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]