grievous expensiveness and hideous immorality of Standing Armies were
vividly portrayed. He did not hesitate to speak straight out on the
subject of the demoralizing influence of Armies on the People among
whom they were quartered or posted, and the broad track of moral
desolation which an armed force everywhere leaves behind it. If the
facts in this connection were but generally known, I think there would
soon be a loud call from Christians, Moralists and Philanthropists for
the entire disbandment and dispersion of every Standing Army.--EMILE
GIRARDIN, Editor of "_La Presse_," spoke more especially of the
enormous expense of Armies and the ruinous taxation they render
necessary.--Mr. COBDEN spoke again yesterday, in more immediate
denunciation of the enormous Standing Army maintained by Austria, not
merely throughout its own but in other countries also, the Loans which
its Government is constantly contracting, and the gulf of bankruptcy to
which it is rapidly hurrying. He said there were intimations that
another Austrian Loan would be attempted in London, and if it should be
he should urge the call of a public meeting to expose the past knaveries
of Austria in dealing with her creditors, and to hold up to public
reprobation whoever should touch the Loan.--Mr. SAMUEL GURNEY, the Quaker
banker, also spoke in reprehension of Loans for War purposes and all who
subscribe to or encourage them.--EDWARD MIALL (Editor of _The
Non-Conformist_), also spoke forcibly against War Loans.
M. CORMENIN, an eminent French Statesman and writer, read a witty, piquant
essay in reprehension of War and all other contrivances for shortening
human life, which, being given first in French and then substantially in
English, elicited very hearty plaudits.
There were many more speakers, including Mr. HINDLEY, British M. P., M.
BOURET, French Chamber of Deputies, ELIHU BURRITT, M. AVIGNON, an Italian
banker, J. S. BUCKINGHAM, Dr. SCHERTZER of Vienna, and JOSEPH STURGE, who
moved that a similar convention be held next year, at a time and place to
be afterward agreed on, which was unanimously carried. It was announced
that Mr. Geo. Hatfield of Manchester had suggested and agreed to bear the
expense of fifteen Silver Medals to be presented, in behalf of the
Congress, to the representatives of the French Workmen's Association for
their attendance and sympathy.--Sir DAVID BREWSTER, being warmly thanked
for his services as Chairman, responded in a few excellent remarks, urging
each person present to instill the principles of Peace into the hearts of
the children who are or may be committed to his or her guidance. He
remarked that he had not once been called upon to exercise authority or
repress commotion during the whole period of the Congress,--a fact proving
that the principles of Peace had already taken root in the breasts of the
Members; and there was not, I believe, a single proposition submitted to
the Congress on which its vote was not substantially unanimous. The
following are the Resolutions adopted:
The Congress of the friends of Universal Peace, assembled in
London July 22, 23 and 24, 1851, considering that recourse to
arms for the settlement of international disputes, is a custom
condemned alike by Religion, Morality, Reason, and Humanity,
and believing that it is useful and necessary frequently to
direct the attention both of Governments and Peoples to the
evils of the War system, and the desirableness and
practicability of maintaining Permanent International Peace,
resolves:
1. That it is the special and solemn duty of all Ministers of
Religion, Instructors of Youth, and Conductors of the Public
Press, to employ their great influence in the diffusion of
pacific principles and sentiments, and in eradicating from the
minds of men those hereditary animosities, and political and
commercial jealousies, which have been so often the cause of
disastrous Wars.
2. That as an appeal to the sword can settle no question, on
any principle of equity and right, it is the duty of
Governments to refer to the decision of competent and
impartial Arbitrators such differences arising between them as
cannot be otherwise amicably adjusted.
3. That the Standing Armaments, with which the Governments of
Europe menace each other, amid professions of mutual
friendship and confidence, being a prolific source of social
immorality, financial embarrassment, and national suffering,
while they excite constant disquietude and irritation among
the nations, this Congress would earnestly urge upon the
Governments the imperative necessity of entering upon a system
of International Disarmament.
4. This Congress, regarding the system of negotiating Loans
for the prosecution of War, or the maintenance of warlike
armaments, as immoral in principle and disastrous in
operation, renews its emphatic condemnation of all such
Loans.
