Edwin Emerson

“ If a Comet’s tail were dense enough, it is conceivable, therefore, that every human being on this planet might be asphyxiated by breathing the Comet’s poisonous vapour as the Earth plowed through it. There is also this possibility, suggested by Flammarion, that the gases of a very dense tail might so combine with the nitrogen which constitutes nearly 80 per cent. of the air we breathe, that the atmosphere would be converted into the “laughing gas” employed by dentists. The world would die in a delirium of joy. At first a delightful serenity would settle upon mankind. ”

“ When the news of the February Revolution in Paris reached Austria the Magyar Diet was in session in Hungary. The success of the revolutionists in Kossuth's appeal France inflamed the Liberal leaders in Hungary. Casting aside all reserve, Kossuth declared in the Diet: "From the charnel house of the Viennese system a poison-laden atmosphere steals over us. It would paralyze our nerves and pin us down when we might soar. The future of Hungary can never be secured while Austria maintains a system of government in direct antagonism to every constitutional principle. ”

“ International committees of astronomers meet daily to mark the approach of the Comet. Bulletins are published announcing the steadily dwindling distance between the world and the huge projectile in the sky. The great tail, arching the Heavens as the Comet approaches, seems like a mighty, fiery sword held in an unseen Titanic [Pg 121] hand and relentlessly sweeping down. The temples, churches and synagogues are thronged with supplicating multitudes on bended knees, in a catalepsy of terror. The stock exchanges, banks, shops and public institutions are deserted. Business is at a standstill. ”

“ And yet, in that country, there is land uncultivated to an extent almost incalculable—there is no established church, no privileged orders—property exists on a very different tenure from that on which it is held in this country; therefore let not the people of England be deceived, let them not imagine, from the example of the United States, that because democracy has succeeded and triumphed there, it will also succeed and triumph here. ”

“ This time the revolt grew to such proportions that the city had to be subjected to bombardment by artillery.
In the meanwhile a revolution of far more serious proportions had broken Spread of the revolution out at Paris. Successful from the start, the contagion of its example had spread from France to most of the various principalities of Germany, to Austria, Bohemia and Hungary, and thence to almost every quarter in Europe. Few other events afford so striking an illustration of the modern cosmopolitan spirit that had arisen in Europe during the first half of the Nineteenth Century. ”

“ That hairy Comet, that long streaming Star,
Which threatens Earth with Famine, Plague and War?”
—Sylvester. So long as the memory of man goes back, the appearance of a Comet has always been taken as a just cause for dread.
In the train of Comets, it has ever been held, come wars, bloodshed, fires, floods, plagues, famine and the fall of mighty rulers. ”

“ Had the Czar sent his troops into the Balkans immediately after he declared war, he might have struck a decisive blow before the Powers could come to the assistance of the Turks. But he had pledged himself not to cross the Danube when he met the Emperor of Austria at Olmütz, and again when he visited the King of Prussia in Berlin. Thus he had persuaded them to adopt a policy of neutrality. England and France now promised to give Turkey their armed support if the Czar persisted in his demands. ”

“ A Comet may be regarded as a huge lighted torch whirling through space, which may be brought dangerously near that upper layer of highly inflammable hydrogen. If the gas shall ever be touched off by this flying torch, our planet will be ignited. The whole atmosphere will become a seething ocean of flame, in which forests and cities will burn like straw, in which oceans will boil away in vast clouds of steam, and in which all animal life will be snuffed out of existence before it shall realize that the world is on fire. ”

“ Every day which A Napoleonic address passes enhances the dangers of the country. The Assembly, which ought to be the firmest support of order, has become a focus of conspiracies. The patriotism of three hundred of its members has been unable to check its fatal tendencies. Instead of making laws in the public interest it forges arms for civil war; it attacks the power which I hold directly from the People, it encourages all bad passions, it compromises the tranquillity of France ”

“ With the passing of the Comet to the Southern Hemisphere, bloody wars broke out one after another in Mexico, Cuba, Central America, Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru and Argentina. All those countries were in a welter of blood.
At the same time the American settlers of Texas declared themselves independent and made open war on Mexico. The war began with the bloody battle of Gonzales, in which 500 American frontiersmen fought and defeated over a thousand Mexican soldiers. ”

“ He declared that it was better for Austria, if necessary, to perish by war than by revolution. On the instant he assured to Russia the Metternich diplomacy support of Austria against the Poles, while he worked upon the fears of Louis Philippe by pointing to the presence of young Louis Bonaparte and his brother with the Italian insurgents. As a last resort he could always let loose upon France Napoleon's son, the Duke of Reichstadt, now growing to manhood at Vienna. ”

