Sixty Years a Queen Part 38

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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: GEORGE STEPHENSON, 1781-1848.

Railway Engineer. Born at Wylam, Northumberland. Son of a colliery fireman. Constructed his first locomotive in 1814. Planned and constructed the first railways--Stockton and Darlington, 1815-25, Liverpool and Manchester, 1825-30. Was chief engineer to most of the lines constructed until 1840, when he retired, leaving his business to his son Robert.]

[Sidenote: The Proposed Channel Tunnel.]

Before leaving the subject of terrestrial locomotion, allusion must be made to the project of carrying a tunnel under the Straits of Dover to the French coast, to enable trains to be run without interruption from Great Britain to the Continent. The tunnel, the favourite scheme of Sir Edward Watkin, Chairman of the South-Eastern Railway, was begun some years ago, and was actually carried for several hundred yards under the sea. But the strategic advantages of an island realm are too substantial to be sacrificed by the creation of a highway, command of which would certainly be insisted on by any Power or combination of Powers which, in the future, might overcome Great Britain in arms.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _From a Photograph_} {_by permission of Curzon, Robey & Co._

THE MOTOR-CAR PARADE, November 14, 1896: THE START FROM THE HOTEL METROPOLE.]

[Sidenote: Steam Navigation.]

[Sidenote: Ironclads.]

Turning now to locomotion by sea, or navigation, steam had been applied to the propulsion of vessels as early as 1802, and its use had been gradually extended till, in 1835, the first steamer with mails for Egypt and India was despatched from Falmouth; but it was not until the second year of the present reign, 1838, that the first vessel entirely propelled by steam crossed the Atlantic. Greatly as the appearance and strength of our mercantile marine fleet has been altered to meet the requirement of speed, a still greater contrast is presented in the construction of wars.h.i.+ps since the invention of rifled ordnance. When our Queen ascended the throne, the famous wooden walls of Old England were moved by sails alone. Greater speed was subsequently secured by the introduction of engine room to vessels of the old type, with paddles or screw-propellers. But experience proved how easily engines might be thrown out of gear by a single shot, a danger which grew more imminent with every fresh improvement in guns. Then began the long contest between armour-plating and projectiles: the armour had to be made thicker and ever thicker to resist the increasing weight and velocity of projectiles, until, by the reduction of masts and spars to the bare necessities of signalling, the submergence of the hull to reduce the vulnerable surface, the increase of engine s.p.a.ce, and the reduction of the armament to a few pieces of great power, our battles.h.i.+ps have lost almost all semblance of the fabrics which used to move in such stately manner under towers of canvas, and have acquired the character of floating forts. Still, Britannia rules the waves; her seamen, of whom it was predicted that the adoption of steam would deprive of their superiority, have no equals in the world; and her people have proved, by their enthusiasm in furnis.h.i.+ng the necessary funds, that they will endure almost any sacrifice rather than suffer the British Navy to be second in power to any other.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _J. C. Horsley, R.A._} {_National Portrait Gallery._

ISAMBARD K. BRUNEL, 1806-1859.

Son of Sir Marc Isambard Brunel, engineer of the Thames Tunnel. Designed the Clifton Suspension Bridge, the _Great Western_ (the first great ocean steamer) and the _Great Eastern_ (see page 38), and was engineer of the Great Western Railway.]

[Sidenote: The Telephone.]

The revolution in intercourse between distant places effected by the electric telegraph has been noticed already, but even that has been outdone in rapidity by later applications of the electric current; for, just as spoken language is swifter than written words, so the telephone has overcome the limits. .h.i.therto imposed by s.p.a.ce on conversation. It was a great marvel when, in 1852, the completion of a cable under the Channel rendered communication possible between London and Paris by means of a code of signals; but now statesmen and commercial men may discuss affairs confidentially by telephone; nay, a lover in Paris may listen with rapture to the very accents of his beloved lingering in London.

[Sidenote: The Phonograph.]

One of the most remarkable modifications of the telephone is Edison's phonograph, whereby the human voice and other sounds are recorded on a delicate membrane, which afterwards, for an indefinite period, is capable of being made to repeat or transmit these sounds. Future generations will be able thereby to listen to the actual voice and accents of the departed.

[Ill.u.s.tration: DRIVING THE TUNNEL FOR THE WATERLOO AND CITY RAILWAY.

The ill.u.s.tration represents the s.h.i.+eld which protects the excavators.

This is from time to time driven forward, and another section of the iron lining of the tunnel is inserted piece by piece between it and the sections already completed. Compressed air is used in that portion of the tunnel which is beneath the river to prevent the water entering. The Blackwall Tunnel, opened by the Prince of Wales, May 22, 1897, was constructed similarly.]

[Sidenote: Electricity as an Illuminant.]

Not the least important of the recent modes of employing electricity is its use as an illuminant. At the beginning of the reign the streets of London and other towns, as well as many of the houses, were lit by gas; though as late as fifteen years ago it was still the custom in some old-fas.h.i.+oned hotels to charge half-a-guinea for the use of a pair of wax candles. But the invention of an illuminant which neither exhausts nor pollutes the air breathed by human beings, nor involves risk of accidental conflagration, which is easily manageable and throws off no smoke and very little heat, has been one of the benefits conferred by science so characteristic of this age.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE BUILDING OF A WARs.h.i.+P: A FIRST-CLa.s.s CRUISER IN PROGRESS AT THE THAMES IRONWORKS.

These works occupy about 28 acres, and employ between three and four thousand workmen.]

[Sidenote: Photography.]