the highest type of the skillful, cautious American naval commander,
backed up by extraordinary dash and boldness. His signal achievements
during the Civil War were the destruction of the Confederate fleet
in the Mississippi, the capture of New Orleans, the passage of the
forts at Port Hudson and the batteries at Vicksburg, and the capture
of Mobile. For his brilliant and successful services the rank of
vice-admiral was especially created for him by the government, and
afterwards that of admiral.
John Adolf Dahlgren (b. November 13, 1809; d. July 12, 1870) was a
prime agent in developing the Naval Ordnance Department and its
works at Washington. He invented and made the well-known Dahlgren
guns. During the Civil War he commanded the South Atlantic blockading
squadron, of some ninety vessels, and did splendid service for the
Union cause. He was author of many naval articles and books, some of
the latter being used as text books by the government.
[Illustration: GEN. GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI.]
Raphael Semmes (b. September 27, 1809; d. August 30, 1877) types more
fully than any other the naval dash and efficiency of the Confederacy.
In him, as commander of the Sumter and Alabama, the merchant marine of
the United States found its direst enemy, and his exploits upon the
ocean won for him a fame which overshadowed those of even higher rank,
but whose services were limited to narrower fields of naval activity.
Admiral George Dewey (b. December 26, 1837) acquired considerable
naval experience in the Civil War. At the breaking out of hostilities
with Spain (1898) he was in command of the U. S. squadron in Eastern
waters, and was ordered to destroy the Spanish fleet in the harbor of
Manila. His attack was prompt and daring, and it ended in one of the
most notable victories in the history of naval warfare. In a few hours
the entire fleet of Spain in the Orient was swept away, together with
her power, and the United States was placed in possession of a new and
magnificent island empire whose maintenance and government may change
the whole history of the Orient, if not of the world.
Admiral Sampson’s contribution to the century’s progress lies in the
line of skillful preparation for emergencies, and promptitude in
meeting them. He became an epoch-maker in the history of the United
States by means of the great and decisive victory over the Spaniards,
won by the fleet under his command in the waters off Santiago.
PREACHERS AND TEACHERS.—The Rev. James McCosh (b. April 1, 1811; d.
November 6, 1894) was an able leader of that great school of literary
men, scholars, educators, and aggesssive practical thinkers which this
century chiefly seems to have produced.
His contribution to modern progress lies mainly along three lines:—
First, in his efforts to obtain the Free Church of Scotland, and
establish it.
Second, in his most successful administration of the affairs of
Princeton College while he was president of that institution.
Third, by his numerous, original, and powerful writings, chiefly
controversial and philosophical.
The Rev. Charles Hodge (b. December 28, 1797; d. June 19, 1878) was a
fine example of the modern expositor of the dogmas of Calvinism. Strong
in conviction and persistent in purpose, a clear, logical thinker and
writer, he naturally became a very powerful leader, his influence being
particularly felt in establishing the present exalted position of the
Presbyterians, especially of the old school division. This influence
was wielded partly from his chair as Professor of Didactic, Exegetic,
and Polemic Theology, and especially in the famous Princeton Review,
which owes its greatness chiefly to his editorship and contributions.
Philip Schaff (b. 1819; d. October 20, 1893) is a type of the scholar
who, through profound research and interpretation, has created an epoch
in theology by his contributions to the nineteenth century, mainly in
historical and exegetical branches.
Henry Ward Beecher (b. June 24, 1813; d. March 8, 1887) easily earned
the reputation of the greatest pulpit orator of his day. As pastor of
Plymouth (Congregational) Church in New York, his genius and remarkable
eloquence attracted and held one of the largest congregations in the
United States. Spontaneity, tact, emotion were elements of his oratory,
and these were always supplemented by force, depth, subtilty, and
quick grasp of intellect and heart. His versatility was phenomenal.
