Some Leading Events in the Current Story of the World

SOME LEADING EVENTS IN THE CURRENT STORY OF THE WORLD. BY DR. J. M. TANNER.

Queen Victoria* The queen's body now rests in the beautiful Frogmore mausoleum, near Windsor Castle, beside the body of her beloved princeconsort. Queen Victoria was born in 1819, and came to the throne in 1837, soon after reaching her majority. It was realized in her

infancy that in all probability she would succeed to the throne of England and her early education was governed by the requirements of the exalted position it was expected she would occupy. The stories of her childhood and young womanhood indicate that she was a person of character, stability and purpose. One of the early incidents of her life, in which the world at large took unusual interest, was the circumstance of her courtship and marriage. Her ancestors were descendants of the Germans, and Prince Albert, whom she married and loved so devotedly, was her cousin. He was a man, it seems, of most prepossessing appearance, and became the ideal of the queen's life, and the source, perhaps, of her greatest happiness in this world. Gossips have always insisted that the prince did not find the same personality in and love for the queen that she found in him, and that her exalted station was one of the highest inducements to the marriage. As an evidence of the sacrifice in his career which it is thought he made, a letter to his grandmother about the time of his engagement is quoted. It certainly does not contain the language of an ardent and devoted lover; it has its misgivings and there is a certain melancholy spirit running through it. Whether these misgivings arose from a doubt on his

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part of his ability to love the young queen, or from the embarrassing position in which his new station in life would place him, does not seem perfectly clear. These are his words:

The queen sent for me alone to her room a few days ago, and declared to me in a genuine outburst of love and affection that I had gained her whole heart, and would make her intensely happy if I would make the sacrifice of sharing her life with her, for she said she looked on it as a sacrifice: the only thing which troubled her was that she did not think she was worthy of me. The joyous openness of manner in which she told me this, quite enchanted me, and I was quite carried away by it. She is really most good and amiable, and I am quite sure heaven has not

given me into evil hands, and that we shall be happy together. Since that moment Victoria does whatever she fancies I should wish or like, and we talk together a great deal about our future life, which she promises me to make as happy as possible. Ah, the future! does it not bring with it the moment when I shall have to take leave of my dear, dear home and of you! I cannot think of that without deep melancholy taking possession of me.

The marriage, however, seemed to have been a happy one all around, and it has been said by those best informed on the subject that the twenty-two years of her married life together, up to the time of his death, was one of perpetual honeymoon. His position, however, among the English — for the English were never generous towards Albert, and did not seem to appreciate him until after his death —was one often of humiliation and chagrin by reason of the constant effort to make him feel the inferiority of his rank. He was too often the object of their brutal jests and the jealousy v;ith which they looked upon him, not only as a foreigner, but as an interloper. The prince-consort, however, was a man of excellent character, and worked assiduously in the interest of his adopted country, and rendered England a faithful and competent service up to the time of his death. He inaugurated the great expositions, the first of which began at the Crystal Palace, and was a liberal pat-

ron of arts and science. His association with the queen undoubtedly added materially to her wisdom and information respecting great public questions. The political position, however, which the queen occupied in

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the British empire is one upon which there has been a great diversity of opinion.By some, she has been looked upon as a mere figurehead; by others, it is believed that she was an important factor in the government of Great Britain. Queen Victoria, it must be understood, was the first constitutional monarch of Great Britain, for during her reign the country made very radical changes in the character of its government, and the final depository of its powers. As a matter of fact Great Britain is more a republic than a monarchy, as these terms in their widest sense are understood. When Victoria became queen of England, it was generally conceded, and she was among those who accepted the concession, that the final and controlling power of the realm lay in parliament, and that in

parliament, the House of Commons was the supreme arbitrator. It

is true that a law of Great Britian must receive the assent of the House of Lords, but the temper of the country is such that the House of Lords cannot do any more than retard, without absolutely preventing, legislation. It would be, perhaps, more correct to say

that on a close question, as the Gladstone home-rule bill, opposed by the majority of the English people, the decision of the House of Lords may become important, but a strong voice uttered at the polls by the people of Great Britain cannot be successfully resisted

by the lords in parliament. With Queen Victoria, there was no longer the old theory in existence that the kings and queens of Great Britain ruled by divine right. On the other hand, Victoria was not a mere nominal sovereign, however difficult it may be to fix or limit her powers in the government of the realm. It has been said of her that she reigned

but did not rule, but this definition of her power itself needs defining. It might, perhaps, be more correct in a general way to say

that she exercised political influence rather than political power. But one thing is certain, and that is that she never took things for granted, but gave the most attentive study to whatever document of state she was required to sign. Her assent was required in so many important matters that she might withhold that assent if she believed, or was certain, that the country would stand by her, and it was her privilege and business to interpret the public spirit of her realm, as it was the business of her ministers and parliament to yield obedience to the demands of the people. A circumstance

