White Cloud Kansas chief. [volume] (White Cloud, Kan.) 1857-1872, 1858-04-01
WHITE CLOUD, KANSAS THURSDAY, APRIL l. 1858.
A HUNDRED YIAns Aeo-,7g7

Although the hundredth year is an era in the
life OF man which few are favored 70 see, q
century is but short period-i in the lifetime Of
nations. Yet what wonderful and political chan.
ges have been crowded within the last hundred
years! ,-.-.I..s
Just one hundred years ago, Give laid in In.
dia the colossal foundations Of. English power,
and begun that career of conquest which has
made England to India what Spain was to Mex.
leo and Peru. ,.7s ..l-- ,-..r.-.. AZ
Just one hundred years ago, the Seven Years
War which begun in the wilderness of America,
was beginning to mage in Europe. 1t ended in
the year l763, after one of lie most desperate
struggles recorded in history, with the recogni.
ton Of the rights Of Prussia as frst-class En-
ropean power. and the transfer of the empire of
North America from France to England-a
change preceding yet greater change soon to
come. -f
A hundred years ago, Spain was still a great
power, though then in her decline. The empire
of the greater part Of the New World was hers.
Its gaIleons still filled the royal treasury at Ma
drid with gold from its mines.
A hundred years ago, a Bourbon still sat on
the throne Of France. The reign Of feudalism
and the degradation Of the masses seemed es-
tablished forever. AproHigate court, emuIating
the wickedness Of prOhigate King, Louis
Xv..) knew not that it was a merry making on
ground which would soon open and swallow it
up. 1t saw not the handwriting on IN y
of its chambers of revelry.
A hundred years ago, America was wilder
ness, peopled beyond the central line Of longi-
tude of the States of New. York and Pennsyl-
vania, only by traders and trappers. Pittsburgh
was French trading post. Lake Erie was a
French inland sea. The Indian and the buffalo
roamed along the Mississippi, whose lakes apd
rivers sometimes reflected for moment the
wandering faces Of the Jesuit missionary and
the French trader. Much less than hundred
years aso-in 1853, we believe-Lord Hillsbor-
ough, the English Colonial Secretary, issued an
order prohibiting the extension of English set
Elements beyond the AlIeghenies.
What revolutions has the last century wit
ncssedI 1t has seen the most magnificent con-
quest made in India the world ever saw, and it
now sees the conquerors trembling in the palace.
It has seen America peopled, England reformed
of many abuses, the Bourbons expelled from
France. France revolutionized, and greatest Of
all, the coming of New World into being
1t has seen an obscure Corsican rising to the
virtual dictatorship OF Europe, humbling in the
dust the crowned heads of dynasties of thou
sand years, and taking to wife daughter OF the
Casars. Il has seen the rise of great repub-
lican empire, founded on the principles of eter-
nal Justice, more glorious than Rome in the
palmiest days Of her vast dominion, whose foun-
ding struck the knell Of aristocratic rule, and
preIuded the triumph of democratic principles
the world over. Last and best Of all the chan
ges il has witnessed, it has seen the masses ev-
eryvhere awaking to sense of their rights and
becoming a great power, whose good will even
despots court. Bayonets ruled the world hun
dred years ago. Public opinion rules IL now
That is the difference between 1857 and 1851.