Part 38 (1/2)
B. Dr. Jameson.
C. Capt. Coventry.
D. Sir J. Willoughby.
_R. Caton Woodville._} {_By permission of the Artist, and of Messrs.
Graves, publishers of the Photogravure._
DR. JAMESON'S RAID: THE LAST STAND OF THE INVADERS, NEAR KRUGERSDORP, January 2, 1896.]
[Sidenote: The Venezuelan Dispute.]
While the trouble with the Transvaal was still pending, there came a still more formidable surprise from a quarter whence it was little expected. A controversy between Great Britain and the insignificant South American Republic of Venezuela had been dragging its course for many years on the subject of a disputed frontier between the latter country and British Guiana. Suddenly, on December 17, President Cleveland startled the world by a message to Congress declaring that the action of the British Government in this matter was an infringement of the Monroe doctrine; that it was the duty of Congress to resist the infringement of that doctrine, and that a Commission should be appointed by the Executive to examine and report on the rights of the case. Then, continued the President, it would be ”the duty of the United States to resist by every means in its power, as a wilful aggression upon its rights and interests, the appropriation by Great Britain of any lands which, after investigation, may be determined of right to belong to Venezuela.”
This was open menace, and it required the utmost forbearance on the part of the British Cabinet to avoid precipitating a conflict. Finally, the question of the Venezuelan Frontier was referred to arbitration, and diplomacy seems in a fair way to earn one of its best merited triumphs.
[Ill.u.s.tration: _Chevalier de Martino._} {_From the Royal Collection._
THREE GENERATIONS AFLOAT.
To the right is the Queen's steam yacht _Victoria and Albert_; in the centre the Prince of Wales's _Britannia_; and to the left the German Emperor's _Meteor_.]
CHAPTER XVIII.
Material Progress during the Reign--Modern Locomotion--The Bicycle--Motor Carriages--The Proposed Channel Tunnel--Steam Navigation--Ironclads--The Telephone--The Phonograph--Electricity as an Illuminant--Photography--Its Effect on Painting and Engraving--Victorian Architecture--Absence of Principle in Design--Universal Education--Its Effect on Moral Character and Literary Habits--The Predominance of Fiction--The Growth and Character of British Journalism--The Advance of Natural Science--Surgery and Medicine--Vaccination--Antiseptic and Aseptic Treatment--Bacteriology--The Rontgen Rays--Sanitary Legislation--Conclusion.
[Sidenote: Material Progress during the Reign.]
Allusion has been made in earlier chapters to the development during the reign of Queen Victoria of the powers of steam applied to locomotion, of electricity applied to the conveyance of news, to the inst.i.tution of the penny post, and to the invention of anaesthetics in surgery. But no survey, however brief, would be satisfactory which took no note of a few other stages in the progress of applied knowledge--progress which, up to the present moment, shows no sign of slackening.
[Ill.u.s.tration: _From a Photograph_} {_by F. W. Burgess, Ringmer._
AN EARLY BICYCLE.
This is probably the earliest Bicycle seen in England; it was made in 1868 by Mr. W. F. Martin.]
[Sidenote: Modern Locomotion.]
First, as to locomotion: when Sir Walter Scott was writing the opening chapters of the ”Heart of Midlothian,” in 1818, he referred to the wonderful development of facilities for travel, and may have thought he was exceeding the limits of the probable when he penned the sentence: ”Perhaps the echoes of Ben Nevis may soon be awakened by the bugle, not of a warlike chieftain, but of the guard of a mail coach.” Scott was by no means deficient in imaginative power, but the maximum speed he can have contemplated was ten miles an hour, for the standard of speed in those days was the pace of a horse (we still reckon the strength of our engines at so many ”horse” power). What would he think now, were it possible for him to take his seat in a luxurious saloon and be whirled round the flanks of Ben Nevis, along the West Highland Railway? Eleven years after the publication of the ”Heart of Midlothian” a compet.i.tion of locomotives was held on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, and the prize was taken by Messrs. Stephenson's ”Rocket.” Weighing 7 tons 9 cwts., this engine was able to draw a load of 9 tons 10 cwts. at an average speed of thirteen miles an hour. One of the first-cla.s.s express engines on the London and North-Western line at the present day weighs 77 tons 2 cwts., and draws a load of 160 tons, at an average speed of forty-seven miles an hour.
[Sidenote: The Bicycle.]
But it is not only by steam that the standard of speed in locomotion has been displaced. The invention and constant improvement of the bicycle has not only caused the rise of a most important industry in their manufacture (about half a million cycles are being turned out of the factories annually, representing a value of at least 5,000,000), but it has supplied a means of locomotion of incalculable convenience to persons of all cla.s.ses and of both s.e.xes. This invention must be reckoned a great boon, not only as a means of recreation to persons in crowded towns, to whom the cycle affords easy access to the country, but also to working-men living at a distance from their employment.
[Sidenote: Motor Carriages.]
With respect to the mechanical propulsion of carriages along ordinary streets and highways, stringent regulations were in force until 1896, under which such carriages were not permitted to travel at a higher speed than four miles an hour. But the invention of ”motor” carriages, propelled by steam, gas, oil, or electricity, convinced the authorities that these restrictions should be relaxed. This accordingly was done by Act of Parliament, and their removal was celebrated, on November 14, 1896, by the excursion of a number of horseless carriages from London to Brighton. Evil weather marred the display, nevertheless large numbers of persons turned out to witness it. It is too early to predict the extent to which horses may be displaced by motor carriages, but it can scarcely be doubtful that their obvious imperfections will yield to the ingenuity of inventors, so as to render them at least dangerous rivals to the old kind of equipage.