500,000 by the combined exertions of the bank and of the royal mint. A crisis in public funds was thus averted. The most important political measure of the year was Canning's attempt to repeal the political disabilities of the Catholics in England. A bill to this effect was passed through the Commons, but was thrown out by the House of Lords. Canning's friend Huskisson inaugurated a commercial policy, which was founded on the theory of free trade, destined to bring about the repeal of the corn laws.

[Sidenote: Greek reverses]

[Sidenote: Nauplia and Missolonghi besieged]

[Sidenote: Greece devastated]

The situation in Greece was calculated to stiffen the backbone of Canning's foreign policy. On February 22, Ibrahim's Egyptian army had crossed the sea unopposed and overran the Morea. The Greeks were defeated near Nodoni, and the garrison of Sphakteria was overwhelmed. The forts of Navarino capitulated. In vain was old Kolokotrones released from his prison to oppose the onslaught of Ibrahim's Arabs. The Greeks were driven back through Tripolitza, and did not succeed in making a stand until the Turks reached Nauplia. Here Demetrios Ypsilanti with a few hundred men repulsed the Turkish vanguard at Lerna. Ibrahim settled down to the siege of Nauplia and of Missolonghi. The country round about was laid waste and the people killed. Ibrahim's hordes even cut down all trees and saplings. Thus the fertile mountains and hillsides of Greece were changed into the barren rocks they are to-day. Nothing so excited the sympathy of the lovers of liberty in Europe as these wanton ravages on classic soil committed by the savages of the desert. Even Alexander of Russia was so moved by the rising indignation of his people that he dissolved diplomatic conferences at St. Petersburg in August. He issued a declaration that Russia, acting on its own discretion, would put a stop to the outrages of Greece. Accompanied by the leaders of the Russian war party, he left St. Petersburg and travelled to the Black Sea. All Europe waited for the long-threatened Russian advance on Constantinople. Suddenly news arrived that the Czar had died at Taganrog.

[Sidenote: Death of Czar Alexander]

[Sidenote: Alexander's early reforms]

[Sidenote: Russian letters stimulated]

Alexander expired on November 19 (December 1), in the arms of Empress Elizabeth. His last hours were clouded by revelations of a plot to assassinate him. As if to recant his reactionary measures of the last few years, he said: "They may say what they like of me, but I have lived and will die republican"--a curious boast which is justified only by the earlier years of Alexander's reign. In the beginning of his rule the Czar reversed the despotic tendencies of his predecessors. Free travel was permitted; foreign books and papers were allowed to enter; the better classes of the community were exempted from corporal punishments; the emancipation of serfs was begun, and the collegiate organization of the administration was supplanted by ministries modelled after those of the chief European countries. As early as 1802 Alexander could boast of a Cabinet as good as that of any constitutional monarch. Another far-reaching reform was the reorganization of Russian public education, and the encouragement given to the publication of Bibles. A temporary relaxation of the censorship resulted in the foundation of societies of literature and of such journals as the "Russian Messenger," "The Northern Mercury," and the "Democrat." Writers like Pushkin and Gogol brought forth their earliest works. Koltsov discovered a new source of poetry in the popular songs. Lermontov sang the wild beauty of the Caucasus, and Ozerov wrote his classical drama "Dmitri Donskoi," which recalled the struggles of Russia against the Tartars. Modern romantic tendencies were advanced by Joukovsky's translation of Schiller's and Byron's poems. Ginka composed the scores for his earlier operas.

[Sidenote: Changes for the worse]

[Sidenote: Araktcheyev]

[Sidenote: The Russian succession]

[Sidenote: Conflicting proclamations]

[Sidenote: Nicholas, Czar of Russia]

[Sidenote: Moscow mutiny]

[Sidenote: Miloradovitch shot]

[Sidenote: End of revolt]