Journalism, literature, politics, social life, philanthropy, parochial
organization, and even agriculture and many other branches were
touched upon by him, and all with results varying from excellent to
extraordinary.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (b. May 25, 1803; d. April 27, 1882) passed through
the career of teacher and preacher to that of general writer, lecturer,
and poet. He should probably be classed with the metaphysicians or
philosophers. His publication of “Nature” in 1835 marked a new era in
American thought. From subsequent addresses and works may be dated the
intellectual movement which was called _Transcendentalism_, and which
was a reaction against formalism and tradition. He lacked the method
essential to the foundation of a new philosophy, but his works form a
permanent addition to the highest literature of the human race.
Phillips Brooks (b. December 13, 1835; d. January 23, 1893) was one
of those phenomenal preachers of the century who won the hearing
and hearts of his auditors by largeness and liberality of thought;
spirituality, earnestness, self-sacrifice, and great love; and by
beauty and poise of character. He seldom preached doctrine, but relied
on the efficacy of ardent exhortation, and the finding and kindling of
the good in each auditor.
[Illustration: CHARLES H. SPURGEON.]
Charles H. Spurgeon (b. June 19, 1834; d. January 31, 1892) stands as a
type of the great popular preacher and leader in charitable work. With
Baptist view’s, he revived his own denomination and exerted a helpful
influence on all others. No divine of his time swayed so resistlessly
the immense audiences he attracted. His plain sermons were always
lightened with happy illustrations and delivered with rare power and
personal magnetism, and they had the exceptional quality of retaining
much of their charm and persuasiveness when in print.
Friedrich Froebel of Thuringia, Germany (b. April 21, 1782; d. June
2, 1852), was a born educator, and his great life-work lay wholly in
that direction. He studied not so much to get knowledge of particular
branches as to discover their natural unity and hidden connection.
He was the advocate of the new education, and pushed the system of
Pestalozzi far beyond its author’s dreams. According to Froebel, man
and nature are governed by the same laws; and, by his observation of
both, he reached his idea of what man’s development should be, and how
to accomplish it. True development must of course proceed from within,
from self activity. And as every age of man is complete in itself,
its perfect development can come from only such development in the
preceding age. Hence, the necessity of properly training and educating
young children. This course of reasoning resulted in his invention of
the kindergarten system, together with his self-sacrificing devotion
in training teachers, and in his heroic perseverance notwithstanding
bitter opposition, or indifference.
Victor Cousin, of France (b. November 28, 1792; d. June 15, 1867),
was a renowned epoch-maker of the century in founding the school of
systematic eclecticism in philosophy. His system sets forth a doctrine
of catholic comprehension and toleration of others. Few men did more in
official and private life to advance the cause of general education in
France.
William Wilberforce, of England (b. August 24, 1759; d. July 29, 1833),
with Pitt and Clarkson, led in the cause of freeing the slaves, being
himself the greatest type of the English abolitionist. For forty-six
years he maintained unceasing and relentless warfare against slavery,
and his priceless gift to the present century was the final and
complete extinction of slavery and of the slave-trade in the British
possessions.
HISTORIANS.—William H. Prescott (b. May 14, 1796; d. January 27, 1859)
proved himself to be an epoch-maker in the sense that he combined the
worth of history with the brilliance and fascination of the novel, and
developed the entirely new field of Spain’s career at home and in her
colonies. His “Ferdinand and Isabella,” “Conquest of Mexico,” “Conquest
of Peru,” and “History of Philip II,” all obtained a world-wide
circulation, and both placed and kept their author in the highest rank
of modern American historians.
[Illustration: WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.]
François P. G. Guizot, of France (b. October 4, 1784; d. September 13,
1874), was both statesman and historian. In the former capacity he
held several important public positions, and from 1840 to 1847 was,
as Minister of Foreign Affairs, really at the head of the government.
His many proposed reforms brought on the revolution of 1848 and the
dethronement of Louis Philippe. Though ranking as one of the greatest
of French statesmen, his highest and most enduring reputation rests
on his historical writings, which are very numerous, and the chief of
which is his “General History of Civilization in Europe.” His works
are classics of historical research, and inspiring forerunners of the
modern method of treating history.