5. This Congress, believing that the intervention, by
threatened or actual violence, of one country in the
international politics of another, is a frequent cause of
bitter and desolating wars, maintains that the right of every
State to regulate its own affairs should be held absolute and
inviolate.
6. This Congress recommends all the friends of Peace to
prepare public opinion, in their respective countries, with a
view to the formation of an authoritative Code of
International Law.
7. This Congress expresses its strong abhorrence of the system
of aggression and violence practiced by so-called civilized
nations upon aboriginal and feeble tribes, as leading to
incessant and exterminating wars, eminently unfavorable to the
true progress of religion, civilization and commerce.
8. This Congress, convinced that whatever brings the nations
of the earth together in intimate and friendly intercourse
must tend to the establishment of Peace, by removing
misapprehensions and prejudices, and inspiring mutual respect,
hails, with unqualified satisfaction, the Exhibition of the
Industry of all Nations, as eminently calculated to promote
that end.
9. That the members of Peace Societies, in all Constitutional
Countries, be recommended to use their influence to return to
their respective Parliaments, representatives who are friends
of Peace, and who will be prepared to support, by their votes,
measures for the diminution of the number of men employed in,
and the amount of money expended for, War purposes.
_American Members of the Congress._--Nathaniel Adams,
Cornwall, Conn., Rev. Robert Baird, New-York; Geo. M. Borrows,
Friburg, Maine; M. B. Bateman, Columbus, Ohio; Rev. George
Beckwith, Boston, Mass.; W. Wells Brown, do; Elihu Burritt,
Worcester, Mass.; William A. Burt, Washington, D. C.; Dr.
Thomas Chadbourne, Portsmouth, N. H.; Rev. J. W. Chickering,
Portland, Me.; Wm. Darlington, Westchester, Pa.; Rev. P. B.
Day, New-Haven; Rev. Amos Dresser, Oberlin, Ohio; Rev. D. C.
Eddy, Lowell, Mass.; Rev. Romeo Elton, Providence, R. I.; A.
R. Forsyth, Indiana; Rev. Aaron Foster, Massachusetts; William
B. Fox, do; Rev. H. H. Garnett, Geneva, N. Y.; David Gould,
Sharon, Conn.; Rev. Josiah Henson, Canada West; E. Jackson,
Jr., Boston, Mass.; Wm. Jackson, Newton, do; Rev. P. M.
McDowell, New-Brunswick; Rev. Geo. Maxwell, Ohio; Rev. H. A.
Mills, Lowell, Mass.; Rev. A. A. Miner, Boston, Mass.; Dr.
Henry S. Patterson, Frank B. Palmer, Dr. William Pettit,
Philadelphia, Pa.; Thomas Pierce, Illinois; Moses Pond,
Boston, Mass.; J. T. Sheoffe, Whitesboro', N. Y.; Isaac
Skervan, Buffalo, N. Y.; Rev. Zadock Thompson, Burlington,
Vt.; Rev. John E. Tyler, Windham, Conn.; Ichabod Washbourne,
Worcester, Mass.; Rev. James C. White, Ohio; Chas. H. De
Wolfe, Oldtown, Me.
XXXVII.
AMERICA AT THE WORLD'S FAIR.
LONDON, Tuesday, July 26, 1851.
If I return this once more and for the last time to the subject of
American contributions to the great Exposition, it shall not be said
with truth that my impulse is a feeling of soreness and chagrin. Within
the last few days, a very decided and gratifying change has taken place
in the current of opinion here with regard to American invention and its
results. One cause of this was the late formal trial of American (with
other foreign) Plows, in the presence of the Agricultural Jury; which
trial, though partial and hurried, was followed by immediate orders for
an American Plow then tested (Starbuck's) from Englishmen, Belgians and
Frenchmen, including several Agricultural Societies. If a hundred of
those Plows were here, they might be sold at once; in their absence, the
full price has been paid down for some twenty or thirty, to be shipped
at New-York, and be thenceforth at the risk and cost of the buyers. And
these orders have just commenced. The London journals which had
reporters present (some of which journals ridiculed our Farming
Implements expressly a few weeks ago), now grudgingly admit that the
American Plows did their work with less draft than was required by their
European rivals, but add that they did not do it so well. Such was not
the judgment of other witnesses of the trial, as the purchases, among
other things, attest.