When Alexander came under the influence of Madame de Kruedener and the more baneful ascendency of Metternich everything was changed for the worse. The publication of Bibles was stopped; the censorship was re-established in its full rigor; Speranski's great undertaking of a Russian code of laws was nipped in the bud; Galytsin, the liberal Minister of Publication, had to resign, and Araktcheyev, a reactionary of extreme type, was put in his place. Some idea of the dark days that followed may be gathered from Araktcheyev's first measures. The teaching of the geological theories of Buffon and of the systems of Copernicus and Newton were forbidden as contrary to Holy Writ. Medical dissection was prohibited, and the practice of medicine was reduced to that of faith cure. All professors who had studied at seats of learning abroad were dismissed. Then it was that the secret societies sprang up in Poland and in the north and south of Russia. One of the foremost conspirators was Pestel, who had undertaken to frame a new code of laws for Russia. When Alexander died, Russia was on the brink of a military revolution. It was the intention of the conspirators to assassinate the Czar in the presence of his troops and to proclaim a constitution; but his unexpected departure to the Black Sea frustrated the plan. Alexander's death threw the Russian court into confusion. For a while it was not known who was to succeed him. The supposed heir to the throne was Alexander's brother, Constantine. Unbeknown to the people he had formally renounced his right to the throne. At the time of his brother's death he was in Warsaw. His younger brother, Nicholas, at St. Petersburg, had him proclaimed emperor. When they brought him Constantine's written abdication, Nicholas refused to acknowledge it and caused the troops to take their oath of allegiance to his brother. Constantine in Warsaw proclaimed Nicholas emperor. Nicholas would not accept the crown unless by the direct command of his elder brother. At length the matter was adjusted, after an interregnum of three weeks. On Christmas Day, Nicholas ascended the imperial throne. The confusion at St. Petersburg was turned to account by the military conspirators who had plotted against Alexander's life. To the common soldiers they denounced Nicholas as a usurper who was trying to make them break their recent oath to Constantine. When ordered to take the oath to Nicholas, the Moscow regiment refused, and marched to the open place in front of the Senate House. There they formed a square and were joined by other bodies of mutineering soldiers. It is gravely asserted by Russian historians that the poor wretches, ignorant of the very meaning of the word constitution, shouted for it, believing it to be the name of Constantine's wife. An attack upon them by the household cavalry was repulsed. When General Miloradovitch, a veteran of fifty-two battles against Napoleon, tried to make himself heard, he was shot. The mutineers would not listen even to the Emperor. Not until evening could the new Czar be brought to use more decisive measures. Then he ordered out the artillery and had them fire grapeshot into the square. The effect was appalling. In a few minutes the square was cleared and the insurrection was over. Its leaders were wanting at the moment of action. A rising in the south of Russia was quelled by a single regiment. Before the year ended, Nicholas was undisputed master of Russia.

[Sidenote: Death of Fresnel]

By the death of Augustin Jean Fresnel, France lost a brilliant scientist, who shares with Thomas Young the honor of discrediting the old emission theory of light, and of formulating the undulatory theory.

[Sidenote: Death of David]

Jacques Louis David, founder of the new French school of classicism in painting, died at the close of the year at Brussels. Many of his paintings were on exhibition before the fall of the old regime in France. In the days of the French Revolution, David was a Jacobite and friend of Robespierre, and suffered in prison after the latter's fall. It was not, however, until the time of the First Empire that David's fame spread. He then reached the zenith of his success. His masterpieces of this period are "Napoleon Crossing the Alps"--a canvas on which is founded Hauff's story of "The Picture of the Emperor"--"The Coronation of Napoleon," "Napoleon in His Imperial Robes," and the "Distribution of the Eagles." Equally famous is his portrait of "Madame Recamier resting on a Chaiselongue." After the fall of the First Empire, David was exiled from France, and retired to Brussels. David, unlike so many other beneficiaries of the Empire, remained warmly attached to Napoleon. Once when the Duke of Wellington visited his studio in Brussels and expressed a wish that the great artist would paint him, David coldly replied, "I never paint Englishmen." In his declining years he painted subjects taken from Grecian mythology. Among the paintings executed by David during his banishment were "Love and Psyche," "The Wrath of Achilles," and "Mars Disarmed by Venus." The number of David's pupils who acquired distinction was very great, among whom the best known were Gros, Gerard, Derdranais Girodet, Jugros, Abel de Pujel and Droming.

