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

uprising Oh teTfnan yOuths hhu, APpoioh'iy'
succumbed to dishlusion and to hope de-
ferred. 1t is true that the spectre Of the
Holy Roman Empire had been exercised
by NAPOLEON, but the Confederation.
which replaced II, was II and impotont.
and the Frankfort Diet was merely a puppet
In the hands OF METTERNICH.
In Spain the attempt OF a resuscitated
Cortes to regain the ancient liberties OF
CASTLE and Aragon had been brought to
naught by French invaders willing to exc
| cute the mandate OF the Verona Congress.
and absolutism and blgotry were enthronod
once more at Madrid. Poland, almost the
whole Of which had been given to Russla
by the Congress Of Vienna. had been notion
less for fifteen years. but she was now
beginning to stir under her shackles. and
the Cars resources would yet be strained
before order would .eign at Warsaw.
We come TO France. At the beginning OF
1890 she seemed to have lost nearly every
thing which she had won by an endless
outpour Of life and wealth in the preceding
forty years. The French nation. which,
under NAPOLEON, had seen It's sway ex-
tended from the Elbe to the Straits OF
Messina, and from Dalmaia TO Portugal,
now found its boundaries curtailed from
| those even of the ancien regime, Its colonial
empire, which once Wed with Englands.
had shrunk to tn pitiful heritage Of Pondi-
cherry in India. a strip Of pestiferous marsh
land In Guiana and a few West Indian
islands. Its armies. which had entered
every capital OF Christian Europe south
= ~ Dalai k.I ,,At l..,, ahlA To ahIalD
Paris from two occupations by the for
eiRner. The liberty. equality, fraternity, AZ
which the French Republic had aimed. had
become bywords or laughing stocks, or
the Constitutional franchises. for which. at
the outset Of the Restoration. France had
seemed almost willing to exchange even
glory, there remained hardly a yestige under
the last reacuonary Ministry OF CHARLIE
X. Yet the year 1890 was to witness an
Irresistible popular uphaava. which was
to replace the LORDS anointed by the
choice OF the peoples representatives In
the person Of a King Of the French.
The second of the three epochs. into
which the nineteenth century may be di-
vided from a political viewpoint, ended In
1870 During those four decades were
wrought changes Scarcely less impressive
and more durable than those of the Ma
/ p~oleonic period. In the United States
were witnessed the annexation Of Texas,
the war with Mexico and the acquisition
Of New Mexico and California, the dis
| covery Of enormous stores of the precious
metals in the last-named territory. a tre-
mendous inflow Of immigrants due to the
Irish famine and to the revolutionary
troubles in Germany. and the expansion
of our mercantile marine TO a point at
which in the middle of the ffties II seemed
destined To depose Great Britain from the
sovereignty of the seas. Meanwhile. how
ever, HENRY CLAy's attempt TO avert a
rupture Of the Union by the conclliatory
measures embodied In the Compromise Of
1850 had been frustrated by the passage
Of the Nebraska bill and sectional antipathy
had been alarmingiy aggravated by the
" crime against Kansas" on the one hand.
and by JOHN Browns raid into Virginia
on the other. When IN 1850 the Democracy
refused 70 make STEPHEN A. DorGLAs
the nominee of the whole party for the
Presidency. and ABRAHAM LINCOLN, "A
illllipllNN 'hllNiiAhN's w" 'fNN'is " '''
plain enough that the dreaded collision
between the sections could not he long
/ deferred, and within six months the seces-
sion Of the Gllf States was followed by
the attack upon Fort Sumter. and the Civil
War began. During the quadrennial
struggle tina ensued. European oniookers.
not only applauded the logged persis-
tency and skill OF the chief
commander on each side, but beheld with
awe the Seemingly exhsustless resources
of the Northern States. which showed
themselves capable OF maintaining in the
field a lar ger body OF soldiers thar the earth
had ever seen assembled, If we dismiss
as fabulous the tales concerning the forces
levied by the Achemenid Kings Of Persia.
A problem scarcely less rgent and diff
Quilt than hat which had been solved by
war was pressed upon American states
men by the existence Of millions of sud
! denly ~emancipated slaves. and. whatever
view may be taken Of the sol ton adopted.
il cannot be denied that the perplexities
and anXieties attending the effort to en-
| force the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amend
ment, Of the Constitution have byno means
passed away.
We should here note a fact which
diferentiates the epoch which closed in
1870 from that which Just oame to an
| End: the fact, namely, that. beholding Us
disband our armies and dismantle our
warships, the European peoples recovered
from the SILVER of apprehension with which
they had recognized in 1893 that the United
States we're temporarily. not only the
greatest military. but the greatest naval
power upon the globe.
IL WAS in the fou decades ending In
1870 that England may be said 10 have
touched tho acme of her greatness. if we
consider her political n economical
achievements. not only with an eye to
their absolute magnitude. but relatively
TO those Of other Powers. In conjunction
with France she had BUNDLED Russia.
She had twice chastised the Afghans. In
India she had s.gnally extended her pos
sessions towa.d the northwest. and she
had shown herself capable Of putting down
an appalling mutihy. She had shut on
what was left Of independent Burmah
from the sea. She had engaged in two
wan with China. in the first OF which she
had held Canton to ransom. acquired Hong
Kong and compelled the opening OF five