James Anthony Froude (b. October 23, 1818; d. October 20, 1894) ranks
as one of the brightest of England’s writers and historians, though not
one of the most reliable. His writings are characterized, in the main,
by ultra-Protestantism; and in his two most important works, “The
English in Ireland in the 18th Century,” and “The History of England,”
he endeavors to justify his country’s severe treatment of the Irish
Romanists, to establish Henry VIII. as the chief champion of English
independence, and also to bestow upon her ministers much of the credit
popularly supposed to belong to Queen Elizabeth.
John L. Motley (b. Massachusetts, April 15, 1814; d. England, May
29, 1877) typifies the patient and painstaking searcher for truth
in the development of national history; and also the sympathetic,
graphic, and spirited painter of the scenes, events, and characters
which he presents. His “Rise of the Dutch Republic,” “History of the
United Netherlands,” and “Life and Death of John of Barneveld” are
all undeniably great contributions to the historical literature of
the present century, besides being monuments to the exacting toil and
research of years.
[Illustration: THOMAS B. MACAULAY.]
Henry Thomas Buckle, of England (b. November 24, 1822; d. May 29,
1862) is a conspicuous type of the patient and learned historian. His
principal donation to modern progress is “The History of Civilization
in England,” a work whose novel theories created an epoch in the
philosophy of history, and called forth much controversy. According to
him, civilization was due not so much to moral or religious influence
as to material causes,—soil, climate, food, atmosphere, etc.
George Bancroft (b. October 3, 1800; d. January 17, 1891) was equally
renowned as statesman and historian. As a member of President Polk’s
cabinet, he was instrumental in founding the Naval Academy at Annapolis
and the Naval Observatory at Washington. As minister to Prussia he
negotiated several foreign treaties, and ably conducted the settlement
of the “Northwest Boundary” question. But his great life-work was his
“History of the United States,” on which he labored untiringly till his
death. It is the most exhaustive, philosophic, and inspiring of our
national histories.
Richard Hildreth (b. June 28, 1807; d. June 11, 1865) was one of the
century’s valuable contributors to the welfare of the United States
by his “History of Banks,” his many works on morals and politics, and
chiefly by his great life-work, “The History of the United States,” a
production of great labor and masterly detail, but somewhat heavily
written.
Thomas Babington Macaulay, of England (b. October 25, 1800; d. December
28, 1859), was noted as essayist and statesman. But his genius lay
especially in history, in which line he was enabled to furnish the
world with his great life-work, that most remarkable and valuable
“History of England,” which quickly attained a circulation never before
equaled by any similar publication. Though at times partisan and
partial, he was still fortunate in throwing his great strength on the
side of right.
EDITORS.—Horace Greeley (b. February 3, 1811; d. November 29, 1872)
was founder of the “New York Tribune.” He took rank as one of the
ablest editors of his day, and stood the foremost political advocate
and controversialist of his time in America. He made of his paper a
splendid property, and through it exercised an influence that reached
far down among the masses. He lost much of his popularity by his
advocacy of universal amnesty and impartial suffrage, after the close
of the Civil War, and gradually drifted into the Liberal Republican
party. This party, in alliance with the Democrats, placed him on the
presidential ticket in 1872. He was disastrously defeated, and died
from the effects of hard campaign work and grief.
James Gordon Bennett (b. September 1, 1795; d. June 1, 1872), founder
of the “New York Herald,” was the most spirited and daring of those
pioneers who revolutionized the journalism of the century. In his paper
he broke away from high prices and prosaic methods, and inaugurated
the era of cheap prices, racy news, and independent expression. He
practically developed the present organization of newsboys, the use of
the telegraph in securing news, and the American system of European and
war correspondence.
William Cullen Bryant (b. November 3, 1794; d. June 12, 1878) united
the scholarship of the general literature and the grace of a poet with
the genius of a high-toned and brilliant editor. He gave to his paper,
the “New York Evening Post,” a rank and influence seldom attained in
journalism, especially when it is considered that its patrons were
chiefly of the educated and higher business classes. He represented the
cleanest and most intellectual journalism of the century.
John W. Forney (b. September 20, 1817; d. December 9, 1881) was
founder and owner of “The Philadelphia Press.” The journalism of the
century can boast no more indefatigable and brilliant pen than his,
nor did any journal of his day occupy a more commanding place amid
the discussions incident to the Civil War and subsequent periods of
reconstruction. He was also editor and owner of the Washington, D. C.,
“Chronicle.”