A still more signal triumph to American ingenuity was accorded on
Thursday. Mr. Mechi, formerly a London merchant, having acquired a
competence by trade, retired some years since to a farm in Essex, about
forty miles off, where he is vigorously prosecuting a system of High
Farming, employing the most effective implements and agencies of all
kinds. He annually has a gathering of distinguished farmers and others
to inspect his estate and see how his "book farming" gets on. This
festival occurred day before yesterday--a sour, dark, drenching
day--notwithstanding which, nearly two hundred persons were present.
Among others, several machines for cutting Grain were exhibited and
tested, including two (Hussey's and McCormick's) from America, and an
English one which was declared on all hands a mere imitation of
Hussey's. Neither the original nor the copy, however, appear to have
operated to the satisfaction of the assembly, perhaps owing to the
badness of the weather and its effects on the draggled, unripe grain.
With McCormick's a very different result was obtained. This machine is
so well known in our Wheat-growing districts that I need only remark
that it is the same lately ridiculed by one of the great London journals
as "a cross between an Astley's chariot, a treadmill and a flying
machine," and its uncouth appearance has been a standing butt for the
London reporters at the Exhibition. It was the ready exemplar of
American distortion and absurdity in the domain of Art. It came into the
field at Mechi's, therefore, to confront a tribunal (not the official
but the popular) already prepared for its condemnation. Before it stood
John Bull, burly, dogged and determined not to be humbugged--his
judgment made up and his sentence ready to be recorded. Nothing
disconcerted, the brown, rough, homespun Yankee in charge jumped on the
box, starting the team at a smart walk, setting the blades of the
machine in lively operation, and commenced raking off the grain in
sheaf-piles ready for binding,--cutting a breadth of nine or ten feet
cleanly and carefully as fast as a span of horses could comfortably
step. There was a moment, and but a moment of suspense; human prejudice
could hold out no longer; and burst after burst of involuntary cheers
from the whole crowd proclaimed the triumph of the Yankee "treadmill."
That triumph has since been the leading topic in all agricultural
circles. _The Times'_ report speaks of it as beyond doubt, as placing
the harvest absolutely under the farmer's control, and as ensuring a
complete and most auspicious revolution in the harvesting operations of
this country. I would gladly give the whole account, which, grudgingly
towards the inventor, but unqualifiedly as to the machine, speaks of the
latter as "securing to English farming protection against climate and an
economy of labor which must prove of _incalculable_ advantage." Pretty
well for "a cross between an Astley's chariot, a flying machine and a
treadmill."
Mr. McCormick, I hear, is probably now on his way hither from the United
States, and will be rather astonished on landing to find himself a lion.
Half a dozen makers and sellers of Agricultural implements, are already
on the watch for him, and if he makes his bargain wisely, he is morally
sure of a fortune from England alone. His machine and its operator were
the center of an eager circle to-day, and if five hundred of the former
were to be had here, they would all be bought within a month. There is
to be another public trial, merely to place beyond doubt its capacity to
cut dry and ripe grain as well as green and wet; but those who have seen
it work in the States will not care much for that.[C]
Mr. Hobbs, of the American Bank Lock Company, has had a recent trial of
the Chubb Lock, so long deemed invincible here, and consumed twenty-four
minutes and a half in picking it, under the supervision of judges of
unquestionable ability and impartiality. He then re-locked it without
disturbing the "Detector," and left it as when it was set before him. He
has now to try his skill on the "Bramah" lock under the challenge for
L200; and, should he be able to open it, he says he shall there rest the
case.[D] He has been sent for by the Governor of the Bank of England,
and will respond to the invitation. His operations have of course
excited some feeling among those whose interests were affected by them;
yet it is manifestly proper and important, if the locks relied on by
banks and other depositories of treasure here are not secure against
burglary, that the fact should be known. Unless I err as to his success
at the forthcoming trial with the Bramah lock, British locksmiths must
commence at once to learn their business over again under Yankee
tuition.