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in her life, after she had been eleven years queen of England, clearly illustrates the rights of the throne as they became established in the queen's mind. During the premiership of John Russell, Lord Palmerston was foreign secretary, and during his administration of this office, it was not unfrequently the habit of Palmerston to determine foreign questions without consulting the premier, and this habit often became very annoying not only to Russell but also to the queen. In 1848, when Napoleonlll preformed his famous coup d' etat by which France was converted from a republic into an empire, Lord Palmerston informed the French ambassador in London that Napoleon's act would be approved by England. As a matter of fact, the premier felt, and the queen was of the opinion, that England should have nothing to say about the affair one way or the other, and when the prime minister informed Napoleon of the queen's decision in the matter. Napoleon immediately informed him that Lord Palmerston, the minister of foreign affairs, had already expressed his approval to the French ambassador at London. This unwarranted assumption of authority by the foreign minister greatly exasperated the queen, who insisted upon Lord Palmerston's dismissal from office, and her demands were complied with. Perhaps one of the strongest characteristics of the queen's rule has been the conservative influence she has had upon her prime ministers. She has not always been able to persuade them against their determined policy, and the policy of their cabinet, but it is safe to say that they have always sought to convert her to their purposes and views in government. When Napoleon hoped to gain celebrity and secure his throne by the Crimean war, it was known that the queen was very greatly opposed to the alliance with France. Her counsels, however, were overcome; though generally, statesmen since that day have confessed that the queen was nearer right than those who overrode her policy in that blundering war against Russia. After Lord Palmerston had become premier of Great Britain, the war between the North and the South broke out in the United States. Palmerston's policy was very exasperating to the people of this country, and it was generally believed that England and America would have come to blows over the unfortunate differences

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that arose during that time, had it not been for the better and wiser counsels of the queen. Victoria has always been averse to foreign wars, and it is believed that she assented with some reluctance to the war now carried on in South Africa. The whole train of misfortunes that have overtaken England in this war with the Boer republics has been a source of sorrow to the queen, and it is believed that the war in South Africa hastened, if it did not bring about, the queen's death. Her last important public act was the visit which she recently made to Ireland, a visit undertaken chiefly on her own account, notwithstanding she was urged not to visit Ireland at this time, because of the great sympathy manifested in Ireland in the cause of the Boers. However, the Irish people showed her great respect. She was nowhere insulted, and quite generally received with enthusiasm and demonstrations by the people of Ireland, and the visit proved to be so fortunate and so popular that the Shamrock was worn with great demonstrations by the people of London. Those who have asssociated much with the English people will realize the startling parallel between England's queen and America's flag. Men fight for the queen; men are in the service of the queen, just as men in this country fight for the flag as the symbol of our nationality. As long as this sentiment prevails, and England continues to be a constitutional monarchy, there is not much danger to royalty in that country, and King Edward VII will assume his regal duties without the slightest interference. Queen Victoria's long reign, since 1837, runs parallel with the greatest achievements in the history of the world, and these achievements have been as consequential to great Britain as they have been to the world at large. In England, therefore, this period of human progress and commercial and literary revolution will ever be known as the Victorian period. The age of Victoria, therefore, stands for a separate period in the history of civilization, and her name will ever be associated with the achievements of literature, science, art, government, and human progress.