1826

[Sidenote: Czar Nicholas' measures]

[Sidenote: Ryleyev and Pestel hanged]

[Sidenote: Russian laws codified]

Driven to assert his rights to the crown by bloodshed, Nicholas I. showed himself resolved to maintain the absolute principles of his throne. He accorded a disdainful pardon to Prince Trubetskoi, whom the conspirators of the capital had chosen as head of the government. The mass of misled soldiery was likewise treated with clemency. But against the real instigators of the insurrection the Czar proceeded with uncompromising severity. One hundred and twenty were deported to Siberia; and the five foremost men, among whom were Ryleyev, the head of the society in the north, and Pestel, were condemned to be hanged. All died courageously. Pestel's chief concern was for his Code: "I am certain," said he, "that one day Russia will find in this book a refuge against violent commotions. My greatest error was that I wished to gather the harvest before sowing the seed." In a way the teachings of these men gave an impetus to Russia that their death could not destroy. Even the Czar, with his passion for military autocracy, made it his first care to take up the work of codifying the Russian laws. Alexis Mikhaielovitch during the next four years turned out his "Complete Code of the Laws of the Russian Empire."

[Sidenote: Persian war]

[Sidenote: Defence of Choucha]

[Sidenote: Russian victories]

[Sidenote: Persia abandoned by England]

[Sidenote: Russia's ultimatum to Turkey]

[Sidenote: Massacre of Janizaries]

The military ambitions of Nicholas found a vent in the direction of Persia. The encroachments of Ermolov, the Governor-General of the Caucasus, so exasperated the Persians that soon a holy war was preached against Russia. Ebbas-Mirza, the Prince Royal of Persia, collected an army of 35,000 men on the banks of the Araxes. A number of English officers joined his ranks. Nicholas at once despatched General Kasevitch with reinforcements for Ermolov. Ebbas-Mirza was checked on his march on Tivlas by the heroic defence of Choucha. In the meanwhile the Russians concentrated their forces. The Persian vanguard, 15,000 strong, was defeated at Elizabethpol. On the banks of the Djeham, Paskevitch, with a division of the Russian army, overthrew the main body of the Persians and forced them back over the Araxes. The Persians continued their resistance, relying on the terms of the treaty of Teheran, wherein England had promised financial and military subsidies in case of invasion. The English, promise was not kept. Hence forth the Persians were at the mercy of the Russian army of invasion. Almost simultaneously a rebellion against the Chinese Government broke out in Kashgar. Undeterred by this diversion, Nicholas took up a vigorous stand against the Turks. In March he presented an ultimatum insisting on the autonomy of Moldavia, Wallachia and Servia, and on the final cession to Russia of disputed Turkish territory on the Asiatic frontier. Turkey yielded. Nicholas then joined in an ultimatum with England and France for an immediate stop of the Turkish outrages in Greece. In this matter Nicholas, who regarded the Greeks as rebels, showed himself more lenient to the Turks, and negotiations with the Porte were permitted to drag. The Sultan profited by the lull to execute a long contemplated stroke against the Janizaries. The whole of this famous corps of bodyguards was massacred.

[Sidenote: Death of Bennigsen and Rostopchin]

During this year two men died in Russia who had distinguished themselves at the time of Napoleon's invasion. One was General Bennigsen, a soldier of German extraction and training, who took a leading part in all the Russian campaigns against Napoleon. The other was Prince Rostopchin, who as Governor of Moscow consigned that city to the flames after Napoleon's triumphant entry.

[Sidenote: Death of Hastings and Heber]

[Sidenote: Alfred Tennyson]

[Sidenote: English letters flourishing]

[Sidenote: Scientific progress]