Charles Anderson Dana (b. August 8, 1819; d. October 17, 1897) is an
instance of a scholar and publicist who found a true, though late,
outlet for his genius in the realm of independent journalism. Under
his editorship and management the “New York Sun” became the model
news medium of the country, and its editorial, financial, and other
departments were conducted with an ability and conscientiousness that
commanded the widest confidence. He was associate editor of “The New
American Cyclopædia,” and compiler of the admirable “Household Book of
Poetry.”
Joseph Medill (b. April 6, 1823; d. March 16, 1899) rose to the high
rank of editor-in-chief and principal owner of “The Chicago Tribune,”
through the schooling afforded by connection with several minor
papers. No man of the century was more thoroughly imbued with the true
editorial instinct. Of dignified and prudent expression, broad and keen
thought, ever alive to the privileges and power of the press, he made
his journal a model of excellence in all its varied departments as well
as a colossal property.
Joseph Pulitzer (b. 1847) was founder and editor of “The St. Louis
Post-Dispatch,” and afterwards became owner and editor of “The New
York World.” Like the elder Bennett he ranks as one of the dashing,
daring editors of the century, whose aim is to gain notoriety and
extraordinary circulation for his journal by strong, and often
vituperative, attack upon public men and things, and by tireless
efforts to secure general news of a unique and sensational character,
at whatever cost.
Murat Halstead (b. 1829) rose to editorial distinction, and became a
strong factor in the life of the middle West, through his connection
with the “Cincinnati Commercial,” which he raised to a flourishing
financial condition, with immense power in municipal, state, and
national politics. In 1890 he became editor of “The Standard-Union,”
Brooklyn, N. Y.
Whitelaw Reid (b. October 27, 1837) is a type of the highest class of
American political editors, and represents the best in that kind of
American journalism which aims to be both alert and catholic in its
efforts, without the sensationalism of personality, exaggeration, or
the horrible. Next to Mr. Greeley, whom he succeeded as editor, he will
best be remembered in connection with “The New York Tribune,” and has
made his journal a great power along nearly all lines, particularly
those political.
SCIENTISTS.—Sir Charles Bell, of Scotland (b. November 17, 1774;
d. April 29, 1842), is a shining example of patience and genius for
investigation, discovery, and deduction in medical science. The nervous
system was his particular forte; and he discovered the most important
principle that the brain is divided into two parts, each having its
corresponding division in the spinal marrow, and that one set of nerves
conveys sensations from the body to the brain, another carrying back
to the body and its muscles the command of the brain, and finally that
nerves conveying different sensations are connected with different
parts of the brain. He was a remarkable surgeon, a brilliant lecturer,
and a medical author of universal fame.
Samuel D. Gross (b. July 8, 1805; d. May 6, 1884) ranked as one of the
epoch-makers in his profession. As physician, surgeon, and medical
author he showed a lofty aim, strict devotion, marked originality, and
powerful intellect. His numerous works commanded world-wide attention
and became accepted standards. Two of them, at least, were the first of
their kind ever published in America.
George C. L. F. D. Cuvier, of France (b. August 23, 1769; d. May 13,
1832), exhibited in his career the immense reformation and advance
in natural history during the first three decades of the nineteenth
century. He expanded the system of comparative anatomy as the only
true basis of natural history, and from an utterly chaotic and
unintelligible heap of dry facts concerning animal structures he
finally deduced the underlying, natural principles of unity, in their
classification and division. He also established many positive laws
of geology and paleontology and, by his vast discoveries and daring
conceptions therein, developed the comparatively new science of fossil
animal-life to an extent hitherto undreamed of.
Charles Robert Darwin, of England (b. February 13, 1809; d. April 18,
1893), was one of those well-equipped and persistent scientists whose
investigations led to the modern doctrine of the origin and evolution
of species by means of natural selection and preservation of favored
races in the struggle for life. His conclusions were at first bitterly
rejected, especially by religious scientists, but ere the end of the
century came they met with wide acceptance. Only such a genius and
patience as his could have collected, arranged, and interpreted the
gigantic mass of facts out of which he slowly deduced his conclusions.