“ THE long seething discontent of the lower classes in Italy, fomented by the national aspirations of such radical leaders as Mazzini and Manin, had reached its culmination by this time. The centenary of the expulsion of the Austrians from Genoa had just been celebrated with such enthusiasm throughout central Italy that Austria was forewarned of the storm that was Revolution in Palermo about to burst. ”

“ But not unscathed; like the moth, the Comet has been singed. The fierce light of the Sun has beaten upon it, and spread out its particles and scattered them along its path.”
As a comet swings toward and away from the Sun, it travels at a tremendous rate of speed—over a million miles an hour. The distance covered from one end of the orbit to the other is 3,370,000,000 miles.
The great majority of Comets appear to travel in parabolas, open curves leading from infinite space to and around the Sun, and thence back into infinite space to some other fixed star invisible to us. ”

“ But with the governments who have declared their independence and maintained it, and whose independence we have, on great considerations and on just principles, acknowledged, we could not view any interposition for the purpose of oppressing them, or controlling in any other manner their destiny by any European power, in any other light than as the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward the United States. ”

“ When the Comet rushes on toward the Sun, invariably the tail drifts behind the nucleus like the smoke from a locomotive. But when the Comet swings around the Sun and travels away from it, a startling change takes place. ”

“ Henceforth the history of Latin America degenerated into an endless series of revolutions and counter-revolutions. The only real strength supplied to the various republican governments, so called, was that derived from strong personal characters, yielding one-man [Pg 763] power. General Mitré, the great statesman and Mitré's résumé historian of South America, has drawn up this striking résumé of the fate of the foremost leaders of Spanish American revolutions. Their story is the quintessence of the subsequent turbulent career of Latin America during the Nineteenth Century. ”

“ Already the outermost jets of flame had reached the Moon. From one instant to the next the flaming rays would descend upon the Earth.
All eyes were distended with horror when it was seen that the horizon was lighting up with tiny violet flames as from a vast fire.
An instant afterward, the Comet diminished in brilliancy. This was apparently because the Comet, upon touching the atmosphere of our [Pg 124] Earth, had come within the penumbra of our planet and had lost part of its reflected light coming from the Sun. But in reality this apparent extinction was the effect of contrast. ”

“ In England, the press fiercely attacked the faint-hearted politicians of the Turkish ultimatum Continent. Layard, the discoverer of the royal palaces of Nineveh, appeared as the champion of Turkey in the House of Commons. Still more threatening was the attitude of the war party in Constantinople. The Sultan was forced to reject the note and to prepare for the storm. Hatred of Russia and religious fanaticism inspired the Turks with something of the old love of battle and lust of conquest. ”

“ That electricity plays its part in the formation of the fairy plume is conceivable, and even probable; but recently the physicist has discovered a new source of repellent energy which very plausibly explains the mystery of a Comet’s tail.
This new source of energy is nothing less than the pressure or push of the Sun’s light. Solar gravitation is a force more powerful than we can realize. If it were possible for us to live on the Sun, we would find ourselves pulled down so violently that our body would weigh two tons. Our clothing alone would weigh more than one hundred pounds. ”

“ The name of Lafayette is indissolubly linked with the cause of the American Revolution and [Pg 849] struggle for independence. To join the revolutionists' cause, Lafayette not only had to sacrifice his private fortune and Lafayette's career brilliant prospects at home, but also to leave a young, dearly-loved wife with an unborn babe. Throughout the weary struggle of America against the overwhelming power of England, Lafayette, together with Kosciusko and De Kalb, stood by Washington and the cause for which he had drawn his sword. ”

“ On the same day a National Guard was established in Vienna, and was supplied with arms taken from the government arsenal. The Viennese outbreak gave irresistible force to the national movement in Hungary. Now the Chamber of Magnates, which had hitherto opposed the demands of the Lower House, adopted the same by a unanimous vote. On March 15, a deputation was despatched to Vienna to Hungarian demands demand from the Emperor not only a liberal constitution, but a separate Ministry, absolute freedom of the press, trial by jury, equality of religion, and a free public-school system. ”

“ If that gas is present in large enough quantities, one flick of a Comet’s tail will end all human and animal existence.
So much is certain. A collision of the Earth with a Comet will [Pg 118] undoubtedly prove disastrous—how disastrous will depend largely on the size of the Comet’s head and on its speed. That a violent heat will be developed, we have every reason to believe, from our knowledge of meteors. The mere movement of a meteor through the thin upper layers of our atmosphere produces a dazzling trail and reduces the meteor itself to a molten metallic mass. ”

