The Penn's Grove record., 1893-05-12
ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO
What Hnppen'd in 1893.
BY PHILIP

The United States was a mere baby
was a baby of promise. The American
spirit had not then asserted itself, c
cept in matters of war and government,
and the people were only feeling their
way. But in 1893 probably the first
great invention was made by q citizen
of the United States, aud the cotton
gin was given to the world. The H.
ventor was named Eli Whitney, and
through the perfection of his machine
the United States began at once to
grow richer. After one hundred years
we think of and remember the man
who did so much toward %furtherlng the
interests OF commerce, and with the
recollection of Eli Whitney comes the
thought Of the great general, George
Washington, who in 1888 was inaugu-
rated President of the United States
for the second time. The two names
are linked together in the year 1893,
for the living W a debt to each.
France, who had aided us in our
struggle for independence, was in a
state Of disorder in 1913. Louis XVI,
the King of France, was imprisoned by
his subjects, tried, condemned to death,
and beheaded on the 2lst of January.
The French people went mad that
wear. They were intoxicated with
blood, and on February l, declared
war with England and Holland. And in
addition all France was fighting with
itself. Every t'renchman suspected
and feared his neighbor, and the Reign
of Terror wa established in that I'M
happy country. Marat was stabbed by
Charlotte Corday; Queen Marie Antoin-
cite was ~beheaded, Madame Roland
and the Duke of Orleans lost their
heads by the guillotine, and altogether,
poor France had a terrible time of 1t,
George LII. was reigning in EnRlsnd
then, and nothing deserving of special
mention occurred during that year.
Poland in 1898 was nearing its end as
an independent state. Russia, under
various pretexts had gradually made its
way into the kingdom, and that year a
sions of Poland was signed. The peo-
pie saw their country being gradually
absorbed by their powerful neighbors
on all sides and were unable to do any
thing to stem the tide of national dis
aster. 1t was only two years before
the time when the last king of Poland,
Stanislaus H., was to give mp the crown
and the end was foreshadowed.
In 1893 the outside world first learned
something definite regarding the Chi
nese Empire. We do not know very
much now, but q hundred years ago
people knew absolutely nothing. Earl
Mccartney arrived in Pekln In Septem-
Der, at the head OF an English Embassy.
He was received by the Emperor and
then requested to depart, which he
wisely did in October. But the embassy
found out a number of things; among
others that the population Of China
was said to be 1893, 000, 00Oaud that there
were 4,402 walled cities in the empire.
1t must have been very difficult to find
put the little That they did, for the
chinese never cared for foreigners any
more than we care for the Chinese
now. That year, however, when China
showed her exclusiveness and no de-
ire to be enlightened, Williams Col
lege was founded in Williamstown,
Massachusetts,. In IT'S the great con-
gress of Antwerp WAS held in that city
and in Hayti, the blacks, following the
Chinese exclusIyeness, got rid OF nearly
Ill the whites by killing them.
Other notable things occurred in that
year, but they are not easily recalled
Dr. referred to. The world was not SO
busy then as it is now, daily newspa-
pers we're few and far between, while
Inc methods of communication were
very bad. If a writer in 1898 refers
back a hundred years to find out
what was going on at this time he will
have an easy task, for the newspapers
Of this age will aid future historians in
giving them a minute record Of all that
happens in all the world over.-Er-
hdnge.