Edward VIL Edward VII, as the Prince of Wales elects to be designated, ascends the throne of England in the sixtieth year of his life, and

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at a time when the English people are generally and somewhat reverently devoted to royalty. It is not easy in this country to comprehend the feelings which the masses of the English people entertain for their kings and queens. So far as experience in the aifairs of state and the observation of men of public life could teach the new king, he has had ample opportunity for a broad and comprehensive knowledge relating to the duties of his new office. There was much prejudice against the king in his early manhood because of certain irregularities of life which were associated with his name. The feelings of the English people at that time, on questions of moral amenities and proprieties, were certainly much more puritanic than they are today. Indeed, his experience, by some writers, has been summed up in its entirety as rather wholesome than otherwise, and the irregularities of youth are spoken of as though they were necessary to introduce him into a broader and more comprehensive knowledge of life. It isthought that after all his experiences, he will be more of a man of the world than he could possibly be without them. Such comments upon his life indicate a considerable transition in English ideals of morality from the time that his mother ascended the throne to the time that her son became king of England. In later years, the Prince of Wales has had to perform many of the royal functions, which, by custom, devolved upon his mother. The king is not regarded as aman of the strongest mentality, and, of course, cannot hope to cope with the men who shall in the future constitute the great premiers of England. It is safe to say that the king understands fully the temper of

the English people. He knows full well that in their hearts, the principles of democracy, under a constitutional monarchy are thoroughly intrenched. That he so understands the temper of the English people, and the requirements of the empire over which he reigns but which he is not to rule, is confirmed by his address at the time he was proclaimed king of England and emperor of India. He says: "In undertaking the heavy load which now devolves upon me, I am fully determined to be a constitutional sovereign, in the strictest sense of the word, and, so long as there is breath in my body, to work for the good and amelioration of my people." There can be no doubt that the new king will give a brilliance to his

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court and eclat to his public career that have been wholly wanting in the reign of his mother.

John Marshall* Everywhere throughout the United States on the fourth of February, courts of law adjourned in honor of the centennial anniversary of John Marshall's succession as chief justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. It was a day long to be remembered by the bar of this country, and was everywhere celebrated in a manner that attested the high esteem and reverence in which our great justice has been universally held throughout the United States. Many able and spirited addresses were made on the occasion of this celebration, and banquets were held by the bar in honor of the day. It is quite generally conceded, by those best qualified to pass upon the value of the services rendered in the establishment of our federal government, that John Marshall occupies a place second only to that of George Washington. There can be no doubt that Washington's great influence was the strongest and most effectual of any in bringing about the union of the States, but next to his work stands that of John Marshall. Marshall's great contribution to the growth and solidity of our federal government is not universally appreciated or understood, because of the fact that his great work consisted in the interpretation of the constitution, and dealt with technical questions not always easily understood by those who have not some legal education. It has been said that he that interpreteth the law is as great as

the law-giver himself. It was the business of John Marshall to interpret, for the first thirty-five years of its early existence, the Constitution of the United States. There can be no doubt that his influence was foremost in the Supreme Court, and that his guiding, rational genius was the leading factor in the interpreting of the instrument, which by the construction that might be placed upon it meant weal or woe to our country. There was no beaten track make his for the feet of the great jurist, and he was compelled to way through the great wilderness of constitutional law in such a manner that the country might travel with safety the way which he marked out. His great decisions have established many of the

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fundamental principles of our great government—principles that were held in doubt at the time his decisions were rendered. There is no name, today, among all of the great judges of the Supreme Court of the United States, that stands so high as that of Marshall's. There are no decisions of any jurist so frequently quoted in constitutional law as the great decisions which he wrote, and John Adams, who appointed Marshall to the high and exalted position which Marshall occupied so long, esteemed the appointment the greatest act of his life. It would be difficult to define the great services that Marshall rendered to his country, and it is difficult now to say what the status of the constitutional law of this

country would have been, had a less competent man occupied the position which Marshall held during the first third of the past century. Marshall rendered great services to his country during the revolutionary war; in diplomatic life, his services were invaluable; and in the administerial affairs of our government, he demonstrated most excellent executive qualities, but his work as a jurist was paramount, and he will ever be remembered in history as the great chief justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. It has

taken time to demonstrate the value of his services to his country, and his contemporaneous generation during the last thirty years of his life did not know and appreciate him, as we understand him today. He was among the very foremost of those great Americans who laid, in a substantial manner, the foundation of our great republic.