“ The country was ripe for revolt. At Avellino the commandant with all his garrison and the Bishop with the townspeople gave them a magnificent reception. The news of the revolt spread like wildfire throughout the kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Everywhere the Carbonari declared in its favor. Before the government had taken a single step, the Constitution was generally proclaimed and joyfully accepted by the populace. From Naples the King sent General Carrascosa to negotiate with the insurgents. ”

“ The most ominous of all prophesies connected with the coming of Halley’s Comet this year was made by the venerable General Ballington Booth, the head of the Salvation Army. Speaking in London, immediately after Halley’s Comet had been located, early this year, General Booth said:
“We are, this year, rapidly approaching the end of all things, with similar results, but far surpassing in horrors any disaster that has gone before. ”

“ ON JANUARY 30, Louis Napoleon married Eugénie Marie de Montijo de Guzman, a Empress Eugénie Spanish beauty. Raised to the rank of Empress, this ambitious lady at once became a leader of fashion. The Czar of Russia, acting in conformity with the sovereigns of Austria and Prussia, finally consented to acknowledge Napoleon III. as Emperor of the French, and Great Britain followed. Strengthened by this outward recognition, Louis Napoleon deemed it safe to extend an amnesty to some 4,500 political prisoners and Republican exiles. ”

“ When a Comet is first seen in the telescope, it appears as a diminutive filmy patch, often unadorned by any tail. As it travels on toward the Sun, at a speed compared with which a modern rifle bullet would seem to crawl, violent eruptions occur in the nucleus. ”

“ The idea got abroad that a revolution might break out in London on the presentation of the petition. Ernest Jones had exclaimed on Kensington Common, "Never fear the vile men of the law; the police, the troops, sympathize with you. Down with the Ministry! Dissolve the Parliament! The Charter, and no surrender!" At the National Convention, Vernon declared: "If a few hundreds do fall on each side, they will only be the casualties in a mighty movement." ”

“ In a word, the globe will become a planetary funeral pyre. Since water results from burning hydrogen in oxygen, this same fierce and terrible flame must be speedily extinguished by a mighty deluge which will engulf the Earth.
A spectroscope analysis of Halley’s Comet has furthermore revealed the presence of cyanogen gas in the tail. Cyanogen is a compound of nitrogen and carbon, one of the most poisonous compounds with which the chemist is familiar. ”

“ If our strivings are to result in anything, if the cause of mankind is to succeed in our fatherland, if all is not to be forgotten, all our enthusiasm spent in vain, the evil doer, the traitor, the corrupter of youth must die. Until I have executed this, I have no peace; and what can comfort me until I know Assassination of Kotzebue that I have with upright will set my life at stake? ”

“ The Earth and the Comet must meet. With some hesitation the astronomer sends a telegram to a central observatory, which acts as a distributor of astronomical news. At first his prediction is discredited and even laughed at. Another computation is made at the observatory. Again mathematics infallibly indicates the exact time and place of the encounter, and the last lingering hope is dispelled. Telegrams are sent to astronomical societies, to the leading scientific periodicals and to the newspapers. ”

“ He routed the Death of Havelock Gwalior rebels and drove them out of Cawnpore. General Havelock the day after he left Lucknow succumbed to dysentery. Throughout the British Empire there was universal sorrow that will never be forgotten so long as men recall the memory of the mutinies of Fifty-seven. Havelock's victories had aroused the drooping spirits of the British nation.
The subsequent history of the Sepoy revolt is largely a recital of military operations for the dispossession of the rebels and the restoration of British supremacy. ”

“ The people of England and France became incensed as they saw Cavour's master-stroke that Austria showed no inclination to fight. Prussia flatly refused to assist Austria in any warlike undertaking. Victor Emmanuel of Sardinia took advantage of the situation to join the allies. On April 21 he sent 15,000 men to the Crimea.
During the diplomatic parleys of the Powers, the siege of Sebastopol wearily dragged along. The commissariat and land-transport systems broke down. The armies were weakened by cholera, cold, and starvation. Negotiations for peace were set on foot by Austria. ”

“ In the words of a British historian: "The only weak point in the commercial treaty was that it contained no reference to opium. Sir Henry Pottinger failed to obtain the assent of the Chinese government to its legalization." In reply to Sir Henry Pottinger's final demand for legalization of the Opium forced upon China opium trade in China, Emperor Taouk-Wang delivered this ultimatum: "True, I cannot prevent the introduction of the poison; but nothing will induce me to raise revenue from the vice and misery of my people." ”

