inces were divided among the plunderers and the last
fragment of her independence was extinguished.[17]

In Haiti also there was a rebellion. The negroes of the island rose
against their Spanish masters and drove them into exile. Toussaint
Louverture, often regarded as the greatest hero of his race, led the
insurgents victoriously against both Spanish and English forces, and
finally with French help established the independence of Haiti as a
negro republic. He became administrator as well as warrior. After a few
successful years he was treacherously seized and held prisoner by
Napoleon; but the monument he had erected for himself, the "Black
Republic," continued and still continues to exist.[18]

In a period so tumultuous as was this quarter-century, one could scarce
expect that the world would make much progress in science. Men were too
intent on sterner things. There was, however, just before the beginning
of the French Revolution, one event which to a future generation may
seem more important even than to us. Aerial navigation began. The first
successful balloon ascension was made by the Montgolfier brothers, and
the sport became for a while a Parisian fad.[19] Still more noteworthy
was the employment of vaccination as a preventive against smallpox. The
system was introduced in England by Jenner in 1798, and its use spread
rapidly over Europe. More recently it has been employed against other
diseases as well, and the resultant increase in the general health of
mankind is beyond computation.[20]

FORMATION OF THE UNITED STATES

Meanwhile America, the source or at least the partial source of all this
republican tumult, was having difficulties of her own. The peace after
Yorktown left her exhausted. The Articles of Confederation which had
sufficed to hold the colonies together under the stress of their great
necessity, had proven insufficient to give any real unity. Each little
colony was jealous of its own power as an independent State: and for a
time it seemed as if they must disband, that America must become like
Europe, divided into a collection of separate ever-jarring States,
devastated by constant wars.

That this was not our own country's fate, we owe to Washington. Our
saviour in war, he became also our saviour in peace. After watching
through some years of this disorganization, he emerged from the peaceful
retirement of his country home, to urge that some means be taken to form
a more perfect union. It