Hazing:*

Sometime ago, a cadet by the name of Booz died, and the charge was made by his father that his death was the result of tortures and torments inflicted upon him by means of hazing, while he was still a cadet at West Point. This charge led to a congressional investigation, and a committee was appointed to look into the conduct of the students at this famous military academy, and report to Congress the results of that investigation. Week after week, the newspapers have contained a synopsis of the evidence furnished by the students and professors, and the committee has

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just made its report, and find that more than one hundred ways and means of hazing students were adopted by the cadets at West Point. The result of this investigation has led to the recommenda- tion that a law be passed prohibiting hazing, and bracing, and all forms of punishment by which new students are compelled to feel the inferiority of their position, as compared with the position of fourth-year men. Some of the means resorted to by the advanced students as college discipline for the younger ones are not only extremely ludicrous but are very humiliating to those compelled to endure them. Phil Sheridan's son was compelled to ride a stick up and down the campus before the students, in imitation of his father's famous ride from Winchester; new students were compelled to go under their tables at mess and have food thrown to them like a dog. Booz complained that the most serious infliction put upon him was the practice of pouring hot tobasco sauce down his throat. Bracing is another practice — a practice the students do not include in hazing —^by which students stand erect in a somewhat ludicrous position while their seniors pass by. Perhaps one of the most objectionable features in the system of hazing was that by which students were compelled to fight their seniors. It is well

known that after students have been at West Point for a year or two, the drill develops their physical strength and hardens their flesh and makes out of them in some measure athletes. The new student often goes there with flabby flesh and untrained muscles, and as a rule he is no match for his seniors, but the latter nevertheless compel him to stand and go through the form of a fight with some chosen student. The new comer, therefore, generally has to submit to a good drubbing at the hands of his senior. If it should happen, however, that the new man develops unexpected powers and is a match for the first of the older students who challenge him, he is compelled to repeat the experience until some student, if possible, is found who can administer the drubbing that the new comers are expected to get. In many of the old and most respectable universities of the United States, the system of hazing has fallen entirely into disuse or has been prevented by the faculty of these institutions. It has

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long been looked upon by the people generally of this country as a species of barbarism, and many have been greatly shocked to find that it was still maintained in the great national military academy of this country, an institution intended for the training of army officers.

Since the investigation began, the students have finally resolved to give up hazing as a practice of the school; they have insisted, however, that bracing has a beneficial effect upon new students, and that it ought not to be classed with the objectional discipline in other respects under which students have been compelled to go. However, the committee appointed to investigate has included in its recommendations the abolition of "bracing." It is to be hoped that the barbarous system of hazing, practiced

in this country, will now become but a memory in the college life of American students.

Another Bonanza in California.

The Golden Gate is an appropriate name to the entrance by water to the great commonwealth of California. It has been a

state of great surprises, as well as of great achievements. No portion of our country has, perhaps, seen so many and such substantial booms as have come to this great state. Her gold mines, her immense farms, her vineyards, and her unparalleled orange ^oves, have been succeeded by what may be called a great oil boom. Two years ago, the production of crude oil in the state of California

amounted to 2,160,000 barrels; now, the annual output has reached 5,300,000. Dry and parched sand fields, where, a few years ago, nothing was supposed to be of value in them, have turned out to be producers of great fortunes. Within the last two years, upwards of fifteen million dollars have been expended in the development of the oil industry of California. Great corporations have been organized on purely speculative grounds, and the speculator of oil land in California today is reaping his harvest. We are told that there are something like two hundred and fifty wells now in course of development. These wells are bored to a distance, in some instances, of more than one thousand feet. To the3e great oil discoveries, people are rushing from Penn

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sylvania, Virginia and Ohio, the great oil states of the East. We are told, by men who profess to give conservative estimates, that within a few years, the oil products of California will reach those of her gold productions, namely, about seventeen million dollars a year. What is wonderfully surprising, the dry sandy wastes of the San Joaquin valley are now laden with rich stores of crude oil. The oil and the grape, therefore, promises to make out of that form-

erly arid region a most wealthy district within the state of California. Of course, along with the oil discovery, there is a boom in lands. Lands now thought to contain oil, are selling from five thousand to eleven thousand dollars per acre, when, a short time ago, they could be bought for two dollars to two dollars and fifty cents per acre. Great stories are told of fortunes made by speculators and land owners. It is said of a certain Old Captain Jones that recently he went about in tatters offering his lands at the mouth of Brea Canyon at eight dollars per acre. An oil well was found upon them, and now their value is wonderfully enhanced, and it is stated that within a short time, he has received upwards of one hundred and thirty-five thousand dollars for lands that only a few months ago were of little or no value. i There can be no doubt that the oil wells in the west will continue to grow in number, and we, here in Utah, where there are such large coal deposits, need not be surprised if an oil boom some day comes to us.