“ The first acts of Pio Nono confirmed this impression. Universal amnesty was extended to political prisoners. Hundreds of Italian patriots who had been sentenced to imprisonment for life were set free. When, in addition to this, permission Early Papal measures was given to the citizens of Rome to enroll themselves in the new civic guard, all Rome gave itself up to popular rejoicings. The climax of national enthusiasm was reached when the new Pope took occasion to voice a formal protest against the designs of Austria upon Ferrara. ”

“ On March 8, Bernadotte, latterly known as King Charles XIV. of Sweden, died in his eighty-first year. During the last years of his reign he received Death of Bernadotte many signs of love and appreciation from his adopted people, notably on the occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of his coronation. Shortly before his death this self-made king asserted with good reason: "No one living has made a career like mine."
The reign of Bernadotte produced a new line of eminent scientists and was the golden age of Swedish literature. ”

“ The question on which he O'Connell's last speech spoke was a proposed bill for the relief of famine in Ireland: "I am afraid," he said, in the course of this address, "that the English people are not sufficiently impressed with the horrors of the situation in Ireland. I do not think they understand the accumulated miseries which my people are suffering. It has been estimated that 5,000 adults and 10,000 children have already died from famine, and that one-fourth of the whole population must perish unless something is done." Failing in health himself, O'Connell went to Italy. ”

“ Still the day passed over without serious hostilities. On the next day, the National Guards of Paris were called out. Their cry, as they marched through the different quarters of the city, was "Vive la réforme!" This emboldened the leaders of the revolutionists. The members of the secret societies flew to arms; and in the skirmishes which followed between the populace and the regular troops, National Guard disaffected the National Guard everywhere interfered in favor of the former. Thus confronted, officers and soldiers hesitated to commit a general assault upon their fellow citizens. ”

“ Protestant England, on the other hand, with no pilgrims to defend, could protest only on the score of preserving the balance of power. A deeper reason for British opposition lay in the possible opening of the Black Sea to Russian commerce, and the consequent loss of oriental trade to English merchants. Louis Napoleon, who could hardly begin his imperial reign in France more auspiciously than by avenging the disasters of his immortal uncle and of the Grand Army in Russia, entered the lists as the Austria's timely measures champion of the Roman Catholic Christians of the Orient. ”

“ As Fyffe, the English historian of modern Europe, has justly said, "The boast, famous in our Parliamentary history, has left an erroneous impression of the part really played by Canning at this crisis. He did not call the New World into existence; he did not even assist it in winning independence, as France had assisted the United States fifty years before; but when this independence had been won, he threw over it the ægis of Great Britain, declaring that no other European power should reimpose the yoke which Spain had not been able to maintain." ”

“ Civil war broke out in Spain. Across the border in Portugal, Dom Miguel, Revolution in Portugal the second son of the absent king, excited a counter revolution. This state of affairs in the Peninsula gave a finishing stroke to the royal cause in America. In Central America, the revolutionists of Costa Rica and Independence of Central America Guatemala, who had made common cause with Mexico, proclaimed their independence. In Mexico, Santa Anna proclaimed the republic at Vera Cruz. Emperor Iturbide, who felt his throne tottering beneath him, retired, and was banished from Mexico with an annuity. ”

“ In the face of the menacing attitude of the liberal elements of France, which had been rendered more acute by the King's increase of the Chamber of Peers to the detriment of the Deputies, the French Government launched forth upon the conquest of Algiers. It was believed to be an auspicious moment. The Sultan's reluctant acknowledgment of the independence of Greece, April 25, showed how powerless he was. The Dey of Algiers had insulted France by his discourteous treatment of a French consul. He refused the satisfaction demanded by France. ”

“ Now the popular agitators proposed a monster demonstration to thank the King for his concessions. Shortly after noon, on March 18, the processions converged upon the palace. Immense crowds filled the streets. The appearance of the King upon the balcony was greeted with cheers. King Frederick William tried to speak but could not make himself heard. The troops set out to clear the palace grounds. Angry shouts arose for the withdrawal of the soldiery. In the Revolt in Berlin confusion two shots were fired. A panic ensued: "We are betrayed," cried the leaders, and called the people to arms. ”

“ America a "Deterrent Example" In the United States the Constitution has not been in existence more than forty years. I will not say it has been deteriorating, for I wish to avoid all invidious phrases; but it has been rapidly undergoing a change from a republic to a mere democracy. The influence of the executive—the influence of the government—has been daily becoming less, and more power has consequently been vested in the hands of the people. ”