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


invaders, leaving no fewer than 1900
Italians dead upon the field Of battle.
On the Guinea coast England and France
have found themselves compelled reepec-
lively TO chastise the native rulers OF Ashan-
tee and Dahomey. Hostilities, too, have
been almost continuous In the territories
OF the British Royal Niger Company. and
throughout the French sphere OF influence
which lies Immediately south OF the Sahara
and stretches from Senegal past Timbuctoo
to Lake Tchad. Neither has the open
ing Of the interior OF the Dark Continent
through the discovery OF the sources OF
the Nile, the tracing OF the Congo and its
tributaries, and the subsequent, tounda-
ton Of British. French. Belgian and Ger
man protectorates In tracts previously
unknown. been accomplished without much
bloodshed In South Africa the exodus
OF Beers from the Cape Colony. which had
first aimed at Natal. was subsequently
diverted 10 the territory north of the Orange
River. and. ultimately. TO the region lying
beyond the Wal. The commonwealth
established in the Transvaal was annexed
by England in 1877 against the will OF the
inhabitants. but In the popular uprising
which followed three years later the British
arms suffered calamitous reverses. and the
treaty concluded in 1881 recognized the
qualified Independence OF the South African
Republic, while still ampler concessions were
secured by a subsequent convention. 1t
is fresh in remembrance how in October,
1899. the Pretoria Government. convinced
that the British Colonial Office meditated
n-.aaa,.,a ,,,,an Zee a,tnp,pr formal
an alliance with the Orange Free State,
invaded Natal and there or elsewhere
gained such remarkable triumphs. that
England was obliged to place upward Of
two hundred thousand soldiers in South
/ Africa, and TO accept assistance from India
and from her Colonies. Even now. on the
first day of the twentieth century it is
impossible to assert, Notwithstanding the
vast d~isproportion Of forces, that the Beers
are a s%ubiugated people.
In the New World. not 10 speak Of innu-
merable rebellions and revolutions, or Of the
violent conversion OF the Brazilian Empire
into a republic, there have been during the
last thirty years three wars. Of which one
at least was Of far-reaching, and as yet. in
~calculable import. We refer. first. to the
joint invasion Of Paraguay by the forces Of
Brazil and Argentina. an invasion which
in spite of sturdy and prolonged resistance
to overwhelming odds. resulted In the parti-
ton OF a large part Of the ~ParaRuayan ter
ritory among Its irresistible assallants.
Secondly. 10 the contest between Chill on
the one hand and Peru and Bolivia on the
other. a contest in which Chill demonstrated
a marked superiority both on land and sea,
and which gave her. not only the nitrate
fields Of Tarapaca. but also provisional pos
session Of the provinces OF Tacna and africa,
II has since been evident that Argentina
only could contest with Chill the hegeinony
of the Spanish-speaking nations in South
America.
The war between the United States and
Spain will receive from the future historian
, incomparably more attention than either
of tn. conflicts just named. not only because
il cost the Spanish monarchy the last rem
nants of It's once enormous empire In the
New World, but because II committed the
great American republic. which. hitherto.
had seemed TO shrink from acquiring trans
marine dependencies, to "a colonial policy
OF in~deterninate proportions II measure
lfN0 ~ ht' 'N'l' 80 w.
took, when we annexed the Philippines.
may bo likened to that taken by the Romans
when they conquered Sicily and crossed
the Adriatic. The step may have been in
evitable, but not the less momentous was
the outcome for il converted Rome from
the head of q Housekeeping Italian
confeieracy into "A world-goyernng
Power. There were Romans, as there
have been Americans. who could not
recognize the finger Of destiny or
foresee the grandeur of their national mis-
sion. When we consider the unparagoned
multiplication Of our population since the
beginning of the nineteenth cent4Sy and the
still more phenomenal growth $our pecu-
mary resources. n growth whiSn presently,
will mako New York the banking centre Of
the world, we cannot pretend 10 forecast
the influence which will be exertcd a hun
dred years hence by the United States over
the inhabitants OF this planet.
Turning from the record OF wars TO the
victories 81 peace and progress. We must
credit to the last three decades Of the nine
teenth century achievements no less nem-
orable and fecund than were those of the
preceding epoch In the United States
we have witnessed a cyclopean expansion
and "A thaumaturgic Improvement Of our
railway system. one trunk line after an
other linking the Pacific with the Atlantic,
or the Great Lakes with the Gulf of Mexico;
we have seen steel rails take the place of
iron upon nearly every rOadbed; We have
seen luxury superseie discomfort in pas
senger accommodations; We have seen
freight cars enlarged To an unprecedented
! size and equipped with unmatched facilities
for the conveyance OF perishable merchan-
disc. We have. also. seen electricity. which
had been used for the telegraph alone IN
the middle section of the century. sup
plant steam and horse power ~ a motor,
and gas a. an Illuminating agency. and.
finally, achieve the seeming miracles Of
the telephone and the phonograph. We
have beheld the substitution of iron or
steel steamships for wooden sailing vessels.
not only in the transportation Of paSsen-
gers. hu., to a very large extent, in the
carriage of carRoes "a well. We have
thus come to understand that the principal
and long-enduring cause Of our failure
To recover the ocean carrying trade, which
,ra nosaeSsal in the Nfties. has been due