ius_. I. 28.

NINETEENTH CENTURY EUROPE

NOTE.

"Nineteenth Century Europe" was written by Mr. Cramb for the _Daily
News_ Special Number for December 31st, 1900. In it he presents a
survey of the political events and tendencies throughout Europe during
the nineteenth century. He outlines the development of the New German
Empire from the war against Napoleon down to the days of Bismarck and
Wilhelm II, and shows how the Russian general Skobeleff, the hero of
Plevna and the Schipka Pass, foretold over thirty years ago the present
death-struggle between Teuton and Slav in Eastern Europe. The future
_roles_ of France, Italy, and Spain are also clearly indicated by the
author.

NINETEENTH CENTURY EUROPE

I

DOMINION OF THE IDEAL OF LIBERTY

In Europe, as the year 1800 dragged to its bloody close, and the fury
of the conflict between the Monarchies and the Revolution was for a
time stilled on the fields of Marengo and Hohenlinden, men then, as
now, discussed the problems of the relation of a century's end to the
determining forces of human history; then, as now, men remarked half
regretfully, half mockingly, how pallid had grown the light which once
fell from the years of Jubilee of mediaeval or Hebrew times; and then,
as now, critics of a lighter or more positive vein debated the question
whether the coming year were the first or second of the new century,
pointing out that between the last year of a century and man's destiny
there could be no intimate connection, that all the eras were equally
arbitrary, equally determined by local or accidental calculations, that
the century which was closing over the Christian world had but run half
its course to the Mohammedan. Yet in one deep enough matter the mood
of the Europe of 1800 differs significantly from the mood of the Europe
of 1900. Whatever the division in men's minds as to the relation
between the close of the century and a race's history, and the precise
moment at which the old century ends and the new begins, one thing in
1800 was radiantly clear to all men--the glory and the wonder, the
endless peace and felicity not less endless, which the opening century
and the new age dimly portended or securely promised to humanity. The
desert march of eighteen hundred years was ended; the promised land was
in sight. The poet's voice from the Cumberland hills, "Bliss was it in
that dawn to be alive" traversed the North Sea, and beyond the Rhine
w