The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1901-01-01
The Past Centur,

be well to depart Tor once from the custom
which The Sun has followed since 1879.
and, instead of attempting TO forecast
the events OF the coming twelvemonth.
10 look back on the political changes Of
the last hundred years.
Centuries have a philosophical. as we'll a.
q chronological. starting point. The eish-
teenth century, for instance. began In
1893, when WILLIAM the Dutchman landed
In England. and thereby acquired the re-
sources needed to limit the aggrandize-
ment OF France. The nineteenth century
dawned in 1880. when the French States
General. which had not been convoked
since the reign of Louis Kill. assembled
at Versailles. To measure the political
progress which has been witnessed since
the States General were transformed into
a National Assembly we should recall the
conditions which then obtained In most
OF the civilized parts of the world.
Excepting the newborn American repub-
lie, the territory now comprised in the
Swiss Confederation and hat section Of the
Netherlands which enjoyed independence
under the name of the United Provinces,
there did not exist In 1880 upon the earth
u pOlly Wnltl IdHly 'DNiu " t'e'ilp'''
az an example Of free institutions Even
the three exceptions mentioned were far
from being pure democraCies. In the
United States when the Federal Govern
ment created by the Constitution went
into operation in 1850, a considerable irac-
ton Of the inhabitants were slaves. while.
as regards the whites, there were property
restrictions of the franchise. In Switzer-
land, only the forest cantons were truly
democratic: Geneva was in the hands of
an aristocracy; the affairs Of the cOnfed-
Grafton were mainly controlled by a Bernese
oliQarchy. In the seven United Provinces
the sceptre of political ascendancy had long
oscillated between the representatives Of
the House Of Orange and the patrician
burghers Of Amsterdam. In England
only a small section Of the population pos
sessed the suffrage, and cherished the
delusion that 1t was self-governing. In
1889 political power was there divide
between the sovereign on the one hand,
and the noble. or opulent. owners Of rotton
boroughs on the other. and since 1874
the royal prerogative, personifed In
WILLIAM PITT. seemed to have acquired
predominance.
Nowhere else in the Old World
or the New was even the semblance Of
autonomy conceded to the masses Of the
people. France was still subservient to
the principle formulated by LOUIS XIV.
when he said The state. tbs L. and
the utmost that could be said for her ad-
illustrative system was that Its absoluttsm
was sometimes tempered by epigrams,
The Bourbon monarchs OF Spain and
Naples knew no Constitutional curb on
their caprice. and the small Italian prtn-
Qualities were so many petty daspotsms,
Central Europe was still haunted by the
ghost Of the Holy Roman Empire. which.
as It has been justly said, had long ceased
to be either holy. Roman or imperial. In
the Hapsburg domlnions. in Prussia and
In the lesser German States there was.
a. yet. no recognition Of popular rights,
and even In most Protestant countries
religious liberty was trammelled by the
maxim that subjects were bound to adopt
their rulers creed. The Government Of
Russia was an Oriental autocracy check
cred by assassination A thin veneer
Of Western culture had been l~aboriously
spread by the Empress CATHERINE ii.
over a people which was still essentially
barbarian. The fairest lands Of south
eastern Europe-Bosnia. the Herzegovina,
Servia. wallaohia. Moldavia. Bulgaria.
Eastern Roumelia, Thessaly and Greece
were still ~mishandled by the Ottoman
Turk. Egypt was exploited by the Name
lukes, and the rest Of North Africa was
divided among tho eo-called Barbary
States, some of which paid a nominal al
leRianoe to the Caliph ct Constantinople.
while all were engaged In piratical raids
upon Christian commerce In the Mediter-
ranean. In India although II had been
settled that Englishmen. and not French
men. we're TO be masters Of the vast PENN
sula, the future A~nglo-Indian Empire existed
only in the germ. or In the ardent aspira-
tons Of men Like OLIVE and HASTINGS.
Most Of the rioh Possessions in the East.
OF which Portugal had ono. been mistress.
had been wrenohed from her by the Dutch.
and the Dutch themsel ves were decadent
Both China and Japan, which. formerly.
had welcomed the Christian missionary
and the Christian merchant. were now
firmly sealed against the foreigner. only
the Portuguese being permitted b keep
Macao, and the Dutch TO retain a trading
station at NagasakL
II we turn to the New World. we fnd
that Florida. which had been acquired by
England in 1898. had been retroceded
to Spain. that the whole Of the west bank
Of the Mississippi River and OF the i'm
mense Louisiana Territory was controlled
by the last-named Power In 1879. though
il would soon be retroceded to France,
and that, from the confines Of what We
now call Oregon 10 the Straits OF Magellan.
all the mainland OF the New World. with
the exception of some Insignificant French
and Dutch settlements in Guiana, was
under the Sutocratic sway Of the Kings Of
Spain and Portugal.
II Is hard, in truth. even for those who
possess the historical Imagination. to oom-
prehend how hopeless seemed the PROSPECTS
Of those rights of man, proclaimed by some
weak English colonies IN their declaration
OF independence. 10 HIM VINO scanned the
political hunlon IN the year l7sa, when
the nineteenth century was really born.
Let us pass To the next epoch-mskina
year, lsyU Tho United States had been