England lost two men who had distinguished themselves in India. One was the Marquis of Hastings, who had but lately relinquished his Governor-Generalship of British India, and whose rule there both from a military and from a political-economical point of view must be regarded as pre-eminently successful. The other was Reginald Heber, the Bishop of Calcutta, who endeared himself to Anglo-Indians by his translations of the folk songs and classic writings of Hindustan. In other respects this year is notable in English literary annals. Alfred Tennyson published his earliest verses in conjunction with his brother; Elizabeth Barrett also brought out her first poems; Macaulay had begun to captivate England by his essays; Thomas Hood issued his "Whims and Oddities"; Scott and Coleridge were then in the heyday of literary favor. Scott had just brought out his "Talisman" and "The Betrothed," and now published "Woodstock." Coleridge contributed his "Aids to Reflection." A new impetus was given to scholarship by the foundation of the Western and Eastern literary institutions of England, and the establishment of a professorship for political economy at Oxford. London University was chartered. Drummond's namesake, Lieutenant Thomas Drummond, perpetuated his name by his limelight, produced by heating lime to incandescence in the oxy-hydrogen flame.

[Sidenote: English lotteries suppressed]

While Herschel was working out his spectrum analysis, Fox Talbot contributed his share by his observation of the orange line of strontium. John Walker perfected his invention of friction matches. Industrially, on the contrary, England still suffered from the canker of the corn laws and the recent financial crisis resulting from the operations of ill-fated stock companies. In Lancashire nearly a thousand power looms were destroyed by the distressed operatives. Some relief was given by Canning's abolition of all public lotteries.

[Sidenote: Louis I. of Bavaria]

[Sidenote: Munich embellished]

[Sidenote: German romantic literature]

[Sidenote: "Die Wacht am Rhein"]

[Sidenote: Froebel]

In Germany, arts and literature flourished in the same degree. King Louis I. of Bavaria, upon his accession to the throne, gathered about him in Munich some of the foremost artists and writers of Germany. The capital of Munich was embellished with public monuments; public buildings were decorated with fresco paintings, and art galleries were established. The University of Bavaria was transferred from Landshut to Munich, and other institutions of learning were erected by its side. Streets were widened, new avenues and public squares laid out, and public lighting introduced throughout the city. Within a short time the quasi-medieval town of Munich was changed into a modern metropolis and became the Mecca of German art. Among the artists who gathered round Louis of Bavaria were Moritz von Schwind, Cornelius, Hess, Raupp, and the elder Piloti. Among the writers who drew upon themselves the notice of this liberal king were the Count of Platen, who during this year published his "Ghazels" and the comedy "The Fatal Fork"; and Hauff, who brought out his romantic masterpiece, "Lichtenstein." Of the rising writers, Heinrich Heine alone withstood the blandishments of Louis with verses of biting satire. Little noticed at the time was the appearance of Reichardt's "Wacht am Rhein," a song which was destined to become the battle hymn of Germany. Scant attention, likewise, was given to Froebel's epoch-making work, "The Education of Man." On the other hand much pother was made over some curious exchanges of sovereignty, characteristic of German politics in those days. The Dukes of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha-Meiningen exchanged their respective possessions. Saalfeld Meiningen received Gotha. Altenburg was assigned to Saxe-Hilburghausen, which latter principality in turn was relinquished to Meiningen. The settlements of the succession in those petty principalities called forth volumes of legal lore.

Jens Baggesen, the most prolific Danish humorist, died this year, seventy-two years of age. After his death Baggesen's writings declined in popularity.

[Sidenote: American semi-centennial]

[Sidenote: Death of Jefferson and Adams]

[Sidenote: "The Father of Democracy"]

In America, the people of the United States commemorated the semi-centennial of their independence. The Fourth of July, the date of the declaration of American independence, was the great day of celebration. The day became noted in American history by the simultaneous death of two patriots: Jefferson and Adams. Thomas Jefferson's greatest achievements, as recorded by himself on his gravestone at Monticello, were his part in the declaration of American independence, in the establishment of religious freedom and in the foundation of the University at Virginia. He was the most philosophic statesman of his time in America. Much of the subsequent history of the United States was but the development of Jefferson's political ideas. His public acts and declarations foreshadowed the policies of his most worthy successors. The essentials of the Monroe Doctrine, of the emancipation of slaves, as well as of the doctrine of State rights and of American expansion, can all be traced back to him. Thus he has come to be venerated by one of the two great political parties of America as "The Father of Democracy."

[Sidenote: Jefferson's principles]

[Sidenote: Third term discountenanced]