I might give other facts in support of my judgment that our Country has
not been and will not be _disgraced_ by her share in this Exhibition,
but I forbear. Had we declined altogether the invitation to participate
in this show, we certainly would have been discredited in the world's
opinion, however unjustly; had we attempted to rival the costly tissues,
dainty carvings, rich mosaics, and innumerable gewgaws of Europe, we
should have shown equal bad taste and unsound judgment, and would have
deservedly been laughed at. Our real error consists, not in neglecting
to send articles to rival the rich fabrics and wares of this Continent,
but in sending too few of those homely but most important products in
which we unquestionably lead the world. We have a good many such here
now, but we should have had many more. One such plain, odd-looking
concern as McCormick's Reaper, though it makes no figure in the eyes of
mere sight-seers in comparison with an inlaid Table or a case of Paris
Bonnets, is of more practical account than a Crystal Palace full of
those, and so will ultimately be regarded. Looking to-day at Mitchell's
admirable new Map of the United States and their Territories, as now
existing, which worthily fills an honorable place in the Exhibition,
with several but too few others of the same class, I could not but
regret that a set of Harpers' Common School Libraries, with a brief
account of the origin and progress of our School Library system, had not
been contributed; and I wish I had myself spent fifty dollars if
necessary to place in the Exhibition a good collection of American
School Books. If there shall ever be another World's Exhibition, I
bespeak a conspicuous place in it for a model American country
School-House, with its Library, Globes, Maps, Black-Board, Class Books,
&c., and a succinct account of our Common School system, printed in the
five or six principal languages of Europe for gratuitous distribution to
all who may apply for it. With this got up as it should be, I would not
mind admitting that in Porcelain and Laces, Ormolu and Trinkets, Europe
is yet several years ahead of us.
Mr. J. S. Gwynne of our State, whose "Balanced Centrifugal Pump" made a
sensation and obtained a Gold Medal at our Institute Fair last October,
is here with it, and proposes a public trial of its qualities in
competition with the rival English pumps of Appold and Bessimer for
$1,000, to be paid by the loser to the Mechanics' Society. Mr. Gwynne
claims that these English Pumps (which have been among the chief
attractions of the department of British Machinery) are palpable
plagiarisms from his invention, and not well done at that. He, of
course, does not claim the idea of a Centrifugal Pump as his own, for it
is much older than any of them, but he does claim that adaptation of the
idea which has rendered it effective and valuable. I am reliably
informed that he has just sold his Scotch patent only for the
comfortable sum of L10,000 sterling, or nearly $50,000; and this is but
one of several inventions for which he has found a ready market here at
liberal prices. I cite his case (for he is one of several Americans who
have recently sold their European patents here at high figures) as a
final answer to those who croak that our country is disgraced, and
regret that any American ever came near the Exhibition. Had these
discerning and patriotic gentlemen been interested in these patents,
they might have taken a different view of the matter. Even my New-York
friend, whose toadyism in exhibiting a capital pair of Oars inscribed "A
present for the Prince of Wales," I have already characterized as it
deserves, yesterday informed me that he had sold $15,000 worth of Oars
here since the Fair opened. I am sure I rejoice in his good fortune, and
hope it may insure the improvement of his taste also.
There are many articles in the American department of which I would
gladly speak, that have attracted no public notice. Since I left for the
Continent, Mrs. A. Nicholson, formerly of our city, has sent in a
Table-Cover worked in Berlin Wool from the centre outward so as to form
a perfect circle, or succession of circles, from centre to
circumference, with a great variety of brilliant colors imperceptibly
shading into each other. This having been made entirely by hand, with no
implement but a common cut nail, the process is of course too slow to be
valuable; but the result attained may very probably afford useful hints
and suggestions to inventors of weaving machinery.--I think the display
of Flint Glass by the Brooklyn Company is equal in purity and fineness
to any other plain Glass in the Exhibition, and only regret that the
quantity sent had not been larger. I regret far more that the
"Hillotype," for giving sun-pictures with the colors of life, has not
yet made its appearance here, while the "Caloric Engine" (using
compressed and heated air instead of water for the generation of power),
was not ready in season to justify a decision on its merits by the Jury
of its Class; and so with other recent American inventions of which
high hopes are entertained. We ought to have had here a show merely of
Inventions, Machines and Implements exceeding the entire contents of the
American Department--ought to have had, apart from any question of
National credit, if only because the inventors' interests would have
been subserved thereby--and we should have had much more than we
actually have, had the state of the British Patent-Laws been less
outrageous than it is. A patent here costs ten times as much as in the
United States, and is worth little when you have it--that is, it is not
even an opinion that the patentee has really invented anything, but
merely an evidence that he claimed to have done so at such a date, and a
permission to prove that he actually did, if he can. In other words; a
patent gives a permission and an opportunity to contend legally for your
rights; and if the holder is known to have money enough, it generally
suffices; if not, he can and will be not only plundered with impunity,
but defied and laughed at. A bill radically revising the British
Patent-Laws is now on its way through Parliament, but in its absence
many American inventors refused to expose themselves to a loss of their
inventions by exhibiting them at the Fair; and who can blame them?