Louis J. R. Agassiz (b. May 28, 1807; d. December 14, 1873), was the
premier of his day as a scientist and naturalist. Of wonderful physical
and mental power, vast enthusiasm, untiring industry, and exceptional
propensity for research and orderly arrangement, he developed the
modern science of ichthyology, propounded new and accepted theories of
geology and of glacial systems, and established the magnificent Museum
of Natural History at Cambridge, Mass. Astonishingly prolific as a
writer, he remains a constant source of inspiration to naturalists and
scientists.
Samuel C. F. Hahnemann, of Germany (b. April 11, 1755; d. July 2,
1843), was an epoch-maker in the field of medicine. By 1820 his
theories and publications had awakened universal interest, and the
homœopathic system had become an established school. Despite the
long and bitter war between allopathy and homœopathy, it is certain
that the latter has contributed largely to render medicine free from
many old-time methods of an indefensible, if not actually harmful or
dangerous kind.
Horace Wells, of Hartford, Conn. (b. January 21, 1815; d. January 14,
1848), was a dentist. His use of nitrous oxide (laughing gas) to render
the extraction of teeth painless led to its fuller application as an
anæsthetic in surgery, and hence to the discovery of modern anæsthesia
by ether and chloroform. Though robbed of the honor of his discovery by
others, the dentist Wells is no less a contributor to mankind of one of
the greatest boons of the century.
Louis Pasteur, of France (b. December 17, 1822; d. September 28, 1895),
gave new direction and impulse to chemistry and pathology by the
discovery that fermentation arose from micro-organisms, and also that
disease was, in many instances, due to the presence of bacilli in blood
or tissue. He followed this with his system of culture and inoculation,
by means of which he performed most miraculous cures of even such a
vicious disease as hydrophobia. The Pasteur Institute in Paris stands a
monument to his genius and philanthropy.
PHILANTHROPISTS.—Stephen Girard (b. May 24, 1750; d. December 26,
1831) was crabbed, unapproachable, penurious, irreligious, yet
strangely liberal in large public or charitable affairs. Twice
he helped the government with large loans. Public charities and
improvements, hospitals, and paradoxically enough, even churches, were
indebted to him for munificent gifts. The greatest monument to his
philanthropy is Girard College, founded by a bequest of $8,000,000, for
the education of poor white male orphans.
James Smithson, of England (b. about 1765; d. June 27, 1829), was
possibly the first philanthropist to bestow a large endowment upon the
United States. With the sum of $500,000 to $600,000, which came to it
from this benevolent foreigner, the young republic founded and endowed
the splendid Smithsonian Institute at Washington for the spread and
increase of knowledge, thus putting Mr. Smithson in the highest rank
of the world’s benefactors, and erecting an imperishable monument at
another turning-point in the progress of civilization.
George Peabody (b. February 18, 1795; d. November 14, 1869) ranks as
one of the century’s greatest philanthropists. Among his noblest gifts
were $3,500,000 for free education and the training of teachers in the
Southern States, $1,000,000 for a scientific institute at Baltimore,
large sums to Harvard University, and a great amount to his native
town, Danvers, Mass., for educational purposes. Dying in England, he
left $2,500,000 to London, to found workingmen’s homes.
John Jacob Astor (b. July 17, 1763; d. March 29, 1848) used much of
his colossal fortune in philanthropy. Perhaps his largest single gift,
at least that by which he is best known as a benefactor, was the sum
of $400,000 to found the Astor Library of New York city. This noble
institution is conducted on the public plan, and contains nearly
300,000 volumes.
James Lick (b. August 25, 1796; d. October 1, 1876) amassed a fortune
in California, out of which he provided a trust fund for certain public
and charitable purposes. This fund amounted to $5,000,000 at the time
of his death. To him is due the famous Lick Telescope in the University
of California, which cost $700,000; the California School of Mechanic
Arts, costing $540,000; the free public baths of San Francisco, costing
$150,000; and numerous other charities and benefactions.