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The Story of Mankind [3]

By Root 2217 0
WANDERINGS. THE EUROPEAN WORLD

HAD GROWN TOO SMALL FOR THEIR AMBITIONS. IT WAS THE

TIME OF THE GREAT VOYAGES OF DISCOVERY

42. CONCERNING BUDDHA AND CONFUCIUS

43. THE PROGRESS OF THE HUMAN RACE IS BEST COMPARED TO A

GIGANTIC PENDULUM WHICH FOREVER SWINGS FORWARD AND

BACKWARD. THE RELIGIOUS INDIFFERENCE AND THE ARTISTIC

AND LITERARY ENTHUSIASM OF THE RENAISSANCE WERE FOLLOWED

BY THE ARTISTIC AND LITERARY INDIFFERENCE AND THE

RELIGIOITS ENTHUSIASM OF THE REFORMATION

44. THE AGE OF THE GREAT RELIGIOUS CONTROVERSIES

45. HOW THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN THE DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS

AND THE LESS DIVINE BUT MORE REASONABLE RIGHT OF

PARLIAMENT ENDED DISASTROUSLY FOR KING CHARLES II

46. IN FRANCE, ON THE OTHER HAND, THE DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS

CONTINUED WITH GREATER POMP AND SPLENDOR THAN EVER

BEFORE AND THE AMBITION OF THE RULER WAS ONLY TEMPERED

BY THE NEWLY INVENTED LAW OF THE BALANCE OF POWER

47. THE STORY OF THE MYSTERIOUS MUSCOVITE EMPIRE WHICH SUDDENLY

BURST UPON THE GRAND POLITICAL STAGE OF EUROPE

48. RUSSIA AND SWEDEN FOUGHT MANY WARS TO DECIDE WHO

SHALL BE THE LEADING POWER OF NORTHEASTERN EUROPE

49. THE EXTRAORDINARY RISE OF A LITTLE STATE IN A DREARY PART

OF NORTHERN GERMANY, CALLED PRUSSIA

50. HOW THE NEWLY FOUNDED NATIONAL OR DYNASTIC STATES OF

EUROPE TRIED TO MAKE THEMSELVES RICH AND WHAT WAS

MEANT BY THE MERCANTILE SYSTEM

51. AT THE END OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY EUROPE HEARD

STRANGE REPORTS OF SOMETHING WHICH HAD HAPPENED IN

THE WILDERNESS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN CONTINENT. THE

DESCENDANTS OF THE MEN WHO HAD PUNISHED KING CHARLES

FOR HIS INSISTENCE UPON HIS DIVINE RIGHTS ADDED A

NEW CHAPTER TO THE OLD STORY OF THE STRUGGLE FOR SELF-

GOVERNMENT

62. THE GREAT FRENCH REVOLUTION PROCLAIMS THE PRINCIPLES

OF LIBERTY, FRATERNITY AND EQUALITY UNTO All THE PEOPLE

OF THE EARTH

53. NAPOLEON

54. AS SOON AS NAPOLEON HAD BEEN SENT TO ST. HELENA, THE

RULERS WHO SO OFTEN HAD BEEN DEFEATED BY THE HATED

CORSICAN MET AT VIENNA AND TRIED TO UNDO THE MANY

CHANCES WHICH HAD BEEN BROUGHT ABOUT BY THE FRENCH

REVOLUTION

55. THEY TRIED TO ASSURE THE WORLD AN ERA OF UNDISTURBED

PEACE BY SUPPRESSING ALL NEW IDEAS. THEY MADE THE

POLICE-SPY THE HIGHEST FUNCTIONARY IN THE STATE AND

SOON THE PRISONS OF AIL COUNTRIES WERE FILLED WITH

THOSE WHO CLAIMED THAT PEOPLE HAVE THE RIGHT TO

GOVERN THEMSELVES AS THEY SEE FIT

56. THE LOVE OF NATIONAL INDEPENDENCE, HOWEVER, WAS TOO

STRONG TO BE DESTROYED IN THIS WAY. THE SOUTH AMERICANS

WERE THE FIRST TO REBEL AGAINST THE REACTIONARY

MEASURES OF THE CONGRESS OF VIENNA. GREECE AND BELGIUM

AND SPAIN AND A LARGE NUMBER OF OTHER COUNTRIES

OF THE EUROPEAN CONTINENT FOLLOWED SUIT AND THE

NINETEENTH CENTURY WAS FILLED WITH THE RUMOR OF MANY

WARS OF INDEPENDENCE

57. BUT WHITE THE PEOPLE OF EUROPE WERE FIGHTING FOR THEIR

NATIONAL INDEPENDENCE, THE WORLD IN WHICH THEY LIVED

HAD BEEN ENTIRELY CHANGED BY A SERIES OF INVENTIONS,

WHICH HAD MADE THE CLUMSY OLD STEAM-ENGINE OF THE

EIGHTEENTH CENTURY THE MOST FAITHFUL AND EFFICIENT

STAVE OF MAN

58. THE NEW ENGINES WERE VERY EXPENSIVE AND ONLY PEOPLE

OF WEALTH COULD AFFORD THEM. THE OLD CARPENTER OR

SHOEMAKER WHO HAD BEEN HIS OWN MASTER IN HIS LITTLE

WORKSHOP WAS OBLIGED TO HIRE HIMSELF OUT TO THE OWNERS

OF THE BIG MECHANICAL TOOLS, AND WHITE HE MADE

MORE MONEY THAN BEFORE, HE LOST HIS FORMER INDEPENDENCE

AND HE DID NOT LIKE THAT

59. THE GENERAL INTRODUCTION OF MACHINERY DID NOT BRING

ABOUT THE ERA OF HAPPINESS AND PROSPERITY WHICH HAD

BEEN PREDICTED BY THE GENERATION WHICH SAW THE STAGE

COACH REPLACED BY THE RAILROAD. SEVERAL REMEDIES

WERE SUGGESTED, BUT NONE OF THESE QUITE SOLVED THE

PROBLEM

60. BUT THE WORLD HAD UNDERGONE ANOTHER CHANGE WHICH WAS

OF GREATER IMPORTANCE THAN EITHER THE POLITICAL OR THE

INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTIONS. AFTER GENERATIONS OF OPPRESSION

AND PERSECUTION, THE SCIENTIST HAD AT LAST
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