The succession of _fetes_ to be given by the Municipality of Paris to
the Royal Commissioners, Jurors, &c., in honor of the World's
Exhibition, opens this week, and will be brilliant and gratifying as no
other city but Paris could make it. The number invited is over One
Thousand, and all are taken from the British shore in French National
Vessels, and thenceforth will be the guests of their inviters until they
shall again be landed at an English port, paying nothing themselves for
travel, entertainment, balls, &c., &c. This is certainly handsome, and I
acknowledge the courtesy, though I shall not accept the invitation. I
leave for Scotland and Ireland on Monday.
FOOTNOTES:
[C] This trial took place at Mechi's some three weeks later, and
resulted in a complete triumph for the reaper, which thereupon received
an award (already accorded it by the Council of Chairmen, subject to
revision upon the result of this trial), of a first-class or
Great-Medal.
[D] He has since done so, to the perfect satisfaction of the judges.
XXXVIII.
ENGLAND, CENTRAL AND NORTHERN.
NEWCASTLE, Eng., Tuesday, July 29, 1851.
I came up through the heart of England by railroad yesterday from London
by Rugby, Leicester, Derby, Chesterfield, near Sheffield and Leeds,
through York, near Durham, to this place, where Coal is found in
proverbial abundance, as its black canopy of smoke might testify.
Newcastle lies at the head of navigation on the Tyne, about thirty miles
inland from the E. N. E. coast of England, three hundred miles from
London, and is an ancient town, mainly built of brick, exhibiting
considerable manufacturing and commercial activity.
The British Railroads are better built, more substantial and costly than
ours, but their management does not equal my anticipations. They make no
such time as is currently reported on our side, and are by no means
reliable for punctuality. The single Express Train daily from London to
Edinburgh professes to make the distance (428 miles) in about twelve
hours, which is less than 36 miles per hour, with the best of double
tracks, through a remarkably level country, everything put out of its
way, and no more stops than its own necessities of wood and water
require. We should easily beat this in America with anything like equal
facilities, and without charging the British price--L4 7s. (or over $21)
for a distance not equal to the length of the Erie Railroad, almost
wholly through a populous and busy region, where Coal is most abundant
and very cheap.
Our train (the Mail) started from London at 10 1/2 A. M. and should have
been here at 11 P. M. or in a little less than 25 miles per hour. But
the running throughout the country is now bewitched with Excursion
Trains and throngs of passengers flocking on low-priced Excursion return
tickets to see the Great Exhibition, which is quite as it should be, but
the consequent delay and derangement of the regular trains is as it
should _not_ be. The Companies have no moral right to fish up a quantity
of irregular and temporary business to the violation of their promises
and the serious disappointment of their regular customers. As things are
managed, we left London with a train of twenty-five cars, half of them
filled with Excursion passengers for whom a separate engine should have
been, but was not, provided; so that we were behind time from the first
and arrived here at 1 this morning instead of 11 last night.
The spirit of accommodation is not strikingly evinced on British
Railroads. The train halts at a place to which you are a stranger, and
you perhaps hear its name called out for the benefit of the passengers
who are to stop there; but whether the halt is to last half a minute,
five minutes, or ten, you must find out as you can. The French Railroads
are better in this respect, and the American cannot be worse, though the
fault is not unknown there. A penny programme for each train, to be sold
at the chief stations on each important route, stating not merely at
what place but exactly how long each halt of that particular train would
be made, is one of the yet unsatisfied wants of Railroad travelers. Our
"Path-finders" and "Railway Guides" undertake to tell so much that plain
people are confused and often misled by them, and are unable to pick out
the little information they actually need from the wilderness of figures
and facts set before them. Let us have Guides so simple that no guide is
needed to explain them.